Chapter two

'Firs' years! Firs' years over here!' bellowed a voice as Canis jumped off the train after Fred, George following swiftly behind. All three of them shocked by the sheer size of the man the voice belonged to. As they got nearer to its owner, Canis realised standing by him made her look like a toddler. He was simply too big to comprehend. 'C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!' They followed him down a narrow path. While they may have coped with this during the day, it was almost impossible for all forty first years to navigate on a dark, cold September evening.

'Ouch, George, that's my foot.' Canis squeaked. She was pretty sure George had stayed on her right, but still felt a little unsure with her guess. She couldn't find a distinguishing feature on the train, and it was worse in the dark.

'Sorry.' he muttered, steadying her as they went. Finally, their mini-hike had come to an end. The path widened to reveal a large black lake and situated above a castle with bright burning stars glistening around it. While many of the girls around them burst into 'oohs' and 'aahs', Canis admired its beauty silently.

The large man, who still hadn't given his named, commanded them all into the boats. They were unsteady, and as Canis was a little short for her age, Fred helped by holding her arm as she climbed down to him. 'I think I would have rather walked.' she burst out after a slight slip as she sat. An uncertain looking boy decided to join them last minute and introduced himself as Kenneth. After one of the twins (it was definitely too dark to attempt to guess which) tried to convince him that the other was a result of the geminio charm, he decided he didn't want to talk to the three of them and sat in silence for the entire ride.

When they reached the doors of Hogwarts, they were greeted by a very stern looking witch, who explained the house system to them and told them to straighten up in preparation for the sorting ceremony. While some made attempts to tidy up their uniform, their efforts were in vain. Peeves, the school's poltergeist, came spinning down from the grand staircase armed with mouldy bread rolls and began to pellet them at the unsuspecting students.

'Little Ittle first years look hungry. Let Peeves give you dinner!'

Canis wished her granddad was with her right now. He was more than capable of calming a wild poltergeist and prevent him from her taking a bread roll to the head.

'Brilliant.' declared one of the twins.

'Excellent.' replied the other.

The stern witch did not look impressed with Peeves, and after a clear threat to go fetch Dumbledore, he was subdued and floated off blowing raspberries at shaken students. After brushing the crumbs off their robes, the students walked through the doors of the great hall and were able to marvel at its splendor.

Several students in their group were whispering with excitement and nerves walking past the hundreds of students already seated. They stopped at the top of the hall in front of the staff table. There was a small stool with a beaten-down hat on it. Everyone in the hall fell silent and the hat burst into song. His message was clear: put on the hat and he'll tell you what house best suits you.

The witch called them up one by one alphabetically. Finally, she called Howell, Canis. Canis just wanted to do her family proud, but what if she was too much like her mother? The hat was placed slowly but firmly on her head.

'Hmmm. A lot of secrets in this head Miss Lupin' the hat whispered in her ear. 'You'll have to be very clever to pull this off. But you are clever, aren't you? But that's not all though. I see the same bravery in you as your grandfather and father. In fact, you're so much alike better be GRYFFINDOR.'

A loud noise erupted from the table on the far left and after taking a sigh of relief, she headed towards the table with the other first-year Gryffindors. The final two to be sorted were the twins. After Weasley, Fred was called up and the hat declared George Weasley had been sorted into Gryffindor, Fred soon followed.

'He literally reads inside your head. Did you honestly think you were going to fool it?' Canis couldn't help but laugh at their failed attempt.

The food was like nothing Canis had ever tasted and she and her new dorm mates fell into easy conversation. She was one of four girls who were now Gryffindors and would be sharing a room with Angelina, Alicia and Patricia Stimpson. There were four boys in their year as well: Fred, Geroge, the sulky boy from the boat, Kenneth and Lee Jordan. After the feast and a warning about behaviour (which would be ignored by the twins this day forward), Charlie and the prefects escorted all eight first years up to the dorm.

The common room was warm and cosy, with soft armchairs surrounding a fire. They pointed out the dormitories and encouraged them all to go to bed. Canis went to follow the other girls in her dorm but there was a sudden pull at this arm.

'Hey! You're not really going to bed are you?'

'We're in a castle. We have to explore.'

Canis eyed the two boys with suspicion but was grateful they had included her in their plans. She was going to turn them down but could hear her grandad's message running through her mind. 'Alright then, let's explore. But, not the forest. Don't look at me like that, I just don't want to get lost in the dark.'

As soon as Charlie turned his back, they snuck out and ran down the corridor to the nearest flight of stairs.

'Well,' she asked 'up or down?'

The twins looked at each other, seemed to consider their options. They turned back to Canis, and said 'up.'

That was the first night the twins and Canis explored the castle. It was the first time Filch caught them and dragged them to McGonagall's office. It was the first time an owl was sent home expressing concern about their behaviour. It was not the last time. In fact, it became such a regular occurrence that Canis was convinced one school owl was used by staff for the sole purpose of sending home letters to Mr and Mrs Weasley.