"Let's take this compartment, Albus!" James Potter thrust his trunk above the seat and sat down.
"I thought you said I had to sit with my own year," Albus said, slowly.
"Well, you will after this journey. But you can have your first train journey with me. You need your older brother. Come on! Put your trunk away and sit down!" Albus did so with a grin and sat opposite his brother.
Poppy Finnegan entered the compartment.
"Hi James, Albus," she said, putting her trunk beside James'. "Wow, James! You were nice enough to let Albus sit with you!"
"Of course I was! He's my little brother!"
"So? Olive's my little sister, but she's already found her own friends! I've been dumped by my little sister! Hi Al!"
"Hi Poppy," Albus replied, quietly. Albus had always been a little bit intimidated by Poppy, just because she was so pretty. But she was also very nice, so he knew he didn't really have anything to be afraid of.
"So, how was your summer?" Poppy asked the boys.
"Not bad," James said. "We went to Cornwall for about a month. It was really fun."
"Sounds good," Poppy agreed. "We just stayed at home for most of it, but I was at Ella's house for a lot of it. Where is Ella anyway? I hope she hasn't missed the train." Right on cue, Ella Thomas opened the compartment door and dragged her trunk inside.
"Hello," she said serenely, shoving her trunk next to Poppy's.
"Hi Ella," James said. Ella had inherited her mother's dirty blonde hair, and big, glassy, blue eyes, but she had also inherited her father's art skills. She got out her sketchbook and sat next to Poppy.
"How were your holidays, Ella?" Albus asked. Albus had always been quite fascinated by Ella because she was arty, clever and very sort of distant and dreamy at the same time. According to James, she was seen around school with chalk or paint on her hands nearly everyday. She spent a lot of time over the Lake, sketching.
"There were quite good," Ella replied. "Mum, Hazel and I spent a month looking for the Crumple-Horned Snorcack. Can you believe that after twenty years Mum still hasn't found it?"
"Shocking!" Poppy replied, sarcastically. "So, did you find it?"
"No," Ella replied, sadly. "But the adventure was fun."
"Where is Hazel?" Poppy asked. Hazel was Ella's little sister who was coming in first year.
"I don't know. She ran off with Olive and Violet when we got on the train. I saw them talking to a blonde haired boy just now. I don't know who he is."
"James," Albus asked quietly. "What happens to the first years when we get there?"
"Well, you just wait till everyone is in the Great Hall and then you get sorted," James replied.
"In front of everyone?" Albus asked incredulously, his green eyes widening.
"Don't worry Al," Poppy put in. "There'll be loads of people you know getting sorted. Fred, Daphne, Lucy, Rose, Victoria, Lily, Louis, Hazel, Olive. You won't be alone."
"I know. It's just scary."
After a while, they heard the familiar call of "Anything from the trolley?" James sprang up and ran towards the compartment door. He opened it and ordered every possible thing in sight.
"Hungry, James?" Poppy asked, sarcastically.
"Starving," James replied, ignoring her sarcasm. "Do you want anything, Al?"
"Errmm...two cauldron cakes, three pumpkin pasties and a liquorice wand." James collected all the food and spread it all out on the seats. Suddenly, Olive burst in. Olive was very much like her sister. Brown eyes, pale skin very pretty with an incredibly confident perosnality. But rather than brown hair like Poppy, she had light blonde hair. Also, the two sisters were confident in a different way. They were both very social and chatty, but Poppy was very impervious, quick witted and sarcastic. Olive was very bouncy, bubbly and confident. And very loud. She was a very sparky, vivacious girl, especially for an eleven year old.
"Poppy!" she shouted, rushing towards her. "Can I have some money?" Poppy rolled her eyes.
"You could have asked me without deafening all of us," she said, reaching into her money bag. "Who are you sitting with?"
Olive counted the names off her fingers. "Rose, Lucy, Daph, Fred, Scorpius, Hazel, Violet, Katie and Louis."
"Should I be there?" Albus asked, anxiously.
"No, it's fine!" Olive insisted. "Everyone knows you're with James."
