Casey stuck with a large group of students who looked her age, staying close to Scorpius and Peter. Adrianna was nowhere to be seen. Casey kept flitting her eyes from head to head, searching for a hint of Adrianna's unique brownish colored hair, but she didn't see it. It was possible she had changed her appearance for the time being, to attract friends. (Brown hair didn't really stick out.) Adrianna was a metamorphagus.

Casey had been the first person to find out. She'd seen Adrianna's hair turn a deep shade of red when she found that her favorite stuffed animal, a little chipmunk she had named Peek, disappeared at to the park. Some little kid must have stolen it.

Casey had pointed out the red hair and Lauren had smiled, realizing that one of her daughters had inherited her husband's traits. Dayton, their dad, had been so excited that he'd bought a color-changing cake to celebrate it.

Casey sighed, remembering that moment. It made her think of the time she had discovered that she was a Parselmouth. She turned her head slightly towards the right to look at Scorpius. "Do you speak Parseltounge?"

Scorpius shook his head. "I wish."

"Well, I do."

Scorpius's mouth opened, as if he was going to say something, but it stopped and hung there. His eyes grew big. Casey nodded.

He closed his mouth, then opened it again and said, "H-how? Are yo-your parents... parselmouths?"

Casey closed her eyes for a few seconds and gently shook her head. "No."

"But... that doesn't make any sense. How do you know Parseltounge?"

"I--wait, are those the boats?" Casey didn't really feel like explaining. It was a long story.

He nodded. "How about we get in the same one? You can get your relatives or whatever to join us."

She shrugged. "Sure."

Casey poked Peter's shoulder. "Boat on the far right." He nodded. 

The girl who was right next to him nodded, but she put a finger to her lips. "It's me. Adrianna. I'm gonna surprise some of the teachers." Casey nodded and smiled. That was just like Adrianna. Her sister was now sporting thin red hair swept off to the side and kind blue eyes.

The four of them ran for the last boat and quickly climbed in. Peter and Scorpius were the first to grab for the oars. Adrianna smiled. "Looks who's acting manly." Peter rolled his eyes and sat down, while Scorpius mimed putting his head in his hands.

Casey laughed at them.

Scorpius sighed in defeat. "You girls never make sense."

Peter nodded. "Agreed. I'm Peter, by the way. You?"

"Scorpius. What about you? Are you my newfound ginger friend's sister?" He directed this at Adrianna.

Adrianna shrugged. "Yes, I am. The name's Adrianna. I think it's clear you and Casey have met."

Casey smiled. "Obviously. He didn't ask me my name, plus he referred to me as his 'newfound ginger friend.'" She paused for a few seconds. "I already told him that we're triplets. I think he was just clarifying that you guys are my siblings and not some other people."

Scorpius didn't say anything, but they were all smart enough to figure out what he'd meant.

Adrianna volunteered to hold the lantern for them, so Casey basically sat there, unable to contribute to the group effort. She offered to switch out with one of the boys, but they insisted on rowing the whole time, so instead she watched the ripples made from the oars float across the lake.

The group reached the other side of the lake well before every other boat, with the one exception of the man who seemed to be leading them. "Is he a giant?" Adrianna had asked Scorpius.

"No, he's way too small! Besides, giants live in clans and don't really communicate with outsiders. It's more likely that he's half giant. In fact..." Scorpius threw his oar in the boat and climbed out. They had reached a stone platform at the end of a tunnel.

Casey and Adrianna carefully stepped onto the rock, knowing it could be unstable. After a few steps, Adrianna called out to Peter, "Come on. It's solid." The girls knew he could be very clumsy and were doing him a bit of a favor. He nodded and half stepped, half jumped out of the boat.

The large man called out to them, from the other side of the platform (it was quite large), "Wai' fer the others! We'll be goin' as a group."

And so they waited.

The break was only about five minutes, but it seemed like forever to Casey. She was very tempted to start saying, "Are we there yet?" but she restrained herself. She chose to instead practice correctly saying the incantations to every spell she knew of. That equated to all of the ones she remembered from Potter's biography.

Eventually, every first year made it across safely. The man (Casey had decided to refer to him as Bob) led them up through a stone passage, up a flight of stone stair, and finally to a pair of large wooden doors. "Everyone here? Are ya'all ready?" Most of the first years nodded or said yes, but a few didn't respond. One or two shrieked, "YES!" but it wasn't anyone Casey had ever seen.

