| The Changling cont. |
| Harry went to sit down at the Gryffindor table, and the sorting began. ("Agnes, Alexia!" "RAVENCLAW!") Gryffindor and all it’s new students were sitting waiting for Dumbledore to make his speech he made every year. He stood up and began. "Students of Hogwarts, before we start our feast, I have an announcement to make. This year we are participating in the Ministry of Magic Exchange Student Program, and so we will be hosting an American student named Elisa Calconn—" some hushed whispering went around the Great Hall—"and so the sorting hat will be left out to decide what house Elisa will be staying in. Elisa, if you please…" Elisa walked out of a side door into the Great Hall. She stared around for a bit, then walked to the stool sat down, and put on the hat. A few moments went by, but finally, after what seemed a great while, the hat yelled out "GRYFFINDOR!" A second of silence, and then cheers and applause so loud Harry was deaf for a few seconds after. Elisa sat down next to Harry, and smiled at him. Harry hadn’t thought she’d be capable of smiling she always looked so indifferent, or forlorn. And with that the feast began. Rumors went around about Elisa. It turned out that Elisa had been convicted of murder, and stayed in Azkaban for awhile. The rumor of that went spread like wildfire, and people started skirting her in the corridors. The fact that she, being a music and book fanatic, sang some rather depressing songs to herself, though some of them were just strange, didn’t help. But it didn’t bother Elisa that people seemed to shun her like that. On the contrary, actually. She found it great fun to suddenly jump out at people and hissing at them. Fred and George started to follow her around between classes, just for the laugh. Days went by, and so on and so forth, and Elisa became part of the Harry, Ron, Hermione used-to-be triangle. They made good friends, and Malfoy avoided them, he didn’t even bother Elisa about being convicted. A few weeks later, Harry got a note from Sirius. He was still hiding in the cave past the style in Hogsmeade. He told Harry that he knew that a Hogsmeade visit was coming, "So bring some food and come and visit me," Harry went to check the bulletin board. There was a Hogsmeade weekend coming up. Next Saturday, Halloween. "We should go visit Snuffles," Harry told Ron and Hermione. "And let’s bring Elisa." |