Great Times There
By Lady Lupin
A/N: Chapter 2 has arrived! In this chapter they get sorted, and meet a few people…have fun.
Disclaimer: All that is from the Harry Potter world is JK's and I wouldn't dream of saying it was mine, Lenora, Nyah, William, Icis and Scarlett however are mine, and if you would like to use them please ask permission first.
Chapter 2: Of Sortings and Snape
She led them down past the house tables and came to a stop in front of the table of teachers. On a stool was a very frayed beat up hat. The whole hall was staring at it, so the first years did as well. It opened a rip along the rim and began to sing. It sang of brave Gryffindors, ambitious Slytherins, clever Ravenclaws and loyal Hufflepuffs.(A/N: If anyone has a Sorting song they'd like to donate, I'd be happy to take it) After it sang the black haired witch took out a roll of parchment.
"When you name is called please come forward and be sorted." She unrolled the parchment.
"Black, Lenora," First to be called, Lenora walked nervously to the stool and put the hat on her head.
Ohhh, interesting one here, very, very talented, would do well in Ravenclaw. A completely loyal friend so Hufflepuff would suit you as well. But you are very brave, willing to do anything for those you love. This means you must be in GRYFFINDOR! Lenora ran to the table erupting in cheers, grinning widely. She turned to watch her brother.
"Black, Sirius." Sirius swaggered over to the stool and put on the hat.
Ahh, another Black. Well you could do well in any house other that Slytherin, as I told your twin. But your mischievous mind shows your brave enough to do anything from playing pranks to giving your life to someone you love. This being the case you belong most definitely to GRYFFINDOR! Grinning like a Cheshire cat Sirius sat down next to his sister. They really didn't watch until Lily was called.
"Evans, Lily" Smiling grimly she put on the hat.
Oh my there are a lot of you pranksters aren't there? Oh well. You could fit anywhere. But rule out Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, you'll play too many pranks. And Slytherin wouldn't take to you kindly, you love too deeply. So GRYFFINDOR would suit you best! Sporting a real smile now Lily plopped down next to Lenora. Sirius and the girls talked for a minute but soon Nyah was called.
"Hunt, Nyah," Trembling visibly she sat down and placed the hat on her head.
My goodness, how many more are there of you?
Umm 3, I guess. Nyah thought, thinking herself mad for talking to a hat.
You're not mad, now on to sorting you. Hmm at first glance I'd put you in Hufflepuff but deeper down I see you will be brave enough to tame the Grim and that assures me that GRYFFINDOR is your new home. Feeling confused Nyah sat down across from the girls, but forgot about "the Grim" when she heard Sirius mention food. Then she realized she was famished. But then Will was called and they all shut up.
"Johnson, William," He walked bouncingly over to the hat, still as excited as before. ("He looks like a git to me" Sirius whispered, which earned him a slap from Nyah)(A/N: This isn't Angelina's father, its her uncle)
Ahh, a Quidditch player through and through. And willing to do anything for your friends, that's a GRYFFINDOR trait my boy! He ran to the table and sat down two seats away from Sirius and began to talk to a girl he had met on the train, Icis Dunsworth. Almost immediately Remus was called forward.
"Lupin, Remus," He was now so pale he looked like a ghost. But he resolutely walked over and put it on. Inwardly he cringed, hoping the hat wouldn't know.
Why don't you want me to know? Its not as if anyone will believe me even if I did tell. Which I'm not going to do. You, my boy, are the first werewolf to come here since Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter. Remus gasped. Yes quite a surprise isn't it? She was placed in Gryffindor and it sent up quite a stir. But anyway, you being a werewolf had made you age before your time and you have become very brave doing so, so the only place for you, Mr. Lupin is, GRYFFINDOR! Color flushed back into his face and he grinned broadly. He went to the table and sunk in a chair next to Sirius. Sirius turned to him.
"Thank GOD, you got here. I was surrounded by all these girls and I've been having to beat them off with a stick!" Remus chuckled as the girls shot daggers at Sirius with their eyes.
"Yes, well I can help now!" He turned to the girls. "Stand back, keep you hands away from Mr. Black, he needs his space." Lily rolled her eyes, Nyah just laughed and Lenora smacked him upside of the head.
"Hey you gits, Peter's up, watch!" Lenora glared at them and they obeyed.
"She's got quite a temper hasn't she?" Remus whispered to Sirius. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"You have no idea." He whispered back.
"Pettigrew, Peter." The short boy slightly resembled a rat as he scurried over to the stool. (A/N: Sorry I HAD to!)
