The littlest Marauder

Part 2

 "So how does this work" she asked as they exited the train and made their way to the carriages, "well basically" Sirius took her arm and James took the other, "they put a talking hat on your head and it makes the life changing decisions." She looked incredulously between the two of them and turned her head to look at Lupin who was a few paces behind them, "are they Serious" she asked wide eyed. "No just me" Sirius chuckled and Aoibhe had to wonder how many times that joke had been used before but judging by the chorus of grunts and groans she could tell it was more than once. "The absolute prat hanging off your arm is actually, miraculously telling the truth" Remus grimaced. She gave tried to give Sirius a harsh look but failed miserably and ended up giggling into his shoulder. "So tell me more about this hat" she inquired as they got closer to the carriage, jumping up first swiftly followed by the other four. Remus sat beside her again and the other three were facing her, Sirius opened his mouth and Aoibhe raised a hand to silence him. "Not a chance Black, if I trust anyone to give me the truth it's Remus", Sirius was about to argue but nodded to himself. "So" she turned to Remus her eyes wide and full of light, "what's with the hat" she was almost bouncing in her seat, "well basically Hogwarts is split into four houses, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. The hat sorts you into a particular house and that's where you stay for your school life" he told her simply and she nodded in understanding. "So you're all in what house, or are you all in different houses" she asked curiosity filling her. "We're all in Gryffindor" Remus told her and she nodded but became confused again, "how does the hat know where to put you?" "Well it judges you by your character, Gryffindors are brave, Slytherins are cunning, Ravenclaws are clever and Hufflepuffs are loyal" he explained, "though it's not always as simple as that." "Where do you think I'll be put?" she asked softly and the boys looked at each other in what looked like silent deliberation before they all pulled away. "Definitely Gryffindor" Peter piped up first and Aoibhe gave him a huge smile, "yeah I think we're all in agreement" James nodded. Aoibhe didn't say much else on the trip, she just looked around her in awe of her surroundings, while the others talked around her, not really caring about her lack of speech, she was quiet and she talked when she wanted to and they respected that.

