A/N: This is being co-written with Novelisto, so he gets just as much story credit. It's simply on my profile. Any reviews will be accepted kindly, and will likely be answered personally by me or by Novelisto.

"Hurry along, Sean, you don't want to be late — the Hogwarts Express certainly won't wait up for you." Mrs. Miller hurried her children along in a neat fashion, pulling ahead the younger kids that weren't pulling trolleys full of luggage and cages with pets.

Sean gulped. It was five until eleven already; the Hogwarts Express, he knew, left exactly at eleven o'clock, no earlier, no later. What would everyone say at school if they heard that a kid had missed the train — Sean wasn't even sure he'd get to go to school at that point. He lugged his trolley along, while his small, new owl, yet to be named, hooted wildly in its cage, trying to flutter about.

"Shut that ruddy owl up!" said Sean's mother as she pulled to a stop next to the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. "He's drawing the attention of Muggles!" she said hoarsely. Surely enough, almost every person that walked by was staring at the owl or them while they could, unsure of what to make of the unconventional family.

"Sorry, Mum," Sean muttered. He threw his jacket on top of the cage — this seemed to shut her up for once.

"All right, you first, Brooke," said Mrs. Miller decisively, referring to Sean's older sister. "Hurry along, but try not to draw attention, will you?"

"Right, Mum." Brooke casually sidled up to the barrier that separated them from the seemingly nonexistent Platform Nine and Three Quarters. If Sean hadn't been on it before, he wouldn't have believed it was there at all. Brooke, when no Muggles were paying notice, easily slid her trolley through the barrier without drawing too much attention to herself. Then, when the coast seemed clear, she leaned against it, nonchalantly falling through.

"All right, Sean, dear, you're next — just do what your sister did."

"I know, Mum," Sean replied.

"Don't you get smart with me, Sean Michael."

"All right, Mum, don't worry." Sean casually walked on up, and, when he was sure no non-Wizarding eyes were upon him, he copied his sister.

The view on the other side of the barrier was just as Sean had remembered it from last year as he watched his siblings depart — crowded with the late stragglers trying to hurry on, as well as mothers and fathers bidding their children good-bye for the year.

Sean turned back to the barrier as his mother and younger sister walked through. "Hurry along, dear. You don't want to miss it," said his mother, ushering Reagan, his other sister, along with her. "I suspect Brooke's already found her spot. Hurry up."

Sure enough, the train let off a warning whistle. Sean didn't need much more motivation. He rushed through the crowd, weaving in and out when necessary to avoid bumping into someone and having an accident. Finally, after what seemed like too long, Sean reached the long scarlet train. The train blew another warning whistle, and Sean hurried to push his things onto the train, his sister, having appeared in the doorway, helping him along. The train was already moving as Sean jumped onto it, his mother standing on the platform wishing him well. "Get plenty of rest! Bathe regularly! And write as often as possible, would you?"

Sean frowned. It was weird leaving his mother for so long — ten months, unless he went home for the holidays. That was certainly a long time indeed. Behind him, his sister was waving good-bye and smiling and promising to write as soon as possible the next day, but Sean wasn't taking any of it in. He did notice his little sister almost in tears, which Sean knew was because she wasn't going to be going to Hogwarts for years.

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, she wasn't in his sight anymore. They had rounded a curve, and she was gone.

"We better find you a compartment 'fore it's too late, bud," said Brooke. Sean stood there for a moment, looking out the now closed door at the landscape as it rolled past. After a few seconds, he turned to follow Brooke, hauling his trunk behind him.

As Sean followed his sister silently down the corridor, he glanced in the window of each little room. Inside each compartment, for the most part, was at least a couple students — rarely did Sean see one that had only one occupant. But none of them were empty. After a few cars, his sister stopped, impeding Sean from going any further. "I'm gonna leave you here, Bro. Think you can manage on your own from here?" Sean nodded vigorously. "'Kay. I'll see you at the school." She turned and entered a compartment to her left, and the door soon closed, closely followed by a raucous of high-pitched squeals of happiness. Sean, however, moved on.

