Chapter 1: Secrets and Sortings
“Come on Dominique,” called Victoire from the other side of the door through the wood, “we’re going to miss the train.”
“Good,” replied her sister, Dominique.
“That’s not funny; please we’re not leaving without you. It’s not like anyone’s going to notice those marks. And even if they do they won’t care,” reasoned Victoire, knowing exactly what was bothering her sister.
“Fine,” gave up Dominique.
She unlocked her bedroom door and dragged her school trunk out onto the landing. “Happy,” she said in a flat voice.
“Very,” replied her sister with a smile.
“She lives,” exclaimed their thirteen year old brother Louis as he pulled his trunk downstairs.
“Whatever, Louis,” called Victoire after him, and then added to her sister. “Come on, we’d better get to the car as well. Dad’s not going to wait very long.”
“Ready?” asked Bill as his daughters came out of the house with their trunks in their hands.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” replied Dominique tonelessly.
“It won’t be that bad,” said Louis exasperatedly from the back of the car, where he was putting his school trunk in the boot of the car. She shot him a glare and gave her trunk to her father.
“Louis did ‘oo remember too put your ‘ogsmeade form in your trunk?” asked his mother, Fleur.
“Yes, mum,” said Louis.
“Right, we’re running a bit late. Come on lets go,” said Bill, who was already in the driver’s seat ready to go.
When the family arrived at King’s Cross station, they made immediately for the barrier dividing platforms nine and ten.
“Okay Dominique you first,” said Bill.
“Why does she get to go?” said Louis.
Dominique turned her trolley around and pushed it toward the barrier dividing Platforms 9 and 10.
“Well here goes nothing,” she muttered quietly to herself as she broke into a run and ran at the barrier.
She emerged on platform 9¾. She blinked. It was beautiful.
“Dominique,” said an annoyed Louis from behind her.
“Okay I’m moving,” she said and pushed the trolley toward the train.
“Ted...Ted?” called Victorie from the barrier where she obviously had just come from.
“You’re embarrassing yourself, stop shouting,” said Dominique muttered as her mum and dad turned in the opposite direction.
“We’ll see you in a bit. We’re going to have a word with your aunts and uncles,” said Bill. “Come down to find us before the train departs.”
The girls nodded as Victoire continued to call for her boyfriend. “Isn’t that him?” asked Dominique standing on her tiptoes trying to peer over the thickening crowd.
“Maybe….I think….yes!” said Victoire, as the tall figure with the bright turquoise hair came over to where they were standing.
“Victoire…..I was looking everywhere,” he said.
“Oh really that’s sweet of you,” said Victoire.
As Victoire and Ted were talking a dark-haired boy came towards them.
“Ted, I thought you were going to help me with my trunk,” he said.
“Oh, James I didn’t see you there,” said Ted, noticing James right behind him.
“Hi James,” greeted Dominique quietly.
“Hey Dom,” he said. “So, how’s the moonlight?” It was remarkable how quickly she turned color at that simple remark. First, going white, possibly with fear. Then, the pasty color of day old glue. Lastly she turned beet red, not out of embarrassment, but out of anger.
“How--you can’t--git!” she stammered.
“Sorry didn’t mean to offend you,” said James hastily, “I suppose it’s too soon for jokes?”
“Yeah, well…Vic shouldn’t we find a compartment?” asked Dominique changing the subject rather abruptly.
“Yeah, Ted after you help James find me and Dom on the train, okay?” she said to Ted.
“’Course,” he replied as he bent down to give his girlfriend one final kiss.
“Urgh,” said James and Dominique together. Victoire ignored them
“James, let’s go get your trunk,” said Ted, “Come on”.
While Ted and James were leaving the barrier opened again revealing five people with blonde hair and slightly spacey looks. “Luna I told you that we had lots of time to spare we didn’t have to leave so early,” said the man who looked like the husband and father of the group.
The lady right next to him, who must be his wife spoke in a sing- song voice “Rolf, if we were to leave later the thought of being late would have been in our mind attracting Wrackspurts, then we would’ve been late because of the Wrackspurts effects. You know that.”