The carriages pulled up at the castle gates and Aoibhe grabbed her things and hopped off ready to see her new home for the first time. "Are you excited" she squeaked a little when she felt Remus' warm breath hit the skin of her neck behind her ear, which in turn made him laugh, Aoibhe didn't think he could look more handsome but he managed to with relative ease, his smile was wide, a little dimple also appeared just across from the right hand side of his mouth and his eyes crinkled at the sides leaving her a little breathless. "Very, extremely... but" she looked a little worried and began to wring her hands, "if I'm not in Gryffindor, will I still see you... all of you" she asked quietly a little embarrassed and Remus was quick to motion to the others before pulling her into his long arms. "Of course we will, we'll make an extra effort to talk to you" she smiled into his chest and she marvelled at how tall he was, as she stood in his arms, he had to bend down so her head was in the crook of his neck. Without warning three more bodies were added to the mix and it got tighter. "What's worrying our little wren then" Sirius asked inquisitively and Aoibhe didn't ask she just gave him a bemused look and went with it. "She's worried we won't talk to her if she doesn't get put into Gryffindor" Remus explained highly amused with the entire situation. "Well if you're put in Slytherin we definitely won't" Sirius replied gravely and James and Remus both punched him on different shoulders at the same time. "Well that's bullshit" James cried out and all she could do was laugh at Sirius' scrunched up face as he tried to ignore the pain. Eventually they let her go and she smiled sweetly at them with tears in her eyes before pressing a kiss to each of their cheeks. "We should upset you more often" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows after she kissed him and then she proceeded to whack him on the back of the head, James blushed and stuttered out a thank you leaving her a little giggly. Peter blushed and mumbled you're welcome and Remus tried to keep his heart rate slow as her soft lips gently touched his cheek. She pulled away from Remus and smiled bashfully, before offering her arms to both Sirius and James who gladly took them. They skipped their way to the castle entrance where professor McGonagall stood waiting with her arms folded and the slightest smile lifting at the corner of her mouth. "Potter, Black I see you've met our newest student" she turned and smiled at Aoibhe, "welcome to Hogwarts Ms. Flood" she had a soothing though rather forceful voice. "I'm professor McGonagall, and though you are formally a 6th year you must be sorted with the first years" Aoibhe bit her lip; she was nervous but didn't want to show that. "Will you please come with me Ms. Flood" McGonagall turned and Aoibhe made to follow but not before Sirius caught her hand, "we'll see you later" he said and it most definitely sounded like a promise. She followed McGonagall and was met shortly after with a gaggle of first years, who looked as scared as Aoibhe felt. She would never blend in, though she was short, the first years were shorter and she gulped slightly, her mouth going dry. Professor McGonagall introduced herself but couldn't keep her eyes off the brunette who stood on her own at the back, she was very happy the young girl had made friends with Potter and his gang, she honestly couldn't think of better boys. Soon the doors were opened and the first years filed into the hall and Aoibhe followed in awe, she couldn't keep her eyes off the ceiling bewitched to show a clear night sky and the candles hovering below it. She looked around quickly and she found her nerves dissipating slightly as she saw the marauders smiling at her from what she assumed to be the Gryffindor table. She steeled herself and walked a little more confidently to where a chair and a rather grubby looking old hat lay waiting. The first years were called up one by one in alphabetical order, while shouts and hollers rang around the hall as they were sorted. Eventually the last first year was sorted, leaving Aoibhe on her own at the top of the hall as McGonagall rose to speak again, "we have one final lady to sort" and she smiled softly at Aoibhe before calling her name and the hall went quiet. She sat on the chair and as McGonagall placed the hat on her head she heard it speak. "You're older than the ones I usually deal with" it sneered and all she could do was whisper Gryffindor over and over in her head, "why Gryffindor?" it asked softly, "why indeed". There was silence for a moment until the hats voice boomed "GRYFFINDOR" and Aoibhe smiled brilliantly, before leaving the hat down and making her way to where Remus had left her a space. "You see I told you, you had nothing to worry about" he smiled and she threw her arms around his neck and held him close and he immediately wrapped his arms around her. "You are exceptionally clever Remus Lupin" she mumbled into his hair while he tried to ignore the fact that he had his face stuck in her tits. "He's really not" Sirius called and she let go of Remus who had at this stage turned a bright shade of red which of course did not go unnoticed by the other marauders as she sat down. "Welcome to Gryffindor" James smiled across the table and Sirius winked as Peter threw his arm around her and she laughed loudly. It was then an old man with crescent shaped glasses and a pearly white beard stood at the podium shaped like an owl and the entire room fell silent. "Welcome, welcome to a new year at Hogwarts" the man spoke and Aoibhe found the sound of his voice quite entertaining. "I have a few words to say and they are fronds, frans, gurdyroot and Capricorn" he then left the podium with an applause so great she thought the entire castle would shake. "Okay so it's not just you lot the entire place is mad, Sacre bleu!" she exclaimed looking quite puzzled and the others just laughed. Aoibhe was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to eat, all she had were two chocolate frogs Peter had given her on the train and she was sure the entire hall could hear her stomach. Just as she was about to complain the food appeared out of nowhere and she jumped slightly, looking slightly mystified at the food. "Ladies first" James pointed to the meal and Aoibhe wasted no time grabbing what she could and putting it on her plate. By the end of the sitting she had eaten too much and was feeling a little sickly after her extra helping of pumpkin pie. "Why did no one tell me to stop" she groaned and Remus chuckled "we wanted to see if you'd explode" she turned and whacked him on the arm, "hey I'm not Sirius, you can't hit me" he teased and Aoibhe rolled her eyes, "try me." Once everyone had eaten their fill it was time for them to head up to the common room. They left the hall and this time Aoibhe left it arm in arm with Remus, she made sure to move closer to the lanky boy than she had Sirius or James. "So where is the common room?" she smiled sleepily up at Remus "They're up these stairs and behind the portrait of the fat lady, the password is forte morale" he explained and she began to put the directions and instructions to heart. They climbed the stairs and found the fat lady in her portrait, "forte morale" James spoke forcefully and the portrait swung away to reveal an entrance. The room was painted a deep red colour and full of red couches with various coloured pillows and throws scattered around the room. A fire blazed in the black marble hearth and Aoibhe fell in love with the cosiness of it all, the room was warm and she was full of food so it was no surprise that sleepiness followed quickly. She yawned and stretched out before turning to the boys, "I'm going to go to bed goodnight" she yawned again and gave them each a hug before disappearing up the stairs labelled 6th year girls. She got to the top of them and to her surprise met a red headed girl standing at the very top of them. "Hi" she smiled and Aoibhe had to smile back it was too catching, "I'm Lilly Evans, you're Aoibhe Flood right" she smiled and Aoibhe nodded, "the one and only." "Great, I'm your new roommate so come in and meet the others" Lilly giggled and grabbed her hand pulling her towards the door. She entered the room and found four poster beds with red drapes surrounding them. In one bed a girl with high cheek bones, dark skin and ebony curls sat reading a muggle fashion magazine and another girl with mousey brown hair and a petite figure was putting away her stuff. "Ladies this is Aoibhe Flood, Aoibhe this is Marlene McKinnon and Alice Prewet" She said pointing to the girls respectively. Marlene stood and smiled brightly at Aoibhe before wrapping her in a hug, "It's nice to meet you" she pulled away and Alice just smiled and waved shyly at her. "These dorms are beautiful" Aoibhe glanced around and smiled when she saw Noire curled up on the empty bed. "I hope you don't mind" Lilly said quickly, "it's just that she sounded upset when we got up here so we let her out." "No that's fine" Aoibhe replied gratefully before she began to worry, "she didn't hurt any of you did she?" "No she was a perfect lady" Alice giggled and Aoibhe sighed in relief. The girls stayed up for hours and talked about various different things from muggle fashion to French boys and Aoibhe had to admit that she was happier here than she had ever been at beauxbatons and she fell asleep that night with a smile on her face.