Eli's POV
1st year
I know that my mom didn't want me to go on the train because that would mean letting me go. And she can't do that.
"Mom I really have to go." I said for like the billionth time.
"I know Eli, I know." She said in my hair but she just held on tighter. My name isn't really Eli. It's actually Elizacerbella Draya Colbeta. But I'll be damned before I let someone call me that. I demand everyone call me Eli.
"Aunt Lela, we really have to go." My neighbor James said as he popped up beside me. I could tell that he was running recently because his hair was more wild than usual. He looked at me over my mother's shoulders, he was making fun of me.
"Ok, bye sweetie." My mom said finally releasing me from her iron grip. I took in a deep breath as I felt my lungs again. Don't let her size fool you, she is tiny but she has the strength of a python. I gave her one last kiss on the cheek before I raced James to the train. I won of course, I always do.
"Bye loner, I actually have friends." He said to me as we walked in.
"Bye loser, I have to find a compartment." Before he could say anything back I ran off.
I found an empty compartment pretty fast. I had a little trouble getting my luggage onto to shelf, this random student helped me out before leaving. I sat down by the window and started reading. I could hear my compartment filling slowly until there was only one seat left in front of me. I heard the door open again but I didn't bother to look up.
"Lily you should stay here, I'll go find another compartment." A boy's voice said.
"Are you sure?" The girl, Lily I assume, asked him sounding scared.
"Yea, I'll catch up to you on the boats."
"Alright then, bye." Lily closed the door and made her way to the seat in front of me. She was silent for a while before saying, "Hello."
I didn't want to seem rude so I looked up. She was in her robes already. She was pretty, and not because she had mountains of make-up, she was just naturally so. Her hair was an amazing color of red. And her eyes were a really nice shade of green almost like emerald green.
"My name is Lily Evans. What's yours?" She seemed nice enough.
"My name is Elizacerbella Draya Colbeta, but I prefer Eli." I said extending my hand.
"I think that Elizacerbella is a beautiful name." She said sounding like she really meant it. She shook my hand.
"Thanks, it's nice to meet you. So are you a first year?" I asked.
"Yes, are you?"
"Yea, so what house do you want to be in?"
"Anything would be fine as long as the hat doesn't touch my head and laugh at me." Lily said laughing.
"I know how you feel." I said laughing along with her. I was finding her really easy to talk to.
"I have been waiting for my letter ever since Sev told me I was a wizard."
"Are you muggle-born? That is so cool. I have one question, how do airplanes fly?"
"I wish I knew." She said laughing, but I knew she wasn't laughing at me.
"Anything off the trolley dears?" An older lady asked sticking her head into the compartment.
"Two chocolate frogs and a box of Bertie's Box of Every Flavor Beans, please." I said once I reached her.
"Here Lily." I said hand her a frog.
"They aren't real frogs are they?" She asked looking at the package.
"No, it's safe. They do move so don't get scared."
"Ok." She gave me a skeptical look before opening the package. I was surprise she trust me already. She ate the frog and I watch her face change happily. "This is amazing. How many flavors can beans have?" She asked pointing at the box in my hand.
"A lot apparently. Just be careful, it's not just a slogan, they mean every flavor. Some are regular flavors, like chocolate, caramel, and butterscotch, while others taste like vomit and pepper."
"Whoa he's moving." She said surprised as she looked at her card.
"Of course he can't stay still all day."
"In muggle pictures they do."
"Really?"
"Yea, look." She took a picture of her robe pocket. I looked at it and it really wasn't moving. I poked it to see if she was just playing with me but the people still didn't move. "This is amazing." I said handing her back the picture. "So Lily how many first years do you know?"
"Just Severus. What about you?"
"I know, James, Peter and Frank."
"Does James have black hair and talks like this." She cleared her throat and said, "I'm going to be in Gryffindor?" I was shocked because she sounded creepily like James. I could hear the anger in her voice and couldn't help but laugh.
"Sorry that was just a great impression. So who said something about Slytherin or Gryffindor?" I asked worriedly. I've known James my entire life and he can hold a grudge for a long time. His record is 10 years and counting. And yes he is only 11 like me.
"Severus did."
"Yea, James had a one track mind. Also the memory of a hippogriff."
"He is also an arrogant toe-rag." Lily added.
"He's that too." I agreed. James is like a brother to me but he is.
"It's about time to get your robes on." Lily said as the other girls in the compartment started to change.
Soon after I got into my robes the train stopped. We all disembarked.
"First years over here!" We heard a booming voice over the crowd of students. The man calling us was a giant I swear. I mean I am really short to begin with but he made me feel like an ant. I followed Lily and we found who I assumed to be Severus.
