Chappie 2! Whether you want it or not :)
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It was as if the world had stopped, as if she had gone suddenly deaf to everything but her own heartbeat that pounded in her ears like a bass drum. Unfortunately, she was not blind and as soon as the hat was lifted from her head she saw her brother staring at her with eyes wide and worried, Lorcan and Lysander both had their identical heads cocked in confusion, three whole tables full of students were staring at her with disbelief...and when she looked over at the table full of Slytherins she found Amelia staring at her with her jaw slack. Somehow, and she would never know how, Roxanne stood and made her way over to the table on her right, everything around her feeling blurred and surreal and joined the students of her new House.
Headmistress McGonagall had risen to give her start of school welcome speech, but Roxanne didn't hear a word of it, she simply sat there staring down at her empty plate, her mind racing and her heart thudding against her chest. Not even the serving trays filling with incredible looking food shook her from her newfound existence in her own world of disbelief and shock. Slytherin...she was a Slytherin. Could she ask to try on the hat again? Surely it was a mistake! She was a WEASLEY, for Merlin's sake and everyone knew Weasleys went to Gryffindor! Tears began to burn in her eyes as she stared without blinking for so long...tears from the strain not blinking and tears of shame and regret. What would her parents think? What was Freddie thinking of her right now?
This thought finally made her look up and she was immediately locked eye to eye with her twin from across the two tables between them. He looked worried, but she was relieved to see nothing sinister or distrusting his gaze. She managed a weak smile and a nod to reassure him and even placed a chicken leg on her plate to seem as if she was functioning...he blinked at her several times and then nodded slowly before returning to his meal. Roxanne DID eat the chicken leg but she didn't taste it at all and as she reached for another, her hand slid into something very cold that caused her to shriek and yank it back.
A head! A head was sitting on the platter of food and then slowly rising to reveal a shimmering form of a ghostly woman, in fact there were now ghosts popping out of walls and tables and the ceiling everywhere, their voices calling out to the students as they flew around and greeted them all. Roxanne watched them, fascinated and distracted from her previous worries by the sight, and even found herself smiling as the Fat Friar grabbed his rotund stomach and made it bounce which cause the Hufflepuff table to erupt into racous laughter. Her eyes travelled over the various spirits for a while until she finally got bored and decided to try and eat a bit more...her stomach was in knots and she figured a bit of substance in it might help.
"PEEVES! LET 'EM HAVE IT!" a voice called out over the din of the Great Hall, causing very head to raise at once, eyes searching around for the source of the command. McGonagall had jumped to her feet.
"Don't you two dare..." she began, but it was too late.
"FOOD FIGHT!" the voice called again and Roxanne didn't have a chance to spot the owner of it before all manner of food was flying around the Hall. Puddings smashed aganst the walls, whole fish were used as weapons and smacked across faces, cups of pumpkin juice and water were being dumped over heads. The ammunition of choice seemed to be mashed potatoes and Roxanne was horrified to find a glob of it smashed right into the back of her neck as she attempted to duck out of the way. Fired up and determined not to be outdone, Roxanne seized a handful of chicken legs and launched them like throwing knives with deadly precision, connecting with the foreheads of three unfortunate Ravenclaws at the next table over.
"Ha!" she laughed triumphantly and reloaded her hands with green onions and a slice of mince pie, her enthusiasm for the fight and the stress built up inside her over being thrown into Slytherin caused her to stand up on the table among the tipped goblets and tossed plates, looking down at the crowd as she brandished her pie slice. "Bring it on!"
The battle raged on for quite some time until, somehow, all the food on the tables vanished as quickly as it had appeared earlier and McGonagall stood at the head table looking furious and exhausted all at once.
"Enough of this nonsense!" she snapped, glaring up towards the enchanted ceiling. Roxanne and the rest of the First Years followed her gaze and discovered an odd looking little man wearing a belled hat and bright colored clothes. "Peeves, need I remind you that you are only here because of my ood nature? Push your luck and I have every capability of tossing you out!"
