New Beginnings

/*AN

Hello everyone, I'm sorry for taking so long to release a new chapter but I have been extremely busy IRL. As fun and fulfilling as writing is, it's also tiring and difficult, doubly so when you try to write a (less shitty) good story. So I usually like to spend the little free time that I have on easy and relaxing activities. Thus, for the time being, don't expect updates too often. But as I said earlier, I want to finish this fic eventually, no matter how long it takes.

I recommend re-reading the first two chapters as I have rewritten them correcting mistakes pointed out to me while also listening to some suggestions. Overall nothing too major was changed, but it's been so long since the last update that I doubt any of you even remember the story anyway.

Thank you for reading!

AN*/

Today was the day Alan had been longing for even before he came to this world. Ever since he first read the books as a child he dreamed of receiving his Hogwarts letter, visiting the castle, meeting the characters, and being able to experience the world of Harry Potter. He may have lost that dream as he grew, but coming to this world had rekindled it. Today he was finally going to Hogwarts, and this dream seemed more real each day that passed.

That morning, after waking up to a clock charmed to work similarly like an alarm, Alan practically jumped out of bed. He left his room and quickly descended the stairs before joining his parents who were already having breakfast.

"Morning Al. You woke up earlier than usual today. Excited to go to Hogwarts, aren't you?" His father asked amusedly as he looked at Alan over the Daily Prophet he was reading.

"Morning dad. Of course I am, I can't wait to go there already!" He replied energetically.

"Morning sweetie," his mom greeted as she prepared breakfast using her wand while seated opposite to her husband at the table. Two pans moved by themselves over an antique stove as one fried some eggs and the other toasted loaves of bread, all while a kettle slowly flew to pour more tea for her.

"Morning mum"

As soon as Alan sat at the table, with a move of his mother's wand, a plate and a teacup flew until they placed themselves on the table in front of him. With another wave, his plate was filled with toast, scrambled eggs, and a small assortment of berries on the side. He wasn't a nutritionist in his previous life, but after he started going to the gym, he began to learn how to make a proper diet. Since he was growing, he didn't limit himself much on the amount of food he ate, mostly just making sure to eat a few portions of fruits and vegetables, besides drinking a cup of milk every day while balancing the number of fats, carbs, and proteins in his diet. He also avoided candy, fried foods, and other generally unhealthy foods, which wasn't so difficult considering they weren't nearly as accessible as they would come to be in the future.

Finished with breakfast, Alan went to do his morning exercises since he still had a few hours before the train to Hogwarts left. He arrived at an open space in his home's garden and began to stretch. He ran around the area for around five minutes before doing burpees for another five minutes, repeating this cycle thrice more. After he finished the aerobic exercises, he rested and drank some water. Having rested enough, he began to do beginner calisthenics exercises, which he finished around forty minutes later. He was young, so his body was still developing. Because of this, he couldn't do heavy lifting or train for too long since he could injure or exhaust himself.

After his morning exercises, Alan took a bath and changed his clothes. He checked his trunk one last time to see if he hadn't forgotten anything and went to the front of the house where his parents were waiting. 

"Ready to go Al?" His mother asked.

"And did you already check to see if you forgot anything? This is your last chance," his father added.

"Yes, I am ready. I just checked everything back in my room," he replied.

With his confirmation, his mother grabbed his hand and they apparated to an apparition spot close to Kings Cross station. He never went to Britain in his previous life, so this was his first time at the station. After recovering from the apparition and walking for a bit, he began to take a look around. King's Cross was a big station with a functional style and an old look to it. But what drew most of his attention were the people, their style of clothing completely different from what he was used to in his previous life. The saddest thing was that he could easily differentiate the wizards bringing their offspring to Hogwarts from the muggles. It seemed that even in the 70s wizards were already way out of touch with muggle fashion.

His parents guided him to the infamous Plataform 9¾, where you could see wizard families and accompanied muggle-borns going through the pilar. The extensive notice-me-not charms employed around the area hiding the blatant use of magic from the muggles. Following a muggle-born who just ran through the wall with his trunk, Alan and his family walked through it themselves. Passing through the wall felt like passing through a wet membrane that stretched until he fully crossed to the other side before it went back to place. The membrane was also cold to the touch and felt faintly moist.

