CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑠𝑖𝑥𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒.

Hollis felt completely alone at the Slytherin table for the sorting of the new first years. Usually, she would at least have Regulus with her to talk to or exchange annoyed glances at the rest of the people around them or Dumbledore with. Now, though, she had only Narcissa sitting next to her with an enormous amount of tension between them after the day at St. Mungo's when she had declined the offer for friendship.

Hollis looked past Lucius's head to see her six best friends sitting together, and wished she could join them.

Remus and Peter were whispering under their breaths about something while Lily and James were pointing at someone a little way down the table. Sirius and Marlene were both leaning against one another and fidgeting with the other's hands to cure their boredom.

Hollis was bored as well, and she decided to make the sorting more entertaining.

She slowly pulled her wand out of the interior of her emerald green robes as not to disturb anyone, and clenched her teeth slightly with concentration. A tiny, dark skinned first year walked up to the stool with a nervous shake in her small hands at what house she would be placed into.

The whole hall was silent except for a few small murmurs of conversation and the creak of students adjusting their positions on the wooden benches as she sat down on the stool, her feet not touching the stone ground.

Just as the Sorting Hat was about to open its mouth, Hollis flicked her wand and quickly slid it back into her robes to disguise she had been up to anything.

Instead of English as the wrinkled old hat opened its leather mouth, it was Swahili instead that came out.

"Bora kuwa Hufflepuff-"

The hat cut itself off as it noticed the different dialect coming from its mouth with confusion and more wrinkles than before.

A few shocked glances were exchanged, but Remus and James just grinned at each other.

"Kwanini siwezi kusema kwa Kiingereza?" the sorting hat asked in a questioning tone, but not a single person in the hall understood what it was saying.

Sirius turned around on the bench he was on next to Marlene to look at Hollis with raised eyebrows. It only took a few moments for her to look at the Gryffindor table again, only to see that the other five's glances had joined the Black's.

Hollis just shrugged innocently as if she had nothing to do with this interruption of the sorting. They all turned around beside Remus, whom she winked at one she was sure no one else was looking.

Remus tensed his jaw in order to keep from laughing at her creative idea before turning around to see the rest of the hall had burst out into laughter at the hat's predicament. The sound made Hollis grin, it was exactly what she had hoped for.

From the front of the enormous hall, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Flitwick among many other professors were trying to suppress their laughter because they knew it would be inappropriate.

"Silence!" McGonagall said, a small smile twitching on her face. "Hollis Rosier, my office after sorting."

All heads that weren't already looking at the Slytherin girl now turned her way, making Peter and Marlene laugh even harder than they had already been.

Hollis's eyes widened in alarm at how easily McGonagall had been able to guess it was her out of the Marauders. That alarm quickly turned into a laugh as she saw James's admiring expression and Remus's amused shaking of his head.

"Sorry, professor!" Hollis shouted back with her hands cupped around her mouth, making the giggles in the Great Hall get louder. "Just thought the first years should know what they were getting into."