The Last Horcrux/Hogwarts/The Great Hall/House Sorting Ceremony
Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of the school, continues his welcome speech and announces that the Sorting Ceremony will now begin:
"The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts."
The Headmaster then lifts the centuries old Sorting Hat and places it on the lectern in front of him. One by one, students are called up to be sorted into their houses. The sorting takes place in alphabetical order by surname, meaning that your friend Lavender is one of the first to be called up.
“Brown, Lavender,” Minerva McGonagle calls her name.
Lavender gets up excitedly and makes her way to the front of the hall. Sitting on a stool placed on the stage for this purpose, Dumbeldore places the hat onto her head, and it begins to talk.
“This girl is kind and brave. She will always protect her friends from harm,” the Hat begins, it’s voice sounding as old as the battered and patched leather from which it is made, “she belongs in… GRYFFINDOR!”
The House Griffindor table roars, and Lavender practically squeals with excitement. The other houses politely clap, but you feel like booing that one of your friends has been taken away from you. Lavender catches your eye and waves at you, beckoning you to join her.
It will be a cold day in hell before you become a Gryffindor.
There are so many pupils in the school, perhaps seven hundred in total. Over seven years of education, there are perhaps one hundred in each year, of which there are about twenty five in each house. Twelve girls and twelve boys, if the sorting is even. You wonder who else will be selected into each house. There are many children you don’t know, so you pay closer attention to the ones that you do.
You are not surprised when first Vincent Crabbe, and then Gregory Goyle are sorted into Slytherin. Both boys are examples of the most inbred Pureblood families, with a long history of being sorted into Slytherin. They make you wonder if what the pureblood families need is some fresh blood as well as some blood letting, by use of leeches, for those two morons in particular. At least they are tough bastards, and on your side.
“Granger, Hermione,” you hear the next name being called.
You watch as Hermione nervously makes her way to the front of the Great Hall. For some reason, you feel a little bad about your earlier Hermione murder fantasies. In fact, Hermione could become quite pretty in a year or two you start to think…
The Hat is placed on her head and begins its judgement.
“Ahhh… right then… Mmmm… right… OK… GRYFFINDOR!”
Hermione smiles and the Gryffindor students cheer and clap. You clap politely and watch as she walks to join her fellow students, sitting down next to Lavender. Lavender makes eye contact with you again and beckons you to join them. You look away.
“Greengrass, Daphne,” McGonagle calls out.
You watch as your pretty pureblood friend is sorted by the hat. It actually calls her devious, before sorting her into Slytherin, to much applause from her peers. She slowly walks over to join her new house, a sly smile on her face.
A couple of other students are sorted, silly Hufflepuff’s that you don’t really care about, and then McGonagle calls out your name.
“Lestrange, Emily.”
Suddenly you fear that you have made a terrible mistake. Dumbledore will figure out who you are, or the Hat will see through your Psyche Obfuscatus. You feel the eyes of Dumbledore, Snape and every student who knows who you are boring their way into your soul. You don’t want them to discover your secret. Dumbldore will kill you, or the monster will kill everyone you know. For a moment, both souls within you are paralysed with fear.
“Go on Emily,” you hear a girl’s voice say. It is Lily, encouraging you to stand.
You stand up and people clap, with Daphne saying, “come on Emily!” encouraging you and the other Slytherins to root for you.
You make your way to the front of the hall. You surely won’t have been the first or last student to be nervous at this time. You sit down next to Dumbledore, gripping your wand in your sleeve, tense and ready to kill him if this goes wrong, wondering if you can make it outside the castle grounds, knowing that you can’t simply disapparate if you need to.
The Hat is placed on your head.
“Hmmmm…” the ancient artefact says, pondering, “this is tricky… very tricky… there’s thoughts of boys, and Quidditch, but that doesn’t tell me anything…”
You breathe a sigh of relief that your Psyche Obfuscatus is throwing it off the scent. There is absolutely no way you were thinking about Quidditch or boys. You are a Lesbian Dark Wizard obsessed with Sex and Power.
