Chapter Text
The Great Hall was filled with the bustling noise of students catching up after their break away from the school. The Golden Trio; Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermoine Granger, were hunched together in their spot at the Gryffindor table. The three discussed their Christmas break with each other as Hermione talked about visiting her muggle parents and Ron retelling fun stories dealing with his multiple siblings, and the trouble the Weasley twins caused over the short break. Harry loved hearing his friends stories as he listened and laughed along with his friends.
“Hey Harry! You were here over the Christmas break, right? “ Neville Longbottom suddenly shouted when the dinner had finally been served and everyone had started eating.
“Yeah. I was. Why?” Harry replied curiously, his face slightly dropping as he remembered being stuck within the castle and no friends to hang out with. Hermoine seemed to catch on as her smile seemed to even dim a bit before looking at Neville.
“Well I was wondering if you knew why the sorting hat is out at this time of the year.” Neville stated plainly, spiking the curiosity of the surrounding Gryffindors as they all looked towards the front of the hall. They do indeed see the sorting hall sitting on its normal stool, with confusion from all four houses.
Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stood up from the head table, making all the students go quiet. He took his wand from the sleeve of his robes before lightly placing it against his throat, using the megaphone spell, to quiet the rest of the gossiping children. He started with his yearly Christmas recap of the school rules, specifically looking towards the twins on the rules that they are known to break, hoping to reinforce the rule into their heads.
“Now I know there is quite a bit of confusion as to why the sorting hat has been placed out in the middle of the school year. This Christmas break, we had been contacted by not one, but two new students who will start attending the school starting today. They were in their first year of classes at Ilvermorny, the American Wizarding school. These two new students should be welcomed with open arms.”
Quiet whispers broke out quickly after hearing Dumbledore not only say they are American transfer students, but also why they are not attending the American school any longer. The rumors had spiked very quickly into how these two students must have been horrible in order to have been displaced from their original school and placed into Hogwarts.
“These two students will be sorted into their houses as soon as they arrive with Professor McGonagall. These students should not be treated any differently than the peers around you. They intend to continue their education and should not be distracted from that mission.”
As soon as Dumbledore finishes his statement, the Great Hall doors open to reveal Professor McGonagall and two females following after her. One was dressed in the proper uniform, only missing her house robes. She was of average height, her short dark blue hair reaching just past her shoulder as she ran her hand through it in an almost nervous manner. Her first button was undone on her white long sleeve button up. The shirt had been neatly tucked into the gray skirt. However, instead of the standard black dress shoes, long black socks poked out just above a pair of worn in black combat boots. The second girl is probably why Professor McGonagall had a look of disgust on her face. The girl was short in stature with brown hair thrown messily into a bun on the top of her head. She also adorned the white button up, however it was unbuttoned with black tank top underneath. Instead of the rest of the uniform, she paired the top with black jeans and a pair of cowboy boots. The Great Hall broke out into even more whispers as they saw how these delinquents truly looked different.
“They’re girls?”
“They have to be sorted into Slytherin for sure.”
“Was it because of her hair?”
“No, that's too minor.”
“What could they have possibly done to get expelled from their school?” Hermoine asked incredulously.
The girls had made their way up to the front as soon as the whispers had broken out. The one with the blue hair has a rosy blush as she makes her way up, trying to whisper to the other female. The shorter one seemed to get cockier as the whispers continued, so much so that she dared to blow a kiss into the crowd on the Slytherin side. Once they reached the stairs, they stopped while Professor McGonagall went up to the hat. The hall then quieted down as they waited for the hat to speak.
“Charlie Mason.” Called Professor McGonagall. The short one walked to the chair and plopped herself into the stool. Charlie then looked towards the hat before reaching for the wand and pulling it out of her hair. Her brown locks fell down her back while a frightened noise came from Neville Longbottom. The girl put her wand in between her teeth as she brushed her hair out with both her hands.
“Hmmm, you are not what I expected.” contemplated the hat. “You would do quite well in Gryffindor, if you would like.”
McGonagall broke her emotionless mask that she has with most students, in a look of surprise which only confused the students. She quickly replaced her emotionless expression as to not fuel the school’s gossip any further.
“However, I see some of the Slytherin traits as well.”
“If being loyal was the thing that got me kicked out of Ilvermorny, why would I be placed within any a house that is known for switching sides?” Charlie responded to the hat. With that thought, the house did not take a second longer before yelling out,
“Hufflepuff!”
This statement shocked all of the students, making the Great Hall so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Even Charlie’s new house was so shocked it took Cedric Diggory to stand up and clap loudly before the rest of the Hufflepuff’s followed. The hall quickly then went back into silence as they awaited the other girl’s sorting.
“Come on, Addilyn! Plop your ass on the chair.” Charlie said as she leaped off the stool heading towards the Hufflepuff table.
Professor McGonagall was too shocked to say anything, which led to Addylin sitting on the chair quickly, trying to get herself out of the spotlight. Addilyn let her blue hair fall in front of her face, covering the bright red color that dusted her cheeks.
“Loyalty is also what led you to join Hogwarts, right Miss Smith?” The hat questioned after it was placed onto her head. Addilyn quickly nodded while messing with the new black nail polish that Charlie had forced her to paint. They weren’t lasting very long due to the fact of her continuously chipping at the nail polish from how nerve-racking today had been.
“Ravenclaw!” the hat declared. Shocking her into movement as McGonagall quickly grabbed the hat from her head as she ran to her new table.
“Now before classes resume tomorrow, remember the third floor is still off limits to anyone who does not want a painful death.” Dumbledore states, looking directly at the two new students, holding his sight onto Miss Mason. The students then scramble to start heading back to their dorm rooms, Miss Mason and Miss Smith following the herd they sat with.