Oooh, now you are truly my hardest tonight. You excel at potions, but that's about it, so Ravenclaw is out. You aren't cruel enough for Slytherin, and your best trait seems to be your braveness. So I think GRYFFINDOR it is. Peter hopped up and sat down next to Nyah, sighing visibly.
"Look its James, lets hope he gets in here as well." Remus said pointing to the stool.
"Do we really have to hope?" Lily mumbled, obviously still mad at James. Lenora glared at her and she shut up.
"Potter, James." He strode over with no nonsense and slapped the hat on his head.
Ahhh, another Potter, your sister Ayden just left last year, right? James nodded. Well no contest here. Every Potter I've sorted has been brave beyond belief, and you are no exception, so GRYFFINDOR is where you will reside! James walked to the table and sat down next to Peter. The waited about ten more minutes for the sorting to finish, ending with "Zabini, Marshall" (Slytherin). Dumbledore stood and immediately the Hall was silent. He looked around and smiled.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. This is my first year here as Headmaster, and I hope it will be an enjoyable year. But don't be fooled. I have been here before, for many years, as the Head of Gryffindor and the Professor of Transfiguration. So I hope that none of you will feel to uncomfortable with me." He smiled at all the students. "You all seem especially hungry tonight, so I will shut up with a meaningful, 'tuck in'. His eyes twinkled as the whole hall gaped at him. But soon their attentions turned to the mounds of food that had suddenly appeared along the tables. The hall was moderately silent as everyone ate. The talk began to pick up again as people started second helpings.
"So, anyone here play Quidditch?" Will asked looking around. Everyone but Lily and Nyah nodded and grinned.
"What's Quidditch?" Lily asked curiously.
"You poor depraved child!" Sirius moaned. He and William then explained the popular sport, with a comment or two from Remus and James. When they finished Lily grinned.
"Oh that sounds wonderful, and there's a team here right? How do you try out?" She asked them.
"Alas, you cannot get on the team until second year. But don't worry that'll give you time to LEARN to fly." Lily glared at James and flicked a peppermint humbug at him. It stuck in his hair, unnoticed by him but not by anyone else. They all laughed but refused to tell James what was so funny, making him even more annoyed.
"So Will, you got a broom?" Sirius asked
casually.
"I've got a Silver Arrow at home." Will answered happily. James grinned.
"Sirius and I each have a Nimbus 500," Lenora glared at James, while Will looked eager.
"Haven't you forgotten, Jamsie, that I have one as well?" She asked dangerously. James smiled charmingly at Lenora.
"Minor detail," James said with a wave of his hand. She slapped him.
"Hey watch it! And I thought red heads were hot tempered." he howled. Everyone laughed.
"I've got a Cloud Chaser," Remus said somewhat proudly. Cloud Chasers were the best brooms after the Nimbus line, and Silver Arrows were just after the C.C.
"WOW, I wish I could see those brooms!" William said wistfully.
"Well then my good man come up to my bed later tonight, James and I will show you ours." Sirius' eyes twinkled.
"Yeah, and I'll show you mine too." Remus offered.
"You BROUGHT yours?" Will asked, astonished. Lenora, James, Sirius and Remus all nodded.
"Well of course!" Lenora exclaimed.
"Who cares about some stupid rule?" Remus added.
"Probably most of the school and the teachers." Lily said, giggling. Will looked about ready to speak but was interrupted.
"Hey, you all come to the common room, before you are lost, you're the last ones in the Great Hall." A red headed 5th year prefect commanded. He was right though, everyone else had cleared out. Talking about Quidditch takes up a lot of time.
"Yes sir!" Sirius said smartly. Everyone rolled their eyes as they made their way out of the hall and towards the common room.
"I'm Calvin Weasley, you are?" he asked looking about at them.
"James Potter,"
"Sirius Black,"
"Lenora Black,"
"Lily Evans,"
"Remus Lupin,"
"Peter Pettigrew,"
"Nyah Hunt,"
"William Johnson,"
"Well its always nice to meet the new first years, and I hope you all will be up for a challenge. We are hoping to keep are winning streak going, we have won the house cup for five years now. Ah here's the common room, the password is 'Shrivel figs'." Everyone climbed through to see a cozy looking room with loads of chairs and comfy looking couches, and a large roaring fire. There were two doors leading from the common room.
"Boys dorms are up this door, girls are over there, you better turn in soon, you want to make a good impression on your teachers on the first day. Especially McGonagall, she's our head of house, and she is very strict. She took over Transfiguration 2 years ago for Professor Dumbledore, and believe me, she's not one to be reckoned with. Well night all." He said as he headed up the boys stairs.
"Night, my lovely ladies," Sirius bowed. "Oh and Lenora." He added as an after thought. Everyone laughed, even Lenora.
