“Oh, my dear boy this is simply too easy. Are you sure you’ve never broken a rule?” the voice asked inside Noah’s head. He shook his head fervently, sending the hat almost tipping off his head and forcing him to open his eyes to readjust it, seeing all the eyes staring at him and the tiny stool on which he was seated. “Well,” the voice continued and he shut his eyes again, trying to concentrate on the strange, rough noise that he still could not believe was coming from the hat upon his head. “What about inhaled candy for fun?” Another shake of the head. “Peed in your mother’s garden?” There was a slight hesitation and then another fervent shake came that sent the hat toppling, but this time it was chuckling as it felt itself gain balance again.
“Gone on a dangerous quest?” it asked, resuming the questions immediately instead of commenting about the hesitation. “Lied?!” it questioned, finally showing some desperation in its voice as there had been another shake. This time there was a nod and the Sorting Hat roared with laughter as it boomed out, “Ravenclaw!”
Noah felt the pressure of the huge leather hat lifted off his head and he opened his eyes to see a long table to his far left cheering elatedly. Sighing in relief, he climbed down from his prison and nearly ran to join his fellow students. The benches on both sides of the table were almost completely crowded since he had been the last person to get sorted. Toward the end, movement caught his eye and he saw a boy waving furiously at him, while the one beside him beckoned with a finger.
Shrugging, Noah nodded at them to try and cease the one’s flailing gestures and made his way over to sit down between the two.
“Zechariahs Plumb,” one said immediately after he had taken his seat, and thrust his hand forward to awkwardly shake Noah’s. He had obviously been the one who had been beckoning him with his finger. There was a slightly snooty note that Noah detected in the other boy’s voice as he had introduced himself and he understood why a moment later. “I’m a pureblood myself,” he continued without hesitation, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses farther up his nose in a rather delicate gesture. “Though I must admit I prefer the muggle-borns for friends; they amuse me.” He glanced sideways at Noah after making this comment and he gave a weak smile towards Zechariahs, who returned it with his own sardonic one. He had slick, blonde hair that, like Noah’s, was shaggy but tamed with what appeared to layers of gel and many minutes of constant combing. His dark brown eyes seemed to twinkle with a sick kind of amusement, and were the kind of eyes that looked at though they knew and observed everything.
Noah’s speculation of the boy across from him was cut short by a tap on the shoulder. Glancing to the other side of him, he was greeted with the sight of a rather short boy who was smiling warmly at him. “Don’t mind my cousin,” he said in a voice that was just as friendly as his smile. “He just likes to put on a show at first. Once you get to know him he can be quite nice, though. I’m Benjamin Stiller, by the way.” Unlike his cousin, Benjamin held out his hand to wait for Noah to take it, instead of grabbing it forcefully from him. Noah took it and smiled at him. He, unlike Noah and Zechariahs, had no glasses, and his hair was cut short with a small duck-bill at the front. His bright blue eyes seemed to gleam with excitement rather than mischief, and a rather noticeable feature that Noah found himself staring at was the boy’s incredibly long eyelashes. All together, his warm smile, rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes and feminine eyelashes seemed to make the boy look more like a porcelain doll, than a regular boy.
“And you’re Noah Wipple.” Zechariahs’ voice interrupted Noah’s thoughts and he blinked to find Benjamin looking at him with an amused smile.
“Yes,” he replied, looking down at his hands while blushing furiously with the shame of being caught studying someone so intently.
“Oh, is that your last name?” a silky voice inquired and Noah froze at the sound.
“Have you met Luna, Noah?” he heard Benjamin ask and he slowly raised his eyes to find himself staring into a pair of pale, blue ones belonging to the person sitting across from him. A low moan escaped his lips as he squeezed his eyes shut again and nodded quickly.
“Noah and I sat together on the train,” he heard Luna telling the boys sitting on either side of him. “He can get rather defensive when it comes to talking about magical creatures,” she said just as calmly as ever, as though the fact were as unimportant as the one before it.
Thankfully, at that moment the headmaster chose to stand up and begin his welcoming speech. He introduced himself as Albus Dumbledore, welcomed the first years, and gave warnings that sounded as though they were given every year. With a clap of his hands, he closed his speech and food magically appeared in front of all the students. Greedy eyes looked up and down the tables before hands began reaching in every direction for whatever had caught the grabber’s eye. Noah and the boys beside him began stacking food onto their plates as fast as they could while Luna sat calmly in front of them, nibbling on a chicken leg.
“You know,” she thought out loud as they continued to eat, after a few minutes of silence. “It really is a shame that they don’t have better food here. The claws of a jiggilo bird, or even certain types of tongues can be quite tasty. I prefer a mantheebil tongue.”
Noah rolled his eyes and muttered through a full mouth, “Thewre isn’ sucha thin’.” Some of the pumpkin pie in his mouth flew out onto Zechariahs’ plate and the boy stopped eating to stare at it in horror and disgust.
