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A Crash of Thunder


It was raining by the time they reached Hogsmeade and the boys scrambled to get into one of the carts without getting completely soaked, Bubo shrieking from within her cage as they ran. Sirius sang boisterously, some silly little song whose lyrics didn’t make sense as the wheels of the carriage crunched and shook over the gravel road that led through the gates and trees to the front doors of Hogwarts castle.

“In the town where I was born
There lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the laaaand of submarines…
So we saiiiiled up to the sun
Til we found the sea of green
And we livvvved beneath the waves
In our yellllllow submarrrine!”

James stood, pointing out the window into the darkness, “FULL SPEED AHEAD MR. BOATSWAIN!” he shouted.

“Full speed it is, Sergeant!” Sirius laughed.

Peter and Remus shared looks of confusion.

Professor McGonagall met them at the foot of the steps with a great big umbrella and they ran to the castle door with her. “Thanks, Professor!” said Peter.

“You’re very welcome, Mr. Pettigrew,” she replied, hurrying back to assist the next carriage of students to the castle doors.

The warmth of the Great Hall was most welcoming compared to the chill of the wet night outside, and James flapped his robes about him as though to collect the heat in as they crossed the entrance hall. It smelled fantastic, the house elves cooking making all four boys mouths water as they bound over to the table of Gryffindors together. It was strangely quiet around the table, despite the fact that everyone there seemed to be in conversation, and it took James a moment to realize the reason why. It was because there was no shouting over the rest of the din from Bilius Weasley - something had become a bit of a standard for the table. Of course, Bilius and Derek wouldn’t have been there this year anyway - even if nothing had happened - but it still felt as though something had been ripped away… The missing seventh years was something that would take getting used to.

Frank Longbottom greeted them excitedly, “Hey you lot!” he said.

“Hey!” Sirius said, waving to Frank, “How was your summer?”

“Oh you know, it was alright. How was yours?”

Sirius grinned, “I have a better understanding of the phrase the dog days of summer.”

James choked on a laugh and Peter turned, grinning down at his seat, as Remus rolled his eyes.

Frank didn’t have time to respond, luckily, as Lily Evans sat down beside him, “What are you lot snickering about already?” she asked, “Can’t even last a ‘til the end of the feast before you start getting into it can you?”

James grinned at her, “We aren’t really getting into it - we never fully left it, did we?” He winked.

Remus injected, “It’s true, I’m fairly certain James and Sirius live in a perpetual stage of it.”

“Yeah that’s true,” Lily laughed. She turned to Frank, “How are you? How’s your mum?”

“She’s good,” Frank nodded.

“You know his mum?” James demanded in surprise, “Why do you know his mum? Are you lot going out?”

“Going out? What?” Lily asked as Frank’s face reddened. “No, you nosy thing. I bumped into Frank and his mum at Diagon Alley shopping for school, don’t be a prat. Mind your own business.”

James shrugged, “I was only curious.”

“Did she get the hat she was looking at?” Lily asked, turning back to Frank as though James hadn’t spoken.

“No,” Frank said, then he grinned, “But when she wasn’t looking I went back and ordered it for her to have it delivered tomorrow - I know she’ll be missing me, so I thought it might cheer her up to receive something nice by owl post.”

Lily smiled, “That’s so sweet. She’ll love it.”

Frank nodded.

“Did you lot see Meg Johnson from Ilvermorny’s moved here?” Sirius asked, bored with talk about Frank’s mum’s hat.

“Did she?” Lily said, “That’s brilliant. I know she wasn’t wanting to go back to Ilvermorny.”

“Yeah, well, she doesn’t have to. She’s going to be sorted tonight with the first years, whenever they make it in on their ickle little boats,” Sirius said with a wicked grin, “Assuming she isn’t soaked through, of course.”

“I wouldn’t fancy coming over on those little boats with the first years tonight, with all that dreadful rain!” Peter murmured, shivering at the very thought. “I’d probably have drowned if it rained when we did it in our first year.”

Sirius grinned wickedly, “I’m rather surprised you didn’t anyway, with how clumsy you are.”

“Well Hagrid had to catch me a couple times,” Peter admitted, pink around the cheeks.

At that very moment, Professor McGonagall entered from the adjacent room, followed by the crowd of First Years. It seemed a small crowd, considering how large the last one had been, and they were followed by Meg and Bran Johnson, who were, exactly as she had said, the tallest two in the little group.

McGonagall motioned for them all to stand before the other students and set down the three legged stool and upon it the ratty-tatty old hat with its wide brim and patches. She stepped back and there was a long pause from everyone in the Great Hall as they all stared at the hat, waiting.

Finally, the brim split open and the hat took a deep breath, and sang --

“Each year we hold this ceremony
Where I am placed upon your noggin
So I can search your mind and tell you
Which Hogwarts house you belong in…”

Sirius turned to James, “Oi, four eyes. Which house do you reckon Meg’s gonna be in?” he whispered thickly.

“Shhhh!” Lily hissed, waving her hand at the sorting hat, who was still going on about house unity or something, but Sirius waved her off, annoyed, and looked at James.

“Dunno,” James whispered back, “I still don’t have a firm grasp on what the Ilvermorny houses were like other than the Horned Serpent bloke seemed to be a bit prejudiced. But then most of the Americans did, except for Meg.”

“SHHH.” Lily jabbed James with her fork.

“Shh yourself,” James said, rubbing where the fork had poked him. “You’re making just as much noise shushing me as I am actually doing the ruddy talking.”

Lily glared at him, “You are being incredibly rude, not listening to the hat’s song. He only gets to come out once a year and you’re ruining it.”

“You’re talking, too,” James said hotly.

“Only to stop you from it!”

