Hey people,
Here's my second chapter, hope you like it!
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"You told me the platform would be here!"
"How was I supposed to know it was hidden? I've never even been to King's Cross!"
"We're going to miss the train and it'll be YOUR fault!"
"You're not helping either!"
"I had no idea Platform 9 and three quarters existed until we got our tickets!"
"You should have asked! A witch came to your house two months ago!"
"I thought it would be a normal platform!"
"The train's leaving in twenty minutes, we should give tapping one of the ticket barriers another try," suggested Severus.
"No way. I don't want to look like a fool in front of everyone again." huffed Lily.
"Who cares? They're just muggles!" Severus rolled his eyes.
"Look, there are two girls over there, I'm going to ask them how to get to the platform," Lily said, looking at two older girls with large trunks, one of them had an owl. Severus made a face. He and Lily could have figured it out on their own, they didn't need a few silly 6th or 7th years. Lily marched up to them as Severus followed warily. She turned to the girl holding a cage with a struggling owl inside. She had long auburn hair, intelligent blue eye, a narrow face and rosy cheeks.
"Excuse me? My friend and I would like to get to platform 9 and three quarters, but we don't know how. Could you tell us where it is?" Lily asked politely. The girls exchanged an incredulous look before the one with the owl replied kindly:
"You see that ticket barrier? The blue one. You have to run through it,"
Severus and Lily frowned. Were these girls making fun of them? The second girl rolled her eyes, muttering something about people never believe them.
"Alright, I'll show you." the auburn-haired girl said, moving towards the ticket barrier. She started running. Lily cringed, the girl was going to bump into the barrier and hurt herself and she couldn't even do anything about it. But when the girl made contact with the ticket barrier, she just disappeared. Severus and Lily looked at each other, shocked. The second girl sniggered when she saw their faces and followed the first one, smirking.
"You go first," Lily said without thinking.
"No way! You go first," Severus said, eyeing the ticket barrier.
"Fine," Lily huffed, determined to show she wasn't scared of some stupid ticket barrier. She picked up her trunk and started running, just like the girls had. She closed her eyes, as she got closer, sure she was going to crash. But the crash didn't come. Lily kept on running, though the scenery had changed. She stopped abruptly, looking in wonder at the platform. It was filled with students, most of them lugging their heavy trunks on the train or saying goodbye to their parents tearfully. The Hogwarts Express was a long, impressive train.
"Wow," she marveled.
"I know right?" Severus said, appearing right behind her.
"Let's go find a compartment before they're all full," suggested Lily, pulling her best friend with her to the train. WIth some help from a few older boys, she and Sev managed to get their trunks on the train. They set off, trying to find an empty compartment.
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"Don't cause too much trouble!" his mother yelled at him, wiping a tear from her face. His dad smiled at proudly, waving to him as he got on the train. James Potter was finally going to Hogwarts! He now had to find people to sit with on the train. He knew that would be easy, he had always been good at making friends, but he wanted to find his best friend here. That was different. He walked by a compartment full of boys his age, one of them waved to him. James waved back when he recognized the boy, he was Theodore Turpin, their parents were friends. James thought about entering the compartment and sitting with them, but he decided not to. He had to find a best friend. Finally, he came to almost empty compartment towards the back of the train. A boy with curly black hair and a confident expression was looking out the window. James decided he was best friend material at once.
"Hey, is this compartment taken?" James asked.
"Nope," the boy said, gesturing to the empty seats around him. James sat down across from him.
"Hey, I'm James. James Potter," he said confidently.
"Sirius Back," the boy responded. James raised his eyebrows, his family sometimes talked about the Blacks. They were a big pureblood family that came to all the fancy pureblood-only Galas organized by his mother's family, the Dearborns.
"Wait a minute… You're the one that poured Firewhiskey into the punch bowl!" James exclaimed, remembering last year's gala dinner. Someone had put Firewhiskey in the punch bowl, and almost all the adults had gotten tipsy. James smiled wistfully.
