chapter 5
01 09 1987
Professor McGonagall met the first years at the other side of the lake and ushered them out of their boats. “First years, follow me.” She commanded and led the children up to the main entrance. Professor McGonagall was pleased to note that Kinsley had found herself with a group of friends already, and a small worry was lifted from her shoulders.
Kinsley had never had trouble making friends before, but parents always worried.
The next worry Minerva had was what house Kinsley would find herself in.
All of the Hogwarts staff had a bet going, and the prize was up to 200 galleons.
Minerva herself suspected Kinsley would be a lion. She was fiercely protective of those she loved, unafraid to stand up to people even years older than herself, and sometimes (lots of the time) a bit reckless and daring.
However, Minerva was not certain, because there certainly was a lot stacked against her.
Severus betted for Slytherin, based on Kinsleys cunning and ambition. Her ability to talk or lie herself out of situations flawlessly only furthered his argument.
Poppy was sure Kinsley was a Hufflepuff because she was such a kind and loyal being. Minerva and Severus ignored her for hours after she announced that theory, claiming ‘no child of theirs would ever be a Puff.’
Finally, Kinsley's thirst for knowledge and wit pointed her in Ravenclaw’s direction. Aurora, Charity, Albus, and Filius were all wagering Kinsley would end up in blue and bronze, something which both Severus and Minerva were worried about.
Kinsley, Sybill Trelawney, and Goldy all abstained from the bet, and their opinions on the matter were left unsaid.
“Please wait here.” Professor McGonagall commanded the first years, as the group finally arrived at the side entrance to the Great Hall. She walked in the doors to announce the arrival to all of the other students already gathered, leaving the first years to whisper away.
“I’m nervous,” Penelope admitted softly.
“Don’t be. The sorting only gives you a colour and a name, it doesn’t define you. And we’ll all still be friends with you no matter what the final result is.” Kinsley reassured her.
Penelope nodded, as well as the other kids surrounding them, all feeling a tiny bit better.
“What happens when you get sorted?” A weedy-looking boy asked. He was almost shaking, and Kinsley decided he was an easy victim for the prank she’d been longing to pull.
“Oh, it’s nothing much.” She told him in a soothing voice. “They send you up against a dragon, and the house you go to depends on how well you do. Kill it, you’re in Gryffindor. Fight it off, Ravenclaw. If you get particularly scorched, they just send you home. No point in teaching a burned-up wizard.”
The boy’s eyes dramatically widened, and he let out a whimper. Indie and Penelope turned to lock eyes with Kinsley in fear, but she shook her head at them minutely and smirked.
Professor McGonagall reappeared through the doors and halted any kind of response that the boy may have given
“Once I call your name, please enter through these here doors promptly. We’ll begin with… Jeremy Abbot.”
The shaking boy let out another fearful whimper and shuffled forward, throwing a final terrified look over his shoulder before disappearing through the doors.
Kinsey, Oliver, and Bodie all burst out with laughter, while Percy, Penelope, and Indie gave them reproachful but sort of humorous glances.
“Hufflepuff!” They heard a voice declare, and then a round of applause followed.
“I could’ve guessed that easily,” Kinsley complained.
“You reckon?” Bodie asked her slyly. Kinsley nodded, catching his drift.
“Declan Bell.” Professor McGonagall called next, and a tall brunette stepped forward.
Bodie and Kinsley sized him up as he walked confidently through the doors, and both said “Gryffindor,” at the same time.
“Gryffindor!” Roared the voice from inside the Great Hall, and Penelope, catching on to the game that had started, began scoring. “One all.”
Nathan Blackwood was called next, a split choice with Bodie betting on Ravenclaw and Kinsley opting for Slytherin.
Nathan joined the green and silver house, much to Bodie’s dismay, giving Kins a one-point lead.
Indie Campbell was the next victim/student chosen, and she flashed a nervous smile toward her group before entering the Great Hall.
“Hufflepuff.” Kinsley guessed. “Ravenclaw.” Bodie countered.
“Ravenclaw!” Came the voice from inside the Hall, and the scores were tied.
Their trusty scorer, Penelope Clearwater, was called up next, and Ravenclaw was the unanimous guess. It seemed the voice from the Great Hall agreed, and the score became three all.
When Bodie King was called, the scores were tied at six all, and the pair realised they wouldn’t be able to bet any longer. “Whoever guesses me right, wins.” Bodie decided. “Just for this year, though. Next year we’ll go again.”
Kinsley looked him up and down and decided on Gryffindor. Bodie grinned, turned on his heel, and pranced through the doors, calling out “Ravenclaw!” over his shoulder. Surely enough, the voice sorted Bodie in with the Eagles, and Kinsley stomped her foot in dismay.
