A/N: Yay! I made Chapter Two take a sensible form! (Which I feel for me is an achievement in itself :P But anyways). Again I own nothing but Faith and any dialogue taken from the book is done so only to try and fit with the actually story.

Also this is still Faith's first day, but I promise I'm going to fast forward to the more interesting bits soon, I just felt this a necessary introduction to the character etc. even if it is a bit long winded.

Anyway, I'm shutting up now, enjoy! :D

Chapter Two: A Lion Is Born

For the next few minutes they suffered much bumping and jostling as everyone pushed to get off the train. By the time she reached the platform Faith found she had lost sight of both Seamus and Dean, she did however spot another familiar face nearby in the crowd. Squeezing through between the few (seemingly very tall) people who stood between them she greeted him.

"Neville! Hey, did you find your toad?"

"Hi, um, yeah, just before we stopped" he replied.

"That was lucky, told you he'd see sense!" Faith grinned.

"Yeah" Neville smiled shyly and held out one hand, which tightly gripped the struggling toad "Meet Trevor."

"Hi Trevor!" Faith said, bending slightly to peer at the toad.

At that moment they heard a voice booming above the chattering of the students.

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

"Guess we, um, better head that way" Neville said, nervously glancing in the direction the voice was coming from.

Faith nodded "C'mon" and with that she began weaving towards the tall, hairy man who was shouting for the first years. She'd nearly reached what she assumed was the group of first years when she heard a cry of "Trevor!" from behind her. Turning she saw Neville looking around wildly, the toad no longer held in his hand.

This toad's like Houdini! She thought.

"He escaped again!" Neville said glancing up at her, sounding sniffly now.

"C'mon, he'll turn up." Faith soothed "Leave him for now, there's no use searching for him in this crowd."

Neville nodded, still sniffly and they joined the other first years gathering around the huge man, who Faith now realised was probably the groundskeeper Fred and George had described to her, Hagrid they had said his name was.

Hagrid's voice was once again booming across the platform "C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

With that they were off, heading in a different direction to the rest of the students, down towards a steep, narrow path that to Faith at least, seemed very foreboding, probably because it was pitch black on either side (she'd never been a fan of the dark, much to the twins' amusement). She was now separated from Neville by a couple of people, but she could still here him sniffing behind her.

Soon gasps could be heard coming from the students at the front of the group and, when she rounded the corner, Faith saw why. There, across a great expanse of black lake was Hogwarts Castle, sat proudly atop a mountain, dominating the landscape all around. They were led down to the waters edge, where a fleet of small boats sat, bobbing gently up and down as the water rippled in the gentle breeze.

"No more'n four to a boat" Faith heard Hagrid call.

Neville caught up to her as she stood admiring the view and wishing she had thought to take her camera out of her bag. Together they were looking around for a boat to board when Faith heard a voice calling her name and, turning, saw Dean and Seamus waving to her from a nearby boat. She ran over and boarded the boat, noticing that they already shared it with another boy and immediately feeling bad for abandoning Neville. Glancing back to where they had stood she saw Neville clambering aboard another boat in which sat Ron and the dark haired boy he had been sat with on the train, so she figured he'd be alright.

"There you are Faith" Dean said "We wondered where you'd got to."

"Yeah, disappearing seems to be a habit of yours" Seamus added.

"Sorry, I got a bit lost in all the people" Faith said "It's not easy fighting your way through when they're all twice your size!"

Next thing Faith knew she was nearly thrown overboard when there was a call of "Forward!" and the boat started moving while she was still standing. Sitting down quickly with a thud and hearing Seamus and Dean's sniggers but ignoring them she turned to the other boy.

"Hi, I'm Faith, What's your name?"

"Zacharias Smith" he grunted and turned away.

Faith raised her eyebrows and gave Dean and Seamus a questioning look, which was only greeted by shrugs.

"I can't believe we're nearly there!" she exclaimed, all but bouncing in her seat.

"Watch it!" Dean grinned "You're gonna be overboard before we get there!"

Faith rolled her eyes at this, playfully threatening "If I'm going in I'm taking you two with me!"

"Hey, what did I do?" Seamus objected.

"Other than threaten and possibly abuse my owl?"

"I did not abuse him!"

