In every compartment, they walked pass, harbored someone they knew. The occupants would smile and wave at them as they headed toward the back of the train where the compartment they had chosen as their own the previous year was located. Rose had to unlink arms from an uncomfortable Max to make it through the narrow hall.
There was the sound of a compartment door screeching open and at least five pairs of hands grabbed Rose and yanked her into the compartment. She screamed and punched at first until she saw the familiar grin of Enoc Hubert across from her.
"Easy kid." Laughed Watson Trout, her fellow Gryffindor Quidditch chaser.
Looking around, she found that her whole team was here. Paxton Rockward (the captain), Watson Trout and Isaac Fisher (the chasers), and Ishmael Stewart and Enoc Hubert (the beaters). Her cousin, James (the keeper) she knew was sitting with Fred and the flock; people she knew that he aspired to one day be.
"Merlin's balls guys." She huffed standing up. "A simple 'hello' would have sufficed."
Rocky shrugged unconcernedly. "Hey, breakfast boys!" Rocky became distracted by Max and Al who were leaning against the door frame. He fists bumped them and ruffled Al's already messy black hair. All last year, Max, Scorpius, and Al had brought breakfast down for the Gryffindor Quidditch team because Rocky had tendency to run practice pass breakfast. The three boys had been the hero's even though Al played seeker for their opposing team.
The train suddenly gave a huge lurch and Al toppled over as the engine puffed away.
"Better stick to the air." Said Isaac. "Not as coordinated on your feet are you?"
Al ignored him and ran over to the window, stumbling over the many lounging legs in the walk way. Al threw open the window and stuck his head out to say his last goodbye to his parents. Rose decided otherwise. She didn't want her parents to try'n bellow out one last bit of advice.
"Are you done standing on my foot?" Enoc asked Al.
"Where are you lot going?" the three friends had just turned to leave.
"We're heading to our compartment." Rose replied.
"Why don't you guys stay here?" Ishmael smiled, always being hospitable and inviting.
"We have to find Scorpius." Said Max.
"Cool, you can send him back too!"
Rose looked at their incredibly full compartment and tried to imagine four more people sitting on the bench. "Thanks Ishmael." She smiled genuinely, "But I'm afraid that would be just a tad uncomfortable." She said widening her finger from a little to a lot.
She was the only girl on the Gryffindor team last year. She spent every waking moment around either her three guy friends or six male teammates. Though appreciating the offer, she wasn't too keen on spending hours in a confined compartment with ten guys all the way to Hogwarts. She thought for a moment whether Scorpius was waiting for them already.
As they neared the back of the train, a small commotion met them. From inside of their prechosen compartment, arms were flailing about and shouts were heard from the inside. The compartment across from the last one was jammed packed full of students punching the air and shouting muffled through the closed door. Rose, Max, and Al broke into a hurried stride and froze when something tall and blonde was thrown from the compartment and hit the glass opposite where the cheering crowds stood. They recognized quickly, Scorpius stand up and dive back into the compartment with a war cry.
The three friends ran after him, Al muttering something that sounded like, "Good going, Scor."
Bursting into the compartment, this would have been the scene that met them; junk, travel cases and luggage lay open on the ground, the contents spilled out, Poppy, lounging lazily on the bench, chewing on a bit of her hair with mild interest in the fight before her, Scorpius with blue and black bruises on his cheek and nose, and Fraunk bouncing on his toes, fists poised to strike. Though, this wasn't what Rose saw because Scorpius had dodged Fraunk's swing which hit the person directly behind him, Rose. White spots danced in front of her had tried to blink them away and assess what the heck had just happened. The cheering crowd safely behind the glass of the neighboring compartment gasped sharply as she was hit and remained quiet as she felt someone grip her around the arms and drag her backward. Three sickening thumps were heard in front of her and Rose was afraid to look up and see Scorpius on the ground with a black eye, busted jaw and cracked teeth. She blinked away the stars, swallowed the pain and dove out of the arm of whoever was holding her to pull Fraunk off her friend as the pounds continued to ring through the hall, one after another.
