Welcome to the next chapter of this story!
I'm really sorry about not updating but life's going crazy.
Hope you enjoy!
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Harry paused near the hallway leading up to the tower, he knew that Mace Windu had been moved from that tower, but the dark corridor still had an aura of mystery. He shook his head and allowed the swarm of students to sweep him away towards the hall. The Quidditch game had been rather unproductive for Gryffindor. Ravenclaw's seeker had surprised everyone by pulling off a last-minute win; catching the snitch from right under the Slytherin seekers nose. Gryffindor had lost to Hufflepuff who had then proceeded to lose to Ravenclaw while Gryffindor won against Slytherin.
He sighed, Hermione had spent the entire day further researching 'swords of light' and 'Mace Windu' but even she had not yet found a thing. It had not been a very productive day.
The doors swung open and the four houses bustled in, the doors slamming behind them. Harry pushed his way over to where Hermione and Ron were seated. Ron was, unsurprisingly, complaining of the fact that they had to wait for the new students to arrive before they could eat. Hermione though, was uncharacteristically ignoring him instead she was staring blank eyed up at the teachers table. Harry sat down next to the brown-haired girl. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Look," she hissed "near Professor McGonagall. That girl." Harry glanced up. To his surprise a slight girl, maybe his age, sat perched beside the grey-haired teacher. The girl had a certain look that Harry had come to realised was a gaze one received when accustomed to grief. He wondered why she wore it and who she was.
"Who do you think she is?" Ron whispered.
"Not sure," Hermione whispered, "if I had to guess I would say new student."
Ron snorted "You do realise she's our age, right?".
Hermione glared "Just because she is our age doesn't mean that she has had any introduction to magic!"
Harry made a noise, sounding like a dying cat. Hermione and Ron looked up. The girl was staring at the trio. Her brown eyes were challenging. Harry was surprised to see a flash of almost recognition pass over the girl's face. He wondered if this was yet another person seeing his scar, or something else.
Professor McGonagall stood up and the girl shifted her eyes from the three friends to the old teacher. The Professor clapped her hands and the chatter in the room slowly died. The teacher smiled and nodded towards the doors which swung open again to permit the new first years who were led in by the huge form of Hagrid.
They clustered in front of the teachers table and Harry remembers a time when he once stood there. Professor McGonagall gave the entire hall a warm smile "Welcome previous students and our new first years. For you new students I will inform you that our headmaster, Professor Dumbledore is currently away on important business. I will be taking over his duties for the duration of his absence. But for now, the sorting! Each of you will be assigned a school house. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Come forward Eliza Cain!" The wispy haired Eliza stepped forward.
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"Hufflepuff!" The Sorting Hat cried, and Timothy Zhang stumbled down to the Hufflepuff table where he was clapped on the back by dozens of Hufflepuffs who all wanted to congratulate their new housemate.
"One last thing," Professor McGonagall said, "We have a new student joining us." Harry switched his gaze to the brown-haired girl. That must be her. "Might I welcome Ashla Arseven" Professor McGonagall continued. "She will be joining the sixth years this year. I hope that all of you will be kind to her even though she started later than you all." McGonagall waved Ashla towards the dusty old hat. She looked nervous.
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Ahsoka gulped as the hat was set on her head. She had been careful so far, making sure that no one could catch her out. But this hat… it was different. What if it saw inside her head and saw who she was? "Curious." The hat whispered and Ahsoka flinched. Hats should not be able to talk. "You come from far away, I see." Her heart almost stopped. It knew. "However, I sense that you bring no harm to Hogwarts, at least not knowing. I will humour you for now, girl." She could feel it in her mind shifting through her memories. It took all her willpower not to bring her shields up and force its presence out of her head. "You're brave and always willing to help others, therefore it had better be…" The hat paused "Gryffindor!" it yelled and Ahsoka realised that it had yelled that out to the entire hall.
She tore the hat off her head and almost ran down to the red and gold table. She could feel the stares following her, but she held her head high and never looked at them. She sat down. The people whom she sat besides stared at her for a bit then one of then, a brown-haired boy, clapped her on the back. "Welcome to Gryffindor! I'm Neville, it's nice to meet you Ashla." The others took his cue and began to congratulate her as well.
Ahsoka smiled. she had never imagined that this was what her mission would entail, but she liked it. As the war escalated Jedi were not welcomed in many places anymore and the welcome she had received here was positively perfect compared to some.
Plates and food began to appear in front of all the students and Ahsoka let out a small exclamation of surprise. Neville grinned "I'm guessing that that's not considered normal where you're from?" Ahsoka shook her head. Everyone around her was heaping their plates with food but she was more puzzling over what the food was. It was strange although somethings did look sort of familiar, so she just chose anything that looked nice.
"After dinner we can show you where the Gryffindor Common room is!" a red-haired girl said, "I'm Ginny, you've already met Neville."
Ahsoka nodded her mouth full "I'd very much like that." she replied.
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So, that was the next part of this story.
Hope that you liked it! :)
Can you guess where Ashla's last name came from?