“There’s more though, hidden within…” the Hat continues, “burrowed in deep, something lurking there.”
You decide to open with Bombarda Maxima, then try to kill Dumbledore while the dust is settling from the explosions, then fly out of the room and disapparate as soon as you are clear of the school grounds.
You notice Harry looking at you in the audience, and feel a terrible pang of guilt. Curse this girl and her body! Why do you feel so bad? Why does it hurt?
“Yes more, a longing for power, destructive magic, and Harry Potter? Why are you thinking about…”
Furious, you reach up and take the Hat off of your head.
“Now you listen to me Hat!” You tell the Hat in no uncertain terms, “I don’t appreciate you going through my private thoughts and sharing them with the whole school. Just sort me into Slytherin House or I will throw you into the lake!”
The school is stunned into silence for a moment, as is the hat. After a second or so, it regains it’s voice.
“Very well… SLYTHERIN!” It booms.
Slytherin House erupts into cheers and applause, and the rest of the school claps politely. Almost no one can hear you talking to Dumbledore.
“It’s not fair to use Legimency on first years,” you begin, spinning the angry lie, which you know people fall for, mistaking passion for the truth, “I can’t help it if I’m a bit star struck meeting The Boy Who Lived. Now the whole school will think I fancy him!”
Dumbledore begins to mumble some sort of apology, but you dismiss him with a wave of your hand. Slytherin House thinks this is even more hilarious than you threatening to throw the Sorting Hat into the lake, and they continue to cheer, so you turn and give them a bow, before walking over to join your new House. Daphne welcomes you with a hug and kiss on both cheeks.
You miss out the next couple of students being sorted as you calm down for a moment. You were just about ready to destroy the Great Hall if the Hat had said Voldemort! but in the end it only picked up a vague outline of your thoughts. You are safe.
Daphne points out that Neville Longbottom is staring at you for some reason, when it’s his turn to be sorted. He quickly looks away when you meet his eye though. He is sorted into Gryffindor, making you remember that in your timeline, he grew to become something of a warrior, destroying some of your Horcruxes with Harry and Hermione. You will have to kill him eventually.
Next Draco, and then Pansy are sorted into Slytherin, which is not surprising. Pansy gives you and Daphne a hug, and clearly all is forgiven from your earlier altercation about Lily. You look over at her, sitting alone. She will be one of the last to be sorted, based on her surname.
You watch as two beautiful Indian girls, who are so alike that they must be identical twins, are sorted into two different houses. Padma Patil is sorted into Ravenclaw, and her sister Parvati Patil is sorted into Gryffindor. It’s a shame, because you would have liked to get to know those beauties in the Slytherin dormitories…
“Potter, Harry,” the boy’s name is called.
You watch as Harry nervously makes his way to the stage, making you feel better about your own sorting. The hat is placed on his head, and begins its rambling speech.
“Hmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you? Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure?”
“FUCK no!” You say out loud, but in Parseltongue, a habit you learned so that you can swear without being caught. Another Parseltongue could understand what you say, but to everyone else it just sounded as though you hissed. Harry looks over toward you, clearly having understood, but then Daphne hisses too, thinking it’s some kind of pantomime taunt.
“You could be great, you know,” the Hat continues “it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no? Well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor students roar in approval, and you breathe a sigh of relief. You feel very tired all of a sudden, and realise that you need to rest. You crawl into a corner of the girl’s mind and let her take control of herself for a while.
You feel the monster sliding under its rock. You watch the rest of the sortings, but don’t know any of the students being selected. After a few more are chosen though, it is Lily’s turn.
“Smith, Lily,” McGonagle says her name.
You watch as the timid girl walks up to the front of the school, almost tripping get her school robe in her nervousness. Oh fuck, you think to yourself, it’s going to put her in fucking Hufflepuff or something.
