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TWO GREETINGS FROM
(AN UNDERWATER DUNGEON?)
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HOLLY FEELS LIKE a fool.
And who can blame her? Sure, she's as tall as a twelve-year-old, but eleven-year-olds? They're inches below her. They barely reach her knees. But here she is, standing between two first years with surnames starting with an L, looking incredibly out of place. These kids look terrified of her, so there's a gap between her and the next kid, which is far wider than the gap between the other children. Plus, before she was escorted off to get sorted into a house, Pansy and Daphne grabbed her and uttered some spell that dried her off. (Apparently, something in the lake was having a tantrum? What?)
So she isn't sopping wet, like the little children standing either side of her. She also looks a little less terrified than they do, because, frankly, what's so scary about getting sorted into a house, in front of the entire school? Putting a manky hat on her head isn't as bad as performing the Killing Curse on a rat.
Holly glances around, hoping to find her new friends and feel comforted by them, rather than the other option — twirling her necklace and forcing the devil to appear. She catches Pansy's gaze, who grins back at her like she's proud of her. Holly isn't sure of what. People are whispering about her, though, if that's the reason why. She wishes they'd tone it down, or, learn how to whisper properly. Amateurs.
She looks ahead, where the manky hat sits on a stool. A tear along the brim spreads wide, and for a second she narrows her eyes, trying her best not to laugh or question the sanity of this place.
Oh, and then — get this — the hat begins to sing.
"A thousand years or more ago,
When I was newly sewn—"
Holly starts to glance around. Does no one else see how weird this is? By the looks of it, everyone must be used to this, or something. Either that, or this is seen as normal. Like, yes, obviously, this is far better than Durmstrang, but also, why is a hat singing?
So she keeps on looking around, because even if everyone else has adapted to this fuckery, she feels like she needs to take in her surroundings. She's got three years of catching up to do, learning the ins and outs of this place. She bets her friends already know a couple short-cuts. She doesn't even know the layout of the hall.
The four tables are decorated green, yellow, blue, and red. She figures that Slytherin's the green one, because that's where her friends are. Already, a couple on that table have sent glares to students on the red table, so she figures that's Gryffindor. She doesn't know about the other two. She'll figure that out in a minute, when someone's sorted and they walk to the designated table.
