Meli hung back as Professor Fig leaned close to the door leading into the Great Hall so that he could check and see exactly how much Meli had missed. Now that they were safe from Ranrok, the pre-Hogwarts anxiety had come back in full force. While she was originally supposed to arrive at Hogwarts separately from the other students, she had still been supposed to join the first-years and queue up for the Sorting with them; thanks to the dragon attack, their detour into Gringotts, and the encounter with Ranrok, she and Professor Fig were now very late.
'Oh, good,' said Professor Fig, turning back to face Meli. 'We haven't missed the Sorting Ceremony.' He drew his wand, aiming it at her clothes. 'I'm no expert, but...'
Meli watched as her clothes transformed before her eyes, changing into an all-black Hogwarts uniform; a white linen shirt, a necktie, a tweed waistcoat with a matching ankle-length skirt over boots and stockings, finished off with a Hogwarts robe. She knew from Rowan's uniform that it would typically be in her House colours and bear the crest of her House, but of course, as she hadn't been Sorted yet, these things were absent.
'...that seems more appropriate,' said Professor Fig, pocketing his wand. 'Now, I need to study this locket as soon as I can, but first I must contact the Ministry. They need to know what happened to George, and be warned of Ranrok. For the moment, I ask that you keep all that's happened this evening between you and me.'
'But what about my brother?' she asked.
Professor Fig thought for a moment. 'I suppose that's up to you,' he said. 'But if you do disclose this to him, please impress upon him that he cannot tell anyone else.'
Meli nodded. 'Of course, sir,' she said.
'Thank you. Ready for the Sorting Ceremony?' he asked brightly, rubbing his hands together.
Meli smiled and nodded. Professor Fig pushed open the door to the Great Hall, and Meli expected him to lead her through it, but he did not; he stayed there, looking at something—or perhaps someone—out of her sight. After a moment, he withdrew himself from the doorway, his cheerful expression gone.
'Phineas Nigellus Black,' he said, then sighed. He ushered her away from the door. 'Prepare yourself to meet...the Headmaster.'
A beat later, a haughty-looking man in a green tailcoat, with brown hair and an impeccably groomed moustache and beard, strode through the door. He surveyed Meli for just a moment before returning his attention to Professor Fig.
'Fig,' he said shortly. 'Nice of you to join us. The Sorting Ceremony's over.'
'There were—complications,' Professor Fig said.
'"Complications"?' Professor Black repeated.
'It seems the goblin problem has—' Professor Fig began, but the headmaster interrupted him.
'Enough!' he groaned, rolling his eyes. 'Goblins—I've no time for rumours, Fig! And I'm rapidly losing whatever patience I had left!'
Professor Fig opened his mouth to speak again, but Professor Black had already shifted his gaze to Meli.
'If you're lucky, we might still be able to get you Sorted this evening,' he said, before turning on his heel and striding back into the Great Hall.
Meli quickly made to follow him, Professor Fig leaning towards her.
'I'll be in touch,' he said.
There were four long tables lined up in a row in the Great Hall, each of them bearing a table runner with the coat of arms of each of the four Hogwarts Houses hanging down at the end. She followed Professor Black down the middle of the Hall, between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables. She easily caught sight of Rowan at the Slytherin table on the far left, who smiled at her as she walked towards the platform at the end of the Great Hall, where the professors were sitting. There was a single, three-legged stool sitting in the middle of this platform.
'Professor Weasley!' said Professor Black as he and Meli stepped up. 'We've one more to be Sorted.'
'Welcome!' Professor Weasley said to Meli. She was an older woman with half-rimmed reading spectacles and ginger hair twisted up into a bun. She was holding an exceptionally old, patched, frayed, and dirty wizard's hat. 'You're just in time. Have a seat!'
Meli sat down carefully upon the stool, and Professor Weasley set the Sorting Hat down upon Meli's head. Face burning as she became suddenly aware of the fact that every eye in the Great Hall was on her, she averted her gaze, trying not to look at anyone. She heard an unfamiliar voice start speaking within her mind.
