Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, he owns me. My life of slavery begins here. Anyway, please don't sue me. I'll give the characters back, honest. Maybe not in mint condition though…
Chapter Two – Trains, Hats and New Friends
The group of three would be friends started off the journey by debating the prank they had pulled on Percy. Whilst Alicia thought it was hilarious Fred and George claimed they'd done much better in the past. Alicia found herself wondering how far these two would go for a prank as Fred and George relived some of their 'top ten', as they called them. She wasn't really worried though; all the pranks were in good humour. Not intended to cause lasting harm. Well, most of the time.
They had barely been discussing Fred and George's pranking accomplishments for ten minutes when their compartment door slid open. A blonde girl stood there with her trunk on the floor behind her. She looked incredibly nervous and sounded it too when she spoke.
"Erm…do you mind if I sit in here? Most of the other carriages are full."
Alicia smiled at the girl and nodded, Fred and George had returned to their own conversation by this time. The girl heaved a sigh of relief and began to drag her trunk into the compartment. Alicia rose from her seat and helped the girl, in a few moments they had the trunk tucked safely away with the others and she and the girl sat down.
"Are you new at Hogwarts too?" asked the girl.
Alicia nodded.
"My name's Alicia Spinnet. Its my first year."
"I'm Katie, Katie Bell."
Fred and George looked up from their conversation.
"Don't bother to ask us our names then, we'll just pretend we're not here shall we?"
Alicia frowned at them.
"You were talking to each other, I didn't think you were listening."
"So she says." Said George in a voice that all too easily gave away the fact that he was pretending to feel hurt.
"We thought she liked us and now she ignores us. Guess we shouldn't have got our hopes up."
Alicia kicked one of them softly in the shin, smiling broadly.
"Stop it you two. That might work with your mother but it won't work with me."
"Hey, I'm emotionally traumatised here! We put our limbs on the line to make friends and we're ignored! How do you feel Fred?"
"I feel hurt and abused George."
Katie laughed quietly at the three of them; this seemed to draw Alicia out from the conversation.
"Katie this is Fred and George Weasley. We met at Kings Cross."
She turned back to the twins.
"Happy now?"
"No. We're old enough to introduce ourselves you know." Answered Fred.
"Yeah, we're not five years old."
"You certainly act like it." Retorted Alicia and the group collapsed into giggles.
After they had all stopped laughing they began to discuss Hogwarts. Whilst Fred, George and to some extent Katie knew of the great castle and what went on within it Alicia did not. She was a muggleborn and as such was as much in the dark talking about Hogwarts as the others would have been if she'd brought up Cricket.
As the time passed she learned more about the school and about the four houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin), it was only after about an hour when they were interrupted by the compartment door sliding open once more. This time it was not another student however; it was a plump old witch with a food trolley.
"Anything off the trolley?" she asked them.
Fred and George refused, mumbling about sandwiches and turning slightly red. Both Katie and Alicia stood up however, moving over to the food trolley. Alicia only had a limited amount of wizard money that her father had had exchanged for her when they were at Diagon Alley so she chose carefully, with Katie's help of course. Eventually she picked several Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, and a bag of Fizzing Whizzbees. She was in the process of paying for these items when a black girl came running down the corridor of the train dressed in a pair of robes. She came to a halt as she reached the cart.
"Thank god." She gasped.
"I thought the trolley would have been and gone by now. I've been asleep and Lee forgot to wake me."
The plump witch smiled at the girl.
"Don't worry, if ever anyone's hungry after I've finished you can always find me at the front of the train."
The girl's smile faded.
"I bet Lee knew that. He let me run all this way for nothing. Wait till I get my hands on him."
Having been startled by the girl's arrival Alicia still had the money she owed in her hand. She now gave it to the woman then turned to the girl and looked at her curiously.
"Are you new here?"
The girl grinned.