Bob nodded in recognition and knocked hard on one large door. There was a small popping sound, and the doors flung open to reveal a large hallway--with a short wizard brandishing a green hat and a very long and white beard standing right in the middle.

"Thank you, Hagrid," said the man, in a strangely high voice. "I'll lead them on from here. Now, follow me!"

Scorpious nodded beside her, as if confirming his thoughts. "Yup, that's Rubeus Hagrid. He's the Hogwarts gamekeeper. My father warns me about him.. I wonder why?" He frowned. "He seems like a kind enough bloke."

Every first year crowded through the entrance and followed the man. He led them across the stone clad floor, past a breathtaking marble staircase, and all the way to the far end of the hall. He turned around and said, "Stop! Right here will do. I have some information for you, before you can be sorted."

Listening intently, the students stopped their chatter and turned towards him. He began quickly. "Welcome, young first years, to Hogwarts! In a few minutes we will begin the start-of-term feast. However, before that can happen, you little students need to be sorted!" There was some murmuring to be heard at this statement. "Silence, please."

He continued on. "There are four houses--Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, in no particular order. I'd like all of you to forget any rumors or prejudice you have heard about any house and keep your thoughts to yourself. Each house is great in its own way, and you must realize that. A house is like a family. Acheivements and triumphs earn you points, and rulebreaking will cause you to lose points. At the end of each year the house with the most points wins the house cup--a great honor, I might add. Do try your best to be of a great help to your house."

"Now, in just a few minutes, you will be sorted. Take that time to straighten up yourselves so that you might appear presentable. I will return when we are ready, and I expect that you will keep quiet." The professor left the group at that time.

Of course, as soon as he was out of site, ninety percent of the first years started yapping again.

Casey smoothed the wrinkles out of her robes and pulled back her ginger hair. She looked at Adrianna. "Hairbrush?" Adrianna shook her head. "Well, I guess I'll just have to deal without it."

Casey wondered how they would get sorted. Was it a test? A competition? Did you have to fill out a form or something? Her mother had refused to tell her or any of her siblings. She told them it was their job to find out, and that she didn't want to be the one to ruin the surprise. Their father had immediately agreed.

Instead of jumping like she usually did, Casey stood quite still when she heard someone shriek. Her eyes had been shut and she hadn't really realized it. She opened her eyes and almost shrieked herself when she saw the pale white and grey figures gliding around the hall and appearing out of the walls. "What the--"

She stopped herself from saying something stupid. Of course there'd be ghosts at Hogwarts! How could she be stupid enough to not realize that? She smacked herself in the head with her right hand. "Stupid Casey."

The first years immediately resumed their talking (which had ceased for a moment) but it was even louder now. The little man, the professor that had led them over to their current position, returned.

"I thought I asked you to wait quietly," he said. It was barely audible over the chatter.

"I said, quiet!" This was a little bit louder.

The first years quieted down a little, but more than half of them were still talking.

Casey rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and shouted, "Shut it!" That silenced them, but of course everyone started staring at her instead. "Hey, don't look at me! Look at the teacher guy!"

Professor Flitwick mouthed a quick thank you to her and said, "For reference, my name is Professor Flitwick, and if you don't mind, we are ready to sort you little youngsters! Follow me, and this time, keep quiet."

There was not a single word whispered until they reached a pair of closed doors, Flitwick pushed them open and led the group into a large hall. "This is the Great Hall," Scorpius told Casey. She vaguely heard Flitwick tell the group of first years something, but she wasn't listening.

Casey wasn't really paying attention to anything else that was happening around her either. She was gawking at the ceiling, amazed at its display of the stars and galaxies above, millions of light years away. Casey was obsessed with outer space and anything related. She'd even convinced her parents to let her bring her Celestron AstroMaster 130 telescope with her, on very specific conditions:

1. She wouldn't break it.

2. If she broke it, she'd be paying for a new one.

3. She wasn't to use it until her homework was finished.

4. She would NOT let anyone else touch it unless they had read the instruction manual, listened to others, were trustworthy, and were careful with delicate objects.

5. She would not let any teachers know of its existence, and very, VERY few students.

Casey felt a pinch on her arm. "Come on!" Scorpius tugged the sleeve of her robe. "I'd prefer not to fall behind." Casey had stopped to stare at the ceiling.

They recommenced their slow progress down the hall.