Chapter 2

Darkness had fully set upon the train. The sweets that Albus, Jason, and Rose had bought seemed like a distant memory, and the talk had now settled on houses. “You seem like a Ravenclaw kind of bloke, you know, with your portable library,” commented Albus.

“No, I fancy myself in Gryffindor, I hear Ravenclaws are really dull,” he replied. 

“That isn’t fair! You haven’t even met any Ravenclaws, how can you possibly judge them?” Rose said, scandalized. 

“I can answer that,” said a large boy who was standing just outside threshold of the compartment. “It’s easy to just look at a Mudblood and tell that they really are scum.”

Jason drew his wand out of the pocket of his robes quickly, but his hand was quivering slightly. His face was drawn into a stare of rage. “This is the git who tried to curse me earlier,” he said with gritted teeth. Rose and Albus both stood up, wands raised, though neither of them really knew any defensive magic.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Potter and Weasley,” Goyle sneered, rolling his wand in his fingers. “I see that the Mudblood has got some famous company.”

“You better watch your step, Goyle,” Jason said scathingly.

“And what could dirt like you do to someone like me?” Goyle said coolly. Jason didn’t reply. Like Rose, he only knew magical theory, not how to cast spells. Goyle, however, knew perfectly well how to cast a variety of malicious spells. He had had much practice in his four years at Hogwarts. Albus’s teeth were clenched. “One wrong word or move, and we’ll all be in the hospital wing for a week,” he thought. “One wrong move…”

“You better lug that fat head of yours out of here, git, or we’ll have do it for you,” spat Jason. He had done it. They were certainly doomed.

“You’ll pay for that,” Goyle raised his wand, ready to strike. A small grin spread across his face.

“Levicorpus!” yelled a voice from the corridor. With those words, Goyle was hoisted into the air by his ankle, as if by a pulley, and James walked up to their compartment. The shouts of Goyle and James had prompted the students to protrude their heads out of their own compartments, trying to place a source to the noise. James held his wand steady, grinning at Albus and Rose as he did so.

“What was that, Goyle? Trying to curse these good ol’ first years? Come on, don’t Slytherins have bigger fish to fry, or is it because you can’t handle someone your own age? Don’t worry, I won’t judge you if that’s what it is…” he sneered. He lifted the curse. Goyle, his face flushed with anger, skulked away, pushing the spectators away with his arm. A group of younger boys, including Scorpius Malfoy, followed suit. He certainly looked the least angry of the group. A slight tattering of applause followed their departure. James raised his hand as if to say, “It was nothing!”

“Better be nicer to him in the future, little bro. Who knows, he might be your new classmate!” James commented. Albus threw an empty Every Flavor Beans carton at his head. James deftly dodged it and sauntered away, a group of giggling girls walking along in tow.

“Stupid prat!” Albus spat at him with as much scorn as he could muster.

“That ‘stupid prat ’ kept you in one piece for the sorting,” Rose commented. James could have doubled back to avoid the girls, and she shuddered to think what James would do to Albus if he knew Albus had called him a prat.

The excitement had prevented Jason, Rose, and Albus from noticing that the train had come to a complete halt. Students were disembarking from the long train, carrying a variety of animals. Everything from owls, to cats, to toads could be heard from the platform. Albus could also hear a couple of rats squealing. Apart from the sounds of pets, Albus could also hear the mutters and whispers that followed him as he proceeded across the crowded platform. A booming voice could be heard from the end of the platform, saying, “Firs’ years! Firs’ years, over here!” It was Hagrid. Beckoning Rose and Jason to follow him, Albus sprinted across the platform, dodging other students to get to the large man in his moleskin overcoat.

“Hi, Hagrid!” said Albus excitedly. Ever since he was a toddler, seeing Hagrid always reminded him of Hogwarts. Hagrid was easily one of his favorite people in the world. In fact, he and Rose were already scheduled to have tea with him on Thursday.           

“Alright there, Albus, and Rose o’ course,” Hagrid said, but rather more grumpily than he usual.

