A Place In This World
Loading off of the train was proving to be more chaotic than Lily had anticipated. She had enjoyed the ride a lot actually, she and Mary spent most of it talking about basically everything after she had discovered that Mary is muggleborn as well. Sev and the other boy, Sirius, had talked a little bit, but after a while Sirius read a magazine, with moving pictures, about something called quidditch, which Lily hadn’t questioned. At this point she was starting to realize everything she was going to have to learn how to live life in an entirely different world than she was familiar with. Sev on the other hand had spent most of the ride sulking, though Lily wasn’t exactly sure why as she had tried to include him in her conversation with Mary but he seemed uninterested.
She had been instructed to leave her trunk on the train, apparently it would be taken up for her, but there were students everywhere, she had lost Sev in the crowd after stepping off the train, however Mary was still close by her, they looked around bewildered, older students were loading into carriages that appeared to be pulled by nothing, but her and Mary were directed away from them. Sirius was only a few steps behind and Lily could tell he was following them, not wanting to get lost in the shuffle.
“Firs’ yers’ over ‘ere,” A voice called, Mary grabbed Lily’s arm and led them in the direction of the voice, which appeared to belong to the biggest man, with the biggest beard Lily had ever seen.
“Eigh’ to a boat, load in everyone, don’ wanna be late,” The man said as the two girls got closer, that’s when they saw tons of other kids their age loading into tiny boats. Lily noticed there were no oars.
“They can’t really expect us to row these things right,” Mary asked in a hushed voice.
“I don’t even see any oars,” Lily stated as they made their way to a boat, it was already pretty full, but everywhere else was way more crowded, as Lily boarded the boat, she recognized two familiar faces.
“Oh Lily, hello,” the girl from earlier, Marlene, said, turning away from her conversation with another girl. Lily had liked her, it was her friend James who had made that awful comment about Sev she’d disliked.
“And Sirius too,” Marlene said as Sirius boarded the boat behind the girls, it wasn’t a mean comment, Lily noted, but it had a tone of surprise to it that Lily couldn’t quite pinpoint. She was more shocked that somehow Marlene knew Sirirus, though she supposed wizards and witches would know each other in the same way she knew people from home.
“Hi Marlene,” Sirius said, taking the single seat at the back of the boat.
“Hi, Marlene, this is Mary,” Lily said introducing the two, James was enamored in some conversation with another boy and hadn’t turned from his seat in the boat to see them yet. Lily was about to ask Marlene something when James turned.
“Oh it’s you,” he said making eye contact with Lily, his gaze however quickly shifted behind her to where Sirius sat, “Sirius, right,” James asked the other boy.
Sirius nodded, and James shifted his attention back to Lily, “I’m sorry about what I said to you earlier, it wasn’t nice though your friend was rather greasy,” James said with a hint of humor in his tone.
Sirius chuckled behind her and she saw the two boys share a smile. She didn’t know why they were being mean to Sev, they’d only just met him after all.
“Don’t mind them,” Marlene told her, and just like that conversation switched as James and Sirius began discussing houses, and Marlene turned back to the girl she was talking with before. Lily decided that she would certainly mind them, they weren’t being nice, but she didn’t really want to make enemies on the first day either. There were two other boys in the boat, they were talking quietly amongst themselves.
Moments later, the boats took off, no rowing necessary. Lily shared a look with Mary, both girls were equally amazed and off put by this feat. It wasn’t just the boats, Lily thought, it was the whole day. The magical platform transfer, the houses, Sirius’s magazine, Sev’s strange behavior, the carriages without horses, and now the magically moving boats. It was a lot of new things for Lily and it had only been one day. Then suddenly, gasps emerged from the other boats, Lily looked up and there was the most beautiful castle she’d ever seen in her life.
“Oh my gosh,” Mary murmured from next to her.
“It’s just like Danny said it would be,” Marlene said.
“Wow,” Lily said as she came to the realization that the castle was Hogwarts, she got to go to school inside a real life castle. Add that to the list of crazy she’s experienced today. The boats drew ever closer, Lily sensed a tension in the air among the first years as they hit the shore. They loaded off the boats, and followed the bearded man up a short path towards the castle. There was some quiet chatter but everyone seemed to be mainly preoccupied with taking in the castle. It truly was unlike anything Lily had ever seen, as they got closer she realized just how big and sprawling it was. They eventually reached a door, and the bearded man ushered them through. If Lily thought the outside was impressive the inside was like anything she’d ever seen, it was beautiful.
“Right this way, line up everyone two by two,” A new voice called as the students wandered into the building. Lily recognized the voice, it belonged to the professor who had delivered her letter, and explained magic and Hogwarts to her family. Professor McGongall was her name.
