Marauders, the next generation

"Well that solves it," said the hat. "You belong in... GRYFFINDOR!"

I finally breathed easy as the blinding hat was taken off my head. The sudden burst of light after so long in the dark blurred my vision; and my ears, which had also been covered, couldn't cope with the noise. I never knew who was cheering or if there were any woo whistles. Kind of disappointing after so much anticipation.

In a daze I walked over to the Gryffindor Table. Anya and Joseph had just enough time to say 'Hiya' before Professor McGonagall called forward.

"Dewley, Adam."

I glanced over at the line of first years still to be sorted. They all had different variations of terror on their faces. I saw Lucy turn her head and look my way. I gave her a thumb's up; she smiled at me, thankfully.

"What happens now?"

I turned around. Anya had whispered the question.

"What?" I hissed back. "Don't you know?"

"No," Anya indicated the two of them, "We're both Muggle born."

"The Professor said something about a feast." Joseph put in.

"But what if they've already had it?" whispered Anya.

I looked at Joseph. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Calm down," I assured her. "I'm sure they're going to feed us"

I turned back to the stage where 'Holly, Denise' was being sorted. I was quite content guessing which house she would be in by her chin downwards until I heard Joseph mutter something under his breath.

"Silly girl."

"Definitely," I mumbled back. I turned and grinned at Joseph, who grinned back.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Jordan, Jane!"

I spun around to look at the stage. There was Jane underneath the huge hat. I waited in anticipation.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The hall cheered. Jane looked shocked but went over to the table. I caught her eye and she glared at me.

"Longbottom, Samuel!"

It took only five seconds for the hat to declare.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I clapped along with the rest of the hall. I noticed Lucy go completely white. It took me a few moments to realise why.

"Malfoy, Lucy!"

Lucy moved forward and sat on the stool.

"No fair," said a girl on my table. "They're only halfway through the alphabet and already the Slytherins have four girls."

But the Slytherins only had three girls. Then I realised.

"Hey!" I protested, "How do you know she'll be a Slytherin?"

The girl looked at me as if I was stupid.

"'Cos she's a Malfoy" she said "That's why. All the Malfoys are Slytherins. Nasty pieces of work"

I opened my mouth to protest again but I was interrupted.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a stunned silence round the hall. I don't know whether I did what I did next out of real joy or just to spite the girl. But what I did was to jump out and shout out.

"Whooooooooo! Yeah! Go Lucy! Whooooooooo!!"

I gestured behind my back to Joseph and Anya and they joined me in the cheer. Some people from the other tables joined in with polite clapping and a few Gryffindors started up a small celebration. But there was silence from the Slytherin table.

As Lucy sat down next to me I caught a glimpse of the remaining first years. Laura looked amused but Gregory was fuming.

"Good to see you here," I told Lucy. "Not a Hufflepuff after all."

Lucy grinned at me. I looked back at the stage where there were only a few people left.

There's not that many on the other side of the alphabet. Moon, Nane, Oliver, Orla, Pearson, Pepper, Potter. The hat sat on Laura's head for almost a full minute before it declared aloud.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Michael Riper became a Slytherin, Francis Tomlinson became a Hufflepuff, Adrasteia Vini became a Ravenclaw and at last there was only one boy left.

"Weasley, Gregory!"

To be honest I thought he'd be a Slytherin. Everyone had expected Lucy to go into Slytherin so much and there she was, sitting next to me on the Gryffindor table. Everyone said that Slytherins were nasty pieces if work. Well, Lucy had been nice and here she was. But Gregory had been horrible for her for no reason so I thought Slytherin would welcome him with open arms. But...

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I wasn't exactly shocked. Lucy had said that most of her mother's side of the family had been in Gryffindor, so why not Gregory? I just couldn't help but wander what sparks would fly back at the Weasley home if they found out a Malfoy was sharing their traditional house.

At the staff table an old man with long white hair and an even longer white beard stood up. I knew him instantly to be Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Order of Merlin, first class and all that. Everyone in the Wizarding world knows about Dumbledore.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" he announced, "Before our start-of-term feast begins-"

I heard a quiet "Yay!" behind me.

"-I would like to say 'Bon appetite'. But I won't, because I just have. Thank you."

I laughed at the ridiculousness of it. I had a feeling that Dumbledore was quite contentedly mad. I don't see anything wrong with that.

The feast was brilliant! Six kinds of potatoes, chicken, Yorkshire puddings, sausages, pork chops, bacon, peas, carrots, stuffing, gravy, (the good kind without any lumps or a skin on top) and even a bowl full of boiled sweets. Once it was all gone deserts appeared and oh, such deserts! Gateau, cheesecake, three kinds of pudding, five kinds of pie, Jelly, ice-cream, spotted dick, treacle tart, trifle, fruit salad. It makes me drool to even try to remember them all; let's just say there were many, many delicious things.

