And here we go...
In such a small class, the Sorting was not bound to take long. It would be about eight first years per House, give or take a few. The Sorting Hat sat upon the stool, singing its song for the year about the Houses, and Charlotte stood completely drenched in nerves.
"Button, Abigail!"
The Sorting would begin and Charlotte didn't know where she would go.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The Hufflepuffs cheered as they received the first new student of the year. Charlotte wrung her hands in her robe, and Shane looked as calm as ever despite the curtain of hair in his face.
Another for Hufflepuff, three for Gryffindor, and one for Ravenclaw...
The last names beginning with F went and came, Charlotte assumed she was written under Ollivander then. The delay did nothing to deter her nerves.
Two to Slytherin, two more for Gryffindor, one for Hufflepuff and four for Ravenclaw...
"Ollivander, Charlotte!"
In fact, she had barely heard her name. Shane had pushed her forward lightly and yet her feet were like magnets to the floor. They didn't want to move up to the stool, they didn't want for whatever was in her head to be discovered by the Hat. They were scared.
Charlotte was terrified.
Seconds seemed so much longer as she finally sat upon the stool and the old hat was sat upon her head.
Then time stopped.
A new voice spoke in her mind, "Well, this is very interesting...I haven't been this awake in a long time."
Huh?
"You are quite the cunning little child, aren't you? I know where to put you..."
Charlottle never believed herself to be that cunning, but she supposed that would put her in Slytherin. With the ambitious, the cunning, and the snakes...
"SLYTHERIN!"
Charlotte bounced down to the Slytherin table with the two other first years, a boy and a girl. The boy was scrawny and had rather pointed features, like a rodent. His name was Riley Harris. The girl appeared more doll like than a human, with porcelain skin, dark blue eyes, and dark red hair, her name was Moira Sinclair. Both of them were purebloods.
"Ollivander, like the wandmaker?" a fourth year asked Charlotte.
She nodded, sucking in her lower lip. Several other Slytherins inconspicously shuffled closer towards her.
"Quiet now," McGonagall said, "McCoy, Nathaniel!"
The tanned boy sat on the stool and barely had two seconds with the Hat before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Charlotte's attention wavered as she observed the Head Table, where a frazzled woman was running to sit down in an empty seat at the end. Her hair was thrown up in a thick messy bun, showing her young face and sweaty complexion. Who was that?
"Check out the new Defense teacher..."
"Late? How unprofessional..."
"I heard she was actually decent, brave enough to take on this job anyways..."
Joan had mentioned to Charlotte how the Defense Against the Dark Arts position was cursed by You Know Who. No teacher had lasted longer than a year, they had either died or incidents lead to them having to leave.
"Weasley, Fred!"
Charlotte turned back to the Sorting, there were two left to sort, Shane and one the two red headed twins.
Who were currently trying to figure out who was who.
"You're not Fred, I am!"
"George, stay back. Oh, wait, I'm-!"
McGonagall snapped, "One of you come up here!"
Her face visibly became whiter when she heard two consecutive calls for Gryffindor. Charlotte felt sorry for the woman.
"Oh...Wright, Shane!"
Charlotte crossed her fingers.
"SLYTHERIN!"
That made two girls, and four boys in the Slytherin first year group, overall, the smallest group of the first year houses.
"Good evening, everyone!" Dumbledore stood, quieting the hall, "I have very few announcements to make, so don't worry, you will eat very soon. I will begin with introducing our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, madam?"
The woman stood at an average height, "Hello, I am Professor Ambrosia, it is a pleasure to be here this year to teach all of you. See you in class."
Charlotte dismissed the woman as very plain, she wasn't amazingly pretty or anything.
Not that the next one would be either.
In this story we are going to take a major timeskip because there is just nothing truly interesting in store for our little Charlotte here until her little neighbor next door is bombarded with owls. There will be a few points made that will be important for the remainder of this story.
1) Does Snape hate Charlotte? No, in fact, he doesn't mind her since she does her work with the Wright boy quietly and efficiently. He is her Head of House after all.
2) How does Charlotte do in school? Charlotte, as a general student, does well in her classes, getting Os and maybe an E in History of Magic. She is probably third in her class behind two Ravenclaws. Moira and herself study together with Shane occasionally, but no one ever interacted with her much except the Weasley twins that one time second year with the Valentines day flower explosion in Herbology.
She didn't tell Professor Sprout who it was when she was the only one who had seen. They thanked her with two of the surviving roses.
3) Do Nathaniel and Shane remain friends? Only out of school, but by third year there is some...tension between the two.
4) Is Charlotte ever bullied in her first and second year? Yes, by two fourth year Gryffindors her first year when she wandered too close the Fat Lady in pink.
Though a cute second year by the name of Cedric Diggory managed to divert their attention long enough for Charlotte to cast body binds on the two Gryffindors and get out of sight. Charlotte has found herself looking at him more often since, as well as casting an occasional hex at the two Gryffindors from around the corner.
5) Any other questions from you all I will answer in the beginning of the next chapter.
That's it until next time. I might just make a side story to delve into those missing years, but not now. You all know how Hogwarts works.