CHAPTER 5
— ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʟʏɪɴɢ ꜱᴘᴏʀᴛ —
Scarlett Salvatore
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Scarlett couldn't be happier. What Potterhead wouldn't love to go the Wizarding World and to the Marauder's era nonetheless?
She was ecstatic and even more so because she got to share this with her family. As much as she didn't want to say anything Scarlett actually thought this changing universe thing was for the best for them. Not just because they could actually meet her idols and go to Hogwarts but because, in her opinion, they needed it.
Her cousins and Silas were stuck in their family. Not on purpose, mind you, but they were. They were stuck on the mindset that they had to live up to something, to their parents, and she thought that this change might actually change that. They could try to be their own person, try to make new friends instead of sticking with the ones they knew since forever.
Scarlett wasn't by far saying that she wasn't like that. In fact, her best friends were the ones she had known since forever but unlike them, she knew how to talk to people and tone down the ego that came with their families.
That was one of the main reasons that she was able to make friends outside the family, though some people still didn't like her much because of them. Not that it was a problem in Hogwarts; in fact, no one knew them. They were the new kids, and they were solely that. They didn't have to carry the burden of their names with them.
But this isn't to say that Scarletts hates her family. In fact, she loves them dearly and her family is her top priority. Family above all. Always and Forever; something she had been learning since she was born and something she held close to her heart. Because, yes, the family was the most important thing in the world for her, whether it'd by blood or not.
"Where are you going, Scar?" Amelia Bones, one of her dormmates asked as Scarlett made her way to the door of their room.
Amelia was the first friend Scarlett made when she was sorted, and honestly one of the only names she recognized from Hufflepuff. Turns out they were in the same year and sharing a dorm too; along with Matilda Abbot — or Matt as she would threaten people to call her —, Caitlyn MacMillan, and Zara Lotto (the only girl she couldn't recognize the last name). All the girls, despite their different personalities, were all extremely kind and welcoming towards Scarlett. The latter could not have asked for better roommates.
"Scarlett?"
"Oh, sorry, Amelia," Scarlett sighed shaking her head from her daze and threw a sheepish smile at the girl. "What did you say?"
"I asked you where you were going," Amelia said amused as she grabbed her clothes readying herself to go to the bathroom.
"But you zoned out," Zara butted in from her place on her bed as she turned the page of the book she was reading. "I get it. Millie can be quite the bore."
"Oi!" Amelia scowled at the girl making Scarlett laugh as Zare snorted.
"It wasn't Millie," Scarlett said shaking her head again, "And I'm going out to the Quidditch pitch."
"How come?" Matt asked as she walked out of the bathroom, her hair wrapped in a towel, making her way towards her bed.
"James Potter insisted that we learn Quidditch, apparently it's a necessity," Scarlett explained and Matt nodded frantically in agreement. "Silas and my cousin are going to learn it today."
"That's great, Scar!" Matt said with a grin, "you can join the team! We're lacking a chaser and a beater, so whichever one you prefer!"
"I don't even know if I'll be good, Matt," Scarlett said rolling her eyes.
"Yeah," Zara agreed, "For all, we know she could fall off the broom without actually being in the air like Sleeping Beauty over there," she said pointing at the jungle of covers wrapped around Caitlyn.
It was a bit after breakfast on Saturday and Scarlett had found out, much to her amusement, that Caitlyn was not a morning person (like her cousin India) and would much rather sleep than going for breakfast.
"I can hear you," came a groan from the bed, and the other four laughed.
"Alright then, I better get going," Scarlett said opening the door.
"Are you still having dinner with us?" asked Amelia, peeking her head out of the bathroom.
"Of course," Scarlett smile, "See you later!"
"Later!"
She waved at the girls and slipped past the door of the room making her way to the Hufflepuff common room.
That was something Scarlett loved about being in Hufflepuff, their common room. From what she had gathered from the books about the other common rooms she reckoned this one was by far the better (but some house pride may be playing in there too). The common room had a light ambiance, not too dark in color, which made it seem breathable and cozy simultaneously. There were plants everywhere and the barrel that served as the entrance to it just added to the wooden aesthetic that contrasted the stone walls.
There were a couple of couches and a few armchairs spread around, along with some wooden tables and chairs for students to study. There were also some shelves on the wall full of books, along with chess sets and board games. These shelves belonged to the students and whoever wanted could leave books and games and whatnot there so others can have a look. Scarletts found this really nice, as it not only brought the house together but it also allowed muggle-borns to learn more about wizarding culture and vice-versa (there were lots of muggle books and board games in there).
