Julie woke up about five hours later, when the sun had started to set. All the others were asleep, except for Remus, against whom she had fallen asleep. Blushing, she quickly sat up straight. Remus chuckled.

"I didn't really mind." he said in a quiet voice. Julie was still bright red, she could feel that. "Did you sleep well?" Remus asked, and Julie nodded.

"I dreamt I was back at Beauxbatons with my best friend. I do miss her, even though I saw her not so long ago in Paris. We went on a holiday there, because I'd asked to." she said, and Remus nodded. "So, is Sirius always that annoying?"

Remus nodded again. "But he's actually really cool once you get to know him."

"Does he have a crush on Olive?" she asked, and Remus chuckled again.

He shut the book he was reading. "I think so. But I believe both are crushing on the other but don't want to admit it. Or they're just really, really good friends." he said. "And you?"

"Crushing on Olive? Ew, incest. Sirius? Gross, he's an insufferable brat." she joked, and Remus laughed.

"No, if there are boys in your life." he said, and Julie 'ooh'-ed.

She shook her head. She didn't like to admit it, but she hadn't even kissed anyone yet, and she was the only one. Okay, together with Zenia Bolrag, but she had a huge wart on her lip, so it kind of made sense that no one had kissed her. The thing was, the boys at Beauxbatons had a thing for blond girls who stood out in ballet and the like. Quidditch was of course popular, but not as much as dance was. Julie had crushed on this boy for years, Louis Davies, who was the Seeker of the Quidditch team. Sadly, he was dating a girl called Antoinette Malade, who was a tall blond girl that was practically perfect in every way. Except that she was the meanest girl ever. As it was, she was involved in Julie's 'incident'. "No." she said, and Remus nodded.

"Well, I'm quite sure things could be different here. If you really are as good in everything as Olive says, the boys will be dying to go out with you." he said, and Julie blushed.

She reached for her book again. "I don't know, maybe." she said, and continued reading.

The ride took ages, according to Julie. But, at some point, when it was pitch black outside, they were nearing Hogwarts. The train slowed down and Julie could read the large sign that was pinned against the brick wall of the small station.

HOGSMEADE STATION

She followed the four boys and her sister outside, and continued following them to the chariots, of which Olive had told her pulled themselves. The six of them entered one, cramming against each other. Julie shuddered. It was much colder here than in France. A drop of rain dropped on her nose, and slowly it started pouring.

"Great." Sirius said. "Now the girls can't see how gorgeous I am because I'm soaked." he grumbled. "I mean, I am gorgeous, right Olive?"

Olive nodded. "Of course you are." she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "I'm so excited for the feast. I wonder who our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is. What with Professor Nickelson being killed and everything. Kind of sad, really, she was an okay teacher." she said.

Julie had heard about Professor Nickelson. She'd been killed by a dragon on a trip to Romania. Everyone believed there was a curse on the post, but it was still the most famous post on the list of Hogwarts jobs. Julie did hope the teacher wouldn't be like Professor Colbert, who had scolded Julie for 'being clumsy' with her spells. It wasn't Julie's fault she knocked that bubbling cauldron with venomous liquid over, someone else did it with a spell on Julie. At least, that was what Julie thought.

"As long as she's better than Professor Greyson it's good. He was one bad teacher." Remus said, and the others agreed.

Julie had no idea who Professor Greyson was. "What did he do?" she asked, and Sirius sniggered.

"He had a thing going on with this Slytherin girl. It wasn't pretty." he said. Julie didn't know what to say exactly, until Remus corrected Sirius.

"Not in that way. There was a fight between the Slytherin girl and Professor Greyson. They were always against each other and that was the only thing the lessons were on about. Eventually they were having a duel and the girl accidentally killed Professor Greyson with the Furnunculus curse which blocked his throat. He choked and died." Julie's mouth must've been open, because Remus pushed it closed with his finger. "Actually, I think the worst teacher we've had is Pickles."

Julie laughed at the name. "What did he do?" she asked.

"She." James corrected. "But I get the confusion. She had this beard." the fours boys and Olive shuddered as if on cue.

Julie raised a brow. "That's what was wrong with her? And how did she die?"

"She didn't." James said. "And she also had this smell of death and garlic and rotten eggs on her." The five shuddered again. "She set the library on fire. If it wasn't for Mrs Blint all the books would've gotten burned. The only one who actually burned was Pickles. She's still in St Mungo's." He said, and Julie nodded.

Clearly they hadn't had much luck with Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers either. Julie just hoped she had more luck. While they were discussing the former DADA teachers the large castle Julie knew from the pictures in Hogwarts: A History came in sight. Julie felt her heart skip a beat as it dawned to her she'd live in the castle for the coming time. The chariots stopped and Julie and the others left the chariot, and walked in the stream of Hogwarts students into the huge castle. It wasn't a far walk to the large doors everyone walked to, of which Julie knew was the Great Hall hidden behind.

