After the Welcoming Feast ended and everybody was reasonably fed and looking forward to sleeping in their dormitories, Professor McGonagall dismissed the students. The Gryffindors went up to the Gryffindor Tower; the Ravenclaws went up to the Ravenclaw Tower; the Hufflepuffs went to the Hufflepuff Basement; and the Slytherins went down to the dungeons. The Gryffindors were led by Fred and Dominique Weasley, who were this year's prefects. Fred's jokes echoed around the corridor, awakening portraits, who swore loudly at them.
"Hey, who knows why the hippogriff crossed the—" began Fred for the umpteenth time.
"Stop it, boy!" shouted an angry-looking beefy wizard with a ginger moustache (not unlike Harry's Uncle Vernon) who was playing Wizard Chess with another wizard in his portrait. "Can't you see I'm trying to concentrate! Hmm...I wonder whether to move this knight here or there," he added rather loudly, pretending that no one had interrupted them. Fred was very much like his namesake, his late Uncle Fred. He liked jokes and pranks, but unlike both Fred and his father George, he knew when to be serious.
Fred, Dominique, and the rest of the Gryffindors stopped a few minutes later as they approached a portrait of a rather fat-looking witch.
"Password?" the Fat Lady asked Dominique.
"Incendia," replied Dominique.
The Fat Lady's portrait swung open to reveal a hole. Fred and Dominique climbed in, followed by the rest of the Gryffindors.
"For those of you who don't know, this is the Gryffindor common r-r-room," said Fred, trying to suppress an enormous yawn. "Now the boys' dorms are up on the left, while the girls' dorms are up on the right. Now if you don't mind, I've got to go. Prefect's much more than I signed up for, and I must admit I ache all over from Peeves hitting me with Professor McGonagall's walking stick right before I came in the Great Hall."
"This looks cosy," said Albus a few minutes later. He met up with four other first year Gryffindor boys, and together they went into their dormitory. Albus found out that his trunk was beside his four-poster bed, but Hippo was still in the owlery. As soon as they settled down, each sitting on the edge of their beds, they started talking about themselves.
"I'm William Corner," said a boy with a bit long untidy hair that looked like it had been well cared for by its owner. "My dad, Michael Corner, was in Ravenclaw. He won't be happy when he finds out I'm in Gryffindor," he added with a frown.
"I'm Colin, Colin Creevey," said a rather small-looking boy with freckles and brown hair. "My dad Dennis Creevey's older brother, Colin, died in the Battle of Hogwarts, so he named me in honor of him. I've always known I'd get in Gryffindor because of that."
"I'm Daniel Jordan," said a black boy with dark hair. "Oh, and Albus! Dad's a great friend of your uncle George! He always visits him and his family on holidays, and every once in a while George gives me a few Canary Creams for free, he's got a great joke shop in Diagon Alley, you know! Mind you, the Canary Creams cost two Galleons each!"
"Yeah, I suppose," said Albus. "My cousin Fred, you know, the prefect, he was named after Uncle George's twin brother, but he was killed in the Battle of Hogwarts."
"And I'm John Finnigan," said the last boy, who had sandy hair and a few freckles sprayed upon his face. "My dad, Seamus, was a member of a group called Dumbledore's Army, and he told me that the group was founded by your dad, Harry, so I reckon he knew him, Albus!"
"Hey, my dad mentioned a secret group called the DA, too!" shouted Colin. "He even once showed me the fake coin he used to send messages, those were really cool, you know!"
"Me too!" shouted both Daniel and William.
"Wow!" exclaimed Colin. "Your dad was really famous, by the looks of it!"
As the four others got to sleep in their four-poster beds one by one, Albus lay down in his own bed, looking at the canvas at the top, feeling proud that he had such a famous father that all his friends' fathers were friends of. He was also very glad that he got Sorted into Gryffindor, not to mention excited about starting his classes the next day, that is, if he found his way. He made a mental note to himself to send a letter to his parents tomorrow morning by using Hippo, to tell them how glad he was that he got Sorted into Gryffindor, that Rose and Roxanne got there too, that Roxanne actually fainted, and that—but before Albus could think of anything else to tell his parents about in a letter, he fell fast asleep.