Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters you recognise.

Thanks to my beta Choices HP.

Chapter 3: Beginnings

It was enormous. Remus thought it had to be at least as big as the town he lived in, and that was just the castle. It looked even larger because it was perched atop a mountain. But the size was not the only thing that struck him about the place. He could feel a strange prickling on the back of his neck that almost made him think that magic might be tangible.

Peter was hanging off him again, shaking. Remus assumed he was overcome with nerves at the sight of Hogwarts, but was proven wrong when the chubby boy stuttered, "W-what are th-those for? A-are w-we g-going t-to p-p-paddle across the l-lake?" He was pointing a shaky finger at a small fleet of boats in front of them.

Remus frowned. There was nothing for them to paddle with. "Well, no. I suppo—" But he was cut off be the giant man instructing them to get in, no more than four to a boat.

Peter grabbed onto his shoulder even tighter, but when Remus looked at him, he had a look of grim determination on his face. More to himself than Remus, Peter said, "It's okay. It's just a stupid boat. You won't fall out and drown." He let go of Remus and clambered into a boat, tripping slightly.

Remus followed and as soon as Sirius and his friend joined them, the boat began to move of its own accord.

"So, what were we talking about before we had to go?" the messy-haired boy asked with an arrogant smirk.

"Socks that look like Gellert Grindelwald," Remus supplied.

"No, it's a sock that makes my foot look like Gellert Grindelwald, get it right," Sirius corrected, rolling his eyes.

Remus shrugged, wishing he had a book so he could read instead of talk to them. He didn't want to judge them before he really knew them, but all three boys sitting (well, Sirius was lounging, really) in the boat with him were beginning to get on his nerves.

"Speaking of Grindelwald," the messy-haired boy said, "What are your names, anyway?"

Peter looked surprised at being addressed; it had apparently escaped him that they'd been talking to both Remus and him the whole time. "Er…my name's Peter…" he looked a little confused.

"I'm Remus," the other boy responded offering the messy-haired one his hand.

"James. And this is Sirius," the boy answered, shaking Remus' hand briefly. "What house d'you reckon you'll be in?"

Remus considered before answering, "I don't think it matters that much."

"Doesn't matter that much?" James asked incredulously.

"Look, mate, you can tell a lot about a bloke by what house he's in," Sirius informed him, James nodding in agreement, "For example, Ravenclaws are quick but snobby, Hufflepuffs are nice but weird, Slytherins are scum, and Gryffindors are pretty much the best people in the world." By now, James was nodding his head so hard that Remus wouldn't have been surprised if it had fallen off.

Remus wasn't quite sure that Sirius was right about the houses, but thought it would be rude to say as much. So, as the boats came to a halt, what he said instead was, "You think you'll be in Gryffindor, then?"

"Of course I will!" James sounded offended that Remus even had to ask. "All my family has been in Gryffindor! Where else would they put me?"

Remus shrugged. His question had really been aimed at Sirius, but when he saw the dark look that had come over the other boy's face, he thought it best not to press the matter. He let a silence fall over them as they walked the rest of the way to the castle.

They arrived at a set of giant oak doors that opened to reveal a cavernous hall with another set of doors at the opposite end. Candles floated in the air to light the way and, on the left wall, was a gigantic marble staircase leading up, seemingly unendingly. Directly to his left and right were four large hourglasses, each holding different coloured rocks than the others. However, his observations were cut short by a tall, rather severe-looking woman with dark hair pulled back into a tight bun.

"Welcome!" Her voice sounded almost as severe as she looked. "In a few moments, you will enter the Great Hall to be sorted into your houses. This is extremely important—"

"See, told you," Sirius whispered.

"Because in your time here, your house will be like your family. You will sleep in your house dormitories, eat at your tables, spend your free time in your house common rooms…" It sounded so rehearsed that Remus couldn't help but wonder if she said the same thing every year. "As such, I expect you to take the sorting very seriously. When I call your name, you will step forwards and try on the Sorting Hat. It will know which house you belong in. Now, if you are prepared, follow me." With that, she led them into the Great Hall.

There were five tables: one for each house and a high table for the professors and headmaster. The house tables had just enough space left for the first years to fit in once they'd been sorted. Like in the Entrance Hall, there were candles floating in midair. But what truly fascinated Remus and, it seemed, many of the first years, was the ceiling. He had, of course, read about it in Hogwarts, A History, but it was even more spectacular than he'd imagined. It was a deep, velvety blue with bright stars winking down and a crescent moon shining brightly. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought it simply opened up to the heavens. Remus was so distracted by the ceiling, in fact, that he didn't even notice the Sorting Hat until it burst into song.

O'er a thousand years it's been to date

That through disagreement

Confusion, fear, and hate

The founders did cause a catastrophic event.

They fought over much so

Before that year they opened the door

To Hogwarts they created many foes

By splitting the school into these houses four.

Ravenclaw accepted those eager and bright

Hufflepuff those hardworking and true.

But Slytherin kept those whose cunning was their might

And Gryffindor took who was braver than any else he knew.

But in these days of darkness and fear

What you must see

Is that you must keep all friends near

No matter in what house they may be.

And although I will sort you today

Understand that to be true

This is absolutely no way

To live through the times that face you!

"Awfully pessimistic hat, doncha think?" James asked. "And if it means I've got to make friends with Slytherins to live, then I think I'll just die, thank you very much!"

Remus saw the red-haired girl, who was standing not too far away, roll her eyes at this.

