Author's Note: Please review :) i didn't originally write this story in chapters, it was one long document...so splitting it up is proving challenging but i will get more chapters out soon! x

It was raining when they arrived at Kings Cross Station so they pushed their trolleys quickly towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 where they stopped and leant casually on it, chatting unconcernedly and then slipped gently though the apparently solid wall. They hurried about getting their luggage on the train and then hopped back off again to say goodbye to their parents.

"Now behave yourselves," said their mother hugging Jess goodbye

"And have fun." called their father as they climbed onto the bright red steam engine and it began to move, they hung out the window and waved as the train picked up steam and rounded a bend and the station disappeared from view.

"C'mon" said Emily "Better find a compartment."

"Right."

They moved on down the train and eventually found an empty compartment, they heaved their trunks over the threshold and slid the door shut behind them. The girls sat in companionable silence for a few minutes until their compartment door slid open making both of them jump in surprise. Stood in the doorway were three girls by the look of them all about their age. The one in the middle was short, with brown hair pushed neatly into stubby plats, and a freckly face, she said

"Can we come in then?"

"Oh…yeah-er-right." Emily found her voice first,

"I'm Amy by the way," she puffed, heaving her trunk through the door, "And this is Minnie," she added, indicating to a tabby kitten sitting in her arms. The next girl lifted her trunk awkwardly with a little help from Amy, she was tall and skinny with blonde wavy hair currently in bunches,

"I'm Sally and this Rowena, my rat, come on Lily." Sally turned around to help the final girl through the door, "We just rescued her from a whole compartment of boys who were really nasty to her." Sally added. The girl called Lily had big almond shaped eyes that were a stunning green although rimmed with red where it seemed she had been crying. Her hair was long and brown, scraped into a side pony-tail, the reason she was having so much trouble getting through the door was because her cat kept trying to claw it's way out of the compartment.

"Mildred doesn't like travelling." She sighed, as her cat hissed and clawed to get out.

"I'm Jess and this is Emily." Said Jess

"And my raven is called Hannah and her owl," Emily continued "Is called Enya."

"Are you to sisters?" Lily asked looking curiously at their matching black hair, green eyes and cheeky smile.

"Twins!" they said in unison

All five girls laughed, and for the rest of the journey they talked as though they were old friends. They soon found out that Sally and Amy had been best friends ever since they could remember. And Lily was a Muggle born who only knew one boy here; his name was Severus.

When they'd all changed into their school robes both Jess and Emily peered eagerly through window wanting to catch the first glimpse of Hogwarts. Amy brought her trunk down early so her and Lily could sit on it close to the window while Sally knelt on the floor next to them her nose pressed right up against the glass. When the train began to slow down there was a sound of scraping as trunks were lifted down from the luggage rack, their compartment had just started to follow suit when suddenly

"Ooh! Look! I can see it…oh wow!" everyone else dashed to stand next to Jess, a huge dark castle was illuminated against the stormy night sky, little patches of light could be seen where there were lights in the windows; all of this was reflected into a silky black lake. Amy bundled Minnie into her cloak and began to drag her trunk out into the carriage, Lily who was already severely scratched, was having trouble controlling Mildred as she too joined the crowded corridor. Sally put Rowena in her top pocket and held the door open as Emily and Jess heaved their trunks into the surge of students chatting excitedly. It was incredibly disorientating on the platform being jostled hither and tither by older students, then came a gruff but strangely reassuring voice from somewhere further up the platform,

"Firs' years…this way firs' years," Jess nudged Emily hard in the ribs,

"Look, Em, over there," She pointed towards a figure at the end of the station; it was a large silhouette, obviously a man, maybe it was just the light but he looked like a giant. The twins made their way over towards him where they stood for fifteen minutes with a bunch of other nervous looking first years. It appeared that although it was raining they were required to cross the huge lake in small rowing boats that moved of their own accord. Jess and Emily sat at the front of the boat with two boys just behind them one had very untidy black hair and glasses the other floppy dark hair and greyish eyes. Jessie turned to see Amy and Sally in a boat with a serious looking boy with short brown hair and a short nervous boy with a distinctly rattish look about him, she didn't have time to look for Lily among the other boats however as all to soon they pulled up on the shore; it was an odd feeling as she climbed out of the boat, half of her wanted to rush to the front of the crowd now heading towards the school and get it over with, the other half wanted to stay on those boats forever and prolong the moment when she would have to think about whatever determined which house they went into at Hogwarts.

