Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to JK Rowling.
Lily and Hugo's Sorting
Lily Potter and her cousin Hugo Weasley were about to begin their first year at Hogwarts. They were sitting in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express with Lily's fourth-year brother, James, her third-year brother, Albus, and Hugo's third-year sister, Rose.
A chocolate frog leapt onto Lily's head. "James! " she shrieked at her fourteen-year-old brother. "If you open the packet, like Uncle Ron says, you have to be ready to catch the frog!"
"Dad's right," Hugo confirmed. "He told us about one time when he was younger when he opened a chocolate frog at home, let it go by accident, and all six of his siblings raced him to catch it. He said he's never been the same since," the young boy grinned.
James looked startled. "Who ended up catching it?"
Lily smiled proudly, "It was Mum! Of all of them, she was the quickest!"
Her brothers and cousins looked confused that she knew what had happened, considering Hugo was the one telling the story.
"Mum told me about that day," she explained, "she was six at the time. The twins both went for it at the same time and ended up bumping heads! She said that they did things at the same time really often."
James looked awed by Lily's last statement. Their uncle, George, was his idol. James loved the idea of pranks, and all of the things from the Weasley joke shop. "Imagine two Uncle Georges," he said softly. "It would've been amazing to meet Uncle Fred." His companions quietly agreed with him.
"I heard my name. You guys talking about me?" A lanky redhead grinned at his cousins from the doorway of their carriage. It was Fred Weasley, George Weasley's son. He was going into his sixth year, and was Gryffindor's newly appointed Quidditch captain. He looked a lot like his father did when he was school-aged.
Lily offered him the seat next to her. She had always been very fond of him, as he was always very nice and funny. "No, your Dad's twin," she informed him quietly.
"Ah," said Fred, not wanting to go any further into the subject. "You nervous, Lils? Hugo?" He looked at his youngest cousins.
Lily smiled a little at his use of that nickname. Fred was one of the cousins she was closest to. "I'm not nervous about not knowing anyone, considering I have all of you and the other cousins. I'm just worried about the Sorting." The four returning students nodded in understanding.
Albus, who had just returned from a lolly-haul from the trolley for all of them, handed out the treats, and reassured his sister, "There's no need to worry, Lil. Mum and Dad say that houses usually run in the family, and our families have been Gryffindors for generations."
Hugo joked, "I'm only scared the Sorting Hat will be sick of sorting Weasleys!" All six of the cousins laughed together at this.
Soon after, Louis returned from his Prefect duties, and greeted his cousins. He was tall and muscular, with brilliant blue eyes. His hair was the silvery blonde of his mother's. He suggested that he and Fred take another compartment because they wouldn't all fit. Fred agreed, but asked what took his friend so long to come back. Louis explained, "Second-years. A whole flock of them blocked my path. One asked if my hair was a wig made of unicorn mane. Does it look like a wig?" He asked the compartment. They all shook their heads 'no'. Because of his Veela ancestry, girls naturally fawned over him. Today was obviously no exception.
After a friendly goodbye from both of the sixteen-year olds, just James, Albus, Lily, Rose and Hugo were left. They played a few games of Exploding Snap, which led to a lot of laughter and the occasional yelp as a hand got caught in the explosion. Lily and Hugo occasionally asked the older children questions about school, classes and professors.
The rest of the train ride passed quickly. When they were getting off the train and retrieving their trunks, Lily started to worry. "What if I'm not in Gryffindor, James? What if I'm away from all of you? What if nobody likes me?"
Her oldest brother grabbed her shoulder. "You will be with us, Lils. If you're not, though, that doesn't matter! You'll make lots of new friends and we'll always be there for you anyway. Don't worry."
"Where do we go now?" She grabbed her brother's hand.
"Al, Rosie and I will be going that way," James gestured towards the magically-drawn carriages, "and you'll be going with Hagrid."
"I thought that was just a joke you and Freddie came up with! I'm not seriously going across that lake with the Giant Squid in it, am I? It'll eat me!"
James laughed silently at her panic. "Lils. Listen to me! Every single second year and higher has gone on this journey. It's fine. Doesn't take long, either. You'll be sitting in the Great Hall in no time." He kissed her forehead, something he rarely did, and wished her a nice journey. He went to join Albus, who was still getting his things from the train.
"Is Lil alright? She looked like she'd just seen the Giant Squid before. I wanted to come and say goodbye but Malfoy was too busy flirting with Rose in front of the luggage rack for anyone to get past." James rolled his eyes. Scorpius Malfoy was rude and arrogant. He was constantly trying to impress Rose, something which made Potter boys and Weasley boys alike cringe. James and Albus saw Rose like another younger sister because of how often their families were together, and they wanted to protect her from the tall, white-blonde Malfoy beast.
"A bit worried about the Giant Squid enjoying her for supper. Maybe Fred and I shouldn't have convinced her when she was seven that it takes a first-year annually as a sacrifice for letting them all cross his waters," he laughed, and Albus joined him. "Malfoy is a git. Why does he even bother with Rose when he knows how much his parents hate Weasleys?"
