Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, I'm just borrowing them, and no profit is gained.
"Look, I see Lily and Hugo," Tyler said, pointing to the crowd of first years entering the Great Hall. Fred and James easily saw them too, but Dell had to crane her head as she was too short to see them. Tyler laughed, but finally she saw Lily and Hugo's very noticeable bright red hair in the crowd of first years.
It had been four years since the four Marauders had started at Hogwarts, and they were now starting their fifth year. Things had changed a lot since they first started, and as Dell sat beside Tyler, waiting for the youngest of the Weasley/Potter clan to get sorted (as it would be a while) she reminisced what had happened throughout the years.
The teachers had kept an eye on to begin James and Fred from the start because of who they were children of. But when they gave themselves the name the Marauders – well, the teachers almost freaked and watched Tyler and Dell too. They had reason to do so, too. Dell had spent most of her time at Hogwarts in detention than anything else. Her parents had gotten so mad at her. And Professor McGonagall had retired after that saying something along the lines of 'I already taught one James Potter and one Fred Weasley, thank you very much,' so Flitwick became the Headmaster, and they got a Professor Fillmore for Charms.
Then that summer when Dell got off her train, she was introduced to James parents, and well – it was rather awkward. James dad really did seem surprised that his cousin's child was a witch. Well, they didn't stay together. Then that summer they told Dell's grandparents about her being a witch – that didn't go well. Not well at all. She didn't see her grandparents much anymore.
Then, Teddy graduated, but in their second year, Roxanne, Fred's sister came. As Tyler had said, James had dared her to get into Slytherin – and she never turned down a dare. James was insistent that it was impossible for a Weasley to get into Slytherin, but Roxanne was undoubtedly going to try. So it really was intense when Roxanne was called up for the Weasley's. James didn't think so, though, even if it wasn't the fact that it was impossible for her to get into Slytherin, she was Gryffindor like, at least, that's what he said. It took over five minutes for the hat to sort her. And what did it yell out?
"SLYTHERIN!"
And with that, Fred jumped across the table and tried to strangle James. Nobody was clapping – they were either too surprised a Weasley just got sorted into Slytherin, or that Fred had just tried to strangle James. With the help of Frank Longbottom, who had just been sorted into Gryffindor, Dell pulled Fred off of James, who himself was too shocked to say anything. He had been sure the hat wouldn't sort her into Slytherin. And what did Roxanne do? She walked over to the Slytherin table, the biggest smirk plastered on her face, looking at James, with a look in her eyes that said I told you so.
From that, Dell got the feeling that Roxanne was going to be a pain. And she could be – when you got on her bad side. She had a temper that could blow the moons off. But when you were on her good side, she was a pretty cool girl, to say the least. Very daring – she would do any dare you gave her, no matter what it was. She got in trouble a lot because of that – even more than Dell and the guys did. But Roxanne could be a pretty cool person – at times.
The year after that came James brother Albus, and then their cousin Rose. Oh, how James teased Albus that he would end up in Slytherin – even though he himself had said that the chance was slim to none unless you convinced the hat to (they had gotten it out of Roxanne that that was what she had done) but he still did, because he was like that. Dell thought he was an idiot for doing it, and personally told him off. But he still did it. Albus had ended up in Gryffindor, to nobody's surprise, and so had Rose. That was a surprise to some – apparently some had suspected her to end up in Ravenclaw like Victoire, for she was even more of a Ravenclaw than Victoire was according to other. But, nope, she had ended up in Gryffindor, just like her mom.
That year they also started their electives. Dell started Care Of Magical Creatures and Arithmacy. She had thought about starting Divination too, but James, Fred and Tyler had talked her out of it. The other three had taken Care Of Magical Creatures too, and Fred had signed up for Muggle Studies, saying Arithmacy was too complicated. The other two considered between the two, since you had to have at least two, but finally James settled for Arithmacy ("My dad grew up as a muggle – I know enough about them,") and Tyler Muggle Studies ("I'm sorry Dell, that just looks too damn complicated, I don't want to learn about Muggles, but there's just too many stuff there,") All in all it had been a really funny final decision. Out of the four of them, James and Fred were the closest of friends, always had been, Tyler had always been the third man out whenever he hung out with them. But when Dell came along, he and Dell got along so well. They were really close. Not like that – he was like the brother she never had, and she another sister. But when they picked their classes it got all messed up.
Then, at the end of the year Victoire had graduated. It wasn't a big surprise when Teddy and Victoire's relationship came to light quickly following it. Actually, only one person was surprised – James, the idiot. He was the one who had caught them kissing at the beginning of Vic's seventh year, but he hadn't seemed to realize they'd been together on and off since the end of Teddy's last year, though Victoire had wanted to keep it quiet because she knew how big a deal it would be among her family, especially her cousins. Oh, and Lucy would never let her live it down (not like she was anyways – though since Vic was out of school it was easier. Victoire and Lucy just never could get along.)