***

The next few moments passed in a blur and Jessie found she couldn't remember them even if she had wanted to, one minute she was climbing out of the boat the next she was walking up a huge hall with four tables in it, the tables she knew to belong to the different houses, Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. She had never felt so small in all her life as the nervous crowd stopped to listen to Professor McGonagall, a formidable looking witch who was explaining that they each had to walk up to the stool she had placed in front of the teacher's table and put an old and tattered hat on their head. Though how doing this was supposed to help anyone chose which house each student would be placed in was totally beyond Jessie all she new was that she was glad her name was not first in the register. McGonagall placed the hat on the stool and before she could do anything a rip at the brim of the hat had opened and with gasps of surprise from the crowd it broke into song:

'A thousand years or more ago,

When I was newly sewn,

There lived four wizards of renown,

Whose names are still well known:

Bold Griffindor, from wild moor,

The bravest in the land,

Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

The kindest witch at hand

Fair Ravenclaw, from dainty glen,

The wisest one of all,

Shrewd Slytherin, from darkened fen,

The slyest of them all.

They shared one true desire,

Nightly they did scheme,

Hogwarts was created,

Their wish it worked a dream,

Through their differences they did,

Form their own house, for each,

Did like to pick their favourites

From the ones they had to teach.

Griffindor the mighty

He took the brave and true;

Ravenclaw the smarty

Chose the clever ones from you,

Hufflepuff, was a fierce friend

The same were worthy of admission,

And the power of great Slytherin

Loved those of great ambition.

While alive they handpicked

Their favourites from the throng,

Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone?

Griffindor, the clever spark

He whipped me from his head

The founders taught me what they knew

So I could chose instead!

Now pull me tight around your brains,

I've never yet been wrong,

I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell where you belong!'

The Hat's instructions seemed clear enough, Jess thought, just go up to the stool and try it on, but she wasn't sure how she felt about a hat looking at what was inside her brain, if she was truthful then she found it all rather unnerving. But Professor McGonagall was calling out names from the list now and Jessie listened intently as the group around her tightened instinctively,

"Black, Sirius."

The boy with floppy dark hair from behind her in the boat stepped forward, his jaw set his face expressionless, and Jess supposed this was his way of showing nerves, she held her breath, in fact the whole school seemed to be holding its breath and for some bizarre reason Jess found herself thinking If this goes right for him, if he comes away looking happy then it must be alright for me, it just must!

" Hmm, not a boy after the family trait I see. There can only be one place for you…Griffindor!" shouted the Hat

"Evans, Lily." Lily looked around rather wildly as her name was called out, as if hoping another Lily would appear and take her place

"Ravenclaw maybe, very, very bright. Hardworking there's no doubt. Ambition in ample amounts I see, and brave too. But where to put you? I know…Griffindor!"

"Hoskins, Sally."

"Bold and loud, a talent for trouble… Smart one too…perhaps…Griffindor!"

Next came the serious looking boy from behind Sally in the boat, he also was sorted into Griffindor. About ten people later Emily was called up and left with a happy smile, to sit next to Lily and Sally at the Griffindor table, all three of them turned around to watch as Jess walked stiffly up to the stool.

A few metres had never taken so long to walk and Jess felt as though she was doing it all in a dream and she sat on the stool staring resolutely ahead trying not to think that this Hat on her head was picking up on her inner most desires possibly even her worst ever secrets. After what seemed an age the Hat finally cried out,

"Griffindor!"

