Stratagem

I thought of this pretty much randomly, as I went out to feed my cat Zexion, and I knew I had to get it down before it became lost in the hailstorm of things in my head. Strange, no?

Rose knew she was smart. She figured out problems, thought of things, and learned at rates that usually made her father, Ron, scratch his head in wonderment. Her mother treated her with calm, nurturing love that always made her feel safe and protected, while at the same time encouraging new ways of thinking. Rose knew this like she knew she was a Witch, and that the sky was blue (actually color refraction off the air particles) and grass was green (the most prominent color not used in photosynthesis).

Rose's wish, for all her years of age, was to be like her mother. Her mother was the smartest woman on the planet! People came occasionally, by themselves or representing the Ministry to ask for her thoughts on problems. She wanted to be that smart one day! Her brother Hugo said that couldn't happen, because nobody could ever be smarter than their mother, and that it didn't sound like much fun anyways. But Hugo was just her stupid little brother! He still slept with his thumb in his mouth. And so Rose did what her mother did, she planned and thought constantly. She read books that left her father, Ron gaping and made her mother smile. She loved her mother's smile. It was like being bathed in sun rays. (And her mother had perfect teeth! Sometimes Rose wondered how that'd happened, because Mom had said her teeth weren't always like that)

So Rose spent a lot of time thinking, planning ahead. She went to Muggle School to learn regular Muggle world things while all the while learning magic and other Wizarding things from her mom and dad. Her little brother Hugo was too young to understand most of the things she thought of, and so she took her thoughts to her mother, who never looked down on her and advised her lovingly like she had once had the same thoughts. Rose breezed through the Muggle schools, and they wanted to place her in advanced grades, but her mother always firmly pressed that after age eleven she would be 'home schooled'. Meaning, she'd be off to Hogwarts. Rose spent most of her time imagining what it'd be like, and what she would do. She finally decided after reading her mother's old class course guide that she'd do everything because she didn't want to miss anything! (except for Astrology, which both her mother and father agreed wasn't even worth her time) When Rose told her mother about how she'd do everything, her mother got all far away eyed and told her that there was a limit to the things one person could do. Rose understood her mother thought it was impossible, and it certainly seemed daunting, but Rose was positive that the schedule she'd worked out for her years would work. Her goal was to surpass her mother! She could do this.

But just as Rose knew she was smart, she knew she was also young. She didn't know enough (she didn't think she'd ever know enough) and sometimes she couldn't figure things out by herself. Her mother was always there to help. As she grew older she took her thoughts to her mother less and less. She wanted to let her mother do her things too, and she didn't want to bother her. But she couldn't figure out the problem that bothered her now. And it was a big one, filling her head with thoughts about it that lead nowhere and made her question what she knew. What house did she want to be? She knew it was a common enough dilemma for young witches and wizards, but it still bothered her. Her uncle Harry told her that you could influence the hat, and she was positive she could tell it if she wanted to be in a house, but first she had to know what she wanted to be.

She took her problem to her father first. Her father had told her an answer in simple decided terms. She was going to be a Gryffindor. That was too decisive of an answer to her problem. To narrow, to firm. A bit too colored by her father's own history and lineage of Gryffindor. She wanted to be able to expand and know why. So, head unable to decide by herself, she took her problem to her mother.

Hermione Weasley was sitting in her favorite armchair by the fire, stroking her cat Crookshanks. Rose wondered about that cat sometimes. He'd seemed to have lived an awfully long time, and it was still a healthy looking color and hadn't ever been sick or anything. His face looked like he'd run into something with the texture and density of brick, but there had always been an intelligent look in his eyes, and he'd always been around, observing her. For some time, when she was little, she thought her mother had put the cat up to it. But that was impossible, right? Hmm. She'd have to try and find out.

Hermione put down her book as he daughter approached her, taking off her reading glasses and putting them on the tea table. "What is it dear?" Hermione asked with a smile. Rose suspected her mother already knew about her problem. "I'm not sure what house I want to be in. To be fair, I don't think either Slytherin or Hufflepuff is a viable option, but still!" Rose explained. Her mother spent some time thinking, pondering.

