Hello everyone! I got another chapter done! Yay me!
"The Sorting Hat"
"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time" the conductor said over an intercom "please leave your luggage on the train. It will be taken to the school separately."
"We should probably change into our robes" Severus laughed after Lily told a joke.
"Alright" Lily smiled and together they changed into their simple black robes before the train came to a stop.
They crowded into the corridor and pushed out onto a dark platform. Lily shivered in the cold September air and Severus acted like he wasn't cold but he actually was.
The older kids started off to the right and into carriages that would take them up the path to the castle and Lily was about to follow before she heard a loud voice booming.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" he said and swung a lantern so the younger kids could see where to go.
"Woah!" Lily whispered when she saw the man "what is he?"
"Dunno" Severus shrugged his shoulders "he's too small to be a giant."
"Firs' years this way!" he called and all the new students gathered around him, anxious to get out of the cold.
"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" the man called and started to walk down a slippery, narrow path.
"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here" the man said and Lily stopped in her tracks when she did see the castle for the first time.
"Oh" she whispered in total awe. It had towers, turrets and thousands of shining windows.
"Welcome to Hogwarts Lily Evans" Severus whispered.
"It's beautiful" Lily whispered.
"No more'n than four in a boat!" the man said and Lily was jolted out of her awe to look to see where he was pointing.
In the water lay a number of small boats and students pressed forward to get into them.
Lily made sure to stick close to Severus so she wouldn't lose him and end up on a boat with people she didn't know.
Together Lily and Severus got onto a boat with a familiar looking kid and another young girl who was staring in awe just as Lily had been.
"Hey I know you!" Lily pointed to the boy that looked familiar.
"I remember you!" the boy smiled "Lily right?"
"Mhm" Lily nodded "Remus?"
"You got it!" he laughed "so this is it? Hogwarts?"
"I know!" Lily said "it's so exciting!"
"I can't wait to see the inside!" Remus said and smiled at her.
"Oh I know!" she gushed "It's going to be grand!"
The two chatted until the boats made it to shore.
The large man led the student up a rocky path to a door bigger than even he was.
"Is everyone here?" he asked the group of kids and smiled when they all nodded.
He turned and knocked on the doors.
The doors opened and Lily gasped when she recognized the stern looking woman standing in the doorway.
"The firs' years Professor McGonagall" the large man said to her.
"Thank you Hagrid" McGonagall nodded "I shall take them from here."
She opened the doors wider and Lily couldn't help but stare in awe, it was beautiful and very big. She thought for sure that she could fit her whole house in the entrance hall alone.
McGonagall led the new students to a small chamber but Lily could still hear the sounds of hundreds of voices coming from not too far away.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "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."
Snape nudged Lily and smiled softly at her as she smiled back.
"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" McGonagall continued. Lily was determined to only ever earn points for her House, never lose any.
"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."
Lily looked down and smoothed her robe as McGonagall left.
"Blimey James!" Sirius said "does your hair ever stay down?!"
"Nope" James shook his head "it's the Potter curse."
"I give up!" Sirius said and threw his hands away from James's hair where he had tried to smooth it down.
"How do we get sorted?" Lily asked Snape nervously.
"You have to take a test" James "I hear you have to fight a troll!"
"A troll?!" Lily asked.
"He's just trying to scare you" Remus interjected before Snape could "it's not a test. You try on a hat."
"Oh good" Lily whispered in relief.
"Yeah" Severus said, disappointed he didn't get to tell her. He had a sinking feeling that he was going to be separated from her by the end of the night.
McGonagall came back to the nervous group of children.
"The Sorting Ceremony is about to start" she said "form a line and I will lead you in."
Lily stood behind Severus and in front of Remus as they walked into the Great Hall.
"Oh" Lily whispered as she looked around.
There were four long tables with students at each and another long one at the back of the hall where it looked like the teachers sat. There were floating candles and the four tables each sat under a banner. There was a red and gold banner with a lion on it, a black and yellow banner with a badger, a blue and grey banner with an eagle on it and finally a green and silver banner with a snake on it. The ceiling was incredible. Right now it was black with galaxies and stars like the sky outside.
"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside" Remus whispered to her.
'It's beautiful" Lily whispered.
McGonagall stopped the students in front of the teachers' table. She placed a four legged stool in front of them with a raggedy hat on top of it. The hat was frayed and patched and looked like it had been tor apart numerous times and sewn back together. The room was silent as they stared at the hat and Lily was about to ask Remus what they were waiting for before the hat tore a seam and started speaking, Lily jumped a foot back.
