Disclaimer: I Don't own nothing! I'm just a skint student!
The Lost Marauder
Chapter 9 - Hogwarts
"…and make sure you eat enough and do all your homework and don't let us find out you have been roaming the halls after hours or that you've turned anyone's hair blue!…" Amelia was telling the two boys as Molly led them through the station towards the entrance to Platform nine and three quarters.
"Stop worrying Mum we'll be fine!" Harry reassured her "Anyway Molly will be there and we have Romany" he added gesturing to the tawny owl sleeping in its cage "Its not like we can't contact you"
"I know, I know" Amelia said still looking nervous
"You two are going to be the biggest troublemakers Hogwarts will ever have seen! Dumbledore doesn't know what's about to hit him!" Molly laughed
"Oh god please don't say that Molly, I do not what to get any letters home saying one or both of you have caused any extensive damage to anything!" Amelia said a hint of panic in her voice
"They will be fine" Rupert told his wife "Troublemakers, well yes probably, but they know how to stick up for themselves, I'd hate to be on the wrong side of this pair!"
"I cant wait" Sirius beamed
The family walked along the platform, Sirius and Harry dropped slightly behind Rupert and Amelia who were following Molly whilst they discussed Quidditch.
"Its not fair, First years should be allowed on the team." Sirius complained loudly "I think I'm going to die without playing for a whole year!"
"Sirius stop being dramatic!" Harry laughed "I'm going to miss it too but Gideon said we have flying lessons so its not like we wont fly at all!"
"I don't need lessons!" Sirius complained
"Sometimes I think you do!" Harry joked
"Well if anyone needs lessons its you, I've never collided with a tree!" Sirius pointed out
"Excuse me but I couldn't help that! I lost my glasses!" Harry pouted "I'm so glad I don't have that problem anymore."
"Yeah and you don't look like a geek" Sirius added with a smirk "I don't think I could be seen with you if you had kept them"
"Gee thanks!" Harry laughed "Shame because I forgot to mention if you come with ten feet of me at Hogwarts I'll curse you into the next century!"
"I'd like to see you try!" Sirius replied sticking out his tongue
"I'm not sure you will live to tell the tale!" Harry responded sticking out his tongue as well
"Race you?" Sirius asked as the approached the Barrier which their parents and Molly had just stepped through
"As always!" Harry laughed
The two boys ran across the platform making several muggles scatter in different directs and straight through the barrier, Harry first, Sirius second.
"Harry and Sirius Black-Prewett!" Rupert's voice bellowed over the platform as the boys stopped their trolleys laughing hysterically.
"Merlin save me" Molly sighed shaking her head "I'm beginning to wish I wasn't a prefect this year!"
"You love us really Molly" Sirius beamed
"I keep telling myself that but I'm not sure I believe it" She laughed ruffling Sirius's hair affectionately.
"Oi!" Sirius complained flattening it back, he had developed a certain like for making sure his hair looked good, so much so Harry had started teasing him for being a girl.
"I'm going to find Arthur" Molly blushed.
"I won't warn you both again" Rupert told the boys who had just started making kissing noises and faces at Molly.
The boys stopped and watched as Molly hugged both their parents goodbye.
"And I'll see you two later" Molly smiled "Be good and Make sure your in Gryffindor!" she winked before setting off down the platform.
"What if I end up in Slytherin?" Sirius suddenly blurted out "Nearly all my family were…"
"You wont your not a snake or evil, well not too evil." Harry reassured him simply
"Right lets get those trunks loaded" Amelia smiled "I'm looking forward to some peace and quiet!"
The four of them loaded the two trunks onto the train and placed Romany's cage carefully in next to them.
"Now please for the love of Merlin behave!" Amelia told the two boys who were taking it in turns to hug their parents goodbye
"That's never going to happen in a million years!" Rupert laughed "I think a better thing to say would be to not cause any irreversible damage!"
"We won't dad" Harry reassured them
"This year" Sirius muttered so only Harry heard him.
