Author's note: Wow…has it really been a whole year since I updated this? I'm sorry to those of you who have been waiting for it; I just started working ahead and kind of forgot to come back to the first year. I have a lot written out for this "book" I just have to type up all the pages, so I hope the next couple chapters won't be long in coming…but I make no definite promises. This chapter deals with the sorting. I was told 6 pages was long enough, so I'm sorry if you want more. ENJOY!

CHAPTER 3: THE SORTING

"What weird horses." I muttered, looking at the carriages.

"What are you talking about? There are no horses." Remy told me looking around.

"Liar, quit messing with me. Excuse me, mister giant man! Are you making me get into a boat? I have balance issues; so if I fall in, it's on your head."

I started to climb into the boat, but my foot slipped and I did fall in. It was a good thing I knew how to swim.

"Mira, I think you jinxed yourself." Remy said laughing at me.

I glared at him, as Hagrid, as Mr. Giant Man called himself, stuck his big moleskin coat over my shoulders. It smelled of mothballs and wet fur thanks to my wet hair, so I took it off and handed it back to him.

"I'm good. Thanks though." I said taking Remy's hand and getting into the boat. "My bandages are wet; you have to help me change them."

"Right now?" He asked, cautiously looking around at Sev and Lily.

"Remy, I am wounded and need your help. Yes, now."

"Are your bandages in your bag?"

"Yeah they are. I'm so glad I put that into the boat before I tried to get in. Otherwise, Sherlock would've gotten hurt yet again, and I'd have no daddy here to fix him."

"We're lucky it's dark." He muttered as he smeared ointment on my arm.

I held my breath. The ointment Dr. Swanson had given me smelled strongly of herbs. I really hoped Remy put my chartreuse bandages on quickly, to hide the smell.

"Mira, what's wrong with your arm?" Severus asked.

"Nothing." I said, hiding my half bandaged arm behind my back.

"I mean, I saw your pink bandages earlier, but I never asked about it." Lily told me.

"It's nothing, really. Don't worry about it." I smiled and then turned to Remy. "Hurry up. I hissed.

"I'm going as fast as I can." He whispered back.

"It's nowhere near fast enough." I teased and he stuck out his tongue at me.

The boats pulled up onto the shore when I was shoving my medical supplies back into my bag. Everyone got out of the boat first, and Remy hung behind to help me climb out without falling in again. I smiled and linked my arm through his.

The first years congregated outside the great hall, chattering away excitedly and I spotted my trunk; it was light blue, with purple roses and a large, gold 'M' on it. There had to be enough time for me to change out of my wet clothes…I hoped. While making my way over to it, I collided with a girl slightly taller then me with light brown hair and we both went crashing to the floor.

"I'm sorry!" She cried, holding out her hand to help me up.

"Me too! I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, only where I was going!"

"You didn't get hurt or anything right?"

"Nope, I'm okay. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Why are you all wet?" She asked.

"Honestly? I fell in the lake. I'm Mira Stelloc by the way." I said, holding out my hand while re-shouldering my bag.

"Gracie Lowell. You fell in the lake…really? That's not really a badge of honor. If anyone else asks you should say you got pulled into the lake by something."

"Like what? The Giant Squid?"

Gracie's eyes lit up. "That's perfect! Go with that!"

I raised my eyebrows and scrunched up my nose. "Eh…No. I fell in the lake, my best friend laughed at me, and my bandages went from pink to blue."

Gracie shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat."

The two of us burst out into fresh peels of laughter.

"No pun intended right?" I gasped between bouts of giggles.

"Mira, we're going in!" Remy said, walking over to me and taking my arm while giving Grace a polite nod.

"It was nice to meet you Gracie! See you in there!"

"You too, Mira!" Gracie said, and bounded into the throng of first years moving through the large double doors that led from the foyer.

"So…who was that?" Remy asked leading me towards the doors.

"Her name's Gracie Lowell. She's pretty cool."

"How do you know? You just met her."

"I just have this sixth sense about people. Let's go in!"