“Right, I forgot,” responded the man who must be Rolf. Dominique watched in amazement as she saw the family start pushing their trolleys toward the train. She vaguely recalled the family as the Scamander’s from the family functions her grandmother had invited them to. They hadn’t come to many as they traveled a lot. The Scamander’s weren’t exactly family but they were good family friends.
“Come on Dominique, let’s go find a compartment,” said Victoire, tugging on her arm and grabbing her trunk with her other hand.
They moved toward the train and eventually found an empty compartment near the prefect’s carriage. “You okay?” asked Victoire. Dominique gave a stiff nod as she pushed her trunk onto the luggage rack above their heads. Victoire looked as if she was going to say more but was interrupted.
“Hey, hey,” said a voice from the doorway.
“Hi Madeline,” addressed Victoire pushing her own trunk into the rack, “shouldn’t you be in the Prefect’s carriage?”
“Yeah, but not yet…hey did you hear about Margaret from Hufflepuff?”
“No, what happened?”
“She’s Head Girl,” replied Madeline.
“Really, both Head Girl and Boy in Hufflepuff, they must be pleased,” noted Victoire.
“So, Dominique,” said Madeline turning to the younger girl in the compartment, she looked startled at the sudden attention, “Ready for Hogwarts?”
“I guess,” she responded quietly.
“Any Houses in mind?” Madeline prodded
“Well,” started Dominique, “I wouldn’t think Ravenclaw is bad”“ both Madeline and Victoire beamed. The two of them were in Ravenclaw “- but dad at least wants me to be in Gryffindor, so I don’t know,” she finally answered.
“That’s probably wise,” commented Victoire.
“Why?” asked Dominique.
“Because, if you get your heart set on one particular house the disappointments that much greater if you don’t get in the house you want,” replied Madeline in a knowing voice.
“Did someone order a head boy?” said voice from the compartment door, Ted was back.
“Hey,” responded Victoire, jumping up to give him a kiss.
“Madeline, you should be in the Prefects’ carriage,” remarked Ted noticing the other girls in the compartment.
“Urgh, I know. Why is being a Prefect so much work?”
Ted chuckled “I wonder that too, wouldn’t it be so much easier if we got to choose whether we want to be Prefects and Heads?”
“Hmm,” said Victoire.
“Well… I’ll see you in a bit, Dominique, take care,” said Ted. Dominique gave a start at the sudden mention of her name, then nodded wondering what had been said, as she hadn’t been listening rather she had been looking at one of her school books A Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk
“Madeline have you said hello to Henry yet?” inquired Victoire. Madeline suddenly became really intent on leaving at that moment and didn’t answer.
“I’ll talk to you at the feast Vic,” answered Madeline hurriedly. The next moment she was gone.
Dominique looked up as the compartment door closed, then returned to reading her book. “You know it’s going to be fine,” said Victoire, sitting down on the seat opposite Dominique.
“I know,” sighed Dominique, “It will be fine, I’m just… worried.”
“You’ll be okay, I have a feeling about it,” Victoire smiled, “Now come on, we have to say good bye to mum and dad.” They left together and went outside onto the platform.
“Bye sweetie,” said Bill as he hugged his youngest daughter, “Be good, and I’ll see you at Christmas.”
“Bye daddy,” murmured Dominique.
“Bye dad,” said Victorie taking her turn at hugging her parents.
“Be careful and take good care of your brother and seester,” said Fleur hugging and kissing each of her children in turn. “Oo take good care too my leetle boy,” she said kissing Louis on the cheek.
“Love you,” he said quietly pulling gently away from his mother and waving to his father. A whistle sounded in the distance.
“Get going!” said Bill gesturing wildly toward the train. The three siblings turned tail and sprinted to the train. Victoire got there first and threw open the door for the others. Once inside Louis moved down the south end of the compartments while the girls went in the opposite direction back to their own compartment.
