Sirius and James had grabbed their bags and left the small compartment, it would be hard to find an empty one now since they had already left the station twenty minutes ago. They had about just given up when they found a compartment in the back of the train where a boy their age sat alone. He was already dressed in his robes and had a sickly pale complexion. His nose was buried in one of their textbooks they were required to have for the year.

"Mind if we join you?" James asked

The boy immediately shot his head up towards them, startled, he numbly nodded. Speechless, he gestured towards the open seats across from him..

"Thanks mate!" Sirius grinned

Both boys immediately put their trunks away and flopped down into the seat that was across from the boy. Sirius could sense the boys uneasiness towards them, he hoped that they hadn't made him uncomfortable or anything.

"I'm James Potter! Future Gryffindor!" He raised his hand out towards him

The boy looked at James, then his hand, and back towards the smiling boy. With great hesitation, he shook his hand.

"Remus Lupin," he answered

"And I'm Sirius Black!" he grinned, hoping that Remus had grown a bit more comfortable now that they all introduced themselves. "Now do you like quidditch?"

"I do, I love the Bigonville bombers." Remus Lupin stated only for James and Sirius to grin widely as they clapped their hands slowly.

"Sirius, Remus, this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

The three boys began to chat more and more about quidditch, only for Sirius to see white hair in his peripheral pass their cabin window.

Gwendolyn Donoghue.

Earlier, when they met, he had shaken her hand not even realizing that she was the mysterious Donoghue heiress. The one that his family was pressuring for him to befriend and guide to align her family with his. To convince her to take her place amongst the other families.

Before he wanted nothing to do with the Donoghue Clan and their heir. But once the truth set in that the girl he had met in the shop and the Donoghue heiress was one in the same, he found himself defeated. The girl was pure, kind and compassionate. She had aspirations to follow her mother's footsteps in being a Ravenclaw. Her mother who adored muggles.

The families would eat her alive.

He felt the desire to protect her.

To protect her innocent and pure nature from the sinful ugliness of his family and the other purebloods. Gwendolyn would be used as a pawn in their game, especially since the whispers of a Dark Lord and his pureblood beliefs were beginning to take root in the minds of the Sacred Twenty Eight families.

From what his Mother forced him to learn about the family. He had learned that the Donoghue Clan were old and Great.

They'd been around just as long as The Black's, Malfoy's and the Lestrange's. The Donoghue Clan is highly respected in the Wizarding world, wealthy and influential, they had a rich history of pureblood Slytherins.

That is until Declan, had broken the cycle by marrying an American woman, who became a Ravenclaw after she transferred from Illvermorny during her fourth year. Supposedly her mother, Roselyn's father had transferred to London's Ministry of Magic for work regarding the War with Grindelwald at the time.

The old newspaper claimed they had married right after they graduated Hogwarts, where they had a child.

The young couple had raised their child away from the Wizarding world. There were snippets about them over the years, such as the birth announcement of their child. Some events they went to over the years, their charity work, quidditch matches and plays they were spotted at. They were a fairly quiet family who kept to themselves. That is until a few months ago.

Then there was the funeral…

The announcement of Roselyn Donoghue's death had shaken the entire Wizarding World. For weeks it had been what everyone talked about as it had forced the Donoghue Clan into the spotlight in years. People had caught a glimpse of the Donoghue heir at the funeral, but all the photos were blurry and far away. The only thing they knew was that the Donoghue heir would be attending Hogwarts that year.

"We should all tryout for the quidditch team next year!" James snapped him out of his silent evaluation

Sirius cracked a smile, "sounds like a plan."

The trolley came by, they bought a bunch of chocolate frogs, licorice wands, and acid pops. They were high on sugar as James and Sirius were making fools of themselves as Remus laughed and slowly grew more comfortable with them.

It was nightfall, by the time the train had arrived at its destination, Hogsmeade station. The first years were required to wait on the train a bit longer after they had reached the station to let the older students get off first. Once all the students had left the station, Gwen finally stepped off the train along with Lily and Severus as she found herself smiling. She watched as other students her age began to surround her in a black mass as they now all wore robes as they changed out of their clothing on the train.

"First years over here!" A huge man with dark brown hair yelled as he stroked his beard, "All First years over here!"

