Chapter 7: The magnificent Cuthbert

Summary:

Neville reminisces.

The sorting starts.

Hermione and Cuthbert are pleasantly surprised by one another.

We learn about one of the Addams ancestors.

Harry reflects about good an evil.

Hermione takes a seat.

Notes:

I live \o/

At this point I won't even apologise, I take forever to write, fight me(you better not fight me, I'll lose).

Alas time has elude me and I was busy.

This chapter gave us a lot of grief lol

The comments from the last chapter were absolutely hilarious, thank you for taking time to comment

Enjoy the chapter guys, happy reading!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

The doors to the Great Hall opened for them, exposing them to the enchanted ceiling showing the night sky and all the stars and clouds that the sky outside had. The light of the floating candles scattered around and over the four long tables and extended onto them, bathing them in the luminous warmth. Walking in they were hit with an avalanche of noise from all the students sitting at the colour coded tables, waiting for their sorting so they could welcome their new housemates and hurry up to the welcoming feast.

Neville looked over his shoulder to Hermione, mostly to check if she was still behind him, she looked him in the eyes and raised her chin minimally, wordlessly telling him to keep his head high. He walked after Professor Mcgonagall and the rest of the students that fell in line behind the older witch.

On the far left, he could see Slytherin, with its emerald green banner and snake elegantly sewn in silver into it, billowing over the students even though there was no wind nor breeze in the room. The students sat at that table were in its overwhelming majority and yet unsurprisingly, purebloods with a few and far between half bloods, but despite all the formal training that those present in that house undoubtedly received since they could understand themselves as people, they were still children and teenagers, making it the reunion amongst friends and distantly related family a weird mix between formal and barely contained excitement, like a joyful court.

The table under the blue banner and bronze eagle next to Slytherin's, was a mixed bag of purebloods, half bloods and muggleborns. It was very common for purebloods that didn't end up in Slytherin to be sorted into Ravenclaw. The behaviour learned from birth and was ingrained in the old families was somehow infectious amongst the eagles, even the most overeager of the children eventually fell in line with the arrogant behaviour most of the house adopted. Of course, it was very easy for them to lose all that posture when there was a subject they were curious about and would immediately flock around a book or someone teaching about their interest like nifflers with shiny things.

On Neville's immediate right, sat the Hufflepuffs, the black badger sat in the middle of the yellow banner daring anyone to hurt those under it. Hufflepuff was one of the houses with the greater amount of muggleborns, many took the badgers as weak and pegged them as the leftovers, the house where the ones that were not brave, smart nor cunning ended up in. But Neville knew better, his grandfather was a Hufflepuff, the man was so patient with him, he remember one night when he was 6 years old, a few weeks before Benjamin Longbottom fell ill, he was sat on his grandfather's knee after a visit to his parents that left him dejected, listening to the man telling stories about his years at Hogwarts.

"What if I'm not brave and don't get sorted into Gryffindor like father was, grandpa?"

He asked, staring at the fire in a deep contemplation that should not have taken place in his young face. Neville felt his grandpa move behind him and gently turn him around to look him in the eyes.

"Then you will not get sorted into Gryffindor. My dear child, bravery does not always come along with a red patch and a golden lion. Just like being smart does not make you a Ravenclaw, nor being cunning turns you into a Slytherin, and being loyal and patient doesn't mean you are a Hufflepuff."

Benjamin held his grandson's little hands tenderly.

"Listen to me, are not your father. If you join Gryffindor it will be by your own merit, if you join Hufflepuff I'll just have to tell you grandmother 'I told you so'."

Making his grandson giggle. Lord Longbottom smiled softly and ruffled Neville's blond hair that reminded him so much of his daughter-in-law.

"In this world, there are those who are judged brave because they recklessly run into danger without an ounce of fear, but that is not true, those who run into danger are not brave, they are just fearless. Bravery is not the absence of fear, Wiggles, bravery is when you are afraid but you do it anyway. Like how you were scared of the Bowtruckles the other day but you forged ahead and befriended them in the end. You are plenty brave, little one, don't worry about Hogwarts' houses right now. Just remember to never spit in a badger's pit."

Little Neville snickered 'That doesn't make sense, grandpa!' when a laughing Benjamin Longbottom hoists him up to carry him to bed telling him 'Yes, it does!'whilst tickling his tummy.

