A/N: Happy Easter, everybody! Here comes my gift to you. Sirius has his first appearance in this chapter and promptly shares his POV with Remus. Hope you'll like it, and if you do, please leave a review (*rhymes*). Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Hat and Dog
Time flew by like the landscape outside as Remus found himself sucked deeper and deeper into the book, gradually forgetting where he was. At the time the Hogwarts Express finally came to a halt in Hogsmeade Station the sky outside was already darkening rapidly. When he hopped off the train and onto the platform Remus suddenly realised he was the only one who hadn't changed into his school robes yet. Hastily he ran back into the compartment and threw on his new uniform, watching through the window as James and a group of other students, all clad in the plain first-year robes, gathered around an enormous man with wild hair and beard underneath of which his face was practically invisible. He towered over the assembling students, being at least twice as tall as a grown man and four times as wide. Remus hurried after them, arriving just in time to hear the giant yell at a boy, dressed in emerald-sleeved Slytherin robes.
"Firs'-years, I said! Somethin' wrong with yer ears, boy? The older students go up ter school with the carriages over there," he pointed over the heads of the assembled first-years.
Remus looked closer at the boy who was being shouted at and recognised him as one of the white-haired Slytherin's gang. He was almost a head taller than himself and had shiny black hair, just long enough to fall casually in his eyes. His features looked almost aristocratic and he held his head high, chin pushed forwards. He wore the same expression of disgust Remus had noticed on his face at King's Cross.
"My ears are perfectly fine, thank you very much. And since this is my first year at Hogwarts, I think I am entitled to stand with my fellow students, Sir" he said coolly.
"First year, is it?" the giant scoffed. "Where's yer proper uniform them, eh? And yeh sure are to tall fer a first-year."
"I apologise for my appearance. I do hope, however, that you will agree that I can hardly be held responsible for my size" the boy answered calmly, pointedly looking the giant over.
The bits of the giant's face that were visible to Remus turned a vivid scarlet and he heard him mutter something that sounded like "Whatever". He left the matter at that and led the gathered first-years out of the station and along a narrow path until they reached the shore of a vast black lake where a small fleet of tiny boats waited, bobbing slightly up and down. As soon as every student had clambered into one of them, they took off, rippling the otherwise smooth surface. Remus lost himself in the reflexion of the moon above him which was almost full now.
He resisted the urge to slam his fist into it, shattering the hateful thing.
Hogwarts Castle was very big, very old and very beautiful. None of this was noticed by Remus who had started to shake with nerves in anticipation of the upcoming Sorting Ceremony the moment he had left the boat that had carried him across the lake. Somewhat startled he found himself crowded up inside a small room together with his fellow first-years, trying to remember how in Merlin's name he'd ended up there. He looked for James and thought he could see his untidy black hair in the front, right next to the red-haired girl he'd already had two collisions with that day. He himself was standing in close proximity to the dark-haired Slytherin boy. James had told him about the Sorting Ceremony back in Diagon Alley when they'd been having their ice-cream. He'd told him that every student got examined by an impartial judge in front of the whole school who then decided which house each student would belong to henceforth. He tried to imagine what said judge would do if he saw that one student had already decided for himself where he would like to be put.
His thoughts were interrupted by a very stern looking witch who entered the small chamber just then and clapped her hands sharply to get the first-years' attention. "Good evening. I am Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house. I will now lead you into the Great Hall where you will all be sorted. I want you all at your best behaviour. You will line up where I tell you to, come forth when I call out your name and take a seat at your respective house-table after you have been sorted. You will remain calm until the last student has taken his place and the headmaster has held his speech."
She waited for them to nod their understanding, then turned around briskly, opened the door and led the long line of first-years into the Great Hall. A sea of gleaming candles floated in midair over four long tables packed with students, one of them scarlet, one a dark amber, one sapphire-blue and one emerald-green. Remus spotted captain Quigley at the scarlet table, waving cheerfully at James. The stern looking witch made them line up in front of another long table that faced the others on which the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, sat centred, flanked on either side by his teachers.
Remus's heart started to hammer painfully against his ribcage, seemingly trying to escape. His feet however where firmly rooted to the stone floor, feeling like they belonged to another person entirely. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to be judged in front of the whole school.
