A/N: Sorry it's a bit shorter than the last, this is more or less just a filler chapter though. Nothing too exciting, pretty much just stuff everyone already knows. This will probably be the last chapter set in the first year, I'll be skipping ahead to later years after with much longer and higher quality chapters!
The night air is cold and the only light comes from the moon as James, Casimir, Lily and I step off the train and onto the hard ground. I pull my robe closer to me and begin searching the crowd for Hagrid, who I know I will have to follow to the boats.
"Well, I'll see you guys up at the castle." Casimir says and joins a group of his friends in search of a horse-less carriage.
"How do we get up to the school then?" Asks Lily as she watches Casimir climb into a large carriage that immediately starts off toward the school.
"All the first years go by boat across the lake with Hagrid." Explains James and, as if on cue, Hagrid emerges from the train a few doors down and starts to holler, "Firs' years, follow me!"
"Please tell me that's not Hagrid." Lily says, looking at the half-giant with a kind of fear.
"Oh Hagrid's alright, he may look intimidating now but you should see him when he's wearing his flowery apron." Says James, trying to make a joke, but I can sense a subtle defensive edge to his voice which is understandable, Hagrid is an old friend of both our families.
"Okay." Says Lily, still looking a little apprehensive as we make our way through the thick crowd to get up next to him.
Soon we're close enough for James to grab Hagrid's elbow and get his attention. After a few seconds Hagrid looks down and his confused expression turns to one of recognition as he smiles at James.
"James!" He exclaims as he sweeps him up into a massive bear hug. After he puts him down he notices me and his smile gets even bigger. "Oh 'nd little Lux too! 'Ow are ya both?" He asks as we shuffle along together through the massive crowd of students, all excited to be back at Hogwarts for another year of school.
"I'm good Hagrid, how are you?" I say, smiling back at him.
"I'm good, I'm good. It's so good ter see ya, you'll be comin' down fer tea firs' chance you get, righ'?" He asks, looking hopefully from me to James.
"You bet!" James says.
"Every chance we get." I say.
"Oh," says Hagrid, noticing Lily walking silently along with us for the first time, "And who's this?"
"This is Lily Hagrid; we just met her on the train." I say, smiling encouragingly at Lily because she's still looking nervous.
"Hi." She says so softly I'm surprised Hagrid can even hear her.
"Well, 'tis nice ter meet ya Lily, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, grounds keeper here at Hogwarts," he says and then, taking on a more serious air, "I do 'ave ta advise ya of one thing though Lily."
"What's that?" She asks, looking a little concerned.
"I'd keep away from James here if I were ya, he's nottin' but trouble this one." His booming laughter echoes around the station as he slaps James on the back, who stumbles but manages to keep from falling.
Lily laughs and says, "I'll keep that in mind, thank you."
We walk on for a while in silence and soon we've reached the shore of the lake where hundreds of small boats were waiting to carry us across. James, Lily and I make our way to one and leave Hagrid at the shore to oversee all of the first years. As soon as we're seated, though slightly cramped, the boat begins to magically cut across the glassy surface of the water at a reasonable pace. "I'll see ya up at the castle!" Hagrid yells after us and we turn to wave, letting him know we heard.
"I can't wait to see the castle." Lily says excitedly, barely able to keep herself from bouncing up and down in the cramped boat.
"Yeah, me neither." I say and I'm surprised to find that I too am having a hard time keeping still. I guess that all of the commotion on the train had pretty much pushed all thoughts of Hogwarts and what house I'll get into out of my head, but now I'm feeling pretty anxious. I wonder what James is feeling? Right now he looks completely composed, serene. I wonder if he's got even the slightest fear of not getting into Gryffindor. I fidget with the sleeve of my robe, feeling uncomfortable and maybe just a little seasick. No one is talking in any of the boats, none that I can hear anyway. It's too quiet and I can hear a buzzing silence in my ears.
What is the school thinking bringing the first years to the castle this way? It's incredibly intimidating and nerve-wracking. I can feel the tension from every other person on this lake and it really might make me throw up. Having your own anxiety to worry about is one thing, but having to deal with a hundred other people's constricting and confining moods is too much. Being able to sense other people's feelings usually isn't a problem for me, it is only strongest between my mom and I, but when a bunch of people are all feeling a strong emotion, it's hard for me to not pick up on. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, setting my head onto my lap. I keep breathing deep for a couple of minutes and eventually start to feel better, start to be able to push some of the feelings away. I stay that way for a long time, concentrating on just my own emotions and blocking all the others out. After a while our boat suddenly stops and I jerk my head up so fast I almost give myself whiplash.
As I'm rubbing the back of my neck my eyes slowly travel up and take in the castle before me. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. The large turrets of the tower reach so high that they dissolve into the night sky. I look over to Lily who is starring at the castle with just as much wonderment as me and James whispers a barely audible "whoa."
We clumsily clamber out of the boat and it takes just a bit for our legs to un-cramp and become used to land again. We stretch our legs, walking along the shore of the lake and gazing up at the castle as we wait for Hagrid and everyone else to reach the shore.
"It's incredible, isn't it?" I say, trying the break the silence that seemed to have fallen over us.
"Yeah, it really is," Lily says, "I would have never imagined something so… magical." She says, laughing softly.
A few minutes go by and Hagrid and all the other first years have finally made it to shore, all looking a little shocked at the castle as just as James, Lily and I were.
