Disclamer: I don't own Harry Potter and all relatedideas or the Adam's family and allrelated ideas. I do own the Mystery Girl, steal her and I'll sueyou to within a inch of your life. Evil laugh.
Chapter 2
Remus returned to the compartment a while later to find his three friends playing exploding snap. Peter's eyebrows were rather singed.
He sat down just as Sirius started dealing a new hand and was automatically included.
"How was the meeting?" asked Sirius.
"What was left of it? Tolerable. I got told off twice for being late, first by the head boy, and then by Lily afterwards so before you can harass me, no, I did not ask her about the mystery girl."
Sirius gave an exasperated sigh as though Remus was a small child that had just thrown an unnecessary tantrum.
"She's really good looking isn't she?" said Remus slyly, "It's the only reason you'd be so interested."
"My dear Moony, do you really think me that shallow?"
"Yes." Replied Remus with the air of a person stating the bleeding obvious.
Sirius flicked a card at him and Remus lunged backwards before it could blow up in his face.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. Unfortunately it started pouring with rain ten minutes before they arrived so when they left the train it felt more like standing under a waterfall than standing in the rain.
Sirius had scanned the platform for the mystery girl and, after locating her, was trying to point her out to the others.
"No, you fool, over there next to the first years."
"Sirius I can't even tell which ones are the first years it's raining so hard." Snapped James, pushing towards the carriages.
Remus however looked in the direction indicated and saw Lily Evans, her red hair plastered to her scalp, towing another girl by the arm. He got a brief glimpse of pale skin and dark hair before the girl pulled her cloak over her head. Then he was forced to move by the crowd pushing towards the carriages.
The drive to Hogwarts provided a brief respite from the downpour but they were all soaked afresh during the short dash from the carriages up to the school so it was with great relief they entered the castle, albeit feeling like they were bringing half a lake with them.
"Can anyone remember the charm for drying things?" asked James crossly, wringing out his robes onto the already sopping floor.
Remus could and promptly performed it returning them to a blissful state of not wetness, then they all hurried into the great hall and sat down.
Remus looked up at the ceiling and watched black and purple clouds swirl across it, then was distracted as the double doors to the hall reopened and Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor house, lead the group of rather bedraggled first years inside.
It took Sirius less than three seconds to notice and hiss "there she is" but it was unnecessary as the mystery girl was rather easy to pick out among the nervous eleven year olds that surrounded her. She towered over them, clearly much older, and hung to the back of the group, clearly conscious of all the whispering and pointing directed at her.
Remus understood instantly why Sirius had been so interested. The mystery girl was, as he had predicted, exceptionally pretty, with large eyes and high cheekbones, thought at present her long wet hair and pale skin was making her look more like a member of the Adam's Family than a respectable Hogwarts student.
The first years came to a halt at the front of the hall where the ancient school Sorting Hat sat on its traditional stool. As every watched silently the rip in its brim opened and it began to sing.
"Many centuries ago,
Hogwarts School had just begun,
And from the noble founders four,
The four school houses come.
It is my task to split you,
On this your starting night,
With my knowledge from the founders,
I'll put you where is right.
If you are brave and stout of heart,
To Gryffindor you'll go,
While those of keen intelligence,
Will be in Ravenclaw you know.
The loyal and the hardworking,
In Hufflepuff will end,
While the cunning and pure blooded folk,
Will in Slytherin be content.
So put me down upon your head.
I will not judge you wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind,
And find where you belong!"
The Hat finished its song and everyone applauded politely, then Professor McGonagall unrolled her list and began to read.
"Albertson, Michael!"
A tubby boy with dark blonde hair clambered rather clumsily onto the stool. There was a moment's pause, then the Hat yelled "Ravenclaw!" causing the corresponding table to burst into raucous applause.
Remus let his mind wander, after five years the sorting ceremony had lost some of its novelty to him, but after "Grimm, Elizabeth!" had joined the Gryffindor table there was a fresh outbreak of whispering as McGonagall announced "Henderson, Rowena!" and the mystery girl made her way through the remaining first years to the front.
She was too tall to sit normally on the stool and was forced to tuck her legs off to one side. The Hat was put on her head, there was a short pause, then the Hat yelled "Gryffindor!" and the tension broke as everyone cheered. The girl called Rowena got off the stool looking almost faint with relief and hurried off to sit next to Lily Evans who promptly performed the same drying spell Remus had executed only a short while ago.
"Well," said James sardonically, "a real girl then, not just a figment of Padfoot's overactive imagination."
"Why would I invent her?" asked Sirius, confused.
"To…" James began then was drowned out by fresh applause as "Inglewood, Jonas!" was put in Hufflepuff.
"To annoy us." Finished James matter-of-factly.
"You're ridiculous sometimes, you know that?"
"Of, course, my friend, you tell me so every day."
Remus shook his head at the pair of them and turned back to watch as "Linden, Bastion!" joined the Slytherin table.
The sorting ceremony eventually finished with "Zaine, Alan!" "Gryffindor!" and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet.
"Welcome student new and old to another year at Hogwarts! While I have a few start-of-term notices to deliver, I believe they can wait until your stomachs are no longer rumbling. Let the feast begin!"
He clapped his hands and instantly the tables were covered with food causing any talk to dissolve into the clatter of knives and forks.
After an appropriate period of consumption, Sirius leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially,
"Hey Moony, when's the next full moon?"
"Eleven days." said Remus, equally quiet.
"Damn," said Sirius, looking annoyed, "Wish it was sooner."
"Speak for yourself." replied Remus darkly, stabbing moodily at his steak.
Sirius gave him an apologetic glance.
"Sorry Remus, it's just our baby is crying out to be finished and I hate to deny that call."
"Firstly Sirius," chipped in James, "the map is an inanimate object and isn't capable of crying out for anything. Secondly, for the same reason, it's not going anywhere. Don't worry, we'll finish it."
"Yeah." Put in Peter, seizing the opportunity to whisk the bowl of potatoes out from under Sirius's nose where they were in great danger of vanishing completely.
When at length the feast was over, Dumbledore got to his feet again and gave the usual start-of-term notices. How the Forbidden Forest was strictly out of bounds to all students, and which new magical items had been banned from the corridors, then he sent them to bed and Remus rose automatically to help Lily show the first years where to go.
Rowena had already gone, presumably escorted to the Common Room by one of Lily's friends.
Remus and Lily led the first years to the Gryffindor Common Room, gave them the password – "Aquamarine" – showed them where the dorms were, then finally he was free to go to bed where he was too tired to bother joining in with James, Sirius and Peter's Quidditch discussion, so he rolled over and wentstraight to sleep.
A/N Did you like my song? Please review, you won't regret it! Well... I won't regret it at least. Feel free to insult my work if you feel inclined to do so.