Chapter 4 – Hogwarts arrival

A dull vibrating beeping permeated Lily's dreamless mind. She groaned inwardly as she reached for her alarm clock and hit the off button. She kicked her lilac covers off herself and rolled out of bed. Stomping flat-footed from her room she entered the brightly lit bathroom and locked the door. A quick check in the mirror showed Lily looking extremely tired, she turned around and stripped off her pyjamas. She wished to herself that she hadn't stayed up so late reading Hogwarts: A History, as she climbed into the shower and turned it on. As the cool refreshing water poured over her she finally began to feel more awake, with a small jolt in the region of her stomach she realised that today was the day that she would be going to Hogwarts.

As she dried herself she performed a small dance out of sheer excitement. She then pulled on her tight flared jeans and a yellow camisole top. She wanted to make a good impression when she arrived at platform 9 and ¾. Her ticket had arrived a week ago. On it had said Hogwarts Express on Platform 9 and ¾ to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Leaves at 11 o'clock. Lily had decided that she would change into her uniform on the train. She hoped that she would meet up with Grace before boarding the train, as she would feel completely way in over her head getting on by herself.

Skipping lightly down the stairs she was drawn to the fact that there was no smell of cooking bacon or eggs. There was no sound. She entered the kitchen quietly. Was her alarm set way too early and she was up before everyone else? She laughed to herself that must be it. She couldn't decide whether to go back to bed or not when she noticed a letter on the sideboard. Lily walked towards it, surely they haven't she thought. She unfolded the pretty blue paper and read:

Dear Lily

We are so sorry but your grandma was rushed into hospital early this morning. Your dad, Petunia and I have gone to the hospital. Your aunty Jo will be here at 9.30 to pick you up and take you to the train station. Have a good year at Hogwarts, behave yourself and don't get into trouble. Don't be nervous and don't be upset that we aren't there to say goodbye to you we will see you at Christmas.

All our love mum, dad and Petunia

xx

P.S please owl us as soon as you get to Hogwarts so we know you are safe

Lily sighed and felt downcast all of a sudden. Why hadn't they woken her up at least to say bye. She couldn't believe that she wouldn't see any of them until December. It was so far away. All she had to wave her off was her aunty Jo. They got along really well since Lily found out the truth and she learned a great deal about the wizarding world she would be entering. No longer would she laugh at the word 'Quidditch'. She now understood what it was, a sport played on broomsticks. Her aunt was quite passionate about it and had described all of the different positions on the team and how it worked. Lily supposed she was quite lucky, other students coming from muggle families would have no idea what anything was about, she was at least one step ahead of them. Lily folded the letter back up and placed it in her jeans pocket. She walked to the kitchen cabinets and opened a cupboard, which contained the cereals. She pulled out a box of cheerios and poured it into a bowl that was left on the side. She then added milk and began to eat, her face was filled with concentration as she was deep in thought. Is this how it's always going to be? Lily thought, will I never see them much any more; am I really going to grow apart from them?

She was about to go back upstairs when a loud crack sounded behind her. She spun around and was faced with her beaming aunt.

"Aunty Jo hi!" Lily said happily.

"Hey hun, how are you this morning? I'm sorry your parents aren't here but it is unavoidable. Your grandma is much better by the way. She's going to be fine".

Lily smiled and replied, "I'm great I just wish they were here to see me off but oh well. How did you get here there is no fireplace? You really scared me" .

It was Jo's time to laugh heartily, "I apparated here, no need for fireplaces when you can just think about where you want to go and travel there".

The magical world never stopped amazing Lily. There were so many things to learn.

"Right then Lil's where's your trunk then?"

"It's upstairs in my bedroom shall I go get it?"

"No need" her aunt replied. "Accio trunk",

there was a whirring noise and Lily's trunk came into view floating along in mid air it went straight for her aunt and she gave a flick of her wand and it landed on the ground.

"Is there anything else that you need?"

Lily shut her mouth hastily as she replied "Achilles my owl" she would have to get used to all this magic.

Her aunt caught a look of surprise on Lily's face and grinned to herself. She remembered her first year entering the magic world and she had reason to believe that her and lily's reactions would be much the same.

After all of Lily's items had been gathered together she asked her aunt how they were going to get to the train station.

"We'll travel by floo to the Leaky cauldron and then we'll take the underground to the station I think".

Her aunt then pulled out a drawstring bag and beckoned Lily over to have a look. Inside there was a delicate glittering powder. They had moved into the living room and her aunt had started a fire in the hearth.

"Pinch a small amount of this powder and throw it into the fire, step inside the fire and shout clearly Leaky Cauldron Diagon Alley" she told Lily "I'll follow on after you with all of your things."

