Badgers and Lions (A VanDerberg Thread!)

So Lyn had been sorted into Hufflepuff. Which was cool. Hufflepuff was a cool house. But it meant that he hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her since the sorting ceremony! And it also meant that she hadn't been able to join himself and Lyra in the Gryffindor common room for their night-before-class-sort-of-gryffindor-party. And that she'd had to go to the Hufflepuff common room by herself. Which sucked. If it were Lyra, Hunter wouldn't be too concerned. But Lyn was a little more sensitive, and he hoped that she'd made some Hufflepuff friends. She cared more about fitting in than Lyra did.

So, the next morning, Hunter made sure to wake up early enough that he could make it down to the great hall for breakfast before class. When he slipped through the doors into the large room, the smell of Hogwarts breakfast instantly filled his senses. He glanced around quickly, but it didn't take him long to find his sister at the Hufflepuff table. He'd never sat anywhere but the Gryffindor table, but he didn't think there was any rule against it. Even if there was, it didn't make a difference. Hunter snuck up behind Lyn and tugged her hair on her left side before sliding into a seat at the table to her right.

"What's up, Puff?" Hunter asked her with a grin. Of course, while he talked, he loaded his plate with eggs and sausage and bacon. "So what do you think?" he asked, shoving a biscuit into his mouth. "I told you guys that it's hard to describe, didn't I?" He glanced upward at the ceiling, which reflected the bright, sunny sky outside, and the hundreds of floating candles to prove his point. "Congratulations on making Hufflepuff!" he said brightly to her, hoping to make her feel good about being in a different house. "I thought for sure I'd be Hufflepuff before I was sorted. It's one of the best houses!" After swallowing his mouthful of food, he grinned at Lyn. "Oh, sorry, I'm being rude. Would you like some sausage too? Since you didn't name this one?"

Okay, Lyn knew that one day, she and her sister would be separated and forced to go on their own road, but she'd never imagined that it would be so soon. Not in Hogwarts. Even her twin had expected that they'd be put into the same house. Yet, they were put into completely separate houses. Gryffindor, the cool house for good guys. Where Lyra and Hunter were in. Leaving her completely alone. The way she'd learnt about the houses was that Gryffindor was for the awesome cool good guys, Slytherin for the mean baddies, Ravenclaw for the smartasses, and Hufflepuff for the nice kids. Nice kids. Nice. What, was that all they were? Gryffindors were brave, pranksters, cool, awesome. Slytherins were baddies, but clever, cunning, also a bit pranksters. Ravenclaws were total smartasses with their books and spells and brilliant brains. And what were Hufflepuffs? Nice? Did that mean that her siblings were much better than her and she was just plain and boring?

Why did Lyra have to get better luck? Her sister got to be in the cool house. With their older brother, so she wouldn't be alone. But Lyn was not only stuck in the boring, nice house, but she was totally and completely alone. She knew nobody. She didn't know who she should watch out for, she didn't know the nice and friendly kids, she was totally knew to this bizarre and huge world. And she was alone. She had no idea what to do, how to act. All she did was just watch nearby kids and, well, copy them and act like she knew what she was doing.

That day, some Prefect from the Hufflepuff house woke them up super early, even though Lyn was up earlier. Living on a farm, she had learnt to get up at dawn without complaining. She'd put on her robes like the other students and followed the groups of Hufflepuffs towards the Great Hall. For a minute, Lyn was wondering if sitting at the Gryffindor table with her siblings was acceptable, but decided not to. She didn't want to break the rules and get into trouble on her first day. So she trailed behind a group of older Hufflepuffs and found an empty seat at the table. She nibbled one some toast, but with her nervous-ness, she didn't eat anything really.

She eavesdropped on a conversation between a few third-year Hufflepuffs, but all they were talking about was new Professors and old ones and all classes they hated and whatnot. School-related stuff that Lyn knew nothing about. As she reached to take a tiny bite out of her buttered toast, she felt someone tug her hair from her left. Oh, at that moment she just hoped that it wouldn't be someone who was about to start picking on her because of her hair or something! Turning around to see who it was, she felt someone sit next to her on the other side and greet her. "Hunter!" Lyn exclaimed, her voice sounding very relieved. Then her voice lowered and she asked, "Are you even supposed to be here? Shouldn't you be sitting with Lyra?" What if the other students got mad because Hunter wasn't sitting at the Gryffindor table? Looking around, though, Lyn realized that most students didn't seem to care.

