Chapter 11

Sirius's day could not have started worse if he had tried to make it terrible himself. Not only was he incredibly late in taking his shower, but he couldn't find his jeans. And after he managed to find his jeans and pull them on quickly, he had a hard time finding his tee-shirt and when he did find it, it had a hole in it. His favorite tee-shirt! With a huge, gaping hole in it! So he spent another five minutes trying to find a hideous orange shirt that actually looked better on him then he remembered. After that, he had to struggle to put on his shoes and socks, only to find that not only did his socks not match, but he had placed the right shoe on the left foot and vice versa. Which would explain why he had had such a hard time putting them on.

So it was with a bad mood that Sirius left the dormitory alone. To improve his mood, as he was walking down to the Great Hall, he met up with his favorite Slytherins: Malfoy, Bellatrix, and Narcissa. Inwardly, Sirius groaned but otherwise forced a smile. It wasn't that he completely disliked Malfoy and his cousins, he just didn't want to see them when he was in such a crappy mood. They were the kind of people that you had to be in the mood to see. And Sirius was definitely not in the right mood.

"Hello, Sirius," Malfoy said smoothly, moving up beside and falling into step with him. Sirius did his best to restrain himself from rolling his eyes at the suave Slytherin and somehow managed to succeed.

"Hello, Lucius," he replied in a voice that could have been considered cold as ice. Malfoy easily dismissed it though and continued on as if there was no hostility between the two, ignored or otherwise.

"I've sent a letter to Dumbledore demanding a resorting. Surely he will agree that your sorting was a completely mistake, and will have the sorting hat resort you immediately."

Bellatrix nodded in agreement while Narcissa simply clung to Malfoy's arm somewhat protectively. Sirius did his best to hide a sneer. Out of all of his cousins, Narcissa was the most annoying, simply because she was the most whiny, clingy, simpering one.

"After all, your rightful place is with us, in Slytherin," Bellatrix added, smiling cunningly.

"Per se," Sirius said, glancing first at Bellatrix and then over at Lucius. "I think the sorting hat doesn't make mistakes. Placing me in Gryffindor was the right place, I think."

"What do you mean?" Lucius's voice had turned colder as well. He was not liking the direction this conversation was going.

"I mean," explained Sirius, "that even if Dumbledore authorizes a re-sorting, which I doubt he will, I'm not sure I'll accept. I kind of like being in a house that is not being constantly watched by my parents."

"Your parents, no, but the rest of the Slytherins are watching very closely. They're just waiting for you to be disinherited. They're not stupid, they can see it coming. As can we," hissed Bellatrix angrily, stopping shortly in front of Sirius.

Sirius rolled his eyes and pushed past his cousin. "And I honestly don't care. This has been coming on since I discovered that having "pure" blood isn't everything."

"Yeah, you were just better at disguising it with disdain," Narcissa said, deciding to throw in her opinion as well.

Sirius scoffed. "As if I care. After all I've done, all I've been through, this is nothing."

"Except you've got no where to go," taunted Lucius. "If you're disowned, not only will the worthy wizarding reject you for being a blood traitor, but the rest of the wizarding world will hate you for having pure blood."

Sirius stopped short and mulled the words over in his mind. It was true. Should he ever be kicked out of his house, he had no where to go. He had yet to make any friends, which was depressing. He could always go to Peter's house…no, that wouldn't do. As nice as the boy had been so far, Sirius could tell that he would get annoying fast.

"Think about it Sirius," Lucius called out as he walked into the Great Hall, leaving Sirius to his tumultuous thoughts.

-in the shadows-

James lurked throughout the shadows, watching the entire exchange between Black and the Slytherins with avid interest. Whatever the topic of the conversation was seemed to put Black a little on edge. He continually, however, shook his head and didn't seem to agree with what the Slytherins were saying. James finally managed to get close enough to the group to be able to hear them and remain invisible to their eyes as well.

"As if I care. After all I've done, all I've been through, this is nothing!" Black snapped.

"Except you've got no where to go. If you're disowned, not only will the worthy wizarding reject you for being a blood traitor, but the rest of the wizarding world will hate you for having pure blood." Malfoy began to walk away to the Great Hall, leaving Sirius behind him. "Think about it Sirius."

James watched as Sirius stood motionless, taking in all that Malfoy had just said. James decided that it was time to make his presence known.

"Hey, Black, what was that all about?" he asked casually, trying to make it appear as if he had just stumbled into the conversation at the wrong time, rather than having attempted to eavesdrop.

Sirius jumped at the sound of his name, spinning around rapidly and meeting James's questioning eyes with a patronizing stare. "Suddenly all concerned for the should-be Slytherin?" he asked, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

James rolled his eyes. "No, seriously, what's up?" It was surprising to James that he actually was worried about Black. It appeared to surprise him too.

Finally, Sirius decided it was safe to answer. "Ah, the usual Slytherin crap. They want me to be in Slytherin so I can actually bring honor to my family and be "pure" as they say. As such, the asked Dumbledore if I could have a re-sorting. Which is perfectly outlandish really. I mean, it would cause such a stir in the school. Everyone would be wondering whether or not they were sorted into the right house."

"Unless the sorting hat still put you in Gryffindor," muttered James, staring over Sirius's shoulder to avoid eye contact.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at that comment. "Did you, James Potter, enemy of my family, just say that my sorting might not have been a mistake?"

James rolled his eyes and turned to look at Sirius with an exasperated expression on his face. "Yes, I did."

A smile dared to flash across his face, but Sirius managed to suppress it. "Why the sudden change of mind?"

"I changed my mind?" James asked, sounding shocked. Sirius raised his eyebrows at James, who quickly amended, "I may not have completely changed my mind, but I'm at least willing to give you a chance…I guess."

"If you have to?" Sirius teased, laughing a bit at how at ease the two were. James smiled in return and walked into the Great Hall with Sirius at his side.

-At the Slytherin table-

"What are we going to do?" hissed Bellatrix angrily. "We can't have him befriending those mudblood lovers. It will bring such disgrace to the entire pure blood population!"

Lucius shook his head as he watched the young Black sit down next to Potter and start a conversation with Lupin and Pettigrew. "We'll just have to think of something that would…discourage him from joining their ranks."

"Like what?" asked Narcissa, feigning interest.

Lucius, however, just smiled maniacally and shook his head. "You'll see…they'll all see."

A.N. I'm sorry that took so long. Life keeps on getting in the way. I'll update faster next time. But if you're all bored, I suggest you read my Pong story and then go to the Pong section under games. They're hilarious. Anyways, thanks for reading, and please review.