“Fine,” they said in unison.

“Well, that’s always good. Excited, eh?” Albus and Rose nodded. Hagrid continued, “Yeh should be. There’s a big surprise waitin’ for yeh at Hogwarts.” Albus’ eyes widened.

“What is it Hagrid?” berated Albus.

“I can’t say just now,” replied Hagrid, now beaming, “But you’ll know by tomorrow, I promise yeh that. Right then, I think we got all our first years now. Best be off.” He raised his voice, “Oi, first years, over ere’, follow me!”

Rose and Albus looked behind them, looking for Jason. He was nowhere to be seen. They fell back behind the crowd, looking for a head sticking out from the group; Jason was easily taller than all the other students.

“Darn it,” muttered Rose, “Where could he be?”

Albus shrugged as he said, “He’s probably somewhere around here. I just hope he didn’t go after Goyle. He seems a bit rash, doesn’t he?”

Rose looked concerned and scared. “Should we go looking for him? We could probably find our way back if we needed to,” he pointed to a cobblestone path where the carriages carrying James and the older students had recently left, “We just follow that path over there, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to get back.”

“What about the Sorting, what if we miss it? You know the Sorting Hat doesn’t sort after the first of September!” Rose said, wringing her hands.

Albus remembered when James had been sent a very angry letter from his mother when he had almost missed his own Sorting. He had been skipping rocks across the lake with Fred for the Giant Squid to swallow when he realized the time and bolted into the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall had yelled herself hoarse at him for almost missing the most important day in his school life. She had promptly sent an angry note home saying that if James had missed the Sorting, he would not be let into Hogwarts that year. Albus certainly didn’t want a lecture and a walloping with a broomstick from Grandma Weasley, like James and Fred had received.

“Well, Jason will miss the Sorting too, if we don’t help. He might be petrified somewhere and disillusioned! They might not find him for days!” Rose exclaimed. Albus thought hard. Was it worth it to risk his Hogwarts career? Albus remembered something written on a decorative plaque that was kept in his Dad’s office. Gryffindor: Where dwell the brave at heart, their daring nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart. Would Albus really be Gryffindor material if he didn’t help his friend? Probably not. He had made up his mind.

He put on a determined face, “Let’s do it,” he said. They just turned around and were about to slip away from the crowd when a voice yelled at them.

“Oi! Where do you think you guys are going?” It was Frank Longbottom. His round face and dark hair made him look like a shorter version of his father. His twin sister Alice was following not far behind, but the only thing they shared was a birthday. Alice had blond hair which was braided into pigtails, her large blue eyes burning holes in Rose and Albus.                         

“Uhm…” Albus said. He was horrible at lying. Albus was horrible at everything that James was good at.

“We were looking for our friend. He seems to have disappeared, and we think he may be in trouble. He tried to pick a fight with a Slytherin and…” Rose sighed.

“Well then, we better get going. The way I see it, we haven’t got much time,” Frank said. Alice nodded. Alice was not a very outgoing person, and had barely said three or four words since Albus had met her so many years ago. Frank did enough talking for both of them.

“We can’t let you guys do that! You might miss the sorting!” Rose said reasonably.

“Not if we hurry, and we still have quite a bit of time,” Frank had won her over. The four ran back down the platform, looking for any sign of their friend. They had ran the full length of the platform and not seen anything suspicious, until they spotted a small procession of lights in the distance, heading towards the south, towards Hogwarts.

“That has to be them. They probably stunned Jason and left him somewhere,” Albus said with gritted teeth.

“What should we do?” asked Rose. “We can’t just go over there and look for him. What if they get us too?”

Frank rubbed his chin, thinking. “Look, they’re leaving. If we’re quiet, we should be able to go get the bloke,” he said. They all nodded and set off into the darkness.

Going by boat to Hogwarts was a rather roundabout way to the castle. What with the lake being on the east side of the castle and Hogsmeade Station being on the north, walking to the castle was probably faster than boat. The four were hoping that this would play to their advantage. If they could just be quick in rescuing Jason from Goyle, they could slip back into the crowd of first years and pretend they had been there the whole time. Frank was at the head of the pack, speed-walking down the hill, Albus not far behind.