"You need to tell me how you did it without getting caught!" he said. Sirius started telling him excitedly about how he had pulled the ingenious prank. When he was done, James told him about all the trouble he caused at home. He could tell they were going to be fast friends. Just when Sirius was telling him about the time he set his uncle's wig on fire, the compartment door opened, and a redheaded girl and a black-haired boy walked in, paying no attention to them whatsoever as they sat on the other side. James and Sirius glanced at them, but soon realized they didn't seem very interesting and kept on talking.
"You'd better be in Slytherin." an obnoxious voice said. Incredulous, James turned around. For some reason, the girl was crying. Probably because she didn't want to be in Slytherin.
"Slytherin?" he said, wrinkling his nose.
"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he continued, now turning to Sirius.
"My whole family has been in Slytherin," he confessed. James was disappointed. He couldn't be friends with a Slytherin! But this boy might be sorted into something else. He didn't look like a Slytherin.
"Blimey, and I thought you seemed all right!" James exclaimed good-naturedly.
"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" Sirius asked, interested.
"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad." James explained, lifting an invisible sword in the air. He frowned when he heard the black-haired boy snigger, looking down on him.
"Got a problem with that?" James said, annoyed.
"No," he said, sneering. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interjected as James roared with girl stood up angrily, her piercing green eyes flashing with irritation.
"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment," she said disdainfully, flushing when she head the boys imitate her voice. They walked out.
"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius called as the compartment door slammed. James and Sirius high-fived, laughing about what had happened.
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Remus Lupin sat down in his empty compartment and pulled out one of his favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird. He was opening the battered book when the compartment door slid open, revealing a brunette. She sat down without asking and started unpacking. Remus tried to ignore her and keep on reading his book, slightly disgruntled.
"So… what's your name?" she asked. Annoyed, Remus set down his book, accepting the fact he was probably going to be talking to this girl for the next twenty minutes.
"Remus Lupin. You?" he asked politely.
"Mary Macdonald, " she said.
"Are you excited to go to Hogwarts?" Remus asked. Delighted she was asked to talk about herself, Mary began her tirade, telling Remus about how she was a muggle born, and constantly asking questions about Hogwarts. When she found out he had already visited the school, she demanded a lengthy description. Remus was exhausted after twenty minutes. Thankfully, the compartment door slid open, behind it one boy and one girl. The girl had short black hair, black eyes, high cheekbones, expressive eyebrows and a prominent chin. The boy had blond hair and watery blue eyes.
"Hey, can we sit here? All the other compartments are full," the girl explained as the boy nodded.
"Sure," answered a thankful Remus. Mary didn't seem to mind, in fact, she seemed overjoyed, immediately introducing herself.
"What house do you guys want to be in?" Mary asked the group.
"I don't know… My parents were in Hufflepuff, but I guess it would be nice to be in Gryffindor," the boy Remus now knew to be Peter answered, hesitating.
"Definitely Gryffindor." the girl who Mary called Hestia said.
"I'd like to be in Ravenclaw, but I'm not sure if I'm smart enough," Remus wondered.
"I guess I'm fine with all the houses except Slytherin," Mary said. The group continued their conversation, now talking about the Slytherin house and its history. Remus found he was actually enjoying the conversation, and he rather liked the people, even Mary.
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Marlene Mckinnon looked around for a compartment. She had been late, and it was all her stupid sister's fault. It wasn't fair. Why should Alanna take an hour and a half in the bloody bathroom to make herself "presentable"? Now Marlene was late and all the compartments were full. She passed by a compartment with three boys and one red-headed girl who looked nice enough and was almost about to come in when a small fight broke out. Slightly annoyed, Marlene moved on.
"Who takes an hour and a half to get ready?" she muttered angrily, looking at her feet. She didn't see a girl right in front of her and proceeded to bump into her knocking the poor girl and her trunk to the ground.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, here, let me help," Marlene apologized as she attempted to lift the tunk. It was so heavy that it fell the ground right away, precisely on the girl's face.
