Standing There By You
Ch. 3- Of Goblets and Giggling
Disclaimer: Not mine in the least.
A/N: Special thanks to Padfootz who informed me after 34 chapters of a blunder in this chap : )
After a rather interesting boat trip across the lake, the first years gathered in the entrance of the Great Hall, waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin. Lily read all about the four different houses in Hogwarts, A History, and decided she would like to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, but as long as she didn't get into Slytherin she'd be happy.
A middle-aged lady, with dark brown hair wrapped in a tight bun, directed them into the Hall. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, and then placed a rather old and frumpy looking hat onto a tall stool. To their surprise, the hat started singing through a slit near the bottom. It sang about all the different houses, and when it was done, the hall burst into applause. Pulling out a long piece of parchment, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and read, "Adams, Mark."
A red-haired boy stepped up to the hat and shakily put it on his head. After a few moments of silence, the hat yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The boy scurried off the chair, and over to the cheering Hufflepuff table.
"Black, Sirius."
Lily noticed that even he looked a bit nervous, as he placed the hat over his head.This time the hat took a considerably longer time to deliberate his fate, but finally it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
A mixed look of astonishment, relief and apprehension washed over Sirius's face, as he gave a quick grin and walked over to his fellow Gryffindors.
"Daniel, Creig."
A boy who was a bit taller than the rest of the first years strode up to the stool. "RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat, and Creig took a seat at the applauding table to their left.
"Evans, Lily."
Lily smiled nervously at her two new friends, before stepping up to the hat.
"Hmm... studious, very studious, I see. Ravenclaw, perhaps? But wait, oh, wait. Such determination you have! There's only one place for this..."GRYFFINDOR!"
Lily hopped off the stool and to the cheering Gryffindor table, where she saw Margie clapping hard.
Fraskin, Robert was sorted into Slytherin, Joskins, Marie and Lunier, Nicolette into Ravenclaw, and Pettigrew, Peter into Gryffindor. Lily groaned at the next name to be called.
"Potter, James."
Just as soon as the hat touched his head, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Sirius gave a whoop of joy, applauding loudly for his friend. Cursing her luck, Lily scowled as he took a seat across from her.
"Fancy meeting you here," James greeted.
Lily tossed him a sacrastic smile. "Wish I could say the same," she replied.
James just winked at her before turning his attention back to the sorting.
"Snape, Severus."
A scrawny boy with greasy black hair stepped up to the hat. It waited a few moments before announcing "SLYTHERIN!"
James leaned over to Sirius, "Knew that was coming."
"Shadren, Grace."
Lily watched nervously as Grace stepped up to the hat, and placed it confidently on. Crossing her fingers under the table, Lily's heart leapt as "GRYFFINDOR!" was yelled across the hall, and Grace took a seat beside her. She gave Lily a quick hug before turning to watch for their other friend.
"Taylor, Julie."
Julie paled, and walked cautiously up to the hat. Lily and Grace gave her a thumb's up before she disappeared under the wide brim. The hat took a few seconds to decide, but finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Julie grinned as she ran over to the Gryffindor table, where her two friends were cheering loudly. The three girls talked excitedly as several more students were sorted, until finally the ceremony was over.
A tall man with a long white beard stood up at the teachers' table, and the students were silent. "Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts!" The students applauded, and the old man patiently waited until the noise died down. When all was quiet again, he continued, "As always, the Forbidden Forest-"
The Great Hall doors swung open loudly, abruptly stopping his speech. Standing behind the doors was a very pale, and very nervous looking young boy. He opened his mouth to say something, but no noise came out.
"Ah! Of course, welcome Mr. Lupin." Dumbledore greeted him with a warm smile. "Professor McGonagall, if you don't mind."
Giving him a curt nod, Professor McGonagall placed the hat back on the stool. The boy walked up to the hat in a hurry, obviously eager to get it over with. It didn't take long before the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and the boy sat at the only empty seat available at the table, which happened to be the end opposite of the other first years.
"Pity," Sirius said to James. "I would've liked to ask him how he made such an entrance." James nodded, and was about to respond when Dumbledore began talking once more.
"Anyway, as I was saying a moment before, the Forbidden Forest is absolutely off limits, and there will be no magic in the corridors. Also, new to Hogwarts is the addition of a Whomping Willow. I suggest that you avoid this particular addition if you do not wish to suffer a most grievous beating." Dumbledore's serious expression swiftly turned into a lighthearted one. "Now that that's all said and done, let's eat!"
Just as he spoke his last words, food appeared on the table out of nowhere. Lily's mouth dropped open, but everyone else just began sorting the food. "That's Professor Dumbledore," Grace informed Lily, while she cut apart her chicken. "He's the Headmaster, and a very advanced wizard."
"My mum says we'd be lost without him," put in Julie, and Grace nodded in agreement.
Lily nodded, taking in any information she could with interest. After everyone was done eating, and the last of the treacle pudding vanished, everyone was dismissed and the Prefects led the First Years to their Common Rooms.
"Oh, look!" said Lily, pointing at the portraits. "They move."
Julie grinned at Grace before saying, "Yes, all photos and pictures in the Magical world do. It must be-"
"Ooooh," squealed James, imitating Lily. "Look, look at the pretty pictures!"
"Shut up, Potter," shot Lily.
"Okay, okay. How come your so amazed anyways? It's just a couple of paintings."
"Well, the ones back home don't move, that's all," Lily replied defensively.
"Oh, you're muggle-born then," said James.
"Great," drawled a cold voice from behind them. "That old crackpot's invited more Mudbloods to this school, has he?"
Five first years whipped around. Before any of them knew it, James had grabbed the older boy by the collar. "What did you say, Malfoy?"