"Don't forget to write…" Amelia Started
"We wont Mum, Stop worrying!" Harry reassured her
They climbed onto the train and hung out the window waving as it began to move. Once their parents were out of sight they headed off down the corridor looking for seats.
"There's one thing I'm sort of worried about…" Sirius started as the boys set off down the train glancing in the odd window as they passed
"I thought you weren't afraid of anything." Harry laughed "well apart from that grindylow in the pond at home…"
"I'm being serious." Sirius told Harry fiddling with the cuff of his jumper
"What?" Harry asked a little more sympathetically
"There are at least three members of my family at Hogwarts, not to mention all the children of my dads friends…" Sirius admitted "What if they…"
"We'll prank them." Harry replied simply "They wont touch a Hair on your head. I wont let them." he added seriously grabbing Sirius's hand and squeezing it supportively.
"Good." Sirius smiled as they spotted a nearly empty compartment. "Shall we try in here?"
"Yeah" Harry nodded he took the lead and opened the door to the compartment which contained a small girl with brilliant ginger hair much brighter and richer looking than Molly's and a small boy with black greasy looking hair and a slightly hooked looking nose. The pair seemed to be having a rather heated discussion. "Hey! could we sit here?" he asked a little bit nervous. Sirius behind him was eyeing up the boy.
"Sure!" the girl smiled, her eyes were a similar colour to Harry's, if not the same, Harry couldn't help but gaze into them curiously as they settled into the seats on the other side of the table. "Are you first years too?" she asked inquisitively
"Yeah, I'm Harry Black-Prewett and this is my Brother Sirius!" Harry introduced them both as Sirius was still eyeing up the other boy. Harry kicked Sirius under the table to stop him staring. Harry figured he thought the boy looked quite Slytherin-ish, even Harry thought his dark appearance screamed Slytherin.
"It's nice to meet you" the girl smiled "I'm Lily Evans and this is Severus Snape."
Severus turned back to her and muttered something distracting her from the newcomers they seemed to have gone back to the conversation they had been having before the other two boys had entered. Harry turned to Sirius and whispered to him about being polite, Harry had always been slightly more responsible than Sirius so he always ended up trying to keep his brother in line, to a point anyway. As he glanced out the window while Sirius pulled a face he caught a few words of the other twos conversation.
"You know exactly why I told you to leave me alone Severus! Tuney hates me now because we read that letter." She was muttering angrily
"So what?" Severus replied as Sirius pulled out a chocolate frog and began unwrapping it.
"She's my sister!" Lily said a little louder than she would have liked and she blushed as she spotted Harry listening
The compartment door flew open as she folded her arms across her chest and a small messy dark haired boy with round glasses covering his hazel eyes entered.
"Please tell me you guys are first years?" the boy asked "So far all I've met are fifth year Slytherins who told me to shove off and some third year Ravenclaw girls who said I was, and I quote, cute as button…" Sirius snorted
"Your in luck then, we are first years!" Harry beamed
"Thank Merlin!" the boy smiled "Mind if I join you?"
"Of course not." Sirius smiled, he'd taken an instant liking to the messy haired boy who Severus seemed to be glaring at now.
"I'm James Potter" The boy smiled looking round the compartment as he took the seat next to Sirius
"I'm Sirius Black-Prewett, This is my brother Harry!" Sirius smiled "And that's Lily Evans and Severus Snape." He added gesturing to the other inhabitants of the compartment
"Nice to meet you all" James nodded "Are you Muggle born or from a Wizarding family?" he asked curiously
"Were from a Wizarding family." Sirius told him
"Same." Severus replied coolly
"I'm Muggle born!" Lily announced proudly "Sev has taught me a lot about the wizarding world since I found out I was a witch though." he added Harry noticed that she looked torn between being friendly with Severus and yelling at him.
"Cool, I'm pureblood but its not like I'm against muggleborns!" James said quickly smiling at Lily "I just didn't want to start blabbering about Quidditch for everyone to stare at me like gawping fish!"
"No chance of that, We love Quidditch!" Harry beamed
"Same!" James said excitedly "I can't believe we can't get on the team this year!"
