The lake trip had left them shivering in the evening's darkness, their thin school uniform holding very little body warmth in. The same female Prefect that had guided them to the lake came running up to their crowd, flanked on either side by two slightly taller figures who Albus could only assume were other Prefect's.
"First Year's this way; Professor Longbottom will meet you in the Entrance Hall," She called over their heads, beckoning them to move forwards. As they did the chatter broke out once again, after having subsided on the boat trip. The female Prefect sighed, flipped a strand of flaxen hair out of her eyes and moved forward, the group behind her followed suite steadily.
Albus only had a couple of seconds to gaze in sheer wonder at the magnificent size of the wooden front doors before a thunderous concoction of clicking and sliding allowed it to open. The inside was even more impressive; the sheer size of the Hall within the doors was enough to silence the crowd. A flurry of heads followed as a ghost passed through the walls, then disappeared with a brief wave in the the sweeping staircase to their left. A few of their number gasped with shock, hands covering mouths.
"Welcome, First Years!" A booming voice called across the Hall, "Welcome to Hogwarts castle. The Sorting Ceremony will commence shortly, so I'll give you a couple of minutes to neaten yourselves up. All in uniform, I hope?" The man said it kindly, however, with one eyebrow cocked, then he clapped his hands once again, grinned at them, and exited back into the next set of doors.
The chatter broke out once again, while people attempted to flatten their hair and tuck shirts in.
"I know Professor Longbottom!" One squat, chubby 11 year old announced to the group around him, "He lives above the Leaky Cauldron in the holidays!"
This brought about a round of appreciative nods and loose jaws. Evidently living above a world famous pub made you, in an 11 year old's opinion, infinitely cooler than residing in a gigantic magical castle in the mountains.
- - -
Scorpius was at the back of this rather noisy crowd, carefully keeping himself to himself. The velvet sleeves were just visible under the cuffs of his fresh new Hogwart's robes. As with all the other First Years his clothes carried no House emblem, unlike the older Years with their House colours proudly on display. He fingered the collar of his robe lightly, wondering what shades he would like to see there. The obvious Slytherin emerald would be ideal, but personally Scorpius felt blue would bring out his eyes. He didn't like the way the dark robes made his skin would even paler; for one brief second he cursed his heritage and their habit of inbreeding.
"First Year's this way!" A different voice called across the crowd. A simultaneous gulp and the following sighs rung through the Entrance Hall like bell tolls. The crowd began to form an orderly line, attempting to organize themselves into some sort of alphabetical order. Scorpius took up his place near the middle, flanked either side by a Morgan and the Potter kid. Al stood behind Scorpius, his reddy brown hair flicking off in different directions, one mud stained shoe making conspicuous marks on the tiles. Scorpius smirked to himself, brushing any possible dust and germs off his beautifully impeccable robes.
They filed in carefully and quietly, walking through the now silent crowd at the four House tables in the Main Hall. Faces from every direction followed them, until the line stopped abruptly about five meters from a short, battered wooden stall. A tall, aristocratic looking man came over and placed an even worse looking hat on the stall, it's hemming frayed and dirty. The man stood next to it, unrolling a piece of parchment carefully, his eye's scanning gradually down until -
"Anderson, Marcus!"
A gangly pale boy half jogged the five meter distance, sitting down on the stall and pulling the hat down his face as far as he could possibly manage. He appeared to be trying to hide his face from the crowd, but only had it on for about twenty seconds before the ragged hat announced, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The pale boy jogged it over to the Gryffindor table amid cheers and applause from his new House. Scorpius spied out of the corner of his eye the House Prefect clapping him on the back as he joined next to someone who he guessed must have been a sibling of some sort.
It was a while before there were any announcements that made the crowd show any great interest until the tall man read off the list the name - "Dursley, Michelle."
Al stood, gaping at the announcer as a small blond girl teetered over to the stool, pulling the hat quickly as it to hide embarrassment. The crowd around the Hall was up in arms, muttering things about "Potter" and "Wizard hating Muggles". They didn't quieten down until the tall man shushed them with a frantic wave of his hands, the parchment clasped tightly between his fingers.
The hat seemed to take an agonizing age until it suddenly proclaimed - "GRYFFINDOR!" and Michelle Dursley hurried off to her respective table amid a spattering of applause and slight confusion.