Once the train of students stopped flowing, and they organized into a line, Lily was next to Mary, in front of her was Marlene and the other girl from the boat, and behind them were James and Sirius. She tried to scan the crowd for Sev, but over all the other student heads it was hard to see him.
“Hello and Welcome to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I am deputy headmistress and professor Minerva McGongall, as well as the head of Gryffindor house.” Someone let out a cheer from behind her, and Lily turned before she realized it had been James, him and Sirius were stifling laughter, as Lily glared at them. Professor McGongall shot them a look, just as Lily turned back around. She was really starting to dislike these two, especially James. To make a bad impression on a professor within the first ten minutes honestly, she thought. “This here, is the Sorting Hat,’ the professor continued holding up a raggedy old hat, not addressing the boys antics any further, “in a moment we will proceed into the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony, you will stay lined up, and I will call your names alphabetically, then the hat will be placed on your head and it will sort you into a house.”
Lily shot Mary a look, a magical hat that would sort them into houses, which to Lily’s understanding thus far, were obviously very important. Mary just shrugged clearly a bit amused at the spectacle of it all.
“The houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, you will have classes with your housemates, dine with them, dorm with them and compete for the house cup together, any questions,” Professor Mcgongall asked Lily had millions, but she wasn’t going to ask them now.
“Well then, off we go,” the professor said and with a flick of her wand two double doors from behind her flew open and she marched the first years through.
Lily really shouldn’t have been surprised anymore but as they entered the hall, Lily was. On the ceiling, where the roof should be was the image of a cloudy night with a sky full of stars. It looked so realistic that for a moment she wondered if they were outside, but no it was much too warm for that, it was, as she was coming to learn like all things in the wizarding world were, magic.
“Pretty cool right,” Marlene turned to tell her.
‘Yeah,’ Lily managed as Mary nodded. Lily also noticed the tables in the hall, four long dining tables, the whole length of the room, filled with students, above each table hung a banner with the name of the house. Lily noticed they were walking right past the Gryffindor table, she saw some students waving as the past, likely to siblings or friends she figured. The thought caused a small pain in her chest as she remembered how upset Petunia had been with her for leaving, it wasn’t Lily’s fault she was a witch, she knew that, but Petunia took it that way. Lily would write to her tomorrow, maybe she’d be feeling better about it all by then.
At last the line of first years reached the front of the room, where a table of older people, the professors Lily realized, sat.
A hush fell over the hall as Professor Mcgongall took the hat and placed it on a stool in the very middle of the room, just in front of the professor's table. Then to Lily’s utter amazement, the hat began to sing.
‘For now it was some years ago, when there sat a team of four,
Tasked with finding a way to keep score,
They wanted to sort their students based on what was at their core,
First was Helga who said, mine will be loyal forevermore,
And thus the Hufflepuff house was born
Then came Godrick who decreed that bravery was what his students worn
And that is what Gryffindors sworn
Rowena Ravenclaw was quite forlorn
Intelligence was her greatest gift
And the creation of Ravenclaw was quite swift
Poor Salazar was still adrift
For what was at his core had him very miffed
Ambition was something he admired
And that what a Slytherin required
A hat retired
Did the trick and so the founders were inspired
To make this old hat into something grand
To finish off their sorting plan
And so at their command
I was no longer damned”
As the song finished, Lily watched as the professor unfolded a scroll of paper and read off a name, “Abbott, Claire.”
---
James watched carefully as a small brown haired girl, Claire Abbott approached the stool where the hat was. Minne picked up the hat and placed it on her head. It took a few moments but then called out loudly, “HUFFLEPUFF.” A sea of cheers erupted from a table on the far right side of the room, and the girl, Claire Abbott, made her way over to them.
James smiled, he was not nervous about the sorting at all, he was going to be in Gryffindor, he just knew it, and someday he was going to win them the quidditch cup.
Suddenly Minnie's voice cut through his train of thoughts, ‘Black, Sirius,” she called.
James turned to the boy next to him, “Good luck,” he muttered. Sirius nodded in thanks and made his way to the stool. James had known Sirius, for a while, the two boys had seen each other at various ministry parties and other events their parents would force them to go to. James got on with Sirius just fine, honestly he remembers having quite a bit of fun together. Sirius’ parents however did not enjoy their son spending time with James and would usually send one of his cousins to drag him away from the other kids. James’ parents explained that it was a political rivalry, which James felt was quite stupid, but he didn’t particularly understand the intricacies of wizarding politics either.
James watched as his godmother placed the hat atop Sirius’ head. It sat for a lot longer than it had on Claire Abbott, he noticed, as the hat had yet to open its mouth. The hall seemed to be waiting with an increased attention, James knew Sirius came from an important family but the intensity with which the students were watching, especially the Syltherin table was very intense.
