Hogwarts, Sorting Hats and Slytherins
By Cyber Nomad aka Delena/Aneled Hupp
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter yadda yadda yadda… It belongs to JK Rowling; Ya happy?
Chapter 1: All Aboard the Hogwarts Express!
"Platform 9 3/4? That can't be right; can it, Siri?" James Potter asked his best friend, Sirius Black. Sirius shrugged,
"I don't know, this my first time here, too! Wow! Look at that! A Muggle train! Dad would be in convulsions right now."
James Potter was about your average eleven-year-old boy, if you ignored the fact that he was a wizard and born to a wizarding family. He had a head full of messy black hair that could never be tamed, and blocky glasses hiding dark brown eyes. Sirius Black stood a few inches taller than James, and like James, was from a wizarding family, was a wizard himself, and had black hair and brown eyes- minus the glasses. Sirius and James had been the best of friends since they were in diapers; their families were good friends and lived one manor over from the other. They also had another friend; a new member of their elite troublemaking ranks, whose name was Remus Lupin, they had only met Remus a few months ago.
Sirius continued goggling at Muggles and their possessions as James sighed and glanced back down at his train ticket, then up at the platform signs. Nine and three-quarters... So engrossed was he at figuring the platform mystery out that he didn't even notice a thin, tired-looking boy running over to them waving his hands and shouting. Sirius punched James in the arm,
"Can't you hear Remy yelling his head off?" he asked James as the other boy approached motioning them ecstatically to follow.
"We're gonna miss the train," Remus gasped as he tugged their sleeves impatiently, "Come on!"
The other two followed the hyper brunette with their luggage wheeling behind them, as they reached the barrier between Platforms nine and ten. Remus ran directly at it then pass into the wall and vanished. James and Sirius gaped, looking flabbergasted. Remus passed through again,
"C'mon guys, hurry up!"
The other two glanced at each other hesitantly as Remus went back, then both ran through following one another.
After they were on the other side Sirius crowed in triumph,
"That was wicked!" James nodded enthusiastically,
"Let's go through again!"
Remus laughed at them; he had done the same thing when he and his mother went through nearly an hour ago, so it was nothing new now.
Remus was average height for his age, unlike James and Sirius, and had light brown hair and lovely amber eyes. He was thin and tired looking, but had seemingly inexpendable energy. He wore an older set of robes that were patched and frayed, and his luggage was the same but he proudly sported a brand-new schoolbag. Remus was only a half blood wizard, yet again unlike his friends, and lived with a family that adopted him since his parents died when he was two. He was still somehow a mysterious boy, who harboured a dark secret.
Sirius and James were ready to make a dash through the barrier when a pair of strong hands caught both boys by the hood of their robes.
"Not now boys, you'll miss your train," a tall lady with sand colored hair, hazel eyes, and a funny upturned nose said; Mrs. Lupin. The two boys sighed disheartened; but perked up immediately when they saw their ride. A great scarlet steam engine waited next to a platform, and above hung a sign that read Hogwarts Express: 11:00. Platform nine and three-quarters was packed with people dressed in all sorts of different robes, many already wearing their Hogwarts uniforms. Mrs. Lupin kept egging them on as they pushed their luggage over to the train, then they exchanged well wishes and goodbyes and were soon off.
A half hour later, the three sat in a compartment near the back of the train, on their way to their first year at Hogwarts. Remus was reading a book titled Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) and frequently shifted excitedly in his seat. Sirius was by the window, leaning his head against it dreamily. He nearly dozed off on several occasions, when he would suddenly be jolted awake by Remus's constant shifting. James sat across from them, doodling on a piece of parchment until he was interrupted by a smiling witch pushing a cart full of sweets,
"Anything off the trolley dears?" she asked kindly.
Sirius and James met eyes with mischievous grins.
"Yes ma'am," Sirius said, putting on his charm as he smiled innocently, "Two boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans."
James handed the witch two bronze Knuts and she handed them two small boxes. Sirius opened the box and fished around, finally producing a single tiny bean and offered it to Remus. The brunette shook his head, stating he didn't like every flavor beans.
"Wussy-baby," Sirius teased.
"I am not, you prat!" Remus retorted indignantly. James waved the speckled bean in front of Remus's face, and he snatched it grumpily and popped it in his mouth. Sirius stifled a giggle as Remus turned a pale shade of green.
"Dammit, Siri," he swore before quickly tearing out of the compartment towards the back of the train, leaving the dark haired duo rolling on the floor in fits of laughter.
