Ah, I am SO sorry for the long wait! Thank you to everyone that was leaving reviews in Once Again nudging me along. Haha, it encouraged me to work harder on this chapter. I am proud to say that Fan Fiction wise, this is the longest chapter I have ever written.
And since completeing it, I have WAYYY more respect for all you authors out there who are updating your stories with 5,000+ word chapters all the time. =)
Disclaimer: None of this is mine. I own my Original Characters! That's it.
By the way, I've changed Megan Blante to Mary McDonald...just because...well, you've read Deathly Hallows, right? So, Megan=Mary.
Oh, and SorceresSectumSempra (Nicole), wrote a SONG for this story! How cool is that? Anyway, so here it is!
There is a girl called Violet
Named after the color of a goblet
But of course that all had to change
When she and her friends went to arrange
A plan to bamboozle all the guys
By simply having a disguise
So then she became not Granola
But a gal by the name of Viola
Named after a musical instrument
May she always have an extra mint
Together they created a scheme
Even though Viola had low self-esteem
In order to complete the task
She had to wear a plaster mask
Although she was unsure
It was the only cure
To put a stop to the madness
Of men and their shallowness
It certainly makes her oh so courageous
For undertaking something so outrageous
Determined to follow through
There's nothing dear Viola won't do
Making her totally amazing
We better keep on praising
The wonderful witch she is
She can even make soda-pop fizz
Hating those who call themselves a Marauder
Drives her to eat lots of clam chowder
Someday that just might switch
To something really rich
Such as a bond of friendship
Or dare I say a courtship
Since she is super nice
In your life she is the spice
Naturally she's like paprika
And someday she might go to Costa Rica
Though she may mainly be shy
And enjoys a slice of key lime pie
She still would take a walk on the wild side
Her desire is to be a guide
For all the darling females
(Including the ones with pig tails!)
To let them all know
That stupid guys need to go
Which will happen when she eats her pecan
And follow through with her marvelous plan
It was just all intended to be a game of deception
But there is just one exception
The chance of discovering love
Which one can easily be a part of
Cool, huh? Thanks so much Nicole!
Anywho, don't forget to review at the end!
By donnamichelle at TDA
Chapter Four:
I could not believe that I was doing this.
Lily, Clara, and I were all squeezed in the handicapped stall in the bathroom of King’s Cross Station. It had always seemed bigger when I was in there alone. But now there were three of us,
and our luggage.
I was crammed up against the toilet with my head tilted upwards as Lily did some last minute tampering with my mask. I swear she was the world’s biggest perfectionist.
Clara had her head bent down and she was checking to see if anyone else was sharing the room with us. It must’ve been empty because she straightened up and said, “Once we leave, you do not know you, Violet. You’re going to wheel your trunk in by yourself. Then you have to casually walk by me and ask how to get onto the platform. I’ll introduce Lily and myself…and that’s how our friendship will start. It’ll look perfectly normal to anyone watching…”
“Alright,” I said, trying to remember all this. I rubbed my eye. This was going to be difficult.
“Oh my God!” cried Lily. “Look what you just did!”
I glanced at the hand that I had just used to rub my eye. It was smeared with something black and brown. “Ugh…what is this stuff?” Was Lily Evans rubbing manure on my face? Some exotic facial? Then I realized that the matter that comes out of one’s backside does not shimmer.
“It
was your eye-makeup. But you just streaked it everywhere,” said Lily, looking irritable.
Alright, now I know
not to touch my face after Lily Evans has fiddled with it. Oh wow, that sounded so strange.
“You had better not be making me look like some primped up doll.”
“I was just going to do your eyes!”
Clara pulled out her wand. “This can be easily fixed.” She waved it. “See? There.”
It must have looked better because Lily stopped scowling.
Clara reached forward and undid the clip that was holding up my hair, causing my amber locks to cascade down my shoulders. She reached forward and began toying with it.
It was in that moment I came to the conclusion that I
never want to be famous. It must have been hell for all those actors who had to sit in chair for hours as other people smeared smelly liquids and powders all over their face and hair. It was enough to make anyone gag. Well, in my account it would.
Lily and Clara packed up their stuff and lifted their trunks.
“We’ll see you later.” Clara winked at me. And they left me in the stall by myself.
