(SC.Room) The Sorting Hat's Song

[Zachary Daniels]

[OOC:

Helloooooo my followers!
Those who know my every touch is gold!
My little minions -cough- supporters*


(This would work better if my board wasn't completely void of people)

Anyway, this looks fun
(Am I even supposed to start yet, haha)]

Zachary had lingered in the Great Hall after the Sorting Hat sang its song. Unlike most years when the ragged old thing decided to grace the Hall with its baritone, Zachary couldn't exactly cast any silencing charms and had to listen for it spoke of the Quadwizard tournament.

Long after the ordeal, he sat with a concentrated gaze on a wooden bench just outside the Transfiguration classroom. Turning the words over and over in his mind -- not particularly making any progress -- he scowled moodily and hoped that the other champions (especially that shrieking Ravenclaw) were having less luck, as impossible as that was, than him.

[Lidia Cullen]

Lidia had been pondering what the Sorting Hat's song had meant. Some of it was quite obvious. However, some things in that song could have more than one meaning. Slowly she repeated parts of the song to herself, "Gryffindors are those who are brave and bold, Ravenclaws renowned for the knowledge they hold. Hufflepuffs are found to be loyal and true,
Slytherins determined, not forgetting cunning too. You all belong to just one of the four, but must use them all to win for sure." She had been walking, turning where she could. It would not have been a shock if she ended up lost. Then, she stumbled upon someone she wasn't expecting. "Hey Zachary." She said, smiling at him.

The lines she had just repeated were the ones that were confusing her as to what they mean. That in order to win you must have the qualities and characteristics of all four houses. She thought. Maybe, it means something else, something more literal.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Aidan and Derryl came running down the corridor, laughing and checking over their shoulders every now and then. 'Come on, Ry,' Aidan called, grabbing his brother's sleeve and heaving him on. Derryl laughed again and ran with his brother. They came around a corner and spotted two people. 'You thinking...' Aidan said. 'Exactly what you are,' Derryl finished and they skidded to a halt by the two older students.

'Hi,' the two panted at the same time, looking from the girl to the boy. They leaned on their knees catching their breath, smiling at each other. But soon Aidan's jaw dropped and he nudged his brother. 'It's him,' he whispered. Derryl looked the older boy up and down and stood up straight.

'No,' Derryl said, shaking his head, 'it can't be.'

Aidan grinned and nudged Derryl again. 'It is,' he insisted.

The light bulb went on and Derryl's face brightened. 'It is!' he said and lunched himself towards him. He grasped their Champion's hand and shook it. 'Oh boy,' he said, pushing his brother who was trying to get in front of him. 'What an honour. We know you'll do the house proud, Mr Quadwizard Champion.' Aidan managed to pry his brother off the Champion and shook his hand as well.

[Mozess Mirari]

"You lot are going to give him a bigger ego than he's already got," muttered Mozess as she pushed aside Zachary's twin admirers. "Mr. QuadWizard Champion?" she raised an eyebrow at Zach, "Are you going to put that on support fliers now?"
Rolling her eyes she moved to sit on the bench next to Zachary, putting one arm over his shoulders and tilting her head at the pair of blonde third years in front of him, "His name is Zach, kiddies. Calling him 'Mister' is likely to get you hexed. If not by His-Royal-Naricissistic-Ness, then by me for inflating his self-superiority claims."

As she finished her tangent she turned to her oft-times partner in crime. She could tell he was quite obviously stumped by the riddle the Sorting Hat had posed. She couldn't help but snicker a bit, "No ideas about the musty old hat's problem I'm assuming?" she asked in a slightly bemused tone of voice.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Aidan and Derryl smirked when a red head appeared. Aidan nudged Derryl in the ribs with his elbow and raised his eye brows at his brother. It was a well known fact that Derryl had a soft spot for red heads and this one seemed to be feisty, all the more appealing, Aidan knew, for his brother. Derryl grinned at his brother and looked back to the red head. 'A hex, huh?' Derryl thought it over. Neither of the twins minded getting hexed, it was always a laugh but they be made to look the fool and he didn't want that in front of the red head.

