"Snape, Severus."
The smallest boy left in the queue of first years stepped forwards. His long, black hair fell over his eyes and he brushed it aside as he sat on the wooden stool that so many had already graced this evening. He sat nervously, fiddling with the cuff of his old, repaired robes, pulling at a loose thread he had been worrying on the train. Then the hat was dropped on his head. It was large and balanced precariously on his ears. He carried on looking at his cuff as a voice began to murmur in his head.
"So, we have another Prince, do we? My, my it's been a while. Now, let me see. If you are anything like your mother I know exactly where to put you."
At the mention of his mother, the boy flinched, both mentally and physically.
"Now, what's this? This is different. Do you know, boy, I don't know what to do. Help me."
"What do you mean?" the boy thought, starting to panic slightly.
"Well, as history dictates, you should be a Slytherin, without a doubt. But…there's something else I can sense in you."
"Like what?"
"Maybe I should explain the qualities of a Slytherin, of which you have many. I can see that you are cunning and proud. But, there's something else."
"I don't understand."
"I mean, even though you fit the description of a Slytherin to the tee, I've put lesser people than you in Gryffindor."
Severus Snape gasped audibly.
"Gryffindor?" he thought.
"Yes, Gryffindor. Do you know that sometimes, on very special occasions, a student comes along who completely changes my outlook. You see the boy Black who I have just put in Gryffindor?"
"Yes."
"Every Black I have ever known has been in Slytherin. He literally is the first ever not to be. Now, normally, a student like him only comes along once every hundred years or so but you-I've had two of you in the same year. It's unheard of. I simply don't know what to do."
"Please put me in Slytherin."
"What's that? You want to go in Slytherin? My, my that is strange. I will be happy to oblige but I want you to be sure. I sense great things in you. You are quite unique."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I said that you were cunning and proud but so are most of the people that I put in Gryffindor. I can also see that you're very bright, reserved, noble and…dare I say it?"
"Say what?"
"Well my boy, it wouldn't be too bold of me to say that I think you may be one of, if not the bravest person whose head I have graced."
"I'm not brave."
"Well, you say that but you can't see what I have found buried in your head. You, my boy have incredible potential and you are brave. You have courage hidden within in you that I have never seen before. Courage I think will be wasted in Slytherin."
"Please put me in Slytherin. Please not Gryffindor. My mum would kill me. I don't want to upset her and -"
"Very well," the hat almost sighed, "If you're sure. Promise me one thing."
"Anything."
"Never forget who you are."
The great rip opened and the hat bellowed, "SLYTHERIN!"
The Slytherin table erupted in cheers as Severus Snape stumbled over the hem of his long robes and fell into a spare seat at the end of one of the benches. He realised that he was being watched and looked to the top table. Albus Dumbledore was looking at him curiously, with a strange smile on his face.
A seventh year Slytherin patted the boy on his shoulder, "That was the longest I've ever seen the hat take to make a decision. We thought it would never decide. What was it talking about?"
Severus Snape opened his mouth to answer, heard what he was about to say in his head and changed his mind.
"It was just telling me about my family and stuff."
His lips curled into an unfamiliar sneer. He didn't know what he was lying but he did so anyway.
"I don't it really knew what it was talking about."
He watched the remaining handful of first years being sorted; one more to Gryffindor, one to Hufflepuff and three to Ravenclaw. As the feast began, he was aware that the headmaster was still watching him and, despite what he had been told by his mother, he offered a shy smile which the headmaster returned.
************************************************************************
Years later, when the whole fabric of wizard society had been torn and reshaped, Professors Snape and Dumbledore were sharing a late nightcap, and the conversation turned to the past. The two men had developed a bond over the years, a bond of incredible strength and there was little possible to perceive that would break it. Dumbledore knew that Snape would tell him anything and Snape knew that he always had a place at the old man's table.
"Severus, would you answer a question I have been keen to ask you for years?"
"Of course."
"Severus, the evening you were sorted-"
Snape laughed quietly in spite of himself.
"I wondered when this would come up."
"I have never known the hat take so long to sort someone. I have my suspicions about what took so long but what exactly did it say?"
"Headmaster, I do not remember. Forgive me, but it was of little significance."
"Severus, you know that you have never been able to lie to me. Tell me. I'm interested."
Knowing that he was beaten, Snape gave up.
"It couldn't decide where to put me. It said that I could be in Gryffindor. It said that Black and I were very alike and it had never had two students in the same year that defied the odds."
"What exactly did it give as a reason for wanting to put you in Gryffindor?"
"Headmaster, please-"
"Forgive me, Severus. I just wanted to see if the hat is of the same opinion as me. You do not have to tell me more than you want to."
Snape sighed.
"The hat told me that I had incredible potential and that-" he smirked so that Dumbledore would get the joke, "I had courage which would be wasted in Slytherin."
When the other man didn't smirk back, Snape furrowed his brow in confusion. Dumbledore shook his head.
"Once again, Severus, your crippling lack of self confidence bemuses me. Just so you know, the hat does share my opinion. I knew that something must have been driving you all these years and Merlin knows the kind words never came from your family or your teachers."
"You flatter me Headmaster but-"
"But nothing, Severus. What else did it say?"
"How did you know that-"
"You have forgotten already, you can't lie to me. Tell me the last thing."
"It said I must never forget who I am. Inspiring words to an eleven year old but rather less so-"
"Yet you have never forgotten them, have you?"
Lowering his head, Snape whispered, "No."
"Look at me, Severus."
Reluctantly, he raised his eyes until he was looking at the man he supposed one on the outside may call his best friend. Dumbledore's blue eyes shone over his glasses as he rested his chin on his hands.
"And you never must."
