A/N Zomg… I am so sorry that it has taken me THIS long to update... but now it's the school holiday break! Woot woot! So I now have the opportunity to just sit in a dark corner and write

Hehe

I doubt that this chapter will ever meet the standards of the previous one… sigh… its sooooooo long!!!!

Ok… I'll just get on with the story then XD

Enjoy!

Chapter 4: the Sorting Hat

The rest of the train ride was rather uneventful. Unless you call Claudette rabiting on constantly, with minimal breaths, and Rose walking in four more times telling Albus to put his robes on eventful. Albus and Scorpius managed to avoid further arguments thanks to the constant chatter that streamed from Claudette's mouth, and Albus thanked his lucky stars that James had yet to find him. He really thought that the trip to his new school was going to end on a fantastic note, and that he actually might make it to school without incurring a broken nose from his brother.

Swift spent most of the ride fat asleep in Albus's lap, occasionally waking up to scour the compartment for scraps of dropped food. Albus had earlier on fed him the corner of a chocolate frog, so now he had the taste for it. He was getting rather brave in his exploration for chocolate, so he was clambering up the legs of the seats and climbing up pant legs.

Apparently Scorpius didn't appreciate Swift climbing up the inside of his pants.

"Get Him OUT!!!" Scorpius screamed, swatting at his moving pant leg. Albus, asleep at the time, jolted awake at the scream. "Potter! Get. Your. Rat. OFF OF ME!!!" he snarled.

"Swift! No, no, no! Get out of there," Albus squeaked. He lunged at Scorpius's legs, not thinking about the area in which Swift was now climbing towards.

"Oh My God Potter!!! You God Damn Pervert!!!! GET OFF ME!" screamed Scorpius as Albus grabbed hold of Swift, who was now sitting in the upper thigh region of Scorpius's pants. He was kicked off of Scorpius and fell to the floor, confused as to what exactly he did wrong. He looked at Claudette, and saw that she had half her fist in her mouth, trying to stop laughing, tears streaming down her face from the effort.

Something warm and with a fast beating heartbeat landed in his lap. Swift had hurriedly clambered out of Scorpius's pants, and was trying to now climb into Albus's pocket to hide from the wrath of the pale blonde boy. Al stood up to apologize to Scorpius, but as he looked up, all he met was a fist flying into the side of his face. One guess who delivered it.

"I swear to god Potter," said a fuming Malfoy, "You cross my path once more this year, and I will make you life a living hell." And with that, he grabbed his bags and stormed out of the compartment.

"What did I do wrong?" whispered Albus.

"Apart from your rat molesting him? And then you, molesting him? Well… I don't know. It was rather funny though. Gosh I was I had a video camera! The colour red that Scorpius turned when you grabbed his leg that high up was insane! I think that I saw steam coming from his ears. That happened to my dad one time when I went into his office…" Claudette said.

'well… at least I still have one friend…' Albus thought.

A completely uneventful train trip indeed.

"Albus! We're here! ohmygoshIseriouslycantbelievethatweareactuallyatHogwarts!It'scompletelyincredible!Ithoughtforasecondtherewhenyouwerepunchedinthefacebymalfoythatwewouldntactuallymakeitbuthereweareandweactuallydidmakeit!!!" Claudette gasped for air.

"What?" Albus said. He didn't think that someone so skinny could actually have the lung capacity to say a sentence that long without breaths in between.

"Hurry up! We have to be the first ones off the train," and with that, he was wrenched from his seat, pulled down the corridor and practically pushed off the train. He then proceeded to land face first into the pavement, and have several hundred students walk straight over the top of him, without bothering to help.

A large hand grabbed the back of his robes and he was pulled vertical, facing the familiar face of Rubeus Hagrid, the groundskeeper for Hogwarts, and long time friend of Harry Potter and co.

"Albus! How're yer doing? Though' for a second thar tha' yer would be crushed! Same thing happened to yer brother on his firs' day, ha-ha," bellowed Hagrid, pulling Albus into a bone crushing hug. "bu' he came ou' a righ' mess, he did. No' a' all like what you look like! No' a scratch on yer!"