"Severus this is Eli," Lily said introducing us as we followed, Hadrid, or something of that nature.
"Hello Eli."
"Nice to meet you Severus."
"Elizacerbella!" I heard a voice in the distance.
"Come on there's an empty boat over there." I said ushering them as quickly as I could. I really didn't want James to find me. As we got into a boat a girl filled the empty seat. James didn't find any of us.
"That name that was called was an awfully long name, it was a nice name but too long for a first name."
"It's my name." I said. I thought that he was going to laugh.
"I see why you prefer Eli." He said with a chuckle.
"Eliza!" Someone called. I refused to look. "Elizacerbella, I see you." I still didn't look. "Lizard look over here." I finally looked.
"What?" I yelled back. He was in a boat with Peter, a black haired boy and a brown haired boy.
"I want you to meet my new friends!" James shouted back.
"James jump into the lake."
"Alright." He jump out of the boat and into the lake without a moments hesitation.
The other boys in the boat looked over the edge. Then the black haired boy pushed the other two into the water. He fell to the floor of the boat and started laughing. Lily, Severus and I started to laugh as well. Suddenly three tentacles shot out of the water with the three boys. .
"Thanks James." I said.
"No problem, Eli." He said smiling.
This might seem like a weird exchange but it is actually really normal. Once when we were kids, James got me mad at him and I refused to talk to him. That day he promised that if he ever annoyed me again, that he would do one thing I told him. He's lucky because I don't get annoyed by him easily.
"Hey Pete, who's that guy that pushed you in?" I asked Peter.
"My name is Sirius Black, my good lady." They black haired boy said.
"Who's the other?" I asked.
"He doesn't matter, it's my name you'll remember." He said winking at me.
"OI! That's my cousin you're talking to." James said pushing Sirius into the lake.
"Can you guys believe how big this place is?" I asked turning back to Lily and Severus.
"It seems bigger than the book said." Severus said.
"It does." Lily agreed. We heard a splash as Sirius was lifted by the tentacle onto the boat.
"Step out of the boat carefully." Hagrid said, well I was close enough.
"Lookie the Firsties." A voice cackled above us. We looked up to see a man floating in mid-air.
"Oi, Peeves get away from here." Hagrid said to the floating man. Peeves left but not without stepping on a few heads before disappearing. "Follow me." He said leading the way. We walked until we reached a really big double-door. There was a woman standing in front of them. "Kids, this is Professor McGonagall."
"Thank you, Hagrid." Professor said. I could tell just by her voice that she was not one to mess with. "I am Professor McGonagall, I teach Transfiguration. Now once inside the Great Hall I will call out your name at which time you shall walked up to the stool and I will place the sorting hat on your head. The hat will place you in your respectful house. The four houses here are Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Once the hat announces your name, you will sit at the corresponding table. From that moment on your house will be like your family. Your achievements will gain your house points and bad behavior will have points taken away. Now wait here." She disappeared behind the door. The noise coming from with in was shocking.
"Eli." James said tapping my shoulder.
"What James?" I asked.
"So these are my new friends, Sirius and Remus."
"Nice to meet you Remus." I said shaking the brown haired boys hand.
"Nice to meet you Eli." He said sounding shy but I could tell he was brilliant.
"Nice to meet you Sirius." I said I was about to shake his hand as well but he grabbed it and kissed it. The girls around me watching the exchange giggled. I withdrew my hand quickly and wiped it off on my robe. James smacked the back of Sirius's head.
"We're ready for you." Professor said coming back. She had amazing timing a second more and Sirius would have been on the ground holding onto the place where the sun don't shine. He was a womanizer in training.
As we walked in I realized that it was called the Great Hall for a reason. It was captivatingly big.
"The ceiling is enchanted to look like the night sky." Lily said in awe.
I sort of spaced out as I looked around the Hall. I looked at the staff table. The one in the center was the famous Albus Dumbledore. He looked like such a happy fellow. I heard clapping and snapped into focus.
"Now when I call your name come forward and sit on the stool. Andrews, Pearl." A girl with very dark hair but a light complexion walked forward. Her eyes were piercing blue. I heard a wolf-whistle and didn't have to turn around to know it was Sirius.
I stopped listening until I heard "Black, Sirius." Sirius walked up over confidently. The hat took it's time with Sirius before finally deciding on Gryffindor. Sirius got up and walked to the loudest table. He fist bumped with some guy and I rolled my eyes.
"Colbeta, Elizacerbella." I put my head up at walked to the stool. I sat and faced my peers. McGonagall placed the hat on my head.