Peeves stuck out his tongue before settling into a crosslegged sit in midair, crossing his arms and looking very much like a child who had been scolded by his mother.
"And YOU, Mr. Weasley..."
At this, Roxanne's attention went from the hovering poltergeist to a spot on the ceiling where the support beams crossed because movement on the beam informed her that someone was there among the stars of the enchanted ceiling. And when the translucent figure dropped down to hover over the Gryffindor table in a stance that she reconized immediately. Even in this form, see through and faded, the flaming red hair was obvious, and the clothes, and that crooked smile...
"D...dad?" It was her brother who spoke as he sat staring up at the ghost over his table and Roxanne brought her hand to her mouth in horror. It wasn't possible...they had left their father alive and well on the platform at King's Cross...surely if something had happened then they would have been informed. She couldn't help it, a sob escaped her throat that was so loud that everyone in the Hall turned to look at her. Everyone, including the apparition of her father.
"No...no..." she repeated fearfully as the ghost approached her quickly, "It can't be..."
That was when she realized this image of their father looked younger and there was something different about the way it 'stood' and as it got closer she realized there was something different about the eyes and shape of the nose...and this one had both ears.
"You're..." she whispered almost reverently as it clicked in her mind exactly who it was she was looking at and the nod from the ghost proved that she was correct, "Uncle Fred."
For a moment, he simply stared at her, studying her closely and she couldn't tell what he was thinking because his expression gave absolutely no clue. He was about to speak, looking somewhat confused, when he was interrupted by the Headmistress.
"Fred Weasley, you and Peeves get out of this Hall this instant, I shall speak to you later!" McGonagall's voice sounded furious and Roxanne glanced over at her and realized she was scourgefying mashed potato out of her robes. Fred rolled his eyes and smirked before winking at his niece and floating back up to the ceiling where Peeves was backflipping and dropping candy onto students' head below.
"C'mon then," Fred nodded towards the doors of the hall and the two of them sped off towards it, the redhead pausing a moment to look back at the students and waved to the crowd before vanishing through the doors.
Roxanne managed a weak wave before they were gone and then she clambored over the Slytherin table to get to her brother who was looking shocked and a bit sick.
"Roxy...that was..." he stuttered, still staring at the doorway their Uncle's spector had vanished through.
"Yeah..." she whispered, still unsure how she should be reacting. They had heard so much about him and had always commented on their father's tales about their escapades with a mutual 'I wish we could have met him', but she never dreamed she actually would.
"Dad doesn't know," Freddie's voice reached her ears and she realized that he was right. He had never mentioned his brother being a ghost or being here at the school, he couldn't possibly know.
McGonagall, seeing that the feast was too far gone to continue, dismissed the students to their dormatories. Roxanne hugged her brother tightly before moving off to the right to join the trail of new Slytherins in their walk towards the corridor. The Slytherin Prefect was a tall boy with spiked black hair that rose far above the heads of the younger students so she kept her eyes trained on the back of his head and tried not to focus on the emotional rollercoaster she'd been riding on the entire day. When they reached the staircases, her momentary awe at the sight was overshadowed by the sick feeling of seeing her brother veer to the left towards Gryffindor Tower...she would be heading downward to the dungeons.
When the train of Slytherins reached the entry to their common room, Roxanne tried her best to memorize the twists and turns they had made down the corridor for future reference, but her heart yearned so furiously to be ascending the stairs to the tower with her brother and so it was difficult to think about willingly coming to this part of the castle...but she had little choice. So she followed the rest of the First Years through the doors and her jaw dropped at the sight.
She had never expected the dungeons nor Slytherin House to be so...welcoming! She scanned the entire room with wide eyes, something deep, deep inside her was stirring awake as she took in the sight of the comfy looking chairs near the large fireplace at the far end of the room and the green tinted lights that were magically suspended below the ceiling that bathed the whole place in a soft, eerie sort of glow. There were older students already perched at the large round table in the center of the room, a pack of Exploding Snap cards laying out signalled they were about to begin a rousing game, a boy sat in the armchair nearest the fire with his cat on his lap, both of them looking serene and peaceful, there were snacks laid out on a table near the entryway and a sign that read "Welcome, new Snakes!" and she could have sworn she saw a mermaid pass by the large windows that looked out into the green depths of the lake. It was nothing like she imagined...it was...wonderful.
