Hey I'm back! Thanks for the reviews! So it's the Sorting now. I've been debating the Houses for Nanoha and Fate since I first started this thing, so please do hate me for this, 'cause I got my reasons. For those that do hate me, please just keep reading... it'll get better.
Another thing, I'm surprised no one has commented on the fact that Nanoha was a part-time bodyguard before finding Raging Heart. If ya'll want more info on that, just ask and I'll put it up next AN.
Also, I've been asked why Nanoha used her Spacial Awareness rather than Wide Area Search to find Trevor. To put it simply, WAS uses more magic than SA, since SA is a part of her. Also, she was trying to keep a low profile, and a spell like WAS, using a runic circle that is composed of pure magic, isn't something that she wants known.
Anyway, in this chapter we get a hint of things to come, and a taste of what's in store for any one who tries to enter Nanoha's mind.
That said...
Enjoy!
Chapter 9: At the Drop of a Hat.
Nanoha, Fate, their two new friends, and the rest of the first years gaped at the grandeur of the Hogwarts Great Hall. Even if the two mages had seen the great sights of the universe, not even the Garden of Time could compare to the ancient majesty of English architecture. Especially the ceiling. The clouds skirting across the duplicate of the night sky lent a sense of impressiveness that outdid any of the ancient ruins that the two mages had ever seen.
Four tables that took up most of the full length of the 800 foot long, 200 hundred foot wide hallway were inter spaced through the hall. Above each table hung a banner: A red banner with a yellow lion rampant, a blue banner with a bronze eagle, a yellow banner with a black and white badger, and the last a green banner with a silver snake.
Moonlight streamed through the windows on the left side, while hundreds of thousands of candles floating in the air above them provided the light.
At the far end was a raised dais containing a large wooden table. Dumbledore was sitting at its center in a ornate wooden throne- like chair. The spot on his right was empty, presumably for professor McGonagal. On his left were three teachers, two men, one wearing a purple turban, the other with greasy black hair and filthy black robes, and a woman with unkempt frizzy dark hair bound in a scarf and thick glasses that made her eyes seem much bigger than they should be. On his right were three others: a incredibly short man who looked like he had a goblin for an ancestor, a rather round woman with brown frizzy hair who wore dirt stained robes and a pointed hat, and a tall, slender woman with light blonde hair.
In front of the Staff Table was an old battered hat siting on a three legged stool. Professor McGonagal halted troupe of students at the end of the tables. The distance was just close enough for Nanoha to sense that the hat had some form of intelligence. "Fate," Nanoha sent as McGonagal walked up to stand next to the hat, "I think that hat's alive."
Fate looked at her foster sister. "Really?"
Nanoha was proven right when the wrinkles on the hat contorted into a face, and a rip near the brim formed as the hat burst into song:
Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!
Nanoha and Fate looked at each other, clapping along with the others. "Not half bad," Nanoha critiqued aloud. Mentally she sent, "I wonder if it's going to look through our memories."
"Probably," Fate replied as McGonagal summoned a long piece of parchment, "Though it should be fine if the parents approve of it. No one would want their mind read if something or someone could reveal their secrets."
Nanoha mentally agreed with her as McGonagal began calling students up. The first one, Hannah Abbot, went to Hufflepuff, as did Susan Bones. One of Malfoy's henchmen, Vincent Crabbe, became the second Slytherin, after a rather chubby girl. A red headed Irishman named Seamus Finnigan went to Griffindore. Gregory Goyle, Mafoy's other friend, went to Slytherin.
Then Hermione was called. As she came forward, Nanoha and Fate could hear her telling herself to relax. Nanoha, deciding to help the nervous girl, stopped her a moment. "Don't worry about it; it'll be fine," Nanoha whispered in her ear, "Like my Judo Sensei told me, on't think, don't act, just do it."
Remembering Nanoha's take down of Malfoy, Hermione nodded in thanks and headed up. The Hat was on her head only for a few moments when it called out Griffindor.
Beaming, Hermione headed for the far left hand table.
A bespectacled girl called Daphne Greengrass was sorted into Ravenclaw, causing most of the hall to stay silent in, what Nanoha could tell, was shock.
"I wonder what that was about," Nanoha sent as McGonagal continued reading the names.
"No idea."
Soon it was Malfoy's turn. As he swaggered up, Nanoha noticed that he was moving a bit more stiffly than he had been. "Maybe I over did it a bit?"
"SLYTHERIN!" the hat called.
"There's not a witch or wizard that went bad that wasn't in Slytherin," Ron said, causing Harry to tense.
"That can't be true," Nanoha told them as McGonagal continued to call out names, "There's no way. The way this place is, there has to be bad people from each house."
Harry had to think about that.
After the pug faced girl, Pansy Parkinson, was sorted into Slytherin, It was Harry's turn.
The Hall fell silent after McGonagal called Harry's name. Then, as Harry nervously walked toward the Hat, the whispers began:
"Did she say Potter?"
"The Harry Potter?"
"The Boy-Who-Lived?"
Harry was nervous as he walked up the aisle and sat upon the stool, and like she had for the others, Prof. McGonagal placed the Sorting Hat upon his head. He was not used to the attention.
No sooner had the Hat been placed on his head than he heard a voice in his head. "Hmmm. I say Mr. Potter, you have certainly have had a difficult childhood.
"Now don't panic," the voice continued as Harry's panicking threatened to shut him out, "It is simply I, the Shorting Hat."
Harry calmed down a bit. "You're not going to say anything about what's in my head are you?" he whispered.
"Not at all. I cannot anyway. And you can just think your answers. Now, your 'upbringing' if it could be called that," Harry snorted a bit at that, "has left you plenty of courage, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you...I'll allow you to choose: Gryffindor, or Slytherin."
"Please not Slytherin."
"Not Slytherin? Are you sure? You would do well there you know...almost as well as Nanoha from what I've seen."
"As well as Gryffindor?"
The Hat was silent for a moment, and then said, "I have made my decision. GRYFFINDOR!"
The last word was obviously said aloud, for the Hall erupted into cheers, much more so from the table that resided underneath the red and yellow banner.
Nanoha clapped for her new friend and counterpart, noting that he appeared relieved. As soon as the applause died, McGonagal called Nanoha.
Nanoha strode cautiously up the aisle, still unused to the whispers about herself while on Earth. While she wondered where Girl-Who-Protected title came from, she filed it away for later. Instead, she prepped her mindscape and sent a mental command to Raging Heart. "Raging Heart, lower your shield and let him in."
"Are you sure that is wise, My Master?" Raging Heart asked as Nanoha sat down; lowering her natural mental barrier would leave Nanoha more vulnerable to mental attacks.
"Not really, but it's not like I have a choice in the matter. It'll take too long for you to process his Thoughts into your firewall."
"Alright."
McGonagal placed the Hat on Nanoha's head.
The Sorting Hat was instantly glad that he was a hat. While he had encountered natural Occulmency Barriers before, this was the first time he'd encountered a mindscape.
And what a mindscape! He was in a Human Form, in space, orbiting, of all places, Alpha Centari. He was very sorry for whoever tried to enter this girl's mind, the lack of air and freezing temperature would be enough to stop all but the most powerful of Legillimencers, and he instantly concluded that his previous assessment of her future placement was justified, but where were...
"It's beautiful, isn't it Boushi-san."
The Hat-turned-human whirled at the sound. He blinked a bit as he saw Nanoha, dressed in her elementary school uniform, Raging Heart in Standby Form visible.
"It is indeed child," he said, grateful that the spells that gave him life also gave him a universal language that anyone could understand. "In fact, it appears as if you have been there."
Nanoha smiled. "Take my hand please Boushi-san," she said, offering a hand, "You need to see my memories correct?"
The Hat took the girl's hand, and was greatly surprised when a circular pink runic array appeared around them. "Dimensional Teleport."
There was a flash of pink light, and the Hat found himself inside a mental copy of the Midoriya, surrounded by the oddest people, only one of which he recognized as her sister Fate.
"Please, take your time, Boushi-san." Nanoha said, waving a hand to her projections of her family and friends.
The Sorting Hat nodded. Placing his hands on her first projection, one that looked like her mother, he began sifting through her memories. It was much harder than he hought. This girl is something else, he thought to himself. Not only had Nanoha used projections of her friends and family to store her memories, thus making sure that they were well protected, but she had split them up in several different ways; her mother, siblings and friends from Earth all stored her earliest memories, while Fate, Hayate, the Wolkenwritter, and the other TSAB personnel stored her memories of space. In addition, her projections stored the memories of the people the resembled, be they on Earth or as a part of the TSAB, rendering the story of her memories that much harder to keep track of.
I need to remember not to anger her, the Hat thought as he saw the memory of Nanoha losing her temper- if he'd been human, he would have wet his pants.
Just as he finishing, a screen popped up in front of the mage, showing... was that William Shatner?
"Hai Captain Kirk, What is it," Nanoah asked, though she knew very well what it was- she had felt the heavily shielded presence circling her mental defenses sometime ago, but had chose not to do anything in case he did not.
The commander of the Enterprise, one of Nanoha's first line defenses, snapped of a salute. "Someone has been found orbiting Alpha Centari. We have him surrounded. Shall we open fire?"
"Ne. I'll do this myself." Nanoha turned to the Hat. "Take my hand, Boushi-san."
The Hat obliged. There was a brief flash of pink and they found themselves in the regions of Alpha Centari. In front of them was a black cloaked form, a sign of heavy shielding. "Who are you? Why do you enter the mind of a child?"
The black form nodded slightly. "I am a professor. Your sorting is taking a lot longer than normal, so I decided to see what was happening. I didn't expect that you would already have a mindscape, muchless one like this, though I think the copy of Starfleet is a bit dramatic."
Nanoha looked thoughtful for a moment, and then nodded. "I know you are not telling the whole truth, however in light of time, I'll let it slide for now. I will contact you later."
The cloaked man nodded, though he had no idea how Nanoah would know how to find him when he was shielding himself. "I will take my leave then." He turned to leave, only to freeze when pink rings materialized, halting him in his tracks. "What?!"
"I did not say that you could leave." Nanoha raised a pink glowing right fist, and could feel his and the Hat surprise as her pink Mid-Childan circle flared to life underneath her. "Did you honestly think that I would let you leave so easily? When you invaded my mind unprovoked? Let this be a lesson sensei." She raised her right palm. "Never." Three runic rings as wide as she was tall materialized, "Read minds," pink balls of energy gathered in each one, "Without permission." She was silent for a moment, then, her voice cold and hard, said two words: "Strike Smasher."
Three five foot wide beams of neon pink energy, one from each circle, converged on the cloaked figure. A second later, Nanoha closed her hand, the beams dissipating into nothingness.
The Hat shook himself, as much out of fear as coming out of the stupor the show had left him in.
"I have completed my evaluation. HUFF..."
"Wait."
The Hat looked at the girl. "Yes?"
"Put me in Slytherin."
The Hat managed to look shocked; he had certainly considered it, but had chosen not to place her there, if only to protect the students. "Do you not know that Slytherin is not exactly the most likable of Houses?"
Nanoha nodded. "Exactly. Someone needs to show them that not all Slytherins are evil, and perhaps I may be able to help the students there see that there are other ways as well."
The Hat nodded. "Understood. SLYTHERIN!" With a happy sigh, the Hat withdrew from her mindscape, idly wondering what force he had unleashed on the House of Ambition. I pray no one tries to push her, he thought, Not even Dumbledore, muchless the House of Cunning, would know what hit them.
Nanoha opened her eyes to stunned silence, and shocked looks on everyone but Fate and her two friends, who started to clap. The rest of the hall slowly followed suit, more so from the table underneath the snake banner, as McGonagal removed the Sorting Hat. Nanoha skipped lightly down the aisle, sitting next to a black haired girl that she remembered as Tracey Davis.
"I didn't think anyone was suspecting that," Tracey told the girl. "I'm Tracey."
Nanoha shrugged as Fate was called, though she could sense her sister's slight irritation as McGonagal had added Tesstarossa to her adopted family name. "Nanoha." The Hat was silent, it took a lot less time than Nanoha's had, particularly since the Hat already had an idea of what to do from Nanoha. As Nanoha watched, her eye caught the greasy hair professor massaging his temples, indicating that he had been the one to enter Nanoha's mind.