“Of course there is,” Luna said calmly to Noah as Zechariah attempted to flick the food away from his plate without his finger actually touching it. “Noah and I had this talk on the train,” she added to Benjamin, who had paused mid-bite to look from her to Noah, who was now gritting his teeth. “Noah says that the creatures my father and I believe in and write about in our magazine are foolish and fake. I know he’s wrong, though.”
Benjamin finished his bite and then set down his fork to turn to Noah, a smile playing at his lips. “You mean you don’t believe in jiggilo birds or manthbills?”
“That’s… mantheebil,” Luna corrected.
“Right,” Benjamin said and turned back to smile and wink at Noah.
“I personally think it’s rubbish,” Zechariahs said calmly, and everyone turned to look at him. “Everyone knows that the Quibbler prints things written by people who are just desperate to get their name in the magazine. It’s not real.”
“You only think that because you’ve never seen any of it,” Luna countered.
“Exactly,” Zechariahs said smugly. “And I highly doubt that I ever will. You give me proof, and then I’ll be interested in listening.”
“What if I don’t show you it?” Luna asked, standing up to walk off and go sit down by another group of girls who stopped talking as soon as she arrived, leaving Zechariahs frowning and looking rather confused while blinking rapidly.
Beside Noah, Benjamin sniggered and went back to eating. Noah followed in his suit but felt that his good mood had once again been permanently ruined for the time being. His thoughts stayed with Luna, obsessing over how annoying she was and how quickly she seemed to be able to get him mad. All she appeared capable of talking about was her father and the ridiculous ideas that his magazine came up with. Her pale, blue eyes made her appear as a rather deep and thoughtful person, but every time that she spoke it was in a smooth, silky voice that never displayed in other emotion other than a constant calm that drove him nearly to insanity.
What went on in that head of hers? he wondered as he sat there. Was she bothered by what people thought of her? Did she, like many other girls, wish for the approval of a boy and feel sad when she didn’t get it? Did she even show anyone when she did get mad?
A tap on his shoulder broke through his thoughts and he looked up to see Benjamin smiling down at him, while Zechariahs stood in the background, tapping his foot impatiently. “We’re leaving now. Prefects are showing the 1st years to the dorm rooms,” Benjamin said kindly and Noah blushed, standing hastily and thanking him. “You looked pretty thoughtful back there,” the small boy continued as they began to follow the other students out through the double doors. “Someone got you thinking?”
He glanced down the see Benjamin looking up at him with a pair of sweet looking blue eyes and an innocent smile, but he didn’t miss the twinkle of mischief in them or the smirk behind the smile. “Not really. Just wondering about classes and such,” Noah lied, returning the smile he had received.
“Well I saw plenty of ladies checking me out so I might be a little preoccupied, myself during this school year,” Zechariahs said smugly, and Noah looked over in time to watch him wink at a girl by the door. She eyed him, smiled and then winked back before turning to join a group of her friends. “Oh, yes. She wants me,” the boy said in his snobby, English accent. Benjamin and Noah secretly rolled their eyes at one another, Benjamin mouthing his cousin a moment later and attempting to look rather haughty, while Noah bite his lip to keep from laughing. Zechariahs was, of course, too preoccupied with now winking at every girl he saw to notice the boys behind him.
It turned out that all the students got a tour of the school before going to the dorms to sleep, and the prefect that they got stuck with was compelled to tell them the history behind everything they saw, not only slowing them down but almost putting them to sleep right there. Noah mentally took notes in his head, pretending to be bored himself though he secretly enjoyed learning about the school his was attending.
Not only was he fascinated by the moving pictures hanging along all of the walls, but when they reached the moving staircases, he was absolutely enthralled. Luckily so were all the other students so Noah didn’t need to suppress his gawking. Finally, after what felt like minutes of climbing the circular staircase, the group reached the top though slightly out of breath. Before them was a door with a simple, gold knocker in the shape of an eagle but that was it: there was no handle or keyhole.
The prefect who had been leading them reached out casually and knocked once with the knocker and immediately the eagle began to speak. “What is so fragile that when you say its name, you break it?”
“Silence,” the young boy answered confidently and the eagle nodded before the door swung open.
What Noah guessed to be the common room as they stepped in, was a room that matched its house’s colours and mascot. Graceful arched windows had been set into the back wall, framed by blue-and-bronze silk curtains. In the distance he was sure he could make out the mountains he had spotted behind the castle when they’d arrived. The ceiling, he noted as he gaped upward, was dome-shaped and painted with stars that matched the dark blue carpet beneath their feet. Tables, chairs and bookcases decorated the room, along with what Noah recognized to be a niche opposite the door, made of a soft white marble.
“Rowena Ravenclaw,” their prefect announced as though he had been reading his thoughts, but when he blinked and looked around he saw that everyone else was staring at the statue as well. “You can go look at her if you want but then we all need to head to bed.” He pointed to a door beside the statue and said, “Girls head down the stairs and boys head up to get to each of your dormitories. I’ll wait around until everyone leaves, so if you have any questions about anything, now is the time to ask.”
It was as if no one had been listening but instead simply waiting for him to stop talking, because the moment he hesitated everyone rushed forward to admire the different things about the room. Only Noah, Luna and another girl seemed interested in the statue before them.
