Chapter 9
After a large deal of arguing and shoving, the nine of us managed to squeeze into one carriage together. I have no clue why we all decided to ride in the same one, there wasn't nearly enough room, but somehow we managed to all get inside. Rach ended up sitting on Remus's lap. I was in the middle, and on my other side was Becca, sitting on Sirius's lap. One the other side of the carriage Peter sat squished against the far side, Rebby sat next to him, then James, then Mikki.
"So, this is really uncomfortable. Why are we all in here together?" I asked.
"No idea, but I agree, it is way too squished in here." Mikki said.
"Maybe we should rearrange ourselves?" Peter squeaked out from his little corner.
"Good idea." Rebby said. We all stood up and moved around. Then we moved again because the new arrangement didn't work either. Eventually we had found an arrangement that worked. About five seconds later the carriage stopped in front of the school and it was time to get out. Peter had somehow ended up as the person closest to the door. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.
"What's the hold up?" Sirius asked from the back. All of us were attempting to stand in the carriage, and it was not working out.
"The door's jammed." Peter said.
"Give me a try." Becca said, appearing out of nowhere.
"How did you get up here? You were in the very back with Sirius." I asked.
"I crawled." She gave me a wink and a smile and turned to the door. "Here's your problem Peter, it's locked." Becca unlocked the door and pushed it open. She stepped down from the carriage and was followed by Rebby. The rest of us, however, were forced out of the carriage only to fall flat on our faces when Sirius 'accidentally' shoved James.
"Why do I always end up at the bottom of the pile?" I asked no one in particular.
"Because we all love you so much!" Becca said, walking around the pile of people and looked down at me. "Let me give you a hand." She grabbed both of my hands and pulled, leaning all of her body weight into the movement. I was pulled from beneath the pile of people, slowly at first, then quicker once we got going.
I stood up and laughed at everyone else trying to get up. Sirius was standing to the side of the pile looking at it irritatedly and glancing at his watch every few seconds.
"Something wrong Sirius?"
"No, I'm just hungry is all, and they're taking forever to sort themselves out."
"When are boys not hungry?" I rolled my eyes. "Besides, the feast won't start until we're all inside anyways, and there are at least seventeen more carriages left."
"Right, whatever, would you guys hurry up?" Sirius said.
Once everyone had managed to stand back up, we made out way into the Great Hall and found some seats somewhere at the middle of the Gryffindor table. After about fifteen minutes and a long discussion on why boys are annoying, Dumbledore stood at the head table causing an immediate hush to fall over the entire room.
Once the room was quiet, Dumbledore took his seat and McGonagall entered with the first years in tow. Professor Flitwick had placed the stool and hat at the front of the room earlier, and now all of the first years were eyeing it with suspicion, anxiety, and, most of all, curiosity.
"Look at them; they're all a bunch of little midgets." Sirius said.
"Don't call them midgets, it's not nice. Call them munchkins; it's much more accurate anyways seeing as they're small and young." Becca giggled.
"And you two were never that small?" I asked them raising an eyebrow.
"No." stated Sirius simply.
"I was, but then I grew. And now I'm not. I refer to myself as a child as a munchkin all the time."
"You never talk about your child hood."
"Oh. Well, when I do, I will."
"Um, okay…"
The entire room focused it's attentions on the raggedy old sorting hat on the stool, waiting for the annual speech in poem form it usually gave about the four houses and such. This year we received a more, well, alarming message.
"Through all your years,
In this fine school,
I've watched you live,
Make friends and grow.
In all this time
I've come to see
A disturbing trend
That I can not leave be.
You befriend you room mates,
Your classmates, your house mates.
You befriend the ones
You think you are like.
My task to you,
Young Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs,
Gryffindors and Slytherines,
Is to unite one and all.
This time of glory,
This age of happiness,
Is about to meet
An unnatural end.
Save your anger
Throw out your hatred
Show only welcome
To those you see here.
A great threat is rising
A red sun is impending
But here in these walls
There is still a chance.
With you lies the fate
The destiny, if you will,
Of the years to come
Be it good, or bad.
Be you Gryffindor, Slytherine,
Hufflepuff, or Ravencalw
Form bonds of friendship
Not strings of hatred.
"Well, that was, um…" Rebby started.
"Yeah, I know." Rebby, Becca, Mikki and my eyes all met. We gave each other a slight nod, agreeing silently that we should start our extra training as soon as possible. If this sorting hat was talking about what we thought it was, then we needed to be ready in case we were needed to fight this impending doom. By the sounds of it, it wanted us to befriend people from all of the houses. Fat chance of that happening with people like Sirius and James around to cause trouble with the Slytherines, most particularly Snape. I still cannot figure out what their fascination is with thoroughly embarrassing him. It's not like he's ever done anything to them personally to make them want to torment him. Or has he? Maybe I was missing something here, a crucial event that started this whole thing.
