Interlude: James
At eleven-years-old James had rarely spent much time away from home, but he had long dreamed of Hogwarts and making friends there. Oh, Diara was well enough, and visiting with Frank Longbottom wasn't bad, but he couldn't help but wish for someone to pull pranks with. Frank, two years his senior, was rather serious and James didn't like visiting him very much (except to hear about Hogwarts) because Frank's mum was (if James were to admit it, which he avoided at all costs rather than damage his bravado) very scary. That stuffed vulture hat of hers … James couldn't help but think that if he made Mrs. Longbottom angry, that he would soon find himself adorning one of her hats.
As the Hogwarts Express pulled away from Platform nine-and-three-quarters, James felt a twinge of anxiety at being away from home. He had been excited about Hogwarts, packing pranking materials, and barely saying goodbye to his family, and now he realized what it was like to be alone. But, James reminded himself; he was alone with a whole school of new prank victims.
Gathering his determination James began to seek out an empty compartment. Seeing one with only a single black-haired boy in it, James knocked on the door and slid it open. The boy didn't look much older than himself, if at all, but even sitting James could tell that the other boy was taller than he. Momentarily James wondered if he were short, or if this were a second-year. "Can I sit here," James asked the other boy with a grin.
A grin lit up the other boys face, and James couldn't help but let out a short laugh as he toted in his trunk, thankfully lightened by his father with a charm. "I'm a first year, James Potter—Master of pranks, and you are?"
"Sirius Black, first year, and, according to my mother, constantly in trouble." Grinning the two boys knew they'd get along quite well.
XX00XX
The two new friends stood in line waiting to be sorted. In the antechamber, as the ghosts had floated by neither boy had been too surprised, though they hadn't seen a ghost before. What was scarier for them was thinking about what the sorting would entail. A blonde girl had been saying that her elder brother had told her that they were sorted by height. Another boy had butted in that no, that couldn't be; because his brother had told him that they had to perform a spell to be sorted into their houses.
Sirius and James had looked at each other, and thought that neither was very likely. But standing there in line, as McGonagall put down a stool and a ratty old sorcerer's hat down in the center of the beautiful Great Hall (overcast, with dulled stars that night), James noticed that his new friend looked preoccupied.
Now, normally James wasn't the most observant of boys, but Sirius had come right out and said that he didn't want to go into Slytherin like the rest of his family had over the course of many years. And so, James knew what was bothering his friend as they stood in line. What he didn't know was how to relieve his friend's fears.
"I hope we're in Gryffindor together! Well, I'd be happy with anywhere but Slytherin you know, I just can't imagine fitting in there..and just imagine…I bet that slimy, greasy guy we saw earlier is going in there. Oooh and I bet that redhead's a Ravenclaw. Bossy like know-it-all couldn't possibly by a Gryffindor…I mean, look at us! We're brave! We're…well..I don't know. But we're not slimy! We'll be okay…I reckon. Dunno where my sister'll go when the time comes…she's a little different, but us? I bet we're Gryffindor."
Sirius looked over at his new friend, talking in that low voice, "Sister? I've a little brother…Slytherin if I ever saw one…"
"Yeah, Diara is…well, she's an odd one. You'll see, when she gets here..she's younger too…," James broke off as a noise rang across the room—singing. Having not been paying attention, James and Sirius both looked around, catching a glare from McGonagall for talking, and finally located the source of the singing: the hat McGonagall had placed on the stool in front of the line.
