A/N- James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter met in the hallways of the train while they were all trying to find a compartment, started chatting, and found they rather enjoyed each other's company. Sorry, I plan these little details out, but I guess I just subconsciously assume everyone else will think the same thing, and I forget to write it in. Bad habit.
Disclaimer- I own nothing, I am not J.K. Rowling, I do not claim any sort of right to the Harry Potter franchise, I am just a nerd staring at a computer who does not own Harry Potter, all that fun stuff.
"Firs' years, over here!" I whipped my head around, trying to find the source of the voice. It didn't take very long, seeing as the man speaking was, to put it mildly, huge. And by huge, I don't mean the morbidly-obese-seriously-needs-to-lay-off-the-bacon kind of huge. He was probably twice as tall as me, and then some. Same with width. I stared at him in shock for a moment, the shrugged and decided to just go with it.
"Firs' years!" I assumed that meant I was supposed to follow him. Apparently, all the other kids seemed to have reached the same brilliant conclusion I had. When all the last stragglers had grouped around the giant of a man, he began to lead us away from all the older students, and towards a lake that surrounded Hogwarts. I took in the giant castle, awestruck. Was this really where I was going to spend the next seven years of my life?
I shook my head to snap myself out of my trance and kept walking. "Four ta a boat!" the man cried, and I realized we were crossing the lake to get to the school. Were we supposed to row them ourselves? That might take a while. I clambered into the nearest empty boat, and looked around for oars, only to find that there weren't any. Huh. Weird.
My Three Pre-Hogwarts Near-Death Experiences
1.) The time my older sister dragged me along on a shopping trip:
"Does this dress make me look fat?" my older sister, Faye, had asked. I hadn't bothered looking up from my book.
"Aren't you supposed to ask your boyfriend about this kind of crap?"
"Well, he's obviously not here right now, so just answer the question", she had snapped.
"Call him, then", I had replied mildly, flipping the page of my novel.
"Don't be an idiot", she had said impatiently.
"I'm not, take your own advice though, why don't you?"
"Just. Answer. The. Question." I had the memory span of a goldfish, so I had had no bloody idea what the question had been about, nor had I cared.
"Yeah." Faye had turned around, narrowing her blue eyes.
"What did you just say?"
2.) The time I caught the flu:
"I'm dying! I'm dying!" I had declared miserably. My older brother Jesse had snorted.
"You're hardly dying, Ruby."
"You're heartless! Your little sister is on her death bed- achoo!-and that's all you can say?!"
"Apparently."
"You suck... Wait! I see a light... I'm in a tunnel... The light's so pretty..."
"Oh no, don't go into the light", Jesse had said in a bland monotone.
"Achoo! When I die, I want all my stuff buried with me... I know you can't take it all with you, but I'm gonna try! And booby trap my grave for grave robbers, will ya?"
"For Pete's sake, you barely have a fever", Jesse had rolled his eyes. "Do me a favour though, sneeze on me or something. I have a bloody exam tomorrow."
3.) The boat ride to Hogwarts:
"Do you mind if we sit here?" I looked up to see a redheaded girl accompanied by a boy with black hair. It was a little hard to tell, but judging by the way the faint moonlight, it looked like the boy had some pretty serious hygiene issues. Don't judge a book by its cover, I reminded myself. Wait until he starts talking, and then you can judge.
"Sure", I shrugged. They climbed into the boat, making it sway slightly.
I jumped a bit and the redhead exclaimed an awestruck "Whoa!" when the boat began to magically move forward, but besides that, we all sat in a fairly awkward silence- the exact opposite of my experience on the train. Eventually, the redhead attempted to make conversation.
"I'm Lily", she introduced herself. "And this is Sev", she gestured to the boy sitting beside her.
"Sev? Never heard that before", I remarked. "It's Ruby, by the way", I added.
"It's short for Severus, and if you call him Snivellus, so help me, I will..." she trailed off.
"Why would I do that?" I asked curiously, sensing a story.
"No reason", she said. "It's just someone else did, earlier today."
Severus, Snivellus... Huh. I guess it works. "Really? Who?"
"I don't know... Some bloke with glasses... I'm not sure what his name was, though", she replied.
"Was he accompanied by another git with black hair?" I asked.
