Tom rushed down the stairway, having a good idea who the visitor might be.

"Emma!" he exclaimed as he saw the familiar lady beaming at him from across the room. Tom and Emma embraced much as a mother and son would do.

"Have you had a fun time, Tom?" inquired Emma.

"The best! I can't believe I'm a wizard- this is brilliant!"

"Good-"she was interrupted by someone who had just entered the doorway to the Inn.

"Emma Fitzgerald, is that you?"

"Julie! How nice to see you, how have you been? This is Daphy's son, Tom. Tom, this is Julie Trelawney, the Divination teacher at Hogwarts; you should have her this year. We attended school together."

"A pleasure to meet you, Tom." Remarked Julie, shaking Tom's hand; "I look forward to having you in my class this year."

"Oh, what a bother. I'm sorry Julie, but I wasn't expecting you, and I have to get Tom onto the school train. I assume you are apparating to Hogsmeade?" Julie nodded her head, as she drew out a large, toothy smile. "All right, well owl me when you get there, and maybe we can plan a meeting on one of your off days to catch up on things."

"I'd love that." Replied Julie, waving goodbye to Tom and Emma as she made her way towards the back of the Leaky Cauldron, no doubt to enter Diagon Alley. Emma averted her attention back to Tom,

"Do you have your things packed? I'm going to take you to the school train, which departs in an hour. Tom, you'll love it there!" Tom grinned and hurtled back up the creaky staircase to his room; he was very pleased at how nice Julie had seemed. He dearly hoped all of his teachers were that charming.

He threw all of his belongings into his newly acquired trunk, and tenderly placed his wand in the inside pocket of his jacket. He yanked his trunk down the stairs, and waited as Emma paid Rob for Tom's stay at the Inn, and as she phoned to have a muggle taxi driver escort them to the King's Cross Station.

They remained silent throughout the entire drive, so as not to disturb the muggle driver with tales of witchcraft and wizardry. They arrived at the Station with an hour to spare, so Emma treated Tom to an early lunch. When Tom asked her how Welcksworth was taking the news that Tom was at 'Stonewall', she told him that Welcksworth had fallen into a depression and almost fired her. As they were finishing up their sandwiches, Tom asked,

"Emma, which station is the school train leaving from?"

"Platform 9 and ¾, of course."

"9 and ¾?" Tom questioned as he deposited the remains of his turkey and cheese sandwich in the trash bin, "There is no platform 9 and ¾!"

"Oh Tom, I forgot you have never done this before- now get your things, and I'll show you where to go." Tom strolled the trolley containing his belongings to the middle, connecting barrier of platforms 9 and 10, where Emma stopped.

"Is it here?" asked Tom, intently curious.

"Yes, now Tom, I want you to run straight into that barrier dividing the two platforms, and not be afraid that you are going to get hurt." Tom looked at the barrier, and slowly turned his head around to stare at Emma.

"You're saying that you want me to run into that barrier and not think I'm going to collide into it?"

"Yes."

"Have you gone mad?" exclaimed Tom, with the air of one talking to an unstable person.

"No, Tom. Just trust me." Tom glanced at Emma, and sighed wearily. He set off at a trot towards the solid brick barrier, trolley in front. As he was a second from collision, he squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the worst. It didn't come- he opened his eyes, and saw a scarlet steam engine labeled 'The Hogwarts Express.' He glanced back where the barrier had been, and was surprised to see Emma walking through the wall.

"Come on, Tom. Let's get your things onto the train." Tom followed her, awestruck again about the mysterious wonders of magic, to the train.

"I guess I've got a lot to learn about magic then..."

"More than you know." Emma lifted his things into the luggage compartment, and led him to a train compartment that was empty. "Now be sure to write me every few weeks with a school owl to let me know how things are going."

"Don't worry, I will." He grinned and bade Emma farewell until the next summer break. After she had left, Tom stuck his head outside the compartment, and recognized a friendly face coming towards him.

"Tom!" exclaimed Henry Jones, the Gryffindor prefect that he had met while staying in Diagon Alley. "How are you? And may I introduce my lovely girlfriend, Cooper Smith." A tall, dirty-blonde haired girl, who was standing next to Henry, acknowledged her presence.

