Story Title:
Author: Lyria Padfoot
Feedback/Posting: LashaPadfootOfGondor916@yahoo.com
Rating: PG, may be PG-13 later
Disclaimer: Belongs to J.K.R. I'm not quite that creative.
Summary: First in a set of seven. James Potter's first year at Hogwarts. Read the book for Harry's, and for Harry's son, go look at Tatt Skywalker's "Cedric Potter and the Witch Caster's Disease." For more possibilities with the ladies of Hogwarts, read any of my other HP works.
The owl flew through the open window, dropping a letter on the table. James Potter looked at it curiously from behind his round glasses as his mum and dad shared a smile. Who would be writing him? Sirius lived next door, and most of his other friends lived within a few streets. He turned over the envelope. Hogwarts! He ripped it open excitedly.
"Mum! Dad! It's my letter! My letter's here! Can I go see if Sirius got his yet? When are we going to get my things? I can bring my owl, look it says so..."
"Calm down a minute, calm down!" His father laughed. "Run over and see if Sirius got his, if you'd like."
James leapt from the table, dark hair more askew than usual as he bolted for the door and flung it open.
Sirius Black was already there, his own black hair unbrushed and brown eyes alight. "You got yours too, then?"
"Just opened it! It's finally time to go," James sighed happily.
Sirius grinned. "They aren't going to know what hit them."
"Behave," Mum told James firmly, sending him next door in his best robes. Sirius' dad was going to take them both to Diagon Alley to get their things.
Sirius had lived next door with his father and his little brother Orion for as long as James could remember. Sirius' mum had died when he was two, and James' mum had rather adopted him and Orion.
Orion was standing at the door, waiting for James. "Come on! Sirius is putting his shoes on, and then we're going to floo there and he says I can hold his wand when we get home!!"
James grinned and entered the house just as Sirius came flying—literally—down the stairs. He'd tripped over his shoelace and hit the floor at the base of the stairs with a thud. "Good, you're here!" He retied his shoe. "DAD! James is here!! Can we go?"
Mr. Black entered the room. "Hello, James. How are you?"
"Fine thanks, sir," James smiled.
Mr. Black grinned. "I imagine you're as eager to go as Sirius, so let's go." He took the jar of Floo Powder from the mantel. "Sirius, where's your brother?"
"Just putting away the breakfast dishes," Sirius said innocently.
A shriek came from the kitchen.
"Sirius Polaris Black! You are going to spend more time in detention than in class!" Mr. Black snapped, and then went into the kitchen to assist Orion.
"Biting teacup," Sirius explained to his friend with a grin.
James smiled. A day with the Blacks was always a great deal of fun.
Upon calming Orion and flooing to Diagon Alley, Mr. Black turned to the two soon-to-be Hogwarts students. "Can I trust you two to get your books and robes if I take Orion with me to go get Sirius' owl?"
"A gray one, Dad," Sirius requested.
"So you've told me every day since you got your letter, Sirius. I'm letting you two go against my better judgment. Prove me wrong." Orion and Sirius went off on their way.
"Awful brave of him to leave us," James commented.
"How much ice cream can we eat? Besides, he knows I want my stuff." Sirius grinned. "Now, do we go get our boring old books, or our wands?"
"Wands!" James cried, and they darted across the street to Ollivander's.
"I've been expecting you both," a voice informed them. Mr. Ollivander stepped off the ladder. "Now, who'd like to be first?"
"Umm, you go, Sirius." James said quickly. Now that they were here, he felt rather nervous.
"Alright then," Sirius shrugged.
Mr. Ollivander handed him a wand. "Phoenix feather and oak, sixteen inches. Go on, try it."
Sirius waved it, and an entire shelf of wands crashed to the floor. "Umm... oops?"
"No matter. Here, dragon heartstring and willow, ten and a quarter inches."
Sirius tried again. This time a box shot off a shelf and nearly hit James in the head. "Sorry about that," Sirius told his friend.
Mr. Ollivander had Sirius try a few more wands with no success. He even tried a holly and phoenix feather one from the very back of the store. "A bit tricky, but no matter. Try this. Dragon heartstring and willow, twelve and three quarter inches."
Sirius took the wand, and red and gold sparks shot out the end.
"Excellent! Now you, Mr. Potter." Mr. Ollivander handed James a wand.
James gulped. Sirius had looked almost natural, waving the wands about, despite the disasters some of them had caused. James, however, was certain he'd look like an idiot. He waved the wand.
The front window shattered.
James yelped.
