Chapter Text
The London fog was exceptionally thick today, as if wishing to bid its favorite children a heartfelt farewell. Many people were standing on Platform 9 3/4, some hugging their parents, others shouting at each other, children pushing into the Hogwarts express, but among them all stood a group that attracted quite a bit of attention: a tall man with black hair streaked with gray, and next to him three boys, the Moriarty brothers.
Jack Renfield, the boys' guardian, patted the oldest of his pupils, Albert, on the shoulder in farewell, handing him his trunk. After a moment, he spoke.
"Albert, look after William this year, and do you have everything?" Albert simply nodded, and that was enough. Jack now looked at the younger William. The blond boy stood hugging Louis, the youngest, who was still too young to go to Hogwarts. He bid his brothers farewell with great pain. Jack gently pushed Louis away and handed William the trunk, straightening his already perfect robe.
"And you, watch your back, okay? Don't blow up Hogwarts and skip three years in five minutes, that'll be enough..."
"Yes, Uncle. I'll write to you and Louis every day."
This time, Louis spoke up, lightly grabbing William's hand.
"Are you sure you'll write?"
"Every day, Louis. I'll send you sweets and food from the Great Hall. I promise."
At these words, Louis smiled. But Jack quickly ended the scene between his younger brothers and gently pushed Albert and William near the train.
"Now, now, because it will leave without you, and I won't be taking you there."
Albert and William waved to their brother and uncle and finally boarded. William let Albert lead them to the compartment, considering it was already the eldest's third year. After a moment, they reached the compartment. Inside sat a tall, brunette man dressed in Slytherin robes. Without a word, he moved aside to make room for Albert.
"This is Mycroft Holmes, my... friend. And this, Mycroft, is my younger brother, William," Albert said with a slight smile, holding William's shoulders.
"The new Moriarty? Nice to meet you," Mycroft replied, focusing more of his attention on Albert than on the younger blond, who was currently the focus of the conversation. "Sit down, I doubt you'll find another empty compartment."
William nodded but didn't sit down like Albert. "I'll go look for the other first years; maybe I can find some company before we get to Hogwarts." Albert looked slightly disappointed at William's words, but he quickly hid it with a smile.
William opened the door and, before leaving, said, "
"It was nice meeting you, Mycroft."
William went out into the corridor, after the departure there weren't so many people walking around, although he almost tripped over someone's trunk or owl cage a few times, finally he entered, or rather was pushed into, one of the compartments, all heads turned to look at the newcomer.
There were only three people in the compartment: a girl with reddish-brown hair and green eyes holding a cat and a packet of all-flavored beans. Next to her sat a blond-haired boy with brown eyes, probably her age. He looked friendly, holding a chocolate frog on his lap—or rather, an empty box, as the commotion had managed to jump out the open window. In the opposite seat, however, sat a black-haired boy who caught Scarlet Eyes's attention the most. The brunette was tapping his wand on a pumpkin pie, but his sapphire eyes quickly focused on William.
"May I join you?" William asked, looking at the group inside.
"Yes... of course. Sit down," Then brown eyed boy answered. "My name is John Watson."
"Martha Hudson," the girl said.
"Sherlock. Sherlock Holmes," said the final object of Moriarty's interest. Sherlock shifted slightly and placed his trunk downstairs so William could sit.
"William James Moriarty, nice to meet you."
"Moriarty? I read about you in the newspaper... I'm sorry..." Martha whispered, not wanting to upset William.
"Thank you... but don't worry, I've already moved on." William's tone, however, carried no remorse or sadness. Sherlock noticed it immediately but didn't comment; he knew what had happened a year earlier. The Moriarty manor burned down, taking the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Moriarty, all the servants, and one of the orphans from the Muggle family adopted earlier. Only Albert James Moriarty, the head of the family, William James Moriarty, his younger brother, and Louis, the other orphan adopted by the Moriartys, survived the massacre.
