Hey guys! Whoo! New fic! Yayness!
This chapter is dedicated to my cats, Roxi and Sammi, and all the random people from school whose names I have taken for the other students in the year.
The eleven-year-old blonde girl pushed through the crowd of people at King's Cross Station. She looked at the sign on one side of a brick wall that said platform 9, then at the sign on the other side of the brick wall that said platform 10. There was no Platform 9 ¾ to be seen. Where on earth was it? She looked around, and saw two other girls about the same age as her staring confusedly at the wall. Perhaps they were going to Hogwarts, too. She walked up to the girl with long red hair.
"Erm, hello. I'm Zaya."
"I'm Lily," said the red-head. Then she added a bit softer, "Um, are you going to Hogwarts as well?"
Zaya breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, I am, but I can't find the platform."
"Me, either. You see, neither of my parents are magical, and besides, they had to take my sister to her school." said Lily.
"My parents aren't magical either!" exclaimed Zaya. "I thought I might be the only person there with no magical heritage."
"Nope, me too. And by the looks of her, that girl too." said Lily, pointing to the other, shorter girl Zaya had seen before. Although she wore a pink t-shirt, the girl's blonde hair was cut short like a boys'.
"Let's go ask her if she needs help." suggested Zaya.
They walked over to her, dragging their heavy trunks. "Hello," said Zaya. "Hogwarts?"
"Yeah," the girl answered. "I'm Danielle, by the way."
"I'm Lily, and this is Zaya. I hope we find the right platform soon, otherwise the train might leave without us!" said Lily. Just then another girl with light brown hair and a round face walked past them with her parents. She had a large trunk and an owl.
"Now be good, Alice," the mother was saying.
"I will, Mum." the girl answered.
"Make sure you get a good first view of Hogwarts, Ally, it's well worth it." her father said.
"Hogwarts!" whispered Lily, and the three girls ran to catch up with Alice and her parents.
"Um, excuse us," started Danielle, tapping Alice's father on the arm, "but could you tell us where Platform 9 ¾ is?"
"Oh, Muggleborns, are you?" he asked kindly. The three girls looked at each other blankly. "As in non-magical parents?" he continued.
"Oh – yes, we are." said Zaya.
"First year at Hogwarts, then?"
"Yes," they answered together.
"Oh, well, so is Alice," said her mother. "Perhaps she could tell you about Hogwarts on the train."
"Only if we get on it, Mum, we've got about five minutes 'til it leaves." said Alice. "To get to Platform 9 ¾, you've gotta run through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10."
"We have to what?" asked Lily faintly, turning towards the very solid-looking wall.
"Run through it," repeated Alice. "C'mon, I'll go first and show you. Bye Mum, bye Dad, I'll write soon!" she called, as she started pushing her trunk towards the barrier. The other three girls followed her.
"Ok, here I go." And she went straight through.
"Well, I suppose that must be the way then…" said Danielle. "Quick, before we miss the train." They went towards the barrier and passed through it one by one.
On the other side Alice was waiting for them. "We've only got about two minutes, come on!" she said. So the four of them grabbed their things and got on the scarlet train. "Let's find a compartment," Alice said. They moved through two carriages before the found an empty one.
"This'll do," said Alice. "Put your trunks up top, then we can get to know one another."
"What's your owl's name?" Zaya asked Alice, as Danielle helped her stow her trunk.
"Madeline. Mad for short, cos' if she eats too much she goes bonkers." They all giggled. "So, anyway, I'm Alice Mathers, and I'm a pureblood witch. Some purebloods don't like that Muggleborns like you guys come to Hogwarts, but I thinks it's pretty cool." Alice remarked, bright blue eyes growing bigger with excitement.
"Why wouldn't they want us coming to Hogwarts?" asked Lily.
"Because they think purebloods are more important and talented than halfbloods or Muggleborns. Or as they call them, mudbloods." Alice looked as though she'd like to hit something, but then calmed down.
"So tell me about yourselves."
"Well, I'm Lily Evans, I'm Muggleborn, I have an older sister and two parents, and my mum said that if I get good results this year I can get my own owl next year." said Lily, her green eyes twinkling. "They were really proud of me for getting into Hogwarts, but my sister, Petunia, didn't seem too thrilled. I love reading books as well, so I hope Hogwarts has a big library. I've already read all our school books"
"Don't worry, the library is huge." said Alice
"I'm Zaya Jenks. I'm Muggleborn too, and my family consists of my mum and dad, and my older brother and sister. They all moved to America at the start of summer, so I've been living with my grandmother in the country for two months. It was really beautiful. Also, I'm the only person in my whole family with purple eyes."
