Hello! I'm alive! I'm so so sorry for how delayed this has been. I owe you all the biggest apology, and it is completely my fault. I'm in my second year of A-Levels right now, so I've been falling behind on this story.

Also, as you may be able to tell from how long this chapter is in comparison to my other ones, I changed the structure of my chapters so that they actually have more stuff going in them. Seeing as this story is going from Sam's first year to his last, I figured if I had less chapters there'd be less repetition.

I hope you all have had a good Christmas, and if you don't celebrate it, I hope you've had a good winter! :3

Now onto the chapter I am the most excited for... the sorting... and basically everything else :P

And yes. This whole thing is just me shamelessly chucking all my favourite characters into one massive story.

Thanks for sticking with me!

Finally, I'd like to say a special thank you to Tanya, who's painstakingly stayed with me through this whole chapter and all the editing :P

Getting to Hogwarts was harder than Sam thought it would be. This was mainly due to the fact that out of everything he was told by both Dean and Hannah, they had both failed to mention any form of travelling by boat. Of course, his life on the road had practically made him immune to any form of travel sickness, but that didn't make him any less wary of the wooden boat beneath him. Last time Sam had been in a lake, he'd been almost torn apart by a lake monster. Sam winced at the memory. Sam eyed the boat warily as he clambered inside. The boat creaked loudly, tiping slightly to the side. Sam fought down the urge to flee the boats and looked over his shoulder to see Rachel jump into the boat with a splash. She flashed a grin at him and despite the uneasiness he felt, he couldn't help but smile in return. Soon he couldn't keep the look of pure excitement from his face.

'I can't wait until we get there, it'll be amazing!' she said, scooting forwards so that her face was right beside Sam's. He nodded in agreement.

'I mean, just imagine it. A grand castle and a massive forest surrounding it! It'll be like something from a Disney movie!' Rachel was practically jumping up and down in her seat as she spoke, arms flailing wildly.

As they began talking about what the castle would look like inside, they both felt a weight added to the boat. Expecting Nico or Loki, Rachel spun around with her wild grin but was met with a stony faced boy with ice blonde hair to match his cold expression instead.

'What are you looking at?' the boy spat, folding his arms together and scowling at the two people in front of him.

'Dirty half-bloods', the boy muttered. He gave them another disgusted glare.

Sam's eyes narrowed, offended by this boys lack of kindness. Turning towards Rachel, Sam saw her mouth pressed together tightly and her green eyes glaring at the boy brightly. She did not look impressed. The boy looked slightly unnerved by the two of them staring at him so intently, but quickly hardened his gaze. Rachel opened her mouth to retort.

Who did he think he was? talking like that…

With a shake of Sam's head however, she closed her mouth and spun back round so that she didn't have to look at his face anymore. Sam smiled at her. He knew that she would be willing to fight the guy if it came down to it but he wasn't going to be a part of any fight. Especially not on his first day at Hogwarts on a moving boat!

'Way to have the mood spoiled.' She huffed, glancing back at the blonde boy, who narrowed his eyes further at her in return, so that they looked like they were hardly open at all. Sam nodded once again, and looked around searching for a boat with Loki and Nico inside of it. Elbowing Rachel slightly, he pointed her in the direction of a boat to their left where Nico and Loki were sitting accompanied by another first year. Their boat had started moving before the others had, magically, towards the castle.

'Are you excited? I am. My brother's always talking about Hogwarts. It sounds amazing. Thor's ever so popular, but some time's his actions can be a bit… rash. Everyone wants me to be like him. I don't really; I want to be my own person. Sometimes I wish I was adopted…' Loki rambled before leaning further forwards towards Nico, nudging him with his sharp elbows when he noticed Nico's lack of response.

'Hey, you okay?' Loki asked, somewhat concerned that his new friend wasn't joining in the conversation.

Nico went to nod, however at that precise moment the wooden boat tipped dangerously to the side and his stomach lurched. As soon as it had tipped one way, the boat had fallen back into its previous position. Laughing, Loki leant closer to Nico once again, shaking off the water from his hair. Loki's grin fell when he noticed Nico's hands gripping the sides of the boat tightly, his knuckles white.

'Don't like boats, huh?' Loki asked sympathetically. Nico looked a complete wreck, not like Loki would actually tell him that though.

Nico slowly shook his head, his eyes pinched shut. Not knowing what to do, Loki placed his hand on Nico's shoulder and squeezed himself into the space beside Nico, so that the two were tightly pressed together at the front of the boat.

'It'll be okay,' Loki murmured, keeping an eye out for if Nico was to get worse. Nico only hummed half-heartedly in response.

They stayed like that for a while, Loki awkwardly holding Nico, who's normally olive –skinned disposition had gone a sickly white, and muttering small reassurances.

'HEADS DOWN!' yelled Hagrid, just as the first few boats reached the cliff.

Nico and Loki bent their heads as their little boat was carried through a curtain of ivy and along a dark tunnel. The boat came to a standstill at what was appeared to be a small harbour. All the first years clambered out of their boats and onto the pebbles and rocks. Some girl with long blonde hair stumbled a bit on one pebble before falling over. Loki grimaced before looking towards Nico, noticing that he still looked a tad green. Nico smiled at him.

'I've never been all that good on boats,' Nico admitted, before changing the topic quickly and pointing up excitedly

'I think we're actually underneath the castle!' he said in pure excitement.

A few other first years heard him and began talking in delight. They were all so close.

Hagrid took them all round the corner until they reached a small door. The wooden panelling looked damp and worn down, however in the gaps between the door and the great stone walls Sam could see a golden light. He held his breath in anticipation and as Hagrid swung open these doors to the castle and collective gasps of many of his fellow classmates could be heard. As they all slowly walked inside, Sam finally understood why Dean could never put his second home into words. It was simply breath taking.