Swinging herself into the compartment again, a horrible sight awaited her. It wasn't Scorpius on the ground, no, Scor was wrestling with Poppy who had just bounded up to help her friend that Max presently had pinned to the ground, hitting repeatedly.
His hair and eyes were a blood red which always meant that he was angry, he had his fist in the air which was speckled with blood. The person behind Rose pushed pass her and Al dove over Max to pry him off, but he wouldn't budge.
"Max! Stop it!" she screamed.
Max's fist came to a halting stop midair. And he glared up at Rose who was holding her bleeding zygomatic bone. He looked back at the sixth-year boy who was cowering on the floor. Max gritted his teeth and pushed off Fraunk's chest. Scorpius finally released Poppy who scrunched her bulldog like face in disgust. She continued to call Max a series of crude names as she helped Fraunk from the ground and ushered him out into the hall, shoving Rose into the wall as she did so.
"Mudblood bitch." Poppy growled.
Max would have flung himself at her if it weren't for Scorpius who caught him under the arms and held him back tightly. Max wrestled away from Scorpius long enough to stride to the door and slam it with the force of a gunshot. The compartment across from them stared silent. Max waved his oak wand and the compartment doors went gray. He threw himself onto the bench and kicked one of the suitcases by his feet.
"What… in Merlin's silky beard, was that?" Al said in shock.
Max didn't respond, he was staring at his swollen fists in what Rose couldn't tell was pride, or regret, two very different emotions. She sat opposite him, but the other two boys remained standing.
"Scor!" Al snapped for an explanation.
"I don't get it!" Scor exclaimed. "They had loaded all their stuff in here specifically for the fact that we couldn't use it, and sat elsewhere. I demanded that they move their stuff, Poppy got mad, making Fraunk get mad and he hit me in the stomach so I hit him back, and it just escalated."
Fraunk was a fifth year Slytherin, Poppy was a second. They had assembled a group of blood purist Slytherins to hated Gryffindor and wanted to rid the school of all muggle blood last year. If any enemies had been made, it was this group who called themselves Salazar's. Poppy and Fraunk had a particular dislike for the four friends. Poppy had fought Scorpius, dueled Rose, had her tooth cracked my Al, and was cursed by Max last year; she had brought all these acts on herself, well, all accept the tooth cracking which was an accident. Fraunk simply hated the Weasley-Potter family because of his long rivalry with Fred and now James.
Rose feared what she had just witnessed. Her best friends, mercilessly beating the snot out of a boy twice his size without hesitation. What had made him do it? She decided to ask him, knowing that because of a bit of dark magic used on him by his abusive mother from a young age, he couldn't tell a lie without painful continuances.
"Max?" she asked softly, conjuring up a handful of ice with her wand and taking Al's handkerchief from his pocket to wrap the cold cubes. She placed the ice pack on his swollen hands which were clinched in his lab. "Why did you-"
"What are you doing?" he snapped, jerking his hands away from her and taking the icepack from her hand.
"You're wounded." She said obviously.
"I don't need treatment for my hands." He scoffed. "Look at yourself." He forced the icepack toward her and surprisingly gently, placed it against her cheek bone which stung she realized. "That no-good, stinkin, pratt of a person woman beater." He grunted under his breath as he pressed the icepack on the wound, trying to find the sweet spot.
"Why'd you beat him?" she asked seriously, pushing the ice pack down.
"Why?" he asked incredulously. "He hit you. Hard. In the face."
"I was fine; I could have taken care of things myself." She argued.
"What? You would have sat him down and talked to him rationally? Some people need sense knocked into them."
"I don't need you to fight my battles." She said.
Max looked intently at her, his red eyes as bright as ever. "There will come a day that you will want take that back." He said under his breath.
"What? Because on that day you will not be there to fight for me?" she crossed her arms.
He didn't break his eye contact. "Rose Weasley," he said in a tone hardly audible. "I will always be there to fight for you."
