Chapter Text
The next day, my alarm blared annoyingly and I was so annoyed but when I was about to roll over to turn it off and sleep through it as usual, I remembered that Romilda wanted me to be awake. All of the McFuckin thoughts flooded back into my brain and I found myself wide awake.
I reached into my bag to produce the hat that Romilda had copied the previous night. All throughout the process of that, I kept glancing at her arms, and when she had handed me the copied hat, her fingers had brushed over my wrist, making the skin tingle, and any other thoughts to immediately exit my mind. (No thoughts head empty.). It’s such a crazy coincidence that I only ever forget everything I’m thinking about whenever I see her. Huh. Anyways.
I entered the office, hoping to find it empty, but my Uncle Albus was sitting at his desk, looking graver than usual.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“We just found Niall Horan of Hufflepuff tied up in a cupboard,” Albus sighed, jotting an address outside an envelope before attaching it to a barn owl. “I’m writing to his parents to let them know he is in critical condition in the hospital wing but Madam Pomfrey is confident that he will make a full recovery in time.”
I blanched, but Albus seemed preoccupied with his thoughts.
“I must go check on Niall in the hospital wing, and offer my assistance in his recovery,” Albus said, “Mr horan was in there for quite some time and only got recovered when Mr Dean Thomas heard a struggling noise and went to investigate.”
With that, Albus strode quickly from the room, and I was left to contemplate the lengths to which Romilda’s tattoos distracted me from my new immoral crimes.
Releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding, I began my morning chores for Fawkes. Once he had been fed and watered, I turned my attention to step one of the plan: replace the hat. The Sorting Hat was currently kept in a cupboard behind Uncle Albus’s desk, coincidentally right beside that ugly silver thing that had started it all. Checking over my shoulder to make sure that no one was coming, I strode across the room, opened the cupboard, and made the switch. For something that had taken like idk probably a few months to prepare for (time is fake anyways), it was a short and simple task. And just like that, the hat was in the bag. Of course, he didn’t go without making a ruckus. But fortunately even my small petite arms were strong enough to hold him down and get him in the bag- singing is not a very useful physical weapon. Step one: complete! Next, to the library. The love of my life. <3
I entered the familiar space, and inhaled the scent of books. I don’t wear perfume because I’m not like other girls, but if I were to, I would want it to smell like this. Is that weird and quirky of me? I don’t care. I thought about all of the books I could read (or re-read to be more precise- I had already read every book in there several times over by now), but none of them seemed appealing to me. If I was honest, my mind was stuck on the hat in my bag. I snuck away to my secret spot that is super secret and only I know about because I’m special, and pulled out the hat. Something in me believed that this hat had answers, and I wanted to know them.
“Psst, hat! So, uh- how does this work? Do I put you on my head, or…” I asked to the depths of my bag.
“Oh, I see how it is. You shut me up when you don’t want me to sing, but expect me to talk when it’s convenient for you? Classic. I thought after composing those songs together that you’d have a little more respect for me, but I guess not.” A grumpy voice emerged from the bag.
“I had to take you- we’re trying to prove our worth to get the secret knowledge, and we need you to accomplish it. I promise we’ll keep you safe and put you right back where you belong as soon as we can” I responded.
“Hmmm the knowledge, you say? Very interesting. Well, your ambition in this quest is certainly something old Salazar would have respected, I’ll give you that. And you know, Y/N, you’re making much better progress than some have expected. Many doubted that you’d succeed, given that we were all expecting this to happen much later. Very interesting indeed. Well, I take it you’ve got some questions to ask me yourself, seeing as you’re not currently trying to pull a sword out of me?” The voice, now less grumpy, had a cunning twist to it.
“I would ask how you know all that crap about me, but it’s come up so many times that I guess it’s to be expected. I take it that you can’t tell me about why everyone knows my name or why everyone thinks I’m supposed to do something but later?”
“That would be correct. That’s not my role to play here.”
“Superb. So helpful. Great. Slay.” I said, rolling my orbs. “So, what can you tell me?”
“Well, I can look into your mind and tell you your house- perhaps not the most useful for someone who is not a student, but in your endeavors to prove your worthiness, could be of use.”
“I’ve gotta say- I’ve been struggling with some other labels in my life, so yeah why not add another?”
“If you’re going to ask me to tell you your sexuality as well, I think perhaps that’s a discussion better had with someone else. I do have a friend who could maybe help…. How do you feel about scarves?” The voice chuckled from the bag. My face reddened, and I stuttered out:
“Of course, you would know about that too, wouldn’t you? No, just the house is fine, thanks.”
I settled the hat on my head and heard a little voice in my ear.
“Well well well! I’ve never seen a mind like yours. You are truly not like other girls.” I rolled my orbs at this.
“Wow I had no idea,” I said sarcastically. “Now will you tell me which house I’m in?”
“So impatient. Patience is a virtue you know,” the little voice said. “This is curious… very curious.”
“What’s curious?” I asked.
“You are brave, you are clever, very intelligent, yet hard working, loyal, and kind, and you have a thirst to prove yourself, and a cunning streak.” the hat said.
“What does that mean? Tell me my house,” I demanded.
