Dedicated to LadyProngsOfCamelot; my best friend. Thank you, Miguel.
Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise – Horace
The front door opened before me to reveal my best friend, Jennifer McKinnon, standing before me with a grin on her face. She was still in her dressing gown and her dark brown hair tumbled wildly about her head.
"Emily? You're early, aren't you?"
I rolled my eyes and quickly checked my watch: it was 9:23. We had precisely 7 minutes to Apparate to the platform. Jenny stood there, still frowning at me. She was also, unfortunately, still not ready to leave. Her eyes blinked wearily – tired, no doubt, even though she'd certainly had plenty of sleep – and she fidgeted slightly, her button nose scrunching as she sniffed the air. It was a little habit of hers to do so whenever there was food about, although I doubted that she'd noticed.
"No! We have 6 minutes before we have to apparate to the platform and you're not dressed!"
She smirked.
"We'll be fi –"
I marched inside, shut the door behind me and grabbed her arm.
"COME ON," I yelled, "There is no way, no how, that I am going to suffer sitting in another Compartment because some of the Third Year girls want to fawn over the guys."
I dragged her through to the living room and stood in front of the tiny fireplace. A row of paintings forming a sunset hung above it and I drew my wand out.
"More importantly, I would also rather not be late onto the platform for the fourth year running," I added and Jenny huffed at my side.
I swiftly tapped the far left and the middle paintings before finally prodding the sun with a hasty jab and stepped back. This was one of my favourite parts about her house. There was the part of the house the McKinnons used as a cover for Muggles, so that they could make friends their neighbours but retain the Secrecy Act, and then there was the rest of the house where they concealed the magical world, hidden from prying eyes.
It was my 10th birthday and I had just left my party to go to visit Jenny. She'd said she had a surprise for me and I had been waiting for days to know. I knew she was hiding something, I'd always known. I just hadn't known what.
I'd run straight up the road to her house and pounded my fists on the front door. Her mother had opened it and invited me in, as usual. I vividly remember her mother leaving the room then; saying that she needed to go and speak to my parents about something. I was confused, as if I might have done something wrong, yet she'd been smiling at me so I couldn't be sure. I simply shrugged and then wandered into the playroom, where we'd all hung out so many times with our friends.
Jenny was sitting there in a slightly odd – though very pretty – red dress, presumably ready for whatever she had planned for us that evening. It flowed down to her ankles and I noticed that, as always, she went barefoot. Her hair was smoothly cut into a long bob and somehow she seemed to shimmer in the light. My eyes flickered down to my own dress. Reflecting now, it was so typically Muggle I'm surprised I was allowed to wear it. Especially considering the circumstances… But no matter. It was a plain white tunic dress, with a thin gold belt, and despite my mother's chuckling I had steadfastly insisted that I wore a gold headband – though it almost got lost in my wild, strawberry-blonde hair.
"Emily?"
I looked up and, for the first time, noticed that in her hand she held a stick. It looked a little bit like one of the sticks we'd used as pretend wands when we played at being witches in the forest. It was funny because, even though I knew we could only have been playing, I sometimes could have sworn our spells truly did work, and that we did drink tea instead of the water from the stream. Or that perhaps we really had jumped all the way down from the very highest branches with little more than a scratch…
"Hi, Jen. What are you doing with that?"
She glanced down at it and frowned.
"There's something I need to tell you…" She began but stopped.
A few minutes went by as I watched her mouth open and shut several times, as if about to say something but not quite knowing how to start. Looking back, it was a fairly accurate guess, I suppose. Then her eyes light up mischievously and I smiled.
"What?" I asked excitedly.
"Come on," she said, grabbing my arm with her other hand and dragging me out of the room, "I have something to show you!"
I remember laughing as we ran into the living room and stopped in front of the paintings. Out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw the sunset flicker and change. Jenny gave the stick a flourish and gestured for me to move out of the way. I raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her as if she was mad.
