A/n: hope you like the ch. ~

Disclaimer: I don't own any of J.K.'s stuff, nor do I own the six main characters, I do own their pets, however.

Professor McGonagall came to the door as Hagrid knocked. Jennifer squealed.

            "Professor McGonagall!" she said. McGonagall looked a little startled that this first year would know her name.

            "Yes?" she asked looking confused. Jennifer turned towards Megan and Morgan, and then turned back to McGonagall.

            "Nothing, nothing at all. Go on, what is it you say?" she commented casually. McGonagall just shook her head and continued.

            "Follow me," she said and then turned around and started walking down the hallway. As the six entered they looked all around them.

            "It's so, big," Alicia said as she looked up and turned around at the same time.

            "Come on, we got to hurry and catch up with the others," Jennifer said. They all walked extremely fast down the hallway until they were right behind Professor McGonagall. She stopped abruptly, so abruptly that they almost ran into her.

            "You are about to be sorted into your Hogwarts house," she said, "There are four houses to be put into: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now follow me." Then she turned again and walked into the huge doors that led to Great Hall.

            "Whoa, this place is so cool!" Morgan said as they entered. She was looking at the ceiling in awe. Megan, who was behind Morgan, pushed her into Jennifer.

            "Watch it!" Jennifer murmured.

            "Megan pushed me!" Morgan whined.

            "Morgan wouldn't walk!" Megan hissed. Jennifer shook her head.

            "Just shut-up," she said. By then they had reached the front of the hall where the Sorting Hat was. McGonagall pulled out the list of students and began to read.

            "Adams, Ryan."

            "Ravenclaw!"

            "Brightt, Megan." All six held their breathe as Megan sat down, they all wanted to get into Gryffindor. After a few moments the hat shouted:

            "Gryffindor!" They all sighed as Megan hopped off and ran to the table of cheering Gryffindors.

            "Brocklehurst, Flora."

            "Hufflepuff!"

            "Carr, Robert."

            "Slytherin!"

            "Cherry, Morgan." Again they all held their breath as Morgan placed the hat on her head. A moment of silence and:

            "Gryffindor!" Morgan ran over to where Megan was sitting. Some more names where called. Another Gryffindor, a Slytherin, two Ravenclaws and one Hufflepuff, then the hat called out Alicia's name. Once again they all held their breath. After a few minutes the hat called out:

            "Gryffindor!"

Lots more names were called… yada yada, yada… and then Jennifer's name was yelled throughout the Hall. She skipped over to the stool and put the hat on her head. A few minutes and…

            "Gryffindor!"

            She jumped off the stool and ran over to Megan, Alicia and Morgan. More names, then Lori's name was called. She walked calmly over to the hat and placed it on her head. It took its merry little time deciding her house; she must have been there for about five minutes! Finally it called…

            "Gryffindor!"

            Lori walked down to where the rest of her friends were, they were jumping for joy, excluding Alicia, and she was, well, she was Lori. Ahem… Anyways…

            "Youngblood, Joseph," the Professor called. He walked over to the hat and set it on his head. One minute past… two minutes past… three minutes… four minutes… five minutes… six minutes… seven minutes… eight minutes… nine minutes… ten minutes… eleven minutes… finally McGonagall looked under the hat, said something to the both of them and then set it back down on Joseph's head.

            "Gryffindor!" it called. And that was the end of the sorting. McGonagall rolled up the parchment as Joseph came and sat beside Jennifer. Then Dumbledore stood up and the hall went quiet.

            "First of all, the Forbidden Forest is, as it always is, forbidden. Second, this year we have six students from the United States of America. It's an experiment we're doing to see if exchange students are a good idea. Now feast!" he said and then sat down. Jennifer started to sling her hands around in excitement.

            "He was talking about us! Us, us and us!!!!" she said enthusiastically.

            "We know Jennifer, but no one else knows that," Lori said. Megan spoke up.

            "They will when they hear us talking," she said. It was true; they all had country accents, even Morgan. She had moved to Lawrenceville from Canada, but she had adapted some country dialect.

            "Food!" Jennifer said as she looked at the once empty golden bowls and platters and goblets. Then they all stuffed themselves.

            "I feel fat again," Jennifer complained as she put down her fork.

            "Well, maybe you shouldn't have had seconds of everything," Alicia commented. Jennifer shook her head.

