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Disclaimer- I don't own anyone you recognise
The Sorting Hat song is courtesy of my good friend, Ju (aka- Dub)
Chapter 2- Slipping back into old habits
Professor Dumbledore saw his niece head towards him and smiled at her. It was unspoken knowledge that she was his niece but no student ever teased her for it as they knew they would be hit back with worse. The exception being Sirius, but then again, he's an exception in almost all cases.
"Hello Professor," she greeted him. She only referred to him as uncle when she they were in private or she was talking about him to her friends. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that you were actually going to come home for the last few weeks of holiday. I don't recall seeing you," the small smile playing about her lips gave away that she was not too angry at his absence.
"I told you becoming Headmaster would require more of my time. And those were not the only matters that kept me away." She knew he was referring to problems with Voldemort.
"Still, you could have at least popped in for a few hours." The smile did not hide the worry in her face. Anyone could tell there was a very special bond between the two of them and it was self explanatory, considering that she had been with him from the age of two. Her mother, Dumbledore's sister, had been killed by a dark wizard and that loss had brought uncle and niece closer that ever. Her father had left her mother pregnant, earning Hope's eternal hatred, if she had known who he was.
"You don't need to worry about me; I can take care of myself perfectly fine." On a brighter note he added, with a knowing smile, "Anyway. I thought you would be too busy with that hectic social life of yours to notice little old me missing."
Hope grinned. She knew that her social life was less that active. She liked to keep to herself and her animals, and due to the fact that all her friends had been working during the holidays, she had kept in for almost the whole six weeks.
"You know I will always worry about you. You aren't as good as taking care of yourself as you may think." She sighed as she noticed that a lot more people had started to file into the hall. "We will have to finish this conversation another time." She gave her uncle another small smile and then left to head back to her friends.
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Sirius watched as he saw Hope leave the high table with a small frown on her face. His and James' parents were well connected and he knew from them that Dumbledore had been spending a lot of time trying to help with the Voldemort situation. Trying to keep a happy face, he quickened his pace to the Gryffindor table and placed himself in the seat next to Hope. She glared.
"There are plenty of other seats on the table, Black. You don't need to sit there."
"But Hope, my dear, this is a prime seat. Here, I have a fine view of the High Table, without being too close to it and I'm near the middle and so can easily access the variety of food that I hope will be laid out before us very soon." He gave her his most winning smile. She replied with a 'humph' and turned her back to him and started a conversation with Lily who was sitting on the other side of her.
James took the seat on Sirius' other side while Remus and Peter sat opposite them. As Arabella and Dawn were sitting opposite Lily and Hope, Remus had managed to snag a seat next to Arabella, a fact that neither of them complained about.
All conversations were soon put to a halt by Professor Mc Gonagall who set the sorting hat upon its stool. The hat waited for silence before opening his mouth wide and singing,
'You spy an old hat on a stool
Oh, you may look at me and see
Full of patches sewn together
But there can be no hat just like me
For I'm individual
One of a kind, completely unique
So put your faith, in my hands
And I'll show you your future's not bleak
There's nothing I can't tell you
When you put me on your head
Don't doubt for a moment
I can't tell you where to head
Maybe you belong in Hufflepuff
Where folk are patient and just
They stand firm on moral values
Loyalty is a must
In Gryffindor you will find
Bravery, strength and (something that rhymes with able) '
Their daring nature you might see
When faced with the unforeseeable
And in wise old Ravenclaw
Those quick and eager to learn
You'll never find yourself out of place
If you stay and wait your turn
Finally in Slytherin
They always achieve their ends
Their sharp minds and cunningness
Always make them friends
So hop in line, don't be shy
I guarantee you'll see
That however hard you all can look
There's only one hat like me'
There was a great applause as the sorting hat finished his song, but nothing beat Sirius' reaction. Once the hall had quietened down, he stood up and yelled
"Bravo, Bravo. Quite exemplary, Mr Sorting Hat, sir. I never knew you could-"
He was cut off by Hope, who stood up behind him, muffled his mouth with her hand and dragged him back into his seat. There was a short pause.
"Ahem. Let's commence with the Sorting, shall we," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile.
-----
Once Professor Mc Gonagall had left the hall with the hat and the stool, Professor Dumbledore stood up once more.
"I know you all must be hungry, so I will try and make this as short as possible."
"That's what I like to hear," was Sirius' loud reply.
"Thank You, Mr Black. As I'm sure many of you may have guessed, I am the new Headmaster of Hogwarts, due to Professor Dippet's retirement. I hope nobody's too upset about the arrangements."