But she would never admit it out loud and she maintained a sour expression as the female Prefect, her name was something Roxanne didn't catch but she thought it might have been Anna, explained where their dormatory was and led them towards a stairway to the left of the room. Amelia caught her eye as they awkwardly sidestepped eachother to fit on the stairs in a single line and Roxanne didn't even bother acknowledging her hopeful gaze. She would not accept this...she was a Gryffindor, she WAS, no matter what some stupid, tattered hat told her! But that stirring inside her had increased and she began to understand what it was: affiliation.
The dorm room was even harder not to admit to finding appealing, she was horrified to find, in fact it was an absolutely perfect setup and she found herself speechless. The floor was dark grey marble, smooth and cold and perfectly complimenting the soft blue green hue the room had due to the lake in the windows. The windows themselves were tall and interwoven with intricate metal designs, a sitting area in between the center windows looked like a perfect spot to study and the curtains pulled to either side were heavy and emerald in color and she knew they would block out the green light for sleeping. Torches lined the walls sparsely, thick green candles wrapped in wrought iron sconces shaped like serpents, and they cast just enough light to bring a cozy atmosphere to the large room. In the center of the room was a shallow, rectangular pool which separated the room into two sides where the solid ebony canopy beds lined the walls. The trappings were darker emerald and the comforters were lined with silver and tassled on the ends...and they looked so comfortable that Roxanne found herself wanting to dive right into the nearest one.
"This is your dormatory, First Years. You will be stuck together in here with eachother for even years unless someone drops out or gets expelled or killed, so you all had best get along. I had better not have to deal with any of you breaking the rules or trying to be a hero like that Potter kid back in the day. Just go to class and keep your heads down and don't make me have to exercise my Prefect duties. Alright, get comfortable and...welcome home."
Roxanne smirked in spite of herself...she was determined not to like Anna, but she reminded her so much of her Uncle Percy that an affinity had already begun to take hold of her towards the sassy, no nonsense blonde Prefect.
With a heavy sigh, Roxanne moved towards the bed on the far left of the room, nearest the window, because she suddenly recognized the trunk at the foot of that particular bed as her own, the golden R.W. on the lid was like a beacon to her and she threw it open and busied herself with unpacking so she wouldn't have to make eye contact with any of her dorm mates. But Amelia had other plans.
"So...you're a closet Slytherin, huh?" her voice held an obvious hint of delight and Roxanne felt her jaw clench unpleasantly in response but she ignored it and tossed her pajama onto the bed before diving back into the trunk for her wand as Amelia continued, "I always knew this is where I would be but I thought for sure you'd be in Gryffindor like every other damn Weasley on this planet."
SLAM!
The trunk lid came down with a noise that made everyone in the dorm jump except for Roxanne herself and all eyes turned to the pair at the far left bed, tension hung heavy in the air as both girls glared at eachother. The silence finally broke when Roxanne spoke in a deadly serious voice:
"You think I don't know that?"
The other four girls immediately turned their backs on the situation in favor of pretending to unpack their truncks, but Roxanne could tell they were still listening closely. Amelia simply stared at her, blinking slowly and looking undisturbed by the wrath directed at her, a corner of her mouth slightly curled in a wry smile.
"Listen, Weasel, it's not the end of the world," she responded easily, "So you got put in a different House, big deal! What are they gonna do, disown you?"
Roxanne gulped, anger giving away to worry at that question. No, surely they wouldn't be so diappointed that they wouldn't accept her in the family...would they? Her brother would, she knew, but she could only imagine the looks on Uncle Ron and Harry's faces when she showed up at Christmas dinner sporting green instead of scarlet. Tears began to form in her eyes and she wiped at the angrily with the sleeve of her robe.
