Disclaimer: Almost everything belongs to the lovely J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Four:

Hogwarts Gets Another Scholarship Student

James woke up late on September 1st. He might not have woken up at all if Tom hadn't pored water on him.

"Hey, what'd you do that for," James exclaimed, sitting up, his face dripping and glared at his brother.

"Well as you were going to miss the train, I though you might want to wake up," Tom sneered. James knew it was jealousy, but Tom had been acting strange around James since he had gotten the scholarship. It had always been Tom's dream, like it had been James's, to follow in their father's footsteps and go to Hogwarts; it must have stung to see his brother get to live his dreams.

"Well, poke me next time, okay," James, said, trying to be understanding. He was very glad he had packed last night, as he rooted though his brother's cloths to find the muggle cloths he had put aside to wear to the train station, as Albus had told him to. However, his cloths were completely lost in the mountains of dirty laundry on the floor.

"Harry," James yelled, "can I borrow some of your cloths, I can't find the ones I didn't pack."

"Sure," Harry yelled from the other room, "try my black T-shirt, the others are all dirty."

"Thanks," James called, pulling out a black shirt from the pill and a pair of jeans. He dressed quickly, then tried to comb out his messy black hair, but it was useless, he would never get it to lie flat no matter what he did. He looked in the mirror and though he looked, at the very least, clean. His cloths were a little worn, and baggy because they were meant for Harry who was a bit taller then him. Yet, he didn't think he would really stick out, besides he would just change into his robes if he felt out of place.

"James, are ye ready yet," his mother called, "we're all ready to go."

Despite his protest, his entire family had wanted to go with him to Kings Cross to see him off. Deep down James didn't mind, he would be able to spend more time with them that way. So, taking a deep breath, James went into the other room.

"Finally," Tom exclaimed as he entered.

"Come on James," Margaret told him, "no time to eat, you're late. Eliz put something in your bag to eat on the train."

And with that she shooed them all out the door, Harry caring James's trunk and Eliz taking his owl. Harry had a friend who had lent him a car, which was waited for them on the other side of the Leaky Caldron. They all pilled in, Harry driving, as he was the only one who had ever been in a muggle car before. The trip passed to quickly for James's liking. His family spent the whole time joking around and playing their music very loudly. Margate had used her last paycheck to buy James a device, sort of like a muggle CD player, which would work within Hogwarts. It could be programmed to play any song he wanted, during the car ride this was passed around, and ever adding their favorites. James was a little horrified when Sarah put in tons of Disney songs, including her favorite 'A Whole New World,' which was in Aladdin, and 'Part of This World,' from the Little Mermaid. She even made James promise he would listen to them, "so you wouldn't forget me."

"I wonder who that belongs to," Jane exclaimed, stopping the discussions about music to point to a long black limo that had pulled out in front of Kings Cross. As Harry parked, James saw the red haired girl he had bumped into the older day leaving the limo, and knew immediately who it was.

"That's Princess Lily," James muttered, "she must be starting Hogwarts this year."

"Oh… rubbing shoulders with the royalty now," Jane exclaimed.

"I want to see the princess," Sarah interrupted her to exclaim, standing up on the car seat to stare after Lily.

"She's probably a huge snob," James muttered, as he watched the princess's retreating back. "Come on, I don't want to miss the train."

"Ahh… Jamie got a crash," Sarah giggled, sending the rest of his family into fits of giggles and massive teasing.

"Thanks guys," James complained, "I wouldn't see you till Christmas and all you can do is laugh at me."

"You're right," Eliz said, trying to stop giggling, "lets go."

After that, his family was pretty cool. Sarah only giggled once on the way to the station and only jumped up and down a couple times when she found out she would get to see James run though "a brick wall! How hip is that!"

"Its not a brick wall," James said knowledgably, "it's a spell, it's actually a portal-"

"Could you please wait till you get to the smart people before acting like a know-it-all?" Harry joked, making them all laugh, even James.

His mother pulled him into a crushing embrace, till he squawked out, "need---- air," and he could see she had started to cry when he pulled away. Harry also pulled him into brotherly hug, slapping him on the back and whispering in his ear, "you show'em all for me, okay bro." Elizabeth, and Jane cried as they pulled him into a large group hug, kissing him on the check. Tom, hugged him, though a little stiffer then he would have had. Sarah was the last, she was also crying heavily. James scooped her up and spun her around, whispering in his ear that he would be back soon and that she should start planning the games they would play together. Finally it was time to go, and squaring his shoulders, James pushed his trunk into a lumbering run. For a spit second, he though he would crash, then he was on the other side, looking up at a scarlet red steam engine.