"Let's not talk about such things, shall we?" John said, clearly saddened by the topic. "Maybe... what house do you think you'll be sorted into?"
I think maybe Hufflepuff. Or Gryffindor," Martha said, also clearly pleased with the change of subject.
"I hope somewhere far from Mycroft," Sherlock muttered, then kicked Martha's luggage, from the action he ended up with a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean thrown at his face.
"I, for one, would like to be sorted into Gryffindor, like my parents... But Hufflepuff wouldn't be bad," John said, then looked at William. "And you, William?"
"I'd like to be sorted into Slytherin, but it's not up to me."
"Slytherin? But that house is supposedly pure evil... it came from... you-know-who..." John seemed horrified at the mere fact that he'd uttered the nickname.
"A house like any other. Just because someone was bad doesn't mean everyone is, or does cunning or cunning always have to be bad? No. Exactly... Learn it, John," Sherlock replied, this time with clear irritation at Watson for his 'stupidity.'
"...You're right. I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter, John. I understand why you think that, but Sherlock is right," William replied with practiced calm.
"You, Moriarty, isn't it suspicious that you practically look the same as your younger adopted brother? At least in the Prophet, you looked too much alike..." Sherlock said these words with a sarcastic smile on his face, clearly testing William.
"I don't understand what you mean, Holmes," William replied, leaning back in the seat with a small smile on his face, "but if you suspect something...we'll see, try to catch me at something if you can, Holmes."
Sherlock just smiled faintly and then laughed.
"I like you already, Liam!" This time, Martha spoke up.
"I think we should change, we're getting to Hogwarts."
__________________
As everyone disembarked onto the platform, a tall, burly man with a bushy beard appeared before the first years. He stood in front of them and spoke in a thick, powerful voice.
"Oh, Merlin's Beard, we haven't seen so many first years in ages, ha ha! I'm Hagrid."
But after a moment, he focused his gaze on William, who had now moved away from Sherlock and the rest of the newly acquainted children. He leaned down and laughed loudly, unfortunately spitting in William's face. "
"Merlin's Beard, ha ha! Your eyes are so red, I thought some, ha ha, vampire had gotten involved with you, ha ha."
After saying these words, the half-giant extended his large paws and shook William's hand with such force that William was momentarily lifted into the air. Fortunately, however, he quickly found himself back on the ground. Hagrid focused his gaze on the rest of the group.
"I'm the groundskeeper here at Hogwarts..."
But William wasn't listening anymore, as something, or rather someone, pulled him back.
"Your eyes really are red... Not better than mine, of course," said a girl his age, blonde with blue eyes and a distinctive mole under her right eye. "I'm Irene. Irene Adler."
"William James Moriarty, nice to meet you." William smiled, though he was still a little embarrassed at being dragged so roughly for the second time that day.
Irene smiled briefly, then simply pushed William away and returned to his previous seat. William took the opportunity to move further to admire Hogwarts at night. He knew the layout by heart, but still preferred not to lose his route, as that would be downright shameful, especially for someone from a pure-blood family with a storied history like Moriarty.
After the boat ride, everyone was led to the doors of the Great Hall.
A tall woman in a green robe, a hat, and round glasses appeared before them. She was slim, and her face was lined with wrinkles. She eyed everyone and then spoke.
But before she could say anything remotely coherent, a toad jumped out into the corridor, causing quite a stir among the gathered crowd. The woman glanced at the toad, then back at the group.
"Who owns this toad?" Her voice was rather calm, though William immediately recognized that the woman was nervous, even if she didn't want to admit it.
A plump boy in slightly dirty robes was pushed ahead of the crowd.
"Theodora!" he exclaimed, then grabbed the toad. "I'm sorry, Professor!"
The woman gave him a condescending look, then motioned for him to return to the crowd before finally speaking.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, I'm Professor Minerva. McGonagall, I'll be teaching you Transfiguration. Upon entering the hall, you will be lined up and called out one by one, then your house will be chosen. There are four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now, take your places. Good luck."