Okay, I had to admit, I was starting to feel guilty. This was cruel. I wanted to prove to men that they’re selfish pigs — but I didn’t want anyone to get hurt in the process.
Even though I knew that wasn’t going to be possible. There was no way that
no one would escape without some sort of trauma. I wondered what my mum would say if she knew what I was doing.
That there was no point to it and I should just wait for the guy who likes me for me, I answered myself. Realistically… that would never happen.
I picked up my trunk. This was going to be interesting. I unlocked the stall door and exited the loo as Viola Rinelle.
The five minutes that followed were probably five of the most nerve-wrecking moments of my life. I felt unnaturally vulnerable. Every time someone looked at me I felt like they knew exactly who I was and what I was planning on doing. I tried to comfort myself by firmly saying in my head that Lily was a genius and had transformed my face thoroughly enough to become unrecognizable. This, however did little to calm my nerves.
So I just kept my head down as I pushed along my trolley, trying to make as little eye-contact as possible
Sheesh, this was a bad start. I wasn’t following anything that Clara had taught me. I couldn’t even
remember what she had taught me.
There was one thing that was nagging at me. What was it? Clara had said something really important. What was it…? Oh yes! Eye-contact! That was it.
I looked up nervously and saw that Lily and Clara were in conversation about fifty feet ahead of me, obviously were parked there, waiting for me to come up and ask for directions.
I started towards them when two boys cut me off, running with their cars and jumping on them as they sped along. When I took a closer look I saw that I was none other than Potter and Black, showing off as usual. Like hell I was going to let
them cut me off.
I quickened my pace until I was about ten feet behind Lily, but five feet ahead of the boys.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Black glance at me, do a double take, nudge James, and nod in my direction. Feeling a great deal of satisfaction, I
completely ignored them, pretended to look confused and walked straight up to Clara.
Here goes nothing, I thought to myself.
“Er…excuse me.” I tried out my American accent. It seemed all right. “I was wondering…could you tell me how to —,”
“How to get onto the platform?” Clara finished for me, a small twinkle in her eye as she played along.
“Exactly,” I said.
“It’s simple,” Clara told me. “Are you new this year?”
I nodded. We were both
very aware of the two boys standing ten feet behind us, eavesdropping intently on our conversation. “I’ll be in the seventh year…”
Clara smiled and feinted a look of shock. “No kidding? Same here…. I’m Clara Hagan.” She jerked a thumb at Lily. “This is my friend, Lily Evans.”
Lily smiled and gave me the smallest of winks. “Are you from the Americas? Your accent sounds foreign…”
“Yes, I’m transferring from there. I heard a lot about Hogwarts. It’s supposed to be the best in the country…”
“Yes, we’ll tell you all about it,” said Clara, “Here, but first we’ll show you how to get onto the platform.” She led me over to the barrier between platform nine and ten. “Just lean here.”
I tried to look as if I hadn’t done this six times before. Before I knew it we were sinking through the concrete and the scarlet Hogwarts’ Express was in front of us.
Still trying to look somewhat puzzled, I let Lily and Clara lead me over to a compartment. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Black and Potter come through the barrier behind us, looking every which way for me. They pushed their trolleys to the compartment right behind ours and began loading their trunks into it.
“So,” I heard Black say loudly. “How fast does your broom go again, Prongs?”
The Marauders all had these stupid nicknames for each other. No one ever understood what they meant. I could never remember with guy went with which name. It was completely ridiculous.
“The ad says naught to sixty in ten seconds, but I bet I can make it go to seventy,” replied Potter, equally loud. “And that back flip you were able to do at my house really shows off its qualities…completely worth all the gold I had to pay for it.”
Clara caught my eye and gave me a significant look before leading me into the compartment with Lily.
Lily made sure the door was shut before whispering, “That was brilliant! Did you see their faces after you refused to look at them? It was priceless.”
I couldn’t help it, I grinned.
The train started its engines and began trudging along.
Lily stood up and checked her watch. “I’ve got to go and address the prefects. I should be back in time for lunch.” She winked. “Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone.” She left Clara and me together.
“You think this is going to work?” I breathed after the door slid shut.
“Oh yeah,” said Clara. She nodded at the window in the door. “Here come some boys who are going to introduce themselves to you.”