"Yeah, my first year. Been really looking forward to it. I'm in a compartment down there with a friend of mine, Lee Jordan. Though sometimes I have no idea WHY I'm his friend. Boys eh?"
"Oy!"
The indignant voice of one of the twins carried out of the compartment.
"We heard that! I wish girls would be more considerate. First they try to ignore us and now they bad-mouth us while they think we aren't listening."
Alicia and Katie burst into a fresh set of giggles, the girl smiled, but didn't laugh. She wasn't in on the joke from earlier in the day.
"I'm Katie Bell." Said Katie.
"And I'm Alicia Spinnet. Do you and Lee have a compartment to yourselves?"
"Angelina Johnson." The girl replied as she began picking up odd packets of sweets from the trolley.
"And yeah, we're on our own up there."
"You can come down to our compartment if you want." Said Katie kindly.
"Bring your friend too, we'd be happy for some more company."
Angelina beamed at them.
"We may just do that. Thanks. Things can get so boring when it's just the two of you."
"We're never bored when its just the two of us are we George?"
"No Fred, but we're usually setting off Filibuster Fireworks in the kitchen instead of sitting in a train compartment."
Alicia rolled her eyes.
"I guess we should go back in now before these two start getting jealous of us making a new friend."
Angelina chuckled.
"Ok, I should get back to Lee too before he comes looking for me. See you later."
She dropped a handful of coins into the witch's hand and set off back down the corridor. Katie and Alicia moved back into their compartment and sat down; opening some of the food they'd just bought.
"Give us a chocolate frog Alicia." Said George reaching over for one, she slapped his hand away.
"Let me at least have one before you start guzzling them all down Fred!"
"Its George." He smirked.
"Can I have a Cauldron Cake Katie? Alicia's being mean!"
"I thought you two had sandwiches!" retorted Katie.
"Eat them before you come begging for scraps."
"But they're peanut butter!" moaned Fred.
"We don't like peanut butter!"
"That's too bad then." Answered Alicia with a smirk.
"You don't eat the sandwiches you don't get any sweets. Right Katie?"
Katie nodded solemnly and Fred began to argue with them. Whilst both girls were occupied George managed to reach over and grab hold of the bag of Fizzing Whizzbees.
"Give those back!" Alicia demanded.
"Come and get them." George teased.
He didn't actually expect Alicia to do so. She stood up and moved to grab for the sweets, but George was too quick.
"To you Fred!" he called, tossing the bag across to his twin who caught it.
Katie roared with laughter as she watched the two twins throwing the bag back and forth to keep Alicia from getting her hands back on it. It was when Alicia jumped at George to attempt to take him by surprise that the compartment door slid open once again revealing Angelina and a boy with dreadlocks.
All heads turned to see who was at the door and the bag, which Fred had managed to throw before Alicia reached him, smacked George in the side of the head. Alicia dived for it and grabbed it before either of the twins could react, letting out a triumphant cry and returning to her seat only to find that several of her Cauldron Cakes were now lying in between Fred and George. Ignoring this for the moment she turned to Angelina and the boy who had been roaring with laughter along with Katie when they saw the situation. The laughter dying down they entered the compartment and closed the door behind them.
"Hi Angelina." Said Alicia with all the dignity she could muster having just been caught throwing herself around the compartment to retrieve a bag of sweets, her cheeks reddening slightly with embarrassment.
"Hi." She laughed.
After everyone had stopped laughing Angelina introduced Lee and told them that they had been friends for several years. They all greeted him warmly, the twins like a long lost best friend when he mentioned he had a supply of Dr Filibuster's Fireworks in his trunk. They all chatted for a short time before Katie glanced at her watch.
"Hey, we should be nearly there by now. We'd better start getting changed. We're meant to be in our robes when we get there aren't we?"
Angelina nodded.
"Yep, we need to be changed when we get there. We're taken straight up to the school for the sorting."