“I cannot,” the little voice said simply. “You are what they call Divergent. You possess traits for all four, not one more than the others, and not one less than the other. You are not like other girls.”
My jaw dropped open. So this was the reason! This was why I wasn’t like other girls. I always knew I wasn’t but I could never tell exactly why.
“You are the Chosen One . The Selected . The Not Like Other Girls Girl . The Special––” the hat may have continued listing all my titles but I yanked him off and stuffed him deep in my bag.
“Shut up!” I yelled.
“You may run from your destiny, but fate will find you…” The hat’s muffled voice eventually was stifled in the depth of my bag in between so many books.
Once again, I had tried to answer my questions, but ended up with more than before. Classic. My only source of relief was that my hunger to read was back, and now it had a direction. Time to read up on that whole ‘Divergent’ business. Dipping back out to the main library, I scanned the shelves that I had visited endless times before. It took me less than 2 seconds to realize that I would need to go to the Restricted Section to find books on being ‘Divergent’, because I know every single book and its location in the library. I was pondering whether or not it was worth it to try to find Pince or to just go for it, when a pair of stunning emerald leaf dill orbs met my ocean orbs. It was Harry Whodafuq, who I hadn’t seen in ages because he was being all dark and mysterious. He was clearly as much of a rebellious bad boy as always.
“Harry!” I called out in the loudest whisper I could afford. He walked coolly over to where I stood. “Are you going into the Restricted Section?”
“Obviously. It’s the only place in this whole library for a dark mysterious bad boy like myself.”
“Right, right- of course. Do you think you could grab me a book while you’re in there? I’d go myself, but I’m too petite and small to reach the shelf- I can barely hold most books because I’m so small!”
“You are quite small. Alright, just this once.” He looked into the distance mysteriously, and then we locked orbs again. “What book do you need?”
“I need a book on being ‘Divergent’. It’s the 14th book to the left on the 3rd shelf of the leftmost bookcase.” Harry’s orbs widened.
“...Divergent. Huh. You’re really not like other girls, are you Y/N?” His orbs showed hints of interest, and almost… desire as he swept over my body, taking in my messy bun, beat-up converse, and jeans that had been drawn on with sharpie and were covered in unique and artsy quotes. Oh, and my Hot Topic t-shirt of course.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that” I chuckled under my breath.
“Be right back” he said shortly, almost as if in a rush to leave, and he entered the Restricted Section. A few minutes later, he was back, and with a massive stack of books in hand. He handed me the topmost one.
“Thanks Har––” I started, but he was already gone. What a bad boy. So bad. The worst boy in fact.
I settled down in my very public armchair. I normally don’t like being paid attention to, but this arm chair was the only one I was tall enough to climb up into. I am much too petite to reach the other taller arm chairs.
Soon, Romilda came into the room, and when she spotted the book I was reading she looked at the cover.
“Divergence: Straying From the Path, or Forging Your Own? Dang, sounds intense. What weird quirky thing have you found yourself in now, Y/N?” She arched an orbbrow at me, expectant.
“Oh, you know. I’m not like other girls- the Sorting Hat told me that I’m Divergent. I can’t be placed into a house. I was hoping to see if maybe I had any particular traits that could help us with our quest, because you’ve got Gryffindor down so I was thinking maybe I would lean towards the traits of some house. But I don’t- I have traits from all four equally. Sure is a good thing I’m not actually a student here, huh? They’d have to come up with a whole new dorm for me.” Romilda rolled her orbs at the last comment.
“You really are special, aren’t you?”
“The hat told me that I was the Chosen One. I figured it would be worth reading about Divergence, but there’s not much out there. Only this 500 page book that I read in 20 minutes. So few people are ever Divergent because it’s such a rare special thing that’s not like the other wizards, so there’s not a lot of information.”
“Anyone we’d know that’s also Divergent?” Romilda inquired.
“I don’t know of anyone,” I admitted. I led her to my secret spot. As far as I knew, no other students knew of this place. It was a beautiful sunlit alcove, hidden by two large bookshelves. It was a cozy nook where I went to sit if someone was sitting in the only armchair I could access.
Romilda grabbed my bag off of me and reached into it. She had to pull out several large books that I had been reading (all at the same time) before she found the Sorting hat. The hat was quite rumpled and rather grumpy about having been shoved in a bag.
For a moment, she held the hat out in front of her, reverently; the payoff of weeks of hard effort.
“Nice work, Y/N!” she punched me in the shoulder, definitely leaving a bruise. Ouch. My skin bruises so easily because I am so petite and small. Such a physical weakling I appear to be, although I actually am much more athletic and strong than other girls because I am not like other girls.
She put the hat on her head and waited. Nothing happened.
“Worth a try,” she shrugged, not seeming to be upset by the lack of result.
“Worth a try?” I replied, astounded. “What other things are there to ‘try’? Need I remind you, we didn’t have a back-up protocol for this portion of the plan. The sword was supposed to fall out!” I felt my cheeks flush with emotion.
“Calm down there,” she snorted. “Weren’t you listening to my plan? We need to go do something daring and brave, and then we’ll get the sword.” She stowed the hat back away in my bag, which she shouldered.
“What do you have in mind?”