“It’s ok.” Percy reassured her, “You can rematch next year, and get him back.”
“That’s right.” Kinsley nodded. “And next year, I better bloody win.”
“Kinsley McGonagall.” Professor McGonagall called out, a couple of minutes later.
Kinsley gave Percy and Oliver a hug, and then made her way excitedly through the doors. She didn’t exactly know where she was going, but she knew that no matter her house she’d have support from the older year levels she was already friends with, and from the Professors.
She smiled nervously at her Mum and sat on the wooden stool, looking out at all the students in the Great Hall as the musty old Sorting Hat was placed upon her head.
Sorry, Jeremy! Not a dragon, just a plain old hat!’
Kinsley found Bodie, sitting right next to Penelope and Indie, and locked eyes with him.
“Gryffindor.” She mouthed. “Slytherin.” He countered.
‘Well, you’re a tricky one,’ The Sorting Hat sounded from inside Kinsley's head.
‘Just get on with it. I don’t have all day,’ Kinsley thought back.
‘Ok, ok. Wow, plenty of spunk. Quite daring, I see. Courageous, yes, but alsoCunning?’
‘Make up your mind. I don’t have all day.’ Kinsley didn’t want to faff around, she just wanted her house.
‘Okay fine. I suppose I’ll have to go with
“Gryffindor!”
Minerva grinned proudly at Kinsley as she took the hat off her head and gestured for her to join the cheering table of red and gold. Kinsley smiled back, before locking eyes with a sour-faced Severus and poking her tongue out. He rolled his eyes.
Kinsley walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat herself next to a familiar redhead who was perched close to the end.
“Hey, Charlie! Happy I made it in with the red and gold?”
Charlie grinned at her and patted her on the head condescendingly.
“Of course Kinsley. Good job. That dragon you fought was really something, huh.”
Kinsley laughed. “I told that to one of the kids. Dumb Puff fell straight for it.”
“I know. You spoke really loud and the door was already open. Everyone heard it.” Charlie gestured around at the rest of the table, lots of whom were nodding.
“Good one, Kins.” Called yet another redhead from way down the table. Bill Weasley grinned at her, his shiny Head Boy badge glinting on his chest.
“Cute jewellery,” Kinsley grinned, looking at the badge.
Bill beamed. “It’ll be you, one day, Kins.”
Kinsley smiled back at him, it had better be her one day.
Kinsley had first met Charlie during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, where Professor Kettleburn was taking the kids to look at wild horses. Kins had begged and begged until he agreed for her to come along, and he’d finally agreed after asking a trustworthy student to keep an eye on her. Said ‘trustworthy’ student was too engrossed with watching the animals to notice when little nine-year-old Kinsley started to creep away, but he realised pretty quickly when she set off running through the forest. Charlie Weasley didn’t realise nine-year-olds could run so fast, but he eventually got close enough to wrap his arms around her torso and stop her.
“I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you, silly. Are you trying to get me in trouble?”
“No.” Kinsley giggled innocently. “But look!” And she pointed in front of them.
Two gorgeous unicorns pranced out and shook their manes, white coats glimmering beautifully in the sun.
“Wow!” Charlie said, rapt.
“Better than horses, huh.”
“Much,” Charlie replied. “How did you know about them?”
“I come running through here all the time. They seek me out, now. The shorter one’s Silky and the bigger one’s Pixie. I’m pretty sure Pixie is Silky’s Mum. “
“Hi, Pixie.” Charlie whispered, approaching the unicorn slowly. He reached out to pat her gently.
After watching Charlie awe over the unicorns for a couple of minutes, Kins decided she needed to intervene.
“We better get back Charlie, before he realises we’re gone.”
“Oh yeah.” Charlie looked up startled. “Can you take me back here some other time though? Please?”
“Of course. And hey, I know about more than just unicorns in this forest. I can show you some other cool animals if you want?”
“I’d love that.” Charlie grinned. And together they ran back to join the class.
Kinsley smiled to herself at the memory and smiled again when she remembered the day Charlie had dragged his older brother Bill with them to see the centaurs. Kinsley was nine, Charlie was thirteen and Bill was fifteen, but Kinsley seemed to take charge in pulling the two boys through the ‘scary’ forest. Since then, she’d been friends with both Weasley brothers and was hoping that Percy would join their ranks.
She faced the front to watch the rest of the sorting, waiting for someone of import to take to the stage. The call of “Percy Weasley!” caught her attention, and the boy stumbled over to the stool looking half nervous and half proud. The hat took a couple of seconds to think, but Percy seemed to follow after his brothers and came to sit down at the Gryffindor table while cheers were still echoing around the hall.