"Abruzzi, Abigail." Professor McGonagall had started sorting the first years. We sat quietly and waited for the sorting to finish with "Zooberer, Janet." After McGonagall had cleared the stool and sorting hat from the front of the room, Dumbledore stood up to make his traditional beginning of term speech, which usually meant he would say a few odd words, then tell us to dig in. Not this year though. This year we received a warning instead.
"As the sorting hat so elegantly said, there is a threat rising in the wizarding world. You may have heard of, or been affected by, the attacks of a man who calls himself Lord Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters." Dumbledore paused, a grave look coming over his face. "As a result of his actions, Hogsmeade trips will be limited this year and a small contingent of Aurors will be present in the village at all times. I would like to take this moment to warn you that this is no laughing matter and the Aurors, while they may enjoy a civilized conversation, are not to be the recipients of any practical jokes." Dumbledore's eyes swept the room pausing momentarily at the marauders. "Also I would like to remind returning students and inform new one's that the Forbidden Forest is, as the name suggests, forbidden to all students. This year we also have a number of new teachers and faculty. Mr. Rancid, our former castle caretaker, has retired his position for the chance of living out his days in quiet and solitude."
"One down, one to go." Sirius whispered to James out of the corner of his mouth. Idiots.
"While he will be sorely missed, we welcome heartily his replacement, Mr. Filch. If you have any questions about items allowed on the castle premise, consult him, please. We also have a new Keeper of Keys and Grounds, a dear friend and former student, Mr. Rubius Hagrid." An impossibly large man stood up nervously at one end of the table and waved, then sat back down nearly knocking the head table over in the process. "Our former Potions teacher and Head of Slytherine house, Professor Slughorn, has retired as well. Head of Slytherine and potions master this year will be Professor Kettleburn." An elegant brunette in flowing black and green robes stood up and bowed her head slightly to the students, then took her seat.
"She's a pretty one." said James "She'll last about five minutes."
"Looks and gender do not determine a teacher, or any person's, ability." I said sharply.
"Professor Emling will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." A blonde woman stood and gave a military salute to the students, causing a few of them to laugh.
"Blonde, pretty and funny, my favorite." Sirius said, winking at Becca who gave him a fake glare.
"Watch your cheeky little tongue, Black." she said wagging a finger at him in mock warning.
"I hope you will treat each of your new teachers with the same respect and kindness that you do your other Professors and myself. Now, let the feast begin!" Dumbledore took his seat as piles of food appeared on the golden platters.
"FOOD!" James, Sirius, Peter and Becca all said at once, and attacked a nearby plate of chicken. I looked at Becca with a raised eyebrow.
"What? I'm not allowed to be hungry?" she said between bites of mashed potatoes and gravy and fried chicken. I rolled my eyes and started to pile food onto my plate as well.
After dinner, we ran up to Gryffindor Tower before the first year rush and laid claim to the couch next to the fire place. We hung out for a while until I looked at my watch and noticed it was midnight. If I was going to meet Remus in the Astronomy Tower at 2:30 I was going to have to get the girls to bed soon. Oh, god, I'm starting to sound like my mother.
"Hey, it's getting pretty late, and I'm tired, why don't we hit the sack?" I asked the girls.
"But it's only 12:02. And it's a Friday, we don't have class until Monday." said Becca giving me the puppy dog look.
"True, but I have a super secret surprise planned for tomorrow morning, and you're going to want to get some rest for this, trust me." Ok, so it was a lie. I had no surprise planned, but I had to come up with something if I wanted to get them to bed. Besides, I'd make Remus help after he explained to me why he never told any of his friends that he's a werewolf.
"Can't they stay out a little bit longer mummy? Pretty please?" Sirius begged me. Remus jabbed him in the ribs while everyone was looking at me for a response and gave him a look that said "shut up you idiot".
"Nope! Bedtime! Let's go!" reluctantly I managed to pull the four of them off of the couch and up the stairs.
Once in our dorm room, the girls and I got ready for bed. Faces washed, clothes changed, teeth brushed, and goodnights said, we climbed into our beds and drifted off to sleep. Well, all except for me. I sat up for the next couple of hours thinking about what exactly Remus wanted to talk about. What his excuses would be. Most of all I thought about how I was going to make it to the top of the Astronomy tower without getting caught by a teacher. It turns out that was the last thing I needed to worry about.