Constellations of Change

Headmaster’s Office, Two Weeks After Andromeda Adopted Iris 

The silver head of Albus Dumbledore emerged from the Floo as the august wizard returned from a most dreadful meeting with Minister Bagnold. The Minister had finally become aware of the changes in the Potter case after Ted Tonks was suddenly named as her proxy in the Wizengamot. Albus had known a week before when the blood wards around Privet Drive had collapsed after the Dursleys were arrested and removed from the home, but there was little he could do about it. 

While the wards should theoretically have allowed for Iris to leave for a time, allowing the girl to attend Hogwarts, Vernon and Petunia being remanded into state custody had shattered the ‘home’ necessary for them to work. Their trial hadn’t occurred yet but they’d been denied bail and Dudley had been sent to live with Marge until it did. The entire thing was done through the muggle law enforcement system, via a branch of the DMLE that specialized in translating magic related things into mundane evidence. They had taken the memories they extracted from Iris and the Dursleys and edited them enough to be recorded onto a Muggle video tape, before passing them off as security footage. Luckily Iris wouldn’t be called into the trial as they’d faked some documents to obscure the girl’s identity and state that after being removed from the home, she’d been sent to relatives in America and wouldn’t be able to return for trial.

It was all rather complicated but was actually a system Albus had championed the creation of in the 1950s. The issue of Muggles committing crimes was a delicate one, bringing up memories of witch burnings, and often was used as an excuse to stir up anti-muggle and by extension anti-muggleborn sentiment. Albus had argued that dealing with those transgressions either through wizarding justice, where the muggle would have no idea how to defend themselves, or worse vigilante justice was inhumane. Rather, muggles should be allowed to police themselves and the Muggle Evidence Creation Unit, or MECU, was created to allow for that to happen.

Not that Albus was against the Dursley’s going to jail after he’d read the reports of what they’d done, but it was certainly another headache for him. He cursed himself for trusting Arabella to keep a close enough eye on the girl and wished he’d checked in himself. He’d intended to, but at his age five years seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. He couldn’t believe the Dursleys had acted so churlishly after his warning to Petunia either, maybe he was losing his touch for intimidation. He didn’t think Iris would have the warmest childhood, but it was a place she could grow up removed from the politics of their world that were eager to snap her up.

The silver lining so far was that Andromeda hadn’t gone public with the issue; Albus could only assume it was to spare Iris the public attention, and realized he’d misjudged the woman. After Sirius’s perplexing betrayal, he’d worried, perhaps prejudicially, that the other remaining Black on their side would prove similarly treacherous. Besides, Petunia was much more closely related to Lily than Andromeda was to James.

However now the woman had him over the barrel so to speak if she wanted to. If word got out that Iris Potter had been abused by muggles, the wizarding world would be after his head for letting it happen. He’d likely lose at least one of his positions and Bagnold would certainly be voted out. Dumbledore’s musing was interrupted by an owl tapping at his window. His eyes widened when he took it’s proffered letter and discovered it was from the husband of woman in question.

Albus,

I am so furious with you it has taken me two weeks to calm myself enough to write this. Andromeda is still too angry which is why the writing has fallen to me. I always looked up to you and respected you in my time at Hogwarts, and I consider your good work against he who must not be named to have been invaluable. However, past goods do not erase present wrongs, and you have, at best, made a severe error in judgment. When Andromeda described to me the injuries Iris received in that ‘home’ my blood boiled, because there was no reason for that to happen.

This is a little girl who already lost her entire family and she was subjected to five years of hell. I cannot conceive of why you placed her there, and worse, kept her out of the system preventing them from catching the abuse.  Lily and James had many friends who would have gladly given Iris a loving home. I assume you barred her from living with us despite Andromeda being her godmother for some ridiculous worry she was secretly a death eater that only married me to keep up her cover, but did you even consider others? Remus, Amelia, Fillius, Merlin’s beard, even Xenophilius would have been a better choice!

She has been with us only two weeks and my heart aches for the years we missed. Every time she flinches at a loud noise, or stops herself from speaking, you can see how hard those people tried to extinguish her spark. Did you never listen to Lily when she discussed her relatives? Your negligence in this matter is frankly appalling and will forever color my opinion of you.