At the moment the common room was almost deserted, apart from a group of third years playing Clue on a table — most people were probably out wandering through the castle grounds or in their rooms. Scarlett smiled at them as she passed by and soon enough she was passing through the barrel, out of the common room.
She headed toward the path she had now memorized, going up the stairs to the entrance hall. When she got there she found Silas, her cousin James, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew (and she couldn't believe that sentence now belonged in her daily vernacular). The latter three had agreed to help the three newcomers on how to handle themselves on a broom (though Peter was mostly going to be watching from the stands).
As for the others, Scarlett didn't know where they were. From what she heard, India was still sleeping and Remus and Hope were talking about werewolves (?).
"Hey, Scar," Silas greeted her with a smile as she approached them. Scarlett couldn't help but smile back at him warmly.
"Hey, guys," she said towards the group getting smiles from all of them.
"Ready to turn into the Wicked Witch of the West, cousin?" James asked her goofily as he threw an arm around her shoulders and Scarlett could only shake her head at him.
"Shall we?" James Potter asked the group and they all nodded.
"Lead the way," Scarlett smiled and the group of six set off to the field.
The walk wasn't too long and once they got there Peter wished them luck and parted wars setting off to the stands as he wasn't going to fly. The others moved to the center of the field each with a broom at hand — Scarlett, James, and Silas were using the school's brooms until they could get their own.
"Okay, put the brooms on the floor," James Potter began and they each did ad they were told (even Sirius who was doing everything overdramatically looking as if he was in the military). "And when you're ready, put your hand next to you and above the broom and say 'Up' like you mean it."
Scarlett took a deep breath not being able to contain the smile on her face knowing that she was actually going to ride a broom for the first time — well if she doesn't count she was pretending to play Quidditch with a regular broom and Silas made it levitate; which subsequently caused her to fall on top of Asher Lockwood (each of them broke an arm). She placed her hand above the broom steadily, hoping with everything that it would work.
"Up!"
Immediately the broom shot up and Scarlett grabbed it with her hand, her grin widening. She looked up from her broom to see James (her cousin) on the floor rubbing his nose and Silas laughing his ass off from beside him, already holding his broom.
"What happened?" Sirius asked looking at them with amusement.
"Jamesie got hit by the broom," Silas laughed as James huffed muttering a string of curse words. Silas made his way closer to Scarlett and added lowly, "I guess his vampy reflexes didn't work."
"Shut it," Scarlett hissed hitting his arms looking around to see if anyone had heard. Thankfully she only spotted Sirius laughing as he helped James up and the other James watching it unfold from the air already.
"Calm down, Scar," Silas chuckled only to stop when she glared at him, "No one heard."
"You better wish no one heard," Scarlett muttered under her breath, knowing that because they were Animagus, James and Sirius might've been able to.
"I did it!" James shouted as he was able to call the broom on his second turn, this time without getting hit by it.
"Great!" the other James clapped as he landed again on the ground next to them.
"Now," he said, "all you have to do is sit of the broom and kick your foot off the ground to take off. Because it's your first time, try to be closer to the ground at first, in case you fall."
The three nodded along with Sirius who saluted. Scarlett threw a leg over the broom getting on it and placing both her hands on the handle. Gripping it tightly she kicked off from the floor and the broom immediately shot upward.
The broom shook for a bit until Scarlett got a hold of it and it finally stopped trembling, coming to a rest midair. The blonde looked down noting that she wasn't more than ten feet or so away from the ground. She then looked around the pitch and saw Silas and James already racing each other as the other James gave them pointers.
"Aren't you going to try and move?" A voice from beside her said and she turned to see Sirius smirking at her. Scarlett rolled her eyes.
"I was just observing, Black," she said.
"Put your hands a bit forward, you'll get better control," Sirius suggested and Scarlett nodded and did as she was told. "Can I ask you something?"
"Um — sure," Scarlett shrugged frowning.
"How come you moved here?" Sirius asked and Scarlett's frown grew more prominent not knowing where this was going. "Why now? Don't you know it's getting dangerous?"
"In all honesty, " Scarlett began slowly, "Danger is something that really doesn't affect us."
"What? You're invincible?" Sirius scoffed and Scarlett only shrugged.
"The twins would tell you that," Scarlett said with a smile, "I just think we're lucky."
"What?"
Scarlett shrugged again and without leaving room for more questions she leaned forward making the broom move and soon enough she was laughing as she joined Silas and James on their racing.