"When I was your age, I came to the same solution for my own placement. I don't know that the sorting hat is as unbiased as it's supposed to be though. It gave only a half moment of consideration before placing either your Father or Draco Malfoy in their respective houses. I think it may in fact, go by families as much as personal thoughts and ideas. Harry tries to keep it a quiet, but you've heard his story about it wanted to put him in Slytherin? Well, similarly it wanted to put me in Ravenclaw after a moment." Hermione explained slowly, thinking as she spoke.

Rose had heard this before. Nobody knew why, to this day the hat hadn't put her mother in Ravenclaw. Yes, she was brave and willful, but she was still more intelligent than either of those. Her mother had said so herself once when asked about it by Hugo. It's hadn't sounded very firm.

"But that doesn't help me any, I already considered that!" Rose protested. Hermione gave her a long considering look.

"I'm going to tell you a little story about how I was sorted. Just don't tell anyone, because I like to baffle your father some," Hermione told her in a whisper. Rose had to giggle as he mother picked her up and put her on her lap. Crookshanks was moved to make room, which he gave her a reproachful look for.

"When I was a little girl your age, I came to the same solution," Hermione began.

"You told me that," Rose reminded her mother.

"Hush. I was kept thinking about it as I was in line for the hat, because I'd been preoccupied by other things before hand. I was concerned about going into Ravenclaw or Gryffindor because of how it would affect my future. Finally I made an informed, rather sneaky decision. See, I wanted a nice job, doing I'm not sure what in the far off future. What class you were in sort of helps you pick what you want to do. So, because I wasn't sure of what I wanted, I broadened my range. See, I could have gone to Ravenclaw easily. But that would give me the regular Ravenclaw options. So, I thought to myself, 'I'll just be a Gryffindor and be so smart I could still get a Ravenclaw based job!'" Hermione explained.

"So, you went into Gryffindor because it gave you options? I thought you did it because of dad!" Rose exclaimed. Hermione wrinkled her nose for a moment.

"A miniscule option of that," Hermione admitted finally with a little blush. "And there was another reason. I was a bit insecure, because I was Muggle born. I didn't want to be made fun of for that, so I wanted attention drawn elsewhere. See, if you were a Ravenclaw, and you were brilliant, they'd all say, 'Oh, it's just another Ravenclaw'. But, by going into Gryffindor, I became known differently. Instead of being 'It's just another Ravenclaw', it was 'Wow! Why aren't you in Ravenclaw?'" Hermione explained with a grin.

Rose mulled it over. "That's brilliant!" she finally exclaimed.

"I thought so too!" Hermione replied as she muzzled her daughter lovingly.

"But then you went and saved the world!" Rose reminded her.

"And that allowed me pretty much any job I could possibly want, yes. I was already qualifying for pretty much anything when I left from Hogwarts. So I got a job in the Ministry with your Father with Muggle Relations, Technology, and the Auror's outside advisor, the works," Hermione summed up.

"So were there any other reasons why you chose Gryffindor?" Rose asked, pressing for information.

"Hmm. They were probably more loyal and supportive than Ravenclaw. They were less likely to care about background, since I didn't want to have attention drawn to my background or made fun of. It took a year or two for them to not make fun of me anymore, and that wasn't much fun, but they were little kids who sometimes weren't that sensitive. The Ravenclaw's might not have been that immature at first, but they probably would have been meaner when they got competitive, don't you think?" Hermione asked her daughter as she held her close.

"Hmm. Maybe. Thanks mom, I think I've got a better idea now!" Rose announced as she hopped off her mother's lap and ran off to her room. Probably to go draw up more plans.

"So, what do you think she chose?" Ron asked as he walked into the room, handing her a hot chocolate with a marshmallow in it.

"I don't think she'll really know until she's in line to be sorted," Hermione admitted, watching the hall Rose had exited through.

"So, you like to baffle me? I thought it just came naturally?" Ron asked Hermione, whom blushed.