Alicia, along with most of the others, felt nervous about the sorting. No one knew what it entailed; Katie said she thought it would be some sort of test. Alicia suspected Fred and George knew, but they hadn't said anything. She didn't press them for an answer; she supposed it couldn't be too bad. They wouldn't expect them to do anything too difficult with it being their first year.
Somewhat reluctantly Katie, Alicia and the twins got to their feet and moved over to their trunks in the corner, pulling out their school robes. Angelina and Lee had changed earlier, in their own compartment, so they remained seated. The train began to slow down as the four of them took off their jackets and pulled the Hogwarts robes on, and as Alicia had just put her jacket into her trunk in place of her robes the train shuddered to a halt.
"That's our stop." Said Lee cheerfully, bouncing out of his seat towards the door.
The others followed him out of the door less energetically and the group climbed off the train together to be greeted by a loud hail.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over this way! C'mon now firs' years!"
The group glanced around to find the origin of the voice and saw a large (to say the least) figure standing to the left of them. Alicia noted that even Fred and George seemed stunned by the size of the man, and they came from a wizarding family. It plainly wasn't normal to see men of that size walking around, even in the wizarding world.
"Is that all o' yeh? C'mon then, follow me."
The six friends hurried towards the large figure, who had turned and begun to lead a pack of students away from the train. They tagged onto the back of the group and followed the figure in silence.
"Firs' sight o' Hogwarts comin' up in a sec," He told the group of silent children.
"Jus' round this corner 'ere."
Everyone looked up as they turned the corner in the path the man was leading them down. They saw a great black pool of water, a lake, with tiny boats on their side. However they did not stare at the great lake for long. Their eyes were drawn upwards to a great castle upon the other side of the lake. Light shone through the castle windows making the building stand out in the eerie darkness of the night.
"Cool." Echoed the twins in unison.
"Wow," Katie whispered quietly to Angelina and Alicia.
"It looks so…"
"Magical?" suggested Alicia.
Katie nodded in silence. That was exactly how Alicia felt, and Alicia assumed that Angelina's silence meant that she agreed too.
The group had not stopped moving whilst they had been whispering amongst themselves about the great castle in the distance, and when they did stop many of them were surprised to find they'd reached the lake. Under the large man's guidance they clambered into boats, the twins, Alicia and Katie in one boat and Angelina and Lee in the next along with two students they didn't know.
The journey across the lake was uneventful for most boats, not however for one. Katie had been sitting staring out across the waters of the lake when she let out a shriek. Something had bitten her foot, she had felt it. Fred and George insisted it must have been a monster from the lake, but this only made Katie more agitated, her terrified movements threatening to tip over the boat.
Alicia had pulled her feet up onto her seat after Katie's terrified announcement and was trying to calm Katie down. She had instructed Fred and George to try and get hold of the creature and throw it overboard before Katie overturned the boat. They had objected at first but with Katie becoming more and more frantic they reluctantly agreed in the end, running their hands carefully along the floor of the boat until George's hand came into contact with something hard. He grabbed it quickly and held it up to the light, after a moment he spoke.
"Not to worry, its not a monster after all. Only a biting teacup. Must have fallen out of my pocket when we were getting into the boat."
Katie shrieked again, with rage this time, and hit George hard on the arm.
"You idiots! You told me it was a monster."
"Hey! We weren't to know!" said Fred defensively whilst George pulled out of range of any further blows from Katie.
Alicia was annoyed with them too.
"What are you doing with a biting teacup anyway?" she asked angrily.
George grinned.
"We were going to try and get Percy to drink out of it at the feast."
Despite her anger Alicia smiled slightly as she pictured Percy howling with pain with a biting teacup attached to his lip. Katie, however, didn't seem the least bit amused.
"You could have at least told us you had it with you! Then maybe we wouldn't have jumped to conclusions!"
"You never asked!" retorted Fred.
"We don't go detailing all our pranks to everyone!"
"Everythin' ok over there?" The man's voice called out from another boat.