Professor McGonagall placed a very battered old wizard's hat on a three-legged stool in front of the teachers' table, facing the rest of the school. After a short moment, a gash right above the hat's brim opened and it started to sing with a strong but ancient voice. It sang something about the founders of the school and how they each had taken on students that represented what they had valued most. It sang about Gryffindor valuing the brave, Slytherin the cunning, Ravenclaw the witty and Hufflepuff the kind, rhyming it all artfully. As it ended the Great Hall nearly drowned in cheers and clapping and whistles of all the assembled students and teachers.
Remus tried to do a little bit of introspection to find out which house we would fit in the most. He wasn't sure since he thought he could find some of all of the aforementioned qualities in himself. He was, however, sure he didn't want to be put in Slytherin, remembering his and James's conversation in Diagon Alley as they'd been buying their school robes and the rather unpleasant white-haired boy with his gang.
"Aubrey, Bertram" the stern witch called at that moment, opening the ceremony, reading the name from a long list. A boy with a long face and blond hair came forward to sit on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the battered hat on his head and a split second later it had called out "Slytherin" sending the boy off to sit at the emerald table accompanied by an outbreak of cheers.
She had to raise her voice against the roaring of delight that came from the Slytherin table to call forward "Black, Sirius".
The black-haired boy in his green-sleeved robes stepped up and was greeted by an even louder storm of approval by the green table. He sat down upon the stool like it was nothing short of a throne, his aristocratic features unmoving as the hat was dropped on his head. He sat there for not more than half a second, completely motionless, before the hat bellowed "Gryffindor!"
Suddenly it was so silent that one could have heard a pin drop. Black, Sirius got up from his stool, placed the hat on top and strode over to the scarlet table, face still unreadable. As he sat down amongst his fellow Gryffindors the Great Hall suddenly exploded with a mixture of cheers and outrage.
The next few names were called out in rapid succession and Remus soon felt himself loose the overview of who became what. However, he noticed the red-haired girl, "Evans, Lily" getting sorted into Gryffindor as well before, far too soon for his own taste, he heard his own name.
"Lupin, Remus!"
He shuffled forwards, trying hard not to fall over his own feet which felt strangely disconnected. He sat down on the stool like so many had done before him, holding his breath and closing his eyes as the hat touched his head. Immediately he heard a small voice whisper in his ear.
"Lupin is it? I've heard so much about you" the ancient voice of the hat said with a definite hint of excitement. "I've always wanted to know how you people look like from the inside!"
Remus tried hard not to feel offended by this.
"Well, where to put you, my dear?" it asked ponderingly.
Not Slytherin, please, Remus thought hard, his lips moving soundlessly along.
"Not another one" the hat cried indignantly in his ear. "You'd think I know how to do my job after a thousand years of practise, wouldn't you? Just trust my judgment, if I may be so bold as to give you that advice. At this moment there is no one who knows you better than me, not even yourself. Especially not yourself, as I can see. You seem to be full of doubt…"
Could be worse, Remus thought back.
"Believe me, my dear boy, when I tell you that I've never had a mind under my flap that was quite as brilliant as yours and at the same time had such a bad opinion of itself. You'd be the perfect candidate for Ravenclaw. Lots of bright heads there just like yours."
No, thanks, I think I'd rather not.
"You'd rather not? Where else would you like to go then?"
Well, I guess I'd like to go where James is, Remus thought timidly, forgetting that James hadn't been sorted yet.
"James? Friend of yours? Well, if this is about friendship I'd better put you in Gryffindor!"
"Some more green broccoli soup for you?" the annoying dark-haired boy sitting next to him asked in his annoying voice, pushing his annoying round glasses up his annoying nose.
"Yeah, thanks, I'll have it" Sirius said, smirking at the annoying brat and taking the soup he held out to him.
He just couldn't stop grinning. He supposed all the joy that had flooded his system was accumulating in the corners of his mouth, solidifying there and freezing his facial expression to preserve it for eternity.
He finished his soup which tasted a bit too salty.
"Finished already?" the annoying bespectacled brat asked him in mock surprise. "Have some green beans then. Or how about some of this delicious green spinach, so you'll grow big and strong? Always eat your vegetables, my mum always says."
"I'll shove your vegetables up your-"
"I think I'd like some of the spinach, if you can spare any" the kid sitting opposite him cut in, obviously trying to restore peace and order before a food-fight could break out – which could have happened any minute if Sirius was concerned.
"Help yourself" he said casually, taking a closer look at the boy. His short brown hair was tidy but lacked a healthy gleam. His skin was very white, almost translucent. He had dark circles under his eyes which made him look as if he hadn't slept in days. All in all, Sirius noted, the boy looked rather ill and he fought the strange urge to send him off to bed.
