Time Goes By

Chapter 1

Harry was extremely excited; he was on his way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school where his parents had attended and met each other. He was a bit nervous, though; he knew nothing of the magical community.

"Hey, I met you in Diagon Alley, right?" he heard behind him.

He turned around to see the boy he had met in Madam Malkin's robe shop.

"Hey, yeah, I remember you!" Harry said.

"Draco Malfoy," the boy said and offered his hand.

"Harry Potter. It's a pleasure," he replied. He saw Draco's eyes pop out and immediately look up at his scar.

"D'you have it?" Draco asked.

He sighed and lifted up his bangs. "Wow..." he heard Draco whisper.

Just then, he heard someone say, "Holy crap! Fred! George! You guys won't believe this!" Harry turned around to see a red haired kid about his own age staring at him wide-eyed.

Just then, he saw two boys, identical to the first, walk up. "What do you want , Ron?" one of them asked.

"You'll never believe who he is," the boy - Ron said.

"Who, Harry Potter?" one of them joked.

"Actually, I am Harry Potter," Harry said. They both stopped laughing.

"Shut up!" the other triplet said.

Again, Harry just sighed and lifted up his bangs. Both of their jaws dropped.

"Well, I'll be..." one of them said.

"George Weasley, and these are my brothers, Ron and Fred. We're triplets," the other one said and extended his hand.

Harry took it and said, "Nice to meet all of you."

"And you are?" Fred asked Draco.

"Draco Malfoy," he said and extended his own hand.

"Nice to meet you, as well, Draco," George said.

Just then, they heard the train whistle blow.

"Well, we'd better get going; otherwise, we'll miss the train." Draco said.

* * *

The train ride was, for the most part, uneventful, until that is they found a toad in the corridor.

"Hey, where did this little fellow come from?" George asked.

"Dunno," Harry said and shrugged.

Just at that moment, a girl with bushy brown hair came in and asked, "Have any of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one."

Draco was about to say something when Ron interrupted. "Nope, sorry, but if we do we'll let you know," he said with a smile.

She looked at him suspiciously and said, "All right, it goes by the name of Trevor, and it belongs to Neville Longbottom, and I'm Hermione Granger, if you spot him," she said, still trying to analyze Ron.

"Will do, thanks," Draco said, also smiling. She looked him over, nodded, and then left. All of them burst out laughing.

"That was too easy..." Fred said.

"I know," George replied, still laughing.

"Boys, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Harry said with a grin.

"I think it is, at that," Draco said.

* * *

"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" Harry heard Hagrid yell. He smiled slightly as Fred set Trevor loose. Half a minute later, an obese boy yelled, "Trevor!" The boys looked at each other and smiled.

"Hey, Hagrid," Harry said.

"Hiya, Harry! How was the train ride?" asked Hagrid.

"Brilliant!" Harry said.

Hagrid smiled. "Okay, is this all the firs' years? Four to a boat now, mind yeh," he said.

Harry, Fred, George, and Draco ended up in the same boat; Ron ended up with Neville, Hermione, and a pug-faced girl named Pansy Parkinson. The ride was enjoyable - save for the fact that Ron was giving his entire boat the evil eye.

Everyone was in awe when the castle proper came into view. It was quite a sight. "Follow me, now we'll get yeh all Sorted up and on to the feast," Hagrid said.

When they reached the Great Hall, a woman was waiting for them. "Hello, I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. I expect you as students to follow the rules and obey your Head of House, and all the other Staff members, and the Prefects. Disobeying the rules will lead to point deductions and possible detentions, depending on the offence, and deeds of merit will earn House Points; I strongly suggest you take this to heart, for your House will be like your family while you are at Hogwarts.

"At the end of the year, the House with the most points will be awarded the House Cup, a great honor. Now, please form a single file line so that we may commence with the Sorting Ceremony. Follow me, please," She said.

Everyone was properly amazed when they entered the Great Hall. "It's not the real sky; it's just spelled to look like it. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History," Hermione whispered. Ron gave her a disgusted look.

When they reached the High Table, a man who could only be Dumbledore stood up and said, "Welcome all to another fine year here at Hogwarts. Now, before we begin with the Sorting, I have a few announcements to make. First, as all of the returning students know, a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher needs to be named. I am pleased to announce that Remus Lupin will fill the position. You will treat him with the same respect as you would any other teacher. And also, Mr. Filch has kindly asked me to remind you that magic used in between classes is strictly forbidden, as is the Forbidden Forest. Now, on with the Sorting!"