"Just step to the side for a second," she huffed, "I want to show you something."
I continued to stare at her. She batted her eyes and clasped her hands as if begging.
"Fine…?" I said after a couple of seconds slightly puzzled and clueless as to what was going on.
She grinned again and turned to face the wall with a little cough. Standing on her tiptoes she tapped out a pattern on the paintings. I waited and watched on in amusement. There was a long moment of silence – which I suppose could have only been a few seconds – in which nothing happened. And then it moved.
I smiled at the memory. Mine had certainly been one of the more interesting tales about being told of one's magic that I knew of. Or, at least, it was in comparison with those I'd heard from my friends' stories. Jenny herself had been brought up with a foot firmly in either world, by her parents' design, so that she would be able to easily live in either world and go undetected.
Before us the paintings furled outwards to form a doorframe around the space the receding bricks had left behind. A spiralling flight of stairs was laid out before us and I tugged Jenny up them behind me. She turned around and lazily glanced at the opening before drawing her wand out of her pocket. She flicked it at the doorway, with a quick mutter of "Reverto", and the enchanted opening returned to its original state. I smiled to myself. The reversal charm was the first spell I'd ever heard uttered before in my life, so I felt I had a right to grin childishly every time it was used.
My moment to reminisce vanished as I recalled why I had been rushing in the first place. I checked my watch and groaned.
"We have four minutes!" I growled and Jenny laughed.
"Stop being such a Flobberworm's arse and relax. I'll be dressed in five minutes and Sorcha has already packed my stuff."
I rolled my eyes as I rounded the final steps and half-tumbled out into the small hallway. There was a wooden bench on the right and a fireplace strictly reserved for Flooing. What was most remarkable, however, was the huge wooden door at the end of the hallway, upon which was an impressive lion door-knocker.
"I can't believe you get Sorcha to do things like that for you. It's a wonder she hasn't followed you to Hogwarts just to unpack for you again!"
She shifted uncomfortably and her amber eyes flickered to the lion. She hadn't…
"Jen?! Have you or have you not already persuaded Sorcha to follow us to Hogwarts just so she can unpack your trunk?"
She tried to look me in the eyes, but her lips twitched slightly and she pushed past me.
"Erm… We need to go! Gosh, look at the time," She said miming looking at a watch, "Asch?"
The lion knocker reared its head and yawned.
"What time is it? Do you need something?" It groaned groggily. Jenny smirked at me.
"We need to get through, Asch, if you please?" She said, batting her eyes at the door.
Despite my own irritation I smiled as Asch nodded and cocked his head to one side. There was a faint click and the door swung open to reveal the McKinnon's main entranceway. As we sprinted through with not so much as a quick "Thank you!" to Asch, I thought about when I'd first met Asch and been allowed inside their home.
After getting over the shock that a "real-life talking door lion" had given me, I'd nearly collapsed being shown around the rest of the house. It was large, but cosy, with various rooms all leading off from the main entranceway. Jenny's parents had been chatting in her dad's office and went completely spare when it was discovered that I was being shown around with no explanation as to what was going on. After a long conversation, a couple of cups of tea and a proper tour around the house – with introductions to all of the portraits, of course – I had finally begun to realise that I wasn't just dreaming again. Of course, my favourite part was when they'd told me I was magical too. My mother had been there at that point and I'd kind of glanced at her in disbelief. She'd simply shrugged and given me a quick hug. It seemed she'd simply assumed after all my little 'incidents'.
Now, of course, I waved casually to Selina Sapworthy as she canoodled with her lover, Uric Oafley, in their portrait. Both of them were great ancestors of the McKinnon's so preferred to remain together in their painting over the holidays, whilst returning to their honorary (though separate) paintings at Hogwarts during the terms. They gave us each a fleeting nod and a smile, before returning to staring deep into each other's eyes. I never knew whether to gag or to smile when they were in that sort of mood.