"Yeah! Why? Do you know them?"
"Unfortunately", I grimaced. "Sat in my compartment- they were right gits. There were two other blokes with them- they didn't seem all that bad, actually, now that I think about it. Remus and Peter- they were pretty nice."
"Really? Someone who was friends with them was decent? I doubt that", the boy spoke up. Hm. First time I heard him speak, and he insults someone I just declared decent. Great first impression.
"Well, you can stop doubting, because I assure you, they were alright", I said, my eyes narrowing slightly.
"And how do you know that?" he countered.
"Because unlike you, I've actually met them", I shot back.
"So? They're friends with them, that makes them bad enough."
"Sev, they might not have even been friends", Lily broke in. "Besides, we haven't even met them yet, they could be nice."
"You met them-"
"Yes, I did Sev, and they're both a pain in the arse, but that doesn't mean that Remus and Peter are too", Lily said patiently.
"But-"
"Oh, for Pete's sake, would you just shut up and stop criticizing people you don't even know!" I snapped. A blonde in the boat closest to ours turned and gave me an odd look; I returned it with a small wave.
Severus stood up quickly, forgetting the small detail that he was on a boat that already a bit unbalanced because there were two people on one side and only one on the other.
"You bloody idiot! Sit back down before you capsize the-" Splash! Crap. Motherfreaking git! How could anyone be so stupid? I flailed around in the water, barely able to keep my head above the surface. I took deep, gasping breaths, managing to stay afloat for a few precious seconds at a time.
I saw a giant tentacle reach out and grasp Lily, and then put her back on the boat. It did the same to that bloody idiot, who had drifted quite a distance away from me, which was perfectly fine with me. Before the... thing could get to me, however, I was pulled up by someone in a different boat. Thank goodness. Although it probably would beat drowning, I did not want to know what those tentacles felt like.
"Thanks", I gasped, looking up to see two other girls and the blonde haired boy who had given me a funny look. "I swear, when I get back on dry land, I am going to-" I cut off with a loud cough.
"You okay there?" asked a girl with hazel eyes and blonde hair that was put in a braid.
"Yeah", I managed. "Great first impression, right?" I smiled weakly.
"I'm Marlene McKinnon", the girl smiled.
"Alice York", said a girl with a brown pixie cut and round cheekbones.
"And I am someone who really should've taken swimming lessons that goes by the name of Ruby Mante", I said. "You?" I asked the blonde with murky green eyes.
"Will Boot." I was fairly certain he was the one who had pulled me up.
"Thanks... What was that thing?" I asked curiously, searching the water.
"Probably the Giant Squid", Will said matter-of-factly. If I had had water in my mouth, I would've done a spit take.
"The what? There's a Giant Squid here?"
"Looks like it", Marlene shrugged.
"I am attending a school with a Kraken living in the lake... That's actually pretty awesome", I murmured.
"Well, technically, there's a difference between a Giant Squid and a Kra-" Will tried to correct me, but I cut him off.
"Nope, I am calling it a Kraken from now 'til the end of time and there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me", I declared.
"But-" he tried again.
"Nothing", I repeated stubbornly. He sighed and gave up.
"Hey, we're there!" Alice noted excitedly. Sure enough, the boats had reached the shores. We all climbed out and followed everyone else into the great castle.
"I am Professor McGonagall", I suddenly noticed the woman in front of us. "Your Transfiguration teacher here at Hogwarts." Everyone immediately stopped talking. She went on to explain the rules of Hogwarts, and mentioned the Sorting again, which was obviously very important. She then left us to talk amongst ourselves for a bit.
"You nervous?" I asked the people from my boat, deciding to stick with them, at least for the time being.
"Very", Marlene admitted. "The Sorting's supposed to ultimately affect your whole life at Hogwarts, you know." Great. Now I was considerably more nervous.
"I think most people pretty much already know what they're going to get- I mean, it all comes down to this: are you brave, smart, evil, or none of the above?" Will shrugged nonchalantly.
"Whoa!" Alice exclaimed, pointing at the wall behind us. "Look!" She wasn't the only one to have noticed, nearly everyone else was staring at the ghosts that had emerged.
"Don't worry, they're perfectly harmless", Will told us.
