Chapter Two

1^st September 1970

   It was five thirty in the morning, but Sirius Black was already wide awake.  Silently, he pulled a jumper over his head, then took a moment to straighten his long, dark hair before throwing the last few items into his heavy trunk.  He did one last mental check, going through everything he needed; clothes, books, money, equipment.  Confident he hadn’t forgotten anything, he picked up a rather large box from off his desk and placed it on the floor. 

   “C’mon Andy,” he said to his pet spider, trying to coax him into the enclosed space.  The spider looked at him form his corner at the top of the window pane with a surprisingly dubious expression for a spider.  “C’mon Andy,” repeated Sirius, “it won’t be for that long - I promise.”

   Slowly, Andy uncurled his long and fury black legs and began crawling down the wall.  He reached the wooden floorboards and stopped.  “C’mon - there’s a good boy,” said Sirius encouragingly, giving the box a small shake.  The spider ever so slowly crept towards the container and put his front legs tentatively in.  “Good boy - that’s it,” said Sirius gingerly.  As soon as he was in Sirius snapped the lid shut and said through the air holes; “I’ll let you out as soon as I can - okay?”  He then balanced the box on top of the trunk and pulled his shoes on. 

   Stepping softly, he walked over to his bedroom door (which was locked as always) and listened carefully.  Silence.  “Good,” breathed the young boy.  That was exactly what he’d wanted.  He crossed over the room again to the window ledge and spent a good five minutes edging it open, trying not to make a sound.  Once there was a big enough gap, he leant out, looking at the drop below, and gulped slightly.  He was on the third floor, which not only meant a considerable drop, but he would have to make his way past one of the drawing rooms, his mother’s bathroom and the side entrance to the kitchen. 

   He pulled his head back in from the chilly September dawn and picked up the broomstick laying on his bed.  He took a moment to smile at it.  He remembered quite clearly just how upset he’d been when Regulus had broken his own broom, and now got quite a fulfilling sense of glee in taking his in return. 

   He sat himself precariously on the length of wood and took a good hold of the trunk.  Luckily, he didn’t have all that many possessions, so it wasn’t that big a trunk, but it was still heavy and awkward.  He swore a number of times under his breath as he hefted it out of the window and brought it down (a little quicker than intended) to the ground.  He then went back up to collect Andy and the satchel he was going to bring on the train with him.  Just as he was putting the broom into the trunk, he realised he’d forgotten about something.  He jumped back on the broomstick and hovered in front of his window, which needed to be opened once more, and shot back into his room. 

   It was almost six o’clock now; he would have to hurry as people would be starting to stir.  He raced over to the secret panel in his bedroom wall and yanked it off.  As quietly as he could, he ran to the end and picked up the pencil that he always left lying on the floor.  With great satisfaction he crossed off the very last box in his grid.  

   “Hogwarts here I come,” he said softly, a broad smile on his face.  And with that he hoped out the window for the last time, ensuring it was shut along with the secret wall panel, said goodbye to his beloved room and flew back down to his belongings.  He threw his bag over his shoulder, picked up Andy and his trunk, and walked down the alleyway into the street.  He hummed all the way to the train station. 

***

   James was bounding around the car like an over-sized, over-excited puppy dog.  “Canwegoyetcanwegoyetcanwegoyet?!” he cried, almost running into his father as he carried his trunk out of the house and rested briefly on the ground. 

   “We’ll be going in a minute,” said John warmly, rubbing the small of his aching back.  “Just let me put this in the boot - okay?”  James nodded eagerly. 

   “Is there anything I can do to help?” he chirped, rocking up and down on the spot, his glasses slipping off his nose. 

   His mother poked her head out of the window.  “Why don’t you come here and have some breakfast?” she asked, a smile on her face.  James didn’t really feel like eating anything; his stomach was squirming and wriggling too much.  But he could smell it was bacon she was cooking, and he figured this would be the last time he’d get to have a meal with her for a long time.  So, after he’d helped his father (helped being a rather strong word in John’s opinion) he ran into the kitchen and flung himself into a chair. 

