Slytherin
“What if I didn’t get sorted into Gryffindor?” Eleanor looked down at her lap and played with her fingers as they were crowding themselves using the car that the Weasley twins and Ron used to get them from the Dursleys. “Will you hate me?”
“Silly, why would I hate you?” Harry grinned as he looked down at her. “It is the hat that is sorting us, but in any way, the hat considers your choices. You can just wish to be sorted to Gryffindor and who knows? Maybe the hat would listen to you.”
“Did the hat tried to put you in another house?”
Harry nodded. “It did. It tried putting me in Slytherin, but I wanted to be in Gryffindor, so I told the hat that I want to be in Slytherin.”
Eleanor smiled to herself. Maybe she can also ask the hat to put her in Gryffindor if it ever tried putting her in another house? Plead it, even. She just wants to be in the same house as him.
“Do you want to go with Ginny?” Mrs. Weasley asked as they came through the platform in between 9 and 10 quarters. They were talking about who will go through the wall together.
She pursed her lips. Upon being with the girl for a few days, she had not spent a single minute not trying to take her brother away from her. Ginny obviously fancies Harry and she’s not going to have that. Not that she hates the girl or she doesn’t like her, but she doesn’t like the fact that she fancies Harry. It even went to pleading Mrs. Weasley to stay in the same bed as Harry to avoid wasting any more space despite the explanation that she won’t be a waste of space. She even shed some tears when the woman did not agreed making her guilty and finally, letting her stay with him. She looked around and fortunately, she smiled when she saw Hermione with her parents. “Can I go with Hermione instead?” she asked.
Mrs. Weasley looked around and saw Hermione with her parents, so she nodded. “Go on, dear. Just be careful and remember not to be nervous. Hermione will know what to do.”
After the woman smiled, she ran directly to Hermione and greeted her and her parents, and told her that she wanted to go with her, which the older witch immediately agreed to. “Let’s go?” Hermione asked.
Eleanor nodded and looked at Harry before waving at him. He waved back at her and motioned for them to start moving. She blew a deep breath before smiling at Hermione and closing her eyes. In the count of three on her head, both of them ran between 9 and 10 quarters.
“We’re here.” She opened her eyes when she heard Hermione and gasped upon looking around.
“Wow.” She looked around her in awe. A train with a sign in front saying ‘Hogwarts Express’ and above them is a board that says 9 3⁄4. There are a lot of people— children, and their families, with a lot of trunks and animals. “It’s fantastic.”
“It really is,” Hermione smiled. “Let’s go inside before the students start to swarm in?”
“But Harry’s not here yet.”
“Then we’ll find a compartment first so they’ll know where to go.” Hermione lent her her hand which she happily accepted before going inside with her.
A lot of students are still outside waving their goodbyes to their families and they are one of the few who already settled on one of the compartments. She did not go out of the train to say goodbye to the Weasleys and Hermione’s parents cannot enter the platform, and she’ll just wait for Harry to enter and get him to their compartment. They spent a few more minutes waiting until the train started moving.
Eleanor’s eyes widened. “Wait. Why is it moving already?” she asked Hermione.
“I don’t know.” Hermione stood up and went to the door. “Stay here, I’ll check with the driver,” then went out.
She bit her lower lip and fiddled with her fingers in anxiety. Why is Harry still not here? Where is he? She looked up at the door when Hermione entered, looking down. “Harry and Ron’s not here.”
“What?” She stood up, eyes wide. “Why would they go without them? I need to get out—”
“Eleanor, no.” Hermione fixed her hand on her forearm. “Maybe they just had a bit of a problem and will be there shortly after us. If they can’t make it until later, we’ll talk to Professor Dumbledore.”
“But it’s sorting later…”
“He’ll be able to see that, if not, we’ll just fill him in. Alright?”
Eleanor spent her time on the train sulking and looking out of the window, especially when Ginny joined them in the compartment. Hermione’s friend joined them— Neville, but she had not looked at him either. If Harry’s here, it would probably be the opposite. She only stood up when an old lady came and asked them to buy sweets. Upon Hermione’s suggestions, she bought a lot of sweets, most especially, the Chocolate Frogs.
“I just need to use the loo,” she said and went out of the compartment holding a couple of chocolate frogs.