"Alrigh', follow me ev'ry one." Hagrid booms as he holds up his lantern so he can see us all. I hadn't even noticed how dark it had become since my eyes had been fixed to the castle and lights shone from every window. Now that I focused my eyes onto my closer surroundings I realized that I could barely see two feet in front of me anymore. I followed the slowly moving light that was Hagrid and the closer we got to the castle the more I could see; the many lights from inside lit up the lawn in front. We came to a set of stairs leading up to a large wooden door and Hagrid banged loudly on it. It immediately swung open, seemingly of its own volition and we quickly filed inside. The room was large and circular and several flaming torches were hanging from brackets on the stone walls, lighting it sufficiently. Before I had too much time to look around though a tall, strict looking woman opened a door opposite the one we came in and stepped inside.
"Hagrid, what took so long? Dumbledore had to stall with an elongated speech. He's been spewing nonsense for the past ten minutes!" She pressed her lips into a tight, thin line and I felt sorry for Hagrid, and also hoped that I would never be on the receiving end of this woman's anger.
"Er, sorry Professor, I didn't realize-"
The woman cut him off, "It doesn't matter now! I just need to get these children to the Great Hall quickly." She looks past Hagrid over all of us, her eyes narrowing, "Follow me now children, and quickly!"
She didn't have to tell any of us twice. We were out of that room and practically running down a long, narrow hallway in just a matter of seconds. After making so many turns that I couldn't keep count any longer we reached a very large staircase and two sets of enormous wooden doors, reaching up to the ceiling. We turned to the door on the left and the woman pushed them open frantically, they moved just enough for us to walk through and as we were ushered in I couldn't help but feel like we were a herd of Hippogriff's.
I couldn't believe the room I was seeing, it was so incredible. Candles hung suspended in mid-air all around the room and the ceiling seemed to have been enchanted to mirror the sky outside, making it look like it had no ceiling at all. I felt everyone around me gasp and look around the room in amazement; I wondered how silly we look to the older students, gaping at the strange things they had grown quite accustomed to.
"Ah! I see our new students have arrived at last!" A voice from the front of the room says, sounding relieved, "Then let the sorting begin!" I stand on my tip toes to get a look at the man and smile when I realize that it's Dumbledore.
A small stool is placed in front of the teachers tables and the strict woman who brought us here goes to stand beside it and pulls a long roll of parchment out of her green robe. She sniffs once and adjusts her glasses and calls out, "Arch, Lea" and looks at us expectantly. The girl next to me shits uncomfortably and then begins to make her way to the stool. She stands in front of it awkwardly until the woman in the green robe gestures, with the air of someone trying to keep their patience, for her to sit on it. She sits down and the woman reaches into her robe again, this time pulling out what looks like a very tattered hat. Lea Arch looks at her quizzically but doesn't get the chance to ask a question before the hat is shoved onto her head, falling right over her eyes.
There is a collective gasp from the crowd around me as we watch the hat open its… mouth and begin to murmur, seemingly to itself. After a few seconds the hat shouts out "RAVENCLAW" and James and I look at each other, finally realizing, as everyone else around us, what this was all for. I had thought they were bringing us somewhere to sort us but I would have never imagined an old hat would be doing the sorting… I thought it was going to be Dumbledore, and not in front of the entire school. I wish Casimir would have just told me about this beforehand, but he insisted it be a surprise, just as James's parents had.
A few more people are sorted and then the name "Black, Sirius" is called to the front. I see James stiffen beside me and I turn to see him glaring expectantly as Sirius has the hat placed on his head.
"What is it James?" I ask.
"Oh," He says, turning his head towards me, but never taking his eyes off of Sirius, "His family is to Slytherin like ours is to Gryffindor. I'm sure you've heard of the Blacks Lux."
I think for a second and I do remember being at James's house once and overhearing our mothers in the kitchen, talking about the youngest Black son… actually I think they were wondering if he was going to be in the same year as James and I. I nod to James though his eyes are still focused on the boy on the stool. I glance over to what must be the Slytherin table, all dressed in green and sliver, and there is a look of anticipation on each of their faces. I look back to the front again once the hat opens its mouth, finally ready to place him somewhere.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
I see James's jaw drop slightly and his eyes widen as the Gryffindor table breaks out into a hesitant applause. I look to the Slytherin table again to see all of them looking very shocked. The woman in green pauses for only a second before she continues with the sorting. "Carwin, Lux!"
"Here, we go." I say, smiling to James and Lily before sitting on the stool and having the hat shoved on. I'm not expecting it to talk to me but I let out just a small gasp of surprise.
"Well, this isn't going to be hard at all," it says and I unconsciously cross my fingers before the hat opens its brim wide and shouts out, "GRYFFINDOR!" I smile wide and go to sit at the loudly applauding table.
A few more people were sorted and then it was Lily's turn. I can't help but hope that she's in Gryffindor; I really think we can become good friends, and maybe I can make something out of her and James. I smile at the thought and my smile only gets wider as Lily is sorted into Gryffindor and comes to take the seat next to me, smiling radiantly.
"I'm so happy we're in the same house!" She exclaims, wrapping her arms around me in her joy. I laugh as I hug her back and then we both fall into silence as we wait for James to be sorted. Almost everyone is sorted when James's name is finally called and I'm tired and even more hungry. The hat is barely placed on James's head before it declares him a Gryffindor and I clap along with everyone else as he comes to sit on the other side of Lily.
Not long after the sorting is finally finished and the dishes on the table fill with every kind of food imaginable. I eat greedily until my stomach can't possibly hold any more and I barely pay attention as I follow the heads of our house to the Gryffindor common room. I don't really register the room around me, just that it's warm and inviting, and I'm hardly awake as Lily pulls me along to the girls dormitories after saying a quick goodnight to James. We make it into the girls dormitory and I just throw myself onto the closest unoccupied bed, Lily taking the one next to me. We try to talk but sleep quickly overcomes us, and my last coherent thoughts are of my excitement at my first year of school at Hogwarts with James and Lily and everyone else I will soon meet.