"Either way" she shrugged.

"Three soggy first years" Dean mused "well it would definitely be an interesting first impression." he paused "Not one I'm planning on making though, dunno about you two!"

The boats were now approaching the cliff atop which the castle sat.

"Where are we gonna go now?" Dean asked, puzzled "that's a sheer cliff face."

"It's alright, fidgety here can use all that energy to bounce us up to the top or something!" Seamus grinned, gesturing at Faith, who stuck her tongue out at him.

Just then a call of "Heads down!" floated back to them and, doing as they were instructed, they soon found the answer to Dean's question. The boats carried them through the entrance of a tunnel which had been hidden by a curtain of ivy, reaching right down to the water. They were carried a short way along this tunnel until what seemed to be an underground harbour came into sight. The boats slowed now and docked themselves alongside a number of small jetties which protruded from the shore.

Faith was the first out of their boat, jumping out with such speed and excitement that she had a hard time stopping herself running into the students already on the jetty. Her speed also caused the boat to rock violently, leaving the three boys who were still aboard in danger of falling out into the water.

"Hey, be careful!" Zacharias shouted angrily "Some of us don't want to go swimming today!"

With that he clambered out of the boat and stomped past a confused looking Faith who was waiting on the jetty for Dean and Seamus.

"Well, he was pleasant" she said sarcastically.

"Yep, you've got a life-long friend there alright" Seamus replied, joining her.

"Maybe I should tell Fred and George I've found my first victim…" Faith said thoughtfully.

"Well c'mon then slow coaches, we have to get there before you can do that!" Dean pointed out, walking past them and leading the way towards where the rest of the students were gathering on the bank.

"Slowcoaches?" Faith muttered as she and Seamus followed "He was last off the boat!"

Once all the students had disembarked Hagrid went down onto the jetties to check all of the boats. After a couple of minutes he shouted up in Neville's direction.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?"

Faith smiled as she watched Neville dash over to where Hagrid stood, with an excited shout of "Trevor!" and shushed Seamus, who was muttering something about "How long d'ya think before he's lost it again?"

As Neville made his way back to the group, Faith waved him over to where she stood between Seamus and Dean.

"Hey Neville, Trevor." she smiled at the toad "Sorry for rushing off back there, I didn't realise these two had made a new, lovely friend." she added, the last part dripping with sarcasm.

"Hey, I'm sure you enjoyed Mr. Smith's company just as much as us!" Dean countered, with Seamus nodding his agreement.

"Um, s'alright" Neville replied to Faith's comment "You probably didn't want me sharing with you anyway, I'm surprised I didn't fall in or capsize the boat or something."

"Are you kidding? You'd have been perfect then!" Seamus pointed out, grinning "Faith made an attempt at both of those herself, I'm sure she could've used some help!"

Faith stuck her tongue out at him, then grinning, added for Neville's benefit "Aye, It'd have been good reassurance that I'm not the only one around here with no coordination."

Neville smiled back at her "Ok, well, um, can I stick with you three now then?" he looked almost nervous as he said this, as if fearing they would reject him.

"Course" Dean replied smiling kindly "I'm Dean."

"and I'm Seamus."

"and I'm the clumsy twit you have the misfortune to keep meeting!" Faith grinned "Stick with me and you…"

"Will end up involved in your brothers' pranks instead of on the receiving end?" Dean interrupted.

"Well, not what I was going to say, but yes. And you've only known me a few hours, how in Merlin's name did you know that?"

"Because I'm clever."

"Or 'cause you told us all about them on the train" Seamus pointed out.

"Or that" Dean admitted.

"Well, I, er, don't know about pranks" Neville began "but if, um, sticking with you makes me a less likely target then, well, I'm all for it!"

"That's the spirit Nev!" Faith exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear "You don't mind being called Nev do you?"

Neville shook his head, smiling.

Soon Hagrid had finished checking the boats and he returned to the head of the group.

"Right, this way, follow me."

The first years followed him through tunnels that, again felt quite sinister to Faith, she found herself glad she was surrounded by other people as, although she wouldn't like to admit it, she wasn't sure she would like to be here alone, or even in a small group (although she would probably do it anyway out of sheer stubbornness).

