A/N; I now have a laptop. No more annoying little brother whining to mom to kick me off the computer! *celebrates* I love my aunt. The wireless Internet hates me though...DX
Chapter 3- A Surprising Sorting
Orion escorted Ali, down the dark path to the boats, following the groundskeeper's lantern light. As they followed the half-giant to the boats, Orion helped a few obvious muggleborns with a few problems. If a guy has a robe on backwards there is a reason to be slightly concerned. They admittedly mousy muggleborn who should be kept away from any and all things sugar boarded their own boat along with a red head in decent but slightly shabby robes.
They came around the bend and 'ohhed' and 'ahhed' in the appropriate places. Orion just wasn't expecting to see a camera flash from the mouse. He vowed a prank in return for screwing with his night vision. Apparently neither was another firstie as she fell into the water. Her shipmates pulled her up back into the boat.
They passed through the ivy curtain, Orion looking at the vine strength wondering if they could support a person's weight. Minerva McGonnagall met them in the antechamber, explained the house system and the bribery cup, and left the room, presumably to get the hat and stool set up. Then the ghosts swarmed in. They frightened the new initiates to magic, and the Deputy Headmistress then scared the hoard away plus one.
"Come along to get sorted now." She said briskly motioning for them to follow her. The group 'wowed' collectively and Orion anticipated the camera flash thus managing to not get blinded by it.
She then marched up to the staff table and started calling names.
"Ash, Holly."
She was short, blond, and probably bouncy when not soaking wet.
"Griffyndor!" The table broke out into rambunctious applause.
"Behr, Merrick."
He was exotic, foreign, with a strong disposition and a stately walk.
"Slytherin!" The house broke into polite clapping.
"I'm up now." He whispered to Ali.
"Bl-Black, Orion." It was funny how deathly quiet it became until he started walking towards the hat. The students broke out in whispers and faces changed as the news was broke. The staff table wasn't even exempt either. Dumbledore lost his twinkle while Snape was shaking in rage. Sprout's face darkened and Flitwick remained the only head of house to maintain a show of calm. He was more than likely fingering his wand where Orion couldn't see him. Sinistra didn't care as she'd much prefer her breakfast, and the elective professors –if they were even there- were just as misbehaving as the Heads of the Houses –minus Flitwick.
Speculations ran wild and rumors came to life in an instant. The rumors ran rampant and information was dispelled throughout the room. Needless to say it was instant chaos and all attention was upon him.
He loved it.
He hated it.
He tolerated the distorted symphony of chaos that it was. His appearance wasn't worth that much attention.
He walked in between the tables towards the hat while they watched with a wonder bordering upon awe. When Orion reached the stool the Deputy placed the old piece of cloth upon his head looking visibly worried. He then grinned wickedly at her, just for fun and to see if she'd flinch. To his great delight she looked a bit more unnerved.
'Oh, look here a Black! It's been a while since I've had a look at one of you.'
'Do you engage in small talk with everyone?'
'No I don't, and for good reason! Some have naught by echoes of my own voice and fluff in here! Now to start your sorting young man. Hmm… you're highly intelligent, scarily so if I must say. There's ambition and courage, hard work and loyalty as well.'
'Care to hurry up there?'
'I'd say Slytherin but I get the feeling that the house or the castle wouldn't survive the week. Griffyndor is a no as well, since the hot heads would like nothing more than to rip you to shreds and that's not what I'm here for, especially since you'll get them back ten fold.'
'If you dare suggest Hufflepuff, I will pull you apart thread by thread, and then unwind the fire retardant charms and set you alit with the most stubborn fire spell I know and you now know.'
'You recreated the Greek fire spell? Nicely done, if I must say.'
'Go ahead and put me with the 'Claws. I'm less likely to kill or maim them all. No worries about ambushes in the common room with my reflexes sending an experimental charm or hex in their face. Not to mention I'd have to deal with my dear cousin all the time in the common room and I really don't want to deal with him and whatever groupies he may have if I'm in Slytherin and I don't want to have the same stigma as Uncle so again no Griffyndor for me. The 'Puffs, well some look ready to keel over at the moment.'