On the other side of the pillar, he was confronted with the view of a large platform with a surprisingly big red train. A few dozen families could be seen giving their children goodbye, but not many were there since they arrived early. Among the crowd, he couldn't spot any particular character from the books, but even if he saw one it would be hard to recognize them due to their age unless they had a distinguishing feature like the Malfoy's platinum blonde hair or the Weasley's red hair and height.

Now it was time for him to begin his plans to prepare for the future. He arrived early for a reason. First, he had to find the future Marauders and guarantee that Peter didn't meet with them at one of the compartments like in the story. He probably couldn't prevent his sorting, but if he could he would distance Peter from them. Another objective of his was to become acquainted with Snape and Lily so that he could begin to influence Snape and try to prevent possible future conflicts with the Marauders. He didn't really want to join the Marauders or become best friends with the characters from the books, he just needed to be on friendly terms with them so he could have some influence over them. At the end of the day, they were just children and he would find it hard to relate to them.

"Mum, dad. I want to board the train already so I can get a better compartment," Alan said.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little bit more with us?" his mother asked with a slightly strained voice.

"Yes, mum. You don't need to worry too much I'll be back in a few months," he replied. Honestly, he was feeling bad about leaving his family so early, but he had to if he wanted to begin his preparations for the future. 

"Come here then," his father said before grabbing him and his mother and holding them in a tight hug. 

They stood like that for a minute before his father broke the hug.

"Goodbye Al, remember to write letters to us at least once a week," his father said with a sad smile.

"Goodbye sweetie, go make friends and don't hesitate to have fun. Hogwarts will be where your best memories are made," his mother said with moist eyes.

"Goodbye," Alan said flashing them a mild smile before turning around and going to board the train.

...

"The house will feel empty while he is away," Hokta said after he saw Alan board the train.

"I think so too," Elizabeth said tearfully as she finally began to cry as she embraced her husband.

...

As Alan got inside the train, he could clearly see that it was full of spatial enhancements. From the outside, it looked already significantly larger than he remembered from the movies. But from inside it was another thing altogether. It had a second floor, the corridor was three meters wide and the cabins could comfortably fit six students each, giving a general air of both comfort and sophistication.

While walking through the corridors and looking through the little windows on the cabin's doors, he was surprised to find a whole wagon from the train dedicated to a buffet. This actually made sense, considering the trip lasted several hours. People would become hungry during the long trip and, since the train departed so early, most wouldn't have had their lunch yet.

Curious about this place that didn't exist in the books, he began to look around it. It had many large tables filled with different kinds of food surrounding a circular counter displaying many types of candy, manning the counter was an older middle-aged lady with graying hair and soft features. Most of the food on the tables was what you'd expect from a traditional British breakfast with toast, eggs, bacon, and sausages. There were other foods as well, just in a lesser amount.

As Alan was examining a peculiar fruit that he had never seen before, he heard a soft voice coming from the counter.

"Hello there lad. You keep staring at the food. If you're hungry you don't need to worry about paying, the buffet is paid for by the Headmaster himself. If you want I can even help you serve yourself," spoke the middle-aged lady with a kind smile.

"Oh, thank you for the offer. But I'm not really hungry. I just had breakfast," he replied.

"Okay then. If you start feeling hungry you can just come here," she said as her attention left the boy and turned to where a girl had just spilled some juice.

"Oh, dearie. You made quite a mess, didn't you? Let me help you," she said to a young girl.

Alan took the opportunity and left for the next wagon while taking an apple from the table close to him to munch on the way.

After looking through the whole train, he didn't manage to find any of the future Marauders, nor did he find Lily or Snape. However, he did manage to recognize one person. As he was passing through the back of the train he saw what must be Lucious Malfoy at the very last cabin, with his platinum blond hair that was almost silver and his pale skin. He was a bit stunned at meeting his first book character but quickly broke his stare and began to make his way back to the front of the train. 

