James:

The welcome feast was rather uneventful. James had little interest in the sorting ceremony. As Padfoot pointed out, the first years just keep getting scrawnier. The food was fantastic as usual, and it was good to catch up with other students he hadn't seen in a while, but after the first couple years, the sortings got a little repetitive. Most of the older students were eager for the ceremony to end and the feast to begin.

"I'm so hungry!" Pete complained.

"Well they're down to the last few letters of the alphabet, so I don't think it will be much longer now." Remus reassured him.

"But it feels like forever!" Padfoot complained.

"Yes, but it's an important part of the Hogwarts experience. I'm sure the older students weren't happy about our sorting taking time before the feast, but they survived, and we will survive. And in a few years, those students will survive waiting for others to be sorted."

"But Moony," Padfoot replied, "I just want food."

Remus sighed. "I don't know why I bother."

The sorting finally ended, and James and his friends gratefully filled their plates up with mounds of food.

"So James, what did you get up to this summer?" Will, a seventh year Gryffindor asked.

"Oh not too much. Mostly hanging out with Sirius, throwing a quaffle around. You?"

"Sounds like fun. Yeah. Not a whole lot. Mostly just hanging out with friends."

James looked up and down the table at the rest of his housemates as Will turned back to his friends. It was good to be back at Hogwarts. It got kind of lonely over the holidays. He had been rather pleased that Sirius had officially moved in with his family over the summer. It took a lot of the boredom out of the summer holiday. Certainly Sirius and the other marauders had always spent a good portion of the summer holiday at the Potter house, but the days without their presence dragged on for James. Being an only child really had its downsides.

Farther up the table, he saw his fellow sixth year Gryffindors Marlene McKinnon, Emmaline Vance, and of course Lily Evans. His friends had teased him a lot about Lily, but he just couldn't turn his attention away from her. He didn't really know what it was. She just fascinated him. He used to think she was annoying, always getting in the way of the marauder's pranks. But sometime during 4th year, he started to notice how pretty she was. But she didn't seem to have had that same realization about him. She seemed to still see him as the annoying boy who played pranks. Ugh. Being a teenager sucked.

It wasn't like James didn't have dating options. In fact, if James had taken a break from looking longingly at Lily at that moment, he might have noticed several girls at the Gryffindor table looking just as longingly at him. He had dated, but no one held his attention quite as well as Lily Evans. If only he could convince her to give him a chance.

After eating entirely too much food, Dumbledore made a quick speech to remind the students of the long list of prank items banned by the caretaker Mr. Filch and that the Forbidden Forest was forbidden for students. Was it just James or did Professor Dumbledore look directly at him and his friends for that announcement? He looked around at his friends. They seemed to have noticed the headmaster's pointed look. It was probably deserved. James and his friends loved exploring the grounds. There was so much to do at Hogwarts.

"Speaking of," Sirius whispered, "I have some ideas of where to explore next! I think I figured out where the thestrals hang out. We could grab the cloak and head out there tonight."

"Padfoot. Again. Term hasn't even started yet." Remus complained. "And you're already planning on dragging me with you on some crazy rulebreaking scheme. I'm a prefect. I'm supposed to set a good example for other students."

"Well fine then Mr. Prefect. You don't have to come along. What do you say, James?"

"I say I'm exhausted, and no way am I going out exploring the forest tonight. Maybe over the weekend, Padfoot."

"Fine grandpa. Get your beauty sleep."

James rolled his eyes at his friend. September 1 was always a long day for James. He didn't know why. He spent most of it sitting in a train compartment. It's not like it was particularly taxing. Sometimes he wished they could just aparate or take the floo network to Hogwarts.

His thoughts were interrupted by the students being dismissed back to their dormitories. Finally a chance to get back to Gryffindor tower with his comfy four poster bed.

There were benefits to having a prefect for a friend. In this case, they didn't have to find someone to tell them what the new password was.