Synopsis: All aboard the Hogwarts express, let the teachers place their bets.
Word Count: 3730
"Okay!" Hilda said loudly, her accent heavy. The other teachers looked up from their conversations, it was the last day before the students came and they were all having drinks [last time they can drink alcohol in the Great Hall, gotta make it worthwhile]. "A'ight! Since tomorrow is the sorting ceremony, I got the final list of bets!" She explained, taking a piece of parchment from her pocket and unfolding it. Some of the teachers cheered, watching intently as Hilda readied herself to recite the list, "For Tessa, we have: one bet for Gryffindor, by Catawampus; and four for Hufflepuff, by me, June, Charlotte, and Mason." She said.
Charlotte looked at Catawampus' face with a grimace. "Edward, I don't know what goes on inside that brain of yours, but if you think Tessa is a Gryffindor, I'm not sure there's much at all going on in there!"
"Well, it's all for fun, so why not?!" Catawampus said with a smile.
"Okeh!" Hilda interrupted, "Mary-Ann: four for Slytherin, June, Charlotte, Mason and Catawampus; and one for Ravenclaw, me."
Charlotte frowned in a mix of confusion and judgement, looking at Kalakai and mouthing, "…Ravenclaw?" Kalakai raised an eyebrow, shrugging.
"Mikayla: two for Gryffindor, Mason and Catawampus; one for Ravenclaw, June; one for Slytherin, me; one for Hufflepuff, Charlotte." She made a pause, "The Parkers now," Hilda continued. Kalakai took a deep breath, paying attention to what she was saying. "Boomer: three for Hufflepuff, June, me, Catawampus; four for Gryffindor, Charlotte, Mason, and Malakai."
"And who?" Kalakai asked, raising his voice.
Hilda raised her head, unaware of the tension in the room, "Malakai, your brother." She confirmed with a nod.
"Well, last I heard, my sorry excuse for a brother was, you know, very dead — a ghost, so I'm really curious as to how this happened." He said with a hint of cynicism in his voice, breathing heavily.
"He's not betting money, just betting." Hilda shrugged, looking back at the parchment she was holding. "Okay, Boz…"
Charlotte watched as Kalakai remained holding the edge of the table in an attempt to ground his anger, she kicked his shin under the table, mouthing, "Whatever course of action you're thinking of taking — give it up."
Kalakai let go of the table, taking a deep breath, "I'm going to exorcise that…" He mouthed back, avoiding her gaze as he started paying attention to the list once again.
"... two for Ravenclaw, June and Catawampus; two for Gryffindor, Charlotte and Mason; and two for Hufflepuff, me and Malakai."
"Thank Merlin," Kalakai whispers to Charlotte, "I'm fairly certain Boz doesn't have any Slytherin bones in him."
"Brady: three for Gryffindor, Malakai, Catawampus, and June; two for Hufflepuff, me and Charlotte; and Mason didn't bet."
Kalakai looked at Mason, "Why didn't you bet for Brady?" he whispered in confusion.
"Initially, I was gonna bet for Gryffindor, but, since I might be a little biased on this one, I decided to pull." Mason explained and Kalakai nodded.
The day before the Hogwarts Express ride, the children were in an absolute high, so it was no surprise when Mason arrived with Mikayla and she was every bit as excited as the triplets.
The plan had seemed simple. Mason would leave Mikayla at the Parker Manor and he and Kalakai would floo to Hogwarts by nightfall to finish setting up their quarters and to help with the organization during the following day. Mikayla would stay the night at the Manor and her and the triplets would be taken to King's Cross by Nancy and Bill. However, they didn't count on the excitement variable, and the aunt and uncle weren't even a little surprised [definitely annoyed, though] when they were woken up an hour before their alarm was set up by Boomer and Boz having a discussion in the hallway — an early awakening that came following a night of late sleep.
To contrast the arguing half, Brady and Mikayla were sitting at the table, looking at a book and making comments as they waited for breakfast to come — Brady having Eden resting over his shoulders.
