I don't want to sound needy, but I would really appreciate a review. I just want to make sure that people actually like the story. It can be a single word and I would be happy. I am hitting some writers block for the next few chapters, even though I have some written for future years. I need some encouragment to write the rest of first year. Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Still don't own Harry Potter. Never have. Never will.


When they got off the train, there was a giant man shouting,

"FIRST YEARS THIS WAY!"

The seven kids looked at each other and followed the man with the lantern. Elyse tugged on Sirius' sleeve and asked softly,

"Where're we going?"

"First years get t school by boat. That's Hagrid, the games keeper here, he'll lead us, don't worry," he said squeezing her hand comfortingly.

She smiled shakily and quickly searched for Ursula in the crowd. She was walking ahead of them with James and Ben. Peter was walking behind them and Remus was on the other side of Sirius. Once they got to the river the group looked at each other trying to figure out how this was going to work. It was four to a boat and there were seven of them.

After a moment Ben said,

"How about James, Sirius, Ursula, and me go in this boat and Peter, Elyse, and Remus go in another boat? But if Remus would rather switch with Ursula…" he trailed off leaving the option open for them.

Ursula nodded before following James and Sirius into the closest empty boat. She almost lost her balance but arms wrapped around her waist and helped her into the boat. She turned and saw Ben's arm was still around her waist. They both turned red. James and Sirius laughed at her expense.

"Bugger off," she growled at them.

They stopped laughing but they kept on smirking at them. Ursula was trying to think of something to distract them when the idea seemed to slap her in the face,

"You know what we need to do?" She asked the group of three around her.

"Make sure the boat doesn't capsize?" James asked sarcastically.

She shrugged with a mischievous smile on her face,

"That and we need to plan a prank. Let the teachers know what they are going to be dealing with for the next seven years."

"What would we do without you Sissy?" Sirius asked dramatically.

"Well, you would probably be a straight O student, never have fun, and get through Hogwarts without a single detention dear brother."

Sirius shuddered at the thought,

"We need to start planning immediately."

By the times they got off the boat, they had a plan. Sure it wasn't going to be the best prank in Hogwarts, but they had seven years of pranks ahead of them.

They quickly found the second half of their group and decided to keep them out of the prank. They were following the group towards the front door when suddenly, an older adult tapped Remus on the shoulder,

"Oi, would yeh get your friends together. Photo for the Prophet," he said holding his camera up a little higher.

They all quickly gathered around each other. Elyse and Ursula wrapped their arms around each other as they stood in front of the Remus, Sirius, James, and Ben while Peter stood awkwardly near the edge. Sirius and James shared a look right before the camera flashed. The second it did, they sprang forward and tackled Ursula, effectively taking Elyse down with them and started merciless tickling the girls.

"STOP! PLEASE!" Ursula cried between laughs as Sirius tickled her stomach. Elyse was making similar pleas to James who was doing the same to her.

"ATTENTION!" a stern voice shouted from the entrance to Hogwarts. Sirius and James pulled the girls off the ground and they joined the group of first years, not even having the decency to look embarrassed.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. ('Except Slytherin' Sirius muttered to the ones around him) While you are Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded that house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.""

"If you will follow me," McGonagall said.

They all followed McGonagall though the hallways. There were kids behind them that were talking about the theories about how they were going to be sorted, each one more bizarre as the last one. James looked back at Elyse and saw how pale she looked. He slung his arm around her shoulder and whispered in her ear,

"You don't have to worry. You just have to wear a hat."

She looked up at him with wide eyes,

"Are ye serious?" She asked him shocked.

Sirius turned around from in front of them and said with a cheeky grin,

"No, that's me."

Remus snorted with amusement while Elyse and Peter were laughing themselves to death. James and Ursula met each other's eyes before they rolled them; they had heard that joke too many times before.

Just then McGonagall opened the doors to the Great Hall and their breaths caught in their throats. Even all the purebloods that had been told what to expect from their families were shocked. Ursula could not look down from the enchanted night sky that was the ceiling. Eventually she was able to tear her eyes away and she looked in front of her. The group had made their way to the front of the hall and all the eyes in the hall were on them.

While the sorting hat sang a song, James, Sirius, Ursula, and Ben made their way to the front of the group. They made sure that they weren't in the very front row so they weren't seen by the teachers. They each got out their wands but hid them in the folds of their cloaks.