The walls were made from large stone slabs that went so high that Sam suspected that they'd reach the stars. Sam put his hand upon the wall beside him, feeling the worn down slabs in awe. Hung on the walls were paintings that moved. Sam felt his jaw drop open. He knew they existed of course, he didn't read 'Hogwarts: A History' for nothing, but looking at the scenes in the paintings where the young maiden or great knight were conversing with other people in other paintings… it was all just so magical.

The group of first years ascended up the stone stairs until Hagrid stopped them all on the landing of the first floor.

'Righ' I best be off. Wait here, Professor McGonagall will be out in a minute' he said gruffly, giving the first years a quick smile before heading back down the stairs with a few grunts.

The first years huddled awkwardly, whispering amongst themselves when a lady in an emerald green cloak stopped in front of them. She had a rather stern expression on her face, and her greying dark hair was swept up in a tight bun. Her eyes scanned the crowded students in front of her before stopping on the rude blonde boy, who, in the light, looked entirely dishevelled. Sam almost felt sorry for him.

Professor McGonagall turned to the party of 11 year olds.

'Welcome to Hogwarts, if you would all follow me' she said, leading the first years past the large doors on the left and into a small chamber beside it.

'The start of term banquet will begin shortly,' she continued, 'but first, you must all be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony, for during your time here, your house will be your family. You will have your classes with your house, spend your free time in your own common room and sleep in your house dormitory. For those of you who do not know, there are four houses at Hogwarts, these are called Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.'

After McGonagall mentioned Slytherin, Sam almost immediately heard mutters and whispers from behind him. Nico gestured for Sam to get closer, but before Sam even managed to move the entire group fell silent at McGonagall's pointed look.

'Each house has produced excellent and outstanding witches and wizards,' she continued, 'While you are here you are to report to your house at all times; any of your triumphs here will be rewarded with house points, while any rulebreaking will consequently cause you to loose them. At the end of each academic year, the points for each house are totalled, and the house with the most of these points will be awarded the house cup. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house you'll become a member of.

The ceremony will take place shortly, in front of the rest of the school. While you are waiting, I suggest,' she shot a pointed glare at the rude blonde boy, 'that you smarten yourselves up as much as possible.'

There were a few snickers at the boys expense, but he straightened up his posture, and glared at everyone looking at him. Sam felt even sorrier for him now. McGonagall looked once more at the group in front of her.

'I will return shortly, and when I do, I expect you all to follow me into the great hall'.

Sam heard a small chorus of 'yes miss' coming from behind him to the left. Professor McGonagall nodded slightly, and then left the chamber.

Now, with nothing else to do, the first years began to chat amongst themselves quietly. Turning towards Nico, Sam gave him a questioning look before asking him what he was going to say earlier. At this, Nico gave a small laugh before answering him.

'There is not a single witch or wizard who didn't turn out bad, who didn't start off in Slytherin' he stated.

'There has to be some from the other houses!' Rachel said accusingly, hands on her hips.

'Maybe, but not any of the noticeable ones at least,' Loki said, 'and Nico, you're forgetting that some of the best witches and wizards came from Slytherin too! Merlin was a Slytherin, as was Severus Snape, and he became a headmaster'

Loki looked rather proud with his knowledge, so Nico let his argument go. Rachel at least looked pretty happy with the fact that Nico wasn't entirely right.

The three of them began discussing the qualities each member of each house was supposed to possess in great detail, however Sam's gaze ended up on the blonde boy, who was struggling on trying to make his too-large-for-his-body clothes look a bit more tidy whilst muttering under his breath.

'I'll be right back,' Sam said before walking towards the boy.

Sam stopped just before the boy, who lifted his head to meet Sam's eyes. Swallowing thickly, Sam introduced himself.

'Hi… uh, my name's Sam.' He said, shooting a small smile in the boys direction whilst holding his hand in the air.

The boy squinted his eyes at Sam, and then glared at him so more.

'The name's Augustus, Octavian Augustus.' He said arrogantly adding his first name afterwards as if it wasn't as important as his surname.

He still didn't take Sam's palm which was still held in the air.

Sam would openly admit now, that he didn't exactly try his hardest to make friends with Octavian at that moment. His whole personality seemed to scream rude, and Octavian obviously thought he was better than everyone else. Sam opened his mouth to say something back to him, to try and make a friendly conversation, but Octavian only snorted at his attempt and walked off to the very edge of the group. Annoyed, Sam returned to Rachel, Loki and Nico.

Rachel shot him a sympathetic look, 'sometimes people are just not worth it,' she said loudly, projecting her voice so Octavian could hear. Loki and Nico nodded in agreement.

'I just don't know what his problem is' Sam said dejectedly.

Before one of the other three could even try to comfort him, each one of them jumped, as speeding through the chamber was a ghost riding a horse.

'Gun-ho!' The ghost cried, his horse galloping straight through the crowd of first years and then the wall beside them.

The first years began to chatter loudly, because 'oh wow! Did you see that ghost?' They spoke so loudly in fact that they failed to notice Professor McGonagall's return to the chamber.

'The sorting ceremony is about to start,' she called out in a sharp voice, 'come along now'.

Sam took a deep breath, and with shakey legs began to follow Professor McGonagall out of the chamber and towards the great hall doors… This was it. The moment he'd been waiting for. He was terrified. Sam glanced back at the rest of the first years behind him, they all looked as scared as he was, even Octavian.

'Form a line, please' McGonagall instructed.

