Chapter Two

The Hogwarts express was filled with lots of students; some nervous for their first year, others laughing and talking with their friends, returning for another year. Some people were alone, either in happy solitude or by no choice of their own. Harry sped his way down the train as fast as he could until he could find a compartment alone.

Harry settled down and stared from his window. The train's whistle hollered loudly, just as Harry saw Sirius waiting on the platform. Their eyes met and Harry gave a small wave, tearing his gaze away, but before he did he could just make out the already retreating figures of Daniel and his parents.

Closing his eyes, Harry thought about the Hogwarts sorting. His parents were in Gryffindor, Sirius and Remus had ended up in Gryffindor, so is that where Harry was destined to go? However before Harry could think any more of it, someone entered his compartment.

It was a girl, she had tanned skin, and brown frizzy hair, matching brown eyes and some freckles dotted across her nose. She bore a bright smile and sat opposite Harry.

"Hey my name's Hazel Warwick, is it alright if I sit with you?" she asked politely.

"Yeah of course," Harry said, returning the politeness.

"Are you a first year? I am, I'm so excited," this girl just shone of happiness and although Harry wasn't like that, he thought they'd get along.

"Yeah, oh my name is Harry by the way, Harry Potter," he felt rude for not introducing himself straight away like she had done.

"Are you the brother of Daniel Potter the-boy-who-lived?" asked an unfamiliar voice. She had peachy skin, raven coloured hair, dark blue eyes and stood in the doorway to their compartment.

"What?! I didn't even know he had a brother, is it true?" Hazel said, nearly screaming, her eyes scanned Harry's face, but he wore a blank mask.

"Unfortunately," Harry muttered, he hated being referred to as the-boy-who-lived's brother. Harry was his own person, and anyway he barely spoke to Daniel, or his parents for that matter.

"What'd you say?" Hazel asked.

"Err, yeah it's true" Harry said keeping it vague.

"Wow, what's it like? How come I never knew about you?" These were questions Harry didn't want to answer, so he said, "If it's alright, I'd rather not talk about this." He returned to looking out the window again, signalling the end of that topic of conversation.

"Anyway, I'm Alyssa Winters," said the raven haired girl as she sat next Hazel.

Hazel and Alyssa kept up conversation, while Harry remained silent. Not too long later two more faces appeared, as the rest of the compartments were full. One of them was a boy named Mathew Jefferson, he had blue eyes, light brown hair with a fringe that flopped neatly to the left, contrasting with how Harry's was always a mess. The second person was a girl, with light blonde hair, icy blue eyes and sharp facial features. Her name was Daphne Greengrass and like the Potters the Greengrass' also had a reputation in the wizarding world. Although not a very positive one. They had long conversation about how the Greengrass' were staying neutral and not picking sides. Harry joined in with this conversation having read a bit about the family in old newspapers from the great wizarding war.

As they neared their destination they had to change into their school robes. The boys waited outside whilst the girls got changed and then they swapped. Harry felt strange wearing his robes, but also excited like it was finally official; he was going to Hogwarts. They made idle chatter the rest of the way, just talking about Hogwarts.

Finally they reached Hogsmede train station. They were greeted by a half giant, named Hagrid, and as you can imagine he was very large, and had a lot of hair. His lamp swung in the fading afternoon light. Hagrid was the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. He was accompanied by his dog, which Harry later found out was called Fang. It stuck close to Hagrid, barking at the occasional bird.

They reached a lake, also known as the black lake, and got into pairs and clambered on into the boats. Harry was with Mathew and they gasped when they saw the castle, it was a fantastic view. Harry stared at the water and watched the reflection of the moon dance in the ripples of the water. He wondered what lay below in the depths of the lake. When they reached the other end of the lake, they regrouped and made their way to the castle.

As they stepped over the threshold of Hogwarts Harry felt a sense of warmth run through him. He felt overwhelmingly happy and safe, he felt like a whole he hadn't known was there was filled.

They climbed the stairs of the school and came to a stop in front of a pair of large doors. Someone who Harry assumed was a teacher came to the front of the eager first years and said, "I'm Professor McGonagall, deputy headmistress of the school. The sorting ceremony will begin in a moment, if you could all wait here patiently for a few moments," and with a thin smile, left the first years to themselves.

Harry, Daphne, Hazel, Mathew and Alyssa, looked nervously at one another.

"Hey let's make a pact. No matter what houses we end up in, we'll all stay friends," suggested Mathew, with a smile on his face. They studied each other's faces and nodded in agreement.

Professor McGonagall returned shortly after and led them through the Great Hall. The doors swung open on queue for them. Their footsteps echoed, and all eyes were on the first years. Harry looked up at the ceiling, having read that they were enchanted. And sure enough when he looked up he saw floating candles and a beautiful night sky, perfectly matching the one outside.

They came to a stop, and faced a stool, with a worn hat placed on top. The hall was silent as everyone waited for the sorting ceremony to commence. Professor McGonagall stood at the front and revealed a piece of parchment. Then she began reading names.