She walked straight while trying to figure out the chocolate frogs. She saw a card attached to it with the name of Albus Dumbledore. The card has some details about him and her eyes, once again, went huge when she saw the man on the card left. “Why did he leave? I didn’t know he could leave.” She then opened the package to find a frog shaped chocolate. She was about to get it with her other hands when “Ahh!” the chocolate jumped. “It jumped! Where did it go?!” She spun around frantically to look for the chocolate when she was stopped by a hand on her forearms behind her.
“It’s on your head, silly.” She blinked a few times upon remembering the owner of the voice. She felt a hand on her head before she turned and looked at him. “And you can’t expect them to stay on the frame all day, right? Of course, they would leave,” he chuckled, his face bright.
“Draco,” she greeted, brows furrowed. She saw the chocolate frog in his hand, squirming and fighting to escape.
“Here.” Draco Malfoy is smiling at her as he hands her back the chocolate. “Be careful, you don’t want your chocolate escaping from your hand, they awfully like to move a lot.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. She bit her lip and bowed down and played with her feet. Draco’s still standing in front of her and she could tell that he’s still smiling, making her cheeks feel a little hot. “I’ll head back now.”
She immediately turned her back on Draco and stepped to go back to their compartment before he spoke again. “See you at the sorting, Eleanor.”
Eleanor cannot stop biting her lips and looking behind in search of Harry. Professor McGonagall had them all first years lined up in front of all the students sitting at their tables and the professors. Hermione smiled at her and told her goodluck, same with Percy and Fred and George Weasley, also to Ginny who was standing beside her.
“Where are you?” she mumbled under her breath the moment the sorting hat was done singing. There’s still not a sight of Harry. Not even his round glasses, or his black messy and ruffled hair. None. Nothing!
Professor McGonagall started calling out names of first years and the Great Hall started filling out with applause and cheers from different tables every time someone was sorted into a house.
“Weasley, Ginevra.”
She watched Ginny go in front and sat in the stool. The hat immediately spoke the moment it landed on Ginny’s head. “Another Weasley, eh? Another set of brilliant minds and troubles. Gryffindor!”
A loud round of applause rang the hall especially from the twins as Ginny moved excitedly towards the table. Sooner or later, she will be the one to be called and she only wishes to be placed in Gryffindor.
“Potter, Eleanor!”
She blew a huge amount of air. Once again, she bit her lower lip before walking towards the podium and sitting on the stool. She closed her eyes tightly once the hat was put on her head.
“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑑. 𝑁𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟.” She almost gasp at the idea that the hat can talk inside her head. “𝑁𝑜𝑤, 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑟? 𝑊𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑟𝑦𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑐𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒?”
𝑁𝑜! 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑟𝑦𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟! 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒!
“𝐺𝑟𝑦𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟? 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡? 𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑟𝑦𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟? 𝑂𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟?”
𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠! 𝑁𝑜𝑤, 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒!
“𝐹𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑦, 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑀𝑠. 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟.”
She took a deep breath, preparing for the hat to tell that it’s putting her in Gryffin—
“SLYTHERIN!”
—
Harry hurried through the steps to the Great Hall after being dismissed by Snape. He already missed the sorting ceremony and he knows that he can’t miss eating with Eleanor. “Hurry,” he told Ron while running down. Upon entering the Great Hall, they rushed to Gryffindor’s table and smiled to see Eleanor, only to frown upon not seeing her. “Where’s Eleanor?”
Everyone he knew in the Gryffindor table looked at him in dismay. “What? Did she get sorted into another house? Ravenclaw, then? She can’t sorted into Hufflepuff, she can’t pass by their traits.” He started to chuckle but a pair of arms suddenly enveloped his body. He stopped when he heard Eleanor sobbing onto his back, so he turned around to see her… wearing green robes.
“I got sorted…” Harry tried to see her eyes but she wouldn’t allow him, so he grabbed her face and forced her gently to look up and look at him. “...into Slytherin.”
“Oh.” Harry looked at her for a few good minutes when she suddenly cried into his chest, muttering words like ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘please forgive me’. She’s almost getting everyone’s attention by crying so Harry immediately smiled at her and tried to hush her. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the sorting, hmm? Have you eaten?”
Eleanor tried to calm herself and stopped crying and came to a halt with a few sobs and sniffs. “Not yet, I want to wait for you.” She looked up at him. “I promise I tried to convince the hat to put me in Gryffindor, it’s just that rotten hat won’t listen to me!”
“Hush!” Harry immediately stopped her when her voice rose a little higher. “Let’s talk to the Headmaster or Professor McGonagall later, shall we? Now, eat first and be careful, okay? Can you do that for me?”
