"Gryffindor!"
A hush fell over the Great Hall as Sirius Black took the Sorting Hat off his head and handed it to the stern-looking professor standing next to the stool he was sitting on. He did his best not to shake as he stood up, his mother's voice echoing in his head, screaming that he had gotten into the wrong house, that he was a blood traitor. Sirius could hear it all in his head as he walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down beside a random boy in his third year.
It took only a few more students to be called up before someone else was sorted into Gryffindor – a red-haired girl. Lily Evans, the professor had called her. Not one of the pureblood families his mother had taught him about. She half-jogged over to the Gryffindor table, a spring in her step as she sat down at the table and turned to look at the rest of the Sorting. Sirius watched her with open curiosity, this girl – either half-blood or muggleborn – easily three times happier than most of the other purebloods he had ever met. And yet his mother screamed in his head, telling him that she was nothing but scum of the earth, that he shouldn't talk to her.
Another boy was sorted into Gryffindor, and Evans clapped loudly as a skinny, fair-haired boy called Remus Lupin made his way to the table, keeping his head down as he slid into the seat next to Sirius'. Lupin sounded like a familiar last name, but Sirius couldn't remember from where, and he soon came to the conclusion that it was probably just someone from his parents' work. He stared even more curiously at the fair-haired boy who seemed to be both bouncing at the edge of his seat with excitement and the perfect picture of patience at the same time.
His mother's voice grew louder in his head, and he gripped the table as the fear at what she might do to him kicked in. He had failed her. He wasn't meant to be sorted into Gryffindor. He was meant to be sorted into Slytherin, where all the good pureblood families were meant to go, and act the part of the Black heir. This was wrong.
"You're shaking."
Sirius looked up at Lupin in surprise, but the fair-haired boy was still staring at the Sorting as a slightly round boy, Peter Pettigrew, was sorted into Gryffindor. Pettigrew was one of the blood-traitor purebloods, he recalled, but the thought sounded like it was being whispered to him from across a chasm.
"I'm not shaking."
"You are," Lupin said, before reaching out and holding Sirius' hands between his, holding on even as Sirius tried to recoil away from his grip.
"You're stronger than you look," Sirius muttered, and Lupin looked apologetic for a moment as he released Sirius' hands, turning away with his lips pressed tightly together.
A boy with unruly dark hair and ridiculously large glasses, James Potter, was sorted into Gryffindor.
"I'm Sirius. Sirius Black."
"Remus Lupin," Lupin replied, not giving any indication that he recognised the last name or thought anything of it, which bothered Sirius to no end.
"What's your blood status?"
"Why do you care?"
"Mother says half-bloods and muggleborns are filthy blood traitors, and that I should only talk to the purebloods."
"Might not want to talk to me, then," Remus replied, just as mildly as when he had said that Sirius was shaking, "my dad's a wizard, but my mum's a muggle."
Half-blood. Sirius suddenly recalled where he had heard the name 'Lupin' before – the family that used to be pure but wasn't anymore. He stared openly at Lupin now, his mother screaming three times as loud now that a half-blood had touched his hand – a blood-traitor had touched his hand. That's why he hadn't recognised the Black name, he had probably been kept from the wizarding world his whole life.
"What are the muggles like?" Sirius asked, trying to look disinterested and vaguely disgusted, but he found himself wanting to hear what the mild, polite half-blood had to say.
"They're muggles. People, like the rest of us. They do things differently than in this world, but they get by without magic. They have some pretty good music, too."
The red-haired girl, Evans, Sirius remembered, looked up at Lupin's words, smiling widely.
"You know about the muggle world?! Thank god, I was starting to think everyone here grew up around magic!"
Lupin sent her a smile, much brighter than any Sirius had seen the other boy give him, "I sort of grew up around magic, but my mum wanted to keep me in the muggle world. Said it was safer, just in case I didn't take after my father."
