BLACK MAGIC ➳ FRED WEASLEY

one

every young witch or wizard anticipates their sorting. jenna black was no different.

when remus, her dad, took her to king's cross to board the hogwarts express, she gave four different excuses as to why she couldn't go.

"i don't want to go."

"why?"

"i'm feeling ill."

"it's just nerves, and madam pomfrey will take care of you if you're really ill."

"but what if i miss you too much?"

"i'll write you everyday!"

"what if the other kids don't like me?"

"you can't make them like you, but they shouldn't get to decide whether or not you like yourself. don't worry."

"but what if......no, i'm scared. i'm scared, dad. what if i get put in slytherin? or the people in my house really DON'T like me?" she started to tear up. "or what if i'm not good in any of my classes and all of my professors hate me and i fail and drop out and i won't know ANY magic and—"

"jenna." lupin said firmly, kneeling down to face her at eye level.

"it doesn't matter if you get put into slytherin or hufflepuff or even if they can't even sort you! you'll still be the most spectacular student there." he told the anxious eleven-year-old.

she smiled, though teary-eyed, and hugged him.

"i'm still nervous," she said with a small laugh as they pulled her trunk over to the train.

"well, of course you are! look who you've got for a dad."

they chuckled together for a moment, until the scarlet steam engine began to blast its horn.

"best get going then, jen," lupin said with a sort-of sigh, as he watched his daughter climb onto the train.

"have a good year! make friends!" he called to her retreating form.

as the train began to pull away from king's cross, jenna's tiny blond head popped up in the window, and she smiled and waved as the steam engine sped away from the station.

it took about half of the day for the hogwarts express to reach hogwarts, and over that time, jenna sat by herself in her compartment and contemplated all of the ways her first day could go wrong. by the time the train arrived at hogwarts, she was nervous again.

nervous when she left the train, nervous as she crossed the black lake, and nervous as professor mcgonagall led her, along with the rest of the first years to the entrance hall.

"now, i'll call your names one at a time. when your name is called, step up, sit down and i'll place the hat on your head. simple enough, yes?" said the professor promptly.

and so, she led them into the great hall, where they stood in a group behind the stool where the sorting hat rested. professor mcgonagall picked up her list of names.

"black, jenna!" she called.

she froze. her shoes seemed glued to the floor. mcgonagall called her name again.

jenna felt the small hand of another first year on her back as they pushed her forward. she stumbled up to the stool and sat down.

professor mcgonagall placed the sorting hat gently onto her head. it nestled onto her blond curls and said, "my, my...where do i put you?"

jenna frowned as the hat went on.

"plenty of brains in here, maybe ravenclaw, and enough kindness for hufflepuff...even the right qualities that one would look for in a slytherin, if you tried hard enough. but still i see bravery, and a desire to please....."

jenna gulped.

"so that'd put you in GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

her mouth fell open in an expression of surprise, whilst the students sitting at the gryffindor table erupted in applause and cheers of welcome.

they welcomed her with open arms, and she found herself sat between a red-headed sixth sixth year boy and a second year girl with piercing green eyes. the boy introduced himself as charlie, and he seemed nice enough, however the girl merely grunted when jenna sat down.

things were going okay so far.

she sat patiently through the rest of the sorting, and watched many other first years join the gryffindor table — a kind boy named lee jordan, who sat down right in front of her and introduced himself with such enthusiasm that he even surprised himself; two girls named katie bell and angelina johnson who sat beside the second year girl and talked over her to jenna so fervently about quidditch that she was nearly convinced to try out herself; a boy who's name jenna did not know who angered the ghost who sat in front of him so much that he moved from where he was sitting and came to introduce himself to jenna, and that is how she came to know sir nicholas, gryffindor's resident spirit.

the sorting was nearly over, as "valentine, victoria!" and "vega, joshua!" were sorted into ravenclaw and hufflepuff respectively. there were only a handful of first years left to sort.

"weasley, fred!" was called next. jenna looked up to see a red-headed boy run up enthusiastically and place the sorting hat onto his head. a few seconds later, it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

jenna applauded along with the rest of the table. the boy sat down in front of charlie, who sat on jenna's right.

moments later, the hat called out "GRYFFINDOR!" once again, and another boy sat down in front of jenna.

they seemed pretty nice. they were also identical, which jenna thought was cool. you don't see that everyday.

the sorting ended with a feast, and the gryffindor prefects led the first years up to gryffindor tower. according to a rather pompous fourth-year named percy, the password was "blacklight". she tried her best to remember it, but it seemed easy enough, so she didn't worry.

the gryffindor dormitory was just as she expected — abundances of maroon and gold in the walls and the carpet, to the squashy armchairs and oak tables surrounding the fire. large banners displaying gryffindor's crest hung from the walls.

she sat down in one of the squashy armchairs, and opened up one of her textbooks. transfiguration: year one by myranda beasley. it seemed easy enough.

before she knew it, an hour had passed, then two. there were only a few stragglers left in the common room, including the weasley brothers from earlier. when she looked up from her book, they beckoned her over to join them.

"charlie's telling us which teachers are bad and which ones aren't," fred (or was it george?) whispered, "thought you might be interested?"

jenna smiled and sat down with them. she thought she might like hogwarts, after all.

-

girls and gays this is so obnoxious and i would promise it gets good but it doesn't 

also no lupin and sirius aren't married or anything jenna is sirius's kid but let's pretend like we don't know that until the 6th chapter ok