"Don't worry about it, I broke a shelf." Sirius grinned, still holding his wand with a pleased grin.
Mr. Ollivander took the wand and handed James another. "Ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches."
James barely had it in his hand and Mr. Ollivander snatched it back. "No, that won't do... here, beechwood and dragon heartstring, nine inches... no... try this—maple and phoenix feather..."
At this, a small fire broke out on the floor.
Mr. Ollivander put it out. "Clearly not... here, Mr. Potter. Mahogany and phoenix feather, eleven inches."
James took it and listened for crashes and looked for flames before he tentatively waved it. Multicolored sparks flew out of it.
"Perfect!" Mr. Ollivander declared.
The pair paid for their wands and slipped out of the store.
"Funny shaped packages for books," a voice said behind them. Mr. Black stood there, smiling.
"We needed wands too," James pointed out.
Orion gasped. "That's where you've been! What's it made of, Sirius?"
"Mine's dragon heartstring, James' is phoenix feather. You can see when we get home."
Orion stared rather wistfully at the boxes.
They stopped for books and then went to get some of their rather miscellaneous supplies. Sirius was rather enthusiastically studying the telescopes, while James was more interested in an astronomical model that would keep him from ever needing the telescope.
"I'll go get you your cauldrons. Orion, you run and get quills, ink, and parchment..." Mr. Black began.
James gave his friend a grin. It looked like they got to head off on their own again.
"And you two go get your robes. *Just* the robes, alright?" He told them.
Sirius gave his father his patented innocent look. "Sure dad, we'll be at Madame Malkin's." They darted off.
Just as they were entering the shop, a group of boys was leaving, and one of them collided with James. Both James and the other boy landed on the floor.
"Oops! I'm sorry," James said, picking up his fallen wand box.
"Watch where you're going!" The boy snapped. The first things James noticed about him were the greasy black hair and the crooked nose. The boy stood, dusted off his robes, and stalked off with his friends.
"Pleasant sort, isn't he?" Sirius commented, helping James to his feet.
"Bet he's in Slytherin," James said, looking after him darkly.
Sirius considered a moment. "Course he will be. But I hope he's in Hufflepuff."
"Hufflepuff? Why?"
"Cause I reckon if he gets put there, he'll leave."
James merely grinned at that.
James woke up, put on his glasses, and immediately went downstairs for breakfast. He'd been having a wonderful dream. He and Sirius had been going to Hogwarts, and... WAIT! He glanced at his calendar. He really was going to Hogwarts—today! He bolted down the stairs.
"Look who's awake," Mum teased. "We put your trunk in the car. Run upstairs and put on some Muggle clothes now, and I'll finish up breakfast."
James ran upstairs, eager to comply. Instead of his usual robes over the chair, he found a pair of Muggle jeans and a shirt and tossed that on.
"Did you even try to brush your hair, young man?" His mother demanded.
"Of course," James told her.
"Well, I certainly can't tell," she sighed. "Come sit and eat. I'm not sending you off on the train to eat sweets without a proper breakfast."
A morning had never passed so slowly. Finally, finally, it was time to leave for King's Cross Station.
Upon arriving at the station, he found another familiar face getting ready to get on Platform 9 ¾. "Lyria! You got your letter too?" The brown- haired girl turned to face him, her blue-gray eyes framed in silver. "And you got glasses!"
"Way to be observant, James," Lyria Strider replied. "You didn't think I was a squib, did you? Cassi's already on the platform, and so's everyone else. Oliver's Head Boy this year," she informed him.
"Not surprised. He's in Ravenclaw, right?"
"Yep." Lyria grinned. "Better say goodbye, we'll be leaving before long." With that, she walked onto the platform.
It was a good five minutes before James could pry himself away from his mother. "Honestly, Mum! I'll owl you once we get there," he assured her. "Love you!" He stepped onto the platform...
And nearly tripped over a short boy with light brown hair and cinnamonish brown eyes.
"Oh, sorry!" The boy cried, getting to his feet and offering James a hand up.
"Thanks. Are you a first year too?" James asked. The boy nodded. "Waiting for someone?"
"No..." he trailed off.
James grinned. "Come on, then. You can sit with my friend & me. I'm James Potter, by the way."
The smile took a bit of the loneliness out of the boy's eyes. "Remus Lupin."
"There you are!" Sirius was on the train, having just poked his head around the corner. "Come on!"
"That's Sirius," James explained. "My friend."