At the end of the tunnel a flight of steep stone steps led up to an enormous oak door, here they stopped, crowding around their huge guide like so many ants.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

As Neville, beside Faith, nodded Hagrid knocked on the door and then it slowly creaked open.

On the other side of the door lay Faith's first glimpse of Hogwarts castle. In front of them was the expansive entrance hall with doors leading off in all directions. Two particularly large sets of doors lay open, the noise of many chattering voices floating across from one and the cool night air floating in from the other. Also leading into the hall were a set of wide stone steps, which presumably led into the other levels of the castle. In the foreground of this picture stood a tall, black-haired witch with a strict looking face.

"The firs-years Professor McGonagall" said Hagrid.

Uh oh, thought Faith, McGonagall had come up a lot in the twins' Hogwarts stories, mostly in the same sentence as detention or punishment. Faith was not looking forward to any future meetings they might have.

McGonagall then led the first years into a small room just off the entrance hall and gave what sounded like a 'Welcome' speech. Faith though, excited because she was finally within the walls of Hogwarts caught precious little of it. She only really tuned in after a nudge from Dean, who had an amused look on his face, made her realise she was bouncing excitedly on her heels with her head in the clouds. After this she made a conscious (and very difficult) effort to stop it and concentrate on what they were being told.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school" McGonagall finished "I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting."

Faith saw the professor's eyes linger first on Neville, then on Ron, then feeling the on herself she realised that between her hurried changing and her excitement during the boat trip it was a wonder her robes weren't on backwards. As McGonagall left, telling them she would return when the rest of the school was ready, Faith frantically tried to straighten herself out.

The group waited in what for the most part was a nervous sort of quiet, with few people saying anything. Faith herself could feel her nerves building, although the sense of excitement still far outweighed this.

She glanced around at Seamus, Dean, and Neville. She saw her own mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness mirrored in Seamus and Dean's expressions, Neville on the other hand looked terrified.

"Don't worry Nev" she whispered to him "My brother, George, said the Sorting is nothing to worry about."

He smiled weakly, whispering back "Do you know what it is?"

"No, he wouldn't say, something about spoiling the mystery" she rolled her eyes "But if it was bad I'm sure he and Fred would have taken pleasure in torturing me about it."

"Alright" he didn't look convinced.

At that moment however they were distracted by the appearance of about twenty silvery figures who floated in through the back wall. Several people screamed, many gasped and Seamus, stood beside Faith on the opposite side to Neville, whispered "Cool!"

The ghosts had just noticed the first years and begun to speak to them when McGonagall returned, shooing them away and informing the students that the sorting was about to commence.

"Now, form a line and follow me" she instructed.

Faith fell into line behind Neville and Dean, with Seamus bringing up the rear of their little group. They followed in a long line behind McGonagall across the Entrance Hall, into the Great Hall and past the student tables, to halt in front of the staff table the centre of attention in this enormous amazing room.

McGonagall set down a small four legged stool in front of the first years and upon this placed a tatty, patched, pointed hat, all eyes in the room (besides those of the first years) were now on the hat. After a minute or so of silence the hat began to move, then to sing. Faith listened to enough of the hat's song to realise that all they had to do was put the hat on, then returned to gazing around the room as she had been doing previously.

It really was remarkable she thought, the walls and floor were undressed stone with few decorations, the room could have seemed plain if not for the hundreds of candles which floated above the five long tables (four student, one staff) and the starlight shining down from the enchanted ceiling, which combined to give the room a very otherworldly feel. The place reminded Faith a lot of the ruined castles she had visited as a child with her parents (and on some, rather more interesting trips, the twins) especially with the ceiling which seemed wide open to the heavens, although this hall was a lot more impressive and magical.

As the hat finished its song Faith heard Ron whispering "So we've just got to try on the hat! I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll" and she had to stifle a giggle, she loved how even after all these years Ron would still believe the crazy stories Fred and George told him.

With that the sorting began, McGonagall called the students forward to the stool one at a time, the first being 'Abbott, Hannah' who was sorted into Hufflepuff with much cheering from the Hufflepuff table. Several other students were sorted, each with a round of cheering and applause from their new houses table, before a girl called Lavender Brown became the first to be sorted into Gryffindor. Faith could see the twins cheering enthusiastically amongst the crowd at this point.

