#sorting things out

Notes: No pairing in this one. Just the beginning of my Curatus series that will focus on your first few years at Hogwarts and your wholesome interactions with the guys. TAGS: Caleb & Reader, Hogwarts AU, Slytherin Reader, Protective Caleb, Wholesome, Hogwarts First Year, Hogwarts House Sorting Ceremony, Hufflepuff Caleb, Hufflepuff Gideon, Slytherin Tara, Gryffindor Xavier, Fluff. | Words:1,839 Hope you enjoy!

The third-year compartment was cramped, stuffy, and definitely not meant for three people plus three cats in travel crates, but none of that really mattered. You were curled up on the bench with your head in Caleb’s lap, his scarf half-draped over your shoulder and your hands tucked beneath your head.

The train rumbled beneath you; the windows fogged slightly with mist. Caleb’s fingers were in your hair again, smoothing it like he used to when you were six and recovering in the infirmary wing of Josephine’s creaky old house. He kept checking your scarf even though it wasn’t even cold.

“Did you drink the calming draught Josephine packed?” he asked, for the third time.

You grunted.

He reached down and poked your cheek. “That’s not a yes.”

Across from you, Gideon was peeling open a chocolate frog, frowning down at a medical book spread open in his lap. Its pages were filled with diagrams you didn’t understand, magical currents, sleep flare patterns, regulatory charm schematics.

“You have to be careful when it spikes,” Gideon said, not looking up. “If you feel weird, or dizzy, or if your magic gets that static-crackling thing, find one of us. Don’t wait. Just-” he glanced up at you, face serious in that quiet way he had, “don’t try to push through it alone.”

You groaned and pressed your face into Caleb’s jumper. “You two are fussier than gran.”

“We’re allowed to be,” Caleb said, though his voice was warm. “You’re our favorite baby witch.”

“I’m not a baby witch,” you grumbled.

“Fine. You’re a nap-prone magical gremlin with too much power in your bones and a tendency to fall asleep in public stairwells.”

“I haven’t even fallen asleep in a stairwell yet.”

“Yet,” Gideon said.

You pouted and kicked half-heartedly toward his shin.

“The only thing I’m worried about is which house I’m going to end up in,” you muttered. “What if I don’t end up in Hufflepuff with you two?”

Caleb leaned down so his forehead bumped lightly against yours.

“Whichever house it is,” he said, “you’ll still be my favorite Slytherin-Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw-Gryffindor.”

“If it’s Gryffindor,” Gideon said with mock seriousness, “we’ll sneak you snacks from the kitchens. If it’s Ravenclaw, we’ll exchange notes. If it’s Slytherin, well…”

“We’ll write you a sympathy card, sneak you those snacks, and share our notes,” Caleb finished, laughing lightly.

You made a dramatic sound of betrayal and curled tighter into your seat, burying your face in his jumper. They both laughed like they hadn’t been quietly panicking only ten minutes earlier.

Caleb shifted beneath you, gently easing your head off his lap before crouching down in front of you. His expression had softened, but his eyes were serious again. That older-brother look that meant he was trying not to let you see how scared he still was, sometimes.

“Promise me,” he said, voice low so only you could hear. “If it starts to spiral, if the magic flares too hard, or you feel it bubbling, tell someone. Tell me. Tell Madame Beaumont. Tell anyone.”

You looked at him, really looked. His eyes were the same color as Josephine’s favorite tea. Steady. Steeped in worry. You gave a tiny nod.

“I promise,” you said. A little more quietly than usual.

He smiled and pressed two fingers gently to your forehead, a habit he never quite dropped.

“Okay then, pip,” he murmured. “Let’s get you to Hogwarts.”

The rest of the train ride to Hogwarts quieted down as the sun dipped lower, slipping behind the hills. The three cats, nestled in their carriers, purred softly, a gentle soundtrack to the evening. Outside, the world faded from gold to deepening blues, the stars starting to wink awake.

