The Eagle and the Badger

Author's Note: Sincere apologies to those who were confused by an incorrect story title. The misprint's been corrected now.

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Chapter Two: The Sorting

"First years, this way. Over here, first years!"

Half-blind in the dark, Hugo did his best to follow the swinging lantern in front of him, stumbling a little on the uneven, unfamiliar turf. All Hugo could see of the man holding the lantern aloft was that everything about him was long and thin: his lanky frame, his waist-length hair, no-color in the dim light, and his drooping mustache, not to mention the fingers that grasped the lantern.

As he trudged along with Lily, Fred, and the rest of the first years, Hugo couldn't help feeling a little let down. He knew the former gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, had long since retired to the mountains to take care of his giant brother, Gawp. Still, his mum and dad talked so much about the gentle half-giant that he'd almost expected him to be here, booming directions as he led his charges down to the boats.

Hugo felt hollow inside, somehow. It was probably just hunger, he told himself firmly. He was not going to start feeling homesick before he even got to school.

"Hurry up, there, young man, don't miss the boat!" called the present gamekeeper, motioning with a near-skeletal hand. Hugo quickened his step and piled into the last boat along with two other stragglers. One, he was relieved to see, was Lily; the other was a girl with long hair so light in color it shone like moonbeams against the black surface of the lake. She seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't think where he'd seen her before.

No sooner had Hugo seated himself than the boat began to glide over the glassy water. For a moment, even Lily was too awed to say anything, then Hugo realized he was being rude and introduced himself to the stranger.

"Hi. I'm Hugo Weasley," he said, holding out his hand, "and this is my cousin, Lily Potter."

There was a slight pause before the girl replied in a soft, musical voice, "I'm Lucia. Lucia Malfoy. It's nice to meet you."

Malfoy! That was it - this Lucia was the girl on the train. Hugo and Lily exchanged quick glances, but he could only imagine what his cousin was thinking: Their parents and Lucial's had been anything but friendly.

Nevertheless, the girl sounded sincere when she said it was nice to meet them. You couldn't always judge people by their relatives, could you?

The girl said very little as the boat skimmed over the lake, perhaps because Lily had regained her voice, jabbering away in her excitement at finally achieving her lifelong dream.

Soon, the boats scraped ashore and the first years scrambled out, eager to make their way up to the Great Hall. Hugo knew what came next - the Sorting of students into the houses that would be their second homes for the next seven years. Having heard all about the quirky, loquacious Hat didn't keep him from feeling every bit as nervous as any Muggle-born.

Excited chatter rose to a crescendo as the first years crowded into a small antechamber to wait their turn to be Sorted.

"Don't worry, Hugo," whispered Lily, "you'll be in Gryffindor. We both will. Weasleys are always in Gryffindor."

"Do I look worried?" Hugo strove for nonchalance but doubted he could fool his favorite cousin. She'd known him all his life.

Nerve-wracking as the waiting was, the growling in Hugo's stomach made it even worse. His mum's sandwiches and the food from the tea trolley seemed like distant memories.

Hugo strained to hear each name as it was called, knowing his would be among the last. After what seemed an eternity, he thought he heard "Malfoy, Lucia."

However, he did not see the silver-haired girl sit down on the rickety stool and put the Sorting Hat on her head. Nor was he aware of the silence that fell upon the Great Hall, and then the murmurs as the Hat took long moments, then long moments more to reach its decision.

He couldn't see the girl place the Hat back on the stool and glance toward the Slytherin table before going to join her new house, and the appalled face of Scorpius Malfoy as his little sister passed by.

ooOoo

"See you in a mo'!"

Fred Weasley hurried out of the antechamber when he heard his name called. Only three first years remained: Hugo and two others. Phillip Yarrow, whose black hair fell nearly to his shoulders, wished him luck with a pleasant smile, while Bianca Zabini looked down her long nose at both of them and said nothing at all.

Slytherin, Hugo guessed, despite his resolution not to prejudge people.

Cheers from the Gryffindor table were so loud that Hugo almost didn't hear his own name. As he walked across the Great Hall to where the Sorting Hat waited, he saw Fred high-fiving every Gryffindor within reach as he took his place at the table.

