Disclaimer: Anything recognizable belongs to JK Rowling
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The word rang out clear as a bell in a large hall of silence.
The hat was removed from my head and six rows of people were revealed to be staring at me. I noticed, that for the first time all year, a fourth table was situated between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables. Everyone was staring at me, and I mean everyone. I looked over my shoulder to view half the staff table staring at me with varying expressions on their faces. McGonagall almost looked satisfied, wearing a hint of a smirk upon her face, while Umbridge looked absolutely livid.
I faced forward, and began the long walk towards the single place setting at the new Gryffindor table. The eyes followed me, and whispers began popping up in random places.
"What the hell?"
"Poor girl, she's the only one in her house?"
"Did the sorting hat make a mistake?"
"What does this mean?"
What did this mean? Would I have my own schedule? Be forced to eat alone at meals for all eternity? Sleep in an empty tower? And what did the sorting hat mean when he said that I could get into trouble? Does this mean the ministry didn't want any Gryffindors? Why? Why hasn't there been any Gryffindors in the past two decades? I mean, I couldn't be the first Gryffindor in twenty years, could I? Not without interference. The ministry had to have something to do with this...
These thoughts plus a million more ran through my head as I walked to my new place at the long, empty, table. I sat down and nothing happened. The students continued to whisper ferverently around me, and some of the teachers even had their own conversations going on. It was McGonagall who finally took action, clapping her hands at the front of the room.
"Settle down!" She called to the animated crowd. "Settle down! Dinner will now be served!" She clapped, and food appeared on the tables as per usual. Many eyes were removed from me, as the food provided a new distraction for them. I hadn't even thought to serve myself food when McGonagall swooped over to me.
"Anna, please come with me. Quickly." She said, glancing up towards the staff table nervously.
I did as she requested, trying to avoid the looks I was getting from the tables, including concerned looks from John, Scorp, Rose and Lizzie. She led me at a fast pace along the corridors, leading me into her office and quickly shutting the door. She moved around her desk, and faced me, leaning against the desk in between us.
"Anna, please tell me. Is there anything you would like to say? Anything you feel I should know? I promise you can trust me." She said, rushed, looking straight at me, meeting my eyes.
"Er, well, professor, I'm a werewolf, and-" I stated boldly, figuring this was the best time to trust someone besides Ted. If anyone could help me make sense of this, it was McGonagall.
But I was cut off right before I could say anything else, as there was a loud rap at the door. McGonagall motioned to me to stop talking, not even looking fazed at what I just told her.
"Come in, Delores." She said at the door.
The door swung open violently. "Minerva! I know you're behind this! The hat was on strict orders not to sort any Gryffindors! It has been for nearly twenty years! It does not disobey orders as strong as the charm we set upon it two decades ago! Someone must be behind this, and I know it was you!" Umbridge said with a fierce animosity towards McGonagall.
"And where would you get an idea like that?" McGonagall said
"You have always had a sad predetermining towards Gryffindors, as well as a keen tendency towards disobeying ministry rules. I also understand this girl has similar tendencies? Has she not already recieved three detentions under you, Minerva? Not to mention several others." She had a furious, yet sly expression pasted on her face as she said this.
"Anna, show me your hands." McGonagall said, looking towards me seriously.
"My hands?" My eyebrows creased together in confusion.
"Yes, now please, as opposed to later." She said, impatiently. I obliged, holding up my hands.
"You really think I would resort to my old methods, Minerva?" Umbridge said, almost an angry coo. She tutted, shaking her head. "I am a changed woman, I assure you." She said, sickly sweet, venom tainting the edges. "Well, I can also assure you we are not finished with this discussion Minerva! But now I must inform the ministry about what has gone on tonight! And they will not be happy to hear of your activity!" And with that, she slammed the door behind her.
"Professor-, what just happened?"
