The Marauding Seven - Year 1

The Marauding Seven - Year 1 (Ch.3)

The Sorting

The six friends (I use this term lightly, since Lily and James were still shooting daggers at each other) tumbled off the train. Suddenly, a loud voice came sailing across the sea of students.

"Firs' years this way! Firs' years! Come on now, don' be shy!"

Lily and Kate followed they sound of the voice. Their eyes rested on the man speaking. He was at least twice as big as anyone they'd seen before.

"James! How's yer mam?" asked the man.

"Fine. Hi Hagrid," replied James.

"Ah, yeah. Introduce meself. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds, here at Hogwarts. And you be?" said Hagrid looking at the five kids he didn't know. Sirius introduced everyone, and Alex just smiled weakly. It would take some getting used to craning her neck like she was doing.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here, now!" said Hagrid. Finally, every 'firs' year' was next to Hagrid, and he led them down a dark path. At the bottom was a lake, and 50 little boats.

"No more'n four to a boat then!" cried Hagrid as he clambered into his own boat. Lily, Kate and Alex clambered into one boat, and Remus, James and Sirius took another.

Kate looked over he shoulder. Standing behind her was a girl she vaguely recognised. Then she placed her. She'd been in the Magical Menagerie that day when she met Lily and Alex! "Uh, do you want to sit down?" asked Kate. "We've got a spare place."

The girl looked relieved and sat down with a quiet thanks.

"I'm Kate," said Kate, "this is Lily, and this is Alex. We saw you in the Magical Menagerie didn't we?"

"Yeah," replied the girls quietly. "I'm Wye Summers."

"Wye - that's an unusual name. Does it mean anything special?" asked Lily. Alex kicked her. Wye saw.

"I don't mind," she said with a cheeky smile. "All names mean something, Lily means 'a lily flower'. Kate means 'the pure one'. And, is it Alexandra?" Alex nodded. "Well that means 'helper of mankind'."

"How do you know all this?" asked Kate, in awe.

"My mum," said Wye, simply. "She's fascinated with how spells and names and words are put together."

"She's a witch then?" asked Lily.

"Sort of. I mean, she came to Hogwarts, and graduated, but then she kinda went Muggle again. Married a muggle, had a muggle kid."

"You're not muggle - you wouldn't be here," said Alex.

"Yeah, but my big sister is. Alula. Means 'the first'."

"Do you have any other siblings? I've got a big sister - Petunia, she's a real Muggle. Disowned me when she found out I was a witch," said Lily.

"I've got a little sister too. She's 10. She's called Deva. It means 'the moon goddess'. She looks like one as well - silvery hair, really, really blonde."

"I've got a big sister - Ella. What does that mean?" asked Alex.

"Umm, isn't it a nickname of Helen? It means 'light' I think. Or an elf."

"I don't have any sisters or brothers, but... what about Virginia. That's my mum," she added.

"Uh, 'maidenly' I think, but don't ask me what that means!" said Wye.

"You'll be getting yer firs' sight o Hogwarts round this bend!" cried Hagrid. Sure enough, as they rounded the corner there was a round of gasps. Hogwarts was huge, and there were little lights all over it, glowing windows in the night sky. It was reflected in the lake surface, shimmering and majestic.

Remus clambered out the boat, followed closely by James. Then, together, they heaved Sirius out. He had been looking a little queasy since he'd set eyes on the boat, and had stated, "I don't do boats." He got sea sick, and despite the very calm night, he was still looking green.

James was looking round for the girls, but he couldn't see them. They had been in one of the first boats to reach the shore; he had been in one of the last, due to Sirius' fear.

Hagrid led they huddle of about 50 new students to the large front doors of Hogwarts, and knocked three times, loud, booming knocks, rather like the man himself. The doors opened at once and a fairly short, strict looking witch stood there. She looked quite young - probably about 30. She took the first years from Hagrid and hustled them into a small chamber off the corridor. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house and Transfiguration teacher. She explained about house points and the sorting ceremony while James dozed off. He had heard about all this from his brother at least 7 times. He was only brought back to earth by the banging of the door, as McGonagall strode out, saying, "tidy yourselves as best you can," in a clipped, proper voice.

The girls were standing across the room from the others, with Wye. They were talking excitedly (and a little bit nervously) about the Sorting.

"I bet I'm first - Blankett! You can't get much earlier in the alphabet!" wailed Kate.

"Wait," said Wye, "didn't you say that Sirius boy was Black or something?"

"Oh yeah...I forgot. Phew!" replied Kate.

"Poor Sirius..."said Lily.

"Yeah," sighed Alex.

A few minutes later, all the first years were gathered in a nervous group in the Great Hall. In centre stage was an old hat that everyone was staring at. Suddenly it began to move, and sing!

I may look like a hat,

But trust me, I'm much more than that!

I can read your mind

So that I can find -

Your rightful house!

Maybe Gryffindor,

If brave your,

Or even Slytherin -

Like your own kin -

Your rightful house!

Could be Hufflepuff,

If you're not tough,

Or Ravenclaw

If, clever your -

Your rightful house!

Put me on your head,

So I can look instead,

Of singing such an awful,

Song - I - SINGGGGGG!

He's right, thought Lily - that was awful. Well he has been doing this for a thousand years. You gotta run out of ideas eventually! Then, Lily turned her attention to the Sorting.

Altree, Candice!

RAVENCLAW!

Black, Sirius!

Sirius walked up to the hat. It took mere seconds to decide what to do with him.

GRYFFINDOR!

Black, Troy!

SLYTHERIN!

Blankett, Kate!

This time Kate walked up. Her legs were shaking, and she hoped no one noticed.

GRYFFINDOR!

Yes! She was with Sirius! At least she had one friend. She ran over to the Gryffindor table, and sat down next to Sirius. By the time she looked back to the sorting, they were already on the D's.

Daniels, Frederick!

RAVENCLAW!

Evans, Lily!

Lily walked up to the hat, trying to look confident, and jammed it on her head.

GRYFFINDOR!

Lily ran to her friends, and sat down opposite Kate. They talked for a while, before realising they were almost at the L's.

Kanda, Ming!

HUFFLEPUFF!

Kelly, Luke!

HUFFLEPUFF!

Kew, Claire!

SLYTHERIN!

Lainsbury, Alex!

Lily, Kate and Sirius watched with bated breath. What would the hat say?"

GRYFFINDOR!

Alex hurried over to the others, and sat down, exclaiming, "It couldn't decide between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw! Finally I asked to go here 'cause my friends were here. It let me!"

Lupin, Remus!

The four friends all turned and looked at Remus place the hat on his head. It took a while deciding.

GRYFFINDOR!

The line dwindled slowly past the M's, N's, and O's. Then -

Potter, James!

GRYFFINDOR!

The friends were astonished. The hat had hardly been on his head. When they mentioned this, James just said, "I guess I'm a true Gryffindor..." in a fake arrogance way. The boys all turned their attention to chatting, but the girls carried on watching the Sorting. Finally Remus noticed.

"What are you staring at? We're all sorted," he said.

"Wye isn't," replied Lily, not taking her eyes of the hat. James and Sirius overheard.

"Wye...?" asked James. Just then Professor McGonagall called out another name.

Summers, Wye!

The beautiful redhead that James and Sirius had been ogling at the train station stepped forward, and placed the hat of her head. They all waited anxiously, could they really all be in the same house? Was it too much too ask?

GRYFFINDOR!

Obviously not.