The Hat was even mankier than Hugo's father had said. Hugo didn't think he could stand to have the thing on his head very long, and the Hat obliged by taking only a few seconds to call out, "Hufflepuff!"

Hufflepuff? Hugo had to have heard wrong. He was a Gryffindor - of course he was. But once the Sorting Hat had made its decision, arguing was useless, he knew.

Right you are, Mr. Weasley. Now, get along with you. People are waiting for their dinner.

Almost too stunned to move, Hugo found his legs at last and placed the traitorous Hat back on the stool. He could hear enthusiastic applause from the Hufflepuff table as he ventured a glance at the Gryffindors. Every single person at the table was staring at him, clearly as shocked as he was.

His mind reeling, Hugo made his way toward the table under the yellow-and-black banner, still half-convinced the Sorting Hat had made a mistake.

Hufflepuffs were - well, no one said anything really bad about them, but no one said anything really good, either. "Hard-working" and "loyal" were about the most positive labels he'd ever heard applied to the House of the Badger. Well, he supposed he was both those things, but was he really that much less brave than the rest of his family?

As he drew near, smiling faces and outstretched hands greeted him.

"Budge up, you lot," said a tall, dark-skinned boy in dreadlocks, moving over himself to make room for Hugo.

"Welcome to Hufflepuff House," he said in a lilting accent that reminded Hugo of his Aunt Angelina's. "I'm Trevor - Trevor Roberts. First year, like you."

The other students sitting nearby shook hands, but there was no time for further introductions; the Sorting officially over ("Zabini, Bianca" did indeed end up in Slytherin), a hush fell over the Hall as the headmistress rose to speak.

Headmistress Sinistra wasn't bad-looking for someone even older than his mum, Hugo decided. Though she was slim and not especially tall, she looked somehow majestic as she began to speak in a low but carrying voice. Her long dark hair was streaked with silver, and her midnight-blue eyes seemed to focus on something very far away.

Like that centaur Mum talks about, Hugo thought idly. He was only half-listening to the headmistress' welcoming speech. The magnitude of what had just happened was beginning to dawn on him, to the point where his appetite for the feast to come had disappeared.

It wasn't just Rose and his cousins at school he was going to have to face. His mum, his dad, his grandparents - every Weasley from the beginning of time had been in Gryffindor. What were they going to say? What were they gong to think?

He must have gone wrong, somehow. Maybe he should have told the Hat to put him in Gryffindor. Then again, the old, smelly thing was supposed to be able to read minds, wasn't it? There couldn't have been a single thought about Hufflepuff in his mind, so the Hat must have looked deep into his soul and judged him unworthy . . .

An elbow to the ribs brought Hugo back to reality.

"Aren't you hungry?" Trevor asked, a look of mingled disbelief and concern on his open, friendly face.

"Oh - yeah, of course." Somehow, while he'd been agonizing over the Hat's decision, enormous platters of food had appeared on the table. The delicious aromas revived Hugo's appetite at once, and he helped himself to generous portions of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and runner beans.

Between bites, he explained his absent-mindedness.

"I was thinking about how my family's going to take my being Sorted into Hufflepuff. They're all Gryffindors. Have been since Hogwarts was built, I think."

"I can see how that might be tough," Trevor said, reaching for a dish of fried plantains to go with his chicken. In recent years, in response to requests from parents and students, Hogwarts menus had begun to reflect the ethnic diversity of the student body.

"I suppose it's lucky my parents went to school in the islands before moving here," Trevor went on. "No expectations. They didn't even know I'd be getting a letter until it came. Do you really think it matters which house you're Sorted into?"

Before Hugo could answer, a stocky boy in horn-rimmed glasses spoke up from across the table.

"Of course it matters!" he said. His square face wore an expression of great earnestness. "Your house is like your family for seven years, and if you don't fit in - "

"I'm sure Hugo will fit in just fine, Robbie," the girl sitting next to the square-faced boy chimed in, her voice holding a hint of laughter.

