(1) Lux Brumalis (R. Weasley)

Chapter Eleven

Pixie clutches her hands behind her back as she follows the other first-years through the Great Hall. Despite her mother telling her that it doesn't matter what house she ends up in, she knows that Slytherin is the bottom of her mother's list. Not like it matters much now. There may be magic in this place but at the cost of technology. Something she never thought she would be without. She's never been without anything. The closest she will get now, here, will be from her engineering book. That's a horrifying thought. She's stuck in the middle-ages. She glances around the Great Hall as she takes slow strides. It's lit by thousands of candles, floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students are sitting, tables laden with glittering golden plates and goblets. And at the top of the hall, is a table where the teachers are all sitting. Most she doesn't know. Hagrid is there. As is Severus Snape. Her uncle. They're not particularly close. She's closer with Pepper and Rhodey and the Avengers than Severus. She knows he and her mother didn't have a good relationship back when they were in school, something about her friends, and whilst that relationship is better now, it's not perfect. 

McGonagall places a stool in front of the first years and then on top of the stool, a pointed wizard's hat. There are a few silent seconds, all eyes, from all the other student as well, on the hat. Waiting for something. The hat then begins to sing. Pixie's mind barely registers it, her eyes on the ceiling above, watching the enchanted candles and the ceiling but she does gather that the song is about the houses, which she already knows about.

"So we've just got to try on the hat" She hears Ron complain. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll" Pixie smirks a little, because even she wouldn't have believed that. McGonagall then steps forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted" She informs the first years. "Abbott, Hannah" A pink-faced girl with pigtails stumbles out of line, puts on the hat, and sits on the stool. There are a few moments of silence again.

"Hufflepuff!" The hat eventually shouts. The table with the yellow and black flags and uniform, on the right, cheers and claps as Hannah walks over and joins them.

"Bones, Susan"

"Hufflepuff!" Susan then scurries off to sit next to Hannah. Pixie becomes more nervous the longer she is stood up there, worrying about where she is going to be placed. She doesn't want to let her mother down.

"Boot, Terry" McGonagall calls.

"Ravenclaw!" The table second from the left cheers now and several Ravenclaws stand to shake Terry's hand as he reaches the table.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" is sorted into Ravenclaw too, then "Brown, Lavender" Who is the first to be sorted into Gryffindor, and their table explodes with excitement. Fred and George some of the loudest among the ranks. "Bulstrode, Millicent" Is the first to be sorted into Slytherin, followed by Crabbe. "Flinch-Fletchley, Justin" to Hufflepuff. "Finnigan, Seamus" follows, sorted into Gryffindor. "Granger, Hermione" Hermione almost runs to the stood and shoves the hat down onto her head.

"Gryffindor" The hat shouts and Ron groans from his place in line. Goyle is next, and unsurprisingly ends up with Crabbe in Slytherin.

"Longbottom, Neville" Neville trips on his way to the stool before managing to make it back to his feet and nervously sits on the stool. The hat seems to take a lot longer to decide on where to put Neville compared to some of the others.

"Gryffindor" The hat states. Neville then jumps up, heading to the table still wearing the hat, once he notices, he does turn around, amid laughter, to hand it back.

"Malfoy, Draco" Draco swaggers forward when his name is called, and there is no other word for the way he moves. The hat barely touches his head when it screams;

"Slytherin!" Draco moves to join his friend at the Slytherin table. There aren't many first years waiting now. Moon. Nott. Parkinson. Then twins Patil and Patil. Perks. And then...Potter. Pixie glances over at Harry when his name is called. Harry steps forward and moves to the sorting hat. It seems to take a while with Harry too. "Gryffindor!" The hat then cheers. The entire Gryffindor table erupts into, so far, the loudest of cheers as Harry heads to join them. And then there are four. Pixie and Ron share a look.

"Stark, Pixie" McGonagall calls. Pixie takes a deep breath and then moves to the stool. She turns and sits on it, pulling the hat down onto her head.

"Smart, very, very smart. Clearly your mother's daughter. But ambitious..." The hat tells her. "You desire to prove yourself, to be strong and powerful like your mother and intelligent and resourceful like your father..." He muses. She already knows. She can feel it. She knows just what he is about to say, where he is about to put her. "Hmmm....it better be.....Slytherin!!" She lets out a breath and pulls off the hat with a scoff. She makes her way to the Slytherin table and drops into an empty seat beside Pansy Parkinson. After her, Dean Thomas is sorted into Gryffindor, followed by Ron, who sits at the table with Harry and his brothers. Lastly, Blaise Zabini is placed into Slytherin. Pixie lets out a breath and glances across the table where she finds that Draco sits, directly across from her, he smirks and raises an eyebrow at her, she pulls a face and rolls her eyes, turning her attention to Dumbledore as he stands before the tables to make a speech.

"Welcome," He greets. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we being out banquet. I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" Pixie raises a confused eyebrow. "Thank you" Dumbledore then sits in his chair and everyone claps. Pixie is unsure if that is worthy of applause. When she turns back to the table, she finds it piled with food. She hasn't really eaten much since those pumpkin pasties and the candy on the train. She's still excited about this, of course, she is, this is an amazing opportunity...But she's alone here. The people she could have been friends with were all placed in Gryffindor. How is that fair? That she's ended up in the house that stands against everything she believes in. She is not a purist. She does not believe that purebloods are better than half-bloods, she does not believe that muggles are worse than wizards. Just because she is ambitious and smart and cunning and resourceful, she gets stuck with bullies and racists? She'd be worried about what her mother is going to say about this, but she's still mad at her for the whole no-tech thing.