╰┈➤ ❛┊ 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀 ┊❜

the next day came rather quickly for brylee.

and just as her dad had promised, the four gryffindors had come to see her during lunch, just after dumbledore had dropped by and told brylee that her supplies for the year would be put in her room after her sorting later that evening. that is, except for her wand, which had miraculously survived the whole ordeal brylee had gone through. remus, james, sirius, and peter had tried every way they could to try and get information about the future out of brylee, but she wouldn't spill a single thing.

if there was one thing she was excited about in this timeline was to meet younger maeve theo. maeve always talked about how she was the most ravenclaw ravenclaw to exist. with perfect grades and even being on the ravenclaw quidditch team as a chaser, just like brylee. she was a model student.

brylee was curious to see how maeve had ever even started interacting with remus or james or sirius. and though she'd seen her mum talking to sirius before, they seemed like a very unlikely friendship, but as brylee soon learned in her time, it just worked out.

but she was curious to just meet her mother and brylee prayed that her sorting ceremony would go quick without any trouble, unlike last time when the stupid hat took so long to place her in a house. little brylee had been terrified that she couldn't be—wouldn't be—put into any house at all.

before the evening had arrived, brylee was out of the hospital bed—she felt like an old woman when she cracked her back. she'd put on plain house robes that would have her house symbol magically imprinted after the sorting that dumbledore had brought for her. they were a size too big, but she'd suffer with them for a bit, at least till she could get someone in hogsmeade to fix it for her.

her nervousness was clearly visible as she stood with professor mcgonagall outside the dining hall. she fiddled with the hem of her sleeve and almost pulled out a string before the gryffindor head put her hand on her shoulder. brylee jumped.

the professor smiled at her softly. "try not to worry about it too much, dear."

brylee nodded, but she was still hesitant about how she'd fit into the school. everyone would know each other and be friends so why would they let a stranger into their friend group? what if she let spill something that happened in her time and messed something up? brylee almost snorted out loud at that. she'd already messed everything up by telling remus lupin he would become a father in the future and that she was his child.

oh merlin, she was now understanding why those time turners had been locked away. they were dangerous, too dangerous if they were ever to get into the wrong hands. if they were to get into you-know-who's hand, who knows what he could do with one?

brylee shook her head clear of all thoughts. she didn't have to worry about that now. that would be a problem for future brylee. so she would let future brylee deal with it. present brylee, well she had her own problems. she had to get through her sorting without messing anything up, even if messing things up (*cough cough* the time turner *cough cough*) was her specialty.

across the door to the dining hall, brylee could hear the loud chattering as all of the students settled into their house tables for dinner. suddenly they quieted and she figured that professor dumbledore had silenced them. he spoke but all brylee could hear were mumbles.

suddenly the door clunked and began opening. her anxiety greatened as she stared at the hundreds of faces who were looking in her direction.

brylee's stomach clenched as she looked around for her dad and his friends. when she spotted them, she noticed they were waving their hands around like lunatics. well, she couldn't say "they" since it was just james and sirius, though she should've expected that from the two best friends. her dad was smiling softly and brylee was grateful for it.

she hadn't had him for support when she was sorted the first time, but she'd had other first years, who were just as nervous as her. but this time, brylee was alone.

by the time the doors opened completely, professor mcgonagall had taken charge. "come on now," she said in her strict tone and she ushered brylee through the crowds of hogwarts students as they stared at her intensely. brylee could hear a whisper here and there but she couldn't tell what they were saying. she just hoped to merlin it wasn't anything bad.

at the very front of the hall, on a long table, sat all of the professors. brylee recognized a couple of them, dumbledore, and slughorn (who'd been the potions master in her time). and of course, professor mcgonagall who walked beside brylee. other than those three, brylee didn't recognize any of the teachers. it was awkward as the rest of the teachers watched her and professor mcgonagall walk up to the stool with the sorting hat on it.

the gryffindor head settled her down on the three-legged stool where the sorting hat had been seated mere seconds ago. while the professor woke the hat up, brylee looked around at the students.

her eyes first met her dad and his friends at the table on the very left of the dining hall. they gave her several big thumbs up as if to say good luck. she gave them a tight nervous smile.

right next to their table were, whom brylee assumed, the hufflepuffs. she gazed a little closer and noticed the badger emblem on their robes and decided that they really were the hufflepuffs. they looked kind, with their not-so-intense stares. some of them were smiling at her, or so she supposed.

on the other side of the dining hall, near the middle, was the ravenclaw table. she recognized it immediately. now, these were the ones who'd been giving her the intense stares. not caring that they were actually staring at her, brylee searched through the ravenclaw students for maeve. though brylee had seen a bunch of photos of her mum when she was younger, she just couldn't imagine it with the way she acted whenever either she or her siblings did anything wrong. as if she hadn't been like that once. but apparently, trying to find maeve was easier than expected.

the dark-haired female had been giving the most intense stare. she wore an upset look on her face like she was trying to determine where brylee had come from. like she could tell exactly who brylee was. brylee peeled her eyes away from the ravenclaw table to the last one on the very right of the dining hall.

now, this table gave off a dark aura, or maybe that was just brylee being dumb because it was the slytherin table. but brylee could feel something off about the table. many of the older students had a dark look on their face, not like an i-don't-want-to-be-there face, but an i-want-to-punch-something-because-i'm-here face. or maybe brylee was over-exaggerating.