They entered the Great Hall and it was just the way Julie had imagined it. Huge, and gorgeous. At the far end of the hall was the large point-counter with the gems for each house, Rubies for Gryffindor, Emeralds for Slytherin, yellow diamonds for Hufflepuff and blue sapphires for Ravenclaw. She followed the others to the large table that was lined with a red linnen table liner that went all the way across the table. Golden plates and goblets were placed on it, along with glass jugs designed with the head of a hog made out of bronze. As Julie looked up she could see the stars through the light of the candles that floated, buzzing along with the sound of chitchattering. Julie looked over to the table the Slytherins sat at, and saw a boy with black hair staring at Lily, who was sitting on Julie's other side.

She tapped Lily on the shoulder. "Someone's staring at you." she said, and Lily raised a brow. "Slytherin table, black hair." she relaxed when Julie said that.

"Oh, that's probably Severus who wants to talk to me." she said. "Where's he sitting?" Julie said he sat at the far end of the table, and Lily looked over and smiled at the boy. "I'll go talk to him later."

Julie looked at the table the teachers sat, then saw that the man in the middle, with the grey-ish beard, dinged his knife to his goblet. The sound magnified and the whole hall went quiet. The man stood up, and looked at the hall through his half-moon glasses. "I'm very glad to see you all back here, filling the once empty chairs and empty tables. Well, they're benches, actually. Now, I know you are all very hungry, but I have a few notifications before the first-year students will be sorted in their houses. After that, you can eat. God, who am I kidding, I know you are all starving. I'll give you some nuts to snack on while I tell you the information." he said, before waving his wand. Bowls with nuts appeared at the tables, and people started eating them. "Good, now, my first notification is that for third-year and above there will be a Hogsmeade weekend coming up next weekend already. As you all know there is a Masquerade ball coming up for Hallowe'en, and the first and second years will be able to find their gowns, dress robes and masks in the library. More information will follow when our first-years have joined us. Last year Slytherin House has won the house cup, and I wish you all luck this year. To start off, I award fifty starting points to each house, so you do have something to lose.

Was it Julie's imagination or did he look at the four boys and Olive?

"Now, I will have Professor Kettleburn guide the first-years in." The large doors opened again and a large group of small children entered. Some of them were actually quite tall, and most of them were mesmerized by the large hall. One of the first-years actually almost tripped on his way to the stool with the well-known Sorting Hat on it.

Professor Kettleburn stood next to the hat, and everyone waited. Suddenly a rip near the brim opened and the hat began to sing.

Darkness is near,

and I'm still here.

Sorting you in these houses so strong,

I know exactly where you belong.

And even though we're all in danger,

there's nothing quite stranger.

Than feeling the warmth of your home,

Like a Roman, back in Rome.

My job is to sort you in those homes,

Where your spirit roams.

Who are you?

What is it you view?

Are you intelligent and witty?

Then Ravenclaw is not a pity.

Are you brave and bold?

In that case Gryffindor is your gold.

Are you cunning and ambitious?

Then the spirit of a Slytherin is your delicious.

Or are you the loyal and sweet?

Hufflepuff, there lie your feet!

But wherever I sort you in,

None of these, have main sin!

For all of these are true,

But only and just for you!

Put me on your head, let me look inside,

Then you can go and stride,

along your fellow Ravenclaws, Slytherins,

Hufflepuffs, or Gryffindors.

The hat went silent and everyone clapped, as well as Julie. "Cheerful. Was it me, or did the last sentence not rhyme?" Lily said, and Julie nodded. "Thought so." she said.

Professor Kettleburn rolled out the parchment scroll she was holding, and started reading out names, before putting the hat on their heads. "Ashton, Colleen." a small girl with brown hair and an overdosis of lipgloss stepped forward and her sight got blocked by the large hat. "SLYTHERIN!" the hat bellowed, and the girl ran towards the clapping and cheering table.

"Aziz, Xander." A boy with a smug look stepped forward and sat down. The hat blocked his sight too. After mere seconds the hat bellowed, "RAVENCLAW!" The boy smiled, still smug, and ran to the table.

Next were "Green, John." in Slytherin along with "Itsy, Betsy." the boy and the girl smiled and ran to their table, immediately starting a conversation with Colleen Ashton.

"Johnson, Jackie." was the first Gryffindor, and "Johnson, Levi." followed shortly.

The first Hufflepuffs were "Kelps, Emily." and "Lents, Paisley." too. "Lockhart, Gilderoy." became a Ravenclaw, along with "Lorraine, Lola."

"Mormeigh, May." was a Slytherin, and "Mormeigh, Max." was a Gryffindor. When that happened the girl called May started crying, while Max looked like the happiest kid in the whole entire world.

"Nottingham, Sam." got sorted into Hufflepuff, and "Opphire, Claire." was a Ravenclaw.

Another Hufflepuff was "Quaz, Imelda." and "Rainstem, Alice." was a Gryffindor.

At some point Julie stopped paying attention because the boy with black hair was obviously drooling over Lily. She tapped her on the shoulder and pointed it out, and Lily gave the boy a slight smile, so she wondered if Lily and this boy were more than friends, or at least each others crushes. The last person to be sorted was "Wimbledon, Joseph." into Slytherin.

The students started talking, but the man with the large beard once again tapped his knife to the goblet and the hall went silent again.

***

Hello dear reader!

I hope you are doing well, and are enjoying the story so far. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it and I'll update the next chapter sometime soon as well, though I might set in a specific day when I update.

Anyway,
Lots of Love,
Florence