'Ravenclaw is for the knowledge seekers-'
'You've seen what I've done for a book before. I enjoy them, adore them actually. You've seen how many times I've fallen asleep on the library couch.'
'To be fair it seems to be an exceedingly comfy couch and you really jumped off a cliff for a book?'
'Yes, now would you sort me and be done with it?'
'Not worried about me spilling all your secrets young Black?'
'You were made by Godric true, but Salazaar bespelled you. So I'm not if he wasn't.'
'You may have strong Slytherin and Griffyndor tendencies but you're best suited for-'
"Ravenclaw!"
After he handed the hat back to professor with a decided smirk, he started to walk to the table in silence before some overcame their shock and started clapping. He was immediately surrounded by questions, notably from pureblooded ravens.
"Are you the son of Sirius Black?"
"How did he escape Azkaban after a year spent in there?"
"Why did he betray the Potters?"
"Honestly people, as much as I love the man I'm glad he's my Uncle and Godfather and not my Father. Besides you're making him seem like a malicious monster."
In the stunned silence that followed the Deputy Headmistress continued the sorting. He clapped for the next few sortings as they were to people who he was distantly related to, or a 'Claw. Let the Slytherins make what of it that they will, there was a reason that he was sitting on that side of the table. Sometimes he hated to come from such an influential and well connected family.
He really didn't care for them much at all, and Draco in only the fact that he was family, even if he was a second cousin. He'd play nice for a bit or until they annoyed him or the upper years tried to make a power play on him.
A loud crashing noise followed and Snape went to the disturbance. The animagi professor looked slightly less than pleased when Gryffindor went into the black.
"So you're Regulus' son then?" A pureblooded 'Claw named Davies asked.
"Yes, I am. I'll answer questions later. I'm watching the sorting."
"Lovegood, Luna." Said the animagus.
"Ravenclaw!" Shouted the hat.
Luna sat next to him at the feast and took a look at him, nodded and watched the sorting continue. The rest of the sorting seemed to fly by ending with the sole female Weasley, and according to rumor the heiress of the Prewett legacy ending in the same house as the rest of her family. His train companion went to the 'Puffs. He thought it slightly strange that she went from a deep brown hair color to what could almost be described as a very light tan color. That indicated Elvish roots -and not the pathetic house elves either- somewhere and he mentally went over the families that had Elvish blood in their veins.
The Headmaster gave his speech, introduced this year's defense professor, a Gildroy Lockheart who looked ready to make a speech on the importance of hair care, given the fact that he gave the Creevy boy, now a Gryffindor a bottle of shampoo. His first targeted prank of the year was carried out well, and should be bearing fruit in the morning. It would serve him right for causing that first year to get soaked and ruining several people's night vision. Then the feast was served.
As the feast dragged on, he deflected and answered questions like a true Slytherin from the upper years who knew where the kitchens were so they weren't the least bit afraid to miss any part of the feast, which meant a multitude of answers that weren't really answers. The 'Claws had contacts throughout all the houses and would be meeting with some of them at all levels except maybe the first and second years, who would more than likely be notified by their housemates.
After he finished his meal he chatted with Luna and the 'Claw sitting next to him, a second year named Su Li. She immediately opened up when he asked how she was in passable Mandarin Chinese. He got the feeling he shouldn't have done that. While the Ravenclaw table was used to hearing all sorts of languages and extreme metaphors spoken a great many were surprised that he could speak Chinese, if a bit haltingly which quickly disappeared, and there was no doubt that it would make the rounds tonight. Apparently her mother was the Chinese ambassador -a pureblood- and her father was also from an old family, which mattered next to nothing here since the British purebloods had a wand or three stuck up their arses. He agreed with her statement and added to it. His amendment was accepted, and thus had a tentative friend in Su Li, who was a master of court politics.