James wondered around the platform, not recognizing anyone. He saw plenty of well-dressed students and their parents saying goodbye, and had began to feel very out of place in his baggy pants. He found an empty compartment and started to push and shove his trunk on board.

After about fifteen minutes, he had still not managed it. His feet were starting to ache from where he dropped his trunk on them to many times and he was starting to loose hope when a voice said from behind him, "do you need help?"

Standing there was a short Spanish girl, who looked only a few years older then James. She had long brown hair, an oval shaped face, and a wide smile.

"Yes, please!" He exclaimed and together they heaved his trunk onto the train. The girl stood there for a moment, seeming to want to tell him something, final she went about it.

"I have to admit that I came over because I figured you were a scholarship student," she nervously.

"I am," James admitted, a little sheepishly, making the girl grin.

"Oh good, I was afraid… well never mind. I'm Rosa Garai; I'm a second year Gryffindor. All the other scholarship students, sit in a compartments down at the end. We always explain everything to first years and stuff, so come on, I'll show you."

James was very grateful to say the least, he had begin to think he was the only one here not from a very rich family. So grabbing the bag full of his uniform and food, he followed Rosa down to the end of the compartment. When Rosa pushed open the door, James noticed that the room seemed to have been expanded to fit all sixteen of them.

"Hey everyone, I got the last one," Rosa announced taking a seat next to another Spanish girl who was wearing a blue tank top. As James slide into a seat next to a very pale, brown haired boy his age, he noticed with relief that everyone in here seemed to be dressed a lot like him. They all wore baggy cloths, the color black, and on the girls tighter and more reviling cloths then those girls out on the platform in their colorful summer dresses, would dare to wear. James allowed himself to relax as two people stood up, a girl and a boy. The girl was short, with wavy blond hair and wore a black tank top and jeans. The boy was Spanish and very handsome, with a natural grace about him.

"Welcome back everyone," the Spanish boy started by saying, "to all of you first years, I'm Jose DeNino, this year's Head Boy and this is Megan McCormack, your Head Girl."

"Shouldn't you guys be up with the prefects?" A black boy near the back asked.

"Well, yes," Megan admitted, "but the meeting doesn't start for a while and it's not like they'll start with out us."

"Especially since most of the prefects are here," Jose added, as a large majority of the kids clapped. "Which brings us to our first order of business, we have managed to get two more prefects this year, Ella Jones and Edward Abney."

Everyone clapped at this, as two of the older kids stood up and bowed, while Chinese boy in the corner, who looked their age, scowled at them.

"Also we have three new first years," Megan said, indicating James, the brown haired boy next to him, and a greasy haired boy in the corner. "Why don't you all introduce yourselves, starting with you."

She had pointed at James; so shrugging he stood up and said, "well I'm James Potter, call me Jamie and died," this made them all laugh. "I live near Diagon Alley with my mom and five siblings." Feeling he had nothing else to say, he sat down and the boy next to him stood and introduced himself.

"I'm Remus Lupin," he started, "I'm err… a half-blood and I live with both my parents in London." He said nervously, James assumed he wasn't a very good public speaker.

"Severus Snape," the greasy haired boy in the corner said simply and left it at that. He had an arrogant air around him that James found annoying.

"So the rest of us will introduce ourselves later," Jose said, "but for the time we have now, lets go over some basic rules. As everyone knows, us scholarship students aren't very liked, to put it lightly, amongst the regular students. You first years should realize that almost all of your fellow students will have been born into a noble family and grown up with everything they could dream of. They have been taught to hate people like us, the working class, but you should not take it personally, that's just how they were raised. Most of them are nice people if you get to know them." At this a few people snorted, but Jose plowed on without noticing. "I would however advise you to stick close to us for the most part, as some of the, less friendly students will cause trouble for you. We do not tolerate any prejudice between the houses, no matter what house you get into, you will always have friends here, we must stick together."

This made James feel a lot better, to know that he wouldn't be completely alone in this alien school.

