Chapter Three: Heading to School:

Harry walked from the car of his godfather and followed him into Kings Cross station. He was nervous and looked over at Neville who was just as nervous as he was. Remus went through the barrier first between platforms 9 and 10 then it was Harry's turn then Neville followed and finally Sirius came through. Harry felt very emotional as he bid his uncles goodbye, he never had been away from Sirius for a single night and Remus had been there nearly all the time accept on the full moon and this last year, he had taken the Magical History teaching post as Binns had crossed over, he would be there but Harry would miss Sirius immensely. Now he was heading to school and his boyhood was being left behind him as he started school in earnest. Sirius and Remus helped the boys get their trunks on the train and gave Harry hugs and shook Neville's hand. His gran hugged him and told him to make her proud. Then it was time for the boys to get on the train and settle into their compartment.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Neville said grinning.

"Yea it will, I do hope we will be in the same house."

"Me too." Neville said.

"Pardon me is anyone sitting in here?" A boy with flaming red hair, a mass of freckles and blue eyes asked at the door.

"No, come in have a seat." Harry said and the boy did, "my name is Harry."

"Bloody hell you are Harry Potter?" The boy said looking wide eyed and Harry blushed.

"I ah, well yea." Harry said.

"Wow, I am Ron Weasley." Ron said still awed then he turned to Neville. "Are you related to the Longbottoms?"

"I am Neville Longbottom." Neville said. "How did you know?"

"My mum has a picture of your parents, you look like them." Ron said, "I wish we could play Quidditch as first years."

"Well I cannot fly good enough." Neville said, "Harry is amazing on a broom."

"Well if you had your uncles chasing you down you would get good too." Harry said blushing.

The boys sat and talked as the train sped past countryside outside. Harry learned that Ron had five older brothers and one younger sister and they lived in a house they called the Burrow. His oldest brother Bill was a curse breaker with Gringotts, his second oldest brother Charlie worked with dragons in Romania. Percy was still in school as were Fred and George, twin boys who were pranksters according to Ron. He learned that Harry and Neville shared the same birthday and indeed had grown up together and had gone to a muggle school. Harry and Neville found themselves answering questions about the muggle world as Ron was very interested. Finally around lunchtime the lunch trolley came and Harry and Neville got a bit of everything and Ron got a cauldron cake and some chocolate frogs.

"Doesn't your mum make Molly's Quick Cleaning Dish Potion?" Harry asked Ron and Ron blushed.

"Er yea she does, gives us a bit of extra money around the Burrow." Ron said, "not that my dad does not make good money at the ministry."

"Yet not enough, I hear how the minister voted in a large pay raise fer himself but did not give a pay raise to the Auror's!" Harry said then grinned as Neville and Ron stared at him. "Um Uncle Siri reads the Quibbler mostly."

The boys ate their way through the sweets and Harry eagerly tore into the special addition of Chocolate Frogs that had Hogwarts Head of Houses and Headmaster and he very nearly burst out laughing at the card of Severus Snape. He looked so serious and strict unlike the man Harry had seen through out his childhood, yet Sirius had warned him he was like this at school and that no-one could know how close Harry was to Severus. Sirius promised to tell him fully why when he was older but for now all Harry and Neville knew was it could put the professor's life in danger if it was known how close he was to Harry and Neville. Harry traded his second Severus Snape for Albus Dumbledore and saw an older wizard with long silvery hair and beard with twinkling blue eyes much like his brother behind half moon spectacles. The door to the compartment opened before Harry could say anything and the pale white-blond haired boy he had caught a glimpse of in Diagon alley was there with two boys that looked a little like trolls with him.

"So it is true, heard that Harry Potter had to be on the train, must be you then." The pale boy said to Harry.

"Yes, I am Harry Potter, you are?"

"Draco, Draco Malfoy." Draco said his gray eyes nearly as cold as his father's. "You should choose your friends wisely."

"Oh I have." Harry said cheerfully, "you could join us if you like."

"No thanks, I don't deal with blood traitors." Draco sneered.

