The Sorting Feast
Daphne Greengrass was excited. She would never admit such a thing, but she felt like a changed person. She was standing with the other professors of Hogwarts awaiting the arrival of the students. She was dressed in brand new green and black robes that Astoria had gotten for her - robes Astoria refused to take no for an answer for. They were very nice, and Daphne felt... professional. She had even brushed her hair and twisted the reddish-brown mass into a bun.
Sure she was standing next to Blaise Zabini, but she wasn't going to let his presence ruin this for her.
Greengrass was practically vibrating next to him, and it was almost enough to give him an eye twitch. The silly bint was actually excited, while he was dreading this. Grace was probably throwing a fit that he wasn't home when she was, but he was needed here and was going to home far past the time when Grace went to bed.
Blaise's bright spot was going to occur soon, when everyone realized he was their new professor and head of house.
The professors herded the upperclassmen into the Great Hall. Daphne noticed that she and Blaise were getting a few odd looks. That was typical. She had done the same with new professors when a student.
However, the looks on a few people's faces when they saw them were quite humorous. Sarah, James and Mina Stewart stood frozen for a moment with Carly Dorny next to them. They broke slowly with Sarah shuffling to the Hufflepuff table. She had instantly gained color and was holding her head high. Xander Avery had visibly paled. Daphne smiled at the boy.
Blaise blinked lazily and let a smirk curl his lips. Avery was shaking and nearly missed his seat when he went to sit down. It was a shame the boy was in Slytherin, but Blaise planned on giving him detention until he was thirty.
Professor Sprout had placed the stool out in front of the teacher's table. Daphne and Blaise moved and were now sitting next to one another. Daphne could not help her smile.
Carly was immediately set up on by the girls in her year and she smiled at them impatiently and maneuvered her way to James as he sat down. "Did you know Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini were going to be here? What are they doing here?"
No questions were answered because Professor Sinistra set the Sorting Hat on the Stool and it immediately started singing.
Many years I've seen
Once a year I am a bother
I may not be a pretty thing
But a smarter hat there is no other
You can keep your berets knitty
To warm you in the fall
But I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all
There's nothing lurking in your mind
The Sorting Hat can't see
So simply place me on your head
I'll tell you where to be
You might belong in Gryffindor
Where dwell the brave of heart
Their daring nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart
You might belong in Hufflepuff
Where they are just and loyal
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid to toil
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw
If you've a ready mind
Where those of wit and learning
Will always find their kind
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends
Changes come ahead of you
So to all of you I implore
I sort you into houses
because that is what I'm for
But do not divide so clearly
Things are never black and white
Many houses have many traits
That within these walls unite
The group of us, all of us
Have magic in our core
No sum works without its parts
This one is houses four
You are not just your house
You are not just your name
Do not judge on blood alone
For blood is red all the same
Oh, know the perils, read the signs
the warning history shows
for Hogwarts is in danger yet again
from external, deadly foes
and we must unite inside her
or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you...
let the sorting now begin.
So put me on, don't be afraid
We've more history to map
You're in safe hands, though I have none
For I'm a thinking cap.
Daphne glanced at Blaise out of the corner of her eye. That had been interesting. The hat had seemed to have a pulse on what was going on in the wizarding world in the past. It looked as if that had not changed.
"When I call your name, and sit on the stool to be sorted," Professor Sprout said. "Addams, Wednesday."
Daphne paid little attention to the sorting, as always. The only ones she had paid any attention to had been her own and her sister's.
"The younger years do not look half afraid of us as I'd like," Blaise muttered.
"That's because half of them only know us by names and not faces."
Once the sorting was completed and all of the ickle firsties were at their tables, Professor McGonagall rose.
"Welcome," she said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our feast, I would like to introduce three new members to our staff. Professor Daphne Greengrass will be teaching Potions Theory. Please stand up, Professor Greengrass."
Daphne rose.
"And Professor Blaise Zabini will be teaching Potions Practical."
Daphne nudged Blaise and he got to his feet as well. There was a slow murmur that had started at Daphne's name and had gotten worse at Blaise's. As McGonagall continued, Daphne and Blaise took their seats again.
"We also have a new groundskeeper - Maddock MacDougal."
The burly salt and pepper haired Scot just waved. He did not rise.
"Now, let us begin."
The plates filled with food and immediately chatter and the clanking of flatware filled the room.
"Ah, much better," Blaise said as he set in to the feast before them. He made sure to catch Avery's eye and he toyed with the very sharp steak knife provided to him. That reminded him--he needed to bring his Sumerian knife set and set it on his desk. "I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the common room tonight."
"You have one. You call her Mina."