When they re-entered the compartment Dominique went back to her book and hid behind it once more, though she wasn’t really looking at the pages. Victoire pulled from her bag N.E.W.T. practice papers, a test she would be taking next year and began writing on them vigorously. A few seconds later the train pulled out of the station, out of the corner of Dominique’s eye she saw her parents heading back toward the barrier between the magical and muggle world then the train turned a corner and the platform was lost from sight.
A few minutes later the sisters were interrupted by a voice from just outside the compartment. “Um Dom… Fred and I were wondering if you wanted to come into our compartment,” said a voice from the doorway. Dominique looked up to see her Cousin James rocking backward and forward on his feet.
Victoire had looked up too, “Dominique if you want to go ahead.”
Dominique glanced at her sister then turned back to James, saying, “Sure I’ll come.”
“Cool,” said James. Dominique got up, grabbed her trunk and left with James down the hallway past compartments until they reached one that had four people, two girls and two boys inside it.
The first person, a girl with dark skin and black hair was at the window seat, leaning on the window frame. Another person; a girl as well but this time with light skin and dirty blonde hair -one of the Scamanders’ Dominique had seen on the platform- was reading a magazine called The Quibbler. A third person, one of the boys, with flaming red hair and blue eyes, was having a conversation with the fourth person, the other boy in the compartment, who had sandy colored hair and brown eyes. James opened the door.
“Hey James, Dom so you decided to join us,” said the boy with red hair who was talking with the other boy who was across him. He was also Dominique’s and James’s cousin Fred.
“Are you going to stand for the entire journey?” said a mildly interested voice from behind the magazine.
“Um no… Dominique you remember Rowena Scamander from the picnic at the Burrow?” asked James.
“Oh, right,” said Dominique, “hi.”
“And that is Lena Jordan, and Steve Helm,” introduced James first pointing to the girl leaning on the window, who raised a hand in recognition, then to the boy sitting across from Fred.
“Hi,” said Dominique to everyone in the compartment, then sitting down in the seat closest to the door.
“So what team do you think will make the cut this year?” asked Fred to the compartment as a whole, bringing conversation to the most popular game in the Wizarding World, Quidditch.
“The Magpies definitely,” said Steve.
“No way, the Magpies may have a decent keeper but the Kestrels have better tactics and chaser formations,” countered Fred.
“No, no you’re both wrong it’s the Wigtown Wanderers. They have never had a better year,” explained James.
“So the Holyhead Harpies won the league for nothing last year,” spoke up Lena from the window. And with that the people in the compartment began a conversation about different Quidditch team’s chances in the league that year.
This conversation carried them to lunch, but instead of the lunch trolley a boy came into the compartment with four scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon each. “I’m supposed to give these to James Potter, Fred Weasley, Rowena Scamander, and Dominique Weasley. They’re here right?” he asked, looking flustered.
“Um, yes they’re here,” said James, holding out his hand for the scrolls. The boy handed the scrolls over to him then left in a hurry.
“What are these for?”Inquired Dominique, taking her scroll from James she opened it. It said:
Ms. Weasley,
I would be delighted if you would join me for some lunch in Compartment C
Sincerely,
Professor H. Slughorn
“Urgh, Slughorn. What does he want?” asked Fred.
“Oh dad warned me about this,” Exclaimed James, “He is going to want to meet us because of what happened during the war,” he groaned.
“But what would he want with us? He only ever seemed interested in Uncle Harry,” said Dominique.
“What wouldn’t he want from you? You’re family are the wonderful Weasleys’ and Potters’ why shouldn’t Professor Slughorn want to assume greatness of people based on their brilliant parents and completely ignore everyone else?” said a rather cool voice from the back of the compartment, Lena had given her own opinion on the matter. A silence followed this outburst in which everyone exchanged looks with each other and more than once some of them glanced warily at Lena. The silence was broken when Rowena stood up and made her way toward the compartment door.
“Where are you going?” asked James.
“Well you certainly aren’t going to make any move to leave for at least one more minute. I don’t see why I should stay so I’m going to see the purpose for being summoned to see Professor Slughorn,” said Rowena simply and calmly, she actually looked slightly confused.