"Danielle White. Muggleborn. Grey eyes, blonde hair, I like sports and cats, and my family didn't want me to come to Hogwarts."
"Why not?" asked Alice, leaning forward in her seat.
"Well, seeing as I've got four older brothers, I've always been a tomboy. But my mum wanted me to be a girly-girl, because I'm her only daughter, to do girly stuff with. I'm just not very interested in dresses and sewing and tea parties. Plus my dad thinks girls shouldn't play sport. I think the only reason they let me come is it means they won't have to put up with me."
Just at that moment the compartment door opened. A boy about their age with black hair and eyes stood in the doorway, and behind him a few other boys. He was not a pleasant boy to look at, with a large hooked nose, unwashed-looking hair, and some rather horrible acne.
"What do you want, Snape?" Alice asked menacingly.
"Now, now, Mathers, no need to be rude. I was just going round meeting all the other first years. I don't believe I know anyone else here." The boy said, looking around.
"That's because the rest of us are Muggleborns," said Danielle.
A look of disgust appeared on Snape's face. "Muggleborns? Pah! You shouldn't even be on this train, let alone be going to Hogwarts!"
"We've got magical ability too, so we should be allowed to learn how to use it!" said Lily, getting to her feet. Danielle and Alice did the same.
"Hey, what's going on here?" a voice said from behind Snape. The other boys behind Snape parted and behind them was another group of five boys, with four of them still dragging trunks and pets. The fifth boy was a second year.
"Stop annoying these girls and go find a compartment, Snape." he said. Snape and his friends shot one last glare at the girls, then moved down the aisle. Then the second year boy turned to the girls.
"Sorry about that. I'm Frank Longbottom."
"I'm Alice," she said, "and this is Lily, Zaya, and Danielle."
"Hi. Listen, would it be alright if these four boys sat with you? Everywhere else is full up."
"I s'pose," said Alice, looking round Frank to get a better look at them. "Oh, hi James, hi Sirius!" she exclaimed, recognising two of the boys.
"Hey Alice," said James, stowing his trunk. He had messy black hair, hazel eyes and glasses. "I'd forgotten you were starting Hogwarts this year."
"I hadn't" said Sirius, sitting between Danielle and Alice. His black hair was slightly longer and neater than James', and his eyes were bright grey. "Mum reminded me twice a day. I'm barely eleven, and she's already pointing out 'possible candidates for my future wife'. Ergh!"
"No offence Sirius, but the possibilities of me marrying you are extremely minimal. Especially if I get sorted into Gryffindor."
"Why would that make any difference?" asked Zaya.
"Practically everyone in my family gets put in Slytherin, and Slytherins and Gryffindors do not keep company with each other." said Sirius. "I would love to be in Gryffindor though."
"What house do you think you'll be in, Alice?" asked James.
"Well, my dad was in Gryffindor, and my mum was in Ravenclaw, so probably either of those. What about you?"
"I'm practically already in Gryffindor." said James proudly. "Both my parents and three of my grandparents were in there." He turned to Lily, who was sitting next to him. "Do you know which house you'll be in, um…"
"My name's Lily," she said, "and no, I don't know what house I'll be in, I'm a Muggleborn."
"Really?" asked James. "Well Sirius and I are both purebloods, and Peter and Remus are both halfbloods." he waved at the boy on the other side of Lily, and the one next to Danielle.
"All us girls, except for Alice, are Muggleborns. And I think I might be in Ravenclaw." said Lily.
"What house was your mum in Peter?" asked Sirius.
The small boy with mousy brown hair gave a small sigh. "She was in Hufflepuff," he said. "But her mum was in Gryffindor." he added hopefully.
"What do you think, Zaya?" Lily asked.
"Well, Gryffindor seems to be the house that everyone wants to be in. I wouldn't mind that, I suppose, but from what I hear about it, I think I'll be in Hufflepuff. Remus?"
Remus gave a small smile. His light brown hair fell gracefully into his blue-grey eyes. "My dad was in Ravenclaw, so that's probably where I'll go. You're last, Danielle."
"I honestly have no idea. I think I could fit into any of them. I just hope I'm in the same house as at least one of you guys."
"Well there's a good chance of that." said James. "Who wants to play Exploding Snap?"
