Seeing Red

Extra Blush Not Necessary

    Before Callie and the trio managed to part ways, Ron's foot somehow got caught up in Callie's robes. Tangled in a mass of black fabric, the pair tumbled and hit the hard stone floor with a hollow thud. Flushing furiously, Ron grunted a hasty apology, and without another word, he stood and walked away.

    "He's sorry," Harry said, picking up the slack that his friend left behind.

    "He does that all the time, really," Hermione added, stifling a giggle as she watched Ron nearly break into a run a few paces ahead of them.

    "Well, tell him its ok," Callie answered, a bit red herself. Her nose had nearly touched Ron's as they fell, and she found herself liking the way his fiery hair matched his brown freckles.

    "Firs' years, step in time!" a voice announced, and Callie turned to find an enormous man standing amidst the throng of students.

    "Who's that," she asked, looking up in awe at the burly giant.

    "Hagrid, the gamekeeper," Hermione replied, a bit curtly. "He takes all the first years across the lake."

    "Then it's best I go join him, I guess," Callie responded, and after saying her goodbyes, left Harry and Hermione behind.

    "Shall we go find Ron now?" Harry asked his friend, and the two went off in search of a red head of hair.

*************

    When they had caught up with Ron, the trio found themselves in the great mush of students waiting for carriages. They stood in a huddle, discussing the latest bit of news they had acquired. Since when did Malfoy have a sister? Since eleven years ago, they could assume, but the question that proved to be more pertinent was: why was she nice to them?

    "She seemed decent," Ron said. "And did you see the look she gave him? Very sharp daggers were shooting from those eyes."

    "Hmmph, I don't know, Ron. Draco was awfully friendly to Harry too, remember?" Hermione said. "She is a Malfoy, you can't discount that."

    "My, you're a cheery optimist, aren't you? That's Hermione, always looking for the best in people," Ron quipped.

    "She was quick to stand up for that big headed Gilderoy Lockhart," Harry said, glancing sideways to see Hermione's face turn a slight shade of rosy pink.

    "Yes, and look how that whole mess turned out," she said with a huff, recalling all too well that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that she had been so smitten with had in all actuality been a full blown narcissist. "What if she's under some sort of dark spell, and she's really just a spy for Vol--you know who?"

    "Ok, Hermione, time to turn down the paranoia a notch," Ron said, as both he and Harry laughed simultaneously at their friend's bizarre hypothesis. "No one is out to get us," he continued, and then looked at Harry. "At least, no one is out to get you or me..."

    They looked to continue the conversation, but the new Head Boy and Girl were pushing them further into the horde of people. They were separated temporarily, and instead, Harry found himself standing beside Cho Chang. Cho, a friendly and very pretty girl, played on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and was a mighty good Seeker at that.

    "Hello, Cho," he said, blushing slightly and trying unsuccessfully to turn his body to face her. It was proving to be a bit difficult in such a cramped space.

    "Hello, Harry," she responded, and a small crack could be heard as she twisted her neck to look at him.

    "How were your summer holidays?" he stammered just a little, and hoped that she wouldn't notice.

    "Very nice, and yours?" she answered cordially. The two were pushed forward in the crowd as a group ascended into the carriages and the remaining students were left to fill in the gaps.

    "A bit more enjoyable than the last few," he admitted, wondering if Cho would care to know why. Deciding that if she didn't, she would be courteous enough not to simply walk away (the fact that it was physically impossible to do so was another positive), pushed Harry to follow up his statement with, "I spent the holiday with the Weasleys, and when Fred and George found out that they hadn't been made Head Boy, they had a gigantic party..."

    "Oh!" Cho interrupted him, grabbing something from the pocket she'd had sewn into her cloak. Her hand emerged with a shiny Prefect badge, and fastening it onto her garments, she said to Harry, "Thanks for reminding me!"

    "Congratulations," he said, and shuffled forward as the mass condensed further. They were very near to the carriages at this point, and found themselves pushed into two separate, smaller groups. "See you around," he finished, but looked and saw that she had already turned her head in the other direction.

    He stepped into the carriage directly in front of him, and saw that Ron and Hermione had saved him a seat, having already stepped into the compartment.

    "Betcha missed her over holiday, didn't you Harry?" Ron said with a chuckle, following his friend's gaze over out the window to the other nearby carriages.

    "Put a sock in it, Ron," Harry answered, playfully punching the redhead lightly on his right arm. "I saw your face after you tripped Callie," he said, pulling a false accusation out of the air. The bluff seemed to work.

    "WHAT!?!" Ron raised his voice slightly in his defense, unable to believe what he had just heard. Making eyes at a first year? It was unthinkable!

*************

    "Now, mind your step as you get into the boats," Hagrid's voice boomed as its echo emcompassed all the first years and the grounds beyond. Cautiously, the lot of them formed groups of five and found available boats.

    Callie stood by herself, looking for a foursome to tag along with. She finally encountered a bumbling group of spry young boys, looking up from their boat with blank looks on their faces.

