“Get up!” an angry voice called, knocking hard on the door. “If you don’t get a move on you will miss the train! Get ready now! There’s no time for breakfast, you will have to get it on the train,” and he heard feet retreating downstairs.
For once, Sirius got up and dressed quickly. Today he was going to Hogwarts, and he couldn’t wait. He had packed his trunk the previous night. He had wished that he could bring his broom, but he knew that first years could not have them, so he picked up his Nimbus 1000 and set it gently on his bed. Then he lifted his trunk with one arm, and held Harry in his cage with the other. He opened the door and laboriously dragged his trunk down the stairs, being careful not to swing Harry around too much. When he got to the bottom he took deep breath, and then managed to heave his trunk to the front door.
His mother, father, and Regulus arrived only a moment later. “How are we getting there?” Sirius asked.
“Your father has gotten us cars from the Ministry,” his mother snapped. “Now move!” she said, shoving him through the door.
They all went out, and his father shut the door behind them and tapped it with his wand. Sirius could hear all the locks locking themselves.
He then dragged his trunk to the car as quickly as he could. The ministry driver helped him shove it into the trunk. He then opened the door and squeezed into the back seat. The drive did not take long, but it was very uncomfortable. He was squashed against the side with Regulus in the middle and his mother on the other side, and his father sat up front next to the driver. When they arrived at King’s Cross station, Sirius was quite glad to get out of the car.
Sirius’s father led them into the station to the barrier between platform 9 and 10. He walked right through the barrier. Sirius followed him, fascinated. He stepped into the platform and saw a sign reading Platform 9 ¾. He looked around and saw a scarlet steam engine bearing the name The Hogwarts Express.
His mother, brother, and father appeared beside him.
“Hurry up and get on, or you will miss the train!” said his mother hurriedly.
“Good-bye. We won’t be seeing you until Christmas,” his father said crisply.
“Good-bye,” Sirius said, and then turned and walked toward the train.
He got on, and walked down the train searching for an empty compartment. At the end he saw a compartment with only two boys who looked his age.
“Excuse me, is it alright if I sit here?” Sirius asked.
“Yeah, sure!” said one of the boys. He was slightly thinner than Sirius and had black, very thick and messy hair that stuck up at odd angles, which gave it a very windswept look. He wore glasses and had hazel eyes.
“Are you new here?” he asked. Sirius nodded.
“Me too. I’m James Potter, and this is Remus Lupin,” said James, gesturing at the other boy. He was also very thin, with light brown hair, had penetrating eyes, and wore clothes that looked very shabby and worn compared to James and Sirius’s.
“Hello,” said Remus, smiling sadly at him.
“Here,” said James. “I’ll help you with that trunk.”
“Thanks!” said Sirius, and together they managed to load Sirius’s trunk and Harry onto the rack. Sirius took the seat directly across from James, but before Sirius could ask him anything, the compartment door slid open and a boy with small watery eyes and thin colorless hair stuck his head around the door. He was very short and was much plumper than the other three in the compartment.
“C-can I sit here?” the boy asked nervously. “Everywhere else is full.”
“Yeah, sure,” said James, standing up and helping him load his trunk onto the rack. The boy sat down next to Sirius.
“Hello,” the boy said nervously. “Er…I’m P-Peter Pettigrew.”
“Hi, I’m James. James Potter,” James said, “-this is Sirius Black,” he continued, jerking his thumb at Sirius. “ “and this is Remus Lupin.” he finished, gesturing at Remus.
“Oh. Are you new too?” Peter asked in his high, squeaky voice.
“Yep.” replied James. “What houses do you reckon you’ll be in?” he asked. “I know for a fact I’ll be in Gryffindor. Everyone in my family was. How about you, Sirius?”
Sirius scowled. “My whole family is a Slytherin lot,” he noticed that James’s face had tightened. “but I’m not proud of it!” he added quickly. “I don’t want to be in Slytherin. I hate my family, and because of what they’re like, I’d really rather not. I reckon my mum would kill me if I didn’t…so I don’t really have a choice, do I?” he grimaced, thinking of having to spend a whole seven years locked up with a bunch of stuck up pure-bloods.
“I think I’ll get put in Hufflepuff. I have no brains at all, and I’m dead clumsy,” said Peter, his head drooping sadly.
“Better than Slytherin,” muttered Sirius darkly.
“What about you, Remus?” James asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Remus vaguely, who had been staring out the window, and continued to stare out of it. His voice has a hint of sorrow in it.
Sirius and James exchanged looks. Sirius searched around for something to say, but was saved the trouble by the arrival of an old witch pushing a cart full of treats. “Can I get you anything, my dears?” she asked.
“Yes,” James replied, pooling out his money. “I’ll have a little of everything, please.” The witch took the money and dumped a ton of candy and treats into James’s arms. “We’ll share,” he added to Sirius and Peter. Remus was still staring out the window.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“No, er… I think we’re ok,” said Sirius, grinning at James, and the witch bustled off to the next compartment.
“Thanks!” said Sirius. “My parents never give me money for anything. They don’t trust me with it.”