"Most of the older students are prefects or Head boy and girl," Megan continued. "So if you have any problems just come to us, we have the authority to stop any major problems. Sadly however, you will have to learn to get use to some things," this whole part confused James, but he storied it away for the future.

"You have to have good marks," Jose added, "or they'll take away your scholarship. That goes for if your caught cheating or something like that, most of the governors would love to have a reason to chuck us all out."

"To true," one of the older girls exclaimed, "don't remember to tell them about the room."

"I was getting there Ella," Megan said annoyed. "There's this room, we'll show you were, where we all go to study and hang out. Jose found it in his first year, before that we had to meet in the library and the regular students were always hassling us. Now we have a place to play our music and were we can do our homework without worrying about someone messing it up. Just, never tell regular students about it, without first having all of us agree on the person. Only about five people apart from us know about it, and we'd like to keep it that way. Err… dose anyone have anything else to add?"

It seemed no one did, so after assuring them they would be back soon Jose and Megan, along with the other prefects left.

"So what kinds of music do you guys like?" Rosa asked as soon as the prefects had left. James pulled out his new CD player and showed it around. Luckily it had a speaker, so they were able to play music for everyone to hear. It seemed almost everyone there loved his kind of music, so before long they had turned the speakers up loud and were singing to the music. James was actually having a good time, that was till the door opened.

"Hey look it's the white trash," cried a very pretty blond girl in Gryffindor robes. The four other girls with her laughed. "So I see they didn't throw the whole lot of you in Askaban yet, though with that music I don't see why they haven't. Come on girls, we have better things to do then hang around here, I dare say their stink might rub off on us."

"Don't mind them," Peter Li said. He was the only fifth year or older not a prefect, because there were three fifth years scholarships in his year. Trying to act as though he hadn't noticed James turned the music up a bit. The mood however had dampened, and there was no recovering.

James was sort of use to being looked down upon from his work at the bookstore. Yet, he had never before had someone so clearly disrespect him to his face before with out even knowing him. For an eleven year old, even one as mature as James, this was a little disconcerting.

By the time the lunch troll came around, the others were back. Not that any of them had enough money to buy any of the delicious treats the pump women pushing the trolley was selling. Kids ran up and down in the aisles, yelling and screaming. Once a brown haired Ravenclaw fourth year named Kristen came in to say hello to her boyfriend Jack Gold (also a Ravenclaw fourth year.) They ended up leaving together and Jack didn't come back for a very long time, Jose explained to James when he asked that Kristen was one of the few preps (as the scholarship students called the regular students) who was cool enough to know about the 'room.'

James spent most of the ride listing to music and getting to know the others. He found that Remus Lupin was really cool, once you got to know him and he got over being shy. They ended up getting into a whole argument about which Quidditch team, the Wigtown Wanderers or the Tutshill Tornados, were likely to make it to the finals.

Severus Snape turned out to be as annoying and arrogant as James had first taken him to be. Even though he was a half-blood, he was really into the dark arts, something James despised, and wanted to be a Slytherin. He seemed like the type of person who wanted to go suck up to the rich kids out in the corridor, and fidgeted every time someone made a joke about the 'preps.' By the end of the train ride, he had gotten on everyone's nerves so much that he earned himself a nickname 'Snivellus.' Yet, it was a test to how much the scholarship students felt they had to stick together, that they didn't kick him out. Instead he was banished to the back of the train with an oily fifth year Slytherin named Edward Abney who had a strong French accent.

Finally, when the sky outside had darkened, the train crawled to a stop. James's group, who had all changed into their bellowing black robes hours ago, followed the flow out onto the platform.

"First years, first years over here," a giant of a man called over the heads of the older students.

"You all better go over there to Hagrid, don't worry, he's harmless," Jose told the three first years, "the older students in your house will show you the meeting place later, good luck." Then he was gone.

"C'mon," James exclaimed, pushing though the crowd, with Snape and Lupin trailing him.

They were one of the last to reach Hagrid.

"We'll here?" He was asking, counting the heads of the tiny first years. "Good, f'llow me."

He led them to a little fleet of boats that were rocking in the middle of a giant lake. Across the water James caught a glimpse of a huge castle with many tarries and towards. It was just like out of a fairy tale, James's heart skipped a beat as he remembered that this place was going to be his home for the next seven years. He tried to imagine how he would describe this place in his letter home, but found that he could not. Maybe he would take a picture and send it home instead, Sarah would love that.