Bumping into the kid in front of him that slowed down momentarily to admire the enchanted ceiling above them brought him back to the present. His grandfather meant a lot to him, he taught Neville all about herbology, sharing with him his love of the plants, he'd instilled so many lessons to his grandson, even if most of them didn't make sense at the time. 'You'll understand when you're older. 'That's what he always said. One thing that Neville learned from his grandfather without a shadow of doubt, do not underestimate the badgers, 'Vicious little bastards, we badgers!' Benjamin would laugh with his chest puffed out even when Gran would scold him for his language.

Snapping out of his reverie, he took notice of the table beyond Hufflepuff's. The golden lion stood proudly in his red banner, roaring in pride over his charges. Gryffindors were the rambunctious sort, even with Hufflepuff welcoming most of the muggleborns, the lions had more than their fair share of them. Differently from Slytherin and Ravenclaw, Godric's house has no problem in behaving disorderly, they were a rowdy crowd for for bravery and nerve, there you could find the courageous and daring, always the ones to jump head first into the fight to defend those who couldn't. With a determined look in his eyes, Neville decided he would give his best in the sorting test so he could join the lions, he would become a Gryffindor and make his family proud, a troll shouldn't be too hard to defeat if it was facing first years, right?

Professor Mcgonagall cleared her throat, pulling the attention of the whole hall that slowly settled down to listen. Behind her was a long table that, differently from the student tables, was predominantly composed of adults and instead of a particular house banner, Hogwarts crest rested behind them embedded in the stone, showing all of the houses symbols underlined with the school motto 'Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus'.

Amongst the adults, on the far right, sat an old wizard that seemed to have a wooden arm with a claw at the end, Hagrid that had just guided them across the lake was chatting with him and a witch with gray hair and yellow eyes like a falcon. A woman that was dressed like the matron was half paying attention to the conversation, Neville assumed that she was Madam Pomfrey that his Gran warned him to treat with the most respect, one should never sneer at healers. On Madam Pomfrey's left, sat a stout woman with a kind smile, followed by a black woman with electric blue eyes. On a golden throne in the middle of the table was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the Headmaster, who despite his many titles, including an Order of Merlin first class, watched over the students with a grandfatherly expression. Whilst the chair by his side was empty, probably Professor Mcgonagall's seat, the next one had a diminutive man with a cheery disposition who was talking with a brown haired witch who seemed engrossed in the conversation. Directly on her left sat a strange man with a purple turban, who looked very nervous speaking with a pale man with black hair and dour expression that made Neville nervous himself, his dark expressionless eyes reminded him of Hermione's, although his lacked the, albeit well hidden, warmth that the little witch's had. His back was turned to a blond woman that wore deep orange robes, she was listening to the professor by her side, who wore deep red robes and had long black hair.

Professor Mcgonagall pulled a big scroll from her robes, bringing his attention back to her. By her side was a three legged old stool that was overlooked from the start. On the stool rested a raggedy old wizarding black hat that seemed ready to fall to pieces the moment someone picked it up. Everybody looked to the hat in anticipation, including the professors. What was so important about the old hat? Where was the troll they had to fight?

Quickly looking around, Neville noticed that the anxiety and confusion he was feeling was not exclusively his, even the blond arrogant boy from earlier was starting to shuffle nervously, the tension seemed to rest over each first year. Well, all but one, when he glanced at Hermione to gauge her reaction, she was perfectly calm with her shoulders pulled back and her head held high, exactly how she demonstrated to him as they were entering the Great Hall. With her hands firmly behind her back, Addams looked almost bored, ignoring the hat to study the adults sitting at the table behind Professor Mcgonagall.

Suddenly the sound of fabric tearing echoed across the hall, and when he looked, the hat was torn at the brim and right above the hole, two depressions appeared, looking like two eyes. The most surprising of all, it started to sing.

'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!'

The entire hall exploded in applause and cheers and whistles all around, Gryffindor without a doubt was the main source of the noise, the sorting hat bowed at each of the four tables. Neville, alongside most of the first years, sighed relieved they wouldn't have to fight a troll. Professor Mcgonagall waited for the applause to die down to unfurl her scroll and held the sorting hat by its tip.

"When I call your name, calmly come forth and sit on the stool. I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you'll be sorted into your house."

Minerva looked at the first years, who were tense once again, honestly, as long as they didn't cause a scene like the Weasley twins did two years prior they would be alright. Those two broke a record, losing points before even being sorted, poor Silvanus, almost got a concussion that day and Gryffindor started that year with minus twenty points. She cleared her throat.

