SERAPHINA WEASLEY
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Seraphina Weasley made her way through the busy Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, trying desperately to not get knocked over by anyone, which was proven to be easier said than done.
All around her children of all ages were busy saying goodbye to their parents and siblings, ready to start a new term at Hogwarts. But she was all alone, putting all her energy in dragging her trunk behind her.
It wasn't that she was an orphan or that her parents didn't want to come with her, it was just that no one could find the time to come with her. Seraphina had never known her mother and her father was an old and tired man that had her very late in his life.
So from the time he finished school Seraphina had pretty much lived with her older brother Arthur and his wife Molly. And while she adored both her brother and sister-in-law, they couldn't find time for her most of the time.
Last year their first child, William or Bill as Seraphina had started calling the boy, had been born which meant that Molly spent a lot of time with him meanwhile Arthur worked a lot.
Seraphina didn't mind though, she knew she didn't have the right to mind. She was the one that crashing in on their family time, so she spent a lot of time on her own. It had always been like that.
From an early age she had learned to manage on her own because she didn't have any siblings her age to play with or parents that could spend much time with her. She didn't even have a mother.
Well inside the Hogwarts Express Seraphina tried to find an empty compartment but she eventually settled for one with a red haired girl seated inside it. "Hello, do you mind if I sit here?" she asked politely.
"Oh —" the girl with the red hair looked up to reveal a pair of the greenest eyes Seraphina had ever seen before. But much to her surprise they were trimmed with red, making it look like the girl was crying, "Of course."
Seraphina sat down across from the red haired girl, "I'm Seraphina," she introduced herself, offering a hand for the other girl to shake.
"I'm Lily," the girl gave her a small but before any further conversation could be made the door to the compartment slid open and two boys entered, chatting loudly.
One of them had shaggy brown hair and striking grey eyes. The other one with untidy black hair and hazel brown eyes. Both of them radiating an air of arrogance and confidence.
"Ladies, may we join you?" the one with shaggy brown hair gave them a charming smile as he sat down next to Seraphina while the other one sat down across from him.
"Seeing as you are already seated, why not," Seraphina said, turning her attention to the window afterwards, looking out as the train started moving. However, a pair of eyes, or rather two pairs of eyes, staring into the back of her skull so she turned to see the two boys look at her.
"And what is your name?" the one with hazel eyes asked, "I could have sworn that I've seen you before."
Seraphina furrowed her brows in confusion before she realised where she had seen him, "You are the boy that came into St Mungos after he somehow managed to transform his nose into an elephant trunk," she realised, chuckling at the memory.
Before his early retirement her father had worked as a Healer at St Mungos and when no one else could look after her Seraphina would spend time at the hospital where she had met people with the strangest conditions.
"How did you manage that again?" Seraphina laughed as the boy cringed at the memory, but she could see some pride in his eyes.
"An unfortunate mixture of accidental magic and my father's potions kit," the hazel eyed boy told her, "I'm James by the way. James Potter."
"Seraphina Weasley," she introduced herself. Her eyes then shifted to the other boy, "And you are?"
"Sirius Black," the shaggy haired boy said with a small smirk, "A pleasure to meet you."
"I'm sure it is," Seraphina said and then she decided to introduce the other girl in the compartment that seemed to be in her own world, "This is Lily."
The two boys said their hellos and then they returned back to their own conversation, including Seraphina to some extent, although she preferred listening in the moment.
The door to the compartment opened yet again and a skinny boy entered wearing the proper robes, his black hair overlong and his nose big. The boy looked at Lily as he entered and stopped in front of Seraphina, giving her an annoyed look,
"Oh, no, I can move," Seraphina rolled her eyes and scooted closer to Sirius, "How nice of you to ask."
"I don't want to talk to you," Lily said, looking out of the window still. A part of Seraphina felt like it was wrong to eavesdrop, but what else could she really do?
"Why not?" the boy asked.
"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore," Lily looked like she was going to start crying again.
"So what?"
"She is my sister!" Lily threw the boy a look of deep dislike.
"She's only a — But we are going! This is it. We are off to Hogwarts!" the boy tried to cheer her up, "You'd better be in Slytherin."
"Slytherin?" James exclaimed, taking an interest in the pair for the first time, "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he turned to Sirius who looked a little uncomfortable by the question.
"My whole family have been in Slytherin," Sirius admitted, like it was the worse thing ever.
"Blimey," James said, "and I though you seemed all right!"
Sirius grinned at that, "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"
Jaime's lifted an invisible sword, "Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad."
Snape made a small disparaging noise which caused James to turn to him with a challenging look, "Got a problem with that?"
"No," Snape sneered, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"
"Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you are neither?" Sirius interrupted him with a smirk.
James roared with laughter while Lily stood up, looking at the two boys with a deep dislike, "Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."
"Ooooo," James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice and James even tried to trip Severus as he passed.
"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius shouted as the door slammed shut and the two continued to snigger.
Seraphina gave them a disapproving glare, "You two are gits, you know that, right?" she crossed her arms over her chest.
"You loved it," James told her with a knowing look, "Now tell me, Sephy, wh-"
"That's not my name-"
"Well, Seraphina is a mouthful," James told her in a matter of fact tone, "Anyways, which house are you hoping to get sorted into?"
