“Moony, don't you
have to sit at the prefects compartment?” James asked.

“It's optional,”
Remus replied.

Sirius scooted
closer to James and looked at the empty seat beside him, then at me.
“Wanna sit here, love?” he drawled with that sideways grin on his
face. I frowned.

“No, I'm fine.”
I muttered, pulling out my book. Remus stared at it, squinting. I
closed it shut so he could see the title. He smiled.

“You're reading
that?” he asked. I shrugged.

“I've read pretty
much everything.” I replied.

“Have you read
the first series?” he asked.

“Who hasn't?” I
answered with a smile.

“A lot of people,
actually. In fact, almost everyone I know has only read the second
and third series,” Remus replied, “Unbelievable. You wouldn't
understand any of it if you haven't read the first series.” Sirius
grinned at our conversation and muttered, “Never met a hot nerd.”
I was liking that guy less and less.

“What part are
you at?” Remus asked.

“I'm at the part
where you find out he's a werewolf,” I answered. “I think Brianna
Walkins wrote that part real well.” Remus looked down.

“Yeah, that
part's really good,” he said, “I like how insane she made him.
Makes the whole story sort of make sense.” Sirius and James looked
at him for a second, exchanged a look that I couldn't quite read,
then, when Remus gave them an angry glare, they resumed their jokes.
Meanwhile, Peter was staring out the window dreamily, humming “Old
McDonald.”

Remus and I chatted
for a while, though Remus didn't seem as into it as he did before,
and he kept shooting looks at Sirius and James.

Soon, the train
began to slow down, and soon enough, students were filing out of the
train. The Marauders and I followed.

“Firs' years!
Firs' years over 'ere!” I heard a familiar voice boom. Turning
around, I saw Hagrid, with his bushy beard and huge stature, leading
the first years over to the lake. I smiled as I saw the carriages
with the threstrals, packed with students.

Of course, I
couldn't see the threstrals. I had learned about them last year in
Care of Magical Creatures, though, and Alice could see them, because
she saw her baby cousin drown in their lake.

I filed into a
carriage with the Marauders and another Gryffindor. She said her name
was Molly, and I remembered seeing her a few times in the common room
and such. She had bright red hair and warm brown eyes. She was nice,
but didn't seem very interested in the Marauders. I didn't blame her.
They didn't seem as cool as they let on.

When the carriages
stopped, we marched out with the rest of the school to the Great
Hall, where the aroma of warm mashed potatoes and steak-and-kidney
pie filled the room.

“I hope the
Sorting doesn't take long,” Sirius said, “I'm hungry.” He kept
on trying to walk by me, or give me his jacket, or something. Remus
gave me an apologetic look as Sirius slipped beside me at the
Gryffindor table. I got a lot of looks, some envious, some menacing,
and some just surprised. Alice raised an eyebrow at Sirius and I when
she veered off to the left to sit at the Ravenclaw table. Once all of
us were seated, Professor Dumbledore stood. The chatting in the hall
silenced as he began to speak.

“Welcome to
another year at Hogwarts! I hope you all enjoy it here! Filch has
asked me to remind you that magic between classes is banned, as is
communicating with the house elves.” he paused, and a few
Hufflepuffs giggled. Last year, the Hufflepuffs enjoyed going down to
the kitchens to chat with the house elves – and steal food.

“Now, by all
means, I understand how hungry you all must be after a long ride from
London. I will not jabber any longer. Let the Sorting begin!”
Dumbledore announced. I always marveled at his ability to catch
people's attention. You'd think that people would brush him off and
call him crazy because of his age, but actually, his age seemed to be
the reason why people respected him so much.

“Anduth, Mark!”
Professor McGonagall yelled. A chubby boy with dark hair shuffled
onto the stool and shoved the hat on his head.

“HUFFLEPUFF!”
The hat screeched. The boy blushed and went off to the applauding
Hufflepuffs.

“Bethreys,
Anna!”(to all you demigods out there; eat blue food) McGonagall
announced. A girl with blond waves marched to the stool and gave the
hat a interested look before placing it gently onto her head. After a
few moments, the hat shouted, “RAVENCLAW!” And Anna marched over
to the Ravenclaw table.

After what seemed
like hours, Professor McGonagall finally shouted, “Zeppyson,
Andrew!” The hat barked, “SLYTHERIN!” And food appeared on the
plates in the hall.

I stuffed my face
with turkey, then potatoes, then the apple pie. I concentrated so
much on eating that I didn't say a word the rest of the feast. I
gulped down my pumpkin juice, and looked up to see Remus smiling at
me, eyebrows raised.

“Were you
hungry?” he asked teasingly.

“You go without
breakfast and lunch, and see how you feel!” I replied. He laughed.
It wasn't a mean laugh, just a warm laugh.

“I go without
meals more than you'd think.” he said. I widened my eyes.

“How do you
survive?” I asked. Remus shrugged.

“I guess I'm not
a big food fan.” he answered. After
a while, Dumbledore stood and the hall silenced once again.

“Well, now that you are all
full, I suggest the prefects lead all their students to their common
rooms to find warm beds. I bid you all good night.” he said. The
prefects stood, along with Remus, and they led the first years to
their common rooms, the older students following.

“I'll see you in class
tomorrow,” Sirius said once we got to the common room. I tried not
to scream.

“Yeah. Night.” I said,
running up the stairs and almost tripping. I didn't understand why so
many girls liked Sirius. Sure, he was handsome, but he reminded me of
a dog in some ways: he would drool over any girl halfway pretty, and
the way his hair hung over his head reminded me of a dog.

When I got to the girls'
dormitories, I found my bed at the end of the room. I saw Molly, the
girl I met on the carriage, sitting on the bed beside me.

“Looks like we're
roommates.” she said.

“Yup,” I said, digging in
my suitcase for my sweats. I pulled them out, tugged them on, and
hopped into bed.

Dreams visited. As always.

I was in the library. Remus
was there, and he was reading at the same table as me. Every once in
a while, we'd look up from our books and talk and laugh. We kept up
like that for what seemed like a half an hour or so, but Madam Pince
came and shooed us out. We laughed and ran through the empty halls
over to the common rooms and plopped on the couch and resumed
studying there.

I think it was the next day.
I was in the library again, only then I was by myself. I think I was
waiting for someone. I kept looking over at the door expectantly. I
kept on waiting, until Madam Pince screeched at me and I walked out,
by myself this time. Filch's cat saw me, and even though I was
running as fast as I could, Filch caught up with me. He gave me
detention for a week.

I woke up, breathing hard as
if I had just sprinted across the halls to get away from Filch in
real life. I wiped a tear out of my eye. Quit crying, Rachel,
I thought, you're being stupid.

I wish it wasn't real. I wish
I didn't have the cursed power I had. But I knew.

This dream was real.