Game of Survival [HARRY POTTER and SHADOWHUNTERS]

The door swung open at once. 

A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. Kaye almost blurted out a very happy "Minnie!" before realizing that she wanted to remain professional within Hogwarts grounds.

“The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall,” said Hagrid. 

“Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.” She pulled the door wide. 

The entrance hall was so big you could have fit several of Kaye's bedrooms in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. 

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. There was a drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed them into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously. 

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” said Professor McGonagall. “The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. 

“The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. 

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you,” said Professor McGonagall. “Please wait quietly.” She left the chamber. 

Kaye kept her eyes fixed on the door. Then something happened that made her jump about a foot in the air - several people behind her screamed. 

“What the-?”

She gasped. So did the people around her. 

About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: “Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -” 

“My dear Friar, haven’t we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he’s not really even a ghost —-I say, what are you all doing here?” A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed them. 

Nobody answered. 

“New students!” said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. “About to be Sorted, I suppose?” 

A few people nodded mutely. 

“Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!” said the Friar. “My old house, you know.” 

“Move along now,” said a sharp voice. “The Sorting Ceremony’s about to start.” 

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

“Now, form a line,” She told them, “and follow me.” 

Feeling oddly as though her legs had turned to lead, Kaye got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. 

Kaye had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led them up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. 

 It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn’t simply open on to the heavens. Kaye quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of them. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard’s hat. This hat was patched, and frayed, and extremely dirty. 

Noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, she stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:

“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty, 

But don’t judge on what you see, 

I’ll eat myself if you can find 

A smarter hat than me. 

You can keep your bowlers black, 

Your top hats sleek and tall, 

For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat 

And I can cap them all. 

There’s nothing hidden in your head 

The Sorting Hat can’t see, 

So try me on and I will tell you 

Where you ought to be. 

You might belong in Gryffindor, 

Where dwell the brave at heart, 

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry 

Set Gryffindors apart; 

You might belong in Hufflepuff, 

Where they are just and loyal, 

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true 

And unafraid of toil; 

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, 

if you’ve a ready mind, 

Where those of wit and learning, 

Will always find their kind; 

Or perhaps in Slytherin 

You’ll make your real friends, 

Those cunning folk use any means 

To achieve their ends. 

So put me on! 

Don’t be afraid! 

And don’t get in a flap! 

You’re in safe hands 

(though I have none) 

For I’m a Thinking Cap!” 

HUFFLEPUFF!” shouted the hat. 

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Kaye saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her. 

“Baker, Emma!” 

“HUFFLEPUFF!” shouted the hat again, and Emma scuttled off to sit next to Amy. 

“Boot, Joseph!” 

“RAVENCLAW!” 

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Joseph as he joined them. 

“Brooks, Lidya” went to Ravenclaw too, but “Brummers, Emmaline” became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Kavya could see the twin brothers from Diagon Alley catcalling. 

“Cheng, Zhuo-En” then became a Slytherin. 

Sometimes, Kaye noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. 

“Fantra, Abbhu,” the dark-haired boy next to Kavya in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Hufflepuff.

The list went on, and on. Kaye was supposed to be the last person called since she was a third-year.

Then-

“Potter, Kavya!” As Kavya stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall. She felt the last smidgens of the glamour Magnus had applied, vanish.

“Potter, did she say?” 

“The Kavya Potter?” 

"I thought her name was Bane?"

She could hear chants of "GRYFFINDOR. GRYFFINDOR. GRYFFINDOR." from across the hall as the House began slamming their fists down onto the table in a steady beat.

The last thing Kavya saw before the hat dropped over her eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at her. 

Next second, she was looking at the black inside of the hat. She waited. 

“Hmm,” said a small voice in her ear. “Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There’s talent, A my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that’s interesting….So where shall I put you? Do you have any preferences?"

Kavya gripped the edges of the stool and shook her head, "I don't care."

"Not at all, eh?" said the small voice. "Your brother clearly did when I was on top of him... what was it now? Three years ago?"

"I don't care." Kavya repeated.

"Well, if you’re sure - better be SLYTHERIN!” 

Kavya heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall.

Everyone was silent. The cheers from Gryffindor had stopped and even the Slytherin table looked too stunned to clap for her the way they did to all their new members.

She took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Slytherin table, in complete silence, two spots of color high on her cheeks in embarrassment at the quiet.

She slipped into the empty seat next to the other third years - at least she didn't have to sit with the little children.

Pansy turned to face her. "Kaye Bane, eh?"

Kavya flushed. "Kaye is a nickname, and Bane is my adopted father's last name. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone the truth until I got here. Everything else is the truth, though."

"Alright, then." And they picked up with their conversation right where they left off.