James,Sirius,Remus and Peter grabbed one boat, Sirius jumping on it causing it to almost capsize, while Lily,Severus and two other students whom Lily couldn't identify took another.
With a great heave all 25 wooden boats took of the great,pitch black lake towards the shining, stony castle which seemed to beckon to them.
James heard the other three boys let out a gasp at the magical sight in front of them.
When he did this journey for the first time he had thought it was one of the most magical moments in his life, but now he was wondering how exactly even during the blackest of nights Hogwarts seemed inviting, glowing with candle light like a beacon of hope.
"It's beautiful", whispered Remus, his eyes staring unblinking at the age old castle.
James nodded, across on the boat to the left of them, Severus had an expression which James had rarely seen before on his normally sullen face, hope.
A splash slightly to the left and in front of Lily's boat caught his attention, and after peering into the darkness for a couple of seconds he saw a tentacle rise and fall, the giant squid.
Unfortunately the peace and serenity of the moment was interrupted by a deep roll of thunder and a flash of lightning from behind the castle.
"Aww shit," said Sirius as he glanced towards the incoming storm as the wind began to pick up, "there has to be a storm now out of all times."
"Maybe we will make it to the castle before it arrives," suggested Remus as the wind began to pick up, another crack of thunder rolled in the sky.
"Maybe," said James with a sigh, 'typical Scottish weather,' he thought as mummers grew from the boats as another flash of lightning illuminated the clouds.
Lily took a glance at the incoming boat house which was still around 330 feet (100 metres), away, "I think we are going to get wet," she announced.
One of the boys turned to her and asked quietly, "you think so?"
"Yes"
Another crack of thunder echoed and then it began to drizzle.
"Or not," sighed Remus, he looked so disappointed that James had to snigger at him and the chorus of groans from the rest of the students
"What?"
"Nothing."
With one final push the boats finally seemed to arrive at the house and there was a sudden rush as dozens of students tried to escape at the exact same time, there were a few splashes as several students fell into the water.
"Guys, hold it," shouted James over the bubble of noise.
Sirius stopped and looked at him weirdly, " why?"
"We are already wet, so if we stay here for another couple of minutes, we remain wet and nothing else happens, but if we get into that crowd we stay wet but our chances of survival decrease," James explained.
Sirius groaned, "but if we stay here we remain hungry and wet so Mr mature, I'm joining your death crowd."
He jumped off the boat and was immediately vanished into the sea of students.
Remus looked at James, "well he's not wrong," then he too lambered off, Peter quickly followed him.
James sighed and slowly joined the remains of the crowd as they began to hurtle towards the castle, led by Hagrid.
After a five minute run up the stairs lining the hill, they eventually arrived at a pair of giant doors twelve metres (39 feet) high, there Hagrid turned around and spoke so that everyone would here him, " you migh' wan' to clean yourself up sligh'ly."
Almost instantly there was a sudden flourish as people tried to neaten up quickly as Hagrid turned and knocked on the door.
The door opened and an elderly women came out, her head held high, her gaze seering into every person.
"Not someone you want to get on the bad side of?" whispered Sirius in James's ear.
"The firs' years, professor Mcgonagall," announced Hagrid.
Professor Mcgonagall nodded, "thank you Hagrid, and thank you Mr Black for your kind comments."
Sirius's ears reddened as chuckles broke out.
Professor Mcgonagall then addressed the crowd, "behind these doors is our hall, it is where you will eat and also where any and all school announcements will take place, there are also four grand and noble houses each valuing different strengths, Hufflepuff,Gryffindor,Ravenclaw and Slytherin , these houses will be your home for the next seven years, there is a competition between the house as to who wins the house cup acts of good deeds will grant you points, misbehaviors will cost you points."
James, who had heard this all before, was watching all the other students reactions, so far it was pretty similar, excitement, nervousness and fear.
"James, walk," Sirius whispered in his ear.
With a start, he realised that Mcgonagall had opened the doors and people were following her in, he quickly caught up.
