Sirius returned to the compartment after getting changed into his robes and found a lake had emerged into view. A castle loomed over the lake, with a bridge leading into the woods, and tall towers that scraped the sky. His mother had tried to describe it, but her word hardly came close to doing the magnificent castle justice.

He stood fixated on it, just like his two companions in the compartment.

James' eyes danced as he looked at it, and it didn't take much of a brain to tell that all he wanted to do was to jump off the train and start running towards Hogwarts.

Remus was speechless, his mouth hanging open a little. It looked like he was trying to soak in very detail so that he wouldn't forget it. Even though the three had only known each other for a handful of hours, Sirius had a pretty good idea of their personalities.

James was looking for an escape, and had a fire in his eyes like he felt he had to prove himself. He was cocky, and didn't doubt himself much.

Remus was slightly on the awkward side of things, but he was smart an observant. Also, he had a secret he didn't seem to keen on telling. It was obvious as the scars on his face.

There was a whistle that came from James. "You two ready?" He asked and Sirius shrugged, "I guess so, what about you, Remus?"

Remus remained quiet, all he could to was nod. His eyes were trained on the castle.

Sooner rather than later, the train pulled to a stop, making everyone sway where they stood and sat. They were stopped at a train stop, a stone platform with a sign that read Hogsmead. Everybody was piling to get of the the Hogwarts Express, and on their way to the nearest door somebody ran into James.

A runty kid with stringy black hair, and dark eyes stood in front of him with an unreadable expression. James frowned at him. "Hey slimeball, watch where you're going!" He exclaimed before weaving his way to the door, the dark eyes boy glared at James as he passed.

After making their way off the train, the crowd of students were milling around, some were waiting for their rides to get to school, and Sirius wondered where he should go when he heard a loud voice. "Firs' years this way!"

It was coming from a giant man, easily towering over the tallest seventh year. The man-giant was holding an enormous lantern, with an impressively bushy and long beard to match.

He saw Remus through the crowd, standing next to James and he weaved through the other first years to catch up wit them.

James seemed to have a soured mood, in front of them the greasy haired boy was standing next to a girl with shoulder length dark red hair and green eyes. They were laughing. "Honestly, how does a weirdo like that get to be friends with a girl like that?" James didn't bother to keep his voice down, and Sirius had thought the same thing after seeing her.

"Maybe his family is loaded?" He chuckled, and the girl turned around, casting them a glare that could rival Medusa's. She looked like she wanted to use some very colorful words but restrained herself and kept walking, ushering her friend to walk a bit faster.

They went walking for around six minutes on a downhill trail that was leading to...well, Sirius didn't know where it was leading. There were some lights strung up in the trees, illuminating the normally dark path, but even so he caught several students tripping over themselves as roots seemed to appear out of nowhere. On a few occasions, he nearly fell too, but he managed to catch himself.

Finally, they got to the docks, where they were met with numerous boats that could sit around four per boat, and inky black waters that were glittering with the golden light coming from the castle overhead.

There was a single lantern for every boat, and James, Remus, and Sirius all piled in one of the boats that was closest to them. The red-head got into one of the boats towards the front, purposefully putting distance between the three friends and herself and her friend.

It wasn't like she could avoid them forever, especially if they were placed in the same house. Sirius looked over his shoulder at James, who was sitting by himself in the back. "Hey, I bet five sickles that she gets places in one of our houses." "You're on." James replied, laughing when a quiet voice from their right greeted them.

"Um...h-hi. Do you mind if I sit with you...?" A small, pudgy boy with blond hair asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his hands.

"No, come on." James told him, scooting over a little more to give the boy some room.

That poor guy carefully tried to step in as if he was worried that one wrong move could capsize the boat. A minute or so passed and he had successfully entered the boat.

The boats jolted away, like thy were just waiting for him to get into their boat. "I'm Peter Pettigrew.." He murmured, barely seeming to get that out.

Sirius nodded, "Hey Peter. I'm Sirius Black," he pointed to Remus, "that's Remus Lupin," and finally he pointed to James, "And that there is James Potter."

The boat ride was uneventful, but it was definitely something he wouldn't forget. Seeing the castle slowly get closer and closer didn't make it seem smaller, like some people might expect, but it seemed even bigger.

Eventually they got to the docs, where a huge staircase awaited them. Great. He thought, climbing out of the boat. He hadn't noticed at first but there was a woman at the top of the staircase, which wrapped around a corner so he was sure that there was more to it.

Whoever the woman was, most likely a teacher, had long deep purple robes, emerald glasses, and had a bun (it was so tight that Sirius wondered if it was healthy for her brain's circulation), and a pointy hat. "I'm Professor McGonagall, please follow me. Don't fall behind." Though her voice didn't have any venom to it, her stern face told everybody that it wouldn't be good to make her angry.

As the three started to walk up the stairs, carefully trying not to step on the other student's robes, Peter trailed hot on their tails. It was as if he was worried that if he fell behind the other students would swallow him whole. Peter reminded Sirius of a little duckling that followed his mother duck with a passion. Clearly he wasn't a leader, but a follower. He wasn't sure if that was necessarily what he'd like in a friend, but he was harmless, and hadn't said anything too aggravating, and seemed nice enough so for the moment he'd keep peter around.