Lily grabbed the powder and threw it into the flames she stepped towards the flames and said "Leaky Cauldron Diagon Alley".

All of a sudden she was spinning she could see thousands of fireplaces flashing before her eyes as she spun round and round. Lily shut her eyes, she was feeling very sick all of a sudden, she came to a halt and was thrown out and landed on her knees. Lily winced in pain as she stood up and brushed herself down. No one in the pub paid much attention to the stranger suddenly landing in their midst. It must be a regular occurrence Lily thought to herself. There was another whirring noise and her aunt landed in front of her although she didn't fall over. She smiled at her and said

"well that was fun wasn't it?" Lily looked in shock, how could that ride be fun?

They arrived at the train station at 10.30. Her aunt had rushed her through the underground so that they could get there nice and early so that Lily could find herself a compartment on the train. They arrived at platform 9. Lily felt a pleasurable squirm as she realised she would be seeing platform 9 and ¾. She looked past platform 9 but only saw platform 10. Confused she looked at her aunt questioningly.

"See the barrier between 9 and 10" she asked Lily,

"yes".

"Well we have to walk through that inconspicuously".

"But …… how?" she questioned haltingly "it's solid wall".

Jo just smiled and walked towards the barrier Lily gave a small gasp as she disappeared through it with Lily's trunk. Taking a deep breath she strode towards the barrier and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she was awestruck. Standing on an old platform was a scarlet steam train. There were lots of people about, relatives of students and the students themselves she presumed. Some were wearing their uniforms but most were in muggle clothing, as they would have had to travel through muggle London to reach the platform. Old friends called out to one another and Lily looked hopefully around for Grace.

A small scream behind her made her turn around, dark hair streaming in the wind and a large happy grin on her face stood Grace.

"Lily" she called out, "I'm so glad I found you I didn't want to be stuck with my boring brother and his friends, talk about a yawn fest".

Lily grinned back and said, "I was hoping that I'd find you I was so nervous about getting on the train on my own".

A small cough behind her made her realise her aunt was still there and she introduced her to Grace.

"I really must be getting off now Lily but you two have a good year OK?". They both smiled and nodded and with a small crack her aunt disapparated.

Walking onto the train Grace said to Lily "your mum is really nice it's a shame she couldn't wave us off"

Lily flushed pink and told Grace

"she's actually my auntie Jo she's the only witch in our family apart from me now I suppose".

Grace looked at Lily interestedly "wow that's really cool you're actually from a muggle family, you must tell me what the need for all the weird things they have are".

Lily laughed and asked,

"You got all year?"

Both girls giggled as they found an empty compartment at the bottom of the train and loaded their trunks into a rack above the squishy seats. For the next twenty minutes the girls chatted about their lives and Lily found that Grace was amazed by her life as she was by Grace's. A shrill whistle sounded outside and students all down the train were hanging out of the compartment windows yelling "bye" to their loved ones. Lily sighed she wished she could be one of these shouting out to her mum and dad and sister. She felt a small pang as she realised she wouldn't see them until Christmas.

Grace looked at Lily concerned.

"Are you alright?"

Lily didn't want to trouble Grace but told her what had happened. Grace sighed sympathetically and told Lily how she hadn't seen her mum this morning, as she was too busy at the hospital working.

"The rise of this Lord thingy has made my mum have to be in work at odd hours healing people who have been cursed. She's so overworked and it's only going to get worse".

"My aunty is an auror and she's been telling me all about this as well" Lily told Grace.

Both looked downcast for a few moments before a tap on the door made both girls look up. A small petite blond girl stood at the door. She had slight elfish features and Lily and Grace both smiled at her.

"Ummm hi" she said to the two girls "do you mind if I join you all the compartments are full".

"Not at all" Lily replied,

"I'm Grace Barton and this is Lily Evans" Grace said politely to the girl as she sat down and beamed at them.

"Nice to meet you" she replied "my names Heather Bell". The girls talked amongst themselves for a long time and got to know each other better.

Heather had a muggle father and a mother who was a witch. Both had attended Hogwarts though when they were younger and had caused quite a large surge of gossip when they first got together in Hogwarts. Her dad worked in the muggle relations office at the Ministry of Magic and her mum worked at Gringotts bank. She had a real passion for Quidditch and was determined to make house team next year. She had also ranted at Lily and Grace to support the Tornadoes,

"they may not be very good right now but trust me in twenty years time they'll be winning the league". This had made them laugh and as Lily didn't have a Quidditch team and neither did Grace (she just wasn't that interested) they both agreed to support them just to keep Heather happy. Heather had no brothers or sisters so she claimed she was rather spoilt but anything that was hers was theirs.

