Author Note: I realize this story is advancing rather slowly. I apologize for that, and I realize that the marauder's good stuff didn't really pick up until 5th year. However, I do believe that characterization early on makes for a good story. So if you could all bare with me, I think you might enjoy this story. Just please remember to REVIEW. Authors thrive on comments.

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was mortified for the young man in front of him. If he didn't know any better, it appeared that the Kale Bastion had indeed fallen asleep while being sorted. On a more enlightening note, it appeared that one need be awake to have his mind examined by the hat. That is how Dumbledore found himself in the great hall with anxious first years, confused students, and a frustrated hat.

Minutes had passed and still the sorting hat had yet to dignify the boy with a house. It appeared the hat was sulking. Even Dumbledore, in his vast wisdom, had never seen a hat sulk.

"Er- Gryffindor?" the sorting hat half shouted, half asked. The Gryffindor table was a mixture of reluctant claps and bemused looks. The sorting hat's final words seemed to have woken Kale up as he started in his seat and raised his head rather quickly. Dumbledore felt incredibly embarrassed for the child. Falling asleep while being sorted was not something that happened often, and would probably be the source of endless torment for the unfortunate first year.

On a lighter note, Albus was secretly thrilled the boy was a Gryffindor. He had, admittedly, been worried that the boy might follow more directly in Tom Riddle's footsteps. Not that there was anything wrong with being a Slytherin, he chastised his inner headmaster.

Kale was mortified. He removed the agitated hat from his head and placed it on the stool, then proceeded to slink over to the unenthusiastically clapping Gryffindor table. He was offered a seat near the middle by a tall, willowy looking girl. He flashed her a grateful look and took the seat.

"Black, Sirius!" shouted Professor McGonagall. A short boy, with long black hair and pale features sauntered towards the stool. Sauntering, Kale decided, was the only way to describe his walk. He sat on the stool and placed the hat on his head. A good bit of time lapsed. Apparently something was amiss, because all four tables began whispering intensely.

"Gryffindor!" the sorting hat shouted. His declaration was met by silence. There was no clapping at the Gryffindor table. The boy looked stricken, as if he would like nothing more than to crawl deep inside of the sorting hat, and never be seen again. He slinked over to the Gryffindor table, a much different walk leaving the sorting hat than his saunter. When the boy walked towards the table, everyone seemed to move away, until inevitably the only seat left was right next to Kale. Kale had no problem with that; he was grateful for this boy stealing the attention from his sleepy sorting.

"Hi, I'm Kale," his introduction was met by a thick silence. The color had fled the boy's face, his features were a mix of fear and relief. Finally, he opened his mouth and said tightly through clenched teeth, "My parents are going to kill me."

That seemed like an odd response to Kale, but he decided to watch the rest of his classmates get sorted rather than solve this boy's riddles. The next girl was a tiny thing, she had dark red hair and too many freckles splattered around her eyes and nose. Lily Evans was sorted into Gryffindor. A few more names were called, mostly Hufflepuffs, until the boy Kale had sat with on the train was called.

"Potter, James!" Almost as soon as the hat made contact with the crown of the boy's head, the hat trilled, "Gryffindor!" This declaration earned a vigorous clapping from his table. To his right, the tiny redhead girl let out an annoyed huff. The boy strutted over to the Gryffindor table and squeezed between Kale and another boy. He turned and looked at Kale, surprised as if he hadn't expected him to be at Hogwarts anymore.

"Oh it's you. What was your name again, mate? Krail? Keel?" he asked all too innocently. Kale remained unperturbed.

"You know you have a rather long nose," stated Kale, in a matter-of-fact tone. He earned a chortle from Sirius for his quip. James Potter flushed and covered his nose with his hand.

"Oh so sleepy has jokes?"

"Lupin, Remus," called McGonagall. A short boy, with sandy blonde hair and a rather melancholy disposition approached the stool. The hat named him a Gryffindor and he joined the table. Kale intentionally offered him a seat between he and James.

"Kale, pleased to meet you," Kale reached out his hand in a friendly gesture.

The boy brightened up and took his hand, "Remus, same to you." Finally somebody normal, thought Kale in the back of his mind. The irony of that thought wouldn't strike him for another year. The remainder of the sorting was uneventful, and finally nothing was left to do but to eat.

The meal was like nothing Kale had ever seen. The table was decorated with a mouth watering array of food: roast chicken, Cornish pasties, pork chops, kidney pudding, pumpkin juice, and so much more. After the meal and the introduction of Nearly Headless Nick, whom Kale bombarded with a torrent of questions regarding the afterlife, the same tall older girl who had offered Kale a seat showed the first years to the Gryffindor common room. Kale was incredibly intrigued by the castle. It seemed to be alive. That was the only appropriate description, he decided. The portraits were teeming with life, and the staircases would alarmingly shift at random. He could see how one would get lost in the caste.

Finally they stopped at a portrait of a fat lady sitting regally. "Password?" she asked imperiously.

