"Five to a boat! Only five first years to a boat!" A prefect yells at all of the first years gathered at the edge of the Great Lake. Lyka rolls her eyes as a prefect attempts to wrangle a few of the first years into a boat. They had just said their goodbyes to Severus a minute ago. The older boy had looked ready to puke at the prospect of having to head to the castle alone. But Lyka had seen a head of red hair join him shortly before she lost sight of both.
Lyka looks between the members of her group. Everyone except Regulus appeared to be thrilled to be riding in a boat. Regulus looks as if he'd much rather have to hunt down a unicorn and ride it to the castle. "Reggie, do you not like boats?" Lyka asks him.
Regulus' hazel eyes widen in shock, "Was I that obvious?" He smiles shyly.
Draco gives a sharp nod and throws an arm around Regulus' shoulders. "Very obvious. But it's okay. If you look, there's no oars. Meaning theses are magic boats. Probably spelled so they won't tip no matter what you do." Regulus visibly relaxes after hearing Draco's explanation.
Lyka watches the two and wonders to herself as to how Regulus' story will change with their influence. "Well c'mon then. We don't want them to try to separate us into different boats," she calls back as she boards a boat. The other four quickly follow her lead. Although Regulus made sure to enter the boat more gently than the others. He was still worried about possibly getting thrown into the water.
Soon all of the first years were boarded and the boats began to move smoothly through the water. The quintet watch the scenery pass by with looks of awe. Various mutterings of appreciation could be heard from all of the first years as they passed under a bridge and very soon entered the docking area inside of Hogwarts.
Standing at the entrance to the castle was a woman waiting for the first years to dock. Once everyone approaches her, she smiles warmly. "Hello everyone. My name is Minerva McGonagall. I'm the transfiguration professor and Head of Gryffindor here. And welcome to Hogwarts!" All of the children applaud at this. "Now everyone get into a line and follow me into the great hall for your sorting."
Lyka suddenly feels an elbow in her side. She snaps her eyes open and glares at Harry. "What was that for?"
Harry smiles brightly, "You completely missed Dumbledore's speech. Don't worry though, it was a lot of the same old. But there was extra emphasis on the Forbidden Forest being forbidden. And it seemed like he was particularly looking towards the Gryffindor table." Harry then laughs at Lyka a bit, "Plus the hat sung its song and they already called the first kid to be sorted."
After a few Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw have been sorted, a "Black, Regulus" is yelled out. Regulus swallows nervously, speed walking towards the sorting hat. He sits down upon the stool almost to quickly, nearly losing his balance and causing a slew of giggles to erupt across the great hall. Regulus blushes, but quickly composes himself into a proper sitting position. McGonagall places the hat upon his head and after a few moments it yells out, "Hufflepuff!"
Cheers erupt from the badger crested table, and Regulus smiles shyly while watching his plain tie and robes gain stripes and hints of yellow. He slowly makes his way to the Hufflepuff table, being extra careful not to embarrass himself again. As he sits down, Lyka notices his expression change slightly and she leans up towards Harry while waving Luna and Draco over.
"Is it just me or does Reggie look stressed to be sitting over at Hufflepuff?" Lyka says matter of factly once every one was gathered. Draco and Harry both look over trying to see what Lyka was seeing.
But Luna nods in agreement, "He's probably worried what his parents will think. Especially with how they treated Sirius when he was sorted into Gryffindor." Luna glances between the two tables. "I was actually planning on sitting next to Reggie regardless of where I get sorted. He needs the emotional support right now."
The trio look towards their radish wearing friend. Just as Draco was about to comment on Luna's plans, a "Lovegood, Luna" is called out. Luna smiles prettily and skips out towards the stool. She smiles up at McGonagall and exchanges words with the professor that leaves a confunded look upon the older woman's face. Luna then sits down and motions for the hat to be placed on her head. McGonagall does so and after a moment, the hat calls out "Ravenclaw!"
The Ravenclaw table applauds politely, but quiets down when Luna walks past with a simple wave. She sits down daintily next to Regulus at the Hufflepuff table, receiving an appreciative smile from Regulus when she gives him a quick hug. Harry glances towards the table at the head of the room and elbows Lyka to point out that Dumbledore appeared to be assessing Luna. "Interesting. But then again it's probably been a while since there's been any real House unity," she whispers to her brother.