At this point Samuel Longbottom decided to come out with,

"So Robert, what's your family like?"

Robert Oliver suddenly looked panicked.

"Why d'you want to know that?" he asked.

"It's the traditional first-year start-of-term feast conversation." Samuel told us, "My Dad had it and so did every other group of first-years while he was here. All except the ones during his fourth year, then they talked about the Triwizard tournament. I'll start shall I?"

Next to me Lucy gulped. Family was obviously not a topic she enjoyed discussing.

"Go on then, Sammy" said Laura.

"Well that's my Dad up there," said Samuel, pointing to the staff table. "Professor Longbottom. Teaches Herbology. But my Mum's a Muggle. She teaches at an all girl's boarding school. How about you Robert?"

"The other way round." said Robert, "My Dad's a Muggle Chef. My Mum's a Witch. He didn't know of course, he just thought she was a really good cook."

There was a glimmer of polite laughter.

"Joseph?" Robert prompted.

"Both my parents are Muggles," said Joseph, "So I don't have any little tales to tell. My Dad's an Astronomer. That's the real stuff, not horoscopes. Lione?"

"Oh mine are boring," I told them. "A Witch and a Wizard. My dad works for the Ministry in the department of Magical law enforcement. My Mum is the owner of Lazaro Quidditch grounds, which I know you've never heard of. Well we all know about Laura so Lu-"

"I don't." Anya piped in.

We all stared at her.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't," repeated Anya, "know, about Laura."

We stared at her for a while, then turned to stare at Laura instead.

"A Witch and a Wizard," said Laura, perfectly calmly. "My Dad's a Quidditch player, that's a Wizarding sport. My Mum works part time for the ministry, mainly so she gets in on all the latest news before it's in the papers. She's a DJ the rest of the time. That's when she tells everyone. She's won awards for her fast news reporting."

"How can you talk so lightly about your father?" cried Gregory. "Her father is Harry Potter. The greatest Seeker in the entire world. Plus he defeated You-know-who on no less than seven occasions."

"You-know-who?"

"He's being a Wimp," I told her. "Barely anyone calls him that anymore. His name is Voldemort!"

Several people along the table jumped. Gregory glared at me (again).

"He's an evil dark lord. Dead now." I continued, "Ever seen Star Wars? With Darth Vader?"

Anya nodded.

"Like that. But he's more like the other one. The even eviler dark guy. What-his-face."

Anya shrugged. I looked around at everyone else, they all looked puzzled. Finally I looked over to Laura. She smiled and said,

"Anya. What's your family like?"

"No idea" said Anya "My parents died when I was young. I live in a, Muggle was it? Yeah, a Muggle orphanage. But there's a witch who works there with the 'Special' children." She waggled her fingers around the word 'special', "I never knew who they were until a month ago. Now I am one. Lucy?"

"We know about Lucy's family." spat Gregory.

Anya opened her mouth.

"Oh well you might not," interrupted Gregory. "Her family were at You-kno- Voldemort's right hand. What she's doing in Gryffindor I don't understand."

Lucy blushed bright red. I also went red, with rage. I was fuming. I reached across the table, grabbed Gregory's robe and pulled his face towards mine. We were nose to nose when I started shouting.

"What you're doing in Gryffindor is what I don't get! Here's Lucy, hasn't done a thing to you and you're acting like a... a... Slytherin! Fine! Have your own personal vendettas. Join Jane Jordan over there, she seems to hate me too. But don't go blabbing a lot of hurtful nonsense about my friend to other people!"

I threw him back down to his seat. There were people watching now. I could particularly pick out Colubra's face in the crowd. He was grinning. Gregory composed himself quickly and opened his mouth again. This time Lucy caught him.

"If you're going to say something horrible, do it," she commanded. "But it better be about this disgusting rice pudding or I'm going to shove your face in it. I'm not going to be violent; I'm not like that. I don't want to hurt you Gregory, you are my cousin, no matter how much you deny it. But I if I can't make you eat your words I'll make you eat that pudding. That should be punishment enough."

I joined in the round of applause along with the cries of 'You go girl!'. The Gryffindors seemed to find the thought of having Lucy Malfoy among their ranks more appealing.

The rest of dessert passed without any more real commotion. Once we'd all had our fill the contents of the plates vanished, leaving them sparkling. Professor Dumbledore stood up again.

"Now that your hunger had subsided, perhaps you'll allow me to make a few start-of-term notices."

His eyes seemed to twinkle our way and I was sure he was going to make some comment about our argument.

