Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling owns Harry Potter. I own Harry Otter, a loveable stuffed animal shaped like an otter that I bought at the zoo seven years ago.

Thank you SOOO much everyone who has reviewed my story, especially Socra for wanting to read it! Feel free to make your own. smile

And thanks to everyone who has added me on their favorites or for story alerts, and to everyone who is reading my story! It's ALMOST like being a published author!

Anyway, I am busy right now with college applications, senior events, and school, plus writing my own book. But this is a nice little project; I am really enjoying writing it. I just figured out more of the storyline last night, and the book should really pick up at a fast pace soon!

Well guys enjoy this next chapter! I'm going to go and make some tea. It's raining, and I want tea. :-D

Oh, and just to help you guys out, I'm thinking of putting this at the beginning of each chapter:

Harry/Ginny: Lily and Sirius Potter

Ron/Hermione: Robby, Paul, and Harriet

Bill/Fleur: Lyla and Kasey

Lupin/Tonks: Arisilla (Ari)

Neville/Luna: Thomas

Fred/Angelina: Connor, Dana, and Kendall

George/Verity: Catherine, Dane, Kameron

Cho Chang/Divorced husband Michael Corner: Michael and Lin

Erick (son of a member in the Weird Sisters)

I hope this all helps!!! It was really long, I know…

In this chapter, we meet a VERY important character. They will probably be added to the above list, they are so important. Happy reading!

It was a torrential downpour outside, and Lily was enjoying it. There was nothing in the world like being in a vast grand hall lit by hundreds of floating candles that were emitting soft glows, with raining pouring down above you. Lily felt warm and happy as she looked up at the ceiling, thankful that she was not a first year. She did, however, feel quite sorry for her cousin Harriet. The poor thing would be drenched from head-to-toe, inside and out.

On Lily's right sat Ari, and on her left sat Robby and then Paul. Robby and Paul quite liked their cousin Lily, and got along well with her. Lily enjoyed pranks and witty banter just as much as they did, though she tried hard not to show it and to act more mature. Sometimes, this proved almost too difficult.

Across from Lily and Ari sat Thomas, and on his left sat Erick, who was obviously trying to downplay who he was. He kept his head bowed, and kept pulling up the neck of his robes when he spoke. Lily knew that the minute he would probably be announced by the headmistress—the old but wise Professor McGonagall—the entire hall would turn and face him, and later mob him as he left the Grand Hall. He would not receive the same kind of awe and respecting form of praise the Potters and Weasleys, and Ari and Thomas, received.

Sirius was sitting a little ways down the table with Lawrence Thomas, and some of his other friends. Sirius really did like his family, but he preferred to hang out with his non-related friends.

Lyla was sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Kasey (to this day, Lily has no idea how Lyla and Kasey ended up in the "smart" house), along with her cousins Catherine and Kameron.

"Cousins Lily, Sirius, Robby, and Paul! How are you?" called a girl a few feet away from Lily. She turned in her seat to see a pretty dark-haired girl sauntering up to the Gryffindor table. Her shoulder-length hair was straight, and she had a stylish, long fringe that hung in her eyes.

"Kendall!" Lily said happily, jumping out of her seat to hug her cousin. Kendall, a very popular seventh year, hugged her cousin back.

"Kenny," Sirius nodded towards her, and then went back to his conversation.

"Git," Kendall laughed. "So, I didn't see you guys on the train. But we got on the train early with Uncle George's kids, so it's no wonder we never saw you."

"Hi Lily," said Dana Weasley as she came up to her cousin. Dana was a second year, and had her dark brown-reddish hair in a braid down her back. She was just as pretty as her sister.

"Hi Dana," Lily said back, hugging her other cousin. "Where is the rest of the Weasely bunch?"

As if waiting for her to ask this, her cousins Dane and Connor came up. Dane was a fourth year, and Connor was a third year like Lily.

"Hey, Lils," teased Dane to his cousin. Lily grinned at him, then turned to Connor.

"Connor," she said, nodding at him. Connor nodded back at Lily and said, "Lily." Connor was looking as glum as ever. He had carried the same air of depression around him since the day he was sorted, and had remained sullen and dark every since then.

Because unfortunately, Connor was neither in Gryffindor like his sisters and Dane, nor Ravenclaw like his cousins Catherine and Kameron. He had not even been placed in Hufflepuff. Which on left one house…

Lily's eyes were sad as she watched Connor stalling, before he would have to go back to his table. Connor was probably the first Slytherin in Slytherin history to actually hate his house. This was why nobody could figure out why he was in that particular house.

"Well, I best be going…"Connor trailed off and looked close to tears as he glanced at the table housing Draco Malfoy Jr., his second-year sister Rosy (Pansy Parkinson married Draco Sr.), Crabbe, Goyle, and all of the other Slytherin usuals.