The two boarded the train. Sirius had saved a compartment. They quickly got all the trunks and owl cages and everything tucked away and were just sitting down when another person entered. "Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full... or else full of girls."
"Come on in," Sirius invited. "What's your name?"
"Peter Pettigrew." The blonde stepped into the compartment gratefully.
"I'm Sirius Black, that's James Potter, and that's Remus Lupin." Sirius introduced, helping Peter get his stuff settled. "What's your Quidditch team?"
Talk revolved around Quidditch for a while, as is common in the wizarding world. Then James poked his head around the door and gasped. "SIRIUS! It's that kid from Madame Malkin's!"
"Why's he carrying his wand? Looks like he's trying to start trouble..." Remus noted.
Sirius grinned. "I say we prevent him from causing problems..." He turned to Peter. "Wait here, watch the stuff. I don't want him touching my things."
"Poisonous, he is," James agreed.
Sirius slipped casually out of the compartment and snatched the kid's wand right from his hand, running off. James and Remus followed.
"We're going to be expelled before we even get there!" Remus yelped. "Or at least lose house points!"
"They can't take points away, they don't know what houses we'll be in," James replied.
The way Sirius' eyes lit up at this comment made James wonder if it had been wise to point that out. He slipped into a compartment quickly, closely followed by James and Remus. Wisely, Remus closed the door.
They turned around. It was a compartment full of girls.
"Gaaah!" Yelled Sirius.
"Nice to see you too," replied a rather calm voice. "Starting trouble already?"
"Hello, Lyria," Sirius sighed. "And Cassi. And Lyria and Cassi's Redhaired Friend."
"Introduce yourselves," Lyria demanded.
James grinned. "I'm James Potter." He sat down.
"Remus Lupin." Remus continued staring out the door, making sure Grease Hair didn't find them.
"And I," Sirius mock bowed, "Am Sirius Black."
"I'm Lily Evans," the redhead said, giving them a rather bewildered look.
"They're always like that," Lyria sighed.
"He's coming!" Remus yelped.
James led them back toward their compartment, which involved running past the group that had chased them down here, but they managed without much trouble. They entered the compartment, but now found themselves cornered.
"Way to go James Potter," Sirius muttered sarcastically.
James knew, then and there, that Sirius would be the devious mastermind behind the pranks they hoped to pull off. "Too late now. So what do we do?"
Remus slipped behind them and began digging through his trunk.
The owner of the wand—who James for lack of a name was calling Greasebucket—stepped forward. "I ought to hex you both into next week," he sneered, taking his wand from Sirius. "What do you think?"
"I think personally that that's a bad idea," Sirius told him. "Just a misunderstanding after all..."
"I don't think so." Came the reply. He pointed his wand at them...
"Incendio!" a voice muttered behind them. Greasebucket's robe caught fire, and he stormed out of the compartment with his friends, stomping it out.
James looked at Sirius, and both turned to see Remus holding his wand.
Remus looked a bit uncomfortable. "I guess I learned a couple things over the summer."
"I reckon we're the first ones to ever start a fire on the train," Sirius grinned. "Nice one, Remus!"
Remus moaned and buried his face in his hands. "Don't remind me. Thank God no one knows who we are yet..." He stuffed his wand back in his trunk.
"We'd better get changed. We're nearly there," Sirius noted. "Have to make them think we're model students, after all."
"Firs' years!" An incredibly tall man holding a lantern called out. The group of four boys joined the others of their class. James looked around at the faces. He could see Lyria, Cassi, and Lily, all standing together, and over there were the boys from Madame Malkin's. There seemed to be so many of them...
"Four to a boat!" The man instructed them. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter clambered into a boat, and the little fleet took off.
They were soon staring up at the enormous castle that was their school. James and Sirius exchanged a grin. They were finally at Hogwarts!!
"Firs' years, Professor McGonagall."
"Thank you, Hagrid." The witch—Professor McGonagall—led them all to a spot in the corridor just outside a huge set of doors and began to explain the sorting. James tuned out—Dad had explained it to him before he left.
"The sorting will begin momentarily." The Professor left and went into the hall.
The first years glanced around nervously. "What do you reckon we'll have to do?" Peter asked.
"We haven't got our wands, they're supposed to be in our trunks," Remus pointed out. "It can't be that bad..."
"Oh! All you have to do is try on a hat," James assured them. "No big deal."
"So our 'family' for the next seven years is in the hands of an old hat? That's not very reassuring..." Sirius sighed.
The first years continued to talk quietly to themselves until Professor McGongall returned. "Come along. It's time."
