Chapter 2
J. Finch Fletchley has just been sorted.
It didn’t go all that well, but he’s trying to remain optimistic.
When he got his letter, his mum and dad were ecstatic. His mum’s side of the family comes from a long line of Smarts, his dad’s Braves. He’s grown up knowing this day would come ever since his parents helped him pet the family owl with his little chubby toddler hands, from the moment his dad sat him in his lap and showed him just how a snitch worked on his 7th birthday. He’s a wizard. It’s his birthright.
So when he skips up to the big talking hat, he’s ready to be told that he’s joining the Smarts or the Braves, and there’s this big smile on his face as it covers his little head-
PUFF!
And people boo. And that’s not supposed to happen.
But J. Finch isn’t one to argue with the magic hat, not like Harry Potter, who does just that, and he went and stood with the other new Puffs, all big eyed.
And now they’re in the common room, all dressed in bright Puff yellow, and the color looks nice on him, and maybe this won’t be so bad! Everyone (except for that one girl over there in the corner with the scary eye makeup that J. Finch secretly feels like he could do better) seems just as nervous as he is, and so J. Finch does what J. Finch does best- he breaks the ice. His mum always tells him that there’s real backing behind faking it till you make it, so his smile is only half forced when he tells everyone they should introduce themselves.
He’s J. Finch, boyish and fun.
And how could that be bad?
And everyone says hi to him (again, except for that one emo chick) and that’s a relief, and they all go around introducing themselves. There’s Ernie Mac, who is basically the best, and a Mugborn named Oliver who just wants to learn, and there’s Leanne, who has nice dark brown hair and nicer socks and who has apparently never even left her cabin before. And then the scary girl says her name, and J. Finch shrieks, because of course he does, it’s Xavia Jones’s daughter, and he’s overheard his mum and dad talk about her enough times to know what that means.
But she’s a Puff.
Like he is.
And then there’s this voice from across the common room, one filled with genuine pride and joy and excitement, and J. Finch Fletchley turns towards it, and several things start to happen at once.
His name is Cedric- just a year older than them, but already the Prince of the Puffs, known for his humor and his kindness and cheeky wit and gentle guidance, and he’s right there in front of J. Finch, and he’s starstruck.
He welcomes them, and suddenly, suddenly J. Finch is 100% sure that being a Puff isn't so bad, because how could it be when someone like Cedric is in the house with him? His eyes twinkle in the lamplight at the sight of all of them, a little ragtag bunch, and then he tells them that the staircases move- and that’s a little scary, but even then he soothes them immediately.
There’s something about Cedric that Justin likes immediately. Maybe it’s his sweater vest. Either way, it’s hard to believe that this kid- this bright, intelligent looking, kind fellow student is just a year older than him.
J. Finch hangs onto every word he says.
And he warns them that they’re probably gonna get bullied, and maybe spelled to poop their pants- which is a shock- but there’s something so calm about the way he says it that puts him right at ease. Like it’s an inevitability, but not one that’s so scary.
Not one that Cedric himself hasn’t faced.
And then he tells them about the house cup, and how they have to at least get third, and maybe it’s because he’s a Puff, or because he’s naturally naive and trusting, or because he’s a child, but J. Finch immediately devotes himself to making sure that happens, if only to make this shining, golden boy in front of him proud.
Then, before he knows it, Cedric says he’s off to bed, and really, it has been such a long day, and if Cedric is going to bed, then so is J. Finch.
Justin tucks himself under a fluffy yellow duvet, surrounded by these strangers (but who is a stranger, really, but a friend you just haven’t made yet?) and dreams of cups and badgers and points and a smile so bright it makes the sun seem dull.