Blood Status || Marauders Era

Chapter 14|| Start of second year

Mary was stood next to her smirking, then saying, "Don't listen to her Peter, it's just a Thestral." This just seemed to scare the poor boy more, as he was definitely shaking.

Alice and Frank were talking to each other and as Alice saw us all surrounding one carriage, she said, "Some of you come on the carriage with me, Frank and his friends, there'll be more room." Lily joined her and soon it was just the four Marauders (their chosen group name from the end of last year), myself and Aafiya. Marlene had dragged Mary to sit with the others. 

Remus tried to strike a polite conversation saying, "How are you Aafiya? Had a good summer?" She looked at him suspiciously and said, "Fine thank you, and Sirius, James does not want a kiss stop trying to get his attention." We turned around the face Sirius who was waving a hand in James' face while James was way too close for comfort, the curly haired boy inched backwards in horror.

Sirius sulked, "How do you know he doesn't. Also, that's not what I was trying to do Miss, I was trying to point his attention to the dungbombs I sneaked out of my house but he wasn't listening." The rest of us didn't question it any further but James kept a hand over his mouth for the rest of the journey and there was no more talking in the invisibly driven carriage.

Getting out was a blessing, away from the awkward tension and towards my home for the next 12 or so months. I walked into the Great Hall with Peter, the other three boys following close behind, sitting near the front of the Gryffindor table. The rest of our year and some of the year above sat near us, as we were all friends, discussing topics before the new first years walked in following McGonagall.

"It feels weird us not being first years any more doesn't it? We're not the youngest or the first to pick on." Mary asked. The rest of us nodded, but James sighed and remembered, "That means we have to sit next to different people this year, remember Flitwick telling us they were easier on first year seating positions." We all agreed, wondering, and half being scared of who we were sitting near.

I was more interested in what we would learn this year, and was already making plans for the subject that we would have to pick for next year.

Sirius eventually shushed us all when his brother came up to the sorting hat and sat down on the stool. Regulus Black sat on the stool for only a small while as the hat whispered to him, then, it shouted out his house and his new family, "SLYTHERIN!" I heard Sirius sigh in disappointment and he muttered to me, "What did I tell you."

We watched more and more new first years sit on the stool, each of them equally as small, it came as a surprise when they were average height. Each person came and sat on the stool, hat on their head, getting a house each time and I was not very interested unless there was names I knew like a group of Slytherins, Rabastan Lestrange, Barty Crouch Jr, Regulus Black. 

Then, there was my sister, as soon as she sauntered up to the hat and put it on, I knew she was a Slytherin.

When it was announced she was, I looked over to the green and silver table, all cheering for her, Bellatrix Black making eye contact with me, smirking and jerking her head slightly as if to say, 'she's ours now blood traitor'. I watched as the sorting finished with the last boy put into Hufflepuff and then food appeared on the golden plates, drinks filling the goblets.

I picked up a drink of water and James looked at me sadly, "I'm very sorry about your loss, she had a chance." Lily, sat a few seats away, heard this and swivelled around in her seat, annoyance obvious in her features. She said, irritated, "She's not dead Potter, just in Slytherin. Honestly, what's wrong with you lot and that Slytherin hatred, hate the bad people not the house."

Sirius nodded in agreement, "I hate to admit that she's right, my cousin Andromeda's in Slytherin and she's half decent." James looked at the Slytherin table oddly, dramatically shivered, glared at one of them who had unfortunately made eye contact with him, and then said, "Even if I did think about it - which I'm am not - tell that to my dad, he's like, Slytherin enemy No #1." 

I thought about James' dad, kind Fleamont Potter, and he didn't seem to me to hold hatred for anybody, I wondered how that was even possible.

Aafiya turned around to face the group of boys and rolled her eyes, "Like father like son is it? Honestly James, think for yourself, you seemingly always do, all them strange ideas. Anyway, thank you all for talking about Slytherin, you've been so distracted that the pudding is here, and Remus has nearly finished all of the chocolate." 

Everyone's head had shot to Remus, who smiled guiltily and bit into the only chocolate bar that was left on the table. 

After the food was all finished, we all took the journey to our rooms, a Prefect telling us the password was Muggle Studies. That was an elective that we got to choose this year if we wanted to study the non-magical community and what they did or used. It seemed like a pretty interesting and useful subject for people brought up in the magical community to learn.

Sirius frowned at the password and said to the Marauders and I, "Why would anyone wanna take that subject? It seems boring, learning about Mud- Muggles. Sorry, I've been with my parents all summer and they're bad for it, I swear I didn't mean anything." 

I looked at Sirius in sympathy and said, "It's a good thing you're stuck with us for months, we'll drill that nonsense out of your head. And don't feel too bad, as Aafiya said earlier, it's usually the parent's influence. I'd be like that too if I didn't have a Muggle friend to keep me sane."

That was finally the first night back in second year, completed, after a long journey, and a difficult sorting.