FOR ALL WE KNOW, regulus black

2. sadie lupin gets sorted

"Honestly, I still don't understand why you're here." Remus says, as he walks Sadie to Professor McGonagall's office. His steps are steady, and he's focused on getting there as soon as possible.

"For the millionth time Remus, I have no idea!" His sister sighs, "Even mum doesn't know – and she wasn't happy about it, either."

Remus stops dead in his tracks, and that's how Sadie assumes they've reached their destination. The older starts knocking on one of the seemingly millions wooden doors. "Professor?"

The door swings open, revealing a cozy small office, lit by a fireplace in the back of the room. The air smells like old parchment, kind of like a library, and Sadie finds big comfort in that; her ex favorite teacher's office, Madame Chevalier, smelt exactly like that. She guesses that that could be the smell of magic everyone always talks about.

"Mister Lupin, you'd better be quick, the first years are almost here." The woman sitting at the table in the center of the room says, moving her wand in the direction of a jar, bringing it all the way under the siblings' noses. "Please, take a cookie."

Her big, doe-like eyes can be seen through her spectacles, and her dark hair are tied in a low chignon. Her firm manners, even in her kindness, make Sadie understand that she knows how to get respected by her students.

"Don't worry professor, I only have one question – Why is she here?" Remus says, pointing at her sister on his left side.

"Good evening professor McGonagall, I'm–"

"Miss Lupin, yes dear, I already know." She smiles, making the jar fly back to her table, only to take a cookie and dip it in her white cup – by the smell, Sadie assumes there's freshly brewed tea in there. "Your stay here is a private matter between professor Dumbledore and your former headmistress, madame Maxime."

"But there has to be a reason!" The younger girl replies, frustrated, "Why else would I do the first three years there, only to be transferred here?"

"I will not say more. Now, I believe it's time you follow me, Miss Lupin. You're going to partake the Sorting Ceremony." with a wave of wand, the now empty cup is turned into an old, dusty book. "And Mister Lupin, you're kindly requested to go to the Great Hall and find your table."

Professor McGonagall stands up and leads the way out of the office; with a wave of hand she closes the door behind them. Sadie has never seen wandless magic at such a close distance, and her astonished expression is the proof. Okay, maybe Hogwarts can be kind of cool – but it's still no Beauxbatons.

"Sorting Ceremony? Won't she simply be a Gryffindor like me?" Remus asks, putting his hands in the pockets of his worn out jeans.

"Remus, I can speak for myself!" Sadie replies, slightly annoyed. It's been all day that Remus thinks that their one year difference makes Sadie an absolutely helpless child. "But yeah, shouldn't I just go in his House?"

"Often siblings are in the same house, yes, but not always. You still need to be sorted like everyone else." The older woman answers, ignoring the siblings' banter and looking back at Sadie following behind. "Now dear, see that tall man? That is Hagrid, the guardian of this school. Please follow him as the first years are doing."

She nods, quickly catching up with the group of students.

The sorting ceremony is boring – there is no other words to describe it. Sadie keeps playing with her fingers, or her robe, or touching up her hair. Time does not seem to pass anyway.

"Sadie Lupin!" McGonagall's voice echoes through the Great Hall.

Finally. She sits on the chair, in front of everyone, as her eyes wander to find her brother in the crowd. There he is, sitting with the rest of his friends. The sorting hat is placed on her head delicately by Professor McGonagall, who lightly strokes her hair before walking away from the chair.

"Another Lupin, interesting." The hat starts murmuring, "And not a first year, even more interesting. You have a good heart, but you're ambitious and you'd never let anyone push you around. Slytherin!"

The great hall falls silent. Sadie freezes, and she feels like she can't move. Her fingers are gripping on the edge of the chair and it feels as if they were glued to it. Remus had always told her who Slytherins were: greedy, evil people who think purebloods are superior. She isn't even a pureblood! How could she go there?

"There must've been a mistake, how–"

"I don't ever make mistakes. Take your seat, now." The hat replies rolling its - kind of - eyes, obviously annoyed.

The hat is removed off her head, as Professor Mcgonagall guides her hand to a table in the left corner of the room. Sadie shakes the stiffness out of her body and walks down the stairs to join her new House. She scans the crowd again, specifically the Gryffindor table, just to see Remus getting up and going away from what seems to be an argument. Sirius is reaching his hand to stop him, but the taller just slaps it away and struts out of the Great Hall.

Sadie watches the whole scene, and is convinced to follow him, ask him what happened, when a high pitched voice stops her dead in her tracks.

"Hey! New girl!"

She turns around. A beautiful girl, probably around the same age as her, is staring. She moves her black, straight hair out of her face and keeps looking at her with piercing, dark eyes.

"Come sit here. You're Lupin's sister, right?" The girl asks, patting a spot next to her on the bench.

Sadie hesitantly takes the sit next to her. "Yeah, listen, I should really go check on–"

"Don't worry, whatever it is, he'll get over it! The marauders are all drama queens anyway." She snickers, "I'm Michelle Kang. What did the hat mean by 'not-a-first-year'?"

"Uh, I'm a... transfer? I'm supposed to be in the fourth year."

"Weird." Michelle said. "But makes sense, I guess. Since we're sharing the dorm."

"We're going to be roommates?" Sadie's eyebrows shot up in confusion. At Beauxbatons you didn't know your roommates until you entered the dorm for the first time. Each name
was written on the door it belonged to, and you were stuck with who you were stuck for the following seven years. She kind of assumed she'd either be with some random first years, or she'd have her own room.

"Yeah, that's what Slughorn said. He's the Head of Slytherin. That's him." She points to a chubby man, who keeps smiling fondly at every first year making their way at the Slytherin table.

"He seems nice." Sadie lightly smiles at the sight.

"Yeah, he is. Sometimes a bit too much, though."

The food suddenly appears on the table, meaning that the insufferable ceremony has finally ended. It had all been a blah-blah-blah of names going under the hat and then to their table – in one word, boring. Michelle starts filling up her plate with all kinds of goods, though Sadie isn't feeling as hungry. She is way too lost in her thoughts about her new house and Remus to even begin to care about anything else. Why did he run away? What happened at the Gryffindor's table?

"You need to eat Lupin," Michelle interrupts Sadie's train of thoughts by filling up her plate, too, "Take nothing for granted. When we're in the dorm tonight you'll miss this table, trust me."

Sadie smiles. Maybe not everyone in Slytherin is evil.