The first years shuffled around until they made a semi decent line. At the front was Sam, and too be honest, he wasn't very happy with that development. He would be the very first one of them that everyone was going to see… what if he messed up? He wasn't able to dwell on this for much longer as a collective gasp from the rest of his year alerted Sam to the fact that they had ended up in the great hall.

The whole hall was simply amazing. In the air, were candles that floated; suspended in the air without anything attached to them, above four long tables. A table, Sam assumed for each house. At these tables sat the rest of the Hogwarts students, and the tables themselves were laid with golden plates and goblets. At the very end of the hall, was one long table on a raised platform, which looked down at the four houses. Seated at this table were the teachers. Professor McGonagall led the first years towards this table, and in order to avert the looks from the other pupils, Sam looked down at the stone floor. His brother was in the same position 4 years ago. Sam could do this.

Looking up, Sam saw Professor McGonagall place a stool on the raised platform in front of the table. And on this stool sat a very large, frayed and pointed wizards hat. The hall was oddly quiet, and as Sam looked round the hall he noticed that everyone was staring at the hat, thinking that he too should look at this hat, Sam turned round to notice that the rip in brim of the hat was opening.

In a loud voice, the hat began to sing;

'You may not think me handsome,

But that I must detest,

For when it comes to the sorting,

I truly am the best.

Large and scruffy,

Aesthetically I am not pretty,

Yet, I can capture all your gazes,

Simply, with this rhyming ditty.

I am the Hogwarts sorting hat,

There is nothing I do not know,

Simply by placing me on your head,

I know a friend from a foe.

Try me on,

If you please,

And then I can tell,

Which house you are ought to be.

Nerve and chivalry,

Sets Gryffindor apart,

Decorated with crimson and gold,

You must be brave and daring at heart.

Always hard working and patient,

And Loyalty being important the most,

The fair playing Hufflepuff,

Makes a very fitting host.

Wise old Ravenclaw,

Full of wit and knowledge,

For those with a keen mind,

And to the eagle, they pay homage.

Slytherin is where real friends are made,

Those of great cunning and skill,

Whose great ambition and resourcefulness,

Will help them reach what they wish to fulfil.

Don't be afraid,

Just put me on,

Which house will you end up?

Let the sorting go on!'

The hall burst into applause, and the hat nodded in acknowledgement before falling limp. Professor McGonagall walked to stand to in front of the hat, and addressed the first years in front of her, telling them that when she called their name, they had to go and sit on the stool and put the unusual hat on.

She stepped forward, to give the students some room by the stool, and opened up a long scroll.

'Adler, Irene'

A tall pale, sharp faced girl with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail stalked towards the stall. She sat on it, and before the hat had even fully settled on her head, it had already called out in a loud voice, 'SLYTHERIN'.

Irene ran off towards the table on the far right which was cheering loudly.

Next up was 'Anderson, Blaine' who ended up in Hufflepuff, quickly followed by a new Ravenclaw by the name of 'Arendale, Anna' and then yet another Slytherin was added to the mix with 'Argent, Allison'.

'Asgard, Loki'

The hall fell silent, each gaze upon Loki. He took a deep breath, glanced quickly to Sam and Rachel on his right and Nico on his left before slowly walking up to the stool, and placing the hat on his head. From this position, he could already see his brother smirking over at the Gryffindor table.

'hmmmmm,' came a voice in Loki's ear…. The hat, 'another Asgard… I wonder what to do with you.

Not Gryffindor, Not Gryffindor, Not Gryffindor…. Loki repeated, almost like a mantra… anything to not be in the same house as Thor.

'Not Gryffindor, eh? Why not, it could very well lead you on the road to greatness. No? hmmmmm…. Very difficult. You're loyal yes… but to an extent…. That wouldn't suit a Hufflepuff well… How about Ravenclaw? No no. You're clever, and witty but far more cunning. I say,' there was complete silence in the hall, 'SLYTHERIN!'

Loki gave a small smile, then hopping off the stool ran over to join the other two slytherin first years at their table.

One down… three of us to go, Sam thought, watching a larger Slytherin, reach over the table and shake Loki's hand.

Octavian was next, and of course, he landed himself in Slytherin. Then came an extremely small boy by the name of 'Baggins, Bilbo' who became a Hufflepuff. 'Blye, Kensi' became the first Gryffindor, and received the biggest amount of cheers from any of the tables so far. Next up was 'Carmen, Ailsa', a small Scottish girl with ginger hair and freckles. As she jumped up onto the stool, the hat almost immediately cried that she was in Slytherin house, and giving on quick smirk towards a shoer sandy haired boy she ran off towards her table. She was quickly followed by a 'Carter, Evelyn' who became a Hufflepuff, and 'Cohen-Chang, Tina' who ended up in Slytherin and a 'Count, Laura' who became the first member of her year to enter Ravenclaw House. The group of first years standing at the front of the hall looked even smaller now, with 12 of them off to their respective houses.

'Dare, Rachel'

Rachel blinked… she was next? She wasn't supposed to be next… gods this was going by quickly. She took in a deep breath, and walked confidently to the stall. Sitting down, she gave a smile to Sam and Nico, before the hat fell down on her head, going past her eyes.

The result was almost instantaneous for her, with a quick dilemma over whether or not to put her in Gryffindor, she was placed in Ravenclaw for her intelligence, and creativity.

Two down…two to go. Sam counted down. Just him and Nico… He could do this….

'Di Angelo, Nico'

Sam blanched… no no no, he was on his own as Nico walked up towards the stool. Looking around the group of first years, Sam noticed that the shaggy blonde haired boy by the name of 'Deeks, Martin' was sitting with the Hufflepuff table.

