My Mentor, the Marauder

Chapter One -- The Sorting

*

Elinor Stewart glanced around as she half-heartedly applauded the battered old hat's song. She wondered if she would find friends here in this big old castle. There was a very pretty girl next to her. She had sharp features, but she looked like she was nice.

"Bates, Olivia!"

The girl Elinor had just been looking at tottered forward. The stern-looking witch placed the battered old hat on Olivia's head. The hat moved a little, looking a lot like Mr Ollivander, wrinkled and pensive. Then a rip near the brim opened, and it bellowed, "Slytherin!" The table on the far left erupted with cheers and applause, and Olivia Bates ran to sit with the Slytherins.

Brandon, Marianne ... Churchill, Jane ... Connery, Geoffrey ... Cooper, George ...

Elinor was getting nervous.

Harding, Sarah ... Knightley, George ... Leach, Archibald ...

She only heard some of the names that were called. The crowd around her was thinning as her classmates were sorted into their Houses.

Nelson, Peter ... Rochester, Edward ...

Elinor's heart was thudding very fast.

Finally the professor called, "Stewart, Elinor!"

Elinor felt woozy. She summoned all the courage she had and walked to the stool. As the hat tipped forward over her eyes, she heard its deep voice mutter, almost to itself: "Hmmm, brave, this one, but unsure. Your mind is sharp. Quite determined to prove yourself.

"At home in any House, I see, you're a rare one. Any preference, child?"

Elinor's eyes popped open. The Hat was asking her?! She didn't know anything about the Houses here at Hogwarts, her father had even refused to tell her where he had been. He said he didn't want her Sorting to be tainted. "You tell me," she whispered. She could feel her face and ears burn with embarrassment. She was talking to a hat, this was definitely the weirdest thing she'd ever experienced.

"Well, with the desire to stand up for what's right and the acumen to know the difference, not to mention the courage to carry it though, it's as much a question of what house you could serve best as what house would serve you best. Very difficult, you are, but you belong in HUFFLEPUFF!" The last word was shouted to the whole hall. The stern-looking professor lifted the hat from Elinor's head, and she followed the sound of cheering to her housemates.

The Turner twins, Elizabeth and William, both became Gryffindors; Polly Walker joined the Ravenclaws. The Sorting was over.

Chapter Two -- Letters from Home

*

Elinor unpacked her trunk, sorting her clothes into the little bureau beside her four-poster bed. She found a letter at the bottom. She sat on her bed and yanked the envelope open.

Dearest Elinor,

We know it's been a hard thing for you, feeling so isolated from your brothers because you have the magic and they're Muggles, like me. I want you to know that I am very proud of you for embracing what you are, and doing something about it. I don't know what I shall do without my little Elinor for seven long autumns, winters, and springs. But I want you to know yourself, and learn what good you can do out in the world, with your magic.

I love you, my dear. Study and work hard, make friends, and most important, be happy.

Love, Mum

Elinor wiped her eyes, for there was another letter in the envelope.

Light of my eyes,

Elinor loved it when her dad called her that; he loved to remind her of the meaning of her name.

I promised I'd tell you what House I was in as soon as you were Sorted. The Hat asked me where I wanted to be; not knowing about the Houses, I had no preference.

I am a Hufflepuff. We are known for being passionate about justice and loyalty, caring about what's right, and for being hard workers. But whatever House you belong to, know that I am proud of you, Elinor.

I miss you already. Your mother and I and Jack and Ryan will be waiting anxiously for you to come home for Christmas.

Love, Dad

She knew the letters were meant to ease her change into her new life, but she only felt miserable that she was so far from her parents, even miserable that she didn't have her brothers with her to make school a little easier. Not that they would make it easier, the bloody hellions ... but she wanted them anyway. She drew the curtains of her bed and cried into her pillow. She'd be happy that her dad was a Hufflepuff, just like her, later.