Chapter Text
“What if the Werewolf turns during a time other than the full moon?”
“Yeah, like during a blood moon!” The two Slytherin girls cried out in the classroom as they looked at the diagram up of the anatomy of a werewolf in horror. Make no mistake, this was a question probably most students held with the fear of other creatures being taught as monsters rather than people with an affiliation. To most, that’s what they were – monsters who deserved no less than the pain they had to endure each month; and so it was very likely that others within the room silently urged the answer from their professor, who looked at the girl’s quizzically. He could understand why the teacher looked at them this way, this was just revision – all students should have known the fundamental laws of the beast’s biology; werewolves only changed during full moons - whether it be once or twice a month, it was only then, a simple fact most spend their lives never believing.
“It’s basic biology,” an additional female voice joined in – high pitch and almost comically terrible to listen to, as if the speaker was the sickly-sweet popular girl in muggle movies “Full moons only, dumbass!”
“Mr Tozier!” The professor called, looking to a girl who sat in the second row from the back of the classroom with her elbow on the desk and chin in her palm. The sliver and green tie, which had been sloppily tied around the collar, turned into a perfect black and yellow Windsor knotted tie at a flick of the wizard’s wrist before they changed also; the blonde bun turned into a sea of black curls while and the disinterested look behind shades became one of humour behind the coke bottled glasses “Aren’t you expected elsewhere?” Richie, now no longer using his shape shifting abilities, looked to where the professor had pointed at his tie
“Oh, nah, I have a class next though,” Richie grinned, leaning back on his chair. “C’mon professor, you can’t reprimand me on the base of using my free time to come to /another/ lesson. Can you?” This is what he had meant when he had written home to his mother after the sorting hat ceremony during first year, saying that he didn’t belong in the ‘badger house’. His family were a mix of houses; his father was a muggle dentist while his mother was a proud (yet anti-blood purist) Slytherin; his grandparents had both been Ravenclaws and now he was a Hufflepuff. In all honesty, it made no sense - he made witty jokes (although Stan would disagree heartily that they were either witty or jokes), he was brave when he stood up to Bowers when he made fun of some random Gryffindor for being a half-blood, and the constant ‘abuse’ of his ability to change his form was cunning behaviour – what in Godric’s sake made the fucking hat believe he was a Hufflepuff?
“Out, Mr Tozier, before I take up more of your free time in detention.”
Bullshit , Richie hisses in his own head, not only to the fact he was sent out of a voluntary lesson, but also the unheard argument in his head. Upon slamming the door of the classroom, Richie found himself walking to the library, knowing he’d see at least some of his friends there. “Ten points for Hufflepuff,” Richie whispered to himself with a chuckle before walking up to the occupied table.
“Hello my dear fellows,” the voice which had belonged to Richie now turned into one belonging to an English man
“Fuck you, Tozier, stop doing that!” Stan couldn’t help but find the whole ordeal of Richie using his abilities as a Metamorphmagus to be getting very old very fast while still having the ability to have Stan jump out of his skin. The boy who sat next to him - their friend and fellow Hufflepuff - Mike, just shook his head, amused.
“I have to say, Richie, you should focus on other voices that aren’t somewhat British,”
“You’re either English or Irish all the time,” Stan huffed while looking down at his book and shot his head back up, finger pointed at Richie accusingly “but that does not mean I want to hear you attempt any more of your voices while I’m studying.”
“First of all, bitch,” Richie pointed back to Stan who smiled sarcastically before resuming reading yet made sure to also listen as Richie continued to speak “and second of all, you totally spaced Senor Mendoza.” The drawn out groan from stan and the ‘no, no, stop, don’t’ from Mike just egged the teen on as he rocked on the library chairs while the students from various years glare at the table “no hablo espanol, señor.”
“Nope, no more.” Stan closed his book too loudly to silence the other, but only succeeded in making both Richie and Mike laugh.
“You r-realise you said you don’t speak Sp-spanish... in Spanish?” An additional voice added from behind Richie, moving over to take the last chair at the table with a smile.
“Billiam!” the Metamorphmagus said, way too loudly for the library, earning a frown from others for the second tie in the space of 6 minutes
“You’re gonna get us kicked out, Rich.” Mike said, nudging Richie’s foot under the table, causing Bill to have to catch Richie’s chair from where he sat beside him in order to stop the fall. He wished he could be apologetic, but Mike and Stan had to cover their mouths as Richie gripped the table in fear
“I could have died!” Although his voice was a whisper, Richie’s voice was filled with surprise and faux-annoyance, frowning childishly at the pair who still were trying to no laugh loudly “Thanks, Bill.” To which Bill nodded.
“Where have you been?” Mike asked
Stan looked between the two boys he was in between before falling back on Bill “I thought you had a lesson?”
