Chocolate Frogs
Remus walked down the train’s corridor, trying to find an empty compartment. It turned out the older kids got on the train early and took the best compartments. After what seemed ages of walking up and down the train, Remus found a compartment that didn't look very full. He slid open the door as quietly as possible and poked his head in. There were two boys about his age in the compartment. One had black hair which looked like it had never seen a hairbrush, glasses and a seemingly permanent grin. The other boy was rather chubby with blond hair.
“Um, is there any room here?” Remus asked timidly.
The messy haired boy grinned even wider, if that was possible. “Yeah, go ahead mate,” he exclaimed. Remus smiled politely and heaved his trunk into the compartment. Not a moment after he sat down though, the door slid open again.
“Mind if I join you?” A boy about the same age as the rest of them lounged in the doorway. With long dark hair framing his face and an aura of nobility, it seemed as if he thought he owned the place. The smirk said it all.
“Sure!” the messy haired boy replied. The new boy sauntered in and collapsed on the seat opposite Remus. “Are you good, mate?” the messy haired boy asked.
The new boy made a face like he just ate something sour. “Ugh. I had to go sit with my dear cousins in the Slytherin carriage,” he drawled. “Luckily I escaped. Though it cost me one of my dung-bombs.” A devilish grin appeared on his face, rivaling the other boy’s smile.
“Are you serious?” the messy haired boy exclaimed, reaching over to smack the other boy’s palm.
“Yes, I’m Sirius. Sirius Black,” the boy responded. Remus smiled a bit at the irony.
“James Potter,” the messy haired boy said. “Over there is Peter Pettigrew,” the chubby boy squeaked hi in response. “And you are..?”
James looked expectantly at Remus, who fumbled for an answer. Fear gripped his stomach. He wasn’t going to mess up his first chance in making friends. “Oh, um, yeah. Remus Lupin,” he stammered.
James smiled good-naturedly at him. Remus felt the knot in his stomach loosen. Sirius, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at him. He tried to ignore it.
“So,” James said, breaking the awkward silence that hung in the air for a second, “what houses do you think you guys will be in?”
“Well,” Sirius started, “Definitely not Slytherin. I swear, if I have to be the same as my whole family and share the same common room as my cousins, I’ll jump off the astronomy tower. For 500 years, the Black family has been in Slytherin. I think it’s time to break the tradition,” he smirked.
“Well I’m going to be in Gryffindor,” James announced, sticking his chin up. “‘Where the brave dwell at heart.’”
Remus couldn’t help but laugh at the other boy’s confidence. Now that’s something he doesn't think he will ever have.
Sirius looked sharply at Remus. “What house do you think you’ll be in then?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Remus replied quietly. “My dad was in Ravenclaw.”
“Oh yeah,” James said. “All the smart people go there.” He talked about the house with less interest than Gryffindor. The boy went on to describe the other houses, Sirius adding snarky comments about Slytherin and how “slithery” they were. Peter listened with wide eyes, while Remus gradually zoned out and gazed out the window at the English countryside instead. Rolling hills whizzed past the train with small white sheep dotted on them. Occasionally a cluster of tiny cottages would pop out of the landscape, but they would be gone before Remus could have a good look. The conversation between the other boys changed to quidditch at some point. James kept on ranting about Puddlemere United, though Remus didn’t know what that was.
Remus felt his eyelids grow heavier. However, he was jolted awake again by the sliding of the compartment door. “Anything from the trolley, dears?”
Sirius jumped up from his seat and produced a jingling bag of coins from his robe pocket.
“Mr. and Mrs. Black are shouting this one lads,” he announced, and empty the whole of the bag into the trolley lady's open hand. Remus and Peter gaped. James, however, also hopped up and helped the other boy select a mountain of sweets for them.
Soon enough, an enormous pile of confectionery rested on one of the seats while they all feasted on the tidings. Pumpkin pasties, Bertie Botts every flavor beans, Drooble's best blowing gum; almost the whole trolley was sold out thanks to Sirius. Remus himself was nibbling on a chocolate frog, tentative to be eating someone else's food.
“What card have you got there?” James asked, leaning to look over Remus's shoulder at the chocolate frog card he was holding.
“It's the Bulgarian seeker! Can I have him?” James exclaimed.
Remus handed the card to James, who bounced back into his seat and squinted at it, Peter coming over to look over his shoulder.
—
Remus must have fallen asleep at some point. Next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake by someone. Remus sat up from where his cheek was resting on the window. He looked up with his bleary amber eyes into stormy grey eyes.
“We’re here,” Sirius said, excitement bubbling up in his voice.
Remus rubbed his eyes and got up. He followed Sirius out of the train quietly and pushed through the crowd. Sirius was guiding them towards a large man that was yelling, “firs’ years over ‘ere! Firs’ years over ‘ere!”
Remus gawked up at the man. More a giant, really, with the height of two fully grown men. Brown hair covered nearly all his face, two black eyes peeking out. “That’s Hagrid,” Sirius whispered into Remus’s ear. “He’s the gamekeeper. I heard my cousins talking about him.”
The two of them made their way towards Hagrid and followed him towards the lake. Small boat lined up across the shore, big enough for four students each. James and Peter had already got into a boat with two other kids. Sirius guided him towards an empty boat and they hopped into it together. Soon after, another pair joined them. One of them was a boy with greasy black hair hanging off his head. The other kid was a girl with long red hair and freckles smattering her cheeks. The pair of them sat in the boat and whispered together.
All of a sudden, the boats started to glide across the lake in synchronization. Remus looked over the edge of their boat into the black water. He could see nothing but darkness in its depths. As he looked up, several gasps resounded from the small boats, the loudest from the red haired girl in their vessel. “Look, Severus,” she said to her dark haired friend.