The year after that – Dell's fourth year at Hogwarts – Molly and Louis came. Molly was Lucy's younger sister, one whom she seemed to find almost as annoying as Victoire (though Molly admired her big sister like no tomorrow) and Louis was Vic's and Dom's younger brother. Molly ended up in Gryffindor – once more to nobody's surprise, but Louis ended up in Ravenclaw like his eldest sister. It seemed Dominique would be the only one of those siblings to end up in Gryffindor. It made people wonder that if Fleur had gone to Hogwarts, would she have ended up in Ravenclaw?
While at Hogwarts Molly followed her elder sister around like a puppy, and to some it was like Victoire had never left, except in this case they were in the same house and Molly didn't yell back - she cried. Now, if your sister cried because you were yelling at her, you would feel guilty, wouldn't you? Not Lucy, she just called her a crybaby and told her to stop. Dominique always had to pull Lucy away. Dell didn't see what Dom saw in Lucy. Dom was a really cool girl; she hung out with them often when she wanted to get away from Lucy, her best friend. Why she was her best friend – Lucy was annoying, had a boiling temper, and seemed to enjoy yelling. The only person who could even get her to consider stopping was Dominique, and she sometimes couldn't. But she could always make her feel guilty, and Lucy never yelled at Dominique, the only person it seemed.
Then there was the James Potter fan club. Yes, James Potter fan club. Dell was pretty sure two of her roommates – Carly and Liberty – had started it. James was oh so cocky about it. Just because he was Harry Potter's eldest son, a trouble maker, a bit good looking, knows a few good jinks and a damn good Quidditch player. She was on the Quidditch team too, but did she have a fan club? No. It was probably because he was Harry Potter's son. But Albus didn't have a fan club. He wasn't on the Quidditch team though. Whatever, Dell didn't understand it, and James was so damn cocky about it.
Besides those few things (Dell would never understand the fan club) her years at Hogwarts had been happy ones. She'd been over to James, Fred's, and Tyler's house (her father hadn't been happy with her staying at guy's houses; could she help it her best friends were guys? The one he was most comfortable with was James because they were related, so she'd stayed at his the most.)
Dell looked up as Longbottom called "Potter, Lily". People looked up as the first female Potter walked up the steps.
"What are you guys looking for, she's going to be a Gryffindor, there is no doubt about that," James said bored, playing with his utensils. Fred nodded in agreement, and looked across at Dell who was still watching Lily, and rolled his eyes. Dell kicked both Fred and James under the table to get them to pay attention, and Tyler, who already knew such was coming, was glad he choose the seat beside her so it was harder for her to kick him.
When the hat was placed on Lily's head it didn't yell out like James, or didn't take a few moments like Albus (Albus said it thought about Ravenclaw for about a second before choosing Gryffindor) no, it took longer than that. Not nearly the length it took for Roxanne, but still nearly three minutes. This made James look up in surprise. But finally the hat did decide, and it yelled out –
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
James dropped his fork in shock, his mouth dropping open. "You really can't be certain, can you James?" Dell asked sweetly.
"But – but, Lily isn't loyal! She's the gossip queen! She loves gossip, she hears it she spreads it," James said as the Hufflepuff table clapped harder than ever, clearly happy to get the youngest Potter. Dell raised her eyebrows at James, and saw his brother and the Weasley's agreeing to his words.
She thought quickly before saying, "Well, to get gossip you often have to work hard, and that's a Hufflepuff trait, is it not?" The others agreed, though James reluctantly.
They looked back up at the sorting and soon the last person left was "Weasley, Hugo". He was called, and he walked up and sat down upon the stool. "Now, if his sister got into Gryffindor, he certainly will. He's more of a Gryffindor than her," James said, defiantly this time, ignoring Roses "Hey!" But Hugo sat there for almost as long as Roxanne had, and James looked confused. Finally the hat yelled out –
"RAVENCLAW!"
If James' jaw had dropped when his sister had gotten sorted, it was nothing like then. He stared after Hugo, who in himself looked shocked. "But – but – that hat has got to have him and Rose mixed up. Everybody was sure Rose would get into Ravenclaw and Hugo into Gryffindor. But when she got into Gryffindor, it wasn't that big of a surprise, like her mom. But Hugo, a Ravenclaw? Even he was surprised!" James babbled on, through Flitwick's small welcome and the food appearing.
"James, calm down, damn it. The hat's loosing its touch, whatever. Maybe Roxanne messed it up when she convinced him to place her in Slytherin instead of where she belonged, and it's been placing people in the wrong houses ever since – everybody was surprised when Malfoy was placed in Ravenclaw – just get over it," Tyler said, looking at James with a look that clearly said 'shut it'.
James looked at Tyler shocked. Then a look came over his face and he said, "That's it! Roxanne confounded the hat into putting her into Slytherin!"
Dell burst out laughing, and Fred rolled his eyes saying, "She was just starting Hogwarts; she couldn't have done magic like that." James deflated and pouted. Dell had finally gotten her laughing under control, and Tyler passed her a cup of water into her hands.
Dell looked at her three best friends with a smile. Yes, Hogwarts was a great place, but it would have been nothing without the three guys. They were her best friends, and the ones who made Hogwarts worthwhile. What Hogwarts had for her next, only time could tell.
Edited 2020-02-15