Lenore McCrea, Domina Weather Witch

Two Years Ago

She arrived with the clothes on her back, a bit of money and a backpack filled with what little she could fit of her old life. This school was huge, intimidating, and relentlessly British. The halls echoed with the footsteps of hundreds of young people, and the whispers they couldn't stop. What was down this way? Who is that in the big hat? Where am I going to sleep tonight? What's happened with my bag, can someone find my bag?

Because she was rather silent most of the time, Lenore McCrea wasn't stared at or angrily accosted. She felt miserable - hungry and dazed from her trip. Rather unlike most of the other students, however, Leny had little more than street clothes and her pack. They all had their black robes, some had hats, most had a wand and many had a pet or familiar in a cage.

Leny had nothing. Her heart raced. In her right hand she limply grasped her backpack. In her left, there was the folded invitation to this school that her parents had all but burned in their efforts to keep her at home.

It wasn't like that other boy - what was his name? Harry something. Everyone whispered about him, constantly. When he walked through a hall, even the older students and staff paused to watch - as if this black-haired kid with the geeky glasses had some kind of exotic sway over everyone.

She'd never heard of him. And, she had the good sense in her head not to ask someone the obvious question. Who was this kid? Who cared. To Leny, he was just another slightly cute, rather annoying British kid.

With a lot of discomfort, and the endless waiting, Leny stood around and finally realized that yes, people were staring at her. She glanced away from most eyes, but then the tall, hawk-faced woman in the extra-big hat stood near her.

"Miss." She said, curtly, "you've no proper gear! Haven't you been outfitted?"

Leny swallowed and held back emotions with difficulty. "I haven't been outfitted because I have no money to buy things, ma'am." She said, voice faint. "I didn't know where to get anything anyway. No one told me."

"Where exactly are you from, young miss?" Asked the woman, somewhat sharply. "I cannot say I know your accent."

"That would be Arizona, ma'am," Lenore said. "I'm not from here."

"I see," the woman said, eyes wandering all over Lenore as though she might have brought some kind of disease with her from the States. "Well, I hope that you've prepared a bit at least. Have you a wand?"

Lenore shook her head, and heard the woman give a harrumph. "What about a cauldron?" Again, Lenore had to swallow a sob and shake her head.

She stared at her shoes, which had been somewhat new at the beginning of her journey. They'd last for a while. She glanced at someone else's, and noticed that they were wearing some other kind of nice low leather or suede boot - next to her pale grey hiking boots they seemed to be entirely more appropriate to the school.

The woman straightened out, and her expression, while harsh and almost unreadable, became a bit more soft. She summoned a bird which then flew off into the school itself. "Well. We can't have that, now. Everyone must appear their best, and we've always got some extra items laying about. Ah. Here."

She looked up, held out her arm, and the bird - a simply gigantic owl - dropped onto it. It was carrying a large package in its one talon, which the woman took.

"Here we are. This will serve as your robe for the moment. As for the other things..." She sighed, "those will have to wait until everyone is settled. When they are needed, we will see what we can do for you. This is not a free ride, you understand?"

Lenore nodded again. She was barely fifteen years old, alone in a country - a magical corner of one anyway - that she'd never even been to before, and without her parents permission. She had run away to do this thing, knowing that she'd be in a world of trouble for it all. Everyone would know, everyone would find out some time that she was just a poor runaway from America who had no idea what she was really ever going to do.

But for the time being, she opened the paper on the package, shook out the black robe and put it on over her street clothing. She tucked the letter of acceptance back into her pack, among the changes of underwear and few items of clothing. She had wanted to bring her music, her books... anything. But instead, she realize that anything she brought would be weighing her down.

And did they even have radio reception here?

The train ride - how she'd even gotten on that train was a lucky glimpse at someone else who was likely headed to the School - was miserable. Fortunately, the only ticket they asked for was the letter from Hogwarts. If they'd wanted something more, she would have just up and died. And then the boats? Everyone else had all their stuff, she wasn't even really sure where they'd gotten outfitted.

Nor would she have time or money to worry about it. She along with the rest of the new and older students were herded into the great hall, a huge room with a cathedral ceiling and ... well, ghosts and floating candles and food flying about. It was pretty bizarre. Lenore had no idea what to expect so she wandered with the others in a daze.

At least half of the kids seemed to have older siblings there to help them, encourage them, or just stand nearby to assist. Then, of course, everyone was bid to sit.

That aged but slightly-disturbingly crazy looking man, graceful and quiet, stood and addressed the students. Then, then... If it wasn't bad enough that everyone stared at her while they were entering the place, looking at her shoes and trying to coax another oddly-accented statement out of her... Now they all had to sit in a chair at the head of the whole blasted room and be Sorted.

Lenore didn't really know what this all meant. But, after about a dozen students had been moved into this House or that, she realized that it was just a way of predetermining where they would best room, who they were to be hanging around. Since it was magical in nature, she had to trust that they'd find the right group of people for her.

Another half dozen names were called, eliciting a loud marathon of cheering from each of the Houses as their newest arrival was Sorted. Her name was called, and actually she was surprised. Everything else could have gone wrong, she might have been looked over, yet they did expect her to be there. That was the one bonus of the night.

When she went up to the chair, she studiously avoided looking at anyone in the eye. There was a third-year student in the silver and green Snakey colors that seemed to lead a posse of dangerous looking others - he shut up when anyone aimed a stern look at him, but Leny knew they were going to do something awful later.