            "I didn't have seconds of everything, just the things I liked," she said.

            "Whatever. When do we get to go to the Common Room?" Megan asked. Jennifer shrugged. Just then Dumbledore stood again.

            "I believe you all have stuffed yourselves quite well, and now it is time for bed," he said. The prefects and the Head boy and girl stood and got everybody to go to the Common Room.

            As they were being pushed and shoved Jennifer turned to Megan.

            "Why does that always happen when we ask a question?" she asked. Megan shrugged.

            "Luck?" she guessed. They continued to follow everybody down the hall to the picture of the Fat Lady.

            "Look guys, it's the Fat Lady!" Jennifer said. Lori 'ooh'-ed and Joseph 'awe'-d.

            "Very funny," Morgan said.

            "Password?" the picture asked as the prefect came before it.

            "Hugg-led," he said. She swung aside and allowed them to enter. Jennifer started jumping up and down.

            "We're here, we're here, we're here!" she cried over and over again.

            "Jennifer, stop jumping, we know we're here," Alicia said as one of the prefects led them to their dorm. It was at the very top of the tower and on the door on a shiny plaque were the words:

First Year Girls' Dorm

            "You guys, look! It's our very own dorm!" Morgan squealed. Lori opened the door and they all walked in. The room was decorated with scarlet and gold. There were five four-poster beds with scarlet hangings, and gold pillows and gold lining on the scarlet sheets and comforters. Each girl's stuff had been placed at the end of their beds, and their animals on top.

            "Karrots!" Jennifer cried as she ran towards her owl/cat. Her bed was placed right next to the balcony; they supposed their dorm was the only one with a balcony. She opened her pet's cage and let the lovely creature out. Karrots's silver eyes twinkled in the starlight.

            "Where's Chrystal?" Lori asked Megan whose bed was right next to hers. It was rather ironic to place those to next to each other.

            "In the Owlery most likely, I suppose they didn't know what to do with Karrots as she's not exactly an owl," Megan explained. Lori nodded.

            "Is that where they put Aristotle?" Alicia asked Morgan whose bed was next to hers.

            "Probably. Although, I think it would be better to keep both of them in here, that way Karrots will have someone to talk to besides Ivory and Ebony," she said as she picked up Ebony and began to stroke her.

            "That's a grand idea, Morgan," Jennifer said as she walked over to the other four with Karrots in her arms. Megan was now holding Ivory as well.

            "Shall we get them now?" Alicia asked. Jennifer's eyes lit up.

            "Let's!" she said. Lori smiled.

            "Isn't that against the rules?" she asked. Megan nodded.

            "Yep, but that's the best reason to do it," Morgan said.

            "I'm up for it," Lori said, and it was obvious the others were too, except for Alicia.

            "I don't know you guys, what if we get caught, and get a detention?" she asked.

            "We won't get caught," said a surprisingly familiar voice.

            "Joseph! What are you doing here?" Jennifer asked. She was the only one facing the door.

            "I decided to be a friend and come and say good-night to you people when I heard talking about getting those owls. I had better be included," he said. The girls smiled.

            "State your reasons," Jennifer said.

            "One, I have an owl; two, you couldn't make it halfway without me," he said quite calmly.

            "They are good reasons…" Alicia said.

            "Yeah, and he is our friend…" Megan said.

            "Well of course he's coming, I just wanted to know if he had any other reasons," Jennifer said. So they prepared. They dug through their trunks, and Joseph went back to his room to dig through his. Finally they had all found some dark clothing to put on. When Joseph returned the girls pulled out some make-up and put dark marks under their eyes and Joseph's. They were all ready to go, except for one thing.

            "You guys, we don't know where the Owlery is," Morgan pointed out.

            "Never fear, Karrots is here," Jennifer said. The others looked at her puzzled.

            "So?" Lori said.

            "She can lead us. She'll be able to fly ahead of us and find it, and then she can come back to us and show us," she explained.

            "She's that smart?" Joseph asked. Karrots flew over to him with a look on her face as if to say, "Duh".

            "Ok, well it's the only plan we've got, so I guess we'll have to use it," Megan rationalized. Alicia nodded and they headed out. It had taken them roughly two hours to get ready, so by the time they entered the common room there were only a few older students sitting by the fire.

            The six kids walked quietly to the portrait hole. Jennifer moved it aside because she was in front with Karrots who was wise enough not to make a sound. One after the other they hopped out of the portrait, and, fortunately for them, the Fat Lady was already asleep.