Katie was forced to bite back her angry retort as Alicia called out nervously.
"Erm…yes. We're fine."
The voice didn't call out again. It seemed he had accepted what Alicia had said. Katie had taken to glaring at the twins and grumbling about them. Alicia smiled apologetically at the two of them before turning to Katie. They grinned back mischievously.
The rest of the journey was as uneventful as it was in the rest of the boats. They met up with Angelina and Lee once more when they reached the shore and were still answering questions as to what had happened on their boat when they reached the great oak front doors.
CRASH
Their conversation died as the large man hammered on the doors with his fist and they creaked slowly open. Behind them stood a black haired witch who looked extremely stern. Her face travelled over the group as the man addressed her.
"The firs' years, Professor. They're all 'ere."
"Thank you Hagrid." Replied the witch.
The man, whom they now knew was called Hagrid, nodded at the witch and walked past her into the hall. The witch ushered them all into the great entrance hall before flicking her wand at the doors, which closed behind them. She turned to the group of first years.
"I am Professor McGonagall. Welcome to Hogwarts. You will we taken into the Great Hall and sorted into your houses momentarily. Whilst you remain at Hogwarts your houses will be like your family. Your actions can either earn, or lose your house points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the Inter House Cup. I am sure each and every one of you will do your best to assist your house's effort to obtain that prize."
There was a quiet murmur as the first years replied.
"Yes Professor."
"Very well, follow me please."
In silence the group of first years followed her out of the entrance hall and into a much larger chamber where…where the rest of the school were already seated.
"We're going to be sorted in front of everyone?" squeaked Alicia quietly.
There was no response, not even from the twins. They all seemed to be nervous. Alicia noted Angelina was trembling slightly. The group were brought to a halt once they reached the front of the chamber and they watched as an old man carried a small stool with a large battered hat on it towards them and placed it on the floor before shuffling off. The first years were staring at the hat, puzzled as to what a hat had to do with them being sorted into their houses. As they watched a large rip opened near the brim of the hat, and Alicia felt her jaw drop in astonishment as the hat began to…sing.
"Another year, another time, for me to do my job,
For it's my task to look at you and sort and place you all.
Because I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat, a hat with common sense,
I may not be broad, I may not be tall
But I decide for one and all.
Sit down and place me on your head and deep within I'll look,
Where do you belong you ask,
Where should I be?
That's not for you to choose my dears,
That task it falls to me.
Could you belong in Gryffindor?
Where the brave of heart do dwell?
There daring, courage, chivalry
Will help you grow and swell.
Or perhaps in dear old Hufflepuff,
A hard worker are you?
There loyalty and keenness to learn
Will helpto pull you through.
Great ambition, do you have?
May Slytherin be for you?
If yours is wizard blood most pure and old
Then this just might be true.
That leaves only Ravenclaw
Is that your true path?
There the best and brightest go
For those long years and laughs.
Wherever I may place you
Worry not, you soon will see.
That there really isn't anywhere
A better judge than me."
With that the rip flapped closed and the hat was silent. The first years simply gazed dumbstruck at the hat whilst applause echoed throughout the chamber as both the older years and the teachers clapped and cheered.
The gaze of the first years shifted again only when Professor McGonagall addressed them once more.
"When I call out your name you will sit on the stool and place the Sorting Hat upon your head. It will sort you into your individual houses. Once you have been sorted place the hat back upon the stool and take a place at your house table."
She indicated four long tables stretching across the chamber, filled with students from other years. Alicia relaxed slightly as she realised all they would have to do was try on a hat. She noticed Fred and George looked distinctly unsurprised. She was right; they had known what was coming. However they, along with everyone else, still looked nervous.
She assumed they were worried about what houses they would be placed in, Alicia didn't particularly mind as long as she was together with at least one of her new friends. She didn't want to be in a house with no one she knew. She hoped that whatever happened she would manage to avoid Slytherin though, from what the others had told her she certainly didn't want to be placed there. But of the other three she didn't mind, they all seemed decent enough, though Gryffindor seemed to appeal to her the most.
