A/N: This is mostly filler but it's important filler :)
Chapter Dedications: CrazyMuggleborn44, mekio777, and .wolves. Thanks for reviewing and/or subscribing!
Chapter Six
"So what're you planning for Snape?" Remus asked.
"Can't tell you," Rain said.
"What?" James exclaimed. "We won't tell anyone, we swear. Marauder's Honor."
Rain smirked. "Sorry, James. No can do. I can tell you, however, that it involves the Permanent Sticking Charm."
"I like where this is going," said Sirius.
"I've been working on that spell all summer. Hilariously, it's the only spell I know."
"What?" all four boys exclaimed.
"What what?" Rain asked, confused.
"But you're in our year," said James, confused.
"I only just found out that I'm a witch this July," Rain explained.
"Why?" asked Peter. "You're supposed to start school when you're eleven."
"Well," said Rain. "I moved to the States when I was eleven, and no one ever told me about my powers, my parents are Muggles, you see."
"But a young witch without training, can be very dangerous," said Remus. "Surely the Governor of Magic in your state must have noticed random bursts of magic in a Muggle setting."
"Remus, be logical," said Rain. "This is America, we're talking about. Wizards or not, they can't be much more observant than American Muggles."
"She has a point," said James.
"But then how are you going to catch up?" asked Remus. "If you're in fourth year, and you have as much knowledge as a first year..."
"Dumbledore is making arrangements for me," Rain explained. "He's going to assign me tutors from whatever house I'm sorted into."
"I hope you're in Gryffindor," said Peter.
"Yeah," said James. "Best house of them all."
"I dunno..." Rain murmured.
The boys stared at her in shock.
"You don't want to be in Gryffindor?" Sirius asked, hurt.
"It's not that, I just don't think I'm Gryffindor material. I bought an extra book a Flourish and Blotts, called Hogwarts; A History and I just don't think I'm brave enough for Gryffindor."
"What house do you think you'll end up in, then?" asked Remus.
"Probably Hufflepuff. Though knowing my luck, I'll end up in Slytherin."
"Why would you think that?" asked Sirius gently.
"Because I'm just like that. When angry, my first thought is to hurt the person who angered me, I'm very good and worming my way out of trouble, and to be honest, I was a bit of a bully in Primary School."
The Marauders were all quiet for a moment.
"You won't be put into Slytherin," said Sirius finally.
"How do you know?" Rain asked.
"Because there's nothing more dangerous than putting a Muggleborn in a house full of prejudiced pure bloods, and the Sorting Hat knows that."
"You know, Padfoot has a point," said James. "And with those qualities, you wouldn't end up in Hufflepuff either."
"What about Ravenclaw?" asked Remus. "Are you very bright?"
"So I've been told, but I must know next to nothing compared to the other fourth years."
"You'll be alright," said Peter.
"But what if I just sit there forever with the Sorting Hat on my head until it decides I'm got good enough for any house?"
"That has never happened," said Sirius. "Calm down."
Just then, there was a tap at the compartment door as a smiling witch poked her head in. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked.
James and Sirius jumped to their feet, producing hand fulls of wizard gold from their pockets. They came back into the compartment, loaded down with sweets and dumped the lot into an empty seat. All four boys picked out something from the pile and started to eat.
James looked up at Rain, who was trying not to look like she wanted some. "Here," he said holding out what looked like a donut. "Have a pasty."
"A what?" asked Rain. "What's a pasty?"
James looked confused, like he couldn't understand how someone wouldn't know what a pasty was.
"It's a pastry," said Remus. "They're usually filled with meat or vegetables but these ones are filled with pumpkin. Try one, they're good."
So Rain took the Pumpkin Pasty from James and tried a bite. It tasted like pumpkin pie filling inside a croissant.
The friends ate their way through the sweets, finally getting to the last of it. Rain picked up a small package that read: Chocolate Frog.
"It's not a real frog is it?" she asked her friends.
"No," said Remus. "It's just chocolate shaped like a frog. But it comes with a collector card."
Rain opened the package and, after eating the, admittedly cute looking, chocolate frog, she examined the card.