yes, she convinced herself, it was just over exaggeration. as they gazed over the table, brylee's eyes glued onto this one dark-haired boy. he looked familiar like she'd seen him before. he turned and their eyes met. brylee noticed the boy's stormy gray eyes and his tight mouth. she connected his eyes to sirius's for the quickest second.

but, sirius never had a brother, did he? she couldn't think of a single moment where he mentioned having a brother. brylee figured that would be something important that would've been mentioned at least once. besides, lots of people can have gray eyes, but that didn't mean they were related, right?

brylee looked away from the boy just as professor mcgonagall put the hat on her head.

ah, the hat went, well you're a little older than the rest, aren't you?

brylee almost rolled her eyes at the hat's intuitiveness.

and a sarcastic one too, eh? well well, what's this? you've been sorted before? but how?

brylee thought about the time turner for the quickest second and hat understood. it had always been weird to her how the hat was sentient and spoke. it kind of creeped her out, if she was honest.

mmm, i see, a time turner ehh. where to put you?

brylee prayed it would be her same house. she'd didn't know if she could ever betray her ravenclaw family by being in another house.

ravenclaw, eh? hmm, well i see no problem with it. your future will be full of troubles, i can see that much, but that brain of yours will figure it out.

troubles? brylee didn't want any trouble. for once she just wanted peace, and some time with her parents, even her siblings, if she was honest. she missed them, even though they were annoying all the time. but of course, she couldn't have that, especially not in the position she was in now.

yes, that house will be perfect for you . . . RAVENCLAW!

goodness, that hat was loud.

a couple of minutes later, brylee was sitting near the middle of the ravenclaw table with the other fifth years. the two girls next to her and the three guys across from her were subtly staring at her. she could feel their eyes burning a hole on the side and back of her head as she listened to the ending of dumbledore's speech, telling them to dig into their dinner and to enjoy.

as soon as he finished speaking, food appeared on the tables and chattering began. but brylee didn't have an appetite. sure her stomach was growling, it'd been several hours since she'd had lunch, but she was sure she would throw up if she ate anything right now.

finally, one of the girls, with dark skin and long braided hair, sitting beside her spoke up. "hey, i'm raquelle. you're brylee, right?"

brylee looked at her, blinked twice and nodded slowly. "yep, that's me. brylee. it's nice to meet you, raquelle."

the dark skinned girl smiled at her softly, and then glance down at her food. "sorry about all the hard stares. it's just, we all saw, or heard, about what happened to you, so you were bound to get some stares."

brylee laughed, but her voice revealed how tense she was. "it was an unfortunate time and place for an incident."

racquelle shrugged. "yeah it was. what did happen, if you don't mind me asking?"

"malfunctioning portkey. i believe i was supposed to land in the town close by," brylee said, making up a story on the spot. it wasn't the first she had to do this and she sure as hell knew it wouldn't be the last.

"ah," racquelle exclaimed, "makes sense. you know, you speak very good english for someone whose been at a french school for the last four years."

shit, brylee had completely forgotten to add a french accent into everything she said. oh, what was she supposed to say now?

but she didn't have to. one of the boys sitting across from her answered. "you know racquelle, she could've grown up speaking both english and french at home."

racquelle turned to boy and brylee was glad the attention of the dark haired girl was off of her. "was i talking to you, thomas?" she said in an annoyed tone.

the boy, thomas, grinned and shrugged. "does it matter? you still got an answer to your question, did you not? besides, i'm probably right, am i not brylee?"

thomas met her eyes and an understanding passed between them. brylee smiled and nodded. "yes, he's right. i speak a lot of english at home, because my parents wanted me to learn it as well."

racquelle pursed her lips. "hmm, alright then."

with that, she went back to talking to her other friend. brylee almost sighed in relief. she looked at the boy sitting across from her and smiled at him.

"thanks," she said, "i definitely owe you one. i'm brylee." she paused. "though you know that already."

thomas raised an eyebrow in amusement. "you definitely do owe me one. don't you forget it. i'm thomas warner," he grinned, running a hand through his dirty blond hair, "though you know that already."

brylee rolled her eyes. "so original," she stated. then in a whisper, she asked, "is she always so intense?"

the green-eyed boy nodded. "oh yeah, racquelle's been like this since day one of first year. always hellbent on knowing everything about everyone. don't worry, you're not the only one who thinks she's intense. i mean, there's a reason they made her prefect, right?"

brylee hummed, though her attention was elsewhere. behind thomas was the gray-eyed boy she'd made eye contact with earlier. he seemed to be mixing his food around more than actually eating anything. though other slytherins around him seemed to be making light conversation, he seemed focused on his food, or rather something far away in his mind.

thomas must've noticed her staring at the boy behind him because he peeked over his shoulder to see as well. the boy looked up from his food and once again, made eye contact with brylee. he looked so familiar, but brylee just couldn't seem to put a name to the face. she looked away in hopes he would stop staring at her as well.

but then thomas finally put a name to the gray-eyed slytherin's face.

"that's regulus black," he said. "he's the younger brother of sirius black, one of the ones who i heard saved you."

and brylee's mind exploded. not literally, of course.

╰┈➤ ˗ˏˋ ❝ 𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 ¡! ❞

hello darlings!! how are you
all doing today?? i hope you
drank some water? if not, this
is your reminder to do so asap

regulus is finally here for you peeps
waiting for him. and yes, i am adding
two more ocs because brylee needs
some homeboys and girls to hang out
with in her house. and also bc i don't
only want her to be friends with the
marauders, as great as they are.

thomas warner played by gavin casalegno
racquelle foster played by madison bailey

anyway, let me know your thoughts
and i will see you all next time <33