"Doddering bobbits," responded the head girl, Seera. The portrait creaked open and revealed a wonderfully comfortable looking room. Students were lounging around the common room on plush love seats and couches rekindling relationship. Their cats were stretching languidly by the fire, which was casting a warm, lazy glow on the room.

"Groovy," Kale heard James say behind him. He had to agree.

Seera showed the first years to the steps leading up towards there dormitory.

"If you have any questions, I'll be over there," Seera pointed to a table by the fire place where her friends were eagerly waving her over. The boys dragged their luggage awkwardly up the steps and entered the dormitory. The room was a comfortable looking one. There were only four beds: one for each of the first year boys in Gryffindor. From what Kale garnered at the welcoming feast, four was the lowest sorting class for male Gryffindors in the last five decades.

Remus Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Kale Bastion looked around awkwardly at each other. They had not necessarily hit it off. Because one did not usually trust others on the streets, Kale was new to making friends and doubtful about how to proceed. Sirius looked a combination of terrified and relieved, James looked as if he had swallowed a lemon, and Remus just sat patiently on his four-poster bed.

James was the first to break the silence, "What's got your knickers in a bunch?" he asked Sirius, who looked incredibly worried. Sirius glared daggers at the messy haired boy.

"My parents are going to kill me for not getting sorted into Slytherin!" he snapped back. James looked revolted by Sirius's words.

"Who would want to get sorted into rotten old Slytherin? The house practically breeds dark wizards!"

"I never said I wanted to be in Slytherin, just that I was supposed to!" Sirius spat the words. Remus and Kale watched the scene with averted eyes. The discomfort was palpable.

"Slimy git!" shouted James, emphasizing his words by pushing Sirius.

"Stuck up prat!"

Words escalated into a shoving match then they fell to the floor in a flail of fists and kicking. Remus and Kale looked at each other and then pulled their fighting roommates apart. Sirius and James stood feet apart, restrained by their roommates. James's lip was cut badly and he sneered through bloody teeth, "Why don't you go back home to your family of death eaters."

Though Kale did not know the significance of the insult, he could tell it carried serious weight. Sirius stiffened in Kale's arms.

"I don't need to take this from you."

He stormed off and slammed the door behind him. Remus, who was holding James, shoved him away from his chest.

"You need to go apologize."

James looked at the sandy haired boy like he'd just grown bat wings.

"You're off your rocker if you think I'm going after him!"

Kale walked over and stood next to Remus and leveled James with a flat stare. The messy hair boy exhaled noisily, "Fine. I'll apologize to the git." As he walked out the door he turned and glanced back, "You comin' or what?"

By the time the Gryffindors had descended the stairs Sirius was gone and the common room was empty.

"Must be past curfew," Remus mentioned. None of the three seemed daunted by the notion as they exited the portrait.

Sirius Black wished he hadn't wandered so far. He was now lost on some unknown corridor in Merlin-knows-what-part of the castle. He slumped against wall and ran his fingers across the smooth grooves of the cold stone floor.

"Look what we have here, boys. A lost Gryffindor," a voice said in condescending mock baby voice. Sirius stood up quickly and raised his wand pointing it at the newcomers. He wished now more than ever that he knew at least one spell to defend himself. It was however, the first day of his first year. There was four Slytherin first years in front of him; he remembered them from the sorting and new most of their families: Tobias Avery, Neyll Mulciber, Gregory Wilkes, and Severus Snape. The last looked uncomfortable with his present situation.

"We thought we could count on you being a Slytherin, Black," Avery taunted. Sirius felt on the verge of tears.

"No words from the big tough Gryffindor?" The Slytherins were circling him now. Their wands were out though Sirius was confident they knew about as many spells as him.

"Ya, I know a few words. Sod off!" He punctuated his words by spitting in Avery's face.

"You'll regret that, Black."

"I don't think he will."

Sirius and the four Slytherins turned to see where the words had come from. Sirius's eyebrows shot up when he saw they had come from the same boy who had caused him to leave in the first place, and behind him were his other two bunkmates. They looked furious.

"Put your wands away. Merlin knows you'll probably just hurt yourself, Mulciber."

The big Slytherin boy flushed, but put away his wand and cracked his knuckles. James leveled his eyes on Snape.

"Oh its you, the slimy one from the train. What was it again? Snivellus?" The boy in question paled and glared at James, but said nothing. Sirius let out a bark like laugh at the nickname.

"Shut your mouth, Black," spat Wilkes, and grabbed Sirius's collar.

"Get your hands off him," spoke Remus as he made his towards the crowd and stood next to James.

"Ya? Whose going to stop me?" Wilkes raised his hand higher and started gripped Sirius's throat.

"Me."

Kale Bastion didn't particularly like confrontation, he was small for his age and his narcolepsy was a liability, where he grew up those circumstances were a death sentence. It's probably why he chose to sneak beneath tables and steal his whole life. Most children in the slums were part of flash mobs, large groups of young children who would converge on lone people. But Kale also wanted to make friends, and he thought this was a good place to start. He hadn't had friend his whole life, and he just made the decision that he wanted these three boys, despite their differences, to be his friends.