'Ah, yes,' said the Sorting Hat. 'A bit older than the others, aren't you? Ah, but potential abound—practically chomping at the bit to make up for lost time, I see.' She heard the Hat chuckle, and she couldn't help but smile herself. 'Quite a bright mind, I see, plenty of curiosity—you've recently learned that you possess a rare ability, I see you're quite eager to uncover what secrets it holds, determined to hone it to its fullest...so...where to put you?'
'You'd better be in Slytherin,' Rowan had said, smiling, over supper the night Professor Fig had first brought Meli her letter. Her mother, uncle, and grandfather, however, had all been in Ravenclaw. She supposed she didn't mind one way or another where she went, though this didn't seem to help the Hat much. It hemmed and hawed for a few more minutes over whether she was more suited to Ravenclaw or Slytherin, to the point where she was starting to get a bit annoyed at the indecision. The Hat seemed to sense this, as it laughed again.
'Don't worry,' it said. 'I think I've got it...yes. Yes, let's make it SLYTHERIN!'
She heard the Sorting Hat shout its decision for all to hear, and her brother's yell immediately afterwards as he stood up, grinning ear to ear. Applause rang throughout the Great Hall. Professor Weasley removed the Hat from Meli's head as she stood up, and with a flick of her wand, Meli's waistcoat, necktie, and the satin lining and trim of her robe turned green, the emblem on the left side of her robe changing to bear the green background and silver serpent of Slytherin House.
She stepped down from the platform and made her way to the Slytherin table, Rowan and a few other students edging down the bench to make room for her.
'I knew it,' said Rowan, beaming as Meli sat down next to him.
She looked at him flatly. 'No, you didn't,' she said irritably. 'Ye said I'd better be, not that I would be.'
'Same difference,' Rowan said airily. 'So what happened? Why were you and Fig late? He said ye were gonna go up with the rest o' the first-years.'
'Not now,' she said quietly, glancing around. She was going to tell him everything, but she didn't want to do so in a hall crowded with quite literally everyone in the castle.
The Sorting Ceremony now complete, tureens and platters of food and pitchers of water and pumpkin juice now appeared out of thin air on the tables, and Meli suddenly became quite aware of how hungry she was, not having eaten since breakfast. She helped herself to a plateful of chicken-and-ham pie and a couple of bread rolls while Rowan got into the mashed potatoes. He chuckled.
'Hungry?' he asked.
'Starvin',' Meli replied.
'Didn't Mum pack ye somethin' to eat on yer way here?'
'Didn't get the chance,' she said. 'I'll tell ye later.'
Though the Great Hall was filled with students' indistinct conversation, Meli herself was fairly quiet. She didn't talk to much of anyone besides Rowan, and after she had finished her supper and pudding, she found that all she really wanted was to go to sleep. She sat there with the rest of the school, waiting for Black to dismiss them, when he stood from the High Table and the chatter died away.
'One more thing,' he said. 'Due to the unfortunate injury on the pitch in last Spring's final, this year's Quidditch season has been cancelled.'
The Hall was filled with a collective groan of disappointment and protest, students looking between each other and muttering mutinously.
'Enough!' Professor Black said irritably. 'It's not as though I've banned flying altogether. But—don't tempt me. You are here to focus on your academic futures. I'm sure you all have plenty to do before classes begin tomorrow.'
He finished his announcement with a gesture of dismissal, but the students continued to sit there watching him with varying expressions of confusion and annoyance.
'I said, I'm sure you all have plenty to do before classes begin tomorrow!' He repeated the dismissal, more forcefully this time, and with a great scraping of benches, the students in the Great Hall stood up to leave for their respective dormitories.
Meli followed Rowan and the rest of the Slytherins to their common room, which she recalled Rowan mentioning was located in the dungeons. The group stopped crowded in front of a blank stretch of stone wall.
