Sugar & Spice

I fell out of the fireplace into an unfamiliar office on all fours, coughing my lungs up from the mouthful of ash I'd inhaled.

As soon as I'd gotten my breath back I stood up gingerly, noting the bruised knees, and looked around at the the single-most eccentric office I'd ever seen.

The room was perfectly round like a turret, and the dark red - almost black - walls were spotted with two dozen or so portraits, its occupants either snoozing or leaning against the frames they were painted in, all apparently asleep.

There were also a few small round tables dotted around here and there, all with curious silver instruments of some sort sat atop them; some whirring, spinning or even emitting small squeaks occasionally. It was then that I caught sight of a large and beautiful bird sitting on a perch by a desk: a phoenix.

Slowly, so as not to frighten it, I approached and stroked its gorgeous red and gold plumage; it stretched its wings and rubbed its beak into my palm. I smiled widely, feeling the shock of how I'd come here - that I'd come here - wearing off.

"Hello," I whispered, not wanting to disturb the deep calm silence of the office.

I heard a quiet whoosh behind me and turned to see Professor Dumbledore stepping out of the fireplace. Smiling benignly, he walked around the desk and sat down behind it. I suddenly remembered that this was his office.

"Please, sit down," He said, indicating the seat in front of me. I smiled slightly and sat down gratefully.

I didn't ask him about my father. Dumbledore didn't mention him.

He leaned forward, steepling his fingers in front of him again.

"So! You are finally here! Excellent. Now first thing's first: we need to get you sorted. I trust you know how it works?" He asked shrewdly, looking at me over the top of his half-moon glasses.

I nodded; truth was, back when Tom was still at school, the second he would step through the door for the holidays, I'd always be pumping him for every single little detail he could give me about Hogwarts.

Dumbledore stood up and moved around his desk towards a row of shelves to the left. He reached up and brought down a dusty, battered and patched hat. He brought it over to the table and set it down in front of me.

"You know what to do?" He asked me gently, and I nodded, my throat thick as my head filled with panicked doubts.

Like what if it turned out that Dumbledore was wrong about me and I really was a squib. I'd have to move back in with my father and - and -

I shut my thoughts up and jammed the hat onto my head.

'Aha!' a voice to the left of my ear said, 'Another noble Tamsworth, eh? But you're not like the rest of your family, are you? Cunning, yes... and clever too! Yes, you certainly do have brains - enough maybe, to be a Ravenclaw... But you're different... you have a streak of something - honour, I believe. Yes, I know exactly what to do with you -

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I whipped the hat off my head and grinned wildly at Dumbledore. I was the first in my family not to be a Slytherin! It meant something very important: I was different. I wouldn't turn out like them. The thought gave me more comfort than it should have.

Dumbledore smiled broadly too, and put the hat back on its shelf when I handed it to him. When he remained standing, I stood up as well, taking hold of the handle of my trunk.

"You shall have to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow and buy your school things. Would you like somebody to accompany you?" He asked me politely. I actually thought about it before answering, although it probably didn't require so complicated an answer.

"That would depend on who took me," I replied slowly, realising as I said it that it sounded quite presumptuous and a bit rude. Dumbledore didn't seem to think so; his eyes twinkled softly as he clasped his hands in front of him and smiled down at me.

"My, what an excellent answer! Well, we have a gameskeeper who works on the grounds here. I assure you, he's very likeable."

"Sounds great, sir."

"Good. I shall send him to collect you at 10 o' clock tomorrow morning. Good night, Miss Tamsworth," He said, sitting back down at his desk.

I took that to mean I was dismissed, and opening the only door in the office I was met by a moving set of stone steps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stood outside Dumbledore's office by a pair of very ugly stone gargoyles, silently panicking. I didn't know where I was supposed to go and I didn't know the password to get back into Dumbledore's office. Translation: I was screwed.

Just as I decided to take off in search of help, a woman came striding around the corner. She had wavy ebony hair she'd pulled back in a loose braid, probably in preparation for sleep. She was also very slim, and young - maybe twenty-five or thirty.

She strode right up to me.

"Come with me, Miss Tamsworth," She instructed curtly, then turned and quickly began walking down the corridor. I caught up my trunk and hurried to follow her - she walked quite fast.