            "Now Karrots," Jennifer said to her pet, "Fly to the Owlery and come back to show us the way."

            "And hurry," Alicia said nervously.

            "And quietly," Megan added.

            "Just let the freakin' thing go," Lori said. Jennifer whispered something about Karrots not being a 'thing' and then released her. Karrots's owlish wings made it easy for her to fly quietly.

            "Now we just have to wait?" Morgan asked. Jennifer nodded.

            "Great," Joseph whispered. However, Karrots was back in hardly any time at all. She hooted quietly to let them know that they should follow her, and then turned and flew a ways down the hallway where she stopped to let them catch up with her.

            They went in this manner for quite sometime, hardly daring to breathe, just in case there were a few teachers around. Surprisingly, they made it to the Owlery without being discovered. Joseph was the first to enter the Owlery, and as soon as he did his owl, Scere, flew straight to him.

            "Hello, Scere. Where's Chrystal and Aristotle?" he asked the great horned owl. Lori and Alicia entered at that time and, what with their names being called and their owners showing up, Chrystal and Aristotle flew to their respective owners. Megan, Morgan, and Jennifer then entered, not necessarily in that order.

            "Do you guys have your owls?" Megan asked impatiently. The three nodded.

            "Well, com on, I don't want to get caught out of bed on my first night at Hogwarts," Morgan hissed.

            "Where did Karrots go?" Alicia asked Jennifer.

            "Oh, um, where did she go?" Jennifer said startled to find that her owl/cat was missing. Just then a small 'meow' issued from far up in the rafters of the Owlery.

            "Is that her?" Joseph asked.

            "Yes," Jennifer replied exasperated, "Karrots get down here right now!" Another 'meow' and then a swish of wings was the response. Karrots then landed in Jennifer's arms.

            "Can we go now?" Alicia questioned.

            "Yes, come on," Jennifer said leading the way. She let Karrots fly ahead to show them the way back.

            They proceeded in the same way they had when they were coming. Everything was running smoothly, when a disastrous thing happened.

            Morgan, who was in the back, tripped over Megan, who was right in front of her, because Megan had stopped quite suddenly for she thought she saw a shadow ahead of them. Megan then fell and bumped Alicia, who was in front of her, who dropped Aristotle who flew and landed on Lori's head, which startled Chrystal who flew in a flurry in front of Joseph, who dropped Scere and tripped on the uneven floor which caused him to bump into Jennifer causing her to fall almost on top of Scere, who let out an awfully loud 'SQUAWK'.

            And then they heard the footsteps.

            They all scrambled up as fast as they could, grabbed their pets, save Jennifer who couldn't get to Karrots, and ran into the classroom door that they had fallen in front of. They had just managed to scurry over to different sides of the classroom in the attempt of hiding in the darker areas, when the door opened and a man whom they had only read about, well most of them had only read about, stepped into the room.

            Professor Severus Snape.

            We are so dead. Was the thought that flew through all of their minds.

            Snape began to walk around the room, and was almost to Alicia's hiding place when the man they were most unprepared to see walked in hurriedly behind Snape.

            Professor Albus Dumbledore.

            "Severus, I believe the potion you were working on is beginning to flow over and burn through the dungeon floor," the headmaster said. The six kids, even the ones who hadn't read the Harry Potter books, were in awe of the Professor.

            Snape turned quickly on his heel and hurried out of the room with a breathless thanks to the headmaster.

            Dumbledore didn't hurry off immediately. He smiled as if he knew they were there, and then turned around calmly and left.

            "Is it safe, do you think?" Alicia asked no one in particular.

            "It's safe," Morgan answered her. The kids came out of their hiding spots with their pets and went back to Gryffindor Tower as fast as they could. There they woke the Fat Lady, who was too tired to ask questions, and climbed into the common room.

            "'Night, Joseph," the girls chorused as they went their separate ways. When the girls reached their dorm Jennifer was happy to see Karrots sitting patiently on her bed. Lori set Chrystal on one of her bed posts. Alicia did likewise. Megan and Morgan crawled into their beds where their cats were already sleeping peacefully. Jennifer, Lori, and Alicia followed suit. Before they all closed their eyes to sleep Jennifer spoke up:

            "We have got to do that again!"

A/n: another chapter finished. R/r please!!!!