"I know!" Sirius complained slamming his fist on the table "So not fair!"
"and flying lessons… how old do they think we are? I've been flying since I got my first toy broom as a toddler!" James complained
"I fly, not a big fan though." Severus added in his cool calm voice "I prefer to keep my feet on the ground when possible."
"I'm not sure, broomstick flying seems quite strange but it could be fun. I'm looking forward to learning everything I can about the wizarding world!" Lily smiled a hint of excitement crossing her face "I'll just have to see if I like it when we have the lessons!"
Sirius and James started discussing Quidditch rather animatedly, Harry joined in with them but kept one ear on Lily and Severus's conversation which had started up again since the other boys were distracted by the talk of Quidditch. Harry's curiosity was getting the better of him as he heard Lily choke back a small sob, he didn't want her too be upset by the rather nasty looking boy, he watched them carefully his full attention now on their conversation, neither of them noticed the switch in his attention though.
"We're going!" Severus muttered excitedly to Lily "This is it Lil, we're off to Hogwarts!" Lily sighed and wiped a stray tear from her face "You better be in Slytherin!" he told her as a small smile flickered across her face.
James and Sirius looked up form their conversation at the mention of Slytherin.
"Who wants to be in Slytherin?" Sirius asked a look of dislike crossing his face "I'd leave if I got put in Slytherin!"
"So would I." Harry agreed bluntly "from what I've heard Slytherin is full of evil dark wizards."
"So what house do you want to be in?" James asked curiously
"Hopefully Gryffindor!" Harry said excitedly and Sirius nodded
"Same" James nodded "My whole family has been so hopefully I will be too!" Sirius fell silent at this comment, Harry knew it was because he was ashamed of his real family's record for being placed in Slytherin.
Severus made a noise that sounded like a choking house elf and the three other boys in the compartment starred at him.
"What? Got a problem with that?" James asked looking the other boy up and down, a similar look of dislike in his eyes to that which Sirius had displayed earlier.
"No." Severus replied "Its you choice if you'd rather be in a house prized for it brawn not its brain."
"So exactly where are you planning to go since you appear to have neither?" Sirius blurted out the looks of dislike on his face intensifying, Harry tried not to laugh as James burst out laughing, Severus looked like he was going to murder one of them.
"Come on Severus lets find a different compartment." Lily said standing up looking at the three of them but especially Sirius and James with dislike in her once friendly eyes.
"See you around… Snivellus." Sirius smirked as they step out of the compartment
"Feisty!" James added as the compartment door slammed
"Anyone fancy a game of Exploding snap?" Sirius asked pulling out a pack of cards
"Sure!" James agreed shuffling round to the other side of the table.
"She seemed nice" Harry commented as he took the cards off Sirius
"Apart from liking the wrong people." James pointed out "I bet that Snivellus boy hangs round with the Malfoy's." he wrinkled his nose
Harry gave Sirius a confused look, he had no idea who or what a Malfoy was.
"Malfoy's are bad" Sirius muttered to Harry as he picked up his own cards "My dad used to talk to them"
"What did you just say?" James asked curiously as Sirius flicked through his cards
"Malfoy's are bad." Sirius told James "You should know James, they're always in Slytherin. If that Snivellus boy likes Slytherin so much maybe be knows the Malfoy's"
"Yeah but you said your dad. I thought you were brothers?" James pointed out
"We are" Harry told him "but not by blood, we were adopted together"
"Oh" James nodded "Why?"
"Because" Harry replied simply "How about we get this game of exploding snap going?"
"Yeah, Sure…" James agreed he was obviously still curious but he sensed that the other boys weren't going to discuss it.
---
After several games of exploding snap and gobstones as well as a few long discussions covering everything from Pranks to Quidditch the train pulled up at Hogsmede station. The three boys stepped of the train, the colour of the sky had changed to a deep velvet blue.
"Firs' Years!" A voice bellowed over the heads of the students, Harry thought the voice sounded familiar but he couldn't place it.