And so they were.
For the next hour, our compartment door was sliding open constantly with people coming to make sure I had their name, house, and exaggerated talents. A few of them, who actually did remember Violet Lingdonburg, asked politely what had happened to her. Clara told them that she… or I …transferred to a school in the Americas. But they didn’t really care. They were just trying to be polite. They introduced themselves to me, and then left with a strange sort of grin on their face.
Clara was just seeing Brock Limons and Henry Vivain, who were Ravenclaws in our year, out of the compartment when Lily made her way back in.
“How was it?” she asked, taking a seat beside me and pulling out her Advanced Transfiguration book, picking up where she left off.
“Let’s see,” recited Clara happily. “Nearly all the seventh year boys have been in here. The Slytherins didn’t have the guts to come in, but they walked by quite a few times. A few of the braver younger students have introduced themselves. Alice and Mary both stopped by… a few other girls extended the hand of friendship. But…” Clara lowered her voice. “No Marauders.”
“Thank God,” I said. I was in no mood to parlay with the frat boys that considered themselves sex gods.
“They’re sure to be by sooner or later,” remarked Lily, looking as if she had just gulped down sour mild. “But maybe we’ll get lucky and Black and Potter have some sort of threesome going with Anders…”
“Well, I can’t deny that would be fun,” came a nasally voice from the compartment door that had just slid open.
Stella Anders had decided to come by. Her Ravenclaw friends, Abigail and Emily were standing behind her.
The one thing I couldn’t stand about Stella, apart from the fact that she was Stella of course, was her voice. She has this drawl that makes me feel like I’m losing brain cells just by listening to it. And she always draws out the last sound of the last word of all her sentences. I couldn’t take it.
But before I could tell her what
I thought would be fun, I remember that
Viola had never met Stella before and therefore, couldn’t snarl at her. Bugger.
Stella turned to Clara and gave her a smile like poisoned honey, while her eyes shot daggers. “Helloooo Clara. It’s absolutely
smashing to see you. Good summer?”
“As well as could be expected,” my friend said through gritted teeth.
“A little birdie told me that you and Siri didn’t quite make the cut…”
That was cold, I had to admit. Trust Anders to bring up something like that. I caught Lily’s eye and we both turned to Clara, who looked as if she was trying to remain calm.
Clara grinned sardonically. “Yeah, me and
Siri don’t quite fit. You can have him, Anders. You two were made for each other.”
Stella couldn’t quite make out whether this was a compliment or an insult, so she fixed her attention on me, as if just noticing that I was in the room.
We held eye contact for a few seconds and for a moment, I was sure she recognized me.
Then she did the most unexpected thing. She held out her hand. “I don’t think we’ve me. I’m Stella Anders.”
Next to me, Lily’s jaw dropped. Clara’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
It was all I could do to stop myself from gaping. Here Stella was, treating me like some sort of
equal. What the
hell?
Pulling myself together, I looked up into her eyes. I noticed that they were blue, which fitted perfectly with her layered blond hair. As Violet, I had never dared make eye contact with “The Queen”, so I never knew what colour her eyes where. And then I knew why she was the most lusted girl in school. It was simple. Stella Anders was gorgeous…and gorgeous girls got attention from males.
So yes, I looked Stella straight in the eye, grasped her hand and said. “Nice to meet you. I’m Viola Rinelle.”
I was still trying to uphold my American accent. It was difficult, but people seemed to be buying it. For a second, I couldn’t believe all that had happened over the past couple of weeks. I had changed my appearance and the most desired girl in the school was introducing herself to me. If someone had told me that a month ago, I would have told them that they were crazy.
Stella squared her shoulders. “I see that you are new to Hogwarts, Viola. I was simply wondering if you’d like to join my friends and myself in our compartment?”
I had not been expecting
that. Lily, apparently, hadn’t either; for she choked on the water she had been gulping down. Clara caught my eye and raised her eyebrows.
I knew that this was her way of telling me to go with them. But I really didn’t want to. It made me sick to my stomach to think of spending the rest of the train ride discussing all the people Stella shagged over the summer.
I grinned up at her. “I’m sorry to say that I’ll have to decline your offer. I must have slept funny last night. My whole leg has been killing me all day. I would really prefer not to move it. I’ll see you in class, though.”
