"Finally!"
Sirius didn't even care he'd fallen onto the Slytherin table and in a bowl of someone's midday soup. He rolled right off and burst with excitement at finally being back in the Great Hall.
Though it took him a moment to realize it wasn't the one they would have left. Stars were covering the high ceiling, forming constellations he could have pointed out if he'd wanted. The plates were decked out with their gold of a start of term feast, and the banners hung above each house table like they did for the first years to know why someone was cheering for them. He had not, in fact, rolled through minestrone, but freshly melted ice cream as if the Great Hall had just been left and all the students fresh at term were off to their dormitories. It was honestly a miracle the food hadn't vanished as it usually did when the events were done.
Without any actual hope, Evans went to the doors and tried to pull them open, though none had ever even seen them closed, so they weren't particularly surprised by this point when they couldn't get out. Never before had so few people been in here, and even Sirius walking across to the Gryffindor table echoed like nothing he'd ever noticed before. Even back in Diagon Alley without the usual shoppers wasn't such a sight if you went early mornings like he had at times, this still felt far more unfamiliar than his home of the past five years ever had.
"Well I don't know about you lot," Remus took a seat next to Sirius and pulled a bowl of pudding towards him, "but I'm starving."
The other four still couldn't help but hover awkwardly, even Frank who had been down in the Great Hall first for breakfast some mornings had never claimed a table for his house without first glancing up and seeing not only the headmaster but at least a majority of the staff while he did.
He followed Alice gratefully, but she chose to sit with her back to the Gryffindor boys at her house table instead and so Frank sat awkwardly beside her, still glancing around as if expecting Professors Sprout or Flitwick to call one of them out for this.
Lily graciously sat across from them, a bit uncomfortable herself for not only being at the wrong table but also still not sure exactly how much she could be following them around without feeling like a lost puppy. She gave Regulus a sympathetic look as he continued hovering at the head of the tables and then to the farthest end of the room where so often the Slytherin's sat.
Sirius noticed again, but this time took pity on his brother and waved him over, saying, "come on then, no point sitting over there when those three aren't bothering with such nonsense." Needlessly gesturing over his shoulder to prove his point.
"I don't need your pity," Regulus grumbled under his breath, but it was so quiet in here they all heard as he went to the farthest table anyways.
Sirius huffed and muttered, "that's what I get for trying to be nice."
"Sirius, you've still got a bit of mint on your bum," Remus nodded to the green stain on the seat of his trousers simply for the change of topic he told himself.
"What you looking for?" Sirius demanded with a pleased little smirk, neither breaking eye contact even as James clucked his tongue but kept shoveling trifle down, despite having to use his left hand considering his right was still smarting too much to hold a spoon, and Peter muttered at the two to get a room.
"Here Evans," Alice passed Lily the book more to get past yet another awkward moment than anything.
"So what house do you think Harry'll be in?" James asked eagerly when she read out the chapter title, all of them glancing up as if the stool and hat would magically appear.
"Gryffindor," his three friends said at once.
Lily scoffed heavily but tried to ignore them, but Frank couldn't help turning in his seat and eyeing them while asking, "and if he's not?"
"But he will be," Sirius rolled his eyes.
"I'll actually enjoy it now if he ends up in Hufflepuff," Alice said with a frown at them. "See the look on you lots faces when you realize there are other houses besides your own winning the Cup now and again."
"Bet that Granger girl will be Ravenclaw," Peter muttered when she was yet again mentioning some reference from a book.
"I take offense to that," Frank turned back away even as he continued speaking to them. "Not everyone from this house has to be the smartest person in the room."
"Says the guy correcting us," Remus rolled his eyes.
Lily tried reading just a little bit louder to cut them all off, wishing she could skip right to the part of the sorting already considering she didn't find it amusing what Ron's brothers had played on him, though Peter couldn't help glancing across the hall and seeing Regulus making a face at Sirius' back and instantly knew his friend had tried to convince his little brother of much the same.
