Daphne stand pensively as the sorting ceremony starts. At the beginning of the train ride her course was clear.
Abbott, Hannah… HUFFLEPUFF
She's been trained since she could read, to seek connections, to better her status, to be a Lady, and to read political situations.
Bones, Susan… HUFFLEPUFF
Her father had been a Slytherin, as had his. It was the house for political and mercantile houses to hone the skills they'll need in the coming years.
Boot, Terry… RAVENCLAW
But this morning she met Mari, bubbly, irritating, irreverent, and magical. And there's the sticking point, she should be a mundane, she shouldn't have been on the train, so many other things that she should be but isn't or shouldn't be but is. How could she ignore a family that could give magic to mug… mundane people.
That leads her to Harry Potter, now Harry Danann. The boy-who-lived, heir to a long thought dead branch of magic, and who has some sort of connection to Brigid. The fly in the ointment, the person who is potentially the most politically connected person in the school. Rightly or wrongly, unless he goes to Slytherin, his very existence means that she can't afford to go to the very house she thought was the only house she could go to.
Corner, Michael… RAVENCLAW
Slightly confused, Daphne looks up to see that she's missed a few people been sorted while she's been thinking. Seeing that Tracy is standing next to her, she leans over and whispers, "Slytherin or not, follow Harry, I'll follow you."
Her decision now made, Daphne watches pensively as students are called up.
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Harry sits down on the stall and the hat is put down over his head. Suddenly the hat speaks without calling out a house.
"Professor, if you would please remember that I can only sort 1 person at a time."
Harry concentrates briefly and becomes aware of a weight on his head, "Evie, wake up!"
Ephis groans as Harry pokes her, "What? I was comfortable."
Harry ignores the comments of surprise from around him, "What have I told you about not sleeping on my head without warning?"
"The same thing your mother keeps saying about not leaving the Honey open."
From the top table, an old man with a long white beard peers down, "Excuse me, but what sort of Fairy are you?"
Ephis looks up at the old man, "I'm not a Fairy, I'm a Sylph and I have been for the last 200 years."
"My apologies, I wasn't aware of that distinction. Do you mind me asking if Fairies are related to your species?"
Ephis nods proudly, "Yep, they're caterpillars, then they become sprites, then grigs, there's a couple more stages then you get to Sylph's like me."
"Does your species have a name apart from the stages?"
Ephis floats there for a moment with her hand on her chin, "Fae, that's what Morr… Morgana calls us."
"Fae like Sidhe?"
"No way, we're nothing like them. Not even the goblins and hobgoblins that live with them are like them."
"So what are you doing here?"
"I bound myself to Harry by name when he was a toddler, so where he goes I go."
"I see, well would you mind waiting beside Professor McGonagall while Harry is sorted. She's the witch holding the hat."
Once Ephis flies over to McGonagall, the hat is lowered onto Harry's head again.
"Hmm, this is easy, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. You would do well in either."
Harry's eyebrows furrow as he replies, "Hufflepuff, I hope you haven't been stealing my memories."
"No, I only see the shape of your mind and personality. HUFFLEPUFF!"
Before Harry can ask what that means, the hat is lifted from his head and he's ushered over to the Hufflepuff table.
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Tracy watches as Harry is led to the Hufflepuff table. Follow Harry huh?
"Davis, Tracy."
Tracy walks forward with a confidence she doesn't feel and sits down on the stool. As the hat is placed over her head she murmurs, "Hufflepuff please."
"Oh, a polite one. You would do well in Slytherin."
"I know, but it would get in the way of being friends with the people I met on the train."
"It shouldn't do, Cunning and Ambition are the hallmarks of house Slytherin."
"But that doesn't matter to politics, and I know I'm not that smart or brave. So as I can't be in Slytherin and still be friends with Harry, Susan, Mari, and Hannah, I'd like to go to Hufflepuff please."
"Very well, though I think your talent is going to be wasted."
"I think my friends are more important."
"Very well said young HUFFLEPUFF!"
Sagging in relief, Tracy sits down next to Harry and turns to face the rest of the sorting. There's a couple more sortings before Hermione is called. Her sorting takes slightly longer than Tracy's did, however, looking at the older students, it doesn't seem to be out of the ordinary when it finishes. As Hermione sits down at the Ravenclaw table, Tracy gives her a quick smile and nod before turning her attention back to Daphne, who is currently walking to the stool.
There seems to be a low conversation going on between Daphne and the Hat, one that goes on for a minute, then 5. Finally the hat can be heard to grumble, "Fine, have it your way. Better be HUFFLEPUFF!"
As the Hufflepuff table breaks out in raucous applause, there's dead silence and stares from the Slytherin table. Unsurprising given her father and upbringing.
