Chapter One: The Starters

An endless mass of diminutive boats were floating across the incessant sea, somehow waiting for a person or a group of people to climb aboard. Small lanterns of orange lights were drifting in the night sky, shining like bright stars. Amazement was shown upon nameless faces of soon-to-be students of the famous school, Hogwarts.

Groups of said students climbed into the small boats, and as soon as the whole group sat down onto the wooden benches, the boat starts flowing, rocking gently. A young witch clasped her hands around other two witches, pulling them into a boat. "Come on," she yelled, "Hurry up!" Excitement sparkled in her chartreuse green eyes; a big grin was stretched upon her face.

"Kaitlyn, stop pulling!"

"You are going to break my wrist with your beefy arms!"

As the three girls came upon their boat, Kaitlyn pulled none too gently, and they all came tumbling down. The groans and moans were like a terribly-put song together. They knew bruises will be decorated on their skin. "Cynthia, get off," groaned Kayla. "I'm trying."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"If you were, you wouldn't be this slow."

"Why, you-"

"For Arthur's sake! Both of you get off," screamed Kaitlyn, "Oh Merlin's beard! You broke my spleen!"

As Kaitlyn kept complaining about her spleen, Kaylah and Cynthia slowly brought themselves up; small groans escaping. They levered Kaitlyn up, and they sat down onto their seats. Kaylah wrapped her arms around her stomach while flickers of pain revealed through her violet eyes.

"Sorry," mumbled Kaitlyn. Her friends nodded, indicating their forgiveness. "I'm just surprised you know what a spleen is," exclaimed Cynthia.

"What? You think I'm dumb?"

"No, I don't think. I know."

"Well, I know that-,"

"Guys, look!" Kaylah pointed at an enormous castle. "We're finally here," breathed Kaitlyn; her green eyes wide with amazement. Her hands grabbed the sides of the boat, clenching them hard. Her knuckles turned ghastly white. Suddenly, Kaylah clasped her shoulders and shooked. She squealed, "Oh my! We're here! We're here! At Hogwarts! We're here at Hogwarts!"

Cynthia rested her gloved hands on their shoulders and asked, "Do you feel that?"

Kaitlyn and Kaylah looked at each other with confused glances, wondering what their friend was talking about. Cynthia just gave them a small smile and glanced towards the castle. She looked at it with warmth and closed her eyes for a few moments. She glanced at her friends and spoke softly, "Why, Hogwarts. Of course."

Pictures with moving people and animals were covering the walls of Hogwarts, talking and walking like it was a normal day. Candles floated above the students and the teachers as they walked to their destination. Noisy footsteps echoed through the hallways, filling the silence. Whispers were heard all around.

"I can't believe it!"

"Believe what?"

"Harry Potter, that is!"

"Seriously? You better stop twisting my knickers."

"Yes, look over there!"

A boy with wide-framed spectacles and shaggy brown hair stood in the middle of the horde. A series of raised eyebrows and skeptical looks were upon of everyone. Hand-me-down rags with stitched patches and a couple specks of dirt did not meet the expectations of many students or adults for that matter.

Some students were pointing and pondering if that was the boy-who-lived. Immediately, the boy-who-lived stopped in the middle of the hallway; his hands clenching into fists. Teachers turned at the sudden interruption, wondering what happened. His shoulders were tensed with his head bowed down. A girl with bushy brown hair put a hand on his back and glared at the group of students. Her dark eyes burned with rage. A boy with obvious red hair and hand-me-down clothes, too, glared and crossed his arms.

"Why do you keep staring?" she yelled, "He's just a normal boy! He plays board games and reads just like you do!"

The girl pushed her shoulders back and stood up tall. Her head held up high. A couple seconds later, Kaitlyn rushed forward to the trio. The girl just looked at her skeptically. Her hands clasped on Harry's clothes. Kaitlyn took a breath and apologized, "I'm sorry."

After the apology, Harry looked at her with doubt and small hope. His emerald eyes glistened. Kaitlyn, a head taller, gave him a tiny smile and put out her hand. Her eyes asking for forgiveness. He stared at her hand for a few seconds. Everyone at this moment took a breathe in, waiting for Harry's reaction. Harry hesitantly shook her hand with slow movements.

Suddenly, Kaitlyn brought her other hand to her occupied hand and shook with vast motions. It basically looked like Kaitlyn was trying to dislocate Harry's arm. "Thank you! Thank you!" was the words that were heard across the hallway. While trying to dislocate his arm, Harry was laughing with tears in his eyes, sparkling like emeralds. Harry's friend tried to cover up her giggles with her hand, but some of them kept escaping. Harry's other friend just snorted.