After several minutes of silence, the hat spoke up, and placed Nico in Slytherin. Once again there were quite a few cheers from the Slytherin table, and Nico settled himself next to Loki. Nico smiled, as he saw his sister Bianca cheer for him from the Gryffindor table.

Three down. Just him, Sam thought.

Next up was another incredibly small first year, 'Durin, Kili' who ended up in Gryffindor. 'DunBroch, Merida' was next, being sorted into Gryffindor, which was oddly fitting with her vibrant red hair that even put Rachel's to shame. Merida was quickly followed by 'Garcia, Penelope' a Ravenclaw, and a fellow Gryffindor called 'Grace, Jason'. 'Haddock, Hiccup' fell up the platform steps… and back down them after he was announced a 'HUFFLEPUFF!'

'Hofferson, Astrid', the friend of the boy named Hiccup, was then placed in Gryffindor.

'Holmes, Sherlock' was next; he walked confidently up to the stool, black robes behind him. He smirked at John and Molly who were to the side of the group of first years.

The hat didn't even speak to Sherlock, just declared him a Ravenclaw almost immediately, and Sherlock flounced off to sit beside Rachel. Who tried to bring Sherlock into a conversation, but was almost immediately flipped off with a hand signal.

'Hooper, Molly'

Just like Sherlock, her being placed in Ravenclaw was a quick decision, which shocked Sherlock so much that he actually turned to Rachel and said 'she didn't look smart on the train'. Rachel scoffed, and almost immediately started an in depth conversation with Molly once she had sat down.

The sorting moved on quite quickly after that. 'Hummel, Kurt' ended up in Slytherin after much deliberation on the hats part. After him came two Gryffindors 'Jarau, Jennifer' and 'Lahey, Isaac' quickly followed by consecutive Slytherins, 'Levesque, Hazel' and 'Lopez, Santana'. 'Martin, Lydia' became a Ravenclaw with a 'McCall, Scott' then becoming a member of Gryffindor house.

At the Slytherin table, the older years seemed pretty smug with the ones they had ended up with so far. Nico and Loki were sitting next to each other talking to Hazel, who was a pretty chocolate skinned girl with wild cinnamon coloured curls.

Next up was 'McLean, Piper' who received one small whistle from the back of the hall before the boy was quickly stopped by other students nearby him. She was sorted into Ravenclaw. She was followed up by three Hufflepuffs, 'Noble, Donna', 'Novak, Oliver' and 'Pascal, Rapunzel'. That last girl's hair was pretty impressive, almost touching her toes.

Yet another red headed girl named 'Pond, Amy' ended up in Gryffindor, high-fiving Merida as she sat down.

'Reid, Spencer' became a Ravenclaw, and 'Rhudar, Ori' a Hufflepuff. There were just seven of the first years left standing awkwardly at the front of the hall, Sam included.

Next up was a blonde haired, tanned boy who was unusually tall for a first year. He gave the hat a dazzling smile as his name was called up and after being placed in Hufflepuff 'Solace, William' made his way to his new table.

As Professor McGonagall announced the name of 'Stilinski—' there was a loud screech coming from the double doors and a small man with a cat hobbled in. Nevertheless, the boy with closely shaved hair fell into the stall and was announced a 'Ravenclaw'.

Four people left at the front.

'Valdez, Leo'

'GRYFFINDOR!'

'Watson, John'

'Gryffindor!'

As John made his way to the Gryffindor table with Leo, he received a rather sad smile from Sherlock at the Ravenclaw table.

Just two of them left at the front. Sam, and a Chinese boy, who looked much too large to be a first year, yet had a rather round and babyish disposition which counteracted that thought.

'Winchester, Samuel'

Sam almost couldn't breathe, his legs felt like they were made of lead and his palms were sweaty. What if he didn't get into a house? He'd be sent right home. He would never be able to look Dean in the eyes again. Dean. Sam looked up as he sat down on the stool trying to find Dean. It wasn't hard really, Dean was the only one not looking up at him sitting on the stool, but was attempting to flirt with a Hufflepuff boy on the table next to him.

Great… Thanks for the support Dean.

'Dean?' the sorting hat asked after it was placed onto Sam's head. 'ahh another Winchester. I could place you in Gryffindor. You could be just like him. But that's not what you want is it? You want to reach the top your own way. You're hardworking and patient… could easily be a Hufflepuff, and you are extremely resourceful and ambitious, which fits a Slytherin; with a combination of these however, and with your quick wittedness and intelligence. I say RAVENCLAW!'

The Ravenclaw table started cheering loudly, with Rachel jumping up and down. With one fleeting glance, Sam looked over to his brother, only to find him still completely immersed in the Hufflepuff boy. Figures.

Sitting down at the table, Sam looked up towards the hat and the stool where the lone boy was standing, waiting for his name to be called out.

'Zhang, Frank' called Professor McGonagall. All eyes were on Frank as he sat down on the stool, a little awkwardly, as for an eleven year old he was a bit bulky.

'HUFFLEPUFF!' the hat called, and as Frank moved to sit at his table, the hat and stool were taken away by Professor McGonagall.

As Frank Zhang settled down in his place, the hall became alive with chatter. The newly placed first years were excited with the realisation that they were now students at Hogwarts and thus were extremely eager to meet their fellow house members. At the Ravenclaw table, Sam was talking in earnest with Rachel about everything he'd learnt in Hogwarts: A history.

'The candles?' she questioned him, eyebrow raised.

'They're enchanted to float, with a simple charm really!' Sam replied grinning, staring up at the ceiling in wonder, 'the ceiling is enchanted too before you ask, bewitched to look like the night sky!'