'Welcome to Slytherin,' an older student bearing a prefect's badge addressed the cluster of tiny first-years at the front. 'The common room entrance is hidden behind this wall. Accessing it is simple; just speak the correct password.' The prefect turned to face the wall in front of them. 'Aspiration!'
Up from the floor rose the great metal body of a snake, and as it rose it revealed a tall, narrow set of double-doors decorated with what resembled Celtic knotwork; looking more closely, Meli saw that the knots were made up of individual, smaller snakes intertwining with one another. The snake stopped moving, neither head nor tail visible, its body framing the entrance.
Slowly, the Slytherins filed through the entrance, and when it was Meli's turn she saw that there was a narrow spiral staircase leading down into the common room. With tapestries on one side and what seemed to be a waterfall on the other, Meli wasn't paying attention when she reached the bottom and stumbled over something at the foot of the stairs, breaking it. Looking down, she saw that it appeared to have been a collection of vases. Rowan drew his wand.
'Reparo,' he said, aiming at the broken pottery, and the shards immediately jumped up and reformed at the base of the stairs.
'Thank you,' Meli muttered, face burning.
'Don't worry,' he told her, putting his wand away again. 'I do that all the time. Stupid place fer them to be, really.'
Meli looked around. She could see the prefects still speaking to the first years. She heard one mentioning how frequently the password changed and that it would be posted on the noticeboard. Still quite exhausted, she made a mental note to ask Rowan if she had any questions on anything and followed the rest of the Slytherin girls to what she assumed was the dormitories. Upon reaching the fifth-year girls' dorms, she found five beds, three of which were already occupied and one of which was clearly supposed to be hers, given that it was considerably larger than the rest. One of the girls had already changed into her pyjamas; the sight of this reminded Meli that she no longer had any with her.
'Um...' she said quietly, thinking.
'D'you need help with something?' one of the girls asked, a girl with wavy black hair that fell slightly past her jaw. She looked at the foot of Meli's bed, frowning slightly in confusion. 'Where's your trunk?'
'It—got destroyed,' Meli said. 'There was—an accident, while we were travellin'—um—just a moment—'
She turned and left the girls' dormitory, going down the corridor back towards the common room. Rowan, unfortunately, was nowhere to be found; she went down the opposite corridor, finding the fifth-year boys' dormitory and knocking on the door.
'Rowan, it's me,' she called through the door. 'I need to talk to ye.'
A moment later, Rowan opened the door looking mildly confused. He had clearly been in the middle of changing for bed himself, since his jacket and waistcoat were gone and his shirt was untucked.
'Yes?' he asked.
'I need to borrow one o' yer nightshirts,' she muttered.
Her brother's confusion only deepened. 'What about yer—?'
'I don't have 'em,' Meli said shortly. 'I don't have anything. I'll explain in the mornin', just, please, Row.'
Utterly perplexed, Rowan withdrew from the doorway and returned a moment later with a spare nightshirt, which he handed to Meli.
'Thanks,' she said.
'Are you alright?' he asked, his confusion equally combined with worry.
'I'm fine,' Meli said. 'It's a long story...I promise, I'll explain everythin' tomorrow.'
'Alright...' Rowan said, still not looking reassured. 'G'night.'
'G'night,' Meli said, and Rowan closed the door.
Nightshirt in hand, Meli returned to her dormitory to change.
'Where'd you get that?' asked a girl with brown hair and bangs, a puzzled look on her face as she took her hair down.
'My brother,' Meli answered.
'Rowan?' another girl asked, also with brown hair, but with darker eyes and complexion. She was sitting up in her bed, reading a book.
'Yes,' Meli answered. 'Ye know each other?'
The girl snorted. 'You could say that,' she said, her voice carrying a distinct Scottish accent.
Meli frowned slightly, not sure what to make of that.
'My name's Imelda,' the girl said. 'Imelda Reyes. And ye're Melpomeni Asimi.'
Meli blinked. 'How d'you know...?' she began, but the girl called Imelda answered her question before she had finished.
