Can You Really Call It Hitting When It's a Student?

Eliana took her seat at the Gryffindor table with an elegant flourish amid thunderous applause.

"I knew you'd make it." Hermione leaned over, shoving Harry aside as he tried to do the same. Her excitement was tinged with worry. "But that was incredibly bold! How could you hit the Sorting Hat?"

"Hey! What did it feel like to hit that hat?" One of the twins leaned over and introduced himself as Fred. He looked fascinated. "We never even thought you could do that!"

"What a brilliant stunt!" his brother chimed in.

Ron jumped down from the stool and hurried over, out of breath and thrilled to have made Gryffindor. "I think the hat got quieter after you hit it. Did you break it?"

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

Eliana denied it flatly.

Broken meant unusable. Unusable meant the culprit had to pay. And that meant she would have to spend money.

Absolutely not!

"That hat's obviously magical. It couldn't be that fragile." She clutched her pocket tightly and declared with absolute conviction, "I've hit enough people to know what it feels like. That slap wasn't hard enough to kill a chicken!"

"..."

Why are you so practiced at both hitting people and killing chickens?

Ron wanted to ask.

Ron didn't dare ask.

Ron was afraid she might get worked up and slap him too. He didn't think her slap had been light—the hat had nearly flown into Dumbledore's bowl.

"Besides, when it's a student, how can you call it hitting?" Eliana's face flushed, and the veins stood out on her neck. "Communicating with the Sorting Hat doesn't count as hitting! That was... a hands-on discussion!"

Then came a string of baffling explanations about "welcoming ceremonies" and "friendly exchanges." The Gryffindors burst into laughter, filling the long table with merriment.

Fortunately, food suddenly appeared on the plates and drew everyone's attention away.

Hogwarts certainly offered plenty of variety: roast beef and lamb, potatoes and carrots prepared in all sorts of ways, gravy and pudding, and pea shoots that provided the table's only splash of green.

But Eliana had something more interesting to do. She heaped her plate with food, then ate while studying her future teachers.

First, she spotted Dumbledore sitting in the middle. His long white beard looked even more striking under the lights. As though sensing her gaze, he looked up and gave her a playful wink.

Dumbledore hadn't rushed down to beat her senseless or expel her.

What she had done couldn't be a big deal!

Eliana straightened at once. She was sure Dumbledore wasn't angry.

Hehe.

She rewarded herself with a huge bite of lamb chop.

She also recognized the man in the turban. She remembered him leaving the Leaky Cauldron as soon as he saw Dumbledore.

Apparently, even a boss as kindly looking as Dumbledore was someone his employees would rather not run into on holiday.

Still, if anyone asked her, her favorite was the hook-nosed professor beside the one in the turban.

Black hair, black eyes, sallow skin, and a face so grim he looked impossible to mess with. Yet for some reason, Eliana felt a strange sense of familiarity toward him.

She heard someone nearby say he was Professor Snape.

Just then, Professor Snape looked her way. With Harry hissing in alarm beside her, she gave the professor a sweet, well-behaved smile.

Hello, Professor.

The professor ignored her and turned away.

Eliana tilted her head and consoled herself with a large mouthful of beef.

Snape looked away, his expression blank.

Hmph. Potter.

And a typical Gryffindor lion cub, stupid enough to hit the Sorting Hat on her first day. Had she left her brain on the train with her luggage?

The quality of Hogwarts students got worse every year.

Just looking at them was irritating.

And he had to teach every new batch.

Even more irritating.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dumbledore rise, apparently about to speak. The old bee was going to start buzzing again. That was the most irritating thing of all.

With Snape's sour face fixed on him, Dumbledore thoughtfully waited until everyone had finished eating before announcing a few things they needed to know.

No entering the Forbidden Forest, no going to the Third Floor Corridor, and a whole list of other school rules. Eliana had heard every word.

Of course, she was a very well-behaved child. She wouldn't break a school rule just for the sake of breaking it.

That was her assessment of herself.

But she had rewarded herself a little too generously. As she climbed through the round entrance to Gryffindor Tower, bottom in the air, it felt as though all that food might come back up her throat.

I should be a little more careful next time.

She lay on her soft bed with her round, full belly sticking up and reflected on her mistake.

But after a whole day of travel, she was already tired, and a full stomach made her drowsier still. As Eliana reflected, her eyes drifted shut.

A moment before falling asleep, she peered through barely open eyes at the dark red bed hangings. My bed's at the end. Maybe I could cut off the side against the wall and send it back to the orphanage. There'd be enough for red hats for four or five children.

Or a red dress for Mrs. Brown. Her clothes are worn so thin they've gone pale.

Once the outer curtains are drawn, no one will notice a missing side.

But she was simply too sleepy. Exhaustion crashed over her, and she fell asleep before she could work out the details.

Bright moonlight streamed through the window and fell across her smiling face.