DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter 6- Home Sweet Home

A/N: This chapter sucks.

Inside the train were several compartments with sliding glass doors and curtains. I kept walking until I found an empty one, and sat near the window. Soon, someone joined me. It was Gretchen, from the Leaky cauldron, followed by her third – year sister, Hilary, who was basically a taller, more freckly, version of Gretchen. They sat down across from me and I was introduced to Hilary.

"She doesn't have any friends her own age," explained Gretchen.

Hilary pinched her. "Not true! ... I just can't find them."

I talked to them for a few minutes, and just after the train departed, Remus entered the compartment, followed by none other than Glasses-Boy and Friend.

Before Remus had even had a chance to say hi, the long-haired one sat down next to me and stuck out his hand. "Sirius Black."

"Lily Evans." I reached out to shake his hand, but my hand was met by the other boy, who had squeezed between us on the seat.

"James Potter, nice to meet'cha," he said, while jerking my arm up and down with both hands.

I rolled my eyes in disgust and turned to look out the window.

"Oh, don't mind James," said Sirius, placing his hand on my shoulder. "He's almost as immature and annoying as I am!"

James stuck his head out the door. "Yes! Sirius, come on! The trolley's coming. Let's be the first ones to get to it, and then we'll go back to our compartment."

James and Sirius left. Remus, who had been sitting next to Hilary and Gretchen, switched over to my side as they followed James and Sirius to the snack trolley. "Sorry about that. I went to go find you, and they just decided to follow me."

"Are you friends with them?"

"I'm friends with James. I've known him for a couple of years. We see each other a lot at our parents' parties and such. Sirius, though, I just met him today. His family... Well, they aren't really the kind of people my family like to associate themselves with."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, don't tell Sirius I told you this," said Remus, lowering his voice, "but he comes from a long line of dark wizards. All the Blacks have been in Slytherin. I don't really trust him, myself, but I guess I kind of have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I mean, he is James's best friend, and James is pretty trustworthy. He may be a bit of a prankster, and quite annoying at times, and sometimes a bit of a jerk, and -"

I gave Remus a doubtful look.

He rolled his eyes. "The point is, I trust James, and James trusts Sirius, so I trust Sirius."

"Well," I replied, "I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover, but neither of them make a very good first, or second, impression."

"Oh? You've met them before?"

"Yes, I tried asking them how to get through the barrier, but they only laughed at me!"

"Oh, well, they mean well," said Remus apologetically.

"Sure," I replied, with a hint of sarcasm, and turned to face the window again.

The rest of the train ride was mostly silent. I watched the rolling hills and distant mountains out the window, Remus read a book, and we changed into our uniforms about halfway through. The Williams sisters must have found someone more interesting to sit with, because they never came back. After what seemed like hours of staring out the train daydreaming, I finally noticed the faint gray outline of a large castle in the distance. I gently tapped Remus on the shoulder. "Remus, is that it? Is that Hogwarts?", I asked excitedly, gesturing toward the castle.

"Probably," he answered, and stood up to get a closer look.

Before I knew it, the train had come to a stop, and I lost Remus in a crowd of people pouring out onto the platform. Once out of the train, I got my first close up look at Hogwarts. It was a huge, stone castle with several floors and stained glass windows, and turrets and balconies everywhere, in no apparent order. It looked positively amazing in the red sunset. The grounds were beautiful as well; green grass everywhere you looked, speckled with trees and flowers, and the sparkling blue lake was the largest I had ever seen. Surrounding the grounds was a thick, dark forest that seemed to go on forever. It added to the feel of the area, but was not quite as welcoming. It actually seemed a bit threatening.

Once over the shock of Hogwarts, I started to look for Remus. All I saw was James, not too far from me, flirting with a disgusted brunette around sixteen. A few people away from him, however, I noticed Sirius, looking small and pale, apparently being threatened by a tall, blond, seventh year witch and someone I could only assume was her younger sister, as she looked exactly like her, except for her jet black hair. Another dark-headed girl, about our age, was looking on angrily.

I was watching, slightly interested, as Remus appeared next to me. I didn't even notice him until he spoke. "Those are some of Sirius's cousins," he said, following my gaze. "As I said before; Slytherins, the whole lot of them. They're probably telling him he'll be disowned if he gets sorted into Gryffindor ... either disowned or murdered."

I raised my eyebrows. "I don't understand. Why is school house so important to everyone here?"

Remus sighed. "It's a lot more important than it should be, that's all I know. It's everything to British witches and wizards. As soon as you tell someone that you went to Hogwarts, they immediately ask what House you were in, as if they're four totally different schools."

"That can't be too good for school spirit."

"What school spirit? From what I've heard, there is none. But I can't blame the students, though. There hasn't been any competition with other schools since the last Triwizard Tournament, and that was centuries ago. Now the biggest tournament is for the school Quidditch Cup each year, and that's just between houses."

I was just about to inquire about The Triwizard Tournament, but that's when I heard a loud, scratchy, male voice over all the other conversations, and immediately found it's source in the most enormous man I had ever seen, towering over the students. He was easily twice my height, and probably about four times as big around. He had beady black eyes, hidden under extremely bushy eyebrows. His thick, curly, brown hair was cropped fairly short, and his scraggly beard reached almost to his collar. His face told me he was probably around his mid thirties.

"FIRS' YEARS! FIRS' YEARS! CALLING ALL FIRS' YEARS! FOLLOW ME TO THE BOATS!"

"That's us!", said Remus, so we trailed after the giant man and the other first years to the docks. Once there, Remus and I were split up, and I was ushered into a small wooden rowboat with five other first years I didn't know. I was confused about how we were going to get to the castle across the lake in rowboats with no oars, but my question was answered when the several boats simultaneously began to move slowly across the glistening black water.

The dark had come, and it would have been pitch black out on the lake if it weren't for the lanterns every other first year had been handed, and the faint glow from the torches on the castle ahead. The ride to the castle was long and slow, but fairly interesting. Our massive leader, who introduced himself as 'Rubeus Hagrid, Gamekeeper's Apprentice, gave us a good tour, despite the fact that we could barely see anything through the night.

We eventually came to the huge double doors through which we were supposed to enter the building, and climbed clumsily out of our boats, which soon left us.

The doors were soon opened by a witch in velvety forest green robes, whom I immediately recognized as Professor McGonagall. She beckoned us in quickly. Following the dim light from inside, I was first into the building. The interior was beautiful. Tapestries and sconces lined the stone walls, and the girl in a painting to my left smiled and waved, before walking completely out of her frame and disappearing into the wall. It was just like a fairy tale. Except finally the fairy tale was true. I smiled. This would be my new home for the next ten months. Home sweet home.