Sherlock snorted at this. He was sitting beside Molly, though there was a good half metre between them. He was looking oddly at Sam, almost as if he was gaging on whether he should trust him or not. Sam shifted slightly as the brilliant blue eyes started at him sceptically; gaze so intense that it felt like it was burning into his skin.

Before Sam could even begin to ask Sherlock to look away, the hall fell into silence. A stark contrast to the loud noise there was before. Looking towards the front of the great hall, Sam saw professor McGonagall tapping a silver spoon against a golden goblet. She was looking down at the students from behind an eagle shaped alter.

Professor McGonagall gave a sharp cough in order to get the attention of those last few people that seem to be in every classroom or lecture.

'Welcome to Hogwarts,' she said, stepping out from behind the alter, and her voice amplified so that everyone in the hall could hear her loudly and clearly. As if by magic, thought Sam, before he physically had to stop himself from hitting his palm against his forehead. Of course it's by magic, they are in a magic school after all! Sam thought again, angry at his previous thought.

'Welcome back to our old students, and hello to the new. I am Professor McGonogall, and I am the headmistress here at Hogwarts. Just a few notices before the start of the feast: Firstly, to the new arrivals. It is strictly forbidden for any of you to enter the forbidden forest. This is a reminder to the older students too. As the name of the forest may suggest, it is in fact forbidden,' she gave a pointed look at Gryffindor table before continuing, 'Furthermore, the third floor corridor is still out of bounds and I expect all students to adhere to this rule.'

She looked at the students expectantly, and gave a slight smile at the frantic nodding of the first years.

'Well then,' she said, 'let the feast….begin!'

At this, Professor McGonagall returned to the teachers table with her long cloak behind her. The hall burst into excitement once more as the golden platters upon the tables were filled to the brim with delicious treats. There were roast potatoes, parsnips, caramelised carrots, and a variety of meats such as chicken, pork and beef. There were steak pies and mushroom ones; goblets of pumpkin juice or cranberry if you wanted. In front of Sam and Rachel, there was a very a very tasting looking roast pork, the crackling golden brown.

Grabbing a hold of his fork, Sam piled his plate high with the food around him. Looking down at his plate, he prodded the food curiously. No matter how hard Bobby had tried, the food he cooked was often hardly edible, and if it was edible, that didn't mean it tasted good. Sam looked round at others near him. Rachel was already digging into her food, explaining to a confused boy beside her that the reason why she had filled her plate with vegetables and a mushroom pie was because she was vegetarian. The poor boy just looked at her incredulously as he took a chunk out a chicken drumstick.

Popping a roast potato into his mouth, Sam could help but moan. This had to be the best food he's ever had; even beating that one diner in Montana his dad took him and Dean to for his 6th birthday. It seemed that Sam wasn't the only one to react this way, the boy named Stiles Stilinksi was shoving bite after bite into his mouth, practically inhaling the food.

'mmmmm,' Stiles moaned, food still evident in his mouth , 'this has to be the best food I've had for years.'

Stiles looked to Sam as if daring him to disagree. Like that was going to happen.

'So Sam,' Molly said grabbing his attention, 'where are you from?'

Molly, Sam noticed, was the only one close by to Sam who happened to be eating with some form of manners, and not like she hadn't eaten in months. She was looking at him intently, but with pure kindness in her eyes, and a smile.

'Sioux Falls,' he replied, grinning when she looked a tad confused, 'It's in America.'

'Obviously,' Sherlock said, voice dripping with Sarcasm, 'Even Molly isn't that stupid.'

Molly shot him a slightly annoyed look then turned her head towards Sam. He noticed she was still smiling.

'I know that, I was just trying to figure out where it was exactly. It's in South Dakota, right?'

She grinned wildly at Sherlock's astonished expression, because yes she could be smart too!

Sam nodded, and fell into a rather loud and impressive conversation with Rachel and Molly on how all the paintings in the castle move, with Sherlock's input of course. He could still see, however, over at the other end of the hall sitting at the Slytherin table, Nico and Loki sitting together, quietly talking quietly amongst themselves as the other members of their house yelled and cheered over copious reasons.

Sitting at the Gryffindor table, John picked at a roast potato on his plate idly. He honestly felt so alone. He'd tried to make friends with his fellow housemates but all that he'd gotten was a simple introduction from most people and then they started talking to each other amongst themselves. You had the two redheaded girls, Amy and Merida, to his left. They did invite him to join their conversation earlier however, he soon realised that when they got incredibly exited… or irritated, they spoke rapidly and he couldn't distinguish a single word due to their heavy, thick Scottish accents. John had also tried to talk to Scott who was sitting on his right. He was fine to speak to at first, but then Scott had found himself recognising the Malia girl who was sitting next to him and they began to catch up on what they'd missed from each other's lives over the past two years. John thought he'd heard the words 'werewolf' and 'coyote' at one point and then from that moment on he decided that it was better to leave them be. John wasn't even going to try speaking to Kensi and JJ. They were two girls who looked like they could beat him up in a heartbeat if they disagreed with him, and John didn't want to get on anybody's bad side, especially not on his first day.

This left Leo, Kili and Isaac, who were sitting next to each other directly opposite John. They were talking quietly amongst themselves… well… Isaac was speaking quietly. Kili and Leo were attempting to be quiet, yet somehow managed to be loud at the same time. Either way, John didn't want to disturb their conversation and decided that he was going to take his frustrations out on the, now, mashed potato. He looked towards the Ravenclaw table in the hope of catching Molly's or even Sherlock's eye, but to no avail. Molly was laughing at something the girl near her had said, and even Sherlock was looking amused at the conversation. John groaned. Why was he in Gryffindor? It made no sense at all. He wasn't very courageous, and he doubted that he had daring and nerve, so why was he placed there?