"Abott, Hannah."

Neville watched his friend hesitantly walk up the three steps and sit on the stool, looking unsure when the hat was deposited on her head; it was so big that it covered her entire face down to her chin. Hermione was calm as ever as he turned slightly to her.

"Addams." He whispered to get her attention, she looked at him with the corner of her eyes.

"I'm nervous." He confessed, shuffling his feet. The hat announced loudly 'HUFFLEPUFF!' and the badgers cheered and welcomed their new housemate.

"It's going to be alright, Longbottom. Just picture everybody-"

"Naked!" He sighed, cutting her words having heard that same advice from his grandfather.

Hermione turned her head and glared at the boy for interrupting, quickly smoothing out her face back to her expressionless neutrality when Professor Mcgonagall called "Addams, Hermione.".

"I was going to say dead, but whatever floats your boat I guess." She remarked as she made her way towards the elder witch, leaving an extremely red Neville behind.

Hermione climbed up the small set of stairs with an air of someone who couldn't care less how many eyes were upon them. Minerva watched curiously as the young witch took her place on the stool, facing the hundreds of students as if they weren't there, most children would fiddle with their sleeves or move uneasily as they were stared down by the entire population of Hogwarts. Miss Addams sat with a perfect posture, crossing her ankles and resting her hands on her lap with all the class that pure blood parents tried to drill into their progeny from the moment they could sit by themselves.

Hermione looked over the tables recognizing some of the students she talked to on the train, many were giving her encouraging smiles and flashing thumbs up to her, the prefect from Hufflepuff who offered to summon Trevor for her on the train even mouthed "You can do it!" at her before the hat was deposited on her head covering her face, clearly made for adults and not children. It impressed her when beyond darkness engulfing her it also silenced all the noise that came from students and professors alike.

"Well, aren't you something?"

A voice, neither male nor female, echoed in her mind. Hermione sent the mental impression of a raised eyebrow back at the hat who chuckled.

"Good evening, my name is Hermione Addams, nice to meet you." She introduced herself.

"It's been a long time since someone introduced themselves to me. Always assuming I'm nothing more than an object." Lamented the sorting hat.

"Mother always said to be polite to whomever or whatever talk to us until proven a nuisance."

"A wise woman indeed. Nice to meet you, miss Addams. Whilst I am known as the sorting hat, I was dubbed Cuthbert by my creators."

"It's an honour, Mx Cuthbert."

"Now, let me have a look, your future classmates are starting to whisper about hat stalls. Impatient youth."

Hermione felt Cuthbert dive into her mind and magic, opening itself for her exploration when she reached back with her magic. The hat's enchantments layered out like a woven tapestry of magic, connecting the past with the present, bringing back to life the founders of the school. From the head of one Godric Gryffindor, to the hands of his friends imbuing their aspirations and values into them connecting the hat to Hogwarts, to the head of each and every student that ever habited these hallowed halls. Cuthbert was magnificent.

"Ah, alas an heir returns to us once more." The hat said after some time perusing her psyche. "I've sorted your kind before, child. It's been over a century since an Addams graced us with their presence, and every time they change the way wizards view the world. One of your ancestors created the way to become an animagus after all, only an Addams could be so mad to think of a way to change into an animal on purpose and somehow manage to make it work."

Cuthbert sounded terribly amused by that little anecdote, probably because aunt Acantha Addams took the form of a white rabbit and became "The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog" after she took offence to people trying to hunt her down. Legend says that she took down 13 knights from King Arthur's escorting party when they were passing nearby and had heard about the danger that lurked there. They for sure were surprised when instead of the deadly monster they were told about, at the mouth of the cave was a white rabbit, innocently hopping around. After the knights scoffed at her, that fur quickly was tainted with splashes of deep red with the blood of the knights. Funnily enough, Acantha Addams and her husband Vernacular Addams, were the ones that started the popular trick of pulling a white rabbit from a hat. They loved performing that particular trick during family reunions.

"Now, Miss Addams, where shall I put you? So intelligent and yet so cunning. Such wit, almost as big as your ambition. Loyal to those that are yours too. You are very brave my dear, but not foolish, oh no, never foolish, an Addams is never the fool even when it looks like it. And of course, so charming, just like your father, he too could manipulate the crowds with ease, steering them to dance to his music. It's all here, clear as the lightning crossing the storm. It seems that it runs in your blood after all. You'll bring much needed change, Miss Addams. I know exactly where you belong."

Up to this point the conversation has been happening inside her head. Whispers and murmurs about a hat stall this early in the evening ran rampant amongst all occupants of the four tables and apprehensive looks were shared on the professor's table, while most of the first years were waiting to be sorted themselves were getting more nervous by the second. Minerva was watching Hermione warily, the little witch had not moved an inch since having the hat deposited on her head, as still and silent as a grave, the only sign that she was still alive was her chest rising rhythmically, she was ready to launch and catch Miss Addams at moments notice if she was to tip over.

After reaching the seven minute mark the hat finally started moving again, bringing everyone to the edge of their seats, finally they would discover where the little witch from the train that just wanted to help her new friend find his pet, would go. Many bets had been placed amongst the students that took a shine to her, the majority of bets were either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. The sorting hat opened its brim declaring loudly and proudly.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Absolute silence engulfed the Great Hall. Rarely there were times where the students as a whole were ever this quiet, many sported shock across their faces, some immediately soured their expressions. They thought the girl was fun, but in the end she was just another Slytherin, it wouldn't be long until she was sneering down at them. Ron scowled and whispered to Harry 'I knew we shouldn't have trusted her.'.Harry didn't know what to do, on one hand, all he heard about Slytherin was that they were all evil and the wizard that killed his parents came from Slytherin. On the other hand, Addams didn't mistreat him, nor reacted very strongly about who he was. She even fixed his glasses for him and told him about the books he supposedly was in.

She also had warned him to make his own decisions not based on other people's expectations.

Harry still could feel a connection with her. A strange pull that guided him in her direction. Whilst he had felt that kind of pull before, saving him from more punishment many times, he had never felt it quite so strongly. He thought to himself that something that felt like that couldn't possibly be evil. Addams was just a girl the same age as him, nodding, determining to himself that he would wait and see.

Even the professors were shocked into silence and started to shake off the daze as Hermione finally started moving again. Removing the hat gently, she deposited it on the stool as if nothing extraordinary as talking to a hat in her mind had happened. She bowed her head to it, swiftly turning around and observing the expressions of the people on the tables. Many had turned their friendly expressions around and were glaring at her, very few kept smiling at her. Meanwhile the Hufflepuff prefect still looked at her gently, Hermione nodded to her. Slytherin clapped for the new member of their house without making a ruckus. Then something remarkable happens. Suddenly Lee Jordan, Fred and George Weasley got up their seats and started clapping and whistling loudly at her, coercing the Great Hall to wake up from their stupor and start politely clapping as they've done for Hannah Abott previously. The professors were surprised, never had a Gryffindor clapped for a Slytherin being sorted before, at least in the last three centuries. She raised her chin and smirked slightly to the trio of pranksters, making them laugh and give her a hardy wink for being so cunning and hoodwinking them, it was a great prank. She strolled towards the Slytherin table.

Being the first Slytherin sorted in her year, Hermione found the end of table closest to the professors empty. Whilst the other tables were a mix and match of the years, based more on who knew who, Slytherin clearly had an unspoken hierarchy, and first years were at the bottom.

Honoré de Balzac used to say that "Power does not consist in striking with force or with frequency, but in striking true.". Seeing the Slytherin seating arrangement, Hermione knew that they viewed themselves above everybody else by holding court and organising themselves according to their years, with seventh years closer to the Great Hall doors and the first years closer to the professor's table. The chosen leader of each year was easily recognisable with a single glance at their direction if you knew what to look for. Hermione sat in the middle of the empty table side reserved for the first years with her back to the wall. The prime spot where all leaders would sit, a spot where all could see and hear her, where all could look up to her for advice and know that she had her eye on them, and they better behave. If, well actually, when the older Slytherins noticed her choice of seat, she ignored them, the game was afoot and the challenge was set in motion. Beware Hogwarts, an Addams has arrived in your little pond and there is nowhere to run.

Notes:

Bitches better beware, a wild Addams appears.

Benjamin Longbottom is the sweetest man ever and i'll hear nothing against him.

I wonder what kind of mischief the twins got themselves into to start their first years with minus twenty points. xD

Neville really shouldn't have interrupt Hermione lol

Hermione did prank the mischief trio good.

Slytherin better watch out.

See you next chapter y'all.