"What are you going to about it," hissed Avery, he was about the same height as Kale and met him at eye level. He was right in Kale's face. Kale could feel his breath and the smell of pumpkin juice as he asked the question. And a good question it was.

Kale wasn't sure how problems were settled at Hogwarts, he'd only been there a few hours. He was going to use his hand magic, and banish the boy across the hallway, but it didn't seem that anyone else had their wand out. So he decided to solve the problems using what eleven years of living on the streets of Brixton had taught him.

He snapped his head forward faster than the other boy could expect. He could feel the cracking of nose cartridge and splatter blood on his forehead. He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain. Soon after, a clumsy fist clipped him in the ear solidly enough to knock him to the ground. His vision was swimming and he could only vaguely make out the noise of people scuffling and fists being thrown. Then he saw darkness.

Professor McGonagall had only agreed to be head of Gryffindor house because Albus had asked her and because of her enormous respect for what the headmaster had achieved. But at this moment she wished she would have thrown the request back in his face. The semester hadn't even technically started and she was already pacing her office, nervously straightening and re-straightening the items on her desk, and doling out punishments to first years. She stopped and analyzed the troublemakers, her mouth fixed in a tight line of disapproval.

There was Remus Lupin. He had short sandy blonde hair and large, blue eyes. He looked so much like any normal eleven year-old boy right now that Minerva had almost forgotten his lycanthropy. What a debacle that had been, getting him approved to attend Hogwarts despite his… affliction. Dumbledore had certainly put his neck on the line, but then again, Minerva reminded herself, that is what made Albus great.

Second was James Potter. A typical only child, James probably got whatever he wanted growing up, made worse by having two old rich parents, so excited to finally have a child they spoiled him rotten. Minerva contemplated James and Sirius together. You could almost call them brothers their appearances were so similar. They shared a rich shade of black hair and pale skin, with high, fine cheekbones. James's differences were his glasses and where his hair would stick up at every angle, Sirius's short hair lay neatly on his head.

Sirius was an interesting case. She frowned to herself. She felt rather bad for the boy, he didn't seem as awful as some of the Blacks that she had met, and she could hardly blame the boy for being born a Black. He would no doubt receive a nasty howler from his mother tomorrow regarding the sorting.

Last was the enigmatic Kale Bastion. Slumped in his chair with his head lolled to the side, in his current state it was hard to imagine that this boy was as remarkable as Dumbledore insisted. She had met him, and she certainly agreed he was clever and had a sharp mind, but Albus had compared his potential to that of Tom Riddle's… That alone gave her chills.

When Kale woke up, he found himself in an office, an extremely neat one. Beside him were his three bunkmates, all bleeding and in bad shape, but smirking nonetheless. The Deputy Headmistress, and Head of Gryffindor house was glaring at the four of them. It looked as if she might explode.

Kale's first reaction was one he'd had many times before in his life.

"Did I fall asleep again?" he asked of nobody in particular.

"Mr. Bastion! How nice of you to join us. I was just telling your friends here that I would take away more points from Gryffindor, but it seems that you and your friends' actions has left our unfortunate house with no points already, and its only been," she glanced at a strange magical clock behind her desk, "six hours into the new semester. Congratulations, a school record."

Kale smiled at her in response, She called them my friends.

Probably because of his smile, she singled out Kale again with her glare, "I would have thought that knowing your… condition that you would not have acted so recklessly, it appears I was wrong."

Kale shrugged and responded in his most innocent voice, "I was just helping out a fellow Gryffindor, I was under the impression that that was something we Gryffindors do."

His roommates grinned and caught onto his ploy.

The Deputy Headmistress was not deterred, "That was no reason to act impulsively."

"I thought that impulsiveness is a trait of Gryffindors? One valued by Godric Gryffindor himself," quipped Remus.

"Well yes I suppose that's true-"

"We're we suppose to leave Sirius to get the pulp beat out of him… that doesn't seem very Gryffindor like," added James.

"Now you know that's not what I mean, and stop interrupting! Five points from Gryffindor!" Professor McGonagall was heaving and pulling on her hair, just imagining seven years with these four.

The room went silent until Sirius added, in his most angelic voice, "We're out of points, though I suppose you could give us ten for every Slytherin in the hospital wing."

"I'm being serious!" she thundered. The boys look taken aback, but only for a moment.

"He already is," quipped James, pointing at Sirius. This earned a laugh from all the boys and Kale was sure he saw McGonagall mouth twitch.

Professor McGonagall plopped into her seat behind her desk and buried her face in her hands.

"Out."

The four Gryffindors needed no more instruction from the slowly self-destructing professor and scurried out of the office back to their dormitory.

Kale laid in his soft, four-poster bed and talked for hours with the three bunkmates. They ran the fight repeatedly in their heads, laughed, and talked about nothing in particular. The tangents of their conversation lasted until sunrise, until Kale Bastion fell asleep with a singular thought in his head.

He was finally home.