He still hadn't found the people he was looking for, but it was still early, so he decided to lounge close to the entrance of the train so he could see everyone who entered. After a while of waiting, Alan finally found someone. Just entering the train were two kids, one cute redhead girl with vibrant green eyes and one thin brooding boy with a long nose and shoulder-length dark hair. If he was not mistaken those should be Snape and Lily, and while listening to their conversation his guess was all but confirmed.

"Oh Sev, you're being silly. Even if we go to different houses we can still be friends," spoke the redhead.

"Please Lily, you should go to Slytherin with me. It's the best house, Merlin himself was a Slytherin," replied the boy with a pout that would be endearing if he wasn't aware of who the boy would grow to be.

Alan couldn't help but curse in his mind. His job would be much more difficult if Snape went to Slytherin since he would walk around with bigots and the children of death eaters. He had to try to intervene somehow, having the boy as an ally would help greatly when considering his future talent for potions and curses. With this in mind, Alan walked up to them.

"Hello there, my name is Alan Wolfe. Are both of you first years as well?" he said while giving his best shot at a friendly smile.

The duo stopped talking and immediately looked at new the boy. While Lily's gaze was curious, Serverus's was wary.

"Hello, my name is Lily Evans and yes, we are first years as well," the girl introduced herself cheerfully.

"I'm Severus, Severus Snape," the boy drawled, unenthused by the newcomer.

"Great! Since we are going to study together already, the both of you shouldn't have a problem sharing a cabin with me right?"

"Sure, it wouldn't be a problem right Sev?" the redhead asked as she gave a pointed look at her friend who seemed to be about to refuse the request.

"No, it wouldn't," the boy replied reluctantly.

"Follow me then, I think I found a free cabin over there," Alan said as he began to guide them.

Soon they all were sitting inside a previously empty cabin. This was his opportunity to begin to change things. Maybe he couldn't change Severus sorting, but it was still worth a try.

"I couldn't help but overhear the conversation the two of you were having before," he turned to look at Severus, "you spoke about Merlin being in Slytherin, but there are plenty of great wizards in other houses as well. For example, Albus Dumbledore, who is our headmaster, and also one of the greatest wizards of our time, having singlehandedly defeated Grindelwald in a duel, is a Griffindor" he said.

"Are you saying that the headmaster is the one who defeated Grindelwald?" Severus asked with a slight frown.

"Yeah, it's not spoken about much nowadays but before Dumbledore won that duel people believed Grindelwald to be unbeatable, with him being able to overpower dozens of wizards on his own. After his defeat, however, the Global Wizarding War quickly came to an end, so it isn't wrong to say the headmaster singlehandedly stopped the war. Their duel is said to have been the greatest in recent history," Alan explained to a now intrigued audience.

"Who is this Grindelwald bloke and what was this Global Wizarding War?" asked Lily.

"Gellert Grindelwald was an extremely talented European wizard who eventually became the leader of a movement that wanted to end the Statute of Secrecy and let wizards rule over muggles," he replied to a now visibly outraged Lily.

"What!? Do you mean to say that people actually followed him? That they wanted to rule over people that don't have magic?" she asked with a scandalized face.

"Yes, even though he was defeated and his side lost, many old pureblood families from Britain indirectly supported him. Most of those families have the tradition of having their children sorted into Slytherin, so I advise against going there, especially if you are a muggle-born," he replied grimly.

"I'm certainly not going into Slytherin, that's for sure," she spat.

Alan was not so subtly trying to direct them away from Slytherin and, while Lily seemed to have taken his warning to heart, Severus seemed less than pleased if the dirty look he was giving him was anything to go by. With this in mind, he decided to be a bit more direct.

"Not to say that all of them are bad, it's just that there are many people who are prejudiced against muggles and muggle-borns there. Even half-bloods are not treated so well, by what I heard," he added while paying attention to the long-nosed boy. Severus's reaction to that was actually of surprise.

"Even half-bloods?" the boy asked.

"Yes, even half-bloods. To them they barely qualify as proper wizards, some even going so far as to call muggle-borns mudbloods and saying that they steal the magic from real wizards," Alan told them as if he was sharing a dark secret. Their conversation slowly fading into a somber silence.

