"Honestly, just ignore them, Sev."
Lily and Severus were walking up the stone steps to the castle, following the huge man who had just brought them across the lake. The rain had stayed light, limiting itself to a light patter, but nevertheless, she was eager to get inside. The two girls who had been in their boat – Bianca and Rosemary they had said their names were – were still complaining about their wet robes after that James boy had splashed water at them. Lily had managed to stay mostly dry, but Severus had one soaked sleeve.
"That's all right for you to say," he grumbled, shaking his wet arm. "They seemed to like you enough when I walked in there."
Lily rolled her eyes.
"I only spoke to Remus, the other three got on my nerves."
Severus narrowed his eyes and looked towards the back of the group of first years at the four boys.
"Is he the tired looking one?" he asked. Lily shoved his shoulder lightly.
"Don't say things like that," Her words were cautionary but her tone was light. "But yes." Snape smiled at her playfully then his face grew worried.
"I didn't like the one with the glasses," he said. Lily ignored him. Severus carried on regardless. "What if we're split up?"
Lily sighed, genuinely anxious about the sorting.
"I don't know Sev," she said. "I hope we're not, but there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it. If we are we'll still see each other though. We'll have lessons and meal times and breaks together, we just won't be able to hang out after hours." He didn't look convinced.
The group of students reached the top of the stairs and the big man knocked on the huge oak front doors. They swung open and revealed a woman waiting for them. Lily immediately noticed her firm expression and strong stature and decided that she admired her, even without knowing anything about her. Lily was also a little scared of her, but she brushed this aside. The woman had glasses and her hair tied back in a sleek bun at the nape of her neck. Her robes were simple but graceful, with red detailing.
"Brought you the firs' years, Professor McGonagall," the big man said.
Professor McGonagall nodded.
"Thank you, Hagrid. This way, students." She turned and walked into the entrance hall. Lily took a deep breath, grinned at Severus, and followed.
"Pay attention at the back! I will not repeat myself."
James fell silent at Professor McGonagall's admonishment and he felt himself go a little pink. Sirius shook beside him, trying to hold in his giggles and Remus and Peter smirked.
They were stood in the entrance hall waiting to go into the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony and were supposed to be listening to Professor McGonagall who was explaining what was to happen next.
"So," whispered Remus to him. "It's just a hat? We don't actually have to do anything?"
"I don't think so," James whispered back. "Unless they've changed the rules since my mum and dad were here. Now that I think about it they might have done, because they were at Hogwarts ages ago." As he spoke, a girl with long blonde hair and freckles across the bridge of her nose turned to scowl at him for speaking. James stuck his tongue out at her in reply.
McGonagall went through the doors to the Great Hall and left them alone and a nervous chatter started up between the students. Peter started chewing on the corner of his sleeve and looking around, panicky. James could feel the disgust on his face as he watched him sucking on the fabric but, for some reason, he couldn't look away. Sirius had noticed too.
"What on earth are you doing, Peter?" his voice was blunt and his face exasperated. Peter flushed scarlet and started stammering. "You seem like a decent guy," Sirius continued. "But please don't sit next to me when we're eating if you're going to be pulling stuff like that."
"He's just nervous," Remus said.
"Yeah, but-" Sirius held out his hands, as though lost for words. "Come on, it's disgusting."
"I'm sorry," Peter said in a small voice, his eyes to the floor. Sirius rolled his eyes and shot James a look.
Before anyone could say anything else, McGonagall was back and leading them into the Great Hall.
The room was vast, with four long tables full of students, stretching side by side up towards another table that sat on a small platform. James could only assume that the people who sat on this table were the teaching staff. Floating candles lit the room and hovered in their hundreds over the tables and caused glittering light to reflect of the golden plates and goblets that were placed along them. James lifted his gaze to the ceiling and saw, with a shock that there wasn't one. Or, at least there didn't seem to be. The tops of the walls faded into a night sky, complete with the stormy clouds that he'd seen down in Hogsmede. McGonagall led them between two of the tables until they reached the foot of the platform. In front of them stood a three-legged wooden stool with an old faded hat sitting on it. To his amazement, a rip at the brim opened and a voice came out of it.