“Well I suppose we’d better go now, we should at least meet him- see what he’s like,” said Fred, attempting to change the subject.
Dominique got up and followed Rowena out of the compartment; the other invitees came up the rear rather awkwardly.
They reached the compartment in silence. Slughorn noticed them at once. “Ah, here they are at last,” he exclaimed jovially, “Come, come.”
He opened the door and gestured for them to sit down. They all sat down but not before they all had their hands shaken in turn by Slughorn. “Good, good we’re all here yes? Now I believe introductions are in order,” at this point the four of them now got a good look at the other people in the compartment. “Now this someone I believe you three should know,” said Slughorn (indicating Dominique, James, and Fred), pointing at a girl across from him, it was Victoire.“This is Victoire Weasley,” he continued as Dominique, James, and Fred exchanged looks of recognition with Victoire while Rowena looked as if she wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on around her. “I believe we are waiting for one more… ah… yes Mr. Weasley so glad you could join us,” said Slughorn as the compartment door opened revealing Dominique’s brother Louis.
“Uhhh, yeah sure,” he said, looking as though he regretted coming to the compartment.
At this point the compartment was very full, excusing Professor Slughorn who alone took up about half of the compartment all by himself. The other people in the compartment included Dominique’s twin cousins Molly and Lucy, and Rowena’s twin brothers’ Lysander and Lorcan. The other people in the compartment included Sarah Macmillan, Cameron Thomas, and Jules Finnegan. For most of the rest of the journey Slughorn interrogated the various people in the compartment. Needless to say it was slightly uncomfortable for some people.
“Ah, well,” said Slughorn, turning towards Dominique, Louis, and Victoire, “for those of you who don’t know Dominique’s, Louis’s, and Victoires’ parents fought in the second war with He- Who- Must- Not- Be- Named. What some people don’t know is that mister Weasley was attacked by the notorious werewolf Fenrir Greyback one year before the battle. Personally I think we should all be grateful that no infestation had happened. Don’t you think?” Professor Slughorn finished his tale to a stunned silence as everyone processed what had been said.
Dominique stared blankly back at him, opening and closing her mouth though no sound came out. How dare he? What is wrong with that man? Infestation, I’ll show you infestation. The visit took off from there, it appeared that the people invited as Lena had said had some sort of relative who was famous for something; apparently the reason Rowena was invited was because her mother had discovered new species of magical creature, this revelation came as a surprise to Dominique who couldn’t think of any reason why Slughorn wanted to meet her.
Before anyone could respond, though honestly no one could think of anything to say Slughorn looked out of the window and jumped. “Oh! I had lost track of the time. You should all head back to your compartments and change, we will be arriving soon,” he exclaimed with giddy enthusiasm. “Well good luck on the Sorting to all you first years and I’ll see you older students in class,” he said then started shooing the students out of the compartment.
“Well that was… interesting,” remarked James, as the four of them approached their compartment.
“Wow,” said Fred “who says that, is he mental or what?” Dominique was speechless; she couldn’t believe that anyone could possibly say any of that even if they did hold grudges against people like her.
“Doesn’t he know?” Dominique asked in an undertone so Rowena wouldn’t hear.
“Guess not,” replied Fred. By this time Rowena had caught up but she showed no interest in their conversation.
“Best not dwell on that,” said Dominique quickly, then opening the compartment door and stepping inside.
“Come on we’ve got to change we’ll be arriving soon,” said Fred.
“How was it?” asked a curious voice from the compartment, Lena looked up as they entered.
“Quite boring to be frank,” answered James with a quick glance at Dominique, who fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. That answer seemed to satisfy Lena and Steve who was listening in, and with that all of them opened their trunks and got into their school robes all except Dominique who suddenly looked petrified.
“Er… I-- I’ll just change in my sister’s compartment,” she said in a small voice; everyone looked surprised at this.
“We won’t bite you know,” said Lena pulling her robes out from her trunk.