They played Exploding Snap and Wizards Chess for a few hours. Danielle turned out to be excellent at Exploding Snap, and had soon won eight games in a row. Around noon the trolley came along with all sorts of strange magic foods. All of them bought a few Chocolate Frogs, and Zaya found a Card with the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.
"He looks really old," she said, passing the card around.
"My mum says he's at least 120 years old," said James.
"Wow." said Peter. "And he was in Gryffindor, wasn't he?"
"Yeah, like forever ago." Sirius chuckled.
They whiled away the next few hours munching on goodies, chatting or playing more Exploding Snap. Peter fell asleep for a little while, until Sirius woke him up by putting a particularly jumpy Chocolate Frog up his shirt. Not long after that, Frank Longbottom appeared at the door to their compartment.
"You lot better put on your robes, we'll be there soon."
"How long until we'll be able to see the castle?" asked Alice excitedly.
"About ten minutes." replied Frank with a smile.
When he left they all pulled their robes out and put them on over their clothes. Then they all looked anxiously out the window. A few minutes later, the train rounded a bend and they had their first look at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The castle was huge, with countless turrets and towers, and lights on in every window. The school grounds were vast, and included a deep lake and an ominous-looking forest. They sat there looking at it for a moment, then Sirius spoke.
"Hey guys," he said, "let's make a pact."
"Like what?" asked Zaya.
"Promise that no matter what happens, what House we each get into, and whether we're still friends or not, we'll always ride the train to Hogwarts together."
"That's a good idea," said Alice. They all agreed.
A few minutes later they were hopping of the train. When they were all off they heard a great voice calling.
"Firs' years this way!" it shouted. "Firs' years ter me!"
They threaded their way through the throng of students on the platform, towards the booming voice. When they reached the owner of the voice, they stopped and stared.
The man was huge. Twice as tall as a normal man, and much wider, his face seemed to be all beard. He was holding a large lantern in one hand, and beckoning students forward with the other. At first he had looked rather frightening, because of his size, but his eyes were cheery and there was a smile beneath his tangled beard. He waited for the last few students to come timidly forward, then introduced himself.
"Hallo, there, firs' years! I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper o' the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Now, if yeh'll all follow me, we can make our way down ter the boats."
"Boats?" whimpered Peter nervously.
The first years followed Hagrid down a steep path to the edge of the lake. There were many small boats there.
"Only four ter a boat!" called Hagrid. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter scrambled into a boat, and Alice, Lily, Zaya and Danielle got into another. Once everyone was in a boat, Hagrid shouted "FORWARD!" and the boats all pushed on toward the castle on the other side. When they reached the cliff the castle stood on, they went through a curtain of ivy into an underground harbour. They all got out and followed Hagrid up a passageway. When they were out, they walked up a flight of stone steps to a pair of massive oak doors. Hagrid knocked. A tall woman with her black hair in a tight bun opened them.
"Firs' years for yeh, Professor McGonagall." said Hagrid.
"Thank-you, Hagrid," said Professor McGonagall. "Follow me, please, first years." She turned and walked into the castle's Entrance Hall.
The Hall was as wide as a house. The first years could hear the rest of the school in a room off to the right, but Professor McGonagall led them instead into a small chamber next to it. The first years crowded inside nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common-room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."
James tried to neaten his hair a bit, but to no avail. Zaya straightened her robes.
"Do any of you know how we get Sorted?" Lily asked the boys and Alice worriedly. They all shook their heads.
"I kept asking my dad, but he wouldn't tell me," sighed James.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall came back. "All right, everyone, the Sorting Ceremony's about to begin. Form one straight line, please and follow me."
They all fell into line and followed Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall. It was a very large room, with five long tables, four for the houses, and one a little higher for the teachers. Candles in their thousands hung in midair over these tables, which were laden with glittering golden plates and goblets.
But certainly the most amazing thing about the Great Hall was the ceiling, for there seemed to be none. Above the students sparkled hundreds of stars. "It's been bewitched to look like the sky above," whispered Remus to the others.
All of a sudden, they had lined up in front of the high table, facing the students with their backs to the teachers. Professor McGonagall went away for a moment, then came back with a stool and a very ancient-looking wizards hat. It was very patched and frayed. Everyone was looking at it expectantly. For a moment, everything was still. A large rip near the brim open – and the hat started singing! It told them of the different Houses, and what they valued.
As soon as it had finished, the whole hall rang with applause. Professor McGonagall came forward, holding a large roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Akiyama, Miko!"