'Weasley called yer name fer the Sorting and no one came up,' she said. 'Interesting tactic on yer first day, takin' all the attention away from the first-years.'
'It wasn't on purpose,' Meli said defensively. 'I told ye, it was an accident while we were on our way here.'
'Must've been one Hell of an accident, to leave you with no belongings,' said the black-haired girl. 'What happened?'
'...Our carriage was attacked by a dragon,' Meli said. A bit of the truth. Just enough.
The girls' jaws dropped.
'Why?'
'A dragon?'
Meli nodded. 'We don't know why. Professor Fig was just as confused as me.'
'Shame I wasn't there with ye,' Imelda said simply. 'I could've lured it away. My skills on a broom are legendary.'
Meli looked at her. 'I...think ye're underestimatin' the nature of a dragon,' she said. 'The carriage and everythin' in it was completely destroyed. A broom would've been kindlin'.'
'Ha! Not the way I fly,' Imelda said. 'How else could I have become Slytherin Quidditch Captain?'
'Wait,' said the black-haired girl, 'but if the carriage was destroyed, then how did you and Professor Fig escape?'
'I...' Meli said, unsure of how to answer. If it hadn't been for the Portkey, she couldn't think how they possibly could have survived. Her mother couldn't Apparate, and Meli wasn't sure whether she could either, even Side-Along. 'I don't remember. It's...all rather a blur, to be honest....'
'Well I'm at least glad no one was hurt!' said the brown-haired girl.
'...No,' Meli said, avoiding anyone's gaze. 'There was a man from the Ministry ridin' with us. A friend of Professor Fig's. He was killed.'
'Oh...I'm so sorry, that's awful....'
Meli didn't really know what to say. It had been terrible to watch, but she hadn't known Mr Osric at all. He had seemed pleasant, and she was of course sorry that he was dead, but she had nothing to say beyond that. How do you mourn someone you had only met less than an hour prior?
'Well...it's nice to meet you,' the brown-haired girl said, and Meli was grateful for the change in topic. 'I'm Nerida; Nerida Roberts.'
'Violet McDowell,' said the black-haired girl.
Meli nodded. 'Well...ye already know my name,' she said. 'Most everyone just calls me Meli, though.'
'We know,' said Imelda. 'Rowan talks about you.'
Meli said nothing. The statement seemed innocuous enough, and she highly doubted Rowan would say anything truly negative or embarrassing about her, but she didn't like the way Imelda was looking at her.
'Well, it's getting late,' Nerida said, and Meli had a funny feeling that she was deliberately trying to change the subject again. 'We should all get some sleep.'
There was no more talk as the girls finished changing and grooming before bed, something Meli was thankful for. She wasn't very good at socialising even under ordinary circumstances, much less when she was exhausted and still processing everything that had happened that day.
She pulled the hangings shut as she climbed into bed, thinking. She was at Hogwarts, after years of wishing and dwindling hope. And not only was she not a Squib after all, but she possessed an ability to detect and interact with a type of magic that seemingly had been little more than legend for centuries. And this magic was being sought after by a dangerous, extremist goblin, and by the look of it, Meli now came to suspect that he had already harnessed some sort of corrupted form of it. And if he had sent a dragon to attack the carriage to try and get at the key to the vault, and he now knew she and Professor Fig were connected to the vault and its secret, she wasn't confident that he would give up just because his two newest leads were safe at Hogwarts.
Head swimming, she decided there was nothing to be done about that right now and that she would deal with it when the time came, and that what she needed right now was to get enough sleep for her classes tomorrow. She'd have to be especially careful not to spill anything at mealtimes, since she'd need to keep her uniform clean until she was able to replace the other sets that were supposed to accompany her. She felt another twinge of annoyance that she wouldn't be able to tame her hair tomorrow, since all of her toiletries had also been destroyed and would need to be replaced. The only positive side to any of this was that she herself had survived, and that she hadn't been carrying anything of sentimental value. Hoping that she'd be able to share a textbook with a classmate if necessary, Meli sighed heavily, rolled over, and fell asleep.