Al stood behind Scorpius, nervously hopping from one foot onto the other. The line was depleting fast; soon it was only a couple of people before Scorpius, and then, Al thought with a gulp, him. He wasn't thinking straight as he moved forward with the rest of the line. It didn't make sense - how could a Dursley have been magical? His dad rarely discussed them, but he knew for certain the his uncle didn't possess an ounce of magical powers. Unless his aunt . . . ? But while he was thinking the line had moved forwards, and he had to stumble quickly behind Scorpius Malfoy, who Al could've sworn sniggered ever so slightly.
Mendelin, Randall had just become the Slytherin tables newest occupant and then - "Malfoy, Scorpius!"
The tables went quiet, but Al could hear clearly the outbreak of whispers going on. Scorpius stepped up bravely to the stool, taking the frayed garment in both bony hands and placing it on his head.
"Another Malfoy, hm?" Scorpius heard in his ear, then, upon realizing the hat was talking to him, nodded, "Normally I would just place you in Slytherin, no doubt it would do some good for your family pride. But no, you're something different. Your mother's mother was a Hufflepuff then? Very interesting."
"Not Slytherin, please," Scorpius thought to himself, urging the hat not to make some snap decision based on surname alone, "Not Slytherin!"
"Very interesting, very interesting," The hat muttered in his ear, "You've got the brains, definitely got the ability. You could do great things for any house, no doubt."
"Not Slytherin," Scorpius chanted as some sort of motto, "Not Slytherin!"
"Really? Well then, better be . . . RAVENCLAW!"
Scorpius blanched, removed the hat, and walked over to the Ravenclaw table. There was a semi cheering, mainly from quite a few bemused looking people at the Ravenclaw table. The loud muttering broke out again, and the crowd barely had time to recover from this shock when the aristocratic man called out, "Potter, Albus!"
The Hall really did fall fully silent this time round. Only the turning of heads could be heard, each looking at every House table in turn, as if they might be able to tell who this Potter was going to be.
Al almost tripped on his way up, but recovered quickly and planted himself on the stool. The frayed hat hung around his ears, and Al felt it almost move, as if it might be a living being.
"Another Potter, is it? Hm . . . more difficult than your brother and grandfather. You remind me of your father; great potential in any house. Slytherin, maybe?"
"No, not Slytherin," Al told the hat quite firmly, his fingernails gripping the edge of the seat, "Not Slytherin. Anywhere but Slytherin."
"Well . . . I'm not usually one for taking pupils own prejudices into account, but if you're so adamant that Slytherin would be a wrong choice then you better be . . . RAVENCLAW!"
Al had no time to dwell over what had just happened, and he ripped the hat off his head and half ran over to the Ravenclaw table amongst the greatest applause of the evening. Al looked around for a seat, and found one with spare space around it.
"A Potter, in Ravenclaw! Who would've thought it, aye?" A kindly Scottish accented voice said in his ear, then a great hand clapped him on the back, "Julius Jaequin, Head Boy. Pleased to meet you, Albus Potter." The Head boy had a handsome, kindly face, and Al accepted the handshake.
After both Resseriti, Susanna and Thompson, Jack had been sorted into Gryffindor the line had become only four. Al glanced over at Rose, hoping to catch her eye. Much to his disappointment her eyes were fixed on the Head Table; the nervousness clear through the constant cracking of her knuckles. Vane, Verity quickly became a Hufflepuff, then Xavier, Zachary became a Slytherin the line left only Rose Weasley some posh looking boy, his shiny leather boots making a slight squeaking sound every time he moved.
Al held his breath as his cousin stepped up to the stool, sat down and shoved the hat over her eyes.
It seemed to take an age before anything happened, and then, after what looked like an argument between Rose Weasley and this inanimate object it announced - "RAVENCLAW!"
Al broke into imidiate applause, making space for Rose to come and sit down next to him. She tottered down the aisle between the Raven claw and Slytherin tables, then came and plonked herself down next to Al, her face flushed and excited.
"Sorry about that, it wanted to put me in Gryffindor," Rose looked up at her cousin, "Al, what's the matter?"
"Dursley, Rose, a Dursley," He turned his pallid face to her, "D'you reckon my dad knows about this?"
- - -
Author's Notes - Lulz! Plot twisterzzz! (Been done a million times, I reckon!) Ahem, anyway, I sincerely apologize. I don't think the spell check picks up errors induced by spilling a mug of steaming tea over your keyboard. Reviews are loved, and even replied to! My biggest thanks to C.D, emuroo and ElleIra42, all quick on the ball. Thank you for the loving reviews!
Thanks once again, Rose.