"You best be going…you know you can't sit at our table," Dane muttered softly to his cousin, who was looking at the Slytherin table with a mixture of disgust and sadness. Dane gruffly grabbed Connor and pulled him into a quick hug, then pushed him towards the Slytherin table. Lily felt like crying. Dane was Connor's best friend, and had been there for him since he had been sorted. Connor, though handsome and strong, appeared weak and timid; although it has to be said that Connor was the most popular non-Gryffindor with the Gryffindor house, because the entire house took kind pity on him as a friend in need. Thankfully, all of them treated him like he was in their house. Connor even sat with the Gryffindor's during Qudditch matches, because no matter how much he loved to play, he refused to be on his house's team.

However, there was one thing that kept Connor going, and that was that there was a clause in the Hogwarts Enormously Long Rules Book, which stated that any student who has attended the school from their first to fourth year and was unhappy with their current house could be re-sorted. This time, Connor would be able to tell the hat that he wanted to be in Gryffindor.

Once everyone had been seated, the first years were ushered in. They were soaking wet and trembling. A few of them had large, silly grins on their faces (Harriet included).

As the first years walked up to the Sorting Hat, which was waiting on its stool next to McGonagall, Robby and Paul stood up and yelled through the silent hall, "Go Harriet!" They each gave a whooping cheer and sat down. The entire hall laughed, and Harriet, instead of blushing and looking embarrassed, waved and smiled at her brothers.

McGonagall cleared her throat and shot the boys a sharp look (Robby and Paul simply grinned and winked up at her), then looked out over the Grand Hall.

"Welcome, new students. And welcome back, old students! For some of you, today marks the magical journey with which you will embark on. I am not only speaking to the first years, but also to the seventh years. While some of you are thinking of your futures here at Hogwarts, others are thinking of their futures outside of Hogwarts."

"All I'm thinking about is dinner," whispered Paul to Robby.

"Yeah, that's all my stomach is thinking about too. Wish she'd just skip the speech and get on with the Sorting," Robby muttered, rubbing his stomach.

"…And so, let the Sorting begin!" said McGonagall. She sat down, and Professor Snape, who had been found innocent of being a Death Eater (he had, of course, been working with Dumbledore, and had actually helped the Order by killing him, though he had not wanted to) but was still prejudiced against all Weaselys, Potters, Longbottoms, and Lupins, stood up to read off the list of names.

"Armiette, Amy," was sorted into Ravenclaw, and her table welcomed her with loud cheers and whoops.

"Arru, Yanira," was sorted into Ravenclaw also.

The first Gryffindor was "Barnes, Dorian," and was greeted with not only tremulous applause but whispers of jealousy from the remaining first years. Obviously—though the Gryffindors knew this already—Gryffindor was the place to be, because of the fact that the most famous Gryffindors of all time, other than Godric himself—Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasely—had come from this house. And not only that, but their bloodlines were in that very same house.

Next was "Barow, Delia," who got sorted into Hufflepuff. "I'm so damn hungry!" Robby whispered harshly to Paul. The received a shushing noise from Ari, who was watching the sorting attentively.

Forty-five minutes later, "Zurai, Corbin" was sorted into Slytherin the minute the hat touched his head.

"FINALLY!" shouted Paul. He had the decency to look slightly embarrassed by his outburst when McGonagall shot him a very stern look.

"Let the feast begin!" called McGonagall to the students. And with that, food magically appeared on the house tables.

Lily eagerly spooned roasted potatoes, shepherd's pie, and bread onto her plate. Robby and Paul had loaded their plates so full of food that it was falling off the sides of their plates.

"Yuff noff fungry arff?" asked Robby to Ari, his mouth full of food.

"Excuse me?" Ari asked, disgusted. Robby swallowed with a large gulp.

"I said, are you not hungry, Ari?"

Ari glanced down at her plate of lettuce and spinach leaves, tomatoes, and carrots. "I'm a vegetarian, remember?" Ari received a blank look from Robby. She sighed. "It's a muggle thing. A vegetarian means that I don't eat meat."

Robby rewarded Ari with a look that most obviously said, "Freak." Ari shrugged and went back to her leaves and vegetables.

When dessert appeared, Lily looked around for her favorite dessert: Pumpkin Éclairs. Her end of the table seemed to be completely void of them, so she glanced down towards the other end of the table. Much to her delight, a platter of pumpkin éclairs was sitting towards the edge.

Lily excused herself and went to get the éclairs. As Lily stood up to leave, she noticed Michael at the Ravenclaw table. He was watching her walk past, and smiled when she caught his eye. Lily nearly tripped as she forced herself to smile back ("Smile back, you idiot, smile back!") and felt a hot, swooping sensation all the way down to her toes. She couldn't believe how lucky she was.

Even though Lily couldn't notice it, she had gotten prettier over the summer. Her reddish-brown hair had finally lost its frizziness, and even though it still hung in that messy, curly way, it had actually formed a shape (before it had been a cloud that reminded her vaguely of her Aunt Hermione's school pictures). She had also grown taller and thinned out (she had attributed her weight loss to the intense Qudditch practice she had done by herself while her brother was away), and finally, her freckles did not stand out as much as they used to. But Lily, being Lily, did not think any of this over.

