Mostly Void ▷ Theseus Scamander

3 - HARSH TRUTH

    ANATOLE'S BODY THRUMMED AS HE STOOD IN THE HUDDLED MASS OF FIRST YEARS. He could feel the eyes of the older students trained on him and the others, and he allowed himself to survey the crowd for his brothers, finding them seated amongst their friends, the two on opposite sides of the table, both giving him bright smiles when he saw him looking.

    A woman with blonde hair and a thick Northern accent stepped forward to greet them, introducing herself as Professor Kisin but Anatole found that he couldn't focus on her as he followed her along, the blood roaring in his ears, but he was able to catch some words, understanding that, before anyone was allowed to eat, he and the others in his year would have to be sorted.

    "Your house will be something like your family here at Hogwarts," the woman explained, then going on to list the four houses and explain the concept of house points, something that Anatole was more than acquainted with, having heard all the stories from his father and brothers despite their attempts to keep it a secret.

    "I will let you in momentarily," she finished, before disappearing from the chambers, leaving the group to talk amongst themselves.

    "How do you suppose they sort us?" Eimi asked, and he opened his mouth to explain, only to find that she wasn't asking him, rather another boy who began to tell her about a test that was most certainly lot true and was clearly told to him as a joke by an older sibling.

    Anatole saw the look of fear that passed over Eimi's features, but before he could swoop in and tell her that she didn't need to slice open any part of her body to be sorted, Professor Kisin returned, telling them to form a line and follow.

    They did as they were told, Anatole finding himself at the very back of the line, fiddling with his robes as he tried to remind himself that there was nothing to worry about. Like Professor Kisin said, his house would be like his family, and he would be with his brothers, he would have people.

    Just because he was lacking didn't mean he couldn't make friends, right?

    He took a deep breath as he stepped through the large double doors, entering the Great Hall, filled with four long tables filled with students, one table facing Anatole head-on, taken up by professors of all ages who smiled at the sight of them. The room was lit by thousands of candles that floated over the tables, and he looked up towards the ceiling to find that it was the exact same dark that the sky had been, remembering that the ceiling had been bewitched to mimic that of the sky, as his father had told him before.

    He looked around, searching for his brothers, and gave them his usual smile when he caught sight of them, Jean giving him a bright smile while Francis merely waved with a slight raise of his lips.

    At Jean's motion, Anatole turned his attention back towards the front of the room, finding Professor Kinis placing a small four-legged stool in front of the entire room, then a hat right upon that. It was raggedy and old looking, and he found himself wrinkling his nose at it out of pure taught instinct.

    But then a rip near the bottom of the hat widened and, much to the bewilderment of Anatole and all the other first years, the hat began to sing.

While I might not seem that much to you
Fret not for do you see
I can see inside you true
In what house you shall so be

You might be in brave Gryffindor
Bold, brash, and daring
Or you might just be in Hufflepuff
Its founder ever caring

You might just be in Ravenclaw
Wise beyond their years
Or perhaps you're in with Slytherin
Placing ambition before their fears