The first years filed in to the the Great Hall. While all the other kids were staring in awe at the decorations, Sirius was looking around, seeing if he could find which house Allie was in. He finally saw her once they had lined up in single file at the front of the room. She was sitting at the Slytherin table, a cute grin on her face as she lightly punched the shoulder of the boy sitting next to her. In fact, she was surrounded by boys, all vying for her attention. Well, there went Sirius's chances.
"Black, Sirius!" Professor McGonagall cried out.
Bile rose to Sirius's throat as murmurs filled three quarters of the room.
"Not another one," a Hufflepuff fifth year groaned to her friend.
"Slytherin for sure, that one," a Ravenclaw commented.
Sirius felt James elbow him in the side, "You didn't tell me you were a Black. I had been hoping we could be in the same house."
Suddenly Sirius grinned. It was time to prove everyone wrong. He wouldn't be in Slytherin, not if he had anything to say about it. He wouldn't even be in Ravenclaw. He would be sorted into the place Blacks were never, ever sorted.
He strolled up to the hat and sat down, allowing Professor McGonagall to lower the hat onto his head.
Ah, very interesting. A Black, yes, and ambitious in your own way, but...there's something else. Recklessness, courage...interesting. I see you don't want to be in Slytherin. Very well then,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Sirius emerged from under the hat to find a shocked silence covering the hall.
Grinning, he made his way to the Gryffindor table to wait for James to join him.
As soon as he had sat down the hall erupted into whispers.
The older boy next to Sirius clapped him on the back, "Bet your family's not gonna be too happy about that."
"Yeah, well…"
"No, that's good. It means you belong here, brave recklessness and all," He grinned and held out his hand, "I'm Frank Longbottom, third year."
Sirius smiled and shook his hand, "Nice to meet you."
"Evans, Lily!"
Sirius turned and saw the red-headed girl from the compartment walk up to the hat.
He hoped she wouldn't be in Gryffindor. She seemed snobbish, like she knew she was perfect and thought everyone else should think so too.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
So much for that.
She turned to look apologetically at Severus for a second, then hurried over to the Gryffindor table. She considered Sirius, but then shook her head and walked over to sit down at the other end of the table.
Rude.
"Floresque, Alice" was also a Gryffindor, as well as "Lupin, Remus" "McKinnon, Marlene" "Nelson, Lauren" and "Pettigrew, Peter"-the boy with the stuffed bear.
Sirius wondered how that had happened.
Then "Potter, James" was called.
Sirius had only known James for a little while, but he could already tell that James was hiding quite a bit of nervousness behind his strutting.
Almost as soon as the hat touched his head, it screamed out:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
With a huge grin, James ran over to sit next to Sirius, almost tripping on the bench in his hurry.
"We made it, Sirius!"
Sirius chuckled, "Yeah, we did."
He was going to be in so much trouble when he went back home in the summer, but, until then, he may as well relax and enjoy himself. Another girl was sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius missed her name.
Then Severus Snape was called up.
The hat seemed to deliberate longer than Sirius expected, but of course in the end he was sorted into Slytherin. He looked longingly at Lily, then turned and took the walk of shame to the Slytherin table. Sirius's eyes narrowed as he saw Allie scoot over, allowing Snivellus to sit next to her.
"Sirius?" James tapped his shoulder.
He turned back around, "Yeah?"
James motioned to the first year sitting across from them, "This is Remus Lupin. Remus, this is Sirius."
Remus looked like a shy, nerdy boy. Not the type one would expect to find in Gryffindor. His light brown hair hung in his eyes, his skin pale.
"Hi," he said, not meeting Sirius's eyes.
"Hey."
"You excited to be in Gryffindor, Remus?" James asked.
"Yeah."
There was silence for a moment.
Professor Dumbledore was talking, but Sirius didn't care to listen, He looked around the room, but his eyes kept drifting back to the Slytherin table. To his family, and Allie.
Narcissa was pretending to listen to Dumbledore, her face blank, while a boy played with her hair. Andromeda was actually listening to Dumbledore, though every once in a while her gaze drifted to the Hufflepuff table. Allie was writing something on a napkin and listening to Snivellus talk, every once in a while laughing to show that she was still paying attention. The blond boy sitting on one side of Narcissa (Lucius Malfoy, Sirius believed) noticed him looking and frowned. He subtly flicked his wand, and Sirius instinctively moved out of the way. Instead of hitting its intended victim, the spell hit Remus. There was a moment of shocked silence, in which everyone waited to see what would happen, then his skin started turning a painful shade of red, except on his face, where it spelled out: Blood traitor.
A girl screamed. Frank Longbottom and several other older students dove at the bewildered Remus to try to fix it. James stood up and whipped out his wand.
"Who did this?"
Sirius took out his own wand, face twisted with anger, "Lucius Malfoy. I saw."
The boys were about to hit Malfoy with every spell and hex they knew (which wasn't many) when Professor McGonagall strode into their way.
"Wands down, boys," She said calmly, "The teachers will deal with this."
James lowered his wand, and Sirius reluctantly followed his lead.
Professor McGonagall shooed the Gryffindors away from Remus, and examined him. "This boy needs to go to Madame Pomfrey. Mr. Shacklebolt, will you take him."
A large, dark boy with a prefect badge pinned on his robes emerged from the crowd, "Of course, Professor." He gently led Remus away."
Professor McGonagall turned to James and Sirius, "Do either of you know who shot the hex?"
"It was Malfoy," James blurted out.
"I see," McGonagall wiped her hands off on her tartan robe, "Do you know why?"
"He was trying to hit me, Professor." Sirius was slightly nervous around this powerful woman.
"Ah," McGonagall paused, considering, "Well, thank you for telling me. And welcome to Gryffindor, Mr. Black."
Sirius shuddered, "Can you call me Sirius?"
McGonagall frowned, "Of course, Sirius."
She strode away to deal with Malfoy.
"She's the head of Gryffindor house." Frank had somehow appeared beside Sirius without him noticing. His eyes were shining, "Isn't she brilliant?"
"Yeah," Sirius stepped over to James.
"Sirius," James had a strange look in his eyes.
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever pranked someone before?"
"Of course I have." He hadn't. "Why?"
James grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Because I have the perfect target in mind."