    "Can I join you?" she asked, a bit afraid that they might answer with a 'no'.

    "Uh, sure," one of the boys answered, not entirely paying attention to who he was speaking to.

    As she put one of her feet into the boat, one of the other boys in her group pushed off the shore, and she lost her balance, falling with a flop into the chilly lake water.

    "Mr. Montague, the boats don't need your help!" Hagrid yelled, as he stopped all the paddles in mid-row. "Are you alright, Miss Malfoy?"

    "I guess," she replied, clambering back into her boat, downright soaked from head to toe. Shivering jaggedly, she shook off any laughs she heard from the boys in her boat. She scrounged up the last of her courage and asked the head of the bunch, "You knew they were charmed, didn't you?", but she was met only with a snigger.

    The rest of the short ride was uneventful, and before Callie could even notice that those few minutes had passed, she found herself crossing through the massive doors into Hogwarts.

    Before she could get a glimpse of anything but the suits of armor flanking the entrance, the lot of first years were ushered into a small room to the left of the doors. They stood alone in silence for a few moments, muggleborns and purebloods alike. However, those two groups were separated by the shrieks of surprise from those new to magic when Professor McGonagall apparated near the door.

    Not wasting words, the Professor skipped even the simplest introduction, and started her announcement with:

    "In a few moments, you will enter the Great Hall, and be sorted into your houses. If you will all wait in the main corridor, the doors to the Hall will open automatically when it is time for you to make your way to the head of the hall," Professor McGonagall announced the the group of first years that were standing in smaller cliques in the foyer. At the end of her speech, she disapparated, and they were alone once again.

    The students returned to the gigantic foyer, and prepared to file into the Great Hall. Pacing with trepidation and clammy hands, Callie yelped with astonishment as the double doors of the Hall buckled and groaned, opening to reveal hundreds of students inside. Walking between the two central tables, the first years saw a myriad of greens, yellows, reds, and golds as the moved closer to the Head Table.

    Once the forty young boys and girls filed into a straight line, Callie grumbled when she found that she was standing at the head of the Slytherin table, just a few feet away from her brother and his idiotic sidekicks. But before she could exchange words with him and get herself into a bit of trouble, a stange looking hat perched on a stool started to sing.

    After the song was over, Professor McGonagall moved to stand beside the stool. She unrolled a piece of parchment, and read the first name off the list.

    "Jezebel Brutus," she said, and almost as soon as the tattered hat was put on her head, the word "Slytherin" erupted from its folds. Jezebel's face because distorted into a sordid grin, and she gleefully hopped off the stool, brushed past Callie, and sat down at the Slytherin table.

    The names went on, and on, and on. Twins Patrick and Kevin MacNeel were both sorted into Hufflepuff, and then...

    "Calliopoea Malfoy," McGonagall announced, and in a blur Callie found herself sitting atop the wobbly stool. Still a bit wet from her quick dip into the lake, she sat shivering as the hat was plopped on top of her head.

    From their seats, Ron and Harry could see the spastic shivers coming from her small frame.

    "Poor kid," Ron said, feeling genuine sympathy for the chilly girl. He remembered the feeling of having several hundred students staring him down. And he wasn't shaking like a lunatic. Well, maybe a little...

    "Yeah, you'd think someone might have used the Drought Charm to fix her up or something," Harry added.

    That got Ron thinking, and even though he knew it was such a dangerous pastime, the wheels continued to churn his head. Slowly and quietly taking his wand out of his robes, he whispered ever so slightly, "Aquatious Reducio", and pointed his wand toward Callie, hoping to hit her pointblank.

    Still sitting on the stool with the sorting hat atop her head, Callie felt a sudden warmth as the stubborn water droplets that wouldn't go away finally disappeared. It was then that she heard the hat start to talk, and she had a funny feeling that she was the only one that could hear it.

    "Hmm, another Malfoy, eh?" the hat said, its voice throaty but a bit on the scratchy side. "Funny, you don't seem to be Slytherin material..." he trailed off, pondering this obvious bit of proven fact.

    "Excellent deduction, Watson," she said inside her head, but apparently the hat is the end all to beat all, and could hear her thoughts as well.

    "You've got spunk, that is clear, and intellegence also," the hat continued, and finally reached its verdict. He bellowed the word, "Gryffindor!" and the table to the far left of the hall erupted in cheers.

    She hopped down with a bounce, and glanced over at the Gryffindor table. She saw Harry and Ron grinning at her, and Hermione looking a bit skeptic. She strode with confidence over to the table, and plopped down across from the trio. "Whew, I'm glad that's over, she said.

    She sat in a euphoric state of silence through the rest of the ceremony. Tula Zionica became a Gryffindor as well, and with that, the tables filled with piles of delectable food. Grinning madly at her brother, she could practically hear him dictating a letter to Father.

    "Father, Callie is a Gryffindor. Shall I kill her now or later? Send an owl. Sincerely, Draco."