Chapter Two: The Sorting

Lily's eyes stayed glued to the window for most of the trip. Occasionally, Severus would lean over and whisper something funny in her ear to try to move her thoughts away from the uneasiness in her stomach.

Suddenly, an enormous castle came into view and Lily quickly forgot about her sister's comments and the bullies a few compartments over. It was old and reminded her mostly of the gothic castles she had read about at Muggle school. How exciting to see one up close. "I think we're here!" she turned to her comrade, who had fallen asleep against the railing. She shook him. "Severus! I think we're here!"

They both stood, gaping up at the castle from the train window. "Wow," said Severus. "It's-"

"Beautiful," Lily finished.

He smiled shyly, and bumped his shoulder to hers. "See? I told you that Hogwarts was pretty cool."

The train gradually came to a stop. They followed everyone off the train. Lily looked around, wondering what to do next. Nobody had told them what to do once they got to Hogwarts.

"First yers!" She heard a bellowing voice call. "First yers, this 'ay!" Lily jumped at the sight of him. He had to be the tallest person she had ever seen. He towered over everyone else by at least five feet. He also had a round middle and a scraggly beard. Though his eyes were beady, they did look kind. He smiled down at them. "Yer first yers, I 'eckon?" They both nodded, unable to say anything. "Good! Follow me, 'en!"

Severus gave her a look before they followed him to where the other first years were. They rode in boats from there, which was pretty exciting, much different than the boat her father had taken her fishing in when she was younger. Severus seemed to enjoy it a lot more than herself, considering how he had never been in a boat before. Well, that was until a short dark haired girl behind them leaned over the side of the boat from motion sickness. A few people pointed and laughed at her, and Lily was just about to say something to them, but they had already arrived at their destination.

"Wow." She stepped off the boat. The castle was even more beautiful up close.

"I know," said the giant man. "It 'ust gets 'etter and 'etter!" He swung open a wide door. Lily's excitement grew as they walked through hallway after hallway. For the first time in her life she felt like she wasn't a freak.

The tall man led them to a small corridor offset. A tall lady with curly black hair a stern looking face turned around. She looked at the giant man. "Thank you, Hagrid. I shall take it from here."

"You're welcome, Professor McGonagall." The giant man, Hagrid, smiled again at the first year students before taking his leave.

Professor McGonagall demanded everyone's attention. From their first meeting, Lily knew that she was a witch nobody in their right minds would ever cross. "Welcome to Hogwarts. The sorting ceremony will begin in a few moments in which you each will be sorted into one of the four houses here at Hogwarts. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff are houses named after the founders of Hogwarts and each has its own unique history and such. While you are at Hogwarts, you can earn your House points, but do not be naïve—your misbehavior can also lose points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points wins the incredible honor of the House Cup.

"The Houses here are very important. They are like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with each other, sleep in the same dormitory, and share a common room. You will be sorted by the Sorting Hat, a noble tradition here at Hogwarts, in which it selects the best fit house for each of you. As you will learn I'm sure in your history classes, Hufflepuffs are known for their loyalty, Ravenclaws are known for their intelligence, Slytherin for their cunningness, and Gryffindor for their bravery."

"What if we don't get in the same house?" Lily saw the line get shorter as they moved closer to the Great Hall. Every few moments, the Sorting Hat would yell, "SLYTHERIN!", "HUFFLEPUFF!" followed by a loud chorus of cheering. "RAVENCLAW!" She shifted nervously.

Severus shook his head. "Lily, we're going to get in the same house. Why wouldn't we?" He gave her a slight nudge forward. "We'll both be Slytherin, you'll see."

Lily sighed.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"And if we don't?" Lily questioned. She was really close to the front now.

"We will. It'll be great."

"Evans, Lily." Professor McGonagall read.

Lily slowly made her way to the front of the Great Hall where she stood holding the Sorting Hat next to a single stool. She sat down and tried not to squirm as Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head. Hundreds of students stared back at her, waiting for her fate to be revealed. She could feel her cheeks warm. She glanced at each table, wondering which house they belonged to. One table was decorated in yellow and black, and a large banner hung above it with an emblem that looked like a… badger? She smiled, thinking of the badgers her and Petunia used to chase around in the woods behind their house. She looked at the next table. An eagle soared across its blue banner. They smiled eagerly at her.

The next table was silver and green, and Lily knew it to be Slytherin. Severus had told her about it on the train. She didn't understand why he wanted to be in Slytherin anyway. Cunningness? She was sure it would be a great house, but compared to the others, what was so special that Severus insisted they both be in it? She glanced at the snake on their emblem and shuddered. She had always been afraid of snakes.

Then, she saw the last table—scarlet and gold. A lion stretched across the banner above it. It must be Gryffindor house. The boys on the train had been talking about it before they noticed herself and Severus. Snivellus. Angered boiled within her at the thought. How dare they say such mean things to her friend. If she had thought anything of it, she might have told that boy with the gastly unruly hair a thing or two about manners if only she had cour—

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily nearly jumped at the sound of the Hat's voice. Gryffindor? She smiled widely, jumping off the stool and making her way to the table of gold. Her eyes flickered back to the line, where Severus was looking slightly pale. He had wanted them both to be in Slytherin so bad, but another part of Lily was thrilled she wasn't. The sorting Hat had seen something in her that she didn't see in herself. She had courage.