"Sorry Siri, I'm too full to chase you," she yawned. The girls headed towards their door.
"Night all," was the last they heard from them as they disappeared up the stairs. Remus looked around.
"Well I suppose we should head up as well." They all nodded, Peter almost dead on his feet. As they all reached the dorm they saw their trunks at the feet of large, four-poster beds, draped with red hangings. Peter went right to his bed and fell asleep, but everyone else made their way to Sirius' bed.
"So show us your broom Sirius." Will said excitedly. Sirius opened his trunk, rummaged around and pulled out what appeared to be a normal book on Quidditch. He tapped it with his wand and it instantly became a bran new Nimbus 500.
"Wow! This thing is awesome, it looks perfect. Can I maybe fly it some time?" Will asked wonderingly.
"Sure man, next full moon." Remus became pale at Sirius' words.
"Hey want to see the Cloud Chaser?" Remus asked. They all nodded. None of them had actually seen one. Remus went to the bed next to Sirius and pulled a normal looking journal. He muttered a few words and it expanded slowly into a Cloud Chaser. It looked very different from the Nimbus. It was a light blue color and seemed to have little cloud swirling around on it, and if you looked close enough there were tiny quidditch players, playing a game. Everyone looked at it in awe.
"That is the coolest looking broom I have ever seen" James said finally, breaking the silence. Remus nodded happily.
"I loved it the moment I saw it. We'll have to have a race with the three different brooms." Everyone nodded.
"Well I'm ready for bed. Night guys." Remus transfigured his broom back as did Sirius. Everyone went to sleep quite contentedly. Remus however was the happiest of all. He finally had friends.
~~~~~~~~~~
Lenora woke up the next morning to find Remus tickling her feet. She could hear laughter coming from Lily and Nyah's beds as well and knew they were undergoing the same treatment.
"Remus!" she shrieked, at the same time Lily and Nyah yelled at James and Sirius. The three boys fell to the floor with laughter.
"Where's Peter?" Lily asked. James calmed himself down enough to answer.
"Still in bed. It's only 7:30." He returned to laughing. All three girls glared.
"James, Sirius, Remus! Why in the world did you get us up this early?" Sirius turned to his sister to answer, but was interrupted by a loud shriek.
"Ahhh! Why are there boys in here?!" One of the other girls in the dorm (Icis Dunsworth) had woken up. James turned to her and bowed.
"Sorry Miss, we just had to speak with Lily, Lenora, and Nyah. We'll be going now," He bowed again and turned back to the girls.
"See you three in the Great Hall," James sang as he, Sirius and Remus strode over to the door. Three pillows hurled towards them, and they ran out, the pillows hitting the door instead.
"Argh! They so annoying! How did you deal with Sirius, Lenora?" Lily asked as she retrieved the pillows.
"Just got used to him and James I guess, they've been like that for as long as I can remember," she rolled her eyes. Nyah shook her head.
"You poor thing, how you must have suffered. But now you've got us to help!" Nyah patted her shoulder. Icis spoke up.
"Who were those guys?" she asked curiously.
"My idiot brother Sirius, and his two friends James Potter and Remus Lupin." Lenora rolled her eyes again.
"Well those three are cute!" She stated. Lily snorted.
"You've got the oddest idea of cute I've ever seen." The other two laughed. Icis was about to speak again when Scarlett Marine did.
"No, she's right, those boys are really
cute. Especially the one with black
hair and blue eyes." Everyone jumped, no one had realized she was awake.
"Sirius? My brother? You think he's cute??" Lenora asked, skeptically. Icis and Scarlett nodded. Lenora looked at Lily and Nyah and shook her head, muttering about "insane" girls.
"Well we might as well get dressed since we had such a nice awakening so bright and early." Nyah said wisely. They all agreed and busied themselves with getting ready.
~~~~~~~~~~
Remus followed Sirius and James down the stairs into the common room, laughing with mirth.
"Was there any real reason to wake them up?" Remus asked when they had calmed down.
"You mean other than instigating a war? No." Sirius said nonchalantly.
"A war?" James said skeptically. Sirius nodded.
"Lenora told me before we came that she wasn't going to sit and take our jokes. She said she was going to retaliate. Although I think she wants a war because she told me this and she should know better," Sirius said thinking. "Oh well." He shrugged.
"Well I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle." James said casually.
"Don't be so sure James, she is Sirius' sister, after all, and Lily seems to have quite a temper." Remus pointed out. James shrugged carelessly.
"Hey we better go get Peter, and then head off to the Great Hall." Remus said looking at his watch. They trudged up the stairs. Peter was almost ready and soon they were heading towards the Great Hall. Or so they thought.