Sprinting to the end of the room I followed Jenny up onto the landing which hung above the room. Heading left we came to a door covered in Puddlemere United posters. A particularly large picture of Fingal Parkes winked as he hung from his broom with one hand before jumping back on. Jenny claimed she admired him because he was the first Metamorphagus allowed to fly (by explicit permission of the Ministry) – Metamorphagi hadn't previously as they supposedly had a "natural advantage" – but I knew she secretly had a huge crush on the Keeper.
"Right," she said calmly, "You grab the Fizzing Whizzbees and the Chocolate Frogs. I'll get dressed. Rendezvous at the top of the stairs in five minutes?"
I nodded firmly.
"Got it. Don't take too long getting changed," I muttered as I began to search for the sweets amongst the yet-to-be-tidied mountain of clothes, junk and… "Stuff". I grabbed a handful of dresses and shorts from the top. A rustle came from a pocket and I rifled through them until I found the incriminating bag of Whizzbees in the back pocket of a cute pair of jeans. I held them up to check for stains and chucked them at Jenny.
"These are nice, you should wear them."
She gave them a once-over and pulled them on.
"Thanks. Should I go for a flow-y kind of top or just a vest with these robes over the top?"
The robes in question were a deep purple with various gold stars all over them. It looked like something I would wear when I was in one of my more bizarre moods. I grinned at her.
"Definitely a thick jumper, there is no way one of your mum's Warming Charms is going to last all day in the snow. Oh, and those robes look ridiculous."
She stuck her tongue out and grabbed a cosy orange cardigan from her wardrobe. I turned around to face the pile and sighed. I was never going to find the Chocolate Frogs at this rate.
"Oh, I think the Chocolate Frogs are under my bed, by the way," Jen called from over by the mirror. I peered under the edge of her double bed and felt my eyes widen at the amount of clutter she'd collected. Anything from a large Kneazle to a Fire-Crab could have been under there and it wouldn't be discovered for centuries. Fortunately for me, the Chocolate Frogs were only hidden past the first handful of stuff. I pulled out from under the bed to see Jenny staring at me. She sucked in her cheeks slightly and her mouth twitched again from trying to contain her laughter. I glared at her.
"What now?" I grumbled but she just shook her head and giggled, "Seriously, please? Is there something on my face?"
I walked over to the mirror to make sure I still looked okay. Mascara? Check. Lip balm? Check. Hair- Oh no. My hair was now mussed about all over the place and my new emerald green dungarees had fluff and goodness-knows-what-else all over them. I groaned and my glare deepened into a scowl. Checking my watch I realised that, yet again, we were late. I looked up at Jen to berate her but she'd disappeared.
"Jen?"
"I'm by the stairs!"
Giving her paintings a quick nod of respect, I ran out into the hallway. Her older sister Marlene was standing there with her and they were bickering again.
"You can't just keep taking all my books, Jennifer!"
"Why not? Marley?"
"Stop calling me Marley! I have a Potions assignment that I need to write on the train and the sixth year textbooks don't cover the basics!"
"It's not my fault you're incompetent at Potions, is it? And besides, I need it so that I can copy all of Lily's notes into the margins or I won't pass!"
I smiled to myself. For two girls who claimed to be so dissimilar they almost acted like twins.
"So," I interrupted, "Who do you think is going to win the Quidditch Cup this year?"
Without missing a beat they both cried out "GRYFFINDOR!" and began dancing around madly. That's me, I thought to myself, keeper of the peace in the McKinnon household. I grinned and waltzed down the stairs after them.
"GO GO GRYFFINDOR!" Jenny cried.
"Brave and bold and best!" Marlene and I joined in.
"GO GO GRYFFINDOR!"
"Better than the rest!"
"GO GO GRYFFINDOR!"
"To the Quidditch pitch!"
"GO GO GRYFFINDOR!"
"And Jorge will catch the Snitch!" Marlene yelled as we all jumped down the stairs and landed directly in front of their parents.