Author: Lyria Padfoot
Feedback/Posting: LashaPadfootOfGondor916@yahoo.com
Rating: PG, may be PG-13 later
Disclaimer: Belongs to J.K.R. I'm not quite that creative.
Summary: First in a set of seven. James Potter's first year at Hogwarts. Read the book for Harry's, and for Harry's son, go look at Tatt Skywalker's "Cedric Potter and the Witch Caster's Disease." For more possibilities with the ladies of Hogwarts, read any of my other HP works.
The owl flew through the open window, dropping a letter on the table. James Potter looked at it curiously from behind his round glasses as his mum and dad shared a smile. Who would be writing him? Sirius lived next door, and most of his other friends lived within a few streets. He turned over the envelope. Hogwarts! He ripped it open excitedly.
"Mum! Dad! It's my letter! My letter's here! Can I go see if Sirius got his yet? When are we going to get my things? I can bring my owl, look it says so..."
"Calm down a minute, calm down!" His father laughed. "Run over and see if Sirius got his, if you'd like."
James leapt from the table, dark hair more askew than usual as he bolted for the door and flung it open.
Sirius Black was already there, his own black hair unbrushed and brown eyes alight. "You got yours too, then?"
"Just opened it! It's finally time to go," James sighed happily.
Sirius grinned. "They aren't going to know what hit them."
"Behave," Mum told James firmly, sending him next door in his best robes. Sirius' dad was going to take them both to Diagon Alley to get their things.
Sirius had lived next door with his father and his little brother Orion for as long as James could remember. Sirius' mum had died when he was two, and James' mum had rather adopted him and Orion.
Orion was standing at the door, waiting for James. "Come on! Sirius is putting his shoes on, and then we're going to floo there and he says I can hold his wand when we get home!!"
James grinned and entered the house just as Sirius came flying—literally—down the stairs. He'd tripped over his shoelace and hit the floor at the base of the stairs with a thud. "Good, you're here!" He retied his shoe. "DAD! James is here!! Can we go?"
Mr. Black entered the room. "Hello, James. How are you?"
"Fine thanks, sir," James smiled.
Mr. Black grinned. "I imagine you're as eager to go as Sirius, so let's go." He took the jar of Floo Powder from the mantel. "Sirius, where's your brother?"
"Just putting away the breakfast dishes," Sirius said innocently.
A shriek came from the kitchen.
"Sirius Polaris Black! You are going to spend more time in detention than in class!" Mr. Black snapped, and then went into the kitchen to assist Orion.
"Biting teacup," Sirius explained to his friend with a grin.
James smiled. A day with the Blacks was always a great deal of fun.
Upon calming Orion and flooing to Diagon Alley, Mr. Black turned to the two soon-to-be Hogwarts students. "Can I trust you two to get your books and robes if I take Orion with me to go get Sirius' owl?"
"A gray one, Dad," Sirius requested.
"So you've told me every day since you got your letter, Sirius. I'm letting you two go against my better judgment. Prove me wrong." Orion and Sirius went off on their way.
"Awful brave of him to leave us," James commented.
"How much ice cream can we eat? Besides, he knows I want my stuff." Sirius grinned. "Now, do we go get our boring old books, or our wands?"
"Wands!" James cried, and they darted across the street to Ollivander's.
"I've been expecting you both," a voice informed them. Mr. Ollivander stepped off the ladder. "Now, who'd like to be first?"
"Umm, you go, Sirius." James said quickly. Now that they were here, he felt rather nervous.
"Alright then," Sirius shrugged.
Mr. Ollivander handed him a wand. "Phoenix feather and oak, sixteen inches. Go on, try it."
Sirius waved it, and an entire shelf of wands crashed to the floor. "Umm... oops?"
"No matter. Here, dragon heartstring and willow, ten and a quarter inches."
Sirius tried again. This time a box shot off a shelf and nearly hit James in the head. "Sorry about that," Sirius told his friend.
Mr. Ollivander had Sirius try a few more wands with no success. He even tried a holly and phoenix feather one from the very back of the store. "A bit tricky, but no matter. Try this. Dragon heartstring and willow, twelve and three quarter inches."
Sirius took the wand, and red and gold sparks shot out the end.
"Excellent! Now you, Mr. Potter." Mr. Ollivander handed James a wand.
James gulped. Sirius had looked almost natural, waving the wands about, despite the disasters some of them had caused. James, however, was certain he'd look like an idiot. He waved the wand.
The front window shattered.
James yelped.
