Hi everyone! I'm really excited to get back into writing this story after a little while. I appreciate everyone's nice reviews. They really help me continue to write this story and continue to improve my writing skills. Also, I finally saw Infinty War and holy oh my god what a movie. No spoilers, but if you haven't seen it and your into that kind of stuff, I definitely recommend it. Also, I finally decided to make Chapters 1 and 2 easier to read for people who haven't already read them. Anyways, enough of all that stuff. Let's hop right back in the action. Hope you enjoy Chapter 4! :)

Chapter 4: First Year Begins, Part 1

Finally, after a long, fun summer, September 1st arrived, and with it, the start of a new school year at Hogwarts. Even though I have been in this world for two and a half months, I still hadn't gotten over my excitement about it.

Since the trip to Diagon Alley, I had read all of the first year schoolbooks in every subject and found that I enjoyed Potions class the most. Even knowing who the current Potions professor was couldn't dissuade me from enjoying it. Back in my world, cooking was always one of my favorite pasttimes and I could definitely see myself being pretty good at Potions.

Herbology, as it turns out, was easily my least favorite of the courses. I've never really had much of a green finger, so I'm definitely going to have to work really hard to get a good grade there.

My mom has been driving us to King's Cross Station for about fifteen important question still floating around in my mind: 'What house will I be sorted in?' I thought about it for a bit, and thought that Slytherin fits my personality to a tee. I was a bit worried about this, not because I hate the house or have prejudice towards it, but because I knew the stigma the house has.

But more importantly than that, if I indeed was sorted into Slytherin, I probably wouldn't become friends with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Ever since I started reading the books, I had always dreamed of being their friend, going on the crazy adventures I read about, no matter how dangerous they might be.

Finally, I made up my mind on where I wanted to be sorted as we pull up onto the station. We got out of the car and once I got all of my belongings I was taking, we made our way to the wall in between Platforms 9 and 10.

After a bit of walking, we eventually found it. My mom already knew how to get on the platform, even though she told me that because she was a Muggle, she wouldn't be able to cross through the barrier. I was still very confused on how she knew about the platform and about Hogwarts without being magical herself, but I filed that away in my mind for future reference.

We said our goodbyes as I took hold of my trolley and walked into the wall stepping onto Platform 9 3/4 for the first time.

Looking around, the place was truly magical. There was an overwhelming amount of red everywhere, from the painting of the walls to the bricks on the ground. The station was fairly large, which was to be expected considering how many people are on it at once. Turning a bit to the right, I finally see it: the Hogwarts Express. The train was absolutely massive, probably capable of holding close to a thousand people inside it at once. Just like in the movies, the train was scarlet red, with many different windows on the side.

Walking towards the train to get on, I spot a few familiar faces, like the Malfoys and the Longbottoms. I finally make my way to the train entrance as the door opens itself up. I am able to climb into the train with relative ease, but I wasn't able to get my trunks into the train as easily. As I struggle, I hear a girl's voice calling out to me. "Do you need some help?" I look towards the area where I heard the voice when I finally notice the person calling out to me. It was none other than Hermione Granger.

She looked almost identical to Emma Watson from the first movie, with the notable exception of having very frizzled, bushy brown hair. She runs towards me and starts to help pick my trunks up. After a bit of struggle, we finally manage to pull it into the train. I decide to return the favor as I help her get her trunks into the train as well. Once the job was completed, she climbs into the train.

"Thank you very much for your help." she says shyly. "Don't worry, it was the least I could do. Thank you for helping me as well." I say back. She smiles at me and raises her hand towards me. "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger!" I put my hand into hers as we shake. "Hello Hermione, I'm Alex... Johnson." I say, not wanting to reveal my actual name in case she knew of the history behind it. "Nice to meet you Alex! I hope we can be friends." I give her a dazzling smile as I say, "I would love to!"

Clearly, this was the first time that someone wanted to be her friend as she pulls her hand out of mine and widens her eyes a bit. "Do.. do... do you really mean that?" she shakenly says. Reassuringly, I look into her brown eyes and say, "Of course I would!"

This very clearly puts a massive smile on her face as she immediately engulfs me in a huge hug. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she says quickly. I chuckle a bit and pull out of her hug, smiling at her. "Haha, no problem Hermione. Just try not to crush all of my bones next time." I say. She giggles a bit and we begin to walk towards a compartment with all of our items.

After about five minutes, we finally find an empty compartment to sit in. I open the door and gesture in. She gives me a mock bow as she walks in, laying her trunks in the seat next to her. Chuckling, I walk in and do the same thing, sitting across from her.

