Wolfsbane | a Marauders story

One

September 1, 1971

The brown haired, green eyed girl stared out the window in awe at the passing green scenery. The sound of other students talking and laughing, excited for the new school year could be heard in the background as the young girl hummed to herself. The Hogwarts Express whizzed by vast lakes and forests. Suddenly, the compartment door slid open to reveal a fiery red headed girl and a pale looking boy.

The red head smiled at the girl that already occupied the compartment. "Is it okay if we sit with you, no one would take us in," the girl spoke as she began to giggle noticing she made her friend and her sound like they were strays.

After seeing the slight nod from the distant girl, the red head and pale boy sat down in the seats across from her. The red head watched as the young girl stared out the window with a blank look on her face, remaining quiet. "I'm Lily Evans and this is Severus Snape," the red head introduced herself and her best friend.

The young girl snapped her head away from the window and stared at the pair of friends. The girl spoke softly, "I'm Bexley Valentine." With that, Bexley turned back to look out the window.

"So, are you a first year?" Lily questioned, trying to figure Bexley out.

Bexley turned back to Lily and nodded, "yes I am, I am quite excited." Bexley almost sounded confused when she said she was excited, like she didn't know what the emotion quite was.

Lily went on to talk about how overwhelmed she was for her first year at Hogwarts. Bexley seemed to relax as Lily seemed to share every ounce of emotion in her tiny body. Severus would talk occasionally but mostly kept to himself. By the end of the trip, Bexley had warmed up to Lily and the two then knew they would be good friends.

Lily and Bexley bounded off the train arm in arm with Severus creeping behind them. The girls walked towards the giant of a man with a deep voice. "First years, this way," the man, who the girls eventually discovered to be Hagrid, bellowed.

After walking for quite some time and then rowing their way to the ginormous castle, Bexley felt her nerves coming out. The girl took deep breaths and rubbed her left arm with her shaking right hand. "Are you okay?" a low voice whispered to her.

Bexley turned her head to look at the speaker and met the eyes of a young boy with glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose and messy black hair. Bexley sighed and nodded her head, "I'm just," she began looking at three other boys that were looking at her now, "nervous is all."

The boy shot her a reassuring smile. "I'm James Potter," the boy introduced, sticking out his hand.

Bexley looked down at the boy's hand and shook it with a smile on her face, "Bexley Valentine."

James nodded and noticed his friends leaning in trying to listen to the conversation. "Sorry, these are my nosy friends." James points at a very handsome boy with dark features, "that is Sirius Black." Next is a kind looking boy with soft brown eyes and scars on his face, "Remus Lupin." Last was a chubby kid that shyly looked at Bexley. "And that is Peter Pettigrew," James concluded with a nod.

Bexley waved at the three boys. "Hello, I'm Bexley Valentine," Bexley spoke her eyes sweeping over all the boys' features.

"Valentine you said?" Sirius asked with Bexley nodding in response. "Your family is quite popular," Sirius commented with raised eyebrows.

Bexley rolled her eyes, "well I'm not exactly like my family."

"Me neither," Sirius mumbled as he stared down at his hands.

Bexley was about to rant about her unlikeable family when an older woman walked in front of all the first years. Bexley zoned out as the woman talked and began to think about her family. If she didn't get into Slytherin, she might as well not go home.

Of course her family did love her but they were very strict people. Bexley got all the love she needed from her family as a child and they never laid a hand on her, but she could never feel like she fit in and she felt as though her family secreted hated her for it. Well, it wasn't so secret as someone would always say something hurtful to Bexley.

Bexley felt a tug on her arm, knocking her out of her daze. Bexley looked up to see all the first years walking through large wooden doors. Lily dragged Bexley through them and the scene that laid before them made both girls gasp.

There were so many children at four different tables, the ceiling looked like the night sky, candles were floating, there was a table full of professors and the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore sat looking around at all the students. Bexley finally spotted a wood stool and placed upon it was an old, tattered hat. Bexley had heard of the sorting hat so often throughout the years, that hat was going to determine her home life from now on.

Names were called, kids were sorted, houses cheered, and Bexley grew more and more anxious. Lily and all four of the boys she had met moments earlier were all sorted into Gryffindor but Severus was sorted into Slytherin. Bexley was the one of the last names to be called, she gulped and glanced over at Lily who gave her a thumbs up. 

Bexley took her time getting to the stool. The girl took one more shaky breath before the hat was plopped onto her head. Bexley jumped at the sound of the voice that emitted from the hat. "Well well well, another Valentine. You are much different than your family aren't you? You are. Hmm. You are brilliant, you have a bright future ahead of you. Maybe Ravenclaw. But that's not right, you seem brave. You are full of determination. GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted causing the entire Gryffindor team to erupt in cheers.

Bexley felt a wide grin appear on her face as she made her way over to Lily. Lily pulled Bexley into a hug, squealing. Lily let go of Bexley and they both sat down quickly as the last names were called.

Bexley felt someone staring at her and looked up to see the soft brown eyes of Remus. Remus blushed and Bexley smiled at him. "Good to have you in this wonderful house, Valentine," Sirius commented throwing his arm over Bexley's shoulders. Bexley looked at the handsome boy as he just smirked at her. Maybe Gryffindor wouldn't be so bad after all.