She grinned at Hugo as she added, "Don't mind Robbie. He has a tendency to take things very seriously. I'm Alisande Murray, by the way, but everyone calls me Sandy. Robbie and I are cousins, though he's a Macmillan, not a Murray."

The two didn't look much alike, but their shared a slight Scottish burr.

"I would've liked to meet some other first years on the train," said Hugo, "but I have so many cousins going to Hogwarts, and I suppose we tend to stick together. That is, we did," he added gloomily. "The ones with red hair over there are related to me, and some of the others, too."

"Wow," said Sandy. "It must be overwhelming to have so many relatives here at one time. My brother and Robbie's sister are both younger."

By the time sweets appeared - great platters of them - Hugo was beginning to feel a little better. HIs new housemates, at least the ones he'd met so far, were so friendly and easy to talk to, it was impossible to remain ill at ease.

Once more, the headmistress rose, this time to deliver beginning-of-term announcements and warnings. As she reeled off a great long list of forbidden activities, Hugo wondered how many of the rules his relatives had broken over the years. Most, probably.

At last, the banquet drew to a close and the Hufflepuff first years filed out, following after their prefects. One, a roly-poly girl who introduced herself as Lynette Bagley, seemed to be taking charge, while the other, a boy who introduced himself as Simon Foote, followed behind to herd any stragglers. Hugo stifled a huge yawn. He hadn't realized until that moment how tired he was.

While Gryffindors and Ravenclaws started up the main staircase, Lynette led her charges to a door on its right and down a flight of stairs and then down a corridor. She came to a halt in front of a still life painting of fruits and vegetables in a large footed bowl. More fruits and vegetables lay in a heap around the base of the bowl. Hugo could hear the clatter of what sounded like pots and pans clattering and realized the noise must be coming from the kitchen.

"All right," said the prefect, stopping and turning toward the new students. "The password for this week is "coconuts". It's very important to remember it, because it you don't, you won't be able to get into the common room."

"Talk about belaboring the obvious," murmured Trevor in Hugo's ear, and Hugo struggled to stifled a guffaw. No sense antagonize someone who had the power to hand out detentions and take away house points.

"Now, if you forget, you can always find me and ask, or ask another Hufflepuff," she went on.

Does she really think we're that thick? Hugo wondered. He shifted from foot to foot, impatient to be done with the lecture so they could all get to sleep. The long journey, not to mention the shock of the Sorting, had left him feeling drained. Trevor, too, was yawning.

At long last, Lynette spoke the password to the painting, which disappeared, revealing a door.

Hugo must have been slightly punch-drunk from sleepiness, as his first impression of the Hufflepuff common room was that he'd been engulfed by a giant sunflower. Everything was just so yellow: overstuffed armchairs, wall hangings, carpet, everything, though touches of black kept the brightness from being completely blinding. As the Hufflepuff common room was windowless, being underground, the sunshiny effect at least made the room more cheerful.

Still in queue, the first years followed their prefect to another door, which led to a series of winding, narrow tunnels marked by round doors. Lynette led the girls down one of them, while the boys followed Simon Foote down another.

Foote stooped outside one of the round doors.

"This is your dormitory," he said, pulling open the door.. "Go ahead in, and don't stay up all night talking." With that, he disappeared back up the tunnel.

Hugo headed in. Their prefect hadn't said where the bathroom was, but he supposed they'd find it. The dormitory's furnishings, like the common room's, were all in shades of yellow with touches of black, though slightly more subdued.

Probably so we can sleep, Hugo thought. There was no jostling to choose a bed, as each boy's trunk already appeared at the foot of one of them. Hugo's Chudley Cannons pajamas lay neatly folded on the turned-down spread.

All Hugo really wanted to do was put them on and dive under the covers. He suspected the other boys felt the same, but it didn't seem right to go to bed without introducing himself to the two boys he hadn't met at dinner.

One, a broad-shoulder blond lad almost as tall as Trevor, stood in the middle of the round room, looking a bit lost. Hugo went over to him and held out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Hugo Weasley. Feeling about as bewildered as you look."

The boy smiled weakly and shook Hugo's hand.

"Gabe Link. Nice to meet you. Yeah, I'm pretty much at sea here - hadn't even heard of Hogwarts till a month ago."

