Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 38: The Italian-but-Not-Really Kids
The rest of the train ride went by smoothly. Harry managed to lose spectacularly at Wizard's Chess to all of the guys while the girls were filled in on some gossip by Trisha Morrison, a fourth year who had heard some interesting things over the summer. Finally it was announced that they were almost at Hogsmeade Station and Trisha left the compartment, making the noise level die down quite a bit.
"Hello, friends," Sirius said jovially as he slid the door open with a bang. Peter, who had been in the middle of getting dressed, started and fell down, tangled in his robes. Nobody paid much attention.
"Sirius, where have you been?" Ylan asked. "Were you with Holly this whole time?"
"Is that a problem, Lanny?" Sirius asked, swinging his trunk down and narrowly missing Remus' head.
Lily rolled her eyes.
"This is Sirius," she explained to Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were watching him amusedly. Sirius looked up.
"Who are you talking to?" he said. "I think everyone in here knows –" He broke off as his gaze fell on the newcomers. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Ron, that's Harry, and that's Hermione," Ron said. "We're from the Italian school."
"But you're not Italian…"
"Sirius do you ever listen?" Ylan said exasperatedly. "I told you, they're not all Italian."
"Well, that's weird," Sirius mumbled.
The train soon pulled into Hogsmeade Station. It was raining rather heavily, with fat droplets soaking the students as they rushed towards the carriages.
"Sucks for the firsties!" Sirius cackled, watching a group of tiny kids walk up to the enormous gamekeeper.
"That's Hagrid!" Jenna called to Hermione above the pounding of the rain. "He's the gamekeeper – he's really nice!"
There wasn't room in the carriage for all ten of them so Harry, Ron and Hermione offered to go sit with some of their friends from the Italian school.
"We'll meet up with you later!" James shouted and the group piled into a carriage. As they sat down, shivering and brushing water off of themselves, the carriage lurched into motion.
"So," Peter began, "what do you guys think of those three?"
"They seem nice," said Lily.
"Yeah, but did you notice the way they keep staring at James, Lily, and Sirius?" Jenna pointed out. "It's kinda weird."
"Well, who can blame them? I mean, just look at me. It's hard to tear your eyes away, innit?" Sirius said, grinning.
"Oh, shut up," Remus said. "Seriously, I noticed too."
"I'm sure it's nothing, you guys, you're probably imagining it," Lily said.
"Maybe," Jenna said skeptically. However, soon all thoughts of Italian-but-not-really kids were driven out of their minds, replaced by the image of a breathtaking castle.
"I still can't get used to it," Lily murmured as their carriage rolled through the gates and came to a stop. They all jumped out and ran through the puddles to the front doors as fast as they could. As soon as they were dry and warm they followed the crowd into the Great Hall.
"I wonder where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are," James said, glancing around as they sat down.
"Probably outside. They have to be Sorted, don't they?" Jenna replied.
"Oh yeah."
The chattering and laughing subsided as Dumbledore stood up at the Head Table.
"If you would all please give your full attention," he said. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin!" Tiny Professor Flitwick came forward with a shaky three legged stool and the tattered Sorting Hat as Dumbledore sat down. Then, the doors to the Great Hall opened and Professor McGonagall strode in, followed by the first years.
"Get smaller every year, don't they?" Sirius muttered to Remus.
The first years followed Professor McGonagall up the Hall to the Head Table. Some of them were looking curiously around; others were staring straight ahead, clearly terrified. They came to a halt and were turned to face the rest of the school. The Sorting Hat began its song.
The whole Hall listened quietly until it was finished. When the tear in the Hat closed and it was silent again, Professor McGonagall took a rolled up parchment out of her robes.
"When I call your name," she said to the first years, "you will come up, sit on the stool, and place the hat over your head to be Sorted." She unrolled the parchment and began calling names.
"God, I'm starving," Peter moaned.
"I know, can they hurry up?" Sirius agreed.
"Remember, they still have the Italians to Sort," Ylan said. The boys all groaned.
"But I'm hungry!" James whined.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, the first years were all seated. Some people turned eagerly towards their plates, anticipating the appearance of food. However, Dumbledore stood up again.
"Now, I'm sure you'd all like to get to our delicious feast. But, we still have some people who need to be Sorted!" Clearly not many people were aware of this fact as they looked around at their friends in confusion. "As some of you know," Dumbledore went on, "the Italian School for Magic closed this summer. Therefore, some of the students from there will be joining us here at Hogwarts, until such a time as a new school can be opened for them. I trust you will all be kind and welcoming. Now, for the second Sorting!"