She didn't look away. She knew he was telling the truth and she couldn't tell if that promise made her feel safe, or frightened. Max looked down and placed the ice back onto her face.
Scorpius looked at Al with his eyebrows raised, waiting.
"What?" Al asked.
"Aren't you gonna tell me that you'll always be there to fight my battles?"
Al laughed and hit him in the arm. "At least lone me an ice pack." He said, looking much more battered than Rose was.
A sharp rap on the darkened glass told them that someone wanted to get in. Al opened the door and the flock was standing there with looks of worry mixed with excitement.
"I heard there was a fight going on!" said Fritz, his wand ready in his hands.
"What happened to you?" asked Roxanne, seeing Scorpius' many bruises.
"Fight." He muttered.
"So you four were involved?" asked Fred. "Wait a bloody ticking second!" he said striding in and removing the ice from Rose's face to see a swollen purple mark growing there. "Who did this?" he asked composedly, breathing fire from his nose. Fred was rarely angry, but the few times he was, were not pleasant memories in her head.
"Fraunk." Said Al before Rose could shut him up. "Got her with a right hook."
Fred's reddish brown hair would have exploded in flames, Fraunk was his worst enemy and Rose was his favorite little cousin. For a moment, Rose though that he was going to let it pass. He stood there for a moment, took a deep, calming breath, and lunged at the flock to dive through, clearly wanting to tear Fraunk to pieces in the most painful way possible. Luckily, Ortho, who was a bit larger than Fred, had caught him.
"He hit her!" Fred screamed. "He hit my little cousin! I swear I'll kill 'em!"
"You can't do that!" argued Cian. "I can't let you do that! I'm a prefect! I'm a prefect!"
"Breathe." Suggested Fritz, Fred had to look down quite a distance to look into the short sixth year's face.
"I'm not letting him get away with something like that!" Fred screeched. "I'm not letting him beat on my cousin, second year, girl, and walk away!"
"Oh, he didn't get away with it." Scorpius grinned.
"Detention isn't good enough!" yelled Fred, becoming hysteric.
"No, no…" Al teased. "Only he'll be having to see through one eye for the next month, Max here beat the brat to a pulp."
Fred narrowed his eyes at Max, clearly not thinking that a second year could be capable of such damage.
"Whose are those?" Cian asked innocently, she was pointing at the bags and items across the floor and seats.
"Poppy's, Fraunk's, a few of the other Salazar's I think." Shrugged Scorpius, poking at a swollen bulge beneath his eye.
Cian looked from the luggage, to her friends, back to the luggage.
"Fred?" she said calmly. Fred scowled over. "I'm walking away now, and have no responsibility for what is about to happen… to this luggage… while I'm gone… Don't touch those bags… right there… on the floor. Okay, I'm leaving now." She turned and nudged Fred in the back toward the bags and walked away.
Fred watched her leave, he looked from the bags on the floor, to Max. "Tell me about it." He said gruffly.
"Fred, it's not a big deal." Said Rose quickly, becoming afraid about how severe he was becoming.
"Tell me how bad it was." He repeated more stern toward Max.
Max didn't respond, he was staring at his fists and Rose now knew that what he had felt earlier was regret, and she felt better knowing that.
"You should have seen it!" said Scorpius excitedly.
"Scor!" said Rose sternly, wanting him to shut up.
"One, two three times in the face!" Scor continued. "Fraunk is like three times bigger but was knocked senseless. That douche was knocked to the floor and this B. A. jumped on top of the guy and kept them coming, one after the other!"
Fred squinted again, then shrugged. "If you're telling the truth, then I expect to see Fraunk with his face pressed in walking into the great hall." He took a deep breath and looked at the luggage sprawled out on the floor. "This'll have to do." He said, then with a lazy flick of his finger, his crew burst in, collected all the mess, and sped out with armfuls as if Fred were their powerful Italian crime boss. He turned with anger and confidence and walked out leaving the four by themselves again.