"Your family's Muggle, then?"

Gabe nodded. "No magical abilities that I've ever heard of, except my dad's a wizard at computers."

Hugo laughed. "Funny you should say that. My mum's a witch, but she's Muggle-born and she got me one of those hand-held computers for my tenth birthday. Have to go out of the house to use it, of course - too much magic there."

He and Gabe were soon engaged in a lively debate over favorite games, and Gabe begam to look much more relaxed. With a huge yawn, the tall boy soon said goodnight and got ready for bed.

Hugo turned to the fifth bed, between Robbie's and Trevor's. The curtains were already closed, so introductions would have to wait until morning. Hugo shrugged and changed into his pajamas, so tired he fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

ooOoo

Lucia turned away from the sight of her brother's white, tight-lipped face and forced herself to walk toward the Ravenclaw table. Her conversation - if that's what one called an unspoken dialogue with an inanimate object - had been very interesting, and she understood the Sorting Hat's reasons for placing her in Ravenclaw.

Now, though, the consequences were beginning to dawn on her. However was she going to face Scorpius, and worse yet, how could she ever explain things to her mother? Malfoys were always Slytherins, for generations upon generations. Unless - oh, horrors - she wasn't really a Malfoy. What if she'd been adopted, and no one had ever told her . . .

She chided herself for her foolishness and took the first empty seat she saw, among a crowd of much older students. They took the time to congratulate her before returning to an intense conversation about the relative efficacy of a spell or a potion in calming the nerves. At least, that's what Lucia thought they were talking about.

Having nothing to contribute, she focused on the Sorting, wishing the feast would begin. Scorpius' friends had grabbed most of the food he'd bought on the train, and her stomach was rumbling insistently now.

She watched as the auburn-haired girl from the boat joined the rest of the Gryffindors, to thunderous applause. The girl's cousin hadn't yet emerged from the antechamber, but then again, his surname wasn't Potter, it was Wee-something. Not Weasel, surely?

After what seemed like an eternity, Hugo Weasley's name was called and he sat down on the stool and placed the Sorting Hat on his head. It took only seconds for the Hat to call out, "Hufflepuff!" and a bit longer for the boy to stand up, his face white with shock.

That's just how I must have looked, Lucia realized. It seemed she wasn't the only one who was going to have some serious explaining to do. The thought that she wasn't alone in being a misfit made her feel just a bit better.

Headmistress Sinistra must have been quite beautiful when she was young, Lucia decided. The words of the welcoming speech flowed over her as she focused on the woman's chiseled features and stately bearing. Scorpius had said Professor Sinistra used to be the Astronomy teacher, which might explain the faraway look in her deep-blue eyes.

Largely ignored, Lucia picked at her food. It was very well prepared and looked delicious, but her appetite vanished as she thought about how her family was going to react to having a Ravenclaw among them. Well, it could be worse. She'd heard plenty about the dull Hufflepuffs and reckless, Muggle-loving Gryffindors.

Lucia didn't see what was so bad about Muggles and Muggle-born witches and wizards, but then, she was only eleven. There were lots of things she didn't understand, as Scorpius wasted few opportunity to point out. That was why she was here: to learn all about magic and the magical world, beyond her very limited experience.

At long last, the feast ended and a brown-haired girl wearing a blue-and-bronze badge got to her feet, along with a tall boy with shoulder-length black hair.

"I'm Pamela Davies, one of your prefects, and this is Amit Jain."

The boy nodded without cracking a smile.

"We'll be taking you first years up to your dormitories."

Pamela turned and began walking out of the Great Hall as the first years scrambled to their feet and hurried after the two prefects.

No one said a word as they climbed one flight of steps, then another, and another . . .

"Merlin! How far up are we going, anyway?" A chubby boy at the back of the pack complained as they mounted the final spiral flight of stairs that led to a landing outside Ravenclaw tower. His outburst earned him a condescending smirk from Pamela Davies, who looked very fit, but Lucia was a little out of breath herself and suspected she was not alone.

I suppose I'll get used to this eventually, she thought. The long journey and the stress of the Sorting, added to the steep climb, were making her long for bed.