Despite having every right to do so, we will not be dragging you into court over this. While a part of me thinks the world should know about your failings, my wiser half realizes this would cause more harm than good. While you and I know muggles differ just as wizards do, this situation would be like Erumpent Horn oil on the flames of anti-muggle prejudice and I don’t want to be responsible for that. The Dursleys will get there due and Iris will get the rest of her childhood.

This is what you are going to do and it is not up for negotiation. First, you are going to owl any items belonging to James and Lily you may have been ‘keeping’ for Iris, they are hers. Secondly, you will have no contact with Iris before she attends school, and then only in a scholastic setting. If you need to speak with her, her head of house must be present. Actually, apply that rule to Nymphadora too. Thirdly, on the off chance you and Bagnold have egregiously messed up the placement and care of another orphan, you will fix it IMMEDIATELY. 

I hope this incident has served to remind you of your responsibilities; you’re a headmaster for godsake, you shouldn’t be able to forget about a child for five years. I await your owl.

Theodore Tonks

Albus rubbed his temples; this letter was about as good a missive as he could expect. In some sense he’d never forgotten Iris Potter; the girl and the prophecy surrounding her often weighed heavily on his mind. However he’d taken to thinking of her almost entirely in relation to the shade of Tom Riddle, and forgotten the actual child somewhere along the line. 

He grabbed a quill and prepared to write while Fawkes trilled mournfully from his perch, sensing his companion’s stress. The first letter would be to Bagnold, assuring her the matter wouldn’t become public. This catastrophe had likely lost him the confidence of the Minister as well. The second would accompany a cloak that he’d borrowed all too long ago.

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Megaron Hall

Andromeda gently patted Iris’s back as she rocked the girl back and forth. The girl had woken up with another nightmare so Andromeda had bundled her into her arms in an attempt to soothe her back to sleep. In the two weeks since she’d come to stay at Megaron Hall, the girl had transitioned from disbelief at being free from the Dursleys to terror at the possibility of going back. The Mind Healers said this should diminish and dwindle as time went by and Iris became more secure in her new home and family, but there would be a rough period of adjustment.

Luckily Iris was still rather young so a recovery from her trauma was more probable than if she had remained with the Dusleys longer. She’d likely always be somewhat claustrophobic but the other Dursley taught behaviors, such as never speaking unless spoken to and her tiny appetite, could be unlearned. 

Andromeda hummed a little lullaby as Iris’s breathing finally evened out back into restfulness. Andromeda could only be happy she’d come to her this time instead of Nymphadora as she’d done the previous night. Tonks was quite keen to protect her little sister, but her plan of feeding the Dursleys to a dragon was less than practical.

“Hm, the old codger actually sent something along.” Ted said softly as joined his wife in the den. When Iris had woken them up, he’d gone ahead and started a pot of tea, discovering a Hogwarts owl resting on the window sill with a bundled package. “Looks like some sort of cloak.”

Andromeda’s eyes grew misty as she looked at the familiar garment, “that was James’s Invisibility cloak. It was the secret behind a lot of the mischief he and Siri got up to as kids.”

It was a bittersweet memory for Andromeda, considering the fates of both her cousins. Ted nodded and gently massaged his wife’s back while she continued to rock their new daughter back and forth in the rocking chair. “Well, I’m sure Iris will be glad to have it, once she gets settled. We can only hope she and Nymphadora don’t develop the previous owners’ love of pranks,” Ted joked in his gentle Welsh accent. Andromeda chuckled softly and held Iris close to her chest; nothing would hurt this girl again if she could help it.

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Leaky Cauldron, July 1991

Three years had passed since the sisters’ tearful parting at King’s Cross. In that time, Iris had continued to blossom in the rolling glens of Wales. She and Nymphadora remained close, constantly exchanging letters with Nym’s horned owl, Jester, and spending much of their time together over breaks. Like most wizarding children, Iris was homeschooled (Those whose parents didn’t have the time to were often taught by hired tutors or at the homes of neighbors) by Andromeda and Ted and received a varied education in both the magical and mundane. The girl had become an avid reader and eagerly explored every bit of knowledge she could find in the family library. She also developed an interest in Magizoology after Ted took her to a traveling magical zoo, run by an Indian wizard who was also a Parselmouth, and spent much of that summer looking for fairies in the fields near Megaron Hall, actually managing to find a few with the aid of her friendly neighborhood snakes. The proprietor of the zoo, Mr. Khan had helped her learn more about her gift and its generally more positive reputation outside of Britain. Both the Parselmouth and Metamorphmagus traits ran in the Black family, and both were often misunderstood.