One by one the students were called up, they sat on the stool, the hat was placed on top of their heads and then the hat would shout out their house. The list was going in alphabetical order by last name so Daphne was first in their group of friends. They all waited eagerly until it was their turn to be sorted.

"Greengrass, Daphne" shouted Professor McGonagall.

With grace and confidence Daphne came up the steps and sat on the stool. The hat was too big for her head, so she could barely see the eyes of everyone that would surely be on her.

"SLYHTERIN!" Bellowed the hat.

Harry watched Daphne's body deflate. They'd talked about the houses on the train and although she didn't hate the house of Slytherin, Daphne knew it wouldn't further her reputation at Hogwarts in a positive way. A cheer came from the Slytherin table as Daphne made her way to sit down.

After a couple people Mathew was up next, he walked up, with a smile and plonked himself down. A second later and the hat yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF."

A lot more names were called out, each going to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin or Hufflepuff. Every time someone was placed their house cheered with great excitement. Harry waited nervously for his name to be called.

"Potter, Harry." Called McGonagall. Harry's heart leaped, the blood rushing to his head, he felt like he was going to pass out but he somehow managed it to the stool. The hall had fell into hushed whispers over the brother of the-boy-who-lived.

"Interesting, I sense great power in you mister Potter." This came from the hat, which was now on Harry's head. Harry's heart was beating wildly. After several moments the hat seemed to have come to a decision.

"RAVENCLAW!" Harry breathed a sigh of relief that it was over. The Gryffindor's looked slightly shocked as they knew the Potter's reputation of being in Gryffindor. Ravenclaw cheered loudly, welcoming Harry to their house, they could only hope he would be a great asset to their house. As Harry sat down he tried to avoid the eyes that still lingered on him, however, he was drawn to one pair in particular. Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, his eyes watched Harry in question. Harry felt a weird sensation in his head, he looked at Dumbledore knowing it was something to do with him and tried to block it out. But as fast as the feeling began, it was over.

Harry returned to watching the rest of the sorting ceremony waiting for his final friends to be called.

"Warwick, Hazel," Hazel sat down and the hat barely touched her head before it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"

Next up was one of the red headed twins that Harry recognised from the platform. He and his brother went to Gryffindor, cheering loudly, getting the students to chant "Gryffindor" over and over again, until McGonagall could get them to settle down.

Finally, "Alyssa Winters," she made her way to the hat. Harry saw her cross her fingers in her lap, hoping to get the house she wanted.

"RAVENCLAW" came the hat's loud shout. With a small jump off the chair, Alyssa rushed towards the Ravenclaw table and sat beside Harry. Harry looked around at his other friends, each sat at different tables. They knew they wouldn't all end up in the same house but now that they are, Harry wondered if the pact they made before they entered the hall would remain.

As the last of the cheering came to an end, Professor Dumbledore stood up to make a speech.

"First of all, I would like to start off by welcoming everyone back from the holidays and secondly welcoming the first years, I hope Hogwarts becomes your home over the next seven years. Now let the feast begin." And with that Dumbledore joined the teachers table and food of all sorts appeared on the tables.

Harry made sure to enjoy his first meal as best he could, but he found it difficult as some of the students were clearly talking about him. After the meals were finished, lots of desserts appeared. Harry couldn't stop his excitement and he tucked in along with everyone else in the castle.

Once the desserts were cleared, the house prefects led their respective house to the common rooms. Harry watched in wonder at how to get into the Ravenclaw common room; they had to answer a riddle, Harry thought it very clever. Inside was amazing there was books upon books, tables to study at soft royal blue sofas. They were told the direction of the dormitories. The first and second years were on the first floor, third and fourth next, then fifth and sixth and finally seventh years who each had a room of their own on the top floor.

Inside Harry's room there was five beds all lined against the back wall, with a desk next to each of them and a wardrobe facing them, on the opposite side of the wall. Harry took the bed furthest from the door, closer to the window and the bathroom; which led off from that room.

Harry settled in, unpacking everything for the year ahead. His four roommates were Nicholas Drake, Cole Splintwood, James Hunter and Rodger Davis. They seemed nice enough and Harry hoped he would be good friends with them in time.

Harry later returned to the main area of the common room and found Alyssa talking with one of her roommates, Eliza Castle. Harry went to sit with them and learned that they had known each other when they were younger. He got a few people asking him questions, but being Ravenclaws, they were smart and caught on to the fact that he clearly didn't want to talk about his home life. Although he still got a few stares.

Harry talked to Alyssa and Eliza for the rest of the night, about what lessons they were most excited for and which teachers they were most excited to have. Harry really enjoyed feeling like he had friends for once and went to sleep that night with a smile on his face.

Authors Note: I know I haven't updated in a while but I've been busy revising for mock exams and I just haven't had the motivation to do any writing. There won't be any more updates after this one for a couple weeks just so I can get mocks out the way and then write as many chapters as possible before creating a regular update plan. But I still want to write this story, and see it get somewhere so I am not stopping. I made up my own description of the Ravenclaw common room, from a mixture of things that I have read, as I'm not too sure what it's actually meant to look like. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry it's a bit short, I'll make sure the rest are longer, and thank you for the reviews I got on chapter one.