"Hi Tom, I'm Cooper, fourth year Gryffindor. Henry tells me you're just starting Hogwarts this year, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, now that you've been properly introduced, I have to run. Dumb prefect's carriage- we're supposed to supervise the boarding and seating of students on the train. I'll meet up with you guys later." He gave Cooper a quick peck on the cheek, and disappeared. Tom and Cooper entered the empty compartment.

"So, how did you two meet?" he asked, grinning. Cooper returned the grin,

"We're the two beaters on the Gryffindor house quidditch team, quidditch is a wizard sport much like basketball, and things just took off from there. So, what house do you wan-"a knock on the sliding compartment door interrupted them. "Come in," said Cooper. Two nearly identical, freckled faces peeked in. Tom recognized one of them.

"Daisy! How are you, and is this your brother?" Daisy looked relieved.

"Hi Tom- I'm fine. This is my twin brother, David." The boy nodded, also looking relieved that his sister had found an acquaintance.

"I'm Cooper Smith, Gryffindor." Daisy and David's eyes lit up at her statement. It was David, who spoke this time,

"Hi, we're going into first year, our mum and dad were both in Gryffindor, and we hope we are too. Do you mind if we take a seat here? Most everywhere else is full."

"Not at all," replied Cooper and Tom at the same time. The twins took seats opposite from each other, David to the left of Tom, and Daisy to the right of Cooper. They enjoyed a friendly game of exploding snap (they taught Tom how to play) and chatted about the sure to come adventures they would encounter at Hogwarts. Tom was even introduced to a brand new game on the wizarding market: Wizard's Chess. It was a rather barbaric form of Muggle chess, for if you lost a piece to the other player, it was crushed into bits.

Halfway through the ride, Henry reappeared looking tired and exhausted. They all changed into their school robes when they received word they were almost at Hogwarts, and the train finally rolled to a stop. First years were escorted towards the lake, so Tom, Daisy, and David said goodbye to Cooper and Henry, who were traveling up to the castle on horse-drawn carriages, and made their way towards the lake.

"Three to a boat please. And come on- we haven't much time to waste." Said a rather haughty, stern looking woman. They hastened to obey. Tom and the twins boarded the same boat; firmly grabbed the sides of it, and the boats magically followed the lady, who was in lead. Halfway across the lake, they caught their first views of the majestic castle. Most of the student's jaws were hanging open- the brilliantly lit castle seemed like a fairy tale dream for Tom. He glanced at the twins, who despite having parents who graduated from Hogwarts, still looked dumbstruck all the same.

They finally reached the other shore, and huddled close to the Professor (who had introduced herself as Professor Tabby) as she approached the grand entrance gates of Hogwarts. She grasped the grand door handles, and with considerable strength, swung the doors open. Inside, there was a long, stony corridor, and they traveled down it until they came to what appeared to be a waiting room of some sort. Professor Tabby instructed them to wait in the room until she came back to fetch them. As they waited, a girl let out a scream- a transparent ghost had just floated through the wall.

"Hello, what has got you in a fright? I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington, the Gryffindor house ghost. I do hope you will be sorted into Gryffindor." Daisy and David grinned. Tom was beginning to feel uncomfortable; he wanted to be in Gryffindor with the twins, but also in his mother's house, Slytherin. Thankfully, he didn't have to contemplate this long, as Professor Tabby came back to lead them to get sorted.

Upon entering the main room (The Great Hall, as they had been told), Tom saw all of the students and teacher's attentions had been directed towards the newly arrived first years. He also noticed that some enchanted magical spell had made the enormous ceiling look like the clear, night sky. He hoped there would be some interesting books on the history of the majestic school in the library.

Professor Tabby placed an old hat on a stool in the center of the hall, and to some of the new student's surprise, including Tom's, the hat opened a rip in it to form a mouth, and began singing in a high-pitched voice:

Oh I am the sorting hat

Put me on and see

You won't find any hat

That can match its' brains with me

I might put you in Gryffindor

Where courage and bravery will pay

Or sneaky, cunning Slytherin

Where make true friends you may

Or perhaps wise Ravenclaw

From your studies you will never be deluded

Or charming, loyal Hufflepuff

Where no one is excluded

So put me on

Have no fear

A talking hat

Why, that's not so queer

The whole hall applauded and cheered. Tom started smiling; he wouldn't have to do anything, the hat decides what house he goes in, and he didn't have to choose.