"Cool! My dad told me about them!" Marlene squealed, looking at all of them. I took in the sight before me.
Before any of us could say anything else, Professor McGonagall reappeared and led us into a huge room, filled with all the other students. I looked around the room- from the people to the beautiful ceiling to the other teachers- before my attention finally settled on a hat sitting on a stool. I stared at it curiously, as did everyone else, and then it started to sing.
"The founders of the four Houses
The four creators of Hogwarts
Were arguing like louses
Kind Helga said, 'We should take them all'
Brave Gryffindor wanted to take those filled with courage
Proud Slytherin only wanted
Those with pureblood lineage
Ravenclaw wanted those with wisdom they could heed
But then Gryffindor had an idea
That would satisfy their every need
Four Houses, he said, and they could choose the ones they would want
So with the ideas of Houses, of their worries they were freed
Until the day they found
Slytherin gone from his bed
So the three founders, now minus a friend
Left the job of Sorting to me instead
So that's how the Sorting, was left up to a hat
Year after year, I've Sorted you all
And placed you in the House in which you would fit best
Year after year, I've made the right call
So worry not, I'll place you in the right House
After all, I'm not just any hat
I'll put you where I'll know you fit best
And so that concludes our lovely little chat."
... Wow. Random musical numbers really do happen in real life. Huh. Everyone began clapping, and when the noise died down, Professor McGonagall spoke.
"When you hear your name, come up, sit on the stool, and put on the hat to be sorted!" My mind began to drift off, my stomach clenching in anxiety.
"Black, Sirius!" I looked up, recognizing the name. He sat up there for a two or three minutes, his eyes occasionally drifting from what I assumed was the Slytherin table to the Gryffindor table, before the hat finally decided.
"GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted.
"Boot, Will!" Professor McGonagall called. Will went up, giving us a nervous smile.
"RAVENCLAW!" My mind began to wander a bit after that, until another name caught my attention.
"Evans, Lily!" was quickly sorted into Gryffindor.
"Lupin, Remus!" I watched him go up and anxiously cram the hat over his head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat declared. Crap. I was up soon. I could feel it.
"MacDonald, Mary!" Yep, I was after this one.
"GRYFFINDOR!" I took a deep breath, steeling myself.
"Mante, Ruby!" Marlene and Alice gave me encouraging smiles. I gave them a thankful look before going up. I put the hat on, trying to prepare myself.
"You're not exactly ambitious, are you?" Whoa.
Not exactly, no... A talking hat was reading my mind. Ok. Calm down. I've seen weirder... Actually, no, I haven't. I'm a tad too lazy to be ambitious...
"Are you cunning, then? Hmm... You do excel in knowing when to say what people want to hear, don't you?"
So I can be a tad manipulative at times. I don't want Slytherin, though. Everyone in there seems... Annoying. What about the other one- Ravenclaw?
"No, you wouldn't fit there... Let's see... Ah! You value loyalty, don't you?"
What do you mean I wouldn't fit into Ravenclaw? They're the smart ones, aren't they? What are you trying to imply here, huh?
"Do you want friends who would sell you out if it meant getting to the top? No, loyalty is embedded too deep in you. Hufflepuff would be perfect."
But...
"You have a crush, don't you? I see... But that doesn't define you- Loyalty does."
I need friends who won't leave me behind if I'm slowing them down...
"Yes, you do... Hm... How would you feel about Hufflepuff? They're not all bad, you know. They're just, hard-working... Loyal."
Hard-working? You're kidding, right? You even mention work and I'm gone.
"That strong connection to loyalty would do you good in there, are you sure? And you can be just, I'm certain."
What's my other option?
"Gryffindor- ah, yes! Are you brave? Hmm... Noble, yes, I think so."
Me? Brave? Please. Anything with six legs or more that crawls, flies, or spins webs- I'm out. And don't even talk to me about the dark.
"Yes, I think Gryffindor will do you nicely- that is, if you're sure about Hufflepuff? Alrighty then, GRYFFINDOR!" What? I took the hat off and set it back on the stool. Wow.
A/N- If there are any grammar/spelling errors in here, please tell me so I can fix them. I feel like I might've missed something. I don't quite like my characterization of Snape and Lily, if anyone has any tips, I'm all ears.