"Don't worry about it, I broke a shelf." Sirius grinned, still holding his wand with a pleased grin.
Mr. Ollivander took the wand and handed James another. "Ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches."
James barely had it in his hand and Mr. Ollivander snatched it back. "No, that won't do... here, beechwood and dragon heartstring, nine inches... no... try this—maple and phoenix feather..."
At this, a small fire broke out on the floor.
Mr. Ollivander put it out. "Clearly not... here, Mr. Potter. Mahogany and phoenix feather, eleven inches."
James took it and listened for crashes and looked for flames before he tentatively waved it. Multicolored sparks flew out of it.
"Perfect!" Mr. Ollivander declared.
The pair paid for their wands and slipped out of the store.
"Funny shaped packages for books," a voice said behind them. Mr. Black stood there, smiling.
"We needed wands too," James pointed out.
Orion gasped. "That's where you've been! What's it made of, Sirius?"
"Mine's dragon heartstring, James' is phoenix feather. You can see when we get home."
Orion stared rather wistfully at the boxes.
They stopped for books and then went to get some of their rather miscellaneous supplies. Sirius was rather enthusiastically studying the telescopes, while James was more interested in an astronomical model that would keep him from ever needing the telescope.
"I'll go get you your cauldrons. Orion, you run and get quills, ink, and parchment..." Mr. Black began.
James gave his friend a grin. It looked like they got to head off on their own again.
"And you two go get your robes. *Just* the robes, alright?" He told them.
Sirius gave his father his patented innocent look. "Sure dad, we'll be at Madame Malkin's." They darted off.
Just as they were entering the shop, a group of boys was leaving, and one of them collided with James. Both James and the other boy landed on the floor.
"Oops! I'm sorry," James said, picking up his fallen wand box.
"Watch where you're going!" The boy snapped. The first things James noticed about him were the greasy black hair and the crooked nose. The boy stood, dusted off his robes, and stalked off with his friends.
"Pleasant sort, isn't he?" Sirius commented, helping James to his feet.
"Bet he's in Slytherin," James said, looking after him darkly.
Sirius considered a moment. "Course he will be. But I hope he's in Hufflepuff."
"Hufflepuff? Why?"
"Cause I reckon if he gets put there, he'll leave."
James merely grinned at that.
James woke up, put on his glasses, and immediately went downstairs for breakfast. He'd been having a wonderful dream. He and Sirius had been going to Hogwarts, and... WAIT! He glanced at his calendar. He really was going to Hogwarts—today! He bolted down the stairs.
"Look who's awake," Mum teased. "We put your trunk in the car. Run upstairs and put on some Muggle clothes now, and I'll finish up breakfast."
James ran upstairs, eager to comply. Instead of his usual robes over the chair, he found a pair of Muggle jeans and a shirt and tossed that on.
"Did you even try to brush your hair, young man?" His mother demanded.
"Of course," James told her.
"Well, I certainly can't tell," she sighed. "Come sit and eat. I'm not sending you off on the train to eat sweets without a proper breakfast."
A morning had never passed so slowly. Finally, finally, it was time to leave for King's Cross Station.
Upon arriving at the station, he found another familiar face getting ready to get on Platform 9 ¾. "Lyria! You got your letter too?" The brown- haired girl turned to face him, her blue-gray eyes framed in silver. "And you got glasses!"
"Way to be observant, James," Lyria Strider replied. "You didn't think I was a squib, did you? Cassi's already on the platform, and so's everyone else. Oliver's Head Boy this year," she informed him.
"Not surprised. He's in Ravenclaw, right?"
"Yep." Lyria grinned. "Better say goodbye, we'll be leaving before long." With that, she walked onto the platform.
It was a good five minutes before James could pry himself away from his mother. "Honestly, Mum! I'll owl you once we get there," he assured her. "Love you!" He stepped onto the platform...
And nearly tripped over a short boy with light brown hair and cinnamonish brown eyes.
"Oh, sorry!" The boy cried, getting to his feet and offering James a hand up.
"Thanks. Are you a first year too?" James asked. The boy nodded. "Waiting for someone?"
"No..." he trailed off.
James grinned. "Come on, then. You can sit with my friend & me. I'm James Potter, by the way."
The smile took a bit of the loneliness out of the boy's eyes. "Remus Lupin."
"There you are!" Sirius was on the train, having just poked his head around the corner. "Come on!"
"That's Sirius," James explained. "My friend."