Kaylah walked behind Kaitlyn and grasped her hands, stopping the shake. She brought them to Kaitlyn's side as Kaitlyn gave her a puzzled face. Kaylah gave her a sigh and explained, "You're going to break his arms if you don't stop." Kaitlyn blushed hard as she mumbled, "Sorry."

Harry just gave a chuckle, saying "It's alright."

"If all of you are done with this touching moment, I would like to move on," stated an intimidating man. Black greasy hair touched his shoulders, dark cold eyes glared at the crowd of students, and black robes wrapped around his slender form. Intimidating, indeed. As the man glared, chilling shivers crawled down the pre-teens' backs except for some students, such as Cynthia. "Follow me," he demanded.

Harry, Kaitlyn, Kaylah, and the other two were paralyzed with shock; their eyes wide. Footsteps were heard from behind the two girls, and a young witch with royal blue eyes linked her arms with Kaitlyn and Kaylah. She glared at them and whispered harshly, "Are you stupid? You don't make friends with-"

The bushy haired girl whirled quickly and scowled at the unknown girl. Her face became red as the boy's hair. She grabbed Harry's and the other boy's wrist, dragging them away to the front. The boys were confused to what was going on between their friend and the other girl. Harry turned his neck, but he could not see Kaitlyn and the other two. They were already vanished into the massive crowd of first-year witches and wizards.

Cynthia stood with tense shoulders with her dazzling eyes lowered. She thought about what she said. She did nothing wrong, so why did that girl look at her like that? Cynthia was only worried about her own friends. Shed did not want her friends to die, because they were hanging about with the Dark Lord's enemy.

Cynthia looked up to Kaitlyn and Kaylah and saw their disappointing looks. They looked at her with depressing eyes and disbelieving frowns. They unchained their arms and backed up a step. Their hands clenched together, and their eyes diverted. Kaylah mumbled, "We should go if we don't want to hurry."

The three girls were the last ones of the horde. Kaylah and Kaitlyn were oddly quiet; it was so unlike them to be this silent. Usually, Kaitlyn will be squealing or shrieking, and Kaylah will be laughing. It was confusing at least for Cynthia. She had no idea what was wrong. Was it something she said? She pondered for a moment. She didn't steal one of Kaitlyn's delicious cupcakes or Kaylah's handbag. She was perplexed with their behavior.

Suddenly, a booming voice jolted from her incessant thoughts. "Firs' years! Firs' years! Up this way! Come on, lot!"

A huge mountain of a man was leading them. He had dark, long hair with the same colour hair for his beard. His beard reached to the top of his belly. He looked like a strong man, yet gentle. An annoyed boy walked towards him and asked rudely, "Just who are you?"

The man looked shocked; his hairy eyebrows raised and mouth gaped. His faced immediately turned red with rage as the moment of shock passed. He pointed at the boy and replied harshly," Where are your manners, boy? Did no one teach you?" The boy wasn't fazed, and he just stated, "I asked you a question. It is rude for not answering a question someone just asked you. Were you taught manners?" The boy with the blonde-slicked hair and stormy grey eyes wore a smug smirk, clearly a pureblood.

"Alright, you want' introductions? The name's Hagrid. I am a Professor of Care of Magical Creatures, and yo-" The boy interrupted Hagrid as he (the boy) crossed his arms. "Yes, my father told me about you. You know who my father is, yes? My father is Sir Lucius Malfoy." Hagrid didn't seemed surprised by the boy's family name, yet the students were. Everyone was staring at the boy with amazement, jealousy, or rage like the red-haired boy with the Golden boy.

The scary man came back with an elderly witch. The witch's posture was perfect. She walked with superior authority. Her eyes seemed rough with a shimmer of care. The woman looked at the students and Hagrid. She turned to Hagrid and asked, "Is there a problem?"

"No, Professor McGonagall."

"I see."

Her robes twirled as she turned around. She looked behind her and said, "Come, students. Let's show you the Great Hall where we will have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You must be punctual with your time; you will find the time on your timetables when you get them later."

Professor McGonagall swiftly turned down hallways with moving pictures; each holding a person looking and gossiping about the new students of Hogwarts. She turned towards the students and pointed to five tables- one empty and the other four occupied. The other four tables had students with different ages and scarves. Some had green, red, yellow, and blue. They belonging to the houses of Hogwarts as everyone knew except for some muggleborns. The first years walked to the empty table and sat down with nervousness. All over, they were aware of the stares with questioning eyes of all colours. Another smaller table was put in front of the other tables with some young and some elderly professors and the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

He had dark eyes with a twinkle in them. To most, it was comforting, but to a few, it seemed suspicious. He had a long, grey beard with his hair about the same length. Big glasses sat on the end of his wrinkly nose. His arms with his robes hanging off stretched above his head and his voice thundered across the Great Hall, "Welcome."