On the way back to their compartment, the train made a powerful lurch which knocked the boys off their feet and they piled on top of each other.
"What in the name of-"
"Maybe if the driver spent more time focusing on the track and not James' girlfriend." said Sirius.
"Shut up." said James.
They stood up again and saw through one of the windows on a neighboring compartment, the castle.
All three boys sped through the door to get a closer look.
"Wow." said Remus. "And I didn't think I was ever going to see this place."
"Why not?" asked James. "If you're a wizard you were bound to get an invitation."
"Excuse me." said a sassy girl's voice. "But your standing on my robe."
"Oh I'm sorry." said Remus moving to the left.
"That's alright. It's not like their new or anything."
The boys left the compartment and started walking toward the back of the train.
"Well she was rude." said Remus.
"Sarcasm isn't rude." said James. "It's just a language you need to get used to if you're going to be my friend."
From the corner of James' eye, he noticed Remus reveal a quickly stifled smile.
By the time they reached their compartment again, the castle was out of sight.
"Why-" started Remus. "Did we go all the way to the back of the train if we're just going to get right back up?"
The boys looked around at each other, then scrambled back out to wait instead, by the train door.
It wasn't long until the train came to a complete stop, but it took a while longer until the doors opened and they were allowed to get off.
Finally, they had left the train but were almost trampled by girls getting off too.
"Firs' year! Firs' year come over here!" came a loud, deep voice.
Considering they were first year, they followed. And they found themselves in front of the largest man they had ever seen. He was at least nine feet tall and had an incredible mane of bushy brown hair and beard; you could only see his eyes and nose.
"Come on! Over here firs' years! Don' wanna be left behind!"
Soon there were at least fifty first years gathered around, and off they went following the giant's huge boots.
He led them through a path along a slippery bank.
"Right up over the hill, you'll see Hogwarts." said the giant.
And there it was. It was Magnificent, but their attention to the castle was interrupted by the sound of strangled sobs next to them.
There was a blonde girl beside James who was crying.
"Why are you crying?" asked Remus. "This is exciting not sad."
"I-I-" sobbed the girl. "I'm so scared!"
"Of what!" laughed Sirius. "They only throw you into the lake with the giant squid when you miss a question during a test. So just study."
"That's not helping." said Remus as the girl let out a fearful sob into James' robe.
"Yeah," said James. "These were clean."
"What? Humor, it always calms me down." shrugged Sirius.
James tried carefully to pull his robe from her fists, but she only gripped harder and buried her face into them. James glared at Sirius as he laughed.
They ended up right at the lakes edge, and before them were at least twelve little row boats.
"Alright!" called the giant. "Four to a boat! Only four to a boat!"
Remus and Sirius climbed into one of the boats and James stepped one foot in and tried to pull the blonde girl off his arm.
"James it's four to a boat," said Remus. "She could-"
"Shhhh!" said James looking around.
He reached out and grabbed a random boy from the crowd so it would make four, leaving the girl out. Realizing that the boy he had just grabbed was the boy, Snivellus, from the train, James threw him back like a small fish. He looked at the girl, rolled his eyes, and climbed into the boat, her following.
Remus and Sirius were laughing into their sleeves.
The boats started forward through the water by themselves.
It seemed like every minute that went by, the girl would get closer. She had already had her face in his sleeve, but now she was holding onto his whole arm.
"She's not even crying now." James mouthed to the others. "She's just, hugging my arm."
Then what felt like hours later, the boats bumped the bank and all the students clambered out. In the process of leaving the boats, James had managed to pull his arm from hers. She looked up at him with watery eyes and he weakly smiled and patted her awkwardly on the back, then 'casually' hurried next to Remus. They made their way through a cave looking thing and came up a passage way in front of two huge oak front doors. The giant swung them open and led the students into the biggest foyer any of them have probably ever seen. Made of marble with a ginormous chandler light by candles above. They stood there for a moment, the giant seemed to be waiting for something. What he had been waiting for came at last. A woman dresses in indigo robes came striding over. She had a stern but smart face and a tight bun on top of her head.
"Thank you Hagrid for getting them here safely. I will take them now." She said.