Dominique paled at the word bite then said in a high-pitched hurried voice, “Oh no I’m sure that my sister would want to talk for a bit so I-- I’ll just go and change there. I’ll see you in a few minutes then.” Before anyone could say anything else Dominique had grabbed her trunk from the rack and left the compartment as though there was a horde of dementors behind her, leaving everyone in the compartment behind her looking either dumbstruck or exchanging startled looks.
The minute Dominique reached her sister’s compartment she knocked hard on the door and hoped against hope that she would let her in. the door opened to reveal Victoires’ confused looking face.
“What happened?” she asked. Dominique quickly relayed the story of what happened once the group came back to the compartment.
“So can I change here?” she asked hopefully once she was finished, Victoire gestured for her to come in and shut the door behind them.
“But why do you need to change here in the first place?” Victoire asked.
In answer Dominique pulled back the neck of the jumper she was wearing to reveal the scarred and mangled flesh on her shoulder that was a souvenir from the werewolf that bit her in July.
“Oh,” said Victoire, understanding. Both of them got into their robes quickly.
“I’d better go; thanks,” Dominique said before leaving to go back to the other compartment.
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Once all of them were in their school robes they noticed that the train was slowing down, pretty soon it had slowed to a stop. The kids inside the compartment shivered with anticipation as they looked at one another with anxious expressions on their faces, then in one swift movement they all marched outside to be sorted.
“Firs’ year’s firs’ years this way!” called a booming voice over the heads of the unloading students.
“Hagrid!” yelled James to the massive figure that had appeared on the platform as he and the rest of his friends stepped off of the train and onto the platform “Hey Hagrid!”
“Wha-- oh there yeh are James. You all righ’ there, ready fer yer Sorting?” Hagrid asked as he began to lead James and the other first years down the slope away from Hogsmeade station. Dominique stared around in wonder at her surroundings, it was better than how her brother and sister had described it.
Hagrid led them to the bank of a lake where a small fleet of boats were waiting. “Righ’, no more’n four to a boat,” said Hagrid before climbing into his own magically reinforced boat and gesturing for the other children to choose their own.
Out of the corner of her eye Dominique saw James, Fred, Steve, and Rowena clamber into a boat. So much for sticking together she thought as she began searching for an empty boat, then she noticed that someone was calling her name, she turned to see Lena Jordan from the train gesturing madly for her to join her in the boat she was sitting in. Grateful for the nice gesture, Dominique climbed in and was immediately followed by two boys. As soon as they had sat down the boat began to move forward.
They bowed their heads as they passed under a curtain of ivy; everyone was silently staring at the looming castle ahead. Soon, much too soon in Dominique’s opinion they came to the other side of the lake. She along with the other first years clambered ashore, everyone following Hagrid who was easily spotted even in the darkness. They came up the slope and moved toward the large oak front doors of the castle, and then Hagrid knocked on the doors three times.
The door opened to reveal a slightly plump man in amethyst colored robes with black hair and an excited grin on his face as though he could not have waited long enough for this moment. “I’ll take them from here Hagrid, see you at the feast,” he said.
“You too Professor Longbottom,” replied Hagrid, setting off past Professor Longbottom toward the chambers within.
“Hey Neville,” called James as him and the other students filed past the Professor. Dominique who had looked up at the name “Longbottom” smiled at the familiar face. Neville was an old family friend.
Professor Longbottom led them to a side chamber near the double doors that Hagrid had disappeared through and ushered them inside. “Now in a few minutes I’ll come and get you for your sorting, in the mean time all you might want to smarten yourselves up a bit.” Then Professor Longbottom left, supposedly to the feast and left the children to their own devices.
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Elsewhere in the castle two adults were having an argument that though Dominique didn’t know it, it concerned her.
“Be reasonable Horace, the child deserves an education. All I’m asking”“
“Minerva I understand what you’re asking but I can’t do it. You should have asked whether I would. Do you realize what risk a werewolf would bring to the school?” replied Horace Slughorn with force and a hint of fear.
“This is exactly why I didn’t ask your permission Horace. I knew that you were going to behave like this,” argued the Headmistress in a hard voice.
“Well, how do you expect me to react? It makes no sense, no sense at all. Haven’t the parents heard of homeschooling? Haven’t they heard of Private Tutors? I won’t have it Minerva, I won’t have it!”