A cough brought him out of his thoughts, and it was then he realised that he'd been staring intently at his plate. There was a second cough and John raised his head to look at Kili's amused smile.

'What did that potato ever do to you?' Kili asked, grinning cheekily.

Kili was most likely the smallest of all the first years, but he seemed to make up for his lack of height with his rather overbearing personality, as John was soon to find out. His grin never seemed to falter as he raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to John across the table.

'John, right?' he asked, still smiling. Okay. The smile was getting a bit creepy now. Kili wasn't blinking.

John nodded in response, fiddling with his cutlery as Kili looked at him even more. Suddenly, Kili stopped his weird smiling and spun round towards Leo and declared loudly that he wanted pie for the pudding when it arrived. What just happened? John asked himself.

'Sorry mate, I just find it funny weirding people out. I mean, did you see your face?' Kili started laughing loudly to himself. Evidently, John had spoken out loud rather than in his head. As Kili continued laughing, Leo and Isaac soon joined and then John couldn't help himself anymore. He snorted loudly before joining in with the laughter, all thoughts of wanting to be on the Ravenclaw table falling away.

After desert, each of the prefects where called up from their seats and given instructions to give the first years a quick tour of the castle. Sam almost couldn't contain his excitement, but he managed it when Rachel gave him a pointed and knowing look as they waited for Gryffindor house to trickle out of the hall. At a distance Sherlock and Molly could see John happily talking away to a small boy beside him with straggly brown hair and a clasp tied neatly at the back. John caught them in the corner of his eye and gave them a quick wave before he left through the large oak doors. The next house to leave was Hufflepuff. In Sam's opinion they seemed to take even longer than the Gryffindor house, and Sam had taken to jumping from one foot to the other as a way to express his boredom at having to stand at the table. Unfortunately, this led to Sam being asked by Rachel if he had to go to the bathroom, which then in turn led to several people nearby snickering at him.

'I'm so sorry' Rachel apologised for the tenth time as she was yet again met with Sam's glare.

They could hear Nico and Loki laughing at their expense from the Slytherin table.

Sam grumbled reluctantly that he'd forgiven her, before walking out of the hall. They were being led by a tall, 7th year boy, whose willowy stature made Sam think that he could be knocked over at any moment in the wind and be blown away. They turned to the left and started walking up the marble stairs to the second floor. Sam was once again in awe of the paintings, where figures of young girls and old scholars waved at the first year Ravenclaws enthusiastically as they walked past.

'Be sure to be careful of the stairs when you walk about here on your own, as they often move about and you don't want to fall off and make a splat pancake on the floor' said the boy sharply as they reached the top of the stairs. Okay. Sam didn't like this guy one bit.

The boy spun around on the spot and looked down at the first year Ravenclaws who crowded together.

'This is the second floor.' He said in a deadpan voice before going up the other stair case to the third floor.

Rachel looked at Sam in confusion, wasn't this supposed to be a tour?

'This is the third floor'. The boy continued back up yet another staircase. This kept happening until they reached the 7th floor where the boy declared their tour was over and walked away towards the Gryffindor common room, leaving the first year Ravenclaws huddled at the top of the staircase.

'Uhhh what now?' asked Molly, looking down over the staircase. Rachel joined her for a second before quickly walking back to Sam.

'I see that this place isn't the best for those of us afraid of heights' she mumbled behind one of her hands which she's clamped over her mouth.

She did look a little green.

'Well, why don't we go back to the Great Hall?' Sam supplied to the rest of the group. Maybe they could find a teacher near there that could direct them to their common room.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement to this, and together, the ten of them made their way down the stairs. As the neared the end of the stairs to the third floor, the staircase made a loud creaking sound before the end detached itself away from the third floor and moved slowly towards the left, where there was simply a door in a wall… nothing else.

Sherlock turned round to tell the rest of them that they should all go through the door when he saw that the majority of them were clinging tightly to the bannisters and sprawled across the marble steps. Pathetic. Nevertheless, Sherlock still held his hand out to Molly and helped her up when the end of the stairs hit the wall. Quickly, Sherlock shoved open the door and the 10 first year Ravenclaws tumbled in.

The room was dark, and as Molly felt along the walls for a torch or something to bring light into the room, all she could feel was a sticky and moist texture on the walls. She exclaimed in disgust and jumped as far away from the wall as she could. There was a mumbling from behind her, and as she spun around she was faced with Spencer who had just managed to illuminate his wand. He grinned widely at her.

'Didn't expect that to go right!' he said happily.

'What spell was that?' Rachel asked earnestly wishing to do some magic of her own. She'd tried at home when she first got her wand but all she'd managed to do was turn her eyebrow green.

'Lumos' Spencer said shyly, giggling when he saw the others each try to light their wand up. Most were successful.

Sherlock gave him a grudging look. He was supposed to be the smart one. Molly noticed and hit him on the arm with a pointed look. Sam could almost laugh. Those two had only known each other for a day, and yet they seemed to act like boyfriend or girlfriend or something.

Looking around, now that they had light, it was clear to the group that it wasn't simply a room, but a corridor. Said corridor was completely derelict. There was dust absolutely everywhere, and huge chunks of brick from the wall were strewn across the floor. As they started walking further down the corridor, something caught Sam's eye.

Sam walked away from the rest of the group to inspect what he'd found. It seemed to be a shrine of some sort. There was a pile of items that looked like they'd belong at a joke shop, a couple dusty photos, and several letters dotted around. The shrine looked like it had taken a beating of some sort as several items had rolled away or looked crumpled and crushed. Sam blew some dust off of one of the photo and found the blinking smiling faces of two identical boys, their red hair illuminating the old and tatty photo. Sam blew the dust off of another photo, and then another and another. Each one revealed the same twins at various moments of their lives.