And anyway, she could see a few other students from other houses dining with the Hufflepuffs. Oh. Then Hunter was talking and filling his plate with bacon. "Yeah, it's awesome!" Lyn smiled at her brother. "Did you talk to Lyn? We came to school by tiny boats! Across the lake!" Little nervous Lynette was gone now, because now she wanted to tell Hunter everything about what happened so far! Then her brother complimented her on getting into the yellow house; to which she just blinked and quietly replied, "Surely Gryffindor is much more awesome than Hufflepuff. At least you've got Lyra and Aoife and all those other friends you've told me about. And apparently, Gryffindors are great and brave and awesome. Hufflepuffs are nice." It offended her a bit, too, that she got into the nice house. Her brother and sister got to be brave and cool and good guys. She was just nice. But she wanted to be cool and awesome like her siblings! Lyn believed that he could totally do more than just be nice.

Suddenly, Hunter was teasing her about the sausage. In shock, Lyn slapped the sausage away so it bounced back on the table. "I didn't name it, but it still had a life and family awaiting him!" she said sternly, suddenly becoming very defensive about the poor meat. "Who knows what it's brothers and sisters feel now that their poor sibling hasn't come home yet?" Even if she didn't know the pig, or name it, before it died, Lyn was still a vegetarian. Her brothers usually tried to tease her and Lyra into breaking the habit or something, but they were both hard-core animal-lovers with no heart of eating them.

"I can sit wherever I want, thank you very much," Hunter said, pretending to be offended at her accusation. He noticed that Lyn seemed to be particularly relieved to see him, so he offered her a reassuring smile. "Lyra's still in her dorm. And anyway, if she wants to sit with us she can sit over here... Is that all you're eating?" Hunter asked his sister, his voice slightly concerned. It was bad enough that she was a vegetarian, but just toast? "You should at least have some pancakes! They have good pancakes here. Almost as good as home!"

Hunter grinned at his little sister as his presence broke her out of her shell, and listened intently to her talking about the boat ride to the castle. "Yeah, I've talked to Lyra, but she's no good for anything but eating all my sweets the first night here - I've got almost nothing left!" he joked. Really, Aoife and Kynan had done most of the damage on the sweets, but that was besides the point. "The boats are awesome!" Hunter agreed. "All the first years get to take them. But this year, I got to take the carriages, and guess what?!" Hunter said, pausing a bit dramatically before continuing. "They pull themselves! Like they should have horses pulling them, but either they're charmed to drive themselves or the horses are invisible!" Hunter figured that Lyn might be excited at the possibility of invisible horses, being the animal lover that she was.

The moment he complimented her on Hufflepuff, however, her demeanor changed once more. He sighed as she voiced her concerns about not making it into the best house. "Hey, cut that out," Hunter said, shaking his head. "Hufflepuff's just as good a house. I wanted Hufflepuff before I was sorted, remember?" He had a feeling that it would be difficult to make Lyn feel better about the sorting hat's decision, but it was worth it to try.

"Slytherin and Ravenclaw are both full of gits," he told her. "This one Slytherin girl tried to kill a bunch of us with ice balls last winter. And some Ravenclaw bloke actually blinded Aoife by lighting up the snow. So you wouldn't want to be in either of those - they're hardly as cool as you might think they are." Taking a breath, he continued. "Your house doesn't say anything about how cool you are, anyway. Hufflepuff's for people who aren't afraid of doing really difficult or scary things for people that need their help - not for nice people. And it's just as good a house as Gryffindor, if you ask me."

"Anyway," he continued, "You'll be able to hang out with us all the time, except for after curfew," Hunter pointed out, hoping to cheer Lyn up. "I'm sure you'll make Hufflepuff friends and want to sit with them, but you can always sit with us or the other way around at meals! And you and Lyra should have all of your classes together. In fact, I think you two have some classes with me as well this term!" Taking a moment to chew some of his food, he continued, "My point is that you'll be hanging out with us just as much as if you were in Gryffindor...It could be worse, you could be Jack," he added with a grin.