“You are to make the potion and that’s final,” said Minerva McGonagall with venom in her voice.
“Just answer me this,” pleaded Slughorn, desperation dripping from his voice now, “which student needs the potion?”
“Dominique Weasley.
“We should head to the feast Horace the Sorting will be starting,” Minerva changed the subject seemingly not noticing the look of horror now on Professor Slughorn’s face.
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“Everyone is ready for you now. Follow me,” said Professor Longbottom gesturing for the first years to follow him out into the Entrance Hall. Outside of the chamber Professor Longbottom lead them to a pair of double doors and opened them.
Dominique let out a gasp of astonishment at seeing the Great Hall. The ceiling as her family had described showed an exact replica of the sky outside, in this case the ceiling was a brilliant shade of dark blue with many stars. Someone behind Dominique nudged her; she looked around to see Lena gesturing for her to keep moving. Dominique and the other kids followed Professor Longbottom to the other end of the hall. On the way to the head table where they would obviously soon be sorted, Dominique passed the Slytherin table and saw her brother sitting in between her twin cousins Molly and Lucy, he waved as she walked by; next she noticed her sister waving at her from the Ravenclaw table sitting next to Madeline, who gave her a thumbs up. Then Dominique saw the Hufflepuff table and Ted looking excited waved.
Dominique couldn’t help but smile at the familiar faces; it helped relieve some of her nervousness about the task ahead. It’s just a hat; it’ll be fine she continued to tell herself over and over again in her head as they approached the head table. Professor Longbottom stopped in front of the table and told the assembled group of anxious looking first years to line up in front of the teachers’ table. After the students were situated, Professor Longbottom pulled a three legged stool from a door behind the head teachers table and an old patched and frayed hat with a rip near the brim. He walked to the front of the line of first years and placed the old hat, the Sorting Hat on top of the stool and stepped back. Everyone in the hall stared at the hat. The rip near the brim of the hat opened like a mouth and it began to sing:
“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,
But don’t judge on what you see,
I’ll eat myself if you 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 top 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 steady mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk 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!
There was applause and the hat became still once more. Professor Longbottom then produced a long scroll parchment from inside of his robes. “Now, when I call your name you will step forward and place the Sorting Hat on your head, when the hat says your house you will immediately go to that house’s designated table and sit down with your housemates.
“Okay, ready…” he looked down at the parchment in his hands and continued reading “Adcock, Avena,” he called out. Avena shakily stepped out of the line and sat down on the stool, holding the Sorting Hat, she looked up uncertainly at Professor Longbottom. He nodded encouragingly and so shrugging she put the hat on her head.
A few seconds later the rip near the brim of the hat opened and shouted to the Great Hall “RAVENCLAW!” and the table next to the one farthest to the left exploded with cheers as Avena scurried over to sit there.
“Bot, Bertie,” said Longbottom. Bertie became the first Slytherin. For a few names Dominique zoned out, her attention was brought back when the name “Codwell, Deven” was called out.
He walked to the hat very calmly, almost strutting and nonchalantly placed it on his head a few seconds later the hat screamed “SLYTHERIN!”
And so it continued, “Foote, Comya” became a Hufflepuff and “Fulkins, Loreto” became a Gryffindor. All the while Dominique was becoming increasingly more nervous about her impending sorting.
“Helm, Steve,” called out Professor Longbottom, Dominique saw that he was the same Steve from the train and he looked nervous and a little green.
Steve cautiously placed the hat on his head “GRYFFINDOR!” shouted the hat, about one minute later. Steve made his way to the Gryffindor table with a smile.
“Irish, Huan,” shouted out Longbottom and Huan was sorted into Slytherin. “Iron, McKenzie,” Professor Longbottom called, McKenzie was sorted into Hufflepuff. Lena stiffened next to Dominique as Professor Longbottom yelled out to the Great Hall the name “Jordan, Lena.”
“Good Luck,” whispered Dominique as Lena stepped out from the line and made her way to the hat, she smiled over her shoulder.