"Who's Katie?" Ella asked.
"Katie Wilson," Olive replied. "I asked her who her parents were and she said they were Mark Wilson and Cho Chang. And I've never heard of them."
"Cho Chang," James whispered to himself. "That sounds familiar. I think I've heard Mum talk about her. I don't think she likes her very much."
"What's she like?" Albus asked. "Is she our age?"
"Yeah, she is," Olive replied. "She's alright. She flicks her hair around too much for my liking though. Poppy, hurry up!"
"Alright!" Poppy exclaimed, handing over the gold. "Keep your hair on!" As Olive flounced out the compartment door, James took a look at his Chocolate Frog card.
"Hey, I got Dad in mine!" he announced. He showed them a man with a lightening bolt scar across his forehead and round glasses. They read the passage underneath, which simply told a short summary of the story they'd all heard many times before.
"When are we there?" Albus asked an hour after chit chatting.
"We're actually nearly here," Poppy asked. "We should change, Ella." Poppy and Ella looked at James and Albus, willing them to take the hint.
"Don't let us stop you," James said cheekily, crossing his legs and putting his arms behind his head.
"James, get out!" Poppy shouted, trying to look annoyed, but she couldn't help laughing.
"Why?" he asked. "If you want to get changed you move!"
"We're girls!" Poppy pointed out. "You're supposed to be the gentleman and offer to move!"
"In case you hadn't notice, Pops, I'm not a gentleman!" Poppy groaned loudly. "You're impossible!" she exclaimed, grabbing her trunk and heading out the door. Ella followed suit.
James rolled his eyes. "Why do girls always have to be so dramatic? Come on, Al. Let's get changed." As they did so, they noticed the train getting slower and slower. Hogwarts was drawing into view. Albus sat by the window and stared so much that mist appeared on the glass from his fast, hot breath. He had heard his father, his mother and his mother describe it for so long. But it was nothing compared to actually seeing the magnificent castle with your own eyes.
The compartment door opened again and Ella and Poppy returned in their Hogwarts uniform. Poppy was tying her hair up with a purple ribbon and glaring at James.
"I hate you," she said.
"Then why did you come back?" James asked. Poppy simply scowled. The scarlet steam engine suddenly drew to a halt, and they heard people in nearby compartments getting their trunks and making their way out the door. When Albus headed out, all he felt was the familiar fear and anxiety of the first day of school. As soon as they stepped out of the train, James did what Albus expected him to. He abandoned him and went over to all his friends. Ella sort of drifted off in a daze, so it was only him and Poppy. She saw the nerves etched all over Albus's face.
"Don't worry," she said, sympathetically. "You'll be fine, Albus. Look, there's my sister! She's trying to say something to you." Sure enough, Olive appeared to be waving Albus over. When he still didn't come, Olive sighed exasperatingly and came over herself.
"Come on, Albus!" she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him over impatiently. "You know over half these people! Don't be scared!" Albus realized she was right. The people that Olive was with were people he saw practically everyday. Rose, Fred, Lucy, Daphne, Violet and Louis.
"Where's Hazel gone?" Olive asked. "I was talking to her just a second ago! Honestly, that girl! You can't finish a conversation with her! She's always wondering off!"
"She's just gone to talk to Ella," Daphne replied. "There she is. She's coming back now."
"Firs' years!" came a loud boom suddenly. "Firs' years over 'ere! Firs' years to me, please!" Albus followed the voice and laid eyes on the vast figure of Rubeus Hagrid.
"OK," Fred said. "Let's do this! Daph, did you bring the Weasley's Wizards Wheezes bag that Dad gave us?"
"Yes, Fred," Daphne said, rolling her eyes. "You've asked me a hundred times!"
"Did you make sure the dungbombs were in it?"
"Yes!"
"OK! Just checking!"
"Albus!" Dominique suddenly called. Albus smiled. Out of all Bill's children, he'd always thought Dominique was his favourite. He talked to her the most. She was one of his favourite cousins. She ran over to him, abandoning all her third year firends, and they all walked towards Hagrid.