It wasn't long then before Seamus was called forward, Faith smiled at him and mouthed good luck as he went past, but she wasn't sure he saw. Seamus plonked himself down on the stool, where he sat for almost a whole minute before the hat announced 'GRYFFINDOR!' and Seamus trotted off smiling to sit a few places down from where the twins were.

Faith could feel her nerves building again, she knew it wasn't long now until her turn. She watched the next couple of people go up and then.

"Higgins, Faith"

She trotted forward nervously, sitting on the stool and pulling the hat on (which nearly covered her eyes). As she sat there, she heard a voice in her head, which she assumed belonged to the hat.

"Hmm, and adventurer are we? And the joker of the pack if your friends are anything to go by, ooh and virtually a Weasley to boot, well, I know exactly what to do with you, you defiantly belong in GRYFFINDOR!"

Faith heard herself squeal excitedly as she jumped up, dropping the hat back on the stool (only just hitting it) and bounding off towards the table which had erupted into cheers, as she passed the twins they each stuck up a hand and she high-fived them, grinning.

"See we told you" George started.

"You really are a little Weasley now!" Fred grinned.

"And now a little lion to boot!" George finished.

"Rawr?" Faith grinned, then bounced the couple of places down the table to sit next to Seamus.

Within the next few minutes they were joined by first Neville (although he had to go back to the front to return the sorting hat first as ha had ran off wearing it) and then Dean, as well as several other students, including the black haired boy who Faith had seen with Ron who, it turns out, was Harry Potter.

When the sorting finally ended with 'Zabini, Blaise' joining the ranks of the Slytherins and Professor McGonagall removing the hat and stool Faith was already looking at her plate expectantly. In all the excitement she had barely eaten anything since breakfast and her stomach was now complaining. Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and said a few words of welcome (including blubber and tweak) and then the feast began.

Over dessert the talk of the first year Gryffindors turned to their families. Seamus gave a shortened version of the story he had told Faith and Dean on the train.

"I'm half and half" he told them "Me dad's a Muggle, Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him!"

He grinned and the others smiled and laughed. The other first years then took turns to describe their families, and Faith discovered that Lavender was also 'half and half' as Seamus put it as was Parvati Patil, a pretty, dark skinned girl who had also been sorted into Gryffindor.

At this point the group turned their attention to Neville, who explained how he had been brought up by his Gran and how his family had feared he was "all Muggle" and his Uncle Algie had been so pleased when they discovered he wasn't that he had bought him Trevor.

At this point, Faith interrupted, quite angrily.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being a Squib!"

"Um, I didn't mean that, sorry" Neville apologised, looking confused.

"Faye, are you starting fights already?" came Fred's teasing voice as he grinned along the table at her.

"No, don't be daft." Faith feigned innocence, then continued sincerely "I'm sorry Nev, just my Mum's a Squib and when people find out they're generally not very pleasant about it."

"They're bloody gits you mean!" Fred corrected.

"Yeah and your Mum's lovely." George added "She doesn't deserve that!"

"I know" Faith smiled sadly "Thanks guys" she sent a gratefully smile in the twins' direction.

"Our pleasure" George smiled back.

"It's what big brothers are for" Fred added.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you or anything" Neville said, looking slightly sheepish, making Faith feel extremely guilty because she knew she was being irrational.

"No, I know" Faith smiled "It's fine, should be me apologising, I'm just a bit oversensitive I guess."

They smiled at each other and there was a brief lull in the conversation until Dean asked:

"What's a Squib?"

Seamus began to explain to him but was interrupted by Faith saying "Um, Seamus, Quidditch?"

She grinned and Seamus, understanding immediately what she meant glared at her and stuck out his tongue.

"Well go on then, you explain" he said.

That night as she lay in bed Faith smiled to herself. She was in a four poster bed, in Gryffindor Tower, in Hogwarts, the adventure really had begun and she had a feeling these next few days, and the rest of the time which would follow them, would bring with them a lot of excitement and adventure, probably involving many pranks and possibly an equal number of punishments. Still smiling she closed her eyes and her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was 'Bring on the detentions, they are so going to be worth it!"