Once the pair had regained their composure and returned to their seats, another first year; a short boy with a round face, blue eyes, and slightly thin hair in a bowl cut came by. He looked rather nervous and scared.
"Um... can I... do you mind... if... you see; the other compartments are full... and could...could I sit here?" he inquired in a flustered mumble. James nodded his head, acknowledging the other boy to come in so he did. No sooner did he sit down, was he met by a hand in front of his face. He looked across to see who the hand belonged to and saw Sirius, arm extended, wearing a megawatt grin.
"Sirius Black," he quipped happily. The shorter boy took Sirius's hand and shook it,
"Peter. Peter Pettigrew," he squeaked. James then held his hand out to Peter shaking his energetically.
"Name's James Potter," he declared proudly. Remus stumbled back into the compartment looking much better than when he ran out. He plopped down next to Sirius muttering how glad he was that no one was in the bathroom; and then noticed the shorter boy across from him.
"Hullo," he said, "What's your name?"
"Peter Pettigrew," Peter answered.
"I'm Remus Lupin," he stated, "Peter is?" The smaller boy nodded. "Well, if they offer you a bean, "he mouthed, "Don't take it."
Peter quirked his eyebrow curiously at this. James just chuckled and then faced the shorter boy.
"So, what kind of family are you from?" he asked casually.
"What kinda family?" the blue-eyed boy puzzled.
"Yeah," Sirius put in, "Wizard or Muggle? Or maybe you're like our Remy here; half and half... like creamer..."
"So now I'm creamer," Remus mumbled.
"Oh, my family's pure-blooded wizards," Peter offered, but James was tuned out and now fixed on a pretty red-headed girl with emerald eyes in the compartment across from theirs. Sirius poked James in the knee.
"Whatcha gawkin at?" he questioned, poking the bespectacled boy continuously. Remus pointed to the redhead, and Sirius got up smiling impishly, and sauntered over to the compartment of girls. They looked up at him and giggled. One of them had mid-length black hair, one had short strawberry blond hair and was freckled, then there was a pair of girls with identical honey colored hair in two long braided pigtails and both had freckles; they looked like clones of one another- Sirius concluded that they were twins. Then, of course, there was also the red-head.
"Afternoon, ladies," Sirius addressed casually.
"Hi," the strawberry blond giggled, "Who are you?"
At this he replied, "Sirius Black," and gave a roguish grin, at which a dark haired girl giggled furiously. James finally snapped out of his trance and joined Sirius; after all Black shouldn't be the only one allowed to charm the girls, especially the redhead... The girls giggled more as James came over.
"Who's your friend?" the redhead asked. James suddenly began glowing brilliant red and his glasses slowly slid down the bridge of his nose.
"J-James Potter," he managed to stutter, which resulted in some of the girls erupting into giggles. Then the dark haired spoke,
"Articulate aren't ya?" she said in an almost cynical voice. Remus decided then to join the dark-haired duo; taking claim to the impish grin generally accustomed to Sirius.
"Believe it or not, it's James's first time around girls," he commentated quite somberly.
One of the freckled girls with honey colored hair blinked quizzically,
"Really?" she asked. Her twin giggled at the other's expense.
"Of course not," James retorted importantly, pushing his glasses back up his nose. They all laughed at the scrawny dark-haired boy; but their laughter was cut short by the sound of an unwelcomed, drawling voice.
"It's their first time out of the Manor; God only knows why their families are endangering civilization by letting them toddle around," the boy from whom the voice came from said. He was a thin pale boy with long silver-blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, a leather headband across his forhead, and malicious grey eyes. Sirius whipped around furiously to face the boy; James moved toward him,
"Shove it, Malfoy," he snapped at the newcomer; who was smiling poisonously. The two dark-haired boys both shared a deep antipathy toward the boy known as Lucius Malfoy, but this was Remus's first time meeting the infamous Malfoy that only exaggerated horror stories had been told of.
"New friends?" he asked coldly as he observed Peter and Remus; making a face of obvious disapproval at the state of Remus's robes. Peter frowned, so far this Malfoy was an unpleasant character.
Remus swept forward and extended his hand formally before the pale boy,
"I'm Remus Lupin," he introduced in a cool tone. Malfoy glanced down at Remus's hand, eying it shrewdly as though it were a rotting carcass.
"Half blood I'm sure," he retorted smugly. Peter swiftly made his way over to Malfoy, and stared him in the face- which, if not for the intensity of the moment would have been a very amusing scene.
