Balanced

James looked around the crowded platform for Sirius, Remus or Peter. They were either on the train or they hadn't arrived yet. He felt nervous, everyone else seemed to be happy and confident. Aunt Susan had driven him up to King's Cross and he'd promised her he'd be fine and would find the train by himself. Now, surrounded by older students, who were already in groups of friends, he felt strangely alone.

'Who're you?' said a voice from behind him, and James turned to see a shorter boy. He had black, greasy-looking hair and cold black eyes, and a face that showed he clearly thought himself superior to others.

'Hello,' said James pleasantly. 'I'm James Potter.'

'Severus Snape,' replied the boy, offering his hand, which James shook. 'Are you a first year too?'

James nodded.

'Do you know anyone else yet?' he asked.

'My cousin Joshua Avery is in second year,' replied Severus. 'But no-one apart from that.'

'Oh, I'm waiting for my three friends,' Severus appeared to be a little disappointed that James seemed to be already settled in. 'You could come and find a compartment with me, I'm sure they won't mind you joining us,' he offered.

'OK,' said Severus, and the two boys made their way to the back of the train. They carefully avoided bashing into any older students who seemed to be deliberately trying to cause a collision - James made a mental note that he would have to do something like that when he was old enough. James and Severus dumped their things in a compartment. James stuck his head as far as he could out of the window to see if he could see Sirius and the others.

The first to arrive on the platform was Peter, closely followed by Sirius, then his mother. Apparently they had brought Peter to the station. James watched, amused, as Mrs Black gave Sirius a big hug and kiss, and Sirius tried as hard as he could to pull away without succeeding. He scanned up and down the platform. James waved madly, until Sirius noticed him and began heading quickly towards the end of the train. Peter hurried after him.

'Hi Sirius!' said James happily as his friend dragged his trunk on board. 'Hi Peter! How was the rest of your holiday?' They hadn't seen each other since the trip to Diagon Alley, as Sirius' mother hadn't let him visit.

'Great,' said Sirius sarcastically. 'We enjoyed our last few weeks of freedom in separation because mum was mad at me.' James had almost forgotten that Severus was there. He glanced at the boy who was sitting nervously in the corner, obviously uncomfortable with this scene. He was about to introduce them to him when-

'Hey guys,' Remus Lupin stuck his head around the door. 'I'm glad I've found you, I nearly got my head blasted off when I went into one of the other compartments.' James grinned.

'Sorry Remus, I meant to look out for you but-'

'Don't worry,' Remus noticed Severus sitting in the corner straight away. 'Hello, I'm Remus Lupin.' He offered his hand, which Severus shook.

'Severus Snape,' he replied.

'I'm Peter Pettigrew,' said Peter, also shaking his hand. Sirius stood back, his eyes narrowed.

'You're a Snape?' he said disgustedly, 'I don't know what you're doing here.' James had never heard Sirius sound so much like a Slytherin and Snape looked surprised too, although he quickly made his face impassive.

'Sirius, what's up?' asked Peter, concerned for his friend's sanity.

'I don't know what you have to be proud of about your family,' sneered Snape, which wasn't nice, although James couldn't blame him for returning an insult.

'More than you do,' snapped Sirius.

'I'm leaving now, you stupid little future Gryffindor.' Snape stalked out of the compartment as the train began to move.

'Is that the best you can think of?' Sirius yelled down the train. He slammed the door and sat down, a furious look on his face, apparently, Severus' insult had been worse than James thought.

'Sirius, what was all that about?' he demanded. 'I've never seen you like that before.'

'He's a Snape,' said Sirius simply, as though that explained everything.

'What on earth is that supposed to mean?' said Remus incredulously. 'That's the kind of prejudice I'd expect from someone who'd call Peter a Mudblood.'

'A what?' asked Peter, confused.

'I keep forgetting how little you know,' said Sirius to all of them.

'Thanks for that mate,' said James.

'No, not like that, it's just you live with Muggles, so does Peter, and Remus' mum is nice but she doesn't know a lot either, and what she does know she doesn't tell.'

'Now can you explain that in English?' muttered Remus testily.

'The power of the Dark side is increasing,' said Sirius quietly, yet he sounded almost menacing.

'Excuse me?' said Peter, 'Can someone explain this for me too?'

'OK Peter,' said Sirius, 'Not every wizard who ever lived has been nice, pleasant and wonderful; it's the same with Muggles. Hogwarts has four houses right? Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.'

'I knew that,' said Peter, 'your mum told me.'

