A/N: I've once again taken some things from the Harry Potter books, but the sorting song is one I made myself, so sorry if it's rubbish. By the way, I've made it so Bellatrix, Lucius, and Narcissa, are now in sixth year.

Chapter 3: The Sorting

Remus's POV

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and my first thought was she was someone not to cross. Out of the corner of my eye I saw James and Sirius exchange a look that clearly went against my first impression, I nearly groaned aloud; of all the people I could have chosen to become friends with, it had to be pranksters.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit my whole house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

We followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor.

I could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed us into a small, empty chamber off the hall. We crowded in, standing rather close together and peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered on our singed, wet robes, before resting on where Sirius's eyebrows should be.

"Any rule breaking will lose points? How many do you reckon we'll break before the end of the year?" James asked Sirius.

"You're not serious are you?" I asked nervously.

"Nope, but I am," Sirius laughed.

"Sirius mate, don't ever use that joke again," James laughed.

Peter laughed loudly at that, while I chuckled weakly, too nervous about the sorting to concentrate on jokes.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber.

"What do they do to sort you?" I asked.

"Not sure, it's tradition that people older than you aren't allowed to tell you how you get sorted," Sirius said.

James nodded. Peter looked a little confused. I shifted my weight onto another foot nervously.

"Cool!" James exclaimed, looking behind me.

I spun around to see that twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years.

What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance –"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed us standing here.

"We're going to be sorted," someone said boldly.

Everyone nodded silently.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall said, "and follow me."

James went in front of me, while Peter was behind me and Sirius in front of James. I felt my stomach was on a rollercoaster I was so nervous. My stomach was on a rollercoaster I was so nervous.

The Great Hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led us up here, so that we came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind us. The hundreds of faces staring at us looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.

I shifted my eyes around nervously, could anyone tell by looking at me what I was?

"Look at the ceiling," I heard someone say behind me.

Looking up, my first thought was there was no ceiling, but on a closer inspection, it seemed it had merely been charmed to look like the night sky. There was even a little bit of moon showing, silently telling me that it would grow bigger until becoming full.

I looked away from the ceiling as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of us. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:

Step right up now,

Don't be scared,

Put me on,

You have been dared,

I'll sort you out,

You house is waiting,

Want advice?

Try not fainting,

Will you be in Gryffindor?

The bravest house of yet,

Or will you be in Slytherin?

The most cunning house I bet,

How about Ravenclaw?

The smartest of them all,

Maybe Hufflepuffs' for you,

Where no loyalty will fall,

But listen to my warning,

Not all is as it seems,

By splitting you into houses,

You're sorted into teams,

Please try, I beg, for friendship,

Let four houses become one,

Hatred will solve nothing,

When all is said and done!

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"I'm not even sorted yet, but I promise not to become friends with any Slytherin," James whispered.

"What if I end up there?" Sirius asked nervously.

"You don't count, even if you're sorted into Slytherin, you're a Gryffindor at heart," James promised.

Sirius nodded weakly, I patted him on the back, giving him a silent agreement that I'd still be there for him.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Susie!"

A short girl with blonde hair tied into a ponytail pulled on the hat, it fell over her eyes.

"Hufflepuff!" The hat shouted.

The Hufflepuff table cheered for her as she skipped happily to the table.

"Black, Sirius!" McGonagall called.

Sirius walked up to the hat from his place in front of me, he seemed sort of nervous. Inside I wished him good luck. All the Blacks' had always been in Slytherin, I just hoped Sirius would get his wish to be in Gryffindor.

"Gryffindor!" The hat yelled after a long pause.

Silence settled on the hall, no one seemed able to move, though Sirius took the hat off and sat down at the Gryffindor table, grinning wildly.

"Go Sirius!" James shouted, breaking the silence.

James, Peter, and I began clapping and others joined in, though it seemed the Slytherin table were making some nasty comments and glaring at Sirius. This didn't seem to bother him at all.

"Bones, Amelia," McGonagall called once the clapping had stopped.

"Hufflepuff!" The hat shouted.

Amelia smiled and sat down next to Susie.

"Clark, Steven!" A neat, brown haired boy got sorted into Gryffindor, though before sitting down, I saw him glance at the Ravenclaw table with an almost wistful look in his eye.

More names went by, I tried to keep track of names and faces, but they went by in a blur.

