Chapter One

The large red steam engine had begun to pull out of the station. Parents, muggles and wizards alike, were waving at their children, who were leaning out of the compartment windows. It would be nearly four months before they could see each other again.

Inside the compartment, James Potter had found a seat across from a grumpy looking boy. There was a girl sitting by the window, her dark red hair falling over her face, which was blotchy, as if she had just been crying.

"I'm James" James said, throwing out his hand to the boy across from him.

"I'm Sirius. The star was named after me." The boy called Sirius said with a wide grin, shaking James' hand.

"Do you want a game of exploding snap?" James asked, emptying his pockets. The two boys leaned together, and started the game on the seat. The loud bangs and shouting meant that they paid no attention to the girl in the corner.

Then a boy, with greasy black hair, entered the apartment and started talking to the red haired girl. James thought he looked rather ill. His clothes were dirty, and he carried an aura of a horrible childhood.

"I won that round," said Sirius, scooping the pieces into his hands with a proud smile.

"Nice —" but James stopped talking. He had been listening to the greasy haired boy's conversation.

"Slytherin? Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius, who's smile faded.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin" Sirius replies gloomily.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right!"

Sirius grinned.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James lifted an invisible sword.

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."

The black haired boy made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him.

"Got a problem with that?" He asked, challengingly.

"No," said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy–"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius.

James roared with laughter. The girl sat up, her cheeks rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Oooooo…"

James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice; James tried to trip Snape as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!" James called, as the compartment door slammed shut.

James sniggered. "Honestly, I say we throw him out of the train."

Sirius nodded in agreement, looking through the glass at Severus and the girl's retreating backs.

The rest of the trip came with no further interruptions, except for a trolley witch, from whom James bought several chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties.

As the Hogwarts Express approached Hogsmeade station, students began to file into the corridor, all dressed in brand new robes. Their trunks would be brought into the school separately, so James and Sirius got off the train, holding only the snacks they had bought.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" A giant of a man stood in the station.

"Blimey, who do you reckon he is?" James asked Sirius, as they walked towards him. James noticed that most of the students walked all the way down the platform, but they were older, judging by their height.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!'

The two boys followed the rest of the first years down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that James thought there must be thick trees there.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," the man called over his shoulders, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great back lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" He called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. James and Sirius were followed into their boat by a small boy with watery eyes, and a skinny boy, whose face bore a few scars.

"Everyone in? Right then - FORWARD!"

James turned to the boys in his boat. The two strangers seemed quite shy, both sat apart from the others and looked around nervously. He turned to face the front again and called out. "Oi! Who are you?" He asked the giant man, sitting alone in a boat.

"Call me Hagrid," he replied, "everyone does. An' I'm keeper of keys at Hogwarts."

"Oh," James said, understanding, turning back to Sirius. "He must be the gamekeeper then. It was in the papers, my dad gave them to me. Dumbledore hired a gamekeeper." He said knowledgeably, lowering his voice.

The fleet of boats glided across the lake which was smooth as glass. The first years were staring up at the great castle overhead. I towered over them as they sailed ever closer to the cliff on which it stood, tall and magnificent, its many lights shining a path for them to walk on.

At last they reached the cliff, and they all bent their heads as the boats carried them through a small opening in the cliff face, from where ivy was starting to grow. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be right underneath the castle, and they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

"I'm starving" Sirius complained, right as his stomach gave a particularly loud growl. Apparently the pasties he had eaten on the train were not enough. "Will we get to eat straight away?"

"I reckon so," Hagrid replied gruffly, leading them up a flight of stone steps. The first years grouped around the huge, oak front door. Hagrid waited till they were all there, then raised a fist the size of a dustbin lid, and knocked three times on the castle door.