"I didn't know the weird things I could do were magic. Once I healed some dying flowers – they came straight back to life! Petunia thought she was going crazy! I did too, a little, but somehow I think I knew I had done it."
"I remember when I was little I wanted a toy, and my parents wouldn't give it to me, so instead it came to me. Scared the wits out of my grandma," Lupin replied, laughing.
"My mum once locked me in my room for an hour to see what I would do. When she came back, our house-elf was floating in mid-air. Mum said she was proud of me," Sirius tried to contribute to the conversation, but his words were met with stony silence – Lupin looking slightly sad while Evans looked horrified.
"Why would your mum lock you in your room?! And what's a house-elf? Poor thing, that would have scared the wits out of me if I was suddenly levitating," Evans replied, the horror not leaving her voice.
"House-elves are little creatures that clean and cook and do a lot of chores. Most of the wealthy wizarding families have them. They're usually used to magical babies doing funny things," Lupin told Evans, before turning to look at Sirius, "why did your mum lock you in your room?"
"I didn't want to go to my lessons that day, so instead I got locked in my room without dinner," Sirius replied like it wasn't even remotely uncommon – which, to him, it wasn't.
"My mum never locked me in a room…" Lupin muttered quietly, much to Sirius' surprise.
"Oh, you have a horrible mum. But don't worry, we're at Hogwarts now, you don't have to see your mum until the school holidays!" Evans said, clearly trying to comfort Sirius, but he only looked at her confused.
"My mum loves me. She said so. She isn't a horrible mum. She's just easily annoyed."
Lupin and Evans exchanged a glance but said nothing. They suddenly realised they had talked all through Dumbledore's speech, and now golden plates appeared in front of them, laden with food. Lupin, clearly the picture of politeness and manners, grabbed his fork and knife, eating the food placed in front of him methodically with more table manners than any of the Blacks ever had. Evans was having a harder time with her manners, ending up just ripping into a leg of chicken with her hands when she thought no one was looking. Sirius looked all around him, seeing how all the Gryffindors were simply tearing into the food, and something in him made him shut his mother's voice out and load his plate up, eating in a less-than-appropriate manner.
During the whole feast, Sirius talked to Lupin and Evans. The two were fascinating to listen to, Lupin with his quiet, calm manner and Evans with her passionate, excitable one, discussing things from the muggle world Sirius could only dream of, while at the same time asking questions about the wizarding world that Sirius had thought so mundane it wasn't even worth mentioning.
The food soon disappeared, and then desert was being served, a delectable selection of sweets that made Sirius' mouth water. He almost instantly piled a slice of cake onto his plate, and began digging in when behind him he heard a heavy pair of footsteps stop.'
"Black, is it?" he heard the older student say, and he slowly turned to face them.
The boy was a Gryffindor in his fifth year, with heavy-set shoulders and a threatening look in his eye.
"Pleasure," Sirius replied as flippantly as he could, falling back on the tactics his mother had taught him: treat anyone who threatens you as if they were nothing.
"You don't belong in this house."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's for the Sorting Hat to decide," a voice that definitely wasn't his own spoke up just as Sirius was about to speak, followed by a girl's voice saying, "and if it says that Black is in Gryffindor, then he's in Gryffindor. I believe he's a Gryffindor."
The older student sent both Lupin and Evans a glare that would have sent most people running for the hills, but Lupin only returned it with a polite smile, while Evans sent the older student a glare which would send even Sirius running for the hills. Sirius almost pitied the older student as he left with a huff. Almost.
"Thank you."
"Anytime, Black," Lupin replied, while Evans just nodded.
"Do you know why he would say something like that?"
"I'm a Black. Blacks are meant to go to Slytherin. Mother isn't going to be happy," Sirius replied, trying not to let on how much that scared him, but Lupin was too observant.
"Is that why you were shaking before?"
"No! I told you, I wasn't shaking!"
"It's ok. We'll defend you if your mum tries to do anything to you," Evans added.
Sirius sent her a weird look. Was she mad? No one stands up to his mum – especially if they weren't purebloods.
