There's always been four of them : James, Barty, Marlene and Peter
They've known each other since they were born, all of their moms were best friends as they also were.
Until one day they weren't anymore.
You see, four is a good number, great even, no one was ever alone because they could always be separated in groups of two, or just all be in four different groups. But to they would much rather be all together.
Let me give you an example.
Marlene and Peter love gardening a lot with James's mother, Effie, but James and Barty liked more by far staying inside drawing with Peter's father.
But they all loved listening and discovering new music withe Marlene's parents.
So eventually they turned eleven, it was time for them to go to Hogwarts.
It was something they always dreamed and talked about.
Their parents used to tell them all sorts of stories from their years spent at the school, leaving the kid wondering if their time there would be as magical as their parents'
They've always wanted to visit the big castle, with its ghosts, its dungeons, its secret rooms, it's moving staircases and its quidditch field.
- - -
They've kinda always known in which house they would end up, but they still had hope they'll be able to stay together for the seven years to come.
so when came the time of the sorting ceremony,they were all in a sort of frantic state where they were buzzing withe excitement.
Barty and James were holding hands,and Peter was holding Marlene's as always.
Barty was the first one of them to be called to the front.
He walked up to the Professor McGonagall, who put the sorting hat on his head, it didn't even hesitate a second before shouting the name of the house he always knew he would go to.
He went to sit at the table he now belonged to and waited for his friends to be sorted.
Marlene then got on the stool, and was sent out to Gryffindor, nothing surprising really, and then Peter was also sent to there with her.
Now came James, the last one of them to get sorted.
He sat on the stool, his back straight, looking directly at Barty with eyes that shinned like the sun under the lightning of the Great Hall.
He looked at Barty in a way only he knew, in a way he never looked at Peter or Marlene.
He looked at Barty as if he was the one lightning up the whole room.
With hope for them to be together for the years to come.
With hope for them to not be separated.
With hope for them to not be three against one.
What was supposedly a few minutes for everyone in the room, felt like the longest hours for the four friends.
But then the hat shouted the word they were all waiting for.
"GRYFFINDOR !"
Applauses all over the room, James let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding.
He smiled at Peter and Marlene and joined them. But never looked back at Barty.
He went to the table and sat next to a black haired boy, already sitting in front of Peter. Who, strangely enough, looked like one of the girls in the pictures hanging around James's house.
She apparently was a close friends of their parents, especially Euphemia, who always talked about her with such fondness for her.
You couldpratically think that she was in love...
Barty, was himself sitting next to someone who looked like this boy too, maybe a sibling. All he knew was that they were sorted before him. He felt as if he had met them before, but couldn't recall when exactly.
But then, it finally hit him.
He was alone.
His bestfriends were sent to another House, all together, except for him.
He was about to spend the next seven years in a boarding school, far away from his house, his parents, his garden, his own room, where he wouldn't be with his friends.
Something to know about Barty is that he is no extrovert. He doesn't like meeting new people. He was perfectly fine with staying with the same friends all the time. Two of which are the biggest extroverts he's ever known and that meant the only new people he met was through them.
But now he couldn't rely on them anymore.
- - -
When dinner finally ended and they were escorted to their, now, new dorm, Barty found a chance to go and see his friends.
While everyone was moving around the Great Hall he made his way to the group of young Gryffindors.
When finally spotted James's curls in the crowd he approached them and reached for his arm.
When James turned around and looked at him, he realised that his friend was on the verge of crying with tears building up behind his round glasses already.
"Bee ! You're here, I was looking for you ! I'm so sorry you're not with us", the browned hair boy told him, trying to not let the other hear his voice cracking.
"Dont worry Jem ! We're gonna be alright !", Barty tried to sound optimistic but James could sence the doubt behind his words and see it in his eyes.