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"You are a warewolf." She stated blankly after making sure that no was listening. To say that Julius was scared would be an understatement. He was panicking. Was he that bad at keeping a secret that he couldn't even go a day without revealing it?
Cordelia, after sensing his panicked state said, "it's alright, I won't tell anyone."
Julius felt a bit relieved after hearing that but that didn't explain how she knew.
"How did you know anyway?" He asked harshly.
"I'm a half warewolf too." She once again said just as blankly as if this conversation was nothing.
Julius gasped at her suprised at the revelation. But before he could say anything else, she took a hold of his wrist and dragged him outside.
"Come on they will leave without us." Julius smiled. She obviously sensed that he was uncomfortable.
They jogged trying to keep up with the others but given their warewolf traits , they succeeded quite fast. They joined the others in boarding the boats. They had to part their ways as the rest of their friends were sitting together with Neville. Julius joined them on the same boat and Cordelia went to the Trio she met in the train.
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then -- FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.
Cordelia remembered that he searched in the compartments and was asking around for his road.
They then walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Cordelia remembered her dad telling her about a professor who quite matched the discription. She immediately came to a conclusion that this stern witch was indeed Professor McGonagall.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit a whole group of elephants there. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, Cordelia compared. The ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Cordelia along with the rest of the first years could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -- the rest of the school must already be here -- but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "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. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber.
She was observing her surroundings from her spot behind Ron even though she was obviously taller than him.
"So it is true what they're saying on train, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." She heard Draco's voice. She sighed knowing what will take place next.
"This is Crabbe and Goyle and I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." He said , coming in front of Harry.
In front of Cordelia , Ron sniggered infuriating Draco.
"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask you yours. Red hair and a hand me down robe. You must be a Weasley." Ron grimaced at that.
Cordelia thought that it was time she intervened but before she could, Draco started again. " Potter , you'll soon learn that some wizarding families are better than the others , you don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He said , extending his hand.
"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself." Harry state coolly
"Now , now Draco apologize, right now to Ron. It is not polite to make fun of someone's family's economic status. You might as well not talk to me then." Cordelia stated in a steely voice and dangerous flashing eyes.
Draco looked at his cousin terrified.
"Alright , I am sorry. I was just mad because you laughed at my name."
Cordelia smiled at him satisfied and then turned to Ron.
"I don't really have the right but if you did see me as atleast an acquaintance, apologize to my cousin. It's not nice when someone laughs at your name. You would know that well." She coldly taunted.
Ron in an instant looked guilty and apologized to Draco who smiled at him in return.
"Now Draco start again, would you?"
Draco smirked at her and started over again, this time politely.
"I'm Draco Malfoy. Would you be my friend. I am very sorry that I was impolite at first." He said politely.
Harry smiled at him and shook his hands.
Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air -- several people behind them screamed.
"What the -- ?"
People gasped around them. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance--"
"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost -- I say, what are you all doing here?"
A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.
Nobody answered.
"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"
A few people nodded mutely.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."
She led them through the great hall from between the tables and told them to come as she calls their name.
Cordelia was oddly nervous.
All of a sudden McGonagall brought out a four legged chair and placed an old hat atop it.
Then a big mouth ripped open and it started singing-
"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.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."
Harry smiled weakly.
Cordelia wanted to laugh at their conversation but she didn't.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause --
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Cordelia could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.
He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.
Harry got more and more nervous as his turn came closer.
Cordelia was no better.
When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he 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."
Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Cordelia was cheering the loudest for him. Proud of him.
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. Though he didn't really want to share his happiness with the two oafs that his father forced him to be with because they were his fellow death eaters' sons.
There weren't many people left now. "Moon"..., "Nott"..., "Parkinson"..., then a 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?"
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.
"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes -- and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"
Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.
"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, 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!"
Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.
"Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.
"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin and then finally it was Cordelia's turn.
"Black, Cordelia."
Gasps surrounded the room once again but this time not of awe.
She sat on the tool as McGonagall put the hat on her head, it went over half of her eyes.