"Firs' Years! Over 'ere!" the voice bellowed, Harry, Sirius and James followed a swarm of other first years towards a large man who was bellowing over their heads.
Harry spotted Snape and Lily a few feet away and James nudged Sirius who smirked.
"What are you planning?" Harry asked curiously
"For that slimy git?" Sirius asked "Only the best pranks we can play! That poor girl needs saving from him!"
"Sir Sirius to the rescue!" Harry laughed
"Dum-dee-dum!!" Sirius laughed too pretending to play a fake trumpet. "Here yee here yee, I vow to make the slimiest of all the Slytherin newbies the teasing he deserves so the poor Lilyflower can break free from his horrible grasp!" James was in hysterics by this point as was Harry.
"He's glaring at us" James pointed out
"He wishes he could be as cool as us!" Harry smirked
"He wishes he had our hair styles!" Sirius laughed as they joined the other first years loitering around by the feet of a large man.
"Everyone 'ere?" the man asked, the first years looked around between themselves and some nodded "Righ' then! I'm Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Ground 'ere at 'ogwarts! I will be taken yeh up to the school!" Harry examined his bulky appearance and his friendly face and took an immediate liking to the man. "Follow me!" Hagrid announced and they all traipsed off down the path around the edge of a mysterious looking forest.
Harry couldn't help but ooh and ahh with the other students and they got their first real sight of Hogwarts, the castle itself was simply spectacular and even after hearing all bout it and seeing lots of pictures seeing the real thing was breath taking.
"I can't believe this place is going to be our home!" Sirius beamed
"Its going to take a long time to explore!" Harry grinned
"We've got seven years!" James pointed out "I'm sure we'll get round half of it!"
"Four to a boat!" Hagrid's voice bellowed over their heads interrupting the boys conversation. They realised they had reached a massive lake where a row of little boats bobbed by the edge waiting for the students.
Harry, Sirius and James stood by one boat ready to get in, Sirius nudged both Harry and James and pointed at the boat next to them a smirk crossing his face.
"I'll handle this!" James reassured them and Sirius and Harry stepped back to watch.
"Are you sure your big head wont sink the boat?" James smirked at Snape who was about to put his first foot in the boat.
"Yeah Snivellus you better watch it! There's supposed to be a giant squid in this lake and it might fancy a bit of dinner!" Sirius laughed
"I think I can hear it!" Harry added "It sounds hungry!"
"Boys!" Hagrid roared "Stop arguing' an' get in the boats!" he told them as Snape made to lunge at the other boys
"Sorry." Harry apologised for them and they climbed into the nearest boat, followed by a rather nervous looking boy with sandy hair.
The boats travelled silently across the lake and pulled up on the opposite side Hagrid immediately beckoned for the first years to follow him and he led them up to two magnificent doors. Snape was still glaring at Harry, Sirius and James but the three boys just ignored him. Hagrid knocked loudly and the doors swung open to reveal a rather strict looking witch.
"Thank you Hagrid." the woman nodded
"No problem Professor McGonagall." Hagrid smiled lopsidedly at the woman before slipping into past her.
"Follow me please." Professor McGonagall told the mixture of petrified looking students in front of her they all did as she said. "I believe they are already waiting for you so we will head straight through to the great hall where you will be sorted into your houses."
The students followed her in silence and she led them into a magnificent hall where candles floated above them held up by magic and the ceiling above reflected the sky outside and was currently still a deep velvet blue with a sprinkling of stars. The first years walked up between the four house tables which were filled with students who had stopped talking when the halls doors had opened. At the top of the hall was a higher level where the rest of the staff sat at a long table. Harry spotted Dumbledore sat in the middle of the teachers, the friendly professor winked at him and Harry smiled nervously back as he lined up with the other first years in the stage.
Professor McGonagall produced a hat and a stool from the side of the stage and placed it in the middle.
Harry watched curiously as the hat began to sing.
Every year I'm sent to decide,
Between the things you can't hide.
Upon these talents you may possess,
I have to choose the house to suit you best.
For Gryffindor you must be brave and strong.
