To Be or Not To Be

Chapter 4

Rain laughed. She was in gryffindor just as she and Chris had always joked she would be. She would have done a victory dance if not for the other, obviously more dignified in their actions, people standing in the room. With a sigh she resigned herself to acting the part of a mature adult for a little while longer, reasoning that the weekends spent at Zonko's would make up for at least a portion of the acting she'd have to endure during the adult supervised time.

Lady Green Glasses, passed the hat and stool to Chris with a stern look. "Professor Fawley, need I remind you that their are dozens of new students waiting to be sorted in the great hall?" Chris's previously smiling face turned worried in an instant and he rushed out the door, barely managing to bring the the necessary equipment with him. Rain fought to keep a chuckle from escaping. Throughout her childhood she'd always heard stories about the teachers who managed to keep her brothers out of trouble. Lady Green Glasses must have been one of them, though she'd also been told a fair bit about a man by the name of Severus Snape. In the last thirteen years, he'd managed to make quite a name for himself among the Fawley children.

"Ms. Fawley, would you please wait outside with Mr. Potter. I would like to speak with Ms. Granger for a moment."

Nodding, Rain stood and made her way to the hall where the boy she'd seen before was standing quietly. Choosing to remain silent, she pressed her back against the wall beside the office door. Clearly the boy didn't seem to have much of a problem with the lack of conversation, so she closed her eyes and waited for the lady to come out.

After a few minutes, a girl with bushy brown hair came bouncing out, followed by Lady Green Glasses and together the four made their way down the great hall where students sat at four long tables with a fifth at the front, filled with the teachers.

"Oh," The girl, Rain learned her name was Hermione, whispered, sounding rather deflated. "We've missed the sorting!"

Rain chuckled softly and watched as Professor McGonagall made her way to the head table, taking the only empty seat. Looking around, she saw Draco and the group of Slytherins she'd met on the train . She waved before turning her attention the Hermione who was pointing at the table where the gryffindors sat.

She followed the two and watched as they took a seat on either side of a redhead. Shrugging she sat a few seats away, and was immediately bombarded with questions from the people around her. The amount of attention set her on edge and she silently thanked whoever was in heaven when a white bearded man stood to address the students. She looked at the head table, waiting for an interesting announcement among the boring ones. Soon enough Dumbledore began to introduce the new teachers and Rain smirked. Her brother's luck had officially ended. Glancing up at the Headmaster, she straightened by the slightest margin, awaiting the answer to her month long question.

"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts." Rain's brow creased when she heard the lack of applause from the majority of the students. Rain rolled her eyes, focusing again on Dumbledore. "As our last new appointments," The poor excuse of clapping stopped. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and Professor Babbling, our Study of Ancient Runes teacher, have both resigned. However, I am delighted to say that the place of Professor Kettleburn will be taken by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties." The room suddenly filled with thundering applause and Rain found that Gryffindor seemed to be carrying most of the noise. When the clapping calmed down, Dumbledore continued. "As for the role of Ancient Runes professor, Christopher Fawley has accepted the invitation happily, and will be teaching from now on." There was another round of applause, this time centering around the Slytherin table.

Rain froze when she heard a voice a few seats away mutter to his friends. "Leave it to the snakes to welcome another snake." He continued, glaring at the head table. "I bet we'll have another Snape on our hands before the night is through."

Taking a deep breath, Rain tried not to shout at her new housemates. She didn't care if they decided to badmouth her, but judging her brother because of his last name was going too far. It became apparent that her thoughts were a lot more predictable than Rain realized, when her brother gave her a stern look. He knew what she was about to do, no doubt about it.

Soon enough, Dumbledore finished his speech and the feast began. Within seconds, Rain was once again the center of attention along with the dark haired boy she'd met in McGonagall's office. She ended up sharing a very condensed and heavily censored version of her life story as well as the reason she wasn't sorted with the rest of the first years. This led to questions about what kept her from starting two years earlier, and after another few minutes of interrogations, Rain found that she'd overstepped her socializing limits for the night. She nearly fell to her knees in relief when the headmaster excused everyone to bed. Rain stood, following the crowd of students wearing red and gold striped ties. She paused when she was Blaise Zabini waving to her over from off to the side.

"So you're in Gryffindor, then?" He asked, not bothering to hide is distaste in the other house.

Rain shrugged before responding. "At least I'm a Gryffindor with a sense of self preservation. I was raised by slytherin so it would be pretty difficult to suddenly change my mind about the house." She looked back at the slowly thinning line of her housemate. "I need to head to the dorms before I get locked out without a password, so I'll see all of you in the morning." She nodded respectfully before rushing to join that last couple lions.

At last she came to a portrait of a lady dressed in pink. "Coming through, coming through!" Shouted a boy standing beside her, making his way to the front of the cluster. "The new password's 'Fortuna Major"!"

Rain sighed, mentally preparing for the near impossible task of remembering, what was to her, a random pair of words. She chuckled when she heard a boy named Neville voice similar thoughts in two words. "Oh no," he said sadly.

'Oh no' is right, Rain thought. "At least you aren't in this alone." She whispered, giving the boy a needed encouraging pat on the back. "I've been the same way for ages."

Neville laughed nervously as they made their way into the common room. As soon as the reminders about dorm rooms were made, Rain hurried up the girls stairwell and into the room she'd be in for the next few years of her life. She spotted her bed immediately due to the four foot long snake curled up on the pillow.

Sliding Heston off the pillow, Rain snuggled into the warmth of her bed and tried her best to find sleep.