Instead of opening the door to the common room immediately, however, the prefect turned to face her charges.

The door behind her had no handle, only a brass knocker in the shape of an eagle. The prefect used her wand to point at the knocker.

"Listen up, you lot," she said. "This eagle is your ticket into the common room. We Ravenclaws don't use passwords, as the other houses do. We're supposed to be clever, so your way in is to solve a riddle the eagle will ask when you knock."

That sounded simple enough to Lucia. You'd soon learn the answer, and then . . .

"The question's always changing, so you can't memorize the answer. You have to think."

She turned and lifted the knocker. At once the eagle opened its mouth and croaked,

What sounds but never speaks

and wakes but never sleeps?

Lucia waited for the prefect to answer. Instead, she turned back to face her charges, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Now," she said, "since you've all been Sorted into this house, you must be very intelligent. We can all go in as soon as one of you comes up with the answer."

Lucia was dumbfounded; she'd never had much interest in riddles, much preferring to read and make up stories. More than ever, she was convinced the Sorting Hat had made a mistake and she'd soon be told she belonged in Slytherin after all.

For a split second, she felt relieved. Even though the Sorting Hat had taken ages to make its decision, she supposed even its powerful magic could go wrong sometimes. She was a Slytherin, and she wouldn't have to face Scorpius and her mother, and her grandparents . . .

There was silence, as everyone tried to work out how to answer the eagle's question. Tired as she felt, Lucia forced herself to concentrate.

A lot of things could make sounds but not speak. That part of the clue was no help at all, so she focused on the second line.

If you could wake up, you had to be able to sleep, too, didn't you? Then again, someone had told her that fish don't sleep . . .

But of course, the word "wake" could be used in different ways. One can wake someone else up, for instance, and a thing may wake you up, too,something noisy, something like -

Hesitantly, she raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss - ?"

"Malfoy, Lucia Malfoy."

There was something in the older girl's gaze that made Lucia wish she hadn't spoken up, but it was too late now.

The prefect's tone was neutral, however. "Have you guessed the answer?"

Lucia nodded. "I think so. Is it a bell, or an alarm clock?"

The prefect allowed herself a small smile. "Not bad, though don't expect all the riddles to be this simple. The eagle went easy on you first years this once."

The door swung back, and the prefects led their charges into the Ravenclaw common room. Several of Lucia's new housemates smiled or nodded at her in approval as they filed inside, lifting her spirits a bit.

Lucia was far too sleepy to take in much, but she had a general impression of spaciousness and blue, deep blue, lots and lots of star-spangled blue. First thing in the morning she'd have a good look, but now she joined the others, trailing behind their leaders like ducklings following their parents to a pond.

When they arrived at a door at the opposite end of the room, the prefects led the first years through. Davies shepherded the girls to another flight of stairs, then to a door on the left.

"Here you are, girls. Bathroom's across the hall. You'll want to get right to bed. Lessons begin tomorrow, and you'll need to be rested."

Miss Davies' tone brooked no nonsense, and the girls bade her goodnight and filed in.

Five beds were arranged around the walls; Lucia recognized her trunk at the foot of one of them. Blue velvet curtains covered the tall windows, and more blue velvet also draped the canopied beds.

Lucia and her new roommates exchanged tired smiles, but no one seemed inclined to strike up a conversation. Again, Lucia regretted not getting to know some other first years on the train or at dinner. She felt a little lost.

She changed quickly into her nightgown and slipped under the covers, thinking of something Scorpius had told her on the train: "It's never too soon to start making the right connections,"

Of course, he'd meant Slytherin connections. And here she was, not a Slytherin after all, but a Ravenclaw. It was a whole new world, and she hoped she would be able to find her way in it.

Scorpius dismissed Ravenclaws as always having their heads in the clouds. Well, maybe it was the right place for her after all. No matter how much her brother scoffed at her fairy tales and her story-writing, she wasn't about to stop using her imagination.

And speaking of writing, what on earth was she going to write to her mother? Long after everyone else was asleep, Lucia lay awake, staring at the curtained canopy above her, forming sentences in her head.