I distantly hear a clock chiming and assume that the train was about to leave. Sure enough, the train begins to move away from the station only a few seconds later. 'Oh my god, I actually can't believe this is really happening!' I think excitedly. 'I'm sitting on the Hogwarts Express with Hermione Granger!'

Lost in my thoughts, I almost didn't notice the compartment door opening. I looked towards the door to see an eleven year old boy with blond hair and a slight sneer on his face, accompanied by two other kids who were probably twice the size of the blond kid. This was obviously Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Have either of you two seen Harry Potter on the train?" Malfoy questioned. "No, sorry. Haven't seen him yet. Good luck." I say good naturedly. He looks at me inquisitively, then slightly nods his head and leaves, shutting the door as he walked away.

Hermione suddenly pipes in, saying, "Wow, that kid looked really obnoxious. What was his deal anyways?"

Not knowing how to answer that without giving myself away, I shrug my shoulders at her. "I have no idea, but he does seem like trouble." I say.

Once again, the compartment door opens up, this time revealing a kid with untidy black hair, glasses that were taped together, and vivid emerald eyes. This was obviously Harry Potter.

"Um, do you guys mind if I sit with you?" he nervously asks.

"Yeah sure! You're more than welcome to." I say with a wide smile, ushering him in with his meager belongings.

He smiles gratefully and walks in. I move my stuff closer to where I'm sitting and gesture him to sit in the now empty seat. He slowly sits down, putting his trunk on top of mine. He looks at me and says, "Thank you very much." I wave him off with a smile saying, "No problem."

I reach my hand out towards him and say, "I'm Alex Johnson. Pleased to meet you!"

He looks at my hand as if he's waiting for me to jerk it back. After a few seconds, he grasps my hand and starts shaking it as he replies, "Hi Alex, I'm Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you too."

Across from me, I hear Hermione gasp in suprise. "Oh my lord, you're Harry Potter?! I've read so much about you. It truly is an honor!"

Out of the corner of my eye I see Harry stifle back an exasperated sigh. Understanding, I tell Hermione, "Calm down Hermione, let him breathe for a second."

She then notices his face and sheepishly says, "Um, sorry about that. I'm just so excited to meet you. I hope that we can all become friends."

Harry looks back at her with a smile on his face. "Yeah, I would really like that." he says.

I smile back at him as I furiously think, 'Oh my god, this day couldn't get any crazier. I'm actually friends with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger!"

We start to chat about ourselves for about 2 hours, enjoying each others company. The conversation then shifts over to the different classes and houses at Hogwarts.

"So, what house do you guys think you'll be in?" Hermione asks excitedly. "I would love to be in Gryffindor. I heard that Dumbledore was in that house." I look at her and say, "Hermione, just because Dumbledore was in that house doesn't mean that you should be to. You are a unique person. Whatever house fits you is the one you should go to, not the one that someone else went to."

She looks at me in shock, as Harry gives me an incredulous look. "What?" I ask, confusion on my face.

Hermione breaks out of her stupor to say, "Holy crap, you're right. I've been thinking about this all wrong. If I had to choose based on my interests, I'd still say Gryffindor or maybe Ravenclaw. What about you guys?"

Harry says, "I think Gryffindor would fit me as well."

I tell them, "Slytherin might be good for me."

Once again, looks of shock adorn their faces, this time mixed in with a bit of fear. "Wh-wh-why would you want to go there?" Harry shakenly asks. "Slytherin is filled with dark witches and wizards."

I sigh a bit, realizing that both Harry and Hermione hadn't yet broken out of the whole 'Slytherin's are all dark and evil' mentality. Well, I guess it was up to me to give them a head start.

"Guys", I say, "do you really think that whatever house you're sorted in will determine whether or not you're good or evil? That mentality is very biased and prejudiced. There have been many good and bad people in Slytherin, and the same applies to all of the other houses. Don't let the colors of someone elses robes determine how you should treat them."

They both understood my point and nodded back at me, their faces downcast.

"Sorry Alex." Harry says. "I was told that all Slytherins were bad, so I wrongfully judged them without ever meeting one. I promise I won't do it again." Hermione frantically nods her head in agreement.

I smile at them, showing that I don't hate them for it. "Good", I say. "Discrimination is never OK. Just remember that and you'll be fine."