Her mind was jerked back to attention at the sound of Professor McGonagall's voice. She turned her head from the direction of her friends to see that the Professor was now holding a scroll of parchment, and registered her voice calling.
"Arkridge, Michael."
A small boy scuttled up to the stool as quickly as he could. He plainly wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible so that he could relax.
There was a moment's silence after he placed the hat upon his head before the rip opened once more and the hat bellowed.
"RAVENCLAW!"
One of the tables in the hall, Alicia assumed that it must be the Ravenclaw table, erupted into applause as Michael made his way over to them, his face scarlet with embarrassment.
"Ball, Adam."
This boy approached the hat apprehensively, as if he didn't quite trust it. He still put it upon his head though and the delay this time was considerably shorter before the hat was yelling.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Applause erupted from the Hufflepuff table this time, and Adam Ball made his way over to there and seated himself next to an older student, grinning broadly.
"Bell, Katie."
Alicia's head spun round, she had forgotten that Katie would be called so soon. Katie seemed to have frozen up. Alicia motioned to Angelina and together they gave her a little push forwards, that gave Katie the jolt she needed and she began walking slowly towards the hat on the stool.
"Good luck!" whispered Alicia, Angelina, Lee and the twins as Katie began moving.
Katie reached the stool and picked up the hat. She sat gratefully on the stool; she thought her legs were about to give under her. Carefully she placed the hat upon her head and it slid down her face, covering her eyes. She nearly squeaked in surprise as she heard the hat's voice, more quietly than before.
"Hmmm…lets see here. A hard worker….when you want to be. You have courage…lots of courage…and brave enough to stand up for yourself too…yes, I think I'd better put you in…GRYFFINDOR!"
Katie sighed in relief and removed the hat from her head. She began to walk over to the Gryffindor table giving her friends a weak smile as she did so showing that her nerves were beginning to disappear.
The group of friends still waiting to be sorted clapped hard for Katie, Angelina giving her a little wave when she smiled at them. They watched her sit down at the Gryffindor table before turning their attention back to Professor McGonagall, who had just called forwards another student.
They looked on and applauded politely as new students were sorted, the nerves of each of them building.
"Johnson, Angelina." Called Professor McGonagall.
Angelina nearly tripped over her robes as she hurried forward, wanting to get it out of the way quickly. As she pulled the hat over her head she hoped fervently that she'd be in Gryffindor with Katie. Her mother had been in Gryffindor and she knew that she'd be so proud if Angelina was sorted into there too.
She didn't even really have time to be shocked once the hat began whispering to her. It was over so quickly.
"Ah, an easy one. It's all there. Yes, defiantly GRYFFINDOR!"
'Thanks' she thought to the hat, as she pulled it off her head and near ran over to the Gryffindor table grinning broadly.
She sat down next to Katie, who gave her a quick hug in delight. But they didn't have time to celebrate much as Professor McGonagall was now calling out.
"Jordan, Lee."
Lee staggered up to the stool, all traces of the confidence he had shown on the train gone. He seemed to be in a trance, unaware of what was going on around him. He managed to get the hat upon his head, and then he waited. The whispering voice didn't surprise him; he wasn't really paying attention as it spoke really.
"Ah…a troublemaker for sure. You have potential…Ravenclaw perhaps? Hmmmm…no perhaps not, I sense you wouldn't apply yourself enough to fit in there…then I suppose it should be GRYFFINDOR!"
Katie and Angelina clapped and cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindor table as Lee staggered over to them and sat down opposite them.
"Congratulations." Katie whispered to both of them, as Jennifer King became a new Slytherin.
Angelina grinned at her and Lee smiled.
"Do you think the others will be in Gryffindor too?" he asked.
"As we're friends and all. Would it put us together?"
Katie shook her head.
