The first day at Hogwarts
”James Potter”
I can’t stop moving on the way to the train station. I’m wiggling in the back seat of my car. My parents are in the front giving me glances and smiling at me every so often. I look out the window the entire way to the train station.
My parents take out my suitcases and I nearly pull them off their feet, because they’re taking too long. I push my cart to the platform and look behind me to see my parents are way behind. I impatiently wait for them to come.
They give me a small nod and I push my cart nearing the wall. I close my eyes at the last moment and open them again to see a huge red train. My mouth falls open and I look around in amazement.
My parents follow behind me through the wall and I take my mom’s hand and pull her with me, my dad follows pushing my cart. I’m jumping to get on the train, but my mom takes me in a tight hug and won’t let me go.
“Mom! I’m going to be late!” I cry out. Finally she lets go and I see some tears in the corner of her eyes. My dad gives me a short hug and puts his hand on my shoulder: “Be safe and stay out of trouble.”
If only he knew.
I pass by the train boots, trying to find an empty one, dragging my suitcase behind me. Finally I find one with one person in it.
I slide the door open and a young boy with brown curls and a scar covering one side of his face, looks up at me. “Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full,” I ask the boy. He shrugs and I come in, I try to put my suitcase up, but I underestimated the weight and I fall backwards. The suitcase comes flying to my face and I protect my face.
But the suitcase never reaches my face, the boy is standing over me with my suitcase in one of his hands. The other one he sticks out for me to grab, I take it and he pulls me up. Together we are able to get it above the train-seats. “Thanks,” I say, rubbing the back of my head. “What’s even in that?” he asks, I don’t answer him, but just let myself fall on the seat opposite of him.
A while later a small, brown haired boy enters. “Peter!” I yell out getting up and hugging him with one arm. “Hey James,” he says quietly. “This is, uh,” I say, turning around at the boy who helped me. “Remus,” he says, putting out his hand for Peter to take. He takes it anxiously: “Peter.”
The trolly comes around and we get some candy. Remus is looking at everything like he never saw a living chocolate frog before. “So, Remus, right? In what house were your parents sorted in?” I ask to start a conversation. The boy looks me in the eye and looks away. “Are your parents muggles?” Peter asks. I give him a stump in the stomach and he looks at me hurt while rubbing his stomach. “You don’t just ask people that!” I whisper at him.
He’s quiet for the rest of the train ride, until another boy with black curl enters. “Could I please come in? There’s no place anywhere else.” “Sure, come in,” I say. “Thanks,” he says, sighing. Remus looks at the new boy curiously.
“I’m James Potter. That’s Peter Pettigrew,” I tell him pointing at Peter, “and that’s Remus.” “Sirius, Sirius Black,” he answers me, shaking my hand. “Black,” Peter mutters beside me. I give him an annoyed look and he keeps quiet.
We talk for the rest of the ride, Remus saying some things now and then.
Hogwarts shows up and I press my nose against the glass to see clearer. “We should put on our cloaks,” Peter suggests to no one in particular. Remus already has his on, but we don’t so we do that quickly.
The train stops and I nearly run outside, but I have to drag my bag behind me. When we get outside there’s a giant man waiting for us and he starts shouting: “FIRST YEARS! Follow me!” We rush over to him and he smiles at us. When a whole group of kids have piled up behind us he grunts happily and he turns around and tells us to follow him.
He leads us to a lake filled with boats and tells us to get in groups of four. We all look at each other and stand together. We get in a boat together and the boat starts by itself.
The Hogwarts castle is shimmering beautifully in the moonlight, it’s nearly full moon. My leg bounces up and down excitedly and Sirius gives me a grin. We come ashore and I jump out almost letting the others fall in the water, Peter lets out a shriek and Remus gets out quickly giving Peter a hand.
Hagrid, the giant man, leads us to a staircase and tells us to go all the way up and that professor McGonagall was waiting for us at the top.
Professor McGonagall, I heard so much about her from my parents, she’s firm but fair.
A tall lady with a high hat is waiting for us at the top. “Welcome to Hogwarts! I am going to announce your arrival. In the meantime I want you to be respectful to your fellow students and the things around you!” She turns around and heads to the great hall, closing the doors on her way in.