Unfortunately for him, and he said this to Su Li, that it seemed like that all his year-mates in the house seemed to be a bit close minded and that he wanted to dare them all to find records of his Uncle's trial pardoning the blond next to him because her family had some of the most open minds on the planet and its respective planes. He won some brownie points from Su Li from that statement, which won him a warning of one of the third years a Cho Chang, whose family had seemed to have completely adopted the British ways as their own. After all, she didn't understand what they were saying after all and what family that honored their ancestors forgot their language?
The Ravenclaw Prefects, most of which seemed to be utterly forgettable led them to the Eagle Knocker, which gave them a riddle. Luna answered, to most of her yearmates chagrin, most of them being muggleborn or half-bloods and believing in anything except which seemed most absurd. He mentally labeled them all idiots, some of which could be salvaged.
They were then lead to their dorms, which unlike the the other houses, pardoning the upper year Slytherins who could claim a room in the dungeons, were set in a suite like setting. The first room entered in the dorm had tables and chairs and bookshelves -a smaller common room if one will- with five doors leading to rooms with two beds and the last and sixth door leading to the bathroom with two showers. There were seven new male Ravenclaws. He luckily got one to himself since his roommate and his new friends dragged his trunk out of the room. It really didn't matter, since he doubted that he'd sleep in here all that often. He took out his wand and cast a few detection spells along with a few ward revelers. The detection spells showed that all was normal, a few spells keeping the room at an even temperature all around the room, a cushioning on the bed, a ward that keeps the room temperature the same even if the window was opened.
All in all, it was a fairly standard room or would be for at least a moment or five. He took out a few strips of parchment, quickly scribbled some runes and characters on them and put a sticky charm on them and placed them on the inside of his four postured curtain bed. It totally made it seem like a person was there, and a silencer on it. That and he disillusioned the pieces of parchment with disturbing ease.
He charmed the curtains to be a darker blue and reflect the night sky. A totally useless charm otherwise but Witch's Weekly did have some handy charms around in it, if one dared to look. He made sure that the glamor on his trunk was still active by charging the runes once again, and tied the glamor to the alarm spell he set up on his floor just in the door's reach, customized it to where it would activate anytime the door was opened enough to see it, and buried it under a custom spell that hid it from all but the most stubborn of detection spells. He put up an obvious alarm spell, two basic wards around the door and bed, and a third ward that was buried and would activate at a later time, like around lunch, and color them purple.
He then walked back into the actual Ravenclaw common room, and faced the inquisition there, answering to some questions here and there. Very few were about him, a few that had Slytherin family members or ties to the Slytherins were the ones that asked. He left them with more non-answers, not falling for the conversation pitfalls or word traps. He had to applaud them for they had the Slytherin Arte of Conversation down to a fine art. Unfortunately the 'Slytherin Arte of Conversation' destroys all hope in humanity and their reasons.
As it reached closer to nine thrity, he made his excuses, and went to his room, where he set up a few more basic wards and left his room.
He then changed into his animagus form, a cute little falcon, with dark coloring and went out the window to the owlery to spend the night. It would be mostly empty till daybreak when they'd come back in droves, waking him up. It wasn't like he needed much sleep, a running trait of the Black family was slight to moderate insomnia and he had needed less after he had accomplished his transformation the first time and was dubbed with the name of 'Talon' or 'Talos' whatever you preferred which was much better than his Uncle's suggestion of 'Tweety.' His Uncle spent the next two days alternating in speaking and singing like Tweety and randomly sprouting yellow feathers before he yielded.
-Teacher's Lounge-(9:04 PM)
Flitwick found Severus' ire to be extremely funny, so long as it wasn't focused upon himself. The man's rage was extremely potent and unlike others his rage while hot was extremely calculating.
Pamona, bless her soul, was still under the impression that young Orion was Sirius' son, and he didn't want to break her poor heart by saying otherwise. It was obvious that he was Regulus' son, since Regulus was far more a Ravenclaw than a Slytherin, but Slytherin enough that he didn't bring his problems to the then head of house, Horace Slughorn. Flitwick had heard all about his life, being his confident and he could without a doubt name young Orion's mother if all went well after Hogwarts. He sincerely wished that he inherited Regulus' flare for tinkering with spells. While Lily Evans was a charms prodigy in most of the sense of the word, if he had to choose on who to apprentice he would choose between young Regulus and young Lily, he'd have to choose young Regulus. The man loved to break down charms and adapt them, and while it might take him a while to figure it out, the charm would work.
