![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
The Strange Disappearance of SallyAnne Perks by Paimpont (T)
Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: No pairings
Length: 38,323
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: Paimpont's FFN Profile
Why this must be read: SallyAnne Perks is just a name read in the first book on the Harry Potter series. We never learn anything about her and she has become a semi-favorite of various authors when they need a witch who isn't fully fleshed out for their fic and plot. In this, Paimpont takes the fact that we never learn anything about her, that she in fact, seems to literally disappear after the Sorting Ceremony, never to be heard from again and builds an entire fic off of it. No one at Hogwarts seems to remember little SallyAnne. No one but Harry. And as he and Hermione begin to investigate her disappearance, they learn that nothing is as it seems. There are a lot of really interesting and surprising twists and turns in this fic and the resolution is surprising. If you like good mysteries that don't involve the Voldemort plot line, this is the fic for you.
There was a hint of chill in the October evenings. The days were still warm and golden, but at night they could feel frost in the air, an icy breath of the winter that was to come.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were curled up in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. The warmth and the quiet murmuring sounds of the flames were making them comfortably drowsy. Even Hermione had let her book sink down into her lap for a moment and gazed dreamily into the fire.
Harry inhaled the spicy, woodsy scent of the burning hickory and tried to make out shapes in the fire. How many colors there were in the crackling flames! He had always thought of fire as orange; but now he noticed that the dancing flames had all kinds of hues; ocher, amber, shades of deep gold and flaming red, and now and then a flicker of an incandescent blue.
"I can see a pyramid," he mumbled sleepily. "See it? Right there, where the flames lick up a little higher?"
Ron leaned his head to one side, considering. "Nah," he declared finally. "It's not a pyramid at all - it's the Sorting Hat!"
Harry and Hermione laughed a little, but agreed willingly that there was something hat-shaped about the flickering flame.
"I'll never forget how nervous I was the day when we were sorted," said Hermione softly. "More than two years ago..."
"Me too," put in Ron. "I was sure it was going to put me in Slytherin!" He made a face. "My parents would have disowned me."
Harry smiled, but said nothing about his own fears on that day. Perhaps some other time... "I think we were all scared," he said quietly. Even Malfoy looked uncomfortable, and that pale little girl, Sally-Anne Perks, looked like she was going to faint..."
Hermione frowned. "Sally-Anne? Who's that?"
Harry looked at her curiously. "Sally-Anne Perks, the girl who was sorted right before me. She was sorted into Hufflepuff, remember?"
But the look of recollection and recognition he was waiting for never came. Hermione merely shook her head, baffled. "What are you talking about, Harry? There was no Sally-Anne."
"Of course there was. How can you not remember her? You usually remember everything." Suddenly a thought struck him. "Wait, how odd - I don't recall seeing her much after that... How strange, I never thought much about her. I noticed her when she was getting sorted, because her last name was right before mine, and I knew that my turn would be coming soon. But I don't actually remember seeing her since that day. She was a Hufflepuff, but she was never in any of our classes. She must have left school shortly after the sorting... I wonder why."
The Strange Disappearance of SallyAnne Perks can be read here
Pairing: No pairings
Length: 38,323
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: Paimpont's FFN Profile
Why this must be read: SallyAnne Perks is just a name read in the first book on the Harry Potter series. We never learn anything about her and she has become a semi-favorite of various authors when they need a witch who isn't fully fleshed out for their fic and plot. In this, Paimpont takes the fact that we never learn anything about her, that she in fact, seems to literally disappear after the Sorting Ceremony, never to be heard from again and builds an entire fic off of it. No one at Hogwarts seems to remember little SallyAnne. No one but Harry. And as he and Hermione begin to investigate her disappearance, they learn that nothing is as it seems. There are a lot of really interesting and surprising twists and turns in this fic and the resolution is surprising. If you like good mysteries that don't involve the Voldemort plot line, this is the fic for you.
There was a hint of chill in the October evenings. The days were still warm and golden, but at night they could feel frost in the air, an icy breath of the winter that was to come.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were curled up in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. The warmth and the quiet murmuring sounds of the flames were making them comfortably drowsy. Even Hermione had let her book sink down into her lap for a moment and gazed dreamily into the fire.
Harry inhaled the spicy, woodsy scent of the burning hickory and tried to make out shapes in the fire. How many colors there were in the crackling flames! He had always thought of fire as orange; but now he noticed that the dancing flames had all kinds of hues; ocher, amber, shades of deep gold and flaming red, and now and then a flicker of an incandescent blue.
"I can see a pyramid," he mumbled sleepily. "See it? Right there, where the flames lick up a little higher?"
Ron leaned his head to one side, considering. "Nah," he declared finally. "It's not a pyramid at all - it's the Sorting Hat!"
Harry and Hermione laughed a little, but agreed willingly that there was something hat-shaped about the flickering flame.
"I'll never forget how nervous I was the day when we were sorted," said Hermione softly. "More than two years ago..."
"Me too," put in Ron. "I was sure it was going to put me in Slytherin!" He made a face. "My parents would have disowned me."
Harry smiled, but said nothing about his own fears on that day. Perhaps some other time... "I think we were all scared," he said quietly. Even Malfoy looked uncomfortable, and that pale little girl, Sally-Anne Perks, looked like she was going to faint..."
Hermione frowned. "Sally-Anne? Who's that?"
Harry looked at her curiously. "Sally-Anne Perks, the girl who was sorted right before me. She was sorted into Hufflepuff, remember?"
But the look of recollection and recognition he was waiting for never came. Hermione merely shook her head, baffled. "What are you talking about, Harry? There was no Sally-Anne."
"Of course there was. How can you not remember her? You usually remember everything." Suddenly a thought struck him. "Wait, how odd - I don't recall seeing her much after that... How strange, I never thought much about her. I noticed her when she was getting sorted, because her last name was right before mine, and I knew that my turn would be coming soon. But I don't actually remember seeing her since that day. She was a Hufflepuff, but she was never in any of our classes. She must have left school shortly after the sorting... I wonder why."
The Strange Disappearance of SallyAnne Perks can be read here