"Firs' years over here! This way!" Sirius looked toward the source of the noise, and saw a giant, bearded man standing at one end of the platform holding a lantern. He stood several feet taller than everyone else, his booming voice loud and clear over the scrambling of hundreds of students getting off the train.
"That way, I reckon," said James with a grin, and he and Sirius pushed through the crowd to get toward the man. They joined the small clump of nervous looking first years, most of whom stood in silence.
After a few more minutes, the giant man counted the students before him.
"Tha' looks like everyone," he said. A small boy standing near James and Sirius jumped at the booming voice; the two boys exchanged a grin.
"Righ'," the man continued. "Name's Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. I'll be takin' yeh lot across the lake."
They followed Hagrid down a steep, gravelly path, shadowed on either side by thick trees. No one was speaking; everyone seemed stunned into silence. Even Sirius's voice had deserted him, and his excitement from earlier was now tinged with a slight nervousness.
They reached the bottom of the path, which had led them to a pebbly shore, against which dark water lapped. Boats stood near the water's edge, magically tied in place, rocking slightly with the lapping of the water.
"There's yeh first glimpse of Hogwarts," Hagrid said, pointing up toward the castle which loomed above them; Sirius's mouth dropped open as he gazed at the giant castle, windows glowing warmly against the dark sky. It was dotted with turrets and towers, the stars peeking out between them. He glanced over at James, who was staring at the castle with equal astonishment. Even though both of them had grown up in the wizarding world, the sight of Hogwarts Castle was astonishing; nothing anyone had ever told them about the place could compare to actually seeing it.
"No mor'n four to a boat," Hagrid said, and the reverie that had come over the first years was broken. They scrambled into the boats, pulling up their robes so as not to touch the water.
James and Sirius couldn't find any empty boats, so they joined one that was occupied with two other boys. One of the boys was short and plump, with mousy blond hair and round blue eyes. The other was taller and thinner, and the distinct air of shabbiness clung around his frayed robes; he seemed friendly enough though, with his golden-brown hair and large greenish-brown eyes. He smiled politely at James and Sirius as they clambered into the boat. When everyone had settled down, Hagrid climbed into his own boat and tapped its side with a pink umbrella; Sirius barely had time to wonder how the boat was able to support Hagrid before they had set off, boats streaming silently against the water.
"Look out for the giant squid," James said to him. Sirius grinned back at him. The plump boy looked terrified, and leaned away from the edge of the boat; the other boy merely quirked a smile so small Sirius wasn't sure he saw it.
None of them spoke for the rest of the trip, except for the random gasp of amazement. The boats led them into a small underground cove. Once they had climbed out, Hagrid spoke again.
"Yeh'll follow me up here," he said, indicating a passageway in the rock. "Then it'll be time for the sorting."
They followed Hagrid up the passageway, then emerged into the shadow of the castle. Hagrid raised a hand and knocked on the enormous wooden front door, which swung open at his touch. A tall, thin woman with her hair pulled into a severe bun was waiting for them, peering at them all over the edge of her glasses.
"Thank you, Hagrid," she said. "I'll take them now."
000
Sirius had barely listened to the woman who called herself Professor McGonagall's speech; he knew all about Hogwarts and about the houses already, of course. However, his nonchalant attitude changed when she led them into the Great Hall and he saw the sea of students there, the floating candles, and the enchanted sky; when he spotted the patched, frayed Sorting Hat sitting on a stool, his stomach gave a small lurch. This was it.
Once the Sorting Hat had finished with its song, it went back to sitting silently on the stool. Sirius had barely registered the words. What would he do if the Hat tried to put him in Slytherin? And what if it didn't?
He barely had time to focus on these thoughts though, since the Sorting was in alphabetical order. He cursed his last name when he was soon called to come up, only the third person so far. Professor McGonagall picked up the Hat, and as he sat down she placed it on his head; it was so big that the brim fell down over his eyes, blocking out the sea of faces pointed at him.
"Another Black, eh?" said a small, sly voice in his ear.
I'm not like them, Sirius thought, before he could help himself.
"Not like them? And what do you mean by that?" the voice asked calmly. It didn't speak for a few moments. Then, "Ah."
Ah what?
"I can see it all here…you're different, that's true."
Told you, Sirius thought triumphantly.
"But still," the voice persisted, "you could do well in Slytherin…"
No, Sirius thought fiercely. I'd rather leave.
"Would you now?" The voice sounded amused. "You've got a good mind here, sharp, though perhaps a bit too sharp for your own good…you're loyal too, very loyal, oh yes. And there's a good deal of bravery…"
The voice lapsed off, and Sirius sat, with bated breath—
"It's very clear," it said finally. "Better be GRYFFINDOR!"
The last word was shouted out to the rest of the Great Hall. Sirius pulled the Hat off his head, heart beating fast with excitement, and handed it back to Professor McGonagall. He thought he might have seen her press her thin lips into what could have been considered a smile before he started moving toward the Gryffindor table. He was too excited to notice the way the Slytherins were staring at him, and he didn't glance at the table, where people were exchanging whispers and pointed looks. The Gryffindors, after a few moments of silence, had let out a great roar of applause and cheering. He slid into an empty seat at the far end of the table, the first new student to have been sorted into Gryffindor.
He watched the rest of the Sorting with interest, the great weight of nervousness finally gone; several girls joined the Gryffindor table, and they all sat together in a knot a few seats away from Sirius, who was glumly thinking that it was just his luck that only girls would be his new housemates. Finally, however, another boy joined him, one of the boys from the boat; Lupin, that was his name.