As Daphne sits down, Tracy leans over and whispers, "What happened?"
"The hat wanted to put me anywhere but Hufflepuff. Said I wasn't suited for this house."
"In fairness, it probably has a point. You're not the most trusting person."
"Not like there was much opportunity to be trusting." Daphne cuts off when one of the upper years makes a shushing motion.
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Eventually the sorting finishes with only one other unexpected placement, Neville Longbottom joined them in Hufflepuff rather than going to Gryffindor like his ancestors have for the last 400 years.
As the last student sits down, the headmaster stands up with a Gringotts key in his hand.
"Good evening and welcome to all of the new students at this fine school. Now I know you've all had a long day so I'll only say a few words before you all eat." He waves the key from left to right, "Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak."
When nothing happens he looks at his hand in confusion, which briefly flashes to frustration before he says, "Well, I'm a nitwit, I tried to use a key as a wand. Let's try that again."
Reaching into his left sleeve, he pulls out a second key and waves it from left to right again, "Well, isn't that an oddment. Well, before I start blubbering at the table, let's try that one more time, and hopefully nobody's tweaking my nose this time."
This time he pulls his wand and food appears on each of the tables as it passes over them.
As she's turning around, Daphne notices Harry's eyes narrowing at the keys in the headmasters grasp. It only lasts a moment before he too turns around to begin eating. She watches at Evie flutters up and down the table looking for something to eat before a vase of flowers appears on the table in front of the first years. Seeing the flowers, she flies over and gets a sylph sized long spoon from somewhere before diving in.
While they're eating, Harry leans forward to look at Daphne, "Daphne, do you mind if I ask why your sorting took so long?"
Daphne shakes her head slightly, "The hat just wanted to put me pretty much anywhere but here. It said this house wasn't suitable for me."
"So why did you push for this house?"
"Because this is the one Tracy went to. I asked her to avoid Slytherin, but follow you if you went to Slytherin, and as she's my only real friend I followed her here."
Tracy pipes up, "I thought you wanted me to go into the same house as Harry."
Daphne shakes her head while eating daintily, "No, it is possible to maintain friendships across houses if you're not in Slytherin. Since the last war, Slytherin has become synonymous with the Dark Lords followers. According to my father, before that it was possible to cross that divide. I… enjoyed the train ride with you and Mari, so I didn't want to lose that possible friendship before it began. If it didn't work out to start with, we could try. I could try again in 3rd year when our electives start and the houses start to mix more."
Harry looks at her with suddenly old eyes, "What else?"
"I…"
Tracy starts to say, "What she's trying to say is…"
Harry puts his hand up, "I want to hear it from Daphne."
Daphne tries to justify herself, "I've been raised to see relationships and political advantages everywhere, and based on that you're politically the most powerful person in our year, possibly in the entire school. But that doesn't change what I said before."
Harry smiles at her, "No, but it does help you having it out in the open. See, you can't have a friendship without trust, and you can't build loyalty without trust. There's a reason why the trickster gods were also the least trusted."
"Does that mean that you'd tell me your name?"
Harry nods, "If we became good enough friends, yes. In Celtic culture, your private name is something that is only shared with the closest of friends and family. Mari knows my name, as does my mother and Evie."
Across the table, Justin Finch-Fletchley asks, "What's this about Celtic culture?"
"My family practice Celtic Magic, and I'm the first to ever get a Hogwarts letter. Part of that is also the culture, specifically the culture in Ireland, the Welsh and English Celts had their own gods that were on good terms with ours."
"What happened to them. I've tried to read some of Morgana Danann's books, but they're too deep for me."
"Christians happened. 100 years or so after the Romans pulled out of Ireland, the Christians arrived and kidnapped any magical children they could find. The mundane population was converted by sword or word. Eventually it was only a few enclaves left and my mother is the first one since then that has lived outside the protections they erected."
"That sucks, but the church has changed a lot since those days."
"Maybe." Harry says noncommittally.
From there the topic turns to lighter things, namely everyone elses family. It turns out that Justin is second in line to inherit the Earldom of Winchilsea after his father. Macmillian is a pure-blood of a merchant family, though they tend to deal more with international trade than the cut-throat internal market. Megan Jones and Wayne Hopkins both come from families with a long history of working in the Ministry. Sophie Roper is from a well to do family who was able to get her in due to her mothers alumni status. Finally, Neville Longbottom comes from an old family that does a bit of everything and has a permanent seat on the Wizengamot. It's also clear that he's painfully shy and nervous.
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As the desserts disappear to wherever they came from, the headmaster stands at the top table.
"Now we are all fed and watered I have a few announcements to make. First of all, staffing changes. Professor Quirell is returning from his sabbatical to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts this year. Some of you may remember him as the Muggle Studies teacher.
