Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs and the plot. This disclaimer is for the whole story.
"SLYTHERIN"
Albus just sat there in seconds of agonizing silence. How was it that after minutes of begging the hat had still decided that Albus belonged in Slytherin. There was no way it was true. It had to be a mistake.
Slowly he stood up and made his way to the table his whole family despised. With every step he took, a scenario of how his life would fall apart played through his head. This was not good. Was this a dream? Please let it just be a dream.
At the same time some of the people at the Gryffindor table started protesting. A lot of these people had known Albus before coming to Hogwarts and thought of him as one of the kindest, most polite boys they had ever met, even though he was a bit quiet.
They had no idea that this was one of the things that influenced the choice of the sorting hat. It had thought that the boy would have more space to grow and flourish away from his family. Albus might have seemed nice, but he could be so much more. He had subconsciously used his niceness as a mask. Albus was different from his family. Even though he had always known this, it was difficult to admit.
While Albus found a place with the other Slytherin first years, the bigmouthed Gryffindors were silenced and the sorting ceremony continued.
"So," a girl next to him started, "don't you have a Weasly mother? How come you're not in Gryffindor?"
Albus had expected that the Slytherins would hate Gryffindor even more than the Gryffindors hated them, but there was not even an inch of despise in this girl's voice. She just seemed confused and maybe somewhat curious.
"I don't know myself, really", Albus answered.
The rest of the eleven year olds didn't question his answer. Instead they watched the rest of the sorting ceremony. Rose Weasly, Albus's cousin, was sorted into Gryffindor, which meant he was the only member of his family until that moment that was sorted differently. Even Teddy Lupin was a Gryffindor, even though everyone expected him to be sorted into Hufflepuff.
Throughout dinner Albus slowly came out of his state of shock. He realized more than ever in what kind of position he was. He would most likely never see the Gryffindor common room, he would never battle alongside his family for the House Cup or the Inter-House Quidditch Cup. Instead he would have to live alongside bloody Slytherins. His whole family hated Slytherins with a passion and even though his father had tried to reassure Albus that he wouldn't mind him being sorted in that house, Albus didn't believe him. The boy was great at sniffing out when someone was lying, and his father had definitely had a little quiver in his voice at the platform. Maybe he wouldn't hate Albus, but be scared for him...
Albus decided that he wasn't going to tell his family members that weren't at Hogwarts in what house he was sorted. He would somehow convince everyone who knew them to keep it a secret and… Oh what a coward he was. No wonder that the hat didn't want him in Gryffindor. He still would go through with his plan though.
He decided to use the rest of dinner to get to know his fellow Slytherins. There were four other boys and three girls in his year, which were quite a lot of people. He only knew who one of the boys was. Scorpius Malfoy. He was bad news. The other boys were Gabe Goyle, Flynn O'Neal, and Benjamin Vaughn. The girl who had talked to Albus earlier was named Maeve O'Neal and was the twin sister of Flynn. The other two girls introduced themselves as Sarah Peterson and Nina Albescu, a Romanian girl.
Albus found out that the Slytherins weren't as bad as he'd initially thought. They were quite funny actually, if you liked sarcasm. He had the feeling that the O'Neal twins might just become his favourite people.
After a tour of the castle Albus went to search for his brother. He had to make sure that James didn't write a letter to his parents and tell them about his sorting as soon as possible.
He found him in a hallway that led to the main gate of the building.
"James! Wait a minute!" he called.
James turned around and stared at him in silence, obviously still not over the fact that his little brother was sorted into Slytherin.
Hmmph, he was the one who said it would happen, Albus thought. He felt guilty immediately after thinking that because James obviously had meant it as a joke. He couldn't possibly have predicted what had happened.
"Do you despise me now?" was the first thing Albus asked.
The other boy looked hurt. "Of course not Albus, I just never expected that… But you're still my brother you know! I hate Slytherin less than you think. I just wanted to scare you when I said all those awful things…"
"But the same can't be said about the rest of the family", Albus interrupted him.
After a moment of silence James agreed. "No, it can't."
"That's why they can never find out", Albus continued.
"What?" was James's reaction.
"I want to keep it from the adults. You can't write about it to them, James. It will ruin their lives. And mine. It won't hurt them if they don't know."
James protested for a bit, but when he realized Albus's mind was set, he gave in.
"Please deliver the message to the rest of our Gryffindor family. And the Scamander twins too while you're at it" was the last thing Albus said before he walked off.
"Oi! You do realize you won't be able to keep it from them forever, right?!" James called after him.
I know, Albus thought, but I can try for as long as possible.
"Okay," professor Slughorn answered after Albus's explanation. "I totally understand it. I'm happy you're asking me this and not to change house, because I don't think the headmaster would allow that. Just… When they do find out – which will happen eventually – I have nothing to do with it," he added with a wink.
Albus was surprised at how easily how his head of house accepted it all.
"I will, of course, make sure that professor Longbottom and Rubeus Hagrid are on board with this as well. I know they have quite a close bond with your family."
"Thank you very much, professor"
"Oh, there's no need for that boy. You're a Slytherin after all, and to be honest I do have a weakness for those eyes of yours. They're the same as the ones of your father and grandmother. You really remind me of Harry to be honest, same hair and all. He didn't have freckles though…"
Albus was already leaving. "Goodbye professor!"
At least that was taken care of. All Albus could do now was hope that the sorting hat was right and that Slytherin would become like a second home for him.