Scars

Prolouge

Zella Langley walked forward, her hands fidgeting ever so slightly as she felt the eyes of the entire hall on her. Even at 11 she wasn't stupid- she knew what they were looking at. The scar that marred her young face, a long puckered wound that stretched from her forehead to the corner of her lips. The right eye that was a milky blue, having lost all sight.
She bit her lip, looking down and hurrying towards the front of the hall. It was nothing short of majestic, just as her mother had told her. Beautiful wooden walls rose up to a ceiling that took Zella's breath away. It was a depiction of the night sky, a dark velvety blue with scatters of glowing stars. Constellations littered the slowly moving clouds and the moon shone silver.

Apparently she'd been looking at the sky too long, as the steps to the elevated portion of the hall surprised her. The uprising surface caught on Zella's shoe and the small girl lurched forward, falling clumsily onto the ground. The hall erupted into laughs she let out a swear that came out quite a bit louder than she had expected.

"Are you okay? You took quite a fall there." A warm hand grabbed at her elbow, helping her to her feet. Zella's breath caught in her throats as she looked up at the boy who had steadied her. He was beautiful, with chestnut hair and kind eyes. A reassuring smile was on his face as he brushed off the dirtied sleeve of her robe.

"I- uh, yeah." Zella's voice came out as a squeak. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm fine, thanks."

"No problem." The boys grin made her heart soar. "I'm Cedric, by the way. Cedric Diggory. Second year hufflepuff."

"I'm Zel-"

"Zella Langley!" The thin woman called out, making her way down the stairs towards her. "Come, you mustn't keep the hat waiting. Thank you, Mr Diggory." She sent a prim nod at Cedric.

"Of course, Professor Mcgonagall. See you later, Zella." She watched as he sat back down at the Hufflepuff table, her heart racing and her hands aching to reach out to his comfort again.

Swallowing nervously, Zella turned back to the woman, who led her up the stairs carefully. She took her place on an old stool, looking down at the floor instead of the gazes of her schoolmates. Unconsciously, she hid the left side of her face with her hair, a habit of hers.

Professor Mcgonagall placed a raggedy old wizard hat on the small girl's head an the hall fell quiet. It was the usual process of sorting- the child would wear the hat and the other children would wait with baited breaths until their house was revealed.

Ah, Zella Langley. I've been expecting you.

Zella screamed, her body jolting off of the school. For the second time that night, she fell to the floor. Professor Mcgonagall let out an annoyed sigh, grabbing the sorting hat from where it lay and brushing it off. Zella was left to rise quickly, placing herself back on the stool and ignoring the laughter from her fellow students.

"I didn't know it would talk." She mumbled to herself, mortified at her clumsy introduction to Hogwarts.

"Yes, Ms Langley, the sorting hat does talk." Professor Mcgonagall shook her head, a small smile concealed behind a disapproving look. "Now please refrain from making a scene."

What a flattering welcome

Zella flinched at the deep voice, thinking to herself that it sounded quite creepy.

Im trying hard to not get offended now.

You can hear my thoughts? Zella felt quite stupid thinking a question but it turned to intrigue once the hat answered.

Well, of course! At least we can cross ravenclaw off the list of potentials.

Im awfully sorry for offending you Zella cringed. I wouldn't want to be in Ravenclaw anyway, I'm shite a riddles

Well that leaves us with three other options, yes?

Yup. My mum was in Hufflepuff but Grandpa Thornton was a Ravenclaw.

I remember Adrienne Langley. Kind girl she was. A true hufflepuff. You have her compassion and loyalty. Are you a badger like your mother? The hat mused. Or a snake like your father?

I don't have a father, though. Zella furrowed her eyebrows at the hats comment.

My dear, we all have fathers, even if only in blood.

The hat left questions ringing through Zella's head and it let out a throaty laugh.

You have his ambition. Yes, your goal is become an auror like your grandfather. But your scar... the hat sounded as if he were thinking your scar causes you great pain, does it not? It's why you can never achieve your dream, because it took part of your sight. It hurts you. Not physically but because of it you lack confidence in yourself.

Listen closely, Zella Langley. Scars only make you stronger.

GRYFFINDOR!!!

The majority of the hall erupted into applause. The loudest came from a table decked out in crimson and gold. The crowd of enthusiastic gryffindors were screaming, proud that the beautiful girl with the ugly scar had been sorted into the house of the brave. Zella hurried over, almost tripping on a table leg but catching herself before she could make a fool out of herself for the third time in ten minutes. Cedric gave her a thumbs up and she almost fell again, her face burning red. The first open seat was between two red headed boys and she slid into it thankfully. The attention fell off of her and onto the next sorting student.

"Bloody hell that went bad."

"She-"

"Speaks!" Zella let out a strangled screech as the boys next to her spoke in sequence. "George, I told you we should have saved the twin one till later! She's scared have to death!"

"I seem to recall you giving me the go ahead!"

"And I seem to remember you putting a whizzing whizzabee in Percy's porridge but I didn't say anything about it!"

"That was you?!?"

"Sorry Perce!" The boys sent him matching thumbs up.

"Do you greet everyone like this?" Zella raised an eyebrow, staring the twin boys with a smirk.

"Only the clumsy ones. We wanted-"

"To see if you'd fall."

"How kind." Zella narrowed her eyes at them.

"Sorry about Fred and George, they mean well." The boy across from her piped up. "I'm Lee Jordan, second year."

"Zella Langley." The girl smiled at him.

"I like-"

"Your scar." Zella immediately hid her face as the boys tried to make her obvious annoyance at them go away. When they realized she had actually taken it as a sarcastic way, Fred and George shared panicked looks.

Zella had paled even further and tears pooled in her eyes. She hated that scar. It was all anyone ever saw about her, the ugly scar that either led to disgust or pity. She didn't want either.

And going off the twins tones, they had been disgusted.

"No!"

"We didn't mean it like that!"

"They really meant that your scar was cool." Lee tried to remediate. "I think it makes you look wicked."

"Really?" Zella looked up, taken aback by Lee's genuine tone. In her muggle school, all the other kids would make fun off her and tell every day how gross her scar was. It was a five inch puckered red line of skin that had taken half her eyesight and all of her self confidence.

"Yeah! It make you-"

"Look badass!"

"Zella." Lee grinned. "You were sorted into the House of Lions for a reason. Own that scar, it makes you who you are."