"My name is Professor McGonagall, Miss Tamsworth, and I am Head of Gryffindor House," She swelled with pride and I got the impression this was quite a new promotion. "I will be checking in on you every once in a while to make sure that you are settling in well, and that you're keeping up with your homework," She peered at me sternly from the corner of her eye. I nodded.

"Good. Now, I am taking you to the Gryffindor common room. Professor Dumbledore informed you Hagrid will pick you up tomorrow morning?" I nodded again.

"Good. When you get back from Diagon Alley tomorrow I would like you to report to my office because I need to go over some things with you. You can ask a student to take you, because I very much doubt you would remember if I told you where it was. Hogwarts is quite large." Well obviously. Again, I nodded, thinking I was going to strain my neck if I kept it up.

A few minutes later we arrived at a moving painting of a dark-haired woman who was very fat and wearing a pink satin ball gown.

"Venomous tentacula," McGonagall spoke to her; my brow furrowed with bewilderment as I glanced between them, wondering why she'd say something so random to a portrait.

But it must have been a password of some sort, because the portrait swung open to reveal a hole large enough for a person to climb through. She ascended with a subtle rustle of her nightdress and billowing cloak, and stood surveying the common room at large.

With a little more difficulty I jumped up behind her, pulling my heavy trunk awkwardly behind me. It's a good thing I'm stronger than I look or I would've had to ask for McGonagall's help, and that just wasn't something I did. Asking for help was for people who weren't strong enough to handle their own problems.

The portrait hole swung closed behind me; the muffled sound it made struck me as vaguely ominous.

Standing next to her, I glanced up at her face and it seemed to me that she was smiling, if ever so slightly. I followed the direction of her gaze and saw that she was looking towards a group of boys who were peering at us curiously.

"Potter, Black, Lupin!" She barked at them and three boys hastily jumped up, hiding their hands behind their backs.

One of them was very handsome and had longish black hair which fell lazily in his eyes; the boy standing next to him also had black hair (which, I noticed, looked like he'd just ruffled it) and wore glasses; and the last boy was taller than the other two and had sandy blonde hair which fell in his eyes. They made no motion to move away from the fireplace.

"This is Rosie Tamsworth, boys. I would like you all to show her the ropes - help her get to her classes etc. And no pranks. If you do, I shall know," The boy with the glasses grimaced, but the handsome boy with the longish hair grinned roguishly.

Finally they all made their way over, ignoring the curious looks they were drawing from the other students in the common room. I tried and failed to do the same.

I stepped a bit behind McGonagall, feeling slightly uncomfortable. She turned to me and whispered,

"They may be the biggest troublemakers in this school, but I happen to know they are all nice boys, and there's nobody else your age who could show you the castle better than they can," She straightened up. "Good night!" She called to the common room at large and then after giving me one last, reassuring look, disappeared out of the portrait hole.

I turned back to the boys, trying not to cringe.

"Sorry, about that. Look, you don't have to -"

"Oh, but we want to," The handsome boy interrupted with an evil grin. I stuck out my hand, unable to think of anything else to do. People shake hands when they meet, right? I thought nervously, hoping I was doing it right.

"Your name is...?" He caught up my fingers and brought them closer to his face.

"Sirius Black at your service," He smirked, and then before I could stop him, he lightly brushed his lips against my knuckles. I smiled tightly, and when he released me I had the strangest desire to wipe the moisture off on the back on my trousers. Though it was difficult, I resisted.

The boy with the blonde hair elbowed him out of the way.

"God, Sirius, give it a rest. She's only been here two seconds and you're already sexually harassing her," He said with a laugh as he extended his hand. I placed mine in his and then, like Black, he immediately brought it up to his lips. He paused.

"Just kidding," He said, looking up with a grin as he shook my hand. "I'm Remus Lupin." I gave him a wide, genuine smile and turned to the last boy.

"So you must be -"

"James Potter," He grinned wickedly, and he too tried to catch my hand in his, but I backed away, laughing.

"Oh no! I've learnt my lesson." Remus laughed too.

"Good, because it's a very important lesson to learn with us. It's getting quite late, maybe you want to find your dorm and unpack?" I nodded and he pointed to a staircase to the right of the fireplace.

"Night, boys," I called over my shoulder as I made my way over to the stairs, already feeling excited; what would the next day hold for me?