#14 Round Two

Saoirse politely tuned out during the rest of Sarah and Rickard's conversation. It wasn't easy, since the Hat had chosen to be silent again. Saoirse took that as an indication that she'd asked the wrong question. Either that, or she needed to go somewhere else to find out more. She sighed dramatically, maybe a bit too loudly considering she was supposed to be quiet and sneaky.

"This is one of those 'find your own journey' things, isn't it?" she exclaimed while still keeping her voice down. "No one likes those! Thanks anyway, I guess."

Releasing another puff of air, Saoirse shelved a few more books so that her presence had mentioned to help Rickard in some way. As she did, she caught Sarah looking at her. At least now she didn't have to sneak out. Saoirse hadn't fancied the idea of rolling along the floor and out into the hallway. She finished another stack and then stepped out from behind the shelves.

"Thanks, Headmaster. I'm feeling better now."

She gave Sarah a polite nod and then swept past her, opening the door and exiting the office. Saoirse paused as the door closed behind her, wondering where to go next. She was bad at history, so maybe she could go to the history of magic class? Or perhaps ask Professor McGonagall? If she went to the library now, she'd have no idea what to look for. History of magic it was, then.

[Exit]

“Thank you, sir, I’ll get on it right away,” Sarah basically ran to the hidden wall, but it was still easily identified since it was so bare. She opened one of the boxes and first, started on sorting all the books in the box alphabetically before putting them on the shelves, leaving enough room between the groups to add more of them.

After some time sorting the books, Sarah felt as if she was being watched. She looked around but Headmaster Rickard didn’t seem to be observing her. Her eyes landed on the Sorting Hat and Sarah swore it was moving. Seeing it gave her an idea.

“I remember the Song,” Sarah told it while she was putting the books away. “The one at the Welcome Feast this year,” she explained herself and felt a little stupid talking to the Hat. Sarah had no idea why, but it was weird talking to it without it being on her head.

“You’ve mentioned new adventures awaiting us and something the Founders left behind?” Sarah questioned herself more than the Hat. It was, after all, several months ago and recent events pushed even classes on the back-burner.

“Something about legacies?” Gryffindor wondered and looked at the book in her hands. Shaking her head, she put it away. “What’s up with that? Aren’t we all entire Houses’ legacies in a way?" Sarah questioned it and waited on whether it would even answer her.

Sarah was shocked at first, the Hat didn’t really speak in her head, which was obvious in retrospect seeing as it wasn’t placed on her head. She was glad its voice wasn’t booming either, Sarah would hate for Rickard to hear her. He doing her a major favor and Sarah felt like she was exploiting his kindness or trust in her good behavior by speaking to the Hat on the sly.

“I really liked it,” Sarah complimented it and she wasn’t even exaggerating. Maybe it was because she was older and therefore more likely to remember them, but this year’s really struck a chord in her. That ultimately led her to where she was now.

Sarah guessed the Hat had a point about all Gryffindors being the legacies of the founder of the house. She really had no true answer to reply with, but it did made her think hard about it. Did she really embody the traits of Godric Gryffindor that much? Was it proper to say she represented her house truly?

Gryffindors were supposed to be brave, daring and have enough nerve, but she did run away from Seabrook and burst into tears partially because of Professor Snape’s behavior. Then again, Sarah took initiative about her family and gathered enough courage to go to Headmaster Rickard with her worries and actually achieved her goal about checking up on her family.

Everything that Hat said made her head hurt and perhaps brought more doubt to Sarah than it intended. There was a strange mix of acceptance deep down in Sarah’s soul, which might just get uncovered if she dug more into this strange legacy.

“But if the adventure’s passed on, isn’t it the same for everyone else?” Sarah questioned, tapping her finger on her lower lip. “What’s the fun in it if all people walk the same path?” The Gryffindor figured there might be more ways to reach the destination, but if there are countless Gryffindor who walked the path to legacy already, why would she be one too? She wanted to path the way, not walk the already discovered ways.

The way the Sorting Hat talked about it, though, it seemed like there were many secrets and many artefacts that were up for grabs. Sarah could simply go for one of those.

“Founding artefacts?” Sarah frowned, hearing the Hat talk about something tangible for once and not in riddles. “What are those? Where can I find them?” She asked with a surreptitious glance in the direction of Headmaster Rickard. Sarah doubted that she would get an actual answer from the Hat, but it would be nice to know that the award at the end wasn’t a scroll with ‘The treasure is the friendships you made along the way’ or something similarly asinine.