'What've you got there?' Rachel asked as she crouched down beside Sam.

Sam shrugged and looked at some of the other items at the shrine. Rachel leaned over him and picked up an open letter that was crumpled at the very top of the shrine. She smoothed it out as best as she could and began to read the writing, although it was hard as a lot of the ink was smudged.

Fred,

I don't know what to do. You were always next to me, always, and now you're not. I feel so alone. Mum kept telling me not to come here, but I had to. I just had to, and now I don't know. I hope you don't mind this stuff being here, but there had to be something here for you Fred. You died. There should be something in your memory. I'm not sure if I can run the shop without you, I'm not going to at the moment. It's closed until I can get myself together again. I'm never going to be together again really though, am I? We were two parts of a whole, and now we're not. I miss you. And I know this is stupid. If you were to see me writing this out to you now, you wouldn't stop laughing. I had to say something to you though.

Goodbye Fred.

Say hi to Moody for me.

Give him Hell.

George.

'I think someone died here,' Rachel whispered to Sam, handing him the letter. The air seemed to drop in temperature, and a couple of the lit wands began to dim.

'I think you're right,' Sam responded, getting up and turning to everyone else, 'we should go.'

As Sam finished speaking the group heard a low growl coming from the far end of the corridor. The eleven year olds seemed to stay still in shock and horror until Stiles began making odd high pitched noises and started yelling at them all to leave. Sam's legs where moving before he even thought to run and soon they were all darting back down the corridor praying that the staircase was still there to take them to where they needed to be. Laura flung the door open, and thankfully the staircase hadn't moved. They all ran back up the stairs and sat down near the top, Sam slammed the door shut firmly and joined them.

'What was that?' Stiles asked, his voice still high pitched and squeaky.

'I don't know,' Sam replied, looking at the door as the stairs finally moved away, 'and I don't want to find out.'

The others seemed to agree with that testament, and looking nervously at the door they had escaped from moments before, they made their way back down to the great hall. Not a single teacher could be seen.

'What are we going to do?' Laura asked, looking around. The unspoken question about curfew hung in the air.

'When we left the hall earlier, didn't the rest of the house go in that direction?' a small girl named Piper supplied, pointing to the left.

'I wasn't paying attention so I dunno,' Stiles said looking back up the staircase they'd walked down.

'Well they did. So maybe we should go down that way ourselves,' Piper said again, giving Stiles an annoyed look before walking off with her friends Penelope and Lydia down the corridor. The rest of them followed the three girls at the front, eying the portraits on the walls. The figures in the paintings were whispering, the words echoing loudly and making Sam feel slightly creeped out. As they neared the end of the corridor and turned to the right, they found themselves in a large open space facing a door, and a tall figure. Feeling the anger rapidly rise within himself, Sam recognised the figure as the boy who left them earlier, however before he could say a word to the boy, the boy started clapping.

'Well done!' he said, giving them a large and friendly smile. This was odd.

Lydia gasped.

'This was a test wasn't it?' she asked, looking at him incredulously.

'You caught me,' he said, still giving his welcoming and friendly smile, 'It's a tradition of ours here at Ravenclaw, to see whether or not you can think quickly on the spot. It's all well and good knowing the facts', applying them is the trick.'

He looked at them once again, giving them another friendly smile before continuing.

'You kids were a lot faster than my group was, let me tell you that. I think you had about half an hour to an hour on you; we ended up having to be saved by Filch the caretaker. Now, here is the entrance to our common room. In order to get in, you'll need to answer a riddle'

Waking up, Sam jumped straight out of bed, almost forgetting where he was entirely. Glancing around, blinking slowly, Sam smiled as his memories rushed back to him. He was at Hogwarts, he was finally at Hogwarts! He could almost jump up and down in pure joy, but as he looked at his sleeping dorm-mates, he was sure that they wouldn't appreciate it. Instead, Sam let his smile grow larger as he bent down and gathered his new robes for the school day and made his way to the bathroom. The bathroom itself at Hogwarts was far fancier than any of the motel rooms Sam used to end up at when he'd go round the country with Dean and their dad. It was even better than Bobby's admittedly chic bathroom, which was saying something because though Sam would never say it out loud, and he loved his home dearly, it was a complete mess. Sam was certain that under his bed there was practically a family of mice nesting there.

Anyway, as he finished up with getting ready, he heard loud noises from his dorm, signalling that all his dorm-mates were in deed awake. Sam hoped that they were all friendly. Yeah, they all seemed okay last night, even Sherlock, but Sam knew that first impressions were not enough to see whether or not someone was a nice person. Take that Octavian kid for example, Sam was sure that he was just having a bad day, and that he'd be a lot nicer today than he was yesterday.

Sam attempted to pat down his hair, but when he saw that he wasn't going to get anything other than its natural rumpled state, he gave up and left the bathroom. As he shut the door and turned around, he jumped at the shock of having four other boys all looking at him curiously, crowding around him.

'Uhhh what?' he asked, confused as to why they were all staring at him.

You had Spencer to Sam's right, giving a shy smile, his hair almost messier than Sam's. He looked a bit ruffled in his mismatched pyjama's and when he noticed Sam looking at him he pushed his glasses back up from where it had sat at the end of his nose, murmured a quick 'hi' then walked off. Then there was Sherlock and Stiles, who were both giving him very different vibes. Sherlock had kept up his intense calculating look, his head cocked to the side as if Sam were a puzzle he needed to figure out. Sherlock shook his head quickly then muttered something about needing to sort out an experiment in his trunk… Sam thought better than to ask.