Remy chuckled, and the two of us headed into the great hall with the rest of the first years. Everyone else looked nervous, but I became preoccupied with wringing out my black hair, leaving a small trail of water and barely listening to the names being called. I vaguely heard a few names and houses called such as Avery…I hadn't caught his first name…nor did I really care, who became a Slytherin; Leon Baker who became a Hufflepuff; and Sirius Black a Gryffindor.

"Evans, Lily."

Lily slowly started forward on trembling legs, and glanced nervously back at me. I grinned and briefly stopped wringing out my hair to cross my fingers for her. She sat on the rickety stool, and the woman dropped the overly large hat onto her head, and barely a second after it had touched her dark red hair, the hat cried, "Gryffindor!"

I heard Severus let out a quiet groan, and I nudged him. Lily took off the hat, handed it back to the woman, then hurried toward the cheering Gryffindors, but as she went she glanced back at Severus, and there was a sad little smile on her face. I patted him on the shoulder as the boy Lily had pointed out to me as one of the boys from the compartment she and Severus left on the train moved up the bench to make room for her. She took one look at him, recognized who he was, folded her arms, and firmly turned her back on him.

I went back to wringing the water from my hair unfeelingly until another familiar name was called.

"Lowell, Gracie."

"Wish me luck." Gracie whispered.

"Luck."

Gracie then bounced up to the front of the hall to sit on the stool. I flashed a grin and gave her two thumbs up. I was done wringing the water from my hair so I stared at the ground drawing on the floor with the toe of my sparkly gold sandals, until Remy nudged me and I heard the hat cry out, "Slytherin!" She took off the hat and then joined the cheering Slytherin table, glancing at me and shrugging.

"Lupin, Remus."

"That's you. I have my fingers crossed that we're in the same house…if not we'll have to figure out what happens during your…time of the month…we'll have to talk to Dumbledore about it." I whispered.

"Yeah. How about we do that after dinner?"

I nodded. "Deal."

Remy made his way through the slowly dwindling crowd of first years and the Sorting hat was barely on his head before it made him a Gryffindor. I shot him a small smile, but we wouldn't know what we'd need to do until I was sorted too. I watched as Mary Macdonald became yet another Gryffindor. There was a set of twins: Kathleen and Westley Matthews who became a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw, respectively, and some kid named Mulciber was made a Slytherin. I sighed. Having an 'S' last name put me towards the bottom of the list, and I was seriously bored. Peter Pettigrew and James Potter also became Gryffindors and by the time Jennifer Rothe was made a Ravenclaw there were only a dozen of us left, including Severus but the two of us were bound to be next.

"Snape, Severus."

As happy as I was that Severus was sorted into Slytherin just like he wanted, I just wanted this to be over. Sev moved off to the other side of the Hall, away from Lily to where the Slytherins were cheering him, and to where a kid with blonde hair wearing a Prefect's badge gleaming upon his chest, patted Sev on the back as he sat down beside him and across from Gracie at the Slytherin table. I was about to take out Sherlock Holmes to read, I finally heard my name called. I sighed with relief, silently thanking the stars that I was finally getting sorted. All the waiting had been torture.

"Stelloc, Mira."

I slowly and calmly made my way up to the front of the crowd and sat down on the stool. The woman who had called my name placed the hat on my head, and I heard a voice inside my head. But my parents had told me what to expect, so I wasn't startled in the slightest.

"Interesting; you are difficult to place. I see that you are cunning, maybe Slytherin is for you. But you are also brave at heart…You may find your true place in Gryffindor." The voice said. "Your genius could be furthered in Ravenclaw, but your loyalty is unmatched. I know just what to do with you."

"Bring it on." I thought, certain the hat could read my thoughts.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted to the entire hall.

I grinned, happy to be taking after my mum instead of my dad, no matter how much I loved him. I slowly removed the hat from my head, so as not to mess up the hairstyle my mum had spent an hour on that morning, and walked over to join the gold and black clad table that was cheering for me as 'Thames, Jack' was called and subsequently made a Slytherin. I made certain to find out the name of Hufflepuff's Prefects so that I could talk to them about the password, because I'd be going in later then the rest of the first years. And it was after that, that the final first year, Lucas Zimmer had the hat placed upon his head, and was made a Ravenclaw.

Professor Dumbledore stood and addressed all of the students. "A reminder those returning, and a warning to those who have just joined us, The Forbidden Forrest is off limits to all students. The Whomping Willow is a new addition to our school, and doesn't like to be approached. Please note that it will get violent, so all students should stay away. Any damage to the tree will result in detention. And now, let the feast begin."

Remy caught my eye from the Gryffindor table, and I smiled at him while giving him a slight nod. The Whomping Willow sounded like it was there for a specific reason, and we both had an idea what that reason was, but we'd meet up after dinner and go talk to Professor Dumbledore just to be certain. It certainly sucked that we were in different houses, but I had a secret that would probably come in handy. So with one last smile, I turned my attention to my table and started talking with the first years near me and before I knew it, dinner was over.

"Um, Ralph?" I asked of the first prefect I saw. "I need to go speak to Professor Dumbledore about something, so I was wondering if I could know the password."

"Of course. And just so you know, the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room is just down that hallway, and when you come to a spilt staircase, take the one on the right. The one on the left leads to the kitchens." He said pointing the opposite direction of the Great Hall and then leaning down to whisper the password 'mandrake root' in my ear.

Remy met me back inside the Great Hall because I'd watched all the teachers disappear through a door behind their table…and I wasn't exactly sure where Dumbledore's office was. I took his hand and led him to the door, knocking gently when I got there. The door opened on the woman who had called all the names of the first years and placed the hats on our heads.

"Um…Professor?" I asked quietly racking my brains for her name; I'd only heard it once before. "Professor McGonagall? We were wondering if it was possible for you to take us to see Professor Dumbledore. As I'm sure you're aware, there's an issue to discuss regarding this boy."

I motioned to Remy behind me and Professor McGonagall nodded.

"Come with me you two." She said briskly, and swept us out of the Great Hall and down several corridors and up a couple flights of stairs where we stopped in front of a large stone gargoyle.

"Fudge Flies." Professor McGonagall told the statue, which then sprang aside to reveal a slowly spiraling staircase. "Step onto the staircase and let it take you up to a large ornate door, then knock and wait for him to invite you in."

"Thank you Professor!" I said, and reclaimed Remy's hand and stepped onto the staircase.

"Mira, you don't have to come with me, really. I'll be fine." Remy told me quietly.

"I know, but I want to come. We're in this together now." I replied, holding up my bandaged arm.

"You're an awesome person you know that, right?"

"So I've been told." I grinned, and then reached out and knocked on the door that was now in front of us. "But you could stand to mention it more."

"Come in." The amused voice, of Professor Dumbledore said.

Remy and I pushed on the large doors and entered a marvelously decorated office with so many pictures on the wall, most of the figures in them asleep. There was a grand cabinet that was slightly ajar letting a ray of silver light out, and a red bird on a perch.

"Good evening, Professor." I said, approaching the desk, with Remy in tow. "I was wondering what was going to happen with this boy during his…time of the month."

"Mira…I told you I hate it when you call it that." Remy muttered under his breath.

Professor Dumbledore chuckled. "We planted the Whomping Willow just for him. Every month he'll be smuggled out of Hogwarts to the Whomping Willow which has a secret entrance and a path that leads to the Shrieking Shack."

"I want to accompany him." I told him.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea. He may harm you."

I held up my right arm, showing my chartreuse bandages and then placing my arm around Remy's shoulders. "I know. But I won't let him do it alone; we're in this together."

Professor Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "Just be careful."

"I will be. Thanks Professor." I grinned.

"Thank you. I guess we should be on our way then." Remy said, giving a slight nod as I linked my arm through his, and the two of us departed Dumbledore's office, and made our way back to the Great Hall.

I turned to him, and kissed his cheek. "Go get some sleep. We have a big first day ahead of us tomorrow."

"I know. I'm glad we met, Mira." He replied, smiling sheepishly.

"That has got to be the sappiest thing I've ever heard." I teased, pushing his shoulder playfully, but I hugged him nonetheless. "It's sweet though."

xxx