Scorpius scooted close to Rose and pulled her face toward his to assess the damage. "I'm sorry, Rosebud." He said.
"For what?" she asked, quite perplexed.
"I caused him to hit you."
Rose raised her eyebrows. "You're apologizing for not letting him punch you?"
"I'm apologizing for moving out of the way, if I hadn't-"
"Than you would have been punched in the face, don't be stupid." She said taking the ice pack off her face to heal his own.
Al was sitting their shivering with a handful of ice and no rag to put it in. "I suppose this was an eventful start of term." Said Al, dropping the ice to the floor. "Haven't even got to school yet and we have a fight."
"Do you think we'll get in trouble for this?" Rose thought horribly.
"You won't, or Al… But he might." Scorpius gestured toward Max who hadn't looked up from his hands. "Maybe me, but I don't mind, I haven't had a detention yet and they don't sound too bad."
"I think you're in the clear Scor." Said Al. "I doubt Fraunk would be too keen on admitting that a second year kicked his ass."
Max half smiled for the first time that day. A crack sounded above them and they all looked up quickly in case something fell, and something did fall, rain began to fall from the ceiling as they smelled smoke and heard squeals from the other compartments who were obviously getting the unwanted shower.
"I think I know what the flock did with the luggage." Said Scor.
After the rain stopped as a false alarm and the kids used their wands to dry themselves off, the rest of the ride was rather uneventful, by comparison maybe. The food trolley stopped by and they bought an assortment of wizard's sweets. Max's hair had gone back to its trademark indigo and his eyes purple. Getting bored, they decided to visit other compartments which Max wasn't pleased about. He didn't want to see the damage that his moment of rage had caused, nor did he want to run into any Salazar's, nor into Danielle, Max's secret admirer/stalker. But she convinced him to go and she was surprised to find Hugo in a compartment full of girls. They were listening closely as he explained all that his new wand could do, and seemed as comfortable with this as he was comfortable with sleeping in. She had given him a small wave, deciding not to intrude, Scorpius gave him a look of disbelief and envy at his success with the many first and second year girls leaning in interestedly. They met Louis sitting on a bench talking with Abercrombie Boot, the well-known Ravenclaw prefect. Though Abercrombie was much older than Louis, he was listening intently as Louis explained how pictures are developed to move was showing him the stacks of photos he had brought with him. Rose looked at her handsome blonde haired blue eyed cousin who looked like a replica of his mother and could clearly see the word, 'Ravenclaw' stamped on his head. On the way back, Rose spotted her cousin, Domonique, Louis' sister sitting in a compartment of other insanely gorgeous, popular girls. The compartment across were full of hopeless boys staring opened mouthed and drooling at the girls as they threw their shiny locks of hair behind them laughing like angles. Rose rolled her eyes. She loved her cousin, but she didn't like the other girls. They weren't mean or selfish, on the contrary, they were kind and helpful, energetic, confidant, beautiful and popular… they were just… too perfect. Was that rude of her to think so? Rose pushed the door open and let herself in, not to sit, just to talk because Dominique had just seen her and it would have been rude to continue pass.
"Ah, Rose!" said Dominique happily with her light French accent that she had inherited from her mother's strong one; she hugging her cousin. Dominique was starting her fifth year at Hogwarts but had always looked older.
"Did you see Hugo back there?" Rose asked politely.
"I have!" she exclaimed. "Quite the lady's man, isn't he?"
"Don't you think he should be making friends with a couple guys at least? I mean, he won't end up rooming with any of those girls, he'll know no one when he arrives." She said.
"That didn't stop you." Dominique smiled, gesturing toward Al, Max, and Scor who were standing by the door, looking a lot like the girl's admirers with their mouths hanging open.
Rose had wanted to leave after making small talk, she only walked in in the first place because it would have been rude to pass after Dom had seen her outside the compartment. Luckily, the girls had started making suggestions about how to tame Rose's hair, giving her an excuse to act offended and storm out. The boys in the compartment across had stopped bobbing to see around Rose and stared freely again as she left, they didn't even so much as give her a side glance, not that she had wanted them too, only, it would have been nice to be noticed for once.
