James
My brain froze. Realization sunk in. I could possibly be placed in Slytherin. I shivered at the thought. What would my friends think? On the train I was so sure I would be placed in Gryffindor without the hat having any doubt in it's mind. What would my family think? They were almost certain that I would be a Gryffindor too. I couldn't be placed in Slytherin, it just could not happen.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the sorting hat finished his sentence with particular emphasis on the house I was sorted into.
Relief and joy overwhelmed my body as the Gryffindor table erupted in applaud. I could see Sirius slightly over the head of the other taller students and it looked like he was waving me over. As I got closer to them I could see Peter standing as well and signaling for me to sit with Sirius, Remus, and himself. Remus was sitting, clapping and smiling slightly. He was so incredibly shy.
Sirius and Peter both gave me excited high-fives and Remus gave me a small thumbs-up. I smiled at them all and thanked them as I took my seat.
Dinner went by rather quickly as Sirius, Peter, and I chatted endlessly. Remus still did not say much but I decided not to try and make him participate more in the conversation. He would probably start to talk more once he got more comfortable around us. In about a week he would be fine.
The Gryffindor prefect, a girl with long black hair who looked much older than myself, called all of the first year Gryffindors over. The four of us along with the other Gryffindors in our year made a group behind her.
"I am going to lead you to the Gryffindor Common Rooms," she said. "It is on the seventh floor so it will be quite a walk. Just stay behind me and do not get mixed with the other houses. If you'll follow me now," and she lead us out of the Great Hall and deeper into the castle.
As we made our way up the stairs, Remus let out a small yelp as they jerked to the other side and sent him flying toward the opposite side of the stairs. We all couldn't help but laugh and Remus flashed a small grin, cheeks turning pink from embarrassment.
"How many staircases do you think are left?" Sirius asked me.
I laughed. "We've only gone up about four."
"Ughh," said Sirius with an exasperated sigh. "You've got to be kidding me. My legs are already numb. Is this what I'm going to have to do every time I have to rest? I think I might collapse!"
"Bit dramatic don't you think?" I asked.
"Not at all." said Sirius
We both laughed and continued to talk about Hogwarts and how we would be able to get to class in time with all of these staircases.
"Password?" asked a portrait of a plump woman in a soft pink dress.
"This is the Fat Lady. She-"
"The Fat Lady?" Sirius asked loudly. "You guys really call her the Fat Lady?"
The prefect was glaring at Sirius for interrupting. She decided to carry on with her speech and ignore this question.
"As I was saying," she said, again glaring at Sirius. "This is the Fat Lady. She is the portrait that guards the Gryffindor Common Room. There is a password that you will need to know to be able to enter. The password is changed occasionally to make sure no unwanted students enter. With that being said it is your responsibility to keep the password between you and your fellow house mates. It is not meant to be spread around to the other Houses around the school. The password is now periwinkle."
The portrait swung back to reveal an opening to what was presumably the Gryffindor Common Room. We entered the opening to see a mostly red room with golden accents. There were several comfy looking chairs and a welcoming fire burning in the center of the room.
"Boy's dormitories are the staircase to your left and Girl's to the right," announced the prefect. "Make yourself at home and if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask," and she was off to her own dorm.
The four of us headed to the Boy's dormitories to find that our stuff had already been brought up for us and was place in front of one of the several beds. I unpacked my pajamas and went into the bathroom to change. I was exausted for some reason and could not wait to drift off to sleep. It seemed I was not the only one as many of the boys were changing and snuggling up in their beds. I bade Sirius, Peter, and Remus goodnight and fell asleep in my comfortable Gryffindor colored bed almost instantly.
I awoke the next day early for the first day of classes. I got up and started getting ready, anticipation running through my body as I thought about finally getting to attend a Hogwarts class and use magic. I was the first one up in the boy's dormitory and I was not surprised considering I was usually and early-riser and there was still plenty of time before classes started.
About an hour later I noticed Remus getting out of bed and silently starting to get ready for the day.
"Morning Remus!" I said
He jumped in surprise, "Morning," he replied sheepishly. "Didn't see you were awake."
"I noticed," I said with a smile. Remus smiled shyly as he cheeks turned a light shade of pink. Why was he always so nervous?
"So are you excited at all or nervous?" I asked.
"A bit of both I guess," Remus replied. "How about you?"
"Definitely excited," I replied. "I've been waiting to use magic when I can control it for as long as I can remember. Haven't you or are your parents muggles?"
"I haven't really been waiting to use magic," Remus replied. "My father is a wizard and my mother is a muggle but my father never cared to tell me much about magic and it was never really used around the house."
"Oh, really?" I asked surprised. "That's odd. Does your mum not like magic?"
"I don't know." Remus replied. "It's never really mentioned at all in my house."
"Hmmm." I said. "Well I guess you'll be able to find out all you need to know about magic now right."
"Yeah," Remus said and flashed a small smile.
"Well I think we'd better finish getting ready," I said.
"Good idea," and Remus was off to the bathroom to get changed into his school robes.