"Of course." said Hagrid nodding and walking through a pair of double doors where a bunch of chatter was coming from. James assumed that was where the great hall was.
"Come along." said the woman.
She led them through a door which brought them into a small side room.
"Look up here." called the woman. "I am Professor McGonagall; I will be with you for the rest of the year. Soon, you will be led into the great hall where you will be sorted into your house. For those of you who don't know, the houses are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. While you are at Hogwarts your house will be your family, you will compete against the other houses in sports and for the end of year Hogwarts house cup. But let that not mean that you become prejudice toward the other houses. You may be separated, but you are all Hogwarts students despite your house.
"I will go let the headmaster know we're ready now. You wait here." and she left the room.
James heard the blonde girl sob from behind him, he jumped and hurried in front of Sirius, away from her. Chatter arose around the room, a couple of boys were trying to scare a few girls,
"Don't be scared." said one of the girls with her arm around a particularly short little girl.
"Don't tell her that." said a boy turning around toward them. "She has every right to be scared. This is the biggest moment of our lives. You know they sort us by having us battle dogs. Depending on how we handle that situation will determine which house we'll be in."
The short girl gasped in horror.
"Dogs aren't too bad." said the other girl.
"Don't lie to them." said another boy. "They're not just dogs. They're werewolves."
"Yeah that's what I heard." said, yet, another boy smirking.
"Yep, they keep a couple in a cage behind the teachers table. But don't worry, only a few students die each year. The teachers are usually able to fight them off if it gets too bloody. I know, I have brothers at Hogwarts. But really, if you don't succeed in battling the werewolves, you'll be sent home."
"Why don't you shut up!" said Remus turning around suddenly.
The three boys stopped smiling and looked suddenly grim. "What? You don't think it's important to prepare them?"
"I think it would be better if you turn around and stop tormenting these poor girls." said Remus. Sirius and James watched in surprise.
"We're just trying to help." said the boys saintly.
"Don't give me that crap!" Remus replied rolling his eyes. "You're just feeding them rubbish. Look-" he turned to the girls. "You just try on this stupid hat and it will tell you where you should go. You don't have to do anything. And there are no werewolves behind the teachers table, there's just a spare room. I read it in Hogwarts, a History it gives the entire floor plan."
The girl was looking at Remus in a 'my hero' sort of way, the boys were looking at him as if he was a teacher who took their spit ball straw away. Remus turned back around sternly. Sirius and James just looked at each other, then raised their eyebrows and turned around too.
"Alright children." said McGonagall coming back through the door. "Get in a line right here, that's right, good. Now follow me."
The students marched after McGonagall and found themselves standing in front of the teachers table. Behind them was the great hall with an ocean of older students sitting at four long tables wearing black pointed hats. McGonagall waved her wand and conjured up a three legged, very old stool, and placed a pointed wizards hat on top of it. The hat was tattered and torn with patches all across it.
McGonagall stood back and stared at it; so did everyone else. A tare at the brim grew bigger and began to sing.
A bit about myself,
For you have never seen me,
I am smart and I am clever,
I am bold and I am brave,
I am strong and I am loyal,
I am ambitiousness and won't take toil.
Some say it takes one to know one,
And this I will do,
For all these things are me,
And some of them are you.
For if you're bold you may be Gryffindor,
Strong but also reckless,
If smart you may be Ravenclaw,
Always eager for learning,
Your minds are always turning,
Slytherins are resourceful,
They always find a way,
Hufflepuffs are loyal,
They will do what they say.
All you must do, is put me on your head,
I will look within, and do as I said.
I will place you in your home with others like you,
And they will be your family, they will do as you do.
So step up first years and take the test,
And I will put you where you will do best.
The tare closed up and the great hall applauded loudly. McGonagall pulled a scroll out from her robe pocket and said to the crowd.
"When I call your name, you will come up here, sit on the stool, and place the hat on your head."
"Annaboat, Wittle!"
A girl walked up onto the platform, sat on the stool, and placed the hat on her head. It wasn't long until the hat yelled,
"Ravenclaw!"
And made the other first years jump. The crowd applauded and Wittle walked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat where the older students patted her on the back.
"Aplle, Amone!"
"Ravenclaw!"