Professor McGonagall placed an old, worn-out hat on a stool and said, "When I call your name, please come up and place the Sorting Hat on your head."

Harry wasn't paying that much attention, until, that is, McGonagall said, "Hermione Granger." Then, Harry noticed that Ron was closely watching, so he did, too.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat said. The whole Ravenclaw table applauded.

Harry stopped paying attention again until he heard, "Draco Malfoy."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat said, and the Hufflepuff house started cheering. As Draco smiled, Harry found himself cheering, too.

Once again, Harry zoned off until, "Harry Potter." Suddenly, the room went deathly quiet. Then, all of a sudden, it erupted with whispers as he approached the hat.

He slowly sat down and put the hat on. "Well, well, well, what do we have here? Why, it's young Harry Potter--interesting, very interesting. I know exactly where to put you," the hat murmured in Harry's ear. "SLYTHERIN!" the hat said. The noise was deafening. The Slytherin table exploded with cheers. Harry went and sat down next to Pansy Parkinson, who had been sorted just before him.

Up next was, "Fred Weasley." Harry once again snapped to attention. Fred put the hat on and almost immediately it said, "Slytherin." His whole table cheered, but not quite as loudly as they had for Harry. Harry was cheering wildly.

"George Weasley."

"SLYTHERIN!"

Same reaction.

"Ronald Weasley,"

By now Harry was expecting the hat to say Slytherin, so when it said, "RAVENCLAW!" Harry was as surprised as anyone.

Harry watched as Ron just smiled at them and went and sat right next to Hermione, who was looking none too pleased.

There was now only one person left to be Sorted: "Blaise Zabini," who was sorted into Slytherin house.

"Well, now that that's been taken care of, on with the feast! Sassafras!" Dumbledore said.

Harry laughed slightly and asked, "Is he a bit... mad?"

"Dumbledore? Certainly, but you won't find a better educator," an older boy said.

"I'm Marcus Flint, by the way," he said and offered his hand.

"Harry Potter," Harry said and took it.

"Not to be rude or anything but, that's obvious," Marcus replied.

"Yeah, sorry..." Harry said.

Harry watched in awe as food magically appeared on the table. "Wow..." he whispered.

Marcus just smiled and passed him the mashed potatoes. The feast was delicious, but soon enough it was over, and Marcus - who Harry found was a Prefect and the captain of the Quidditch team - led them all to the dormitory, which was in the dungeons.

"The password is: 'What Password?' Don't forget it," Marcus said as they reached the entrance.

"Er, don't forget what, Marcus?" a first year named Millicent Bulstrode asked.

Marcus sighed. "To get into the dormitory, you'll be asked to give the password. You'll say, 'What Password?'" he explained.

"Oh," Millicent said, still a little bit confused.

Fred walked up to the portrait, and the snake said, "Password?"

"What Password?" Fred replied. The portrait swung open. "See?" Fred asked Millicent.

"Oh, I get it now," she said.

Marcus gave Fred a thankful look and said, "All right, everyone inside!"

When they got inside, a man dressed in black robes was waiting for them.

"They're all yours, Professor Snape," Marcus said and climbed up one of the staircases.

Professor Snape nodded and began, "Welcome, Slytherin house, to another fine year at Hogwarts. As most of you know, I am Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin house. I would ask all of our older students to please be kind, courteous, and patient with our first years, and to help them whenever possible," he said.

He looked right at Harry, and his eyes went wide. Harry was afraid that this man, like everyone else he'd met so far--save Hagrid, of course--would ask to see the scar. Instead, he looked right into his eyes and said, "You are the spiting image of James, except for the eyes; you have Lily's eyes."

Harry looked at Snape, wide-eyed. "You knew my parents?" he asked.

"We were all in the same year. I wasn't really friends with James and his crew," his eyes grew cold when mentioning Harry's father, "but Lily was one of my best friends," he said, and a small tear ran down his face.

"Well, I think we've all had enough excitement for one day; off to bed with you, and remember, if you have a question, the Slytherin Prefects and myself are more than willing to help. Good night, all," Snape said and took his leave.

Harry knew that the first chance he got, he'd ask Professor Snape about his mum, but for now, he'd sleep.