"You'll be loved by me, Dumbly, just as long as you abolish all rules," was Sirius' next comment. A loud 'ow' followed, compliments of Hope.
Dumbledore smiled in their direction and continued, "As I was saying. There are a few new additions to the staff. Professor Hector is our new Arithmanicy teacher and Professor Trelawney will be replacing Professor Avoile as our Divination teacher. I hope they will be given a proper Hogwarts welcome."
"Sure thing, Professor. Do you want frogs or snails in there beds." Sirius yelped as Hope grabbed his ear and whispered harshly into it. The rest of the school tried to stifle their laughs.
"Thank you, Miss. White. Let no more be said but-"
"Let's eat!" yelled Sirius.
"Silencio," snapped Hope, whipping out her wand from her pocket. Sirius' mouth snapped shut. Food appeared in front of everyone, creating a diversion from Sirius' predicament.
Hope picked up her knife and fork and helped herself to a jacket potato, calmly ignoring Sirius, who was fighting to open his mouth again. After a few minutes, James cautiously went,
"Um, Hope?"
"Yes," she replied, looking up and raising an eyebrow.
"Um, I was just wondering if you could…"
"Yes,"
"… Pass the sauce."
"Sure." She smiled at James as she passed him the sauce and went back to her meal. James gave Sirius an apologetic look and then continued eating himself.
-----
Jovial conversation, minus Sirius' input, continued until not a single person could eat another mouthful. As usual, the plates cleaned themselves up and once again Professor Dumbledore stood up to address the students.
"Now you all have full stomachs, I shall address the other notices. First Years, a note that the Forbidden Forest is indeed forbidden, contrary to Mr. Black's opinion and I implore that nobody," he paused to give a pointed glance towards the Marauders direction, "enters it. A complete list of all our school rules can be found outside Mr. Filch's office. May I introduce you all to our new prefects, Serena Wales and Richard Williams of Ravenclaw, Rachel Huffing and Peter Smallwood of Hufflepuff, Severus Snape and Darla Malfoy of Slytherin and Lily Evans and Hope White of Gryffindor." A small amount of whispers filled the hall as they realised that there were two female Gryffindor prefects but the hubbub was quietened by Dumbledore.
"Now, now. We cannot forget out new Head Boy and Head Girl, Natasha Masters and Nicholas Smith. That is all for tonight, and I hope to see you all bright and early," groans could be heard throughout the hall, "tomorrow morning for the first day of lessons." He grinned down at the wincing pupils and sat back down in his seat, as a sign of dismissal."
-----
Hope sighed as she walked behind the Gryffindor pupils, keeping an eye out for straying first years. Contemplating on reading one of the extra books she had bought at Flourish and Blotts, (she had already finished reading her class textbooks), she didn't notice the Marauders until Sirius walked up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
Hope's head spun round, a rare show of surprise. The rest of the Marauders watched as her cheeks started to glow as she found herself nose to nose with Sirius. After a short pause, during which Sirius was so amazed he found himself unable to move; she pulled away, her cheeks quickly returning to their usual colour.
"Must you continue to be so immature? You're a 6th year now," she snapped, embarrassed that she had been caught off guard. Sirius stood blankly, dead to the world, as his mind processed the fact that he had been at such a close proximity to Hope's lips. After realising that she was not about to get a reply, due to the spell she had placed earlier, she huffed and stormed off, to catch up with the rest of the Gryffindors. After a few moments, Sirius noticed what a chance he had missed, whacked himself on the head and followed Hope, unaware, or so it seemed that his friends were still there.
They stood, shaking their heads for a few seconds. James was the first to speak.
"He really likes her," he murmured, having been unaware about his friends real feeling for her.
"And I have a strong feeling that she likes him back," replied Remus. The scene that they had just seen before them had been a rare show of real emotion on both Sirius' and Hopes' part. Nothing more could be said, though, as they noticed Mrs. Sirron, the caretakers rather mean and unfriendly cat, glaring at them and stalking off, not doubt on the way to call her master.
They gave a small yelp and ran to catch up with the rest of the Gryffindors.
-----
Lily stopped in front of the Fat Lady portrait and waited for the others behind her to follow in suit.
"This is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room," she explained to the new pupils, "Be sure never to give away the password to anyone you know not to be in Gryffindor. The password will be changed frequently, so be sure to keep up to date." She turned toward the portrait of the Fat Lady and voiced clearly,
"Fawkes." Nothing happened. She tried once more.
"Fawkes."
The Fat Lady just stared back at her blankly.
"Hope," Lily called. She waited as Hope made her way to the front of the crowd, which was not an easy task.
"What's the password supposed to be?" she asked, trying to hide her blush.