“What house do you think you are going to get sorted in?” Peter asks. “I am going to be sorted in Gryffindor I know it,” I answer him. “I hope I will be sorted in Gryffindor,” Peter says. “I don’t know, as long as it’s not Slytherin I need to prove something to my parents,” Sirius joins. We all look over at Remus. “I don’t care,” he says, shrugging.
McGonagall enters the hall again. “You may follow me!” The doors open and everyone is looking over at us as we enter.
“I will call your name and you shall sit on the stool. Then I will put this hat on your head and you will be sorted in your house,” I don’t pay too much attention and just wait for my name to be called. “Black, Sirius!” McGonagall shouts and Sirius gives me a small smile before stepping up. The head is placed on his head: “GRYFFINDOR!”
Some kid named Patience I think is sorted in Ravenclaw and then Remus’ name is called. The hat sits there for a few seconds and then he is sorted into Gryffindor.
A few more people go. “Potter, James!” Peter gives me a little push when I don’t move. I sit on the stool and the hat is placed on my head. “Hmm,” a voice says in my ear, “you’re loyal and brave, there’s only one house for you, GRYFFINDOR!” The hat shouts out and I let out a breath in relief. I join Sirius and Remus at the Gryffindor table. Sirius gives me a wide grin and Remus smiles softly at me.
Peter is also sorted with us and I give him a hand when he walks over to us.
That night I couldn’t sleep. “Psst, is someone awake?” I ask. A few seconds later a voice answers: “Yes,” “Sirius?” I whisper. I hear sheets move and suddenly Sirius is standing beside my bed. “Can’t sleep huh?” He asks. I shake my head. “Let’s go explore the castle,” he suggests and I smile brightly at him. I throw my blankets off me. “Let’s go,”
We tiptoe down the stairs and open the painting of the women. Sirius peeks his head out of the opening. “Come on,” he whispers. We leave the common room and we’re in the staircase.
We walk around and laugh at the paintings. We hear footsteps coming from around the corner and Sirius pulls me inside a classroom. We hear an old man muttering as he passes by. We wait a few minutes and then open the door.
Nobody’s in the hall so we come out. “Miauw,” a cat is sitting on the bench in the hall. She sees us and runs off. “Shit, we need to go,” Sirius whisper-shouts at me. We run off laughing and decide to go back to our common room.
The lady in the painting is sleeping and me and Sirius have some trouble waking her up.
“A women needs her beauty sleep. What in God’s name are you doing, being up this late!” After some arguing she finally opens and we enter.
“Night Sirius,” I whisper across the room. “Goodnight,” he answers. I pull the sheets over my body and feel my body warming up, my eyes feel heavy and finally I fall asleep.
The next morning
I’m up before the rest and open my suitcase. My gorgeous broomstick is waiting to be looked after. I get my cleaning supplies, existing out of some special soap and a piece of cotton, and clean it.
When I look at the time I see it’s time to go have lunch. “Peter, it’s time for breakfast,” I say, Peter’s eyes flutter open and he gets out of bed, with small eyes. “Sirius,” I call out.
From his bed a cushion comes flying straight into my face.
“Ookay, Remus, are you coming for breakfast?” I ask. I hear some commotion coming from his bed, but after that it stays silent. “Guess it’s just you and me then,” I say, putting my arm around his shoulder.
The great hall is very quiet. There’s a red haired girl sitting at the Gryffindor table with a dark skinned brown haired girl. There’s some seconds and thirds. And a lot of fifths, but that’s it.
Me and Peter sit beside the girls. “Hello,” Peter says, starting a wave but feeling it’s a little weird and stops halfway.
“Hi,” the red haired girl says, smiling at Peter. She looks me up and down and looks back at her friend.
“I’m James,” I introduce myself. “Lily,” “And I’m Mary,” Lily’s friend joins the conversation. "And you are?” Lily asks, smiling friendly at Peter. “Peter,” he mutters, his cheeks heating up.
Half an hour later, Sirius and Remus join us, Sirius’ hair is all over the place and Remus still looks tired. Behind them a couple of girls come in and they run over to Lily and Mary.
“So what were you two up to yesterday?” Remus asks. “Nothing much, just exploring the castle,” I say. Sirius gives me a stump on my shoulder. “I told him we were in the woods fighting dragons!” I look at Sirius perplexed. “You what? And you believed him?” I ask Remus. He snorts out a laugh and says: “Of course not, I just wanted to know what you were really up to.”
