Chapter 13
It had been a very long time since Draco could truthfully say that he had been even remotely happy, so it surprised him when he realized that much of the train ride to Hogwarts qualified as just that.
Lyra had given him the perfect excuse to abandon his search for Harry. Then, when he reached the compartment she’d mentioned, Diamond had turned out to be alone- and given him the perfect excuse to ditch Crabbe and Goyle.
Well, if he could call batting them away with flicks of her wrist when they tried to attack her an ‘excuse’. In the process, she’d made him instantly glad he was on her good side; when Crabbe had tried to punch her for some reason even he couldn’t figure out, she’d flicked it aside, stretched out her hand, and flicked her wrist against his chest… to throw him down on the ground.
She wasn’t just strong, she was scary strong.
After she’d dealt with Goyle in a similar manner, he’d then accompanied her out of the compartment while they were still dazed on the seats. She’d led him some four or five cars down the train to another empty compartment, which the two blundering idiots had never found… and they’d chatted for the entire train ride.
He’d fully relaxed in the compartment, once Diamond had locked the door. He’d laid down across the seat, spoken freely… and genuinely enjoyed himself.
Too bad it couldn’t last.
So of course, with no idea where Crabbe and Goyle had gotten to, he had gotten off with her… and resumed his ‘noble’ persona. Diamond didn’t like it, and if he was honest with himself, neither did he, but he didn’t have much choice, because of reasons he didn’t understand.
Of course, getting off the train at the 30th car meant a few things, and one was very important: He was in the middle of the Equestrians. He stayed with Diamond, who would make easily a hundred times better of a bodyguard than both Crabbe and Goyle put together… which had an extra side effect.
When twelve thousand first-years followed Hagrid down to the lake, all the British students got in the boats… but all the boats were full by the time Diamond and Draco reached the lake, so he ended up doing exactly what the Equestrians were doing: Walking on water. Should anyone ask, he would later vehemently deny having held onto Diamond’s arm for dear life while he slid across the lake on nothing more than a wisp of bluish light.
It certainly didn’t comfort him that Diamond seemed uneasy about sliding across the lake like that too- but at least she didn’t seem afraid, just uncertain.
When they landed at the underground harbor, Diamond took a deep breath, let it out, and turned to him. “You okay?”
He, having taken the same time to reassert himself, nodded. “Yes. What about you?”
She sighed. “I’m alright. Sorry about that- as an Etrah, I’m used to having my h-feet planted on solid ground. Standing on mere magic like that is something only the Aethrs would be familiar with… and even then, that wasn’t the kind of magic they’d normally stand on.” She glanced back towards the harbor as they climbed the stairs away from it; more Equestrians were still arriving at it as the first-years streamed up the steps. “The way I hear it, Sunset bullied the air into accepting some derivative of that magic, that let us walk on empty air- something even the Aethrs can’t normally do.” She shuddered. “I hope that’s the only time I ever have to ‘air-skate’ across a lake.”
He nodded honestly. “Me too.” Judging by the noises from around him, most of the Equestrians were of the same mind. Air-skating across a lake was scary business.
Diamond kept him company all the way up to the main front doors of the castle, and inside as well, where the teacher that answered the door left them in a rather large room off the side of the entrance hall, and told them to ‘smarten themselves up’ for the sorting.
“How do they sort us…?” Draco asked Diamond quietly.
She shrugged. “No idea. I understand the scholars among us searched long and hard for that, but couldn’t find it- almost like it’s some kind of secret. But it can’t be all that hard if everyone- including Crabbe and Goyle- can be expected to go through it successfully.”
“Point.”
Hermione wasn’t sure what to think.
She, along with the rest of the first-years, had been brought to this room pending their sorting. Through all her research, while she’d been able to find six conflicting accounts on the Slytherin House, she hadn’t been able to find a single note on what the sorting was. The part that had amused her the most was that she’d found no less than three conflicting accounts for each of the other houses… but one of the three invariably had three more that agreed with it, and happened to be the one that Lyra’s account agreed with. Perhaps that’s how Lyra got her info on them?
Then again, could those agreeing accounts be trusted?
Could anything she read in the wizarding world be trusted?
She’d tried to find other sources on what the sorting would be like- but the few Equestrians she’d asked back on the station had just shrugged and used variations on the ‘find out when we get there’ theme. Of course, when two redheaded boys had peeked into her compartment looking for Harry, she’d noticed how Harry seemed a little uneasy- and denied having seen him. They didn’t recognize him, and were about to go, when she stopped them- they were upper years- to ask about the sorting.
One said something about wrestling a troll, while the other said it hurt a lot.
Given that all the accounts in her books tended to agree that trolls were massive and dangerous, and required multiple trained wizards to take down, she rather doubted that was the case. And since the two boys had nodded in response to each other, she’d immediately begun to suspect that they were trying to be funny, and let them go, internally labelling their suggestions as very likely false.
Her ride- and conversation- with Harry had gone uninterrupted from that point to arrival, with the sole exception of the snack trolley they’d bought some of everything from… and when she stepped out of the compartment to let Harry change into his school robes, of course; she’d changed before he ever arrived at the station.
He hadn’t had a clue what to expect, either. He’d voiced that he thought he’d be at the bottom of the class- and, while she fully expected to be at the top of class herself (as she usually was), she had immediately disagreed. She didn’t know where he could expect to be in the class lineup, but she had assured him that some people knew even less about their magic before they went, and still came out in the top of class. She’d even surmised that some of the wizarding students might be at a disadvantage, because they might have to un-learn something they learned incorrectly from their parents!
Then, that teacher- presumably- had brought them in here, told everyone to “smarten yourselves up”, and disappeared to prepare. What was going on? Were they going to test how much they’d studied already, and put those that could already do magic in Ravenclaw? Were they going to unleash a troll, and put those that didn’t run screaming in Gryffindor? Were they going to make them stand and wait, and put the ones that didn’t check the time during the first ten minutes in Hufflepuff? Were they going to… She couldn’t think of anything for Slytherin off the top of her head.
But wait- she’d also said, ‘sorting ceremony’. Sorting ceremony. Not ‘test’, not ‘trial’. Not even a simple ‘sorting’. Specifically a ceremony.
And anyone could go through any part of a ceremony. Those were all just acting anyways.
So what in the world could it be?
Very suddenly, something happened- the door opened. That teacher was back.
It was time to be sorted.
It was time to find out what it was all about.
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Perhaps they'll take it as a professional challenge. Goals are good for a body, they give you something to work towards.
There was a great deal of fog on the lake, that helped a lot. And really, once you've established that you can walk on clouds, everything else from water to air is just a matter of semantics.
Magic is as magic does, and excellence can come from the strangest of places.
Obviously an application of cloud-walking spell. Since I seemed to recall there is quite a lot of fog over the lake in the movie.
Cool chapter, and cool about the accelerated schedule. I can't wait to see how the sorting works out.
10247872
Quite a late spoiler alert, isn't it?
10253402
Well, yea. My apologies. It's only been 15 years since Half Blood Prince was published.
10253355
"Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere."
~Anton Ego
That does sound like Bacon Horse alright
10253437
*shrug*
And I said it knowing that.
10253470
Would you believe, back when I wrote that, I picked Sunset as the one to have done that out of a hat?
... well not literally out of a hat, but still at random.
10253397
Yeah, 14 was a fun chapter to write. Not spoilered because... I mean seriously, what else would follow this?
10253679
I'd say your hat knows their stuff.
10253696
Funny you'd mention that...
10253697
As long as he doesn't do things like putting Loyalty outside of the house that values it above all they'll still be golden
10253725
... She does.
Rainbow may be the Element of Loyalty and all... but you'll note that's not her defining characteristic. Besides, Hufflepuff isn't the only one that favors loyalty, it's just the one that gets cited as favoring loyalty. For example, Gryffindor- which fits Rainbow's personality a lot better- is cited as favoring "Chivalry"... which is a term for "the traits of the ideal knight", an umbrella which INCLUDES "Loyalty".
Seriously. The Element Bearers are being sorted on defining personality traits, not the smaller (yet no less powerful) traits like Rainbow's loyalty.
10253731
Different points of view then, I always saw their elements as their defining personality traits. Rainbow for example, she might be boastful, brave and pranky, but she's Loyal above all. All those others take a backseat to her loyalty every time it could come into question. So between being brave and being loyal, she'd be loyal - something that I believe puts her in Hufflepuff over Griffindor.
Sure, it's a matter of opinion, but the stereotypes get rather dull after a while. Specially with about three thousand new students per house, you're getting all kinds of personalities in all of them, for the core of their being is going to matter more than how they behaveb outwardly.
10253742
... between being brave and being loyal...
Can you name a situation- any situation- that would force her to pick one?
I mean, "Chivalry" covers both bravery AND loyalty...
Personally, I think her loyalty is extremely strong, yes- and expressed (primarily) through her bravery.
Besides, Hufflepuff is touted as the 'loyal' house, but loyalty is displayed in all four houses- so I generally quantify Hufflepuff as the 'hard-working/patient' house.
10253746
To face danger or get your friends to safety. A Griffindor might face the Manticore head on, but sometimes the best you can do is be a "coward" and just skedaddle out of there with your friends.
Not in a situation like at the series start, they needed to go forward. But in a situation where your friends are in danger and you have nothing stopping you from going back, to stay and fight would not only be stubbornness, but also could be seen as putting your personal glory before the well-being of others. Being disloyal. And I severely doubt a post-wonderbolts RD would do that - she grew considerably in character along the series.
10253772
Well, that's where Loyalty and Courage draw the line. Without courage, the loyal guy would be yelling from comparative safety for the pinned-down friends to escape it... or something. Without loyalty, the courageous man would have no regard for said friends. Both, and Rainbow is willing to fight the enemy, even in hopeless combat, to give her friends an escape route they didn't otherwise have.
Personally, Loyalty and Courage are fairly inseparable, in combat at least.
10253778
Valid point... Kinda. The loyal guy has to be more cowardly than loyal if he'd value his safety over his friends', in that case. You can stay and die fighting without being specially brave if you're loyal enough. To be a Paragon of a virtue is to go beyond your failings to uphold it, among other things.
That'd make Hufflepuff a house of hypocrites, when being the epitome of Loyalty makes you more appropriate for another house than yours. Why hold Loyalty as a virtue when actually being so in all situations would put you in Griffindor? Kinda sends a mixed message there. It sounds like being truly Loyal is a thing of Lions, for the Badgers are those that didn't quite cut it.
Not to mention it relies heavily on the stereotype Brave = Griffindor. Cedric was brave as heck in three Triwizard tournament, but that didn't change that he was other things more, else he wouldn't be in his own house.
Hell, if being brave together with other things puts you there then all the bearers should be together, for it takes a special level of courage to repeatedly go galivating towards danger in order to save the day, as they've done multiple times.
To be fair, that's my opinion only. A little extreme at the end, but likely coloured by being tied of always seeing everyone with the slightest "hero" traits to be put there because it's the "main character house".
So what has happened to Ron?
Why do so many fanfics want to downplay Ron?
Like thé Draco/ Diamond expension.
However, are you going to ditch Ron?
10253917
10254244
I have plans for Ron. That's all I'll say. Just kidding. I dislike Ron's character strongly enough that he made little appearance in The Gate... and while he will be making little appearance here, it won't be as the rarely-mentioned "friend", it'll be... decidedly less friendly. He just has that... abusive idiot feel to him, throwing temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way and all. So, I tend to either ignore him or sideline him. This time around, he does actually serve a purpose to the plot.
His sister, on the other hoof, is a flat and underdeveloped character, and so seems to be the HP fandom's most-hated character... she very quickly became close to my favorite, because that makes her a blank slate for me to mess with. Not unlike Lyra, back when I first started writing some of my first stories, when it comes down to it...
On a completely unrelated topic, Keybounce, I have no idea why.
Yes, Chaos Theory, I like the Diamond/Draco thing too. Nothing else can offset a few years of indoctrination quite like someone to sympathize with that has been through it and escaped it, can it? I mean, what are the chances he'd be randomly chatting with Bonbon or Lyra, one of which isn't in his House and the other of which is so top-tier he'd be intimidated by her from two hundred miles away, as happened in The Gate?
Ron? Gone?
HELL. YES.
Great Chapter and I am REALLY looking forward to more. Tbh Draco and Diamond's dynamic is probably the most interesting so far, although all the rest are definitely great!
10253917
Ron gets shafted by the fandom a lot (unfairly in my opinion). Personally, I think Harry's character in partially defined by his friendship with Ron and when he's cut out of the picture, part of Harry goes with him.
10253917 Because he goes from the loyal companion, Samwise to Harry's Frodo, to a fair-weather friend, abandoning Harry at some critical points, starting with the start of fourth year.
10269588
Actually, he showed his true colors ( all the time, actually) in third year when he put glory of the Firebolt not only above Harry's safety but Harry's genuine friendship with Hermione. Harry would have never abandoned his true friend without Ron egging him on. Sure, their friendship might have been strained for awhile but Harry would have come around eventually.
And so a fifth house started, Alicorn House, for those seeking harmony and friendship.
Damn 12k students? The sorting alone will take atleast a week if done the traditional way of the hat