   Mary wondered how he was able to eat anything at all he was jabbering so much; but eat he did, jamming bacon, eggs, sausages, tomatoes and toast into his mouth, telling her about how he was going to be in Gryffindor, just like she and John were, and how he couldn’t wait to see all the houses playing Quidditch, and about learning transfiguration, and charms, and potions, and his new room, and all the new people, and travelling on the train, and did he mention he was going to be in Gryffindor?

   I’m going to miss him so much, thought Mary sadly. 

***

   Remus Lupin was rooted to the spot.  He was going to be sick.  “Come on Remus,” said his mother gently, “let’s get in the car.”  But his legs weren’t working, his head was banging too much to even think about it. 

   Remus wasn’t particularly fond of cars anyway; too confined, too rickety they were, but that wasn’t why he was having problems putting one foot in front of the other.  He didn’t want to go, he wanted to stay at home with his family, he wanted them to look after him, he wanted to be safe. 

    In spite of himself though, he found he was moving towards the car and he sat stiffly in the back seat.  Jay and Fern flung themselves in beside him; they were far more excited about his leaving for Hogwarts than he was, which was in a way comforting, and in another way really not.  Remus took a deep but shaky breath and fastened his seatbelt.  “Have we got everything?” asked his father, more to his mother than to Remus.  She nodded.  “Right,” he said decisively and got into the driver’s seat. 

   As they reversed out of the driveway, Remus looked hungrily onto his home with wide eyes, willing it not to disappear from view.  But disappear it did, leaving the poor boy looking for a brief time at the very forest he’d got himself so lost in that fateful night.  He looked instead into his lap, his hands clasped and twisting in it. 

   What would happen when he arrived at the station, the school, his room?  Would anyone like him?  Would he like them?  What if he couldn’t keep up with the work? How, where, when would he change each month? 

   What if he infected someone?

   The thought made his shudder physically.  Thinking he was cold perhaps, Fern snuggled up next to him.  “I wish I was going,” she whispered quietly to him.  Jay nodded from her right side. 

   “You have to promise to write and tell us everything - okay,” he said earnestly. 

   “Okay,” replied Remus after a moment, the sickness fizzing and squirming in his stomach dissipating ever so slightly. 

***

   “Right - when we get to the station we’re going to split up okay - I’m gonna go with my friends, and you can go and find some other first years, alright?”

   “Okay,” said Peter, who was sitting in the back seat of the taxi next to his sister, Jane.  He hoped though that when they got there she’d change her mind; after all, it was his first day of school. 

   She flipped her hair and fiddled with a few strands, wrapping them round and round her finger.  “Does it look alright?” she asked her mother.  She’d died it blond over the summer. 

   “It looks fine sweetheart,” her mother assured her, “but promise me you will do some work this year, not just run around after boys.”

   “Oh mum.”  A slight grin was on her face.  She gave her mother a small shove.  “Of course I’m gonna work - it’s me NEWTs this year, innit?”

   Their mother didn’t look too convinced, but she smiled anyway.  Peter looked out the window; they were getting closer to London, he could tell from the buildings. 

***

   Lily Evens looked from her ticket, up to the station, back to the ticket, back up to the station. 

   “It definitely says Nine and Three Quarters,” she said exasperated.  Her dad looked at the ticket over her shoulder.  He was the only one of her family that had come with her that morning; her mum had had to work a shift at the hospital, and her sister Petunia had flat out refused to come.  She seemed to have taken some personal insult from the fact that her sister was a witch, something Lily really didn’t understand, and quite frankly had been a bit upset about. 

   “You’re right,” said her dad thoughtfully, “though I can’t imagine what it means by it though.”