She looked at him, her almond eyes turned to doe. “You're not mad at me?”
Harry snickered at the thought. “Why would I be? It’s just a house, Lily. I'm more worried for you, though. Promise me to be careful?”
Eleanor’s downward lips turned upward and nodded. “I will. You too, no funny business this year, got it?”
Harry laughed at it before looking shortly at Ron and Hermione. “Of course. Now, go eat your supper and I’ll go to you after we eat. Okay?”
“Okay.”
The moment Eleanor hesitantly moved away from their table and sat at the Slytherin table, specifically beside Draco Malfoy, Harry took a deep breath before sitting down, glancing at the other table every now and then.
“Why do you think she’s sorted into Slytherin, mate?” Ron asked as he munched on the foods he set on his plate.
“Well,” Harry puckered his lips. “Eleanor is Eleanor.” He shrugged.
“She’s awfully close to Malfoy,” Seamus noticed, making Harry sighed.
“I’ll talk to her later.”
“She’s been looking for you all night, and cried when she got into Slytherin and you’re still not here,” Hermione said as she looked at him. “Tried to silently plead Professor McGonagall to sort her again just to be dismissed.” Harry bit his own lip before looking at the Slytherin table again— at Eleanor who’s eating lamely with Malfoy beside her.
Harry finished his supper fast before stepping out of the table to request to have a chat with Professor Dumbledore. He was just about to explain and ask for a dumb request when the Headmaster shook his head and chuckled and told him that Eleanor can sleep with him in his dormitory anytime, saying the phrase, “just make sure she don’t get caught” with a sparkle in his eyes, totally one for mischief.
Using the invisibility cloak, Harry went out of the Gryffindor Tower and went his way towards the entrance of the Dungeons. He waited for a few minutes before she saw Eleanor went out of their door in her pyjamas and wander. Harry tried to hide his laughter as he watched his sister look around looking for him. When he had his fun, he cleared his throat making Eleanor jump in shock. “Harry?” she whispered.
“Boo.” He lifts off the cloak only on his head making him look like he doesn’t have a body. Eleanor looked terrified at first, but then laughed it off. Harry snickered before putting the cloak on the two of them and signalling her to be quiet as he guided her towards the tower.
Upon entering the tower, they quietly and quickly entered the boy’s dormitories. “Blimey, mate, where have you gone? You’re gonna give us a heart attack!” Ron muttered as Harry lifted the cloak off himself.
“Yeah Harry, and why do you have to use your cloak?” Seamus Finiggan asked.
Harry smiled sheepishly, before yanking off the fabric off Eleanor, making them gasped in terror. “Harry! This is a boys’ dormitory!” yelled Dean.
“Right Harry, what is Eleanor doing here?” Ron’s face is furrowed, already imagining things that will happen once they get caught.
“My sister will be sleeping with me here tonight.” Ignoring the other’s complaints, he led Eleanor in his bed and laid with her.
Eleanor once again started playing with his hair and he rested his arm on his side and used the other as her pillow. “You’re really not mad with me?”
He sighed. Just the idea of hating or getting mad at Eleanor just because she got into Slytherin is already off-putting for him. “I would never. It is just a house, Lily, I already told you that.”
“But James,” she whispered. “You don’t like that house. And I don’t like what you don’t like.”
He grinned and ruffled her hair a bit before putting it back to its former place. “You don’t have to do that, Eleanor. You have your own judgment, and I trust you to tell me every time you see something is wrong. That is enough for me.”
They spent a good few minutes before Eleanor started speaking again. “Draco’s nice to me.” It’s merely a whisper.
“He is?” He raised a brow.
“Yes,” she nodded. “I told you we became sort of friends at Madam Malkin’s, then he helped with the chocolate frog on the train, then he helped me with the foods on the Great Hall, and when we came to the Dungeons.”
He nodded slightly. “Then, I am just trusting you to beware of him, okay? He may be a git to us, but you’re a Slytherin. Who knows? He’s nice to you, but don’t trust him too much. Okay?” He’s still oblivious over what she said, but she knows his sister.
Eleanor nodded, moving closer until she could already press her face to his chest. “Why weren’t you on the train and on the sorting? I was so scared earlier. I didn’t see you.”
“Ah, that, a little accident. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.” He smiled at her. “Will that be alright?”
Feeling sleepy already, Eleanor gave him a half-opened lidded eyes. “Okay, good night Harry.”
“Good night, Eleanor.”