This left Stiles. He was grinning wildly by now, laughing at Sam's confused face.

'It's nothing bad, we promise,' he glanced at Sherlock who was struggling with a sock, 'well I promise at least. It's just that, you seem so enthusiastic, and I don't think any of us has seen someone this excited for the first day of school before. Like… ever, and that's saying something because look at all of us! We're all so happy to be here, but you're like on another planet man.'

Sam shrugged in reply, only to get an over excited Stiles grin at him once more.

'It's nothing bad! Really, and judging from that pretty neat trading card set you have in your trunk, we're going to be great buddies!'

'How did you? Wha-?' Sam stopped and stared openly at Stiles.

'My dad's a cop, I think I can break into a trunk. It's fine, didn't touch anything, was just curious. Now, wait here while I go shower. We're definitely sitting together at lunch….'

'Don't say it'

'…Buddy'

And with that, Stiles skidded towards the bathroom, and slammed the door shut.

That morning, Sam learnt that his brother was in fact a total dick. Well. Okay, he knew that already, he just re-learnt that fact. It all started when he was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, eating away at his food and chatting to Rachel about the timetables they were to be given at the end of breakfast, when it happened. Well, Sam could say he was overreacting, but he really wasn't. Dean had squeezed into the seat next to Sam, effectively shoving Molly out of the way, and gave Sam his patented smirk. The next thing Sam knew, he'd been dragged off over to the Hufflepuff table with Dean saying how 'hot people dig dudes who are caring older brothers'. And that is where Sam ended up. He was shoved into a seat opposite a brunette 5th year hufflepuff who grunted in annoyance when he saw Dean.

'What do you want Dean?' the boy asked, his voice a far lower octave than what Sam thought it would have been.

Dean smirked before sitting next to Sam.

'Hey Cas, looking good today I see. I just came to say hi, and to introduce you to my little bro, Sam, here!' Dean said cheerfully, ruffling Sams hair in faux affection.

Yes, ruffling Sam's hair was an actual way of Dean showing his affection to Sam, but this time it was just totally put on for the show. Cas grunted yet again at Dean and then turned towards Sam with kind eyes.

'Hello Sam, I'm Castiel,' Cas said holding his hand to shake Sams. Sam shook it and then mumbled something about needing to be back at his table only for Dean to shove him back in the seat.

'C'mon Sammy,' he whispered into Sam's ear, 'You're getting me a date if it's the last thing you do.'

After finishing that threat, he turned back towards Cas with his dazzling smile.

'So Castiel…' Dean said Cas' name teasingly, rolling it off of his tongue. Cas swallowed.

'I seem to recall last year on the train,' Dean continued, 'you saying that you wouldn't be opposed to dating me. So what do you say? You, Me, on the quidditch pitch tonight after dark?'

Dean waggled his eyebrows expectantly only to get Cas narrow his eyes in return.

'I said that, Dean, in the hope that you'd ask me out during the summer. You didn't, your loss. I'm actually dating someone else now.' Cas gave Dean a pointed glare before getting up from his seat.

'Do I get to at least know this guys name since you've just so harshly rejected me?' Dean said annoyed, getting up from his own place at the Hufflepuff table.

'Sky,' Cas responded quickly, but even Sam could see the small smile playing on Cas' face when he said the name.

'Goodbye Sam, nice meeting you,' Cas said before he finally left.

Dean let out a low growling sound before shoving Sam back towards the Ravenclaw table and stalking off.

As Sam got back to the Ravenclaw table, he sat down just in time for Professor McGonagall to give him his timetable. He could already hear the groans of students nearby reading their own, so he was less than enthusiastic to find out what his first lesson was. Reluctantly he looked down at the paper:

Monday- Periods 1 and 2- Charms

- Break

- Periods 3 and 4- Herbology

- Lunch

- Periods 5 and 6- Care of Magical Creatures

Tuesday- Periods 1 and 2- Transfiguration

- Break

- Periods 3 and 4- Potions

- Lunch

- Periods 5 and 6- History of Magic

- Flying lessons

Wednesday- Periods 1 and 2- Defense Against the Dark Arts

- Break

- Periods 3 and 4- Herbology

- Lunch

- Periods 5 and 6- History of Magic

- Flying lessons

The list continued like that. Flying, Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures on Thursday, and Potions, Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts on Friday. Grinning, Sam showed his to Rachel before realising stupidly, that all first year Ravenclaws had the same lessons. Rachel chuckled at him loudly before quickly calling Nico and Loki over from the Slytherin table as John came over from the Gryffindor one with one of his other friends.

'Hi!' Nico said somewhat breathlessly, plopping down opposite Sam.

'What happened to you?' Rachel asked, popping a grape into her mouth and staring at him intensely.

'He had to run up here because the stupid idiot left his wand in his trunk' Loki supplied teasingly, handing a pomegranate over to Nico.

Falling into his seat beside Rachel in Charms, Sam couldn't shake off his excitement. He was about to start his first lesson at Hogwarts! Let's just say that if Sam could be jumping up and down in his seat right now, he would.

A small man was standing upon a pile of books placed upon his desk holding the register for the lesson. Sherlock, Molly, Lydia, John, Penelope, Astrid, Kili, Piper, Rachel, Isaac, Leo, Kensi, Jennifer, Spencer, Amy, Laura, Stiles, Merida,Scott, Malia, Sam.

Once everyone was ready and the register was called out, the man who had introduced himself as Professor Flitwick began explaining his position at the school and what Charms would entail for the students.

All Sam could think of was, Welcome to Hogwarts.