"There are no blood traitors here." Neville said, "way I see it your aunt is a blood traitor Malfoy, she did torture my parents insane."

"She is no aunt of mine!" Draco said turning pink. "Come Crabbe, Goyle let's go."

He stormed off and Harry looked at Neville who looked very upset, he had a reason he had seen Bellatrix in his house on the night of his parent's horrible torture. His mother had managed to hide him but he could not forget those eyes and he could not stand Draco, he was of her blood and was probably as evil as Bellatrix was. Harry did not think so and knew that the brash front of the boy was to hide his fear and uncertainty. Harry did not have much time to think on this as a young girl burst into their compartment looking annoyed. She had lots of bushy brown hair, large teeth and her hazel eyes were flashing a bit. Ron sighed, he wondered which brother had tried to "cheer her up" it probably was either Fred or George or both.

"May I sit here, there are people out there behaving childishly, two are old enough to know better I think they are third years are you related to them?" Hermione turned to Ron.

"Bloody hell." Ron said as two boys that looked exactly alike stood in the doorway grinning at the first years.

"Awe Fred they are so small!" One twin said to Fred.

"Yes George they are and dear little…."

"Get out of here Fred and George or I will knock both of you down!" Ron snapped.

"We came to offer gifts," Fred said.

"To the newest celebrity Harry Potter!" George added.

"Well as if I like being famous for Voldemort killing my parents." Harry countered not sure how to take the twins who had sat down by Ron who was not looking happy about this.

"He has a point," George said, "being famous for a psychopathically, evil, ugly stupid git killing my parents would not make me happy."

"I agree, sweets?" Fred offered handing round some sweets, thankfully they were not hexed or charmed and Harry found he liked the twins. "We have to see Percy, you know congratulate him…"

"Prank.."

"Let him know much we care."

With that the twins were gone and Hermione checked her watch exclaiming it was about time to change to their robes. She left the boys and they opened their trunks and got out their robes pulling them over their muggle attire. Ron was lucky his mother's potion had been discovered and that they could make a little extra from it. He knew that he could have ended up in second hand robes and with an old wand like his older brothers had. He had no idea that Aberforth Dumbledore had made sure that his mother was recognized for some of her hard work in the Wizarding world. He still felt so bad he could not save her brothers as the attack had come so sudden he had no time to save them. No matter he had helped and the younger Weasley siblings would do fine. Just as the boys finished tying on their cloaks and put on their pointed caps the train came to the station. The students got off the train and Harry looked around excited as he had no idea as to what was to happen.

"Fis' years this way fis' years!" Came the booming voice of Hagrid the groundskeeper. "Alright then?"

"Boats?" Harry said to Ron as they crowded into the boats. "Brilliant!"

"Cool, this is going to be fun!" Neville said.

"Look at the castle!" Hermione breathed.

It was quite a sight that got better and better as they came closer and closer to the school. It was indeed every bit as beautiful as the pictures in Hogwarts a History showed it was. Harry knew lots about the school from the book and knew it was in fact built on the ruins of Avalon proper on the edge of the Black lake. Harry found it amusing that many thought Avalon further south in Glastonbury not here in the highlands of Scotland. Not Scotland then, no then the home of the savage Celts living on the fringe of civilization and here were a magical vortex sat in an ocean of savage human chaos. A perfect place for Avalon and some said where King Arthur gave back Excalibur to the lady in the lake. Yet no-one had ever see a lady here only a squid and many learned scholars wondered if the lady in the lake and Avalon were not one and the same after all. Still Avalon had been here and now a great gleaming ancient castle stood where the great sanctuary had once stood.

The boats bobbed along the lake and made good time coming to the little cove under the castle landing at a silvery beach where the students climbed out and walked up the hundred or so steps to the castle on the cliff over the lake. They came to the great doors of the castle and Hagrid knocked three times on the door and it was answered by a tall stately woman clad in a simple gown of green her dark hair done up in a bun on her head and square glasses perched on her nose. Harry knew her at once, the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts and head of Gryffindor house Minerva McGonagall. She looked at all the first years and welcomed them to Hogwarts and lead them across the vast entry hall, past the large stairway that lead to the upper levels and into a room just next to the great hall. Despite all his knowledge of the school Harry was getting very nervous as he did not have any idea what the sorting really contained. His uncles had never told him and only smiled when he asked.