Lost in though, James followed Remus into a boat; they had long ago left Snivellus behind. They were followed into their boat by a nervous; pump blond boy and a tall aristocratic looking boy, with short black hair that fell over his sparkling gray eyes. The two boys were staring at James and Remus's second hand robes, probably trying to decide if they were scholarship students or not. James, who hated awkward silences, decided it was time to say something before he went crazy.

"Cool castle isn't it?" He asked conversational then added, "I'm James Potter and this is Remus Lupin."

The two boys just stared at them for a moment, then obviously drew the same conclusion and stiffened. James just looked at Remus puzzled.

"I guess we picked the wrong boat Pettigrew," the black haired boy said to the blond boy, totally ignoring James and Remus. "This one's full of white trash."

James couldn't believe his ears. It took him a spit second, then he decided to act, pretending he was looking at the water, he tipped the boat over, sending all four boys into the water. It was totally juvenal, but James couldn't help it. Luckily Remus was good about it, he had obviously been very offended by the black haired boy's comment too.

James couldn't help laughing as he saw the stunned and hateful glances on the two preps faces. That was till he felt a giant tentacle around his waist and a giant squid appeared, dropping the four boys into the boat, after righting it.

"What the hell did you do that for?" the black haired boy asked, as they had all gotten themselves comfortable in the boat again.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," James said in a fake voice, "I must have leaned over a little two far."

The two boys just glared at James well Remus tried not to laugh out loud. Luckily for James the boats hit the shore at that moment, for the black haired boy looked ready to kill.

"What' happened to ya three?" Hagrid asked, taking in the four dripping boys.

"Boat tipped," Remus explained, sporting a smile, which he quickly hid.

"Right," Hagrid said, though he sounded as if he didn't believe them. He did not press the matter.

They were standing in a kind of underground harbor, and as Hagrid lead the way up a flight of stone steps, James slipped and slid on the grass in his soaking wet shoes. At last they came to a huge, oak front door and Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times.

The door swung opened almost at once, reveling a tall, black-haired witch in midnight black robes. Her lips were pursed in a vary freighting way for an old lady, and James had the impression that he would regret it if he crossed her.

"Firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid told her.

"Yes, thank you Hagrid, I will take it from here."

She pulled the door open and led them into an entrance hall as big as James's whole apartment building. The stonewalls were lit with flaming torches and the ceiling was too high to make out. A magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. James had never seen anyplace so elegant in his life and was annoyed to see that most of the other students just shrugged the place off, like they saw this ever day. Then he reminded himself that most of them did see this everyday.

They followed McGonagall across the flagged stone floors, though a doorway to the right, James could hear what seemed like hundreds of voices. McGonagall however, led the fidgeting first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall, which they all crowded into.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said, in a very well rehearsed voice. "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.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

He eyes lingered on Remus, James and the other two boys who had been on the boat with them, who were still dripping wet.

"What has happened to you three?" She asked them, sternly.

"Boat tipped, Professor," James said quickly, before the others could tell what really happened.

"Hem," McGonagall muttered, then drew her wand and preformed a quick spell that fired off a jet of hot air at each of their robes. Then, as if she had to do this every year, she continued her speech.

"I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly," then shell turned and left the chamber.

Immediately the hall burst into nervous whispers.

"How do you think they sort us?" James asked Remus who was standing next to him.

"I don't know, no one I now has every been here, I though your dad went here?" Remus whispered back.

"Yea, but he died before I could remember him. Anyway, it's tradition never to tell first years how they're sorted. I hope we don't have to do any magic."

This seemed to be the general thought of most people around him, who were quickly reciting all the spells they knew, which weren't many. James was annoyed to see that the black haired boy in the boat didn't look at all nervous, his family must have told him what was coming.

What seemed like seconds later, McGonagall came back to lead the first years into the hall. James was so nervous; he barely registered the huge hall, with hundreds of students, and an enchanted ceiling. Though all around him he could hear the other first years exclaimed in awed voices how amazing it was.

McGonagall lined them up in front of the staff table and placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of it she put a very battered pointed wizard's hat. James wondered for one wild second if they would have to pull a rabbit out of it, before reminding himself how stupid that would be.