They smile back at me and nod in agreement. With that seriousness out of the way, we sit quietly for the rest of the train ride, with Hermione reading a book on Charms, Harry staring out of the window solemnly, and I lost in thought at all of the wonder the upcoming school year would promise.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we hear the train coming to a stop. A booming voice can be heard from the distance, saying, "First years, first years, over here!"

Upon hearing the voice, we scramble out of the train as a couple of what I assumed to be house elves started collecting all of the children's belongings and dissapearing with them.

We walk over to where the voice was only to be greeted with a heavily bearded man who was easily 10 feet tall, who couldn't have been anyone else but Hagrid, ushuring students on boats. "Only four to a boat, four to a boat, no more than four!" We hastily run over to a boat and climb inside.

Another first year student nervously climbs onto our boat, toad in hand. This was Neville Longbottom. "H-he-hey you guys, d-do you m-mind if I share th-th-this boat with you?" he asks, heavily shaking. I give him a huge smile and say, "Of course you can. I'm Alex Johnson, to my left is Hermione Granger, and to my right is Harry Potter. We're pleased to meet you."

He stares at Harry in shock, but quickly gets over it seeing the look on his face. He says, "Um, hi Alex, Hermione, Harry. I'm Neville Longbottom. It's g-g-good to meet you too."

All three of us smile back at Neville and once he sees our smiles, begins to smile too. Suddenly, we feel the boat spring to life as it begins to row itself towards the castle.

Looking at Hogwarts for the first time had me stupefied. Even though I had seen the movies, they could not hold a candle to the real thing. The castle was massive, with many different towers jutting out from the ground, forming a rectangle around the middle building. There were bright yellow lights coming from many of the windows, most noticeably the tower's.

"Wow" I breathe out, transfigured by the sight. Harry, Hermione, and Neville could only nod in agreement, also awed by the castle.

After about 10 minutes, we finally reach the castle grounds. Everyone steps off their boats and Hagrid directs them to stand in a single file line. Once he sees all of us in said line, he turns around and leads us towards the entrance, where I could faintly make out the outline of a woman, who was probably Professor McGonagall if my memory of the books served me correctly.

As we get closer to the figure, I could definitely see that this was indeed McGonagall. She looked like Maggie Smith from the movies, except about 25 years younger, with barely any gray hair and tiny wrinkles starting to form on her face.

We finally make it to our destination, standing orderly in front of her. She looks at all of us, as if studying a book. She gives Hagrid a dismissive look that he quickly understands, walking away from them briskly.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall says in a thick Scottish accent. "I am Professor McGonagall, Gryffindor Head of House, teacher of Transfiguration, and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. For the next seven years, this will be your home for ten out of twelve months. You will eat here, sleep here, and make friends here. Here in a moment you will be sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, the house of the brave and courageous, Hufflepuff, the house of hard work and friendship, Ravenclaw, the house of the intellectual and studious, and Slytherin, the house of cunning and ambition. Each house is like a family, so I implore you to treat it as such. Periodically, you will be awarded House Points for answering questions in class correctly, helping others out, and more. However, you can also lose House Points by being late to class, not turning in homework on time, bullying others, and more. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will win the House Cup. Here in a moment, you will walk through these doors to the Great Hall, where you will be eating your meals in throughout the year, to be sorted into the house that best suits you. Thank you for listening, and on behalf of all of the faculty, wish you all the best here at Hogwarts. You will be sorted momentarily."

After she finishes her long speech, she walks in the huge doors that lead to the Great Hall. Once the doors shut back, loud whispers start to break out among the students. Suddenly, a voice was heard directed at us four. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the famous Harry Potter."

Turning around, already knowing who was behind the voice, I see Draco Malfoy and his goons strut over to us. Harry jerks his head up at the voice, seeing Malfoy walk over to him.

"I am Draco Malfoy, to my left is Crabbe, and to my right is Goyle." he says haughtily. "You could do so much better than that squib (directed at Neville) and these two mudbloods (directed at me and Hermione). Soon you will learn that some wizarding families are better than others Potter. I can help you there." As he finishes, he sticks out his hand, waiting for Harry to shake it.

Harry looks down at his hand, then after a couple second pause, looks back up at Malfoy. "I think I can decide that on my own." Malfoy looks at him, shock on his face for only a moment, before schooling back his face into a nasty sneer before walking away.

McGonagall walks back out and tell us that it's time. My nerves skyrocket even higher than before, terrified of what house I would get sorted in, knowing the reactions people would have about which house I was in. The double doors slowly creak open, revealing the Great Hall.