"Wonder what we will have to do?" Harry asked Ron.

"George said we might have to fight a troll." Ron said getting a bit green.

"He was pulling your leg on that one." Neville said, "no teacher would let a troll get near a student."

"Bet it's a spell." Hermione said and she started to go over all the spells she knew.

There was a scream and Harry looked up as several ghosts flew through the room having a discussion about a certain poltergeist. Harry and Neville grinned and giggled knowing all about Peeves and his pranks, he probably was friends with the Weasley twins as Ron had filled them in on his prankster brothers. Harry was getting more nervous but refused to show it, how exactly was the sorting done? He remembered what Sirius had said that it was a test of some sort and he wondered what that meant. McGonagall came back and the first years looked up at her with wide eyes wondering what was to happen now.

"In a moment you will head into the great hall and be sort." McGonagall said, "you will put the sorting hat on and it will tell you what house you will go to."

"See no troll." Neville said to Ron then paled, "oh no what if…"

"You will do fine." Harry said, "we could end up in Ravenclaw."

"Yea right what with your brains Harry?" Neville teased his good friend.

"Well um good point then." Harry grinned.

"This way then." McGonagall said leading them out.

They entered the great hall and Harry saw hundreds of students looking their way and he felt very nervous. He saw the enchanted ceiling and the hundreds of candles floating over the four house tables and the head table where the professors sat. He saw Severus give him a stern look and he made sure not to grin or wave as he saw Remus by him clad in simple robes of navy blue. He knew neither of his uncles would show him favoritism and it was a relief really as he was already famous enough as it was. He had been warned he would have to deal with his fame here in school as the charm he wore of course only went so far. He was getting nervous as he stood waiting for his name to be called. He saw many of his fellow first years sorted to Slytherin and of course it did not surprise him that Draco ended up in that house. Neville ended up in Gryffindor and he walked to a space cleared for him at the table with the bushy haired girl Hermione Granger. Finally it was Harry's turn and he walked to the stood amid whispers and stares, something he knew he would just have to get used to. He sat on the stool and the hat was placed on his head.

"Hmm knew I was going to get you sooner or later Mr. Potter." Came a voice in his head.

"Hello then who are you?" Harry replied, but not with his own voice but his mind.

"I am the sorting hat of course and you are a rare student, most I can place right away."

"Why not me sir?" Harry asked.

"You could fit in any house equally well, you have the work ethic of Hufflepuff and the strong religious code as well. You are cunning and willing to work in the shadows to achieve your goals and but another face you would show the world. Ah and your mind is one of vast learning I since a thirst for knowledge in you young Potter."

"You said four houses sir."

"That I did Mr. Potter and the last, the house of courage that would make you GRYFFINDOR." The hat shouted out the last word.

Harry got up and grinning made his way to his seat by Neville grinning as he was congratulated on all sides. He did not see Severus slide across the table five galleons to Remus who slipped them in his pocket a slight smile on his face. Dumbledore saw this and that set his eyes twinkling. One thing he was looking forward to was what the next few years would bring. With Harry Potter at school finally one thing was for sure, life was sure to get very interesting indeed.

Remus Lupin is very lucky in the fact he can work now. Severus is very rich as he did come up with a vaccine against the werewolf bite. So even if the students and parents did know he was a werewolf this time around they do not have to worry. I did not put it in as if yet as I have not shown him transforming but he has a muzzle that is magical and charmed so that when he transforms it goes over his muzzle. Hence keeping him from biting someone or eating anyone though he does take the Wolfsbane potion. Having him teach history would be good as I chose not to ignore the curse on the defense job. It has it's place in this story fear not!

Now I am very hungry and wish for something. Yes that bread which is called a review! :)