The Sorting Hat's Mistake (A Harry Potter FanFiction) ON HOLD

Chapter 12: I Have To Compete?

***ROWAN POV***

 Kellan's been acting strange lately. I mean, she is a strange person, but she's been acting even more strange. As I walk to my study session with Dalton, I can't help but think that it has something to do with this whole tournament.

Is she afraid she's the heir of Slytherin? She can't be! The rest of her family are Ravenclaws! I push these thoughts out of my head as I enter the library. Dalton isn't there. As usual. 

I sit down in the nearest desk just as Dalton comes sprinting in. He groans. 

"Again?!" He exclaims, looking out of breath. "Even when you're late you're early!" I laugh at his distress and smile. 

"Just one of the perks of being a Ravenclaw!" He gives me a look. "Okay, okay, let's start." I take Dalton through the spell to transfigure a piece of straw into a needle, but I can tell he's not really listening. 

"What did you say?" He asks. "Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention." I breathe out an impatient sigh. 

"You aren't making this easy for either of us, Dalton," I tell him. He looks apologetic. 

"I know," he says. "I'm just worried about this tournament. Along with the heirs to Slytherin and Ravenclaw. I mean, what's that about?" I gulp, shrugging. 

"I don't know," I say, looking down at my hands. "But I really want to know who they are." Dalton nods. 

"It could be anyone," he says. "It could be someone in this library." I look around. The library mainly consists of Ravenclaws and Slytherins. 

"Yeah," I say, "maybe." He smiles. 

"Anyways," he says, "excited for the Yule Ball?" I don't meet his eyes. 

"We should get back to your tutoring." He looks at me for a moment. 

"You're avoiding the topic." 

"Where did the piece of straw go?" 

"Why are you avoiding the topic?" He asks. 

"Okay the spell is-" 

"Rowan." I look at him. 

"Dalton." He cracks a smile. 

"You really don't want to go, do you?" I shrug. "It could be fun. Dancing, music, food." He pauses, looking for my reaction. "What's not to like?" I don't say anything for a minute. 

"You wouldn't understand," I finally say, playing with my hands on the table. 

"Then explain." I look up and Dalton's eyes look like they're sympathetic, but there's also curiousity. A curiousity that I see in him everyday. Sometimes I feel like the curiousity is a flame inside him that will never burn out, even without anything fueling it. 

"My parents control my life," I tell him. He raises an eyebrow. "This isn't just some teenager thing where I complain that I don't have enough freedom. They literally control every single thing I do! Before I came to Hogwarts my only friend was Draco because they wouldn't let me out of their sight." Dalton is silent so I continue. "Sometimes I wouldn't do what they wanted me to do, and every time they would somehow find out. They would sometimes send people out to watch me when they didn't think I knew, but I did. They're insane!" I go on and on, and Dalton hangs on to my every word. He seems to find my life intriguing, and he just keeps asking me questions about it. 

"But this doesn't explain why you're not excited for the Yule Ball..." I put my head in my hands for a moment. 

"Well....my parents got to pick who I go with...and I was really scared that I would have to go with Tyson or Crabbe or Goyle...but I got lucky being able to go with Draco." Dalton stiffens a little at the mention of Draco.