Around three hours into the trip, we were all getting a little bored. My dad had told me that the train normally takes around six hours or so to make it to Hogwarts. Doing a little mental calculation, considering the train was headed Northbound, that would put Hogwarts deep within Scotland.

Suddenly, our cabin door was wrenched open, and two red-headed twins tumbled into our cabin. They both squeezed themselves onto the benches next to us, the one next to me blurted out. "If anyone asks, we were in here the whole time." The other sat next to Alicia and quickly closed the door.

Seeing the red-headed twin's identical crafty smiles, I knew that these two could only be the Weasley twins, Fred and George. The two biggest hell-raisers ever to go through Hogwarts. Before any further introductions could be made, a tall dark-haired teenage wizard with a green badge with a silver snake that said Prefect on it, appeared in the hallway.

When he made it to our compartment, he opened the door, eyeing the twins suspiciously and asked, "How long have these two been here?"

Not wanting to throw Fred and George under the bus, I quickly responded. "They have been in here since the start of the trip, what's it to you?"

His eyes snapped to me, and retorted, "Someone thought it would be a good idea the toss a dungbomb into the prefect cabin. Someone saw two redheads running away from the scene." Finished speaking he glared suspiciously at the twins.

The one next to me piped up with an innocent expression, "I don't know what to tell you mate, as my friend told you, George and I have been in here since the beginning."

Chiming in as well, George added, "This feels like a set up to me, I mean, if I were going to do something like throwing a dungbomb in the prefect's cabin, I would have a disguise I wouldn't run around with red hair. Not to mention, this is a train full of wizards and witches. How do you know that they didn't magically alter their appearance so they wouldn't get caught?"

Slightly taken aback, the prefect narrowed his eyes and warned. "I'll be keeping an eye on you this year, if I so much as smell anything suspicious, you'll pay dearly." Slamming the door behind him, he moved on.

As soon as he was out of earshot, both twins evilly grinned at one another. George winked at me and said, "Thanks mate, for backing up Fred and I back there."

Before I could respond Fred interrupted, "You know, George, I just had a terrible thought. I bet they would never expect that whoever dumped the dungbombs would double back and do it again while they were looking for the culprits."

A gleam appeared in George's eye, and he puffed up and spoke out in a righteous tone, "Maybe we should go check it out, you know, to stop them, just in case whoever did it sneaks back to do it again. George reached up and slid open the door, and bolted from the room with Fred right on his heels.

The twins blew into our cabin like a storm of chaos, and they also blew out just as quickly, leaving silence in their wake. After a moment of stunned silence, Anna asked, "Who the bloody hell were those two? And did they do what I think they did?"

Grinning at Anna, I said, "I don't know, but I'm willing to bet that they are going to be making trouble all year long."

The trip continued with the four of us discussing random subjects. By the end of the trip, Alicia seemed to fit in our small group like she had been around forever. Around four-thirty, we all slipped our Hogwarts robes on knowing that the trip was almost over. By five, the Hogwarts express slowed to a stop, and there was a mad rush to get off the train.

As soon as we got off the train, I saw him standing in the distance casting a huge shadow with a wide grin on his face as if he had the best job in the world. Reading stories about a half-giant doesn't prepare you for coming face to face with one. I couldn't get over how tall Hagrid was, the book had described him as twice as tall as an average man and three times as wide, and boy, did J.K Rowling nail that description. He must be around eleven and a half feet tall, but while the height was impressive, his width is what made him intimidating, his arms were thicker than my whole body.

Most of the first years seeing Hagrid were intimidated by him, not knowing that he had a heart of gold hidden beneath his massive size. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he bellowed, "First years, leave your trunks over here and follow me." Assuming everyone would follow, he turned and began striding away. Seeing that no one else made a move, I was the first to follow with Cedric, Anna, and Alicia following close behind.