A short girl scuttled forward. When she put the hat on it seemed to cover her whole face. It thought for a moment, then yelled –
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table on the right cheered and clapped loudly as Miko went to sit with them.
"Anderson, Dion!" called Professor McGonagall.
A fair-haired boy came forward nervously and sat down on the stool and pulled the hat onto his head. .
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted again.
The Hufflepuff table cheered again.
"Baxter, Leo!"
"RAVENCLAW!" called the hat. This time the table second from the left cheered; Leo hurried over to join them.
"Black, Sirius!" called Professor McGonagall.
Uh-oh, thought Sirius, I'm in Slytherin for sure. As he walked half-heartedly toward the stool, he could see his older cousins, Narcissa and Bellatrix Black, grinning at him. He jammed the hat over his eyes so he couldn't see them.
The hat thought for a long time, but finally it decided.
"GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted.
"Yes!" called James, as the table on the left whooped and hollered. Sirius went and sat down opposite Frank Longbottom, who gave him a smile. The Slytherin table looked flabbergasted, even as "Breeze, Jocelyn" also became a Gryffindor.
"Bridge, Marcus" was put into Hufflepuff, then "Childs, Ethan" became the first new Slytherin. As "Dufton, Liam" became the fourth new Hufflepuff, Lily whispered to Alice:
"I'll be the next of our group to go. If we're not in the same house, I'll talk to you as soon as possible."
"Sure Lily. Good luck." She gave her a small smile as "Epp, Timothy" became a Slytherin and Lily's name was called.
The hat didn't take too long with Lily before it finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and she ran over to sit next to Sirius. Gryffindor had barely stopped cheering before they started all over again as "Fenton, Iain" also ran over to the table.
"How come you didn't get put into Slytherin?" Lily asked Sirius, as "Foote, Annika" joined the Ravenclaw table amid cheers and catcalls.
"I asked the hat not to."
"You asked it not to?"
"Sure," answered Sirius, clapping as "Graf, Rose" was pronounced a Hufflepuff. "I didn't want to be put in a house just because of who my family was."
Now that Sirius wasn't worried about being in Slytherin, he openly showed his dislike of them, hissing slightly as "Grundy, Jenna" became one, then clapping again when "Harrison, Ryan" was declared a Hufflepuff, then hissing again as "Haslett, Kia" also became a Slytherin.
Then suddenly he stopped. "Zaya!" he whispered to Lily.
Zaya was coming forward out of the line and sitting on the stool. Just before the hat fell over her eyes, she caught sight of Sirius and Lily. They both smiled at her.
The hat thought for a few seconds, then shouted:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Zaya scurried over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Lily. Lily greeted her with a big hug.
"Isn't this great? We're in the same house!" said Zaya, as "Jennings, Megan" became a Ravenclaw. " I was so worried I wouldn't be with any of you!"
"Well don't worry about that now," said Lily.
"Lupin, Remus!"
The three new Gryffindors turned to look at Remus. Sirius gave him a thumbs-up. He sat down and put the hat on. A few seconds later Sirius, Lily and Zaya were on their feet cheering as Remus came to sit next to Sirius.
"Alice should be soon," said Zaya.
Sure enough, after "Martin, Joshua" became a Ravenclaw, it was Alice's turn to put on the hat. It decided after only a few seconds on –
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Lily and Zaya shrieked as Alice joined them. When she sat down, Frank Longbottom leaned over the table and whispered, "Well done, Alice!" before turning his attention back to the front, where "Mauchline, Sean" had just been announced a Hufflepuff. Alice giggled and blushed slightly. But then Zaya and Lily were upon her, hugging her. Their joy was rudely interrupted by Sirius, hissing again as "Morris, Denise" went over to the Slytherin table.
"Oh, come on, Sirius, they can't all be as horrible as you make out," said Lily, frowning at him, as "Nordeman, Roxanne" went over to the Hufflepuff table.
"Well, if my cousins are anything to go by…" started Sirius. But he was drowned out by the Ravenclaw table, welcoming "Nordeman, Samantha", Roxanne's twin. No sooner had they stopped cheering than they started again, as "O'Hare, Charles" also joined them.
"James and Peter will be up soon," whispered Remus to the others, clapping as "Peters, Bethany" became a Hufflepuff.
"Pettigrew, Peter!"
