AUTHORS NOTE PLEASE READ: If you have read this before, please go back to the first chapter because i've added a proper prologue in, so now the original prologue is chapter one and chapter one is chapter two :)

Yay second chapter up! I'm well impressed with myself! I've literally just got out of hospital today, so ive got lots of time to spend in front of the computer :)

If you enjoy please review for me so I know where to improve

The Meeting

"All set Tiger? I hope you haven't forgotten anything. I suppose we could send it by owl if you have." Mused Trevor

"Dad, please stop calling me Tiger, it's embarrassing." Pleaded Kat as she, her father and her mother walked through Kings Cross Station towards platform 9 ¾'s.

"Sweetheart I'm going to say goodbye to you here." Said her mother as they arrived at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. "I'm still not used to all this magic stuff, it makes me queasy."

"Okay mum." Kat hugged her mother and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll see you at Christmas, and I'll send you loads of owls while I'm there."

Trevor gave his wife a slightly disappointed look as he and their daughter entered through the penetrable wall, trunk in tow.

"Wow." Breathed Kat when she saw the scarlet steam engine waiting in transit.

Trevor checked his watch, which read 10.58. "Tiger, you've got 2 minutes before the train leaves so you had better get on it now." He hugged his daughter. "Don't forget to send us an owl from time to time."

"Bye Dad!" Waved Katrina when she boarded the train

As the train moved off she watched her father disappear through the barrier back into the main kings cross station. She trawled the corridor of the train looking for an open carriage, dragging her huge trunk with her. It was slow progress as the trunk was almost as big as she was, and every compartment she passed was full with students much older than she was.

She arrived at a compartment which had one occupant, and having had enough of dragging the trunk along the floor, she decided that this was probably the best she was going to get.

The boy in the compartment was hidden behind the Daily Prophet.

"um 'scuse me?" Said Kat tentatively, the boy looked up from the paper, Kat took this as her cue to carry on. "Is anyone sitting in here?"

The boy shook his head. "Nope."

Kat pulled her trunk into the carriage, and sat down by the window. She looked over at the back page of the Daily Prophet the boy was reading.

"ARROWS SEEKER 2 MATCH BAN FOR HEXING WASPS BEATER

Ed Heath, seeker of the Appleby Arrows has been given a 2 match ban for jinxing Ludo Bagman of the Wimbourne Wasps. Heath cast the Hex during an England trial. Bagman, flying in a practice match at the other end of the field reportedly made a motion with his bat at Heath, who then took out his wand and performed a hurling hex on Bagman's broom. Luckily, he was not hurt.

Jossilin Kemble, a team-mate of Heath, stated that the motion that Bagman made was the same motion he made when hitting Heath in the face with his bat during the Wasps-Arrows game a few weeks previous. "Bagman just pushed Ed too far, and he retaliated. He claims hitting Ed in the face was an accident, so if it was why would he do something like that? I think that Ed was well within his rights, and that his punishment was a little unfair, because he's already missed a match because he was recovering from what Bagman did to him."

A spokesman from the British and Irish Quidditch League said, "…his actions were inexcusable, and this will earn him a ban from the next 2 matches for the Arrows and may put his place in the England reserves team under pressure."

Ed Heath declined to comment on the issue."

"Oh for goodness sake!" She exclaimed when she finished reading.

The boy looked over the top of the paper at Kat, "Sorry?"

Kat shook her head, "Ed Heath got banned for 2 matches."

He put the paper down, "Arrows fan?"

"Yep"

"Heath deserved what he got, Hurling hexes are illegal in Quidditch contexts, and they're really dangerous!"

Kat eyed him suspiciously, "You're not a Stinger are you?"

He chuckled, "Don't worry, I don't support wasps. I'm a Wigtown boy through and through." He held out his hand, "Oliver Wood."

"Katherine Stanford." She smiled shaking his outstretched hand. "Do you really think that Heath deserved a 2 match ban?"

"I reckon he should have gotten longer personally, 2 matches is a bit light. Although

it's a problem if his England place is in jeopardy , it's not like we've been doing very well internationally."

Kat raised her eyebrows. "A bit light! Bagmans attack on him was totally unprovoked in that match, and if he's taunting him about it, he's got every right to retaliate!"

The door to the compartment slid open, a girl with long, dark curly hair stood there. "Um, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Both Kat and Wood shook their heads. "Do you mind if I sit in here then? Everywhere else is full."

Wood shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah sure."

"I'm Penny." The girl smiled

"I'm Kat, this is Oliver."

"Are you both starting here?"

"Yep"

"Me too."

"Cool" Kat grinned, she had the feeling that she was going to get on with penny very well

"Have you ever done any magic before?" She asked Kat, because Wood had gone back to his newspaper

"Nah, my mums a Muggle. Though my Dad's a Wizard, he works for the Ministry of Magic. He didn't tell mum he was a wizard until I got a letter from Hogwarts. She freaked a bit, and said that she won't let any magic happen in the house when she saw dad transfigure the teapot into a mouse."

Penny laughed, "Both my parents are Muggles. They didn't believe a word of the first twenty letters. They thought it was some prank from the neighbours kids. Then a wizard turned up, and explained everything to them, and showed them some magic. I'm really worried I'm going to be rubbish."

"Hahaha, so am I! I'm really looking forward to flying though, 'cause I want to play Quidditch in the second year."

Penelope look puzzled, "What's Quidditch?"

Wood looked over his paper totally gob smacked. "You don't know what Quidditch is?"

