Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
your tops hats sleek and tall,
for I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
and I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
so try me on and I will tell you
where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell brave of heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindor's apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuff's are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And you won't get in a flap!
You're safe in my hands (though I have none)
for I'm a Thinking Cap!
The great hall erupted in applause as the sorting hat finished its song and there was a lot of scrapping noise as the students got comfortable into their seats.
The seventh year Gryffindors clapped with everyone else as each new student got sorted and laughed along everyone else as a small Hufflepuff boy forgot to remove the hat and ran with it towards his new house table.
Professor McGonagall rolled up the list of students and took away the stool as the last boy was sorted into Ravenclaw.
Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet as the chatter silenced and smiled at the students seated in the hall. His magenta robes flashing oddly in the flashing light from the enchanted ceiling. His half moon spectacles zeroing on the Gryffindor Seventh Years and he smiled at the lot in amusement.
A lot of people had stared at their table because James Potter and Lily Evans were sitting across from each other and seemed to be genuinelyenjoying each others' and their friends' company. Now that was probably not the first time but it was still a rare sight.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
The hall erupted in laughter as food appeared on the four house tables and the high staff table at his choice of words.
"DIG IN!" yelled the voice of Sirius Black as they all started to load their plates with their favorite dishes.
Lily was speechless as she looked at the amount of food that he piled in his plate; and slightly dazed at the speed with which he swallowed his food; Sirius caught her expression and started to speak but stopped as Lily raised her hand and said, "Speak after you finish swallowing that Sirius!"
Remus looked over and burst into laughter at Lily's alarmed expression at the amount of food the boys consumed.
'Honestly, do guys have an endless appetite?' Lily wondered to herself as she went back to eating her own club sandwich and turkey pie.
Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet once more as the last of the desserts vanished from the Ravenclaw table. A respectful silence ensued as the students turned to their headmaster as he started with his usual welcome back speech.
"To our new students, welcome to Hogwarts; to our old students, welcome back." He smiled. "In Hogwarts you will find a place where you can find treasure only if you know what you are looking for; you will be taught the art of controlling magic and in the eye of the recent happenings, defence." He said simply.
Lily Evans watched the greatest wizard of all time as he addressed them and a sense of awe overcome her; would she ever become as wise as the old one? She shook her head at her professor's odd comments and knew that nobody could ever be Albus Dumbledore.
"Now for an announcement, Miss Lily Evans and Mr. James Potter will be your head students for this year." He spoke amusedly as there was a general shock at the name of James Potter as Head Boy.
Then the hall erupted in cheers as they were both popular and very much loved by everyone except the Slytherins who scowled.
They both smiled and James did a show of bowing for the general amusement before they both took their seats.
Smiling at them, Dumbledore continued, "Mr. Filch our caretaker has requested me to remind that; dung bombs, enchanted Frisbees and other products from Zonko's joke shop have been banned. The complete list has been put up on his office wall for anyone who wants to check." He was grinning by the time he finished.
"I would like to add that the Forbidden Forest at the outskirts of the castle is forbidden to all students and this is a reminder to some of our old as well." Dumbledore looked at the marauders pointedly at this.
James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin grinned their identical Marauder move, at that and the hall chuckled with laughter.
Suddenly there was a whooshing noise as a million small bursting crackers burst through the enchanted ceiling and started whacking the Slytherin table inhabitants on their heads with EGGS.
The rest of the students at the three tables burst into laughter as they all hated Slytherin as a rule.
In seconds the pelting stopped and all students at the Slytherin table had been hit by at least two eggs and had yolk falling down their heads and were showered withsome glittering material that stuck to it. They all seemed to be turned into slimy animals.
The cackling fireworks joined together at the top of the highest point of the ceiling and then burst into light, forming the words, 'Marauder Final Year, 1977.'
The hall burst into cheers and wolf whistles as the three marauders whooped in the air before seating again.
Dumbledore eyes twinkled even brighter, "Ah, I was hoping you had not forgotten the welcome back greeting tradition."
Professor McGonagall's jaw dropped as she surveyed the headmaster with disapproval. Students gaped at him as his eyes twinkled behind the half moon spectacles.
"Off to bed then. Tit Wit." He waved off the students as there was scraping noise as everyone got to their feet.
Professor McGonagall's voice stood out, "Ms. Evans and Mr. Potter, if you could wait a minute, please."
"The Head Dorms," muttered James as he stood up; "this is it mate; I will see you through the mirror later." He said to Sirius as he and Lily went up to meet McGonagall at the staff table ahead.
Sirius and Reah smirked at each other.
James and Lily were going to be living together; sharing a common room and a bathroom. It was going to be an interesting term.