As Lily walked down to the end of the table, her fellow Gryffindors parted as they leaned in and out of the table, talking and eating. Lily could recognize everyone…that is, until she reached the very end of the table.

Sitting away from everyone else—nobody sat in front of them, and nobody sat immediately next to them—was a Gryffindor that she had never seen. It was a girl, but there was something almost…inhumane about her.

It was obvious that she was unlike any other student. She sat perfectly straight and erect (so unlike the other Hogwarts students, her were constantly slouched over from the weight of books, or simply because they were tired), and was perfectly still. She was elegant and graceful just from sitting still, and Lily wondered how she walked. The girl's long hair hung straight and feathery down her back, and was the most interesting shade of red Lily had ever seen. It was certainly fiery, even more so than her mother's or Uncles' hair. Even the gold streaks in her hair—which looked like real strands of gold—were so unlike anything Lily had ever seen. And in front of this statue of a girl sat the platter of pumpkin éclairs.

"Excuse me? May I take these?" Lily inquired. The girl looked up at Lily, and Lily had to contain a gasp of breath. The girl's eyes were shocking metallic blue, with paleness swirling throughout them. Her face was angular and sharp, and at the same time was soft and peaceful. She was a living and breathing example of an oxymoron.

There was a small flash of something in the girl's eyes when she looked up at Lily, but Lily thought that she could have been imagining it.

"You may take them," responded the girl in a lilting, melodious voice. The music drifting through those four words caught Lily by surprise. Lily now had no doubt in her mind that there was something inhumane about this girl.

"Thank-you very much. I'm Lily, by the way. Lily Potter." Lily held out her hand, knowing after years of experience that people generally stuck out their hands when they met the daughter of the famous Harry Potter. Surprisingly, the girl did not take it, but closed her eyes and nodded her head down slightly: The head version of a handshake. It was more like a bow than a shake, however.

The girl looked reluctant to answer, and then spoke with a slight frown on her face. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Lily Potter. I am Fiona Featherstone," she said quickly.

"Are you a new Gryffindor?" asked Lily, suddenly seized by what Erick had mentioned earlier, about there being another student waiting to get sorted.

"Yes, I am." Fiona said patiently. Then Fiona pointedly looked towards the platter of pumpkin éclairs, then back at Lily. Lily blushed, embarrassed. Obviously, Lily should have paid attention to Fiona's air of superiority (or inhumanness. Or both.) and simply taken the éclairs.

"Well, nice to meet you!" said Lily hurridly, and snatched of the platter of éclairs. She was back at her end of the table in an instant.

"What took you so long?" Ari asked.

"I, um, got stopped by Sirius at the end of the table. He wanted to know when I was sending my first owl to my parents, so he could send one too," Lily improvised.

Ari shrugged, uninterested. "I'll be sending my parents a letter the next time I remember to."

When everyone was fed and watered, they were dismissed to their dormitories. Ari, Thomas, and Lily shuffled out of the Great Hall, very full. Lily regretted the two éclairs she had eaten, seeing how big they were.

Lily strained her neck to look for the mysterious Fiona girl, but she had disappeared. There was the possibility that Fiona had gotten caught in the throng of people pushing each other out of the way to get to bed, but in a friendly way.

The threesome was among the first to reach the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Password?"

"I know what it is, a prefect told me," Lawrence Thomas said to the Fat Lady. "Chary!" (On a side note, 'chary' was one of my vocabulary words this week. You will also see this word again, as a little hint!)

The Fat Lady smiled, and with a "Welcome back," swung open her portrait.

The Gryffindor common room was as cozy and warm as ever. The old plushy chairs looked even more inviting with the rain pounding down outside.

"I am so bloody tired!" yawned Ari as she stretched her arms behind her. She continued to stretch until she was bending backwards and touching the ground.

"Ouch, Ari," moaned Thomas as he watched the limber Ari stretch her body like a piece of taffy.

"It doesn't hurt," Ari straightened up and shrugged. She turned to face Lily. "Shall we get up to our dorm?"

Lily nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty tired myself. Long day." Lily gave Ari a look, and arched her eyebrows at her. Ari gave a small grin back, and took a deep breath.

"'NIGHT, THOMAS!" the two girls cried as they flung their arms around their other best friend.

"Ahhh!!!" yelled Thomas. Ari and Lily knocked him over. Robby and Paul appeared over the threesome.

"Go find an empty classroom," they smirked as they loomed over them. Lily reached her foot out and hooked it behind Robby's knee, and jerked it forward.

"Arrrghh!!!" he cried, bringing Paul down with him.

Lily hurried to stand up. "You two! Go to your dorm and do this!" she laughed as the twins struggled against each other to stand up. Lily pulled Ari on to her feet, and after blowing kisses at Thomas, ran up the stairs to their room.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I really enjoyed writing it. After I get past the usual introduction, where they go through their arrival and the sorting, and then when they receive their class schedules, will you start to learn more. Such as more about the mysterious Fiona Featherstone, and some new characters!