Chapter 2-Sirius

They disembarked on a tiny platform that looked as though it would buckle under the weight of the hundreds upon hundreds of students flocking out onto it like bees that had been cooped up for two long and wanted to break free. There was a happy chatter in the air which was warm and humid although the sun had long since dipped blow the horizon.

Sirius searched around himself for James and the others, but he must have lost them in the mad scramble in the corridors so he allowed himself to be swept up with the crowd and forced his feet to follow the way of everyone else's.

However, a shout of "First years over here!" made him turn his head in order to catch the speaker. He was shocked when he noticed him because of the sheer height of the man—was he a man? He must have been double the height of the average person and the hand that was holding a lantern aloft looked as big as a bin lid. Sirius struggled to break free of the crowd that was still sweeping along the platform and he had to burrow between people in order to finally reach the giant. Around him there were around thirty other frightened first years who all seemed too terrified of this man to want to talk.

Sirius noticed James and the others and wandered over to them, conscious of the giant's eyes following him. Surely he wouldn't do him any harm. However, as he attempted to gain a closer look, he saw that this man seemed to be smiling a soft smile that didn't match with his wild features and tangled mess of a beard.

Once Sirius had taken his place beside James, the giant must have realised that there were no other first years to arrive and so took off along the platform. His steps were huge and the small group of new students were all casting furtive glances at one another, trying to work out if they were meant to run to catch up with him or not. No one seemed keen on the idea though, especially not in robes and so they all settled for a fast walk that no where near matched the pace of the giant. However, he must have looked back and noticed that they were straggling behind and so he decided to slow down in order to allow them to catch up.

Finally, the walk ended and the first years found themselves crowded around a lake. They stared down at the water which appeared black in the waning light yet was as still as glass. A small fleet of boats were crowded in front of them and the giant waved the group forwards, indicating that they should all get into them.

Remus immediately walked off to search for an empty boat, but Sirius noticed that the one holding Severus and the girl remained unoccupied apart from the two of them. Not wanting to draw attention to the fact that he wanted to join them, Sirius set off towards that boat and clambered in, taking in the identical grimaces mirrored on each face as they recognised who he was and what this meant.

Back on the side of the lake however, Sirius could see James searching around for him and so he waved in an attempt to draw his attention. It was Peter who actually caught sight of Sirius' flailing arms and tapped James to grab his attention. Sirius watched James turn and then saw how he grinned at the sight of Sirius' companions. His three new friends wandered over to him and Sirius had a moment where he felt happier than he ever had before. Living with his family was a terrible thing; he hated everyone in his family except from his cousin Andromeda and was even glad that his parents favoured Regulus, his brother. It at least meant that they didn't look twice at him. But now he had found friends who seemed genuinely kind. Sirius sincerely hoped that he was placed in Gryffindor. This would anger his family beyond belief. He just hoped that his friends would be in his house and these two children beside him weren't. The girl didn't seem so bad though, he thought as James climbed in beside him much to the annoyance of Severus. He was followed by Peter and Remus who were the last out of the group to get into a boat. Then the giant yelled "Forwards!" and the little fleet of boats began to glide like swans along the clear lake.

Sirius had a mad urge to throw Severus overboard but he resisted as the thought of Hogwarts loomed in his mind. He would probably never even see the place if he did such a thing. He guessed that he might even end up in Azkaban for killing another person, but he refused to let himself think of the Wizard prison. It gave him the creeps.

So to keep himself from fantasizing about throwing Severus overboard, Sirius began to think about the food at Hogwarts again.

"Heads down!" the giant yelled and they all ducked in order to miss the underground tunnel that slipped out of the fog to greet them. When the giant finally told the group that they could look up again, Sirius' neck was aching from having to bend it and as he stretched it out he heard an almighty sigh of "Ohhhhh!" escaping from everyone's lips. He looked in front of him wildly, afraid that he was missing some form of spectacular firework show in their honour, but what he laid his eyes on was much better. There, on a tall outcrop of rock lay Hogwarts castle. It was made up of many turrets and towers, contained thousands of windows which were all currently brightly lit. It was the most beautiful thing that Sirius had ever seen and he found himself longing to be inside. As soon as he saw it, he knew that he had found his true home.

The other occupants of the boat were also gazing, mesmerised by the castle. Remus looked shocked whereas Severus' mouth was gaping open like a fish. Sirius laughed to himself.

"Bet you've never seen anything as beautiful as that have you, Snivellus?" he asked.

"Oh yeah and by the look of you you're so much better off!" Severus returned much to the amusement of James.

"Well by the look of—" but James never finished because the ginger girl cut across him.

"Why don't you all leave him alone? What's he ever even done to you?"

"Live," James offered much to her annoyance. She raised her head as though she was superior to them and turned away looking haughty. Sirius was almost glad that the boat ride was over and when they docked he was the first to scramble out of the boat. The others followed and they all walked after the giant as he led them up the magnificent front doors of the castle where he knocked three booming knocks before stepping back to wait.

They waited. And they waited. Sirius was beginning to think that no one had heard the booming raps on the door when it opened to reveal a middle aged witch with her black hair scraped back into a severe bun. A hat was placed on top of her head and she was frowning a deep frown.

Her face softened as she spoke to the giant. "Thank-you Hagrid, I will take them from here." He nodded and she signalled for them all to follow her inside.

If the outside of Hogwarts had managed to take Sirius' breath away then it was nothing like the interior. The entrance hall would have snugly managed to fit ten cathedrals inside and the marble staircase that wound up the left hand side looked as well polished as a spotless mirror. The ceiling was as high as his whole house and for a moment Sirius stood there in awe, simply taking in his surroundings. He hadn't realised that he had stopped until James nudged him to get him started walking again.

They crossed the magnificent entrance behind the strict-looking witch who opened a door that Sirius hadn't noticed and stood back in order to let the first years file past and into the relatively small and plain room.

Once they were all inside se stood at the front and gazed around at them all with an unsatisfied expression plastered on her face.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she greeted. "I am Professor McGonagall. In just a few minutes the sorting will begin, but first I need to go over a few things with you. Firstly, you will be sorted into one of three houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Your house will be like your family and any rule breaking will lose you house points. However, any triumphs will gain you points. Your house will act like your family and at the end of the year the house with the most points will win the house cup. Now then, I will just go to see if the rest of the school are ready for you so I suggest that you all smarten yourselves up whilst I am gone," with that she walked out of the room, leaving the first years in complete silence. Everyone was wondering the same thing: how were they to be sorted? Sirius glanced at James who seemed to have lost some of his usual colour and Peter was positively trembling. On the other hand Remus seemed quite calm and composed about the fact that they were about to make a fool of themselves in front of the whole school. Why didn't I think to ask my parents how they were placed in Slytherin? Sirius thought to himself. It was such a simple and easy question yet he had failed to ask it.

The silence stretched on and on as each person fantasized to themselves about being the one to bring down the troll that they were sure they were about to be faced with, or tried to remember spells from their flicked through text books that might come in handy during the sorting. Sirius merely stood there, eyeing the people around him and keeping a close eye on Severus who seemed much paler and weedier than normal. He was standing next to the ginger girl who Sirius still didn't know the name of.

Just when Sirius could bear it no longer, the door opened again to reveal professor McGonagall. She simply looked around at everyone before ordering them to follow her which they all did without question. On trembling legs Sirius walked forwards in order to follow James out of the room and find out how he would be sorted into his house.