She had never been told by anyone but her mother and father that she was beautiful, maybe Dom and Victoire after she had a full face of makeup on. She hadn't ever cared about her appearance before, but was now noticing things she hadn't before, like how the beautiful girls were the popular ones, the pretty girls were always in a relationship and the attractive boys and girls were always surrounded by people. As she got older, she was starting to see how shallow the world was. She couldn't stop thinking about something James had said over Sunday brunch mid-summer, "Guys aren't friends with the pretty girls, they intimidate us too much, make us nervous. It's the ugly girls that we're comfortable around. If you see a guy with an attractive girl, then you'll likely see them snogging sometime soon." Now, James was well known for being an idiot when it came to common sense or logic, but that sounded about right. Any attractive guy who hung around a girl ended up dating her later. Most unattractive girls had a plethora of guy friends who remained such, friends. James hadn't meant any harm by his words, he hadn't considered that Rose only had guy friends and was sitting right next to him. But he was right, since she had a group of guy friends and none of them will ever have romantic feeling for her, does that mean she's a dog? Even her Quidditch team of only guys wasn't interested… thank God actually. Rose took a deep breath and tried to flatten her frizzy red hair behind her ears, but it was no use, it was simply too bushy.
She made it back to the compartment and she listened to her friends talk about how lucky Hugo was. She was thankful to have guy friends though, especially being the only girl. She got the comfiest seats, best food, and was always the first in and first out, because she was the only girl which made the guys feel obligated to be chivalrous; she didn't remember the last time she had had to open a door for herself. Also, the guys, they never judged her, they didn't sit and point out her poorest qualities and worst flaws like girls would, in fact, they didn't see them. She was one of the guys and looks weren't a quality one needed to be good enough to hang out. She rarely got compliments regarding her appearance from them, but she had never heard them talk ill of her before.
"Do you think Hugo flashed the Weasley card?" Scorpius joked. "Hey ladies, I'm a Weasley, come with me." He impersonated with a smug, flashy expression on his face. "Why don't you ever do that, Al? We could be popular."
"I don't want to flash my Potter name around." He shrugged. "I want to make a name for myself. You could though, your family's well known too."
"Sure." Scor snorted. "Hey ladies," he raised his eyebrows again. "I'm a Malfoy, we were partly responsible for Voldemort's rise to power and the near end of the world not to mention many innocent deaths, wanna grab a drink?"
"I know a few people who would buy that." Said Rose. "The chicks who like bad boys, at least until they meet you Scor, and realize you're only a big softy who can't brew a potion."
"Hey! I passed my potions exam!"
"Danielle for one." Rose continued. "She likes bad boys."
"Fat chance for me." Scor laughed. "He's got her wrapped around his finger." He slapped Max's leg who scrunched his face in displeasure at the thought of Danielle.
"That's the reason Danielle started liking Max in the first place, because Poppy started to rumor that he was a dark wizard, and I suppose she was right in a way."
"Another reason to hate Poppy." Said Max.
"You have a list?"
"I'm starting one."
Scorpius was just finishing a recap on how his summer had gone when the train came to a screeching halt. Rose hadn't had her turn which she was thankful for, her summer wasn't a very exciting or pleasant story. She knew that Max would blame himself for how her summer had gone anyway. They were jostled all down the hall to get off the train. Scorpius had to catch Al who had missed the step and fell headfirst over a group of scared first year girls. Last year, all the first years had followed Hagrid to the lake where they took little row boats to the school, she knew that wasn't the case this year and she was at an utter loss for where they're supposed to go. She heard Hagrid's booming voice calling the first over toward him. Hagrid was a half giant with a big brown and gray beard and bushy hair. He was huge and frightening to those who didn't know him, like the first years trembling before him as he yelled for the others.
