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Sorry if this chapter doesn't seem very inspired, the next chapter or so will be much better : )
Disclaimer: The characters and those sorts of things belong to the esteemed J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 9
The Sorting, the Feast and the First Night
The warm bright sensation the Great Hall provided did not last long for Remus when he realized all the eyes of the students and faculty rested on him, or rather all the fidgity, slighty soggy first years. Remus shifted uncomfortably, what would he have to do? A test? Like an entrance exam or something, I hope I studied enough. Oh, they're not gonna ask us questions in front of everyone are they?
"I hear, we have to fight a troll, that's what my brother said..."
"Well I heard that have to pull rabbits out of our hats--"
"That's Muggle nonsense you Mudblo--"
While Remus fretted on the conversations going on around him, a youngish witch set a stool down and placed a ratty old wizard's hat upon it. Everyone in the hall quieted. The patch at the top of the hat opened, and to Remus' confusion the hat sang a song. It sang of the merits of each house and Remus thought the thing quite clever.
When the hat was finished the witch spoke, "Welcome first years, I am Professer McGonagall the Head of the Gryffindor house. Today you will be sorted into your respective Houses. No matter where you are sorted, take pride in your house, you will be in it for seven years, unless of course you are too stupid and vile to remain at Hogwarts."
James and Sirius snickered. "Snivellus," they whispered to eachother.
"When I call your name, come up here and try the hat on, it will announce your house and then you can join your new housemates. Alright! Aaba, Andy!"
A small freckled boy stumbled out of the crowd of first years, sat down and placed the old hat on his head, which almost immediately it cried out, "HUFFLEPUFF!" The third table broke out in uproarious applause as Andy took his seat among them.
Remus could feel the blood pounding in his head and he broke out in a cold sweat. He never felt so nervous in his life. I would have rather fought that troll. Oh what if the hat can't decide where to put me?
"Black, Sirius!" Professer McGonagall cried out.
Remus saw Sirius saunter confidently towards the hat, but he precieved something akin to fear in Sirius' expression as he cast a quick glance at the Slytherin table. Sirius place the hat on his head which balanced on his large ears. After a few moments of deliberation it cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Sirius stumbled with unconcealed relief towards the applauding Gryffindor table.
Remus became more and more nervous as the names were called off.
"Kristoff, Kringle!"
"Looty, Layla!"
Remus shut his eyes tight, he was next he could feel it.
"Lu--JAMES LENARD POTTER, YOU DROP THAT GRASSHOPPER GRENADE THIS INSTANT!"
James gazed with innocent wide eyes at Professer McGonagall as he shoved the Grasshopper Grenade back into his pocket. "Why, Professer I don't know what you mean," he said sweetly.
McGonagall fumed, "I know who you are Potter, I got a letter from Tonto's Reform School for Terrible Tots--" snickers continued to erupt from the Great Hall as James grinned mischeiviously.
"Carry on Minerva," Dumbledore said amiabley, apparently amused by the whole situation.
"Very well," McGonagall sighed, "Lupin, Remus!"
Remus gulped as he walked in front of the entire school and sat down. He placed the hat upon his head and allowed it to slip over his eyes. Darkness replaced all the staring faces.
FINALLY! SOMEONE INTERESTING!
Not so loud, everyone will hear you, Remus thought fearfully.
Silly boy, no one can hear me, except you of course. Now let me see...Slytherin?
Remus thought of Sirius' fearful face as he walked past the Slytherins, No!
Well, why not? You are clever and cautious, and a Werewolf of course. That dark gift has to count for something...but I don't you are shrewd enough to be a Slytherin.
Oh, please don't tell anyone I'm a Werewolf, they'll all hate me.
The hat sighed, You really are a silly boy, why would I do that? Besides only the stupid vile people would hate you, and you don't want those kind of people to like you. Hufflepuff? You are sweet and kind almost to the point of annoyance. Ravenclaw? You could have an even more briliant mind if you went there. Oh, what about Gryffindor?
Sirius and his grin flashed through Remus' mind.
Gryffindor will challenge you and bring out things from within that you never thought you had, alright then, Gryffindor it is.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table roared with applause as their new member came to join them. Remus sat next to Sirius who promptly noogied him.
"Alright mate! We're both Gryffindor Lions, wooooooo!" Sirius shouted, ignoring the eyerolling of some nearby fifth years.
Soon after Remus; James and Peter were placed in Gryffindor as well. Sirius, Peter, and Remus talked about various young boy topics.
"I don't really care much for Quidditch," Remus frowned.
Sirius grinned wickedly, "Ohhh wait until I tell James; he adores Quidditch! He'll be on your ass about it for the rest of the year!"
"Oh please don't," Remus frowned,"And its rude to use foul language."
"James...Oy, James...JAMES!" Sirius shouted right into James' ear, however James was in another world with a goddess named Lily Evans.
"Liiillly...Sirius look," James sighed.
Sirius scanned the crowd of Gryffindors, but saw nothing, "James what are you talking about?"
But James ignored Sirius once again, James was in love. Sirius rolled his eyes at his oldest friend's behavior but it was quickly forgotten at the warm scent of the magically appearing feast.
Remus gasped, he had never seen so much food in his entire life. Creamy potatoes, baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes(oh how he loved potatoes!), freashly risen bread and soft butter; there were even foods Remus didn't recognize at all. However his enjoyment soon collapsed.
As he was eagerly shoveling food on his plate, a scent reached his nostrils. It was so terrible, Remus almost gagged up what little there was in his stomach. Ugh, It's something... something dead! It seems to have been burned! Oh, I think I'm going to be dreadfully ill... Images of dead bodies with charred skin erupted in his mind. Remus swung his head to either side scanning the faces of people--looking for a sign that they had smelled the death smell as well. Nobody had.