This time it was Hagrid who led the students in. They were of all ages; first years, second years, all the way to seventh years. James easily spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione who looked unfazed; not just at the Great Hall but also Hagrid, which was strange, considering his size.
This second Sorting Ceremony took even longer than the first. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione were each sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius and James stood up and cheered the loudest out of everyone. They were in the middle of doing some complex dance moves when McGonagall told them to sit down and be quiet.
Eventually, everyone was Sorted. The empty golden plates and platters on the tables were now filled with all assortments of food. Sirius looked like he was about to cry.
"It's…it's just so beautiful!" he cried looking down at the food. The other Marauders wasted no time on sentiments and instead tore into the food immediately.
"God," Hermione said, staring. "Do they always eat like that?"
"Well," Jenna answered, grimacing slightly at the piece of chicken hanging out of Sirius' mouth. "It's the start-of-term feast. But…yes, every day."
Hermione turned to Harry and Ron to share a laugh, but found herself facing the exact same scene as was being presented by the Marauders.
"Boys," she groaned and rolled her eyes, grabbing the spoon for the mashed potatoes just as Ron stuck his hand out for it.
An hour later the group was walking back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry was talking quietly to Lily, Hermione and Ron were engaged in a conversation with Remus and Sirius, and everyone else was talking amongst themselves. When they got to the common room they were all too tired to hang out and went up to bed.
The other two boys with whom the Marauders shared their dorm had gone to sleep already, so they talked with Harry and Ron in whispers. They shared stories and jokes for as long as they could until they all drifted off to sleep, content, knowing that they had just made some good new friends.
It was a month into the new school year and James was excited. He could hardly contain himself as he posted a notice on the board in the Gryffindor common room – Quidditch Season was starting.
"Prongsy yay!" Sirius shouted as he ran into the Great Hall that day for lunch. "Finally! I've been waiting for SO LONG for Quidditch! Thank you for finally scheduling the tryouts!"
"Quidditch?" Harry asked. "Are you the Captain?"
"Yeah," James answered, throwing some food at Sirius so he would stop jumping. "You play?"
"Oh, um, no, but I love the sport. When are tryouts?"
"Saturday. You can come watch if you want."
"Sure, that'd be great."
Saturday rolled around quickly and, first thing in the morning, Sirius and James grabbed their brooms to fly around the pitch a little before tryouts.
Around nine, people began showing up with their brooms. Others made their way to the stands, to watch the tryouts. So many people turned up that James had to split them all up. First a group of first years flew around the pitch; some had clearly never had lessons and simply fill off the sides of their brooms and others cut corners to shorten their flying time. Next off was a group of aspiring Chasers. James needed a new Chaser, Keeper, and a Beater, so he should have been focused on this group. However, as they were flying around, he couldn't help but notice Harry in the stands, sitting next to a beautiful red haired girl – also known as Lily Evans, James' girlfriend. They looked to be deep in conversation and James suddenly realized that he often saw them together, talking quietly to each other. He began to feel rather uneasy – they were so close together…
"James!" Sirius called, snapping James out of his trance-like state. "What do we do now?" James looked around.
"Oh, right. Um, Chasers, can you fly again? I kind of missed it." And so the tryouts wore on and James was becoming increasingly nervous about Harry and Lily.
A week later, James posted the results of the tryouts and, as everyone flocked around the list, he pulled Harry aside.
"Can I talk to you?" he said.
"Sure," Harry replied and they went out into the hallway to get away from the noise in the common room.
"Lately I've noticed you and Lily…well, you're always together. And you seem really close. Do you like her, or something?"
Harry stared at James for a moment, incredulously.
"Are you kidding?" he said. "You think I like Lily? That's – that's just disgusting, man! What is the matter with you?"
"Hey!" James retorted. "What's wrong with Lily? Why is that disgusting?" Harry's face suddenly changed from one of disgust to one of shock.
"Oh! Right, um, no she's fine it's just – I feel so close to her that…I think of her like my family. Yeah. So it was just weird for a moment there. But no, don't worry, I don't like her. I swear." And then, with what must have been a reassuring smile, Harry left James standing in the hallway, more confused than ever.
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