Hunter couldn't help but laugh at her outburst concerning the sausage, and didn't bother to go after it when it bounced across the table. He just grabbed another piece. "I'll have to take you to the owlery later on - there's literally hundreds of owls in there! And you'll love care of magical creatures! My first lesson, the professor showed us a hippogriff, which has the front of an eagle and the back of a horse!" He knew that Lyn would love it at Hogwarts - she just needed to see that her house wasn't the most important thing!

Lyra woke up early, before the rest of her dorm. But she wasn't down for breakfast too fast since she was busy unpacking and organising her things. For example, it was important her blouse went in the exact right place. If they didn't, she knew she'd spend hours looking for it in the morning and be late for something as a result of it. Not simply because she was fairly organised. Because generally she wasn't, but at Hogwarts she had to make a good impression.

Then, to delay her a bit more, she had to look at and say hello to every single portrait on the wall that she passed. Other than the slightly dodgy looking ones. Still, it took a while because there were so many portraits. After that, the stairs got confusing, so it took ages to find the Great Hall. So much for making a good impression. Nevermind.

Surprisingly, it didn't look like Hunter was there yet. All the bacon would be gone soon if he didn't turn up quickly. Stupid, pig-killer boy. Lyra reached to pour herself a glass of orange juice and took small sips as she tried to spot Lyn at the Hufflepuff table. Oh, Hunter was there with her! Was that allowed? Why have different tables if everyone was going to move to sit with friends and family. But her brother was doing it, so at least she wouldn't get told off by herself if it was against some rule.

Her plan was to spend as much time as possible with her sister. All she needed to do to be able to do so lots was learn whether she'd get blown up if she stepped into another house's Common Room. That would be bad. Or else, she could sleep in a classroom with her sister somewhere, so they weren't brutally separated by house boundaries.

"Morning!" she grinned as she sat down next to her siblings. Hunter, of course, had a sausage. She just glared at him as she took a pancake for herself. "They have good food here," she commented happily, nibbling on the pancake.

Lyra managed to catch the last bit of their conversation, Hunter telling Lyn about the Owlery. "We have to do that soon! That's so many owls!" Hundreds of owls. She had to pick the perfect one to send home. But she had her own owl now! Poor Jack. All alone. At least he'd have a pretty owl to cheer him up. It must be so hard being separated from her, since she was so beautiful and amazing.

As her brother started grumbling about only eating toast, Lyn let out a small relieved smile. "I'm nervous for the first day," she said quietly, pushing her plate away. Her tummy was aching with nervousness and she couldn't eat while feeling like that. She might throw up or something. Then Hunter said something about the pancakes, to which she giggled at. "Almost as good as?" she found herself teasing. "Since when are Jack's pancakes good?" Giving up, she cut off a bit of pancake and tasted it. Her eyes widened and she did a sound that sounded a lot like "Yum!" as she ate a bit more. "They're delicious!" Lyn exclaimed after eating a whole pancake, her nervousness now gone.

Lyn laughed at her brother's emphasizing on how Lyra ate most of his sweets. "What, so Gryffindors have sweet parties all the time now?" she asked, curious. Then when Hunter said something about carriages moving by themselves, she dropped the pancake from her hands and exclaimed, "Invisible horses!" before Hunter even had the chance to say it himself. Invisible horses at Hogwarts! That would be so cool! What if she could tame on, and take it back to their farm? It would be funny, someone would be eating Jack's clothes and poor Jack would be so confused! She was now daydreaming about all the things she could do with an invisible horse. "I heard that there's a class about magical creatures here?" Lyn asked Hunter. "Maybe we'll learn about those kind of animals there?"

Then Hunter was trying to make her feel better about the Sorting Hat's choice of her house. So Ravenclaws and Slytherins were the baddies? She needed to stay clear of those. As her brother took a deep breath to continue explaining, Lyn took the chance to ask, "What houses are your friends in, then?" When Hunter finished his explanation, she did a small nod, even though she wasn't entirely convinced. Did that mean she was cooler than Hunter? But Hufflepuff barely had no students at all. Did that mean that cool guys were so rare, that it was only them? Lyn was kind of cool?

She laughed at Hunter's next words. "Yeah, poor Jack," she commented. Lyn tried to imagine what their older brother was feeling at the moment- alone on the farm, no magic powers, no cool pets. She felt sorry for him. "What house do you think he'd be in if he got into Hogwarts first?" she asked Hunter out of curiosity.