When the train finally slowed to a halt, you shuffled forward with the crowd, your feet barely touching the floor. Caleb gave your shoulder one last squeeze, firm, steady, like an anchor, before he and Gideon slipped away toward the carriages waiting at the station.

You blinked, suddenly alone in the bustle. Kids shouted and laughed, their robes rumpled, some tripping over each other as they hurried. The crisp night air smelled of lake water and pine.

You bumped into someone.

Her bobbed hair was a mess from the wind, strands sticking out like she’d just wrestled a pixie. She turned and flashed you a wide, gap-toothed grin.

“Hi! I’m Tara. I nearly walked into the lake.”

Before you could answer, a boy behind her let out a yawn so big his eyes watered. Pale hair, his cloak half-rumpled, blinking at the world with wide, owl-like blue eyes.

“That’s Xavier,” Tara said, nudging him gently. “He’s been tired since the train left the station. I think it’s his default state.”

“M’not tired,” Xavier mumbled, then yawned again, completely contradicting himself.

You told her your name, and Tara repeated it like she was testing a new spell. Then she grinned wider.

“Come on. Let’s find a boat before he walks into the lake too.”

The three of you piled into a wooden boat, Tara bouncing with excitement as she settled in, Xavier blinking slowly at the sky, and you pulling your cloak tighter against the evening breeze.

The boats drifted forward, gliding across the water. Around the bend, the castle rose before you, turrets reaching for the stars, windows glowing like scattered golden fireflies, and the whole place humming with magic.

Somewhere near you, a soft gasp broke the quiet. You weren’t sure if it was Tara, Xavier, or you.

Soon, the boat bumped softly against the shore, the wooden keel scraping the pebbled bank. You stepped out, the cold night air biting at your cheeks, but it didn’t matter. Ahead, the great doors of Hogwarts yawned wide, framed by flickering torches that cast long shadows on the stone.

The chatter around you grew louder, first years buzzing with excitement, nerves, and wide-eyed wonder. Everyone was whispering and pointing.

The castle smelled of old stone, woodsmoke, and something faintly sweet, like peppermint and parchment.

You followed the crowd up the grand steps, the echo of footsteps bouncing off the walls. The torchlight shimmered on suits of armor standing at attention, some whispering jokes to each other in metal voices.

Tara kept up a steady stream of chatter, her words bouncing like the ripples on the lake. Xavier shuffled along beside her, rubbing his eyes and blinking like he was still half-asleep but trying to keep up.

Everywhere you looked, there were magical details to take in, floating candles drifting lazily overhead, banners fluttering though no breeze stirred, and the distant hum of magic woven into the walls.

Your heart thudded in your chest, a blend of nerves and excitement.

This was it.

Hogwarts.

You glanced back at Tara and Xavier, their faces glowing with the same mix of awe and anticipation. Then, with a deep breath, you stepped forward, ready to find your place.

The doors to the Great Hall creaked open, and the light hit you like a spell, soft gold spilling across long tables, flickering candles floating above your head, casting dancing shadows on the ceiling enchanted to reflect the darkening sky. It was like stepping into a storybook.

Your breath caught somewhere between your ribs. So many people. Hundreds. The weight of their gazes, curious and flicking past, settled like a velvet cloak around your shoulders.

Your footsteps echoed. You walked with the rest of the first years toward the front, past row after row of older students, past teachers with warm or unreadable expressions. You clutched the edges of your robe and tried not to look too small.

At the front of the hall, a tall witch with sleek, brown hair and sharp eyes stepped forward, unrolling a long parchment. You remembered her from the many times she visited your gran. Professor Jenna. Calm voice, crisp robes, a kind smile that didn’t quite mask the authority underneath.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” she said, voice carrying across the hall, and the room shushed. “We will commence the sorting ceremony. When I call your name, please come forward and sit on the stool. The Sorting Hat will do the rest.”

The Sorting Hat sat crookedly on a wooden stool, already yawning as though bored with the coming parade of children and minds.

