ROTBFTD at Hogwarts: The Red Death

The Expected Letters

The predawn light leaked through the stained glass around the door, dappling the dark green carpet with shades of green and blue.

Elsa looked up at it, somewhat blearily. Her cousin, zombie-like beside her, didn't even stir.

"Rapunzel," Elsa nudged her. Nothing. "Rapunzel," she hissed, shoving her this time.

"What?" Rapunzel exclaimed, a bit too loudly, as she started awake. Elsa hushed her, pointing to Anna, who lay against her shoulder, a blanket wrapped around her. It wouldn't be fair to wake her.

The three girls sat before the thick front door, huddled together with several pillows and blankets shared between them.

Rapunzel rubbed her eyes. "Sorry," she yawned. Elsa frowned, resisting the urge to yawn along with her.

"It's almost time," she said. "They should be here soon."

Rapunzel stared groggily back at her, uncomprehending. "Who should be here? Are your parents coming back early?"

Elsa rolled her eyes. Rapunzel was about as useful as a broken wand before she was fully awake.

"No," She replied with a sigh, "the letters. Our letters."

Rapunzel waved her off, "Oh right, those. I knew that," she said as she fought another gaping yawn.

"Punzie, stop that!" Elsa scolded, covering her cousin's mouth with her hand. That seemed to wake the blonde up. Her bright green eyes widened and she pulled Elsa's pale hand away from her mouth.

"How can you be sleepy at a time like this?" Elsa asked in a whisper. "This is when we find out whether we made it or not."

"Elsa, we've been over this," Rapunzel groaned, lifting her arms and stretching her fingers to the ceiling." We're both going to make it."

"But you don't know that," Elsa insisted.

Her cousin cast her a bored look. "Of course I know that. Mum and Daddy told me we would get in, so we'll get in," She said, as if it were perfectly obvious.

Elsa, still unsure, pulled her sleeping little sister closer to her.

"When we get in," Rapunzel started, pressing her back against the door which faced the grand staircase that led to the second floor. "What House do you think you'll be in?"

Elsa couldn't help but smile at the question. It was one they'd been asking each other for as long as they could remember. Their answers were always very inconsistent, changing for one reason or another. Lately, Elsa's answer had become slightly more steady. She looked at her cousin. "You first."

Rapunzel grinned. "I bet the Hat will put me in Gryffindor, since I'm so brave." The girl flexed her nonexistent biceps and winked at Elsa, who giggled at her silliness. "But if not Gryffindor, I don't think I'd mind Ravenclaw. Whatever house! Even Slytherin might not be so bad."

Elsa shook her head vigorously. "Not Slytherin. Not for me, no way."

"Which house then?" Rapunzel asked, curious.

"Ravenclaw," she said without hesitation. It was the House her mother was in, and she was proud of that fact. According to her mother, Ravenclaw was the best of all four Houses, and she reminded her children of it at every opportunity.

And, of course, it must be, Elsa thought, if her mother had come from there.

Rapunzel frowned at her cousin, "And if you don't get Sorted into Ravenclaw?"

Elsa chose not to reply. She didn't like thinking about the other possibilities. She almost couldn't bear the thought of being Sorted into Slytherin. The House was renowned for turning out some of the world's darkest witches and wizards. What if it turned her evil too? On the other hand, of course, her father had belonged to Slytherin when he, himself, had attended Hogwarts. But as much as Elsa admired her father, she was still wary of his House.