“No problem,” said James, setting it all on the floor. “Help yourself.”
James unwrapped a Chocolate Frog and crammed it into his mouth. Sirius picked up the box of Bertie Botts’ Every Flavored Beans, and put a cream colored one in his mouth. He chewed for a moment, and then choked and spit out into his hand.
“Bleh! Earthworm!” Sirius said.
James roared with laughter.
Peter, Sirius, and James continued to eat their way through the sweets until they were full. Then they played a game of Exploding Snap. Remus continued to stare out the window, deep in thought. They had just finished the first game when Remus shouted excitedly “Were here! Were here!”
The three of them moved quickly over to the widow and pressed their faces against the glass. They gasped.
They were fast approaching a huge, magnificent castle with many turrets. In front of it was a very big black lake. With the huge castle silhouetted against the starry night sky, it was quite sight.
“We better put our robes on,” Remus said. They all quickly changed into their robes and continued staring out the window as Hogwarts drew closer.
Slowly, the train began to stop. They took their trunks and pets off the rack, and entered the already crowded hallway. The train completely stopped, and the students began to get of the train. The four of them stuck together and managed to get off the very crowded train and onto the platform. They heard a deep voice calling “Firs’ years! Firs’ years, over here, please!” They hurried toward the voice and saw it was a man twice as large as any normal man with long, dark, tangled hair. A bunch of other first years were gathered around him. They joined the group.
“A’right, is tha’ all?” he asked, counting them. “A’right. Follow me.” All the first years followed him, looking very nervous. Except for James, who was grinning excitedly. They arrived at the edge of the lake, where a bunch of small boats were waiting for them. “Everyone get in. Four to a boa’,” the man said. Peter, Remus, Sirius, and James got a boat to themselves.
When everyone was settled comfortably into their boats, the boats went off across the lake. None of them talked. When they reached the other side of the lake, they all climbed out of their boats and followed the man through a huge set of double doors. He led them through the castle to a small chamber. “Wait here,” the man said, smiling at them kindly. Then he turned and left the chamber. They all waited in silence. A few minutes later a very stern looking woman with black hair pulled back into a tight bun. She had square glasses and beady eyes.
“Please follow me. The sorting ceremony will start in a moment.” The followed her through the door into a huge hall, which had four long tables, two on each side of the room and filled with students. In the front of the room was a single table where who Sirius assumed were teachers sat. In the very middle of the table sat a very old man with long a long white hair and beard.
“That must be Dumbledore,” James whispered to him as they walked to the front of the hall. “My parents told me about him,” James continued. “They said he’s brilliant, the best headmaster Hogwarts has ever had.”
The woman stopped in front of the teachers’ table. She picked up a roll of parchment and an ancient looking wizard hat. “When I call your name,” she said loudly to the first years. “-come and sit on the stool.” Sirius now noticed a stool standing right next to where the woman was standing. And so the sorting started.
Sirius was very nervous. He was shifting from foot to foot anxiously. And then finally she called, “Black, Sirius.”
“Good luck!” James whispered to him.
He walked quickly up to the stool and sat down. The woman put the hat over his head. He heard a voice in his ear. “Hmm…a tricky one, eh?”
Sirius desperately thought “Not Slytherin, please not Slytherin.”
“Not Slytherin? Your family does well there, although I can see you’re different. Hmm…well, not Hufflepuff. No, no, that would not suit you at all. Well, I suppose… GRYFFINDOR!” shouted the hat. The table on the far left cheered. Sirius grinned and walked over to the Gryffindor table. He saw James grinning at him and cheering.
Sometime later the last person was sorted and the woman picked up the stool and hat and took it away. Peter, James, and Remus had also joined him at the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore stood up and everyone in the room immediately fell silent. Sirius could tell that all the students respected him, and he knew why: Dumbledore gave off a sense of power and complete control.
He beamed at all of them. “Welcome, welcome, to another year at Hogwarts. There will be a time for a speech, but this is not it. Time to eat!” most of the students laughed and sat down hungrily. Immediately all the platters filled with food. It was a magnificent feast, and although Sirius was stuffed from all the sweets on the train, he managed to eat a fair amount of it.
When everyone was done the plates were magically wiped clean and Dumbledore rose again. “Well, now I must give you the start of year notices. All students should know that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds, and…” But Sirius wasn’t listening. He was now feeling very tired and found he could barely keep his eyes open. Several minutes later, he heard the scraping of benches and realized that Dumbledore must have dismissed them. He stood up and followed James out of the hall. The prefects led all the first years up to Gryffindor tower, and through a hole behind a portrait of a fat lady, who apparently guarded Gryffindor tower. They arrived in the common room, which was a cozy room with a few overstuffed armchairs surrounding a crackling fire. He dimly registered being led up to the boys’ dormitories and taking the bed by the window, next to James’s. He changed out of his robes, and fell onto his bed.
And in the moment before he fell asleep, he decided something: He didn’t care about what his family thought anymore. He had been made a Gryffindor, and not a Slytherin, and he was proud of it.