"I may not look too handsome,
I may not look the part,
But put me on and close your eyes,
And I'll see what's in your heart.
My job is quite simple,
I'm the Sorting Hat,
When you put me on I'll tell you true,
And that will be quite that.
I may put you in Hufflepuff,
Where the fair and kind dwell,
Or maybe in Slytherin,
Where the shrewd and sharp do well.
Or perhaps you belong in Gryffindor
Where the brave and daring are,
Or in Ravenclaw you belong,
Where clever folk are never far.
Some are surprised by my decision,
Though I say I'm never wrong,
I see it all, I'm always just,
You've arrived at Hogwarts, now come along!"
The hat finished singing and James clapped along with the rest of the people in the hall, excitement filling him and making his heart beat faster in his chest. Sirius was bouncing on the balls of his feet next to him, obviously just as eager as he was. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. He didn't fancy getting up there in front of the whole school and then throwing up.
Professor McGonagall had reappeared and was holding a scroll.
"When I call your name, you will sit on the stool, put on the hat and be sorted." She looked over her glasses at the parchment. "Adrian, Noel!" she called.
A tall boy with brown hair near the front of the crowd walked up and sat on the stool. He looked petrified. He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the stool with his hands and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head. There were a few seconds of silence where James held his breath then…
"Gryffindor!" came the cry from the hat. The boy leapt down, and almost ran to the safety of the cheering table with the red and gold ties and out of the eyeline of the masses of people in the hall. One Gryffindor place gone, James thought.
Betram, Aubrey became a Ravenclaw along with Amos, George. Ashwell, Rosemary was sorted into Hufflepuff and weedy looking Avery, Charles became the first Slytherin to be sorted. A few more people were called before McGonagall said:
"Black, Sirius!"
"Oh, hell," Sirius breathed. He inhaled deeply then made his way up to the stool.
James swore under his breath.
"What?" whispered Remus.
"I didn't know he was a Black," James said in Remus's ear.
"Does it matter?"
"I suppose not, but…" James watched McGonagall place the hat on Sirius's head. "They've got a bit of a reputation, you know? He said his whole family had been in Slytherin but I would have never guessed-"
"Gryffindor!"
Sirius sagged in the stool, but it was only when he looked up with a huge smile on his face that James saw it was with relief. He clapped loudly as Sirius sat down at the Gryffindor table and watched as he smirked smugly at someone at Slytherin table. James turned to see who but there were far too many people for him to work it out.
By the time Professor McGonagall had made her was to the Ps, Remus had joined Gryffindor along with Lily Evans, the red head girl from their compartment on the train; Marlene McKinnon, the blonde girl who'd glared at him in the entrance hall; Mary MacDonald, a black girl with tight curls and a confident walk; Emma Fawley, a mousy girl with pink cheeks; and Sinead Duffy, who had a short black bob and shockingly porcelain skin had also joined Gryffindor. The group still waiting had dwindled significantly and now he stood next to Peter desperately waiting for McGonagall to call his name.
"Pettigrew, Peter!"
Peter walked up to the stool with his hands shaking. James glanced at the Gryffindor table. It was looking very full.
"Gryffindor!"
"Bloody Hell," James moaned to himself as he watched Peter join Remus and Sirius. Severus, who had been looking at Lily sat at the Gryffindor table heard him and sneered at him.
"Maybe you won't be making your dad proud after all."
James was about to make a witty remark when he heard his own name finally being called.
"Potter, James!"
He made his way up to the stool, careful to bump into Severus as he did so, and sat down carefully, concentration on not wobbling off the stool. Hundreds of pairs of eyes blinked up at him and he could hear blood thundering in his ears.
"Hmmm," said a delicate voice. It seemed to be coming from inside his own head, rather than someone else speaking to him. "You seem to know where you want to go, but do I agree? You have the nerve… and you're clearly brave… but there's an intelligence that can't be ignored… along with a fierce loyalty. Maybe…"
James kept his mind focused on gold and scarlet, on the pictures of lions and swords that he'd seen in his father's photos.
"Gryffindor!"