The rest of the day goes by in a blur. We had our first Potions class from Slughorn.
We had transfiguration from Professor McGonagall and Herbology from Professor Sprout. Remus especially was very interested in it.
At lunch we get to know the girls sitting with Mary and Lily. Marlene is really good friends with them and then you have: Donna, Carlotta and Shelley.
We get History of magic from Cuthbert and then our prefect brought us to the healer: professor Pomfrey. She tells us some basic stuff and that she hopes she won’t see us here again. Remus is very fascinated by her.
That night, Sirius is standing in front of my bed again. “James, I have an idea, let’s wake the others.” Remus rises an eyebrow when we wake him, but doesn’t say anything. Peter looks around anxiously as we descend down the stairs.
“So the plan is to paint over all the chairs. And there’s an easy, self made spell, to paint them,” Sirius grins. Remus is trying to go back to his bed, but we can convince him. “But, what if we get caught?” Peter asks quietly, looking around. “We won’t, come on don’t be a wimp,” Sirius replies. So we begin.
At around 2pm we’re finally finished and head back to our rooms. We almost run into Argus, but Remus pulls us in a closet. Me in front, Remus at the end and Peter and Sirius pressed between us.
Back in our dorm Remus says: “We should have a map with every hiding spot on it.” “We should,” I answer, before dropping on my bed and falling fast asleep.
The next morning I’m not the first person awake. Sirius is, and let me tell you when Sirius is the first one awake it’s not peaceful. Sirius jumps on my bed and shouts for me to get up. After that he jumps on Peter’s bed.
Lastly he gets up on Remus’ bed, but Remus rolls over, causing Sirius to fall off the bed. “Come on! Get up!” Sirius beggs, while sitting on the floor, and Remus sighs and gets up.
We all stand in the hall and see kids running around, screaming and asking their friends if they can see anything on their robes. Me and Sirius laugh hysterically, Peter chuckled nervously and on Remus’ face a small smile forms.
Professor McGonagall comes running in the hall and looks at all the chaos in the hall. She eyes us sternly and comes over to us. Sirius is still dying of laughter and I hit him hard in the ribs. “Aww,” he complains.
“What did you do?” Professor McGonagall demands. “Nothing professor,” we all say in choir. She looks over at us above her glasses. She purses her lips and waves us away. “I will keep a close eye on you four!” She warns us while we walk away, towards the great hall.
“I have to give it to you, Sirius, I loved the prank,” Remus smiled. “Really, You did?” Sirius questions him excitedly, looking over at Remus with big eyes.
We laugh and head to the great hall. “James Potter!” A voice yells from the Gryffindor table. A redhead walks over to me angrily. “What do you think you’re doing!” She scolds me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I answer in all innocence. She grunts and turns around, she stomps over to her seat on the table and I can see a little brown paint stain on her robes.
I look over at Sirius and Peter and grin. We head over to our table and Sirius performs a spell to dry the bench before we sit on it.
After a while the great hall is crowded and Dumbledore stands up. “Dear students,” it echos through the great hall, “we have noticed the accident that occurred this morning. We are trying our best to find the people responsible. We can assure you that the benches all around the castle are back safe to sit on.”
All around people start whispering and I can see Lily give us side eyes. I grin and Sirius is trying his best to keep from laughing. A small smile is plastered on Remus’ and Peter’s face.
When breakfast is over we head over to our first lesson of the day: transfiguration. We come into the classroom and some children of our class are in our room already (we share this lesson with Ravenclaw).
Professor McGonagall keeps a close eye on us as we sit down at our seats. Lily, Marlene and Mary enter the classroom and Lily is still very mad at me.
“So class,” McGonagall starts her lesson, “I hope you learned your lesson for today! I want you all to show your best needle into match transfiguration.”
Remus studied really hard and gets it on his first try, Sirius didn’t but he still gets it very fast, like me. Peter needs a little more time, but it works when McGonagall passes by. When I look over at Lily’s table I see all three of them are already finished and McGonagall is giving them a new task.
“Good job, boys,” she says as she passes us again, but not giving us another glance.
That evening we all crawl in Sirius’ bed. “Okay guys, I’ve got another idea for a prank,” he says with a devilish grin on his face. “No,” Remus objects, “they’re probably going to be more cautious tonight.” Remus sends us all to our own beds.
I’m lying awake in my bed staring at the ceiling and can’t help but smile.