Kevan and Sue laughed. They were both fairly short, with kind blue eyes. Kevan's hair was silvery and his eyes were slightly lighter, whereas Sue's hair was still a warm chocolate brown – identical to Jenny and Marlene's – and her eyes were much greener. Whilst the McKinnon family weren't noticeably affectionate, they were kind and loved each other. It was more about the small glances and an occasional hand on the shoulder if you'd done well. I'd come to see them as a second family, not that it was a surprise, I supposed, considering the amount of time Jenny and I spent together.
"I see you girls are having fun?" Kevan remarked, holding his arm out for Marlene to take.
I frowned and looked around for our bags.
"Emily?"
I looked up at Jenny, who was clutching her mother's arm. Sue had her other arm outstretched towards me.
"Come on, I thought you didn't want to be late," Jenny teased and I flushed slightly.
"But where are all our bags?"
Sue smiled and took my arm firmly.
"They're on the platform waiting for us; I had the liberty of getting Sorcha and Kili to take them for us."
With a cracking sound we Apparated to the platform and I felt my stomach lurch. I stumbled slightly and nearly knocked over a young First Year who was clearly very lost. I nodded my apology to them but they turned their nose up and marched off, lugging an oversized suitcase behind them. I looked around and saw that there were very few people there yet. Turning back around, Jenny had her arms folded and her eyebrow was raised. Looking up at the clock on the platform I realised that my watch was running at least twenty minutes early. I cringed slightly.
"Well." She began, "Are you happy now?"
She gestured wildly to the nearly-empty platform and I tugged my hair uneasily.
"There is literally NO-ONE we know here yet!" She shrieked, and a group huddled together further up the platform turned to look at us.
One of them had distinctly black messy hair and obnoxiously round glasses. I grinned.
"You're wrong;" I said smugly, "Your cousin is over there."
She whirled around and peered at the group behind us. James was waving madly at us. I'd known him since the day I'd been told about magic. My birthday surprise had been a dinner with Jenny's cousins, the Potters, and their family friends, the Fenwicks. That day I'd discovered that Jenny wasn't a singularity, James was equally as mad as she was. The eldest Fenwick, Benjy, was also in our year. At first I'd felt quite shy around him, he was so unnervingly self-assured, but after a while I grew used to his overwhelming confidence and his witty one-liners. I also befriended his younger sister, Bethany, who was sweet, but there was an overwhelming sadness about her. I could never quite shake the feeling that there was an unspoken competition between her and her brother, though on whose part it had originated I had no idea.
Now, James had grown much taller and filled out a little, though he was still a little gangly, and I suddenly found myself uncomfortably attracted towards the boy that was so like a brother to me. As ever, he was tanned – no doubt from another summer spent abroad – and his brown eyes twinkled merrily as he chatted with his friends. Remus and Peter had also turned to look at us. Peter was still fairly short, but he had an aura of excitement about him that was undeniably sweet. His dirty-blonde hair had been trimmed just a little bit too short and he was still quite soft around the edges but there was something about him that was definitely different. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. Remus, on the other hand…
"JIMINY-CRICKET!" Jenny yelled and sprinted headlong towards James. He looked rather startled, like a deer in the headlights, and began prancing about from foot to foot nervously.
"MIDGET!" He cried as she leapt up at him and he ruffled her hair affectionately.
She was a good head or so shorter than him. I smiled happily and turned back to the McKinnons. They were talking with Marlene in hushed tones. She looked visibly upset and was pointing her finger over at Jenny. Sue shook her head and Kevan tried to intervene. Eventually Marlene seemed to give up, and without another word she marched onto the train out of sight. Sue glanced over and saw me watching. Her jaw clenched slightly but she waved and Disapparated with a crack. Kevan looked at me with a sad smile and a nod, before mimicking Sue. My stomach turned uneasily. What in Godric's name was going on?
"EMILYYYYYYYYYYY!" Came the cry and I froze up. I turned around just in time to be tackled to the floor by James.
"Oof!"
