Harry Potter and the Legend of the Twelve

Secrets Revealed

It took most of the carriage ride for Albus's shock to wear off. The kiss was no big deal. He had no idea why he kept thinking about it. She was just thanking him for being kind to her.

When the carriage arrived at the castle, Victoire led Albus and Carly to the doors of the Great Hall. At realizing the sorting ceremony was to happen shortly, the knot in Albus's stomach doubled in size.

"You two wait here, Hagrid will be along in a few minutes," instructed Victoire. She opened the door to the Great Hall just enough to enter, and then let the door close behind her.

Albus turned to Carly. She looked so sad, he nearly forgot about the sorting. "Are you all right?" asked Albus.

"Yeah, I'll be all right," said Carly sadly. "It's just...been hard."

"Do you...want to talk about it?" asked Albus, unsure of exactly what he could say to her.

Carly shrugged slightly. "When something reminds me of them...well, it's just hard," sighed Carly. "But I'll be okay. Thank you, Al...thank you so much."

"For what, I didn't do anything?" asked Albus.

"For listening," said Carly softly, mustering a smile. "It's nice to have someone to talk to."

Albus had no idea why, but he couldn't resist taking her hand. "No thanks necessary," said Albus. "That's what friends are for."

Over his shoulder he heard a voice, "Oh isn't this cute, Potter's already got himself a girlfriend," laughed a voice that was dripping with contempt.

Albus turned and recognized who it was immediately. He was in the front of the group of students. He hadn't caught his name on the platform, but he had heard what Uncle Ron had said to Rose about him. Carly started to pull her hand away, but Albus held it tight. Albus wasn't any surer why he did that than why he had taken her hand to begin with.

"What business is it of yours?" asked Albus. Rose immediately left the group and walked to Albus's side.

"Look, he's started himself a harem," said Scorpius Malfoy with a laugh.

Before Albus or Rose could respond, Hagrid came up the stairs with the other Prefects, and not realizing what was going on, ushered Albus, Carly, and Rose back to the group. Albus let go of Carly's hand as they joined their fellow first years.

Hagrid stood before the students and smiled. "All right, normally, the Assistant Headmaster or Assistant Headmistress would take you into the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony, but as of now, we don't have one, so I will lead you in, and Professor McGonagall, she's the Headmistress, will conduct the sorting ceremony. Any questions?"

When no one said anything, they proceeded into the Great Hall. Albus was taken aback by what he saw. James had described the Great Hall to Albus in detail, but seeing it was something quite different than hearing about it. It was all very overwhelming.

As they walked to the front of the Great Hall, he saw Fred and Victoire at the Gryffindor table and farther down, just before the seats were empty for the first years, he saw James and Jason on one side of the table and Danny across from them.

When the first year students got to the front of the Great Hall, Albus saw his parents' friend, Professor McGonagall standing next to a stool, on which a funny looking hat sat.

Professor McGonagall looked down at a sheet of paper she was holding and frowned. "Forgot to sort the list," she muttered almost inaudibly. "Mind is the first thing to go."

Professor McGonagall welcomed them, and explained the sorting ceremony and the hat began to sing, but Albus couldn't hear it over his heart pounding in his ears. He tried to think of what his father said, but the fear was overwhelming. He heard the name 'Rose Weasley' called, and Rose approached the stool and sat down on it. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head, and a moment later the Sorting Hat proclaimed, "Gryffindor!"