'OK, did she tell you that lots of Slytherins are evil?'

'No.'

'Sirius, that's just prejudice,' said James. 'Peter, the four founders of the school named the houses after themselves. Salazar Slytherin valued ambition, so, the more ambitious students go his house. There's a lot of prejudice against them, just like there is against Muggle-borns.'

'Big words, Jamesy,' said Sirius. 'But that does mean that all the Dark wizards there have ever been came out of Slytherin.' James scowled, his parents had been Slytherins, hell: his whole family were Slytherins.

'Not all, just quite a few.'

'OK, OK, not all Slytherins are evil,' continued Sirius, 'but, a while ago, when our parents were at school, there was this one guy who's gone bad, and mum says he was a Slytherin.'

'Who's he?' asked Remus.

'I told you your mum wouldn't have told you.' said Sirius. 'Nobody is really sure what his name was - hardly anyone knows he even went to Hogwarts. But he now calls himself Lord Voldemort.'

'Never heard of him,' said Remus promptly.

'He's been keeping quiet lately, but he's getting people to work for him. Dark families, Slytherin families. He's killed people too, not many yet, but he doesn't care about anything.'

'How do you know so much?' challenged James. 'And what does Snape have to do with all this?'

'My mum works in the Ministry.'

'So does mine, and she doesn't know all this stuff,' said Remus.

'Yeah, but,' Sirius leant in close and whispered 'she works as a spy.'

'Oh,' said Remus.

'The Snapes turned ages ago, they've been doing Dark magic since they were at school and working for this Voldemort for a few years now.'

'It doesn't mean Severus is,' defended James.

'True,' said Sirius, 'But it's more than likely he is, or will be.'

'My parents were in Slytherin,' said James. He decided that he would tell them, as Sirius had already shared a secret with them.

'Oh,' said Sirius, apparently stuck for a reply.

'Don't worry,' said James. 'I suppose if that's the way you think then I'll have little hope of changing it.' Sirius grinned at his friend, glad that James wasn't annoyed.

'So what is a Mudblood?' Peter asked Remus.

'Some people think they're better wizards because they're what's called pure-blood,' said Remus. 'It means they have a long line of wizards in their family. They call Muggle-borns Mudbloods. It's a terrible insult.'

'I can trace my family on my father's side over twelve generations,' said Sirius. 'All pure-blood. But it doesn't bother me that both your parents are Muggles. It will bother Slytherins though,' he glanced at James before continuing, 'Salazar Slytherin himself disliked Muggle-borns.'

'Can't argue with you there, mate,' said James. 'But I can't even trace my family it goes back so far. The Potters are one of the oldest families, my mum told me, she was ever so proud of that, we're all true Slytherins.' Sirius poked his tongue out.

'Well,' said Remus. 'Wasn't that a pleasant way to start the new school year? We've already made an enemy. At least, Sirius has.' Sirius grinned as though he'd wanted nothing more.

James stood up and got out some of the sweets he'd still got left from Diagon Alley. They were nearing two months old but the taste wouldn't be any different. He chucked them onto the table.

'Eat up guys,' he said, and grabbed a chocolate frog.

'Thanks James,' said Peter, grabbing some stuff. Remus followed suit.

'Yer fanks,' said Sirius, his mouth full already.

Although they had many of their own sweets, when a witch came round at midday selling food, none of them had to think twice about buying some. The train ride was fairly long, so they bought enough to be able to continually stuff their faces for at least five hours. As the journey continued they talked about the things that had happened since they'd last seen each other. Sirius complained about his mother; apparently the second James and the others had left she had yelled at him for running off without telling her and he'd been banned from seeing any of them for the rest of the holidays. In fact, he'd been banned from leaving the house and she'd confiscated him broom. Peter had wanted to talk to Sirius about Hogwarts, but instead had had to rely on his schoolbooks to answer his questions. Remus said he had been ill and hadn't done much.

As the day rolled on, the sun began to get closer and closer to the horizon and their journey was nearly at an end. The four boys changed into their Hogwarts robes before arrival. James had used to wear robes when he was younger, but he had got so used to Muggle clothing it felt more like a dress than anything else; Peter was equally disgusted with this. It didn't take long for Sirius to get chocolate down the front of his, but he didn't seem to care.

A message came through the train, telling them to leave their trunks on the train when they arrived at the station. As the train slowed and stopped James peered intently out of the window, trying to see if he could see anything. It was completely dark, but spots of rain were splashing on the windows.

'It's raining,' he told the others.

