yellow ribbon | a harry potter fanfiction

so many houses

WENDY HATED PUBLIC SPEAKING ever since she was a child. Her father encouraged her to take up debate club, so she could learn how to talk clearly—she was a natural, but always hated it. Her club days in debate resulted to be useful when she built her own company. Every speech she had to deliver to her employees and event she was part of for the awards she earned, were greatly inspired by each lesson she remembered from debate. Unfortunately, the speeches were not the problem. They were the quiet parts.

Every time she had to walk towards the podium, every time she paused between her speech, those were the moments she dreaded as everyone would be waiting for her to say something. Eyes excruciatingly painful as they look at you head to toe. Sometimes clapping, sometimes laughing, sometimes just staring. She found them all disturbing.

So when she found out she would have to walk all the way from the big doors that gave way to the main hall to the small stool in front of everyone, where there seemed to be kilometers after kilometers of distance, she nearly died. She opposed to the idea while they were still getting the books in the book store in Diagon Ally. But nothing could change the professor's mind.

"It's tradition!" He said.

"I really haven't been so traditional up to this point." She argued back.

She was right. She wasn't invited to Hogwarts, first wand at 14—29, really—years old, and not sorted into any house at her third year. She was anything but traditional.

"The more reason to do it, then." Dumbledore said solemnly, and with that Wendy kept quiet.

It was the second day at Hogwarts, every first year was sorted the night before, and it was dinner time. Wendy was waiting behind the big doors with her new robes that kept her incredibly warm. She was pacing the floor as she was waiting for Dumbledore to call her in, and multiple times she thought of running away. But she thought of every time she confronted her fear and took a deep breath in—she could do it.

And as if it were magic, the doors suddenly opened by themselves. Everyone turning around towards her and Dumbledore with his arm stretched long to her direction. Some whispering to their friends, all the professors smiling to welcome her, except for some others. But all looked right at her. She wasn't so sure if she could do it now.

Even if her mind said to run, her body followed through and step after step she walked before everyone. Eyes still observing her for every movement. She dared not look at anyone but professor Dubledore, but with some glimpses she noticed the different students wearing their robes and house colours. Who would have thought this would have happened to her.

She reached the stool that stood in the middle in front of everyone and, as instructed earlier, she sat upon it waiting for the Sorting Hat to be placed on her head.

She never thought of what house she would have truly wanted to be in until that day. She always saw herself in Hufflepuff throughout reading her books, but never knew which house she truly belonged.

"Ah, Wendy Moira Angela Stone, uh?" The voice of the hat said, she couldn't hear it, but she heard it. "My first time to sort your kind—but I'll admit—not first time to meet."

Did the Sorting Hat talk in riddles in the movies? Wendy thought.

"I don't talk in riddles, but I see that you do. All in your mind is confusing to me, muggle but not simple muggle. You're not from our time, are you?"

Incredible, She praised.

"Thank you, so where shall we put you? It should be easier as you're mature in mind and know yourself, but I see you're quite lost at the moment—can't really blame you—Slytherin might help you out in there, to find yourself, and I see you're quite ambitious too—a big company, impressive."