Chapter Four: False Start
The train finally pulled into Hogsmeade station, and the students disembarked to start heading towards the school. Hermione explained to Tony and Riley that they would be going by carriage this time since they were upperclassmen and women, but Ginny and Luna would be going with Hagrid to take the boats to the school.
"Alright, you two, good luck, and don't let Prof. McGonagall intimidate you." Tony said, looking at the two new First Years. "No matter what House you end up in, you'll still be our friends."
He paused to look at Hermione.
"Right, Hermione?" he asked.
Hermione sighed, and nodded in agreement. Ginny and Luna joined their fellow First Years in following Hagrid to the boats, while Hermione, Riley, and Tony started making their way to the carriages. Upon heading there, they were accosted by Fred and George Weasley, both of whom looked exhilarated.
"Did you see that?!" Fred asked, grinning.
"Did you?!" echoed George.
"Tempted to say 'no'." muttered Tony.
"Methinks they're referring to Harry and Ron in the flying car, Tony." Riley whispered to him, before speaking out loud to the twins. "Yeah, we did."
"I can't believe they had the nerve to do that!" exclaimed George.
"They should've invited us for next time." Fred said, wistfully.
Hermione shook her head at the two, disbelievingly. Percy approached the five of them, and shot them a look that reminded them of one a parent would give to their children when they were misbehaving. Hermione, Riley, and Tony boarded a carriage, and rode it to the castle.
Upon arrival, the Second through Seventh Year students marched to the Great Hall, where they would take their seats at their respective House tables, and wait for the new First Years to be Sorted. Tony detached himself from his group of friends to sit at the Slytherin table, while Hermione and Riley followed their Housemates to the Gryffindor table. They managed to get some good seats near the front, and saved a seat for Ginny to sit. There had been no sign of Harry or Ron still, and it was just about time for the Sorting to begin. The teachers were already present, with the exception of Prof. McGonagall, the deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House, who had the honor of meeting the new students to inform them of how things were done at Hogwarts. Riley semi-fondly remembered when he himself was Sorted into Gryffindor. He was picked right off of the bat, and caught off-guard when the Sorting Hat spoke to him. However, it wasn't as worse as having his best friend being placed in Slytherin, a House that despised Muggleborns and people who weren't Purebloods or supportive of their views. His train of thought derailed when the doors to the Great Hall opened, and Prof. McGonagall led the First Years down the center aisle towards the front.
"Here we go." whispered Hermione.
Riley watched the group of eleven year olds as they piled into the Great Hall, and saw a glimpse of Luna waving at him. Upon waving back, he felt someone nudging him in the back, and turned back to see Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan looking at him.
"Oi, Cross!" Seamus called, quietly. "Who're you waving at?"
"His girlfriend." Hermione answered, jokingly.
Riley felt his face heat up as most of the eyes in the Gryffindor House fell on him, and lowered his hand.
"Ooh, a girlfriend, huh?" Fred started, snickering.
"What's her name?" asked George.
"Her name's Luna." Riley answered, testily. "And she's not my girlfriend."
The Gryffindor boys continued to laugh quietly at him, much to Riley's dismay.
"Uh-oh, gang, Riley here's getting riled up." cracked Fred.
Percy shushed his brothers and Housemates, motioning towards Prof. Dumbledore, the school Headmaster. He stood up, clad in his usual starry blue robes and pointed hat, with his specs on his face. Before the Sorting had begun, he would usually start off with a few warnings. However, since the Sorcerer's Stone had been destroyed near the end of the previous school year, and the threat that had been pursuing it had been vanquished by Harry himself, there would be nothing in the third floor corridors to worry about. There was also the matter of a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher being needed since Prof. Quirrell, who was the host to a parasite form of the Dark Lord Voldemort, was dead.
"Before the Sorting begins, I'd like to make a few Start-of-Term notices," the Headmaster started, looking at his students. "First off, I'd like to welcome aboard our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Prof. Gilderoy Lockhart."
Riley's jaw dropped, as did several other of the males, and excited screams from the female students filled the room as Lockhart emerged from the side of the teachers table. He turned to the students and raised his hands into the air, smiling brightly at them. Prof. McGonagall looked as if she didn't want to be there right now, and Prof. Snape looked as if he wanted to kill his new colleague. At the Gryffindor table, several of the males let out a groan, and muttered in annoyance, while at the Slytherin table, Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Tony clapped their hands over their ears in discomfort from the girls' screaming.
"Congrats, boyo, I finally found someone I hate more than you!" Tony said, looking at Draco.
"Likewise!" Draco nodded in agreement.