Her exposure to the wider wizarding world was limited but extant. She went to quidditch matches with Ted and Nym, followed her mother on errands to Diagon Alley or Hogsmede, and attended the national dueling championship with Andromeda and Nymphadora. Luckily, due perhaps to pureblood prejudice that focused on James over Lily, the popular image of Iris Potter was a girl with messy dark black hair and glasses and a much more prominent scar, and she wasn’t instantly recognized when going out as Iris Tonks. Her scar was still there but had faded greatly since receiving treatment at St. Mungoes.

In reality, Iris looked like a blend of her birth mother and her paternal grandmother and namesake, Dorea. She had wavy thick red hair, the high Black cheekbones, the Evans pale green eyes and dimples that were trademark Lily. Speaking of her birth parents, she’d now met a few of their friends over the years, though not many as the Tonks were still wary of publicizing too much about Iris. 

The first of the two was Amelia Bones, who, as head of the DMLE, was already familiar with Iris’ case. She’d blown a gasket when the paperwork for Iris Potter had finally hit her desk, having assumed the girl hadn’t been seen because she was living with Remus Lupin who was often on the move. Amelia had come to visit Megaron Hall, accompanied by her niece Susan, who Iris quickly bonded with. The two redheads had the unfortunate commonality of losing their parents to Lord Voldemort, but also a mutual love of magic and exploring. Susan was a bit more sporty than the bookish Iris, loving to fly on Nym’s broom when she came to visit, but the two became best friends despite their differences. 

Susan, who was tutored due to her guardian’s demanding job, also occasionally joined Iris for her potions lessons with Andromeda. Considering it was her specialty, and one of the few branches of magic that could somewhat safely be practiced by children whose cores hadn’t been matured enough for wandwork, Andromeda often taught Iris a little potioneering and some of the adjacent fields of herbology and arithmancy. If there was one subject Iris, and to a lesser degree Susan, would be ahead of the curve on, upon arriving at Hogwarts, it was potions.

Indeed, it wasn’t unusual to find either girl darting through the fireplace to the other’s house and both were quickly added to each other’s wards. Amelia was delighted to see their friendship blossom, as it reminded her so much of her own with Lily. She also became an additional source of stories about her birth parents for the ever attentive Iris. After learning about Albus’ complicity in Iris’s original placement, she’d pulled the girl aside one day to make sure that Iris knew her rights under magical law and wouldn’t be caught unawares if Albus tried anything untoward. 

While Amelia had become a frequent guest at Megaron Hall, Iris had met the other close friend of her parents only once. On her ninth birthday, a happy celebration with her family, Susan and Amelia, a shabbily dressed man had knocked on their door. The man had a tearful look when he laid eyes on Iris and she was softly informed that he was Remus Lupin. As the only surviving, non criminal member of the Marauders, Remus had regaled Iris with sanitized tales of her father’s antics at Hogwarts. He’d even brought her a gift, a beautifully illustrated guide to the magical creatures of mainland Europe, that was probably beyond his usual means. She warmed to the man quickly, and Andromeda invited him to stay the evening but he insisted he had to be on his way. Iris still exchanged the occasional letter with the vagabond, and looked forward to meeting him again.

Today, the now eleven year old Iris was eating a quick breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron, with her mother, Nym, and Susan before doing their Hogwarts shopping. Susan was accompanying them since Amelia was extremely busy at the DMLE that week. A Veela trafficking ring had been discovered in France and the British ministry was cooperating with their counterparts to catch members who tried to flee across the channel.

“Are you sure you don’t want an Owl?” Susan asked her friend incredulously. The girl had received her own snowy white owl, Hedwig, and basically thought the animal was the best thing since self inking quills.