'Full marks for observation, Jamesy,' said Sirius. 'It's been raining half the afternoon.'

'Oh,' he said, 'I wasn't looking out the window.'

'You were too busy stuffing your face full of sweets,' Peter pointed out. Remus nodded.

'I bought most of those sweets,' said James, 'I had to eat my share, didn't I?' Sirius grinned, and clambered down out of the compartment.

'It's windy and wet,' he told them all. Peter scrambled out, followed by Remus, then James.

'It's cold too,' added James, as they peered up and down the platform to see the students disembarking. Going in the general direction of the others, the only light they could see, apart from that of the train, was a lamp held up by someone further down. They headed towards the light, being buffeted around by the wind.

'I like the rain,' said Remus.

'Idiot,' said Sirius. 'It's cold and wet.'

'You've already mentioned that,' said James. 'I like snow best, then sun.'

'I like the sun,' said Peter and Sirius nodded.

'Well, storms are my favourite kind of weather, the wetter the better.'

'Ha ha,' said James, but Remus did look very happy, considering he was soaked to the skin and thrown around by the wind.

'Firs'-years!' yelled the man holding the lamp. He had a strange accent that made James and Sirius snigger, although very quietly. This man was absolutely huge, he must have been twice as high as normal and far wider; he seemed to take up more platform space than all the children put together.

'Firs'-years over here!' he called and the four boys made their way towards him. It was too dark for James to see what any of the others looked liked.

'Is that all o' yeh?' asked the giant and without waiting for an answer he turned and headed away. 'Follow me.' They turned away from the rest of the school and followed the man down a dark and uneven path. 'Look over here, around this corner. It's Hogwarts.' The giant seemed particularly proud of this, and James couldn't blame him. The castle was huge with lots of turrets and towers, and it was situated above a huge lake. On the shore of the lake lay some small boats, being tossed about by the rough water.

They followed the man down to the water's edge.

'Right, get in, no more'n four in each boat,' he called. The four boys went forward and scrambled in one after the other. They sat down carefully as the boat rocked violently from side to side. Remus didn't help matters by rocking it more.

'Stop it!' yelled Sirius.

'Why?' yelled Remus and continued.

'Forward!' shouted the giant man, and the little boats started across the lake. James didn't feel very comfortable. Unlike Sirius, he would normally have liked the rocking motion, but he couldn't swim and didn't want to fall overboard and drown. The boats slowly made their way across, being tossed by the waves and thrown around. James gripped the side of the boat hard every time it rocked to stop himself falling and Sirius was muttering under his breath. He sounded very sick. Peter seemed to be enjoying himself, although he looked slightly worried, and Remus was sitting out the front, almost half out of the boat staring into the storm, a look of strange exhilaration on his face.

As the boats reached the cliff it looked as though they were going to hit it, but actually they sailed straight through a layer of ivy and into a dark tunnel. It was much calmer in here and James relaxed his grip on the boat. He heard Sirius's heavy breathing next to him.

The boats docked themselves in a small harbour, where the lighting was slightly better. The students clambered out again and Sirius would probably have collapsed on the stones had there not been others, such as Severus Snape, there. Severus sniggered at the green colour of Sirius' face. One by one, the ascended a set of stones stairs and found themselves outside a large oak door.

Hagrid knocked on the door and a fairly young witch opened it. She had a stern look on her face. James knew straight away that he would have to work on her to get away anything.

'Here they are Professor,' said the man, and she nodded.

'Thank you Hagrid, you should join the feast now.' Hagrid nodded and headed away. 'Follow me,' she told the first years and led them across a huge Entrance Hall. The ceiling was too high to see clearly and there were torches placed in the stone walls. The staircase was made of white marble and led upwards. The Professor led them into a small room, where they all crowded together.

'Welcome,' she began. 'I am Professor McGonagall, deputy head of Hogwarts. I shall soon be taking you into the Great Hall where you will be sorted into houses and be able to join your classmates. Each of the four houses - Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin - has their own historical background and all have produced some excellent witches and wizards. I hope whichever you belong to; you will be a credit to it. While good deeds will earn you house points, rule-breaking will lose them. So remember that at the end of the year, the house with the most will be awarded the house cup, a great honour.' James glanced at the others, Sirius grinned back evilly. Apparently, he did not want this honour. 'I shall return soon to collect you,' she said and left the room.

'How do they sort us?' Peter asked the others.

'Well first, you have five seconds to protect yourself with a spell, and then they run you through with a sword and if you survive, you passed the first test. If not -'

'Shut up, Sirius,' said Remus. He turned to Peter. 'Ignore him, he has no idea what he's talking about.'