They laughed as Remus joined them and made their way up the familiar route to the Gryffindor tower.
James and Lily followed Professor McGonagall as she took a left from the Gryffindor tower and further right past a huge passage towards its rear end; and stood outside the portrait of a large man who was smoking a pipe.
"Sir Nicholas, these are the new head students." She announced to the portrait.
"Password?" He asked simply.
"Chocolate Frogs." She said and led them in as he swung forward to reveal a grand entrance.
"Acquaint yourselves with your rooms and the quarter; all the best." She smiled at her students, a rare sight and walked out of the room.
The common room was larger than the Gryffindor Common room and they both immediately fell in love with it. It was a spacious room with a warm fire in the fireplace at the end of the room. They also noticed that there were four doors at one side of the spacious room, each marked in individual House colors and their symbols. They assumed that each would take them to their respective House Common Rooms.
At the other side, there were two spiral staircases that led them to what they assumed was their respective bedrooms. Lily traced her hand across her own name written on the left staircase. This had been her dream ever since her second year in the castle. She smiled slightly to herself.
James smiled at the sight and grinned, messing up his hair and looking unsure as to what to do next.
Lily turned to find him looking at her and she blushed at his gaze.
"Night Potter." She turned to leave when James caught her hand and turned her back.
"It's James." He said softly.
Lily blushed even harder and grinned, looking up and meeting his gaze.
"Good night James" She smiled. She reached up on tip toes to kiss him softly on his cheek and blushing at his adorably glazed expression ran up her stairs.
"Night Lils." He spoke softly, touching the area where her lips had touched his cheek.
That night James knew that things had changed for the better and he felt content for the first time in his life as he walked up his staircase for the night.
.
Remus crawled into his four poster bed and sank into his pillow contentedly and smiled before closing his eyes.
.
Reah was pulled back as she made to move up the stairs of the girl's dormitory after Alice.
She glared up at the grinning face of Sirius Black and huffed as he smirked even more.
"What" she said in an annoyed voice.
"Don't go up to sleep just yet," whined Sirius.
"Sirius, it's late and we do have classes tomorrow," She said but grinned nevertheless.
Sirius scoffed. "Evans rubs into you way too much sometimes." He grinned as they both knew that they both loved the Head Girl too much to really insult her anyway.
"Fine, what do you want to do?" Reah asked as she walked past him and sat onto the armchair by the fire.
Sirius grinned as he bounced towards her and plopped on the opposite chair as the last of the students left the common room to turn in for the night.
"Let's plan a prank for this week?" He asked. Reah rolled her eyes as she looked into the trademark grin on his stupidly handsome face and she felt a slight tingle run down her spine as she regarded him in the glow of the fire.
His grey eyes were bright with excitement and a child in him looked up to her and she felt a strong desire to go and wrap her arms around him. She shook her head and brought herself back to the world of living, a smile on her face.
"That's something we can do; let's make it a surprise for even James and Remus?" She asked him.
"BRILLIANT!" He shouted and heard a collective hiss from the dorms as people were actually trying to sleep and Sirius Black screaming wasn't helping them.
Sirius glared up at them before shrugging and turning back to Reah.
"Let's turn the Slytherins into singing birds for the first day?" She spoke, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
Sirius nodded and then added, "I think we should also do something to the whole student body as well." Reah nodded thoughtfully before adding, "Let's include the teachers also this time; it is our final year after all."
Sirius laughed and hi-fived her hand as they continued discussing various ideas and thought of the details.
After about 10 minutes of thorough discussion they stood up and Sirius bounded up the stairs to get the marauder map. He checked on Remus and noticed that the werewolf was fast asleep in his bed. He grinned as he skipped down the stairs and near the entrance to an awaiting Reah.
"Ready Samuels?" He asked in a mock formal tone.
Reah just grinned at him and opened the portrait as Sirius checked to see the professors and Filch. Filch was on the seventh floor and the professors had all retired to their respective rooms. The coast was clear.
They both vanished from view as Reah muttered the invisibility spell under her breath. Sirius grabbed at her hand so that they wouldn't get separated, secretly enjoying the feeling of having her hand in his. A warm feeling tingled through them both as they made their way to the Slytherin dungeons.
Hello! =]
Did any of you recognize? I used the sorting hat's song from Harry's first year as well as Dumbledore's choice of words- "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"! BHAHAHHHHAHAHAHAHA!*grins*
I LOVE DUMBLEDORE! =P
Oh My God! I love you guys! 69 hits in a single day? 3 favorites! =]
YAY! You'll officially made my day!
=]
But why aren't you guys reviewing? Pretty Please? ;;)
See you guys tomorrow! =]