Iris shrugged as she slurped the last of her pumpkin juice, “I’ve got Jester if I need to send a letter. I’m just annoyed that I can't bring Sebastian with me.” Sebastian was Iris’s pet boa constrictor that lived at Megaron Hall. Unfortunately Hogwarts only allowed Cats, Owls and Toads as first year familiars, so he’d have to remain at home for the year. 

“I like how you’re just blatantly taking advantage of my owl,” Nymphadora teased, while playfully punching Iris in the shoulder. Iris smiled at her older sister, “He likes me better anyways.”

Nym’s green eyebrows twitched with mock anger, before she laughed. Unlike some of her classmates, she’d never found having a younger sibling annoying, and was in fact quite eager to have Iris join her at school this year. The fourth year Huflepuff was looking forward to showing off all the secrets of the castle she’d discovered, knowing Iris would go bananas for them. Feeling a rush of sisterly affection, she shifted to what had become one of her default looks; with red hair, high cheekbones and a matching button nose she looked very much like Iris’s biological older sister.

“Finish your rashers Nymphadora,” Andromeda, one of only two people who could get away with calling Tonks by her first name, instructed. “We need to get a move on if we’re going to beat the crowds." They’d come ahead of the rush of muggleborns Minerva would be bringing in a week’s time, but the back to Hogwarts crowds were already in full force.

Soon the four women were navigating their way down the Alley; they had quite a bit to get today between two first year’s lists and a fourth year’s. They were going to start at Madame Malkins to get the girls measured and place their orders, then swing by Slug and Jiggers for their potion ingredients and scales. They’d be forgoing the cauldron shop since Andromeda was able to import the girls high quality cauldrons from Place Cacheé France, through her connections as a Potions Mistress. British cauldron thickness regulations forced domestic cauldrons to have thicker bottoms that heated slightly unevenly in her experience.

After that they’d stop by Wiseacre’s for the girls’ telescopes and star charts. Susan would also pick up some protective dragonskin gloves for Herbology, while Iris would be using an old pair of Andromeda’s. Tonks also needed an etching kit and syllabry for Ancient Runes. Then they’d go to Ollivanders for the girl’s to get their wands, before finishing at Flourish and Blotts. They’d decided to save the bookshop till last, since it would be difficult to get Iris away from the books once she got in the store.

Their shopping went well for the most part; they'd had to swerve and do Slug and Jiggers first, before returning to Madame Malkins after Andromeda saw her nephew in the tailor's shop. She did not need to run into Narcissa and Lucius today; she’d managed to keep Nymphadora and Iris away from her odious brother in law’s orbit so far and intended to keep doing so as long as possible. She had a lot of complicated feelings surrounding Cissy but was resolute in her ire for Lucius.

Still, even with that slight hiccup, they had managed to complete their shopping in good time, and the midday crowds were just beginning to arrive when they ducked into Olivanders. The eccentric wandmaker looked barely changed from the day Andromeda had come in for her own wand; his hair was just a touch wispier and his brow a hint more wrinkled. All magicals aged slowly, but Ollivander seemed particularly timeless.

“Ah, Miss Potter, Miss Bones, welcome, welcome.” Andromeda always wondered how Ollivander knew the names of whoever came into the shop. She knew it couldn’t be passive legilimency as children of noble houses, like Bones, Black and Potter, were taught basic occlumency to resist passive probes before attending Hogwarts. She suspected he’d enchanted his threshold in some way.

Soon the girls were trying countless wands, trying to find their matches. Susan found her wand on the eighth try, in a rigid 10 ¾ inch applewood wand with a dragon heartstring core, when it emitted a small shining rainbow cloud of smoke when she gave it a wave. “Hmm, a wand suited to powerful magic and high ideals. Typical of a Bones.” Ollivander murmured. Andromeda always wondered how much the personality traits ascribed to certain wand types were actually true. She’d never felt having a pearwood wand had made her particularly popular as they were said to do, considering she’d literally been disowned by her family.