Rose tried peering over the heads of the crowd to find her brother. After a moment, she spotted a mound of curly red hair bouncing through the darkness. Hugo hopped right up to Hagrid and greeted his friend with a fist bump; he was still surrounded by girls. Rose smiled at her brother's courage in the face of the first night of the rest of his life, and followed the crowds of Hogwarts veteran students. They were heading toward from Hogsmeade station toward Hogwarts school. Waiting for them a little way up was lines of horseless carriages waiting for them. Rose spotted Poppy in the crowd and grabbed her friends to hang back until they were stragglers, far from her. Before Poppy was swallowed by the quickly moving crowd, Rose saw Fraunk beside her. Even through the lantern lit path, shadowed and moving, they could see clearly his half-swollen face, purple and yellow. Rose looked over at Max who had his purple hair down. She wondered whether he had seen it or not.
They climbed into the last carriage to be sure that they were beyond wand distance away from their enemies. It felt like a rather long time, but she supposed that it was only her growling stomach that made her feel that way. After a while of listening to Al absentmindedly singing Three Beans at the Bottom of my Cauldron, the carriage kicked off and started forward. The ride wasn't long; they were led off and up toward the familiar oak front doors. The crowd busted through them and were off to the great hall. Rose wondered if there was an escort leading the students or not, but she couldn't tell, they were too far in the back anyway. She looked to the ceiling to see the crystal chandelier, toward the marble staircase and floors and smiled in relief to be back home.
Rose and Max were only able to get good seats because the Gryffindor Quidditch team had beckoned them to the front and had shoved half the bench toward the edge when moving to make room. Scorpius and Al were required to sit with their house to welcome any new Slytherin members after the sorting. They had seats at the very end of the table, hardly able to see the front where the students were to be sorted. Rose knew that they had chosen those seats on purpose, Poppy and Fraunk were in front. Max had his hand to his face to either block his line of sight to Fraunk's mangled face, or to not be recognized, but his deep indigo, almost navy hair gave him away if that were the case.
She was wondering what was taking so long for the first years to be escorted from that door to the front, it didn't seem to take this long when she was to be sorted. Then she thought that it probably seemed a lot shorter because she had been scared out of her mind, and it probably seemed a lot longer for her now because she was anticipant for her brother and cousin's sorting and the fact that she was starving.
The sorting is a ceremony that started the first day of term every year. All first years would come from a side room to be escorted toward the front of the teachers table to await their turn. When their name was called, they would step up and sit on a stool after placing an ancient and patched wizard's hat on their head and they'd await the hat to call out the house they were best suited for based on the intel it receives from staring into the child's subconscious. There were four houses as Hogwarts, Hufflepuff (loyal and hardworking), Ravenclaw (Intelligent and creative), Slytherin (cunning and resourceful), and Gryffindor (courageous and chivalrous). The first year would be sorted and then would join the table under the banner of their new house.
Rose had just leaned over to whisper to Max about his fly being unzipped, but stopped when she was distracted by the door to the side being flung open and Professor Dalbert walking through, behind him, over a dozen first years including two members of Rose's family. She had a new appreciation for Dalbert now. Last year, he had traveled to the crumbling house in Scotland to rescue her and Max after they had traveled to save Will. He had dueled the evilest witch in the U. K to ensure that his students get back to school safely. She hadn't been as appreciative of his acts until summer. He had scolded both her and Max, being angry and frightened over their actions. But over summer, Rose relived the event again and again in her head, most of the time unwillingly. She had realized then how dangerous it was for Dalbert to do what he did, for two in two-hundred kids too. She looked back up toward the teachers table at her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dalbert was tall and thin, he had wavy black hair and bright blue eyes and looked a lot younger than he was. Behind him, sitting at the teachers table was, Hagrid who smiled at Hugo and waved his massive hand, Professor Flitwick, the tiny, probably part goblin, Charms teacher, Professor Sinistra, Max's favorite teacher, being the Astronomy one. There was a handful of other teachers Rose didn't know but from sight, these were most likely the teachers of the special subjects to be taken in third year. Professor Donima, the plump Transfiguration teacher, sat smiling sternly at the crowd as if looking for those who are looking to start trouble; Max didn't look in her direction at all, all four of them had accidentally walked in on her less than half dressed last year and Max more than the rest, was scarred. Above all the rest, Professor Kemp stood out. He was the headmaster of Hogwarts and sat in the throne like chair in the middle of the teachers table. He had sparkling eyes and a short brown beard, he smiled at the first years as they trooped in and puffed on his pipe more vigorously as he awaited his next pupils.