   They stood looking at platform’s nine and ten at Kings Cross station, trying to decide what to do next; it was already half past ten and Lily was getting just a bit worried. 

   “Excuse me,” came a voice from behind them.  Lily turned round to see a boy of her own age with long black hair tied into a ponytail, a large trunk and a box wriggling disconcertingly under his arm.  He was all alone. 

   “Hello?” said Mr Evens inquiringly.  The boy looked from the ticket and then up to Lily again. 

   “Are you trying to find the Hogwarts Express?” he asked genuinely, his eyes alight and attentive.  He blinked a couple of times before saying, “y’know - platform Nine and Three Quarters?”

   “Oh yes,” breathed Lily, finding her voice.  She had been quite taken aback by the boy’s forwardness. 

   “You have to walk through one of the barriers,” he explained, as if this was a perfectly normal option - like turning left at a set of traffic lights or exiting at Junction 11 on the M4.  “I’m not too sure which one - but I think it’s the one over there (he pointed with the arm with the box under it; Lily wished he wouldn’t as it squirmed even more) the one between platforms nine and ten.  Makes sense - doesn’t it?”

   “Er - yes,” said Lily, thinking that actually nothing had really made sense over the last couple of weeks.  But if this boy knew what he was doing, she thought it best not to ignore him. 

   “Shall we try and do it together?” asked the boy.  Lily nodded, so they made their way over to the barrier.  Mr Evens hugged his daughter goodbye, and stood back as the two of them prepared to go through, what looked to be, a perfectly solid wall. 

***

   Sirius ran at the barrier he hoped would take him to the right platform, the red-headed girl at his side.  The wall seemed to melt around them, spitting them out on the other side.  Sirius took a moment to stare around in wonder, then grabbed a hold of the girl’s arm to stop her from crashing headlong into the track itself; it appeared she had closed her eyes as they were running through.  She opened them now and gently pealed her fingers off the trolley she was pushing.  “It’s okay Merc,” she said reassuringly to the brown owl in the cage perched atop her trunk, and stroked his head.  She then looked at Sirius.  “That was wicked,” she said enthusiastically, “how did you know what to do?”

   Sirius shrugged.  “Someone told me - shall we find the train?” The girl nodded, a smile on her face, her cheeks a little flushed.  They each took a hold of their trolleys, and pushed them round the corner of the wall they had just come through. 

   They didn’t have to go very far to find the train.  Right in front of them, larger than life, sat a scarlet engine contently puffing purple smoke.  “Oh wow!” exclaimed Lily, her eyes wide in wonder.  Sirius had to agree with her - it was amazing. 

   And there were so many people too - students chatting with their friends, some already in their school robes, some not; people chasing cats; first years standing nervously with their families; families leaning in the train windows, students leaning out.  Lily looked a little overwhelmed. 

   “Sirius!” a voice cried over the crowd.  He looked around for its origin, but he didn’t need to look far.  Andromeda, flanked by a number of other sixth years, was waving at him as she walked towards him. 

   “Oh - hi!” said Sirius back.  “That’s my cousin,” he told the red-headed girl.  Andromeda beckoned him over to her.  “Well - bye,” he said, and pushed his trolley quickly over to them, extremely relieved to see a friendly face after so long without one. 

   Andromeda beamed.  “Hey you!” she said warmly, “how you doing?  Did you come by yourself?” Sirius nodded, a little intimidated by how big her friends were.  Andromeda seemed to pick up on this.  “Oh - this is Amy, Lucy, Michael and the one at the back with the purple hair is Crackers.  Don’t ask why we call him that,” she added quietly to Sirius, making him laugh, a little more relaxed.  “Everyone, this is my cousin Sirius.”  They all waved and said hello.  Sirius couldn’t help but smile. 

   “Do you all want to meet Andy?” he asked innocently. 