A soft ‘oooooh Bill’s skipping!’ in a sing song tone came from Richie which they all ignored, but smiled at the idea – Bill was on his way to being head boy in the next few years and possibly prefect before that. He was not going to skip – at least not in order to randomly sit around with his friends. Bill shook his head “I have a free pass for today. I have to go back to the grand hall in fifteen minutes.” The range of faces around him had Bill now being the one who had to hold back his laughter; Stan had a raised brow and almost blank expression, while Mike’s brow was knotted in a confused frown and Richie just seemed to lean in more, silently asking for Bill to spill the beans. He had been rather secretive for the past week since the headmaster had asked to speak to him privately. Leaning in, the other two also leaned with him until the four huddled around the centre of the table “We have new students.”
“New-” Bill smacked a hand over Richie’s mouth when his voice was way too loud
“Now?” Mike whispered “The year’s already begun, how are first years supposed to know where everything is if they don’t have the tour?”
“That’s what Bill’s for right?” Stan asked, voice equally as quiet. Seeing Bill nod had Richie huffing out a ‘ Okay Ravenclaw’, earning it’s own middle finger aimed back at Richie. “Now we’re going to have first years at our tails.” The idea had both Mike and Richie grimacing at the idea; sure, they all had been first years, but once you leave that stage between first and third year, you look back and realise how annoying you were. Even Richie could say that he was much better than back then. 11-15 were not the best of times for anyone. Now in fifth year – all four either 16 or 17 – none of them liked the thought of some puny 11-year-old following them around randomly.
“They’re not f-first years.” Bill paused, a small smirk on his lips as he stretched, pulling away from where the other three remained huddled for the news before leaning back into normal sitting positions “They’re in our year.”
“Fuck off!” Richie cried, which was the straw which broke the camel’s back and had the four sent out of the library. No one was that shocked, nor could they really blame Richie; no one joined before the start of year, let alone joined Hogwarts after first year – doing both was … weird. Stan was packing up his books, the last one in his hand, when he was literally dragged out by the impatient Hufflepuff.
“Shit, slow the fuck down!” Stan still whispered as he was manoeuvred through the aisles and out of the library doors by his robes. As he was let go, Stan put the book in his bag and rearranged where his robes had slipped thanks to Richie before looking to Stan “So,” he spared a pointed look to Richie before turning his attention to Bill – the two walking in sync while Mike and Richie looked at the pair quizzically
“Fucking Typical,” Richie huffed
“Tell me about it,” Mike rolled his eyes fondly at the pair “They do this all the time.” The pair caught up with the other duo, Richie on Bill’s left while Mike was on Stan’s right, catching Stan’s question regarding which houses they were in.
“That’s w-why I was sent out. We h-hoped they’d all be in Gryffindor, b-but Bev is a Slytherin and B-Ben is a Ravenclaw.” With a gentle nod sent Stan’s way, Stan blinked before understanding
“Oh, you need me to show him around?”
“If it’s a-alright. Y-you're off time-table if you do.” The phrase ‘say no more’ was practically written over Stan’s features while Richie and Mike looked at one another with open mouths
“Oh, come on! That’s so not fair!”
“Yeah,” Mike huffed, a rarity in itself “Richie and I have a test in Herbology last thing, why can’t we come?” Stan only shook his head, amused but smug. “Wait why do you have to be in the Great Hall if the students aren’t in your house?”
“Oh, E-Eddie is a Gryffindor.”
“Three new kids?” Richie was shocked yet excited, as if the new arrivals meant more fun – it did mean new people to confuse with the shifting physique and voices, but it also seemed promising since Bill seemed interested in all of them despite only one being in his house. “Come on, Mike, we can help!” The Ravenclaw shook his head, expecting Bill to shut that down, but it seemed to not come. In a moment of confusion, Stan looked to the eldest and saw him contemplating the idea as they all walked back to the Grand Hall together already
“No. There is no way you’re actually saying that’s a good idea,”
“Well,” Bill dragged the vowel, earning a broad grin from Richie “I-if I say it’s for an inc-clusive experience...”
“I’m in!”
“Yes, Mike!”
Stan was left open-mouthed as he stared at Mike, not expecting the response at all
“What?!” he asked around a chuckle, eyes crinkling softly as he did so “If I can get out of a test, I will. Wouldn’t you?”
After a brief pause with three pair of eyes on him, Stan huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, not answering verbally despite it being clear as day “I hate you all.”
“Sure y-you do.” Bill’s arm went around his shoulders and finally a small smile appeared on his face.
-----------
The walk was longer than expected, but surprisingly the teacher which opted to supervise the sorting of the three new arrivals had seemed more than happy to see extra faces “Oh thank all above,” the muggleborn professor placed a hand over her chest with a smile and walked up to them all; while Bill, Mike and Stan’s attention had been on the teacher at hand, Richie could never stop his curiosity as gently leaned to the side, peering around her to see the three talking, wearing their respective house colours. The girl in green was quite obviously this Beverly; she looked nice and smiled enough, a welcoming face, but one Richie was unsure of being in their group considering the fact that she just looked too nice. No one with innocence would ever click with Richie’s humour. Ben looked even more innocent and probably would suit the Hufflepuff stereotype - the fact that he wasn’t intrested Richie since it was another person who seemed to be in the wrong house from the outside. And then the boy who fixed his tie perfectly. That must be Eddie. Now he looked innocent – his hair was obviously straightened and combed neatly since the fading summer heat still had a part of his fringe curling and wore a generic Hogwarts jumper under the newly given robes – but the soft whack he gave the Slytherin girl’s arm coupled with a hissed comment back to her (ending with her in hearty laughs and Ben looking down fondly as she held on to her knees to catch her breath) proved that he was probably the biggest juxtaposition Richie had ever had the pleasure of seeing, and he had seven years of muggle school education which was hard to beat. But that Eddie kid.