Finding Iris’s match proved a more onerous process and the girl had gone through 23 wands before finding it. Olivander had seemed convinced the 22nd wand, a holly and phoenix feather affair, would have done the trick and was noticeably disappointed when it felt cold in Iris’s hands. He rubbed his chin before snapping in realization and hurrying into the back of his shop to grab a dusty box that’d sat there for nearly a century.

“This was one of the last creations of my father,” he began a little somberly. Almost all of his father’s wands had left the shop over the years and by and large only his oddities and experiments remained. “This wand was the result of my father trying to recreate the famed Boot wands from America” as he spoke, Iris picked up the elegantly carved ivory wand. As soon as she touched it, the wand seemed to hum like a violin string in her hands and a feeling of warmth rushed up her arm. Instinctively she said “Hello” unconsciously hissing in parseltongue,  causing the wand to emit a louder musical tone, like a clear ringing bell, and she knew it was hers.

Ollivander smiled like the cat who ate the canary; he knew every wand would find its owner eventually even if it took awhile. “9 ½ inch aspen wood, pliable but resilient. The core is a Horned Serpent’s horn fragment. My father was aiming to recreate the Boot wands used by the founders of Ilvermorny; of course he was unable to find a willing North American serpent and instead used an Eastern Serpent befriended by a parselmouth he met in Sri Lanka. Indeed, as you may have guessed, these cores are only known to bond with parselmouths. The wandwood is excellent for charms work and dueling, making for a bold and fiercely loyal wand.”

Iris stared at her new wand, absorbing the information about her new companion. She was delighted to have such an interesting wand and made a mental note to ask her mother for a book on wandlore while they were at Flourish and Blotts. Andromeda smiled proudly at her younger daughter finally getting her wand; it was a special moment for every witch and wizard. She soon paid Ollivander his galleons, picking up two standard holsters as well, and ushered the two girls out of the store, and met back up with Tonks, who had ducked over to Gambol and Japes for some magic firecrackers. She and her friend Penny Clearwater had discovered that trading the Poltergeist, Peeves, pranking supplies was the best way to avoid being pranked yourself; she’d stocked up more than usual to be able to cover Iris and Susan as well.

The two younger girls eagerly showed off their new wands to Nymphadora as they made their way to the bookstore. Nym nodded along indulgently, remembering her own excitement at receiving the fir and phoenix feather wand that now sat in her holster. They’d managed to make it there just before noon, but it wouldn’t be till two that they were able to lure Iris away from the books with the promise of some ice cream from Fortescue’s.

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Hogwarts Express, Start of Term

Iris and Susan breathed a sigh of relief as they finally found a compartment with empty seats. The first years were separated from the other students into a specified set of cars at the front of the train, so they weren’t able to sit with Tonks, who was sitting further down the train with her friends Penelope and Cedric. This was done to keep the group together and easy to direct when they arrived at the castle. First years were always the first to get off the train, so they could be guided to the boats used to bring them to the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony, while the other students rode the carriages.

So it was that the duo found themselves ducking into a compartment with two other girls, who looked up from the game of travel Gobstones they were playing. The first was a long haired blonde with clear blue eyes and sharp features; she almost immediately schooled her expression into one of neutrality as the newcomers entered. The second had shorter brown hair, just barely brushing her shoulders, freckle dusted cheeks, and also a generally more open expression when Iris and Susan stepped in.

“Are these seats free?” Iris asked tentatively, a bit nervous to be dealing with new magicals without her family with her. The brunette made eye contact with her blonde friend, who shrugged noncommittally and scooted towards the window. “Be my guest,” the blonde said and Iris and Susan quickly slipped in to begin stowing their trunks.

“I’m Tracy Davis, and the snooty one here is Daphne Greengrass,” the brown haired girl offered. Daphne cracked a small smile despite herself at her friend’s teasing. Susan and Iris took their seats next to Tracy and Daphne respectively. “Nice to meet you, I’m Susan Bones,” Susan offered. Iris hesitated for a moment before adding, “I’m Iris Potter, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

To her credit, Daphne’s eyes only widened slightly at learning the girl next to her was The Girl Who Lived, while Tracy did a slight double take, her grey eyes darting to look for the famous scar. Iris had briefly considered introducing herself as a Tonks, but reasoned her name was going to come out at the sorting in any event, so it was best to be upfront. As her mother had said at the station, the people who treated her really differently because of her fame weren’t people she wanted in her life anyways.

