"Marlene McKinnon?" the boy repeated to himself. It was a nice name that even his immature mind could appreciate. He was tall for his age and had a lot of messy dark hair. His heart was practically palpitating with anxiety.

Marlene McKinnon was a beautiful name. In his head, he spelled it M-A-R-L-E-E-N.

"Yep," said the girl standing next to him, popping the 'p.' "No, I already know your name," she cut across as he opened his mouth to reply. "I sat on the train with that girl over there, and she told me." She pointed out a curly-haired figure whom he immediately recognized as Hestia Jones. The Jones family was spoke of in great distaste in his house. 'Blood traitors!' Mr. Black would hiss when he read of them in the Daily Prophet, throwing the article across the kitchen. And Kreacher, the family house elf, would calmly retrieve the newspaper with his sickeningly oily smile and murmur, "Quite right, Master. Filthy blood traitors." Sirius had met Hestia once, by accident, when he was buying his wand, and thought she looked pleasant- not that he would ever tell his family.

"What's my name, then?"

"Black," said Marlene proudly. "It's Black!"

"Sirius Black," he corrected.

"Sirius is a rotten name," Marlene declared. In her head, she spelled it S-E-R-I-O-U-S.

"I like it," said Sirius defensively, although he didn't really.

"Well, I'll call you that then."

He nodded, swallowing audibly, and returned his gaze to the large, intimidating oak doors before them.

"Oi," he muttered, poking Marlene. "You nervous?"

"Ah, terrified," she said, as if she were boasting. "Utterly terrified. What House are you going for?"

Sirius looked around nervously to see if his cousin Bellatrix was listening in, then whispered, as if confiding his greatest secret: "I'm supposed to be in Slytherin." He had assumed, before today, that Slytherin was his destiny- he had been told so by his entire family, and especially by Bellatrix. But James Potter, the boy he had met on the train, had made Gryffindor seem so wonderful that Sirius felt a twinge of regret at knowing that he would simply have to be in Slytherin. After all, the Sorting Hat knew that he came from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

"Slytherin?!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Shhh!"

She apologized. "I come from a long line of Gryffindors, myself. We'll be proper rivals, won't we?" She nudged him teasingly and he knew that they really weren't going to be rivals at all, just like he knew that he could never be James Potter's rival, no matter how much Bella tried to influence him.

"Yeah. Proper rivals."

Marlene's expression suddenly became earnest. "You know, Sirius, the Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."

"Does it really?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"Nah. My Aunt Sue wanted to be a Hufflepuff, so she told the Hat right up: 'Mr. Hat, I'm not brave enough for Gryffindor and I think I'll be best off as a badger.' So the Hat put her there- course, my Mum was right shocked! First Hufflepuff in the family. They all thought Sue was a nutter after that, but at least she was happy. She made loads of friends in Hufflepuff."

He mulled it over for a minute. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"It's no problem," said Marlene cheerfully. "Are you ready, d'you think?"

Sirius grinned. "Ready as I'll ever be."

She smiled, and he admired the way her dark eyes brightened considerably when she was happy. "Good."

And not a moment later, the oak doors opened and the two children walked into the candlelit Great Hall.

A/N: woop I actually wrote something!

I've already got at least another chapter finished but we'll see where it goes from there. You guys know how bad I am at finishing things lol.

Reviews are better than sex.