“GRYFFINDOR,” the hat exclaimed, pulling James’s focus back to Sirius. He thought he heard a fork clatter from behind him, a stunned silence overtook the hall, Sirius sat frozen to the stool, Minnie made an attempt to move the hat off his head. The moment, which felt like forever, but couldn't have been more than a moment was only broken up by two simultaneous events.
“That must be a mistake,” a blonde haired Slytherin girl cried out, just as two red headed boys rose from the Gryffindor table, and began clapping and cheering loudly. And just like that the trance was broken, the rest of the Gryffindor table stood up, Minnie removed the hat from Sirius’ head and with a small shove, he made his way over to the cheering Gryffindors while a fair number of the Slytherins remained distraught. It appeared to James that the blonde haired girl was crying. McGonagall read the next name, and the chaos slowly subsided, though James noticed the Slytherin girl in deep conversation with another, slightly older and curly black haired girl. Seeing them together, he recalls that they may be Sirius’s cousins. Glancing back over to the Gryffindor table James sees Sirius getting welcomed by the older students, he catches his eye and tries to shoot the other boy a reassuring smile, hoping that he’ll be joining him soon.
The sorting proceeds, all the other houses gain new members but Gryffindor does not, James has somewhat tuned out, lost yet again in his daydreams of Quidditch, flying high above the air decked out in crimson and gold robes. He snapped from his thoughts when his godmother's voice rings out another name.
“Evans, Lily.” He watches as the redhead from the train approaches the stool. He bets she’ll go to Ravenclaw, she seems uptight enough for it. He was a bit annoyed that she couldn’t take his jokes, and gosh, he really hoped that a friend of hers was in a different house than him. James got a bad feeling from that kid, though he couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Speaking of weird feelings, whatever strange feeling James experienced on the platform earlier had not gone away, which he figures is why he is not as annoyed with Lily as he normally would be when someone doesn’t get his jokes. This feeling is only intensified as the hat, having only just been set atop her head seconds ago, yells out.
“GRYFFINDOR,” Lily smiles, and makes her way to the table being greeted by a cheering crowd, an older girl makes room for her and they talk for a moment. James watches the whole thing, impressed, two housemates he already gets along with.
And so the sorting continues, Aaron Fawley, the American boy he met on the train gets sorted into Gryffindor as well, followed by Remus Lupin, Mary MacDonald and Dorcas Meadows, all of whom James had met. Marlene now in front of him turns back as Mary joins Lily at the table. ‘I’m next,” she whispers.
“Don’t be nervous, you’re a Gryffindor, I’ll see you at the table,” James says reassuringly just as Minnie calls her name. He notices a smile on her face as Marly makes her way to the stool. James feels nervous as he watches the hat rest upon her head, he doesn’t know why, it’s not his sorting, but Marly’s basically his sister and they both want this so bad.
Just like that the hat is bellowing out yet again, “GRYFFINDOR,” James smiles and cheers as he watches Marly take a seat next to Mary.
The sorting persists, the group of first years dwindling until it's just James, Lily’s greasy friend, and a few others remaining. If he was being completely honest, James was getting a bit impatient though if you asked his parents patience is not his strong suit. Finally, Minnie's voice calls out, “Potter, James.”
Now he’s really nervous he thinks, so far all the people he met today became Gryffindors he can’t be the only one who isn’t, he just can’t be. Yet, deep down James knows, he knows he’s a Gyffindor, he’s grown up knowing it, and with that thought he shakes off his nerves, sits down on the stool, feels his godmother squeeze his shoulder reassuringly and place the hat on his head.
“Well, you already know where you belong don’t you,” the hat says as James nods, “I would have to concur for it better be GRYFFINDOR.” Just like that it's over, Minnie whisks the hat off his head with a smile, and James wants to jump up and down out of excitement, instead he quickly gets off the stool and walks briskly in the direction of the cheers. He watches his new housemates clapping, cheering for him. He feels amazing. He takes a seat next to Sirius.
“Congrats mate,” the other boy says from beside him though James can’t help but notice he looks a bit sad.
“Cheer up,” James says, throwing an arm over Sirius’ shoulder, “We’re Gryffindors now, greatest house on the planet,” James exclaims. Sirius laughs in response as the students nearby erupt into another burst of cheers at his remark.
“I knew it would happen,” Marly says from across the table. James smiles in return. He looks at the other girls around her, all of them smiling and cheering. Except one, he notices Lily clapping politely but no more. He’s beginning to get the sense she doesn’t like him very much but no matter that. Nothing could take away how happy James felt in this moment surrounded by new friends. He had everything he ever wanted, he was going to write to his parents and tell them all about it tonight. Besides, he thought, it was just a few silly jokes, Lily would come around eventually.