He wasn't sure about how much of what he said about the war and about Slytherin was true, since he was extrapolating knowledge he had from the books which already proved to be faulty, but he really wanted to change their fate. Lily was just a kid and she would be treated horribly if she went in that place, meanwhile, Severus would be led around and molded into a horrible person who would eventually come to regret his life. 

Although he hadn't noticed before, now that he was paying attention he saw how thin Severus was and how his robes were ratty and seemed to have been put together out of old muggle clothing. The boy was poor and likely neglected at home, it's no wonder he would come to cling to his death-eater-to-be friends. Even if he was a bit of a git he didn't deserve his future life.

The silence that had been established after the uncomfortable conversation was suddenly broken by the sound of someone knocking on their door before entering. As the door opened two figures were revealed. One was a tall boy with dark shoulder-length hair together with steely grey eyes and an aristocratic face that looked like it would make him handsome after he grew up, and the other was a bespectacled boy with messy raven hair. Both of them were sporting cocksure grins that made the trio already in the cabin give them weird looks.

"Any of you mind some more... m-more company?" asked the boy with glasses, who got lost in the middle of his speech as he began to stare dumbly at Lily. the taller boy, noticing his friend's predicament, decided to give some help.

"Hello everyone, my name is Sirius and this here is my friend James Potter. You wouldn't mind if we joined you in this cabin, would you?" he said while wrapping his arm over James's shoulder and dragging him to Alan's side, not giving them any time to answer.

After giving another look at the people inside the cabin, Alan couldn't help but feel like he was going through high school again. Snape was the edgy kid, James and Sirius were two jocks and Lily was the pretty girl all the boys tried to chase after. He didn't know whether to be thankful that most of the people he wanted to befriend ended in the same wagon by coincidence or be angry that he would have to live through his teenage years again.

"I wouldn't mind, the more the merrier after all," Alan replied with a dry tone.

"I don't mind it too, I suppose," said Lily

Severus in turn just grunted while giving James an especially pronounced glare. Alan was already dreading the future amount of teenage drama he would have to deal with. Meanwhile, noticing his friend was still staring dumbly at Lily, Sirius elbowed James before trying to break the ice.

"Ouch"

"So, since we introduced ourselves, why don't you guys do the same? I'm rather curious to know with whom I'm sharing this cabin with, and it's only fair for you lads to do the same," he spoke before turning to Lily and giving what he probably believed was a winning smile "Oh, and the pretty lady too."

Immediately he managed to gather the dirty looks of three people in the cabin, only Alan giving him an exasperated one as the exception. He was eleven years old, but he felt too old for this shit already.

"My name's Lily," she replied curtly.

"Severus," the boy almost gritted out.

"I'm Alan Wolfe, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said in clearly forced cheer. 

Sirius seemed a bit miffed by their lukewarm introduction before he was distracted as he seemed to be reminded of something. 

"Wolfe? Does your family own that wand shop? Wolfe's fine wands was the name, I think," he asked eagerly.

"Yes, my father owns that wandshop. Why the question tough?" he replied, curious by the line of questioning.

"I just got my wand from there last week!" he said as he pulled a long rectangular-shaped wand that thinned towards the end. It was made of dark brown wood and had its sides engraved with runes.

 "It's good to see that the family business is going well. I know a bit of wandlore and since you are a customer I could tell you a bit about your wand if you want."

"That would be great!" Sirus said as he handed the wand to Alan who took it softly and began to look at it.

"Hum... This seems to be dogwood if I'm not mistaken. Usually the wand of a mischievous prankster or a rogue, as for its shape and the runes, they should help stabilize non-verbal magic which is made more difficult due to the wood's quirky nature... It's around 13 inches and rather stiff. It probably indicates a stubborn owner with a strong personality..."

 "What is the core? I can't figure this one out without opening it," he said as he handed the wand back to the other boy.

"The wandmaker told me it was a dragon heartstring."

"Then it is capable of powerful spells and is quick to learn new magic, although it is not the most consistent of wands. There are a lot more things you can learn about its wandlore, but I'm only a beginner."