With a huge sigh of relief she went to join her friends at the Griffindor table grinning from ear to ear. The rest of the sorting passed in an easy relaxed sort of way although she was well aware that she may not have been able to cope if her name was right near the end of the register like Amy's. Once Amy, the rat-like boy from behind her on the boat, and the boy with glasses from Jessie's boat had been sorted to Griffindor and two more to Ravenclaw the hall fell silent, Jess wondered why this was, she looked to the teachers table and found the reason, a tall, old man with a silver grey beard and half moon spectacles was standing up, she found herself fascinated by him instantly and knew this must be the head master, Professor Dumbledore, she had seen those glistening eyes and benign smile before, on the chocolate frog cards; she suppressed a giggle. But he had a powerful control over the room too and when he spoke it was with a voice full of colour and happiness that enchanted Jess to listen to.

"To our new students- a warm welcome, to our older students welcome back!" He beamed around at all of them, "Just a few start of term notices before we all gorge ourselves with the amazing feast-" Jess failed to see what feast, the plates were completely empty "Firstly, the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students, also Mr Filch would like me to remind you that no magic is permitted in the corridors between classes and that the extensive list of banned objects is pinned to his door if you would like to check it," here he paused and looked around at them all, " The quiddich team tryouts will be held on…" Jess sat up and started fidgeting in anticipation " The 7th of September! …" She did not bother to listen to the rest of the speech, all she could think of was the quiddich tryouts, she had until the 7th to fine tune all the moves she had tried out over the summer…She came abruptly out of her reverie as gasps sounded from all the first years around the school, the tables had suddenly been filled with groaning dishes of enough food to keep them all satisfied for at least a week. And what food it was too, there were dishes Jess had never even seen before, it was like a fairy tale banquet, just better.

After she had eaten far too much and drunk a lot of most delicious pumpkin juice Jess was brought sharply back to the fact that she still knew absolutely nothing about the school and was very much lost inside such a big castle, she worried for a moment as the school was dismissed and everyone around her had started to move, until for the second time that evening she heard the call of

"First years…Griffindor first years follow me please."

But it was jarringly different from the reassuring growl of the giant-like man called Hagrid whom they had met at the station, it was sharp and commanding but was coming, this time, not from an adult but a boy who was tall with dark hair and a red badge that said 'P' on it. Jess took this to mean Prefect and grabbed Emily's hand to pull her along. Emily tapped Lily, who nudged Amy, who called Sally and eventually all the first years were following the friendly Prefect up a mass of different staircases and Jess was sure that she would never remember her way back to the dormitories, let a lone to a million different lessons. After what seemed like an age they reached the Griffindor tower where the Prefect gave a password to a portrait of a lady dressed in a pink silk dress who someone whispered was called The Fat Lady, the portrait swung forward to reveal a cosy room inside.

The common room was stuffed full of old comfy armchairs and settees and a large notice board that had messages for the older students and the starting dates of certain clubs on it, she guessed that it would probably be full later on in the year. The Prefect, whose name was Carl, told them where to find their dormitories and Jess and Emily were delighted to find that not only were they in a room together, but also with Sally, Lily and Amy, the girls dashed up to the dormitory and started unpack, all the while talking non-stop.

"I'm going to try out for Griffindor quiddich team!" Jess announced, beaming at them

"Whoah…" Amy said softly "There are only three places and you have to be really good to get in your first year." Jess started, had she missed the part where Dumbledore had told them what places were free, what if there wasn't one she liked?

"Er…so what places are there then?"

"Oh, you know, one chaser, a beater, and a seeker. But you still have to be really good!"

"Jess is the best chaser ever, I bet she could beat anyone in those tryouts." Emily said earnestly, and Jess beamed at her. That was the best thing about having a twin; they would always stand up for you.

"Lets see your broom then." Sally demanded. Self-consciously Jess bought her broom from the trunk,

"Whoah!"

"Is that a Nimbus?"

"That's a new model, fastest one yet!"

"Told you she was going to be good." Emily finished proudly

"Although personally I can't see what all the fuss is about, I mean, it's only a game isn't it?" They all rolled their eyes, Lily just didn't understand.