"Atkins, Terra!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Beardnen, Hanse!"
"Slytherin!"
"Billmor, Henrey!"
"Slytherin!"
"Black, Sirius!"
Sirius smiled grimly at James and Remus, and after James hit him on the back, he continued up to the stool and slipped the hat over his head, not smiling. It took a moment longer than the others but finally the hat called.
"Gryffindor!"
Sirius pulled the hat off his head to revel a face that looked as if a death penalty had been lifted. Everyone applauded and Sirius ran through the crowd of first years, where James ruffled his hair, and joined the Gryffindor table. And it went on,
"Bymond, Berry!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Cole, Thomas!"
"Slytherin!"
"Dalbert, Ezekiel!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Dapple, Daisy!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Dion, Danielle!"
"Ravenclaw!"
"Donivek, Sillmorr!"
"Ravenclaw!"
"Evens, Lily!"
It was the red head girl who had been in their compartment with Snivellus.
"Gryffindor!"
James snorted. Poor Snivellus won't be with his girlfriend.
"Garfield, Wesley!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Gilmorr, Stacy!"
It was the girl who had been crying into his sleeve.
"Slytherin!"
James wasn't expecting that.
"Illins, Jack!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Izzion, Isiah!"
It was the sweaty kid from Ollivander's wand shop.
"Ravenclaw!"
"Joal, Penelope!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Joal, Paxton!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Kinley, Skipper!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Klocks, Olivia!"
"Slytherin!"
"Lumeir, Quazzy!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Lupin, Remus!"
Remus walked up to put the hat on his head. The hat was on nearly a minute until it yelled,
"Gryffindor!"
And so it went on and on, until,
"Poppy, Kent!"
"Slytherin!"
"Potter, James!"
He walked up, slightly nervous. He sat on the hard stool and placed the hat over his head, which slipped over his eyes like it did to all the rest. What if he wasn't placed in Gryffindor? This thought swept through his mind for the first time. What will his had think? Then a small voice echoed around him.
"Well you're not difficult at all."
The sorting hat laughed.
"Gryffindor!" James heard it yell aloud.
He made his way through the crowd and sat on the opposite side of Sirius.
"Congrats!" James said to Sirius. "Looks like you broke the tradition."
The sorting went on and James watched as,
"Snape, Severus!"
Became,
"Slytherin!"
Finally, there was,
"Vizzini, Zachery!"
"Gryffindor!"
And it was over. McGonagall rolled up the scroll and placed it in her pocket. She waved her wand again so the stool would vanish and sat behind the teachers table. James saw many teachers, but the one who caught his eye, apart from Hagrid the giant, was the man sitting in the throne like chair at the middle. He had long silver white hair and beard, a pointed wizards hat, and twinkling blue eyes. James knew that he was the headmaster, he had collected many of his chocolate frog cards. This was Albus Dumbledore, a man who is thought by many to be the greatest wizard of the age. Dumbledore stood up and opened his arms which made the hall go silent.
"I am too hungry to think of anything to say, so let's eat!" and he sat back down. The hall applauded and in front of them appeared food of every sort. Every meat you would want, every type of bean, vegetable, type of bread, puddings. Everyone attacked the food like animals. Remus just sat there looking at the food opened mouthed.
"Why aren't you eating?" Sirius asked through a mouth full of potatoes. The red haired girl called Evens wrinkled her nose looking at him.
"I've just never seen so much food in my life."
"It tastes better than it looks." said James. "Here, how do you like your steak?"
"I haven't had steak in years." Remus replied.
"That must suck." said Sirius. "Well there's blue rare, meaning barely cooked, then rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well done."
"Well I want it cooked, but not dry." Remus relied.
"James, go ahead and give him medium." Sirius said slapping Remus on the back.
James plopped a large juicy steak onto Remus' plate. "Look, you have to eat it with this stuff." James said sliding a glass bottle of black liquid over to Remus. "It's Worcestershire sauce."
"I've never tried that with a steak." said Sirius looking at the bottle.
"Dude it's great! Try it!"
It wasn't long until the boys had eaten all that their pant buttons could bare. Looking at food made then sick even. Finally, all the food vanished from the plates and the boys let out a sigh of relief. Then before them, all the plated filled again with the most colorful assortment and smells of desserts. The guys groaned and collapsed onto the table.