Albus did a mental dance. Now he had some dirt on James that he could dredge up when needed.

"Hi Hagrid. Are you taking the first years to the castle? Please say you are!"

"Well, o' course I am! Jus' follow me, we're runnin' a bi' behind today… bu' then again, I'm always runnin' a bi' behind," he said, scratching his head. "Alrigh' then! Let's go. Firs' years follow me!" he yelled, scaring a few of the kids with his loud yell. They headed off towards the boats that brought the new first years to the opening feast. This was something that Albus hadn't been looking forward too. James, through the summer, had been constantly feeding him stories about the giant squid that lived in the lake. Not a single one of those stories had a good ending. The one that was stuck in his head though, was the one about a student that had fallen into the lake on his first night. He never made it to the opening ceremony, apparently. They had to take him to St Mungo's hospital because of the shock that he had incurred when the squid wrapped a tentacle around his arm and tried to drag him into the depths of the lake. James said that if you looked into the squids eyes, you would die an immediate and painful death.

"Don't believe him, Al! The boy that fell in was fine, Hagrid pulled him out. He did have shock though- could you imagine how cold that water would be?" his father Harry had said with a laugh.

"But what would happen if I accidentally look into his eyes?"

"You should know that only Basilisks have the ability to kill when you look in their eyes. The squid is harmless. You will be fine."

I didn't know whether or not I could trust my father though. He was so blonde! Ok, so I knew that he was famous and all, but it still didn't stop the fact that he wasn't exactly the smartest Auror you could find.

"Five to a boa' everyone. An' one person in a boa' with me!" people ran to form groups as he said that, and soon, everyone was in a group except for Claudette, Albus and Scorpius. Who would have guessed? "You have to have five in a boa' otherwise the boa' will think tha' it empty, an' I' won' move. So you three will have to come with me," Hagrid said with a smirk, wrapping his arm around Albus's shoulder, hugging him tight.

And so they began their journey to Hogwarts.

"This is absolutely amazing! I'm so, so, so excited!" Claudette squealed as their boat moved off into the lake. It was spectacular. As they moved towards the middle of the lake, a mist could be seen, from the light glow of the full moon, rising and moving around their boats, parting as they moved through it. They heard an eerie, yet somewhat dreamy song coming from underneath their boats. The mere-people were welcoming them to Hogwarts. Their song was one that brought goosebumps to Albus's skin, and tears to his eyes. He had finally made it. He was at Hogwarts and he was beyond happy. He was so happy that he was practically jumping up and down in his seat. No, he was jumping up and down in his seat.

"Who's rocking the boat?" Hagrid said, turning around to face the other three in his boat, and in the process, knocking Albus, who was half out of his seat. It was at this point that he fell into the lake.

"AHH!!!" Albus screamed as he tumbled over the side of his boat. He hit the water, and froze. It was so cold. So very, very cold. Time stood still as Albus's breath gushed from his lungs out of shock, and he began to sink incredibly slowly. Stars danced in front of his eyes, and his lids began to droop. He thought it had been well over thirty seconds when he heard a second splash, and a warm hand grasped his ankle. He was pulled to the surface, and gasped for air.

"My God, Potter! Could you be a little more careful?" Malfoy said, pushing him back into the boat. Scorpius wrenched himself back into the boat also, dripping with water, and not even shivering. Albus on the other hand, was a complete wreck. He was shaking in convulsions, hiccupping, and sniffling. He couldn't do anything right! First, the cupcakes, then his rat… Swift! He was in his pocket!

"Oh no! Swift!" he squeaked, patting and grabbing randomly at his pockets, but he couldn't feel the lump that was his new rat. He looked over the edge of the boat, trying to see if he had fallen into the water with him but he couldn't see him anywhere.

"EEEP!" Claudette screamed. "Oh… hi Swift!" a sigh gushed from Albus's mouth. He turned to Claudette and saw Swift sitting on her shoulders glistening with water, shivering. He was ok. Thank goodness.