Lena put the hat on her head and after some contemplation the hat shouted “HUFFLEPUFF!” Lena for a moment looked stunned, then carefully made her way to the table left of the table farthest to the right of the hall. Professor Longbottom looked at his list again.
“Nott, Anthony” was to some people’s surprise sorted into Ravenclaw amid mutterings and whisperings around the Great Hall. “Nye, Acacia” became a Slytherin. The sorting was taking longer than Dominique had thought. “Orchards, Thomas” turned out to be a Ravenclaw and went to sit next to Anthony. Probably because he doesn’t know any better thought Dominique, thinking about Nott’s Death Eater grandfather.
A few names later brought the people in the Great Hall to one of the most anticipated names of the night. “Potter, James,” Professor Longbottom’s voice ringed through the silent air of the hall as James (looking quite green) made his way to the stool and placed the hat on his head.
There was silence, then “GRYFFINDOR!” the hat yelled. James got up hurriedly and immediately sat down at the Gryffindor table, where the students already seated there were cheering like the other tables when someone was sorted into their house. “Prescot, Aaron” was the next name called and was sorted into Hufflepuff.
The next name Dominique heard was “Scamander, Rowena.”
Rowena came out from the line and placed the hat on her head after a few seconds the hat screamed “RAVENCLAW!” Rowena handed back the hat and sat down at the Ravenclaw table with a smile as though she knew something the hat had not. Dominique was hungry and tired of standing, so she was slightly inattentive for the next few names.
The next name she heard however was “Vanderveer, Adelaide” who was put into Slytherin along with the next person called who was called “Venton, Carmella”. The names continued with the hat calling out houses and the applause. “Waldgrave, Belphoebe” brought Dominique back to the present and as Belphoebe made her way to the Gryffindor table Dominique began to feel properly nervous again about her Sorting. It’s just a hat she kept thinking as Professor Longbottom looked down at his list for what seemed like the hundredth time that night, then he called out, “Weasley, Dominique” to the Great Hall.
Dominique nearly passed out, it was time. She steeled herself up and walked to the three-legged stool with the hat. Professor Longbottom gave her an encouraging smile and just before she pulled the hat on she had a view of the Great Hall, seeing all of the students and seeing the house tables, wondering which one she would have to join.
“Ah, yes. A Weasley…” said a small voice in Dominique’s ear causing her to jump. The voice seemed to be coming from the hat itself. “But no you are not like your family before you. There is brilliance yet but something holding back true potential. Both sly and cunning but not for Slytherin either. Your bravery might come in handy, but it is not for Gryffindor. I know where to put you... HUFFLEPUFF!” the hat yelled the last word out loud.
Momentarily stunned Dominique’s ears adjusted to the cheers coming from the Hufflepuff table. Just as Dominique pulled of the hat she just barely heard the hat say “strange though” before handing the hat back to Professor Longbottom. She then hurried to the Hufflepuff table and took a seat next to Lena, ignoring the whisperings and mutterings of the people around her.
“A Weasley in Hufflepuff!”
“And I thought we’d heard the worst of it when her brother and cousins went to Slytherin.”
“Why can’t they make a Gryffindor for a change; I mean they are war heroes?”
“Hey,” she said quietly to Lena. Lena nodded and smiled in response. Both of them now turned their attention to the front of the Great Hall, where professor Longbottom began to read off of his list again.
“Weasley, Fred,” he shouted out to the hall. Fred stepped out from the line that now only contained about three other children waiting to be sorted. Fred put the hat on his head and waited. So did everyone else.
“GRYFFINDOR!” shouted the hat as the Gryffindor table erupted in cheers, James clapping the loudest of the lot. Dominique cheered as well, so did Lena.
“You know, I think the Sortings’ are rather pointless. I mean other than their organizational use, they’re not really helpful,” Lena commented as “Welby, Jared” became a Ravenclaw. “And anyway, I also wanted to apologize for what I said on the train about Slughorn and your family. It was wrong,” she added rather embarrassedly.