"Fawkes," Hope stated, turning to glance towards the portrait. Her reaction was not quite as clam as Lily's had been when she found that it didn't work.
"What the-"
She was interrupted, just at the right moment, by James, who said,
"Um. You might want to try 'the Marauders Rule'."
Hope glared at him and did as he bid. With a smile, the portrait swung open and the pupils scrambled into the common room. By the time everyone had entered, there was a crowd of people in the centre of the room. The first-years were staring in awe, while the older years were looking round at the noticeable changes. The room, though it looked as large as before, had it corners cornered off by red and gold hangings. Behind the open hangings the pupils could see more sofas, tables and chairs.
"Um, what happened?" asked a confused 5th year.
"Oh," Hope said, obviously not at all surprised by the changes. "I discussed the idea with Professor Dumbledore and he agreed that it was sensible. The four corners have become private study areas for the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th years." She pointed to each corner as she named each year. "I'm sorry for the lower years, but you will get the privilege when you move up. It is to help the upper years have more quiet when they are studying here. When the hangings are closed, a sound-proofing charm is automatically put in place around the area" She gave all the pupils who were staring at her a small smile.
"If you wish to try them out, it will have to wait for tomorrow. It is already past curfew, so everyone off to bed." She made shooing motions with her hand.
"Will James, Sirius, Remus and Peter stay behind for a moment?" She stared at them pointedly. The boys, who had been quickly heading towards the boys staircase, paused, turned around and slowly made their way over to Hope and Lily. Hope waited until everyone had gone up to their dorms before starting, in a dangerously low tone.
"What did you think you were doing?"
Automatically they turned towards Sirius, who just shrugged and pointed towards his conveniently silenced mouth.
-----
Hope sat down to breakfast with the rest of the girls. She made it a point to sit on the end of the table with Arabella next to her, so not to give Sirius a chance to join her. She had spent the night arranging her room to the way she liked it, which included nasty surprises to those who tried to enter.
She had also been listening to the antics going on in the 6th year Gryffindor room next door. Blessed with sharp ears, she had listened to James and Peter trying to remove the silencing spell she had placed while Remus sat obliviously reading after announcing that Sirius had had it coming. After an hour, though, it seemed that Remus' patience had worn thin and he snapped the counter curse. This had launched into an argument over why he hadn't done so earlier. Hope had found it infinitely amusing. Though she had a stern exterior, she secretly enjoyed the pranks that the Marauders played, especially those on the Slytherins.
"Um, Hope?" A voice interrupted her musing. She looked up to see Arabella waving her hand in front of her face.
"You seemed to wonder off. You've been buttering that piece of toast for 5 minutes now."
"Oh," she blushed. She didn't want her friends to know what she had been thinking. If Arabella heard she had been thinking of Sirius, the day would be filled with talks on how she secretly loved Sirius inside but was too shy to admit to her feelings. Arabella seemed the only one to think of her as shy, but then again, she was the only person that Hope knew who was more outspoken that her. With the exception of Sirius, but then again, as it's been said before, he's an exception in every case.
"Your timetable has arrived." Rachel said, motioning to the slip of parchment in front of her. Hope picked it up and examined it carefully, quickly memorising the content. Arabella peered over her shoulder.
"How can you be taking 3 more subjects than the rest of us? You've got seven down there." Hope glanced towards her, frowning slightly.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to read over my shoulder?" She sighed as Arabella's questioning expression didn't change. "I'm taking DADA, Transfiguration, Potions and Charms as my main. I'm alternating between Arithmancy and Ancient Runes and I'm doing the Care of Magical creatures work but not going to the lessons. Professor Mc Gonagall thought I would be able to manage and I think so too." Arabella just shook her head.
"I doubt I can barely cope with 4 subjects," she muttered.
"If I can't I can just drop a couple. I'm not the first student to take more than 4 NEWTs, you know."
"Yeah, but you're probably the first to take seven." Hope blushed, proving Arabella's point. She knew she was highly ambitious but she liked to keep her options wide. She finished the rest of the meal in silence, listening to the conversations around her.
She looked up as usual when she saw the post arriving. She picked up her daily delivery of the Daily Prophet and read through it quickly, picking out anything of interest to her friends, who usually skipped straight to the gossip section, especially the articles that contained news about Voldemort.
She looked up suddenly when a loud BANG resonated throughout the hall. She glanced towards the Slytherin table, from where green smoke was currently rising. She sighed as she saw Lucius Malfoy with bright orange hair and glanced towards Sirius and crew, who were laughing while trying to look surprised. It was going to be a long year.
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Well, that's the second chapter done! Hope you enjoyed it…read and review. All comments, especially ways of improving, welcome.