Grace's dad had died when she was young; he used to look after dragons and was extremely passionate about them. Unfortunately a Hungarian Horntail, which had just come into his charge, was far too unruly and rampaged killing six people including her father. Grace claimed she was not sad about this as her father was a brave man and he wouldn't want her to be upset about this. She lived with her mother who was extremely obsessed with cleaning and worked as a healer at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

At around 1 O'clock an old lady came by their compartment pushing a trolley

"would you like anything off the trolley dears" she asked in a singsong voice.

The three girls purchased some refreshing pumpkin juice along with cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties and chocolate frogs. When Lily got around to eating her chocolate frog card she opened it in trepidation. Out of the packet a chocolate frog leaped out and Grace and Heather laughed at the look of horror on Lilies face. Lily tried to catch it but misjudged her lunge and crashed into the train window. All three girls launched into hysterics and didn't notice the compartment door open.

Sirius and James wanted to investigate what the loud bang was in the compartment next to theirs and in it they found three giggling girls and both backed away immediately.

"You don't know what they could do to us" James whispered worriedly to Sirius.

"Hey ain't that little red from Diagon alley," Sirius enquired.

James turned a beetroot red to match the flaming red of Lily's hair as he realised it was. He pushed Sirius out of the compartment and flew back into his own. A loud cough made all three girls look up tears streaming down their faces,

"good afternoon ladies I'd just like to come and introduce myself; Sirius Black, Hogwarts newest heartthrob" and with that he backed out of the compartment door and shut it leaving all three girls flabbergasted.

"Oh my god how big headed can you get" Heather screeched.

"He was definitely right though" Grace muttered mischievously. All three dissolved into laughter again.

They passed the afternoon away by playing a game called exploding snap. It was much like the muggle version of snap except that unexpectedly the cards would suddenly explode and give all three players a sudden fright.

Next door in the other compartment four boys sat. The first two of these were James Potter and Sirius Black. Sirius was boasting to a blond good-looking boy who looked a bit tired about how many girlfriends he was going to get in Hogwarts.

"No way Sirius I'm so gonna have the most girlfriends over you my face is much more charming than yours and I'd say my brain is also slightly larger. After all the ladies do prefer a man to be more worldly" James snickered at Sirius.

Sirius pretended to look upset his bottom lip quivering before leaping on his friend and knocking him over so that he was lay on the floor. Pinned to the floor James tried to wriggle out of Sirius' grasp but couldn't.

"Arrghhh Remus help me!" he cried. The blond boy smirked and said

"nope not until you all admit I am the most good looking boy in here and will get the most girlfriends!"

James and Sirius looked at each other conspiratorially before jumping and attacking him. All ended up in hysterics and slowly crawled back to their seats when they finished fighting. The small timid boy sat in the corner said quietly

"I think we should change into out uniform now we're getting close to Hogwarts".

"Ooh is little Peter going to be a good little boy at Hogwarts or is he going to join in the pranks"? Sirius questioned,

"pranks?" Remus interrupted.

"James and I have decided we are going to be the biggest pranksters Hogwarts has ever seen" Sirius replied boastingly.

"Are you man enough to join us both" James questioned Peter and Remus.

"Definitely" Remus barked.

Peter replied, "I might not be good enough but I'll try my best I suppose, that's if you guys want me to".

"Course we do" James added kindly before turning and rolling his eyes.

All afternoon this timid boy had been annoying him slightly he didn't seem to have any confidence in himself but he was sure they'd soon change that.

"We need a name so all start thinking and planning. We will be famous within Hogwarts and every attractive female will be bowing down before our feet begging for a date. Every time an amazing prank occurs it will be known that our group has done it and everyone must speak our name", James informed the group.

"By the time we've all been sorted we should have a load of suggestions so that the first prank that we carry out can be claimed by us" Sirius continued.

"What if we aren't in the same house" Peter asked timidly.

"This conversation never happened" Sirius answered cuttingly.

"But don't worry we'll all be in Gryffindor don't you worry". James, Sirius and Remus cheered together whilst Peter looked doubtfully on.

An hour later the train pulled to a halt. All students got off the train leaving their trunks on board to be placed into their dormitories when they were sorted.

"Firs' years Firs' years over 'ere boomed a large gruff voice.

A giant of a man stood in front of a great fleet of boats. He had on a moleskin coat of some kind and towered high above all of the students. His face cracked into a large smile and his beetle black eyes shone as he gazed around at all the small children that had hurried forward nervously.

"Righ' then climb into the boats, four to a boat" he growled deeply at them.