Just like it always did, the Great Hall, never failed to take away his breath, with candles lying suspended mid air, the roof reflecting the sky outside, little flickers of lightning were appearing all over the place, all four houses sitting at their respective tables, chattering but slowly going quiet when they saw the first years, their faces, the first years that is, were full of awe and wonder, straight ahead of them was a stool with a worn hat on it, Dumbledore sat directly in line with it at the table, to his left was an empty seat, probably for Mcgonagall, to his left was Slughorn, to Slughorn's left, Filius sat, to the left of the empty chair professor Sprout sat, as always a big smile on her face.
Mcgonagall stopped the students by the far side of the table before marching over to the stool with the hat on it.
The hat then came to life too the amazement of the new muggle borns and upon seeing the amazement on their faces the wizard raised half bloods and purebloods had a bit of a smug look on their face, but James could tell even they were impressed.
Then the hat spoke or rather sang.
"A thousand years past
Four people made a school to last
Salazar slytherin
with his idea to be hidden
Cunning is what he delights
as well as giving others a fright
Rowena Ravenclaw
Smarter than them all
Values knowledge above all else
She would have all knowledge seekers in her house
Godric Gryffindor
Courage above them all
To make his house tall
Helga Hufflepuff
Refused to be tough
Tried to welcome muggleborns and purebloods alike
Until Salazar told the muggleborns to take a hike"
The song ended to a round of applause even if there were a few grumbles from the Slytherins over the last line.
Mcgonagall stepped up and waved her hand to quieten the hall.
"Thank you, now when I call your name you will step up and put the hat on your head, the hat will then sort you."
She got a few apprehensive looks from the muggleborns at the fact they would have to put on an old talking hat but she ignored the looks as she unrolled a scroll which James swore had not been there a few seconds ago.
"Aby John,"
A boy walked up nervously to the stand, sat down as Mcgonagall lifted the hat off the seat and as she placed it on his head, he closed his eyes.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The yellow house erupted into cheers as John put the hat down and joined the roaring house, his previous hogwarts emblem on his robes had changed into a badger.
Mcgonagall then read the next name,
" Andy Erin."
A girl with blue glasses and brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail walked up to the hat with a nervous (why wouldn't she be) but curious look on her face as the hat was placed on her head.
"Ravenclaw," the hat announced and the table in blue burst into cheers.
"Black Sirius," was the next name and he walked proudly with all the grace and upbringing of a pure blood but through the facade there was a lot of nerves, he sat down, the entire hall in silent out of per respect for the heir apart from the whispers of just put him in slytherin already and We all know where he is going, yet the wait continued, finally after ten minutes, the hat opened its mouth and in one word shattered a stereotype,planted the roots of an eventual disownment and set a young boy free to pursue his own fate, 'GRYFFINDOR!"
The entire hall was silent, the Slytherins giving the visibly relieved boy a look that rivaled a basilisks, the Ravenclaws with curiosity, the Puffs with a neutral glance and the Gryffindors were simply sitting there, mouths open as Sirius sat down, the first Gryffindor of the year and the first Black for as long as anyone remembered.
The process continued after a couple more minutes although the looks did not quite fade, Ravenclaw got two more,Slytherin two and Hufflepuff one when Mcgonagall picked up her scroll again and a sharp, "Evans Lily," rang through
the hall.
Lily sighed and walked forwards the hat, sat down on the stool and closed her eyes as she felt the hat placed on her head.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here, a time traveler?" the hats voice suddenly spoke into her head.
Lily thought back rather panicky, "please don't tell anyone, we just want to stop Voldemort from taking over."
"A noble goal, but I do feel like that was too much of a Gryffindor behavior."
"Gryffindor behavior, I am a Gryffindor."
"Yet you are one of the wisest people of your generation, although you have enough bravery for the house of the lions, I feel like you would do better in RAVENCLAW."
The last word stunned Lily, she slowly put the hat down and wondered slowly, almost like she was in a daze towards the applauding blue house, their cheers distant and faint to her ears, she locked eyes with James and saw his expression, right through his masked shock.
She barely paid any attention to the rest of the sorting until she heard Alice's name called, then the Gryffindor table exploded and she walked over, a big grin on her face, then it was over and the next name was being called.