Aidan smirked at his brother. Always the predictable type, he thought looking away from him, smirking now at the red head. 'The hat was very cryptic, wasn't it?' Aidan offered. Everyone thought that Derryl was the smarter of the two but Aidan had rare moments and this might turn out to be one of those, he liked to keep people on their toes. 'But I think cheating would be the best way to go about it. Rus would kill me if he heard me saying that but I know everyone's thinking it.' Though how you'd cheat is beyond me.

[Mozess Mirari]

Mozess rolled her eyes, "Good grief, cheat to find out what a hat's poem means? That's like cheating to beat a Gryffindor in a duel. Don't be so eager to slander the art of trickery, that's practically sacrilege." She shook her head, "Think about it like the cunning Slytherins you are. There were four distinct parts of the poem, right? The first part was simply stating the reason as to why the Sorting Hat was there. The second part was reminding everyone why they are in what houses they're in and proving why each of the Champions are the Champions of their houses. The last part of the riddle is quite obviously just an outro so they could stick that hat back in its cupboard, so what we should be focusing on is the third part of the riddle."

She gave a sideways glance at Zach, she could tell he was about to give her another 'You're inner Ravenclaw is emerging again' speech and decided she'd press on with her thought before he could even start. "You all belong to just on of the four, but must use them all to win for sure. The dumb thing is probably just saying that every champion is going to have to have someone from each house working with them or they won't be able to win. That's exactly the ridiculous kind of 'Unify Hogwarts' type of thing that they'd throw in at the beginning of a competition to screw everybody up since we all know that none of the people in other houses would risk being locked out of their common rooms to help a different house win this competition. Especially not any self-respecting Slytherin."

[Erys Grace]

"My, you seem to have this down-pat." Came an amused voice, wafting down the hall after the clicking of shoes. Erys Grace had wanted to join the small assembly of Slytherins, as they were the best house of them all. Unfortunately Mr. Champion was having a little bit of trouble, it seemed. She could smell it from all the way down the hall - being an animagus who could change into a feline - with her keen cat's sense. The seventh year was always able to tap into those kind of things. Crossing her arms over her chest, Erys ran her tongue along her lips, not at all trying to be insulting. If anything.. "I'm impressed."

Erys hadn't exactly concentrated on interpreting the little rhyme, seeing as so many other people were already working at it. The girl had just pieced apart the poem in a matter of seconds. Now that was talent, if she did say so herself. Her house was lucky to have her, she could've easily fit into Ravenclaw. But that sharp tongue and quick wit demanded that Slytherin be where she belongs, and Erys couldn't be more pleased. They needed more people like that, who would strive to get their house back on top with house points. She had worked her butt off and ended up with more than thirty points, believe it or not. So in third term they werent so severely in last place anymore.

"Erys Grace." She introduced herself quickly, as the bigger problem was how Zachary was going to get through the first task. "We can figure this out." No pressure. Noticing the twins now, her smile widened. "Hey guys."[/color]

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

The twins gapped at the red-head as she spoke. She clearly had thought about this very hard and come to many conclusions because of it. Aidan hadn't even thought about anything she had said, but for Derryl she simply beat him to the thought. Aidan continued to gap at her while Derryl closed his mouth and tapped a finger to his chin thoughtfully. She spoke sense, he decided.

Erys joined them and both twins grinned at her. She seemed more and more beautiful every time they saw her. Aidan, who was standing closest to where Erys was, took her hand and planted a kiss on it. 'Hi there,' he said and grinned at her.

'Hiya, Erys,' Derryl said, dropping his arms so they hung loosely by his side. He frowned for a moment, a thoughtful expression came to his face (one that rarely graced Aidan's). 'I disagree,' he told the red-head. 'I think the third part simply meant that each Champion must use all talents labelled to each house to win. Each champion must be both brave and bold, knowledgeable, loyal and true, and determined and cunning. I don't think it's nearly as complex as it seems. They're just trying to throw everyone off.'

