The Houses of Hogwarts
Chapter Two
Angelina looked on, not at all amused that her fate was going to rest in the hands of a battered hat. At least she no longer had a halo and pair of wings. With Severus’ help Angelina had been restored to her former state, although his assistance had cost Severus dearly as Lily was no longer talking to him. She stood a good ways off, next to the boy from the train. Angelina felt slightly bad for being part of the reason the two were not talking ” but not that bad
He was better off with out her anyway, Angelina reminded herself turning her attention away from Mudblood. Instead, Angelina watched as a blond girl, her hair in pigtails, sat down on the stool where a tall, stern-looking witch placed the hat on her head.
"Hufflepuff," she quietly predicted to Severus. And sure enough she was right.
"Ravenclaw," Severus whispered his guess as the next student approached the hat. The student in question was sorted into Hufflepuff.
Their game continued on, with Angelina accurately predicting an astonishingly percentage of placements correctly, while Severus soon gave up even trying.
"Black, Sirius."
There was a ripple of laughter from the older students as Black approached the hat. It looked as if he had been slightly less successful at finding the counter spells than Angelina; he was still sporting a tail and Angelina would bet he was still barking.
She couldn’t help smirk as she leaned over to whisper her prediction to Severus.
"What with the pitiful stunt he pulled today, he’ll end up in Hufflepuff," Angelina said with an air of hope.
“But he’s a Pureblood, isn’t he? I mean…he seemed upset by my comment…” Severus let the question hang in the air. With his tailored robes and knowledge of magic, the Black boy had seemed to be a Pureblood.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of the Black family,” she stated, giving him a questioning look. It was a piercing gaze that made Severus feel as if she were trying to prod into his mind. He averted his eyes and turned toward the sorting rather than answer. With a shrug Angelina also returned her attention to the hat, which seemed to be having a hard time with Black. Eventually the hat shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!”
“Well, at least we won’t have to deal with him in Slytherin.”
It was not long until the redhead girl’s name was called. Angelina made no prediction as the girl walked forward on trembling legs and McGonagall slipped the hat on her head.
“GRYFFINDOR!” The hat announced a second later.
A tiny groan escaped from the boy next to her, drawing Angelina’s attention back to Severus. Angelina saw a flash of something close to pain on Severus’ face before it resorted back to its normal scowl.
“Well, at least she doesn’t seem to like her fellow housemate very much,” Angelina remarked, trying to comfort Severus, as she watched Lily Evan’s turn her back on Black.
He stayed silent. Angelina shrugged and turned her attention to the sorting. She was hardly going to worry about a Mudblood.
The sorting continued until the tall, stern witch called Angelina’s name.
"Lestrange, Angelina."
“See you at our table,” she whispered back to Severus.
Angelina found her legs shaking slightly as she made her way towards the ratty hat. She tried telling herself that she had nothing to worry about; she was a Slytherin. Yes, that’s right. Surely the hat’ll see that. Her stomach did one last flip-flop before she reached the stool and the hat was placed gently on her head.
Her forced calm was broken when, as the hat slipped over her head, a little voice spoke inside her ear:
"Interesting. Let's see…You seem to be quite the industrious student; you’re clearly not afraid of some good hard work. Yes. Yes. And you obviously try to be loyal. Loyalty in your family is important is it not? Yes. Yes. Loyal and hard-working. Could it be Hufflepuff?
"No, no, no, most unsuitable. They wear their hearts on their sleeves, those Hufflepuffs. You don't share your heart with people, do you?
"Don't like sharing your head either?
"But, I see, you don’t mind poking about yourself. That is a most unusual talent. Use it for spying do you? Salazar would approve, and Rowena . . .
"What’s that? Slytherin, eh? That’s where ‘our family’ goes, does it? But your Great Uncle Andrew was in Gryffindor; did you know? Did very well. Gryffindor could be where you truly shine. Think of the power you could achieve!
“You don’t care about the power? Is that what I just heard? You don’t care if Gryffindor would give you all the power of Merlin, you’d prefer Slytherin!
“Well, my dear, you’re going to have to excuse me, but that does not seem a very Slytherin thing to say. However, Gryffindor would have approved, and with your habit of exploring places best left alone…Who knows, it might be wear you belong. After all, that’s where I decided to put Black.
“You’re telling me you’re as smart and talented as any Slytherin? You say you’ve got enough brains for the whole house?
“And you’re right, my dear. You are skilled, and proud of it. Yes, it takes a good deal of intelligence, as well as a little pride, to be so confident of one’s own cleverness. But my dear, you weren’t listening to my song. Those that prize wit and learning belong in RAVENCLAW!"