"Secondly, for 5th year students and below, your Potions classes will now be taking place in the new St Mungo's clinic in Hogsmeade. When it is time for your lesson, gather in the entrance hall and a member of staff will guide you to the carriages. Be aware that anyone that doesn't attend the lessons, or fails to return on the carriages will earn lessons with Professor Snape. As you will be interrupting either his research or brewing time, I doubt he will be pleased.
"Moving onto the school rules, I need to remind you that there is to be no wands used in the corridors. Additionally there are a sizable number of items that are banned in the school. For a complete list see the noticeboard outside Caretaker Filch's office.
"Finally, we come to warnings. The Forbidden forest that borders the grounds of the school, is just that Forbidden to students, as some of you need to remember. Additionally, this year the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to all students who do not want to die a hideous death. Normally we would now sing the school song, but as I have already made a fool of myself once tonight, and Professor McGonagall refuses to lead it, I'll wish you all good night. First years, one of the prefects should be along to show you to your dorms."
There's an exaggerated "Awww" from a pair of red headed twins at the Gryffindor table.
It doesn't take long for the first year Hufflepuffs to be led to their shared dorm. A long room in the basement with wood panelled partitions that reach up 7 foot to the 10 foot ceiling. Each partition has it's own door with a courtesy lock, a plush 4 poster single bed, dresser, chair and desk with a vanity mirror.
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Marianne walks up to her front door, Morgana a couple of paces behind her, and rings the bell. It took her a bit longer than it should have done to get back to the doorway, but Morgana allowed her to finish the journey on her own as she was already on the way. On the drive over to the house she'd eaten a quick sandwich, and she has another one along with a drink in her bag.
Her face falls as the door opens to reveal her father, "Finally remembered this is your home did you? Go on, get to bed you've got school in the morning."
Ducking her head, she walks up stairs and closes the bedroom door before she starts to cry. Not for the first time she wishes that Morgana was her parent rather than her father. Once she's had a cry, she pulls the second sandwich and the drink out of her bag, and puts the rubbish back in once she's finished. After checking that her alarm is set for 7am, she gets ready for bed and then goes to sleep.
At 6am her mother gently shakes her awake, "Good morning sweetheart, it's time for you to get up."
Blearily Marianne looks at the clock, "But I don't need to be up for another hour."
"Your father has decided that it's time for you to learn your womanly duties to Christ, so if you want to be able to practice you need to get up now."
"Uh? What?"
"You'll be helping me prepare breakfast and his lunch. If it's not done on time then he will be late eating, which makes us late eating."
"Huh? Why? It's not like I'm Christian."
"Shhh, don't say things like that unless you want to get flogged."
"Mum, why do you put up with this?"
"Because I promised to be by his side for better or worse, until death do we part. Same as you will one day. You can still visit the Danann's after school, but be home by 6pm to help with dinner and the housework."
Tiredly, Marianne rubs the sleep out of her eyes and gets out of bed. "Mum, why do you go to that church?"
"Because it's the same church your fathers family has always attended. I used to be a Methodist before I met your father."
As her mother leaves, signalling that the conversation is over, Marianne drags herself into her practice clothing and takes her practice sword out into the garden where she stretches and then runs through her drills for half an hour before heading in to was and get dressed.
Once she's dressed, she learns a new meaning for hell as her mother guides her through setting the table for her fathers breakfast. Where the morning paper needs to be placed. The placement of his knife, fork, spoon and mug. A box of cereal is placed on the table and a jug of milk prepared in the kitchen. She is then shown, quite firmly, how to stand by the kitchen door with her hands clasped across her stomach, just below her bellybutton, but no lower. Her father comes down at precisely 7:20 and sits at the table reading his paper for 10 minutes. He then pours himself a bowl of cereal and looks pointedly at Marianne. Her mother has to nudge her before she scurries off to the kitchen and brings back the milk, which she is then expected to pour slowly. At 7:30 he finishes the bowl of cereal and her mother brings out a teapot and pours him a mug of tea. A snap of his fingers brings Marianne's attention back to the room and she hurries out to get the milk again.
5 minutes late, at 7;45, he folds the newspaper and places it on the table before getting up and leaving the room. Silently, her mother starts to clear away the breakfast stuff, and Marianne helps just so she doesn't have to do it all herself. It takes 10 minutes before everything is cleaned and put away, leaving Marianne only a couple of minutes to scarf down a bowl of cereal and wash it up before she and her mother have to leave in order to walk to school in time.
On the way, Marianne says, "Mum, once I know the way to school I could walk myself so that you have more time to get up in the morning."
Her mother shakes her head, "Thank you for the offer, but it is my duty to ensure that you get to school safely every morning."