I could tell from the look Anders gave me, she didn’t believe me. Great, a few hours and I’m already on the Stella Anders black list.
She allowed her eyes to sweep the small space. “We’ll see.”
The compartment door closed.
I let out the breath of carbon dioxide that I hadn’t been aware of holding. “I think she hates me again.”
“Who cares?” asked Clara, looking quickly at the door, as if to make sure Stella and her posse weren’t still standing there. “I think she sees you as some sort of competition, Violet. You think that’s why she wants to be ‘friends’ with you? So she can have you on her side?”
“Probably,” muttered Lily. “Trust her to do something like that. Keeps her friends close, but her enemies closer…”
“But do I really look that threatening?” I asked. I’m sorry, but I could not see myself as suddenly a terrifying person. It just wasn’t my nature. Terrified, maybe, but not terrifying…
“Stella thinks that you’re going to somehow take all the boys in Hogwarts and leave her no one,” said Lily. “But frankly, I don’t think she’s got much to worry about —”
“Lily…” interrupted Clara, looking as if she had suddenly noticed something. “Why haven’t you mentioned anything about your meeting with the prefects?”
It took me a moment, but then I realized that Clara was right. Lily hadn’t said anything…she had just sat down and joined in on our conversation. But before I could further my thought process, Clara continued.
“Did something happen?”
Then I noticed that Lily had her jaw clenched together, as if trying to hold something back. She was doing one hell of a job, because her face was flushing redder by the second.
Clara seemed to see this too, for she said, “Who
is the Head Boy?”
“That would be me.”
Our compartment door has slid open once more. And after seeing who was standing there, I wished very much that I had taken up Stella’s offer and gone to her portion of the train.
I wanted to be anywhere by here. Inwardly, I cursed every single higher authority I could think of. Whether it is God, Merlin, Buddha, whatever happened to come into my mind at the moment… I wanted to make it perfectly clear to whoever had access to my inner thoughts that I was incredibly unhappy with my present situation.
The Marauders, all bloody four of them, were standing in our doorway, polluting
our air with
their filthy dead skin cells.
I refused to look up, and I didn’t need to. I already knew who had spoken. James Pothead Potter. He had this obnoxious way of changing his voice whenever he was around Lily. It went all-deep, like he was trying to sound like a tuba or something. It was probably another one of his ridiculous ideas to play Lily.
I saw three pairs of feet around his.
I think the first belonged to Peter Pettigrew. I had heard that to be Marauder one had to have brains and brawn. Sadly, Pettigrew had neither. Up until his third year, he had sported a bowl cut. It really did look like one, like his mum put her soup bowl over his head and trimmed the hair lower than the brim.
It wasn’t until he was fourteen did he grow it out. Thank Merlin. So, it remained a mystery how he had become friends with two of the most fancy-able boys in the school.
I think it may have had something to do with Remus Lupin. Lupin became friends with Black and Potter a few months into their first year. And then at the beginning of their third, they recruited Pettigrew.
After that, they were the Marauders. It was a stupid name. Lily had finally cracked and looked it up in the dictionary. Supposedly, it meant to plunder… or go on some rampage in search for treasure. What does that have to do with anything?
Boys of Hogwarts began to admire the group of boys known as The Marauders. They were the troublemakers and the pranksters. So idiotic. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand the section of the human race known as men, no matter how beautiful Lily Evans makes me.
I actually thought Remus Lupin had some sort of sense though. I mean, he
had been made prefect. But he was just like the rest of his friends.
Surprisingly though, Lupin turned out to be my first and only boyfriend, if even that. We only lasted a week… and it wasn’t like I had loved him or anything. It was definitely strange to go out with at Marauder. Although, I had refused to sit with him while he was with his so-called friends. He sort of reeked Marauder. I had actually been kind of relieved when he said he wanted to end things…
On Potter’s other side was a pair of scruffy old tennis shoes. I knew that this was black — the infamous Sirius Black. The boy who made it his job to break hearts. God, I despised him.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lily trembling with rage. “Get out Potter.”
Short and sweet, that was Lily.
