Chapter 109: The Extra Students
The first of September arrived faster than anyone would like. The morning that the Blacks were set to go back to Hogwarts was a chaotic one. Sirius and Regulus had already gotten packed the night before, but Capella and Lyanna were not yet packed, so they did it after breakfast.
"They wait until the last minute for EVERYTHING," Regulus said, rolling his eyes.
"Tell me about it," Sirius muttered as they waited for Capella and Lyanna to get done packing.
You would've been one of those if Mother hadn't made you do it routinely," Regulus added. Sirius laughed.
"Girls, hurry up!" Ilaria called out. "We have to leave soon for King's Cross Station!"
"Coming!" was the reply from the two girls. It was another ten minutes before they finally came down with their trunks.
"We're ready!" Lyanna said excitedly.
"Good," Marius said, looking at the clock. "It's 10:45. We need to hurry. The two of you go through first, then Sirius and Regulus, and we'll follow." Capella and Lyanna stepped into the fireplace and disappeared through the flames. Sirius and Regulus went next, with Marius and Ilaria following closely behind.
They arrived at King's Cross with five minutes to spare. Capella and Lyanna gave their parents a hug before rushing onto the train. Before Sirius and Regulus could follow them, Marius motioned for them to wait a moment.
"I hope you and your friends like the surprise you'll find out about today," he said with a grin.
"A surprise?" Sirius asked, now curious.
"Yes," Marius answered. "Now, get going. Have fun!"
"Wait, what's the surprise?" Regulus asked, confused. Sirius was confused as well, but before Marius could say anything more, the train whistle sounded, meaning they had only a minute to get on the train.
"Come on, Reg," Sirius said, pulling Regulus along with him. They got into the compartment with their friends just in time.
"What took you so long?" Capella asked.
"Uncle Marius said that there will be a surprise for us," Sirius explained.
"What? What surprise?" James asked, also confused.
"Who knows," Regulus said with a shrug. "I guess we'll find out when we get there."
The Marauders entered the Great Hall hours later to see that there were a lot of new students coming into the room.
"There are a lot of new students!" James exclaimed.
"Er, those can't ALL be first years, can they?" Remus asked curiously, staring at the many students.
"I don't know," Capella said.
"Wait! Look!" Sirius exclaimed, pointing at a familiar figure among the students. "How?!"
"Bloody hell!" Regulus exclaimed. "It's Mauro!"
"Who?" Lily asked.
"Mauro," Regulus said. "We met him and his older sister, Emilia, in Spain this summer, and they came to England for a vacation just last week."
"Why is he here?" Mary asked.
Before anyone could respond to her question, Arcturus stood up at the Head table. Which was unusual for the headmaster to speak before the sorting.
"May I have your attention please?" he called out. The Hall quieted, curious about what the headmaster had to say. He continued, "This year, Hogwarts is doing something it has never done before. This year, we are starting an exchange student program." There were whispers of confusion. "An exchange student program is where students from other schools can come here to learn for a year," Arcturus continued. "We are doing this with the school from Brazil."
"Ha!" Regulus exclaimed. "That explains a lot! That's why Mauro's here!" Sirius nudged him to be quiet.
"We have six exchange students from Brazil, and Brazil has six students from our school," the headmaster continued. "There are two first years, two second years, one third year, and one fourth year who are going to study here for this year. They will be sorted like everyone else, they will go to classes with all other students in their year, and I expect everyone will treat them with the same respect that you would give any other student. Let's give them a warm welcome!" There was a round of applause, with the Marauders even standing and cheering. There were also several students who followed suit, cheering even louder than all the rest.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward and started calling out the names of all the first years. After all the first years were sorted, she started calling out the names of the exchange students. She finally called Mauro's name. He walked up to the stool and McGonagall put the hat on his head.
"I wonder which house he'll be in," Alice wondered aloud.
"If I were to guess, probably a Gryffindor," Sirius responded with a grin. "Just watch, he'll be in Gryffindor."
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted. Mauro grinned as he bounded toward the Gryffindor table. He sat between Lyanna and James. Sirius grinned.
"See? I told you he'd be in Gryffindor!" he said excitedly.
"Mauro, why isn't your sister here with you?" Lyanna asked quietly.
"She didn't want to come," Mauro said flatly.
"Why not?" James blurted out. Regulus nudged him hard in the side. "Ow, Regulus!"
"She just didn't want to," Mauro repeated. "She's continuing her education at our school in Brazil."
The Marauders were all thinking the same thing. Something was very wrong. The tone Mauro used indicated that something else was going on.
"Mauro, is everything alright?" Lily asked gently.
"Yes, everything's fine," Mauro replied quickly, a little too quickly. They wanted to ask more questions, but Lily shook her head at her friends. They couldn't push too much.
The feast started after the exchange students were sorted, and Sirius noticed that there was a translator there as well, translating English to Spanish and the other way around. James got into a conversation with Mauro about pranks, and they found out that Mauro was known to play pranks on students at his school.
"Brilliant!" James exclaimed. "Then you can help us play pranks on people!"
Mauro grinned. "Sure!" he exclaimed happily.
The Marauders finished eating their dinner and separated to go to their common rooms. This year would certainly be fun with Mauro around, but the big question on their minds was, what was going on with Mauro and Emilia?