Then, as her older brother was saying something about the Owlery, Lyra was there. "Good morning Lyra!" Lynette exclaimed, excited for her sister to be there now. She gave her sister a hug as she sat down next to them. "How's Gryffindor?" Lyn was now too excited to hear her twin's side of the story. She was actually wondering if they were allowed to go into other houses' common rooms. If getting into the Gryffindor Common Room was as easy as getting into Hufflepuff's, it could be a piece of cake! They could use some spell to make their uniform look like the other house's uniform and pretend to be some new student or something. She didn't want to spend her year alone.

As Lyra said something about going to the owlery, Lyn nodded. "Yes! We need to find pretty owls like the ones Hunter found last year!" she agreed. Cute, pretty owls that would be best friends with them! If they managed to tame them, that is.

Hunter smiled at his sister when she admitted that she was nervous for her first day of classes. "Well, it can hardly be any worse than my first day," he told her, laughing as he thought about his first few days of class at Hogwarts. "In Herbology - which is all about wizard plants, so it should be easy for you, considering the farm -anyway, in my first Herbology class, we were studying this plant called Devil's Snare, which is basically a vine that suffocates people like a python if you get to close to it," Hunter began, glaring unconsciously toward the Ravenclaw table as he continued telling the story.

"Anyway," he went on after pausing a bit dramatically, "This Ravenclaw git, Evan, was helping the professor teach the class. And he asked for a volunteer, so I offered. And when I went up front to help him, the git actually pushed me into the thing! And Aoife had to shoot fire at it to make it let me go! It's a miracle she missed me!" After sending one more glare in a Ravenclaw direction, he allowed himself to laugh at the memory. "Trust me, I'm sure your day will go much smoother."

Hunter grinned when Lyra took a taste of pancake and instantly began eating a bit more normally. "Good point," he agreed when she made fun of Jack's cooking. He laughed when she asked about Gryffindor having parties. "Only when I start them," he grinned. "Obviously, everyone flocks to where I am to bask in my awesomeness," he joked, taking another bite of sausage. "Or to steal my candy," he added as an afterthought, though the second reason was obviously why everyone had joined him.

"You'll love care of magical creatures," Hunter told Lyn. "It'll be your favorite subject, probably." Who was he kidding? It would definitely be her favorite subject. "Well, most of my friends are in Gryffindor," he admitted. "You have to meet Aoife, of course. And Blake! But a couple of the girls I know, like Aislinn and Deirdre, are in Hufflepuff! And Willow was in Hufflepuff, and she was one of my friends, but she isn't back this term."

"Probably Slytherin, he's a git," Hunter snorted when he was asked about Jack. Actually, Hunter kind of thought Jack would be in Gryffindor, but he didn't want to upset his sister so he kept that thought to himself. Luckily, Lyra had just turned up, so the conversation turned to her a bit. "Maybe tomorrow I'll show you guys the owlery," he said. "You ought to watch, though, half of the owls up there aren't very nice. I only sent you lot the ones that didn't bite." Okay, now that Lyra was there, Hunter could eat for real because his sister would talk to Lyn now. So naturally, he shoved his mouth full of bacon.

"Gryffindor is..." Lyra was going to say supermegafoxyawesomehot or some other cool word like that, but she realised it probably wasn't very sensitive since her twin was disappointed about being sorted into Hufflepuff. "...alright, I suppose." That party thing last night was awesome, though. And all her housemates were super nice and cool.

Mmm, that made sense. That some owls were nice but some mean. And bit people. "Owls are like people!" she grinned, eager to steer conversation away from houses and stuff for the minute. "Mainly mean! Like Hunter and Jack! But sometimes you get nice, pretty ones! Like us! But we'll tame them, however mean they are!" Because they were awesome like that.

Then Hunter was talking about his first day experience. "What, you're so pathetic you couldn't save yourself so a girl had to do it for you? Your girlfriend?" Lyra teased, sticking her tongue out at her brother. "Herbology sounds fun! We'll have to watch out for that Ravenclaw git, though!"

Hunter seemed to have something against Slytherin. "So are all Slytherins horrible, then?" When she glanced across at the other house's table, they didn't seem completely unbearable. But, then again, people were different on the inside than the outside, sometimes.