***

   As Severus Snape stepped off the train there was a chorus of shrieks and screams to his right as a group of older students all seemed to jump away from a much younger boy holding a box.  Unfortunately, as Severus was stepping off, another boy, also distracted by the commotion, was stepping on.  His head turned the other way he smacked straight into Severus and dropped his trunk directly onto his foot. 

   “Nugh!” he uttered in a most undignified fashion. 

   “Sorry!” cried the boy, hefting the trunk back into his arms and pushing his glasses back up his nose from where they had slipped down. 

   “Watch where you’re going,” snapped Severus, resisting the temptation to rub his throbbing foot.  He scowled and shoved past the boy with the glasses. 

   “Hey - you walked into me!” he cried to his back, but Severus ignored him. 

***

   Peter was looking round at everything going on; the platform was chaotic.  People were bustling round everywhere, yelling, chatting and throwing things.  He looked up at his sister.  Their parents had just left, telling Jane to look after her younger brother.  She seemed to be looking for someone else though. 

   “Jane - should we get on the train?”  She ignored him, her head turning left and right. 

   “All aboard!” cried the conductor and blew his whistle. People started swarming towards the carriages. 

   “Jane,” said Peter, tugging on her sleeve. 

   “Oh alright,” she snapped, grabbed her trunk and swung it onto the train.  She then rolled her eyes, jumped back onto the platform, and helped Peter up, who was struggling, the trunk far too big for him to carry by himself. 

   They pulled their things along the corridor with a lot of other people, some going the same way as them, others not. 

   A tall, hansom boy who looked older than Jane, but who had to be in the same year as her, walked past, causing Jane to drop her trunk on Peter’s foot.  “Ow!” he squawked, but she ignored him. 

   Her hand flew to her hair, smoothing it behind her ear.  “Hi Lucius,” she said breathlessly.  He slowed his pace slightly, slid his eyes up and down her, and let half a smile curl around his lips. 

   “Petigrew,” he said silkily, then carried on walking. 

   “Hi,” she said again softly to his back, her hand resting on her chest. 

   “Oi!” cried an older boy with purple hair behind Peter, “can we move it along some time before Christmas?!”

   “Sorry!” squeaked Jane, yanked her trunk off of Peter’s foot, and carried hastily on up the corridor. 

***

   Lily knocked on the compartment door before opening it.  There was already someone in it.  “Oh - sorry,” she said, “I was trying to find an empty one.”  She went to close the door again. 

   “You can sit here - I mean, if you like?” said the boy timidly.  Lily smiled gratefully; it seemed most of the train was already full.  He stood up, unsure, then helped her drag her things in and shut the door.  They pushed her trunk under the seats and she put her owl next to her as she sat opposite the boy. 

   “I’m Lily,” she offered. 

   “Oh - I’m Remus,” he replied. 

   “Sorry?” she asked, then was instantly ashamed of herself.  She shouldn’t be so rude when he’d been so friendly to her.  He didn’t seem to mind though. 

   “That’s okay,” he said, he seemed quite shy Lily thought, “it’s Remus - Remus Lupin.  It’s not a very common name.”

   “It’s really nice,” she assured him.  He gave her a half smile then looked out the window quickly, biting his lip, his hands tucked under his legs. 

   The final whistle blew, signalling that the train was about to depart.  The boy called Remus jumped up and pressed his face to the window, searched for a moment, then started waving at someone.  Lily followed his line of sight; it looked like he was waving his family goodbye, his eyes were bright and shiny.  Lily sat back in her seat and wished her mum and dad goodbye, hoping they might be able to hear her thoughts; she was a witch after all, and she was thinking so loudly, maybe, just maybe they would hear her.  She hoped. 

   The train was picking up speed, the station very quickly disappeared, and soon they were racing through smaller buildings, then houses, then just trees and fields.  The sun was beaming bright but weakly, the clouds were white and fluffy.  Lily wondered how long it would take them to get to Hogwarts; she didn’t even know what part of the country it was in. 