"Ah." A voice said in my ear. I stiffened. "Sorry I alarmed you. Hmm your strength is amazing both physically and mentally. You have a nice heart but it's too guarded, so Hufflepuff is out. You don't have the motivation for Ravenclaw. Interesting, very interesting. Ah youth," The hat paused for a second before shouting, "Gryffindor." I took the hat off with some confusion and walked to the table. Sirius patted the seat next to him but I sat across from him.
Everyone else I knew besides Severus was place in Gryffindor. He was placed in Slytherin. After the last person was sorted Dumbledore stood up and the Hall quieted completely.
"I know that you all must be hungry but I have a few announcements. First years must know that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds unless accompanied by a staff member. No student is allowed in the Restricted Section of the library. Now my parting words are, Blubber, nutter, cockroach, and tweak." He sat. He was brilliant but completely off his rocker. I think about how hungry I was until there was a feast appearing at the table. One of the boys reached for the food and a head popped out of the table.
"Welcome to Gryffindor." The ghost said joyfully.
"Hello." One of the girls said. I looked around and saw the Great Hall filling with ghost coming from everywhere.
The rest of the dinner was calm as the First Years became accustomed to their surroundings.
"Well everyone it is going to be another great year at Hogwarts with plenty of new and old faces. Follow your prefects to your common rooms. Good night." Dumbledore excused us.
"So Eli, want to go to my room?" Sirius asked putting an arm around me as we followed the Prefect.
"Not even in your sick dreams." I said sweetly.
"That was harsh." Sirius said sounding hurt. I really couldn't care less.
"Let me go, Black or you'll end up with a black eye." I said pushing his arm off of me.
"Come on." Sirius said stepping closer to me. I smiled at him.
James and Peter backed up and so did the rest of them because they didn't know what was going to happen. Quicker than anyone could see I kicked Sirius in the balls with all my might. As he rolled on the floor in pain I linked arms with Lily and my newer friend Alice.
"I tried to warn you mate." James said sounding sympathetic.
"Why did you kick him there?" Alice asked as she looked back at Sirius still doubled over.
"He wouldn't get the message any other way." I shrugged.
"This is the quickest way to our common room from the Great Hall." The prefect said catching our attention. We stopped in front of a portrait of a Lady. "Dragon Blubber." The prefect said to the portrait. "Now girls dormitory is on the left and boys is on the right." The prefect said dismissing us to find our dorms.
I was surprised to find that me, Alice and Lily share a room.
"What are the odds? There are over a hundred new girls this year." I said as we walked in.
"Well I am exhausted." Alice said. We found our beds and quickly fell asleep.
The sun hit my face as it rose and I woke up. I went to the bathroom and freshened up. It was Sunday so no one was up. I went to the common room as quietly as possible. There was already one boy up.
"Hello Remus." I said sitting down next to him.
"Morning bird, eh?" He asked smiling.
"Yea, drives my parents crazy." I said smiling and he smiled too. "So Remus, how's your home life?"
"Normal I guess." He said. He added something at the end but I didn't catch it. "Want to go to get something to eat?" He asked.
"Sure."
Being First Years we got lost, but it didn't matter. We had a lot of fun just talking. Remus was easy to talk to once you got him talking. When we finally reached the Great Hall we stared at it in awe, it looked even more amazing in the morning. We sat and the end of the table and started to eat. As I ate my bacon I looked round the Hall. It seemed that most of the Ravenclaws were up. I stared at the window, they had some kind of design on them. The longer I looked the more pictures I saw. I could have sworn that one of the figures winked at me. I turned and looked at the door and the same thing happened. This place is absolutely amazing. I am going to have a lot of fun here for the next seven years.
"Eli are you okay?" Remus asked waving a hand in front of my face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Remus look at the door. For a long time and tell me what you see." I said.
"Okay." I could tell by the look on his face that he thought that I was crazy, but he still looked.
"Whoa, it moved." He said after about a minute.
"Good, I'm not as crazy as I thought I was."
"I don't think that you were crazy."
"Neither did James, Peter, or Frank. I changed that."
"You don't seem that wild."
"Aw, poor Remus." I said patting his back. "By the end of the year I will have you eating those words."
"Eli!" Lily said running towards us. "Hello, Remus right?"
"Yea. Lily?" He asked.
"Yep." Lily said smiling. I saw James and Sirius walking towards us.
"Hello, what's your name?" Sirius asked Lily
"Don't you start with me." Lily said warningly.
"I just want to know your name." Sirius said.
"Lily Evans. Now I'm leaving. Come on Eli." She said grabbing my hand and lifting me off the seat.
"Wait, Evans I wanna talk to you." Sirius said lightly grabbing her hand.
"Let go." She said. She looked like she was about to do something. I backed up.
"What are you going to do?" He asked as he towered over her. Lily discretely took out her wand.