When they got to a larger part of the castle, there was a set of huge dark, double doors loomed above them. Professor McGonagall stopped and looked over the first years with an almost calculating gaze. "I have to go in to get a list of your names, get in an orderly line. When I come back I'll lead you inside where you'll wait to be sorted. Once you are, you will go to the table of your house and the rest of you while you wait will be on your best behavior. Are we clear?" Though her face seemed pretty indifferent, her curt tone made everybody nod. Including Sirius.

Even though she seemed pretty cold, he figured she just had a "I'm not dealing with any ruckus" personality but was actually pretty caring. At least he was hoping for that. Otherwise it would be like dealing with his mother for the next seven years of his time there at Hogwarts.

She walked away through the double doors with a swish of her cloak leaving the children to their devices.

James kept on looking at the red head as if she were a puzzle and he couldn't wrap his mind around the pair's friendship.

From inside the hall he could hear loud noises from talking, to laughter to yells that he couldn't quite make out. Students. Some of which he would be dealing with for a long time. He wondered what would become of this night, and whether the hat would choose to put him where his family expected to go, or would throw a curve-ball his way. Please don't put me somewhere I'll regret. He thought, knowing he would have to adhere to wherever he was put.

Professor McGonagall returned holding a decently long list and sighed when they saw none of the students had tried to get into an even halfway decent line. She quickly got everyone into a presentable line and opened the doors as the first years walked in.

Inside was grand, it had floating candles, a clear night sky where stars glittered on the ceiling, and four long tables that were riddled with students. Tell-tale green for Slytherin, sapphire blue for Ravenclaw, yellow for Hufflepuff, and crimson for Gryffindor. James was looking at the latter with a grin on his face. He knew where he was going to end up, h was completely sure of it. Peter seemed to be avoiding looking at everybody and everything. The floor must've looked pretty interesting to him. Remus seemed to be looking between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

He recognized a few people at the Slytherin table, who were looking at him like he was fresh meat.

There was an old wrinkly hat sitting on the stool, the thing must've been as old as the school at least. Teacher sat at the horizontal table in front of the school, most of them he didn't recognize.

There was a murmur across the first years as people caught sight of Dumbledore. He was a legend, and he was their headmaster. He was the one ho defeated Grindlewald, and it was rumored that he was the only one that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was afraid of.

Then Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and called the first name. A brown haired guy who had the hat placed on his head for a second before the hat exclaimed, "Ravenclaw!"

The blue table burst into cheers and the boy nearly skipped over to them with a smile.

Sirius knew that he would be called up there pretty soon, being as though his last name started with a B. He just tried not to think, until he heard his name being called. "Black, Sirius." Said professor McGonagall and suddenly he felt as if lead was strapped to his ankles. James gave his shoulder a nudge and without thinking he walked up. Then he took a deep breath, what happened happened. He felt a bit better and sat down on the stool.

Here we go.

The hat was placed on his head, "Well look what we have here."

Sirius hadn't heard him comment on anybody else, so this took not only him by surprise, but most of the other first years. "Family or heart, that seems to be the problem, isn't it?" The hat mused, chuckling. "Well, my job isn't to do whatever your family wants now is it?"

His mind blanked and he figured what was coming next. "GRYFFINDOR!" It exclaimed and the crimson burst into cheers and applause. James gave him a thumbs up and for a moment Sirius was stunned as he went to go sit down.

A few angry stares from the Slytherin table wasn't enough to damper his good mood though. He was relieved. He could deal with whatever his mom said. It was done, and nobody could change it.

A Gryffindor put his hand on his shoulder. "Congrats Sirius, certainly wasn't expecting a Black to be in our house." "Neither was I, honestly." He replied, laughing.

The red haired girl was apparently named Lily Evans, who was also sorted into Gryffindor. Lily made it a point to sit as far away from Sirius as humanly possible. Around four people got sorted into Hufflepuff, two more into Ravenclaw, three people into Slytherin and then Remus was called up.

"Hm...difficult..." The hat muttered, before straightening itself up. "There's something you don't see yet, Gryffindor!"

His eyes widened and he looked over at Sirius with a grin of pure happiness. He nearly sprinted over to Sirius, "Thank goodness I'm not in a house alone." He let out a sigh of relief, and James nodded. He couldn't say he was disappointed to have Remus in a house with him, the thought of being alone wasn't something he wanted either.

Five more kids were sorted before Peter went up, surprising everybody by being placed into Gryffindor too. He joined Remus and Sirius, sitting across from them, looking more nervous after the sorting than before. Like he had to prove himself as brave in order to properly be part of the house.

Right after him, James was called up, he had no apprehension about going up there, an the hat had barely even been placed on his head before the hat yelled, "Gryffindor!"

Well, aren't we just the popular house this year?

An audible sigh/groan from across the table coming from Lily could be heard and Sirius restrained a laugh. The girl had a flair for dramatics.

James slung his arm around Sirius and Remus's shoulders, "Look at us, we're like the Four Musketeers. I was expecting to have either you," He nodded to Sirius, "or you," he nodded to Remus, "in the house with me, but all three of you?" He laughed and took his arms back. "Forget about it."

That made Sirius laugh more, and he felt better than he had in a long time. For the night, he forgot all about his family, his "responsibility" to them, and their expectations, and felt for the first time that he was his own person.

Maybe this year wouldn't be that bad.