I still refused to lift my gaze. I didn’t want to chance any of them recognizing me. Not that I didn’t have
complete confidence in Lily’s disguise skills — Maybe I just didn’t want to look at them. I wasn’t sure…
I didn’t need to look up to know that Potter wasn’t leaving. He never did. “Ah, come on Evans, is it really so bad to have a civilized conversation with me? We are the Head Boy and Girl…”
“Regrettably,” interrupted Lily. “But I am putting my complete faith in the fact that Dumbledore must have been drunk when he sent you your letter and badge. See, to be Head Boy you have to have a head circumference of no less than twenty-four inches…”
I snorted, and then instantly regretted it. This drew their attention to me. Shit; not in any way whatsoever what I wanted.
“Who’re you?” came the unmistakable voice of Pettigrew. That boy had better learn some manners.
I had two choices — no, three in that short span of two to three seconds permitted to give an answer. I could ignore him and look like a complete idiot, keep my head down and answer and look like a freak, or look up and answer… looking relatively normal.
I decided on the third, but I was only telling them what they needed to know.
I lifted my head and found that every single person in the compartment had their eyes on me. I would have blushed scarlet, wait, no, I
did blush scarlet, but the mask covered it up. Thank God and Lily and her brilliance.
Seeing Black was the worst of them all. See, before this moment, I had never in all my years at Hogwarts made eye contact this close to him. When he had gone out with Clara, Lily and I had always made a point to walk away to another part of the room whenever he showed up.
And the great thing about Clara was that she didn’t mind. She didn’t expect us to like her boyfriend. She just spent separate time with both groups.
The point was that I had never seen him really up close before — must less met his line of vision.
His eyes looked lifeless, as if there was nothing there. They looked hard and cold. I wasn’t sure if it was like this all the time, or just now. All I knew was that it was intimidating. I didn’t want to look there again.
I managed to keep my voice steady and appear coolly uninterested. “I’m Viola.”
Potter instantly stuck his hand forward. “Nice to meet you. James Potter.”
There was nothing stranger than having someone I already knew introduce himself to me all over again. And even though a ton of people had already done it, it didn’t really hit me what was happening until Potter did it.
Before the conversation could continue on, Lily had interrupted again. “You really need to leave Potter!”
But Potter just smirked. “Why? So you can talk about us after we leave, just like all girls do?”
Black laughed. “Yeah Evans, why don’t you just say what you were going to say now? Just don’t make us blush too much. You know how modest and sensitive we are…”
He was disgusting. I could not understand what Clara ever saw in him. She had been unusually quiet ever since they had invaded the compartment. This may have been because Lily fought the war whenever Potter was concerned, or she was embarrassed to be around Black again.
Lily stood up, and I unconsciously shirked away from her wrath. She narrowed her eyes at the four boys. “Alright. I was just going to say that you were arrogant, self-centered, self-righteous, idiotic, egoistic, manipulative, insensitive, bastards.”
Potter had taken all this without batting an eyelash. He grinned. “I’d agree with you on most of those, Evans. But I’ve got one objection. See, my parents were married when I was born.” He gestured around to his friends. “And I’m pretty sure their’s were too…”
His words stung my heart as Lily began to swell up again, and I knew she was pretty close to yanking out Potter’s eyeballs and strangling him with the optic nerves.
Lupin must’ve sensed danger too, because he cleared his throat and tried to change the subject. “So… where’s… err… Violet?”
“School in the Americas,” replied Clara coldly, engaging herself for the first time.
Black started laughing again. “Wait…Violet? Hey Moony, wasn’t that the girl we said we’d pay you ten galleons to go out with for a week last year?”
It felt like a large ice cube had suddenly materialized in my stomach. He had been
paid to go out with me? It hadn’t been real? Lupin had agreed? I thought he was better than that. I was trying my hardest to not let my emotions show on my face…because I wasn’t supposed to know what was going on.
The expressions on Lily and Clara’s faces were nearly enough to make up for the lack of mine.
Lupin looked as if he wished that Black had kept his mouth shut. He gulped when he saw my friends’ faces. “Look, Lily, Clara, it wasn’t like that. It was stupid. I made a mistake to agree… but they wouldn’t let me out of it…”
Clara stood up and looked Lupin straight in the eye. For a second I thought she was going to tell him it was all right. But then she reeled back her arm and punched him with all her might square in the face. He lost his balance and stumbled over backwards right into Black, who had been standing behind him. They both fell over into the hallway, Black whacking his head on the opposite compartment door and Lupin sporting a heavy nosebleed.