And before Angelina could tell the hat that she wanted Slytherin, that she was a Slytherin, the hat was pulled off.
Angelina dumbly stepped down and blindly stumbled over to take a seat at the Ravenclaw table. The boy next to her introduced himself as Jonathan Clearwater, but Angelina was too stunned to pay much attention. She had been placed in Ravenclaw.
She was dimly aware of her surroundings, somewhere off in the background she heard the witch in charge of the sorting call, “Longbottom, Frank.”
She felt physically sick; it was as if someone had punched her in the gut. She was a Blood-Traitor. Scum. Filth.
“You must be new to all this. Parents were Muggles, were they?” Jonathan Clearwater asked, but Angelina wasn’t even paying attention. Otherwise she would have cursed him for suggesting that she, Angelina Lestrange, could be a Mudblood. “You look a bit stunned. It’s okay, you’ll get use to it soon enough. The first month’s a bit hard…homesick…I missed my parents something dreadful…if you need anything…wouldn’t mind if you need someone older to talk to…"
The boy next to Angelina kept up a steady flow of advice as Angelina stared blankly out across the sea of students to the Slytherin table. That was where she should be sitting. Her attention was brought back to the sorting when the stern, tall witch dressed in green robes called the name of Angelina’s companion from the train.
"Snape, Severus."
Severus slinked up, his greasy hair falling in a curtain around his face. Seriously, someone needed to give that boy a hair cut, Angelina couldn’t help herself from thinking somewhat snobbishly. In a matter of moments he was taking a seat at Slytherin. She watched as the Slytherin table welcomed him. She could see her brother, Rodolphus, clapping along with the rest of the house. She tried to catch his eye, but Rodolphus wouldn’t even look at her. She decided she'd have a talk with that incompetent hat after dinner.
She sighed and wished the Headmaster would hurry up and get to the point. Leaning over, she whispered to Clearwater, “You don’t have a quill by any chance, do you?”
“Oh, very smart; taking a few notes on Professor Dumbledore, are you? Very great man …Order of Merlin . . . defeated Grindelwald…extensive research on dragons’ blood…I understand he has a particular fondness for sherbet lemons…favorite color…”
Angelina had stopped paying attention as soon as he had produced a quill. As the food appeared, Angelina, who had no appetite, set to work on the speech she would give to the Sorting Hat. Using a napkin, she began to scribble down points of argument.
“We’re not going to be tested on this are we?” one girl asked nervously beside her.
“Well, not officially,” another first year girl responded. “But they do dock points if you don’t follow all the rules. I was reading…”
Angelina distanced herself from the people around her. There was no point in interacting with them anyway. She was sure the Sorting Hat would reevaluate its decision once it heard her very persuasive points. She had simply been unprepared before; it had caught her off guard. This time she would be ready. She ran through the list of arguments again in her mind.
“Come on,” Clearwater leaned over. “I’ll show you to your room.”
“Actually, I want to talk to Professor Dumbledore about…his preference in socks. Wool or cotton? It really is a very big difference. I myself enjoy cotton.”
“Quite right, quite right. Hogwarts is a place of learning. Don’t fritter away your time, jump right in. I’ll see you back in the common room. Do hurry; it’ll be after hours soon. Then they start to deduct points.”
After reassuring Clearwater that she would return on time, Angelina made her way up to the staff table with no intention of asking Dumbledore anything, especially about his sock preference. No one noticed her, as most of the professors had left the Great Hall or were in the process if doing so. Only the Headmaster and a massive hairy man remained, and the two of them were in a deep discussion. Silently she slipped up to the staff table and placed the hat on her head.
"Hello again,” it said. “Yes I should have figured you'd be back. You have a stubborn streak that would make Gryffindor proud."
I don't want to make Gryffindor proud, I want to make Slytherin proud, Angelina fumed.
"I still think that you will do well in Ravenclaw, and I'll stand by that."
She wasted a few more minutes trying to convince the hat that she belonged in Slytherin, but it wouldn't budge. It even went so far as to suggest that maybe it had been wrong to pick Ravenclaw, and that it should have placed her in Hufflepuff, or even worse, Gryffindor.
She ripped the hat off, before it did something so foolish, and came face to face with the Headmaster.
"If you're done with the hat, Miss Lestrange, could I have it back?" Professor Dumbledore questioned mildly.
"Yes," she snapped, in a more biting tone than she had intended to use to address the Headmaster.
"Sometimes the fruit others eat is not as sweet as we have been told," said the Headmaster, his eyes twinkling behind half-moon spectacles.
What was he going on about? Maybe he was a bit touched in the head. While Angelina mused about the sanity of the Headmaster, he left. The Great Hall was deserted, and Angelina had no idea where the Ravenclaw common room was.