"What are you two reading there?" Nancy asked as she and Bill sat down opposite to them. The two looked up, Mikayla flashed a smile and spoke a "Good morning" as Brady looked at them expressionlessly, he knew the commentary that would soon follow.
"Brady's reading something that isn't Percy Jackson or that cheerleader book? That's news!" Bill joked as expected, Brady heaved a sigh, lifting the book up to showcase the cover.
"We're reading the potions book," he said, "Boomer and Boz didn't want to study with me, and I don't wanna be, like, clueless, so..."
"It's no trouble, really," Mikayla started, "I was also worried that studying on my own wouldn't be enough. My dad's not the biggest on potions, so all I have is books and the notes that my mom left on her own books." she added cheerfully, Nancy smiled at that.
"Well, it's great that you two are studying," she said, grimacing as she heard Boomer and Boz starting another argument closeby — possibly in the living room. "If I had another pair arguing I might just go insane!" She joked.
By ten in the morning, the car was parked near King's Cross and the kids were loading their luggage onto carts.
"Brady, you have to put Eden on the vivarium," Bill said when the boy refused to take the snake off his shoulders, "You can take her with you on the vivarium, but you can't have her loose here."
"She's not loose, she's very secure on my shoulders." Brady said firmly, earning a warning glare from his uncle and finally putting the corn snake inside the vivarium on top of the rest of his luggage. After doing so, he walked around the cart to grip the handles. As he came past Boomer's cart, he felt claws scratching at his thigh and yelped. "Oh, my!" He turned around, realizing that he'd just come past the cage his brother's cat was in. The cat reached for him once again and he finally finished his turnaround, grabbing the cart handles and sighing exasperatedly. "Boomer, your cat hates me!"
"No, he doesn't!" Boomer complained, frowning in annoyance. "Pupaley is pure and not capable of a thing such as hate!"
"He attacks me every time I come nearby," Brady's voice rose an octave and the cat in question hissed when he pointed at it. Brady furrowed his brows, staring at the ugly pet. "See, Pupaley hates me!"
"He does not!"
"Yes, he does."
"You know, Brady," Box intervened, "Boomer's right, Pupaley doesn't hate you, don't be silly."
"Heh, yeah," Mikayla scoffed, "It doesn't hate you, it despises you!" She snorted, receiving a helpless look from the small boy as she and Boz high fived discreetly.
"For the last time, Mikayla, Pupaley is a 'he', not a 'it'." Boomer corrected in exasperation.
"I'm barely sure that ugly thing is a cat," she deadpanned with a heavy accent, "Look at it, for all we know, it could be a possum!"
"I wasn't gonna say anything, but I've seen possums cuter." Boz contributed and Brady laughed, watching Boomer's indignant expression.
"Okay, kids, if you're done bickering, we can start heading to the platform!" Nancy said and, thus, they were led through the train station by Mikayla until they reached the platform and finally crossed the barrier, finding themselves facing the Hogwarts Express.
When they were almost done loading their luggage into the train, they were stopped by Mikayla beaming, "Tristan!" she said loudly when she saw a blond boy passing by with his own cart. He turned, smiling at her.
"Mikayla!" Tristan said, coming over to hug her.
When they separated, Mikayla turned to her confused company. "Guys, this is my friend, Tristan Tatei. He's starting Hogwarts with us." She explained and Tristan nodded at them, smiling.
Boomer smiled back, "Where do you two know each other from?" he said as he helped Brady with a bag.
"Oh, Tristan's parents are friends of my dad's, so we've known each other since we were very little." Mikayla explained, turning to the newcomer, "Did you see Fernanda yet?"
"No, but I'm pretty sure she's with her sister." Tristan replied.
Soon, the two fell into light chatter, as did Boomer and Boz. However, when all the luggage had been put in its respective place and all that was left was the bags they were taking on the train (plus Eden), it was already time to say their goodbyes and get on the train.