The conversation about wands quickly uplifted the previous mood and now everyone started to hand Alan their wands and ask for him to tell them about their wandlore, even Severus seemed intrigued by the conversation. Alan was rather disappointed to find that only Sirius's wand came from his family's shop, the rest of them had gotten theirs from Olivander. In the end, James's wand was made of mahogany and an unicorn hair, Severus's of hawthorn and a dragon heartstring, and Lily's was made of willow and a phoenix feather.

Now that the ice was metaphorically broken, the kids continued conversing throughout the train ride, only stopping momentarily to buy some candy from the trolley lady when she passed. Eventually, the ride came to an end when the train began to stop with a muted screech of its wheels.

Alan and his new friends made their way to the front exit of the train where they began to hear a deep baritone voice.

"Firs' years ova' here! Firs' years come wit' me!" shouted a huge man that seemed to be slightly over three meters tall, and despite his height, his frame still was stocky. He had wild brown hair, while his rough face sported a great bushy beard that didn't manage to hide the cheer and honesty uncharacteristic of someone with his rough features.

"Wow, how is that man so big?" asked Lily.

"I heard the man is a half-giant, his name is supposed to be Hagrid or something," replied James, who somewhere along the ride had let go of his awkwardness around Lily.

"I remember my mother being particularly outraged about a half-breed working at Hogwarts," Sirius grimaced. "My family is not too fond of them."

"Yeah, there is a lot of prejudice against them," Alan added.

Soon, they followed the large man from the train stop and through a trek in the woods towards a murky dark lake, where the five of them boarded a small ancient-looking boat with a large lantern strapped to a pole coming from its bow. Alan was surprised to find that not only did the boats fit more people than he remembered from the books, but the dozens of boats that he saw indicated a significantly larger number of students than shown in the books. Maybe it was because of the decline in the number of births after Voldemort or maybe not, however, he had already concluded in his mind that the books were unreliable, serving at most as a guideline.

After a warning to lower their heads from the half-giant that was useless for everyone but him, the boats soon passed through a dark passage overflowing with ivy and vegetation. As they began to leave the passage, everyone became lost for words when they saw the amazing sight of the castle outlined by the dusky sky. Hogwarts was simply monstrous in size and its design, although predominantly Gothic, hinted at a hodgepodge of influences and cultures. Some of the castle towers and sections even seemed to defy physics as they looked like they shouldn't be able to support their own weight.

Being transfixed with the castle, most people barely noticed they had arrived, having crossed to the other side of the lake. Slowly, people began to get out of their boats and soon were guided to the massive front doors of the caste. The doors were so large they looked as if they could fit a dragon. After a few heavy knocks from Hagrid, the doors opened themselves making a strong gust of wind with their motion. Immediately, Alan felt the aroma of mossy stone and old oak coming from the ancient castle, all the while the wind brushed against his face and messed with his chestnut hair as the sight of Hogwarts entrance hall was revealed.

As he entered the castle, he could feel a subtle thrum of what could only be magic pass through his being. If Diagon Alley felt magical, then Hogwarts felt like a maelstrom of magic, like magic was ingrained in its very existence in a way that felt almost alive. He was so overwhelmed by the castle's presence that he didn't even remember how he found himself standing between Snape and James in a long line of students while waiting for their sorting. The first thing he noticed in the great hall was the enchanting starry sky and floating candles on the ceiling that lent the hall an ethereal feeling.

"Now the sorting will begin. After I call your name you must come forward and sit on this stool. the hat shall decide which house you will join," spoke loudly a woman that Alan could only assume must be Minerva McGonagall. The tall witch had a no-nonsense expression and seemed to be in her mid-thirties, her dark hair was tied in a tight bun that was barely covered by her traditional wizard's hat.

"Alvin Abrams!" she called.

A gangly-looking boy nervously walked through the hall before sitting on the stool and having the ancient sorting hat placed over his head. The hat immediately began to shift, its folds and crevices shifting until they seemed to take the shape of a face. A few moments passed before the hat screamed.

"RAVENCLAW!"

The shout was soon followed by a round of applause.

...

