Rise From Dust | Harry Potter

Twenty

Chapter 20 | Bodies and Blood

1 September, 1993

The Great Hall was in its customary grand self, decorated in its splendor adornments for the welcoming feast. Harry had his eyes glued to the golden plate in front of him, hardly noticing any of his surroundings. With his head set on the palm of his right hand, he dozed to space, thoughts drifting afar. The shouts from the Sorting Hat, the applause, and even the whispers of the students were far from his mind. Only a gentle prod to his elbow did his daydream came to a closing stage.

"Noah is about to be sorted, Harry," disclosed Callista. "It is in your- I mean our best interests to know what house he's going to be in."

"Um, right. Thanks..." Forehead creased and eyes roosted on a particular brown-haired boy, a scowl sketched Harry's face. "Oh, who am I kidding?" Harry said, unkindly. "Who gives a thought on what the runt is going to house in? It's not in my best interest to recognize anything concerning him." A well-practiced, painful pinch was immediately sent to his left arm. "Ouch!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Harry. There are more painful experiences in this world than a mere pinch from a teenage girl like me," Callista declared, a small smile gracing her lips. "What is more, if Regine was to hear what you had just said, you can be certain she'd be mad at you for patronizing her brother like that."

"Barberis, Noah," said McGonagall, breaking them out of their disagreement. With blush adoring his cute oval shaped face, the anxiety shone in his shy brown eyes, his small stature - possibly the smallest out of his year, his elegant brown hair unlike the Potter's bird unkempt nest hair, and his very tidy appearance that earned McGonagall's approval, Noah Barberis stepped out of the line and he literally climbed up to the stool. At that, Harry didn't oppose to the snickers expelling out his throat wherein it led to another series of pinch from the girl seated on his left side. In response to it, Harry complained in his standard 'Ouch!' at his so-called injury.

Seven minutes gone, and the hat had yet to cry out what house. Another minute, Harry rotated his head around to find Regine grew worry of her brother. After another eight minutes flew by, then the Sorting Hat shouted out.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Noah hastily pulled the hat off as if terrified the hat would change its mind and he scurried to join his big sister at the Hufflepuff table, whom was cheering for him. Harry wasn't stunned the runt was in Hufflepuff, no, it was the fact of how long he was to be sorted, almost as long as Harry and his own brother, Daniel.

"Not much of surprise there," remarked Harry, eyes locked onto Regine hugging her red face brother. "Secretly, I was hoping for him to be in Slytherin and have Daphne torture him from the inside. She never likes Regine's brother anyway, for the minor reason of being so close to her little sister. Daphne never fails to have this sudden crazy thought of him plotting to take advantage of Astoria."

"Daphne is being silly and you know it, Harry," smiled Callista. "It's strange, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"That Regine's younger brothers prefer to confess her any problems they're dealing with, instead of their own parents...I don't think Regine's brothers would ever want to be separate from their sister if they were given a choice."

"It shows how good she is with children..." Harry smiled fondly. "I kind of envy the close relationship she has with her siblings. Sometimes, I wish mine was as perfect as hers..." Callista opted not to comment at that, merely burying his words to her heart.

"Greengrass, Astoria!" Harry reflected how peculiar it was that Astoria didn't bear any resemblance to her sister, nor was she a carbon copy of a miniature Daphne. With her black silk hair like her mother's, the blue eyes from her father, her slender body and porcelain skin comparable to Daphne's, the girl extracted herself from the line of first years. She carried herself with an air of confidence, elegance, and dare Harry say it, a touch of arrogance. She was the true poster child for pureblood princesses from aristocratic families.