Gwen followed both her friends as they made their way to the giant man with a large beard as he held a large lantern in his hands

"I'm so excited" Lily whispered excitedly to her as she clapped her hands together

"My name is Hagrid, I'm the groundskeeper at Hogwarts! You will be getting into boats as you make your way to the other side of Black Lake to Hogwarts! I want you to get in a boat in a small group of four!"

Turning her head she watched as Lily and Severus had already disappeared as most students had already teamed up and claimed their boats. Looking around she saw that one boat hadn't left yet, as they were down a person. Quickly walking over to the docks she found a boat with three boys who were chatting away with one another. .

"Excuse me, is it quite alright if I were to join you?" All the boys looked up at Gwen as she had interrupted their conversation, fiddling with her fingers she looked through her bangs to find two familiar faces as they were beaming at her "Oh hello Sirius and James, I wondered where you two had managed to run off to earlier."

"Miss me?" Sirius smirked causing Gwen to roll her eyes at his comment, James merely laughed as she shook her head no which caused Sirius to pout a bit

"You can join us,"

A boy with sandy brown hair, light blue eyes with a small scar on his face offered. He looked a bit sickly in her opinion but she chose not to comment as she didn't know him well enough yet.

Gwen turned her attention towards the boy who spoke to her "Thank you so much."

"Here let me help you"

Sirius stood up as he offered her his hand as he helped her into the large boat where she took her seat beside him with a grateful nod.

"I'm Remus Lupin," Remus smiled as he offered his hand to her "It's nice to meet you" he introduced himself with a warm smile causing her to return the gesture.

"Likewise Remus, I'm Gwendolyn Donoghue, but I prefer to go by Gwen"

Sirius untied the boat from the dock as he pushed them off as they were the last ones to leave. Slowly they made their way across the black watery abyss called Black Lake. She heard from her Father that merpeople and a dangerous large squid lived in these waters. He had also said that nobody was for sure if the stories were really true as people were scared to try to find out. She wondered what they looked like as she had only seen drawings and sketches from books that she had read from their library back at the Donoghue Manor.

"Oh my word" James spoke up causing all of them to look towards the large and daunting castle

The castle was large as it had many towers, wings and from what she remembered had about a million stairs and it looked to be very intimidating at night, as it overlooked a large and dangerous dark forest. The fog around the castle and settled over the lake made it look more intimidating and ominous then it was supposed to. Her Father had warned her to never step foot in the forest as there were plenty of dark creatures that lurked in the woods and she could find herself getting killed. Placing her hand gently over the surface of the water so as to not cause too many ripples, she felt her hand become ice cold as it was a freezing temperature.

"Do you really think merpeople live in this lake?" James asked as he leaned over into the water as it slowly started tipping

Gwen clutched onto Sirius as her reflexes kicked in as she felt the boat tipping. James had leaned even further to look into the water as Remus began scolding him. It felt like forever as they had stared at each other in silence, Gwen felt a blush crawl onto her face as she noticed that their faces were in close proximity to each other.

"S-sorry" Biting her bottom lip Gwen let go of Sirius's robes as she scooted a bit away from the boy as she had felt her face getting flushed

"It's quite alright" Was all he said as she refused to look at the boy as she focused back on the three boys seated in front of her

"There's a giant squid who lives in these waters and I don't think it's wise to almost get killed before the ceremony" Remus reasoned as he had insisted that James be more careful and not have all of them fall into the lake

"We need to start the year off with a bang" James insisted

"If you insist," Remus quirked

The boats carried the four of them through a curtain of ivy which had been hiding a rather wide and spacious opening into the face of the large cliff. Where they were carried along an almost dark tunnel, which seemed to be bringing them right underneath the castle. They reached what looked to be an underground harbor of sorts, where they mounted out onto the rocks. Gwen watched as many of the other students had already clambered out of the boats and were grouping together at the large wooden doors.

All the boys had climbed out as Gwen was still seated inside as she was anxious that she was going to fall in as soon as she stood. Seeing this Sirius offered her his hand, looking at his offered hand through her bangs. She placed her hand into his for the third time already as he helped her up from the boat. Standing in the boat she felt it rocking side to side under her feet, Sirius hoisted her up quickly causing her to stumble. Gwen closed her eyes as she felt herself begin to fall but Sirius was quicker. Falling into his arms, she peered up at him to see him equally flustered.