Professor Tabby took out a long scroll, and began reading names off the list.

"Adams, Joan" had the hat put on her head, and was put into Hufflepuff. "Ariel, Robert" was put into Ravenclaw. "Duke, Stacy" became the first new Gryffindor, and "Hagrid, Rubeus" the first Slytherin. "Kakaroff, Isabelle" the girl who shrieked at the ghost, also became a Slytherin. "Lupin, Theodore" a rather scruffy looking boy, became a Gryffindor.

Slowly, more and more people were called off the list, then he heard his name: "Riddle, Thomas". He gulped, and stepped forward to the stool. The hat dropped over his eyes, blacking out the light. At the same time, he heard a mysterious voice in the back of his head.

"Oh, a brilliant mind and a lot of strength and courage...but, of course, Salazar would be disappointed were you not in SLYTHERIN!" The last words rang in Tom's ears as he walked towards the Slytherin table. He was happy to be in his mother's house, but hoped he would still be able to see a lot of Daisy and David. "Thornton, Daisy" was Gryffindor, and then "Thornton, David" was immediately sorted into Gryffindor. Tom was happy for them. He gave the twins the thumbs up as they sat down. David grinned and returned the thumbs up. Daisy, however, seemed to be avoiding Tom's gaze. He felt a sudden rush of anger at Daisy, he had a quick temper, and he knew it. He usually held it back, but he didn't appreciate her ignorance. He clenched his fists, forced his anger into a ball at the bottom of his gut, and resolved to find out why she was avoiding him.

Perhaps the only person in the entire hall that had witnessed this, Albus Dumbledore, the Transfiguration teacher, noticed a boy waving at a new pair of Gryffindor twins. The boy waved back, and the girl ignored him. Albus saw that the girl's unfriendly gesture had hurt the boy, Tom was his name, and Tom had turned back to his own house table and forced a smile.

The sorting was soon over, and the Headmaster, Armando Dippet, said a few words. Then, a feast as Tom had never seen before was brought magically upon the dining tables. His sparkling, gold plates were soon under stress as he put more and more delicious looking foods on them. As he ate, he checked the teacher's table to look for any familiar faces that he could have seen in his schoolbooks. He only recognized Albus Dumbledore, an auburn-haired Transfiguration teacher, who was renown for his work on examining the twelve uses of dragon's blood. As he studied Dumbledore, he could have sworn that the man had given him a slight wink, as if displaying that he knew where Tom was looking.

As they ate their puddings and deserts, Tom chatted with the pretty Isabelle Kakaroff, and discovered that her family was from Scandinavia, and had recently moved to Bulgaria. The feast finally ended, and the Slytherins were escorted to the common room. The password, snake fangs, made a statue of a dragon slide aside to let them enter the common room.

Tom went up the staircase on the left until he came to the dorm marked 'First Years'. He entered, and saw that all of his things had all ready been delivered to his room. As he glanced up, he noticed a rather solemn faced boy was already occupying the room. It was a large boy, whom he recognized as Rubeus Hagrid.

"What's up?" asked Tom, very shyly, but determined and interested to know why the boy was looking so miserable.

"Nothing."

"I know it's something, because it looks like something." Rubeus slowly raised his head and looked at Tom, as though studying him.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes." Tom had not expected this response.

"The sorting hat put me in Slytherin because my mother is a giantess."

"So?" asked Tom, bewildered. Tom had always been rather fascinated with the aspect of giants, and upon realizing they might exist, in the magical world, would very much like to meet one. "I'm somewhat new to this magic thing, but that sounds cool! I don't know why I'm in Slytherin, but it's fine; I know I'll still have fun." Rubeus smiled, and they continued unpacking in silence until the other first year boys came in and a pillow fight resulted. Rubeus won, of course, but Tom came in a close second with a boy named Zach. Everyone was exhausted, and climbed onto their beds to fall asleep instantly.