“Listen,” you say, talking to the other first years, and mainly to the ones you don’t know, given the Pureblood’s view of her, “That girl is an extremely powerful Oneiromancer - a Dream Sorceress. We’ve GOT to have her for House Slytherin, we can’t let any other House have her.”
You start to bang your right hand on the table, and call out “Sly-ther-in, Sly-ther-in!” Pointing your wand at your fellow first years, as if inviting them to defy you. The non-pureblood Slytherin’s take your point and join your chant, but your Pureblooded friends remain silent, not wanting a Mudblood to join them.
You look up at Lily and smile, and she smiles back at you shyly. Some of the older Slytherin’s take up your chant, clearly amused that the girl who threatened the Sorting Hat is now trying to take its job.
“Silence please,” Dumbledore kindly commands, “it is for the Hat to do the Sorting, not the Houses.”
Your House quietens down, and you see the Headmaster giving you a cold stare. For some mischievous reason you decide to blow him a kiss, and the old man actually looks away!
Lily sits down nervously, and the Hat is placed on her head by McGonagle, instead of the Headmaster.
“Hmmm… this girl is good, kind, and braver than she looks. She would make a good Gryffindor…”
“No!” You mouth almost silently, shaking your head and looking at Lily with wide eyes. You beckon for her to come toward you, knowing that the hat takes her choices into account. You should have told her before hand.
“…she is also loyal toward her friends, and would make a good Hufflepuff…”
“NO!” You continue to mouth, deepening your voice, to emphasise that Hufflepuff is beyond a joke.
Lily looks at you and smiles, almost laughing at your antics.
“…But I sense that what this girl wants most of all is to be with her friend, and to follow her fate. She belongs in… SLYTHERIN.”
Your House mostly erupts into applause. Draco isn’t clapping, and looks almost sullen. Daphne appears to have had a change of heart and applauds whole-heartedly. Pansy politely claps, graciously rather than enthusiastically.
Lily makes her way over to you, where you give her a massive hug and sit her down next to you. The girl is not an obvious Slytherin, and you feel a strong urge to protect her from harm.
The last two people to be sorted aware Ronald Weasley, into Gryffindor, and Blaise Zambini, into Slytherin. Daphne gives Blaise a hug and a kiss that is nearly on the lips. No doubt Lavender will be extremely jealous.
All you can think is that you had forgotten you also need to kill Ron. There are so many Weasleys after all.
The Feast begins, and the Hall is filled with chatter and laughter. You and Lily stuff your faces and spend most of your time talking to each other. Blaise seems like he will be very popular, especially with the girls, and Draco seems to already be attracting a gang of followers, including Pansy Parkinson, who has just spent two weeks on holiday with him after all.
The other Slytherins, including some older students, think that your antics during the Sorting Ceremony were hilarious. Several of them tell you how funny they thought it was, seeing you tell off the Sorting Hat, then the Headmaster himself. Overall, you are happy to be in Slytherin, but most of all you are happy that Lily is in Slytherin with you.
Eventually, the feast comes to an end:
Other Soul Fragment?
Inside Extended Luggage Suite
Books Life Magick of the Celts and ancient Britons, Wiccan Blood Rituals, A Primer of Magickes of Imperial China, The Fragmented Soul, Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts, Love Potions, Sexus, Serpentes et Magicae Voluptatis, The Daughters of Hecate, A Secret Guide to Hogwarts, The Oneirocritica, Tom Riddle’s Diary (Horcrux).
Magic Items Sofia Lestrange’s Pensieve, Enchanted Tarot, Guardian Statue, Self-Writing Quill, Wizard’s Chess Set, Mother’s Broomstick, several sets of shirts, skirts and underwear with protection from minor charms, jinxes and hexes.
Other Items Clothes, text books, blankets, towels, food, medicines and various supplies