"No should I?" Said Penny a little perturbed

Wood proceeded to explain what Quidditch was and what the rules were, with a little help from Kat. This took the majority of the journey, right up until the train started to slow down.

It was dark and slightly rainy when the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade. As they exited the train there was a loud booming voice calling, "Firs'-years over here!"

Kat, Penny and Wood all followed the crowd of other first years towards the giant of a man standing on the side of the platform.

"Righ' yeh'll here? Follow me." He led them down a narrow pathway which was thickly lined with trees.

"This is Hogwarts." He stated simply when they got to the end of the path, it had opened out onto the bank of a huge lake and the school was perched on top of a vast cliff.

There were a lot of oh's and ah's as the first years stared at the castle that was to be their home for the next seven years.

It was not until he had called "No more'n four to a boat!" that Kat noticed a row of boats set out along the bank of the lake.

She, Wood and Penny all clambered into a boat together, they were also joined by a pompus looking boy with red hair and freckles.

"Percy Weasley." He said holding his hand out for them all to shake

After the other three had introduced themselves, Wood said "Are you Charlie Weasley's brother?"

"Indeed I am."

"He's a really good Quidditch player isn't he?"

Kat surpressed a giggle, Wood did seem really obsessed over Quidditch. She hoped that they were going to be in the same house because it seemed like she would get on with him well, it was the same with Penny. She knew her Dad had been in Ravenclaw, so it was more of a possibility for her to also be in Ravenclaw.

Wood looked slightly disappointed when Percy explained that he was nothing like his brother Charlie, and he did not care much for Quidditch.

The Rain got heavier as they crossed the lake and all the pupils were glad of arriving in the underneath of the cliff.

They were met by a formidable looking lady who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. "This way please first years."

She led them through the castle to a little ante-chamber off the side of the great hall Kat knew that no matter how hard she tried she could probably not find her way back to the underground dock, because the school seemed like a veritable maze.

"The sorting takes place in front of the entire school so please make an effort to try and look smart." She pointedly looked at a few people as she said this.

There was a few minutes in which Professor McGonagall explained all about the house system at Hogwarts and a brief bit about the houses, then the first years waited nervously while she went into the Great Hall. They chattered nervously amongst themselves mostly about what house they thought that they would be in.

"I reckon I'll be in Ravenclaw 'cause my dad was." Said Kat, she looked at Penny, "What do you think."

"No clue." She laughed, "They all sound alright."

"Griffindor for me." Said Percy proudly, "Both my parents were, and my older brothers are now."

"That's not necessarily how it works." Said Wood, "My dad and his brother were in different houses. Dad was in Griffindor and Uncle George was in Hufflepuff. My mum was in Ravenclaw so I've got a pretty even chance of getting into any really."

"Well I'm going to be in Slytherin, no doubt about it, because every single one of my family have been in that house." Said a black haired boy with a slightly pointed nose and beady eyes which made him look rather like a bird. There was a nod of assent from the people in his immediate vicinity, who looked like they all knew each other well enough to not have met on the train to Hogwarts.

The conversation was stopped by a returning professor McGonagall, who stood in the doorway that led to the great hall. "This way please first years."

They followed in what could only be described as a nervous silence. A sea of faces greeted them once they arrived in the hall. A worn, tatty hat was placed on a stool in between them and the other pupils, who were all seated at their house tables. A few had noticed the ceiling which was overcast with rain clouds, their pointing had made Kat notice it. She stared in awe, Hogwarts was truly an amazing place. She was snapped out of her reverie when The Sorting Hat started singing a rather peculiar song about Hogwarts houses, it finished to thunderous applause.

Once the hall was quiet McGonagall unrolled a very long piece of parchment. "When I call you're names, please sit on the stool and put the hat on. Avery, Luke!"

The boy who looked like a bird was first up, the hat was barely on his head for 5 seconds before it yelled "SLYTHERIN"

The table second from the right cheered, as Luke Avery made his way over to the table with a slight swagger.

"His father was accused of being a death eater." Wood whispered to Kat, "but he got let off 'cause he was apparently under a curse which was making him do whatever you-know-who said. My dad reckons he weren't under any curse though, and he was doing it out of choice, so I'm not surprised he's in Slytherin."

"Clearwater, Penelope."

The hat deliberated for a while before finally placing Penny in "RAVENCLAW."

Kat desperately wanted to be in Ravenclaw now so she could be with Penny, she also desperately did not want to be in Slytherin as her father had told her that almost every Slytherin he knew from school was either in the wizard prison Azkaban or had been killed by an Auror.

Katherine was intently staring at the ceiling of the great hall, the clouds had now moved and there was a clear sky in which she could see all sorts of star constellations. She heard the name, "Rufford, Josie." At which point she thought she should pay attention as she could be next.

She was right as just after the sorting hat had yelled "GRIFFINDOR!" Kat heard her name being read out.

"Stanford, Katherine."

She walked over to the stool and placed the hat on her head.

A little voice spoke into her ear, "Where to put you indeed…You have a good brain on you there's no doubt about that, hungry to win as well aren't you? Although not driven by greed. Slytherin's not the place for you. I suppose we best put you in RAVENCLAW."

Kat took the hat off and beamed as the Ravenclaw table cheered. She went to sit next to Penny who grinned at her.

"Thruston" and "Thyne" were both read out before "Weasley, Percy."

Percy became a "GRIFFINDOR" like he had been hoping, and went to sit with two boys that looked remarkably like him who Kat took to be his two older brothers.

The last name left was read out "Wood, Oliver." Who like percy had become a Griffindor. This left Kat a little upset because she had wanted to be in the same house as Wood, but she could not complain as she was with Penny.