Chapter 4
Caleb was truly happy for his sister; their parents would be okay with Ravenclaw as a house sorting. Yes, it wasn’t Slytherin, but Ravenclaw was still a very respectable house. His house though, was another story. He could still hear the faint whisper of his mother, claiming she didn’t care about his house, only that he would make her proud. He still couldn’t quite understand what that meant considering making his family proud literally rode on the fact that he ended up with the rest of the slimy gits in his family, over in Slytherin.
The hat took a very long time over Peter. But after a few long minutes, he was sorted into Gryffindor, and much more quickly so was James, who strode over to the table with a huge grin on his face.
“How great is that!” He addressed the four other boys, “We all made it!”
Sirius groaned, his head in his arms on the table.
“Speak for yourself,” He replied, slightly muffled, “My Father’s going to kill me.”
Caleb grunted in agreeance with his cousin, “So will mine.”
After a few moments and the sorting ceremony had finished, McGonagall walked over to them. He was sure she was about to say there had been a mistake and that he had to redo his sorting. But she just placed a bony hand on Remus’ shoulder.
“Mr. Lupin,” she said, quietly, but not so quietly that the other boys couldn’t hear, “If you would come to my office after dinner? It’s next to the Gryffindor common room, one of the prefects can show you.” Remus looked like he was going to be sick, but just nodded slowly, not saying anything, and was staring down at his empty plate.
“What was that about?” James asked, “McGonagall wants to see you already?” James didn’t seem to have much of a filter, he thought to himself as he watched Remus squirm, clearly uncomfortable with the questions.
But even Sirius had looked up now, curious. Remus shrugged, as if he didn’t care either way. Fortunately, for Remus the food had appeared, distracting everyone. And it really had ‘appeared’ – the previously empty places were suddenly sprawled out across the long table creating an actual feast. Golden roasted chickens, piles of crispy roast potatoes, plates of steaming carrots, peas swimming in butter, yorkies bigger than his head, and an enormous jug of rich dark gravy. Caleb felt his stomach grumble, and he dived into the food grabbing as much food as he could.
He paid very close attention as one of the Gryffindor prefects, who introduced himself as Frank Longbottom, led the first years to their common room in one of the towers. Caleb was in awe of the castle with its everchanging staircases, and portraits that yelled after them as they climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor tower. It felt weird to him, climbing the stairs when he thought for so many years he would end up in the dungeons. When they got to the common room Caleb raced up the stairs to choose his bunk, od course throwing himself down on the one closest to the window, his chest and robes suddenly appearing on the chair next to his bed.
After a few hours and a long shower, Caleb walked out of the bathroom to see Sirius was sitting on his bed, his trunk still packed.
“Cheer up, mate,” James said, going to sit next to him, “You didn’t want to be in Slytherin anyway, did you?”
“Five hundred years.” Sirius replied, stonily, “Every Black at Hogwarts has been sorted into Slytherin for five hundred years.” Caleb frowned hearing that fact thrown out like that, Sirius was acting as if he was the only one who had those expectations.
“Mate I was sorted here too. You won’t get all the heat.” Caleb said, shrugging his shoulders moving the towel to dry his wet hair.
“Yeah mate, we are happy to have you here. Its about time someone has tried to be different!” James slapped him on the back jovially. After sighing heavily, Sirius had finally started to unpack, pulling book after book out of his trunk. The ones that didn’t fit on his shelf he stacked beside his bed. James stared, having just finished pinning a poster next to his own bed. It was a Quidditch poster.
“You must have taken your dads whole collection with you!” Caleb snorted at the sight of his cousins tower of books, before James piped in, “You know,” James said to Sirius, still stacking books, “There is a library here.”
Sirius smirked at that,
“I know, but these are mostly muggle books. Uncle Alphard left them to me, and mum would set them all on fire if I left them at home.” Caleb snorted outwardly at that one, “Good riddance too, you’re the biggest twot I know, mate.” Sirius rolled his eyes, and Caleb had to dunk in order not to be hit by the pillow flying directly at his head, “up yours!”
After Sirius finished his fit of laughter, he was lifting an actual record player out of his trunk, followed by a box of brand-new looking records in shining bright sleeves. He noticed Lupin had gone over to look straight away, and he shrugged climbing into bed and watched them quietly.
“Is that Abbey Road?!” Remus had asked, peering into the box of vinyl.
“Yeah,” Sirius grinned, handing it to him. Remus had wiped his hands carefully on his robes before taking it from him, handling it extremely carefully. “You must be muggle born.” Sirius said, “Never met a wizard who knows the Beatles – except my cousin, Andromeda. She bought them for me.”
Remus nodded, forgetting himself for a moment,
“I love The Beatles, one of the boys in my room at home’s got at least ten singles, but he never lets me touch them.”
“Boys at home?” Sirius arched an eyebrow.
“You mean your brother?” Caleb offered out, also confused at what boys at home could mean if not that.
“No,” Remus shook his head, handing back the record and shrinking away, “I live in a children’s home.”
“Like an orphanage?” Peter asked, wide-eyed. Caleb could see irritation flooding over Remus’ features. He did seem to get angry quickly.
“No.” He spat.
Caleb’s eyes glanced over to his bruised eye again, examining it. Was that where he had gotten the bruise? The orphanage he lived in. He couldn’t imagine not having a family, suddenly feeling very sorry for the young boy.
Eventually Potter and Black started up a conversation about quidditch, which soon became a very heated argument, that Caleb somehow managed to get himself involved in. After Remus had closed the curtains around his bed, they all went quiet.
“You’d think he’d try harder to make friends,” Peter whispered loudly to the other boys. “Especially if he’s muggle born.” Caleb frowned at that comment, “Are you sure the hat wasn’t supposed to put you in Slytherin?” Sirius drawled. Peter was quiet after that.
After a little while, and a couple games of exploding snap with James, Caleb decided it was time to go to bed himself, drawing the curtains and laying very still staring at the ceiling. Although his intentions were pure, he didn’t end up getting to sleep until long after all the other boys were sleeping away, his thoughts filled with what was going to happen next, and if he even did have a family left to go home too or if they’d just cut him off completely.