Aidan had been smirking, proud that his brother was showing off his brains, but soon Derryl lost Aidan and Aidan's smirk faded and turned into a very confused frown. Shrugging, he smirked again. His brother had been off these last few days, day dreaming like a love-sick puppy, but he was clearly over it. Derryl Edward Parkhurst was back! Aid put his arm around his brother's neck in a one-armed embrace and shook him gently.

[Erys Grace]

Grinning as Aidan gave her another kiss on the hand - her second and counting - Erys placed an encouraging hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. He was the more thoughtful one of the two, right? Must be. Listening to his explanation with a calculation look, she nodded her head, understanding. "So you're saying the only important part of that poem was, how each champion must have the characteristics of all the houses. If thats it, then I doubt theres anything else in there useful." You all belong to just one of the four, But must use them all to win for sure. Was that it?

Turning to look at mr. champion now, Erys smirked, proud of Derryl's analyzation of the riddle. "So Zachary, are you all the qualities?" Brave and bold? Smart? Loyal and true? Determined and cunning? They were so going to win this. "Thats all we can do for now until the hat figures out how to nicely rhyme the next poem. Unless you want me to go undercover and pry some info from the Ravenclaws." She could just change into a cat and sneak into their common room, or hang around the champion when they were in the library. It was perfect, and foolproof. She'd hear what news they had, and everything. But it should be along the lines of what they found out anyway.

Already ideas were popping into her head, along with the schematics for the other common rooms and a way to get inside. Perhaps she should wait outside the room until a Ravenclaw went inside it? She could sneak right in after, no problem. They wouldn't suspect a thing, even with all those big brains of theirs.[/color]

[Zachary Daniels]

Zachary let his eyes raise to meet Lidia, a seventh year he had grown accustomed to seeing in his classes or in the common room. Not exactly in the mood for casual conversation, he barely nodded in greeting, though was saved from responding by a chorus of voices.

Almost out of nowhere, two identical heads rounded a corner and launched themselves onto him. Letting out a yelp, Zachary slipped down the bench landing violently on the ground as they shoved each other aside. He was soon forgotten on the floor, wincing, when Mozess arrived and stole the boys' attention. It figured.

With a scowl, Zachary stood up and flicked the closest one next to him on the nose. "You, stop flirting with her." Then, sending him a grimace, he gestured to her while looking comically wise. "She really does have spikes, I swear it."

Before he could take another breath, Erys whom Zachary was well acquainted with from quidditch, joined them and theories were being sprouted from all over.

"You've both said the same thing," Zachary said with a raised brow, meaning Mozess and the twin (He wasn't sure which one). "Being sorted in Slytherin doesn't mean I'm only cunning because I'm also brave and intelligent - obviously." He paused for a moment, ignoring a few rolling eyes. "Look here. We don't need to have one person from every house, because..."

Pulling Mozess by the shoulder, and Aidan by the collar with his other hand, he made them a miniature group. "Inner-Ravenclaws." He said with a snort, looking pointedly at Mozess.

Then, nudging Erys. "Cunning." He meant her idea of sneaking off into the Ravenclaw dorms. "Lidia too. One of our most scandalous Slytherins."

Looking over at Derryl, Zachary smirked. "Our Hufflepuff - You look like you've got good judgement, anyway. The one who keeps you two out of the thickest trouble, unless I've got that backwards." The seventh year looked mildly confused for a second, before shaking his head.

"And, I'm going to have to be brave, bold and all that rubbish if I'm going to complete the tasks." Zachary made a painful expression.

"Though, Grace, you won't pull off spying in a million years. Ravenclaws are loud, I agree, but you won't hear them because they're careful." After his own outburst, Zachary walked back to the bench and sat on it with a wince at his bruised backside.