It was very comical, actually, watching Lily and James. Sirius and I sat in the middle, turning first to Lily, then to James. James sat there, looking Lily from about a million different perspectives. First right, then left, up, then down, as if to see if the light hit Lily's hair in a different way. Occasionally Lily would turn around and glare at James, at which he would turn around and seem occupied.

Eventually, we got to the opposite shore. The castle that was Hogwarts was nestled right in front of us. There were lights scattered around in various windows (which there were hundreds of). I was in so much awe that I couldn't say a word. All Lily said was "Wow!"

We all climbed out of the boats, walked across the grounds, and stood in front of the doors behind the large man. I had to crane my neck back all the way to see his face, which I stopped doing after a while because it hurt. "Welcome to Hogwarts!" He boomed over the crowd of first years. He then opened the doors to reveal a magnificent Entry Hall with statues and paintings and students everywhere. I thought I might never leave. The man led us to the side of the hall while the other students milled into the adjoining double doors carved out of beautiful oak wood.

A stern, stone-faced woman approached us, she looked rather kind, but besides that showed no emotion whatsoever. "Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall. The sorting will take place in a few moments. Please wait here I will come for you when we're ready."

Now, by this time, I was kind of getting sick of being told 'Welcome to Hogwarts!' and the nerves started kicking in. Sorting? What in the world was that? They make us sound like marbles, blue, red, green or orange, hmmm... Which one could they be?

I looked nervously over at Lily. She seemed a little disheveled about this whole sorting thing too, but she kept her cool.

We waited for Professor McGonagall to return. No one really talked, except James, who kept whispering to Sirius, a small pudgy kid, and the boy from the train. I think it was that night that their friendship really started. After what seemed an eternity, Professor finally came back with a stool and a ragged old hat and led us through the grand double doors. There were four tremendously long tables, with students everywhere. They were all sitting down, but it seemed like there were twice as many than there were when the walked into the hall.

We were lead to the front of the room, in front of everyone. I thought I could feel millions of holes being drilled into me, for all eyes were on us. McGonagall sat the stool on the ground in front of the long table at the top of the hall where the entire faculty sat; she then sat the hat atop it, and pulled a roll of parchment from her robes. She reproached us and said, "I will call out your name, then you will come, sit on the stool. Then you will put the hat on and be sorted into your house. There are four houses." She started to point to each different table while saying each house. "Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." Then she stood next to stool and unrolled the parchment.

The nervousness died down a bit, but was definitely still there. What would the hat do? What if Lily and I were split in to different houses? To many unanswered questions.

"Ackerly, Timothy!" Was McGonagall's first victim. He looked a rather snooty character, with light brown hair and a smirk, seemingly plastered on his face. He was sorted into Slytherin, which looked the perfect bunch for him.

A couple of other students walked up and were sorted. I was lost in my thoughts and worries, so I wasn't paying attention. I believe they were sorted into Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

"Black, Sirius" cried the Professor. Sirius walked to the stool with pride and promise, I doubted I would look that confident. He sat down, and put the hat on his head. Nothing happened for a couple minutes, but he was finally sorted into Gryffindor. His eyes were wide open with shock when he took the Sorting Hat off, but he regained his composure easily.

Curr, Jacob was sorted into Ravenclaw, and DeStille, Gretchen into Gryffindor.

"Evans, Laurel!" My legs were as wobbly as Mum's jell-o and I felt glued to the spot. Lily gave me an impatient push from behind, and I was on my way to the stool. When I grabbed the hat, my hands were shaking. I barely avoided dropping it. I managed to place it on top of my head, the rim flopped lazily over my eyes.

"Oh, think I'm lazy do you?" A little voice murmured inside my head.

"No," I thought back, "Just floppy."

"How is that much better? Anyway, on with this business!"

"Yes, I really would like to be sorted today."

"Pushy little thing aren't you? Your father was the same way."

I suddenly felt angry. How dare he mention my father? "Well, you don't have to worry about him anymore. He's gone."

"Hmm, well I think I'd save that story for another day. But for now...GRYFFINDOR!"

I took off the hat, relieved that I got through this whole business alive. I set the hat back down and nearly skipped over to Gryffindor table. The whole lot of them were clapping and cheering and it felt really great.

Lily was next and I was just about biting off my nails the same amount for her as I was for me. It only seemed to take her a couple seconds to be placed into Gryffindor as well. I clapped and cheered like everyone else, and by the beaming smile on her face, she was absolutely ecstatic.

A/N: Sorry that it took me forever to write this chapter...I've been really busy but I hope you like it!