One by one, names were called.

Tara was sorted first. She practically danced her way to the front and sat down like she’d been waiting her whole life. The hat barely touched her head before shouting, “Slytherin!” She bounced off to her new table, waving dramatically at you as she went

Xavier went after. He yawned so deeply on the way up that someone snickered in the audience. He sat, head tilted slightly, blinking up at the floating candles. After a long pause, the hat finally declared, “Gryffindor!” and he shuffled off in the right direction.

And then. “Next,” said Professor Jenna. She scanned the list before her gaze found yours. Your name rang out across the Great Hall, and everything else dropped away.

You walked slowly, legs stiff, heart drumming so hard you swore everyone could hear it. You perched on the stool, gripping the edge like it might lift off and fly away. The Sorting Hat was placed on your head, and…

Darkness.

A deep breath, not your own, exhaled in your ears.

“My, my…” came the Sorting Hat’s voice, low and old and not unkind. “A tangled little knot of history you are.”

“Strong magic. Wild. Wounded. And clever… oh yes, very clever.”

It paused, and you felt it sorting through everything, every memory, every sleepless night, every flare of power, every scar carved too early.

“But what do you want, child?” it asked.

You were quiet a long moment. Then, softly:

“To be okay,” you thought. “To grow. To prosper. To be great.”

Another breath. Then, decisively:

“Slytherin, then,” the hat murmured. “Ambition sharpened by survival. You’ll make a fine storm there.”

And then, out loud.

“SLYTHERIN!”

You slid off the stool, blinking under the candlelight. The green and silver table to your right clapped, some with more enthusiasm than others.

But your eyes sought something else.

Across the hall, Caleb was already standing at the Hufflepuff table, clapping the loudest, a wide grin splitting his face. You could practically feel the pride radiating off of him like heat.

Next to him, Gideon gave you a little thumbs-up, understated and solid.

Tara, already seated at the Slytherin table, caught your eye and beamed, drumming her hands on the table in excitement. She mouthed something that looked suspiciously like“Roommates!” before nearly knocking over her goblet in the process.

Across the hall, Xavier was perched at the Gryffindor table, a bit wide-eyed now as the students around him whooped and clapped for the next first year. He sat straighter than before, blinking fast, clearly trying to keep up with the noise and energy without getting swept away by it.

Marcus: My first thought was Marcus is gonna be the Double Lion that Reginald always wanted from Luther -- but as the promo materials have started rolling out, especially with his advising them to be careful in the training scene and even his reaction to Viktor’s boast/threat, I’m kind of getting a built Secondary vibe now? Still thinking inspirational primary, though. Maybe Lion/Bird or Lion/Badger? I’m holding out hope for Badger/Bird at this point, but that’s also my bias showing. XD

Ben: I still like the idea of Umbrella-Ben being Lion/Bird -- though I get the feeling this version is modelling Lion Secondary a lot harder. I’m gonna stick with that for now, but I think this is going to have the potential to vary depending on whether you take Umbrella-Ben into account or try to sort them as totally different characters.

Fei: Clearly a Double Bird, right? Okay, obvious joke over. Not much to go on, I think she’s had the least dialogue so far. I’m gonna take a stab and say she’ll mirror Allison as another Snake/Bird number three. That, or Lion/Badger, giving us possibly an entire Lion/builtsec 1/2/3 combo.

Alphonso: Another one that I’d really like to see mirror his Umbrella counterpart, as another Double Snake number four. It seems like it’d fit with the glimpses we have so far, so I’m gonna stick with that one.

Sloane: Pretty sure she’s had the second-least dialogue so far, so also not a lot to go on there. I’m gonna say Badger Primary, entirely based on her looking kind of ashamed or disappointed in herself for two seconds in the training scene. Maybe Lion Secondary? I get improvisational vibes.

