Hogwarts
1st September, 7 p.m, 1971, Hogsmead Station
When Remus and all the other first years arrived, they were herded to a very big man, at least 7 feet. He was pulling a chocolate frog out of his robes (they had very large pockets, he found) when he heard a voice he had not heard since 1968.
“Remus?!”
There she was. The girl in Cokeworth that made him take her chessboard before he moved back to wales. His best friend for the entire school year he was in Cokeworth. The girl obsessed with the Beatles.
“Lily! My God! What on earth are you doing here?!”
“It’s so great to see you, Rem! I’ve missed you so much!”
“Remus, mate, who’s this?”, James chimed in, before turning to Lily, “I’m James, by the way.”
“Pleasure.”, She said, looking at him a way that made it clear it was not a pleasure.
He heard James mutter ‘right, ok then’ before walking off to Peter and Sirius. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a boy with hair the same color and length as Sirius’ (But not nearly as good as Sirius’ hair) walking up to Lily and Remus.
“Lily, come on, I want to get a boat in the front”, He said, sneering at Remus.
“Ok, Sev, I was just catching up with my old Friend, Remus Lupin. Remus, Severus Snape”
“Nice to meet you, Severus.”
“As to you.”
“Remus! Come on! The boats aren’t going to fill themselves!”, Sirius called at him.
“Right, Lils, I’ve got to go. Let’s hope we’re in the same house!”, Remus said as he walked towards the boys.
There were a bunch of boats, two to a seat. James and Sirius sat together and Peter and Remus climbed into a boat together. Once everyone was seated, the big man got in his boat and with a clap, the boats all moved forward. Almost as soon as they started going, it starting pouring rain. They were on the water for only a few minutes when they saw it: Hogwarts.
It was breathtaking. Remus had never seen anything so beautiful. His father was right; Hogwarts was a castle. When Remus had first heard that, he waved it off as a bit of bluff to make Remus more excited. But no, it was a castle. There were towers and buildings and hills and mountains that surrounded it.
“Crikey”, He heard Peter whisper to himself. They arrived at the boat house to an old witch wearing dark green robes with a price of parchment.
“Welcome to Hogwarts! I am Professor McGonagall, deputy headmistress, transfiguration professor, and head of the Gryffindor house. There are four houses here at Hogwarts. While you are here, your housemates will be like your family. You will eat with them, have class with them, and share your common room with them. The houses are Gryffindor, the house of the brave and loyal, Ravenclaw, the house of the intelligent and creative, Hufflepuff, house of the good-hearted and kind, and Slytherin, the house of the cunning and ambitious. Now, please follow me to the great hall for the sorting. And make yourselves presentable; the entire is watching.”
Remus and the others all self-consciously looked down at themselves. McGonagall stopped and turned around to look at them as if they were slowing her down by fixing themselves. By the time they got to the doors, they were soaking wet from the rain. McGonagall looked at the soaking wet 11-year-olds and waved her wand at them. In a moment, Remus was dry.
They stepped inside of the hall to see hundreds of kids staring at them as they walked in. Remus found it very nerve-racking as he looked up to see the sky. It was still raining, but the water was getting to the students. It seemed to just stop a few feet above them before it disappeared. When they reached the front, McGonagall produced a worn, old, and beaten hat. Remus was confused, before the hat opened its mouth.
Remus was in shock as the hat started to sing a song for the school. It sang about the founding of Hogwarts and the founders and the houses and the classes and everything else about Hogwarts. If Remus was asked to recite that song, he couldn’t tell you the first word.
And then, McGonagall started calling names. Sandra Baker was up first and got sorted into Hufflepuff. Then, It was Sirius’ turn.
“Black, Sirius!”
There was some clear excitement at the Slytherin table when his name was called. Remus looked back to see two older girls, sisters by the looks of it and definitely related to Sirius, clapping and smiling at Sirius.
Remus guessed that Sirius would be sent to Slytherin right away, based on what he heard about the blacks. Instead, it took a turn with the decision.
“GRYFFINDOR”
Sirius paled. The hall was silent except for gasps. Professor McGonagall paused for a second before starting to clap. The kids slowly started to clap, the Gryffindor table of course clapping the loudest. McGonagall had started calling out names by the time Remus peeled his eyes away from watching Sirius stare at the empty plate in front of him, 3 kids had gotten sorted.
Lily was sorted into Gryffindor and was clearly very happy about that. There were faces blurred into faces. Remus’ anxiousness grew stronger and stronger as the second passed.
Finally, McGonagall had reached “L”. She cleared her throat before she called out, “Lupin, Remus!” He swallowed as James patted him on the back, urging him to go. He took a deep breath and stepped up to the stool and hat.