"I'm s-sorry" She quickly collected herself as she blushed once again as she looked away from him briefly

"Don't worry about it," Glancing at the boy who had made her blush twice already she saw that his dark silver eyes held a soft look "sweetheart." He cracked a smile which had her smiling without realizing

"Do you really plan on calling me such a thing?"

"Of course,"

"Alright students! This way!" Hagrid called out

Gwen walked with the four boys towards the large doors that were the entrance to Hogwarts castle. She smiled as her eyes lit up in fascination at how beautiful the castle was as they slowly began walking inside. She turned to Sirius who was just as captivated as her about the large and legendary castle that has been around since 990 A.D.

"Can you believe it Sirius?!" She asked in excitement as she grabbed his right hand with a huge smile "We're here! I can't wait to become an amazing and talented witch like my Mother!" She exclaimed as she tugged on his arm slightly

"I can believe it," He smiled as he stared at her intently with sincerity in his eyes. Another look crossed his features. "We'll go on many adventures together Gwen," he promised as he tightened his grip on her hand

"Pinky promise Black?" She raised her other hand and wiggled her pinky with a teasing smile on her face

"Pinky promise Donoghue" He used his other hand to lock pinkies with her as he leaned into it and kissed it, she blushed but followed in suit.

"I should go find Lily, but I will hold you to that promise Black for the rest of our days."

Teasing him, she turned and disappeared into the crowd of other first years as she looked around for her two childhood friends. She had found them with ease as both the redhead and the raven haired boy were together waiting for everybody else to catch up.

"I thought you were right behind me Gwen, if I'd known that you weren't I would have came looking for you" Lily spoke in an apologetic tone

"Don't be, I made some friends on the way here" Gwen smiled as she thought about the two other boys she had met in the boat

"That's very lovely"

They soon started walking into the large castle as they made their way through several corridors and up a flight of stairs as a women by the name Professor McGonagall had led them here

"Now listen up!" All the students had stopped as Professor McGonagall started speaking "The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend your free time in your House common room."

Immediately students started speaking amongst themselves as they had received this new piece of information. Gwen glanced over at Lily and Severus and wondered if them being placed in different houses would affect their friendship. She knew that Severus was going to be in Slytherin as his mother was from that house and so were many of his family members from his mother's side. Lily was muggle born so she didn't have a lineage to give her any clues, and she came from a long line of Slytherins, and a Ravenclaw Mother.

"Alright students, follow me!"

The large doors opened up for them as they stepped into the large dining hall. In the air hung several thousands of candles as they hung over four large tables, four different colored banners hung over each table of their respective houses. As they walked towards the large table that sat on a platform where several Professors sat as they watched the new students arrive.

On the platform there was a stool, Professor McGonagall had taken out a large scroll that listed all of their names for them to be called upon to be sorted into the house they belonged in. Soon a deep voice penetrated the air as that hat began singing.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve and chivalry,

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin,

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means,

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

Gwen felt her stomach twist in knots as she thought about what house she would be in as she watched the students get called on. One by one, they were placed into the four houses, claps and shouts rang through the air as the Sorting Hat made its decision. Lily grabbed her hand as she could feel Lily's nervousness as she had started tapping her left foot. A habit of hers when she was anxious.

"Calm down before you wear a footprint into the floor you git" Gwen whispered jokingly as she glanced at Lily who bit back a laugh not wanting to interrupt the ceremony

"No matter what house we're to be placed in, we'll still be friends, right?"

"Of course, don't be a ninny" Squeezing Lily's hand that held her own hand hoping it'd help reassure the redhead "You've been stuck with me since we were toddlers, nothing like divided houses would ever break that."

"Of course"

Both girls turned back to the ceremony as Gwen watched a girl make her way towards the Hufflepuff table.

"Sirius Black!" Professor McGonagall called out as she held a rather large scroll in her hands

He stepped out of the crowd with confidence, clambering up the steps one by one until he made it up onto the platform. Turning he wore a huge grin as he took his seat on the worn stool as the women placed the tattered looking hat on his head as it fell slightly over his brows.

Everything was quiet.

Eerily quiet.

Gwen knew that the reason why people were so invested in Sirius Black and what house he would be placed in was due to his lineage. He was the heir to the Noble House of Black, who were pure bloods and held a strong long lineage of Slytherins. They were a part of the Sacred Twenty Eight.

Just like her.