"It's your own fault you know." said Evens, helping herself to a piece of chocolate cake. "Gluttony. That's what you guys are guilty of. It's quite stupid."
"Well I'm flattered you care so much." said James smirking.
She frowned and got back to her cake.
The desserts were cleared away almost entirely, James had tried to eat a cupcake but ended up spiting it back out onto Sirius' sleeve.
Dumbledore stood back up and the hall fell silent again. James thought it was impressive that Dumbledore could silence a room just by standing.
"I will start by saying welcome to Hogwarts! I expect this to be a very eventful year. I will remind you that the forest is forbidden to every student because it is, as most of you know, very dangerous. Quidditch trials will be held on the second week of term. Anyone who is looking to try out, please contact Madam hooch before the first week is over. I know that you are all tired, but before we go to bed, we will sing our school song. So pick your favorite tune and let's begin." and with his wand he made spiraling letters appear in the air and they began,
Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.
It sounded horrible because everyone finished at completely different times. Dumbledore seemed to enjoy it though because he was smiling and clapping.
"Oh I never get tired of that. Alright, off to bed, your prefects will show you where to go."
A tall fifth year boy with black curly hair stood up and shouted over the noise of chattering students and scraping benches.
"Follow me first years, I will take you to the Gryffindor dormitory."
The boys stood up, eager to get to bed, but when the stood, they groaned and grabbed their stomachs. They were led out of the great hall and up a marble staircase. The pictures in portraits along the walls were talking and pointing at them. The prefect brought them through a couple hidden passage ways and it seemed like every step they took drained a bit more energy.
"We have to walk all his way every day?" James asked Sirius. Sirius, however, looked as if he were to open his mouth he would vomit.
"It won't seem as long once we've slept all this food away." Remus replied.
Finally, they stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" asked the fat lady.
"Mulskin-dormeins." said the prefect, and the door swung open. "You'll have to remember that." said the boy, helping the students clamber through the open portrait. "Otherwise you won't be able to get inside."
Once everyone was in and the portrait was closed again, the prefect turned toward them.
"Alright, boy's dormitories are up this staircase toward the left, girls, yours will be on the right. Get some sleep tonight, we have classes tomorrow. If you need anything ask for me, my name is Samuel, or Pike if you want to be more formal."
The crowd dispersed when Sam did and nearly everyone rushed up the staircase. The boys hadn't even bothered looking around the common room, they were too tired to enjoy anything except their beds. They walked down the boy's hall and looked at the names under the doors with the number '1' on them. Until they found a plaque that said,
Ezekiel Dalbert,
James Potter,
Micky Ornando,
Peter Pettigrew,
Sirius Black,
They glanced to the door on their left, which, among others, bore the name Remus Lupin. Remus bowed his head, then smiled weakly before grabbing the other doorknob.
"Hold up there, sport." Said Sirius. He strode over and grabbed the small plaque that bore Remus' name. With a bit of tugging, the metal bar popped off and Sirius did the same to Micky Ornando's name, switching them. "There." He smiled, dusting off his hands. "They don't keep track of this stuff anyway."
Remus looked at him with admiration. All of their bags had already been brought up and James took it upon himself to visit their neighbors saying that there had been a mistake and Micky's and Remus' trunk had gotten mixed up. The boys chose the beds nearest each other and fell on top of them, all except for Sirius who ran into the restroom.
"Oh, Hello." said a boy's voice coming out from under the covers of one of the beds that they hadn't chosen. "I'm Peter." he said.
"James, Remus, and Sirius is in the restroom." James' muffled voice replied through his pillow.
The door opened and a tall boy with brown wavy hair and blue eyes walked in. He too, collapsed onto his bed.
"Hi." said Peter. "I'm Peter, and this is Remus, James, and Sirius is in the restroom." Peter pointed at each one of them.
"No, I'm James that's Remus."
"Ezekiel." said the boy. "But you can call me Ezzy. I'm sure you are all great people, and we'll get to know each other tomorrow. But right now, I'm going to sleep."
"He's my favorite so far." said James. Remus threw a pillow at him. And that's all he can remember.