The Hated Hero

The House of Adventure

​​​​​As she waited for the Sorting to end, Delphi scoped out the other Thunderbirds around her. She only hoped that one of them would want to be her friend. She wasn't exactly well-versed in the whole experience of friend-making, but she had to try, didn't she?

"Thank you for waiting!"

Goldstein's voice rang out, and Delphi jumped, standing to attention.

"Now if you'll go down the hall, sit under your respective banners! Thank you! Everyone have a good night!"

In a rush, the crowd sped towards the cafeteria. Delphi followed her fellow Thunderbirds blindly and entered a large cafeteria. Banners with the insignia of each house stood over each section.

Recognizing a redhead boy going up the stairs, Delphi followed him upstairs and onto the second floor, under the Thunderbird banner. She slowly approached the table where the redhead had sat.

"M-Mind if I sit here?" she asked nervously. Several heads looked up to her. A different boy, one of a more forgettable appearance- brown hair and reflective gray eyes- smiled.

"Of course we don't mind," he said. "You're the one who got sorted into all four houses-that's pretty cool. Delphini, right?"

"Err, thanks," Delphi said as she sat down. "And I go by Delphi."

"Oh, that's cool," he said with a nod. "I'm Rowan Kostidanova. This dork is Gwillan Pennykettle."

He nodded towards the redhead, who glanced up, smiling shyly, and looked down at one of the flimsy menus that was in the napkin holder.

"Oh, and this is Alexa Renowne," Rowan continued, nodding towards the bronzed girl with dark features Delphi had sat next to.

"Nice to meet you," Alexa said cheerfully. "Nice accent. You're British, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes I am," Delphi said, the corners of her thin lips turning up in a smile.

Rowan gently nudged the other redhead sitting next to him, a lanky, tall girl with freckles all over like a galaxy of stars.

"What?" she demanded in a cold New Jersey accent.

"Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" he asked pointedly.

The girl looked up from the menu she had and her brown eyes scrutinized Delphi enough to feel her skin crawl.

"You're that oh-so-special one, aren't you?" she demanded. "I'm Guinevere Clary- the Headmistress's daughter."

"N-Nice to meet you?" Delphi said weakly, her voice inching up towards a shriek.

"Why are you even here?" Guinevere continued, her words like bullets, hitting hard and fast. "English kids aren't usually on the Quill's List for Ilvermorny. Usually they go to that castle in Scotland-what do they call it? Oh, Hogwarts?"

"Guinevere!" Rowan hissed, outraged.

"I don't mind," Delphi said, forcing herself to sit up straighter, act like she wasn't afraid of this girl. "I don't know. My letter said something about being related to Isolt Sayre. That's all I've got."

There was a minute of silence. Then Guinevere's laugh filled it.

"You? You're descended from Isolt Sayre?" Guinevere said mockingly. "Full ourselves, aren't we?"

"Guinevere, that's enough," Rowan said.

"Yeah, back off, she just got here," Alexa said, jumping in.

"I don't care about some special snowflake's poor widdle feelings," Guinevere taunted. "So what've you got, Lestrange?"

"Look, I don't know anything other than that," Delphi said, her voice getting screechier as she got angrier. "I came to Ilvermorny to learn, and that's it! I'm not trying to be a special snowflake, I just want to actually have a life!"