Chapter 3: Voices and Instincts
“Potter, Cora!”
Professor Flitwick’s pronouncement was met by silence at first, which was soon broken by a large upsurge in the noise level as everyone started whispering excitedly. Nobody this famous had gone to Hogwarts since Harry Potter himself, twenty-four years ago.
Cora gulped and slowly walked towards the Sorting Hat. The last thing she saw before the darkness inside the hat engulfed her was, by the look of it, hundreds of people staring straight at her. She was glad when she could no longer see them; crowds had always made her feel uncomfortable.
“Hmmm,” said a small voice in her ear. “Difficult. Very difficult. There’s courage, but also fear. Desire. A certain ‘snakelike’ ability. And talent. Mustn’t forget that. But where shall you go?”
“If you please,” Cora thought hastily, “I’d rather not be in Slytherin.”
“Not Slytherin? You could be great, you know. And Slytherin will help you on the way. Still no? Your father was exactly the same way. If you’re sure, then. GRYFFINDOR!”
Cora heard the last word shouted so the entire hall heard. She took off the hat and handed it to ‘Quentin, Nora’ before walking shakily to the Gryffindor table and sitting down next to Olivia.
“Hooray! We’re in the same house!” Olivia couldn’t contain her excitement about being placed with her friend.
“Yeah, but Drew’s here too.” Cora was a bit pessimistic by nature, and felt compelled to point out this factor.
“Ah, forget about him for now. I hope we can eat soon, I’m starving.”
Unfortunately, the Sorting went on for at least ten more minutes. Finally, ‘Zwinkler, Chad’ joined the Slytherin table, and Professor Flitwick picked up the stool (and this was with some difficulty, for it was bigger than he was) and carried it out of the Great Hall.
A tall witch Cora hadn’t noticed before, who was seated in the middle of the table, stood up. Silence fell as quickly as a brick would if you dropped it on Jupiter. “Welcome to Hogwarts!” she said. “Let the feast begin!”
Immediately, heaping amounts of food appeared on the table in front of them. Cora and Olivia helped themselves to everything they could reach.
“Congrats on making Gryffindor, Cora,” said a voice behind them.
Cora spun around. Standing behind the table was a girl who looked about fourteen, with frizzy, bright red hair and blue eyes. She grinned at Cora, showing slightly crooked teeth.
“Geena!” Cora all but shrieked her name, and pulled the girl down on the bench next to her.
Olivia pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked at the older girl more closely. So this was the famous ‘Geena Weasley’ she had heard so much about during the past few hours. She really didn’t seem all that interesting. Olivia brushed her hair away once more and turned back to her mashed potatoes.
“Here, use this.” Geena handed Olivia what looked like an ordinary rubber band. “Stick your hair up in it, it won’t fall out.”
Olivia quickly twisted her dark locks into a ponytail. The rubber band flashed bright red and then faded to the exact same shade of espresso as Olivia’s hair.
“Wow, thank you,” said Olivia. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“That’s a Gred and Forge product, Geena?” asked Cora absently.
“Oh no, I bought in Godric’s Hollow, summer before last,” replied Geena sarcastically. “Of course it’s a Weasley product. I’ve got about five hundred, if you need another one just ask. Apparently, they don’t sell very well, so I get them by default. It drives Mum mad. Mind you, most things drive Mum mad.”
Cora started to reply, but was distracted by a loud thump, which was Olivia taking out her book again.
“What on earth are you doing, Olivia?” asked Cora, mystified by her friend’s odd behavior.
“There’s a genealogy section in the back of the book. I’m trying to find out who all those people you keep mentioning are.”
“That’s easy. Gred and Forge are-“
“Don’t tell me, I want to find out myself.”
Geena looked at Olivia in amazement. “Olivia, have you ever met my mother?”
“I dunno. If you leave me alone, I can look her up, and then I’ll know if I’ve met her or not. Why?”
“Because,” said Cora, “Her-, er, my aunt, does exactly the same thing every time she hears a name she doesn’t know.”
Olivia said nothing and continued to flip pages. Geena turned back to Cora, a bit bored with the proceedings. Before she could say anything, however, Olivia put down her book with a satisfying thump.
“What did I tell you? I’ve found the entire ‘Weasley’ family for about seventeen generations.”
Cora bent down to look. Sure enough, there were the names of all her aunts, uncles, cousins, and obscure relations.
“How’d you know my surname was Weasley?” asked Geena.
“You said so yourself,” said Olivia.
“I did not. I said my uncle’s surname was Weasley.”
“Well, your surname is Weasley, too. It says so right there. 'Geena Beth Weasley’. Unless there’s someone else named Geena I should know about. Is there?”
“No,” said Cora, firmly. “There isn’t.”
“Well, that settles things, then,” said Geena. “I guess I’ll have to talk to you guys later, Laura Wood wants to discuss Quidditch. Dunno why she’s bothering, we’re a player short as it is. Oh dear, she’s frowning at me. Got to run. Coming, Laura!” Geena
set off hurriedly before the Quidditch Captain could stare her down any further.
“Boy, I’m parched,” said Olivia suddenly. She reached for her goblet and downed it in one gulp.
“Hey!” said a voice. “You stole my pumpkin juice!”
It was Drew, who had apparently been sitting across from them for about twenty minutes without anyone noticing him in the slightest.
“No,” said Olivia, “I stole my pumpkin juice.”
“You admitted to stealing the pumpkin juice!”
Olivia threw up her hands in despair. Couldn’t she get anywhere with this kid?
Gradually, the remnants of the food vanished from the golden plates. Dessert had come and gone as well. The tall witch (who was the Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, as Olivia had learned from Cora over the meal) stood up again. Silence fell with an audible noise, so fast was the reaction.
“Once again, I must say, welcome to Hogwarts!” said Professor McGonagall loudly, although the volume wasn’t necessary. “I am sure that this is the beginning of another exceptional year.
“Now, a few start-of-term notices. I am pleased to announce that Professor Slughorn has agreed to stay on as Potions Master for at least another year. However, we do have some changes to our staff. Professor Trewlany has decided to retire, in order to ‘fine-tune’ her abilities. All Divination classes will now be taught by Professor Firenze. In addition, Professor Andronicus, who has taught Defense Against the Dark Arts for the longest term ever recorded, (fifteen years, I believe) has also decided to retire. So, it is with great pleasure that I welcome Professor Thomas.”
There was a smattering of applause through the hall. A tall, black man seated next to Professor McGonagall raised a hand in recognition. This, Cora supposed, was Professor Thomas. He seemed familiar, somehow, but she couldn’t quite place him.
Professor McGonagall resumed her speech, but Cora no longer paid attention. She didn’t really care about the ban on ‘Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes’, and anyway, Fred and George had told her expressly not to pay attention to that, or else.
No, it was something about the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that was bothering her. And the fact that she couldn’t figure out what it was that bothered her, bothered her even more. She was so bothered, in fact, that when the hall erupted around her (McGonagall had obviously dismissed them) she walked numbly out of the hall behind Olivia. She was so absorbed that she didn’t even notice where she was going until she walked into something blocking her path.
“Potter,” said a high, cold voice. It wasn’t a question.
A/N: Oho! Another cliffie! I didn’t mean for it to be like that, it just sorta turned out that way. Please review so I can update! I really do take your suggestions into account and try to use them.
In case you didn’t know, Jupiter has a rather higher gravity rate than Earth, and things fall much faster there.
Once again, I must give credit where credit is due. So kudos to Lurid for beta-ing again! Also Joe. He actually wrote the whole pumpkin juice bit at lunch one day. Chapter 4 will be up ASAP!