“Rose! Come on, we need to find a compartment,” Albus Potter said to his cousin Rosalie Weasley, who preferred Rose. They were both finally starting their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Albus had an older brother, James, who was already at Hogwarts and about to start his third year.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Hold on, can you help me carry Crookshanks?” Rose asked. Her mother had helped her choose her cat’s name. He was named after the cat her mum had while she was at Hogwarts.

About halfway there, Al's brother poked his head into their compartment, “Hey Al... Rose. How are you doing on this fine trip?” James said smirking.

Al knew his brother too well, “What did you do to us?” he demanded. James stopped smirking and just laughed right out loud.

“I...I...I just glued your compartment door shut!” he said after he closed the door. He was laughing uncontrollably now. Al looked shocked that his brother would jeopardize his first day at Hogwarts. Rose was still calm.

“Why are you just sitting there, Rose? We’re stuck in here! Do you know anything to get us out of here? A spell, a charm, or some magic ungluing thing? I don’t know,” Al cried. Rose stood up, took out her wand and quietly said a charm or spell and she reached over and opened the door. And then, she left.

“Oh,” Al said to himself, feeling incredibly stupid.

As the train pulled into Hogsmede station, Albus and Rose were just pulling on their robes. Outside they could hear the unmistakable sound of Hagrid, the gamekeeper. They couldn’t wait to get to Hogwarts and be Sorted onto their houses. Hopefully Gryffindor.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here. Hello Al. Rose. An’ how are you today?” asked Hagrid.

“Hey, Hagrid! I’m good, and how are you?” asked Rose. Albus just nodded. They were too excited to say much right now; they just wanted to get inside.

”I’m alrigh’. I’m alrigh’," Hagrid replied.

“Hagrid, can we just hurry up and get inside? I can’t wait,” said Albus anxiously. The rest of the first years were finally catching up to them. Al could see Scorpius Malfoy walking over. He looked lonely. Al wanted to talk to him, but Uncle Ron had said that the Malfoys were trouble, so he left him alone. All of the first years followed Hagrid to the boats that would take them across the lake to Hogwarts.

“Alrigh’ let’s get a move on now. Don’ wanna be late,” Hagrid called out, “Now, ony four to a boat.” Hagrid got a boat to himself. Rose and Al sat in a boat with Elizabeth Beyton and Jake Russell. They spent the whole time on the boat talking about Houses and school.

When they finally made it across the lake and into Hogwarts, they were told to wait outside by Professor Longbottom, the Deputy Headmaster. He left them alone in the hall. That was the perfect time for Albus to check out his new classmates. He looked around and saw Rose, Scorpius Malfoy, Elizabeth Beyton, Jake Thomas, a set of triplets, and a kid with purple hair, who reminded him of Teddy Lupin.

Inside, all of the older students were waiting for Professor McGonagall to enter and the first years to be Sorted. James didn’t really care about all of that, he was just really hungry. Just then, the doors opened and the first years followed Professor Longbottom in. They were all really nervous, James could tell. He saw Albus and Rose and quickly waved. They waved back then turned around and started whispering with his best friend. Across the table from them, Fred Weasley Jr. joined in the conversation. McGonagall cleared her throat and got their attention right away, “First, I would like to welcome all of our new first year students to Hogwarts and I would like to welcome our other students back. I would also like to remind you that Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to all students unless accompanied by a teacher. Now, let the Sorting begin!”

First was, “Aberly, Carolyn,” who was a Ravenclaw. Next was, “Azra, Zeenah,” who became a Ravenclaw also. A few names were called before Albus recognized one:

“Beyton, Elizabeth,” The Sorting Hat didn’t sit on her head for very long. Almost right away it said, “Gryffindor!” A few more and then:

“Potter, Albus,” It had just touched his head when it said “Gryffindor!” Al ran off to the table smiling like mad! He had had nothing to worry about at all. James gave him a high five and he sat down at the table. Then there was:

“Russell, Jake,” who turned out to be a Gryffindor. And right near the end there was:

“Weasley, Rosalie,” who took only one second before becoming a Gryffindor. After all, she was a Weasley.

Finally he called out, “Zottos, Anna,” who became a Hufflepuff. Somewhere in between all of them Professor Longbottom called out:

“Malfoy, Scorpius,” The Sorting Hat took longer than anybody had expected finally telling Scorpius that he was a...”Gryffindor!”