   The two of them sat quietly, lost in thought, for a good long while.  Lily curled her legs up and leaned her head back.  She was thinking about what the evening might be like, but to be honest, she really had no idea, so that only left her thinking about unpleasant things, like maybe she wouldn’t know where to go, maybe she’d get lost? Maybe she was the only  one from a non-magical family?  What if she wasn’t enough of a witch, what if she couldn’t do magic at all and they all laughed at her?  What if-

   Her owl gave a loud hoot, breaking her from her reverie.  He was obviously not getting enough attention, so Lily leant over with a smile and scratched his head; he cooed in appreciation. 

   “That’s a nice owl,” said Remus, making Lily jump for the second time.  She smiled at him. 

   “Thanks,” she said, “I got him from the pet shop in Diagon Ally.”

   “What’s his name?” he asked, curiously. 

   “Merc - it’s short for Mercutio.”  He looked blankly at her.  “Y’know - from Shakespeare?”  He shook his head.  “You don’t know who Shakespeare is!” cried Lily incredulous, but the boy just bit his lip and shook his head again.  Lily laughed, “well, I certainly feel better I didn’t know I was a witch if you don’t know who Shakespeare is.”

   Remus sat up.  “You’re muggle-born then?”  Lily nodded.  “Oh,” he breathed, “cool.”  He thought a moment.  “How did you find Diagon Ally then?” he asked. 

   “I got a letter explaining everything,” she told him, then laughed, “that was an interesting letter I can tell you.”  They both laughed, the atmosphere in the room getting a little easier. 

   “So - how come you don’t have an owl?” she asked the mousy haired boy.  He shifted a little uncomfortably. 

   “They - I - don’t really get along with owls,” he said, “or any other kind of pets, really.”  He looked down into his lap. 

   “That’s a shame,” said Lily genuinely.  They were quiet again for a moment.  Remus looked as if he wanted to say something after a few minutes, but like he couldn’t find the right words.  Lily looked at him in what she hoped was an encouraging way; she really didn’t know why he was so intimidated by her, she wasn’t going to bite him. 

   After a moment or two, he took a breath and raised his head to look at her.  “So - if you’re muggle-born - that…well I guess that means - you don’t know what Quidditch is?” He looked at her hopefully, maybe anticipating a rebuff.  But Lily shook her head with a grin. 

   “No - I really don’t know much at all,” she said honestly, “what’s Quidditch?”

   Remus’ face lit up, changing his whole demeanour.  “Oh - you wait!” he said excitedly, “it’s the best game ever!”

***

   Morwenna Goggins hadn’t spoken for almost an hour now.  How could she?  The two boys who had invaded her compartment hadn’t let her get a word in edgeways they were talking so much.  She didn’t mind though; they were quite interesting. 

   The first boy who had burst in on her, making her jump and drop the book she was reading (“Hogwarts: A History”) onto her toes, had messy black hair and round glasses.  His name was James.  The second boy had only joined them when the train had started moving.  He’d asked timidly if they were first years; when they nodded he asked if he could join them.  Morwenna was barely able to ask his name before the two of them began jabbering, laughing and joking.  His name was Peter. 

   It seemed both boys families were traditionally in Gryffindor, something they all had in common, thought Morwenna, but was unable to say as the two of them seemed barely to draw breaths between anecdotes, especially James.  Just as she was going to ask them if either of them had any older siblings at the school, the door slid open for a third time. 

   A boy, another first year, poked his head in their compartment; he had quite greasy, long hair, a hooked nose and a sour look on his face.  He addressed Peter who was sitting the nearest.  “Excuse me, but-” he trailed off at the sight of Morwenna.  There was a pause.  “Goggins,” he said curtly with a raised eyebrow. 

   Morwenna stared back unflinchingly.  “Snape,” she said batting her eyelids slowly, as if challenging him.  The boy set his jaw and looked briefly at James, before turning on his heals and walking back out the door, snapping it shut behind him. 