When Bill finally reached the smallest of his three nephews and hugged him, Brady squeezed him tight, "I'm scared." he whispered. Bill inhaled softly, putting his hands on his nephews shoulders and gently pushing him back a step so that he could look at Brady's face. At a first glance, he looked expressionless, but Bill could recognize the traces of uncertainty.
"That's okay." Bill answered in a quiet voice so that only Brady would hear, "From what Nancy tells me, your mother was absolutely terrified before she went to Hogwarts too."
"She was?" Brady asked, tilting his head slightly to the side in curiosity. Bill nodded.
"Yeah, but that's the thing — we're scared for a good part of our lives, it's normal to be scared. You just have to make sure that being scared doesn't stop you from enjoying stuff." He said, watching the boy closely. "Okay?"
"Okay." Brady confirmed, giving his uncle a small smile before Bill pulled him into another hug.
Once the five kids boarded the train and found a compartment, Mikayla and Tristan took off, looking for a friend, returning twenty minutes later with a girl with straight, brown hair and slightly dark skin. Fernanda — as she was presented — had a shy smile and dressed in long, sky blue robes.
When she looked at Brady seated with Eden around his neck, Fernanda jumped on her seat, "Merlin!" she shrieked, startling the other five in the compartment. "Is that a snake?!"
"Uh-huh." he voiced, putting his hands around his pet defensively.
"Is that allowed?" Fernanda looked at Tristan, who, in turn, looked at Mikayla.
"I thought it wasn't, but daddy and professor Parker told me it is." Mikayla explained, shrugging her shoulders in a lingering defeat.
"Isn't it dangerous?" Fernanda asked, looking at the smallest of the bunch [the Brady in the bunch].
"If you think Eden is dangerous, just wait until you see Yamakoshi." Brady commented with a suppressed laugh, putting emphasis on the names.
"Or Pupaley." Mikayla said in a fake cough.
When they stepped off the train, they were greeted by a smiling Mason Makoola directing the students. After leaving their remaining bags where it was indicated — Brady was, as expected, reluctant to leave Eden in her vivarium with the other pets — the first years were directed to wait by the boats as every one of them was gathered. Brady looked at where the students from other years were going, towards carriages, and was shocked to see horse-like creatures pulling the vehicles.
"Hey," he poked Mikayla, pointing in the direction of the animals when she looked at him, "What are those?"
"Uhm, those are carriages…? I'm pretty sure those exist in the muggle world." she commented, grimacing, and he huffed.
"I know what carriages are! I'm asking about the animals pulling them." he explained, earning an estranged look from her.
"There's nothing pulling them, what are you talking about?"
"Yeah, there is— Boom!" Brady called his brother, still pointing at the carriages, "You see those animals pulling the carriages, right?!"
"The what? The carriages are pulling themselves, bro." Boomer said, sharing a look with Mikayla.
"Wh—How do you not see them?!" Brady asked, frowning slightly as he tried to figure out what was happening, "They're right in front of the carriages, look," he pointed once more, "They're really bony, kinda like horses, except they're really not."
"I think you're imagining things, Brady." Mikayla said with an apologetic look.
"No, it's not. If it were my imagination, they would be cute and probably puppies." he complained, looking back at the not-horses to make sure they were still there — they were. "Why don't you believe me?!"
"Because you're nutty!" Boomer deadpanned, receiving an elbow to the ribs by Mikayla.
"I believe that you think you're seeing something, but we can't see it, Brady." She said, looking at Boz, who was now paying attention to the conversation they were having.
"I don't— they're right there!" Brady insisted, his voice growing louder — a blonde who had just tunned into the conversation asked Boz what was happening as soon more of the first years around them became aware that something was happening.
Brady took a few steps away from the rest of the first years, towards the carriages, turning around to fully face the direction he was heading. At that moment, Mason started heading towards the group after having rounded up the missing first year students. It took him a few seconds to realize who the scrawny kid marching towards the rest of the students was and, when he did, he hurried to catch up with the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder. Brady stopped, looking at the gigantic man who he knew but whose size scared him all the same — it took all of his being to not shriek out one of his Brady™ screams.