Ages ago, for my tale to start
Were four wizards soon to part
Those stalwarts, the founders four
Set out to teach their lore
To teach their magic
First a castle of stone and brick
But who to teach they must choose
Thus began a debate none would lose
Slytherin wished to teach only the cunning
Hufflepuff sought out those most enduring
Ravenclaw desired to teach the studious
Gryffindor wished to teach the courageous
Between the Founders tensions arose
My duty, to divide fourfold, they chose
And so for a time all was well
Until discord, into the peace fell
Slytherin and Gryffindor those best of friends
Feuded over their students without ends
Until one day Slytherin could bear no more and left
To this day, of balance Hogwarts is bereft
Be you strong and brave
Or intelligence do you crave,
Be you sly and wily
Or devoted and kindly
Each of you I must sort
Sirius and James glanced at each other and grinned; they had not realized a talking hat would sort them. Perhaps, they had hope after all? Of being in the same House? As they grinned, McGonagall read aloud the first name to be sorted. The two boys watched carefully as Louis Applegate walked forward, looked around, and at McGonagall's encouragement, put the hat onto his head. Nothing happened for a moment, and then—"Hufflepuff!" shouted out the hat, and off the boy went, hurrying over to the table that was clapping loudest.
And so it went—they did not have long to wait. "Black, Sirius," was called without much of a wait (4 other A's went before him, and a single B). James and never felt like waiting took so long ever before, except for that night when his mum had gone into St. Mungo's with an infection—her lumbago, which in it's mild form just caused stiffness, soreness and joints that wouldn't bend well, had gotten worse enough to lower her immune system and she'd gotten an infection. Yet, wait was what he had to do, as the hat sat there on Sirius' head. He was beginning to think he'd scream of frustration, when finally the hat called out, "Gryffindor!" and James let out a whoop of joy and jumped up and down in line—the only first-year to do so.
Sirius grinned at his friend, who had had his fingers crossed hopefully, as he strode over to the Gryffindor table and selected a seat with an empty spot or two near him.
James watched the other students be sorted, noting that the red-head (Lily Evans) who he had met earlier and had been so sure was a Ravenclaw, was in fact a Gryffindor. He paid special attention to those who became Gryffindor, feeling pretty confident that he himself would be as well. Other Gryffindor were a boy named Remus Lupin (who looked a little mousy and shabby, a girl named Kestrel Lewis, a girl named Jennifer Morgan, and a Stacey McGreggor.
Then the P's finally came around. Morag Parkinson became a Slytherin; Ike Peterson became a Ravenclaw and Peter Pettigrew (a small boy, smaller even than James who had to admit that he was on the short side). Peter Pettigrew's sorting had taken a particularly long time, the longest yet in fact, until the hat had finally settled on Gryffindor. Whatever else the boy was, bravery was part of it.
Then came the name he had been waiting for. "Potter, James!" and James almost ran forward, eager to get the waiting over with. (If there was one thing James couldn't stand, it was waiting. He liked pranks that went off immediately, and he disliked anxious awaiting something that he couldn't control.) With a small grin, only half-nervous, James settled the hat down onto his head. And instantly a voice, which he recognized as belonging to the Sorting Hat, spoke into his mind. "Hmm….cunning aren't you?"
James paled a bit..cunning? Wasn't that a descriptor of Slytherins? The Hat couldn't…could it? But no, the Hat continued, "Foolish bravery outweighs that cunning, fierce loyalty…you Potters…always Gryffindor or Hufflepuff…but, for you, GRIFFINDOR!" yelled out the hat.
James felt a moment of relief, as he set down the Sorting Hat, and hurried over to where Sirius was sitting, along with Kestrel and Jennifer. Now that he'd been sorted, James' first priority was food, and so as the sorting continued (Severus Snape going into Slytherin after only a moment of thought by the Sorting Hat) he didn't pay a lot of attention.
XX00XX
The following morning Remus and Peter woke up to slippery floors next to their bed. Remus caught himself before he went flying across the room, but Peter slipped and fell, landing in his open trunk, knocking it over, and a pair of white boxer-briefs landing on his face.
Remus merely looked over at the two other Gryffindor boys, who had been laughing as soon as Peter and Remus had woken up. "In the future, adding soap makes it slipperier. And laughing before the prank happens gives it away."
James grinned and ruffled his hair, and Sirius gave Peter a hand up. "That's a good idea, what to help us plan pranks?" James asked Remus.
The friendship, between the only four Gryffindor boys in the First Year, began from there.