“He can’t be too far from here,” reasoned Albus as he rested his hands on his knees.

“Homenum Revelio!” Rose said. Her wand vibrated one time. “He’s around here somewhere,” she said determinedly.

“It could be someone else, though. What if it’s a trap?” Albus said worriedly.

“Jason already fell for that trap then, we still have to check, Al,” Rose replied. They scoured the hill, looking for a wand, a shred of clothing, a water canteen, anything.

“Whoa!” yelled Frank. The others raced around the hill to his side. Frank was staring into a stone passageway carved into the hill. It was lit with flaming torches.

“I’ve never read about this hill before,” Rose said angrily as she pulled her copy of Hogwarts: a History out of her purse. “Blast it! No mention of this hill whatsoever,” she raged as she slammed her book shut. Not finding information in a book was the biggest of the many pet peeves she possessed.

“He’s probably in there somewhere, petrified,” muttered Albus.

“We better get a move on then,” replied Frank. He peered down at his wristwatch. “The Sorting starts at eight exactly and it’s seven now. We have about forty-five minutes to find him, I reckon.”

Rose was the first to walk into the cave, her wand raised. The passage continued on for a while, becoming steadily eerier and dirtier as they progressed onward. The passage took a sharp right turn and continued onwards.

“I can see the end of the passageway,” yelled Rose to Albus, Alice, and Frank. A faint but visible light could be seen at the end of the stone corridor. They were all sprinting now. At the end of the hallway, what they saw shocked them. They had expected to see a small stone chamber, lit by torches like the rest of the passageway. Instead, they came upon a cavernous room with stained glass windows on the walls.

“Oh my god,” breathed Rose, “This is the Great Hall.” The others looked at her.

“Are you feeling okay, Rose?” asked Albus. He was genuinely concerned. Rose did know that the Great Hall was in the castle up the next hill, right?

“I’m fine,” she said. She went on in that strange dreamy voice that Albus had never heard her use before, “This is the old Great Hall. Before the castle was fully built, this is where the students ate. No one has ever been able to prove its existence. They say that this room should be the only place where they have any sort of effigy or picture of…” She raised a quivering hand to the front of the room. There stood four large, cracked stone statues that were sitting in great stone chairs engraved with various shapes and symbols, but no intelligible meaning. “…the founders,” Rose finished.

“HEY, ROSE! AL!” It was Jason. He was apparently hiding behind one of the taller statues, waiting to see who the intruders were. He rushed up to meet the rest of them in the center of the room, beaming broadly. “Nice, isn’t it?” he said as he looked around the room proudly. He spoke as if he owned the hall. For a few seconds, Rose, Albus, Frank, and Alice had no reaction. Then, Rose pulled a book out her bag and hurled it at Jason’s head. Jason ducked to avoid the massive volume. As he straightened up, Rose tossed another book at him.

“WHAT THE HELL, IS YOUR PROBLEM?!” she yelled as she kept tossing her precious books at Jason. Rose’s face, which had recently been filled with awe, was now flushed with fury. Albus could tell how much it was paining her to hurl her favorite things in the world at the scared looking boy, but her rage was such that she ignored the pain and continued to rage at him. Albus, and Frank were laughing, but Alice was merely smiling. “We risked our Hogwarts careers to save you from Goyle, but here you are, playing hide-and-seek in the middle of a hill!!” she screamed.

“I didn’t come here to play hide and seek,” Jason explained calmly to Rose, who was still fuming, “I saw a group of people go into the hill from the station. I wondered what they were up to, so I climbed over the hill. By the time I got there, these people walked out of the hill and towards the castle. I went into that passageway back there and found this place. I was just looking around when I found an engraving behind one of those statues.” He pointed to the one on the far right. It showed a tall man with a monkeyish face and long beard.  Jason screwed up his face, trying to remember.