The two boarded the train. Sirius had saved a compartment. They quickly got all the trunks and owl cages and everything tucked away and were just sitting down when another person entered. "Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full... or else full of girls."
"Come on in," Sirius invited. "What's your name?"
"Peter Pettigrew." The blonde stepped into the compartment gratefully.
"I'm Sirius Black, that's James Potter, and that's Remus Lupin." Sirius introduced, helping Peter get his stuff settled. "What's your Quidditch team?"
Talk revolved around Quidditch for a while, as is common in the wizarding world. Then James poked his head around the door and gasped. "SIRIUS! It's that kid from Madame Malkin's!"
"Why's he carrying his wand? Looks like he's trying to start trouble..." Remus noted.
Sirius grinned. "I say we prevent him from causing problems..." He turned to Peter. "Wait here, watch the stuff. I don't want him touching my things."
"Poisonous, he is," James agreed.
Sirius slipped casually out of the compartment and snatched the kid's wand right from his hand, running off. James and Remus followed.
"We're going to be expelled before we even get there!" Remus yelped. "Or at least lose house points!"
"They can't take points away, they don't know what houses we'll be in," James replied.
The way Sirius' eyes lit up at this comment made James wonder if it had been wise to point that out. He slipped into a compartment quickly, closely followed by James and Remus. Wisely, Remus closed the door.
They turned around. It was a compartment full of girls.
"Gaaah!" Yelled Sirius.
"Nice to see you too," replied a rather calm voice. "Starting trouble already?"
"Hello, Lyria," Sirius sighed. "And Cassi. And Lyria and Cassi's Redhaired Friend."
"Introduce yourselves," Lyria demanded.
James grinned. "I'm James Potter." He sat down.
"Remus Lupin." Remus continued staring out the door, making sure Grease Hair didn't find them.
"And I," Sirius mock bowed, "Am Sirius Black."
"I'm Lily Evans," the redhead said, giving them a rather bewildered look.
"They're always like that," Lyria sighed.
"He's coming!" Remus yelped.
James led them back toward their compartment, which involved running past the group that had chased them down here, but they managed without much trouble. They entered the compartment, but now found themselves cornered.
"Way to go James Potter," Sirius muttered sarcastically.
James knew, then and there, that Sirius would be the devious mastermind behind the pranks they hoped to pull off. "Too late now. So what do we do?"
Remus slipped behind them and began digging through his trunk.
The owner of the wand—who James for lack of a name was calling Greasebucket—stepped forward. "I ought to hex you both into next week," he sneered, taking his wand from Sirius. "What do you think?"
"I think personally that that's a bad idea," Sirius told him. "Just a misunderstanding after all..."
"I don't think so." Came the reply. He pointed his wand at them...
"Incendio!" a voice muttered behind them. Greasebucket's robe caught fire, and he stormed out of the compartment with his friends, stomping it out.
James looked at Sirius, and both turned to see Remus holding his wand.
Remus looked a bit uncomfortable. "I guess I learned a couple things over the summer."
"I reckon we're the first ones to ever start a fire on the train," Sirius grinned. "Nice one, Remus!"
Remus moaned and buried his face in his hands. "Don't remind me. Thank God no one knows who we are yet..." He stuffed his wand back in his trunk.
"We'd better get changed. We're nearly there," Sirius noted. "Have to make them think we're model students, after all."
"Firs' years!" An incredibly tall man holding a lantern called out. The group of four boys joined the others of their class. James looked around at the faces. He could see Lyria, Cassi, and Lily, all standing together, and over there were the boys from Madame Malkin's. There seemed to be so many of them...
"Four to a boat!" The man instructed them. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter clambered into a boat, and the little fleet took off.
They were soon staring up at the enormous castle that was their school. James and Sirius exchanged a grin. They were finally at Hogwarts!!
"Firs' years, Professor McGonagall."
"Thank you, Hagrid." The witch—Professor McGonagall—led them all to a spot in the corridor just outside a huge set of doors and began to explain the sorting. James tuned out—Dad had explained it to him before he left.
"The sorting will begin momentarily." The Professor left and went into the hall.
The first years glanced around nervously. "What do you reckon we'll have to do?" Peter asked.
"We haven't got our wands, they're supposed to be in our trunks," Remus pointed out. "It can't be that bad..."
"Oh! All you have to do is try on a hat," James assured them. "No big deal."
"So our 'family' for the next seven years is in the hands of an old hat? That's not very reassuring..." Sirius sighed.
The first years continued to talk quietly to themselves until Professor McGongall returned. "Come along. It's time."