Chap 2: Kings Cross

In the past few weeks, Claire had kept in touch with Sirius and the others by letter. Above all, she had liked the long letters with Remus, but she had also discovered that Sirius turned out to be a womanizer who was constantly following some girls. Actually no wonder with his appearance, she should have guessed that too. Sighing, she packed the last things in the suitcase and sat on it so that it could be closed properly. Featherwing crouched in her cage and watched her goings-on, seemingly amused, while she cleaned herself calmly. After a few back and forth and the decision to leave a few books here, she had won the battle with the suitcase. "Finally done!" she said softly to herself when the doorbell rang downstairs. Leandra was just putting the little ones to bed for an afternoon nap, so she quickly sprinted to the stairs, where she almost stumbled across the trunk and threw open the door below. "Stormy entrance!" commented Sirius with a grin. He leaned casually on the door frame and his black hair hung over his face as always. "Hey!" she greeted him with a somewhat forced smile. “I'm just going to get my things quickly.” With these words she ran up the stairs again, said goodbye to Leandra and then grabbed her things. In front of the orphanage, Sirius sat casually on his suitcase on the sidewalk. "The traveling knight should be there soon." he said with a look at his watch.
"Finally back to Hogwarts!" he said happily and stretched a little. How he hated the weeks in Grimmauldeplatz. He hated her almost as much as did his entire family, from his mother to his brother. They were all so different from him. Sighing, he got up as a purple bus drove around the corner at breakneck speed and stopped with screeching brakes. A street lamp had brought itself to safety at the last moment. A grumpy-looking conductor got out, greeted them and they paid for their tickets to Kings Cross. When they finally sat down, the journey started and it didn't seem to want to end. He had thought that nothing could spoil his mood today, but he was wrong. Wedged between other wizards and witches, he was just waiting to finally arrive, because his stomach was on a roller coaster.
Claire had never ridden the Driving Knight before and was actually happy, but after this trip she knew that she wouldn’t find the purple bus as a ride anytime soon. Like Sirius, she was a little green in the face when they finally arrived at the train station. They got a baggage cart and drove it to the platform. "And where is platform 9 ¾?" she asked her companion and looked around helplessly at platforms nine and ten. Sirius grinned and headed for a rather massive looking barrier between the two tracks."Follow me." he said and went through the wall as if it weren't there. Suddenly she stood amazed on another platform that was full of parents saying goodbye to their children, owls screaming, suitcases standing in the way and all kinds of relatives. A large red locomotive steamed on the tracks that said "Hogwarts Express" in large gold letters. "Hey paw!" someone called from behind and the person addressed turned around. Remus, James, and a boy she didn't know came up to them. Unlike them, they didn't have any luggage with them. "Hey!" Claire greeted the three who she had also noticed.
"Come on, we already have a compartment." said Moony and led her to one of the wagons. James helped Claire carry the suitcase and they dragged everything into their compartment. "Have you seen Evans yet?" Sirius asked his friend. “No, but I think it will come.” Krone just grinned and they heaved the suitcases onto the luggage rack and put the owls safely under. Then everyone fell into their seats. "So and now you're making your first trip to Hogwarts." noted Moony with a laugh. "It seems so." Claire replies with a grin and looked at the people walking by the door. Most were first graders. "I wouldn't want to be a prefect right now." noted Krone and made himself comfortable. "Hey Wormtail, find Evans." he asked the boy, who was slightly reminiscent of a rat. He obediently got up and went looking for them.
Claire didn't like the tone in which James had spoken to the boy who had introduced himself as Peter. She knew he was a little cocky, but he didn't have to treat others that way either. A little annoyed, she turned to Moony and started a conversation with him. He was by far the most sensible of the four and was easy to talk to. James suddenly jumped up as a bevy of girls her age passed the compartment. "Hey Evans! Are you going out with me today?" he shouted after one of them. She couldn't see who was calling an answer, but it was clear: "No, Potter! Don't start again." A little dejected, the flashed one fell back into his seat. "And the first basket this year." Sirius quipped with a grin as the train started moving. Parents and relatives waved to the departing, something that gave her a slight pang. She was used to it, but sometimes it still hurt that her parents were no longer alive. Sighing slightly, she immersed herself in a conversation with Remus, she wanted to match her level of knowledge with that of the others….