The Hat cried, "SLYTHERIN!", and the hall burst into applause.
"Miss me," Fate asked as she slid onto the bench next to Nanoha.
The rest of the sorting passed quickly, with Ron being sorted into Griffindor.
After McGonagal withdrew the Hat, Professor Dumbledore stood. "Before the feast begins," he said, his voice carrying throughout the room, "I have just a few words to say. Tuck in!"
Immediately, plates of food appeared on the table.
"So," Tracey said, "if you two are sisters, why is your last name different?"
"I am adopted," Fate said.
Nanoha looked up at the greasy haired professor again, who was saying something to the man in the purple turban before looking over at Harry. As the turbaned man turned his head, the back of the man's covered head faced Nanoha. White hot pain shot through her scar, a picture of a snakelike face flashing across her vision.
A quick glance at Harry saw that he'd been similarly affected.
"Tracey-chan," Nanoha asked, biting back the pain, "I'll tell you later," she sent in reply to Fate's mental query, "Who are those two?"
"The dark haired one is Professor Snape, our Head of House. The other is Professor Querille, the Defense teacher, though he taught Muggle Studies last year."
The three continued to make light conversation as Nanoha mentally told Fate what had happened with her scar.
"He must be hiding something," Fate sent.
"I agree, but I doubt Dumbledore-sensei would keep him on staff if it was something dangerous."
Put at ease, by her foster-sister's assurance, the cloned mage turned her attention to dinner, only to blink as a silver gray ghost with dried blood staining his coat descended on the students, swinging a rapier.
"You are good with that rapier," Nanoha commented.
The old bearded ghost paused; no first year had ever had the courage to speak to him before, muchless compliment his swordsmanship. "Thank you miss," he said, tipping his tricorner hat, "It is good to see the young interested in swordplay."
"I have some experience," Nanoha said, downplaying her true skill, "I would not mind a spar sometime."
The ghost looked at her strangely. "I do not think that is possible," he said, "I am a ghost and you are..." He paused as Nanoha, out of sight of the other students, lightly touched his hand.
"I have a ghost for a friend," she explained, "She gave me the gift."
He nodded. "Perhaps we shall." He bowed to her with a flourish of his hat. "Farewell."
Once the desert course was done, the food disappeared.
Dumbledore stood. "Now that we are filled to the brim, I have a few announcements to make. First, please remember that the Forbidden Forest is off-limits to all students," his eye lingered on Ron's twin brothers. "Second, I have been asked by our illustrious Caretaker, Mr. Filtch to remind you all that magic is not to be used in the hallways. Finally, it is my duty to inform you that this year, the third floor corridor, on the right hand side, is out of bounds, for anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. And now, First years follow your perfects to the common rooms."
There was an ordered chaos as the students dispersed. Nanoha and Fate joined the other first years in following a well muscled, six foot boy by the name of Marcus Flint down the hallways to the lower part of the castle. "I wondered what that was about," Tracey said, "My fammily has been coming here for generations, and I've never heard of something like that from them."
Nanoah shrugged. "I do not know."
"Unless it has something to do with the Lost Logia Hagrid took from Gringotts," Fate sent.
Nanoha didn't reply as she checked her watch for the time. Tracey's eyes widened a bit at the device. White with pink accents, it had a half inch wide screen, and a miniature keyboard. "How is that working," Tracey asked, "Electronics aren't supposed to work around magic."
"It is special," Nanoha stated, "it is heavily shielded against Electromagnetic interference which would prevent it from working properly. I suppose that magic gives off EMI, and so it does not have a problem due to the shielding."
Tracey gave her a look. "Why would you have something like that?"
Nanoha sighed, tapping out a command. "Because it is not simply a watch." She held up the changed screen, to show changing numbers, and a flat line that jumped up and down with some kind of beat. "It is to keep track of my health, among other things."
Before Tracey could reply, they arrived at a dead end, though Nanoha, Fate, and their devices could sense some sort of portal. They could also make out a snake carved into a stone.
Flint spoke. "Crotalinae." The wall parted much like the one in Diagone Alley.