'Oh and that would make a change,' sneered the voice of Severus from next to them.

'Look, Severus, don't be like that,' said James.

'Stop begging, Potter,' snapped Severus.

'No need to be stupid to me,' replied James, 'I've done nothing to you.' Snape pulled a face at them and stalked off, back to some of the others he'd met on the train.

'Bastard,' Sirius muttered under his breath.

'How do you really get sorted?' persisted Peter, apparently not bothered by Snape's sudden appearance.

'No idea,' said James and the other two shrugged. 'Your parents aren't supposed to tell you, so mine never did.'

'Why not?'

'An unwritten rule that your children don't need to be prepared,' said Sirius, as Professor McGonagall returned.

'Line up,' she said, 'then follow me.'

James got into line between Sirius and Peter. Led by McGonagall, they walked back out into the Entrance Hall and through another door that led to the Great Hall. Four long tables went down the hall, one for each house, each table almost completely filled with students. At the end, the teachers sat on their own table. It was lit, not by torches, as it was in the Entrance Hall, but by floating candles. James glanced upwards to see that there might as well not be a ceiling. It seemed to be raining down on them. The students already sat at the tables were staring at the first years, but James avoided looking back at them, unlike Sirius, who was pulling faces at as many of them as possible.

At the front of the hall sat a small stool and on it perched an old and ragged hat. The attention of the students went from the first years to the hat when a rip in the brim opened. James raised his eyebrows at Sirius who sniggered softly as the hat began to sing:

For a thousand years or more

I've sorted Hogwarts out,

The good, the bad, the ugly,

I'll be right without a doubt;

For I was Godric Gryffindor's -

He enchanted me to choose

Which of the houses you'll go in.

There's no win, and no lose.

If you think you're chivalrous

If you're daring, brave and bold

Then you belong in Gryffindor

With the lion of red and gold.

Maybe you're more intelligent,

You've got wit, you know it's true

Then I'll put you in Ravenclaw

With the eagle of bronze and blue.

But if you're loyal and hardworking

You're diligent and mellow,

You'd be a brilliant Hufflepuff

With the badger of black and yellow.

However, if you're cunning,

And ambitious, you like to take

Then run along to Slytherin

With the green and silver snake.

So put me on your head, come on!

I'm harmless you should know

I'll read your mind and find your values,

And to your table you will go!

It had a rather strange, creaky voice that made James and Sirius laugh, although under their breaths.

'When I call your name, sit on the stool, put the hat on your head and wait to be sorted,' said McGonagall.

'Pardon Professor,' said Sirius innocently. 'I don't think I quite understand.' McGonagall gave him a look that was far worse than what his mother could do. Still, he continued to smile sweetly.

'Aswald, Mark!' she called and a small, weedy looking boy stumbled forward from the back of the line. As he passed, James stuck his foot out and Mark Aswald flew forward across the stone floor. He yelped in pain as he landed and James got a dirty look from McGonagall too. Mark Aswald sat on the stool and pulled the hat over his head - it slipped past his shoulders. After a moment the hat's rip opened and-

'HUFFLEPUFF!' Mark Aswald took off the hat, shot an evil look at James and went to join his fellow housemates.

'Barnes, Eleanor,' was the next name called and the girl, also from the back, gave James and Sirius a wide berth as she made her way to the front.

'Nice to be popular isn't it mate?' asked James in a loud whisper to Sirius, who grinned and nodded. Eleanor Barnes took a couple of minutes before she was put into Ravenclaw. The next name to be called was:

'Black, Sirius,' Sirius sloped up to the stool, in no apparent rush, and slipped the hat over his head. It took barely anytime to announce him a-

'GRYFFINDOR!' James noticed McGonagall, who was the head of Gryffindor, scowled even more darkly than before; Sirius noticed too, but he grinned wider and sat down at the table.

The next of the four to be sorted was Remus. He sat on the stool for a couple of minutes before being announced a Ravenclaw by the hat. Sirius booed loudly at this and James cast a glance at Peter who shrugged blankly, not sure where he would go. Peter was called up soon, and after a minute the hat called-

'HUFFLEPUFF!' Peter looked quite relieved now that it was over, but very embarrassed at the boos from both Sirius and Remus. James was getting quite worried now. Which one would he be put in?

'Potter, James!' called McGonagall and James wandered up to the hat, humming 'Happy Birthday' rather loudly, even though his birthday was in April. He sat on the stool, pulled the hat over his head and waited.