Two hours later, she left the compartment briefly to go to the bathroom. As she turned the corner, she collided with a girl. She had long red hair and green eyes and was pretty pretty. "Sorry, I didn't see you!" she quickly apologized to her."It's okay, I didn't see you." dismissed Claire. "I'm Lily Evans, and who are you? I've never seen you at Hogwarts." So that was Evans, the one James had turned down. "I'm only here this year, I'm from Beauxbatons. My name is Claire Graham, I'm happy to meet you." she introduced herself too. "You're in the compartment with Potter and Black, aren't you?" Lily asked and looked at her. "Yes, I heard you let James down." "Right! But he's been into me since he knew me and slowly that annoys me and I don't like him, he's too conceited for me." she explained with a laugh. "Why don't you sit down with us a little, then I'll introduce you to a few others." "Sure, gladly." she accepted the suggestion enthusiastically and joined Lily and her friends ...
"You have to be careful Paw, otherwise Moony will snatch it away from you." joked Krone, alluding to the fact that Claire had actually been talking to Moony the whole time. "You really seem to like her." "She's pretty, sure. But a little scratchy." he almost struggled against the obvious fact that he found her more than nice. "She is nice and intelligent." came it from Remus from behind his book. "Every blind person with a cane sees that you like her and she lets you down. Not quite like Lily Krone, but a little bit. Even your pick-up lines don't work with her." "Moony got to the point again brought mate. " Krone agreed. "You have to hold on. Otherwise it will end like it did with me and Evans"
Just before arriving at Hogsmeda, Claire had returned to the boys. After she had explained to them where she had been, she quickly pulled on the school cape like the others and they dragged their suitcases out into the corridor. When they arrived at the train station, they were greeted by pouring rain and a column of carriages, all pulled by invisible beings. As fast as they could they looked for an empty carriage and were happy when they finally sat in the dry and drove to the castle. When she arrived there, a poltergeist was waiting for her in the hall, who was joking and throwing depth charges at her. Annoyed, they all stepped into the great hall, now even wetter than already. As she entered, a teacher hurried up to her who introduced herself to Professor McGonagall. Instead of sitting like the others at one of the four long tables that she knew represented the four houses, she was lined up in front of a row of frightened-looking first years. These were just as dripping wet as she and stared spellbound at an old, patched hat lying on a chair. The Sorting Hat as Remus had explained to her. She waited anxiously for the selection process to begin….
Paw, Moony, Crown and Wormtail found a place at the long Gryffindor table and looked excitedly at the waiting first years.They also wanted to know who was coming to which house this year and of course they were curious to see where Claire would go. But first, like every year, the hat's speech followed. As soon as he began to speak, the hall was immediately silent and everyone listened mesmerized to the hat's rhymes:

In the old days when I was new
Hogwarts was at the beginning
The founders of our noble school
there was still a tight bond.
They had a common goal
They had an ambition:
The best magic school in the world
And pass on knowledge.
"Together we want to build and teach!"
This is what the friends decided to do.
And never would the four have known
That their friendship was lost.
Were there still such good friends?
Like Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Let it be that second couple
From Huffelpuff and Ravenclaw?
Then why did all this go wrong
Didn't this friendship last?
Well, I've been there and I'm telling you
The sad story:
Slytherin says, "We only teach them
With the purest blood of the ancestors. "
Says Ravenclaw: "But we teach
Where there is wisdom. "
Says Gryffindor, "We teach all those
Who have courage in their name. "
Says Huffelpuff: "I'll take them all"
Without regard to their gifts. "
In the beginning there was little argument
Just a lot of differences
Because each of the four founders had
A house for its goals:
They got whoever liked it;
So Slytherin recorded
Who was a wizard of pure blood
And cunning on top of that.
And only those with the brightest head
That came to Ravenclaw.
The bravest and boldest
To the brave Gryffindor.
The rest took on the Huffelpuff,
Did everyone know their knowledge,
That's how the houses and the founders stood
Not torn in friendship.
Peace reigned at Hogwarts now
In some happy years
But