He lead us to a dock on a lake so big we could barely see the other side at all. By the dock were around ten small boats with another forty or so out in the water floating. Hagrid waved to the first years and boomed in a loud voice, "Alright first years, three or four to a boat, come on now."

Luckily, being at the front of the pack of around a hundred and forty students, my friends and I were first to get in a boat. After we all piled in, the lantern hanging from the front began to glow lightly, and we slowly moved from the dock. Another boat in the water moved by itself to take our boat's place.

By the time everyone had been loaded up, the sun was beginning to set. The boats slowly began making their way through the water. Nervous whispering could be heard from the students nearby in other boats, as we crossed the lake. When about a third of the way there, Anna noticed that I was staring intently at the water and hissed at me, "What are you looking for? If you're not careful you'll fall in."

Spotting the twins nearby a crafty thought appeared in my head, so I responded in a loud voice, "Supposedly there is a giant squid down there that is friendly to students. I'm just trying to see if I can catch a glimpse. Besides, I've heard that if students fall in, the squid will save them."

Two voices rang out next to our boat in response to my statement. "Wicked." Looking up, I saw Fred and George sitting in a boat with a black girl. They immediately began to rock the boat, trying to tip over. The girl warned, "Don't you dare."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

George wheedled, "Come on Angelina, it will be fun."

Before she could retort, their boat flipped and dumped them all into the lake. After flipping them, the boat flipped back up. All three broke through the surface, Angelina sputtered, "Your both dead, your bodies simply haven't realized yet."

Fred grinned and replied, "Don't be like that Angelina, besides, it was getting kinda warm. In fact, you should be thanking us for helping you cool off."

After hearing Fred's response, an outrage expression appeared on Angelina's face, but before she could respond, all three off them were lifted into the air by giant tentacles and sent gently back into their boat.

Seeing the giant tentacles put them back into the boat satisfied my curiosity on whether the giant squid in the lake was friendly, and I didn't have to get wet to do it. It's rather nice to have people around who are willing to do crazy stunts like that, even if they didn't realize I planned for them to do that. Cedric nudged me and whispered, "I saw what you did there."

Grinning at him, I quietly said, "I don't know what you mean, I didn't tell them to do it. They came to that decision all on their own."

Cedric let out a small laugh. As we got closer, Hogwarts seemed to dominate the horizon; it was a massive seven-story castle that had towers reaching defiantly into the sky. The castle seemed to pulse with magic, and the students muttering began to die away. By the time we made it to shore, the sun had long gone down. There was a path from the lake to the castle illuminated by glowing balls of light that floated in the air.

At the end of the path was a long flight of stone stairs leading to a pair of massive double doors. Halfway up, was a stern-looking witch. Her pointed hat mast covered her graying hair that was pulled back into a bun. She started speaking in a slight Scottish accent, "Good evening, students. Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I am Professor McGonagall, Head of the Department of Transfiguration and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. In a moment, we will move into the great hall and begin the sorting ceremony, where you will be sorted into one of four houses that represent the founders of Hogwarts. They are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. All four houses have long and glorious histories, and I expect for all of you to try and add to the achievements of your house. Once you are sorted into your respective houses, you will be representing them during your time here at Hogwarts. Succeed and do well and you will earn your house points, mischief will cost your house points. At the end of the year, the points are tallied and whoever has the most wins the house cup. For those who end up in Gryffindor, I will be expecting the best behavior out of you, as I am the head of Gryffindor and I do not like to be embarrassed. All of that aside, don't worry about your belongings; they will be delivered to your dorms before you get there."

Turning, she began marching up the steps, with her robes billowing behind her. All my fellow first years seemed to pick up on that this was not a witch to take lightly. I had even half-hardheartedly expected a crack from George or Fred, but they seemed to grasp that they needed to fly under the radar around Professor McGonagall.

At the top of the steps were massive double doors that opened as soon as Professor McGonagall reached them. "Come along now," she said.

