Disclaimer: I never have and I never will own the Harry Potter Universe. Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling!
CHAPTER 2: WELCOME
Everyone eventually quietened down as the doors opened once more to introduce Professor Neville Longbottom and a line of scared looking first years. All of them were short and the majority looked terrified at the prospect of having a talking hat on their head.
Neville set the hat on the stool and it began to twitch – like Frankenstein's monster as it came to life – and then all of a sudden song burst from the hat's brim, acting like lips which was completely absurd to the muggleborn first years. It was obvious to tell which ones they were as five of the children on the stage jumped at the magical hat and looked a bit faint.
At the end of the song, the whole school seemed to burst into applause, along with some wolf whistles from James and Fred. The Sorting Hat was gracious enough to bow the point of its hat to each of the four tables becoming uncannily inanimate once again. Without the music coming from its brim, the hat was identical to a pile of rags although James wouldn't be the one to tell it that – who knew what damage an angry hat could do.
Neville cleared his throat loudly, holding a list of names written on a long roll of parchment in his hand. "Ok, when I call your name, you will put the hat on your head and sit on the stool to be sorted. Please remember to leave the hat here before going to your chosen table." He glanced down at the list and called out the first name. "Appleby, Henry!"
The first boy in the line ran towards the stool, tripping on his laces but managing to right himself just in time. His cheeks went bright red and he sat down on the stool with the hat covering half his face.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" Shouted the hat almost immediately. The boy jumped up, set the hat down them ran to the table on the right which was clapping and cheering.
"Boot, Mary!"
"RAVENCLAW!" Shouted the hat and the table second from the left burst into applause.
"Brooklyn, Scott" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Creevey, Martin" became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left applauded, cheered and whooped. James was proud to be a Gryffindor, they obviously were superior to the other tables when it came to congratulating newcomers.
The list went on but the only other name James paid attention to was "Longbottom, Amy." He watched the pink-cheeked girl with blonde pigtails nervously walk to the stool where her father set the hat on her head. Neville looked so proud when the sorting hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" after a few long seconds. The girl ran to the loudest table and straight over to her eldest sister.
"Jefferson-Clearwater, Gregory" became a Ravenclaw. As did "Johnson, Kevin", "Lee, Patricia", "Morris, Bethan", "Presley, Katrina" and "Rumson, Sandy".
Slytherin was joined by "Bletchley, Boris", "Flint, Oscar", "Goyle, Vincent", "Nott, Stacey", "Pucey, Seraphina", "Spector, Louisa" and "Zabini, Kaitlyn".
Hufflepuff gained more students than in the past five years with Appleby, Clarke, Dawson, Everett, Harris, McConnell, Moon, Moon, Pyre, Quinton, Topping and Wilkins.
Gryffindor, although the loudest, received its average number of pupils with Creevey, Jordan, Longbottom, McClaggen, Olivier, Smyth, Thomas and Wood.
When all the first years were sorted, Professor Longbottom took the stool, list and hat away.
Headmistress McGonagall went to stand at the podium once the stage was cleared. She waited on silence before beginning her speech. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say just a few words. I have a few start-of-term notices. As always, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden. It is in the name and although this message is generally for first years, some of our older students seem to have forgotten."
"She's looking at us." Fred whispered, only to be shushed by his sister.
"This year we have a new caretaker. Miss Day is to be treated the same as all other members of staff and it would be appreciated if you would refrain from using magic in the corridors." McGonagall gave a meaningful look towards the Gryffindor table again.
"Definitely looking at us." Whispered Fred once again.
"Quidditch teams shall be sorted on the second week of term. The captains of each team: James Potter for Gryffindor, Richard Henley for Slytherin, Morgana Pearce for Ravenclaw, and Danny Lynd for Hufflepuff. Team captains are to see Madam Poole tomorrow to book the quidditch pitch." She looked around the hall then finished up her speech. "Your Head Boy and Girl are Joshua Wentworth and Roxanne Weasley. Prefects will lead the first years to their dorms at the end of the feast. I wish you all a productive year. You may now eat." As soon as she stepped away from the podium, food appeared on all the tables.
"I thought she was never going to stop talking there!" Dominique exclaimed as she dug into her food.
"We didn't get to sing." Fred said quietly. It was always tradition to sing the Hogwarts song. "James. We didn't get to sing. It's our last year. We have to sing."
"Don't worry." James grinned, standing up on the bench, pulling his cousin up with him. They started to sing at the top of their voices and soon most of the rest of the school was singing too. No one sang the song in time with anyone else but James and Fred made sure to be the last two singing.
"Thank you for that lovely rendition, boys. Would you please eat now?" McGonagall asked but no one could miss the smile on her face.
They bowed for her then sat back in their seats.
"1. Boys embarrass themselves on first day." Roxanne said, pretending to read an invisible list.
"Check!" Dominique grinned.
"Congratulations on getting Gryffindor." Albus smiled at Amy.
"Thanks Albus." The girl smiled brightly. "I was so scared up there. Frankie kept telling me that your brain gets pinched by the hat so it can read your mind but it didn't! The hat said I'd do well in both Gryffindor or Hufflepuff and he asked where I'd like to go and I said Gryffindor and he said it was a good choice and then he shouted it out and then there was cheering and then I came and sat down here with you guys!"