The cheers had finally died down, much to the relief of the males, and most of the professors it appeared, when they all heard a loud crashing sound. Hermione and Riley quickly looked at one another.
"You don't think...?" Riley started, uneasily.
"They didn't..." Hermione said at the same time.
Prof. Snape, Head of Slytherin House and Potions master, suddenly stood up and left the Great Hall through one of the doors nearby the teachers' table. Riley guessed that he was going to use that excuse to get the heck away from Lockhart and his screaming fans, and he didn't blame him. Prof. Dumbledore continued on with his speech, while Prof. Lockhart sat down between two of the professors near the right hand side of the table.
"While Prof. Snape, our Potions teacher, looks into the disturbance, I will go on ahead." he spoke, returning to his usual calm demeanor. "Next order of business is a reminder to all students that the Forbidden Forest is named that way for a reason. It is not a place for the faint of heart. Thirdly, I feel that I should caution you all to not act so reckless this year."
Prof. Dumbledore looked between the Gryffindor table, specifically towards Hermione and Riley, and the Slytherin table, where Tony was sitting. The events near the end of the previous school year were still fresh in the minds of many.
"Now, let's begin with the Sorting." he announced, before sitting down.
Prof. McGonagall took that as her cue, and picked up the Sorting Hat in her free hand, the other one holding the scroll with the names of the new students on it. A student would be called up, and the Sorting Hat would be placed on their head, then it would shout out the name of the House they would be placed in.
After about seven kids, a boy named Colin Creevey was called up. He was a timid-looking boy with wavy light brown hair, and big brown eyes. Colin walked over to the stool and sat down, and the Sorting Hat was placed onto his head. After a moment of contemplating, the Sorting Hat finally made it's decision.
"Gryffindor!" it shouted.
The Gryffindor House cheered and clapped for Colin, as he hopped off of the stool to take a seat beside Riley. He didn't appear very timid anymore, instead he looked like he was about to explode with excitement.
"Hi, I'm Colin!" the boy greeted, shaking Riley's hand vigorously.
"Uh, hi, Colin," answered Riley. "I'm Riley Cross. Welcome to Gryffindor."
Colin finally released his hand, and they watched as Luna was called up to get Sorted. Riley felt someone nudging his back, and groaned inwardly, knowing what was coming.
"Hey, look, Ry." George called, quietly.
"It's your girlfriend." Fred whispered, teasingly.
"Shut up." growled Riley.
Prof. McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on Luna's head, and the students waited. Suddenly, the Sorting Hat burst into amused laughter, and started to talk.
"Yes, I see. I know exactly where to put you, young lady." the Sorting Hat said, smiling. "A mind as open and perceptive as yours belongs to...Ravenclaw!"
Riley fought back a groan, as the Ravenclaw House clapped for their new Housemate. Yet another good friend had gone into another House.
"Don't worry, Riley," Seamus teased him. "You can still hang out with her in between classes."
Riley slowly turned to shoot a deadly glare at him.
"Is Luna his girlfriend?" asked Colin.
Riley's denial was drowned out by Hermione, the Weasley twins, Seamus, and Dean answering with "yes". Desperate, the comic-obsessed tween turned to the House prefect.
"Can we please get a ruling on this?" he asked.
"All of you, quit teasing him." Percy scolded, looking at several of the Gryffindors.
"Thank you."
"But please, no public displays of affection on school grounds, Riley."
Fred and George were among the first of the Gryffindors to laugh at Riley, who glowered back at his House's Prefect. A few more people had come and gone after being Sorted, and Zachariah Smith had just been placed in Hufflepuff when Prof. McGonagall held up her list once again.
"Ginevra Weasley." she called.
Percy, Fred, George, Hermione, and Riley looked up towards the front, as Ginny walked over to sit down on the stool. The Sorting Hat was placed on her own head, and they waited in silence.
"Ah, a girl Weasley this time!" the Sorting Hat exclaimed. "Don't worry, little girl, I know just where to put you! Gryffindor!"
The Weasley siblings clapped for their sister as she raced over to the Gryffindor table to sit on Hermione's other side. Several minutes passed, and finally, the Sorting ended with a boy named "Harper" who was placed in Slytherin. The Feast finally began, and the students erupted into chatter, while piling food onto their plates.
"Oi, look." Fred called, alerting his Housemates. "Dumbledore and McGonagall are booking it."
The other Gryffindors around him looked up at the teacher's table, and saw that Prof. Dumbledore, and Prof. McGonagall were indeed leaving.