There was a moment of silence before Daphne smirked and broke it with a sardonic, “well you're certainly more ginger than I expected.”

There was a burst of laughter from Susan and Tracy while Iris rolled her eyes and bemoaned, “why does everyone think I have black hair? My birth mom had red hair, it’s not weird for me to have it too!” She crossed her arms in a little huff; her annoyance at the public’s many assumptions about her was well known to her family and the Bones.

Susan playfully nudged her grumpy friend with her foot and soon Iris’s scowl dissolved into a small grin. Tension broken, the four girls fell into easy conversation about what Hogwarts would be like, as the train rolled out of the station and began to pick up steam on its way northward. By the time they crossed into Scotland, they’d started another game of stones with Iris and Susan joining in. Iris rapidly discovered Daphne was fiendishly cunning, winning nearly every other round, while Tracy was a quidditch fanatic, quickly striking up a debate on the current league standing with Susan.

The only incident of note on the journey was when a bushy haired girl and a nervous looking boy had come by searching for a toad. The bushy haired girl had eyed their game of gobstones with suspicion, as if trying to think of a rule it was breaking, both of them quickly went to the next compartment when it became clear Trevor wasn’t there. 

Eventually their journey came to an end as the train steamed into Hogsmeade station. Having enjoyed each other's company, the four girls decided to stick together as they made their way towards the boats. As their boat mystically steered towards the great castle in the distance, Iris had to admit that the illustrations in Hogwarts: A History, really failed to do it justice.

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Hogwarts Great Hall, Welcoming Feast

It was not without reason that the Sorting Hat was occasionally called The Thinking Cap; for much of the year the enchanted piece of headwear had little more to do than think. It also had quite a bit to think about. Looking into the minds of incoming wizarding children and eavesdropping on the Headmaster’s conversations kept him surprisingly well informed. Unfortunately his thoughts of the last several years had been decidedly negative. In his own opinion, the Sorting Hat had a rather thankless job. Since his creation, some eight centuries prior, he had peered into the hearts and minds of countless young witches and wizards to determine which of the Founders’ houses would best suit them, and the state of those houses was the source of his sour disposition.

It had become a regrettably popular misconception that “there wasn’t a witch or wizard whoever went bad that wasn’t in Slytherin” as Ignotius Prewitt had famously said near the latest turn of the century. The statement had been part of political stump speech decrying those who opposed intervention against Grindelwald on the continent, and singled out predominantly Slytherin families as potential fifth columnists. Ignotius ultimately failed to secure the ministership, but his sentiment had lived on, especially among certain Gryffindors. 

Indeed the Hat itself could lamentably recall examples of students from every house who went on to become dark lords and ladies through the ages. There was Guy Gisbourne, a boisterous Griffindor if there ever was one, who claimed an ancestral connection to both Merlin and Arthur, and attempted to overthrow England’s Avegnin rulers to reestablish the kingdom of Camelot as a magocracy in the twelfth century. Guy possessed all those qualities Godric cherished, like courage and decisiveness. He also happened to have slaughtered countless muggles and wizards alike indiscriminately in his campaign, before finally being slain by the famed squib archer, Robin of Locksley.

Ravenclaw had produced Siobahn O’Dwyer in the late 18th century, a witch who had gone abroad with the growing muggle British Empire. In her pursuit of knowledge she had cast aside all human empathy and would go to any lengths to extract the knowledge she wanted. She had wanted to determine the exact nature of a magical core, and went to ghastly lengths to research it. Guilty of both theft of magical secrets and dark experimentation on persons both muggle and magical, she was the scourge of India and Australia for the time before a hit squad of Indian aurors managed to capture her and bring her before an ICW tribunal.

Even humble Hufflepuff had produced its share of ignoble alumni. Ambrose Rookwood stood out for his attempt to coerce a group of muggle Catholics to blow up parliament, as part of a scheme to replace James with a monarch less antagonistic towards magical kind. Ambrose was a hard worker and imminently loyal to his fellow wizard, but absolutely willing to destroy anyone who threatened his own people. 

Each of the three were prime examples of how any of the qualities the Founders treasured could be disastrous if taken to the extreme. Guy’s daring turned to foolhardiness and impulsiveness, Siobahn’s pursuit of knowledge led to her own loss of humanity, and Ambrose’ loyalty had led to a clannish in group/out group mentality. 

In truth, no house was meant to be a monolith, rather pieces of the whole. Each of the founders had worked in concert and had intended their houses to do so as well. That could easily be seen in the way the values of each house overlapped to a degree. Slytherin Fraternity matched Hufflepuff Loyalty, Gryffindor Daring paired well with Ravenclaw Experimentation and so on. So the increasing divide between the houses was a dismaying sight. 

It was an erroneous notion that the hat simply sorted children based on their personalities alone. While it took that into consideration, its actual purpose was to place students in the house that would help them to be the most successful. In truth most of the students who donned the Sorting Hat could potentially fit into multiple houses if personality and value systems were the only determining factors. Children were fairly plastic at that age and could easily grow in different directions. In so, it was the directive given to the hat, to place students where they would best be able to thrive, that often acted as the determining factor. For instance, if a student was equally ambitious and intellectual, but they had a severe fear of heights, they might be placed in Slytherin rather than Ravenclaw, since they would likely do better in an environment where they didn’t sleep in the highest tower of the castle.

That was a simplistic example but it helpfully illustrated the problems the hat increasingly faced over the years when placing students. As time went on, families formed strong opinions on the various houses and often wanted their children to follow suit. For the hat this presented an issue since to provide the best opportunity for the child to succeed, it needed to avoid harming their home life if at all possible, unless the student was already at odds with their family for some reason. This had resulted in certain students being placed in a house that otherwise wouldn’t be the most ideal for them. 

An excellent example of this would be Percivel Weasly, who in terms of personality was almost the quintessential Hufflepuff, but whose mother was almost dogmatic about Gryffindor being the house her children belonged to. It was an old Prewitt family bias, and Molly Prewitt herself was placed in the house of the lions despite being best suited to Slytherin or Hufflepuff. However the largest concentration of students who were placed this way had become Salazar’s house in the last several centuries, as certain pureblood families increasingly considered it the only worthy house. The boy he’d just sorted for instance, Vincent Crabbe, was a hit first think later sort of bloke, who’d have done well in Gryffindor, if placing him there wouldn’t have caused him to likely be disowned. 

This constraint also led to the sorry state Salazar’s house was becoming, since the rise in pure blood bigotry had created an unfortunate feedback loop. Even if a muggleborn was incredibly Slytherin-esque in personality, the hat was unable in good conscience to place them in that house due to the bullying and ostracization they would face. The obsession with blood purity had spiraled over the last two centuries; it went from hating muggles, to hating muggleborns, to hating the children of muggleborns, to hating the children of the children of muggleborns. They hated the children of muggleborns even more than they hated half-bloods, provided the magical parent was a pure-blood. It led to things like the hat sending the quintessentially Slytherin Edgecombe girl away from the house last year, simply because both her parents, despite being magical, were muggleborn.

Of course the more it sorted the bigoted students primarily into one house, the less successful any muggleborn would be in the house and so the problem grew. The hat was well aware of this problem, but due to its enchantment restricting it to only considering each student on an individual basis, the problem persisted like a cascading muggle computing error.

It was frustrations like this that led the hat to fume when the current headmaster mused that “perhaps we sort too soon.” To the hat’s mind, the issue wasn’t that they sorted too soon, it was that the headmaster failed to ensure that all four houses would be good places to be sorted into. The hat, for all its wisdom, was simply an enchanted object and couldn’t take the actions that would be necessary to curb the bigotry present in Slytherin House, but Dumbledore and the head of house, Snape, should be. Snape was unfit to be a head of house in the Hat’s opinion; it knew from the moment it looked in his mind as a youth that Severus, while a gifted student, was unsuited to a leadership position. Albus could be competent if he wished, but by splitting his time between three intense jobs, Albus tended to do all three poorly, in the hat’s estimation.