"Hmm...I see very balanced you are. Kind like your fathers and just as intelligent, just as mischievous. But I can see wisdom, oh yes and ambition and courage, chivalry. Cleverness and determination, leadership. A lot of talent. Unique, very unique. Very hard to choose. I see...
She belongs in every house..." The last part he spoke to everyone around them sensing their shock because it was the first time in like a thousand years that the hat stalled for more than 5 minutes.
"But better put her in... SLYTHERIN!"
Harry was confused, Slytherin were bad but Cordelia was polite and kind. She even made Draco apologize. He decided that she was just acting to get on his good side. Because a Slytherin can't be good, right?
Cordelia was more than happy. Yes, a bit nervous about her dad's reaction but none the less happy. Julius was in the same house. Yes, the other five friends she made were all in gryffindor but she was still happy to be with Draco and Julius plus she knew the two didn't really mind but the trio was something she didn't know about. Ron didn't seem too fond of Slytherin.
Though she also didn't forget that the hat said that she belonged in every house.
She went to the Slytherin table as the house burst into cheers and applause.
She was greeted with handshake by the prefects of the house ,the head boy too.
She sat beside Dane as McGonagall scrolled the parchment and took the chair back.
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. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.
"Is he -- a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.
"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"
Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.
Cordelia knew that Hogwarts' feasts were amazing and big but she didn't expect that.
"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak.
"Can't you -- ?"
"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you -- you're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -- " the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.
"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So -- new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable -- he's the Slytherin ghost."
Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements. He also wanted to look at Cordelia, he felt as if there was more that she knew then she let on. She made him feel safe and he felt like he knew her way before that day. He restrained himself from looking at her and turned to where Seamus has started talking.
"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.
"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.
When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding...
As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.
"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
The others laughed.
"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.
"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me -- he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned -- but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced -- all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here -- they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."
On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons ("I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult -- "; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing -- ").
Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.
It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes -- and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.
"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.
"What is it?" asked Percy.
"N-nothing."
The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look -- a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.
"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.
"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to -- everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."
Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.
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.
"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."
Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.
"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.
"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere -- the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry 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 favorite 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 and Cordelia 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. The Weasley twins grinned at Cordelia from across the hall.
"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
All the students were following the prefects to their dormitories and Cordelia was walking along side Julius and Draco.
Suddenly someone held her arm and pulled her and Julius back. She followed the hand to see it was Lorenzo holding her, looking at Dane who was scolding Emily for scaring him.
Lorenzo laughed at her stunned face and said, " now that we are not in the same house we need to meet each other in a different way. We should you know fetch each other, I suppose you two should fetch us because Cordelia has here more friend I think, they were talking about you so I got to know . You could meet them too and then in the great hall we can sit at each other's table alternatively."
Cordelia looked at Julius and the twinkle in his eyes told her that he was thinking the same as her.
She looked at Lorenzo straight in the eyes and blankly said, "bold of you to assume we would want to hang out with two gryffindors."
They both had a hurt look plastered upon their faces. Emily was about to burst into tears when Julius started laughing and exclaimed, "haha you two should look at your faces, of course that arrangement works with us , pretty balanced in my opinion. Right Cordelia?"
"Yes, it does." She said. One thing they noticed was that she was still cold towards them and they didn't like that. They all made a silent agreement that they would change that.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking beside each other. "We need to wake up early tomorrow so that we can meet Cordelia before breakfast." Harry and Ron immediately protested. "Why? She is a Slytherin. She is bad."
Hermione scowled at them and said, " that doesn't matter , she is our friend and was always very polite not to mention she stood up for you Ron. And don't forget that the sorting hat said that she belonged in every house but put her in Slytherin because it had to put her in some house and I've read in history that in cases like this, the hat looks for a trait that is not that relevant but still a part of the criteria. I think for her it must be leadership and confidence, have seen the way she walks, talks and everithing. She definitely has that leader aura in her."
They both fell into deep thought about what the girl has said as she walked past them in anger. Sure , these two boys weren't her friends but still.
Cordelia and the others parted ways and followed their house prefect when a ghost came dashing in their way.
Then the prefects said,
"Peeves..."