Clara pulled out her wand and pointed it at them. “I did that because Violet never would have if she had found out.”
She turned to Potter and Pettigrew. “Get out.”
Potter opened his mouth to protest. “B—”
But Lily had her wand out now too. “Out!”
They scampered.
Clara slammed the door so hard that the windowpane shattered. She fixed it with a simple wave of her wand.
Then she turned to me. “I am so sorry Violet…”
I shrugged. “You decking him pretty much made up for it right there.” I gave a small smile.
“Oh yeah,” agreed Lily, sitting down again. “Did you see how the rest of the guys looked at you? I don’t think they expected your right hook to be that hard…”
“Are you going to give me detention now, Head Girl?” Clara smirked.
Lily grinned. “Not this time. He deserved it… and technically term hasn’t started yet. Just make sure I don’t see next time you do it.”
Clara turned her attention back to me. “They kept looking at you when you had your head down.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Were they?”
She nodded and looked absolutely delighted. “They are going to crash so hard…”
I turned to Lily. “So Potter’s Head Boy?”
Lily made a sour face. “It’s got to be some sort of mistake. I mean, he wasn’t even a prefect. I went into the Head’s compartment and saw him standing there with the badge. I thought he had nicked it from someone, but then he showed me the letter — and it had his name on it. This is going to suck…”
“How much time do you have to spend with him?”
“We have to patrol the corridors three times a week… and Friday nights to go over our plans for the school…”
I made a gagging noise. “Ugh… you’re going to be one on one with Potter?”
“Don’t remind me.”
We spent the rest of the train ride sulking with Lily and discussing my situation.
By the time the train had come to a screeching halt, my stomach was rumbling dangerously. This was partially form hunger, but mostly due to nerves.
Here I was, disguised as someone else, ready to enter Hogwarts. It would be a miracle if I could pull this off. If my cover was blown half way through the year… I didn’t want to think about that. Basically, if that happened, I’d have to
really move to the Americas.
We had just reached an empty carriage when someone stepped in front of us, blocking our path.
I looked up and saw it was none other than Lupin again. His nose had stopped bleeding, but it was still puffy around the edges.
“Look,” he said. “If you see Violet again… I would really appreciate it if you didn’t tell her what happened. I feel really horribly about it… and I don’t want to make her feel worse…”
Clara eyed him coldly. “Your friends offered you money to go out with a girl — a nice girl — and you accepted. Do you have any idea how low that is?”
“I know,” muttered Lupin miserably.
I actually started to feel sorry for him, but then I remembered that I was the person that was played.
“But we’re not idiots,” carried on Lily. “We know the news would upset her.”
“But then again,” said Clara. “She should know if she’s being duped.”
“I don’t think you should tell her,” I said. They all turned to stare at me. Lily and Clara looked amused. Lupin, surprised. “I don’t know this Violet girl, but I think it would destroy her trust in men if she found out. We don’t want some future guy to suffer because of this boy’s faults.”
It was partially true, but not necessarily. I had not really trusted men to begin with. Ever since my father left, I thought all males had a slightly dishonest look about them.
Lupin murmured his thanks, not quite meeting my eyes, and then strode off to catch up with his friends.
Lily, Clara, and I got into the horseless carriage and shut the door before anyone else could get in.
Ah, the privileges of being in seventh year. I knew Lily would lecture us on this, but since the carriage was already moving, there was not much she could do.
But the time we reached the Entrance Hall my nerves had doubled in size. This was it. This was what we have all waited for. The moment of truth.
There was a sudden tap on my shoulder.
I whirled around and found myself face to face with Minerva McGonagall. She had been my head of house and Transfiguration teacher for the last six years, so it took all my will to stop from greeting her.
“You are Viola Rinelle?” she asked sternly.
My stomach flopped. Was I caught already? Maybe I could play along for a bit.
“Y-Yes,” I stammered. Clara and Lily were looking worried.
“I need you to come with me.”
I followed her, already thinking the worst. She was going to drag me to Dumbledore, force me to reveal myself, and then the whole school would know within minutes.
I could hear the story now.
Violet Lingdonburg tried to sneak back into Hogwarts with the alias, Viola Rinelle. She was trying to get people to like her…blah, blah, blah. This was going to be horrid.
I’d have to pack my bags, move, and change my name. I might even be brought up by the Ministry. Could they send me to Azkaban for forging school documents and lying? Maybe if I confessed now they’d go easy on me.
McGonagall stopped in front of her office. She opened the door. “Inside, Miss Rinelle.”
If she knew then why was she still using that name? Probably to further humiliate me. I slumped inside and took the chair in front of her desk, trying to mentally prepare myself for the worst. Americas, here I come.
McGonagall followed me into the room. “You will need to be sorted, Miss Rinelle.”
What? She didn’t know? What was she talking about — sorted? Then my eyes fell on the frayed hat on her desk and it hit me. I needed to be sorted into a house.
I could not believe that I had forgotten about them. I couldn’t assume that I was automatically in Gryffindor again. But would the hat know that I was an imposter? Did it have a way of alerting McGonagall?
Would this plan fall into the category of lying and deceit? What if, on my God, what if the hat resorted me into another house? What if it was Slytherin? I could imagine the looks of horror Lily and Clara would give me if I crossed the Great Hall and sat with the Slytherins.”
Before I could continue my train of thought McGonagall snapped, “We need to hurry things along Miss Rinelle. It is my duty to instruct the first years.” She lifted up the hat by its point and placed it over my head.
Six years after I had first done this and it still fell over my eyes.
Complete silence and darkness followed.
“Ah,” a snide voice hissed in my ear. “You are most familiar. It was six years ago you sat beneath me, Miss Lingdonburg.”
I flinched when he whispered my name, but then remembered it was inside my head.
“Since then,” it continued. “Your heart has filled with deceit and envy…”
Envy, I thought,
I don’t envy anybody.
“Quite the contrary, Miss Lingdonburg. You envy those around you for what they have. You believe you can’t have the same. I suspect that by the end, you’ll realize you had it all along…”
Now I was stumped. What was he talking about?
“But I also see that you are brave…and have courage to complete this plan in the making. You will find yourself reflected in the outcome. I will place you, once again, in your old house. GRYFFINDOR!”
The hat had yelled the last word out loud.
Just as McGonagall was pulling the hat off my head. I heard it whisper, “The key is hidden in you…”
Before I could contemplate what it had said, the Transfiguration teacher ushered me out of her office and we were walking down the corridor again. “Congratulations Miss Rinelle. I happen to be the head of Gryffindor House, and I know it will take you far…”
God, that had to have been the corniest thing I had heard today. What? Did they pay the teachers to say that?
We reached the Entrance Hall and McGonagall continued, “You will dine at the Gryffindor table, lodge in Gryffindor Tower, and you will go to lessons with your house. I’m sure in a few days Hogwarts will be as familiar to you if you had gone here your whole life.”
“I’m sure it will,” I replied, trying not to sound sarcastic.
“Your table is that on the far left.” McGonagall swept away, presumable to prepare the first years
I took a few hesitant steps forward and crossed the threshold of the Great Hall. I heard a few whispers as I wailed by, but I tired not to let it effect me. I found where Clara and Lily were sitting across form each other and took the seat next to Lily.
“Where have you been?” she hissed.
I looked around and saw people still staring at me. “I had to be sorted,” I said. “That teacher, McGonagall is her name? She put a giant hat on my head. It was absurd.”
I saw Clara struggling to hold in her laughter as she said, “Yeah, that’s how it’s done here at Hogwarts.”
At that moment McGonagall marched into the Great Hall with a line of first years in tow.
Mary McDonald and Alice Newport came and took the seat beside me.
“So are you really from the Americas?” asked Mary. “That’s what everyone on the train was saying…”
“People were talking about me on the train?” I blurted, before I could stop myself.
“Oh yeah,” said Alice. “You’re the heat of the gossip right now.”
Lily laughed. “Term hasn’t even started yet.”
I groaned. “That’s the last thing I need.”
“No,” said Clara. “I’m sure it was all good stuff, right girls?”