James let out a little laugh of happiness, and for some reason, when he looked to the table clapping and cheering the most, his hazel eyes immediately found bright green ones. He quickly found Sirius, Remus and Peter and smiled at them and, as he took off the hat and made his way to his new house table, he looked to Severus, who was still waiting to be sorted and looked livid. James sat beside Sirius who was beaming.
"You look happy," James remarked.
Sirius shrugged.
"It's quite satisfying knowing that you've just pissed off your entire family." Sirius nodded to a pale blonde girl sat on the Slytherin table. She was older than them and was watching Sirius coldly. Next to her sat a blonde boy, who looked as equally displeased.
"Who is that?"
"My cousin, Narcissa. She's a sixth year, and a total bore," said Sirius, not breaking eye contact with her. "The boy next to her is her boyfriend, Lucius Malfoy. He's a prefect. Our family practically fawns over him because he's messed up in the Dark Arts." He looked away and clapped along with everyone as Emmeline Vance joined their table.
James watched the blonde boy silently. He had an aura of superiority around him that James could detect from even this distance. He leaned over and whispered something in the girl's ear and she smiled a smug little smile.
"Lily, are you okay?"
James looked away. Remus had a hand on a dejected looking Lily's shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "It's just…" she trailed off with a gesture at the Slytherin table.
"You're not upset about Snivellus being put in Slytherin are you?" Sirius asked, scathingly. James hadn't even noticed he'd been sorted. Lily shot him a furious glare but before she could argue back, a man who could only be Professor Dumbledore stood up to speak. His beard fell to his waist and his hair was just as long. He wore half-moon spectacles on a crooked nose and he was dressed in shockingly bright turquoise robes that swirled around him as he moved. The hall went quiet as everyone turned to listen.
"Students, old and new," he began, with his arms outstretched. "I welcome you to Hogwarts. I know listening to me is the last thing on the minds of many of you so, without delay, let us eat!"
There was a smattering of applause as Dumbledore sat down and, as he did so, the golden plates in front of them filled with food.
"Oh, my goodness," Remus said, his eyes wide. Next to him Peter blinked with his mouth hanging open. Sirius laughed appreciatively, seized a serving spoon, and dived into the roast potatoes.
The fuller James became the more chance he had to chat with those around him. He learnt that, along with Remus, Sirius, and Peter, he'd also be sharing a dormitory with two other boys; Sam Shafiq and Noel Adrian. They seemed nice enough and he began to feel more and more excited about being at Hogwarts and the nervousness that had been possessing him was slowly fading away. The first year Gryffindor girls seemed a friendly bunch, all of them talking animatedly, however, James did notice that out of them Lily was easily the most reserved. Mary MacDonald, who's self-assured nature had been obvious to James even when she'd been walking up to be sorted, was the loudest; she laughed and teased with the other girls as if she'd known them for years.
James was discussing Professor Dumbledore's eccentricities with his new friends when suddenly, to his right, Emma Fawley screamed.
"What?" he cried, startled. He turned to see what she was pointing at and saw, to his horror, ghosts pouring through the walls. It took him a second to remember that he'd been told that this would happen, that Hogwarts had house ghosts, but even so, the sight was still shocking.
Sirius, evidently, also knew about them and he was laughing at Emma's terrified expression.
"They won't hurt you!" he said, wheezing. "They can't do anything, they're dead!"
"Excuse me, young man," a voice said. Behind Sirius hovered a ghost in a ruff who looked marginally offended at Sirius's words. "I think you'll find that we ghosts can do certain things."
"Like what?" asked James, who was genuinely interested. The ghost raised an eyebrow and drifted through Sirius and James to cross to the other side of the table and came to a stop next to a very pale Emma. James felt as though he'd jumped into a freezing cold bath and he could tell from Sirius's violent shivering that he had felt the same way.
"We can do that," said the ghost, looking pleased with their reactions. Remus and Peter laughed at them as the ghost turned to the rest of the first years.
"Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, ghost of Gryffindor Tower," he bowed forward graciously, causing his head to swing off his neck, and dangle, holding on by a tiny strip of translucent skin.
"Y- your- your-" stammered Sinead Duffy, clutching at her own throat. Sir Nicholas swung his head back into place and straightened up.