Then a "Malfoy, Draco" is called out. Draco salutes the twins as he struts out onto the stage and bows to McGonagall. He flips his robes out from underneath himself as he sits and arranges his limbs as though he was about to have a very important discussion. This didn't last for very long of course as before the hat could even touch his head it yells out, "Slytherin!" Draco rises up from the stool with the grace of a well-trained member of society and struts over to the applauding Slytherin table.
Harry snorts as Draco takes a seat next to Severus, "Draco's a bloody peacock."
Lyka looks at her brother disbelievingly, "Last I checked, we like the cocky peacock. Some of us more than others." She blinks rapidly at Harry, as though trying to drive her point home. Harry just shrugs in response.
After several more first years were called up to be sorted, "Potter, Harry" was called. Harry throws Lyka a thumbs up before heading out onto the stage. He takes his seat without any extra flourish and waits patiently for the hat to be lowered onto his head. It takes about a minute before the hat calls out, "Gryffindor!" Extra loud cheers come from the Gryffindor table, Lyka noting James' voice in particular. Harry quickly runs over to take a seat next to James.
Shortly after everything has calmed down, "Potter, Lykainion" is called. Lyka takes a steadying breath and then walks onto the stage. She looks out her peripheral vision and notices James' hopeful face. Oh how she was going to disappoint him. Lyka takes her seat on the stool and feels the gentle touch of the Sorting Hat as it's placed on her head. All she hears in her mind is light laughter before "Slytherin!" is called. Applause again comes from the Slytherin table and Lyka looks over towards them all as she descends the stage. She looks over steadily at Draco and Severus before giving the Slytherin table a one-fingered salute and an eat-shit grin. As Lyka turns and begins heading towards the Hufflepuff table, she hears Draco's bark of laughter.
Lyka takes the seat on the other side of Regulus, waving sweetly to all of the other Hufflepuffs who were staring at her with a mixture of shock and suspicion. Regulus was staring at her in pure awe. "What? Did you really think I was going to let you and Luna sit here all by your lonesomes?" Lyka smiles brightly at him, "Plus just look at how freaked out the Slytherins are at having one of their own refuse to join them."
As the three of them look over to the Slytherin table, that's when they notice Draco standing up with a similar shit-eating grin to Lyka's. Then Draco hoists Severus up. A feat in and of itself seeing as how Draco was only an inch or two taller than Lyka. Lyka breaks down laughing as Draco drags a bewildered Severus over to the Hufflepuff table. The two Slytherin boys sit down across from Regulus and the girls. Lyka laughs even harder, causing Regulus and Luna to join in.
"Did you really think I was going to allow you to upstage me, Lyka?" Draco drawls as Lyka holds onto her sides.
Severus huffs, "I don't see why you had to drag me into this mess." He looks around at the bewildered Hufflepuffs.
"Well you probably would have been lonely sitting at the Slytherin table while we were all over here having fun." Harry states as he sits next to Draco.
A chorus of "Harry!"s echo happily as the Gryffindor joins them. But all of their camraderie was interrupted by a throat clearing and pointed look from McGonagall. The group gives the professor their most apologetic expressions as she continues the sorting. Well all except Severus, who was too busy with his face in his hands wondering how he had gotten into such a mess.
After the sorting had finished, the group happily chatted over supper about what the school year would bring. Their hopes and dreams for good grades and good times. Even a few of the surrounding Hufflepuffs joined in on the conversation much to Severus' surprise. Although he was quickly beginning to realize that while James Potter was popular in the typical sense; his younger siblings were going to be popular in the way of that they were genuinely kindhearted people. Severus looks behind himself and sees that the older Potter he had just been comparing the youngers to was glaring at him. Severus flinches and turns back to the rest of his table, just in time to make eye contact with Lyka. Severus felt his heart warm slightly as she smiles brightly at him.
'Perhaps this year won't be so bad after all,' he thinks to himself, returning the smile with a small one of his own.