And so the sorting continued. Alan tried to keep an ear out for any familiar names in the sorting while wondering in what house he would be sorted. He was in doubt whether he should force the hat to place him in Gryffindor so he could have better control of the group of people he knew would become important or just let the hat sort himself normally. While he was pondering, he heard the first familiar name being called.

"Sirius Black!"

The boy began to walk confidently over to the stool, but not before sending a mischievous wink to James whose eyebrows were raised to his forehead.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Unlike the rest of the sortings, the hall went momentarily silent before slowly, and rather less enthusiastically than the other times, beginning to applaud again.

"What, He was a Black?" whispered Severus dumbfoundedly.

"What do you mean by that?" answered Lily with another question, as she overheard being next to Snape's other side.

"The Blacks are one of those old noble families that have a tradition of being sorted in Slytherin, so his sorting in Gryffindor will cause quite the drama," Alan replied to them. 

James was just staring at Sirius grinning form, looking as if he had just been told the sky was green. Apparently, even though they seemed very close on the train, they didn't seem to know each other previously, indicating that their personality meshed so well together that they just hit it off.

Soon the next familiar name was called.

"Lily Evans!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

After her sorting, Severus began to feel anxious. Noticing the boy's distress, Alan inclined himself closer to him.

"I heard that the hat takes into account the student's wish, if you ask for him to place you in Gryffindor with your friend he might acquiesce," he whispered conspiratorially.

Even if he was still nervous, the boy now had a resolute look in his eyes. Alan wasn't sure if it was enough, but hopefully, this was the last push he needed to direct the boy away from Slytherin.

"Remus Lupin"

A boy with sandy brown hair and soft features began to hesitantly walk towards the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Now it was Alan's turn to feel nervous. He knew all of the Marauders were supposed to meet on the train, but his presence had altered that. He just didn't expect that the aftereffects of his presence would be so great. His shock only increased when he heard the result of the next sorting.

"Peter Pettigrew!"

A short chubby boy with brown hair and a meaty face began to timidly move to the front of the hall.

"SLYTHERIN!"

After the sorting, the boy seemed to be dead on his feet as he practically dragged himself towards Slytherin's table.

Quickly, Alan's mind began to run a mile a minute trying to figure out just how these sortings came to be. His presence shouldn't be able to change things that much should it? As he thought a few hypotheses came to his mind. The books heavily implied that the sorting was influenced by what the students value, like Hermione who despite having all the qualities of a Ravenclaw still went to Gryffindor, Lockhart who should have been in Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw, and many other examples. With this in mind, he supposed that the lack of influence from their encounter with Sirius and James led them to a less biased sorting. God knows James couldn't shut up about how great Gryffindor was during the train ride.

As he was thinking the sorting continued.

"James Potter!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

...

"Severus Snape!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

This sorting, surprising as it might be, wasn't so unexpected when Alan took into account all he had done to influence the boy. In fact, it actually only supported his theory of the opinion of the students being heavily taken into account. But this didn't change the fact that the timeline was already out of wack, the little future knowledge he had had become even less useful. Now only he remained to be sorted from their group and he still wasn't sure whether to let the hat do its thing or choose on his own. Before he could decide, his name was called.

"Alan Wolfe!"

He slowly began to move towards the stool, the closer he got the more doubts began to fill his mind. Had he completely derailed the timeline? How different really was this world from the one shown in the books? As he sat on the stool, he even wondered if the hat would be able to see his previous life. The hat was put on him, the shadow of its brim covering his entire face. Soon after, Alan heard the deep and old voice that had an undertone of friendliness speak in his mind.

"Humm... Most interesting, your mind, that is. It has been a long time since I have last seen a mind as intriguing as yours,"

"But the question remains. Where to sort you? You are hardworking, but far from being honest and fair, and, despite your loyalty to those close to you, it's not one of your defining traits..."

"Maybe Slytherin then? You have some cunning in you, not being bound by rules. You have big dreams as well, but they don't necessarily count as ambition..."

"How about Ravenclaw? You do have an inquisitive mind and desire for knowledge, your dreams are of exploring the world... No, no, no. Not exploring the world, your dreams are of having an adventure, of living life to its fullest."