"Ham, ham, is good for meee, doo doo doo doo dooooooooo!" Peter sang with delight.
"There were a couple of the things wrong with that Pete," Sirius critiqued, "That ditty was horribly off key. And of course, ham is not good for you because you are a fat lard which means the authenticity of the tune is lost," Peter's face fell.
"However," Sirus said, snatching the plate of ham from Peter, "Ham is very good for our scrawny friend, Remus."
Sirius turned to Remus who had his head down and buried in his arms, "Oy Remus," Remus lifted his head up, and Sirius shoved the plate of ham under his nostrils, "It's honey ham Remus, smell good don't it? Have some, it'll do you goo--" Sirius stopped when he saw the wretched nauseous look on Remus' face, "Perhaps not," he said and hid the meat from any offending vomit that might come his way.
Fortunately, Remus managed not to throw up all over the Gryffindor table. He buried his head in the neutral scent of the tablecloth and mumbled, "Isn't that a bit, um, overcooked?"
Remus remembered the days when his grandmother would come to visit him and his parents. She would always bring a part of some freshly killed animal for him to eat. A deer leg perhaps, even a whole rabbit.So good...with all the fat and veins and organs. Meat was his favorite food apart from chocolate. Now that he was in the Great Hall he realized no one in his family ever ate the meat with him, in fact he remembered his parents looks of disgust when they saw him eat. So normal people cook their meat. They don't dig into it raw so they can lick the blood off their hands. He felt a rare tinge of resentment toward his grandmother for not telling him this, but mostly he felt disgust for himself and a sort of lonley alienation from his new friends.
Sirius and Peter gawked at Remus, "No, it's actually a bit undercooked," Peter said as he was chewing one of the sweet slices.
Sirius patted Remus on the back, "It's probably because you've been sick. When I had the flu I couldn't even look at food without feeling nauseous."
"Ugh yeah, that's probably it," Remus said weakly.
Suddenly, the feast magically disappeared and desert replaced it. Ice cream of every concievable flavor, fluffy cakes, thick puddings, fruits, and tart tarts appeared in a colorful array on the table. The boys' mouths watered and James finally snapped his head away from Lily. They dug into the sweets with joy. Sirius and Peter stared blankly at Remus when they saw him shoveling every kind of chocolately treat in his mouth. James took no notice because he had been floating weightlessly on planet Lily for the past half hour and knew nothing of Remus' prior nausea.
The two boys decided not to say anything to Remus about his new found appetite and when the feast was at last over, Headmaster Dumbledore rose for a speech. Remus turned politely towards Dumbledore, but Sirius, Peter, and James groaned. They were sleepy and did not want to be subjected to what they thought was to be a long, pompous, oratory.
There was still quite a bit of chatter in the Hall so Dumbledore silenced everyone in his own special way, "WOOOooooooweeeeet doodle coodle booooooooogle," He crowed while flapping his arms like a bird. The older students chuckled but the newer ones looked astonished that a grown man would do such a thing.
"That was the call of the Wild Mexican Tahmimi bird. It doesn't connect with what I'm going to say in any way, I just thought I'd do it for you so you are all welcome," Dumbledore said with a grin.
Sirius prodded Remus and whispered with glee, "This old fart is totally cracked!"
"A few annoucements, no going out of bounds, you know the Forbiddon Forest that sort of thing. The Ministry has banned the formation Unhuman Creature Acceptence Groups so I suppose you'll have to form them illegally now," his eyes twinkled as he listened to a few cheers.
"That's about all the relevent things I have to say so goodnight!" he said abruptly and dismissed all of the students.
The first years sat dumbfounded for a moment but then started the usual chatter as they followed the prefects' voices to there respective Houses.
"Gout." the prefect said and the portrait of the fat lady swung open. Everyone crowded through the porthole.
Remus stared at the most comfortable room he had ever seen. A huge bright fire illuminated the cushy chairs of red velvet. The crimson carpeting was thick and plush. Everything was enveloped in a welcoming warmth.
"Come on you guys, let's get some shuteye," James yawned and the boys climbed the tower of the first year dormitory.
Remus stared amazed once again. There were four luxurious four poster beds all in a row. All the suitcases they left in the Great Hall were by each bed
"Alright! I'm exhausted," Peter stretched and yawned. He flopped on his bed and was asleep in seconds. James had the decency to kick of his shoes before floating into dreamland.
"G'night to you too," Sirius rolled his eyes and sat on his bed. He looked at Remus who was still glued to his spot at the top of the stairs. "Huuuuuuuuullllllllloooo, Remus, are you just giong to stand there all night or what?"
Remus snapped out of his stupor, "Huh? Oh yeah sure. Um, Sirius?"
"Yeah?"
"These are our beds right? I mean for the whole year. Its not just because tonight is the first night of the term right?"
Sirius once again stared blankly at Remus for what he felt was the thousandth time that night, "Of course they are! You're a strange one Remus," he shook his head and crawled drowsily under the covers.
Remus walk slowly over to his own bed and crawled carefully under the covers. He wrapped his arms around the cool pillow and rested his weary head. The comfort that surroundered him shattered any previous thing he had experienced. Remus shuudered from the warmth.
"'Ey Remus," Sirius voice came out of the darkness behind Remus.
"Yeah?" Remus replied in a shaky voice.
"G'night."
"Good night."
Remus turned so he was flat on his back. Tears which resembled molten silverpricked his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He knew they did not look like anyone elses tears, but for once it did not matter. He was safe, no one knew what he was. He was in a soft warm bed and well fed. He had even met people who actually took a liking to him...friends. It was more than he ever dared to hope for. A soft wave of contentment washed over him as he drifted off to sleep.
Phew. Finished. That was fun : )
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