"As Delores just explained, twenty years ago, the ministry put a very stupid ban on Gryffindor house, keeping the sorting hat from sorting any new Gryffindors. This was because of all the apparent trouble they caused authority during the war. Now, if you ask me, the Slytherins were the real trouble. It was stupid to begin with. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the minister at the time, and now retiring minister, had no control over it, as it was a unanimous vote by the Wizengamot. So that is why we haven't had a Gryffindor in two decades. It's been much too long, which is why I have to thank you. Now, you were going to tell me something? Perhaps about your parents... Harry and Ginny Potter, I presume?"
I was absolutely flabbergasted, all the while, McGonagall just sat there, giving me this look, and waiting for an answer.
"But, professor, how did you-?"
"How did I figure this out?" She smirked at me. "I may be old, but I'm no coot, Ms. Potter. I would recognize those eyes anywhere. And you remind me very much of Ginny Weasley while she was at Hogwarts. Not to mention the fact that you have some of the same qualities as your father. So how long have you known about your parents?"
"Since right before school started." I was still partly in shock, but I was snapping out of it as I was brought to my senses.
"I see. And you were under Greyback for the duration of your childhood, am I correct?"
"Yes, until this summer."
"And are you aware that the ministry is looking ferverently for the newly discovered daughter of Harry Potter, whose will has just been released?"
"Yes, professor." I said. "Er, professor... do you know if my brothers will be coming here?"
She looked at me curious. "Presumably in the next couple weeks. Do they know of you?"
"No. But I plan to tell them. Once they get here that is. They deserve to know." I said, referring to the decision I made earlier that week.
"I see. I also reccomend you tell Mrs. Pomfrey about your... little condition. She can help you when those times come. And I also reccomend you tell your closer friends about this sooner rather than later. It will do you good." She looked at me pointedly.
I nodded.
"Now is there anything else you wish to speak of now? I do believe Umbridge will be returning soon, and 'changed woman' or not, she can still be a nasty toad. Let me show you how to get to Gryffindor tower." She opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out a piece of parchment that seemed to be all folded up. "This has been in my possesion since I confiscated it from one young Teddy Lupin many years ago. I do believe it was your father's, and I suppose it could come in useful to you. It feels wrong to keep it." And then she spoke words that just felt weird to come out of such a strict professor's mouth. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good. Don't look at me like that Ms. Potter, It's how you open the map!"
She then proceded to show me the Gryffindor tower and how to get to it on the parchment, which turned out to be this really cool map that could show where everybody in the castle was at present time. She showed me a way to get past Umbridge and get to the tower quickly.
It was right before I left that something came to my mind.
"Professor?"
"Yes Anna?"
"Theoretically, could someone from another house play for a different house's Quidditch team? Theoretically speaking, of course."
She looked surprised. "Well, I suppose theoretically, I would have to give them permission, being their head of house, which I would be glad to give to a certain individual who wanted to prove to men that their Quidditch rules are bogus, absolutely, they could." She smiled, actually smiled as I thanked her and hurried out of her office to avoid Umbridge, who I could see on the map only a corridor away.
I arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady shortly, following McGonagall's instructions and then looking for the painting of the stout woman. She was snoozing away when I approached her.
"Um, excuse me..." I began, unsure of how to wake her up. "Hello? Fat Lady?" She still failed to wake up. This called for a more 'rash' approach. "Oi! Fat Lady Woman! Portrait of Gryffindor tower!"
Her eyes snapped open and she sputtered awake. "What? What is it? Who woke me?"
"I'm right here, and I'm supposed to set a password. I was just sorted into Gryffindor!"
She stared at me for about ten seconds, then, "Pwahahahahaha! That's very funny dear! Violet! Do you hear this? I've been sent a Gryffindor!" She said this mockingly, as another stout woman entered the frame.
"She's not lying, dear. She was sorted into Gryffindor no more than an hour ago."
"Well, really? How wonderful! Violet! We must celebrate! I have a job again! What's your name dear?" She asked me.
"Anastasia." I answered. "It's er, nice to meet you."
"Well, Anastasia, may I just say this is absolutely wonderful news! I am very delighted to have you here in Gryffindor towers! Now, what would you like your first password to be?" She asked.
I thought for a moment. Then the idea came to me. "Umbridge is a toad."
"HAHAHAHA! This one's got a sense of humor, Vi! I like you! The Umbridge woman is quite the toad! Go on in dear, it should be clean, as no one's dirtied it in years!" The portrait swung forward, allowing me to enter.
I entered a sizable, comfortable, common room with stairs towards the back that led to dormitories. A fire was roaring in the cavernous fireplace, and the chairs, couches and tables surrounding the fire looked comfortable, and gave the room a very 'homey' feeling to it. I meandered up one of the staircases, honestly not sure which dormitory it was meant to be, girl or boy, but deciding it didn't matter. I chose one of the first dorms I could find, and found my trunk situated at the end of one of the beds there, all my things packed away neatly inside. I was rather tired, so I simply took only a few things out, like some thing to sleep in and a toothbrush so as to go to bed.
I lay awake for a long time that night, before finally falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The next morning I woke up late, before getting up and showering. I threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt, running a hand through my hair before heading down to the Great Hall, just in time to catch some breakfeast.
I entered the Hall alone, facing many eyes looking up at me. I marched over to my table and grabbed a large stack of toast that I ate on my way outside. I decided I should visit Hagrid. I liked Hagrid, and had visited him once before with Rose, who I hadn't seen since the night before, along with John and Scorp, and Lizzie. The four of them had been absent that morning when I entered the Great Hall.
I knocked on Hagrid's door, and I heard a hard pounding that must be Fang, Hagrid's old and frankly, stupid, dog. Fang had grown old and lost a lot of brain cells with old age. Probably from all the magical creatures he helped Hagrid maintain for his class.
Hagrid opened the door and looking down at me, smiling, said, "Wel' if it isn't the new Griffn'dor!"
I smiled sheepishly at him, a little embarrased. "Hey Hagrid."
"Come on 'n, Anna. Want some tea? Jus' put the kettle on." He moved aside for me to enter and take a seat at his monstrous table. "So, tell me. Wha's it like ta be the only Griffn'dor?" He smiled, sitting down at the table.
This was why I liked Hagrid so much. I just talked to him about random stuff going around school until it was time for me to go to Quidditch practice. Last night while lying awake in bed, I had made the decision to show up to practice normally, as myself, as a girl. I felt myself get anxious as I grew closer to the pitch.
I mean, what if they automatically kicked me off the team? Would they? Had I proven myself enough?
I marched into the changing rooms, first to arrive, and was already on the pitch, changed, when the rest of the team came out together.
"Hey, you need something?" Aaron asked, spying me on the field.
"Nope, just here to practice." I responded as confident as I could.
"What, is Slytherin so desperate they decided to train a girl for their team?" Someone joked.
"Nope," I answered. "But apparently, you guys are. I'm Chase, your chaser?"
Understanding dawned on a couple of their faces.
"You, you-"
"But how?"
"But you're a flipping girl!"
"No way. This is all a great joke and everything, but you seriously have to go." Said my fellow chaser, Charlie Donovan.
"This isn't a joke. I tried out as a guy, fair and square, and you let me on the team. It's Aaron's choice whether to keep me or not."
"But she's not even a Hufflepuff!" Said McClaggen, who had turned out a right arse, but a damn fit keeper.
Aaron looked me over, calculatingly. "She can practice with us for the day, then we'll put it to a vote. Fifteen laps. Go."
No one questioned his command verbally, but settled on either glares or annoyed looks as they followed his orders and began the laps, me leading the way at an even pace. I kept that nice, even pace going up to the last five laps, when I really kicked it up, lapping McClaggen on the second to last lap, the team's fastest runner besides me. That pissed him off, and probably didn't set him in the right mind to vote for me to stay, but it was worth it just to make him tick.
"Let's do some drills, then we'll scrimmage." Ordered Aaron, climbing his broom and zooming into the air. I followed, zipping upwards at a fast speed, ready to go. I grinned. This felt great what with all the stress I'd been under recently, more specifically, the past twenty-four hours. It felt right.
After I'd finished the best practice I'd had all year, Aaron brought all seven of us into the team room, where we went over plans and such.
"Allright. I want you all to put down your honest answer on a scrap of parchment and give them to me." Aaron said, all serious, as he stood in front of us all. "Should we let Anna on the team. Why or why not."
All five other members began hastily scribbling on random scraps of parchment with quills found haphazardly strewn around the room. There was a good few minutes of silence except for the scratching of quills against parchment. Despite my good practice, I was still feeling anxious. Aaron had me fill out an answer too, so I did the best I could to come up with something and scribbled down:
Yes, she's dedicated to the team and loves the sport. She'll make a good teammate and keep the others in line.
After a couple of minutes of this, Aaron collected all the slips, and began to read them aloud.
"No, Imagine what it'll be like when the school finds out that we let a girl on our team. She's not even that good, and the Slytherins will give us shit for it." He read. I narrowed my eyes at McClaggen, who was the only one arrogant enough to actually write something so narrow-minded and stupid.
"Yes, She's got kick-ass skills and she can be our secret-weapon, a secret until the first game, when her skills make up for her feminism.
"No, she's a girl. Bad rep for the team, bad idea.
"Hell yeah, she's a great chaser and keeps up better than us guys." Tim caught my eye and winked. Tim was the nicest guy on the team, always cool to everyone.
"Yes, she's dedicated to the team and loves the sport. She'll make a good teammate and keep the others in line." McClaggen rolled his eyes, making me swat him on the back of the head. He grunted indignantly.
"Yes, we need her, let's be honest. She's got the best chaser skills I've ever seen to be perfectly frank." I almost blushed at this one, as it was a bit of an exaggeration if you ask me.
"Yes, she's damn good. Brilliant." Aaron finished reading and looked up at us. "Say hello to our new teammate, boys."
Now I blushed, but I smiled. I was on the team.
"Hey, Anna!" A voice called from behind me as I walked up to the school after Quidditch practice. I turned. It was John. He jogged up to where I stood.
"We've been looking all over for you! Where've you been?" He asked.
"Around." I shrugged. "Just got out of Quidditch practice."
"So, you're a Gryffindor now, huh?" He seemed unsure of what to say.
"Yup."
"How is it? How's the common room and everything?" He ran a hand through his hair.
"Good." I replied, nonchalantly. "Good."
"So, Scorp and I were going on a kitchen raid tonight. You in?"
I rolled my eyes. "What do you think?"
He seemed disappointed.
"Absolutely." I clarified. A smile broke out on his face.
"Brilliant. We're hanging out down by the lake now, you coming?"
"Sure." I followed him down to the lake where Scorp was talking to Rose and Lizzie under a birch tree.
"Hey guys." I greeted, joining them.
"Hey Anna!" Said Rose, smiling.
"Hey." Said Scorp. "So what's the deal with you being a Gryffindor now. Umbridge looked pretty pissed about it.
"She definitely was." I then recounted what had gone on in McGonagall's office the night before.
"Just goes to show you how crazy Umbridge is." Scorp said. "Personally, I'm just waiting for her to explode so the ministry will ship her off to a loony bin."
"Scorpius, that's so insensitive." Said Rose, rolling her eyes. "Besides, the ministry is on her side it seems."
"Yeah, but your dad says the ministry's rubbish these days." I commented.
"Yes. That's true." She commented back. "But it was still mean Scorpius."
Scorpius looked over to me and John and rolled his eyes, making a rude comment under his breath about Rose and loony bins that was so funny, I couldn't help but laugh along with John.
"What's so funny?" Rose asked, indignified.
"Nothing." I said hastily, looking over at John who had a distorted expression on his face from trying not to laugh, which was so funny I couldn't help laughing again.
"And don't forget the fairy mucus now!" Said slughorn at the front of the class. "That is essential to this potion. If you truly wanted someone's enchantments to be revealed, the mucus of the common fairy is what makes it strong, so make sure to add plenty and stir about ten times counterclockwise to mix it in thouroughly."
It was Thursday, almost a week after I had been made a Gryffindor. I had been instructed to follow the same class scedule as before, so I had suffered through the same classes this week as the last few. I was happy to say that the stares and whispers about me through the hall had decreased marginally, as Hogwarts gossip was an ever-changing ebb of rumours.
Quidditch practice had continued normally, or the new normal, which is almost secretly, as they were keeping me a secret until the match for obvious reasons about their reputation and nasty Slytherins. Of course, speculation over Hufflepuff's new chaser was growing astronomically with the match several weeks away, and many random male members of the Hufflepuff House were being interviewed fiercely in hopes of finding out who it was. They weren't even close to guessing.
Umbridge continued to glare at me in the hallways and at mealtimes, and I began glaring back. The Gryffindor common room had become a regular spot for me to hang out with John and Scorp as well as the kitchens, which were much easier to access now that I had the Marauder's map, which I had shown to John and Scorp to much delight.
Now, as I sat listening to Slughorn drone on about fairy mucus in the humid dungeons, my attention was waning.
"Anna, it's time to add the fairy mucus, make sure to add plenty, Slughorn said." Said Scorp, my official potions partner, from his spot besides me where he was cutting up some fancy plant root for our potion, the Aperio potion. Apparently, the Aperio potion was invented in 1759 by Gringotts employees to further secure the vaults from intruders. It's purpose was to remove all physical enchantments that would conceal a person.
"Yup, gotchya." I said, sighing. I looked over at John across from us, who was arguing with his Slytherin partner about just how much fairy mucus they were supposed to add. Meanwhile, their potion was emitting a foul smell and had curdled up into a little ball in the middle of their cauldron. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the fairy mucus, dumping a large portion of the contents of the glass vial.
A thick, white smoke immediately rose up out of our cauldron, hiding our section of the classroom in steam. There was coughing around us, and Slughorn's voice saying, "Calm down everyone, it's alright. Fairy mucus is generally harmless, especially when it steams up like this. Miss Anastasia, I do believe the instructions specifically said no more than ten drops. Five points from Ravencl- Gryffindor! And please pay attention next time."
"Sorry professor."
After a minute, the smoke disappated and I could just make out John's face across from me. He looked confused, I assumed from the smoke. Then I realized several eyes were on me, and I became confused.
My question was answered when John raised his finger, pointing to my head, and said, "Anna... your hair."
My hair? It must have frizzed up... But it felt normal when I reached up to touch it. I turned to Scorp, who answered my question completely. "Your hair... just go look."
Then I remembered- I had an enchantment that made my hair brown instead of Weasley red, so as to avoid suspicion.
"Professor? May I go to the loo?" I asked, already on my way out. "It's an emergency, thanks!"
"Now just wait a minute!" He called, but I didn't hear what else he had to say, I was already rushing up to the main hall towards a loo. I let my hair loose and pulled a strand in front of my eyes. It was most definitely red. And I mean red.
I didn't run into anyone until I was only a corridor away from the girl's bathroom.
"Hey Anna." Called Ted. "Anna! Your hair!" He exclaimed as he saw my hair.
"I know, potion gone wrong." I said, then looked over at him. And saw he wasn't alone.
He was with James and Al Potter. And I had bright red hair.
AN: Soo... Sorry it took so long! But what do you think? Please let me know in a review! What do you think will happen next?
Write a Review Anastasia: In Which I Meet The Utter Chaos' Backwash
Printer Friendly Version