"Max?" she whispered to her friend next to her. "Do you see Hugo? I lost him."
"He's probably still engulfed by the crowd of girls." Max whispered uninterestedly back. "Listen for giggles."
She did this, but still heard nothing. "I don't hear anything." She said. "Do you see red curls?"
"Rose, the songs about to start, later." Max waved her away.
"Do you see Louis?" she ignored him. "He's a bit shorter so it might be-"
She was shut up by Max's hand sweeping over to cover her mouth as he continued to stare intently at the old hat that Professor Dalbert had recently placed on a three-legged stool. The hat had shivered then spit a seam at the base and a voice escaped the tear and began a son. Rose had completely forgotten that the hat did this and was too focused on the song now that she forgot to shove Max's hand off.
"A bit about myself,
For you have never seen me,
I am smart and I am clever,
I am bold and I am brave,
I am strong and I am loyal,
I am ambitiousness and won't take toil.
Some say it takes one to know one,
And this I will do,
For all these things are me,
And some of them are you.
For if you're bold you may be Gryffindor,
Strong but also reckless,
If smart you may be Ravenclaw,
Always eager for learning,
Their minds are always turning,
Slytherins are resourceful,
They always find a way,
Hufflepuffs are loyal,
They will do what they say.
All you must do, is put me on your head,
I will look within, and do as I said.
I will place you in your home with others like you,
And they will be your family, they will do as you do.
So step up first years and take the test,
And I will put you where you will do best."
Shouts of approval and applause followed the song as it finished. Rose recognized this last line as the same from last year, but knew that all the rest was new; it sounded as if the hat was becoming a little big-headed. She applauded along with everyone else and became uncomfortably aware of the confused and peculiar faces in her direction. She realized soon that they were looking at Max's hand which was still covering her mouth; he had his head propped on his elbow and was still staring with interest. Rose threw his hand off and wiped her mouth with her sleeve; his hands smelled like sugar from the many sweets they had feasted on hours ago.
"Maybe we should-" she started but was again shushed as he stared at Apollo, Linus who had just been called up and sat on the stool, allowing the hat to slip right over his eyes. "Why can't-?" she tried again.
"Shhh." He said again, reaching his hand over. She slapped it away and hoped that this covering her mouth to shut her up wasn't going to be an all year thing. After Linus Apollo was sorted into Slytherin and the whole hall erupted in applause, Max stopped clapping and stared again after Azra, Kimberly and Rose knew that he was going to watch the entire sorting this way.
Rose rested her head on the table, curing her last name's 'W' a letter which alphabetical order law stated would come close to last. On and on it went, some students taking up to four minutes to be sorted. It was rather dull when you were watching from this perspective. Rose had almost closed her eyes, but was shocked to wake up as Dalbert bellowed the name
"Weasley, Hugo!"
Rose sat up with new interest as her brother walked from the middle of the crowd to sit coolly on the stool and slip the hat over his head, allowing him to be plunged into darkness as the hat fell over his eyes. Rose held her breath, took another breath and held that. This was taking a long time… Rose looked at her watch, four minutes and thirty-two seconds. She watched as Hugo seemed to become bored; forty seconds. Hugo put his head on his hands and waited; fifty seconds. Rose was scratching at the table's surface, she would have sworn that his would be a quick and easy Gryffindor sorting, fifty-five seconds. What if he wasn't placed in Gryffindor? Sixty seconds… he's a hatstall! A hatstall! When the sorting hat can't decide between more than one house. Rose was bouncing in her seat with excitement and anticipation whenever an eruption of noise was heard, not from the hat, but from Hugo who stood up from the stool, ripped the hat off his head and yelled "GRYFFINDOR!" before running toward his table to be cheered on and high-fived by his new fellow Gryffindor members. Rose ran up to her brother and ruffled his hair.