"How about some of the green jelly, then?" the annoying brat said, holding the dish right under his nose. Grinning hugely, Sirius picked the glasses off the boy's nose and stuck them into the desert.
"No, thank you" he said pleasantly.
The pudgy pudding of a boy next to the sick one snorted into his third helping of roast beef with baked potatoes.
"Shut it, Peter" the annoying one growled in an offended tone, plucking his glasses out of the jelly and eyeing them with disgust.
"So, where do you two know each other from?" the sick one cut in again, obviously desperate for harmony.
"We've been to school together, haven't we, James?" the pudding said.
"Where do wizards go to school then before they come to Hogwarts?"
"Pete and I have been to Madame Bloxam's prep school. You learn some basics there. Clearly, reading and writing is essential – even for a wizard – and some calculating too. Apart from that you just get some magical theory there because obviously anything practical falls under the law that forbids under-age magic. We did get a few flying lessons though, although we were only allowed to use the toy-brooms which wouldn't go higher than a metre or so."
Sirius snorted.
"And then you get the noble ones who wouldn't want their precious children to mix with the crowd" four-eyes said acidly, staring Sirius straight into the face. "They get their private tutors, of course."
"Actually" Sirius corrected him "I didn't get any private tutor. I have been taught by Professor Grammaticus and Professor Calculatus."
"Seriously? Someone actually uses those things?" pudding-boy said with disbelief.
"Who are Professors Grammaticus and Calculatus?" the sick one asked interestedly.
"They are kind of devices which are supposed to teach you stuff…sort of. I heard they were actually nothing more than a Muggle television set someone charmed to recite the alphabet or the multiplication tables."
"Are you even capable of counting the amount of fingers on your hand?" the visually impaired git asked Sirius with mock concern.
"Want me to count the amount of teeth for you I'm going to punch out of your mouth?" Sirius asked politely.
"Another time maybe" the imp gave back unimpressed.
"Gotta tell you this one" the pudding suddenly said excitedly, barely managing to hold back his laughter. "About two years ago, Ms Bloxam had laughed at a picture James had been drawing – it really was funny! He had tried to draw his parents and they'd ended up looking like a pair of sticks attached to huge, deformed balloons! Anyway, he got so mad at her that he jinxed one of the chairs to follow her around all day, laughing at her. She'd ended up locked inside the bathroom, crying her eyes out!"
"You make it look like I jinxed that chair on purpose, which I haven't! It was an accident, as you well know!"
"Still a good one for your first piece of magic ever."
"Who said that was my first piece of magic" the imp cried in an offended tone.
"I did my first when I was six" Sirius said, feeling superior. "Made my Mum grow hair on her teeth. I couldn't say that was an accident, though."
The boys all laughed.
"What about you, Remus? What did you do?"
"Me? I don't…well, I suppose I can't remember. Wait a minute! Haven't you all been going on about children not being allowed to do magic outside school?"
"Well, yes, of course. But seeing as a child hasn't learned yet how to control its magic, it happens to everyone eventually. Child-magic is usually very impulsive and has a lot to do with emotional distress. Most parents are actually very glad if their child shows signs of magic at an early age because it is proof that it isn't a Squib – non-magical, that is" four-eyes lectured.
The sick one just sat there, seeming to be lost in thought as suddenly Professor McGonagall appeared behind him, startling him badly.
"Have you finished your dinner, Mr Lupin?" she asked him, grasping his shoulder softly. As he nodded she said "Then please be so kind and follow me. I believe we have much to discuss."
The boy got up promptly, almost knocking his goblet full of pumpkin juice over. Sirius noticed that he swiftly glanced up at the ceiling which mirrored the sky outside and currently displayed a magnificent, almost full moon, embedded in a sea of stars. He was surprised to see his face contort with a pained and almost fearful expression and couldn't help but wonder.
"You don't have to look at him so smugly, Mr Black" Professor McGonagall said to him, misreading his expression. "I shall want a quick word with you too. We've found your little friend by your luggage and I'm afraid this is highly unorthodox" she said pointedly, pulling out a tiny puppy from behind her back and holding it under his nose.
A/N: I dedicate this chapter to Lisa, who loves fantasy-stories and will hopefully like this one too. Loads of chocolate eggs to all my readers!
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything, in case you've been wondering ;-D