"I think I know where to put you, the liveliness of the house of Godric would best suit your dreams. Better be..."

"GRYFFINDOR," the hat shouted, this time outside of Alan's mind.

In the end, he decided to let the sorting occur naturally, and he wasn't disappointed. Gryffindor would help him to keep a close eye on many people who would be important in the future. James and Sirius were heirs of old pureblood families, and both Lily and Snape would become extremely talented wizards in their own fields. Another reason, one he didn't want to admit to himself, was that he wanted to befriend them. Deep down, he admired and remembered most of them fondly from the books he read as a child.

He would only have gone against the hat if it wanted to sort him in Slytherin. It would make it possible for him to fight against Voldemort from inside and he was a pureblood, which gave him some protection, but he wasn't touching that mess even with a teen foot pole. If he went there he'd probably go mad within a week.

Getting up from the stool, he walked towards the Gryffindor's table as the round of applause began to die out. Looking towards it he couldn't help but smile as he saw that Sirius had saved him a spot next to him and opposite to Lily, who was between Severus and James, respectively. He already knew both boys would keep competing for Lily's attention all through the years at Hogwarts, but for some reason, he didn't feel so exasperated about it this time. He looked forward to his years at the castle.

With the sorting done, the headmaster gave his speech, and after a few odd words, the tables were suddenly filled with a banquet fit for a king. The headmaster was a very tall man with long grey hair, and a beard that reached his waist, also having a pair of half-moon glasses resting over his long crooked nose. As people began to talk and serve themselves, the hall was quickly filled with chatter, a cheery mood settling over the students.

After the banquet ended, they were led by the prefects to their common rooms. While traversing the castle, Alan again had his mind blown by its sheer size. Even with them being guided and only having to go up to the third floor of the total seven, the trip took more than twenty minutes. He wasn't against some exploration, but he had to find the secret passages around the castle as quickly as possible, or traversing its halls between his lessons would take too much of his time. As for the common room, it was a chaotic mess of red and gold, giving a vibrant and flamboyant aesthetic that brought the feeling of ordered chaos. There was an overabundance of furniture and decoration, each of them haphazardly strewn along the room, each and every moving trinket practically competing for attention.

All the kids having settled from the excitement of the sorting, slowly began scattering to their rooms. Apparently, as one of the prefects had explained, they would be divided into rooms of four where people could decide their roommates by themselves. With this in mind, Alan went up to a moping Severus who was sitting over one large red armchair adorned with golden embroidery after Lily left him to find other girls to be her roommates.

"Hey Severus, want to be roommates with me, Sirius, and James? It's not like you talked with anyone else besides us during the banquet."

"I think that's reasonable," the long-nosed boy replied with some reluctance. What is he disappointed in? Was he thinking that they would let boys and girls in the same dorms? Alan internally lampooned.

"Let's ask them if they want to be our roommates then," he replied before turning and walking with Snape towards the two bickering Gryffindors, who were accusing each other of cheating in a game of wizarding chess.

"You are cheating, there's no way your pawn could have taken mine from that position!" exclaimed James to an equally outraged Sirius.

"Have you ever played chess before!? Why don't you search what's is an en passant!"

"That's rubbish, you're making this rule up!"

"Hey James, hey Sirius. I don't want to interrupt you guys or anything, but we are getting closer to the curfew, so we should decide on our roommates before it. I was wondering if you guys would mind having me and Severus as your roommates," he said, taking the boy's attention from their previous discussion.

"I'd be glad," said Sirius with a grin.

"I guess I don't mind," said James who looked less pleased after glancing towards Snape.

"Let's go find ourselves a dorm then."

And so, the quartet went to the corridor that housed the male dorms and entered an empty one. As soon as they entered, the candles inside the room lit themselves and their luggage appeared over their respective beds. Probably the work of house the elves. The dorm still took its vibrant and flamboyant aesthetic from the common room, but it looked more homely and less all over the place.

Having taken their trunks and organized themselves, the boys kept talking until the curfew arrived and the candles extinguished themselves. Tired after the excitement from the day, the boys bid each other goodnight and settled themselves over their beds before going to sleep.