Scene Seven
Remus stood up and set the hat gently on the stool, hoping that it was an illusion and he would wake up in his bed and realise that he hadn't left home yet at all. Numbly he walked to the farthest long table to his right, focusing all of his thoughts on properly walking down the stairs from the teacher's platform to the main floor of the Great Hall. His senses were so numbed that he could not feel anything, his ears deafened by the clapping and congratulations that were sent his way from the house renown for bravery. Remus merely existed and his mind was vacant from pure confusion. He slid onto the bench beside the red-haired girl Lily Evans.
"Way to go, mate!" Remus looked up from the golden goblets and plates from the table to look at Sirius lean over the table with an outstretched vertical hand. Weakly Remus returned the high-five and tried his best to smile. Another student was sorted into Hufflepuff but Remus didn't care.
Gryffindor. That was unexpected and he wasn't sure as to how he should react. He knew nothing about Gryffindor, his knowledge was primarily based in the ample descriptions of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. He wasn't a Gryffindor, he couldn't be, this was an obvious mistake. He was a hard-worker, yes; a dedicated worker, yes; he was kind and tried to accept people for who they were, yes. He read a lot, yes; he had a curiosity fostered by his mother and father, yes; he thought before acting; yes. He was obviously bettered equipped to be a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw student, and a good one at that. He surely wasn't brave, confident, or the typical bronze over brain kind of guy. Remus looked at Sirius, someone who was sure of his place. Remus wasn't Sirius-how could they be linked together in the same house? Remus remembered one of James's points for wanting to be in Gryffindor: Dumbledore himself came from this house. Well if that wasn't intimidating enough, he wasn't sure what was. How could he be in the same house as one of the greatest and nicest wizards of modern times? He had known about the power of Professor Dumbledore even when he was a child, with his father telling him stories of the great duel between him and Gellert Grindelwald.
How could Remus ever live up to that? Who was he, a werewolf no less, to think that he could compare himself to the undeniably greatest wizard of his time?
Another student was sorted, this time in Ravenclaw. Remus watched enviously from his seat as the dark haired boy with square glasses joined the table next to the Slytherins. Jealousy pained his heart and he felt miserable as he sat alongside strangers. That should have been him being greeted by the Ravenclaw house. That should have been him and he knew it.
Remus thought back to the Sorting Hat's first comments of him being a werewolf, calling him a half-blood, calling him less than human. If the Hat could read his thoughts then what was to say that the Hat knew perfectly well that he most desperately wanted to be like his father and become a Ravenclaw student but placed him in a house he hated because of prejudice? He had encountered it before, Remus and everyone connected to him was displaced from society just because of his condition. Remus picked the skin near his nails under the wooden table until one finger bled. Remus stuck the finger in his mouth and sucked the blood, trying not to let anyone else know of is inner turmoil. With his finger still in his mouth he looked over to Lily Evans sitting next to him. Like him, she didn't look too happy. Maybe like him she wanted to be in another house. Lily sat up straight in her seat and tried her best to look over at the line of remaining students. Remus wiped the saliva off of his fingers on his pants and looked in the direction of her gaze. He didn't see anything particularly special; from his seat he only saw a group of unsorted students near where Rubeus Hagrid sat.
She must know one of them, he thought. Another student was sorted into Ravenclaw but Lily didn't change her gaze from the group of students near the end of the line. She must be another student from a wizard household, he assumed, for her to know someone else. Maybe she had a friend and they hoped to be sorted into the same house, or maybe she wanted to be in another house and looked in the direction of where that house sat. She too must have wanted to be either a Ravenclaw, or possibly a Slytherin. It was hard for Remus to tell just from her gaze because of the proximity of the two tables.
"MacDonald, Mary!" Remus heard McGonagall say clearly and a small girl with her hazelnut coloured hair in two braids was sorted into Gryffindor. Remus looked to his right where the older students sat, the whole table seemed to vibrate from the shouts and chants of "Gry-fin-dor! Gry-fin-dor!" Mary took a station next to Sirius and gave a nervous nod to the other first years around her; she gave a small smile to Lily. Sirius went so far as to envelope her into a hug.
Remus felt the end of his father's letter poke him in the side and he adjusted the letter in his pocket. Anger at his predicament in being sorted into this house was overridden by dread. How would he tell his parents? He could he begin to tell them that he was sorted into Gryffindor? Sure, his parents had told him not to worry about the sorting—that they would be proud as to whichever house he would be put into, but Remus knew that was a lie. They were supposed to say things like to, that's what parents did. Remus didn't know much about his father's family, but he did know an overwhelming amount of his family members were sorted into Ravenclaw, with a few spattering in Hufflepuff and Slytherin. It was a point of pride to have one family be linked together in Hogwarts Houses. He knew his father would never admit it, but Remus knew he would have made his father especially proud if he was sorted into his former house. And if he was sorted into Hufflepuff, that would make his mother so proud. She probably would have started to cry at the knowledge of her only son being sorted into her own house. But Gryffindor? This was completely unexpected. Would his parents even believe him when he wrote the news to them later tonight?
