Chapter Two: Note Passing

Zoey played with the hem of her robe's sleeves as it was nearing her turn to be called. The student before her had just been declared Gryffindor and Zoey watched from under her lashes, the new Gryffindor girl skipping towards her House's table. Zoey, like any other First Year who was yet to be sorted, was very nervous and couldn't stop her mind from wandering to the thoughts of which House she would be sorted into.

Slytherin? No, Zoey knew for a fact that she didn't have the qualities of a Slytherin. She was a pure-blood but that wasn't the only thing taken into consideration to become a Slytherin. Zoey wasn't cunning, shrew, ambitious and determined.

Slytherin was the first to be crossed out from her list.

What about Gryffindor? Zoey mentally shook her head. Gryffindor was the House of her parents, but it wasn't her House. She wasn't brave enough to be placed in Gryffindor. If she were, she wouldn't have screamed in fright when the chocolate frog jumped out at her.

Ravenclaw was crossed out the minute it entered her mind. Zoey was no idiot but intelligence, cleverness and wit were not her strong points.

Now Hufflepuffs were known to be hard-working, friendly and loyal.

Before Zoey could even think if she had the qualities of a Hufflepuff, her thoughts were interrupted when someone nudged her.

Dozens of eyes were looking at her. Zoey began to panic. Was it her turn already? How many times was her name called? A deep red blush appeared on her cheeks and she turned around to see the redheaded twins behind her. The one on the left bent down a little and whispered in her ear.

"Are you Zoey Emeraude?" he asked her.

She nodded and he grinned.

"You're up next." His twin said with a grin. "Don't want to keep the rest of us waiting."

"Your name has been called at least four times. Better get up there, love." The first twin said.

Zoey's eyes widened. She had kept all of them waiting. No wonder they were staring at her! How long has she been daydreaming? Zoey gave a nervous smile and quickly made her way towards the Sorting Hat. She gave the professors an apologetic look and sat down on the stool.

From where Zoey was seated, she could see everyone looking at her (thought it was no different than the way they were looking at her before). She drew in a breath and scanned the Great Hall. Her eyes instantly found Echo and saw that the violet haired girl was fidgeting in her seat.

Zoey drew in a gasp when she felt the Sorting Hat being placed on her head and she jumped in her seat when she heard its voice in her head.

"Aren't you the jumpy one? Just like your mother." The Sorting Hat said with a chuckle. "Hmm… Emeraude…I've only sorted one Emeraude in my entire life of sorting, but I've sorted dozens of Blacks. Yes, yes. You have the Black's blood running in your veins."

Zoey felt her palms sweating.

Please not Slytherin. Anything but Slytherin!

"Not Slytherin? Ha! Better be…"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Excuse me…Er…Pardon me…" Zoey mumbled as she pushed her way through the hundreds of Hogwarts students who were exiting the Great Hall at the same time. Schedules have just been given out and everyone was heading out to their first class. "Sorry – Excuse me!" She slipped through the towering Seventh Years as she made her way towards the light. Zoey had just looked over her schedule and she was trying to make her way to the Green House for Herbology.

Zoey sighed in relief when she finally got through the crowd and she brushed her bangs away from her eyes and dashed off, her Hufflepuff robes blowing behind her.

Hufflepuff. She thought to herself as she made twists and turns to avoid anything and anyone who got in her way. Zoey miraculously dodged the different statues, pillars and students as she ran as fast as her clumsy feet could take her. She started to huff and puff when she was nearing her destination. If she would just leave the hall she was running through and run down the stony path, she would reach the Green House.

Zoey slowed down and caught her breath. She looked down at the Green House and saw that her fellow Hufflepuffs were already walking down the path followed by the Ravenclaws. She was about to join them when a sudden force crashed into her, pushing her to the ground and making her books, parchment and quills fly through the air and scatter around her.

She winced when she heard her things crash to the floor and prayed her inkbottles didn't break. Rising to her knees, she began to pick up her fallen thinks. The ponytail she tied her hair into was slightly disheveled from running and her bands fell to her face once more.

"Sorry 'bout that." The person who ran into her said. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

Zoey pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and looked up to see the bluest eyes she has ever seen. The beautiful blue eyes belonged to one of the redheaded twins. Zoey couldn't believe she hadn't noticed how mesmerizing his blue eyes were. How could she miss it?

A hand being held out to her broke Zoey away from her thoughts and she accepted the boy's help. He grinned and hauled her to her feet.

"You okay?" he asked. Zoey saw mischief twinkling in his eyes.