Seraphina thought over his words. She hadn't actually considered that much before. Sure, her entire family had been Gryffindors for generations, but that didn't automatically make her one. Sure, she wouldn't mind being a Gryffindor.
"I don't know. I don't really care which house I get sorted into," Seraphina stated before realising something, "Okay, that is a lie. I don't want to be a Hufflepuff. Yellow is so not my colour."
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The First Years were lead through the halls of Hogwarts by a witch in a pointy hat who had introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor House.
First they had been guided from the train by a large man with a big beard who had led them down to the Black Lake they had crossed in small boats. James and Sirius had joined to other boys in their boat while Seraphina found Lily and Snape, seeing as they were the only other two people she knew.
During the boat ride she also met a blonde girl by the name Marlene McKinnon who seemed very nice and very chatty. In fact the McKinnon girl hadn't stopped talking until McGonagall gave her a stern look.
They stopped outside the large double doors that led into the Great Hall where hundreds of voices droned from inside, "Welcome to Howarts," McGonagall said, "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting Ceremony is very important because while you are here at Hogwarts your House will be much like your family. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room,"
"The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding wizards and witches. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours."
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place shortly. I suggest you all smarten yourself up as much as you can while you are waiting," McGonagall finished her speech, leaving the First Years alone to await her signal.
"Is she saying that we don't look smart?" James asked in mock offence, clutching his heart dramatically which earned him some laughter from Sirius and the two boys they had met on the boat. One of them whom Seraphina was very familiar with.
"I believe that is exactly what she is saying," Seraphina told him with an overly sweet smile. "But some cases are just lost." That's when she finally got a good loon on one of the two boys who had joined Sirius and James.
"Remus!" Seraphina grinned, pulling the taller boy into a hug, "Why didn't you come and find me on the train?"
"Why didn't you come and find me?" Remus shot back.
"Wait - you two know each other?" Sirius looked confusedly between the two.
"Yeah, we've known each other for years," Sera stated quickly to stop further questioning. And she was very grateful when McGonagall returned and told them it was time for the sorting ceremony.
They followed her to a pair great double doors that opened to reveal the Great Hall. Four large tables covered most of the floor and the two in the middle created an aisle that lead up to the teacher's table that stood upon a dais.
McGonagall stepped up on the aisle and silently placed a four-legged stool in front of them with a worn down, patched hat that looked extremely dirty. Then the hat twitched, opened a wide like mouth and started singing.
It sung about all the houses and once it was done whole hall burst into applause. McGongall cleared her throat while holding a long roll of parchment, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit down on the stool to be sorted," she announced, "Anderson, Jake!"
A boy with glasses that covered most of his head nervously stepped up and walked towards McGonagall like she was going to eat him up. He sat down on the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. And after a moment of pause the hat had made its decision.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The Hufflepuff table burst into applause and that seemed to boost the little boys confidence a little because he seemed slightly more high-spirited when he made his way towards his new housemates.
"Avery, Alec."
This boy had much more confidence when he stepped up and sat down on the stool - yet the way his eyes were directed towards the ground suggested that he was nervous. The hat sat on his head for less than a second before shouting out:
"SLYTHERIN!"
The Slytherin table burst into applause and a smirk appeared on Avery's face as he swaggered down from the dais.
"Black, Sirius."
Seraphina couldn't help but notice that while Sirius also had an air of confidence surrounding him he didn't look entirely comfortable as he sat down and allowed McGonagall to place the hat on his head.
And for every second the Sorting Hat took to make its decision he seemed to grow more and more conflicted. That was until it shouted out:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
What Sera saw on his face then was happiness mixed with terror. She remembered him telling them that his entire family had been Slytherins for generations - she guessed they wouldn't like this. But at the same time Sirius seemed relieved as he confidently walked down and took a seat at the table full of lions.
The Sorting Ceremony continued and Sera waited patiently for her turn. She knew that she'd most likely be the last one to get sorted because of her surname.
Pretty much everyone she had talked to since stepping up on the Hogwarts Express that morning was sorted in to Gryffindor. Sirius was soon followed by Lily, Remus, Marlene, Peter and James. In the end Sera was the only one left standing when McGonagall called out her name.
"Weasley, Seraphina."
She calmly walked up on the dais, catching the eye of Professor Dumbledore who gave her a reassuring smile. Thousands of eyes were upon her at the moment and it took everything she had for her face to remain black.
"Oh, a Weasley!" a voice in her head said and she almost flinched when she realised it was the Sorting Hat speaking to her, "I haven't seen one of you in a few years. I was getting worried something had happened."
Seraphina scoffed at that. If he wanted some Weasleys he just needed to wait until Arthur and Molly's children started school - because she had doubts they would stop at Bill.
"I do see a lot of courage in you. And also some nerve," the hat pondered, "You don't have an empty head either. What to do?"
"Decide maybe," Sera thought and the hat laughed loudly.
"Aaah, quite a wit too, I see. Maybe a Ravenclaw then - but no. For while I see a lot of ambition there is less diligence. And while there is a lot of bravery there is little recklessness. I can see that you are meant for great things Seraphina Weasley and perhaps it is the Slytherin House that will help you achieve that greatness. A sharp wit, cunning mind, chivalry protected by self-preservation and an ability to take the lead. It better be-"
"SLYTHERIN!"