Jayme: Almost solely based on not having guessed it for anyone else, I’m gonna say Bird Primary -- also, I can’t tell whether she’s meant to mirror original!Ben (as number six), Five, or both, but I feel like a Bird Primary would mirror their very-birdy-feeling-but-never-entirely-there vibes interestingly. Secondary... Snake? Based on... nothing, but you knew that clicking into this post.

Martin

Despite probably having the biggest, best-defined character arc, I'm finding Martin the main character I'm least set on. 

Secondary-wise, I'd say he's definitely a built secondary; very little of Martin's improvisations seem to come comfortable to him. His insistence on doing things right and by-the-book feels fairly Badger, but his ability to be lured into shortcuts and moments of unprofessional behavior feels to me like a Bird who thinks that Badger hard word and toil is the best option. It also seems to fit with the way he becomes calm and confident once something works out for him, and then immediately loses it once things go wrong and he feels unprepared again. The few episodes where he really gets to be confident and succeed particularly feel Bird-y to me: relying on knowledge in Johannesburg especially stand out.

(That said, Badger also seems to ring consistently with the way he handles a lot of things -- his dedication to his job, his hard work, even the way half the time he does get confident, it's either because Douglas isn't there to bring him down, or he seems to be pretending to be him.)

Primary-wise, though, that's where I get tripped up. Not a Snake, I think; even his hesitancy to leave MJN is half about his own goals and issues, not fully founded in caring about others. Badger doesn't quite seem right either -- "being loyal and true to things or people that exist is more important than sticking to grander but more abstract ideals or concepts" does not sound like Martin at all. My first thought was Lion, just one that's still struggling to be as decisive as they usually are -- despite his hesitancy, and his instincts being 'follow the rules written by others', a lot of the Lion stuff seems to apply to him. "They are willing to sacrifice their safety, social harmony, and a certain amount of logic to do what they feel is right." "There is right and there is wrong. Things are black and white. Shades of gray are places where people go to play games, twist the truth, and to be cowards."

But... he does bend the rules, or sit back and let Douglas do so. If nobody who makes him feel like he has to put on the act is there -- see Newcastle and Qikiqtarjuaq -- he'll bend them pretty far. Trying to drop candy on a kids' birthday party (Johannesburg) and lying to a passenger about where they're flying (Timbuktu) levels of far.

So who's around seems to be a big part of it, which maybe could point back in a loyalist direction. I think in the end, though, I'm going to throw up my hands and say, maybe a Bird whose system is in progress from something fairly immature and black-and-white to something more complicated? Martin's devotion to his passion and his job above all else feels pretty Idealist to me, and this seems a little more fitting than him being an extremely malleable Lion.

Douglas

Douglas "at any given moment I never have fewer than seven ulterior motives" Richardson? Douglas "did something clever and now everything's fine" Richardson? Douglas "pretending very hard not to care about anything, actually cares very deeply, but only about specific things and specific people" Richardson? Is there even any point to considering an answer besides double Snake here? Douglas might as well be the model of it. Trickery is his first language. He schemes, charms, adapts, and lucks out in order to achieve anything in his sights, whether that's as small as a relief from boredom or as big as saving the day.

Motivation is trickier -- but it becomes clearer and clearer as time goes on how far Douglas is willing to go to save MJN, and outside his own desires to be the captain again, that seems like the biggest thing that ever drives him. Combine that with his hedonism, and the way he's happy to lie, cheat, and steal to accomplish most other things with no notable guilt or shame, I don't even see hints of a model or structure built over it; the things that matter to him are his own reputation and status (and even that in very specific, particular ways), and saving GERTI and her crew.

(That said, the more I think about it, I do think you could make a solid argument for Douglas as a rapid-fire Bird Secondary. Mostly built around Zurich -- his confession that his confidence started, not just as a mask, but wholesale imitating somebody else. There's also this excerpt from Finnemore's Farewell Bear Facts: "Douglas prefers to hang back, let other people make mistakes, work out the 'something clever' he's going to do in secret, and then present it with a flourish." While that could be Snake-y, I could see it as a Bird's planning working for someone whose very invested in his own reputation. That said, I still think Double Snake seems the most applicable overall.)