"Pettigrew, Peter!" Remus stopped his thinking when he saw Peter step from the line from next to James and waddle to the stool. Nervously Peter put on the Sorting Hat after being told to by McGonagall. Remus wondered what house he would see Peter get sorted into and wished the best for the nervous boy.
"Gryffindor!" the hat called out and again the Gryffindor house went wild at their table. Peter seemed to look as shocked as Remus by his sorting for his eyes were the widest Remus had seen them. Peter made his way quickly to the table and sat down next to Remus. Sirius congratulated Peter and gave him a high-five from across the table.
Now Remus was thoroughly confused; was this all just an elaborate dream that he was having in his bed from home? How did Gryffindor have a range of people like Sirius, who was obviously confident and brave, to leaders like Dumbledore, to all the way of people like Peter who appeared meek and afraid of everything? Peter was surely feeling as shocked and confused as Remus still felt. Remus made a point of telling Peter 'hello' and smile at him; making a promise to himself to go out of his way to be nice to the body because of how scared and bewildered he must feel.
Four more people were sorted before "Potter, James!" was called out by Professor McGonagall. Sirius, Peter, and Remus all stared onward as James separated himself from the line and walked confidently to the stool. The hat barely touched his head for two seconds before the animated inanimate object shouted out "Gryffindor!" James almost threw the hat off the stool as he rushed to put it down and ran across the stage to the Gryffindor table with a wide grin plastered on his face.
"We made it!" the full force of James's yell was lost in the midst of the cheering Gryffindors. James sat next to Sirius and threw his arm over the boy's shoulder. "Oh, man, I am so happy. I was getting really nervous up there." Remus noticed Lily turn her head and narrow her eyes at James before looking back to the end of the first-year lines. "We are going to have so much fun together," James promised Sirius, still smiling about being sorted into his chosen house. As much as Remus knew he shouldn't feel this way, a part of him did not like his or Sirius's happiness from being sorted into their favoured house. It wasn't fair for them to be so happy when Remus, Lily, and Peter weren't.
"Merlin!" Sirius exclaimed and everyone around him looked disapprovingly at him because someone was currently being sorted. "Did you see the scores for the Holyhead Harpies versus France last week, or was it two weeks ago?" Lily turned her head in such a way that her hair flipped to show her annoyance. Remus turned to his right, facing away from the sorting to look at Lily. She still wore a frown on her pale face and her eyebrows were furrowed as she continued to stare at that mysterious spot near the end of the line of first-years. She was pretty he had to admit that to himself. She was pretty in a quiet way that Remus liked even though he wouldn't have been able to explain it. And, for at least this moment, she acted like she did not like Sirius or James; and Remus enjoyed the thought of sharing the same thoughts as her. She must have felt his eyes on her for she turned her head softly around and made eye contact with him. Remus ducked his head down but was able to catch a glimpse of her brilliantly green eyes. He only looked up again when he was sure that she had taken her eyes from him. He tried to focus on the rest of the sorting, granting his classmates the same respect that he was given when he was sorted but he kept getting distracted by Sirius and James's conversation across from him.
"I don't understand why first-years can't be on the Quidditch team," James complained loudly about as the Hufflepuff table cheered as a student was sorted there.
"I don't know why we aren't allowed to have brooms. I might just bring mine home after winter break if the school brooms aren't acceptable," Sirius said as "Rosier, Evans!" was sorted into Slytherin.
"Oh yeah, there are brooms we can borrow," James answered. "I forgot, thanks man for reminding me. I need to stay in shape so I can make the Quidditch team next year."
"That's so cool. What position do you want?" Sirius began to play with the silverware set in front of him.
"I don't make a bad Keeper but I think I would like to try being a Chaser." James turned his head to the enchanted ceiling, "no," he looked back at Sirius, "I think I might want to be a Keeper," he paused again. "I don't know. I can't decide. Both positions are fun to play. What is your favourite?"
Sirius leaned back as he thought, "Beater. I seriously think that is my favourite position that I like to play. I don't get to play often though, I don't have many people to play with," he explained to James. "It's usually me just flying around on a broom when my family and I are out in the country visiting or during the summer."
"Why can you only fly around during the summer?" James asked, slightly appalled at the idea of not being able to fly whenever someone wanted.
"I live around a bunch of Muggles. I've already gotten into loads of trouble before from flying in front of them."