The hat would have fallen over his whole face if his ears hadn't caught it. The hat took a whole minute before declaring that Peter, too, was a Gryffindor. Blushing furiously, he went and sat down with the others. Then they all turned their attention to James, who was coming out of the fairly short line and sitting on the stool. Barely had the hat touched his head before it called out "GRYFFINDOR!" again. James came hurrying over to the table. No sooner had he sat down than he and Sirius were hissing as "Rodgers, Heather" was pronounced a Slytherin. Remus was still shaking his head at them a minute later when "Simpson, Brian" became a Ravenclaw.
"Really, you two, what's so wrong with Slytherin?" asked Zaya, as they watched "Snape, Severus", the boy they had met on the train, sit down on the stool. The hat was only on his head for a second before it announced him a Slytherin.
"That's what's so wrong with Slytherin." replied James.
They clapped as "Stretton, Leah" became a Ravenclaw and as "Swords, Elizabeth" became a Hufflepuff. While "Turner, Lillian" ran over to the Ravenclaw table, Lily whispered to Alice and Zaya.
"What about Danielle? Wouldn't it be horrible if she didn't get into Gryffindor with us?" Zaya looked worried at this, but Alice said: "She's very brave, I think there's a good chance of her getting in."
They watched as "Weier, Matthew" scurried to the Ravenclaw table, then Danielle's name was called. They all crossed their fingers.
The hat took a few moments, but then grinned and shouted –
"GRYFFINDOR!"
As Danielle came running over to them, the girls got up and jumped with excitement, burying her in a bear hug.
"We're all in the same house! How great is that?" said Zaya. They all sat down, and watched as the last three students, "Willoughby, John" "Woodforth, Nathaniel" and "Zaltron, Ella" were all placed in Slytherin, giving James and Sirius an excuse to have a hissing fest. They quickly stopped, however, when a tall man with long silver hair and beard stood up. His blue eyes sparkled happily behind his half-moon glasses.
It was the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.
"Greetings to you all, and welcome to a new year here at Hogwarts!" he said, smiling. "I am the new headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. Of course, this is all you need to know at this moment, apart from… dinner!" He clapped his hands, and all along the five tables there suddenly appeared mountains of delicious food. The boys dived for a plate of chicken wings, then everything else.
"How good is this food?!" asked Sirius, but, with his mouth full of the aforementioned food, it sounded more like "Fom du ih dif pfo?!"
Amazingly, James understood him, and replied "Dla mef ife efa pwaset!" (The best I've ever tasted!)
Alice giggled and said, "You guys haven't forgotten about dessert, have you?"
"Dessert?" asked Peter, between mouthfuls. "Oh, no, I did forget!" He looked down at his slightly rounded stomach, then back at his food, trying to decide how much more he should have before dessert.
After dinner and then dessert (which Peter only had a little of), Professor Dumbledore stood up again. He clapped his hands again, and all the plates, goblets, and cutlery disappeared. Then he addressed his students.
"Good evening, students. After that wonderful meal, I'm sure you're all quite ready for bed. But first, a few important announcements. The Forbidden Forest is, of course, forbidden. Anyone wishing to try out for their House Quidditch team may do so by contacting their Head of House, House Quidditch Captain, or Madam Hooch. Also, Mr Filch, our caretaker, would like me to remind you that magic is not permitted in the corridors."
Now, bedtime! Off you go!"
Hope you enjoyed it! Here's a little preview of the next chapter:
Five years later…
"I can't believe we made that stupid promise with those stupid Maurons all those stupid years ago," sighed 16-year-old Danielle, as she pushed her Hogwarts things along Platform 9 3/4.
"I see you're in a good mood today, Dani," laughed Alice.
"You do know Dani and I only keep that promise every year for you guys?" asked Lily.
"Yes, and we're totally indebted to you for it," said Zaya. "We know how much you guys don't like-"
"Hate," corrected Dani.
"Whatever. We know they're real gits to you, but a promise is a promise."
"Yeah, and I had to go make one with Potter of all people," Lily rolled her eyes in disgust.
"They weren't all that horrible on the very first day." said Alice. "It just, kinda…"
"Went downhill from there." Dani stopped in front of the scarlet train. "Okay, we've been up and down this platform three times already! Where are they?"
The girls turned around to go back along the platform.
"Speak of the devil…"A/N. Where James and Sirius are talking with their mouths full, I stuffed my fist into my mouth (or as much as I could) and said those lines, and that's what it sounded like! Lol! How weird is that?
Ok! Review time!!