Outsider Sorting Ceremony

[accionpc.livejournal.com]

After Monday's announcement that Hogwarts would play host to several Outsiders, the school was a hub of gossip, and the break-in of Sirius Black during the Hallowe'en Feast had almost been forgotten. Everywhere you went, there were people talking about the Outsiders in hushed voices, almost as though it was forbidden. Many of the rumours sounded ridiculous - apparently, Outsiders could throw houses, fly without aid, and turn invisible at will. Some students would try to discredit the rumours by explaining how such things were impossible, but it was to little avail.

Saturday was the day Hogwarts would open its doors to Outsiders, through a small Sorting Ceremony. It wasn't expected to be a large event, as reports indicated only a few Outsiders had accepted the offer, but it still seemed as though the entire school came to the Great Hall for the feast that evening.

The Great Hall was laid out the same way as the start of any Sorting Ceremony, though the tattered, frayed Sorting Hat had already been placed on the stool that stood before the staff table. The Outsiders - a mere four of them - were already present, lined up near the Sorting Hat.

Once all students and staff had arrived, Professor Dumbledore stood, raising a hand to quell the chatter and noise. Once all but a few quiet murmurs had ended, he addressed the school.

"Today," he said, "we welcome four new students into our school. I am sure you are all aware of the circumstances that have brought them here, and ask only that you treat them the same as any other student in this school. They are here to learn, just as you are."

Some couldn't help but wonder how Dumbledore could expect this, when one of the four Outsiders didn't even look human.

"Our four new students will be placed in a suitable House in the same manner as our First Years were at the start of term. Their House will be their home for as long as they remain at Hogwarts.

"Professor McGonagall, if you please?"

And the Headmaster took his seat. Professor McGonagall stepped forward.

"When I call your name and year, you will wear the hat and sit on the stool. The Sorting Hat will select the most appropriate House. You will then seat yourself at that House's table."

Comments

Re: AFTERWARDS

[youngnobelman]

Just off one of the main corridors, Touma stood with one arm folded against his body and holding an envelope, one hand offering up an owl treat. Above him, an owl flew up and down the hallway near the high ceiling. Occasionally it turned into the main corridor to swoop down on some unsuspecting students, but it seemed to be making an effort to stay out of Touma's reach.

"Athena, really," he called up to the owl.

[balladofgales.livejournal.com]

"I think I like those!" piped up a voice, coming from one of the new Gryffindors. "I never saw them at home... they're kinda like monster versions of the Rito, I think. They carry mail, right?"

Link was looking at the owl in fascination.

[youngnobelman]

What on earth is a Rito, Touma wondered briefly, before looking at the speaker and realizing it was one of the Outsiders. Right. Of course he'd mention some creature that didn't exist on this earth, and monsters, at that.

"Correct," he replied. "Or, at least, they're supposed to."

The owl was instead soaring down to look at Link's ears, equally fascinated.

[balladofgales.livejournal.com]

Link watches the owl, wondering why it's coming so close to him. It doesn't look like it's going to attack or anything, though. That's good.

"Won't this one?" he wonders. "Maybe you need a better treat? Oh, here!" Out of nowhere, Link pulls a rather ugly-looking pear (http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Hyoi_Pear). "I know some birds really like these!"

[youngnobelman]

"Owls are carniv--" Touma started, but the owl took a curious bite of the pear...

Only to spit it back out into Link's face and fly away from this weird kid with the disgusting fruit.

"I apologize for her bad behavior," Touma said, inclining his head. "She's not normally so rude to other people."

No, she was usually only rude to him. However, it seemed the pear was all Athena needed to finally accept the owl treat he'd been holding, and even stick around to take his letter, before flying off to the nearest open window. Touma sighed.

"I believe I should be thanking you."

[balladofgales.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's odd. Seagulls like them. But then, Link guesses that owls and seagulls are very different creatures.

"Oh. Well, okay then," he says, wiping the spat-out pear from his face with his sleeve. "You're... welcome?"

[youngnobelman]

Eying the boy's sleeve, Touma offered him a hand to shake.

"My name's Thomas H. Norstein; I'm a fourth year student here."

His house, he thought, should have been obvious from his uniform.

[balladofgales.livejournal.com]

"I'm Link!" the other boy said, beaming as he shook Touma's hand. "I'm... third year, they said. I don't know how they decided that - this is the first time I've ever been to a school. I helped the teacher at Windfall Island's school a little, but that's all."

[youngnobelman]

"It's by age," he explained. "You have to be eleven by the start of the school year to be in first year, so third years are at least thirteen. But you're not the only one who hasn't been to school before: A lot of students were homeschooled before Hogwarts."

Touma included himself in that, even if his own education had been rather accelerated.

[untrainedaura.livejournal.com]

Ash looks up as Touma starts calling to the owl. Now he's glad he got to bring Pikachu along, but "That looks a whole lot like a Noctowl..." He'll absentmindedly mumble to himself.

"Is it yours?" It seems like it, the guy was calling for it like it was his. But the owl in the sky didn't seem to want to listen.

[youngnobelman]

Sadly, this was not the first time Touma had gotten this question.

"She may not act like it," he sighed, eyes still on his owl, "but she is."

When he looked at the boy who spoke to him, it took him a moment to place him as one of the Outsiders. The one in his year?