While for Ravenclaw, You'll need brains unless I'm wrong.
Hufflepuff holds the Loyal friends.
And Slytherin is where the cunning one ends.
The talents you possess,
Only separate your dress.
For Hogwarts is where we all unite.
To Start our wizarding life.
So here's to a year full of learning.
The older students applauded as Professor McGonagall pulled out a large roll of parchment.
"Abbott, Thomas!" She yelled and a rather nervous boy stepped forwards and placed the hat on his head.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat declared after only a few minutes on his head.
Harry and Sirius watched nervously as a couple of other first year students started to filter off to their new house tables one by one.
"Black-Prewett, Harry!" Professor McGonagall announced and Harry stepped up and nervously put the hat on his head.
"Ah! This is most unexpected!" The hat said excitedly in his ear "I have never had to sort someone who… well I guess since you don't know I wont scare you by telling you, you'll find out in due course. Now where to put you? You'd be brilliant in Slytherin!"
"No!" Harry protested in his head "Please not Slytherin!"
"Ah but then you would also suit Gryffindor exceptionally well!"
"Yes! Please Gryffindor! Not Slytherin!" Harry begged the hat in his head
"I must go with where your heart lies Mr Potter and put you in GRIFFINDOR." the hat muttered yelling the last word. As the hat muttered Harry's name he jumped, he hadn't been called that since he was six. He wanted to question the hat but he simply removed it and stumbled down to Gryffindor table and sat down next to Molly who hugged him while Sirius gave him a thumbs up as his own name was called.
It didn't take long for the hat to declare Sirius a Gryffindor too. Harry noticed a couple of black hair girls with their heads together over on the Slytherin table. Molly hugged Sirius too as he joined him and Harry nodded over at the Slytherin table as the next student was declared a Slytherin. Sirius's face when white and he nodded to Harry to indicated that his brothers feelings were right and those were his cousins. Harry and Sirius were momentarily distracted by Sirius's cousins and the next thing they knew a familiar name rang out over the hall.
"Evans, Lily!" Professor McGonagall announced as "Daniels, Lucy!" Became a Ravenclaw.
"This should be interesting." Sirius muttered in Harry's ear as they turned back round to watch the sorting. Harry nodded in agreement.
"GRYIFFINDOR!" the hat yelled only a couple of minutes later
They both clapped as Lily approached the Gryffindor table, she glared at the two boys and proceeded to sit down the other end of the table.
"Stroppy!" Sirius muttered as the next boy was sorted into Slytherin. "Look as Snivellus!"
Harry looked where Sirius pointed and noticed Severus looking highly upset and annoyed by Lily's placing.
They were progressing through the students quickly. Lupin, Remus Who turned out to be the nervous sandy haired boy who had joined them in their boat on the way across the lake was sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius gestured for him to join them, which he did nervously offering the boys a friendly smile as MacDonald, Mary joined Lily down the far end of the Gryffindor table. Soon enough they had been joined by a small round boy named Peter Pettigrew and it was James's turn.
The hat barely touched his head before crying Gryffindor.
"Well done mate!" Sirius congratulated James as he joined them and the other new Gryffindor boys.
"I knew it!" James whispered as the sorting continued "She'll never be Slytherin material no matter how much that evil git wants to make her." he gestured up the table to Lily. They watched as a few more students were sorted before McGonagall yelled another familiar name.
"Snape, Severus!" McGonagall called
"SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled the second it hit Snape's head.
"Knew it." James muttered simply and the others nodded, Remus and Peter seemed quite confused by the boys hatred of the slimy haired boy but just watched curiously.
Soon all the students were sorted and Dumbledore stood up.
"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore smiled "This year we welcome Professor Libraus who will be taking over the role of Defence against the dark arts! Now I wouldn't like to keep you from your food any longer so tuck in!" Dumbledore announced
The plates in front of them filled themselves up and the boys tucked in hungrily like they had never seen food before.
A/n I hope everyone liked it! Sorry it took awhile my internets being dodgy still and I should be writing an assignment about horse's hoof balance.. Fun times.