   “Who was he?” asked Peter in a slightly high-pitched voice. 

   “I met him earlier,” said James, “he was dead rude.”

   “Severus Snape,” supplied Morwenna, “he lives near me - nasty boy,” she added. 

   “In Ireland?” questioned Peter, “he didn’t have an accent like-”

   Morwenna shook her head, cutting him off.  “I moved to Dorset when I was little girl, his family lives about seven miles away.” She folded her arms and sank back in her seat.  “My family was always being sociable, inviting them round when ever we had parties or whatever.  We all went to the Quidditch World Cup one year, ugh what a nightmare.”

   “Why?” asked James, “what happened?”

   “Oh, he’s just so…horrid!” cried Morwenna, “he hates muggles, and he’s really interested in the dark arts, he was always cursing insects and stuff when he thought no one was looking.  Plus, he tormented one of my little sisters, Teresa, something rotten because she’s afraid of the dark.”

   James glowered out of the window in the direction Severus had departed and ‘huphed’ to himself.  They sat for a few moments in quiet, before the young black haired boy seemed to realise something.  “Hang on a sec,” he cried, “did you say you went to the Quidditch World Cup?!”

***

   Sirius was definitely feeling sick now.  He’d been sitting with Andromeda and her friends for a good few hours on the train, unusually quiet, just listening to the sixth years laughing and telling each other stories about their summer holidays.  Andromeda noticed Sirius wasn’t his usual rambunctious self an hour or two into the journey, and since then had been asking him if he was okay every twenty minutes and trying to involve him in their conversation.  But Sirius would just smile politely, then continue staring out the window. 

   The trouble was, as nice as Andromeda’s friends were, they only served to remind Sirius of the predicament he was finding himself in.  He hadn’t really thought about it before, but the fact that his cousin was in Ravenclaw was an extremely rare occurrence; the Black family had been in Slytherin for as long as anyone cared to remember, with only the odd relative slipping into Ravenclaw every few decades or so.  The chances of two Blacks ending up in Ravenclaw in one generation was extremely remote. 

    So, that left Sirius to surmise that really, he was looking at living for another seven years with people just like his family, except worse, because there would be about a million times more of them around to bully him.  He didn’t want to be in Slytherin; with his whole heart, he didn’t want to be in Slytherin.  But he couldn’t see that there was much he could do about it. 

   All in all, he was feeling pretty miserable by the time the Hogwarts express pulled into the Hogsmeade station. 

***

   As Remus and the girl called Lily tried to make their way of the train, it soon became quite clear it was not going to be an easy task, because, quite frankly, the place was in pandemonium.  The rain was coming down in stair rods and the wind was howling something rotten, making it impossible to see or hear anything that was going on.  Remus squinted into the bleakness in front of them as they finally stepped off the carriage and onto the platform.  Girls were screaming and trying to cover their heads, luggage was being handed off to various people, and students kept tripping over owl cages and bags resting on the floor whilst the owners were running round trying to find their friends. 

   Lily looked at Remus; she was rather pale.  “Er…what do we do?” she asked timidly.  Remus shook his head.  Suddenly a booming voice could be heard floating over the heads of the hyper students on the platform. 

   “First Years - this way!” The man, wherever he was, had a thick country accent and a commanding presence, but even so, it was still hard to heard clearly the words he was actually saying over the din. 

   “Did he say first years?” yelled Remus.  Lily nodded. 

   “He said first years ‘this way’ - but I have no idea which way is ‘this way’!”  Luckily though, the owner of the voice came into view pretty quickly; in fact, it was a wonder he had been out of sight for as long as he had been.  He was at least eight feet tall with a swathe of bushy, tangled hair and boots that looked as if they could kill a man.  Remus and Lily couldn’t help shrinking from his awesome presence.  The man though, was obviously used to this kind of reaction, and called out in his booming voice, “nothing to worry about, there, just follow me this way and we’ll have you indoors in no time.”

