Chapter 7: Sorting
“Sorting ceremony?” Hermione asked, tilting her head.
She and the other first-years had been ushered off the station by a giant that Hailey had called Hagrid. He had taken them down a path to a lake, then they had sailed across it in little boats to an underground harbor underneath the castle. The tunnel up from it came up next to the Castle, then Hagrid had handed them off to Professor McGonagall, who looked a lot more severe than she had at her house or in Diagon Alley, at the huge wooden front doors. She had taken them inside, into a side room- then told them about the four houses, and to ‘smarten themselves up’ for the sorting ceremony, before leaving the room.
“Makes it sound almost like a quiz,” Hailey observed. “But if it’s a ceremony, we can be fairly certain that anyone- including those that haven’t done any magic before, like me- can pass it, meaning we probably won’t be needing our wands. Probably a good thing, mine’s still in my trunk.”
Hermione let out a small snort. “Yeah. And I don’t want to show mine off, either.” She shuddered at the thought of becoming famous just for having a strange wand.
Quite suddenly, the door opened again, and Professor McGonagall returned. “Form a line and follow me,” she commanded.
Hermione took a deep breath and lined up behind Hailey, who was behind Dudley, as they followed McGonagall back out and across the hall.
McGonagall had them line up at the head of the room… and placed a large, ancient hat on a stool.
Then… the hat began to sing.
Hermione stared at it through the entire song, as it explained the four houses and what the Founders each sought- who would get sorted into which one.
“When I call your name,” Professor McGonagall ordered as she unrolled a large scroll, “you will come forward and put on the hat to be sorted. Abbot, Hannah!”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Hailey muttered.
Hermione let out a soft giggle. “For all we know,” she imitated quietly, “a hat that tells you where you belong.”
Hailey giggled as well. “Oh come on, that’d be silly,” she imitated, also quietly.
“Like mirrors that say hi, pictures that move, sports played on cleaning tools, and hats that tell you where you belong aren’t silly?” Hermione snickered back, before both of them covered their mouths and tried- valiantly- to stifle their giggles, because Professor McGonagall had shot a glare in their direction.
But, glared at and stifled or not, the gigglefest had the effect that all of Hermione’s nervousness was gone… Simply gone.
“Dursley, Dudley!”
Hermione watched, having finally calmed her giggles, as Dudley walked calmly over to the Hat, set it on his head, and sat down. It sank right down over his eyes, folding the brim of his own hat downwards as it did so. It didn’t look too comfortable.
And now that she was looking around the hall, she saw that lots of eyes were on her. And…
There was not one splash of scarlet and gold plumage across the entire Hall.
Except for Philomena, perched proudly on her shoulder.
She covered her face with her hands. Why had she missed that? How had she thought that phoenixes might be common pets, especially with all the magical properties Hailey had listed off? And how Hailey’s wand had a phoenix feather in it? If they were magical enough to provide wand cores-!
“HUFFLEPUFF!” the Hat yelled.
Dudley visibly jumped, then lifted it carefully off of his hat and went to join the Hufflepuff table.
Hermione took a deep breath, and let it out, as McGonagall called out another name- neither hers nor Hailey’s. But it sounded like she was in the Es, out of just forty- or so- students, so she was probably coming up soon.
She looked across the four houses… and quickly realized that she wanted to be in Gryffindor with Hailey.
“Who’s that with the phoenix?” Dumbledore muttered quietly, towards Sunset Shimmer, who was sitting next to him, looking gloomy. She’d been gloomy for the last seven years- through her entire education. Her wand still burned her if she dared to touch it, even through a glove.
“No idea,” Sunset mumbled, without looking up.
Sunset had been… a disappointment. Despite getting progressively gloomier each year, and being completely unable to use magic the entire time, she had aced all her OWLS and all her NEWTs- how she’d managed that without using magic or her ruined right eye, Dumbledore would never know.
Yet, she still seemed to think she was useless.
She’d even chopped off all her beautiful red and gold hair, exposing the full extent of the damage to the right side of her head.
But Dumbledore was at a loss for what he could do to help her. He’d already tried everything.
“Granger, Hermione!”
As Hermione walked towards the stool, she could hear the sudden murmuring throughout the entire Hall, even up at the staff table. She tried to pretend she couldn’t hear it as she accepted the Hat, raised it up-
She hadn’t even settled it completely overtop her hat when it cried “GRYFFINDOR!”
She blushed scarlet, put the Hat back on the stool, and walked steadily over to the Gryffindor table… Yes, this was the Gryffindor table.