"How on earth did you just say all that in one breath?" Scorpius asked, amazed at the lungs on the girl.
"Do you know anyone in your house yet?" Alice asked her youngest sister.
"I don't know, I just said it." Amy told Scorpius before looking to her sister. "I know Andrew Thomas. But that's it. Andrew's daddy is friends with our daddy, remember!"
"So why didn't you sit with him?" Alice asked curiously.
"Because I wanted to sit with you." She answered honestly then leaped into a mass of questions about the school and classes. Truth be told, Alice was the only one of her siblings that she knew would answer her questions without getting annoyed.
"Well, I think it's time we showed the first years the way to their dorms." Scorpius said at long last. Rose nodded in agreement and together they stood up and led the younger children away and out of the Great Hall.
"Oh Bed, how I've missed you!" James exclaimed as he flopped onto his bed of the past six years. He had missed this room. He missed looking out the window and seeing the quidditch pitch. He missed the softness of his mattress. He missed the curtains that could block him out of the world for as long as he liked. He missed sharing a room with his cousin and friends. He just missed it. Then realisation hit him. Next year someone else would have his room because he wouldn't be here. He sighed, letting that thought sink in.
"It's always been our room. It'll be weird not coming back to it next year." Fred said, thinking along the same lines as his cousin and best friend.
"I don't think I'll miss this room too much." Patrick Finnigan said, overhearing the boys' conversation as he came in. "Sure, it's been my bedroom for six years but that just means I've had six years of great memories. It's not too big of a deal."
"You're just saying that because you have caused the most damage in here." Frank Longbottom grinned, sitting down on his bed. "You burnt holes in your curtains in first year, wrecked your mattress once again by a spell gone wrong and I'm pretty sure you did something to your trunk because I doubt you throw your clothes around the room in the middle of the night!"
All four boys laughed as they reminisced on their times in the dorm. They didn't get long though before Dominique came in along with Roxanne and two of their dorm mates.
Patrick gave a low long whistle as Dominique led the way. Frank hit him with a pillow.
"Geez, Dom. Put on some clothes! Or stay out of our dorm." Fred protested, shielding his eyes.
Dominique just rolled her eyes. She had changed into pyjama shorts and a t-shirt as soon as she had gotten to her dorm and her long blonde hair fell like silk down her back.
"What did you expect? It's Dom. She has legs so she is going to show them." Roxanne said, sitting beside her brother, still dressed in her robes.
"But don't forget, the boys have never been exposed to so much skin before." River Jordan said with a wink, causing the other two girls to burst out laughing. River was the eldest child of Lee Jordan, best friend of the Weasley twins back in their time at Hogwarts.
"You told her?" James and Fred both shouted in embarrassment.
"They told myself, River and Lorelei." Kaitlyn Wood said, wearing a much more respectable Quidditch jumper and pyjama bottoms. Her curly brown hair was tied up in a ponytail but still a few wisps escaped and framed her face. She flopped onto James' bed. "This is really hard. You should feel our beds. So soft."
"These beds are the comfiest you can get." James argued. "You girls are just soft."
"Do you really want to start this argument? I know where guys are soft and trust me, once I point it out, you won't be able to fly a broomstick for a few days." Kaitlyn smirked up at him.
"Where's Lorelei?" Patrick asked. "She wasn't at the feast."
"She's only ever been at the Sorting Feast in first year. She hates trains, they make her feel sick so she's in our room resting." Roxanne said and stood up. "Well, I should be going to the Head Dorms."
"Wait, wait, and wait! You are sharing a dorm with this Joshua guy?" Fred asked, sitting up properly to look at his twin sister.
Roxanne rolled her eyes. "We are sharing a common room but we have our separate bedrooms and bathrooms." She told him. "No need to worry. Anyway, he's just-"
"An incredibly gorgeous friend-verging-on-boyfriend." Dominique interrupted with a grin, earning a glare from her three cousins.
"Not helping." Kaitlyn whispered loudly, causing Dominique, Frank and Patrick all to laugh.
"Anyway, we did have a reason for coming up here. Kaitlyn and I were wondering if any of you guys did the summer homework set by Professor Binns." Dominique said, looking between the four boys, taking in each of their blank expressions. "We need to have at least six foot of parchment on the Goblin Wars. Lorelei did hers but she feels sick so we didn't want to ask her to find it so we could copy."
"Did you do yours, Roxy?" Fred asked.
"I picked Recent History in Magic instead of the History of Magic. My homework was on the horcruxes and Harry Potter." Roxy grinned. "I just had to ask Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione for some help on the details and I managed to write eight foot of parchment."
"I wish I had thought of that." James sighed. "I could have gotten an easy O."
"We all could have." Fred pointed out. "Even Frank and Patrick."
"Well, no point in crying over spilt milk. I'm going to go to my dorm. You guys might want to get started on that summer work. It's due tomorrow." With a final grin, Roxanne left them to it.
"Well, looks like we won't be partying tonight…" Fred sighed, getting up to look for parchment in his trunk.
"Guess not…" The others agreed. And so they began their first night back at Hogwarts, attempting to write twenty-four foot of parchment in total about the Goblin Wars.