"Why didn't you sit with me on the train?" she asked, tying her red her up into a ponytail.
"I couldn't find you!" he insisted. "And James wanted to sit with me because he wanted to play big brother. And also, you're in third year!"
"So? You're my cousin! Anyway, why isn't James playing big brother now?" she asked, looking over at him, who was now piling into a carriage with a group mixed with boisterous boys and chatty girls.
"I don't think he can play the role for too long," Albus replied. "But let's give him a little bit of credit. He sat with me for the entire train journey, didn't he?"
"I suppose. OK, I'd better go into the Great Hall. Good luck, Al!"
There were quite a lot of first years, it seemed. They were all very nervous about sailing across the Lake with Hagrid, but the journey didn't take too long, and very soon, they were all standing outside the Great Hall, waiting to enter. Albus could feel a huge lump in his throat.
"Don't worry, Al," he heard a voice whisper in his ear. He turned around to face Hazel. Hazel was the description of Luna and Dean put together. She was mixed race, had hazel eyes (appropriate) and a shade of hair which you could call dark brown or black. "It's going to be fine. It's in alphabetical order anyway, so at least you won't be first!"
"You know my dad is calling out the names?" Violet put in.
"I know," Albus said. Dominique had mentioned this to him last week when they had all gone to Diagon Alley. Albus heard a loud, ringing laugh. He turned around to see the source. He saw a very pretty girl with dark hair standing beside a white-blond haired boy. They seemed to be engrossed in conversation and laughing animatedly.
"That's Katie Wilson and Scorpius Malfoy," Rose whispered to Albus. "They were sitting with us on the train."
"They seem to be really good friends already," Albus whispered back.
"That, Al," Olive put in. "is the act of flirting. Trust me, I would know!" Suddenly, the loud chatter and laughter in the Great Hall that they had heard when they first came, ceased.
Hagrid held a finger to his lips, indicating them all to be quiet. The Sorting was about to begin.
The great doors swung open, and the first years filed in. Albus was still feeling very nervous and he knew he'd gone red. He was very grateful then that Lily had been the one to inherit their mother's red hair. It would've clashed horribly with his face. This very thing had happened to Louis, the only one of Bill's children to inherit the red hair gene, and he felt very sorry for him.
The first years all lined up in front of Neville Longbottom, who was holding the Sorting Hat and a long scroll of parchement. It was obvious that Neville was trying to do the late Professor McGonagall's justice by looking serious, but he couldn't help looking at Violet and smiling.
Albus was still thinking about what his father had said to him on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, but he was still incredibly frightened of the possibility that he might go into Slytherin. He knew that all the pureblood nonsense had ended nineteen years ago, but it's history still lingered.
"Armstrong, Paul!" Neville called out. A small, blond haired boy trembled over to the stool where Neville stood. Paul Armstrong sat on top of the stool as Neville placed the Sorting Hat on his head.
There was a long pause. Then: Gryffindor! The Gryffindor table clapped and cheered.
Next, Neville called: Billington, Paula!
"That's Parvati Patil's daughter!" Lucy whispered to Albus. "Uncle Ron told me about her!"
Ravenclaw! The Ravenclaw table gave a generous applause.
"Brown, Gemma!"
Gryffindor!
"Bewley, Tom!"
Hufflepuff!
"Davies, Allison!" A very pretty girl with honey coloured hair walked up to the stool. She was biting her lip nervously.
Grffindor!
"Dean, Patrick!"
Slytherin!
"Finnegan, Olive!" Olive walked towards the stool with the swagger of a girl who'd been here all her life. She sat down and the Sorting Hat did its work.
Gryffindor! Albus was slightly surprised. Olive was quite clever so he just assumed that she'd go into Ravenclaw. Olive, however, looked as though she was expecting this to happen. She got off the stool gracefully, handed the Sorting Hat back to Neville and went to join the Gryffindors. Poppy clapped enthusiatically and looked at her sister proudly. It was very rare for Poppy to show any kind of emotion.