"Oh," James exhaled. "Oh, I get it. I bet it would be hard to explain to a thick Muggle kid why you are flying around a broom." The Ravenclaw table cheered as a first-year walked to their table. "You should totally come to my house so we can play pick up matches whenever and we don't have to worry about Muggles or flying too low. And we can use our own brooms instead of the school's."
"That does sound nice," Sirius replied as he tapped the end of his fork on the tablecloth.
"Snape, Severus!" Headmistress McGonagall called and Remus saw Lily sit up. Sure enough Remus stared to the end of line as before and saw a lean boy with black, slick hair walk from the dwindling line of first-years and walk to the three-legged stool. He slipped the wizard cap on. Remus stared at Lily again and saw that she had her fingers crossed on the tabletop and seemed to be mouthing something so only she could hear.
"Slytherin!" the hat announced and the table opposite of Gryffindor erupted into celebration. Lily slumped in her seat and no longer looked to the sorting, instead only choosing to look at her hands. Remus felt sorry for her; clearly she wanted to be in a House with her friend and he could empathise even though he couldn't relate himself.
"Jeez, when do you think they will be done?" Sirius complained loudly, drawing more negative looks from the upper years near them.
"I don't know. We can't be too far done though, look how many have been sorted," James replied as he turned his head to look over his shoulder.
"I am so starving it's not even funny," Sirius continued to complain. Remus looked up and remembered about the chocolate his father had given him. Was it really that morning when Remus had left his parents? It had felt like an eternity since he was in his room packing is last few items.
"I-" Remus started, drawing the attention of James, Sirius, and Peter. "I have chocolate," he offered weakly. He pushed his hand around his other cloak pocket and retrieved the bar. "I had forgotten all about it," the boys looked at the bar, "my father gave it to me this morning. Would you like a piece?"
Sirius looked from the offering to Remus, "That is so cool, man. That's so nice of you."
"Yeah thank you, it feels like forever ago since we ate on the Hogwarts Express," James mirrored Sirius's gratitude. Remus broke off even chunks of chocolate and handed it to Sirius, James, Peter, and Mary. Lily looked up from the table and he motioned for her to have a share. It took her a moment before she reached out a hand to grab a slice, but she nodded and returned a smile. Remus took the last piece and popped it in his mouth, savouring the taste as he pondered why Lily was reluctant to take a piece when everyone else had grabbed their share with no thought.
She was different from everyone else, he realised. And he didn't mind that fact because he knew he was different, too. They were both united in the fact that they didn't want to be in the same house—or that is what he liked to think. She also didn't seem to like Sirius and James, just like him. He also didn't like the way they ignored the sorting after they were sorted in favour of Quidditch, a topic in which he didn't have much to say about.
Professor McGonagall called out the last name and the tan girl nearly ran to the stool so she wouldn't have to be the last first-year standing any longer than she had to. The girl was sorted into Hufflepuff and Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment and picked up the stool. Remus joined along in the clapping with everyone else even though he wasn't quite sure why everyone was clapping. Was it because they too were ready to eat or because they were welcoming all of first-years together as a whole?
Headmaster Dumbledore did not stand until Professor McGonagall took her seat next to him. The bubbling levels of conversation muted when Dumbledore stood and cleared his throat. When all eyes were upon him he smiled and spread his arm wide, "Welcome, welcome, all of you!" he cried with what seemed like genuine happiness at all of students being present. "I know all of you must be perished from your long journey here but I would like to say 'something.'" Dumbledore closed his mouth but continued to beam at them. Remus wondered what he wanted to say but Dumbledore had already sat himself back down. As soon as he sat down the students in the Great Hall erupted into applause and cheers. Remus looked around bewildered and was glad to see that all of the first-years around him look confused like him. And it dawned on him; it was a joke. He wasn't sure what he expected the Headmaster to say as his welcoming speech, but he certainly didn't expect him to open with a joke. Remus smiled to himself and began to laugh but quickly stopped when he saw the others stare at him, still confused.
A grin slowly formed on James's face and he started to laugh along with Remus, though his confident laugh made a shadow of Remus's. "Stop it, what are you laughing at. Tell me," Sirius commanded with a small glare.
"It's a joke, you dunce," James had to yell at Sirius due to the noise echoing around the Great Hall.
Sirius's blossoming insult was cut short before execution because food appeared on the table, filling the empty trays stationed in the middle of the table. Sirius compromised by sending James's one last glare before he started to load his plate with food. Remus was too overwhelmed by the amount of food and the large amount of choice around his end of the table alone. All of the ways to prepare chicken and beef were present at the Gryffindor table and Remus pushed away the anger that he felt to his mind to allow his stomach to hold as much food as possible. Remus did not realise how hungry he was until the aromas from the table filled his body. He took a little from all of the plates around him, unlike James and Sirius who had dribbled food all of their plates and had it packed the food inches high on both of their plates.
