CHAPTER 5
Emma and Thomas Nott followed their cousins and entered a compartment. Neither of them really wanted to be there, those kids were as strangers to them as the rest of the students on the train but, they were family and that was important, or at least that was what their mother had told them.
"So… Emma, Thomas, do you like jokes? We created quite a mess last year at Hogwarts. And my dad just before getting on the train gave me some stuff to use at school. This year it's going to be a blast!" said Fred trying to make his cousins more confortable. He had inherited the mischief gen from his father and deceased uncle, whom he shared his name with. Patrick was his partner in crime in every single joke they made.
"We are not allowed to do mischiefs, it would get us into trouble." answered Thomas making the Weasleys look at them as if they were aliens.
"That's half the fun! The adrenaline of trying not to get caught!" exclaimed Patrick trying to state a fact.
"What do you do for fun?" asked Dominique that, such as Fred and Patrick, had a like for commotion.
"Tommy likes to read and I like to ride my broomstick" replied Emma feeling more and more out of place.
"Reading? Oh! We have another Hermione!" said Victoire scrunching her nose. Thomas faced her with an irritated look.
"Hi…" a boy with extravagant hair interrupted them. "I can't seem to find a free space on any compartment, is it okay if I join you?"
"Yes! Of course, sit with us" answered Victoire way too fast and with a radiant smile that it surely helped her get anything she wanted, after all she was a descendent of a Veela.
"Thanks. I'm Teddy, Teddy Lupin." He introduced himself while sitting next to Emma.
"I'm Victoire Weasley, this is my sister Dominique and those are my cousins, Fred and Patrick Weasley and Thomas and Emma Nott." she said pointing to each of the teenagers.
"Lupin, eh? That surname… I think I heard it before" Patrick said as his mind wondered where had he heard the name.
"Weasley, eh?" Teddy repeated "Now, that's a famous surname. War heroes. My godfather told me about your family."
"Who's him?" asked oldest blonde haired.
"Harr… James Vans" he answered cursing his stupidity, it hadn't even been an hour and he had almost exposed Harry. Ravenclaw really wasn't an option for him. Emma, sharp as ever, noticed his almost slip and got into the conversation.
"I've never heard of him, did he fight at the war?" she asked gaining a curious look from her brother.
"Yep."
"What does he do now?" inquired the redhead.
"He's an Auror, well, actually he isn't anymore. He used to be the Chief of the Auror Department at MACUSA."
"MACUSA?"
"The Magical Congress of the United States of America"
"Was?"
"Yeah… he quitted when I told him I wanted to come to Hogwarts."
"What does it have to do one thing with the other one?" asked Patrick giving up remembering where he had heard the Lupin name.
"James is my guardian. I've been living with him since I was a baby. My parents died at the battle of Hogwarts and he and my grandma took care of me. Now it's just him and me" he had screwed up and he knew it. If this kids realised who his parents were, it wouldn't be too difficult to find out who his godfather was. "Well, enough about me. How's Hogwarts like?"
"It's the best place in the whole world!" exclaimed Fred and Patrick at the same time. Emma and Thomas snorted, neither of them really wanted to go to Hogwarts, they missed Durmstrang and their friends.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" asked an offended Dominique.
"Nothing" coldly answered Thomas.
"You sure think you're better than us for going to Durmstrang! The pureblood's school." said Fred rolling his eyes.
"And of the Dark Arts!" added Patrick.
"And you're Notts! Everybody knows they were you-know-who's followers." continued speaking Fred.At that point both, Emma and Thomas were so furious that their ears had turned the famous Weasley red.
"Shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about!" shouted Emma bringing out her mother's tempered.
"We don't follow Voldemort's ideas nor those of his Death eaters." stated Thomas with a fearsome voice tone and a sharp look on his eyes.
After that little but strong discussion between cousins, the Nott siblings didn't participate again in any conversation. Each one took a book and ignored the rest of them for the rest of the ride. They could feel the gaze of the those around every once in a while but they didn't really care.
When they arrived to Hogsmeade station, Emma and Thomas followed their cousins just because they didn't know what they were supposed to do. Once they saw that they had to get into a carriage pulled by something invisible, they found a free one and got in. They had spent way too much time with the Weasleys.
"This sucks" told Thomas to his sister once they were alone in the carriage.
"Can you believe what they said?" Emma was still infuriated with their cousins, and Thomas wasn't too far up.
"Pff, they don't have a single neuron, they seemed to have forgotten that our mother is a Weasley and that she fought against Voldemort."
"And that Lupin kid is hiding something."
"I noticed you were giving some attention" her brother joked with a mocking half smile on his face making her roll her eyes.
"You are an idiot. I was intrigued because when he was talking about his godfather he gave a nervous vibe, and he almost said a different name."
At the castle's doors was Ginny, their mother waiting. She was looking at them furiously; Haley on one side and, to their surprise, Teddy Lupin was also there.
"What happen on the train?" she demanded getting closer so that nobody could hear them. "I just saw your cousins and, to my surprise, they slipped away without even looking at me"
"It wasn't our fault" said Emma.
"They were ticking us as dark wizards." explained Thomas and Ginny's faced softened. It really was hard to punish her children when they said something like that. It couldn't be easy for them to have that surname, especially at Hogwarts, history didn't flattered them.
"Oh… I'm sorry, I'll talk to them."
"No, just let it be, we don't care."
"Emma! They are your cousins, your family."
"We don't know them, mom, stop trying to make us be their friends, neither Emma nor me want that."
Ginny wasn't happy with that but, she would let it be, she was sure that with time they would become friends, or at least she really hope for that.
"Okay, come, follow me. You'll be entering the Great Hall with the first years, with me. You'll have to participate on the Sorting Hat ceremony, that way you'll be assigned to your new house."
Both sibling, together with Teddy Lupin, followed Ginny until they reach the doors of the Great Hall, were all the first years were congregated. Soon they entered and Ginny, with Haley on her side, went upfront where the Sorting Hat was placed upon a stool. After the traditional singing of the Hat, Ginny took out a parchment and started reading the names of the new students.
"Avery, John"
"SLYTHERIN" shouted the Hat just as it barely touched the kid's head.
The students went one by one, and it finally came Teddy's turn.
"Lupin, Edward" the young metamorphmagus went purposively to the front.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" roared the Hat. Teddy gazed at his godfather's direction, he has looking at him with a superior looked. Despite having lost the bet, Teddy wasn't disappointed at all, this used to be his mother's school House.
"Nott, Emma!" called Ginny and as she watched her daughter draw nearer, with her face flushed with embarrassment, she whispered, "Don't worry, Emma, you'll fit perfectly well in any house"
"Even Slytherin?" asked her Emma without believing a word her mother had just say.
"Even Slytherin" she assured her with a kind smile, helping her relax. Though, her fears were unnecessary, the Hat hadn't even reach the top of her head that it was already yelling his answer.
"GRYFFINDOR!" Ginny couldn't resist the urge to hug her daughter. Haley copied her and jump onto her sister's arms, before letting her go to join her new school House.
"Nott, Thomas!" she called her son. Unlike his sister, Thomas went upfront without even paying attention to what was happening around him, he was great at ignoring his surroundings.
"RAVENCLAW!"
"I knew it!" his mother whispered-shrieked to her son when she hug him with excitement. Anybody who knew Thomas was aware that no other house than Ravenclaw was suitable for him.