"Where are you going?" Mason asked with a small smile, watching as the Parker boy shrinked under his gaze.
"I'm gonna prove that I'm not crazy!" He said in a bout of courage, standing up straighter [kinda hard, but he can try, right?!].
"Now, you're gonna have to elaborate on that, because I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be back with the rest of the first years." Mason pressed on and the boy sighed.
"There are these... Animals there, in front of the carriages, but everyone told me they can't see 'em!" Brady explained, pointing towards what Mason knew to be the thestrals.
Mason's brows knit themselves together, "These animals, do they look like horses?" Brady nodded.
"Yeah, but ugly and bony and they have wings." Brady confirmed in a deadpan voice. Mason nodded putting a hand on his face to hide his expression — a mix of conflicted and concerned — it was Brady's turn to furrow his brows, "Wait, you can see them too?" he asked almost in a whisper.
"Yes," he nodded, directing Brady back towards the group. "I can explain it to you later, but right now, I'm afraid, is not exactly the appropriate moment. Okay?" Mason asked and Brady nodded, walking with him back to the group.
After the boat ride to the castle [not really the safest thing to have first years do, but Hogwarts was never the most childproof, amiright], the group of first years was huffed towards and inside the castle to the Great Hall. Before they went inside, Mason finally was able to give them a speech about the workings of the house system and led them through the Great Hall, past the tables and standing in front of a stage. In the middle of the stage stood a single chair with a hat on top of it.
The Headmaster came forward, standing behind an intricate podium. He said a greeting, "I am Professor Kalooka-Khan, I'm the Headmaster." he pointed at Mason, who stood beside him off the podium, "This is Professor Makoola, Deputy Headmaster, Head of the Gryffindor House, and Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts as well as Flying for the First and Second years." Mason made a slight bow, portraying the same smile he had since they'd arrived at the train station. Professor Kalooka-Khan pointed at one of the tables behind himself, "Here, we have the Head of the Slytherin House, Professor Charlotte Seymour, who teaches the subject of Transfiguration;" a thin, dark-haired woman in a 20s style dress that was a little bit less than appropriate for a teacher stood up, the Headmaster continued, "Head of the Ravenclaw House, Charms Professor, and Director of the Hogwarts Choir, Kalakai Parker;" Kalakai stood up, clad, as always in his dark robes, except with a neatly placed, scarf-like, dark blue fabric around his shoulders. "And Head of the Hufflepuff House, Edward Catawampus, who's also our History of Magic and Care of Magic Creatures professor." a man whomst the triplets recognized as Lanny's godfather stood up, wearing a big, goofy smile and black and yellow clothing.
Brady turned to Mikayla, "That's Lanny's godfather!" he exclaimed, pointing subtly. Mikayla looks at him, then back at the teachers' table.
"Oh, right, daddy mentioned that to me." Mikayla smiled, "He's really nice, Professor Catawampus." she commented, and they resumed paying attention to the Headmaster.
"Next, we have Professor Hilda Abbott, who teaches Herbology;" a big woman stood up — possibly the biggest person in the Hall after Mason — and gave a smile. After her, stood up a bald, almost red-faced man, "Our Runes and Potions teacher, Professor Carlus Zadoc;"
"Huh, can you believe it?!" Mikayla whispered with disdain, looking at Brady.
Brady turned to her, "Hm?" he asked, confused by her sudden hatred.
"Zadoc being here!" Mikayla said expressively, looking at him as if Brady not knowing what she was talking about was the most absolutely preposterous thing she'd heard yet.
Brady elbowed Boz slightly to get him to pay attention to the conversation, "I don't get what Zadoc being here is supposed to mean?" Brady whispered back at her.
"He fought on Kaita's side of the war!" Brady looked at Boz, Mikayla's expression fell, "Oh, your great uncle never told you..." she shook her head, "I'll explain later."