Zoey was about to reply when the bell rang through the air. She let out a gasp and dashed down to stone steps leading to the Green House. She didn't want to be late on her first day in her first class. Some first impression that would be. She slowed down her run and looked back to where the redhead was standing.

He was looking down at her with a bemused expression.

"Thank you!" Zoey called out before stumbling her way to the Green House.


Zoey looked around in awe the moment she entered the Green House before making her way towards the seat at the back of the class. She carefully placed her things on the table before looking around again. It was covered with different kinds of plants, each looking more interesting than the one before. Zoey wanted so much to touch the flowery looking one but before she could, someone called out to her.

"Good Morning, Zwei!" It was Echo.

Zoey looked at the Ravenclaw oddly and pointed a finger at herself. Surely Echo was calling someone else.

She wasn't.

Echo nodded her head and pointed to the stool beside her, motioning Zoey to sit with her. Zoey drew in a breath before picking up her things and making her way towards Echo's side. When she sat down, she gave Echo a questioning look.

"Glad you accepted my offer. I don't plan on making friends with the hoodlums around us anytime soon. By the way, what made you so late?"

"I was going to be on time when someone crashed into me," Zoey explained, picking up one of her inkbottles, happy that by some miracle, they didn't break.

"Let me guess, bumped into someone who looks like the prince you've been dreaming about since you were five? Or, is he your prince?" Echo grinned wickedly.

Zoey's cheeks reddened at the thought. "Of course not!" She said a little too loudly. "I don't even know his name," she lowered her voice, "He ran into me, that's all. Prince? Ha!"

"I suppose misfits like us won't have a need for them after all. Princes could always manipulate you to death-threatening points." Echo shrugged as she propped her elbow on the table and placed her cheek on her palm.

"Misfits?" Zoey let out a laugh. "Imagine that! Witches like us are misfits in the magical world! If we were in the muggle world, we might as well fit in with the rest of them, huh? The irony."

Echo opened her mouth to reply, but the Green House door opened to reveal a small and squat woman with flyaway hair. "Good Morning, class!" She said as she clapped her hands together. "I'm your Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout."


Zoey was taking down notes when a piece of parchment found its way to her notebook. She looked at it curiously before turning her attention towards Echo. The girl motioned her to open it.

You know, Herbology kind of bores me. If we studied about something dark and gloomy, then it would be quite an interesting class. The note read.

Zoey dipped her quill into the inkbottle and scribbled down her response. How can you say that? I mean, look at all the plants! One of them should at least spike your interest!

Devil's Snare or that Angel Trumpet thing, I guess both "spike my interest", but only a little. Echo replied.

I see. Zoey wrote before going back to her school notes. The parchment came back after a minute.

Errrrggghhhh…. The professor needs to stop yapping like an untamed pup. Anyways, who did you bump into? You know, from a while ago?

Zoey ignored the insult to the Head of her House and wrote her reply. I told you, I don't know who he was.

Of course you wouldn't know! I meant; how did he look like? Echo asked.

Red Hair. Blue eyes. Loads of freckles. Zoey couldn't remember which House he belonged to.

Might as well be one of the twins. Sigh. Oh, wait; if I mention "The Twins" you probably wouldn't know what I'm saying, right?

Zoey remembered the twins from the Hogwarts Express and the twins who talked to her before she was sorted. I'm guessing "The Twins" were the ones who set off the dungbomb back in the Hogwarts Express, right? Zoey quickly wrote and wracked her brains for their names. She smiled when she remembered. Don't know the difference between Fred and George though. Only saw them a couple of times.

We're running short on parchment. I'll tell you when I can, in the time being, you should probably listen to the next topic. It's about Devil's Snare.

Zoey pocketed the note and listened to Professor Sprout's discussion.


HELLO.

AnimeFlowerGirl here :) Welcome to Chapter 2 of Crossroads, my first Harry Potter Fic!

If you are one of my old readers, the people who have read this fic when it began back in 2011, WELCOME BACK! Nice to see that you stopped by to see how things are going. Want to sit down, have some Butterbeer?

If you are a new reader, WELCOME!

Please, new reader, come join me and old reader :)

So yeah, new reader, this is actually a rewrite. My old reader/s was/were notified about my rewriting project in Chapter 86. So please bear with me. You can continue on if you want. I hope you enjoy :D

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

Please tell me what you thought.

Excuse my typos and the like.

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PS

I will try my best to reply to everyone who reviews/messages me. I regret I wasn't able to do this in the past, so I'm going to try it now :)