Sirius, James and Remus shoved to the front of the queue "wow" exclaimed all three at the same time "what's your name"

Hagrid turned and his eyes crinkled as he answered "names Hagrid I'm the gamekeeper. Now who might you three be?"

"James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin" Remus said and pointed to each in turn.

"We're going to be Hogwarts biggest pranksters" Sirius exclaimed.

Hagrid's face broke into an enormous smile and said conspiratorially "don't let Filch 'ear you say that he'll be after you strai' away" Hagrid informed them. With that the boys leaped into a boat with Peter and Hagrid strode over to a boat and got into it on his own.

"Is everyone in secure" he shouted,

shouts of "yes" filtered through the darkness and the boats set off across a vast lake. Silently the students gazed around them open mouthed. In front a castle was looming ahead it had many turrets and sparkled in the night sky all gasped and began whispering amongst themselves. They flowed under a tunnel and the boats came to a sudden halt. The students scrambled out and Hagrid lead them to the front doors of the castle. He rapped on the door and a large 'boom' broke the silence of the night. The door opened and a severe looking witch stood there. Her hair was scraped back tightly in a bun and she had a tall black hat on.

"The firs' years professor Mcgonagall" Hagrid boomed.

"Thank you Hagrid" Professor Mcgonagall replied.

She ushered the students into the entrance hall. The area was huge it had stone walls with flaming torches in brackets placed along the walls. The ceiling was too high up to see and a magnificent marble staircase faced them, which lead to the upper floors. "The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room".

"There are four houses called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding wizards and witches. While at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn house points and any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup, a great honour. The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while your waiting." With that she swept away.

The students stayed silent and a sudden voice piped up "I hope the dragon wrestling skills I learnt in the summer will be enough for fighting the three dragons we each have to beat will be enough" Sirius looked impressively around at everyone who had decidedly turned a delicate shade of green.

"Haha very funny Mr I'm gonna be the schools biggest heartthrob" Lily scoffed.

Sirius flashed a grin at her "You got it right" and turned back to James and Remus who were snickering amongst themselves.

Professor Mcgonagall appeared with a tatty looking hat and stool and led the students into the Great hall. "Form a line," she requested. Lily gazed around it was so magnificent. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles, which were floating in mid air above four long tables where the rest of the students were gazing at the newcomers. These tables were laid with golden goblets and plates. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Lily looked around at her fellow students and saw looks of awe on their faces and a few looked terrified, when Lily felt someone nudge her in her side she looked around Grace pointed up and Lily looked. The ceiling was velvety black dotted with stars. She remembered reading in Hogwarts: a History that it was bewitched to look like the sky outside. She looked down again when Professor Mcgonagall placed the four-legged stool in front of them and the patched wizards hat on top of this. Everyone in the great hall seemed to have their eyes fixed on the hat , there was complete silence until the hat twitched and a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth and began to sing:

There's nothing hidden in your head,

The sorting hat can't see,

Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

There ain't no hat that's smarter than me.

A thousand years or more ago,

When I was newly sewn,

There lived four wizards of great renown,

Whose names are still well known:

Bold Gryffindor, Fair Ravenclaw, Sweet Hufflepuff and Shrewd Slytherin.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream

They hatched a daring plan,

To educate young sorcerers,

Thus Hogwarts School began.

While still alive they did divide

Their favourites from the throng

Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone

Twas Gryffindor who found the way.

He whipped me off his head

The founders put some brains in me

So I could choose instead!

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be

You might belong in Gryffindor

Where dwell the brave at heart

Their daring, nerve and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff

Where they are just and loyal,

Those Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil.

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw

If you've a ready mind

Where those of wit and learning

Will always find their kind

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends

Now slip me snug about your ears

I've never yet been wrong

I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell you where you belong.

The Great Hall burst into applause as the Sorting Hat finished. Professor Mcgonagall strode forward holding a role of parchment "When I call out your name step forward put on the hat and sit on the stool" she said. "Aber Henry" she called out. A small red haired boy scurried forward and jammed the hat on his head. "Hufflepuff" shouted the hat. The table on the right stamped their feet and cheered. Henry ran over to join them. "Barton Grace", Grace gave a startled jump and Lily flashed her an encouraging good luck smile. As soon as the hat was placed on her head it screamed Gryffindor. The table beneath the scarlet and gold banners erupted in cheers. Grace ran forward and flashed a sweet grin to the table.

"Black Sirius". Sirius strutted forward, flashed a cheeky grin at a few of the girls and placed the hat over his head; it fell over his eyes and screamed "Gryffindor. He pulled the hat off his head and walked towards the cheering Gryffindor table. When it came to Lily's turn she was anxious she noticed hundreds of pairs of eyes were on her and she felt her pulse speed up. She was extremely nervous as both Grace and Heather had been placed in Gryffindor and Lily felt quite close to them already. As the hat blocked her vision she heard a small voice inside her head

"hmmm yes. You are a tricky one aren't you? I see a talented mind that would be suited to Ravenclaw and yet you have within you a bravery that no Ravenclaw would possess. Hmmmm. I sense a yearning for you to be in Gryffindor. Well then it had better be Gryffindor".

The hat had shouted the last word and Lily pulled it off her head and ran towards the Gryffindor table where people were clapping and screaming for her. She flashed a smile around the group as she sat down at the table next to Grace and Heather who both gave her big smiles.

James watched as Lily skipped over to the Gryffindor table. He noticed several boys' eyes on her as she moved and felt a tiny surge of jealousy. Finally James was in the same position that Lily had been in earlier, all of his friends were sorted into Gryffindor and he really wanted to be a part of that group. Unlike Lily though he wasn't nervous. He was certain that he would get in Gryffindor he knew it for definite.

"Potter James" Professor Mcgonagall called out.

James, like Sirius strode forward flashing cheeky grins at people and placed the hat over his head.

"So Mr Potter you believe I'll place you in Gryffindor? Your mind shows greatness suited to Gryffindor and you are indeed right. One word of caution though don't always be so self confident, Gryffindor".

James pulled the hat off and shrugged what did it know. He strode over to the Gryffindor table to a rally of cheers and the banging of goblets, which was initiated by Sirius and sat beside his best friend as he gave him a slap on the back. He looked down the table towards the group of three girls and gave them a small cheeky smile before turning back to Sirius, Remus and Peter, not before noticing Lily's eyes on him. He gave a small smirk.

Lily frowned that was certainly the boy she had seen outside Quality Quidditch Supplies but had he seemed as arrogant then? Lily gave him no more thought as Snape Severus was sorted into Slytherin. After the final student had been sorted a silence fell over the hall. The man Lily recognised as Dumbledore from the chocolate frog cards stood up.

"There is a time for speech making, but now is not it. Tuck in" and with those words he sat down.

Lily looked back at the table in surprise. It was filled with mountains of food. Never before had she seen so much food that she actually liked. She helped herself to spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread as the first year students began to talk amongst themselves. At the end of the table Lily could hear the four boys boasting to one another. The three girls turned and looked at each other and rolled their eyes. After everyone's plates had been cleared the tables groaned under massive desserts that had appeared. Lily helped herself again to some treacle tart. A boy leaned over her and she recognised him as Sirius he dipped his finger into her treacle tart flashed a grin after licking his finger and grabbed some for himself. Lily glared at him as did her two friends. The cheek of him. She rolled her eyes and Grace being daring went after him, when he had sat down she did the very thing he had done to Lily and came and sat back down. He looked thoroughly shocked but said no more.

When all was finished the plates were whisked magically away and the students could feel their eyelids drooping. Dumbledore stood up and announced,

"Welcome back to Hogwarts. I hope you all had a pleasant summer and allowed your heads to get nice and empty for this year. Welcome also to our new students. Just a few start of term announcements, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds for all students again this year as it will be every year" he smiled majestically at them.

Sirius and James shot secretive smiles to one another. They would have to explore that.

"Also Mr Filch has kindly added to his list of forbidden items galloping gauntlets and reminds you that magic is not allowed in the corridors between lessons. Any student found in the corridors after curfew will also be punished.

Sirius whispered, "If he can't see us it won't hurt him" the three boys smirked at one another whilst Peter looked confused.

"Now off to bed with you all" Dumbledore called out.

The students stood up and all began to empty out of the great hall. One of the prefects moved forward and beckoned the first years to follow him. They twisted and turned among many paths past lots of portraits of different wizards and witches and also many scenes. Lily didn't notice the beautiful stonework she went past or how the portraits were whispering to one another. All she could think about was falling asleep. They reached a portrait of a fat lady and the prefect told them that the password was "Devils snare". When he said this the portrait swung open to reveal an archway, which the first years had to climb through. The tall blond prefect then showed them the common room where the students would spend most of their time outside of lessons and then he directed the girls through one door to their dormitories and the boys to another. When the boys reached their dormitory none felt like sleep. They were too busy arguing over who got which four-poster bed. They all had deep red velvet curtains hung around them and each were next to a window. They were identical but the boys didn't seem to think so.

The girl's dormitories were much the same although the curtains hung around their beds were red and golden with lace trimming around the edges. The girls crawled into their beds and mumbled goodnight before each of them fell into a deep sleep.