“Don’t worry about it,” replied Dominique airily, who couldn’t really remember the incident at all, “it doesn’t matter.”
The Sorting ended with “York, Alicia” becoming a Gryffindor and “Zellner, Dita” becoming a Slytherin.
After Dita had taken a seat at the Slytherin table and the Sorting Hat and its stool taken out of the Great Hall, the Headmistress McGonagall stood up to address the students in the school. “Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before we start the feast there are a few start of term notices you all should be aware of. To start off First years should note that the Forbidden Forest is off limits. Some older students would do well to remember that as well. Quidditch try-out signup sheets are to be found on the common room notice boards along with the dates and times of them. Also, to any students under Third Year, the village of Hogsmeade is off limits as well. One final thing for all students, Mr. Filch has kindly informed me to remind you that Skiving Snack boxes are among the many banned objects at school, for the entire list of banned objects it is located in Mr. Filch’s office for those who would like to see it. That is all I would like to say, let the feast begin,” McGonagall finished as food appeared on every available surface of each of the tables.
Even though the food was brilliant, Dominique couldn’t concentrate on eating, she was thinking about what the hat had said right before she had taken it off. What was strange? Then a horrible thought occurred to her what if the hat knows? Then what would be so strange? Was it strange that there was a werewolf in Hufflepuff? Maybe-
“Hey, aren’t you going to eat?” Lena interrupted her dark thoughts.
“I guess not,” she answered with a shrug.
“Hey, Dominique, Good job on making Hufflepuff,” Called Ted from the end of table. Dominique faked a smile back at him, her worries about what the hat knew overriding her relief over the Sorting. The rest of the feast went smoothly enough; Dominique and Lena talking through most of it and becoming friends. When the end of the feast came, Headmistress McGonagall stood up again to signal to the Prefects and the Head Girl and Boy to lead the new First Years to their House Dormitories. There was a great scraping of benches as students stood up and began to make their way to their respective dormitories. Just as Dominique was about to leave the Great Hall she caught sight of Professor Slughorn staring at her with an odd expression on his face, did he look … a little afraid?
The moment Dominique stepped into the Hufflepuff common room she felt as though she was home. There were comfortable looking armchairs in soft cheery colors in front of a beautifully warm fire place. The common room looked like a place of relaxation and had a feeling of “Hakuna Matata” about it that made Dominique think it would be hard to do homework here.
“Okay,” called out the female prefect of the Hufflepuff house, snapping Dominique out of her reverie, “Girl’s dorms are located up the stairs to your right. Boy’s dorms are located up the stairs to your left. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Good night. Oh and all your things from the train have already been brought to your dormitories.” She finished addressing the First years.
After the prefect’s announcement, Lena grabbed Dominique’s arm and followed the other Hufflepuff girls to their dormitories. Dominique found the dormitory to be just as cheery and inviting as the common room was. She and Lena immediately found and chose beds that were next to each other, and grabbed their trunks to get ready for bed.
It wasn’t until Dominique had her pajamas’ in her hand that she realized what predicament she was in. She looked around; her eyes focusing on the hangings of her bed, Dominique dove onto her bed, much to the stares of her roommates and pulled the hangings closed around her. Once the hangings were securely fastened she quickly put on her pajamas and got out of bed. When she emerged she noticed that her roommates were staring at her with bewildered expressions on their faces.
“I thought I saw a rat,” she lied and without further explanation she placed her robes in her trunk, crawled back into bed and went to sleep almost immediately.
The Secret of the Shrieking Shack by snidget76
Chapter Notes: So sorry for the long wait. I already had this chapter written when I realized there were some holes, and then the lengthy validation process brought more mistakes to my attention. Plus no internet access for a week complicates things even more. Anyway this chapter is pretty long so maybe it'll make up for the long wait, enjoy.
In this chapter you will meet some of my OC’s. Anything Harry Potter you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling not me. Enjoy. The song the hat sings is from the Sorcerer’s Stone. I also do not own The Lion King.
Chapter Endnotes: Please let me know what you think. I thrive on reviews. Once again I am sorry for the long wait.