"We will! Tell him we'll defend him, Lupin!"
"We'll defend you," Lupin said in a quiet, reassuring tone of voice, and it was only when he said it that it truly clicked that they would actually defend him, even against his mother. Sirius had never really had anyone who would stand up for him like that – he wasn't sure what to do about it.
"Also, call me Remus," Lupin informed the red-haired girl, and she smiled at him.
"Call me Lily. Both of you."
"I guess you can call me Sirius? Only if you want to…" he added tentatively, still unsure how their support of him placed him in their eyes.
"Friends?" Evans – no, Lily – asked, holding out a hand, and Sirius and Lupin – no, Remus – covered the hand with their own hands, smiling at the red-head.
"Friends."
They bid Lily goodnight in the Gryffindor Common Room as the first year girls were herded towards their dorms, the first year boys being herded towards a different set of stairs on the other side of the common room. Remus and Sirius talked animatedly to one another about all manner of things, mostly with Remus telling stories about his family while Sirius listened, wide-eyed, as he started to realise that his family didn't even sound similar to the Lupins.
They kept talking all throughout the journey up the stairs, and Remus was halfway through telling a hilarious story about his witch grandma handing his muggle mother her wand to do some of the chores, clearly forgetting that her daughter-in-law was, in fact, muggle, when they burst into the dorm in which they were going to spend the rest of the year.
Two boys already stood there, one slightly round and sitting on a bed he had clearly claimed as his own, munching on a slab of chocolate, while the other had his head pretty much inside his trunk as he dug through it, throwing things all over the room. The first boy looked up at them the instant they burst into the room, but the second boy had clearly found whatever it was that he had found, because he called out a loud 'Aha!', retreating from inside the trunk only to hit his head on the lid.
"Hello," Sirius greeted them, and the second boy finally turned to look at them, big glasses balancing on the bridge of his nose as a crooked grin crossed his features.
"Hi! James Potter, at your service, and that's Peter Pettigrew," he had unruly black hair, and Sirius thought that it had been messed up from his dig through the trunk, but he thought he remembered seeing the boy at the Sorting, with the exact same unruly hair.
Potter was a name he recognised. His mother had cursed their family to hell, but even she hadn't been able to argue about the purity of their bloodline. Then again, as he was starting to learn, his mother wasn't always right about who was really a bad person.
"I'm Sirius Black. Nice to meet you," Sirius said, but the dark-haired boy's features instantly turned cold and stony, clearly recognising the name. Peter Pettigrew, from behind Potter, let out a quiet squeak as he stood up suddenly, his eyes wide as he, too, recognised the name.
"I'm Remus Lupin," Remus' voice held a cautious note, and Sirius felt the boy move a fraction closer to him.
He was suddenly glad that, of all the people he could have met first at Hogwarts, Remus Lupin was one of them. Maybe being sorted into Gryffindor wouldn't be so bad.
"You shouldn't be hanging out with his sort," Potter told Remus, but Remus only seemed amused by his words.
"I think I know what sort is better for me to hang out with, thanks," Remus' reply was almost playful, but it still held the polite, calm note that was clearly something that was special to Remus Lupins only.
"He's a Black. They're crazy, evil Slytherins. I don't know what he did to get into Gryffindor, but stay away from him."
Remus drew himself up, even as Sirius felt himself shrink at his words, sensing that every word Potter said was true. A hand suddenly grabbed his, and soon both of his hands were being held between Remus' again.
"You're shaking again," he said quietly, his voice so gentle and patient that Sirius found himself relaxing a little.
Remus turned to look at Potter, and, in the same calm, collected manner that Sirius was now attributing to him, he said, "If I were to stay away from anyone, right now it would be you, who judge people by their last names before you even know them."
And with that, Remus, still holding Sirius' hands between his, left the dorm room with Sirius trailing after him, sitting in the Common Room and talking a bit more as they fell asleep in front of the fire, Pettigrew and Potter a mile away in their minds.