   “What about our luggage?” cried a girl in an Irish accent with beautiful black wavy hair.

  “Don’t worry - it’ll be sent up for you. C’mon - this way!”

   There was a gradual divide as the first years followed the giant man one way, and the rest of the student body went the other.  Remus looked as best he could at his future peer group and tried to suss them up in the pouring rain; he didn’t have much luck.  They reached the edge of what looked to be a substantial lake.  “Right!” called the man over the wind, “my name’s Hagrid - I’m the ground’s keeper here at Hogwarts.  We’ll be taking the journey across the lake for your sorting, but the weather’s a little choppy this year so you’re to hold on tight - understand?”  The first years nodded as one; none of them much fancied a swim just yet.  “Great!” Hagrid cried, “okay - sort yourselves out - four to a boat!”

   Remus and Lily made there way towards one of the little wooden boats lined against the dock of the lake.  They were joined by another couple of girls Remus hadn’t seen before and they all sat gingerly down.  Next to them was a boat with rather rowdy occupants, one in particular who was rocking the boat violently from side to side in the water in a giddy way and making the other occupants, one of which was the black-haired Irish girl, look extremely ill.  “Will you pack that in!” snapped another blond girl who had joined them. 

   “Right!” cried Hagrid once again, now in a boat all by himself (which looked crowded at that), “off we go!”  The fleet of little boats lurched away from the lake’s edge of their own accord and sailed off into the stormy darkness.  Some of the youngsters couldn’t help but cry out - some with glee, others, like Remus, in terror.  Lily grabbed his hand; Remus wasn’t sure who it was intended to comfort but he reasoned by the end of the journey it did a pretty good job of calming both of them down. 

   The gaggle of slightly green first years jumped out of the boats as soon as they touched the other side of the lake.  There seemed to be some sort of building above them, but the storm lashing as it was Remus couldn’t make it out.  Hagrid got out of his own boat and ushered everyone into a sort of sheltered cove.  “Have we got everyone?” he asked.  There was a general consensus that they had, so he turned around and opened a great oak door behind him.  The students followed as he went, up and down flights of stone stairs, until they arrived at another wooden door deep within what seemed to be the castle that was Hogwarts. 

   “This is where I leave you,” Hagrid told the increasingly scared looking First Years.  “Professor Hitchcock will be along shortly to take you in for the Sorting.”  And then he left them, walking back the way they’d come, humming a jaunty tune. 

   The students looked at one another; the vast majority were petrified.  Even the boy who had been rocking the boat was unusually quiet.  Remus gulped; just what exactly did this Sorting entail?

***

   Sirius followed behind a tall Asian boy as they walked into the Great Hall for their Sorting.  There had been a great deal of speculation as to the nature of the Sorting by the new First Years as they waited for the deputy Headmaster to show up; Sirius knew you only had to put on a hat, as Andromeda had told him, but he wasn’t any less nervous than the other students around him. 

   The line walked silently into the Hall, and Sirius felt even sicker when he realised the whole of the rest of the school was already there watching them.  He decided not to look into the crown in case he saw an unfriendly face, of which there were a number. 

   They came to a halt along what appeared to be the teacher’s table, and stood to face the four house tables vertically in front of them.  Professor Hitchcock uncurled a yellowy sheet of parchment as a stool with a battered old hat on was placed in front of the trembling students by a witch with square glasses and a rather austere demeanour. 

   The entire school sat in silence and looked at the hat.  Apparently it was going to sing, one of Andromeda’s friend’s had told him, but he couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything but his hands as the battered old thing indeed opened a rip in its brim and began to serenade them all.  His fellow students listened on in awe as the hat told them all about the four different houses they would soon be joining, but Sirius already knew what they were.  As the song came to a close and people applauded with gusto, there was only one thought filling his head; there might be just a small chance he could land himself in Ravenclaw, if he concentrated hard enough. 