"But Severus, he's lived with that, that criminal for ages. While he might be a good kid we need to provide a positive influence and keep him away from that betrayer!"
"Good! Kid! When he has been raised by Sirius Black! When did you loose your mind Pamona!"
"I concur with Severus, for once." Minerva stated. "He gave me this wicked grin, the one that Sirius always gave when he was going to get into trouble and no one could stop him."
"I think he acts more like a young Regulus myself, I bet five gallons on him being his son." Fliwick countered. "Regulus, although a Slytherin, was very close to becoming a Ravenclaw. I asked the hat that one year exactly how close he was when I almost gave points to Ravenclaw for asking specifics of a charm usage."
"Regulus!" The room and all decorum flew out the window. Sinistra sighed dreamily to Rolonda's Quidditch chatter. Severus lost what little control he had over his temper, while Kettleburn yelled back at the man, eventually falling to the potion master's acidic tongue. Lockheart, uselessly tried to get between the two, and Minerva caught him when Kettleburn banished him towards the wall. She then dragged Pomona over and started yelling at Kettleburn for hexing a fellow teacher, and then at Severus for loosing his temper. Dumbledore was content to let chaos reign supreme for a bit longer. They all took the bet though.
This was the scene that the Head boy, Percy Weasley and the Ravenclaw Prefect Penelope Clearwater saw when they entered the room.
"Don't worry, the professors are just excited about the new term." Flitwick would have payed money to see Severus rip a new one into Albus just then. At the moment Serverus' facial expression would have to do since it implied, 'I cannot believe you said that with a straight face and if those two believe it, I'll loose all respect for them!' and 'That had to have been one of the largest loads of dragon dung that he'd ever seen delivered at one time!' Severus, once you could read him, was really impressive in his expressions.
"If you say so, Headmaster." Percy said with a non answer that both himself and Severus approved of. "I was just escorting Penelope here, she said she wanted to speak to her head of house about a few first years." Percy then left the room so quickly that you'd swear that he had apparated out.
"Well, Miss Clearwater, is young Orion Sirius' son or Regulus' son?" Flitwick asked before Serverus started whatever statement he had planned and no doubt that it would be vicious.
"Professor, he said that even though he loved the man, he's glad that he's his Uncle and Godfather."
"I thought that Sirius severed all ties with his family after they kicked him out." Minerva, the silly tabby, never seemed to get the idea that family ties could be re-established, preferably where no one could see them.
"Apparently not." Severus was more than likely thinking that the two brothers put on a ruse in front of the entire school and was more than likely reviewing the last few years of his schooling in his mind with this new information.
The room descended into chaos again, but the last thing the Percy and Penelope heard while the portrait was swinging shut was Flitwick's squeaky demands that they all paid up.
"That just decided for me. I'm going to work in the ministry. How about you my darling?"
"Only if you give me a goodnight kiss my dear Percy." With a chaste kiss that eventually came just came short of a full blown snog when they broke apart, Penny regaining her senses. "We just snogged in front of the teacher's lounge, the professors are-"
Percy laid a finger upon her lips and whispered, "There is a reason that the hat put me in Gryffindor after all Penny." With another chaste kiss, he picked her up and carried her to the Head Suite. While Percy may have been a Gryffindor, that didn't mean he wasn't Slytherin enough to put some sleeping powders into his brother's goblets so that there was at least one night where he could be alone with his beloved.
Vaguely he wondered if anyone noticed that if anyone looked at the patrolling schedule that his and Penny's paths crossed a lot, but that thought was soon left behind when Penny pulled him onto the four poster bed and started to pull off the robe teasingly slow, while moving her free hand across his chest, reaching his tie and pulling in towards a steamy kiss.