Making our way into Hogwarts, we came upon another set of doors when she opened them, a great hall stood before us. Four long tables filled with witches and wizards occupied most of the hall's space. On the far end of the hall, was a long table full of older witches and wizards, at the middle, was a tall wizard with an enormous beard, an equally tall pointed hat, and half-moon glasses.

Seeing his appearance, I concluded that he was definitely Albus Dumbledore. Scanning the table, I saw other teachers that I recognized from the books, such as Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape. When I saw him, I couldn't help but think of all the conflict between him and Harry, I wonder how much of their conflict was written through Harry's point of view. It will be interesting to see if he is anything like what was written.

Cedric nudged me from my thoughts as students had begun to make their way forward. Before the great table was a small wooden stool that had an old worn hat with several patches on it.

Once we got to the front, the hat burst out. "Over a thousand year ago, when I was newly made, I saw the rise of this hallowed place, where the four greatest wizards and witches began to enchant this space. Each took students to call their own. Crafty Slytherin took only those of purest blood, whose cunning matched his own. Brave Gryffindor, demanded his students be stout of heart. Wise Ravenclaw chose only the most intelligent to fill her house. And Good Hufflepuff had no reservation on who she taught, and she passed on her dedication to her craft. To ensure the tradition continued, I was made to learn your minds, to best put you where you belong. Now don't be afraid, let me look inside and i'll sort you where you belong."

Seeing that the hat was done, Professor McGonagall turned around and pulled out a scroll. After unrolling it, she called out. "Johnson. Angelina "

At once, all eyes were upon her as she made her way to the sorting hat. "Gryffindor!" it shouted a few moments after being put upon her head.

As she stood up and went to the Gryffindor table, the students at the Gryffindor table clapped. Professor McGonagall continued to call out different names. A couple I recognized from the books, Such as Marcus Flint who was sorted into Slytherin and Roger Davies who went to Ravenclaw. But most were unknown to me.

There seemed to be no pattern I could discern about how the students were sorted. Sometime a house would be called several times in a row and at other time it seems to skip a particular house for multiple times.

All of a sudden, McGonagall called out "Diggory, Cedric."

Cedric gave me a nervous grin, and he headed up to the stool after the hat was placed on his head. The sorting hat declared loudly, "Hufflepuff!"

Seeing Cedric sorted into Hufflepuff was not a huge surprise to me, after all that where he was in the books. A few names later, McGonagall called out, "Alicia Spinnet." As she went up to the stool, I mused to myself that she should be sorted into Gryffindor. According to the books, she was on the Gryffindor quidditch team with Harry Potter. After a few moments, the hat rang out "Gryffindor."

"Lancaster, Anna" McGonagall called out next.

With a nervous gulp, Anna went to the stool and sat down, as the sorting hat was placed on her blond hair. It shouted, "Slytherin!"

Her purple eyes sought mine, I gave her a half-smile, indicating I didn't care what house she belonged to. Although I had my suspicions about why she ended up in Slytherin, overall it didn't matter to me, after all, my uncle was in Slytherin and he was awesome. The ceremony continued, and in a truly dramatic fashion, I was the final student to be sorted.

"Fawley, Alexander" McGonagall called out. 

Moving up to the stool, I sat down, and when McGonagall placed the sorting hat on my head, I could hear the hat mutter, "Hmm, interesting, interesting, you have a lot of qualities that makes you ideal for all of the houses. A pureblood who is extremely cunning, yes, you would do well in Slytherin." Determined not to influence the test at all, I indicated in my thoughts that I was content with whatever house it put me in.

The hat continued "Ah, but there is more to you than cunning and guile, I sense that you have great determination buried deep within, maybe you should go to Gryffindor. Hmmm, let us go deeper into your mind. Ah, I see you value your family and friends greatly, and you're a hard worker, those traits normally do well in Hufflepuff."

The sorting hat went on, "Ah, but at your core, I sense a burning intelligence, determined to learn and master magic in all its forms. To help you along your path to power, I know just where to put you."

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted.