Sorting

A/N: Okay, let me rant a little bit in here. I pulled an all-nighter. Now the time is 6: 35 AM and I have an exam at 8.30 AM. I haven't studied either. I wanted to finish writing this chapter and was typing it. I know this chapter has bad quality. Just take the essence of what happened okay? Don't mind the language...

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First Published: 12 /09 / 2021 (6:35 AM)

Last Edited: 13/ 09 / 2021 (04:00 PM)

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All of her friends stood in line, followed by Harry and Ron. And when Lyra stepped out to stand behind Ron, she was suddenly pulled aside. It was Zale who pulled her back.

"What do you —" before she could even finish the sentence, she heard Professor McGonagall's stern voice.

"Miss Bones, would you mind keeping your voice a little down?"

"I'm sorry, Professor, " Lyra apologized with an embarrassed smile and Professor McGonagall walked away to lead the way.

"What were you trying to do? I almost got into trouble"

"Nothing, just stand here. Don't you think you've forgotten something?"

"No, I— Wait. I forgot to thank you for the help you did."

"I didn't mean that," Zale sighed. "And, don't thank me. It was my duty to."

"Duty? What do you mean?" Lyra was confused.

"Ah, nothing. Just forget it"

"By the way, if you want your friends to worry about you, you can go on without removing the pieces of seaweed clinging to your hair," Zale said as he removed the seaweed from her hair. Then he took out a moleskin pouch and shook it, "And if you don't want your moleskin pouch, I don't mind keeping it as a reminder of us falling into the lake"

"Hey, give it back!" Lyra snatched back her pouch from the boy's hand and went on to join the line.

After that little incident, they followed Professor McGonagall as she led them out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Lyra entered the great hall with great anticipation, only to be almost blinded by the magnificent sight. She saw the bewitched ceiling and the enormous hall. She took a deep breath in. Now she could understand why Hogwarts was known for its glorious sight and its mysteries.

The hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

Professor McGonagall led the first years up here so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.

As Lyra looked around the hall, she saw many familiar faces (from the parties and balls she had to attend), though she couldn't remember many of their names. Then she saw Ron's twin brothers among the Gryffindor table, and when she caught their eye, they smiled and waved at her.

Then she saw Professor McGonagall place a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty.

"If we have to put it on, I swear, the first thing we'd have to do after reaching our dorms is to take a bath," Lyra murmured.

Zale heard her and whispered, "Well, even if it wasn't the case, it seems we do need to take a bath. After all, we did fall into—"

"Stop mentioning that, will you?" Lyra cut him off before he could finish the sentence as it was a rather embarrassing event.

Zale was about to reply as a loud voice interrupted him.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

As the first years were either fascinated at the Sorting Hat or they were relieved that they just had to try the Hat on to be sorted, Lyra had gotten hold onto the most important point, "So, that dirty hat could 'see inside our heads'? I mean, it literally could see through our memories and feelings?" Lyra looked at Zale and he nodded in confirmation.

"What in the world?"

"Well, I don't like the idea of the hat seeing our memories either, but we don't have a choice, do we? The only comforting thing is that the hat cannot say what it sees in there to others."

"But—"

"I think she's going to call out the names. And if I'm not wrong, your name would be on the front. So, focus," when Zale finished saying that, Professor McGonagall indeed stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

And in moments pause — "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.

"Bones, Lyra!"

Lyra went forward as Professor McGonagall put the Hat on her head. Just as she was wondering what the Hat might decide, she heard the hat's voice in her head, 'So, how was the lake? Did you enjoy a nice swim?'

'I know you can read minds, but is it necessary to point that out?'

But the hat went on without answering her question and said, 'Interesting... the silver phoenix mark finally appears?'

'So you seem to know something about that mark... What is it supposed to mean?'

'I can only reveal what could be revealed' the Hat paused, 'Learn about Silver phoenixes, young girl. If destiny shall permit, you might get to open several... 'things' left by Salazar Slytherin. The path ahead might be dangerous, but you should persist. By the way, a part of your memory seems to be... locked. I shall not reveal more... and let's sort you up well, shall we?'

'But-', Lyra wanted to hear more about what the 'things' were, about silver phoenixes and whatnot, but the Sorting hat went on without stopping, so Lyra could only sigh and let the hat continue.

'A courageous mind, but not reckless, and there's this thirst for knowledge and you are loyal to friends. You have a lot of wild ambition and though not by much, you do have a tiny weensy bit of slyness in you... So, where do you want to be?'

'Aren't you the one who's supposed to decide? Why are you asking me?'

'You are right indeed. In your case, what you think doesn't really matter I was instructed to put you in there, so ..."

"SLYTHERIN" the hat announced.

'Lady Hogwarts shall help you during your mission if you ever need it. All the best, Lyra Black', the Sorting Hat said just before she took off the Hat.

Lyra stood up and walked towards the Slytherin table while pondering about the Sorting Hat's words. She knew very well what it indicated: trouble. But it seems like she wouldn't be able to avoid it. Thus, she must be well prepared to meet with whatever might come in the future.

She sat at the end of the long table when she heard Professor McGonagall call her cousin.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

A few others were sorted when Lyra heard a familiar name.

"Granger, Hermione!" "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.

Lyra saw that Ron was annoyed and snickered to herself.

"Greengrass, Daphane" "SLYTHERIN!"

Finally, a friend, who was sorted to Slytherin. Lyra was so overjoyed that she stood up and gave Daphane a hug when she came over.

"Lyra! What did the hat say? It took almost five minutes to sort you," Daphane enthusiastically asked.

"Ah, nothing. I was just scolding him for looking through my memories without consent," Lyra smirked and Daphane laughed at her reply.

Then Professor McGonagall called, "Longbottom, Neville"

The poor boy fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

After that Professor McGonagall called "Malfoy, Carina"

The hat took a minute and a half to announce her, "Ravenclaw"

Lyra believed that it was actually good for Carina to be in Ravenclaw. Had she been in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, one could imagine Draco snubbing her for a least a month. And Slytherin didn't suit Carina.

"Malfoy, Draco" called Professor McGonagall.

Draco swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Lyra didn't care about what house she was in until that moment. She had overlooked one point, rather, one person: Draco Malfoy, the annoying brat. How could she have ignored the fact that he wanted to be Slytherin? If she'd remembered it, then even if she'd have to beg the hat, she'd have done it for her not to be put in Slytherin.

Lyra sighed as she saw the annoying brat coming over with a goofy smile to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle. He looked so pleased with himself that Lyra wanted to punch his face.

There weren't many people left now. "Moon"..., "Nott"... and then came —

"Nyx, Archie"

Amidst the murmurs, the drenched boy went forward and almost immediately, he got sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Osmond, Zale"

The hat took a few minutes and then announced "SLYTHERIN"

"Seems like we'll have to share the same common room for the following seven years, eh?" Zale came over and sat on her right side while Daphane occupied the seat on her left.

"It does seem like it," said Lyra with a smile and turned her attention to the front again.

Professor McGonagall called up "Parkinson"..., then the pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"..., then "Perks, Sally-Anne"..., and then, at last —

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

Lyra saw Harry nervously sitting with the hat on his head. After a few minutes, the hat said, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. The whole Gryffindor table was cheering so loudly that Lyra almost went deaf. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

Lyra shook her head at the Weasley twins' antics. And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. A second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lyra was happy for both Harry and Ron to have gotten their wish. Harry wanted to be in the same house as his late parents and Ron wanted to be in Gryffindor for whatever reason. Since they were in the same house, Lyra could worry less about Harry.

After "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin, Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Then Professor Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered.

"He's definitely sick in the mind, I tell you. He discusses important stuff at a dirty old bar, and says crazy stuff every now and then." Lyra said as Zale and Daphane chuckled.

"Even if he is, he's the best wizard in the world after all! So, don't go around saying things like this outside. Else, people would think you're the crazy one Lyra" Daphane said as the trio started to fill themselves up with dinner.

"Well, she really is a bit crazy, don't you think Daphane?" The two laughed as Lyra glared at them for a second, then ignored them and started to drink her juice.

That moment of peace was interrupted by Parkinson, "Greengrass, you shouldn't be sitting with a Half-blood and a mudblood. Why don't you join us here?"

Lyra expected something like this to happen, but she thought it would be Draco who would have started the trouble. Well, Parkinson wasn't someone who'd be happy with her being in Slytherin, but still, Draco wasn't someone who'd miss the chance to jab at her either. It was unquestionably odd.

"Watch your mouth, Parkinson. Else, our Greengrass family would have to distance ourselves from your family's businesses." Daphane replied which made Pansy Parkinson turn away with a huff.

After that, the three of them didn't bother to concern themselves with whatever Parkinson said and focused on eating their fill.

While eating, Lyra suddenly remembered the person that her mum mentioned. What was that name again? Was it perhaps, Sni- no- it was, "Snape?"

Unknowingly she said the name aloud which made Daphane and Zale look at her.

""What?""

"May I know, who Professor Snape is?" she inquired. Zale did seem a bit informed. He knew about the sorting hat and there was a very good chance of him knowing about the professors too. And obviously, Lyra was right.

"The professor with a black robe, greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. I mean the one talking to the professor in his absurd turban." Zale said.

"Oh really?" While Lyra was scrutinising Professor Snape, as if he noticed her gaze, he turned around and looked at her straight in her eyes and then turned away.

What was that? Why did he have that kind of gaze? Why did he look at her as if she was absolute vermin?

If she encountered any problems, he was the one she was told to look for. If he loathed her, would he even help?

Anyway, whatever caused that impression, she'd have to change that. She should make him look at her in a positive light so that he would at least help at moments of danger.

One by one all the food started to disappear. At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you."

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

Lyra's eyes brightened at the mention of the forbidden forest. But what Lyra was anticipating wasn't that. She was waiting for Dumbledore to announce, 'Broom Racing is to be held at Hogwarts from this year onwards'.

Sadly, Lyra was bound to be disappointed.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors."

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Lyra really wanted to split open the old man's head to see what was in there.

First and foremost, she wondered whether this was even a school. Who keeps deadly stuff in school anyway?

And secondly, who tells them openly, which now, in turn, evokes curiosity? Well, she had to admit, it even made her curious about what was in there too.

What a barmy old man.

"We won't go insane after seven years, would we? Would we even be alive after seven years?" Lyra sighed at the thought of handing over her future studies to the school headed by this kind of headmaster.

"I wonder. Maybe we'd be alive. Maybe we'd be dead" Zale said absentmindedly.

"Hey, what do you mean by that? Of course, we'll be alive. Don't jinx it"

"Zale that's too pessimistic. Nothing's going to happen anyway, why would we die, right Lyra?" said Daphane.

"Yeah. Nothing would happen, I guess," said Lyra in a low voice as she thought about how the Giant Squid almost strangled that Nyx boy.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Lyra noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

And the school bellowed:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot."

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

All the Slytherins left except for the first years and a boy and girl, who appeared to be prefects. The two of them came to the front of the long table and introduced themselves, "I am Dorick Selwyn and she is Evile Burke, we are the prefects of our Slytherin House. Now then, follow along carefully to our dormitory in the dungeon."

The two of them led the way towards the marble staircase which led towards the bottom of the castle, and they walked along for around 15 minutes and finally came to a place that seemed to be the bottom-most part of the castle.

Then Burke and Selwyn stopped in front of a bare stretch of stone wall, which seemed no different from the others and said, "This here is the entrance to our common room. Never disclose this location to the people from the other houses. Now, we'll just have to say the password and then we can enter."

"Ambitious-Snakes," said Selwyn and a stone door concealed in the wall slid open and everyone followed the two prefects in.

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in high-backed chairs. And there were two pars of stairs which led up to the girls' and boys' dormitories respectively. There were also 3 separate rooms which were down near the stairs which seemed to be the prefects' and the head of the house's dorms.

To Lyra, the Common room surely seemed like one of the so-called Pureblood's manor's receiving rooms. It was very lavish and wasteful. But ignoring the expensive and fancy stuff, it looked quite noble and classy. Another downside was that it was a bit cold down in the dungeons compared to above. So, it would definitely be even colder during the winter.

Just then, one of the three room's doors opened and Professor Snape came out and glanced at the first year Slytherins.

"For those who don't know, I am Professor Severus Snape, head of the Slytherin house and I would be handling Potions. And I'd like to say one thing: Slytherins stick together."

"No matter what kind of dispute you might have, solve it privately, and when in front of the other houses, you must definitely stick together. And," he paused as his gaze stopped for a moment on Lyra, "Whatever trouble you might cause, make sure not to get caught. Perchance you did get caught, the consequences would be severe"

Then he went into his room and shut the door.

After Professor Snape left, the two prefects gave a few more instructions like how they should be wary of 'Peeves, the poltergeist' and a few other important things and then let them go.

Lyra and Daphane ascended the stairs and then found their respective rooms next to each other. Lyra's was the first room from the stairs and the one next to it was Daphane's.

"We're neighbours, Daph!"

"Yeah, I'm neighbours with both you and Parkinson" Daphane sighed.

"Anyway, I'm really happy that we get to have individual rooms."

"Of course. It's one of the perks of being a Slytherin. I'm a bit tired, so let's rest for today Lyra. Good night."

"Mmm... Good Night, Daph"

After bidding her farewell, Lyra entered her room, only to see her trunk placed on the lavish bed. The room had a vintage style large glass window (which obviously couldn't be opened) out of which Lyra could see the several fishes swim through the black lake.

The room also had a bathroom along with it, and thus Lyra took a hot bath after which she started unpacking her things.

She arranged everything neatly in their respective place and finally sat on the bed with a small box in her hands. It was her father's gift to her. After all, she was supposed to open it only after arriving at Hogwarts.

She opened the box and saw a folded parchment and a small journal. On top of the journal was a paw mark. She first unfolded the parchment to see what was written inside, but to her disappointment, it was an empty parchment.

Could it be that something was written with special ink so that it couldn't be seen with normal means? She took out the journal from the inside of the box and opened it. The journal only had few pages and it was left empty except for the first page. All Lyra could see was the page filled with neat handwriting, but it left her in tears.

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Dear Little Lyra,

I hope you have been well all these years. I feel very much sorry towards you and your mother as I was not able to accompany you guys. Until I find that guy, I can't come back. I'm really really sorry Lyra. I know that the two of you have been suffering because of me, but I hope that you will be happy even though I couldn't be with you. I really wished to see you grow up.

By the time you are reading this, you would be at Hogwarts already. Please enjoy your days there. The time spent at Hogwarts would be very precious to you. It was for me as well.

The parchment that you would find along with this journal is my gift to you. My friends and I, the marauders started making a map in our third year and finally completed it in our fifth year. And this bit of parchment is what I made secretly in my 6th year, it is an upgraded version of that map. There are more secret passages and secret chambers included in it.

This is the only thing I can give you as of now, my little star.

Remember this well: to reveal the contents of the map, you should touch the parchment with your wand and say: ' Little star will be a good girl'. Remember to put a drop of your blood on it for the first time. From then on you just have to say the phrase. And to close it again, you need to tap it again and say, ''Mission accomplished'. Don't worry, to the others, it'll seem like an advanced potion's recipe.

If you want to give someone else access, then all you have to do is to say the opening phrase and say, 'Reveal mysteries' and that person has to put a drop of their blood too.

I hope you'd put it to good use, but you should be careful too.

P.S: Your mother forced me to change the opening and closing phrases, if not she threatened not to give this to you. The previous phrases were nice and fun though.

With love,

Padfoot

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Lyra cried for a whole five minutes and then finally took the parchment again to try it out. She pricked her finger and put a drop of blood on the parchment and watched it get absorbed into the parchment. Then she took out her wand, touched the parchment lightly and said, "Little star will be a good girl"

And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that Lyra's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:

'To my little girl's aid, I proudly present:'

'PADFOOT'S TREASURE'

It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing was the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labelled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, Lyra bent over it.

A labelled dot in the top left corner showed that 'Oldman Dumbledore' was pacing his study; the 'Cat Norris', was prowling the second floor; and 'Bestie Peeves' was currently bouncing around the trophy room.

Seeing that, Lyra laughed despite her earlier mood. Her father certainly gave out amusing nicknames.

And as Lyra's eyes travelled up and down the corridors, she noticed something else.

This map showed many sets of passages. And many of them seemed to lead right into Hogsmeade.

Lyra sat stiffly on her bed, gazing at the miraculous map. She watched the tiny ink Mrs Norris turn left and pause to sniff at something on the floor and the trails of the patrolling prefects along the corridors.

With this, she could sneak off anywhere and she would never get lost in the castle. Lyra tapped it once and said, "Mission Accomplished" and the parchment turned blank once again.

She laid on the bed while thinking about the amazing things she could do with the help of the map and unknowingly drifted deep into sleep.