The rest of the afternoon (they had middle lunch) was spent with them learning how to play Quidditch. They learned that each of them had different specialties. In Scarlett's case, like James Potter, she was an extremely good chaser. James (her cousin) was also an extremely good keeper and with Malcolm Wood graduating the year prior he may actually have a chance of making it into the team. Silas was a fair Seeker but he excelled in the Beater position (not yet as good as Sirius as it was his first time) and Sirius had said that he could actually have a shot at the team too.
When they finally decided to stop, not being able to go on much longer, they went to get a sleeping Peter from the stands and decided to get back to the Gryffindor common room until dinner. After some convincing Silas and James were able to convince the marauders to bring Scarlett along — much to her joy as she would be able to see yet another common room.
Once they entered through the portrait of the Fat Lady — who threw a dirty look Scarlett's way — they found India, Hope, and Remus sitting on the couch in front of the fire, talking with Lily and two girls Scarlett recognized as India and Hope's roommate, Alice and Marlene; though the latter three seemed to be on their way as they were standing.
"Hey Lily," James (Potter) greeted the redhead with a lopsided smile, ruffling his hair. The girl in question gave him a look and shook her head with a sigh linking arms with Alice — Marlene took to sitting on an armchair (apparently she wasn't going with the other two).
"We have rounds today, Potter," Lily said briskly as she and Alice passed by them to get to the portrait.
"And I can't wait!" James called out after her but was ignored. He huffed though, a smile was still on his face, and took an armchair next to the fireplace.
Scarlett followed his lead and sat down on the floor in front of India's legs, then turning to smile at Marlene.
"You're Marlene, right?" Scarlett asked and the blonde nodded smiling.
"Yup, that's me," said Marlene, "and I'm assuming you're Scarlett?"
"The one and only," Silas said butting in with a smirk as he took a seat next to Scarlett on the floor and subsequently in front of Hope's legs.
"Indy you won't believe it!" James said to his sister as he approached the group and sat down in front of them — just as the remaining marauders took their seats. "Riding a broom is way funnier than it sounds. I mean I thought it would be like the Wicked Witch of the West. But it's actually pretty cool!" He said excitingly.
"You guys are pretty good too," Potter said nodding and looking rather impressed.
"Duh. We're Mikaelsons!" Jamie scoffed.
"You were the only Mikaelson there." Black pointed out and Scarlett rolled her eyes.
"Nu-uh. Scar is one too. And Silas is as good as."
"I don't know if I should take that as an insult or a compliment," Silas said thoughtfully and Scarlett let out a laugh.
"To be honest I can't tell either, " she said smiling and the others chuckled.
"Speaking of Quidditch, I got McG to let me do the commentary of the show," India let them know with a smile. Since their talk near the beech tree, India was hoping she could do it and Scarlett couldn't be happier for her.
"Game." Everyone corrected her and India just shrugged much to Scarlett's amusement.
"Same shit."
At some point when they were all talking Scarlett noticed it was almost time for dinner so she excused herself from the group and started heading to the Great Hall. She had promised she would have dinner with her Hufflepuff friends and she wanted to be early in case she bumped into someone or got distracted by a painting.
In her case what happened was the former. Scarlett had the chance of literally bumping into someone almost falling backward if it wasn't for the said person grabbing her hand.
"I'm sorry," the voice said letting go of her hand, "I didn't see where I was going."
Scarlett looked up to find a boy, around her age, with black hair and blue-almost-silver eyes looking at her and she had the inkling of who she was talking to. She shook her head with a smile.
"Don't mention it, " she said, "I was the one who bumped into you."
"You're one of the new transfer students, right?" he asked looking at the Hufflepuff badge on her uniform that was unlike his Slytherin one.
"Yeah," said Scarlett extending her hand for him to shake, "I'm Scarlett Salvatore."
"Regulus Black," the boy introduced himself silkily, shaking her hand; Scarlett internally grinned at having guessed who he was.
"I'm guessing Sirius Black is your brother, then?" she asked tentatively and as she expected his eyes darkened slightly, and yet he nodded.
"Unfortunately," he shrugged and Scarlett gave him a sympathetic smile.
"It was nice to meet you, Regulus," said Scarlett looking over his shoulder to the doors of the Great Hall to see her Hufflepuff friends going in, "but my friends are already at dinner and I promised I would meet them."
"Right," Regulus nodded. "I'll see you around, Salvatore."
"Call me Scarlett," she answered rolling her eyes as she started heading towards the Hall, "I'll see you!"
And with that she turned around and entered the double doors, turning to the Hufflepuff's table to see Caitlyn waving her over. Scarlett smiled and made wy to them sitting down between Zara and Amelia.
All in all, the time she had been spending at Hogwarts until now was turning out to be great and she knew for sure that she didn't want to leave just yet. That this may turn out to be the best experience of her life.