The boy just shrugged him off, and sneered. "You heard me. Great, more filth..." he muttered under his breath, but turned and made his way toward his own common room. James made to go after him, but Lily grabbed the back of his robes.
"Who's he?" asked Lily.
"Old family friend," Sirius growled.
"Oh," furrowing her brow, she asked. "What was that thing he said... um, Mudblood, I think it was."
Making a face, Grace answered, "Just a nasty way of saying Muggle-born."
"You see, Lily," started Julie, "it really doesn't matter at all whether you're Muggle-born or not, but well... some people are just prejudice, I guess."
Lily bit her lip, thinking this was going to be harder than she'd imagined. She gave a small, "Oh," as the group walked fast to catch up with the other Gryffindors.
James looked over and saw her worried face. "You know, that guy, he's just a git-"
"I don't wish to talk to you, Potter," Lily said, cutting him off.
"What?" James asked, taken aback.
"I'm still mad at you. You never did apologize for before, and you acted like a jerk to me on the train," Lily snapped.
"So? I just defended you back there-"
"Who said I needed defending?" demanded Lily.
"Well, isn't it obvious? I mean, you are a girl," James stated matter-of-factly.
"So?!"
"So, girls need rescuing. They're weak."
"Why you..." Lily fumed, and she then promptly stepped on his foot.
James yelped in pain. "Ow! What the heck did you do that for?"
"I don't know what's going on in that miniscule brain of yours," said Lily, poking him in the head, "but next time you think about rescuing me, well, think again. I can stand up for myself, thank you very much."
Lily stomped off to where her friends stood, just as the Prefects halted.
"This," said Margie, pointing to a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress, "is your common room entrance. There's a password that we change every so often that you must say to get it. For now, it's Mocking Bird." When she spoke the password, the Portrait swung open, revealing a hole for them to crawl through. The Gryffindors went one by one, all piling into the common room. A plush, scarlet carpet that lay beneath their feet, various pieces of comfy looking furniture, two oak staircases and a blazing fire made up the room.
"Over here," said a boy standing beside Margie, "is the boys' staircase, that leads up to the dormitories. And over here," he gestured to the other side of the room, "is the girls' staircase, which of course leads up to the girls' dormitories. If you have any questions or comments come find us, my name is Carl Dipierro, and this is Margie Hughes. You may go up to your dormitories now, your trunks have already been brought up."
Lily, Grace and Julie walked up the girls' staircase, and stopped at the room marked First Years. Stepping in they saw two other girls already there, one with short blond hair and one with dark brown. The girls sat on a bed and seemed deep in conversation, waving their hands around animatedly.
"Oh, hello," greeted the one with short blond hair, spotting the three girls. "My name's Angie, and this is Val."
The girl she introduced as Val turned to face them and said, "Hi. We were just talking," the two girls giggled, "about Sirius Black-"
"And James Potter," Angie quickly put in. "We saw you talking to him, I'll bet he's like, a million times more gorgeous up close, right?"
"No," Lily scowled, "James Potter is a great prat."
"What?!" Angie gasped, clutching her heart.
Lily, Grace and Julie rolled their eyes and walked over to their beds, beginning to unpack their trunks. Val rushed over to her friend, frantically waving her hand in front of her face.
"It'll be okay Angie, she doesn't know what she's talking about," Val soothed, trying to calm her hysterical friend.
"Yes I do," Lily mumbled from across the room. Grace and Julie laughed as Angie glared.
Val stood up and walked over to the three girls. "Well I personally prefer Sirius," she said, a dreamy look passing over her face. "Oh, those dazzling eyes, adorable black hair that accents his features perf-"
"Please stop," said Grace, looking disgusted. "If you say much more, I'm afraid I'm going to be sick."
"Humph." Val crossed her arms, and stomped back over to Angie. The two girls began avidly talking again, agreeing that the other three were just mental.
"Ah, here it is," said James, walking into their dormitory. He sat down and stretched lazily across his bed. "Yup. This will do just fine."
Sirius nodded and sank into the one to the right of James'. The small boy that had arrived late appeared at the door.
Sirius shot up. "Hello!" he said, smacking his shoulder. The boy teetered wearily. "I'm Sirius, and this is James. Smashing entrance back there, how'd you do it?"
"Oh, you know, uh- just missed the train, that's all."
Sirius looked a little disappointed. "Oh. Well, that's still brilliant mate, er- what did you say your name was?"
"Remus Lupin," he answered, and Sirius shook his hand.
"Ah, nice to meet you."
"You to-" A rather plump (A/N: fat, disgusting, evil, balding, back-stabbing, good for nothing) boy stumbled into the room and knocked into Remus, cutting him off.
"Oh, sorry 'bout that," the boy apologized.
"Who are you?" James asked.
"Peter. P-Peter Pettigrew. I'm a first year."
Sirius and James exchanged a look.
"Well of course you're a first year," said James. "You're in the first year dormitory, aren't you?"
"Oh, right."
"Well anyway, I'm James, this is Sirius, and that's Remus."
"Pleasure," Peter squeaked.
"So," Sirius started, turning to James, "I saw you getting a little friendly with that red-head over there."
"Evans? Yeah, right. She's a downright prick, if you ask me," said James, still angry about his wounded toe.
"Awww, is Jamsie-boy upset because his Potter charm's not working?" Sirius teased.
"Oh, you just wait. She's just a defect, that one. Soon enough I'll have girls crawling all over me."
"Right," Sirius grinned, dodging a pillow James chucked across the room, "Whatever you say."
A/N: Hey, thanks to all my reviewers,
Magical Muggle
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Jess
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I luv ya! READ AND REVIEW!!!