Finally it came time it was that little Hermione's turn, and Lily couldn't help smirking the second the Marauders made little disappointed huffs at being wrong.
"Ah well, win some you lose some," James smirked over at Lily's surprised face, she'd been expecting a much more vivid reaction.
"You thought I was going to be a Slytherin until I proved you wrong," Sirius reminded with a smirk.
"Couldn't be more pleased to be wrong," James nodded in agreement, still trying to catch her eye though she'd looked away almost instantly, but that was twice in...well since this had started so he considered that progress.
Lily stuttered in surprise when she'd kept going for a bit, looking at Alice and Frank with a calculating look.
"What's the matter Evans?" Alice held her hand out expectantly. "Neville's last name hard to pronounce? I'll give it a shot."
"Oh it's not that," she assured before reading the sentence proper.
Frank froze in surprise and gave his girlfriend a sideways look like he wanted to apologize to her for something, but after her initial shock and a bit of stammering she composed herself and looked steadily at Lily while saying, "well, as I said before, this is quite a future we're hearing about, doesn't have to mean much though."
Lily laughed a bit in surprise to Alice sticking to that, and so didn't notice the couple taking hands under the table and exchanging glowing looks at the news they may well one day have their own child! They'd only been going out for a year after all, and at seventeen it seemed ludicrous at best this happening, but for the first time this had started the two felt they had something to actually be paying attention to.
The two listened with honest curiosity, and laughed in surprise at the house Neville went into. "I wonder what he and the hat were chatting over to take so long on that," Frank said with honest curiosity.
"He doesn't seem the type to have asked for Gryffindor," James said with his head to the side.
"What's that?" Alice asked in surprise.
"All four of us asked to go into Gryffindor," Sirius shrugged like that was obvious. "That's how you get into this house, be brave enough to put your opinion to the hat first day."
"I asked to go into Slytherin," Lily corrected with a challenging brow at them. "So why didn't it listen to me?"
James' mouth did pop open in surprise at that, but Remus was looking at her curiously. "Well I guess we were a bit off then, clearly asking for any house gets you put in here."
"Wonder which house Neville was actually asking for then," Frank finished with with what had started this with no actual answer.
James shushed him and everyone, eyes focused on Evans as she kept going, and it wasn't his usual doe eyed look.
Finally it was Harry's turn, and Lily couldn't deny she was curious, having never heard another person's time under the hat before.
It didn't start off very memorable, but that changed quickly.
"Slytherin?" James yelped as if genuinely hurt. "A Potter, in Slytherin!"
"Shut up Prongs," Remus happily rolled his eyes at him. "You just got done laughing that of course Malfoy was put there a second ago because of his family, I thought you'd enjoy your brood breaking tradition."
"Not this one!" James protested.
"You're such an arse Potter, what do the houses mean anyways except to group us so the teachers have a bit more of a handle. Why they didn't just do it by grade and assign each teacher a year I'll never know-" Alice tried to say, but was ignored by him still going.
Lily slammed the book hard enough to stop him though. "If you don't shut up I'll make your discomfort in that cupboard laughable! See how you like being squashed in my shoe for all your nonsense."
James backed down at once, muttering he was only joking.
"Not your brightest move Prongs," Sirius told him in a conversational tone of voice. "Considering she'd just told you she'd asked to be in that house."
"Can't I be surprised that hat tried to put some kid of mine in another house?" He huffed.
Peter at least made a sympathetic face, but was ignored as the others until Harry was finally sorted to where they were.
"There you have it then, kids going to grow up with as fat a head as that idiot with all of this," Lily muttered, honestly just as disappointed as Potter was pleased Harry had fought so hard against being in Slytherin.
"Don't be so harsh and judgmental Evans," Alice couldn't help but rebuke just a bit. "That thing said he didn't even notice getting the loudest applause."
Ron's sorting at least was to no one's surprise, but the news of the chapter wasn't done shocking them yet.