He soon reached the end of the train, and to his dismay, there were no empty compartments in sight. Sean turned to head back — hopefully he'd find an empty compartment that he'd missed on the way back. But before he took a step, he noticed the compartment to his right was empty save for one boy that Sean figured was a first year too, right about his age. So instead of walking toward the front of the train once more, Sean turned and opened the compartment door.

The boy didn't look up when Sean opened the door—he was deeply immersed in a large book. "Uh —" Sean paused, giving the boy time to look up. "H-hello."

"Hi," said the boy, still not inviting him in.

"Um, well . . . is —?" Sean paused again. "D'you mind if I sit in here?"

"Oh," the boy said. "Yeah. Yeah, sure, go ahead!" He seemed almost excited at the prospect of company in his compartment.

Sean dragged his trunk into the compartment and swung it carefully up onto the luggage rack, sitting down once he'd secured it up there. "Thanks. Didn't think I'd find anywhere — there's a bunch of people on this train, aren't there?"

"Yeah. Must be hundreds." The boy looked at Sean for a moment, and then looked back down at his book.

Sean didn't know what he should say, so he didn't say anything. He instead turned to his trunk, standing up. He rummaged inside, looking for something to do to pass the time. There wasn't much he could find that would satisfy, so he ended up pulling out The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk — a little reading couldn't hurt.

He opened the front cover and sat back down, reading the introduction. Before he could reach the third paragraph, however, he was interrupted.

"Are you reading that, too?" the boy sitting across from him asked excitedly. "I'm reading it now" — he held the book in his hands up for Sean to see clearly — "and it's really interesting. I bet I could even do one of these spells, maybe."

"Oh, well, um—"

"I'll try now. If I blow my hand off, tell them my owl bit it off and flew away," he said.

"But you don't have—" Sean stopped as he noticed the grin on the boy's face. "Oh."

The boy pulled a wand from his trunk, about eleven inches long, which had some black, wavy lines carved into the handle. "I'll try the levitating charm. I bet it'll be easy enough, y'think?" Before Sean could give an answer, however, the boy pointed his wand at a stray quill sitting next to him and said the incantation forcefully, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The quill made a hopeful roll and lay back motionless.

Sean frowned.

"Oh well," the boy said. "Maybe next time. You don't talk much, y'know." He put the wand down on the seat next to him. Just as Sean was looking back at his book to continue reading, the boy spoke up again. "I never introduced myself, did I? I'm Julius. Julius Virdo." Julius leaned across and held out his hand.

Sean hesitated, and then took it, shaking it lightly.

"So you're a first year, too?" said Julius. "That's cool. My mom's already told me all about it — Hogwarts, I mean." Julius paused, just looking at Sean with a smile on his face. Just as Sean began to look away, he spoke again. "I can't wait to start lessons." Julius quickly changed the subject however. "D'you know what House you're going to be sorted in? Or at least who you want to be in."

This was something that Sean could at least relate to — he'd spent days talking about it with his sister. "Well," he started, "I dunno, really. My mum was in Gryffindor, and my dad was in Hufflepuff, so I guess I'd like to be in one of those. I guess Slytherin wouldn't be so bad either, and Ravenclaw'd be nice, 'cause I've been told I'm kind of smart, so I guess I really don't mind what House I'm in, really."

"Really?" said Julius curiously. "My mom said that Slytherin is mostly Pureblood snobs — she was in Gryffindor, y'know — but I'm a Pureblood, so I dunno. And Hufflepuff is really kinda useless, she says. My dad doesn't know much, since he's from Australia — they met when my mom went on an exchange year to Australia, and they've been together since."

Julius went on and on about the things he'd learned about Hogwarts, and then into his favorite Quidditch teams, and who he wanted to win the league that year — he hardly left Sean any room to talk. Whenever Sean tried to insert a comment about something, Julius would cut him off, bringing in some other comment about some other topic. Eventually, Sean just gave up and picked up his book again. Julius didn't even notice, and kept on talking to no one.

Sean didn't look up from his book again until the compartment door was opened once more. Surely we're not to the castle yet, said Sean. It's not even dark yet. Even Julius looked up to see who it was.

Standing in the doorway was a tall boy, surrounded by three other boys and a girl that was smirking. Every one of them was wearing emerald green robes, contrasting greatly with the jeans and tee shirt that Sean was wearing. Suddenly, he felt rather self-conscious.