Remus looked to where she was pointing. He couldn’t help inhaling sharply when he saw the sight across the lake. An enormous castle towered up against the horizon, light glinting in the windows and towers sticking up into the sky. Remus glanced at Sirius. Unlike most of the eleven year olds he hadn't had a big reaction to the sight of the castle, but he was smiling.
As they drew nearer to the castle, the boats swerved into a moss covered tunnel. After a few moments they arrived at the end of the tunnel and everyone got out. Hagrid led all of them out into a hall and told them to wait there. Remus felt the butterflies swoop in his stomach once more. He wiped his sweaty hands on his new black robes.
“What house do you think I will be in, Severus?” Remus heard the red haired girl talking to her friend again.
“The only house worth being in is Slytherin Lily,” Severus replied.
Next to Remus, Sirius snorted. He was obviously listening to the conversation too. Apparently, Severus didn't like that. He turned around to face Sirius. “What do you think is so funny?” He said. “Or is Slytherin too clever for you?”
Sirius smirked at Severus. “Do you really think Slytherin accepts slugs like you? Do you even know what shampoo is?”
Remus stifled a laugh. Severus was seething. “Well,” he hissed, “I know just who you are. The Black family has been in Slytherin for hundreds of years. I hear you are going to let poor Mummy and Daddy down.”
Remus saw something in Sirius's face change. “Tradition changes tonight,” he replied, a tinge of something dangerous in his voice.
Remus let out a sigh of relief as he heard a shrill voice over the crowd of kids. He turned around to look at a severe looking woman. Her dark hair was tied into a tight bun and emerald robes flowed down from her straight frame. “Quiet please! I am Professor McGonagall. It is now time for the sorting of your houses. Your house will be very important during your time at Hogwarts. They will be like your family. You will be able to earn house points, but there will also be points taken from you if behavior is not up to standard.
“Now, follow me.” The professor turned around and led the crowd towards a set of huge double doors. The doors opened and Remus walked through with the rest of the eleven year olds. This time he gasped.
Before him stood an enormous hall. Four long tables bedecked with different colors lined the cobblestone floor where students of varying ages sat. At the front of the room, another table sat what looked like the teachers of the school. The group of eleven year olds shuffled up to the front with McGonagall guiding them. Remus kept his eyes trained to the ground as the butterflies in his stomach flew up into his throat.
“Look up,” someone whispered into his ear. Remus glanced at Sirius's grey eyes next to him, and then looked up at the roof. Another gasp escaped from his mouth.
Burning candles hung midair, lighting up the whole hall. But the thing that really took his breath away was the ceiling. Instead of the roof, a brilliant night sky littered with stars loomed over them.
The group got to the front of the hall. Remus stood on his tiptoes over the top of the crowd and saw Professor McGonagall with a hat and a stool by her side. Personally, Remus thought the hat needed to be thrown out by now due to its moth-eaten state.
McGonagall started to call out names to come forward and wear the hat. To Remus's surprise, it was a talking hat. Magic just kept getting weirder and better.
“Abbott, Arnold!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Black, Sirius!”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
Audible gasps resounded from throughout the hall, especially from the table decked in green and silver. Sirius hadn't moved from the stool yet and was looking over at the Slytherin table, shock glistening on his face. He made no move to go to the Gryffindor table.
“WOOHOO! GOOD JOB MATE!”
James Potter's shout echoed through the hall for a second before everyone apart from the Slytherins erupted into applause, the Gryffindor table cheering. Sirius Black grinned and skipped over to the red and gold table where the older students welcomed him enthusiastically.
“Cresswell, Dirk!”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Evans, Lily!”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
“Fenwick, Benjy!”
“RAVENCLAW!”
Fortescue, Alice!”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
“Lupin, Remus!”
Remus must have zoned out a bit, because before he knew it, his name was called out. He walked up to the stool and sat down on it. McGonagall plopped the hat over his head. Everything went dark. The smell of dust overwhelmed his nostrils.
“Now, look here,” the voice of the sorting hat talked into his ear, “we’ve got a little wolf.”
Remus froze in fear. The hat chuckled. “Don’t worry, kid. This is just between you and us.”
“Well, you haven’t got a lot of ambition, so no Slytherin for you. Hufflepuff is out of the question too. Let’s see, you have your wits, we could put you in Ravenclaw. Oh, but a lot of loyalty and bravery too. I think you’ll do the best in GRYFFINDOR!”
People clapped and cheered around him as someone took the hat off his head. Shocked, Remus stood stock still until McGonagall gently pushed him off the stool. He stumbled his way over to the table bearing red and gold banners and sat down next to Lily. Someone reached over and patted him on the back, but he took no notice. Somewhere in the background, he heard Peter and James being sorted. Both of them joined him and Sirius on the Gryffindor table. The rest of the sorting passed by in a flash. Blinking, he felt Lily nudge him and point to the front.
An old wizened man had stepped up to the front. He had half moon glasses and silver hair that trailed down to his waist. A silver beard also glistened down his front. Remus tried to turn his attention to his speech, to little results. He caught catches of a tree called the Whomping Willow that was new to the grounds, something about fanged frisbees in corridors, and something about certain death. In no particular order. After the speech was done, mountains of food appeared on the dishes in the middle of the long tables. Roast beef, chicken drumsticks, perfect potatoes, just about anything. Remus even caught a glimpse of some eclairs on a dish down the table.
For the first time since that morning, Remus thought of his little sister. She would love Hogwarts. He smiled. She was right about him getting sorted into Gryffindor.
Lily gave him a weird look as she spooned green beans onto her plate. “What are you smiling about?” she asked.
“I need to send my sister a chocolate frog,” Remus murmured, the smile still lingering on his lips.