"I just...they'll be so disappointed..." she whispered, she gazed up at Amelia pleadingly, as if begging her to go make a deal with the Sorting Hat and fix this mess for her. Amelia remained stoic, however.
"Well, sorry Weasel, but the fact is the hat saw something in you that made it choose this House for you and there is nothing you can do to change it. I suggest you pull yourself up off the floor and stop being so pathetic about it and move on. So you're not in the Lion House, whoopty doo! Why don't you blaze your own trail for once instead of trying to be like everyone else?"
And she stood, turning to open her own trunk and unpack, leaving her words for Roxanne to chew on...and chew she did.
It was true and she knew it. Slytherin was as far from Weasley and Johnson she could get, it was uncharted territory, it was new and bold and frightening...and it was her chance to prove herself. A chance to find her own way.
Maybe...just maybe that hat had made the right choice after all.
"OH MY GOD!" the shriek of one the other girls, a short, plump girl with brown hair, rang out and everyone turned to see what the fuss was about. It was pretty obvious though: a ghost had strode right through the wall and completely unabashed by the various states of undress, hovered straight over to Roxanne. It was Fred.
"It's ok," she quickly assured her frightened room mates, "He's...well..."
"He's your dead uncle," Amelia spouted from her bed.
"Thanks for the reminder, you snot," Fred grumbled, giving Amelia a look of semi amusement before turning his attention fully on Roaxanne. He was looking at her with that intense scanning gaze again and she shifted uncomfortably before speaking.
"H-hey, Uncle Fred..."
He smiled, a genuine smile that reminded her so much of her father that it induced a bit of homesickness, but there was something unique about it as well, a deeper hint of mischief and trouble and promise about it.
"So, uh, not to be rude, but whose are you?" he asked with a little chuckle.
"Y-your brother..."
"Gotta be more specific, kiddo, I had five of them."
Roxanne stared at him for a long moment in silence, blinking rapidly in disbelief. Had he said, as if he no longder had them...and he didn't realize which brother she meant. Carefully, she responded barely above a whisper.
"I'm George Weasley's daughter."
Some strong emotion flickered over his face for a moment and he seemed to have to think for a second before knowing how to respond, but he gave her a cheeky grin and nodded.
"Ah ha...so he finally had the nerve to go after Angelina then? Knew he had it in 'im."
It seemed like an odd reaction to Roxanne, as if he was deflecting the weight of her statement, but she let it slide and just nodded in response with a small smile.
"Not to break up this family reunion or anything," a rather imposing girl at the farthest end of the bunks said with a heavy tone of sarcasm, "But I'm not fond of the idea of some random Gryffindor ghost wandering into my bedroom at any hour he pleases. So why don't you take your little tongue wagging session elsewhere?"
Roxanne felt herself blushing brightly, realizing how odd it truly was to be conversing with a Gryffindor ghost, a male one at that, in the middle of the Slytherin girl's dormatory, but Fred simply hovered exactly where he was and ignored the girl almost entirely...except for the choice finger he chose to point in her direction.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist," he said easily to the girl before giving Roxanne his full attention, "So...George's daughter, huh? In Slytherin?"
"Yeah...looks like it," Roxanne said with a sigh, and then something inside her latched onto this echo of her Uncle and she immediately felt the need to tell him EVERYTHING that was churning in her heart and soul and she opened her mouth to spill them. She was stopped, however, by the warning look on his face and the hand that raised to motion for her not to say anything.
"I'm sure we have a LOT to discuss," he said, pointedly glancing at her dorm mates, "But it's rather late and you've got a busy day tomorrow, yeah? I'm gonna go check on your brother and introduce myself still. Can't get any rest even when I'm dead, geez!"
He gave her a wink and whispered "Meet me on the 7th floor after dinner. There's a tapestry of a guy trying to teach trolls to dance...we can talk there."
And, as she watched the silvery shape of her Uncle disappear again through the wall, Roxanne thought she would burst into tears from the disappointment...and yet there was a spark of hope in her chest.
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Sorry if this feels a bit rushed, but I have to be up at 4 am and I wanted to get this out to you all :)