Walking closer he saw that it was indeed made of marble and the woman their prefect had claimed to be their head of house was looking down at them with a quizzical half smile on her face. She was indeed beautiful, Noah noted, and glanced up to see a delicate-looking circlet resembling a tiara that had been produced on top of her head. He also noticed that there was, what appeared to be tiny words etched into the tiara but before he could attempt to climb the plinth to examine it; their prefect called out that it was time to go to bed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Noah?” he heard Luna ask and groaned mentally. If she had stated it instead of asked it he was sure he could have simply ignored her.
“Maybe,” he replied hesitantly. Inside he was desperately trying to come up with an excuse. “We’ll have classes, you know. I’ll probably be very busy.”
Luna let go a high-pitched giggle that made him cringe slightly. “You’re so funny, Noah: always pretending to be so grown-up. You don’t have to act like that here, you know,” she added a bit quieter, making her voice sound even silkier. “You have friends now.” Suddenly he felt something moist pressing against his cheek and as Luna pulled away to join the other Ravenclaw girls trudging down the stairs, he realised she had just kissed him on the cheek.
“Bit of an odd couple, wouldn’t you say?” he heard Zechariahs say smugly behind him.
“Oh, leave him alone,” he heard Benjamin counter and Noah threw him a smile over his shoulder. “It’s not like he wanted her to do that.”
The boys were now dispersing to head upstairs and Noah followed silently behind his two companions as they climbed the stone steps at an agonizing pace. Once again he found his thoughts straying to Luna and how confusing she was. It wasn’t as if he liked her, she merely confused him with her comments which were random one moment and then insightful the next.
How did she know I never had friends before? Noah wondered as he glanced out the windows that had been punctuated into the walls along their spiral ascent. It caught him off guard to see that there were stars, clearly visible in the sky. No light pollution or any trace of cloud was there to attempt to cover them up and if he had been outside, he was sure that the air would have been crisp and clean.
“Noah!” he heard someone call from the top of the stairs and he blinked to find himself stopped in front of the window, the last one on the stairs. Running the rest of the way up, he found Benjamin waiting for him with a crooked smile planted upon his face.
“What?” Noah asked.
“Don’t worry,” the short boy said, looking up at him with his feminine face. “I would be thinking a lot, too.”
Noah chose to ignore him and looked around to see that they were standing in a huge room with beds placed randomly throughout it. Each of them had poles at every corner of the bed frame, enabling them to be decorated with blue satin cloth, draping down and almost creating a curtain of privacy. Most of the boys had already chosen beds near their friends but before he had a chance to worry, Benjamin was pulling him down the isle towards the left, back corner where he spotted Zechariahs sitting.
He and Benjamin had beds beside each other and Zechariahs had one across the isle, though he didn’t seem to mind. Everyone’s luggage was already there waiting for it’d owner and soon Noah found himself sitting on his bed in his pajamas, feeling quite content by how independent he was able to be.
“Not a bad first day, if I do say so myself,” Zechariahs said from his bed in the far corner and Benjamin emerged from the bathrooms to plop down onto his own bed across from him.
“All you care about it is meeting girls,” he muttered sourly after a moment of getting comfortable.
“Do I detect jealousy?” the smug boy asked, letting his English accent become more noticeable as his tone changed.
“No, just annoyance. Are you going to be ditching us for them all the time this year?”
“It depends,” Zechariahs said slowly, as if the answer required a lot of thought.
“On what?” Benjamin replied, clearly letting his annoyance show.
“On if I get into a more… serious relationship.”
Both Benjamin and Noah burst out laughing at that comment and Zechariahs scooted to the edge of his bed to glare at them both. “It could happen!” he countered; only causing the two boys to laugh even harder.
“What would an eleven year old,” Benjamin asked between giggles. His face slightly flushed. “Know about a ‘serious relationship’” He imitated his cousin’s accent on the last two words and rolled his eyes towards Noah as he did so.
“Just don’t drool all over her or come to me with apologies when she turns out to be a total babe,” Zechariahs said grudgingly as he closed the curtains around his bed and could be heard slapping, instead of fluffing his pillow.
Benjamin winked at Noah and mouthed, “Drama Queen” while rolling his eyes as he pointed towards Zechariahs’ bed. Noah bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing and shut his curtain as well. He had to agree with Zechariahs though. All in all today had been quite an adventure and gaining two friends had made things even better. And even though there were many things he wanted to think about and ponder over, eventually his emotional exhaustion won him over and he drifted into sleep soon after.
When Impossible becomes Reality by beautyfades
Chapter Notes: I love the title to this chapter and I'm sure you can already guess some of what's going to happen. A real quick thanks to the people who have been reviewing and also to the people who have added my story to their favorites. If I hadn't been viewing my statistics then I never would have known there were other people out there besides my reviewers who were enjoying this. Lol. So thank-you to you guys as well for the advertisement and the subtle support. ;)
I'm still going strong without a beta but that also still means not getting second opinions before I submit these, so of course I love to hear yours. It doesn't have to be anything deep, maybe just a heart-felt note from a stalker. Either way it's a review.