"Evans, Lily!" The pretty red head I'd noticed leaving James's compartment before I went in stood up to be sorted. The hat hesitated for a second before she was sorted into Gryffindor. I noticed the greasy haired boy looked upset by this.

"Longbottom, Frank!" Became a Gryffindor, just before I was called.

"Lupin, Remus!" McGonagall shouted.

Nervously, I walked up to the hat, McGonagall placed it over my head.

My, my, a werewolf? That's a first. A voice said.

"Don't tell anyone! Please!" I begged silently.

It is not my job to tell, it is my job to sort you. The voice said.

"Then don't put me in Slytherin, anywhere but there," I asked.

Of all the houses, Slytherin was the darkest; the perfect place for a Dark Creature like me, but I wanted to prove my dad wrong, prove the world wrong, tell them that werewolves didn't have to be evil.

No, you wouldn't fit in Slytherin. You could belong to Ravenclaw, or maybe even Hufflepuff. Imagine that; a Hufflepuff werewolf. The hat chuckled.

I had to admit, it did sound quite funny.

But, no, I think you belong in GRYFFINDOR! The voice finally yelled.

Grinning widely, I gave the hat back to McGonagall and sat down next to Sirius.

Everybody was cheering for me, but I couldn't help but wonder if they'd still be cheering for me if they knew my secret, if they knew the truth.

"Knew you could do it, Remus," Sirius laughed, slapping me on the back.

We turned to continue watching the sorting. Finally, "Pettigrew, Peter!" was called.

It took a full five minuets before he was sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius and I cheered madly with the rest of our new house, I could see James cheering from the line too.

"Potter, James!" The hat barely touched his head before sorting him into Gryffindor; he bounced over and sat down across from me, next to Peter.

"Snape, Severus!" McGonagall called.

"Check it out, it's Snivellus," James snickered.

I glanced over to the sorting, the greasy haired boy I'd seen with Lily, the red head, was sat on the stool. "Slytherin!" The hat yelled.

"Typical, to the dark house, where the slimy git belongs," Sirius muttered.

"What did he do?" I asked curiously.

They seemed to really hate the boy; I wanted to know what he had done to insult them.

"He's a Slytherin," Peter said as if that explained it all.

In a way, it did: Gryffindor and Slytherin had always been rival houses. I just felt sorry for the boy; James and Sirius were not the boys to get on the wrong side of.

Once the last person was sorted, food appeared on the tables and we began to eat, talking amongst each other. Sirius and James spoke mostly of the pranks they were going to pull, while Peter let out the occasional squeal of delight, I preferred to stay silent and listen to their plans.

At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Sneal." He finished. "The Heads of your houses will now show you to your dorms."

"Hello there, I'm Karen Jameson, and this is Tyler Daniels. We're the Head Boy and Girl this year, if you need any help; either ask us or a prefect. Now, follow us to your dorms," a black haired seventh year said.

We stood up from our table and followed the Head boy and Girl through the school. I tried my best to remember which paths we went down so I wouldn't get lost tomorrow, but it was hard to concentrate; the paintings on the walls called out greetings and random ghosts drifted out of walls in front of me.

Eventually, we made it to an empty corridor, at the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she asked.

"Freedom," Tyler said, the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. We all scrambled through it, and found ourselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

"Girls follow me," Karen led the girls up the left tower, while Tyler led the boys up the right one.

Sirius, James, Peter, and I were in a room with Steven, the boy I'd caught looking at the Ravenclaw table.

"Listen up, I don't want any trouble. I heard you planning pranks at the table and I'm telling you now I won't stand for it," Steven huffed before getting changed and closing the curtains around his bed.

"What a stick in the mud," Peter muttered.

"Defiantly," I couldn't help but agree.

"Wonder how long he'll last," James wondered, a worrying grin on his face.

"If he's not out of our dorm by the start of second year I'll give in my title of being a prankster," Sirius swore.

"Deal," James laughed.

I closed my curtains and got changed behind them; my body had multiple scars on it from the full moons and I knew if they saw them, they'd ask questions. I finally drifted into sleep while listening to James and Sirius plot ways of pranking Steven, Peters' snores, and Stevens' breathing, oblivious to the pranks that would be pulled on him just the next day. Smiling slightly, I surrendered to sleep.

A/N: Sorry about the delay again, and I know it would be great to just have Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus in a dorm, but there are five boys in Harry's' dorm, so I'm guessing that's how much it is to each room.

Hope you enjoyed it, I think this is the longest chapter I've written, please please please review. :)