   “When I call your name,” said Professor Hitchcock a clear and audible voice, please sit on the stool and place the hat on your head.”  Sirius, squeezed his eyes shut; he was pretty certain of what was coming next.

   “Black, Sirius!”

   And there it was. 

   As if walking through treacle, the young boy made his way slowly over to the stool and put the hat on; it slipped all the way over his wincing eyes. 

   “Ah!” cried a voice in his ear, “we have another Black I see!” 

   “Er…yes,” said Sirius quietly.  No one said the hat was going to talk to him!

   It seemed to be considering something.  “Hmm…well this is very unusual,” it told him, “very…hmm…well - certainly a great deal of confidence…a rather mischievous nature - oh, very clever, now that’s not so surprising…but still…I wonder.”  Sirius gripped the sides of the stool for what felt like forever - the hat seemed to be making up it’s mind.  “Well - I think there’s nothing for it,” it declared, “it’s going to have to be-” Sirius held his breath - “GRYFFINDOR!”

   Sirius fell off the stool. 

   The hall burst into a mixture of applause and laughter.  Sirius stood shakily to his feet and gave the hat back to the Deputy Headmaster, a look of disbelief on his face. 

   The older man smiled.  “Took your time, Black,” he said with a note of good humour to his voice, then called the next student’s name. 

***

   This food, James reasoned, was the only food he’d ever come across that was actually better than his mother’s.  Not that he was going to admit it to anyone, but still - he was damn well impressed.  The feast laid out before him and his new fellow housemates did not seem to be depleting, even though they had all been eating for a good hour or so.  James felt a smile creep up onto his sleep face as he looked round at the table he was on; he was now officially a Gryffindor. 

   The First Years were all grouped at one end of the table from the Sorting ceremony, and James regarded them with interest.  Oddly enough, both his companions from the train carriage (Peter and Morwenna) had also ended up in the same house as him and were sitting opposite him now, chatting about Transfiguration.  Peter had made to go sit along side what James assumed to be his sister at one point, but she had actually shoed the boy away.  Both James and Morwenna, having seen this without Peter realising, made a conscious effort to make him feel welcome when he returned.  Then there was the boy who had fallen off the stool during the Sorting.  So far he hadn’t spoken much, except for when an older girl had popped over from the Ravenclaw table to congratulate him; the relief at something had been evident on his face.  Since then he’d just been eating with a half contented, half disbelieving grin on his face, occasionally looking up to pay attention to people’s conversations, but mostly just lost in thought.  There were a pair of blond twins who didn’t appear to engage with anyone and seemed frighteningly intuitively linked, to the extent that James was beginning to wonder if the two girls were actually telepathic and had given up on regular conversation years ago.  Just as the thought crossed his mind, the pair looked sharply up at him, then at each other.  “Pass the carrots James,” the one on the left chirped, not taking her eyes of him.  James, a little freaked out, did as he was told, then refused to look at them again for the rest of the evening.  And finally, there were the pair from the boat next to them on the lake.  These James found the most interesting.  The boy was called Remus Lupin and, once coaxed out of his shell, was thoroughly likable and had almost as an unhealthy interest in Quidditch as James himself did.  It didn’t take James long to notice that he was exceptionally cagey about touching people, but he had a bright open smile that James liked a lot, and he reasoned that when he got to know himself better he’d relax and stop worrying so much. 

   The girl, though, was what was really engaging James’ interest by the time desert appeared by magic on the glimmering gold plates.  Her name was Lily Evens, and she had radiant crimson hair that glowed under the candle light and a laugh that almost seemed to mesmerize James.  As the evening drew to a close and the First Years were escorted to their new rooms by the prefects, James could barely take his eyes off the girl.  When the Gryffindor boys and girls went their separate ways up the tower to bed, James took one last look at Lily Evens, and as he drifted off to sleep not long after, decided that this was going to be a very interesting year after all.