"Ow! Are you serious?" the girl said furiously, taking her trunk off her face, revealing her bloody nose. She attempted to wipe the blood off but got it on her robes instead.
"Now look what you've made me do!" the brunette screeched, taking her trunk as she got up.
"I didn't do it on purpose. Stop yelling like a bloody banshee!" Marlene shouted back. Who did this girl think she was?
"Take your own advice and stop yelling! You're the one who started it!" the girl replied, pushing Marlene out of the way, taking great care to stomp on her toes. Marlene cried out in pain. She attempted the punch this pigheaded girl but failed, falling to the ground in the process, knocking the girl over once more. The landed in a heap on the floor. If someone had walked in right then, they would have thought a horrible fight had happened at the sight of Marlene's ripped robes and the girl's bloody nose. Marlene got up angrily and pulled herself away from the girl. She walked down the hall, away from the girl's sight. She wasn't going to get into a fight on the first day of school. She took a deep breath and opened a random compartment, hoping for the best.
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"Those boys are so irritating!" Lily exclaimed as she slammed the compartment door shut.
"It wasn't you they were insulting," Severus told her sullenly. For some reason, he had thought he would be accepted by everyone in Hogwarts. It seemed as if he would always be that odd boy easy to make fun of in shoddy clothes.
"Come on, Sev, they're idiots," Lily reassured him. Slightly mollified, Severus looked for an empty compartment. They had no such luck, all the compartments were full. They would have to sit with someone else.
"There!" Lily said loudly, pointing at a compartment. Severus swiveled around but was disappointed. There was already a girl inside.
"There's already someone inside," he said, moving on to another compartment. Lily pulled him back.
"Come on, she seems nice enough," Lily said dragging him back. Severus looked in the compartment another time.
"She's a bloody 7th year!" he said exasperatedly.
"Exactly! She'll have loads of things to tell us about Hogwarts, and she won't act like an idiot!" Lily exclaimed.
"Fine. But don't expect me to talk to her." Severus said angrily. Lily smiled widely and slid open the door hesitantly, waiting to see if the girl was going to kick them out. She nodded toward them silently and kept on reading her book. Severus and Lily sat down across from her, cringing at the awkward silence.
"Uh, hello… My name's Lily, what's yours?" Lily asked nervously. The girl looked up at her curly brown hair, stately green eyes, a pointed and pale skin. Severus gulped.
"Hi, my name's Emmeline. Are you two first years?" she asked conversationally.
"Yeah, are you a seventh year?" Severus asked, surprised with himself.
"Yep. It's my last year here. After that, I'm in the real world." Emmeline said.
"What do you want to be?" Lily asked curiously.
"I really want to be an Auror. You know, fight dark wizards and stuff," she answered, seeing Lily's confused frown.
"Isn't that supposed to be dangerous?" Severus asked.
"Very dangerous. That's why you've got to have really good results on your NEWTs to be that."
"What are NEWTS?" Lily asked.
"Nasty Exhausting Wizarding Tests." Severus and Emmeline both told her, grinning. Lily giggled when she heard the name. Emmeline looked at her watch, getting annoyed.
"Where the hell are Dorcas and Amelia?" she said to herself.
"Who are they?" Lily asked bluntly.
"They're my best friends. Amelia's Head Girl and Dorcas is a Prefect," she stated.
Their conversation continued for a while until Dorcas Meadowes and Amelia Bones came in. Dorcas was the same girl who had helped them find the platform a few hours ago. They talked for a while until the trolley lady came and asked them if they wanted lunch. After eating many sweets that surprised Lily, the older girls played a game of Exploding Snap while Lily and Severus talked quietly.
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"We're almost there!" James said excitedly.
"That's the fifth time you've said that in the last fifteen minutes," Sirius laughed.
This time, James was right. The train slowly came to a stop as the corridors started to fill with bustling students trying to get off the train. The two boys fetched their loaded trunks and followed the many pupils outside, eager to see what Hogwarts looked like. Unfortunately, they couldn't' see the castle from where they were, it was getting dark.