"If I had to guess, I'd say that they found Harry and Ron." guessed Dean.
They then launched into a discussion about Harry and Ron flying the car to Hogwarts, much to Percy and Hermione's dismay. Meanwhile, Colin was talking to Riley.
"I'm from a Muggle family," explained Colin. "No magic parents."
"You, too?" asked Riley. "My friends, Tony and Hermione, and I are Muggleborn, too."
This revelation had made Colin's eagerness increase, if it was even possible.
"Really?" he asked. "What do your parents do? My dad's a milkman."
"Mine and Tony's dads are archaeologists, and my mom is a veterinarian," Riley listed, staring down at his plate. "Tony's mom has decided on becoming an architect, she's already got her degree for it. Then there's Hermione's parents, who are dentists."
"I didn't think I'd meet anyone else like me at this school. I mean, my dad was beyond surprised when I got my letter, and-"
Colin went off on a long explanation as to how he learned he can really use magic, and that his father had bought him a camera for him to take pictures to show the family when he returned. Only when his stomach growled for food did Colin pause in his conversation, giving Riley a break. He wondered if he was like that last year. He was broken out of his thoughts when he saw Luna waving at him again from the Ravenclaw table. Not wanting to be rude to his new friend, he waved back at her.
Soon, it was time for the students to head to their dormitories. Hermione and Riley left with most of the upperclassmen after receiving the new password from Percy, the Gryffindor prefect, and Hermione looked more and more worried with each passing second. Harry and Ron had yet to arrive. Percy reassured his fellow Housemate that they would be fine, that if anyone could find them before they got into any more trouble, it would be Prof. Dumbledore. Knowing he was right, Hermione finally calmed down a little more. The group of Gryffindors climbed up the staircase to the corridor where the Fat Lady's portrait was, and watched as the subject of the painting moved.
"Password?" she asked.
"Wattlebird." one of the older Gryffindor students answered.
The portrait swung open like a door, and the Gryffindors filed into the hole behind where it was, heading into the common room. Hermione excused herself to the girls' dormitory, and followed after the other second year girls, who climbed up the spiral staircase to the door on the left. Riley, Neville, Seamus, and Dean headed to the one on the right, and saw that their things were already brought up and waiting for them. Not only that, Harry and Ron were both sitting on their beds, apparently waiting for them.
"Where've you two been?" asked Dean.
"We've been waiting for you guys to show up!" said Seamus.
"Well, we would've gotten to the Feast if Filch hadn't caught us." Ron grumbled, angrily. "And if that wasn't bad enough, Prof. Snape almost expelled us."
Filch, the caretaker of the school, and Prof. Snape both shared a dislike for troublemakers, for different reasons. Filch had shown a great dislike for the students, whether it was them tracking in mud from outdoors, or breaking the rules. Prof. Snape, on the other hand, favored the Slytherin students over the rest of the students. However, it seemed as if he had despised Harry more than the rest of them.
"I take it Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Dumbledore showed up to save your skins?" asked Riley.
"We saw them leaving just when the Feast had started." Neville explained, as their friends nodded. "So, what happened?"
"Basically, we got told off, and Ron and I have detention." Harry told his dormmates.
"Hermione'll be pleased." cracked Riley. "You should've seen her, she looked ready to flip out when we saw you guys flying by the train."
Harry looked at him, as did Ron, they didn't think their friends would see them.
"You saw us?" he asked.
"Yeah. Us, Ginny, Tony, and Luna." replied Riley.
"We'll talk more tomorrow" said Dean. "We've got classes in the morning."
The other boys murmured their agreements, and changed into their pajamas, set out their school clothes and bags for the morning, then went to bed. Just before they completely fell asleep, Ron suddenly sat upright in his bed.
"Wait a minute, who the bloody hell is Luna?" he asked.
Not wanting to go through this again, Riley pretended to snore.
"You git!" Ron complained, glaring at him.
"Luna is Riley's new girlfriend." Seamus explained, grinning.
Harry sat up in his bed and looked at Riley, who was still trying to pretend to be sound asleep.
"She is not." snapped Riley. "Now go to sleep!"
"Denial's not just a river in Egypt." Dean cracked, trying not to laugh.
Riley made a mental note to get Hermione back for falsely declaring Luna was his girlfriend.
Okay, I have a question for you guys. Should I have Luna meet Harry and Ron early, or let them meet in Order of the Phoenix? I just had her meet Hermione and my OC because in the fifth movie, Hermione already knew Luna prior to her meeting the rest of the gang.
Disclaimer: I own just the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys, you get it. 'kay? Cool. Catch you later.