Daphne was pleased that her plate had a half a chicken and celery sticks with Marshmallow cream on it. Most of the other professors were chatting, but Daphne took her time to eat. She had been starving.
"James is scowling at you, by the way. You didn't tell them?"
With a smirk, Blaise looked up and waved with his fork. "And miss these expressions on their faces? Hell no. They wouldn't have believed me if I told them. Hell, I wouldn't have believed myself if I were them."
Daphne glanced at the Hufflepuff table to check how Sarah was faring and promptly started choking when her eyes caught something else. Professor Vector clapped her on the back.
Blaise looked over at Greengrass. "What the hell is your problem?" She only took a drink and pointed to the Hufflepuff table. At first, he was worried that something was wrong with Sarah, but when he noticed who else was at the Hufflepuff table, he laughed loudly. Nott's little sister. It was the ultimate payback.
Students were starting to stare at Daphne choking and Blaise laughing. Carly was one of them. "They've gone mad. I thought they'd last longer than this," she whispered to James.
"You don't think he poisoned her already, do you? Hannah would be upset."
"I can not believe this," Daphne rasped. "His sister is a Huffle?"
Blaise's laughter dwindled down to chuckles. "Oh, it's wonderful. I only wish I could see his face. Do you think his eye will twitch? This is going to be excellent irritating material. Next time he comes into my lab I don't think I'll be able to stop the laughter."
"Why do you and Malfoy always have to do that? It's always the two of you against the world. Three, if Pansy deems the game worthy. Theo was sorted into Slytherin just as much as you were, and besides, you married a Hufflepuff."
Even her irritating words couldn't ruin his good mood. "You already said it--because it's always us against the world. Besides, just because we're Slytherins doesn't mean we have to be best of friends. Avery's a Slytherin and he needs to be dissected and sold for potions parts."
"No arguments there." Daphne took a sip of her pumpkin juice. "But if you prevent Theo from delivering my baby due to your games, you'll have bigger problems than Avery. Unlike your buddy Draco, I am so not afraid to get my hands dirty."
Blaise snorted. "Like you're the only one to kill someone. But I'll concede--no preventing Nott from delivering your hellspawn."
Daphne slammed her goblet down. "Stop calling my baby names. His name is Nickolas. Use it."
McGonagall was glaring at the two of them. James and Carly were watching from the Slytherin table.
He rolled his eyes. "When are you due to pop Saint Nick out? I'll be glad to not have to deal with your bitchy hormones."
"My bitchiness is well-cultivated over many years and has nothing to do with my pregnant state, as you well know. It would behoove you not to trifle with me until I give birth though. My temper is much more difficult to check these days."
"Your hormones must be tampering with your vocabulary. I didn't think you knew such big words. I also think I can handle your damn temper. If it came down to it, the only reason you'd be able to catch me was because I was too busy laughing at your waddling."
Daphne kicked him under the table.
"I wasn't waddling when I helped Sarah, thank you very much."
"Really, you two," Professor Mallard, the Charms teacher, said in a scolding tone.
Blaise glared at him and turned back to Daphne. "You didn't have to waddle because the idiots came to you. And Sarah helped!" He rubbed his shin. "And that was really mature. Way to set an example. Kick the other professor. If I had the hair would you pull my pigtails too?"
McGonagall was glaring even more. Blaise just smirked and leaned around Daphne. "Bet you're re-thinking hiring me, yes?"
Daphne elbowed him out of her space.
"Not another word or I will separate you two," McGonagall hissed.
Maddock MacDougal was chuckling. Loudly.
Sarah was waving to get James' and Carly's attention. When she did, she mouthed, that's Tavish's father.
"Oh fuck!" Carly said a bit too loudly. She groaned and put her head on the table. "If that little bastard visits I'll lock myself in my room. It was going to be bad enough I saw him some weekends."
"He's not even here," James said. "Don't be so dramatic."
"Well, Dorny, as Prefect, I think I'll have to take five points from Slytherin for swearing."
James was up instantly and in Xander Avery's face. "What did I say about being near her?"
Thankfully, the meal started breaking up and Avery was pulled away by friends. The girls who had been asking Carly questions earlier were looking from James to Carly with interest.
Carly waved the girls off, despite being pissed about losing five points within an hour of being back. "Go on, Deidre," she insisted, speaking to one of her friends. "I'll dish tonight in the room."
She turned back to James with a grin on her face. "My knight in shining armor. I could have handled myself, you know." With a sigh she stood up and dropped the fork she had been gripping. "I was prepared to take care of one bit of the Avery line, although I hated to ruin a perfectly good fork."
"I'm going to end up killing him before the year is out," was all James said as he started exiting the hall.
