Disclaimer- I do not own any of the H.P characters!

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Chapter 10 - Sounds in the night

Lily's heart pounced as she took off the hat and walked eagerly to the Gryffindor table, where Sirius, James and Peter all grinning broadly at her and who were applauding the loudest. Lily sat down between Sirius and James. She saw the top High Table clearly now, at the nearest end she saw Ogg and a particularly tall young man wearing moleskin coat. And there, in the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat a man wearing half-moon glasses, had a long crooked nose and flowing silver hair, beard and moustache.

"Who's that?" Lily whispered to James

"Oh, that's the great man, Professor Albus Dumbledore. He's our headmaster", said James still smiling broadly at Lily.

There were still a few people left to be sorted and among them are Jenny and Sebastian. 'Felltham, Susan' became Slytherin and then it was Jenny's turn. She was looking nervous and excited at the same time. Lily crossed her fingers and a second later the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily clapped loudly with the rest as Jenny sat into the chair next to James. Sebastian and Cassidy both ended up in Gryffindor too.

As the last student was sorted, Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. Professor Albus Dumbledore got to his feet and beamed happily at the students. He opened his arms wide as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! A word of encouragement and which is: Ogillyboglitybug!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Lily clapped with the students, confused, but ignored it when the dishes in front of her soon piled with food. Lily's mouth fell open. She had never seen so many things she liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire, pudding, peas, carrots, gravy and all the other foods you can think of. Lily piled her plate with a bit of everything and began to eat. Everything was delicious. James and Sirius started to talk to Lily asking her whether they scared her, of course she lied and said that she overheard someone talking about it and she already knew. She smiled as she saw James and Sirius' face as they chewed down their food, disappointed.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates leaving them sparkling clean as before. Then suddenly, puddings appeared, blocks of ice cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, and rice pudding…

"I see deserts have arrived," spoke a cheerful voice behind Lily.

Lily turned around and to her surprise it was a ghost. Not that she was scared of them, but she didn't know that they actually existed. Lily opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

"Sir Nick!" exclaimed James. "Meet Lily Evans."

Lily managed to nod. "Nice to meet you, Lily. I would shake your hands, but as you can see I cannot." Sir Nick looked at his hands and smiled at Lily. She smiled back.

That awkwardness feeling she felt when Sir Nick arrived was now gone. There was a sense of warmth in him that Lily could not quite describe. She smiled at him and asked, "I have read about you, Sir Nick, I really do feel sorry that you were not fully headless-"

Sir Nick paused. Lily suddenly bit her lip hoping that she had not insulted or got Sir Nick upset. He stared at her almost tearfully and said, "I have never received a better compliment from anyone at all!"

Rather confused, Lily smiled and began to grab a bit of everything. Thinking that she should just keep her mouth shut, not that she didn't like Sir Nick, she was just afraid that she might say something again and this time might upset him. Lily began to slowly eat a block of chocolate ice cream as she listened to the others talking about their families.

"I wasn't sure what I was, but I think I'm a half and a half," started Sebastian. "I got lost in a forest once and when I woke up, I thought I saw someone flying on a broomstick…to my surprise it was my mum."

Some people laughed and the others just smiled, including Lily. "What about you, Lily?" Jenny asked, chewing on an apple pie.

Lily was just about to finish the ice cream in her mouth and was about to answer, when James answered it for her. "Oh she's a Muggle born," said James, stuffing his mouth with ice cream.

Lily frowned. For some reason, how James said that she was a Muggle born, Lily felt as if it was an insult or some sort. She didn't know why she felt uneasy hearing that she was a Muggle, she wasn't ashamed of being one or anything, but the way that James had said it, but Lily chose to ignore it and continued to listen quietly, while she wondered in her thoughts. At last, the puddings too disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet once again. The hall fell silent.

Dumbledore's winkling eyes flashed in the direction of James, Sirius, and Peter. "I have been asked by Mr Pringle, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for his or her house teams should contact Madam Hooch…and finally, I must tell you that this year, the Forbidden Forest and the old Potions room in the dungeon is now out of bounds to everyone," and Dumbledore looked at James, Sirius and Peter, "and I mean everyone," he looked straight at the boys. "And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Lily saw the other teachers that were once smiling became rather fixed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he was trying to conduct a musical group and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself snake-like into words. "Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

The school bellowed:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now, they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot."

Everyone ended the song different times. Jenny sang the tune of 'Twinkle twinkle', Sebastian some rock tune and James, Sirius and Peter were the only ones left singing along to a ballad tune. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, the boys bowed Dumbledore and Lily were one of those who clapped the loudest.

"Ah, music to my ears," he said smiling proudly. "And now, bedtime. Off you go!"

Impressed by all the things that have happened, Lily and the Gryffindor first years followed their prefect, Henry. Through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase they walked on bloated with food.

She was now tired and sleepy, she didn't even notice the people in portraits along the corridor, smiling and bowing as they passed. Henry led them through doorways, they climbed more staircases, yawing and dragging her feet Lily just realised where Remus was when the food came out, she didn't even notice he was gone. She was interrupted however, with another thought, which was whether they were in the common room yet, when they came to a sudden halt.

"Here we are," said Henry.

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Cobble dribble," said Henry as the portrait swung open to reveal a round hold in the wall. They all rammed through it- they all ended up in the Gryffindor common room, a cosy, round room, filled with squashy armchairs and on the left and the right side, the doors that leads to the girls and boys dormitory. Henry directed the girls through one of the doors to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase – they were probably in one of the towers – they found their beds: five four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains. Their trunks had been already been brought up. Lily shared the room with Jenny, Cassidy and Ruth Benedictsson. Too tired to talk, they all put on their nightgown and fell into bed.

In the middle of the night, Lily awoke startled. For she thought, she heard strange howling noises. She decided to ignore it and went back to sleep, when she woke the next day she didn't remember any of it.

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Next Chapter: First day of school, Lily receives an anonymous letter and everyone is baffled at who it might be and could James be trying to confess his love for Lily?