Awkward

Chapter - 4 The Ceremony

The hall stood in complete silence as the sorting ceremony commenced. Applause filled the silence of the hall only when the houses of the students were revealed by the grumpy Sorting Hat.

Severus Snape looked at the faces of all the young and innocent first-year students: surprised, amazed, scared and somewhat baffled by the mystic aura of the Wizardry schoolschool.

Among them stood a girl a bit taller than the rest of them. A lean figure was distinguishable from beneath her robes. She had a short round face with raven hair neatly tied in a ponytail behind her head and large, black-rimmed spectacles gently placed on top of her small, perfect nose.

She was perfect for a young lady, but no one could call her a breathtaking beauty. Elegant was the perfect word to describe the way she carried herself. He noticed her, but what he didn't notice was that she was looking back at him too, and a sweet, warm and gentle smile played upon her light pink lips.

He was baffled by her smile. Girls did try to flirt with him a little due to his war-hero status, but he always ignored their actions, but her elegant smile somewhat distracted him, and he felt that it wasn't a flirting gesture. Somewhere deep down he didn't want to ignore her, so he did something that people would say was very un-Snape; He smiled back.

"Barclay, Seraphina," Minerva announced, and he was drawn out of his thoughts. She was the only one left to be sorted now, as she was the only transfer student that year. The girl walked towards the stool and sat in a very refined manner.

"A Barclay... after a long time, though," the hat started in his grumpy tone which sounded more like a clogged gutter. "La Famille des surdoués ... bravery is your habit ... loyalty flows in your veins... cunning enough to baffle even a Slytherin... but intelligence is your first precedence, curiosity has driven the sleep out of you, impressive ... Ravenclaw!"

The girl blushes at all the compliments the sorting hat had said about her.

"Thanks for the compliments, Mr Sorting Hat." The girl spoke in the same discerning manner in which she carried herself. Well, no one ever before had thanked the Hat, and that made Professor Flitwick grin proudly.

Thud, the wooden doors of the Great Hall swung open, but no one was on the other side. The girl just stood up from the stool and, like everyone else in the hall, she was startled by the act. Only then, a giant Patronus of a snake emerged from nowhere. Severus felt numb in his place. it was the same Patronus that had cursed him, but it wasn't only him who was dismayed, but the same expression had come over the girl's face --the new Ravenclaw.

"Sssseythaaassss ssseyaaaayaassssehhhssss seethahaasssseytha hassayayahssssehhhssss sssseyaaseethaaahaassssryaaa sssseyaaseethaaasss ssssehhhayaeehseyythaasssseythasssseyaasssshusseey ayeaehhassaay ssssehhhhaaseyythaa ayaahathseyythaayaeehhatheeeyssssaytha hatheeeyseethaaaayaeehssssehhh seethassss sssseythaseethaaahaahathehhhhathehhh aayaassssehhhaaahhasseeyaayaaseyythaasssseytha," the Patronus hissed in a tone devoid of any expression.

"Hatheeeyseethaaaayaeeh sssseythaseethaaahaahathehhhhathehhh aayaassseyaa ethaassss ssseyaaseethaaassssseyytha." Someone else hissed in Parseltongue. Aghast, everyone looked up to figure out from where the hissing was coming, and it was her-the girl, the new Ravenclaw. Her expression was illegible and toned. It felt like she was bewitched by the snake.

" Aayaassseyaasssseytha haaaaaahayaeehesseytha haaseythaaehhhathehhhssss." The Patronus hissed as it leapt and passed through her chest in the similar way it went through Severus', forming a blanket of blue mist around her.

Minerva was taken aback by what had just happened again in front of her eyes. Before anyone could take command of the situation, the girl vanquished, running down the centre of the Great Hall, the unreadable expression still overshadowing her face.