"No. The hat can't place people according to friendships, its split up families before now. If the others are going to be with us in Gryffindor it has to be because they possess the necessary qualities."
"I hope they do end up with us." Angelina whispered excitedly.
"Wouldn't it be great if we were all together?"
The others smiled, and they turned back to the hat to watch Anthony Melsworth become another Ravenclaw.
As the sorting continued Alicia grew steadily paler. What if the hat put her in Slytherin? What if she was the only one out of her friends not in Gryffindor? She was white by the time Professor McGonagall called:
"Spinnet, Alicia."
She felt something prod her in the side, then the voice of the twins in her ear.
"You're up Alicia."
"Good luck."
She nodded slowly and felt her legs start moving. She felt the eyes of everyone in the hall upon her and started to feel sick, it felt like they were burning holes through her as they stared. She felt very grateful that the hat slid completely over her eyes, so that she didn't have to see them all watching her. She visibly jumped when she heard the hat whispering quietly and heard a few people in the hall chuckle. She was too terrified to care; she just listened to the hat.
"Ah, a strange one. This will be difficult. You're very keen to learn magic I see, keen to prove that you're a witch. I think….maybe Hufflepuff…but you're daring…oh yes very daring. That's a Gryffindor quality…"
Alicia's heart leapt as she heard him mention Gryffindor.
'Please.' She thought.
'I want to be with my friends.'
"I can't place you just to be with your friends you know…they're Gryffindor's I see…at least, those who have been sorted so far are…Hmmmmm, you could do well there…could…if you apply yourself properly. Are you sure?"
'Yes' Alicia thought desperately.
"Very well then…GRYFFINDOR!"
Alicia squeaked in delight as she pulled the hat off her head and ran full tilt to the Gryffindor table, which was giving her the usual round of applause. Sitting down next to Angelina she hugged both her and Katie in delight. Lee congratulated her from across the table and she thanked him. She didn't think she'd ever stop smiling. She was together with her friends and that was all that mattered.
By the time she had settled down enough to concentrate on the hat again five more students had been sorted, there had been no new Gryffindors though. There were only three students left. A black haired girl and the twins.
She watched as the girl was sorted into Slytherin, and she joined their house table with a smirk upon her face. Then, it was Fred's turn.
"Weasley, Frederick."
Fred moved forwards, his face unreadable. The group of friends watched from the Gryffindor table as he placed the hat upon his head.
'Weasley is it? I've dealt with too many of you. Simple choice. GRYFFINDOR!"
The group of friends clapped along with the rest of the table as Fred joined them, choosing a seat next to Lee. He smiled at them.
"Knew it." He whispered.
"The whole family's been in Gryffindor. Sure thing really."
Alicia noted that Percy hadn't congratulated his brother; she supposed he was probably still annoyed about the trolley prank earlier. He'd get round to congratulating them later, better to just let things settle first.
"Weasley, George."
George stepped up to the hat, he looked pretty confident. Alicia admired the fact that he could retain the confidence she had observed in him at Kings Cross when he was about to undergo such a nerve-wracking moment.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The hat bellowed after barely touching George's head. The group of friends cheered as loudly as they could as George made his way over and sat next to Fred. They were all in Gryffindor!
They had barely finished congratulating each other when an old wizard stood up at the teacher's table and cleared his throat. The group halted their discussion and turned to face him. His eyes twinkled kindly as he looked around the chamber and he smiled.
"Welcome one and all to Hogwarts. Welcome for the first time to some of you, and welcome back to others. I am sure you are all famished, so I will leave the announcements until after you have all eaten your fill of our magnificent feast. For now, enjoy."
A/N: Phew, that was a long one. 11 pages. I hope I didn't waffle too much. Next time we'll see the remainder of that night and their first day hopefully.
A major thank you to the three people who've reviewed so far. Your positive comments inspired me to finish this chapter off today.
Please keep reviewing everyone; I revel in reading your comments, good or bad.