Flint led the way through the portal, and the group found themselves in a spacious room decorated in greens, silvers, and black, lit with a cool blue light, with moving shadows, reminding the mages and muggleborns of light shining through water. The cool, sea like air only added more realism to being underwater. Sensing movement up above, Nanoha looked upwards, Fate following suit, only to see a giant squid looking down at them.
"Welcome to the Slytherin Common Room," Flint said, the most word he had spoken since he had met them, "Girls dorms are down the stairs to the left," he pointed at a hall at the left of the great fireplace, which had a small, smoldering fire, "Boys to the right. Our Head of House is Professor Snape, who is also our Potions teacher."
He looked at the students. "Being from Pureblood familys, I am sure that you are all aware of the prejudices that exist about our House, how everyone in Slytherin comes out a Dark Wizard or Witch. While this is somewhat justified, since most of You-Know-Who's supporters came from Slytherin. However, do not let the prejudices get you down. Slytherin is a noble House to belong to. Please, do your House proud."
With out another word, he turned on his heel and headed down the hall for the boys dorm.
Tracey, Fate, Nanoha, and the rest of the First year girls headed for the dorms. After seven flights of stairs they came to a thick wooden door that bore the number one. They went in, only to find three wooden doors that looked like the belonged in a castle's prison. The plaque on the door bore names, and Nanoha and Fate discovered that they were lodging with Tracey.
The three girls went into the room. Tracey, seeing that her luggage was already in front of the bed by the far right window, went for it, while Nanoha and Fate eyed the individual four poster single beds with green curtains apprehensively: the two girls had gotten used to sharing a bed, and were slightly nervous about sleeping apart, due to drawing comfort from one another that kept away nightmares.
"If only they had a bigger bed," Nanoha muttered. No sooner than she'd said this than there was a flash of green light, and a much larger bed, nearly king sized, replaced the remaining three. Nanoha and Fate blinked. "That is convenient," Fate remarked, going to gently prod the bed with both her shoe and an invisible magic probe
"I wonder how that happened," Tracey wondered, pausing in the middle of getting her nightclothes.
"No idea," Nanoha said as she sat on it, opening her duffle, though inwardly she sent to Fate, "Looks like we found one of the Houses I'm an Heiress of."
"Looks like it. One of the keys was green, so if I was to guess, the other would be Hufflepuff, the one the Hat was going to put you in before you changed its mind."
"I'll see you two tomorrow," Tracey said, getting in her bed and drawing her curtains with a light clinking.
Nanoha and Fate, who usually slept in their self cleaning under shirt and TSAB gym shorts that they wore underneath their regular clothes followed suit.
After drawing the curtains tightly to hide the light, Fate looked at Nanoha's watch, checking her vitals, before typing a command. A second later, the watch projected a screen, showing the state of Nanoha's Linker Core. After she had over worked it, Nanoha's Core had grown unstable, looking like a erratic sun, as streams of manna escaped from the holes in its wall. To their surprise, it was slightly more stable than it had been, even with Nanoha using her SA past the light setting.
"That's odd," Fate said as she powered the display down and slipped under the covers.
"I'll say," Nanoha added as she followed suit. "It could be because of all the magic around here, but I'll ask Shamal about it tomorrow." She gave her sister a peck on the check, as was their custom. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
The two mages drifted off to sleep.
Hope Ya"ll like it! Nanoha's watch was an idea I just came up with, so I hope that's ok. As for why I chose Slytherin, I'm surprise no one in this category has seemed to consider it. My explanation of choosing Slytherin summed up in four words: tactics and Starlight Breaker: Nanoha has never shown all that she's capable of until the last possible moment- que oh crap from Fate and- major one- from Quattro, and a suprise from Vita via Divine Buster plus detonating barrier jacket, and oh crap when she destroy the barrier they were in with Shamal's hand in her chest and during the 'White Devil incident' on top of the hospital in A's.
Secondly, Starlight Breaker, is the ultimate Slytherin attack: sucks up residual magic, always used at the end of a large battle when Nanoha and her opponents have nearly exhausted themselves, and can be used even when she has no magic. She's also a tactical genius, which means great cunning. These are the reasons why I see her as Slytherin's Heir.
Minor note, I believe 'boushi' is Japanese for 'hat'- found it on the net. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
See ya next time!