"Cyprian Youdle," she read. "Only Quidditch referee to die during a Quidditch match."
"Oh, I don't have that one," said James.
"You can have it, then." Rain offered him the card. "What's Quidditch?"
James dropped the card he was given and stared at her, open-mouthed. "You don't know what Quidditch is?"
"Uh, no. Muggleborn."
"Right, well it's the best sport there is." And he was off, explaining all the finner points of the game.
When they got close to the school, they changed into their robes, and the conversation turned to Rain.
"So, Rain," Sirius started. "What was the first bit of magic you remember doing as a kid?"
"Umm, I think it was my sixth birthday."
"What happened?" Peter asked.
"I set fire to an ugly sweater—I mean jumper—that my grandma gave me. It was bright pink and fuzzy all over, ugh!"
The boys laughed.
"I just opened it up and there it was in all it's fuzzy glory. It's just as I'm holding it up for Nana to take a picture that it randomly catches fire in the middle and spreads to the ends, 'till all thats left is a very smelly pile of ash."
"Brilliant, Rain!" said James. "Mine was making my toys run around on their own when I was three."
"What about you, Sirius?" Rain asked.
"I made the hall rug bunch up as my brother was walking by, he tripped and took a header into an umbrella stand. I was five."
Rain giggled.
"I made the neighbor's wig turn orange," said Remus. "I was four."
"I made all the water in a swimming pool disappear," said Peter.
"Impressive," said Rain.
"Not really," he said. "I was drowning, and I was ten. My parents thought I was a Squib for years."
"What's a Squib?" Rain asked.
"The opposite of a Muggleborn," said Remus. "Wizarding parents and a Muggle child. It's very rare as magic is a dominant gene."
"Ah," said Rain.
Soon, the train had pulled up to Hogsmead Station and everyone got off.
"Firs' years, over here," came a familiar voice.
"Hi, Hagrid," James called, waving.
"'Ello there, James. Alrigh'?" Hagrid called over the sea of heads.
"Alright," James returned.
"Oh, Rainnina," Hagrid called, spotting her. "Yer ter come with me an' the firs' years."
"Okay," she said, then turned to her friends. "See you guys later."
"See you later," all four boys called, heading off in a different direction.
Rain joined the little first years and followed Hagrid to a fleet of boats on the lake. She felt completely out of place as she was almost a head taller than all of the eleven-year-olds.
They sailed across the lake and got a spectacular view of the caste.
Rain suddenly realized that she was with the first years so that she could be sorted with them, and her earlier anxiety returned.
She waited at the end of the line, trying not to look out of place. From her position, she could see James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter at one of the tables. They caught her eye and waved. She just smiled, not wanting to draw attention to herself.
The Sorting Hat had just finished its song, and McGonagall started to call names.
"Atkins, Jeremy."
A boy with blonde hair sat on the stool and put the hat on his head. He sat there a moment before the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW!"
"Baxter, Melissa."
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Bloom, Amanda."
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Brady, Andrew."
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Rain suddenly realized that she had been skipped. Bone was before Brady in the alphabet. She looked at the Marauders in panic and saw their surprise as well. What if she wasn't supposed to be here? Rain's imagination was starting to go wild.
When the last student, "Xavier, Adrian" was made a Slytherin, Rain was left standing alone.
McGonagall stared at Rain in confusion, then looked down at her list, trying to find a name she didn't call. Dumbledore stood, then and relieved McGonagall from being embarrassed.
"Students, we have a rarity this year," he began. Many of the students were whispering, confused at the over-sized first year. "Rainnina Bone is joining us from America for her fourth year onward. I expect you all to treat her as you normally would."
He sat down.
Rain turned bright red. That was not what she called inconspicuous.
"Miss Bone," McGonagall said, gesturing to the Sorting Hat.
Right. The hat.
Rain strode forward, sat down on the stool and put the hat on her head.
A/N: AH! Cliffie! Sorry to do that to you guys, but that's how it is sometimes. Don't worry, though, another chapter will be up soon. R&R!