I looked up and realised that we were nose-to-nose. His eyes were wide behind his glasses and, not for the first time, I noticed the flecks of green in them that reminded me of Jenny.
"Sorry," he said as he rolled off me and I drew in gulps of air in the hopes of rescuing my poor lungs.
He gave me a slap on the back and ruffled his hair, looking at my expectantly. Jenny and the rest of the guys had long since disappeared onto the train and the platform was now bustling with people, I noticed in surprise.
"It's okay, Jim Jam. Where's everyone else?" I said, wheezing slightly.
"They got on a couple of minutes ago whilst you were daydreaming," he chuckled, "Come on."
I stuck my tongue out at him and skipped onto the train. Students from every year and house bustled down the long corridor of the train as we made our way to Compartment 37. The Compartment was squarely in the centre of the train, so that it was always the last one left in case we were late. Just as we were getting closer to the Compartment James stopped suddenly and I walked straight into his back.
"Erm, Jim Jam?" I said, prodding his back, "Why have we stopped?"
"My, my, Lily flower. Haven't you simply blossomed over the summer?"
I groaned internally. Here we go.
"Potter. What do you want? You do realise you nearly knocked Emily flying? You can't just stop in the middle of a corridor like that you know."
I could hear the teasing edge to Lily's voice but, as ever, James took her way too seriously. I didn't know whether to laugh, strangle them both or simply lock them in a closet together to resolve their differences. I wormed my way around James to smile at her. Lily's red hair flowed down to just past her shoulders in a sleek wave, her emerald eyes wide and bright as she looked up at James. She was quite tall, but that didn't matter because next to James she looked almost pixie-like. I understood what James saw in her, as she was one of my closest friends. Even though Lily wasn't necessarily the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, her personality and kindness seemed to shine from her, making up for any flaws.
"Ignore him, Lils. If we get to the Compartment then he'll be forced to stop pestering you so he can commandeer whatever…"
James looked around hastily to check no one was listening and gave me a warning glare.
"…Mischief they're up to this year."
She hmm'd in agreement and linked her arm through mine. I giggled at the outraged look on James' face as we walked away and I winked at him.
"Come on, Jim Jam!" I called, "You aren't jealous just because your future wife clearly favours me over you, are you?"
Lily laughed and I let go of her arm as James rushed after me muttering jinxes. Dodging around a Seventh Year Hufflepuff I narrowly avoided the strangled cry of "Rictusempra!" and I ducked into the Compartment next to ours. I pulled the blind down and curled up on a seat to avoid capture should he come looking for me. Peeping through the blind, I watched James slope past with Lily and head into the other Compartment. I'd made it!
"Yessss," I whispered to myself and did a little victory jig.
That was when I heard a polite cough.
"Spinnet?"
I turned around to see Sirius standing there, shirtless, and Remus sitting down at the side looking flushed with his wand in his hand. The compromising situation threw me off guard for a moment. Were they…? Had they been…? Then I noticed the dark bruise that was slowly fading from Sirius' cheek, presumably thanks to a medical charm, and my stomach dropped as I suddenly realised I was intruding on something. These were always the worst moments for me, because my brain would decide to act out on it's own.
"Why so Sirius?"
The edges of Sirius' lips tilted up into a smile and Remus coughed, his eyes twinkling. I flushed with embarrassment.
"What I meant was- I, Erm…" I trailed off as I realised the situation I was in.
Sirius Black stood before me, in all his chiselled shirtless glory. There was a long scar that ran from his left shoulder all the way down his abdomen and I gulped. I quickly looked up at his face. Bad move. His silver eyes glittered with mirth, though they were tight with worry, and his jaw was clenched. His dark hair was raggedly cut and came down to the nape of his neck. A single tendril curled very slightly just above his right cheek. I felt my face grow very warm.
"Erm… I- Jim – Flower- You – Ahem…" I stuttered, unhelpfully. I felt like slapping myself. Could I be more embarrassing?