The Sorting Hat was taking its time when it came to sorting Sirius Black, as she was beginning to believe that maybe...just maybe the hat was at loss with Mr. Black.

Taking a look around at the houses, she saw that they were all whispering amongst themselves. Especially the House of Slytherin, the pure blood fanatics were glaring at Sirius Black. It made her nervous to say the least. The rumors about blood status had to be just rumors...right?

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat bellowed loudly causing three out of the four houses to cheer leaving one house eerily silent

Sirius Black jumped from the stool as he ran down the steps and joined the Gryffindor table as he took his seat. She watched as he took his seat and was immediately congratulated. The look of pure happiness and joy in his eyes made her happy for him.

Two Hufflepuffs, another Gryffindor and a Slytherin were announced before it was her turn to be sorted.

"Gwendolyn Donoghue!"

The entire room fell silent as she could hear her heartbeat in her ears, swallowing thickly she suddenly felt small as she could feel everyone's stare on her once Lily had slightly shoved her to the front of the crowd. Slowly she walked towards the stool where the Professor held the Sorting Hat for her. Taking her seat on the stool, she watched as everybody stared up at her. Her heart was racing as she suddenly felt her palms get sweaty as she glanced at her fellow peers.

She suddenly felt nauseous.

Gwen knew why everyone was staring so intently at her. Her Father, Declan Donoghue, warned her what was to come once everyone knew her name. Not only did her family hold power and wealth but extreme influence in the Ministry and the Wizarding World. She was warned to be wary when it came to interacting with the Sacred Twenty Eight and anybody else who would use her for the name she held. He along with her Mother had kept her hidden from the Wizarding World with the exception of the Potter's, and the Snape's.

In a way this was her Debut to the Wizarding World.

The brown, worn tattered hat was placed on her head as she could practically feel everybody's anticipation to know what house she would belong to as when they heard her name there were whispers and mumbles all around the entire room.

"A long time since I've last seen a Donoghue" the Sorting Hat's voice was loud throughout the silent Great Hall as Gwen clutched the sides of the stool in earnest. She could feel her cheeks grow hot from the attention she was receiving from everybody "A long line of pure blood Slytherins is what I see,"

Gwen could feel how everybody, especially the Slytherin table, grew more interested in what the Hat had to say about her as if it were dropping hints. The old tattered hat used its magic to sift through her memories, feelings, and anything he could use to figure out what house she'd be placed in

"So many wonderful qualities that could place you into any of these great houses but only one of these houses is what you desire to be in" He added as he fell into silence once again as Gwen could feel him picking around in her brain "You're very clever just as you are ambitious, studious as you are cunning, and intelligent as you are loyal"

"What house do I belong to then?" Gwen whispered

She felt as if she was about to explode from the suspense that the Sorting Hat was creating as she could see that Professor McGonagall also became very interested in what the Hat had to say about her.

This wasn't a muggle movie, no, because if it was then this moment would be going in slow motion. The camera would zoom in on her friend's faces as they held their breaths as they waited to hear the news. This wasn't a movie so why did it feel like time had stopped all of a sudden?

"RAVENCLAW!"

She breathed a sigh of relief as the Great Hall erupted into cheers. Gwen watched as Lily and Sev smiled at her, before spotting James, Remus, and Peter congratulating her from the crowd of students who hadn't been sorted yet. Lastly, she looked towards Sirius who shot her a double thumbs up as his long curly hair bounced slightly.

"Congratulations!" A girl of white blonde hair, dark brown eyes and a kind smile "I'm Olivia McGregor, it's nice to meet you!" She was a rather loud but nice girl, who welcomed her with open arms.

"Gwen, it's nice to meet you as well"

"I'm a second year," she explained "I'd like to help you in any way I can"

"That's very kind of you, thank you"

"Lily Evans!"

Gwen kept her eyes glued to her childhood friend, as she made her way towards the tall stool. With the hat placed on her head, it felt like hours but in reality were just mere minutes as the Sorting House found it difficult to place her into a house. Before he finally made his decision and the house name was loudly announced in the air.

"Gryffindor!"

Smiling Gwen watched as Lily had taken off the hat as a huge smile made its way to her face as she walked down the small number of steps and towards the Gryffindor table

It didn't escape her seeing Sev's reaction, as he stared after Lily with sadness in his eyes as she knew that he was sad that she was placed into Gryffindor and not Slytherin like he hoped. But maybe there was a chance that he could be placed into Gryffindor as well.