"Is anyone sitting here?" he asked quietly, indicating the seat across from Sirius, who shook his head and grinned. The new boy slid into the seat and turned to watch the rest of the Sorting. Sirius missed the next few people as he watched the new boy, the way he brought his thin hands together to clap or ran them through his scruff of hair.
Soon, the other boy from their boat had joined them, along with James; the hat had barely sat on his head for a few seconds before crying out that he was a Gryffindor, and Sirius had let out a wolf-whistle when he joined him at the table.
"Idiot," he said when he joined Sirius, though he smiled all the same.
After that, no more boys were sorted into Gryffindor, though a few more girls were. The rest of the Sorting passed, ending with a boy named Wilkes being sorted into Slytherin, and the Headmaster rose to his feet.
Sirius had heard about Dumbledore from his relatives, though they had never said anything good about the man. This made Sirius all the more interested in hearing what he had to say, and he watched intently as the tall, thin wizard rose to his feet and threw out one of his star-spangled arms to address the students, tucking his long silver beard over his shoulder.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said, voice clearly echoing across the Great Hall. "As I am sure you are all ravenous, let us forestall the announcements and dig in!"
On the last word, food magically sprang into existence all across the table. Sirius's mouth dropped open in astonishment as he stared at the magnificent feast laid out before him: roast beef, puddings, great mounds of potatoes, golden tureens of butter and gravy…he didn't know what he wanted to eat first. The plump boy from the boat was already reaching out, scooping mounds of food onto his golden plate; Sirius soon joined in, taking a little bit of everything he could reach. At his side, James was doing the same. The thin boy across from him was taking his time though, carefully and slowly scooping his food onto his plate.
"I'm Sirius Black, by the way," he said, hoping to draw the boy's attention.
"Peter Pettigrew," the other boy answered immediately.
"James Potter," James said to him with a grin.
"I'm Remus," said the other boy shyly. "Remus Lupin."
Remus Lupin, Sirius thought, what an odd name.
"Nice to meet you," said James, immediately and easily assuming the role of leader. "Did you all know you'd be in Gryffindor?"
Peter shook his head. "No way," he said, voice small and squeaky. "I thought for sure I'd be in Hufflepuff."
Sirius snorted, but James said, "Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin."
"Did you see the way the Slytherins reacted when you got sorted into Gryffindor?" Peter squeaked, his eyes round and wide.
"No," said Sirius carelessly. "Didn't look."
"Peter's right, they were whispering and glaring at you like mad," James said, shoveling some broccoli into his mouth.
Sirius shrugged. "Why should I care?"
"You really don't care? I'd be terrified if that many people were looking at me like that," asked Peter.
"No," Sirius scoffed, ignoring the flicker of fear that licked at his insides as he thought of what his parents were going to say to him. "I can't wait to prank them."
James's eyes lit up. "That'll be brilliant!"
"Did you think you'd be in Gryffindor then?" asked Peter, staring at James and Sirius with open admiration.
"Course I did," said James. "Just like my dad." He mimed himself wielding an invisible sword, and a red-haired first year girl sitting a few seats down rolled her eyes at him.
"How about you?" Sirius asked Remus, who had been listening to the conversation but not participating much.
"Oh, I didn't know," Remus said. "I wasn't even sure I was going to come—" He broke off, looking embarrassed, and quickly put some food in his mouth.
"You weren't sure you were going to come? Why?" asked Sirius.
"Are you muggle-born, then?" asked James.
"My mum's a muggle," said Remus. "She's er- she's sick a lot, so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to come to school in the first place."
"Oh," said Sirius.
"I'm sorry, mate," said James, throwing a quelling look at Sirius. "But you're here now! And you can help us prank the Slytherins." Remus gave James a small, grateful smile, and mostly listened rather than talked for the rest of the conversation about the pranks they were planning to pull.
000
Later that night, sitting on his new red and gold four poster bed, Sirius couldn't believe how lucky he'd gotten. He, James, Remus, and Peter had spent the night trying different flavored beans from the box of Bertie Bott's James had bought on the train. It was late now, and they had all changed into their pajamas (Remus slipping off into the bathroom to do so). Sirius was lying in bed, sleepily staring at the canopy above him, replaying the day's events over and over in his head. It was hard, just then, to worry about what his parents were going to do.
000
"The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin too," Harry blurted out, once Sirius had finished recounting the story of his sorting.
"Really?" asked Sirius, raising an eyebrow. "There's not a Slytherin bone in your body."
Harry smiled before continuing. "Yeah. I asked it to put me in Gryffindor."
"Like godfather like godson," Sirius said, throwing back his head and letting out his barking laugh.
"I was worried," Harry continued on in a smaller voice. "What that meant about me, if it meant I was…bad. Especially second year, with the whole Chamber of Secrets thing and everyone thinking I was Slytherin's heir."
"Harry," said Sirius. He wasn't laughing anymore. "There's nothing bad about you. You've done more courageous things so far than most wizards do in their entire lives."
"Still," Harry said quietly.
"The hat said I would do well in Slytherin," Sirius continued. "Do you think I'm bad?"
"No! Of course not, that's not—"
But Sirius was smiling. "See? I came from a bad place, Harry. You did too, if in different ways. It didn't turn us into Dark wizards. And besides, everyone has the potential for all the houses. But you chose Gryffindor."
"Dumbledore said something similar," Harry said.
"And Dumbledore's a wise man. Usually, anyway."
Harry smiled. "So, did you get around to pranking those Slytherins?"
A/N: Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed J