Chapter Title: The Sorting

Rating: K+

Pairings: Vague Lucius/Narcissa

Warnings: Some bullying themes.

The Great Hall was almost exactly how he'd pictured it; his excitement over finally getting to attend Hogwarts had been overwhelming over the summer, resulting in much teasing from his older cousins who were already students at the famous school. Sirius had spent much of their time together pestering them for information.

As the new first years headed up to the front of the Hall behind Professor McGonagall, Orion Black's disapproving, cold grey eyes appeared in the forefront of Sirius' mind, making him eye the Sorting Hat with a growing feeling of dread. As much as he may disagree with the rest of the House of Black on matters of blood purity and its importance in wizarding society, a sense of duty to the old man tugged at him. If that tattered and dirty old hat called out any other name but Slytherin as it touched his head, he'd be letting his father down. Worse than that: he'd be embarrassing him. Blacks did not embarrass their parents.

It was a heavy weight on the shoulders of the eleven year old.

"Black, Sirius!"

His name was called after "Avery, Ambrose!" was sent off to the Slytherin table. His eyes were fixed on the hat as he made his way through the crowd and up to sit on the stool, his heart thumping loudly against his rib cage. As the hat was lowered onto his head, he caught sight of his cousins. Andromeda offered him a small smile of encouragement, Cissy looked bored. The last thing he saw before the rim of the hat obscured his vision was Bella's intense stare.

No pressure.

A loud voice replied, making him jump, "You think you have pressure? It's me everyone's waiting for. Hmm… let's see. Another Black … but you're different from the others, aren't you? Yes, very different. Certainly not Ravenclaw... no... no..."

Hey, Sirius thought indignantly.

The Hat carried on, "A lot of loyalty yes, but not a fit for Hufflepuff. Gryffindor on the other hand, that could work very well for you."

Not when my family hears. Sirius started to fidget as the minutes ticked by while the voice in his head hmm'd and ha'd. It had stalled on Andromeda as well and even that had not gone down well back home, and she'd ended up in Slytherin anyway. With an inward sigh, Sirius crossed his arms. Look, just get it over with and put me in Slytherin. We both know that's where I'm going to end up anyway.

"Yes, Slytherin would work... could be very beneficial...a lot of good to be done in these darkening times... yes, better be SLYTHERIN!"

The Sorting Hat was abruptly removed from his head and he squinted against the sudden bright lights of the Great Hall as it came back into focus. Confused, slightly haldf-hearted, applause rang out across gathered students and Sirius trudged down to join his new housemates. Sliding into a spare seat next to Andromeda, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"Well done, you've just saved yourself a lot of trouble," she remarked with a smile.

He nodded and turned his head back to the Sorting. As it progressed, the words of the old hat drifted back into his mind. Very beneficial... good to be done... what did it mean? He couldn't seem to shake off the sense of uneasiness that fell upon him at hearing those words again.

"Potter, James!"

Sirius looked up and briefly made eye contact with the lanky, bespectacled boy. There was a brief pause then... "GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers erupted on the other side of the Hall this time as the boy grinned and sauntered down. Sirius felt a brief flash of... was it disappointment? Shaking his head, he turned his attentions away from the Sorting, instead wondering when the feast was going to be served. All this tension had made him starving.

He got his wish just a few minutes later. The rest of the sorting went by relatively quickly, with five more students joining the Slytherin table - one of whom sat himself down next to Sirius. The latter afforded him only a quick glance, taking in his greasy hair and pallid complexion before turning away in disgust. Yeah he was a Slytherin alright, you only needed to look once to see that. Wrinkling his nose, Sirius turned his focus back on the food, hurriedly piling more and more onto his plate.

Halfway through stuffing his face with a chicken drumstick, he looked up to find the Potter boy staring at him again. As they made eye contact, Potter didn't look away; instead he offered a small grin before turning to listen to the conversation of the two boys seated to his right. Sirius frowned. He was a weird one. Definitely a Gryffindor. They'd spoken briefly on the train; he couldn't even remember what it was about. Potter had seemed friendly enough, someone he could have been friends with, given the right circumstances.

Glancing at the greasy boy next to him, Sirius felt the stab of disappointment and longing again at the thought that this boy and his compatriots were the ones that he was meant to spend the next seven years befriending instead. He snorted, attracting some strange looks from the students around him, which he didn't notice. He'd rather hang out with the Hufflepuffs.

Remembering his rumbling belly, he leant over the girl next to him to grab the dish of roast potatoes, earning a sharp shove in the ribs and a snapped: "Didn't your mother teach you table manners?"

Sirius shrugged as he ladled the potatoes onto his plate. "Dunno. Stopped listening to the harpie when I turned three."

"Sirius!" Narcissa looked shocked at his blatant disrespect while Andromeda merely hid a smile. Clearly it was going to take more than being sorted into the 'correct' house to tame her rebellious cousin.

Stuffing food into his mouth, Sirius mumbled, "So, what's your name?"

She looked disgusted as specks of gravy sprayed over the table. "Ugh... Abigail Nighthew."

The name attracted the attention of the blond seventh year sitting with Narcissa Black. With a small smirk, he spoke up, "A relation of Armin Nighthew, I presume?"

Her hazel eyes momentarily flashed with what looked like fear and Sirius felt the atmosphere turn a little as it became clear Lucius Malfoy had noticed it as well, a smirk crossing his pale face.

"Yes, quite a respected Pureblood family." He waited until he saw Abigail's shoulders relax and then continued almost non-chalantly, "At least they were. Your mother's a muggle, correct? Quite the scandal."

All eyes were now on Abigail who was trying not very successfully to hold back tears as her face grew scarlet. Watching the exchange, Sirius felt indignation begin building up inside him at the shameless taunting from the prefect, as well as the giggles and whispers from the younger students within earshot.

"Back off, Malfoy," he warned, the words coming out before he could stop them. They were meant to sound intimidating but thanks to his treacherous, peri-pubescent voice, they shook a little and ended with a particularly embarrassing squeak as everyone turned to see who had dared challenge a Malfoy. The girl, Abigail, was looking at him as well; clearly shocked by the sudden intervention from the scruffy boy sat next to her.

Lucius let his eyes wander up and down Sirius, as if assessing him to decide whether he was a threat big enough to bother addressing. Decision made, he gave a small smile and returned to his meal with a last snide remark to his companion.

"It's unfortunate that your cousin's upbringing clearly wasn't as refined as yours, Cissy."

Narcissa blushed and glared furiously at Sirius, who glared straight back. "Don't take him seriously, Lucius. The excitement of the night must have gone to his head."

Sirius gave another undignified snort and went back to his own dinner as slowly conversations began to resume.

"Thanks," Abigail murmured, avoiding his eye.

He shrugged. "Don't mention it. Could you pass the potatoes?"

Along with the rest of the first years, Sirius tried to keep the excitement from his face, preferring to look cool and casual, and - along with the rest of the first years - he failed. The group came to a stop in the middle of the common room and the bored looking fifth year prefect spoke: "Alright, girls dorm to the left, boys to the right. I don't care if you're going to be idiots and try and sneak into each others' rooms, just don't get caught otherwise I'll need to act like I give a damn."

A boy behind Sirius snickered, attracting the glare of the prefect and quickly masked it as a cough.

"Right now that's over: piss off. We don't like first years cluttering up the common room."

Eager to find out where he'd be staying for the next seven years, Sirius followed the rest of the boys to the right, quickly realising with disgust that he'd be sharing with the boy who'd been sitting next to him at the feast, as well as the boy who had laughed down in the common room. A couple of other guys he recognised from the Sorting joined them as he claimed the bed next to the window. Flopping down onto it, he noted with relief that it wasn't too uncomfortable. Looking up the emerald curtains draped around him, he let out a sigh. Things were about to get interesting.

As stated, this is a rewrite and continuation of a story I started under another account that I'm now locked out of - I promise I haven't stolen it! Reviews are much appreciated, as always :)