TWO; THE SORTING

The rest of the train trip consisted of the trio pigging out on trolley food and messing around with Celeste's abilities to see how many colours she could change her hair to, or how many animals she could mimic. She even tried to turn herself to James, but she just managed to look like the female version of him.

Soon enough, Celeste excused herself to go get changed into her robes. She slipped on the white top, black skirt and the plain black tie before throwing her plain robes on overtop. She, of course, couldn't resist not getting them customised and her initials were sewed on the front in small writing. Then, she combed through her hair once more and changed it back to fully blonde before heading back to the compartment.

The train began slowing down and an announcement was made to leave all their belongings and make their way outside the train. Celeste made sure Nox was stowed safely inside her bag, and she made sure to leave a note on it to say that there was a living creature in it and to be careful, before she linked arms with the two boys, and they made their way outside.

Once outside, they were greeted by a giant man who yelled out for the first years to follow him. Once all the first years were gathered around him, he lead them to where some boats were stood waiting on the shore of the massive lake. "That's the Black Lake."

"Yes, Sirius, I can see that." Celeste nodded as the two boys dragged her to a boat and they sat there waiting for something to happen. They were joined by two other boys, both looked quite nervous.

"Didn't they say 4 to a boat?" The taller one said. He had sandy brown hair and a scar on his face.

"Yeah, but what does it matter? Not like the boat's going to sink." James shrugged and the two boys' eyes widened.

"Sink?"

"Shut up, James. It won't sink, you two. It's fine, relax. I'm Celeste. Celeste Fawley. Call me Cel." She smiled at them.

The tall one smiled back. "Remus Lupin."

The other one smiled as well, but it was a shaky one. "Peter Pettigrew."

"James Potter."

"Sirius Black."

"Did you lot know what you were getting into with the letter?" Celeste asked the two newcomers.

Peter shook his head. "Never had a father and my mother's a muggle, so this was a pleasant surprise to both of us. Can't say I'm disappointed though, this is amazing!" He looked around in awe as the boats began rowing themselves across the smooth surface of the lake.

"My father's a wizard, but my mum isn't, so I kind of knew what to expect." Remus replied. "What about you three?"

"Mum and Dad talk loads about Hogwarts, even though they went years and years ago. They always tell me about it, and I know a ton of secret spots. Bet I'll be showing you lot them later." James winked.

"My parents spoke about it. Sometimes. If it was to tell me they expect Slytherin. Mostly it's my cousin Andromeda who tells me about Hogwarts. It's her last year." Sirius replied.

"My parents tell me about it lots as well, and so do my brothers. Thomas graduated, but Killian's a third year, so I'm very excited to see if all the stories are true. And James, I've got some secret spots too, courtesy of Thomas, he was quite the explorer when he was here." She grinned happily, then gasped as she saw the castle. "LOOK!" She yelled out for everyone to hear.

All the first years looked up and they all let out exclamations of shock and awe at the castle that stood atop a high hill. They could see little carriages going up the long pathway to the main doors and warm lights flooding from the windows. "It's even more beautiful than I imagined." Celeste said.

The boats eventually docked at the other side of the lake, and they all got off. Sirius linked his arm with Celeste and James stood on her other side, while Remus and Peter walked behind them as they all followed the giant man to the doors. He knocked and the doors were swung open. "The first years, Professor McGonagall."

"Thank you, Hagrid." She ushered the children in and lead them to a room, where she stood in front of them and addressed them. "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." She continued explaining the sorting ceremony and the significance of the houses. "I will return for you when we are ready."

Then, she turned and left. Celeste turned to Sirius. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." The other boy sighed.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't think you'll be a Slytherin."

"In a way it does, but also, if I don't, I'm dead."

"Mama and Papa told me to tell you that you are always welcome at Fawley Manor." Celeste patted his shoulder. "Those pigs can suck it." She changed her nose and mouth to look like a pig snout and made a loud noise, causing everyone to look over, and when they did, she instantly changed back to herself and her and Sirius burst out laughing.

"You lot are mental." James shook his head in amusement.

"Yet, you're still here." Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Seems I'm mental too."

Celeste ran her fingers through her hair and fixed her robes. Then, she tightened Sirius' tie, and fixed James' glasses. "I suppose it'll do." She sighed.

Professor McGonagall came back and told them all to follow her. She lead them through a pair of massive doors into an even larger hall than the one they were in before. The ceiling above mimicked the sky outside, just like her mother had said it would. There were four tables and a banner hung above each one. There was a badger surrounded by canary yellow and black for Hufflepuff. An eagle with sapphire blue and bronze for Ravenclaw. A snake with emerald green and silver for Slytherin. And a lion with scarlet red and gold for Gryffindor.

McGonagall made them line up in alphabetical order and then began calling names out. Narcissa Black, who greeted her with a small smile when she saw her, was the first person she knew to be called up. "Black, Narcissa!"

Celeste and Sirius watched as Narcissa walked to the hat. Andromeda was sat at the Slytherin table, her only other relative, Bellatrix having graduated the previous year, was watching her. Narcissa sat and seconds after the hat was placed on her head, it screamed out its answer.

"SLYTHERIN!"

They all clapped and watched as Narcissa made her way to her sister with a smile. There was no doubt that she would be anything but a Slytherin. Then, came Sirius' name. "Black, Sirius!"

Celeste squeezed her best friend's hand and whispered a good luck to him before he walked up to the stool. He sat and McGonagall placed the hat atop his head. He stayed there for a minute or so before it yelled out its final answer.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Celeste whooped loudly and clapped for him. She could see a massive smile spreading across his face as he headed to the table that applauded for him. He sat down and waited for the sorting to continue. The redheaded girl from the train was sorted into Gryffindor and she went to the table, making sure to keep away from Sirius.

"Fawley, Celeste!"

Celeste took a deep breath before walking up to the stood. She confidently sat down and let the hat drop over her eyes. "Another Fawley? You lot can't get enough, can you?"

"Yes, Mr. Hat, so sorry for disturbing you with my birth." She rolled her eyes. The hat laughed inside her mind.

"Now, you've got quite a variety of family members in houses. Father in Gryffindor, mother in Hufflepuff. Your brothers in Slytherin and Ravenclaw."

"Yes, but one request Mr. Hat. Please do eliminate Ravenclaw from that selection. I do not wish to deal with my brother, even though I am very capable of getting in to Ravenclaw."

"Not with that ego, you're not. Ravenclaw off the table, especially after that comment." The Hat mused.

"That was not very nice, was it?"

"You're not very nice, either, little miss. No Hufflepuff would be seen dead talking like that."

"Shame. Guess Mama won't be slapping yellow and black all over my room. So, what's it going to be, Gryffindor or Slytherin. Personally, I think I'd fit in wonderfully in both. But your choice."

"Yes, indeed it is my choice."

"Hurry up, my butt's getting tired." She whined.

"You've got all the class of a water buffalo."

"Alright, first of all, I can be very classy, I didn't take 5 years of etiquette classes for nothing. And second of all, did you call me a bloody buffalo. Are you calling me fat? That's bulls-"

She saw cut off when the hat made a satisfied sound. "Oh yes, that cleared everything up. Definitely –"