She picked an empty spot, sat down… and covered her face in her hands as some of the other Gryffindors chanted “We Got the Phoenix-Bound!”
She stayed like that, ignoring everyone’s pestering questions about Philomena. It seemed to go on for forever- would it ever end?
“Potter, Hailey!”
Hermione’s head snapped up. She’d been concentrating on the insides of her hands for so long she’d missed a majority of the sorting.
Someone next to her noticed. “What’s the phoenix called?” he asked.
She ignored him, watching anxiously as Hailey walked calmly over to the Hat- and hoping, praying, that Hailey would join her at the Gryffindor table and save her from the embarrassment. She’d probably never be able to make another friend, afraid that they were simply attracted to Philomena.
And of course, in a corner of her mind, she expected to be at the top of the class in everything once again… which certainly wouldn’t help.
“Potter, Hailey!”
Hailey stepped forwards, walking briskly towards the stool with the Hat on it. As she walked, she noticed McGonagall double-checking the scroll- but for as much as the name had caused a bunch of students to look, most of them had promptly looked back again. She visibly wasn’t the Boy who Lived, after all.
Several of the teachers at the teacher’s table looked idly bored, and… That one triggered alarm bells in her head. Not Professor Quirrell, no, this was a different kind of alarm bells. This girl was staring at her plate with a forlorn look on the surviving side of her face, and it looked like she’d shaved off all her hair. Her right eye was covered by an eye patch, and that entire side of her head looked like it had been shredded by something; it was absolutely covered in scars. Professor Dumbledore- she’d seen his picture in one of the cards inside those Chocolate Frog candies- was eying her worriedly out the corner of his eye.
She had a sneaking feeling that neither she nor Hermione would be going to bed on schedule that night.
She let out a soft sigh. Too bad- she also had a feeling she and Hermione were going to regret staying up so late.
But then she reached the Hat. She lifted it, and allowed it to settle over her hat while she sat down on the stool.
There was silence for several seconds. Hailey wondered how the Hat decided.
A sudden, small voice in her ear made her jump the slightest bit in surprise. “Um… Are you wearing a tin foil hat?” the Hat asked her. “I can’t seem to get through to your mind.”
She blinked, and smiled amusedly, guessing as to what it was.
It wouldn’t be the first time her natural wards had been too powerful for a magical object to work properly. At least this one had a failsafe, so unlike that Blood Quill at Gringotts, it didn’t explode into a million pieces when it tried to do its job anyways. She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, concentrating on suspending her natural wards. It was almost comical how easy it was to tell when she was successful.
“Um… Can you hear me?” the Hat asked. “I don’t seem to- Oh. Oh My.” She felt the hat shudder. “I… I have to say, I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of sorting one of those before. And let’s see… There’s that, and that, and… GRYFFINDOR!” She heard it shout the last word out to the entire room- then, as she reached up to remove it, it murmured one last word in her ear.
“Definitely.”
She chuckled softly as she rose from the stool, replaced the Hat on it, and walked off to join Hermione at the Gryffindor table.
When she got there, it was to find several students poking at Hermione.
Hermione looked at her with pleading in her eyes. “Save me,” she mouthed.
Hailey smiled, and rested one hand on Hermione’s free shoulder, before looking up at the people pestering her… about Philomena, it seemed.
Hermione took comfort in the familiar tingle as Hailey put her hand comfortingly on her shoulder.
Then Hailey looked around at the people that were bothering her.
“Are you bothering my friend?” she asked coldly.
Hermione flinched. She hadn’t realized Hailey would be so protective of her.
She still felt embarrassed that Hailey was calling her a friend so quickly, but it was starting to fade. Hopefully, Hailey wasn’t going to discard her at the first chance she got.
Her statement only seemed to increase the questions- now about how they’d become friends.
Hermione was about to put her hands in her face again when Hailey spoke.
“Stop bothering my friend,” Hailey commanded dangerously.
A shockwave of silence rippled across their part of the table, and the askers all averted their eyes. Even the seventh year students.
“S-Sorry,” somebody muttered.
Hailey sighed, sat next to Hermione, and wrapped her arm comfortingly around her. “Sorry about that,” she told her. “It looked painful.”
“It’s all because of Philomena,” Hermione muttered, leaning into her. “She’s- She’s the only phoenix in the room. Phoenixes must be rare.” She shuddered. “But I’m not special, am I?”
Hailey hugged her. “Who knows. The only other known domesticated Phoenix is Fawkes… Professor Dumbledore’s pet. And I’m starting to suspect I’m being favored by a goddess or something- it would certainly explain a lot of the weird stuff. I don’t see any reason that you can’t also be favored like that- perhaps they know something we don’t?” She sighed. “Who knows.” Then she kissed the top of Hermione’s head, making her blush so hard it felt like her face might burst. “In either case, you’re special to me.”
Hermione sputtered incoherently.
Hailey laughed. “You’re the first friend I’ve ever made,” she told her. “Everybody has always been afraid of me and Dudley.” She sighed. “Damn teachers kept telling the whole class what everyone’s grades were- turned it into a competition… which got ugly during recess far too many times. Then of course, I’m stronger than I look- and I always stepped in front of Dudley. As a result, anybody that knows what’s good for them listens when I give them a command like that.” She glanced to the sides. “Kinda interesting how everybody here got the memo even without knowing me. Must be something in the magic.”
Hermione let out a snort of laughter, and Hailey joined in quickly.
Finally, Hermione calmed down enough to look up at Hailey. “You know… you’re my first friend too,” she told her. “Unless you count Philomena, she’s a great friend no matter how you look at it.”
“I bet she is,” Hailey nodded.
Hermione hugged Hailey back. “I’ve always been the know-it-all,” she muttered. “Smart-aleck, teacher’s pet, goody two-shoes, you name it, really. I even got called the ‘Mary Sue of the class’ once. Any time a teacher had a question that nobody could answer… they went for me, and I’d have it waiting.” She sighed. “At least they knew that, so they made sure to ask the others first- but it only served to exaggerate my…” She trailed off. “Perfectness,” she half-whispered.
“Something tells me magic is a completely different skillset, and that we’re going to be dealing with mostly practical lessons,” Hailey told her.
Hermione looked up. “But I already know twelve spells. Twelve! And the first class hasn’t even started yet!”
“That might be a problem,” Hailey agreed. “Try not to overperform too much, eh?” She chuckled good-naturedly.
Hermione sighed. “If only.”
“If you weren’t both girls, I’d say you’d make a wonderful couple,” someone said, from across the table.
Hailey looked, and chuckled, while Hermione blushed and looked down. “You know, I think you two would make a wonderful couple,” she told them, completely unabashedly.
The two sixth-year girls that had made the comment, who were sitting so close to one another the only way they could get closer would be by sitting in one another’s laps, and had arms wrapped around each other, both blushed scarlet and started sputtering incoherently.
Hailey laughed again. Hermione joined in this time.
Eventually, one of the girls recovered. “Y-You mean two girls can be a couple?”
Hailey shrugged. “Why not?”
They both stared at her.
“It’s called a lesbian couple,” Hermione said suddenly, the answer coming to her exactly as the answer to a teacher’s question always did. “Homosexuality isn’t mainstream, and having children can be difficult for a homosexual couple, but it is A-OK.”
Hailey let out a snort of laughter. “Difficult,” she giggled. “Yeah, I’d say it’d be difficult.”
“H-How do you know that?” the girl asked.
Hermione covered her face in her hands. “I read a lot,” she squeaked.
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for those of us not in the know. What is the story "The Boy who Disappeared?"
11299711
I think it's on their page.
11299711
TBwD... You're looking at the description, right? It's an HP/MLP crossover I wrote & cancelled, and it's complicated enough I think the story itself is probably the best explanation:
- MLP: FiM
- Harry Potter
- Adventure
- Random
- Slice of Life
As Harry grew up, he knew something wasn't right. He never told the world- and then, before he ever saw his Hogwarts letter, everything changed.Whatttt? You're going to Chapter's End it already...?
It's fine if you want, but I think it's going well
If you always stop doing things when they don't go as you expect, you'll never get anything done. If you try making new plans for how the story is going now, you might wind up writing something even more amazing.
11299740
It is.
11299770
Yup, that's why I'm not going to Chapter End it for a while- but it might sit on hiatus for a long time while I try and figure out where it's going. I like it so far, it just doesn't seem to be... well, stable.
11299773
Yes-um...okay then
11299777
(That was to say, it is going well.)
11299781
Yeah, it is
I was wondering when a pony would actually show up in this again.
This Sunset seemed heading toward some kind of bad end. I wonder what plan do the author has for her. It was probably a good thing Celestia hasn't known what happened to her.
okay this story has my attention lol I love how different the characters are from cannon, and I love Hailey's mischifous nature lol
Not sure if this good or bad so far, but I like it anyway. It sure is interesting.
Oh Sunset, you have no idea how much and how throughly you screwed the world you shouldn't have got into.