They nodded. “Once Hogsmeade weekend comes… that’s when all the girls are going to hate you.”
“Joy,” I groaned again. For some reason, the idea of the Hogwarts female population detesting me wasn’t really my cup of tea.
“So, you
are from the Americas?” repeated Mary.
“Err…yeah,” I replied tensely.
“Which part?” asked a boy whom I instantly recognized as Frank Longbottom. He, and his friend, Will Stelle, who was the Gryffindor seeker, had been eavesdropping on our conversation. Do boys have any sense of privacy? Evidently not.
“Uh,” I started. I knew that the Americas were divided into States… and I only knew a few of the main ones. I couldn’t choose Florida or California because I thought they were by the beach…and I do not have any trace of a tan whatsoever. I racked my brain for another. “Err…New York.”
“Oooh,” said Alice, looking delighted. “How was it there? Did you grow up around all those celebrities and movie stars?”
“Uh… no… I was in a smaller area.”
“Too bad,” said Clara. “Must’ve been strange to come to England.”
“No, it’s been fun,” I said. “But you guys all sound so funny. Those accents are… radical.”
Was ‘radical’ an American word? I think it was. They always used it in those movies we watched at Lily’s house from Hollywood.
There was a sudden ‘pop’ and the table in front of us was loaded with food. We had been so immersed in the conversation that we had missed the sorting.
“Wow,” I said. “Does it do that all the time?”
“Yep,” said Lily, loading salad onto her plate. “Every meal is prepared by the house elves in the kitchens and then sent to the tables.”
“House elves?” I repeated, trying to look puzzled. “They’re here at Hogwarts? I’ve never seen one. I heard that they are native in Britain…”
There was a shuffling beside me and I saw that the four boys that had met us on the train were now moving down the bench towards us.
Why? Why do they have to have Lily radar?
“We can show you the House elves, Viola,” said Potter. “There are over a hundred in the kitchens. We can take you sometime.”
“Err… no, thank you.” I had hardly ever exchanged a word with James Potter. And now he was talking to me like he did it everyday.
“What do you guys want?” asked Lily.
Potter looked offended. “We’re just making conversations with out new acquaintance, Lily Dear. Is that against the law?”
“No,” said Lily. “You having a reproductive system is what’s against the law!”
“Believe it or not, Evans, but I have taken History of Magic,” said Black. “
And even thought I didn’t take nay notes, I think I would remember if Binns said that James Potter wasn’t allowed a pe —,”
“Stop!” interrupted Lily. “For God’s sake, Black, there are first years sitting around you!”
Black turned to look and then said, “What’re you trying to say, Evans? That eleven year olds don’t look at themselves when they shower?”
“Just shut up,” she told him stiffly.
Pettigrew grinned and turned to Lupin. “I’ll bet you five galleons that she’ll have slapped both of them by the end of next week.”
“No way,” said Lupin, shaking his head.
When the tables had cleared themselves Dumbledore stood up. “Now that you are all fed and watered, you can listen to this year’s announcements. Our only change in staff is Professor Wilbur, who will be taking the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
“I want to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds…as is Hogsmeade, except for the given weekends. I’ll trust these tasks to the new Head Boy and Girl, James Potter and Lily Evans.”
There was a collective gasp around the room. Even some of the teachers looked somewhat shocked. Evidently the feud between those two was not unknown.
“I have also been asked to say that Fanged Frisbees, Hurling Hula Hoops, and… err… spears of any kind have been added to the list of banned objects.
“Quidditch tryouts will take place two weeks from today, and the first match will be October 21st. Good luck to all houses.”
Potter grinned. “Our team is going to kick arse this year.”
“That’s what you said last year,” said Lupin.
“And the year before last,” put in Pettigrew.
“And the one before that,” said Black.
“Shut UP!” cried Potter.
“And now you’re off to bed. Chop, Chop,” finished Dumbledore.
There was a mass amount of scraping chairs as everyone in the hall stood up.
“C’mon,” said Lily. “Let’s leave the prefects to handle the first years. I just want to get to the seventh year dorms and go to bed.”
“I second that,” said Clara, taking a few steps. “We need sleep for lessons tomorrow.” She laughed. “That is going to be interesting.”
I couldn’t help but agree.
A/N
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