"What does blood matter?" he scowled, drawing looks of astonishment from his friends and making Malfoy glower icily at him. James and Sirius joined Remus and Peter all glaring at Malfoy with eyes like daggers. Remus approached Malfoy nonchalantly with his wand concealed up his sleeve.
"You're making quite an ass of yourself; picking a fight when you're outnumbered like this," he chided the blond boy as if haranguing a small child. As he lectured, the tip of his wand had protruded from his sleeve and was pointed at the bottom hem of Malfoy's robes. The other three boys and the compartment of girls all watched, while suffocating laughter that threatened to surface; as Malfoy's robes began to bleed into a neon pink and violet. Incredibly though, the blond didn't notice and just gave Remus one last look of disgust before abruptly turning on his heel and stalking away muttering under his breath about "Mudbloods". The group exploded into hysterical laughter as he slunk off, and laughed even harder when a rather vexed scream of "What the hell?!" reached their end of the train.
Between fits of laughter Sirius managed to gasp, "Toodles ladies!" before he and James hurridly ushered Peter and Remus to their compartment and locked the door- just in time. Outside they could hear the angry swearing voice of Lucius Malfoy and another voice accompanying; as well as pounding on the door.
Their remaining hours on the train passed uneventfully as Malfoy had given up, so they bade the time by playing exploding snap. The train began to slow down, and a voice announced all over the train,
"We will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes time, please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."
Sirius whooped loudly then yanked his suitcase off its rack and rumaged around furiously through it; finally pulling out a grey sweater, a black robe, and black tie. He quickly pulled the sweater over his head and pulled on the robe before attempting to fasten his tie. The other boys already had on their school robes, so instead of changing they packed up their game and headed out into the corridor with the other students as the train came to a stop. Everyone disembarked the train, all speaking excitedly in a tumult of voices. A great voice suddenly boomed out over the crowd of students,
"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" The students followed the source of the voice; until they were at the end of the train platform; then saw who was speaking: a giant of a man with a tangled main for a beard and tiny, glinting black eyes. Several kids marveled with verbal expressions or gaping mouths.
"All righ', that everyone? Firs' years follow me!" the giant man lead them down a steep narrow path to the banks of a large lake. Several students gasped, what had so raptly captured their attention was across the lake: an immense castle atop a high mountain; tall, glittering and grand with towers and turrets cutting into the open night sky like pointed fingers reaching for the heavens. Several of them felt quite at loss for words- except Sirius who very clearly expressed himself verbally through his exclamaition of "Holy crap!"- which extracted several giggles from the girls. Near him Remus and Peter stood, the tawny haired boy looked on the verge of short-circuiting from excitement while the smaller blue-eyed boy; now pale as the ghost that occupied Sirius's cellars; appeared ready to faint from nerves.
"Come on, get in, no more'n four to a boat," the giant-man instructed. As soon as he spoke the other three boys followed Sirius's lead and made a mad dash to clamber inside a boat; making their claim known to the other first years. Sitting in a boat next to theirs, was Malfoy and three other boys; all giving the others looks of death. James and Sirius recognized two of them as Malfoy's regular thugs, whose names were never known to the darkhaired duo; but the third one they did not recognize at all. He was a sour looking chap with sallow skin, black greasy hair touching his shoulders, and a large hooked nose. Apparently Remus knew him though, judging by his miserable grumble, "Snape," in an undertone. On the other side of James and his group the girls from the train-minus one of the twins- occupied a boat. The darkhaired girl grinned wickedly at them and giggled a shrill giggle, the others waved at them.
Peter shifted uncomfortably in his wooden seat as the boats departed from the shore on their own accord.
"That girl," he gestured towards the darkhaired one in the next boat, "she scares me." The others nodded their agreements. Now the castle that was once so far away was looming closer, and soon enough they were in a sort of harbour under the castle. They all scrambled out of the boats, and were off following the light of the giant-man's lamp far ahead, crawling up rocks until they felt soft grass beneath their feet. They had reached the entrance of the castle, a tremendous and elaborately carved magnificent oak door. Peter looked up at it and unintentionally squeaked, making several people around him chuckle. The giant-man suddenly knocked three times on the gargantuan door and the students all held baited breaths as the door creaked open.
A/N: Wo-hoo!!!!!!!!! Lookie that! Chapter 2 is coming soon. As soon as I type.
I've updated the story a little; I don't like it rated G. I have made a sad discovery: Although many writers out there; myself included; have written Lucius into our fics- the sad truth is he is older than the Marauders, considerably. I don't recall him mentioning any personal animosity towards James Potter, and had he been in the same year, I'm sure he would have had some nasty things to say. But that's just what I think.