[untrainedaura.livejournal.com]

He'll laugh a little, "She seems really stubborn." A lot of his pokemon are ridiculously stubborn, just like him.

Ash has indeed been put into fourth year. "How long have you had her?"

[youngnobelman]

Touma smirked: Stubborn was a fairly accurate description of Athena.

"A bit over three years," he said. "I got her when I found out Hogwarts isn't in the Muggle post system."

Plus, fast postage from Scotland to Austria was expensive, and while the Norsteins certainly had the money to burn, Touma would have rather spent the money on books.

[untrainedaura.livejournal.com]

"Muggle... oh right, people who don't have magic, right?" It was still a weird word to hear.

He guesses it makes sense to send stuff back from home, but really he only ever talked to his mom on the phone systems in pokecenters. "Who do you send stuff to?"

[youngnobelman]

Touma nodded. It was nice to hear the word 'Muggle' in curious tones rather than with the scorn of his housemates or the slight condescension of his third year Muggle Studies classes.

"My younger sister," he replied, careful to keep his expression neutral. "She likes hearing about the school."

More than his father and grandmother did, at any rate.

[untrainedaura.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you've got a sister? That's pretty cool. I'm an only child.

What's that like?" It sounds like it'd be a lot of fun to grow up with somebody. ... Huh, guess that made Gary kinda like his brother. "Actually, what's the school been like? I just got here."

Thank you Ash, Captain of Obviousness.

if Ash is Captain Obvious, Touma is Captain Infodump

[youngnobelman]

Well, Ash certainly didn't ask two easy questions right after each other.

"Allow me to start with the school; it's probably a more pressing question."

That, and he hoped the boy would be so distracted by all the new questions the school might bring up that he would forget to ask about his sister.

"The building changes: The rooms move around, some of the doors are actually walls or vice versa, and some of the staircases are weird. The students are..."

He hesitated, not having had the best experience with them himself.

"It'll take most people a while to get used to having you among us, but the houses are generally close-knit, so you'll be fine. Though Slytherin and Gryffindor have a traditional rivalry, so if someone in this," Touma indicated his own green and silver tie and crest, "treats you badly, don't take it personally. The classes vary widely, as do the professors."

Re: AFTERWARDS

[turnip-rage.livejournal.com]

"Take it your pet doesn't like you very much," said a voice, from fairly low down - the Outsider it was coming from, after all, wasn't even four foot tall. He was watching, looking somewhat amused by all this. "You trying to poison it or something?"

Re: AFTERWARDS

[youngnobelman]

Touma started to glare, but had to doubletake to find his target: Ah, the Outsider who wasn't human. He'd wanted to give the Outsiders a chance, but accusing him of trying to poison his own owl did not a favorable first impression make.

"She likes these," he said coldly. "She just enjoys making me wait more."

And given Athena's species was known for being aggressive, he actually preferred this over the alternative.

[turnip-rage.livejournal.com]

Noting the expression, Espio just shrugged. "And people say I can't take a joke."

He stepped to the side, watching the owl with interest. Anyone would think he'd never seen one before - in fact, he'd seen a few at the campground, but prior to being in this world... well, let's just say owls were a lot different where he came from. "You're trying to post something, then, I take it? Letting your family know about us showing up?"

[youngnobelman]

Touma eased up just slightly at that, to the point of neutral politeness rather than outright friendliness. He had to work on the humor thing.

"Among other updates, yes," he said. The sorting ceremony had been an afternote in his letter, scrawled during the feast. "My sister likes to hear about the school."

[turnip-rage.livejournal.com]

"Ah."

Well, at least it sounded like something more general than the less-than-nice newspaper articles Espio had encountered thus far. Espio was okay with that - after all, events were to be talked about.

Even so... "most of your lot don't seem to like us. They especially don't like me. There was a big fuss about me being able to have a wand."

[youngnobelman]

Before answering, Touma looked around in case some pureblood kid would hear him and take offense.

"Wizarding Britain can be...set in its ways," he said delicately. He was always too caught up in the Muggle aristocracy to see enough of wizarding Austria to compare. "Unfortunately this includes considerable discrimination against other species."

It was something he'd observed from the Prophet and some of his textbooks, as well as in his occasional visits to Diagon Alley. He couldn't help drawing a parallel with his grandmother's attitude towards the lower classes and his own mother.

[turnip-rage.livejournal.com]

"They need to get over it," Espio said, bluntly. "Where I'm from, you're lucky if you see one of your own species during the day... 'cept if you're one of the more common ones, like cats. You get the occasional nut who believes in 'ectotherm supremacy' or whatever it was, I guess, but none of this 'we can't let anyone who's not a human have a magic stick!' business."

Okay, so he was venting a little, which probably wasn't the best idea when talking to a native, but...

"I get the feeling you're not really into the discrimination stuff." He looked thoughtful, trying to think of what he'd learned about the world before coming here. "Know a lot of 'muggles', maybe?"

[youngnobelman]

Touma was nodding along to Espio's rant, with a brief stare of confusion at 'ectotherm supremacy' (clearly this creature came from an odd world), but he froze and looked at his owl instead of Espio when the conversation came back to him rather than British wizarding society at large.

"My family," he said abruptly. His upbringing, which was impossible to hide in a house full of pureblooded kids who'd been using magic since before they could walk.