Carolyn

Carolyn's drives are a kind of mirror to Douglas', which is interesting to reflect back on. The two things she cares most about are how she's seen, and -- even if she sometimes shows it in her own strange way -- Arthur. Then Douglas and Martin start to rank in there over time, and eventually so does Herc. (Martin moreso than Douglas -- speculation, but I think it's probably because everyone knows Douglas will take care of himself first, so he doesn't need to be worried about so much.) Money matters to her of course, but several times it comes down to show that if money was the most important thing, she'd probably have given up GERTI a long time ago. We get it set out plainly as early as Douz: "Because I am the Chief Executive Officer of MJN Air. It’s a good thing to be. It’s better than... a little old lady."

I think it's possible to read Carolyn as an extremely burned Badger; there's something in how she reacts to her sister that makes me think I can see it. But in general, I'm more inclined to say Snake Primary. One that isn't fully burned -- Arthur's never really out of her circle, I think -- but does have a hell of a time opening up her circle to new people by the time of the series. Just look at the trial Herc goes through before he gets there.

Lion Secondary, I think. She's the immovable object to Douglas' unstoppable force, and Martin is the thing unfortunately trapped between them at times. She's stubborn and honest, hates playing at being nicer than she is and only does it when absolutely necessary, and cares about her rules being followed but not the rules in general so much. She's whip-smart, but she doesn't actually tend to be tricky or slippery in the same way as Douglas -- and in fact, the one time we really see her try to be actively tricky, in Timbuktu, she loses. She's more likely to ignore opposition or tell someone else to solve it, and even when she pulls something, it's usually pretty straight-forward. (For example, calling Hester's fans in Cremona -- it's an underhanded move against someone who's earned her ire, but not really a complicated scheme.)

Arthur 

I think Arthur shares his mother's Lion Secondary. He's a force in his own right as much as she is, even if he's more of a tornado to her steel barrier. He's honest to a fault and very much always himself, no matter what the situation, or how much better it might be to try and do something else.

As Primary goes, it's hard to tell if this is just Arthur's optimism shining against everyone else, but my first instinct is Badger. He wants to be helpful, oftentimes too much so, and he likes them so much it tends to be notable when he doesn't like somebody. His focus tends to be the people in front of him at the time, but that does extend to include other people when they're there -- it's not just the crew at all times. While I think it's possible to see him in other lights, Badger seems to make the most sense and work with what we see of his wants through the series.

Herc 

While most of the other minor or reoccurring characters don't show up enough for me to have even an idea, I think we do get enough of Herc to narrow it down some, if not make a completely secure conclusion.

My first instinct is that he's yet another Snake Primary in the mix. It works with his role as a foil for Douglas, and with his willingness to give up his position to be with Carolyn by the end of the series. (That said, I feel like his speech on why he's a vegetarian in Ottery St. Mary could point towards Bird Primary as well, and would make sense with everything we see of him.)

He seems straightforward in a way that doesn't line up with a Snake Secondary to me -- that could be a matter of the situations we see him in, but I still just don't see it in his conversations with Carolyn. I'd say maybe a Lion Secondary, in the way the two of them clash and he stands his ground. Bird Secondary also makes sense, but admittedly I'm having trouble pointing to anything specific that made me think so; there's just something in the way his manner bounces off the others, and in the way he seems to almost take on and off All-Knowing Air Captain mode.

In conclusion --

Martin: Double Bird with a Badger Secondary model Douglas: Double Snake Carolyn: Snake Primary/Lion Secondary Arthur: Badger Primary/Lion Secondary Herc: tentatively Snake Primary/Lion or Bird Secondary

or, as they say in Limerick... But for Arthur, they're all quite constructed With the Snakes bickering interrupted By a worrying Bird From the Captain's chair heard Til the newest of Snakes is inducted