The woman who had brought them into the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall, had begun calling names. "Abercrombie, Kaimana!" was a dark boy with prominent ears and the first student to be sorted. The hat would have fallen all the way down over his head if his ears hadn't stopped it. It took nearly a minute before shouting "RAVENCLAW!"

"Black, Sirius!" Sirius brushed some of his dark hair out of his eyes and walked up, looking petrified. The terrified expression looked so out of place on his face that Remus wondered if he was anywhere near as confident as he'd seemed. He even had a sneaking suspicion that Sirius didn't actually think he'd be put into Gryffindor.

Indeed, he spent what felt like ages up there, his hands gripping the stool so tightly that his knuckles had gone white, before the hat finally did shout, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius jumped up, throwing the hat off in excitement and shouting, "HAH! I knew it! My parents are gonna flip!" Remus couldn't help but notice how relieved he looked, though.

A couple others were sorted before McGonagall called, "Evans, Lily!" and the girl with dark red hair walked up to be sorted. The boy called Sev crossed his fingers, but looked thoroughly disappointed when, mere seconds after it had been placed on her head, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

A few more, then, "Lupin, Remus!" Remus' legs turned to jelly. He didn't mind being sorted, but he absolutely hated being in front of crowds of people. It made him nervous. He forced himself to walk up and sit on the stool. The hat fell down over his eyes, but he could still feel everyone watching.

"Interesting. No. There's no need to be alarmed. Yes, I can read your thoughts."

'Okay…weird…and what's so interesting?'

"You're a werewolf."

'What does it matter?'

"It doesn't, but it's troubling that you would think that it might. Not Hufflepuff for you, then, you're too introverted, even if you're rather loyal. Not Slytherin, either, though you do have the cunning, you wouldn't be accepted very easily there…"

'What if I don't want to be accepted? I'm dangerous to anyone who gets close and—'

"I can see everything in your head and you do want to be accepted. Ravenclaw, maybe? You've certainly got the brains and a very open mind to boot. You accept just about anything as long as it can't be proven untrue."

'You mean I'm nutters, then?'

"Well aren't you touchy? You know that—"

'I know just as much about my brain as you do!'

"Ugh. Fine."

'Are you going to figure out what to do with me or not?'

"Figure out? I knew from the start where I'd put you."

'Then what's keeping you?'

"I just spent an entire year sitting around doing nothing, this is the first entertainment I've had in ages!"

'Can't you—'

"Yes, fine. You're not fantastic company, anyway…GRYFFINDOR!"

Remus took off the hat, set it on the stool, and rushed over to the Gryffindor table, sitting down next to Lily, who he didn't know but thought might be less irritating than Sirius.

"Hi," she smiled, "Your name's Remus? I'm Lily."

"Hi," Remus said back, looking around as he did so. He was quite relieved that the entire Great Hall wasn't still staring at him.

"It took a while for the hat to sort you. How come?" Lily seemed genuinely confused and she kept looking at normal things like people's robes and the Hogwarts ghosts like they were something out of a fiction novel. It occurred to Remus that she was probably Muggleborn.

"I don't think the hat likes me very much," he answered. He wasn't sure why, but he was smiling.

"Oh." Lily looked even more confused, and turned back to the sorting where the girl with big blue eyes she'd been talking to earlier ("McKnight, Serenity!") was sitting. After a moment, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and she practically ran over to sit across from Lily.

Theodore Nott II was sorted into Slytherin next, then "Pettigrew, Peter!" It took the hat longer by far to sort Peter than it had done with anyone else, including Sirius, but, at long last, it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, James!" The boy sprinted up, looking entirely too excited and, almost the second the hat touched his head, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" just as he had predicted earlier.

A girl was sorted into Hufflepuff, two into Gryffindor, and a boy into Ravenclaw before McGonagall called, "Snape, Severus!" Lily's friend prowled up and the hat was placed on his head. Lily was bouncing up and down, all her fingers crossed in her lap as he sat there for something close to an eternity. Finally, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" Lily slumped in disappointment.

The last few students were sorted into their houses and, at last, the feast began. The food appeared on the plates (Remus smiled when Lily jumped at this, but told her it was normal because she looked highly embarrassed). He spent most of the time just eating, listening to what people were saying but not engaging himself because he was still trying to keep people from making friends with him. It would be much safer that way.

James, Sirius, and Peter had all come over to sit with the rest of the Gryffindor first years, which made this rather difficult because they kept talking to him, throwing things at him and poking him when he didn't answer. James gave up after a while, turning to Lily instead, but Sirius was very persistent and got his reward towards the end of desert when he started going on about how fantastic the Chudley Canons were. Remus just about spat out his pudding at that. "The Chudley Canons?"

Sirius beamed at finally getting an answer, but looked confused, "Yeah, the Canons. Nothing wrong with the Canons." He threw a muffin at Remus for good measure.

Remus decided that, even if Sirius kept throwing food at him (actually, it was rather convenient because the other boy had a knack for only throwing Remus' favourite foods at him) it wasn't even worth answering someone who thought the Chudley Canons of all teams were good.

"They'll turn around any time now! You'll see!" Sirius looked a bit disconcerted and chucked another muffin at Remus.

Sirius whined about how great the Canons were and how Remus would see until it was time to go to bed. They followed the Prefect to a portrait of a very fat woman. The Prefect said the password ("Nargle", though Remus had never heard of a nargle) and directed them to their dormitories. The room already had all their things in it, so Remus changed into his pyjamas and lay down in his bed. He fell asleep almost instantly.