"Firs'-years over 'ere… firs'-years…" a deep voice said. Sirius looked up and almost cried out in fright. In front of him was a gigantic man in charge of the first years. Once he got over from his shock, he cleared his throat anxiously.
"Hey. Are you a teacher?"
The man laughed aloud, smiling kindly at the students. Their fears went away, this man seemed very nice and helpful.
"I'm the keeper. Name's Hagrid," he answered.
Sirius turned toward James to see what he thought of this individual. His new friend was smiling at man, starting a conversation. Hagrid led them to a vast and dark lake. He told them to form groups of three and get on a rowboat. Sirius and James hopped in one of the boats, hoping for Hagrid to come in theirs. Sadly, another person came, plopping herself in the boat.
"Hey, what are your names? I'm Bertha Jorkins." a stout girl with long brown plaits and plain features said. James and Sirius exchanged a look, they would have preferred to sit with a boy in their year. Fortunately, this girl seemed nice enough, perhaps she could be a potential friend.
"Come on, let's star' rowing," Hagrid said loudly from his boat, whom he shared with girls staring daggers at each other. James took one of the paddles and started waving it around in the water, hoping the boat would start moving.
"So… where do you guys live?" Bertha asked them. James grunted out an answer, trying to get the boat to follow the other. Strangely, the boat started to move slowly but surely across the water. Confused, James lifted the paddle out of the water and stated that the boat was moving on its own. Sirius and Bertha sniggered at the look on his face.
"Well, of course, the boats are magical! That's obvious." Bertha said, laughing. James scowled. Just when he was going to retort something back, a high-pitched scream rang in the air, followed a by a loud splash. The trio whipped their heads around and saw that one of the girls on Hagrid's boat had been pushed in the water.
"I didn't push her! She fell on her own!" the other blond-haired girl told Hagrid, sounding rather scared.
"We all saw you do it. Don't worry, she'll be fine." Hagrid said gruffly. Sure enough, a long and sticky purple arm rose out of the water carrying the girl who had been pushed in. She looked furious when the arm out her down in the boat.
"As if I would worry about her." the blonde said resentfully.
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"We're not even in the castle in people are already fighting." a voice said from behind Mary. She looked around and saw Remus, the boy she had sat next to on the train.
"They'll be good friends soon," Mary said confidently.
"How do you know that? You're not a Seer!" Peter scoffed, taking out a pumpkin pasty he had swiped and eating it. Mary frowned in disgust, that boy eat way too much, just like all boys. She ignored him and gazed at the other boats, hoping to catch a glimpse of the castle.
"There it is!" a boy in another boat yelled, pointing to the darkness. Mary eagerly looked around but saw an old wooden hut. Her face fell, wasn't the school supposed to be a castle? The giant man chuckled.
"That's not the castle! That's my hut." he laughed, making the boat he was in shake violently.
"That's Hogwarts!" another boy shouted. Mary looked around once more, expecting to see another one of those shabby huts. Instead, she saw a towering mountain with a vast stone castle perched on top with many turrets and towers. Everybody stared in awe as Hagrid smiled knowingly. He told them to get out of their boats and walk with him to the big wooden door. He knocked forcefully on it three times. The door creaked open, revealing the stern black-haired witch who had come to explain to Mary what magic was a few months ago. She looked the same, only she was wearing long navy blue robes this time.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Mrs. McGonagall. The seat-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses," she said before explaining to them what the houses were called and how house pints worked. Mary listened to each word raptly, eager for more information on this exciting new world.
"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly," she said, leaving the chamber to join the students and staff in the Great Hall, who seemed to be making a great deal of noise. A million questions went off in Mary's head.
"How do you get sorted?" she asked the redheaded girl next to her, who seemed to be asking her friend the exact same thing. She shrugged.
"I don't know, I'm a muggle-born," she explained.
"Me too-" Mary was interrupted by a booming voice.