"James!" Sirius whined. "I thought you knew how to get there!"
"So did I!" James said. "Come on it can't be much farther." They walked for ten minutes.
"James, we are still not there!" Peter whined. Ten minutes after that they were still walking.
"Finally!" Remus sighed. But their happiness was short lived. They girls were walking towards the door. They obviously hadn't gotten lost and being the girls they were, they waved at the boys sweetly and began to run towards the door. The boys couldn't resist the unspoken challenge and began to run as well. They somehow got to the doors first and ran through them, colliding heads on with another first year who had been trying to leave. This resulted in the five boys on the ground and Lily, Lenora and Nyah laughing hysterically. Sirius, James, Peter and Remus were laughing as well. The other boy however, glared at them as he brushed himself off. James stood up and stuck out his hand.
"Hey, I'm sorry, I guess we got too excited for breakfast," the boy shook his hand. "I'm James Potter."
"Severus Snape," He peered at the rest of the group. "Are you all in Gryffindor?" James smiled.
"Yep, how about you?" Severus straightened importantly at the question.
"I am in Slytherin," Sirius snorted at the boy's self-importance. Severus glared at him.
"Who are the rest of you?" he asked sneering slightly as he looked them over.
"Remus Lupin,"
"Peter Pettigrew,"
"Lily Evans,"
"Nyah Hunt,"
"Sirius Black,"
"Lenora Black," When they had finished Snape turned to Sirius and Lenora.
"Ah, you're Blacks?" They nodded and his eyes turned very cold.
"Mudblood filth!" he spat at them. Sirius yelled in anger and jumped at Snape, but was held back by James. Lenora had a chilling look of hatred on her face as she pulled out her wand and muttered a spell under her breath. Large, painful looking boils began to pop up all over Snape. He moaned with pain and fell to the floor.
"That will teach you, you stupid git, to speak ill about me and my family!" Lenora snarled. Professor Dumbledore came over promptly.
"Professor, please, we did not start it, it was Snape…" Lily began, but Dumbledore silenced her with a wave of his hand.
"I know Miss Evans, I heard it all. Nice spell Miss Black, but next time please let a teacher handle it. Come Mr. Snape, we need to sort out your punishment." With that Dumbledore led off an unhappy Snape and the seven Gryffindors made their way to the Gryffindor table.
Everyone sat down and began to eat, no one speaking very loudly. Lenora and Sirius had withdrawn themselves and were speaking in low tones, ignoring the sympathetic looks many people were giving them. Nyah looked at James in confusion.
"What does Mudblood mean, anyway?" She asked quietly. James took a drink of orange juice and sighed.
"Basically it is a filthy name for someone who has one or two muggle parents. Some wizards think highly of themselves if they are what some call 'pureblood.' It's a lot of rubbish. Many of the greatest witches and wizards are from muggle families. But anyway, Mr. Black is a very important Ministry official and I guess that is how the slimy git knew that Sirius and Lenora had a muggle mother. I hope this doesn't ruin Sirius' mood for the rest of the month. He and Lenora are very protective of their family." James finished, looking over at the twins and taking a bit of toast. Lily too looked worried and tried to get the twins in a lighter spirit.
"What a total, git! And did you see his hair? What a slime ball." Lily said loudly enough for Sirius and Lenora to hear. Everyone nodded in agreement and the twins came closer to them as Professor McGonagall passed out their timetables.
"Oooh look! We've got Charms first, with the Ravenclaws." Lily said trying to cheer up Lenora, as it was her favorite subject. She smiled wanly at Lily.
"And then we have Transfiguration with the…. Slytherins," James trailed off unhappily. Sirius snorted.
"Good, that will give me a chance to pay that *says something that makes Nyah gasp* back. James, why didn't you let me kill him?" Sirius asked only half joking.
"Because I didn't think you mum would have been to happy to have you get expelled the day after you arrived." James said as they headed out of the Great Hall.
"Umm, how do we get to the Charms classroom anyway? Remus asked looking around. A fifth year was walking by and heard him.
"Off to your first Charms class are you? Well follow me, I'll show you how to get there." She headed off in the opposite direction they were headed, with the whole group walking behind her. Five minutes later they arrived at the classroom.
"Here you go Professor Flitwick, some lost first years for you." The girl told him, he smiled at her.
"Why thank you Millie, now off you go to Defense Against the Dark Arts." She waved goodbye as the teacher ushered them into the class.
A/N: So how's the next chapter? Like it? Please r/r and if anyone has any ideas for pranks I'm always up for suggestions.