“Hey, Perce!” Kinsley grinned. “Same house!”
“That’s right, Kins.” Percy smiled, and they focused their attention back on the stage as “Oliver Wood!” was called out. Oliver quickly joined the lions, and Kinsley was happy to note that her original group of six was evenly split in half, with Penelope, Indie, and Bodie donning blue and bronze, and Oliver, Percy, and herself in the red and gold.
The final person, Autumn Zaphri, was sorted into Slytherin, and Dumbledore stepped up to say a few words.
“Hello everyone, and either welcome back or welcome to Hogwarts. I’ve not got much to say, and I know you’re all starving, so please, tuck in.”
Food appeared on the plates in front of them, and everyone quickly dug into the meal.
Once the feast was finished, Prefects were asked to lead the first years to the dorms, and the Gryffindor first years followed quickly behind Stella Noel and Hayden Fortescue. There were only seven of them, four boys and three girls. Kinsley stuck close to Oliver and Percy, while the two other girls walked with their arms linked and the two other boys led the pack.
“Here’s the entrance to our common room,” Stella announced, pointing to a painting of a fat lady with perfectly coiffed hair holding a wine glass. “The password changed each week, so make sure you keep on top of that. This week's password is ‘Giant Squid.”
The portrait swung open and opened up into a huge room laden with couches, benches, tables, and chairs, all with some kind of gold or red on them. Kinsley grinned around at the familiar sight, remembering one night in particular that was spent up in the tower.
Her first swear word was said amidst raucous laughter in the Gryffindor Common Room, where Kinsley was perched on the lap of one Sirius Black. It was the day before his graduation, and Sirius was determined to teach her to swear as his Graduation present to Minerva. “Fuck.” He said to Kinsley, their foreheads almost touching.
“F-fuck.” She giggled back, and the common room erupted into laughter
“Sirius.” Lily reprimanded, but she was bordering on laughter herself and no one took her seriously.
“Ooh! Ooh!” Marlene was bouncing on the edge of her seat, curls flying everywhere as she held up her hand like she was answering a teacher's question. “Teach her to say cunt!”
“Marlene.” Lily looked at the girl in shock.
“Cunt!” Kinsley exclaimed, and everyone except the annoyed redhead laughed harder.
“It’s really not that funny.” Lily hit James on the leg when he started rolling around on the floor.
“S-sorry, L-L-Lils,” James was gasping for air.
Kinsley rolled her eyes at the memory and hugged Oliver and Percy goodbye before being led up to her new dorm with the other two girls. Stella left them to make friends with a short “Be up by seven tomorrow!”, and then she went back downstairs.
“I’m Kinsley. Call me Kins.” Kinsley smiled at the two other girls.
One was tall, with perfect curls and piercing blue eyes. The other was brunette and tan, was that a full face of makeup?
“Emmerson.” Said the curly-haired girl, smiling tightly.
“Brinley. Pleasure.” The brunette said, turning around to face her trunk.
Kinsley was taken aback by their attitude toward her, but remembered seeing their jealous faces when she hugged Percy and Oliver goodbye, and shrugged it off. Oh well.
Kinsley put on her pajamas, which consisted of a huge t-shirt from James Potter and some sleep shorts she found lying around somewhere. The t-shirt read ‘Sleekeasy Hair’, advertising James’ Dad’s business, and Kinsley loved it purely because all she had to do was think and it would change colour to suit her thoughts. That night, it was red and gold for Gryffindor.
James Potter had been the first one to ever get Kinsley on a broom (don’t tell Minerva) and had started Kins’ obsession with Quidditch. For their sixth and seventh years, the Marauders and the girls who were friends with them took Kinsley on their adventures as often as they could, sparking Kinsley's talent for talking herself out of trouble. When Kinsley fell off her broom (keep in mind she was only two) and broke her arm, James and Sirius Black had to completely bullshit to Poppy about the incident, and Kinsley was awed when Poppy let them off with only a “be more careful next time boys. Watch Kinsley on those bloody stairs.”
Sadly, the Marauders and co had all fallen apart during the war. Marlene, Peter, James, and Lily had all died, Sirius was arrested, Frank and Alice were mindfucked, and Remus and Mary had dropped off the grid. Kinsley's heart broke when she thought of how the group had ended up, but she was glad she at least had some keepsakes from a time when their lives were better.
Kinsley drifted off to sleep, listening to the two other girls whisper to each other from across the room and hoping that the next day would turn out alright.