Hogwarts was more magnificent than any of the young eleven-year-olds could have possibly imagined. Sure, most of the children had heard stories from their parents or older siblings, but this was one of the rare occasions where reality was so much more impressive than anything their creative minds could have conjured.
They stood clustered in a small chamber, anxiously waiting for the witch in emerald-green robes to return for them. The room was buzzing with nervous and anxious murmurs.
The door creaked open and the witch, Professor McGonagall, from before had reentered the small chamber. She peered at the young students, her lips pursed in a thin line.
"We are ready for you," She said swiftly. And at her words, a nervous silence fell over the students. "Form a line and follow me."
The children did as they were told and followed the witch into the Great Hall. Fiona nervously walked beside her twin brother, Cedric. Her arm was linked with Cedric, and she felt comfortable and safe in his presence, so safe she hardly relied on the small wooden cane she held in her other hand.
They were surrounded by whispers and snickers from all sides, coming from the older students seated at their house tables. Fiona felt trapped as the sounds of the other students seemed to suffocate her.
"Our brother Charlie was telling us the sorting is really hard," A boy whispered to another student from behind Fiona and Cedric. Fiona's grip on Cedric tightened.
She hadn't considered there'd be a test to get sorted? How could she possibly pass any type of challenge? Was there a house full of students who failed or gave up during the sorting test? Had no one ever failed or given up before? Would she be the first? Would they just send her back on the train home?
A knot formed in the pit of her stomach.
"Did he tell you what it was?" A student whispered to the boy.
"Nah, but Bill said a boy died his year," A third voice supplied.
Death?!
Fiona nearly turned around, it was only Cedric's tight grip on her arm that kept her marching forward.
"It's the Weasley twins - don't listen to them. Mum said it was easy," Cedric whispered in her ear. He was glancing over his shoulder, scowling at Fred and George Weasley. The twins were grinning at the looks of horror on their classmates faces.
"Look at the ceiling!" A student ahead of them gasped.
"Is there a ceiling?" Another responded, sounding just as amazed as the girl standing beside him.
"What if it rains? Will they teach us a spell to keep our food from getting wet? I can't live off soggy toast!"
Cedric leaned closer to Fiona. "The ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky, stars and all!" He whispered.
"We're about to stop," Cedric warned Fiona before the two came to a halt at the front of the hall.
Professor McGonagall placed a stool in front of the cluster of first years, and on it, she placed a dirty pointed hat. The hat was fraying around the edges and had several patches holding it together. As Cedric described the scene to his sister, he avoided mentioning the hat looked like it had been picked out of the rubbish bin.
The hat twitched, and then a mouth opened wide at the brim; the hat began to sing. The song was long, as it rhymed through the history of Hogwarts and the four houses they could be sorted into.
Once it finished there was a round of applause throughout the hall. The hat bowed to each of the tables before becoming still.
"See, I told you not to worry," Cedric grinned at Fiona, but he couldn't deny, he was also relieved to hear the twins were wrong. Trying on a hat seemed much more like what their mum had told them.
Fiona gave a meek nod, but her mind continued to flood with worried thoughts.
What if I don't belong in any of the houses?
Professor McGonagall stepped beside the hat, she began unrolling a long parchment.
"When I call your name you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," She said, and Fiona felt her heart plummet into her stomach. Though no one else would see it this way, this simple task was indeed a challenge, for her it would be.
"Avery, Regina,"
A tall girl with raven-colored hair timidly made her way to the front of the hall. She placed the hat on her head and sat on the chair. The hall was silent, but it took only a moment before the hat announced:
"Slytherin!"
The hall was filled with cheers, the loudest of which, Fiona noted, was coming from the table farthest to her left. The girl smiled and jumped from the stool and placed the hat back on it before running off to her new house.
"Burke, Amelia"
"Ravenclaw!"
This time it was the table directly to Fiona's left that cheered the loudest as Amelia happily ran off to join the other Ravenclaw students.
"Davies, Roger,"
A thin boy with jet black hair made his way towards the stool. He picked up the hat and turned around, beaming at the hall. He sat down and placed the hat on his head.
"Ravenclaw!"
Again, the table to Fiona's left exploded in cheers and the boy happily made his way to be seated.
"Diggory, Cedric,"
Fiona did not want to let go of her brother's arm. She didn't want to be left standing alone. Can't they just bring the hat here and have him sorted while he's with me?
Cedric freed his arm from Fiona's grip, "Wish me luck," he whispered to his sister before taking his place on the stool. The hall was silent as they waited.
"Hufflepuff!"
And a roar came from the table to her right, the cheers did not end until Cedric took his seat.
"Diggory, Fiona,"
Fiona felt as if she had lost the ability to move her legs. She was frozen in place, and the spell was only broken once Professor McGonagall impatiently cleared her throat.
With her cane held tightly in her hand, Fiona slowly made her way to the front of the hall.
"Is that a cane?"
"What's she need that for?"
"I don't think she can see."
Fiona wished the stone floor would open up and swallow her - save her from this humiliation.
She let her head drop and allowed a curtain of hair to mask her face from the onlookers.
The cane alerted her of the two small steps she had to step onto to reach the stool where the sorting hat sat. When she walked up the last step she stood for a moment, tapping her cane around in search of the stool.
Where is it?
Several quiet snickers that carried through the empty hall, and Fiona wanted to cry when they reached her ears.
No. Do. Not. Cry.
Footsteps approached Fiona and she felt a gentle hand on her upper back as Professor McGonagall silently guided her towards the stool. Professor McGonagall took the hat off the stool and allowed Fiona to feel the stool with her free hand before taking her seat in front of the school.
McGonagall placed the hat on Fiona's head.
Fiona Diggory
The voice was inside her head.
Where do you belong? Gryffindor? Certainly not. You are too careful to sit among the reckless. Ravenclaw perhaps? No, I don't believe you belong there. But Slytherin....
No, Fiona thought. Put me in Hufflepuff, please, I need to be in Hufflepuff.
But Slytherin, that is where you belong. I can see the ambition that you've buried deep within. I can see your desire to prove yourself, and in Slytherin, you will.
I can't be separated from Cedric, please, I need to be with him.
You will never reach your true potential so long as you are tethered to him...In Slytherin you will thrive and grow, more than you could have ever dreamed.
I don't care.
But you do, I can sense it. You can lie to yourself, but not to The Hogwarts Sorting Hat.
Please, I want to be in Hufflepuff.
Very well, if you insist.
"Hufflepuff"
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A/N
Hello :)
Yes Fiona is a very sad pathetic 11 year old at this point...can you really blame her though? this chapter is to show where she started
I originally planned on this chapter to be a flashback but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to give it a fully fleshed out chapter. I was going to delete my original prologue and replace it with this...but I decided against that and now we have both.
Since this chapter is prior to the actual story that takes place in Fiona's 6th year I thought it would be okay if I posted it today instead of on Thursday.
side note: Why Slytherin? Well I was inspired to take the pottermore sorting test as Fiona, and she was actually placed in Slytherin. And as you can see in this chapter Fiona is very dependent on Cedric. Fiona's process of finding her own identity apart from Cedric is a theme in this story, so it actually fit quite well with the plot overall.
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Thanks for reading, bye :)