Remus, fortunately, took pity on me and spoke.
"Sirius discovered that some bushes in his garden attack people at random," he explained carefully, "And I figured I'd help fix a couple of things before someone… Got the wrong impression."
I frowned at him. He was clearly lying, his amber eyes wide as if begging me to believe him and his fringe half-hid his face. My frown deepened as I noticed the scars on his face and I rushed over to him to inspect them.
"Remus? What happened? Are you okay?" I asked quietly.
What on earth had happened to the pair of them? The boys had been in plenty of scrapes before but I'd never seen anything as bad as this.
Remus tried to cover the scars with his fringe but I cradled his head in my hands so I could get a better look. I heard Sirius snort from behind me as I checked them over. Remus' handsome face now had three vicious-looking scars across his right cheek. One of them nicked his upper lip slightly. I stared. The lines were pink and raised, as if freshly healed from only a few days before, and I looked at him sadly.
"What are you guys hiding from me?" I sighed.
Sirius turned away and my mouth fell open in shock. His whole back was a myriad of cross-hatched bruises, cuts and scar tissue. Remus got up and pushed past me to resume healing him.
"Now isn't the time to explain any of this, Spinnet," He muttered, "Go sit with the others. We'll discuss this later."
I drew myself upright and tilted my chin up haughtily. If this was how they were going to play it then fine.
"Fine." I whispered, feeling more than a little hurt that they didn't trust me enough to let me in on their secret, "But next time you want to try and keep secrets that are hidden in plain sight, don't come crying to me."
Remus and Sirius shared a glance. I reached for the door but Sirius grabbed my wrist. I hissed as his hand brushed the fabric of my jumper over a new bruise and tried to retract my arm. Remus eyed my wrist silently.
"Sorry," Sirius muttered.
I turned to leave the Compartment but his arm blocked my way. I glared at him.
"What."
His face was unreadable, his brows pulled tightly together. I heard Remus shuffle uncomfortably behind us. He tried tugging up the sleeve of my jumper but I yanked it down again quickly.
"My pet rabbit attacked me. Uncanny, isn't it? Your bush has the strength of the Whomping Willow, judging by your back, and my rabbit also has the strength of the Whomping Willow. Funny how that works, isn't it?" I sneered sarkily and stormed out, slamming the door behind me. There were only a couple of people in the hallway now, a lot further down the carriage, so no one noticed me fuming silently. How dare they presume to ask about others without answering questions themselves?
Just as I went to open the door to Compartment 37 I heard them begin talking again.
"A pet rabbit," Sirius chuckled wryly, "We should use that for you, Moony."
I ground my jaw. I couldn't believe he could be so callous after the incident we'd just had. I knew of Remus' problem, so did the other girls, but we had chosen not to confront him yet. We'd felt it wasn't right. But to use such a ridiculous cover up? Were they insane?
"Hmmm," Remus said quietly, and I strained to hear, "What do you think happened to her arm?"
"I don't know. But I know sure as hell that if James doesn't know we're going to find out."
My blood ran cold as I realised that they would be watching me now and, internally, I began to panic.
And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings… - Meister Eckhart
"Pass us a Chocolate Frog, Em?"
I turned away from the window and looked at Jenny, who was bouncing up and down in her seat in time with the noise of the train.
"Huh?"
She glanced up at me as she placed a card down on the pile next to her and suddenly a fizzing noise could be heard. I caught her eye for only a second as she opened her mouth before – BANG! Everyone shot up in their seats, wands out, as the deck of cards fluttered down around us. Jenny looked like she'd be struck by lightning; her hair sticking up at odd angles and her eyebrows were smoking slightly. Peter, who'd also been playing Exploding Snap, looked slightly shell-shocked.
James, Lily and I tried our best to avoid eye-contact but I looked at James, who looked at Lily, who glanced at me, and we were off.
"You look ridiculous, Midget!" James cried, clutching his sides again as he burst into a second fit of laughter.