"Sometimes you're terrible, Jamie. Plain terrible!" the younger Potter smiled. They got onto a carriage with their cousins and took off towards Hogwarts Castle.
***
"Potter, Lily," Professor McGonagall (who had to be over ninety years old by then; but wizards had a significantly longer lifespan than Muggles) called out. It was Lily's turn to be Sorted, and she was terrified. McGonagall smiled at the young girl, as she was very fond of Lily's father while he attended the school.
Lily sat down on the three-legged stool and the hat was placed on her head. She was petrified to discover that it not only decided your house, but talked about where you should go as well.
"A female Potter?" The Sorting Hat said quietly. "Haven't had one of them for centuries. Let's see where you belong..."
Please, Gryffindor. Please! Lily thought.
"'Please, Gryffindor.' Really, Potter? You have a very sharp mind. You'd do exceptionally well in Ravenclaw." The Hat appeared to smirk when Lily shot a worried look at the mob of redheads and her two brothers at Gryffindor table. "But, you do seem to have a lot of nerve. You're cunning and brave. I guess it'll have to be GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat shouted the last word aloud to the entire Great Hall. The Gryffindor table erupted into loud cheers, and she sought out the faces of her brothers to give them a huge grin of relief.
She walked over to the table and sat herself down between James and Albus. The Weasleys and Potters awaited Hugo's Sorting, all fairly certain that he would join them in the sea of red and gold. A good-looking, tall boy with longish-blonde hair looked very nervous on the other side of James. Lily caught her brother's eye and shot the other boy a questioning look, which James followed. "What's wrong, mate?"
The boy replied, "Just worried about my brother is all. He could well be Sorted into Ravenclaw, because my Mum was, and he's really clever. My Dad was a Gryffindor, though, so there's still a chance, but..." he trailed off. James understood how he was feeling, because he had been worried for both of his siblings, too, even if he didn't show it.
James tried to change the subject, to stop his friend from worrying so much. "Cam, this is my little sister, Lily. Lil, this is Cameron, my good friend and roommate from my year. His younger brother is about to be Sorted."
Lily and Cameron shook hands. James was about to say something when McGonagall called out, "Weasley, Hugo." Everyone turned to look at the redhead who had just sat down on the stool.
"Another Weasley? How many of you are there exactly?" the Hat asked Hugo.
"Well I'm the second-youngest cousin, for now, but I'm the youngest Weasley, because Lily's a Potter. Does that make sense?"
The Hat seemed to contemplate this, then nod. "Time to Sort you, Youngest Weasley. Ah, I have no doubt that you are a GRYFFINDOR!"
The table erupted into cheers again, and the last first-year was called up for Sorting. "White, Samuel."
Cameron, James' friend, stiffened. "That's my brother," he said shakily.
Lily thought that the boy was even better-looking than his brother, if that was even possible. He was tall for his age, had blonde hair, and dark blue eyes.
The Sorting Hat spoke to Samuel for a while, discussing both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor as houses in which he would thrive, identical to what happened to Lily. The Hat seemed quite sure he should go into Ravenclaw, but the boy seemed adamant that he should be in Gryffindor. "Please! I don't like studying. I don't want those expectations. My brother's in Gryffindor!"
The Hat finally gave in. "Fine, GRYFFINDOR! However, you'd have made a fine Ravenclaw."
Everyone's Sorting over at long last, Samuel looked completely relieved, and went to sit beside his brother at his new House's table. "I was worried for a moment there," he confided quietly in Cameron, "the hat was sure I should go to Ravenclaw. I knew I shouldn't, though. You know how much I hate sitting and studying."
"I know, Sam. It's alright, though, because you're here now-"
"But I practically cheated!" Sam raised his voice at that, and Lily looked past James, who she was discussing Quidditch with, and glanced at the two boys to see what the problem was.
Cameron noticed her looking at them, and deemed an introduction necessary. "Lily, this is my brother, Sam. Sam, this is my classmate and good friend James' sister. You're both in the same year."
The two first-years smiled at each other. "Nice to meet you," Sam told Lily, and she returned the compliment. Lily swapped seats with Cameron so that she could talk to Sam and he could talk to James. "Do you know anyone else here besides your brothers."
Lily laughed a little bit, imagining what it would be like without knowing most of the Gryffindors already. "Yeah, all these redheads are my cousins," she smiled fondly, "and that blonde. He and his two older sisters are our only cousins with blonde hair!" She gestured towards Louis as she said this, and the sixth-year gave a friendly smile and a wave.
"Wow," Sam smiled. "You know a lot of people. My brother mentioned something about your family... this might be completely incorrect, but uh... is it true that-"
"My Dad is Harry Potter? Yeah, it's true. He's pretty cool, but half the time his jokes aren't even funny."
The two eleven-year-olds laughed together. Maybe James was right, she had already made a friend.
A/N: While this is mostly canon-compliant, I have had to make up some of the children's ages. They aren't stated anywhere, so I created my own! Hope they seem about right. Please tell me what you thought; reviews are very welcome!