Stranger to Destiny

Dumbledore waited in his office, pacing. Was this a mistake? He wondered to himself, his pacing becoming more and more frantic. Does she really belong here? Can she really belong here? His pacing ceased as a knock on the door announced the arrival of Severus and Hogwart's newest ward. "It's open," he said, his voice portraying not the slightest hint of his doubts. Severus walked in, tight-lipped and agitated. She got to him already Dumbledore thought, almost impressed. She walked in, carrying herself with a grace he wouldn't have expected of someone in her position.

Her features struck him; she looked a fair bit like her mother, that was for certain. Her hair was a dark brown, black if the light wasn't perfect. It curled in soft, loose spirals, layered to frame her face and cascade over her shoulders. She was fair-skinned, but pale did become her. Her lips shone pearly rose against her pale complexion, and her eyes shone with a blue the very sapphires of the earth envied. She was thin, but not overly so. She looked fragile, as though one could snap her in half with a breath; but at the same time, she did not look like one to be trifled with. This fact Dumbledore knew, and thus spoke to her directly and candidly. "Come in and sit down," he said, waving a hand towards an armchair in front of his desk.

The girl did so and was promptly greeted by something black, frayed, and reeking of age being held towards her. "The Sorting Hat," Dumbledore explained, though this was not necessary. The girl surveyed the hat, a look of longing trepidation overcoming her otherwise impassable features. "It will sort you into one of the four Hogwarts houses: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and -" "Slytherin" she finished for him, her voice quiet and disdainful. Dumbledore nodded, and inclined the hat towards her hands. She took it, trying to control the shakes that threatened to overcome her, and held it for a moment. Please, oh please, oh please... She thought furiously before tentatively placing the hat on her head.

The hat was so big, it wiped out half of her line of vision, but she could still see Dumbledore's lower half twisting anxiously. The silence was so complete, she nearly starting humming just to fill it; but then, the hat hissed in her ear. "Been awhile since we had one of you here, eh?" it said in a sly voice in her ear. "Your mother was so very long ago, so very, very long ago." She grit her teeth. Don't talk about my mother she thought furiously. This...hat had no right, no right at all. "Ooo, touched a nerve have I?" the hat hissed once more. Just sort me already, and even through thought she knew she'd conveyed her message of annoyance. "Geesh, just making conversation. I don't exactly get a lot of people to talk to, you know. Once a year and all..." Her mind remained determinedly blank, and the hat got the message. "Ok, ok then, on with the sorting. Hmm...let's see..."

These words were then followed by what might be the most painful silence ever to occur on the face of the earth. The hat eventually began making small musings such as, "Yes, yes..." and "Hmm, interesting. Most interesting indeed..." which only incensed her more as she waited, silently fuming, for her house to be announced. At length, the hat whispered in her ear again. "Right, only one thing for it, you must decide." Her stomach fell clear through her body at these words. Choose? I have to...choose? she thought desperately, as if by saying it enough she could undo it ever being said at all. "Yes, you must choose. I have it narrowed down though, so that should make it easier. It's got to be either Gryffindor or Slytherin," the hat finished with a flourish. She was silent. There wasn't really a choice, it was obvious. But the fact that she had to make the choice, the fact that it hadn't been obvious, that knowledge was nothing short of torture. She said her decision aloud in her mind and the hat relayed it to the room, "GRYFFINDOR!" Dumbledore, who looked rather pleased with the outcome of the sorting, promptly removed that hat from her head. Her breath was still painfully caught in her chest, but she was beginning to breathe again, lessening the agony. She chanced a glance towards Snape. He looked torn between relief that she wasn't in his house, and irritation at the same thing.

Dumbledore smiled, finding his own secret thoughts amusing. Those poor Gryffindor boys, he thought, they never had a chance. He then said, in a cheerful voice, "Welcome to Gryffindor, and Hogwarts for that matter, Miss Lestrange."