Their boat hit the other side of the lake, and Albus looked up, pushing his wet hair from his eyes, and saw the magnificent castle that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Hagrid! You're running, well, late. Not that that isn't normal, or anything," Professor Longbottom said, a smile on his face.

"How're yer, Neville? Only one fell in this year! Its go' to be a record, her-her," Hagrid jokingly said. Everyone cautiously climbed out of their boats, glad to be on dry ground again.

"Oh! Harry! I mean, Albus! Oh damn… it's going to be a long year," Neville muttered. "Um, Hagrid, two of them are wet. I thought you said that only one of them fell in?"

"Oh, righ'. Well Scorpius here," he patted Scorpius's head, a grimace on the Malfoy's face. "He jumped in to save Albus 'ere. A righ' hero, he is!"

"Yes, well, when we find out what house you are in, ten points! Here, let me dry you off." Neville's wand waved, and both Scorpius and Albus were instantly dried. "Well, then, off to the sorting ceremony!"

They started off towards the Great Hall, smiles on almost every student's faces. All except Scorpius's and Albus's. Malfoy was sending daggers to Albus, and Albus was on the verge of crying. He thought that because the Malfoy had saved him, he had also been forgiven. Obviously that wasn't the case. He would try to forget it for now, and just focus on making it inside.

"When we get inside, we will make our way up to the very front, where the sorting ceremony will take place. For those who don't know what that is…" Longbottom shook his head at this, "You will be placed into a house, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin or Gryffindor. It will be in this house that you will stay for your entire schooling career at Hogwarts. You will compete with the other houses for claim over the house cup that is awarded at the end of the year. So let's go put you into houses."

The doors to the Great Hall were thrown open dramatically. Cheers erupted around them as they walked down the centre of the room towards the large teachers table at the end. Professor McGonagall was standing, smiling at them all, a welcoming figure. In front of her was the ancient sorting hat, sitting on a wooden three legged stool. Albus's shivers returned out of excitement. Claudette had latched onto Albus's arm and was practically skipping towards the hat.

After that, things went so quickly for Albus; he didn't know what hit him. He spent most of the time grinning like a maniac when someone was called up, nervously sat on the chair, and was put into a house. He paid attention to when Claudette was called up, because she just about imploded when her name was called.

"GRYFFINDOR!!!" the hat called, and she squeaked, running off towards the hoards of people sitting at the Gryffindor table. They all welcomed her with open arms- the house of heroes and friendships. She would certainly fit in.

Then Malfoy was called. That was an interesting turn of events indeed.

"Hmm… a Malfoy, I see. But you're different… interesting. I'm afraid that I can't put you into Slytherin like you father and mother. Don't complain either… GRYFFINDOR!!!" Scorpius's face crumpled. He stumbled off the chair, obvious shock on his face. The hall was silent. No one had expected a Malfoy to be put into the house of heroes and friendships. He walked over to the table where Claudette furiously latched onto him, chatting with excitement.

"Potter, Albus," McGonagall called. The attention of the room turned to Albus, as he slowly made his way up to the stool. Shaking, he sat down and the hat was placed on his head. He heard someone call 'Hufflepuff!' from in the crowd, and a small jittery laugh broke out. His brother was making fun of him. He tried to ignore it, and the hat spoke, whispering in his ear.

"A Potter… Your father was great. He had the opportunity to go into Slytherin, you know. But you… you're scared. You think that you won't fit in. I should put you into Hufflepuff."

"Please, no," Albus whispered. "Not Hufflepuff…"

"But, I see some greater purpose in you, you need to be somewhere…" it was silent at that. Then the hat sighed, and screeched,

"GRYFFINDOR!!!"

Albus was so excited that he fell off his stool. And knocked himself out.

A/N ok people… it was definitely not as long as blacksta1n's chapter- she is just too awesome. I hope you are all enjoying it!!! Constructive criticism is welcomed!!! And lots of love- we love it haha

It's up to you now, blacksta1n!!!