Just as he was starting to get very nervous, the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth – and the hat began to sing!

James was so startled at a hat singing that he barely caught the song. Just something about how if they put it one it would sort them into house. That sounded so easy, to bad they had to do it in front of the whole school!

Once the hat was done singing, Professor McGonagall walked forward and started reading names off a scroll of parchment. James was still too stunned by the talking hat and nervous about his own turn to really register what she was saying. He just noticed that the black haired boy he had gotten wet was named "Black, Sirius", and that he became the first GRYFFIDOR" to James's great annoyance. He really wanted to be a Gryffindor, and now he would have to choice a different house or spend seven years with that prat. It wasn't till McGonagall came to the E's that he started to really listen.

"Evans, Her Royal Highness, Princess Lily," was called. And the pretty red haired girl James had seen on the station walked gracefully up to the stool and placed the hat on her head. A few seconds it yelled "GRYFFINDOR" to the hall. James watched as the red and gold table exploded in applause. James sighed, thinking of how her would never get near her with all those people, then though about it, and realized he didn't want to know her. She was just a prep, what did he care.

He was jerked out of his thoughts as McGonagall announced, "Everest, Mark," who became the first "HUFFLPUFF!"

A few minutes later, "Lupin, Remus," was called. Remus, shaking slightly, walked up to the stood. It took a few minutes for the hat to announce him a "GRYFFINDOR!" He smiled happily as he went to join the other scholarship students sitting at one end of the table, who were the only ones enthusiastically welcoming him.

A few names later the bond boy in their boat was called, who turned out to be "Pettigrew, Peter." He took a few minutes to be put in "GRYFFINDOR!" James groaned, now he'd have to put up with both of those preps.

Then, what seemed like seconds later, "Potter, James," was called. James squared his shoulders and walked forward to put to hat on his head. In the background he could hear whispers of "scholarship" and "white trash" but he steadfastly ignored them.

"Aw, you are brave," a voice whispered in his ear as he slide the battered hat on his head.

"No I'm not" James though back, puzzled at the hat's comments. "I was so nervous about coming here I was shaking most of today, how's that being brave."

"But you are, you did come, to such an unknown place as an outsider knowing no one. Most people would have been too nervous to even come. Yes, you are very noble too, there is only one place for you GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat said this last word to the hall at large and grinning slightly, James staggered off to sit next to Remus and the other scholarship students, who were cheering him enthusiastically.

"Good job!" Jose, the head boy, exclaimed, clapping him on the back.

"Here here," Rosa, exclaimed, grinning at him.

"Thanks," James muttered, trying not to blush.

He tuned his attention back to the sorting as: "Prewett, Gideon" was called. At his name a few giggling seventh years a few seats ahead of James at the Gryffindor table cheered. In the mists of them, James saw a pretty girl with bright red hair, waving at what was evidently her brother as the hat called, "GRYFFINDOR!"

James stopped listening to the sorting after that, as one after another the nervous first years were sorted into different houses. He did note that Snivellus became a "SLYTHERIN" to his relief. James hadn't been looking forward to spending seven years in the same dorm as that prat.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Albus Dumbledore said, standing up. He had half-moon spectacles, a long crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache, stood up. James smiled when he saw him, glad to see a familiar face. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words: Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titleandus."

James didn't know whether to laugh or not, so he turned to Rosa who was talking to Remus.

"Err… it he always like that?" Remus was asking.

Rosa, who had decided to laugh, told him, "yes, but he's a genus so no one can say anything. Everyone was so excited when he was appointed headmaster last year after Dippet died, Dumbledore's a much better headmaster."

"Um, okay, wow, where did that come from?" James exclaimed, forgetting all about Dumbledore, as he saw the piles of food in front of him. There was corn beef, sizzling hams, juicy turkeys, pumpkin juices, and about anything else you could imagine.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Ella Jones, a fifth year, joked, "Where the food is always great."

PS: In these two chapters I know Sirius came off as sort of rich snob (and Lily in the last chapter.). But you must realize, they are rich snobs, that's just how they were raised, to get everything they want and look down on the less fortunate person. I know they are both nice people, but your childhood has to rub off on you a little. Okay, I'm done now, so please REVIEW!