Adrienne White and the Whispering Hollow

Everything is Sorted

“So,” Lucas continued his story as he, Adrienne and the rest of the Mensah house continued their trek to their dormitories, “my foot’s totally stuck up in there, right? I’m freaking out, the dog’s having a seizure and I’ve still got half a pie left - ”

“Not that this isn’t fascinating, Lucas,” Adrienne interrupted, remembering Katrina’s comments about him from earlier, “but isn’t common sense one of the core elements of this house?”

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, Adri,” Lucas smirked. “Intelligence? Absolutely. Street intelligence? Not necessarily. Apparently Mensah thought I was good enough for him, so here I am!”

Adrienne still couldn’t quite believe that the unrestrained, nonsense-spouting boy from before was in the house that most valued intelligence; but then again, some of the most intelligent students back in Ravenclaw had been some of the most eccentric. She had always known that there were different types of intelligence, but accepting and acknowledging that fact was always easier in theory than in practice.

“So,” she asked, hoping he wouldn’t notice the subject change, “what happens now? Do we just unpack and wait for classes to start tomorrow?”

“As amazing as that would be,” Lucas said, “unfortunately not. Mensah still has to determine our house leader for the year.” He rolled his eyes. “Not that it even matters. It’s usually the same person from when they’re picked until they graduate; I’ll be so glad when that freaking Matthew Shelton graduates so I can go through at least one year without him bossing me around.”

“So what then? Your prefects are just chosen at random by somebody?”

“What, oh no, the founders each have a painting in their respective house living quarters, they’re there for counsel, advice, even tutoring believe it or not. But they also select the student they believe to be the best representation of their house to be the house leaders.”

Well, that’s rather peculiar, though Adrienne, but she didn’t voice her thoughts. As they were led into the common room, she was told that to enter you had to be a member of Mensah house - that was easy enough - and you had to answer a riddle correctly. Adrienne thought that the riddles she heard were easy, so she wasn’t worried.

She was told by a boy that Lucas pointed out to be Matthew Shelton that her luggage had already been delivered to her room, and that they were all supposed to stay in the common room where on a blank wall hung an exact copy of the painting of Mensah that she had spoken to when she was sorted. He welcomed them all back. Then went on an impromptu speech about how Hendrick had told him that there was no way for them to win at Quidditch this year, and that he expected our team to work hard to wipe the grin off of his face from last year’s championship. After he was done, almost as an afterthought, he said, “Oh, and I almost forgot - the house leader for the year. Where is Matthew Shelton?”

The boy that she had seen earlier stepped up with a wide grin on his face.

“Well, Shelton, thank you for your prior two years of service, but you won’t be needed anymore because the new House leader is Adrienne White!”

“Aw, YEAH!” Lucas cried, holding up a hand to Adrienne for a high-five. “I don’t know how you managed that, but it was amazing.”

Almost numbly, she returned Lucas’s gesture, still trying to process the situation. She had been in the country for exactly one day, had literally met the founder half an hour ago, and now he thought she was going to be the best representative for the entire house?

Matthew Shelton stood there numb, with a stupid look on his face, not daring to move. It was his only defense against reality at the moment.

The painting of Mensah looked up at her almost like he was disappointed.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go meet with the other House leaders!”

Still shocked, she could barely squeeze out a faint, “Where?”

The painting of Mensah sighed and said with exasperation, “Just go to the library and they’ll meet you there.”