"This kid really does get all sorts of interesting things happening around him," Frank couldn't seem to stop pointing this out, but honestly Lily couldn't blame him. Six years at this school and they'd never had a forbidden corridor, yet starting this year Harry had one. None of them needed to look over and see the others opinion on this, because none of them needed to think for more than a second if those rule breakers would be poking their nose into that place, and their not very whispered conversation about it wasn't doing much to discount this idea.
"I'm guessing it's not normal for scars to start stabbing you in the forehead," Peter said in surprise, attention dragged right back to the story even before they'd run out of ideas of why Dumbledore had blocked off an unused part of the school for something.
"Forget that, I'm still stuck on the description of that bloke," Sirius had his eyes narrowed shrewdly while Remus was fidgeting uneasily at his side for the same reason.
Peter huffed and tried to keep James attention on the subject, but admittedly lost the fight himself when Evans confirmed a name.
"Snape? A teacher at this school! I'm going faint," Prongs declared, admittedly rather pale underneath the glasses.
"Poor Harry's going to be murdered when he first steps into class," Sirius agreed, already crossing himself and saying a prayer to that kids funeral.
Lily hardly heard them, looking far more happy and certainly invested in this for the first time. She couldn't believe her luck! If she couldn't have her best friend with her through this mess, at least she could see his future! This was going to be brilliant, and no matter what Harry saw in those looks that surely were being exaggerated, she was actually going along eagerly now just to know more about this!
When Regulus stabbed his custard with far more force than the spoon needed, Peter finally decided he'd waited long enough and left his seat.
"Oi, Wormtail, where you going?" Sirius asked in surprise as Peter swung himself free of the bench, but he waved them off, ignoring their question by answering it when he sat down next to Regulus.
"Round the bend he's gotten lately," James muttered to the two left. "You noticed him acting weird lately Moony?"
"Err, no," Remus admitted honestly, but he'd been rather ignoring a lot of his surroundings the past few weeks.
"Well he has," James said like he'd agreed anyways.
"Now he's gone to chat with my brother of all people, yeah Prongs, you're not wrong," Sirius wasn't being subtle about watching over his shoulder to see why.
Regulus watched him approach and debated with himself what he was supposed to do about this. He had no desire to talk to any of Sirius' friends, but there was some benefit he supposed to finding out what they'd want to talk to him about. "It's err, good your friends made up," he gestured vaguely over his shoulder where he'd seen Lupin and his brother were chuckling while James was making faces.
"You've no idea," Peter agreed with a smile. "James has been going stir crazy and Remus won't admit how miserable he's been."
"And you?" Regulus asked when he seemed done there.
"What about me?" Peter asked in surprise.
Regulus just shrugged, unsure how else to put into words he was simply surprised Peter hadn't included how he'd felt.
"Oh," he seemed to get it anyway. "Err, the quiet's actually been a lot more awkward than I would have thought. Moony's been a bit mopey, can't say I blame him with what Sirius pulled, and so I've been hanging around James but of course-" he stopped, then suddenly flushed a bit and did a double take like he'd just realized who he was talking to.
"What exactly did Sirius pull?" Regulus asked to fill in the silence. "Whole school's noticed obviously."
"I'm, not supposed to say," Peter said all in a rush now, looking relieved he clearly hadn't said too much. "Big thing with Dumbledore, anybody who chats about it will actually be expelled, and not just one of McGonagall's detentions until the end of times thing."
Regulus shrugged without much care and turned back away. Snape had said something similar when anyone asked him.
Peter shook himself when he realized he'd been distracted from his reason coming over here. "Know where we're headed next?"
"Not a dickey bird," Regulus shrugged with disinterest, knowing that stupid question couldn't be the reason he'd been singled out, none of them had a clue after all.
"Neither do I," Peter agreed, "but wherever it is, you think I could get your help with something?"
"Me?" Regulus scoffed. "You've got three mates over there, what-"
Peter quickly explained, watching with enjoyment at first the surprise, then amusement that passed over him, only just finishing at the same time as Evans and suddenly far more distracted by the world being spun around him to notice if he'd agreed or not.