Several other names were called out. Some Albus wasn't even listening to. He just listened to the cheering and clapping from the four different tables.
"Longbottom, Violet!" Neville's tone of voice didn't change, even as he placed the Sorting Hat on his daughter's head. But when the Sorting Hat called out Gryffindor!, he clapped vigorously with the rest of Gryffindor house. Even her sister, Polly, clapped loudly from the Hufflepuff Table.
"Malfoy, Scorpius!" The blond haired boy that Albus had seen with Katie walked up to the stool. Neville placed the Sorting Hat onto his head. It took a long while. Then:
Slytherin! He beamed proudly and walked to the Slytherin table and sat down.
"Martin, Alice!" Albus knew who this was. This was the black haired, tanned skin, brown eyed daughter of Padma Patil, who he was sure had a twin brother.
Hufflepuff!
"Martin, Jack!" Ah! Here was the twin brother, who was identical to his sister apart from being male. Same hair, same eyes, same soft expression.
Gryffindor! That was interesting. He had been separated from his sister. Albus felt even more nervous now, if that were indeed possible.
"Potter, Albus!" The butterflies in Albus's stomach seemed to fly around even more vigorously as he walked up to the stool and sat down. As soon as Neville slid the Sorting Hat on his head, he jumped as he heard a voice in his ears.
Hmm..the second Potter child. I knew it wouldn't be long till I had to deal with you. Very much like youir father I see. Brains, wit, cunning, a desperate eagerness to prove yourself and also undeniable determniation. So, where to put you?
Not Slytherin, Albus thought desperately, just as his father had on that very day twenty five years ago. Please not Slytherin. Anywhere but Slytherin.
Slytherin? Why, the thought hadn't even entered my mind. But now that you mention it, it is a good idea.
No! Please not Slytherin!
Not Slytherin? Very well then,
Gryffindor! Albus felt an unbelievable surge of relief and pride as he went to sit beside Olive at the Gryffindor Table. He beamed with pleasure as he looked at his brother, who winked at him from where he was sitting. He willed himself to concentrate as Tessie Parker got sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Thomas, Hazel!"
"I'm sure she knows where she's going already!" Olive whispered into Albus's ear. It took quite a while with Hazel, then:
Ravenclaw! Those were another pair of siblings that had been separated. Albus wondered if that happened a lot. He looked over at Ella. She was clapping politely along with the Ravenclaws. She didn't look remotely fazed.
A few other first years got Sorted. Then the letter nearly everyone had been waiting for arrived: W. This was going to be a long list.
"Weasley, Daphne!" Fred and Alicia's daughter walked up to the Sorting Hat with a cheeky grin on her face.
Gryffindor!
"Naturally," Olive whispered.
"Weasley, Fred!" Daphne's twin brother walked over.
Gryffindor!
"Weasley, Lily!" Charlie Weasley and Miriam Thwaites daughter walked over to the stool.
Ravenclaw!
"Weasley, Louis!"
Gryffindor!
"Weasley, Lucy!" Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater's daughter walked over.
Hufflepuff!
"Weasley, Rose!"
Ravenclaw! Albus was slightly surprised, but at least she'd be with Lily and Hazel.
"Weasley, Victoria!" Lily's twin sister walked over to the stool.
Gryffindor!
What is with the siblings and twins being split up? Albus thought to himself.
"Finally," Olive whispered to Albus, as Rita Williams was sorted into Slytherins.
"That's the last Weasley."
"Wilson, Katie!" The pretty black haired girl that they'd seen with Scorpius strode over to the stool. She had a similar swagger to Olive, but Albus could tell that this was cockiness.
Slytherin! Katie simpered and went to join the Slytherins. She squeezed herself between Scorpius and poor Rita Williams and gave Scorpius a big grin.
The Sorting ended quite abruptly. The headmaster, Ernie Macmillan, got up and made a short welcome back speech before telling everybody to dig in.
Albus chatted to Olive and Daphne as he ate his turkey and mashed potatoes. Now that the anxiety of the Sorting was over, he was feeling very confident about this year.