She sat down next to a fair haired girl, who had scooted over to let her in, as the sorting continued. "Lupin, Remus," read McGonagall, followed by the Hat's, "GRYFFINDOR!" Her new housemate took a seat next to one of the boys she had met on the train.

The girl turned and smiled at Lily. "Hi, I'm Millie Crater. And you are?"

"Lily Evans."

"It's weird, don't you think?" said the girl, twirling her long blonde hair. "The sorting, I mean. Mom never told me how they did it. She told me a lot about Hogwarts though, but nothing compared to what it is really like. Did your parents tell you anything about Hogwarts?"

Lily shook her head. "No, my parents aren't magical. They're…"

"Muggle?" Millie asked, and Lily reddened. "Oh, don't worry about it. There's a ton of Muggle borns here. My dad came from a Muggle family, and he said that Dumbledore has no problem with them."

Lily smiled a little. Millie turned to watch some more of the sorting ceremony. "Meadows, Alice," McGonagall continued, placing the hat, on a slightly chubby brunette. Lily recognized her as the girl who had gotten sick on the boat. The hat switched slightly, and Lily saw that it was laughing. "GRYFFINDOR!"

The girl hopped up and walked over to their table. Millie and Lily scooted over a little to let her in. "I'm Millie Crater, and this is Lily Evans," Millie bombarded the girl, who for the most part looked a little bit overwhelmed at the whole situation. The girl smiled a small smile, and Lily noticed the array of freckles sprinkled across her nose and under her brown eyes. "I'm Alice Meadows."

"Parker, Braden."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Pettigrew, Peter." "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily clapped as the mousy looking boy took his seat at the table. Some more names were rattled off, and each person went to their respected houses. "Potter, James."

Millie beside her squealed, grasping her arm. "Do you know who that is?" Lily groaned inwardly at the sight of the boy from the train walking to take his place on the stool beneath the Hat. "Right of course not, you're muggle born. That's James Potter! The son of Henry Potter, one of the biggest Aurors in the Ministry. Well, used to be anyway before he retired."

"My dad says Mr. Potter is an old geezer," Alice commented. Lily coughed back a laugh as Millie stared, flabbergasted. She knew that Alice and her were going to be great friends.

Think Courage.

James repeated to himself, while the sorting hat was placed on his head. He wanted to be in the house of the brave so bad he couldn't stand it. He knew that the Gryffindor was the place for him to be, so why was it taken so blasted long for the sorting hat? His dad had told him all about the hat, and the trick was to think as much about one value of the house you want as you can so that the Hat chooses that one.

"Is that so? Sounds very Slytherin to me," a voice whispered. "Or maybe even Ravenclaw." He looked up and saw that the Hat was glaring down at him. He tried to ignore it. Bravery. Courage. "But then again, it was a very brave thing for you to try to sneak past me. GRYFFINDOR!"

James hopped up as the audience cheered. He took a seat at the table next to Sirius. He turned from the guys he was chatting with and grinned. "It's about time you show up. What kind of last name is Potter anyway?"

"Much better than Black if you ask me, especially in a house full of Slytherins." James joked. "But it looks like you did it—broke tradition."

"Wait till my mom finds out. I'm sure to get a howler." Sirius's tone was joking, but James caught on to something else, something dark, but he chose to ignore it. Sirius gestured towards the people sitting next to him. "This is Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They're first years like us."

"Hello." Remus was about the same height as himself and had a pointed nose and light brown hair that needed to be cut soon. James noticed that he was wearing second hand robes, but cared not. Peter was shorter and slightly rounder, unlike the three other boys. James laughed at the way he stared at the food. "It's nice to meet you."

"Is it really true you are the first in your family to be Gryffindor? That all your family are Slytherin?" asked Peter.

Sirius grinned. "Like I said, I broke tradition."

"Reddens, Marge." "RAVENCLAW!"

James looked back to the sorting. Just behind the Hat, he could see Professor Dumbledore. He had only met him once, while he was out with his dad, but he seemed to be a nice old man. Now, though, to see him here in all glory was different. He seemed at peace almost, like he was the happiest man in the world. His eyes flickered in his direction, and James could have sworn he saw him smile beneath his beard.

"Snape, Severus."

Sirius elbowed him in the side. "Well, well, look who it is."

Sure enough, it was the weird dark haired boy from the train, the one who insisted on getting housed in Slytherin. He walked to the stool and sat, wrapping his slender legs to the front of him. The Hat was only on his head for a few seconds before, "SLYTHERIN!"

James chuckled as the slytherins cheered. "Looks like Snivallus got what he wanted." He watched as Snape made his way to the table of green. A sixth year student with electric white hair clapped him on the back when he sat down beside him.

"Therman, Nick." "HUFFLEPUFF!"

A few minutes later, McGonagall read the last name, "White, Maria." "RAVENCLAW!"

The Ravenclaw table cheered, followed by a chorus of all students. Headmaster Dumbledore stood and pointed his long wand to the base of his throat. His voice rang out, "Welcome, new students, to Hogwarts, and welcome back returning students to a new year at Hogwarts."