Rose interjected, “Who cares what the statue said! We could have been expelled for missing the Sorting, but we risked that to come save you, and…”

“WHAT?!” yelled Jason. He face turned pale. “I-I-I didn’t know that you could get expelled for missing the s-s-sorting.”

“WELL, NOW YOU KNOW, DON’T YOU, YOU SLIMY FLOBBERWORM!” Rose continued to yell. Albus glanced down at his own watch. It was fifteen minutes to eight.

“SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!” roared Albus. Jason and Rose turned around. Albus pointed to his wristwatch and said, “We have fifteen minutes to get back to the castle, so we better find a way to get out of here, and soon.”

Jason turned even paler. “Now how are we supposed to do that? The castle is still pretty far away,” he said as he looked back towards the passageway Rose had come through.

 Suddenly beaming, Frank said, “I think we’ve found a way out. Or rather, Alice has.” He pointed to the far end of the room. The other four ran up to the front of the room. Behind a chubby stone woman who was holding a cup with a badger engraved on it, whom they all knew to be Helga Hufflepuff, hung an extremely large painting. The painting depicted a small, bare room. The only feature it possessed was a wooden door.

“I’ve read about those,” said Rose excitedly, all of her anger gone. “The paintings transport you to the places they show. If this painting shows a place in Hogwarts, we can probably make it to the Sorting in time. You just have to get into the painting somehow…”Alice precariously lifted her leg and shoved it into the painting. Her leg seemed to dematerialize, but she showed no sign of pain. They all followed suit. It was a bit unsettling to see your body blend in with the canvas, but Jason, Albus, Frank, and Rose stepped in obediently. Behind the painting was another stone passageway, but this one was completely dark. “Lumos!” said Rose. The passage illuminated.

“I hope you’re sure where this painting leads to,” Jason asked nervously. “It could lead to Africa or something.”

“It doesn’t,” answered Albus. He had pulled out of his robes a tattered old piece of parchment. He tapped it with his wand and said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” A map of Hogwarts materialized. Frank, Alice, and Jason leaned in towards it, amazed at its power to show the contents and people in Hogwarts. Rose was bouncing up and down on her foot anxiously. She had seen Albus use the map so many times last year when he was trying to find out where James was that she had gotten bored of it. “Look,” he said pointing, “This passage leads somewhere on the seventh floor. We can make it, but only if we hurry! There’s only ten minutes to eight!” They sprinted down the corridor. This passage way was much shorter than the previous one they had encountered. After several minutes, they reached a wooden door. Rose, who was in front, swung the door forward and burst into another corridor, opened the next door and entered one of Hogwarts’ well lit hallways. A tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy teaching Trolls to do ballet was visible at the end of the hallway.

“Where now?” whined Rose over Jason’s sounds of amazement. There were two minutes to eight. Albus took the lead and led them to the right, speeding down seven flights of staircases, and into the entrance hall. They saw the rest of the first entering the Great Hall, led by a tall woman in turquoise blue robes and with long black hair. Albus stowed the map back into his robes and followed the other first years into the Great Hall. He, Rose, Frank, and Jason all grinned ear to ear. They had managed to make it in time for the sorting. They were not going to be expelled. After the adventure in the Hill, Albus had almost forgotten about the Sorting. The butterflies returned to his stomach. He knew what he had to do to get into Gryffindor, but that didn’t stop him from worrying.

As they entered the real Great Hall, Albus knew which one he liked better. The ceiling of the Great Hall reflected the night sky in all of its beauty, perfectly depicting the stars twinkling overhead. Albus heard the Jason and Rose’s sounds of amazement at the fantastic sight. Both had no doubt read about the enchanted sky, but the wonder was such that it still filled them with awe. Frank and Alice, who had been to Hogwarts quite a few times with their father, Neville, showed no reaction to the sky, rather to the high table. Frank tugged Albus’ robes and pointed to the there. There, sitting next to Headmistress McGonagall, was Harry Potter, looking angrier than Albus had ever seen him.