Severus’ blatant favoritism had been a further catalyst for the deepening of house divides, increasingly isolating Slytherin from the rest of the castle over the past decade. Of course that division was not absolute, cross house friendships had not been snuffed out, but they certainly weren’t what they once were. 

The hat was shaken from its ruminations when it found itself placed on the head of the girl so many of the other students had been thinking about this year, Iris Potter. He was pleased to note that it seemed her guardians wouldn’t have an issue with whatever house he put her in and he could do as he pleased. Still, considering her status as the Girl Who Lived, Slytherin was probably ill advised.

“Hmm, a curious mind, Ms. Potter. So many options before you. Will you join your sister in Hufflepuff, with the determined? Or are you instead destined to follow your parents into Gryfindor, the house of the brave.” The hat always enjoyed this bit, playing a bit with the students before making his pronouncement.

“Or indeed, should you go where your adoptive mother went and enter Salazar’s house? I sense ambition in you and Slytherin could help you on the path to greatness.”

“I’m happy wherever you choose to send me,” Iris replied mentally. “Considering you were enchanted by the founders themselves, I have to imagine you’re the best equipped to make the decision. Actually, while I’ve got you here, If it’s not too rude to ask, do you think you could walk me through the enchantments used to link your personality to your mind reading function? I know Elgrim’s Introduction to Enchanting mentions that-”

The hat cut off the girl’s mental ramble, “Ha, stopping me midsort to ask about my enchantments. I’m used to being the nosy one.” The hat chuckled. “With questions like that, there’s no doubt in my mind that you belong in RAVENCLAW!” The last word was spoken aloud in the hat’s boisterous tone.

The table of the blue and bronze erupted into surprised applause at having received the girl who lived, while several members of Gryffindor looked like they’d swallowed an egg. Fred and George Weasly in particular were perplexed, as the betting ring they’d established for Potter’s sorting had heavily favored Gryffindor. It looked like Penelope Clearwater would be taking home the lionshare of the winnings. Unbeknownst to the twins, Penny was best friends with Tonks and had actually visited Megaron Hall over the previous two summers, meeting Iris. Within ten minutes of talking to her, she could tell the girl was destined to join her in Ravenclaw.

Iris doffed the hat and made her way down the steps to the table of the clever, finding a seat between a dark haired chinese girl, and Padma Patil who’d been sorted just before her. Penny sat across from her. She was mildly disappointed not to be placed in a house with her sister, Susan, or her new friends from the train, but at least she would have Penny to fall back on. She quite liked the older brunette friend of her sister and knew she had at least one person she could rely on in her new house. Really the only house where she’d be totally on her own would have been Gryffindor.

“Welcome Iris,” Penny said brightly, flashing Iris a comforting smile. “I was just telling Su and Padma here that you’re going to love being Ravenclaws, we’ve got the best dormitories, bar none.”

Iris gave the girl, apparently named Su, a friendly smile, before quieting down for the rest of the sorting. She took quick note of the other first years joining the Eagles. In addition to Su Li and Padma, there was Isobel Morag Macdougal, Terry Boot, Amanda Brocklehurst, Michael Corner, and Anthony Goldstein. They were joined by Lisa Turpin and Richard Wallard by the time the sorting concluded.

There ended up being ten new Ravenclaws inducted that night, out of a total of 49 incoming students. Classes were typically larger in the past, around eighty to one hundred and twenty, but had dwindled in the last decade. The castle had been built to accommodate over 1000 students, and the current population of a little over 500 led to quite a few dissuesd classrooms. Indeed, Iris’ class was the smallest Hogwarts had had in years, a distant result of Voldemort’s reign of terror. It would likely remain the smallest for some time as the next year contained the beginning of the boom in children that followed Voldemort’s defeat.

As the headmaster, who Iris would be very glad to avoid as much as possible for the next seven years, finished his opening remarks, the opening feast shimmered into view. Iris knew from Nym that it had been prepared by the school House-Elves and simply shifted up when the feast began, but it was still an impressive effect. Before long she was tucking in to a delicious bit of roast pheasant while talking to Su about the upcoming International Dueling qualifiers. Her time at Hogwarts was off to a promising start.