'Hmm,' said a small, squeaky voice, 'Not bad, not bad at all.'

Not bad at what? thought James.

'And of course, rules don't apply to you, James Potter?'

Naturally, thought James.

'Fairly intelligent as well, I see some bravery, where would you like to go?'

Typical, you ask me where I want to go when I can't exactly choose, James thought, annoyed. Just put me anywhere, maybe even Slytherin. That's where my family went. I could go there.

'Why not then?' said the hat. 'Follow your parents. SLYTHERIN!' James was pleased to hear that he received the loudest boo yet from Sirius, Remus and Peter as he went over to the table. He sat down to watch the rest of the Sorting, glancing at Sirius a couple of times, but the other boy wasn't looking at him.

When the last person, Marian Wilkes, was made a Slytherin and had sat down at the table, next to James, Dumbledore stood up.

'Now, before I permit you to begin eating, I must beg just a few minutes attention. Despite what you may have been led to believe, we do have rules here,' Dumbledore glanced at James, then Sirius, and smiled slightly, 'and I make it my duty to announce the more important ones at this feast. Firstly, the Forbidden Forest in the grounds is forbidden, as is Hogsmeade to all those under third year. This year, we have a new edition to the greenery around Hogwarts, in the form of a Whomping Willow. I would advise you to stay away from this tree as it hits anything it can reach.' Dumbledore nodded slightly, sat down and waved his wand. Instantly the golden plates filled with food and James set about grabbing some.

'Your table manners are as bad as my brother's,' said Marian Wilkes, the girl next to him.

'Only as bad as! I'll have to try harder then,' said James, grinning at her. 'I'm James Potter.'

'Marian Wilkes,' she said. Marian was very tall and skinny as a stick. Her greenish grey eyes were large and her brown hair was pulled back into a rough ponytail.

'I'm Julian Matarch' said the boy opposite them, 'this is Severus Snape.'

'We've met, haven't we, Sev?' said James and Severus pulled a face. 'Look, I've said I'm sorry, but if I took responsibility for everything Sirius did as well as what I did, I've no doubt I'd have been expelled and sent to jail by now.'

'This is Michael Lestrange,' said Severus, gesturing to the boy sitting next to him, who was short but thickset with small dark eyes and a big nose. James nodded and continued with his dinner. Marian Wilkes proved to be very talkative and obviously not that hungry as she managed to fill them all in on the past ten years of her life in a very short time before turning to question Michael Lestrange in detail. James could normally 'talk the hind leg off a donkey' as Aunt Susan so elegantly put it, but sitting next to Marian made him feel very, very quiet. She then finished with Michael and moved onto James.

'So, what are your parents like?'

'Looking down from the heavens,' James told her in a misty voice, with a loud fake sniff at the end.

'Oh.'

'Don't worry. It was ages ago. Well, five years ago. I've lived with Muggles since then.'

'Muggles?' said Snape, a sneer on his face.

'Ministry is crap at relocations isn't it?' said Julian, shrugging.

'I had to keep magic hidden,' said James, he decided not to tell them that it was for "protection" as this was something to be kept secret and he wasn't sure he trusted them enough yet. He glanced over at Sirius, Remus and Peter a few times but the one time he caught Peter's eye, the Hufflepuff looked away; so, he settled himself for eating his food and listening to Marian questioning them all.

It was close to midnight when the plates emptied and it was time for them to go to their common rooms. James followed a mean-looking prefect down into the dungeons. This part of the castle seemed a lot creepier than the other places they'd been to, and the first years stuck closer together. The candles and torches that lit the corridors gave off little light, yet there were shadows everywhere, making them all jump regularly. The prefect smirked at their nervousness.

They were led to a bare patch of wall where the prefect halted and gave the password: 'Mors Quod Vivemus' and a hidden door slid open. The long room was equally creepy, done in green, black and silver with an elaborately carved mantelpiece above a fire, though even that seemed green tinged. The effect was pretty amazing, despite the whole air of omnipotence. The prefect led them off to their separate dormitories and James clambered into his bed after hastily changing.

His bed was very comfortable; a four-poster with fancy carving and almost completely green, but James didn't get to sleep for a long time. He couldn't help wishing that they were all in the same house: himself, Sirius, Peter and Remus. He supposed it was better for them all to be different though, than have two in the same, as he had been given the choice to do. He hoped nothing would change between them, as they were the best friends he'd ever had. He remembered what they had said at Diagon Alley, that they would be friends forever, and he hoped they'd remember too.