Lily and I could only wheeze and choke as we held on to each other, trying not to literally fall to the floor as we laughed. Jenny pouted and crossed her arms, making her look like a very angry, very startled human Fire-Crab, which only set us off again. The door to the Compartment opened and the Prewett twins bounded in.
"Fabian and Gideon!" Fabian cried, tossing his head back and flexing his arms.
"Gideon and Fabian!" Gideon boomed, posing and flicking his fringe from his face.
"MIGHTY AND POWERFUL PRANKSTERS!" They yelled simultaneously.
Everyone stared at them blankly.
"Merlin's tighty-whities, people just can't take a joke anymore," Fabian grumbled, sitting down next to Jenny, who looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
He looked at her speculatively.
"What happened to you, Sparky?"
She glared at him and we all giggled. Gideon sat down across from me and threw me a small smile.
"You alright, Spinnet?"
I nodded at him. I could have sworn those two got progressively more insane every year that passed. He chuckled.
"You're probably right," he said wryly and I kicked him playfully.
"I didn't mean to say that out loud," I said with a grin.
"I know," he shrugged, "But it's probably true."
I relaxed back into my seat and stared out the window. The sky was growing dark and the land around us was slowly becoming littered with larger and larger hills. At a glance, I'd guess we were probably near the Lake District in the North of England, just by the border. I yawned. It had been a long day, and a lot had happened in the short time it had taken to get from Jenny's to the Compartment. I was about to ask Gideon to sit next to me so I could fall asleep on his shoulder when Sirius and Remus strolled in. Remus sat down next to me and Sirius sat the other side of him. Both of them made a point of directly avoiding my watchful gaze and I sighed to myself.
As if sensing my discomfort, Jen looked up from her conversation with Fabian. She smiled sadly at me and, with a subtle nod, leant back into the conversation she'd been having. I, unfortunately, recognised that look. It meant "we'll talk about this later".
I groaned and leant back again, tucking my legs up to my chest. The window was still open and I shivered a little as a cool breeze fluttered around us. My arm brushed lightly against Remus' as I shifted in my seat, trying to shake off the shiver that ran down my spine. He jerked upright as if I'd electrocuted him and hastily shut the window before returning to his seat. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye to see that he was watching me. My throat felt tight. His eyes bore into mine and I suddenly felt overwhelmingly guilty that I'd been so sharp with them. We all had our secrets. In a sense, I probably knew that better than anyone.
I leant back against the seat and shut my eyes. Tiredness washed over me and, as I relaxed, someone nearby shifted and draped something warm across me. I turned over and curled up into the side of the soft material, cocooning myself in it. Even as I felt consciousness slip from my grasp, I couldn't help but fall deep into the memory of my Sorting. And as I finally drifted off to sleep, the Sorting Hat's Song haunted my dreams.
My dears, come close
And gather round,
I hope you'll lend an ear.
For I've a simple message,
Which I'm sure you long to hear.
Whether great or small -
Be mindful -
For even though I'm just a hat.
I can see inside your head
With whom you should be sat.
Those Hufflepuffs
Are made of stuff
You'll find there in no other.
They'll toil away
But be aware to stay
Close to their badger brothers.
With Ravenclaw
You will find more
Within their minds than hearts.
But eagles be warned,
Emotions have knowledge
Beyond academic smarts.
In Slytherin
The next of kin
They're too proud of family lines.
Beware the darkness in your heart
When you burn bridges far behind.
And finally, roar,
With Gryffindor,
And the sacrifice they'll make.
Mind that your courage
And your bravery
Don't distract from what's at stake.
These years before
Are darker times,
This is the calm before the storm.
So let me sort you to your Houses.
Good luck – You have been warned.
A/N: Please rate, review and do not be confused if this feels familiar! I originally posted a (slightly less edited) version of this on my old account: Honeydukes' Padfoot. I'm not plagiarising or stealing work; I swear on my darling cat, Midnight.
Over and out.
Emily Ann
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