Nine Lives and Bad Luck

11

   Surprise update!

Sorry it's a short one though, I wasn't really confident about combining this and the next chapter into the same thing; the next one should be over one thousand words. (As someone who prefers longer chapters themselves I like to keep my chapters at least over a thousand words). -T.A.L.A.

Harry had changed into the uniform and Ron had left sometime later finding him uninteresting after awhile, leaving him to continue flipping through the pages of his tome. He wouldn't say it was an interesting read per say, but it was informative. And that was what mattered to him as, like Silk (at least he thought Silk was like this too, but sometimes you couldn't tell), he didn't read books purely for the "joy of reading", or whatever it was some people claimed to do so for, but for what they contained. It would be the difference that kept him from Ravenclaw, he thought absently. Now that someone had raised the question he found his mind turning to what he had found about the houses.

     Hufflepuff was the home for badgers, cloaked in yellow and black they were loyal and hardworking, patient and fair. It seemed like a nice place to go, from what he had heard they were a close knit group- something he was kind of used to- and probably wouldn't mind if the less human traits from his natural animagus forms showed through. But he wasn't sure how well he aligned with the traits that would make him considered for them. He was hardworking and generally saw himself as a fair person, but patience and fierce loyalty came to him rarely. That put the badgers as a maybe.

       Gryffindor was the place to be for cats, dressed in red and gold they were courageous and noble, brave and bold. Silk would find it hilarious and never let up on cat jokes, but they had a strongly positive reputation and from what he heard many of their members would fit just as easily in another house.  He doubted they would protest his cat-like form, but was unsure how they would take the other traits that came along with it or how they would respond to any further forms that awakened. He could see himself as brave- you needed it for some of the circuits- bold not so much as far as he went overall, he'd leave the big, out there statements to others. And while he did try to be fair, he was hardly an upstanding citizen so he couldn't see how well the noble would fit.

     Ravenclaw was where the ravens resided, donning blue and bronze they were renowned for cleverness and wisdom, innovation and enthusiasm towards learning. They seemed to be regarded neutrally enough and he had even heard of a secret library. They would likely be accepting of his animagus forms as long as they received enough information and gave decent explanations. Trait wise he seemed to fit well enough, he had creativity when it came to spell use and was even looking forward to making his own original ones eventually, but he had no drive to learn in any way beyond how it would be immediately useful to him- and even then it was limited as he often grew tired of books and much preferred practical lessons. Wisdom and good decision making he was told he lacked at times too- his temper often taking hold- but he wasn't unintelligent either, he just sometimes failed to keep a level head.

     Slytherin was the remaining house, the dwelling of the snakes, clothed in green and silver they were set apart by their fierce ambition and cunning, sharp judgement and self preservation. He supposed there wouldn't be too many negative reactions to his animagus forms as most had grown up around magic, but they had such a strongly negative image he was hesitant to place himself in their midsts. He also didn't have many goals in mind for the future and the consensus was he had little to no self preservation to speak of, but he liked to believe he was cunning enough to fit in and he knew he had quick judgement skills.

     All in all, he found none of the houses fully appealed to him, yet he also knew that whichever he aimed for would dictate his school experience for what seemed like would be the next seven years. It was a bit daunting. Should he aim for a positive reputation? Comfort? To grow his skills? Acceptance? To set up for a good future? Each house could grant him more than one of those and even he was unsure which he would value most.

     Slytherin would tarnish, in many circles at least, his name, but also he would doubtless get assistance from those graduated- for a price. And Hufflepuff would offer comfort and acceptance, as well as leaving his reputation clean- although he had often heard of it as the house of the leftovers (which was somewhat confusing as Gryffindors tended to be the group that best fit into other houses)- but it wouldn't help him to improve or make connections as easily.

     He sighed. It didn't really matter what he thought though; they might just pull names from a hat for all he knew.