Seven Slythins, four Gryffindors, three Hufflepuffs, and two Ravenclaws later it was finally Severus's turn to be sorted.

When Severus was called she watched as he made his way to the stool. She watched as he took his seat and the hat wasn't even placed over his head before the Hat shouted the worst news for Severus as it wasn't the house that Lily now resided in as he made his way slowly to the Slytherin table. Gwen could feel her heart almost break as she knew that Sev was beyond sad regarding the Sorting ceremony.

Not caring much for the rest of the sorting, she allowed herself to slowly scan the other tables before her gaze landed on the table beside hers. The Gryffindors. The small group of boys she was on the boat ride with were all placed into the same house, as they were all seated together talking animatedly amongst themselves.

After Headmaster Dumbledore gave his speech once the Ceremony had long been concluded, she had found herself in a conversation with the muggle born blonde who was telling her the story about how she found out she was a witch.

"What was it like finding out about magic?" Gwen asked very curious before taking another bite of her mashed potatoes

"Shocking to say the least!" Olivia smiled as she saw that Gwen was very interested in knowing as she saw the curiosity dance in her dark blue eyes "I thought they were absolutely mad when they told me and explained it to me" She added with a laugh

"I know what you mean," One of the girls was named Jacqueline Lang, but she went by the nickname of Jackie countered "my Father freaked out when my Mum told him the news, nearly had a heart attack"

Two girls by the names of Antonette Green or rather she liked to be called Toni for short, and Pandora sat across from them as they listened to Olivia and Jackie's similar experiences. Jackie being a half blood as well as Toni. Pandora Rosier, a pureblood witch just like herself. The girls didn't seem to care about their blood status all that much like she expected and she was silently grateful for it.

Jackie, Toni, and Pandora were first years like her and Olivia was a second year, which meant they wouldn't be sharing any classes together. Which didn't matter though as they were in the same house. Speaking of houses—she hoped that her other friends were also enjoying themselves like she was at the moment. She couldn't wait to see them tomorrow.

Gwen walked with the people of her house after the feast had ended as tomorrow they would start their classes. Toni and Jackie strides next to her while Olivia and Pandora walk in front of the three, talking amongst themselves. She was to live in the Ravenclaw towers as that's where their house was located on the west side of Hogwarts. They were told that instead of a password they would get a riddle instead in order to enter their house.

Stepping into the large common room, Gwen marveled at how spacious it was. The common room was round and filled with blue banners with bronze detailing and darker blue armchairs, and looking up you saw the domed ceiling which was painted with stars and features a replica statue of Rowena, the founder of their house, wearing her signature diadem. To the far right of the common room was a large fireplace with several bookshelves on both sides filled with books.

Following the girls up the steps to where the dorm rooms were, she smiled as she was happy beyond ecstatic to be rooming with both Toni and Jackie. The room consisted of four beds with the Houses colors of Blue and bronze and four desks. The room was actually quite large as she thought it was to be very small and cramped. She found her trunk and all her belongings on her bed as she glanced at Jackie to see that she was already unpacking her things as well.

"Why do we have a fourth bed when it's just the three of us?" Toni asked making her way towards the bed on the far left of the dorm room

"Only seven girls were sorted into Ravenclaw this year so that means we get more space since there is only three of us in this room" Jackie explained

"We should move the bed and desk to the farthest side of the room that way we could have more room for the three of us and just move it back at the end of the year" Toni suggested

"A fine idea to me,"

All three girls quickly went to work on their small plan before they went back to unpacking their things for their first day tomorrow.

"What is this?" Gwen asked as she had found a dark blue gift box with silver and white ribbon tied around it securely

"Looks pretty, who's it from?"

"I believe my Father" She mumbled as she didn't see a card or anything to suggest otherwise "I'll open it later as I'm not much in the mood to right now as I'm unbelievably exhausted and wish to unpack as soon as possible"

Toni and Jackie talked while Gwen merely listened to the two as they had unpacked everything into either their trunks, or their desks. Grabbing her pajamas and her bathroom necessities, they made their way to the laboratories to get ready for bed. Gwen found herself enjoying their company as she couldn't wait to get back to her dorm and begin writing to her Father about everything that has happened so far.