Brady and Boz exchanged one last look before paying attention to the Headmaster again.
"...Astronomy and Divination, we have Professor Adrian Orion..."
Mason unrolled a scroll, clearing his throat to call the first name, "Abbott, Tessa."
Soon, a nervous, auburn-headed girl stepped into the stage, sitting on the stool. Mason put the hat on her head.
After a few moments, the hat spoke, "Hufflepuff." it said loudly, startling the unprepared first years. Everyone started clapping as she disappeared towards the Hufflepuff table.
"Cornelius, Iris." Mason called and forward came a girl of arabic descent, sitting on the stool.
"Ravenclaw." The hat determined in under a minute. Iris happily marched on to the Ravenclaw tables.
"Dawson, Rebecca." At the call, a black girl strutted towards the stool with a mixture of pride and anxiousness on her face.
As soon as the hat was placed on her head, they heard the hat announce, "Slytherin!" and the girl was walking directed at her house table contently with a certain grace to her steps — Brady and Boz had to collectively elbow Boomer's ribs to make him stop ogling the girl with his mouth hung agape like she was the most beautiful thing in the entire world.
"Dias, Fernanda."
Mikayla and Fernanda exchanged a look, she eyed the rest of the group she was with before she nervously went up the steps and sat on the stool, waiting as the hat was placed onto her head. A few seconds later, "Hufflepuff" the hat announced.
"Dingleberg, Philbert." Mason called when the girl was off the stool. Fernanda stepped off the platform, exchanging a last look with Mikayla as a taller, lanky boy walked nervously towards the place she's been at.
"Slytherin!"
"Hart, Candice."
"I've met her parents," Mikayla told the boys as they watched the blonde walk to the platform as if it was a catwalk — her hair done so that no string was out of place, lips carefully shined, and clothes meticulously picked. "They're famous journalists, you'll probably see some of their articles on the Prophet or another newspaper soon, if you haven't already."
"Oh, right!" Tristan whispered, "They're the ones my parents sued that one time!"
"Well, what happened?" Boz asked, watching as Candice sat down carefully, putting the hat on with even more care — he wondered how that was even possible — as to not maculate her perfect hair.
"You know, I can't remember…" Tristan answered with a slur to his voice, looking at nowhere as if he was wondering.
"Slytherin!" The hat said and the girl was off to her table, smiling.
Mikayla playfully rolled her eyes, "They were stalking your mom for information, how can you forget that?"
"So much stuff happens to them all the time, it's kinda hard to keep track." Trsitan shrugged his shoulders, "The travelling is really rad, though."
Brady huffed, "We get it, California threw up all over you!" he commented cynically, more to himself than the others. They heard it, though.
"Oh, I like California, real sunny!"
Brady rolled his eyes into the back of his head.
Mason looked at the slowly diminishing crowd of first years before saying the next name with a warm smile on his face, "Makoola, Mikayla." he watched as his daughter exchanged a look with her fellow students and rose up to the stage. She sat down and looked up at her father as he settled the hat on top of her head. At that moment, any insecurities she might've had about her house were settled — her father was staring at her in pride before he even said her name — she knew then that he'd still love and be proud of her, no matter which house she got in.
A Makoola. She heard inside her head and forced herself to hold back her shock. Aren't you interesting — you've got quite a will in you. The hat paused, And you've got confidence. It's quite reassuring knowing that you won't waste that mind becoming someone else's doormat.
A what?, she thought in confusion. The hat ignored her.
Hm, and appearances aren't for you, though, you do care about yours… But, performance? Doesn't seem to be your cup of tea. Slytherin is definitely out of the question.
I don't object.
You love how organized you are, yet you thrive in chaos — Merlin knows you're a leader.
I think 'thrive in chaos' is a bit much—
I think, the hat cut in, you would make a great Gryffindor. Well, I don't think, I know.
If you're sure!
Don't get cocky. The hat warned her, then announced, "Gryffindor!"