Everyone was ushered into the hall. William immediately focused his gaze on the Slytherin table, trying to spot Albert. After a moment, he spotted his brother sitting next to Mycroft, but Albert quickly spotted him and gave William a confident smile as if to reassure him.
The first years lined up in front of the staff table, and after a moment, Professor McGonagall began calling out names.
"John Watson!"
"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted, and the blond quickly ran to the Gryffindor table, where he was greeted with applause.
"Sherlock Holmes!"
The hat pondered this for a moment longer. William noticed Sherlock whispering something to the hat, which, after a moment's thought, exclaimed.
"Gryffindor!"
Sherlock also went to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to John.
Finally, McGonagall reached the appropriate point on the list and read.
"William James Moriarty!"
The entire hall's eyes focused on William. He sat down without a trace of hesitation on the stool, where the compartment cover was placed over his head, slightly obscuring his eyes.
William heard the voice of the talking hat.
"Another Moriarty... Where should I put you, boy You're very intelligent and creative... maybe Ravenclaw... But also very loyal and brave, maybe Gryffindor... no. I sense great ambition and cunning in you, maybe Slytherin like your brother... But despite everything, you're also fair and kind, which are the hallmarks of Hufflepuff. Boy, where would you like to go?"
William thought for a moment, then replied,
"Slytherin. Where my brother is. I will strive for my goal no matter what."
The hat nodded and then shouted as loudly as it could.
"Slytherin!"
William stood up and walked over to the Slytherin table, where applause immediately broke out. Albert stood and motioned for William to sit next to him. William took a seat next to Albert. All eyes were now on him; he heard whispers from the distance.
-Is he Albert's younger brother?
-Another Moriarty?
-Why are his eyes bloody red...
William ignored the whispers and allowed Albert to hug him and pat his shoulder.
After the sorting of students into their houses, food appeared on the tables. There was almost everything there, and William's nostrils were quickly filled with the smell of all kinds of food. Albert reached for a blackcurrant juice, clearly lacking an appetite. William, however, decided to eat something to satisfy his increasingly palpable hunger.
After a moment, he spotted what he craved most: Cornish fish pie. The blond grabbed a piece and ate it, ignoring the confused expressions of those around him, who were quite disgusted by the boy's indulgence in fish head pie.
After the meal, the Slytherin first-years began to be led by one of the perfects, heading to their dormitories. After reaching the destination, the tall boy leading the group spoke up
"The password is True Blood." he grumbled, William was extremely grateful that he knew everything from Albert because the older one spoke in a way that was definitely not understandable to new and unfamiliar people.
The Slytherin common room, despite the rumors, was exceptionally nicely decorated.
The first-years were led to their dormitories where they were to sleep. Despite his desire to learn more about their Roommates, William decided to do it tomorrow and go to bed for now.
The lights dimmed relatively quickly, William quietly pulled out a quill and parchment, and began writing a letter that, if his owl didn't get lost, should reach Louis by morning. His plan was to fall asleep as soon as he released Arthur, his burrowing owl, so that he could reach his destination on his own and deliver the message.
"Dear Louis, the trip to Hogwarts itself was quite calm. Everything went according to plan. I met a few other students, but what caught my attention the most was Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft's brother, Yes, the Mycroft Albert had been writing to all summer. To my surprise, Sherlock, despite his rather unusual behavior, is a pleasant person to spend time with, although that's just my impression, as we didn't even spend a full day together. I hope all is well with you. Tomorrow I'll send you some treats from the Great Hall; I hope you won't miss me too much. I'll write again in the morning; if Arthur doesn't get lost while delivering the mail, he should knock on the window around eight AM. If you can, please feed him and give him at least a bowl of water. Thank you. I'll miss you and uncle Jack"
-William, your dear brother