IAACWNLAYAY - I Am A Cat With Nine Lives And You Are Yarn
The first time she saw Sirius Black, Mara was eleven.
As a proper eleven-year-old, she liked to play games. She had spent all afternoon on the Hogwarts Express thoroughly pondering her Sorting experience; now, she was ready to put all the information she had gathered on the different Houses to the test.
It was time for the Sorting.
She followed Professor McGonagall through the Great Hall in a cluster of eleven-year-olds, and at the end of the hall, the professor pointed a bony finger to a great, old hat and explained to them the procedure. Mara was anxious, but an excited tingle ran through her body. Absentmindedly, she put together a game in her head as soon as "Anders, Alfred" stepped up to the stool.
Hufflepuff, Mara thought, scrutinizing the boy as the hat was placed on his head.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Five points, Mara crowed triumphantly.
"Apres, Marnie!"
Ravenclaw.
"RAVENCLAW!"
Five plus five equals ten.
On it went. Mara was on quite the winning streak by the time "Black, Sirius" was called. He seated himself on the stool, and Mara eyed him carefully. The old, tattered hat touched his head, and she hesitated for only a moment before she decided. Slytherin. The hat, however, gave pause for a little while longer, before: "GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table exploded in applause as they welcomed the newcomer to their table. Mara, however, stared after him incredulously. He would be her first strike in her game, and as the sort of eleven-year-old who didn't like to lose, she wasn't happy about it.
She studied him as he took he sat down. The new Gryffindor had dark, messy hair and cool, grey eyes, but there was an air to the way he walked. The type of person she would definitely peg for a Slytherin anyday. Mara frowned. How did he get put into Gryffindor?
There was something off about him-something about Sirius Black that didn't sit well with her. Yes, she knew that from Day One. She just didn't know what yet.
Author's Note: So, at 337 words, this is definitely not a drabble. It's a...something. I'll be writing a series of these somethings, random ideas here and there, for my good friend Mara. Hey, maybe no one will enjoy these except for her because it's a lot of winks and elbow nudges from here on out, but who knows?
These will all be written in the same universe as the oneshot I have planned for her, which I promised to write back in the summer of 2011. It's now the spring of 2012, and things are not looking so hot. So! Compensation: this. Enjoy, Mara! And any others who might be reading this.