"Petrificus Totalus." She said pointing her wand at him. His arms and legs snapped together.
"Hey." A boy called. Me and Lily turned around. He came towards us. "What year are you?" He asked Lily.
"I'm a first year." Lily said.
"That's a fifth year spell." The boy seemed impressed. "I'm Michael Bueno." He said.
"Well Michael, I've got to go." Lily said grabbing my arm again. Her face slightly turned red. I looked at him, I guess he was kind of cute.
"Wait I better revive him." I said. "Rennevate." I said pointing my wand at Sirius. He sputtered back to life.
"Are you a first year too?" Michael asked looking at me.
"Yep. See ya around." I said, and me and Lily walked away. "Want to go find Severus?"
"Yea." She said. We walked out of the Great Hall and towards the Black Lake.
"Severus." I called when I saw him.
"Good morning." Severus said as he reached us. "How was your morning?"
"I body bound Sirius." Lily said proudly.
"Good for you." Severus said.
"How about you, Severus?" I asked.
"Nothing interesting."
"Let's go for a walk." I suggested.
"Ok." They agreed.
"You two seem close." I said casually.
"We've been friends for two years." Lily said.
"That's nice, I've had to deal with James for my entire life. It was a blast knowing him." I said.
"He seems very selective on who he has as friends." Lily said.
"He is but that just how he is. Once he's your friend, you are stuck with him, whether you want him or not. He's always by your side, any time you need him." I said, I didn't want him to seem like he was always such a prick.
"You and James seem pretty close yourselves." Lily said. Severus just stayed silent.
"Hey Elizacerbella!" We turned to see the four musketeers running towards us.
"Morning James. Black." I said trying not to laugh.
"Colbeta, Evans, Snivelus." Sirius said. I could hear Lily rolling her eyes behind me.
"What James?" I asked.
"Your mom sent a letter for you through my owl. Why don't you have one?" He asked handing me my letter.
"Don't you remember the last time." I asked.
"Oh yea, I could never look at a squirrel the same again." James said making a face.
"I could never get an owl after that." I saw everyone looking at us confused.
"Long story." James and I said at the same time.
"Well see ya, Eli. Bye Evans, Snivelus." James turned and left with the rest of his group.
There was nothing really note worthy the rest of the day. Lily, Alice and I retired to the common room after dinner. Unfortunately, James and his goons did too. Alice and I started to play chess. It was fun but not much of a challenge for me. I knew I would win. I'm not arrogant or anything but I always win. I have always won, no matter who I'm playing except my dad.
"You are really good Eli." Alice said sound like she ran a lap around the quidditch field.
"Thanks." I said smiling.
"I wanna play." Lily said.
"Ok." I set up the board again.
I won again but Lily put up a better fight than Alice.
"Eli, Remus said he could kick your arse in chess." James yelled from across the room.
"No I didn't." Remus said chucking a pillow at James, who dodged it.
"I know Remus, James just likes to stir up problems."
"Not true." James said.
"I'm not even going to prove my point because I can't choose just one example." I said. James turned back and I threw a crumpled piece of paper at him. "So Remus you want to play?" I asked as I set up the board again.
"Yea." He said putting his book down.
"You first." I said. I usually let everyone else go first so that I can observe. Remus' first move surprised me.
"This move usually means that your opponent has been watching your style. Keep them on their toes and you will win." My father's voice played in my head.
"Knight to A3." I said. I saw a flicker of surprise on Remus' face, it was gone, then it was gone.
Our game went on for forty minutes according to Lily.
"Check mate, mate." I said with a smile. Remus looked at the board and the smiled.
"Good game." he said shaking my hand.
"I haven't had that kind of a challenge in a long time. Who taught you?" I asked.
"Same here. My father."
"Mine too. What's your Dad's name?"
"John, why?"
"That sounds familiar." I thought for a second before it hit me. "Our dads were competitors in the International Wizard Chess Competition of '69. My dad got second that year."
"Your dad was Giovanni Tenozo?"
"Yea, I have my mother's last name."
"Wow, I've always wanted to watch them play."
"Me too."
"Well not that this wasn't riveting, but I'm off to bed." James said stretching. "Coming Pete?"
"Yea." Peter said standing up. I saw James sneak a glance at Lily before he and Peter started up stairs.
"I'm off too." Sirius said.
"I'd better get going too. They might pull a prank while I'm gone." Remus said standing up.
"You are probably right." I said smiling.
"Good night ladies." Remus bowed his head and left.
"He's cute." Lily said as we were walking up stairs.
"Yea, in a bookworm kind of way." Alice said giggling.
"I guess." I said, but everyone is cute in their own sort of way. "Goodnight." I yawned.
"Goodnight." They said.