“But regardless, Love, somebody is talking.”

“So stop talking then,” she growled.

James laughed, “You stop.”

She hummphhed and crossed her arms over her chest, turning to look up at the hat again, but it had just finished it’s song and everyone was clapping for it’s performance as McGonagall walked to the front of the crowd and shouted out the first name on her parchment.

One by one the first years crawled up onto the stool and one by one the Sorting Hat was dropped over their heads, slipping over their brows, and shouting out houses. Each time a firsty was declared a Gryffindor, the whole table would explode with cheers and Sirius did his best to replace Bilius Weasley as the loudest among them, hooting and hollering and jumping up on his bench, nearly toppling over at one point, only to have his robes caught by James and Peter.

The first years hastened to sit at the table beside the eagerly waving prefect - a sixth year named Bosley Vance. “He’ll never be the prefect Bilius was,” murmured James, looking over.

“Nobody could be the prefect Bilius was. Blimey, Bilius wasn’t even the prefect Bilius was,” Sirius grinned, “Remember all those files we found? Offender, Bilius Weasley?”

James snickered.

“Bosley looked like he’s the sort of bloke that’s never broken a rule in his life. Look at him!”

“Black, Regulus!” McGonagall’s voice echoed over the hall and Sirius’s head snapped ‘round to look. The Gryffindors fell silent and several of them glanced at Sirius as the small frame of his brother moved up the steps to the little stool and the sorting hat.

Frank leaned over, “Is he related to you?” he asked Sirius.

“Yeah,” Sirius said, “He’s my brother.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother!” Frank said in surprise. “You’ve never mentioned --”

“We aren’t really close,” Sirius said numbly, staring up at the front of the Great Hall as McGonagall dropped the hat onto Regulus’s brow.

Though he would never have admitted it to anyone, Sirius felt a great yearning in his chest. More than anything else in the entire world, he wanted to hear that hat shout Gryffindor. He’d never wanted it more - except, perhaps, when it had been he, himself, under its brim. He held his breath, his heart seeming to slow down to a near halt as he closed his eyes, sending up a plea to every god he could think of. For a moment, he imagined Regulus in Gryffindor… imagined them getting along, imagined showing him the ins and outs of getting ‘round Hogwarts, Regulus joining their little gang… He imagined having a real family again, even if it was just him and Regulus.

There was an outrageously loud crash of thunder that seemed to shake the entire Great Hall and overhead the magical ceiling flashed with a streak of lightning so realistic that half the Hall ducked below their tables. “Bloody hell!” Sirius shouted, so loud that it echoed nearly as loud as the thunder. Several Ravenclaws laughed from the next table over.

“You alright mate?” Remus asked with a grin.

“Yeah, yes, yes I’m fine,” Sirius nodded, “Just fine…” He dodged to look around Peter’s laughing face, not wanting to miss where the hat sorted Regulus.

“So there’s no chocolate frogs leaping about in your knickers then?” James snickered.

“SLYTHERIN!”

The boys all looked up quickly to see Regulus pulling the hat off and rushing over to the cheering, waving Slytherins, taking a seat beside Severus Snape. And, just like that, everything Sirius had imagined was gone.

This time, he did not clap. Nor even politely. Neither did James. “It’s alright mate,” James murmured.

Sirius nodded, “Yeah, no, I know. I’m fine. Weird weather, huh? Yeah, no, I knew the little prat was going to Slytherin. It’s where he belongs.”

James still squeezed his friend’s knee.

“I can’t believe we were that small,” whispered Lily to Remus, leaning over as the clapped for Kendrick Clearwater, who was sorted Hufflepuff.

“Nor can I,” Remus answered with a laugh.

“It doesn’t seem that long ago,” Lily said, “But at the same time, it seems like ages, you know?”

“I know,” Remus agreed.

“Look at them!” Lily pointed as Lana Coldman climbed onto the stool, “We tried to take on the Dark Lord when we looked like that. No wonder he laughed at us!”

Remus smiled, “But we made it out, didn’t we? I’ll bet not one of those kids could do what we did.”

“Maybe that one,” Lily said, nodding to a particularly small boy named Barty Crouch who’d just been sorted Slytherin.

“Well yeah, but he’s a Slytherin, none of them gotta worry about the Dark Lord anyway,” Remus said with a smirk.

When they’d finally worked their way through the whole motley collection of ickle little firsties, adding a fairly healthy group of them to Gryffindor, it was time for the Ilvermorny transfers and Professor McGonagall waved Bran Johnson forward. It was clear looking at Bran that he and Meg were not of the same blood. Bran was tall and dark-skinned with a square jaw and brown eyes that seemed to peer through to the soul of anyone he looked at. He walked up to the stool and sat easily upon it, clutching his wand over his knees as Professor McGonagall dropped the hat to his head. Bran took a deep breath and the sorting hat’s brim grinned widely.

There was a long pause, and Bran’s eyes were closed and his mouth barely moving as he spoke with the hat and everyone held their breath, and finally, the hat shouted, “RAVENCLAW!”

James clapped. “Bloody hell, I was hoping we’d get the Ilvermornys,” Sirius groaned, even as he clapped for Bran. “Damn.”

“Well there’s still Meg,” said Peter.

“Yeah, there’s still Meg,” said Remus.

Professor McGonagall waved Meg forward and she walked up, her frizzy red hair even more bushy and frazzled than usual from the rain and wind outside. She stood before the stool and she sat down and McGonagall raised the hat up over her head, and dropped it on her...

“GRYFFINDOR!!!!” The hat shouted and the sorting was complete.

The boys jumped up, like the rest of the Gryffindors ‘round the table, stomping and shouting and cheering for their newest member.