"Apparently it's a test!" a boy with curly black hair said loudly. Everybody looked terribly frightened and didn't dare to move or say anything after that.
"The Sorting Ceremony is about to start." informed the professor, leading the group into the Great Hall. Everybody stopped talking as they watched the first years curiously. Mary's jaw dropped, like all the others in her year. They had entered a splendid, vast room with a dark and starry ceiling, millions of candles floating about, four long tables covered in glittering goblets, plates and cutlery. At the top of the Hall was another long table where all the professors and staff were sitting.
"Wow," the poor girl who had been pushed in the lake sighed behind her. Mary tore her eyes away from the ceiling and saw Mrs. McGonagall silently place a wooden stool in front of the first years. On top, she lay down a battered, pointed hat. Mary frowned, what were they supposed to do with that old hat? Before she could voice her thoughts, the hat opened its mouth and started singing. Its song was about the four houses and how you got sorted. Mary sighed in relief when the song finished, you didn't have to pass a test, you just had to put on a hat! She felt like laughing aloud. She noticed not all her fellow students looked reassured, the redhead she had spoken to before was whispering urgently to her friend, something about them getting sorted in the same house.
"Abbott, Oliver!" Mrs. McGonagall called. A pink-faced boy with sleek blond hair eagerly sat down on the stool and jammed the hat on his head.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted as Oliver strode down to the clapping Hufflepuff table.
"Bones, Amelia!"
"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat as Amelia joined the Ravenclaw table.
Boot, Mimi!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Black, Sirius!" The curly-haired boy who had announced the sorting was a test walked up to the stool confidently and put the hat on his head. He appeared to be in deep thought. One minute passed. Two minutes passed. The students were getting more and more confused and anxious. Anyone who had been talking had fallen silent.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled. For some reason, many people seemed to be shocked.
"Why are they so surprised?" she asked Sirius's friend.
"He's a Black," he answered absentmindedly. Mary sighed in exasperation. What did his family name have to do with anything?
Mary watched the students get sorted, wondering when it was going to be her turn.
"Evans, Lily!" Mary watched the redhead wobble over to the stool and hesitantly place the hat on her head, squeezing her eyes shut. The hat didn't say anything for a bit.
"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted as Lily's face fell slightly as she turned to the cheering Gryffindor table, a small smile on her face.
A few more students got sorted. Then:
"Macdonald, Mary!" Mrs. McGonagall called out. It felt like an ice cube had slipped down her back, Mary froze. She walked up stiffly to the stool and nervously sat down, gingerly placing the Sorting Hat on her head.
"Hello there. Hmm, there's some courage, fairness and cunning. Where shall I put you? You'd make a good Hufflepuff, Slytherin or Gryffindor… better be a GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted. Mary smiled widely, relieved. She joined the table and sat down between Lily Evans and Sirius Black. She watched the others get sorted. Sirius's friend got sorted into Gryffindor as well as Remus, Peter, and Hestia. Unfortunately, Lily's friend, Severus got sorted into Slytherin. Lily looked quite upset.
"Are you alright?" Mary asked hesitantly, watching Lily look longingly at the Slytherin table.
"I'm fine, it's just that I was hoping I would be in the same house as Severus," she said wistfully, turning to Lily.
"No need to be sad about that slimeball being in Slytherin, it's all he deserves!" James interrupted them loudly. Lily and Mary rolled their eyes.
"He's my best friend!" Lily said indignantly, turning her head away from James. Unfortunately, she was now facing Sirius.
"Poor you," he managed to say with a disgusting amount of food in her mouth. Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Don't worry, you'll get o see each other during and between classes," a girl whom the Sorting Hat had called Alice Moon piped in. Lily smiled at her gratefully. The three girls talked for a while about Hogwarts and what kind of classes they would take. Even James and Sirius managed to give some half-decent advice. Mary smiled brightly, sure this would be the start of an exciting year.
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Thanks for reading!
Reviews are Sirius getting sorted into Gryffindor,
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