"For the first years, you should know the forest is strictly forbidden. As is Hogsmeade to everyone, aside from those third years and above that have parental permission. Quidditch trials will take place next weekend going into the second week of term if necessary. This is only for second years and above. If you wish to play for your house team, please contact Madam Hooch."

A small, short-lived murmur rippled through the crowd. I guessed it was people getting excited about the Quidditch trials. Across the table I noticed Gregory had a wide, snide grin on his face. I couldn't help but guess what inspired it.

"Now is the time when I would usually introduce any new members of staff," Dumbledore continued, "But there's no need for it this year. Instead I'd like to welcome back a former, now returned member, Professor Hagrid."

There was a round of applause, mainly from our table and mainly from right next to us.

Laura was cheering louder than she had during the Sorting.

"Professor Hagrid," said Dumbledore, silencing the cheers with a raise of his hand, "Will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures so those lessons will now take place down by the gamekeeper's hut which belongs to Hagrid. Now it's getting late so off to bed you trot."

We were led to the common room by a bossy girl who claimed to be a prefect. As we walked she babbled on about school rules and how the prefects had to be obeyed, no matter which house they're from. I wasn't really listening. I was looking around at the paintings and tapestries. The whispered to each other and waved to us as we passed. I wasn't shocked. We have a painting of a guy in a plane at home. He's quite nice. His name is Eric. But I'd never seen so many paintings together, in one place. It was like an art gallery, but bigger.

Eventually we reached a painting of an enormous woman. She smiled and waved over the prefect's shoulder at us.

"Password?" she asked.

"Dracula," said the prefect.

I had almost been expecting that; there had been a lot of things in the newspaper about vampires recently.

The painting swung forward and we followed the prefect through the hole. She stood up at the other end and said,

"That was the fat lady and this is the Gryffindor common room."

It was a circular room with a heavily red colour scheme. There were assorted chairs of all sizes scattered everywhere but mostly around the fireplace. It looked quite cosy actually. There were also two staircases. The boys were shown up one and us girls were shown up another. Once we found the door marked 'First years' we entered. It was a box shaped room containing four beds, two on each side. It was a pastel red with a luxurious red carpet and on the far wall was a tall mirror. I could see Lucy's reflection in it. She looked shocked, amazed, a little flustered - probably after that incident with Gregory - but mostly, happy. Our trunks, bags -and various animals were already next to each one of the huge four-poster beds. You know, the kind with the curtain round them which gets pushed aside just as lighting strikes so you can see the person who's just about to murder you. That is, if we were in a horror movie.

I scrambled on to my bed and pulled the curtains to before changing in to my nightie. I was pretty tired but I was also a girl, and, for the first time, in a place where my parents could not physically check on me in any way. I was legally obliged to bounce up and down on my bed, chatter and giggle. When I pulled the curtains away Lucy - now wearing a pair of black and green squared pyjamas - had beaten me to the bouncing part.

"This is so brilliant! I mean, how brilliant is this? I don't think I'll ever get to sleep tonight."

Anya groaned and fell backwards on to her bed. Laura and I grinned.

"And I thought I was excited," groaned Anya.

"Well why not? Well think about it. No parents," I said, dreamily. "No guitar practice."

"No early school day nights," added Laura.

"No little kids running around, getting under your feet," Anya put in.

"No siblings," said Lucy. "At least, not if I don't want to see him."

"This is gonna be good, " I said "Seven years of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry-"

"-Then on to complete freedom!" finished Laura.

We sighed contentedly. At least Laura, Anya and I sighed. Lucy made a sound half way between an excited squeak and a giggle.

"I am far too excited to get to sleep tonight," she squiggled. "I mean, look at everything we've got to look forward to! We have got to get talking about it. For example, I hear we have to take options in second year for our third year. Which ones are you thinking of taking? What about fifth year for our sixth?"

"Maybe if you sleep," suggested Anya hopefully, with only a tiny hint of menace. "It'll come sooner."

"If you don't sleep tonight," I warned Lucy, grinning to myself. "You won't have enough energy to decorate the room tomorrow. We are lucky enough have our first day as a Saturday."

"Gosh! You're right!"

And with that Lucy slid backwards and shut the curtains. I laughed and did the same.

"Goodnight!"

"Goodnight."

"Night."

"Night!"

I wish I'd got more sleep that night. It would have prepared me for the stress that is life at a magical boarding school. I was woken up by a scrambling noise. I kept my eyes shut. I didn't want to wake any of the girls up or let anyone else know I was awake. It's a reflex I learnt while camping with my Father. Keep your eyes shut, you'll learn more. Okay, usually I learnt that some cub scouts were secretly stealing our food supplies but at least I learnt something.

It was then I felt something light brush against my cheek. It felt very weird... Very slowly, I opened my eyes and saw another eye looking in to mine.