McGonagall started calling names, and the first boy, Gabriel Abbott, went up and sat down. The hat covered his eyes. A few seconds later the hat screamed,

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Instantly, James and Ben said a quick spell and suddenly the boy's hair was gold and black, half and half. The Hufflepuff table applauded and some of the older kids moved to change his hair back but Gabriel shook them off with a laugh.

Then came what the Black siblings were waiting for,

"Black, Sirius."

Ursula gave her brother and quick hand squeeze before he walked up in front of the whole school. He was trying to look confident, but his sister could see that fear in his eyes. The hat was placed on his head and Sirius head the voice,

"Ah, another Black. You would thrive in Slytherin," It said in his head. He shook his head a little and kept on repeating "Not Slytherin, Not Slytherin" over and over in his head like a mantra.

"Not Slytherin, eh? You're family has been in there for generations. But looking closer, I see that it is not the perfect fit for you. It would be unfair of me to put you in there. You want to prove to be better than your family, but where to put you to prove yourself? Your love for your friends and family would be seen as weakness in Slytherin. Extremely intelligent but not studious, so that rules out Ravenclaw. You would have half of Hufflepuff in tears by the end of the night, so I guess that leaves…yes that would be a perfect fit-"

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Sorting Hat screamed.

The entire hall was deathly silent until a small girl started cheering manically in the group of first years, yet to be sorted. Soon she was joined by another boy with messy black hair and glass and then three more boys and one more girl joined in on the cheering. There was an enraged screech from the Slytherin and Bellatrix looked like she wanted to murder someone.

James and Ursula gave a quick flick of the wand and suddenly Sirius' hair was half red and half gold. He seemed to snap out of his shock that he had gone into the second the hat shouted Gryffindor. He jumped off the stool and practically skipped to the table that was now tentatively clapping at their new house mate.

McGonagall was glaring at a pair of twins that were sitting at her house's table. The Prewitt Twins, for the first time in their not so honest lives, honestly looked innocent. They were just as shocked seeing the first year's hair change color. They shrugged at her, just as confused at who the pranksters were.

"Black, Ursula." She said, planning on speaking to Fabien and Gideon Prewitt later.

After the sorting of her twin brother, everyone leaned in to listen. Would she end up in Slytherin like her family? Would she be put in Gryffindor with her twin? Would she possibly go into one of the other two houses? Anything seemed possible at that moment.

Ursula walked up and her eyes met with her brother's for a quick second and he gave her a thumbs up sign before the hat covered her eyes,

"I thought that your brother was hard, but it seems that you are harder to sort."

"Please not Slytherin. I refuse to join the Death Eater house. Sort me with my brother." She begged the hat.

"I cannot sort someone because of family." The hat said.

"Then don't put me in Slytherin." She thought.

"Stubborn, resourceful, powerful, pure-blood, cunning, smart, and tricky. All the traits of a Slytherin my dear. But you are also brave and loyal. Such a hard decision. You would thrive in either house."

"I can't thrive without my brother," she thought.

"You're loyalty to your friends and brother astounds me. I have not seen such loyalty since I sorted the last heir of Godric. I must decide now. You would traumatize the majority of Hufflepuff before the night was over. Ravenclaw would be a good fit, but you know what would be better?"

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted into the hall.

This time Gryffindor table erupted in cheers, rejoicing that they had stolen Slytherin's future 'Prince and Princess' as it was expected when the Blacks finally arrived at Hogwarts. Sirius was the loudest in the hall. He had jumped on his seat and started whistling, shouting, and clapping till his hands were raw.

Ursula bound off the stool and slid in right next to her brother, not even noticing that Ben and James had turned her hair red and gold. Sirius wrapped her in a tight hug and he whispered in her ear,

"We did it Sissy."

"That we did brother."

The rest of the sorting went uneventfully except that every time someone was sorted into a house, their hair became their house colors. There was also a little added bonus for the Slytherins, they were hit with a tripping hex on their way to the table and more often than not, they landed right on their face.

When James had been sorted, the hat had barely touched his head before it shouted out Gryffindor. He smiled smugly and walked over to the table across from Sirius. Remus, Ben, Peter, Elyse, and four other girls named Mary MacDonald, Alice Creevey, Marlene McKinnon, and Lily Evans were also sorted into Gryffindor.

The second James saw the red head, he couldn't look away. He didn't even listen to Dumbledore's speech, he just stared at her. She was beautiful.

"Why hello, beautiful," James said winking at her.

She glared at him and turned back to her conversation with Ursula. If only she knew what that glare would do.