Crime of the Century | Remus Lupin (o.h)

Chapter Three

Estrella Quinn soon joined her table of Gryffindors, Bridget still sticking to her side and gushing about Sirius Black the entire way. She was left drumming her finger impatiently against the wooden tabletop while Bridget had moved onto a very detailed account of Sirius' defined cheekbones.

The Sorting Ceremony was always something Estrella looked forward to every year, every year it was never the same and the constant change and chaos were what Estrella strived off, that same model had after all shaped her entire life.

Through her own Sorting Ceremony, six years ago, Estrella still didn't quite understand how she had ended up in Gryffindor.

The Sorting Hat had been pretty certain that she was going to end up in Ravenclaw from what Estrella assumed where her street smarts but such an announcement never came. Instead, it was Gryffindor where she ended up but even then she could never complain, she had always felt at home amongst her fellow lions, and was always ready to welcome new people into the house.

Meanwhile, as the girl busied herself with the irregular beat of her fingers on the table, a certain group of boys was looking down at the brunette questioning her sudden act of hostility towards them on the way to the castle. Even though none of them had ever had a conversation with Estrella Quinn but her mysterious persona had soon reached their ears anyway.

Of course, none of them were saints. They liked pulling pranks on plenty of students, including the occasional bullying of certain students when it had gotten too out of hand but Estrella had never become a victim of either.

"Maybe she's just the first girl in the castle to hate your guts, Padfoot." James Potter teased.

"Yeah, sure." Sirius Black scoffed in return.

"Now that I think about it, you two like weirdly alike." Remus Lupin said, observant as always.

"Long lost sister, then?" James teased, grinning in Sirius' direction.

"I wasn't saying that." Remus rushed to correct himself.

"No, it's fine, Moony," Sirius said, his gaze resting on the brunette, who was looking up towards the teacher's table in anticipation of the ceremony ahead.

Estrella clapped her hands as the Sorting Hat was presented and started to sing. Bridget had finally stopped the descriptive account of Sirius' best features and had resulted in staring in his direction instead.

"You know I'm really starting to think you ruined my chances, Estrella," Bridget whined, as the hat continued to sing in the background.

"Your chances?"

"Yeah with Sirius. He's just glaring over here at you."

Estrella looked over Bridget's shoulder to the Black that was clearly staring in their direction with a strange look on his face.

"Maybe, he's staring at you, Bridget."

"Yeah, I wish." Bridget scoffed.

Estrella narrowed her eyes as the group of four boys at other end of the table, huddled together to have a conversation in the middle of the sorting. But such conversation clearly had something to do with either Estrella or Bridget as Peter Pettigrew kept looking over his shoulder towards them, despite Sirius Black's warning tone to stop.

Estrella was soon distracted from watching the sketchy conversation continuing in front of her as Bridget shook her arm vigorously, shaking her out of her daze. A new Gryffindor boy had just been sorted and applause had erupted around the room. Although it seemed as more and more people were sorted, the more people in the room stopped applauding in excitement but more in boredom. First, sorting then, food. That was how it always worked and even though Estrella loved the Sorting Ceremony she was more than ready to dig into the best food Hogwarts had to offer and after her summer holidays of eating anything she could find, she was ready to have a choice again.

Estrella collapsed onto her mattress, breathing a soft sigh of relief as the soft material of her sheets brushed against her skin. There were some things that never changed and her re-discovery of many things that people took for granted every day was something that delighted her every year.

She could still remember what it had been like on her first-ever night at Hogwarts. At that point, Estrella hadn't slept in a bed for many years and the almost claustrophobic comfort of her mattress had felt like it was drowning her for the longest time.

However, her solace was soon interrupting not by her other dormmates as she had been expecting but instead by Bridget, tears running down her face, ugly sniffs dragged the snot back up her nose. Bridget had always been an ugly crier but this truly took the cake.

"Geez, Bridget, what happened?"

The crying girl could only force a few words out between sobs but it didn't take long for Estrella to understand what Bridget roughly meant.

"He told me, that I didn't stand a chance!" Bridget cried. "What's the matter with me? Do I just not have the right body shape? It's the acne, isn't it? God, I'm hideous!" She continued to ramble between her continued sobs.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Estrella replied trying to calm her, bringing her over to sit on her bed, not caring about the increasing wetness of her shirt. "You are not hideous okay, you are beautiful! And if Sirius Black can't see that, he isn't worth a fraction of your time."

"You really think that?"

"Of course, Bridget. And don't worry about him or any of those boys coming to bother you ever again. I'll manage them." Estrella replied with a small smirk, looking over to the small locked cabinet beside her bed.