The people who built this castle certainly weren't overexaggerating about the name. The hall was huge, housing five massive tables, one for each of the four houses and one for the faculty to sit at. The ceiling was bewitched to look like the night sky as candles floated five feet above our heads. There were already hundreds of students sitting at the tables with all of the teachers sitting down as well, with the exception of McGonagall, who was already in front of the table by a stool holding a tattered old hat, and Dumbledore himself, who was awaiting us with a smile on his face and a large twinkle in his eye.

We finally get to the front of the hall, standing in front of the stool.

"When I call your name," McGonagall says, "you will come up and sit on this stool. Then, I will put the Sorting Hat on your head and he will sort you into a house."

"Thank god", a voice behind me said. "Fred and George told me we'd have to wrestle a troll." Turning around, I could see it was none other than Ron Weasley, who looked like Rupert Grint with his hair being a deeper, more noticeable shade of red than in the movies. Resolving to talk to him later, I hear students being called up to be sorted. I tune out for a bit, waiting for my name to be called, when I suddenly hear McGonagall call out, "Granger, Hermione".

I watch Hermione intently as she nervously walks up to sit on the stool. Once she's sat upon it, the hat gets put upon her head. Absentmindedly, I wonder if my words from earlier about the houses would affect where she gets sorted, but my thoughts were cut short as the hat annouced her house.

"Better be... GRYFFINDOR!", the hat yells.

The Gryffindor table politely claps as she hops off the stool and practically bounces over to the table, sitting down and saving three spots for I assume us three.

McGonagall finally gets through the J's and starts on the L's when I realized something. 'Oh no, my actual name is going to be shared with everyone!'

I begin to panic a bit as Harry tells me, "Don't worry, I don't care where you get sorted. I want all of us to still be friends." I guess Harry didn't understand why I was panicking. I decided not to correct him as I finally hear my name being called.

"Le-Fay, Alex", McGonagall calls out, clearly in shock at what she just read.

Up at the Head Table, I see the other teachers and staff with the same expression on their faces. Even Snape had his mouth slightly agape. I nervously walk up to the stool as I begin to hear muttering and whispering from the other students. I finally sit on the stool as the hat is placed on my head. After a couple of moments of silence, I hear the Sorting Hat talk to me from inside my head.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here, Mr. Le-Fay?", he asks. Suddenly, I hear a gasp of shock. "Wait, you're from another world? How did you get here?" I decide to be honest with the hat. "I honestly have no idea. I just woke up one morning and discovered that I had been transported. Please don't tell anyone."

The hat begins to chuckle a bit, still in shock. "Do not worry Mr. Le-Fay. I am not able to tell anyone about what I find in student's heads to anyone. Not even the headmaster of the school could get the information."

I suddenly feel relieved, as if a burden was suddenly lifted off of me. After a few moments, the hat begins to speak once again.

"You seems to love knowledge, but you are not obsessed with it, so Ravenclaw is out for you. Even though you are loyal and hard-working, Hufflepuff is definitely not for you.", the hat begins. With each house elimination, I get more and more worried. The hat speaks up once again.

"Now here's the tricky part." he says. "You aren't very cunning, but you are extremely ambitious, trying to prevent all of the terrible events you know of from coming to pass, as well as striving to become a powerful wizard, so you would do very well in Slytherin. However, you are also very brave, willing to step into the line of fire to fight for what you believe in and to protect friends and family, so you would also do well in Gryffindor. But the question remains: where should I put you?"

I begin to get very nervous. What house would I be sorted in? True, I could always choose, but I felt like that wouldn't be right, and I wanted to be put in the house that would be best for me to complete all of my tasks. Mustering up some bravery, I tell the hat, "Sort me wherever you think would be best for me. I will leave it up to you."

The hat begins to laugh. "Ha, ha, ha! It has been quite a while since someone actually trusted me to sort them, instead of choosing where they want to be. Very well, I have made my decision."

On the outside, the brim of the hat begins to widen as he gets ready to announce to the world where I would be sorted. Time seems to slow down as I can hear him begin to speak. I just hoped and prayed that no matter where I would be sorted, me, Harry, Neville, and more importantly Hermione would still be friends no matter what. With that thought in mind the hat finally announced my fate.

"Better be..."

Muahahahahaha! Cliffhanger! Thank you so much for reading Chapter 4. I really appreciate it. Leave a review telling me where you think Alex should be sorted into: Gryffindor or Slytherin? Sorry for the short delay on this one. Once again, thank you for all of the kind reviews. See you guys in the next chapter when Alex's house gets revealed! Bye! :)