Peter and Sirius woke the latest out of the boys and both were in a major rush to get ready. After waiting for them, they came down the breakfast with Remus and I. I waited anxiously for my schedule when finally Professor McGonagall handed it to me.
"What do you have first?" Peter asked.
"Potions. You?" I asked
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Peter
"I have that first." said Remus quietly.
"Cool! Now I have someone to talk to," said Peter and Remus smiled.
"I have Potions with you James," said Sirius with a mischievous grin. "Merlin help that teacher."
I laughed. "Got that right!"
We all left breakfast in pairs. Sirius and I headed down to the dungeons and found a group of first years standing in front of a door.
"That must be it," Sirius said pointing to the students in front of the door.
"Reckon so," I said as we started towards the group of kids.
"Do you think we'll make any potions today?" Sirius asked.
"Hope so," I said.
Before Sirius could respond the professor came out of the classroom to let the students in.
"Hello! I am Professor Chambers!"
Professor Chambers had grey eyes and pale skin with contrasting black hair. He seemed pretty easy-going but there was something about him that made you not want to cross him. He gave a broad smile and continued talking.
"I am not going to waste your time or my time going over the rules. The rules you hear in your other classes apply here as well. If I feel it's necessary, I will mention rules that are getting broken. Since we will not be going over the rules, we will make a potion today."
The classroom immediately filled with excited chatter at being able to make a potion on the first day.
"Now partner up and choose a cauldron to work at," Professor Chambers said as he made about a dozen cauldrons appear with a lazy flick of his wand.
"Wanna work together?" I asked Sirius.
"Sure," and with that we walked over to one of the several pewter cauldrons.
"Okay light your cauldrons!" Professor Chambers said.
"Oh god Sirius no!" I said. I may not have known Sirius for long but I definitely did not trust him with fire.
"Too late!" Sirius said as he ignited the flame below the cauldron. Surprisingly, no one got hurt.
"Okay I see you have all successfully lighted your cauldrons. Good job!" Professor Chambers said. "Now I want one of you to put on the pair of earmuffs on your table and I want your other partner to put on the blindfold located right beside the earmuffs. You can decide who wears what now."
"I get the earmuffs!" Sirius and I said in unison. There was no way I was going to make this potion without being able to see if something was wrong while working with Sirius. I had a feeling that Sirius was thinking the same thing about me.
"No I get the earmuffs," said Sirius and he snatched them up and placed them nice and snug over his ears.
I sighed but took the blindfold anyway and had Sirius tie it around my head.
"Why are we doing this?" One blonde-haired girl with a blindfold on asked.
"You will see soon enough," Professor Chambers replied. "Now, those of you with the blindfold off will have to rely on only my voice to guide you on while making this potion.
There was silence and then I heard chalk on a board. He must have been communicating with the students who had earmuffs on. I heard Sirius adding something to the potion. I guess I would have to trust Sirius with this considering I did not really have a choice. Professor Chambers started to speak the instructions now which meant it was my turn to add ingredients to our potion. How was I suppose to do this when I could not see? I picked up a spider leg and started trying to feel for the heat from the cauldron. Then I felt Sirius's hand pull my hand over the cauldron. No way. Could we actually make this work? We started to fix each other's mistakes and deal with our disabilities. Then before we knew it-
"You may remove your blindfolds," said Professor Chambers.
I took my blindfold off and saw that our potion was identical to the diagram in our books. A perfect potion the first day. Sirius removed his earmuffs along with the other students wearing them when Professor Chambers wrote it on the board.
"Not bad mate," I said and gave Sirius a high-five.
Professor Chambers started walking up and down the aisles examining the potions. He seemed quite pleased with the results. When he came to our potion he seemed shocked.
"Impressive," Professor Chambers said. "Very impressive. That is just about perfect! Congratulations! I will come up with a reward to give you two next class."
"Now, who can venture a guess as to what potion you made and why I made you use a blindfold or earmuffs?" Professor Chambers asked.
Not a single hand was raised.
"That is alright. I did not really expect you guys to know. The potion you made is called a pepper-up potion. It can heal minor illnesses but does cause steam to come out of the drinker's ears for approximately an hour," there were a few laughs at that. "The reason I made you wear a blindfold or earmuffs is to make you work together. I do not want to waste your time or my time teaching things you will never use. In the real world a situation in which a friend has a disability and needs a potion is most definitely possible. It was also meant to teach you to trust each other. When you are left with no option but to help someone, it can bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. I do not want it to bring the worst out in any of you. In this particular assignment you had to place a lot of trust in your partner which probably came easy to some of you and was difficult for others. It also gave you a taste of how hard things can be when something gets taken away from you like sight or hearing. Just think about having to live like that every day. Class dismissed."
And Professor Chambers disappeared to his office just as the bell sounded to prepare for the next class.
Hi guys! I just wanted to apologize for the super long wait for this chapter but I've been having some computer problems and school work on top of that which has made it really difficult to find time to write but I am definitely not abandoning this story at all. As always, if you have any questions or any constructive criticism you can always leave it in a review or send me a private message. Thanks for reading and sorry again for the long wait!
-RaRnRn