"First years, have we here?" said the boy. "Looks like you guys could use a little initiation ceremony. . . . What House are you going to be in?" Both Julius and Sean shrugged their shoulders. "So, I suppose you're sure you won't be in Slytherin, then. Maybe we could, ah — convince you?"

Sean didn't have a chance to say anything before the kids began to pile into the compartment.

"Hey, what's going on up there?" a voice from outside the compartment called. "What are you guys doing?" Another person pushed through into the already crowded compartment, and Sean was soon looking up into the face of his sister. "Spencer, what are you picking on first years for? This isn't the time. You shouldn't be doing that anyway. Just 'cause you're a second year now doesn't mean you're top of the school. Think you have a few more years until that."

The boy looked up at Brooke, who stood a good eight inches taller. "At least I can play Quidditch, Miller."

Brooke gave a hollow laugh. "I can't believe that Jennifer even sunk as low as to put a first year at Keeper. How many goals did I score against you in the Gryffindor–Slytherin game last year? Was it eighteen? That sounds about right. And then Christian caught the Snitch making it . . . five-forty to thirty? Am I right, Liam?"

Liam, rather than speaking, turned and headed back out into the corridor, his cronies following him silently.

"Sorry you had to see that, Sean," said Brooke as the compartment door closed. "You're lucky I chose now to come down and check on you." She turned toward Julius. "So you're doing all right, then? I see you found a friend, huh."

"Yeah," Sean muttered.

"Well, if you'll be all right, I'll go back. I guess I won't see you till we're back at the castle, now, so take care of yourself, would you?"

Brooke left the compartment, but before she shut it behind her, she stuck her head back in, saying, "You might wanna change into your robes. We'll be there in about an hour, but time'll go quicker than you think if you put it off." She finally shut the compartment door behind her.

"Your sister seems cool — she plays Quidditch? I bet she's pretty good, too. I was going to try out, 'cause I hear from my cousin that Gryffindor's looking for a Seeker now, and I think I could maybe make it. I dunno." Julius looked out the window, as did Sean. It was definitely getting darker out there. "I s'pose we should get changed, then, if we're almost there. We don't want to look like idiots."

"Yeah," Sean murmured. "Yeah, I guess so."

Sean and Julius both quickly got changed, unsure of how little time they had. Instead of reading, Sean talked with his new friend about Quidditch — Sean gave his thoughts on the Appleby Arrows' chance of winning the United Kingdom Cup that year, and then about the classes he thought they'd take — finally, they reached the topic of the Sorting.

"So whadaya think we'll have to do?" Julius asked. "My cousin Ricky told me you had to complete some type of test or something. Maybe we'll have to perform a spell. Maybe I should've read more of the Spell book. Maybe we should —"

"Don't listen to him," Sean said, smiling. "Brooke says that they use something to do with hats, or something."

"Oh. Maybe we'll have to pull something out of it. Or —"

Once again, Sean tuned out. It wasn't long before the train began to slow down, and as the train pulled to a stop, the nervousness in the pit of his stomach returned. He was finally here — at Hogwarts — or at least, he would be in a short time.

"Finally," said Julius. "That seemed like forever. Let's go!" They hauled their trunks from the compartment and into the corridor of the car. Sean followed his eager friend Julius out until they reached an exit, stepping down to the ground into the crowd of people.

"Firs' years! Firs' years, over here!" called a deep voice. "Firs' years!"

Sean turned, along with Julius, toward the voice. A man, twice as tall as his father, was standing in the crowd, waving his hand toward himself, indicating that the new boys and girls were to follow him. Sean gestured in the man's direction while Julius followed him through the mass of second years and above going in the other direction.

Slowly, but steadily, they made their way over to the man where dozens of other first years were clamped together, murmuring amongst themselves. "Firs' years, follow me," said the gigantic man when all of them had gathered around him. "Come on, then." He turned and led them down a slope forest path, taking enormous strides while the kids struggled to keep up. It took around three quick steps of the eleven year olds' to match one of the man's.

At the end of the path stood a dock, with which at least thirty beds were spread around. "All righ', then, get in. No more'n four to a boat. Hurry up, now."