He was interesting.
“Do you think you three could all show them around after the tours of the common rooms and domitories?” Richie heard as he zoned back in when it looked like Eddie would look their way, missing the chance to not look like a creep. “Obviously, Bill will show Eddie, Stanley will show Ben and you two,” she pointed to Mike and Richie “may choose to accompany whoever you like.”
“Who’s s-showing Beverly around?”
“Greta Keene has taken the liberty,” the four grimaced and then quickly put on smiles of varying degrees in order for the professor to not catch the expressions of disgust “however, Miss Marsh and Miss Keene have seemed to … get off on the wrong foot. If Beverly wishes, I expect you to make her feel as welcome as Edward and Benjamin.”
Edward? Richie smirked softly I am never letting that one go.
As the professor left the four, the Ravenclaw turned to look at the other three around him “ So, what’s the-” he began, but as Richie guessed what Stan was about to ask and he wasted no time in interrupting with a smile
“Dibs on going with Bill.”
Mike smiled and patted Stan’s back “And then I’m with Stan, come on.” The four walked over together and Richie suddenly felt his hand begin to fidget at his side under the robes which minutely hid his hands. At this rate, he’d be speaking like Bill. For the most part, Richie let Bill do the speaking, but after the boy introduced them, he apologised for his stutter, to which the two in front of him assured it was fine as they walked out of the hall. Still, Richie couldn’t stop his mouth as he said
“S-Spit it out B-B-Bill,” which earned the Hufflepuff an elbow to his stomach, winding him in a split second
“Don’t mind him,” Stan rolled his eyes, but laughed behind his firt which he put to his lips “he’s always like this.” Richie still put his middle finger up at his best friend with a playful pout
“Also, not to mention I’m Bill’s friend. Not an asshole.”
“Well,” Eddie said, being the second person to draw out the vowel and ending up with those around him in a fit of laughs as Eddie smirked. The two looked at one another and Richie could feel his hands clamming again while Eddie smiled “No one ever said you can’t be both.” Richie wanted to hate it, he often hated arrogant Gryffindors, which was why he was friends with Bill; he was anything but arrogant. Yet, Richie could see something in the boy on the other side of Bill – he could see the humour, something deeper than what he usually saw with people who made similar comments. There was, in short, something about Eddie which made Richie second guess the nature of Eddie outside the boundaries of a stereotypical Gryffindor based on the tease which came out of his mouth.
“Wow, Eds, so harsh,” Richie bantered back, the playful pout turning into a broad grin at the objection of the nickname already
“That’s not my nam-”
“No!” Bill, Mike and Stan said unison, having Ben look questionably at the three while Eddie had been looking oddly at Richie’s grin
“I’ve fucked up haven’t I?” It was almost nervous, but Eddie played it off well, presenting it as genuinely confused rather than fearful that he made the wrong impression or said something which had him already kicked out from the group of people who he had been walking with for no longer than 10 minutes
“It just that when Richie finds a name you hate,” Stan started
“He n-ever forgets it.”
“That’s right, Billiam – I do not.”
Ben chuckled and shook his head “Really? What if they really hate it?”
Richie thought for a moment before answering. “Well, if it’s like – you know – hated for a reason other than it’s comedically bad,” Mike made air quotes around and mouthed the word ‘comedically’, earning a chuckle from Ben “then I’ll drop it. But if not, then it stays!”
“What’s Stan’s and Mike’s nicknames then?” The curiosity was written all over Ben’s features, Stan noted as he silently studied the other, thinking of the possibility of another Ravenclaw being like him, but possibly more vocal on the matters at hand.
“Oh you mean Michelangelo and Mr. De-”
“Beep fucking Beep, Richie.” Stan interrupted hastily and glared at the other, to which Richie instantly shut his mouth, while Bill seemed out of the loop. Mike just smiled at the idea of Bill and Stan being equally as oblivious as each other while Eddie and Ben looked to one another; the Ravenclaw shrugged as Eddie raised his brow in a silent question
“When Richie goes too far or is just- well,” Mike fumbled with how to phrase it, but luckily had Bill to aid him
“B-Being a pain in the ass on p-purpose,”
“Right, that! Then we say ‘Beep Beep, Richie’ and that gets him to stop. Remember that,” Mike suggested as he looked to the new students “it might be useful.”
“Oh I will,” Eddie jabbed at Richie again
“Oh, will you, Edward? ”
“How about you fuck off, Richard .”
Ben leaned into Mike’s side and asked all present (other than the bickering duo) “Do you think they’ll always be like this?” to which the tallest teen nodded; just looking at the two, the other four were ultimately certain that the two would drive everyone, including each other, up the wall.