It was such a nice way to christen such a wonderful room, that was all his. Somehow he doubted that her bed this year would see much use especially if she kept nibbling on his ear like that.
-Owlery-(9:37)
It took him a few passes to find the owlery, and in the meantime he got a nice aerial view of the school's extensive grounds. He changed back into his human form, and pulled a mirror out of his pocket.
"Sirius." He said to the mirror.
Remus answered the mirror. "Yes, Talon?"
"Why do you have Uncle Siri's mirror?"
"It was in my pocket,-"
"So why are you wearing his pants then?"
"I'm not. I was just in Padfoot's room to get something of mine."
"That doesn't explain why you're not wearing pants."
"I just got out of the shower, and I'm looking for my shoes, again."
"You should stop getting tasty shoes then. I'm in Ravenclaw."
"Sirius owes me money then."
"Really? For the shoes or the house? And what no fuss? No, 'My little surrogate nephew is all grown up and at Hogwarts!' I feel unloved."
"Played your first planned prank yet?"
"On a fellow first year. Now I want to talk to Fen so night Moony."
"Get some sleep already. I am."
"Yes, because you are a tired old werewolf."
"I resent that old comment. You shall pay for it."
"Get me Fen then, and I shall see about letting you."
"SARAFINA! You're wanted on the mirror!"
"Hey! What about me!" Sirius yelled back.
"You'll get it later, after she goes to bed!" Remus relayed to Padfoot. "Besides, you'd have answered it first if you hadn't chewed on my shoes again!"
"What!" Orion heard Siri yell. "How dare you accuse the Great and Noble Padfoot as doing something as common as chewing on shoes!" He sounded to be near the room now, maybe in the hall even.
"Hiya Talon!" He heard suddenly. A quick grab of the mirror showed a well-endowed girl of about fourteen or sixteen. Her hair was dark brown before flashing to purple, then she hexed the two men in the room and walked out to her room. She then changed her hair to a blinding white color short and spiky with a couple of long shoulder length strands beaded and braided on one side.
"Hi Fen. Are you supposed to be that old?"
"Nope!" She giggled. "And what kind of question is dat? You're acting like Da numero dos."
"And how did you manage to sneak past him in your current form?"
"I siced Mama 'gainst dem. I was in the room wid her when Remy called for moi."
"The more things change-"
"De more dey stay the same. Still don't miss ya, dough."
"Same here. Go to bed. That's what I'll be doing."
"Dat's boring dough, but it be bedtime anyways. Night birdbrain!"
"Night brat. Hand the mirror to Pads though." He said back. A little fumbling showed that Fen had changed back into her usual brat self before handing the mirror back to Sirius.
"Hello, my favorite nephew. What are you doing this fine night?"
"Missing Ralpheal. I'm a 'Claw so I'll drown my misery in books and curse the fact that Hogwarts robes are unflattering for everyone except me."
"Oh, I remember those robes and I cursed their existence several times. Please make sure you don't cause a book-a-lanche. I doubt anyone will dig you out because of my reputation."
"Speaking of, I did some damage to it today. I spoke to a Chinese girl, and apparently she's the Chinese ambassador's daughter, to the British MoM. Since I told her in Chinese that I wanted to dare them to find the trial transcripts, since you were entitled to a trial as a member of an influential house even if you had been informally disowned. I spent most of the time in the Ravenclaw common room explaining your side of the story and how easy it is to manipulate evidence."
"Ah, so the fact that I'm a free man in several other countries doesn't count for shit? Typical British."
"Anyway, I'm expecting a guest for tomorrow's lunch. Feel like handing some Fudge off to Cissa?"
"Sounds good. Now get to bed. Bye my adorable little nephew. Congrats on Ravenclaw." Sirius then broke the connection and decided to find Moony and the reason on why he was wearing his pants.
Orion then thought about it and decided to get some rest for himself. Who knew what tomorrow would bring? He had a pretty good idea and didn't need to be crabby for it, his limited patience was already feeling the need to unloaded on tomorrow's visitors.
