Chasing The Stars | Marauders | Sirius Black

1.3 ~ GRYFFINDOR!

The clapping had ended and now Professor McGonagall had begun reading names off of her list, "Abbott, Francis" her voice rang out and a small boy stumbled up to the podium and sat on the stool, the hat thought for a moment before bellowing out 

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the boy tugged off the hat and smiled as he made his way towards the cheering table adorned in yellow. Eloise barely had time to clap before she heard, "Black, Sirius" she watched as Sirius sent a nervous smile towards James and he made his way to the stool. Eloise saw Sirius sit and put the hat on his head, she watched as he scowled and the hat moved around on his head slightly before finally opening the rip and shouting, 

"GRYFFINDOR!" Eloise's face lit up and she grabbed James' hand who was also grinning. Sirius yanked off the hat and laughed at Eloise and James before sitting with the extremely loud Gryffindors. The list went on 

"Evans, Lily.", a redhead with green eyes walked away from a sour-looking boy with black hair and a hooked nose and she sat on the char looking extremely nervous, Eloise saw James perk up slightly as he saw the girl and Eloise decided to tease him about it later. Lily was sorted into Gryffindor and the black haired boy made a noise of disgust as she sent him an apologetic look and walked, rather glumly, towards her new house. Students carried on being sorted until finally, 

"Malfoy, Eloise." she left James' side and he patted her shoulder as she walked off. Eloise sat on the stool and looked for Lucius, he caught her eye and gave her a thumbs up, making a show of shuffling along on his bench to make room for her. She tried to smile back as the hat was placed on her head but she couldn't. 

"Hmmm." she heard a voice in her ear, "Well, well, well, a Malfoy." 

"Unfortunately." Eloise thought 

"Oh? You're not a fan of the noble family of the Malfoys?" she jumped a little and thought 

"Not really." The sorting hat tutted in her ear, 

"Well you know all of your family has been Slytherin I gather?" 

"I don't want to be like them." she thought to the hat, "I don't want to be pure-blood obsessed and the Slytherins sound like a load of twats" she thought, she surprised herself with her confidence even though she was just talking to a hat, 

"You're not scared about what your father and brother would think?" asked the hat, 

"I don't care anymore, my father can't tell me who to be." 

"I see." Eloise then felt the hat shift slightly on her head signaling it had opened its mouth, she crossed her fingers under her robe.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Eloise Malfoy froze, happiness automatically flooding her body, she wasn't a Slytherin! She wasn't like her father...Cold replaced the warmth of happiness as she thought about what her father would say but before she could dwell too much, the hat was pulled off of her head, she saw James jumping up and down waving his hands in the air, she caught Sirius stood up on the Gryffindor bench clapping and whooping. Remus was grinning and clapping along with the rest of the school. Even Lily the redhead seemed to sigh in relief as she saw a possible friend joining Gryffindor. Eloise hesitantly met her older brother's eyes and winced as his brow furrowed and his jaw clenched.

The rest of the night went by in a bit of a blur, the worries in the back of her head taking her away from the conversations. James was, of course, sorted into Gryffindor as was Remus along with a small boy with watery eyes named Peter. Eloise sat between Sirius and the girl called Lily and found herself in a conversation with the redhead finding her very pleasant, as did James apparently; he constantly tried to catch her attention and Lily seemed to resent him after he introduced himself as

'The handsomest, coolest guy you'll ever meet' and the resentment only deepened with each arrogant comment he uttered her way. She ate and drank and became drowsy, wondering where she was going to sleep. She left the Great Hall with her new Gryffindor friends after a speech from the headmaster about the rules, to which James and Sirius sniggered at. She was ready to sleep when she felt a grip on her arm. She heard Sirius exclaim as she was dragged away and pushed against a wall. She was looking into the cold, grey eyes of her older brother and he looked livid, "We need a word, Elsie" her pet name no longer felt warm and loving. His voice was dripping with fury and for the first time in her life, Eloise was scared of her brother, Lucius Malfoy.