"What happened?" she asked.
"It let me choose!" he had to yell over the noise. "The hat let me choose my house!"
"What were your choices?"
"Shhh!" Hugo breathed as Louis stepped forward.
Rose watched from a crouching position instead of going back to her seat. The hat was on his shiny blonde hair for three minutes before it called out,
"Ravenclaw!" The hall rang with applause, mostly from the Ravenclaw table and Molly, the only Weasley Ravenclaw cousin until Louis.
Rose doesn't remember the rest; she was now too hungry. She wasn't concerned about not listening to the results of the rest of the sorting, she knew that if she had any questions, Max could give her a play by play. She did however, remember the feast, she couldn't tell you what it all looked like or even what food was served, it was all a blur as it sped toward her mouth. Max had been watching her from the corner of his eye with a look of disgust mixed with amusement as he shaved the corn off his cob neatly.
"Don't judge me." She said through a mouthful of potatoes.
Max shrugged with a smile. This eating was a habit she had learned from her father and thank God she had also inherited his fast metabolism. She wasn't done with her Jell-O when the prefects were called to escort their house to the common rooms. Jack Wilkins stood up from the table and called loudly for the students to follow him. Last year it had been Cian who did this job, did they alternate?
"Where's Cian?" Rose asked Fred as he grew closer, looking grim.
"Donima pulled her aside." He huffed. Rose looked toward the teacher's table and now noticed the absence of their Professor.
"Why?"
"She's getting scolded for not preventing three students from lighting a fire on the train." He replied.
"So you did burn the luggage." She said.
"Course we did." He shrugged.
"But that's not her fault." Said Rose.
"As a prefect you have responsibilities." Fred replied. "You're not only responsible for your actions, but for those around you, one good reason why being a prefect sucks. Now Roxy?" he said to his big haired sister who had caramel skin and a spunky demeanor. "You do the introduction this year, I'm not feeling it." The flock looked toward their leader with slight concern.
"I've got this." Said Roxanne striding to the front of the line to interrupt Jack and give the annual flock advise about the stairs, trip steps, moving portraits, and Peeves the poltergeist.
"You okay, man?" asked Fritz.
Fred shrugged. "Go on up there." He said pushing the two boys toward Roxy. "Help her out."
Rose pushed forward to listen to Roxanne's take on things and accidentally stepped on Max's foot. Rose was distracted when spotting Hugo fiddling with the button on his robe. She pushed forward to see him.
"So what was the other house?" she asked.
"Ravenclaw." He replied. "If I had known Louis was going to be in Ravenclaw I might have chosen it, we could have been roommates." He shrugged. "But Gryffindor won't be bad I don't think." He said glancing at three of the girls he had shared a compartment with and winked.
"Oh lay off." Rose smiled, pushing him. "You need to get some guy friends."
They were all led to the portrait of the fat lady in a pink satin dress who guarded the entrance to Gryffindor tower. "Password?" she sang.
"Theiruckle." Said Jack who looked displeased by Roxanne stepping in to take charge.
A few of the first years could be heard chanting the word in hopes not to forget it as portrait swung open to allow the students to climb through. The common room was just as warm, just as cozy as ever. A fire was lit before the grate, a tapestry of a roaring lion hung above the mantel piece, red couches and chairs were spread about this room, rugs lined the floors and games were stacked on tables and counter tops, Gryffindors being well known for their competitive spirit, board games were an essential and relatively knew addition to the common room. Rose took a seat on her favorite couch and pulled one of the pillows to her chest. Max sat down beside her and propped his shoes on the table before them, all they needed was papers and books scattered around them and it would be as though they never left in the first place.