Sean clambered into a boat, quickly followed by Julius, who was chattering animatedly, though Sean wasn't paying much attention. Two other nervous-looking boys got in next to them, obviously too anxious to talk.

"Everybody in, then?" asked the enormous man, who was in a boat of his own. "Good. Forward."

As he said this word, every single boat lurched forward, gliding across the black lake beneath them. It reflected the silver moonlight, making the air around them shine brilliantly. "This is awesome, isn't it?" muttered Julius excitedly.

Sean didn't bother to answer, too hypnotized by the view that had just come into sight — a humongous, magnificent castle sat on the other side of the lake before them. Sean's mouth fell open in a bit of awe. "Wow," he said quietly. "It's amazing . . ."

"Wow!" shouted Julius, drawing the attention of many people in nearby boats. "That's spectacular! I wish my house looked like that, y'know. 'Course we've never been rich, really, but it's nothing worth fussing about, I guess. My mom always says that being rich doesn't matter when you have family. I dunno, 'cause my cousins can get pretty annoying sometimes. But we're not poor, just in —"

For once, Julius stopped talking. They'd reached the other side of the lake, and had entered a small little cavern cut into the side of a rock face. "Whoa. It's nothing like I imagined," Julius said with seeming amazement in his voice. "This is way cooler."

The boats stopped with another small lurch, and the gigantic man stood back up. "All right, then. Get out of the boats and follow me — careful now, watch yer step, there."

They once again followed him, this time up a set of stairs. No one seemed sure of where they were all going. Sean tried counting all the steps but lost count after two-hundred and thirty-something. Even Julius was silent now. Finally, after a difficult journey up for the legs of the first years, they reached a door, which promptly swung open, as if pre-warned of their coming presence, granting them entrance into what must've been the castle.

Another flock of murmuring spread through the crowd — no one seemed quite sure what happened now. A tall, strict-looking woman in emerald green robes stood at the foot of the steps in front of all of them. Everyone fell silent at the sight of her.

"Thank you," she said. "I would like to welcome you all to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

No one said a word as the woman paused, apparently too nervous to speak.

"I shall lead you into the Great Hall, of which the door is behind me, and you will be called one by one to be sorted into your Houses. If you have no questions, then you may all follow me." Either no one had any questions, or they were all too intimidated to express them, because the entire room was still silent. "Good." She turned to face the huge man that had escorted them this far. "Thank you, Rubeus. Go ahead and take your seat at the Staff Table. I hear the elves have prepared a wonderful treacle tart for this year's feast."

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," said the great man, who promptly strode up past the students and through the doors of the Great Hall awaiting them all.

"Now, if you'll all follow me."

She turned and every student slowly followed her, each of them struggling not to be at the front of them all. Once they'd all piled through the doors, every single eye in the Hall was upon them, watching them all intently.

"I will call you up alphabetically to be sorted." She strode to a platform in front of the Staff Table, about twenty yards away, and pulled over a stool, upon which sat a very old and very frayed hat that had a great tear in the front. She then wove her wand and a list appeared in her hand for her to read. "Abernathy, James."

The boy stumbled up toward the Professor, looking pale and extremely nervous. He sat on the stool as Professor McGonagall lifted the hat and placed it upon the boy's head. If it were not for his rather protruding ears, it would've fallen completely over his head and onto his shoulders. It took a moment, but the rip in the hat opened, shouting out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

So this is what sorts us, thought Sean as Adams, Macy was called to the stool. It considered for a moment, and then yelled, "RAVENCLAW!" The nervous looking girl hurriedly over to a table, whose members were clapping enthusiastically.

The Professor made her way down the long list, and it wasn't long before Michaels, Jason had been called to the stool. Sean felt a sick, tugging feeling in his gut. With almost certainty, he knew that he would be next in line. As the Hat called out, "SLYTHERIN!" Sean felt the blood rushing from his face.

"Miller, Sean."

All eyes were upon him now as he slowly made his way up to the stand, the strict Professor looking down upon him, though not necessarily in a mean way. This is it, Sean thought, as the Sorting Hat fell down over his head, plunging him into near darkness.