"'Tis a tragic tale, how I died…" began Sir Nicholas.
"Bet I can guess how it happened," whispered James to Sirius. Sir Nicholas didn't hear them. Instead he began a long tale of how he was hit in the neck with a blunt axe forty-five times as punishment for accidentally causing a woman to grow tusks.
By the time the remnants of their meals melted away from their plates, James was feeling extremely comfortable and warm and could think of nothing more he would like than crawling into bed. Remus obviously felt the same way as his eyes kept sliding shut then shooting back open again as he realised he was drifting off. Professor Dumbledore stood and the buzz of drowsy conversations disappeared.
"I have a few announcements to make before you all go off to bed," he said. "They include the normal ones that older students should know as well as a few new ones. The Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds for all students, that no magic is allowed in the corridors, and that quidditch trials will be held in two weeks."
James shot Sirius a sly grin at these words and he nodded in agreement.
"I would also like to welcome our newest member of staff," Dumbledore gestured respectfully to a witch who stood up. She was small and had a shock of white frizzy hair, and looked to be around seventy, but she stood with the strength and power of a woman of around thirty years younger. James couldn't see much of her from where he was seated, but she seemed to have a kindly face. "Professor Istus will be taking on the role of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Please join me in wishing her well." Dumbledore led a brief round of applause then turned back to the students.
"Unfortunately, I feel I must address the current climate of outside Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore continued. There was a shift in his tone that caused James's heart to beat a little faster, even Remus sat up straighter when he recognised the seriousness in his voice. The teachers behind Dumbledore sat stony faced and watched him intently.
"As I'm sure many of you are aware," he said. "There is a disturbing trend of the use of dark and evil magic rising up from the shadows whence it came. I feel I don't need to remind you of the recent headlines that have graced the front pages of the Daily Prophet. Now, let me be clear, Hogwarts never has, nor never will, be tolerant to those kinds of sympathies and behaviours. The wizarding world is open to all those who have ability and to shut people out, or to target those some see as weaker than others is a mockery of the beliefs and values this school was built upon." Dumbledore paused and surveyed the students before him. In the split second his eyes had passed over him, James felt as though his piercing blue eyes had spoken to him directly.
"I urge all of you to be kind to one another and look to your similarities rather than your differences, for it is them which truly bind us together. If anyone has any concerns regarding these issues, please do not hesitated to contact your head of house." Dumbledore smiled and clapped his hands together, breaking the tension that had filled the room. "Now, off to bed!"
The walk to Gryffindor tower was longer than it had any right to be after James had eaten as much as he had and he was pretty sure he'd never find his way back down to the Great Hall on his own. Once they'd climbed to the seventh floor and gone through the portrait of the Fat Lady (only after giving the password – Bubotuber) they were in the common room.
The immediate feeling James had of the room was warmth. The red and gold of the furniture and the hangings cast a cosy glow and the sound of the huge crackling fire from a fireplace that was taller than him filled the space. The room was big and circular and the windows looked out over the grounds, allowing for spectacular views and James spotted plush armchairs that he could just imagine sinking into and falling asleep. Staircases disappeared to the upper floors on either side of the room and the boy with the shiny 'P' badge who'd shown them the way led the boys up the one on the right. He pushed open a door and the six boys went in.
Behind him, James heard Sam Shafiq hoot with excitement as he ran towards the four-poster bed with his luggage in front of it and throw himself on to it. Sirius did the same while Reums simply collapsed onto his. They all changed into their pyjamas and climbed into bed.
"What do you think we'll be doing tomorrow?" Sirius asked to the room in general. He had the bed to James's left.
"Nothing too difficult, I hope," said Peter. "What do you think Remus?"
There was no answer.
"Remus?" said Noel Adrian.
Silence.
James propped himself up on his elbows to look at Remus, who had the bed across from him. All that was visible was some sandy brown curls under his duvet which was slowly rising and falling as he slept.
James smiled to himself, placed his glasses on his bedside table and pulled his covers up to his chin. As he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep his mind buzzed, full of dreams of spells, broomsticks, and, finally, being a true Gryffindor.