"As long as I get to watch," she said with a grin.
{SUMMARY} The year at Hogwarts kicks off with Daphne and Blaise at the teacher's table and Carly and James with front row seats.
Sure she was standing next to Blaise Zabini, but she wasn't going to let his presence ruin this for her.
Greengrass was practically vibrating next to him, and it was almost enough to give him an eye twitch. The silly bint was actually excited, while he was dreading this. Grace was probably throwing a fit that he wasn't home when she was, but he was needed here and was going to home far past the time when Grace went to bed.
Blaise's bright spot was going to occur soon, when everyone realized he was their new professor and head of house.
The professors herded the upperclassmen into the Great Hall. Daphne noticed that she and Blaise were getting a few odd looks. That was typical. She had done the same with new professors when a student.
However, the looks on a few people's faces when they saw them were quite humorous. Sarah, James and Mina Stewart stood frozen for a moment with Carly Dorny next to them. They broke slowly with Sarah shuffling to the Hufflepuff table. She had instantly gained color and was holding her head high. Xander Avery had visibly paled. Daphne smiled at the boy.
Blaise blinked lazily and let a smirk curl his lips. Avery was shaking and nearly missed his seat when he went to sit down. It was a shame the boy was in Slytherin, but Blaise planned on giving him detention until he was thirty.
Professor Sprout had placed the stool out in front of the teacher's table. Daphne and Blaise moved and were now sitting next to one another. Daphne could not help her smile.
Carly was immediately set up on by the girls in her year and she smiled at them impatiently and maneuvered her way to James as he sat down. "Did you know Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini were going to be here? What are they doing here?"
No questions were answered because Professor Sinistra set the Sorting Hat on the Stool and it immediately started singing.
Many years I've seen
Once a year I am a bother
I may not be a pretty thing
But a smarter hat there is no other
You can keep your berets knitty
To warm you in the fall
But I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all
There's nothing lurking in your mind
The Sorting Hat can't see
So simply place me on your head
I'll tell you where to be
You might belong in Gryffindor
Where dwell the brave of heart
Their daring nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart
You might belong in Hufflepuff
Where they are just and loyal
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid to toil
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw
If you've a ready mind
Where those of wit and learning
Will always find their kind
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends
Changes come ahead of you
So to all of you I implore
I sort you into houses
because that is what I'm for
But do not divide so clearly
Things are never black and white
Many houses have many traits
That within these walls unite
The group of us, all of us
Have magic in our core
No sum works without its parts
This one is houses four
You are not just your house
You are not just your name
Do not judge on blood alone
For blood is red all the same
Oh, know the perils, read the signs
the warning history shows
for Hogwarts is in danger yet again
from external, deadly foes
and we must unite inside her
or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you...
let the sorting now begin.
So put me on, don't be afraid
We've more history to map
You're in safe hands, though I have none
For I'm a thinking cap.
Daphne glanced at Blaise out of the corner of her eye. That had been interesting. The hat had seemed to have a pulse on what was going on in the wizarding world in the past. It looked as if that had not changed.
"When I call your name, and sit on the stool to be sorted," Professor Sprout said. "Addams, Wednesday."
Daphne paid little attention to the sorting, as always. The only ones she had paid any attention to had been her own and her sister's.
"The younger years do not look half afraid of us as I'd like," Blaise muttered.
"That's because half of them only know us by names and not faces."
Once the sorting was completed and all of the ickle firsties were at their tables, Professor McGonagall rose.
"Welcome," she said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our feast, I would like to introduce three new members to our staff. Professor Daphne Greengrass will be teaching Potions Theory. Please stand up, Professor Greengrass."
Daphne rose.
"And Professor Blaise Zabini will be teaching Potions Practical."
Daphne nudged Blaise and he got to his feet as well. There was a slow murmur that had started at Daphne's name and had gotten worse at Blaise's. As McGonagall continued, Daphne and Blaise took their seats again.
"We also have a new groundskeeper - Maddock MacDougal."
The burly salt and pepper haired Scot just waved. He did not rise.
"Now, let us begin."
The plates filled with food and immediately chatter and the clanking of flatware filled the room.
"Ah, much better," Blaise said as he set in to the feast before them. He made sure to catch Avery's eye and he toyed with the very sharp steak knife provided to him. That reminded him--he needed to bring his Sumerian knife set and set it on his desk. "I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the common room tonight."
"You have one. You call her Mina."
Daphne was pleased that her plate had a half a chicken and celery sticks with Marshmallow cream on it. Most of the other professors were chatting, but Daphne took her time to eat. She had been starving.
"James is scowling at you, by the way. You didn't tell them?"