"Oh you may not think I'm pretty
But don't judge on what you see
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
But I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden inside your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will telly you,
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means,
To achieve their ends.
So try me on! Don't be afraid!
Don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a thinking Cap!"
The whole Hall of students clapped and cheered for the hat.
Lily clapped along, impressed by the Hat's song.
The hat bowed to each table and went silent again.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," McGonagall said as she held a long roll of paper.
She called a few names before she called Sirius.
"Black, Sirius" she said and he went forward, a little more nervous than he had been. Lily supposed it was because he was worried he would be put in Slytherin.
Sirius was on the stool for a couple of seconds before the hat shouted "Gryffindor."
The table under the gold and red banner cheered the loudest as they greeted their new student.
A few more people were called before McGonagall called Lily.
"Evans, Lily" she said and Lily stepped forward nervously.
She sat on the stool and McGonagall put the hat on her head.
"Ah" the hat sat on Lily's head "very interesting. You're very smart and very loyal but there's something else there, something strong and I can't ignore it. Where to put you. You would do well in all the houses but you have so much courage so it must be GRYFFINDOR!"
The hat yelled the last word and Lily smiled as she took the hat off and went to sit next at her new table.
Sirius made room for her but Lily turned her back on him to continue watching.
She watched everyone else get sorted and frowned softly when Severus got sorted into Slytherin.
She gave him a sheepish smile but he just shuffled off to his new table.
Now sitting at the table was Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, a boy named Frank, a girl named Alice, a girl named Mary, and a boy named Peter.
"Welcome to Gryffindor!" a boy with a badge on his chest smiled at the young students.
"I told you we would be in Gryffindor" James laughed with Sirius.
"I'm just happy it's not Slytherin" Sirius said with a relieved smile.
"You make Slytherin seem like an awful place" Lily said and looked at the boys distastefully.
"It is" James nodded.
"Yeah" Sirius nodded "because what your friend didn't tell you was that most of the wizards and witches in Slytherin go bad. They turn into bad people practicing dark magic."
"That's silly" Lily shook her head.
"It's really not" Sirius said "my whole family has been in Slytherin. They're an awful group of people!"
"He's not wrong" James nodded "his brother went really bad."
"Then you have the Malfoys" Sirius rolled his eyes "they're even worse."
"They're awful!" James said.
"You see" Sirius said "they're pureblood families. No one in their families has anything to do with a Muggle."
"Why do you say Muggle like it's a bad thing?" Lily said.
"I'm not!" Sirius said quickly "I don't have a problem with them but a lot of times it's pride that makes wizards bad."
James nodded "The Malfoys are so proud that they've been known to hurt Muggle Born wizards."
"Hurt them?!" Lily said.
"You're scaring her Potter!" Alice said "no one is going to hurt you. Especially not at school."
"Do you get off on being an arrogant git?" Mary asked James.
"Oh leave it be McKinnon" James rolled his eyes.
"You're family is just as proud as the Malfoys!" she said.
"No we're not!" both Sirius and James protested "we're proud purebloods but we don't disown those that come from Muggles."
Mary rolled her eyes and smiled at Lily.
"My name is Mary McKinnon" she held her hand out to Lily and smiled "I hate to admit that Potter is my cousin."
"Well you don't seem as bad as him" Lily smiled and shook Mary's hand "my name is Lily Evans."
"My name is Alice Prewett" the other girl smiled at Lily "I'm a Pureblood too but that doesn't matter."
"It's nice to meet you" Lily smiled and shook her hand.
"My name is Kylie Bones!" another girl smiled and shook Lily's hand.
"Lily" Lily laughed as she shook the girl's hand.
"I think it's best we become friends" Mary said "we'll be sharing a room for the next seven school years."
"I would very much like to be friends" Lily nodded.
"Then it's settled" Mary smiled "we're friends."
"Hopefully by the end of school we'll be closer" Alice smiled at the group of girls who all laughed.
Lily was happy. She ate with her new family and chatted happily as the other girls told er all new things about magic. She couldn't help but glance over at the Slytherin table where Severus was glumly sitting and picking at his food.
Lily frowned and turned back to her new friends.
"You'll see him around" Kylie said with a smile "I'm sure of it!"
"Hopefully" Lily managed a smile and went back to getting to know her new room mates.
There's not much for me to really say except don't forget to leave some feedback (good or bad)! Tanks guys! Love you!
~JustAFandomFangirl~
They're not just characters...they're my family