When the Sorting hat was placed on Lenore's head, it came to life as it had for the rest. She squirmed a bit, couldn't help it - having something that was meant to be inanimate suddenly moving and hunkering itself down upon her head was really strange.

"Hmnnnnnnnn..." It said. Its voice was gravelly, resonated on top of her head and sounded louder to her than it had when she'd just been in the crowd watching. "Hummmmmm."

The students and other unSorted kids were beginning to get a little anxious. While she didn't know that some had been Sorted slowly several years back, there was little else in the history of the school to warrant this.

"Wellll," the hat said, "there are bits of this, bits of that. Bravery-" it said, and was interrupted by one of those Snakey kids yelling something unkind, they were shushed by someone in a gryphon hat. "And sacrifice, but quite a bit of ... headstrong. Hmn..."

Lenore bit her lip. She hazarded a glance upwards at the inside of the brim, but saw nothing but a bit of animated cloth. It was still moving, but then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a woman wearing something a little less tacky than the other headmasters, approaching the others.

She glanced at them, not noticing that almost everyone else was doing the same thing. It was an red-haired woman, far too young to be among those headmasters, it seemed. But she spoke a few words to the other professors, and then gazed fully at ... Well, at the Sorting hat.

"You know, you don't have to worry about it." She said. "Now that I'm here. I bring my own House."

"Then Domina it is!" The hat announced.

There was almost complete dead silence in the room filled with more than four hundred people and ghosts. One of the headmasters had the tact to begin applauding, and polite clapping followed from scattered parts of the room.

The hat was removed, and Lenore was shooed away to this orange-haired woman. She smiled entirely too broadly, draped her arm over Lenore's shoulders with a laugh.

"That's a girl. Come along. We'll sit at this table, until someone kicks us out." Zora said.

"Figures that the American freak would wind up with you," the blond teenager said, his words short and snipped, formed around the sneer permanently emblazoned on his lips.

Lenore looked at him, but didn't feel the same fear that she'd had while sitting on the sorting stool. Instead, she suddenly located a reserve of anger. But before she could say anything right back, above the applaudse for the newest Crow boy being Sorted, the leader of House Domina sitting next to her nudged her and whispered into her ear.

"Don't worry. You'll get along just fine later. They always do this. Snake annoyances." The woman glared at that blond and his cronies, and they carefully went back to their table.

"Are you ... really a professor?" Lenore said, lamely.

"Yes, I am. In fact I'm the head of my own House, too. Isn't that keen?" Zora giggled. "You and I are the only ones, so far. You're my first here. I've only been doing this for a few years."

"Your... your first student?"

"Here at this school," the odd orange-eyed woman reminded her. "My first already graduated." She let out a sigh with a silly expression on her face.

"There's no one else in the House?" Lenore gazed out at the four big long - long - tables with their dozens upon dozens of students, all happy and laughing and together at their new cliques.

"Yup," Zora said. "Oh, by the way my name's Zora. Zora Domina, House Domina. I've got a place up in one of the towers. It's a lot easier to get to than the other Houses dorms."

"Is it." Lenore said, flatly.

"Well don't sound so happy for yourself," Zora said, turning back to watch the rest of the Sorting.

Later on, during the feast, Zora scooted them closer to the Badger table, which seemed like a great idea to Lenore. She was starving. Everything was so big, so shiny, amazing. She tucked in to the big meal and would later hook back up with Zora. Not before getting into a little spat with those same Snakey boys.

"They really let anyone in here nowadays," the blond said. Again, Lenore looked at him with more anger than anything else. But she realized (with a full belly, warmer clothing, and the confidence that she'd been accepted into at least somebody's House) that anything she said would just prod him on. She didn't much care - and she had practice Flaming on the internet too much to pass it up.

"Yes, they certainly do. I see they keep just anyone around, too." She said, glancing at the two rather chubby boys beside him, and the bucktoothed one behind. Then Leny flashed a tiny smile, and went back to her meal.

The Badgers near her held their breath. It was as though a table full of people just wanted to see who would win this little flame war.

The boy sneered again, and smacked one of the bulbous boys when he started laughing at Leny's pointed joke. He obviously didn't get it. But the blond did. He slapped his hand onto the table, beside Lenore's plate, startling one of the tamer Badger girls.

"They say mundane-born witches like you wash up and flunk out. I bet we'll be seeing how quick that works."

"Well it might," Lenore said, putting a napkin to her lips. "But I'm hardly a normie, blondie. My parents were both Lionhearts"

That cast a strange look over the blond's face. It was echoed on some of the nearby Badger students as well. Lenore put her fork into the air, "they left. Went to America. Didn't tell me about any of this until earlier this year."

"...Left?" The boy said, but the sharpness in his tone wasn't as present as it had been before. He recovered quickly, though, and went back to his typical flippant tone. "Couldn't handle it. I can see they prepared you perfectly."

He sneered, and Lenore looked at him with her elbow on the table and her fingers pressing into her jaw. She just looked - blinking occasionally. She said nothing, just watched him. At first, it seemed that he wanted to have one of those little snitty staring contests. But soon it became clear that he just wanted to try provoking Lenore into saying something further.

She didn't offer. Instead, she smiled faintly, and turned back to her meal.