Suddenly after who knows how long , Remus's name got called and he shyly emerged from the crowd and strolled up to the chair.
He sat down and stayed there, the only thing changing was his expression, Lily wished she knew what was being said there, five minutes passed, then ten, the atmosphere in the hall became thick and she heard the whispers from the elder students, a hatstall, were the words/
Finally after close on 20 minutes the hat announced for all to hear, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
Lily could have crumpled into her seat, that was the second change to the sorting in her original timeline, was them being here going to change the next ten years beyond her recognition, will her future memories become useless or worse… form a trap for Voldemort to export.
'No, just because two house sortings changes doesn't mean the entire future is going to change,' but in her heart she knew she was wrong, Remus going to a different house meant that he wouldn't befriend the rest of the marauders, they wouldn't have become animagi and that had become a very useful weapon in the war, she had also discovered later that Severus had tried to see where the four boys vanished too once a month and Sirius in one fit of anger had sent Severus straight into the secret tunnel underneath the Whomping Willow and directly towards a transforming Remus, James had found out and had rescued Severus before all three boys minus Remus had gone to Albus, she suspected that whatever had been said in the ensuing conversation had something to do with Severus agreeing to spying on Voldemort which had saved lives.
Then there was her potentially not going to be friends, Marlene and Alice and who knew how that was going to affect the timeline, too late she realized she ( and James) had triggered what muggles called the butterfly effect, a series of events unfolding from the smallest thing like a chain reaction, the smallest touch could set off the entire thing or in this case the entire timeline.
She glanced up from her thoughts to the shout of 'Gryffindor' from the hat and with a start she realised she had missed Marlene's sorting, the dark haired girl running to the Gryffindor table.
" Is everything all right," a voice interrupted her slow drown into madness.
"Yes," she said turning around and found a prefect, probably sixth year looking at her worriedly., "It's just I'm a muggle born and I'm kind of nervous and," she allowed herself to act like any eleven year old would do in her situation-minus the time travel dilemma- and to her relief it worked to a degree.
"It will be fine, if you have any problems, come and find me or any other prefect, we will all help, especially in Ravenclaw, this house is your family and you can trust them."
She smiled and nodded just as a solid "Pettigrew Peter," rang from Mcgonagall's lips, Lily was suddenly paying a lot of attention to the small boy as he stumbled nervously towards the chair, he sat down and the entire process started again, after a couple of minutes (it felt like forever to Lily though) the haats voice swung across the entire hall, "SLYTHERIN!"
Lily tried to act as passive as possible but inside she was again thinking, the only trait that Peter had with the house of snakes was self preservation, which was admittedly a bit more than the other houses as the boy in question stumbled towards the Slytherin table.
"Potter James," came the next name and James walked through his hair as messy as ever, his hazel eyes betraying his true emotions as they swept this way and that.
He sat down and he felt the hat placed on his head, "A ha, so this is the second time traveler I saw in miss Evans head."
"Are you going to tell anyone?"
"I already told miss Evans I wouldn't, don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
'Why did you put her in Ravenclaw, she was a Gryffindor last time?"
"To win a war you need allies."
"What?"
'I wouldn't worry at this point, now it is painfully obvious that you are going to GRYFFINDOR!"
James sighed, put the hat down and immediately went and sat to a vastly relieved Sirius.
"I'm going to need someone to tell Gryffindor that I am not a spy," he explained as Snape got called up ,' few people must have names that begin with with Q,R or S,' thought James. After a while much to James's surprise and hatred, he was sent to Ravenclaw, the same house where Lily was.
After a delicious meal, James, along with the rest of the first years followed a prefect to the tower and the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Porcorum," said the prefect and the portrait opened to the common room, after mostly tuning out the introductory speech , which he knew anyway, he climbed upstairs to the dormitories, found a bed to the right of Sirius's bunk, drew the curtains across, got changed and then crashed, his first day back in 1971 done and he was hoping that the rest won't be as problematic as this one.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, if you have any ideas of what you want to happen, don't hesitate to ask, I am mainly writing this story as it goes.