With a smirk, Blaise looked up and waved with his fork. "And miss these expressions on their faces? Hell no. They wouldn't have believed me if I told them. Hell, I wouldn't have believed myself if I were them."
Daphne glanced at the Hufflepuff table to check how Sarah was faring and promptly started choking when her eyes caught something else. Professor Vector clapped her on the back.
Blaise looked over at Greengrass. "What the hell is your problem?" She only took a drink and pointed to the Hufflepuff table. At first, he was worried that something was wrong with Sarah, but when he noticed who else was at the Hufflepuff table, he laughed loudly. Nott's little sister. It was the ultimate payback.
Students were starting to stare at Daphne choking and Blaise laughing. Carly was one of them. "They've gone mad. I thought they'd last longer than this," she whispered to James.
"You don't think he poisoned her already, do you? Hannah would be upset."
"I can not believe this," Daphne rasped. "His sister is a Huffle?"
Blaise's laughter dwindled down to chuckles. "Oh, it's wonderful. I only wish I could see his face. Do you think his eye will twitch? This is going to be excellent irritating material. Next time he comes into my lab I don't think I'll be able to stop the laughter."
"Why do you and Malfoy always have to do that? It's always the two of you against the world. Three, if Pansy deems the game worthy. Theo was sorted into Slytherin just as much as you were, and besides, you married a Hufflepuff."
Even her irritating words couldn't ruin his good mood. "You already said it--because it's always us against the world. Besides, just because we're Slytherins doesn't mean we have to be best of friends. Avery's a Slytherin and he needs to be dissected and sold for potions parts."
"No arguments there." Daphne took a sip of her pumpkin juice. "But if you prevent Theo from delivering my baby due to your games, you'll have bigger problems than Avery. Unlike your buddy Draco, I am so not afraid to get my hands dirty."
Blaise snorted. "Like you're the only one to kill someone. But I'll concede--no preventing Nott from delivering your hellspawn."
Daphne slammed her goblet down. "Stop calling my baby names. His name is Nickolas. Use it."
McGonagall was glaring at the two of them. James and Carly were watching from the Slytherin table.
He rolled his eyes. "When are you due to pop Saint Nick out? I'll be glad to not have to deal with your bitchy hormones."
"My bitchiness is well-cultivated over many years and has nothing to do with my pregnant state, as you well know. It would behoove you not to trifle with me until I give birth though. My temper is much more difficult to check these days."
"Your hormones must be tampering with your vocabulary. I didn't think you knew such big words. I also think I can handle your damn temper. If it came down to it, the only reason you'd be able to catch me was because I was too busy laughing at your waddling."
Daphne kicked him under the table.
"I wasn't waddling when I helped Sarah, thank you very much."
"Really, you two," Professor Mallard, the Charms teacher, said in a scolding tone.
Blaise glared at him and turned back to Daphne. "You didn't have to waddle because the idiots came to you. And Sarah helped!" He rubbed his shin. "And that was really mature. Way to set an example. Kick the other professor. If I had the hair would you pull my pigtails too?"
McGonagall was glaring even more. Blaise just smirked and leaned around Daphne. "Bet you're re-thinking hiring me, yes?"
Daphne elbowed him out of her space.
"Not another word or I will separate you two," McGonagall hissed.
Maddock MacDougal was chuckling. Loudly.
Sarah was waving to get James' and Carly's attention. When she did, she mouthed, that's Tavish's father.
"Oh fuck!" Carly said a bit too loudly. She groaned and put her head on the table. "If that little bastard visits I'll lock myself in my room. It was going to be bad enough I saw him some weekends."
"He's not even here," James said. "Don't be so dramatic."
"Well, Dorny, as Prefect, I think I'll have to take five points from Slytherin for swearing."
James was up instantly and in Xander Avery's face. "What did I say about being near her?"
Thankfully, the meal started breaking up and Avery was pulled away by friends. The girls who had been asking Carly questions earlier were looking from James to Carly with interest.
Carly waved the girls off, despite being pissed about losing five points within an hour of being back. "Go on, Deidre," she insisted, speaking to one of her friends. "I'll dish tonight in the room."
She turned back to James with a grin on her face. "My knight in shining armor. I could have handled myself, you know." With a sigh she stood up and dropped the fork she had been gripping. "I was prepared to take care of one bit of the Avery line, although I hated to ruin a perfectly good fork."
"I'm going to end up killing him before the year is out," was all James said as he started exiting the hall.
"As long as I get to watch," she said with a grin.
{SUMMARY} The year at Hogwarts kicks off with Daphne and Blaise at the teacher's table and Carly and James with front row seats.