Chapter 2: Sorting

Sirius Orion Black read the Daily Prophet whenever it was offered to him. It was a reminder that there was a world outside the fortress walls of Azkaban where time kept going, even if the delay on getting the paper could sometimes be weeks or even months. Any distraction from the monotony of staring into the void of solitary confinement, was greatly welcomed. Distractions kept him sane.

This edition of the Prophet however had him thinking he had perhaps gone insane regardless, and had quickly progressed to the point of wild hallucination. Posing in front of a tapestry at Gringotts Bank were a tall man, with his hand on the back of a chair, on which sat, who could only be presumed to be his son. The headline read, "Black Family Brought Back From the Brink with the Announcement of a New Heir." Indeed, smirking up at him from the page of the newspaper was his apparently not dead younger brother and a son of all things.

Sirius Black simply passed out from the shock.

—–-–—

Eridanus awoke bright and early on the first of September, having barely slept the night before. Today was finally the day!

He had spent the previous week packing and repacking his trunk… and Kreacher had spent the past 24 hours removing the entire Black library from said trunk and replacing it with textbooks, leaving only one or two extra books after consulting with Regulus.

The lord of the house sat at the dining table drinking tea, while Eri was practically bouncing off the walls and talking a mile a minute about the adventure to Kings Cross station and beyond.

"Eridanus," sighed Regulus, slightly annoyed, "You need to calm down otherwise I shall keep you here another year, just to prove a point."

The boy froze immediately. Could his father do that? Was he allowed to do that? He decided the best course of action would be to simply expedite the process of getting to the station before he had a chance to find out. Quickly finishing his breakfast, he became a blur of black hair, darting back upstairs then down again, dressed and with trunk in hand.

Kreacher was a mess in the corner, sobbing loudly into a handkerchief emblazoned with the Black family crest, "Young Master is going to go off to Hogwarts and forget all about poor Kreacher."

Eridanus, shocked, busied himself consoling the elf, promising to send trinkets for his cabinet and looking up at his father for assistance with the wailing creature.

Sometimes, Regulus felt like he was running a circus instead of a family.

—–-–—

"Eri! Eri, look!"

Upon emerging onto the mostly empty platform (it was still quite early in the day), Eridanus was immediately set upon by his best friend running in his direction, brandishing something in his hand.

"Neville is that… Neville you've already shown me your father's wand," said Eri, confused as his friend drew closer.

"Oh, good morning Lord Black," said a very out of breath Neville Longbottom upon reaching the pair, "No Eri look! This is my wand! It chose me in the store and everything!"

Eri's jaw dropped. He expected Mrs Longbottom to simply humour his friend by letting him go to the wand shop, but not cave and actually buy him a wand!

"That's bloody brilliant," said Eri, wincing as Regulus pinched his ear for swearing, "What's it made of?"

"Cherry wood and unicorn hair I think? I don't know, I was barely listening. But isn't this so cool? Now I've got two wands in case I lose one!"

While the two boys were distracted comparing the three wands, the platform steadily began to fill up around them as new and returning students with their families in tow made their way towards the Hogwarts Express.

At the other end of the platform, a boy with dreadlocks was showing off his new pet tarantula which was surely against school rules. Nearby, a girl with blonde hair was batting her mother's hands away from her silk dress. And last but not least, no less than nine redheads came barreling through the King's Cross Station barrier, with the matriarch of the family loudly attempting to direct her children, a task easier said than done.

Regulus, who was already uncomfortable with the growing number of people around him absolutely drew the line at having to contend with Molly Weasley.

"Eridanus, why don't you find a spot on the train while Neville says goodbye to his grandmother, hmm?" asked Regulus, pushing his son gently in the direction of the train.

The two boys waved goodbye to each other and Eri turned his attention to his father who was helping him get his trunk onto the train. He swore that if he squinted, he could see tears forming in Regulus' eyes.

"Father, are you… crying?"

"Absolutely not, you silly child," said Regulus, trying to inconspicuously wipe his glassy eyes. Truly he didn't think he would ever live long enough to put a child on the Hogwarts Express, let alone his child, and the whole parenting thing was really catching up to him lately.

Eri smirked, "If you'll miss me so much, you're welcome to come with me after a few rounds of deaging potion."

Regulus scowled at his son, "You think you're hilarious don't you? Slytherin isn't a place for hollow threats of dosing your parents with potions."

"But maybe Gryffindor is."

"If you're not sorted into Slytherin, I'll eat my hat."

"I'll be sure to send along some seasoning when I'm sorted into Gryffindor then."

The familiar back and forth was interrupted by the loud whistle of the Hogwarts Express, indicating 15 minutes until the train's departure.

When the actuality of their small family being split up settled in, the Blacks sobered up immediately.

"You'll write?"

"Every week," responded Eridanus nodding firmly, "And if I'm not actually in Slytherin?"

"I will still love you unconditionally," replied Regulus offering a small smile, "Now hurry and find a compartment before they're all gone."

The Blacks were not a hugging family, but Regulus allowed himself a moment of weakness when his son's tiny arms wrapped around his waist briefly. Then the boy was on his way, waving as he disappeared into the train.

—–-–—

Pausing for a moment to let Hedwig out of her cage so she could fly to Hogwarts, Eridanus quickly found an empty compartment near the back of the train and it wasn't long before he was joined by Neville with another two boys in tow.

"There you are Eri! I hope you don't mind a little extra company," exclaimed Neville wandering into the compartment, "These are my friends Ron Weasley and Ernie Macmillan."

"Nice to meet you, I'm–"

"I know who you are!" exclaimed the redhead introduced as Ron Weasley, "I never thought Neville would be friends with a Slytherin snake."

Neville sighed and Ernie grinned, clearly both having heard their friend's Slytherin biases, or rather anti-Slytherin biases many times already for the day.

Eri cocked an eyebrow, "I'd really prefer to be called by my name, wouldn't you?"

Nevertheless the boys crowded into the compartment with Ron sitting as far away from Eridanus as possible.

"Honestly, mate, it's not like he's gonna bite you," said Ernie laughing at Ron's expense.

Nodding along, Eri added, "I'll even bet you… three cauldron cakes and a chocolate frog that I'm not in Slytherin at all."

The mention of sweets seemed to lighten Ron's mood considerably and he cracked a smile, "Oh I'll take you up on that bet, Black."

With those words a comfortable not-quite-silence fell over the compartment as Neville tried to teach Trevor tricks, Eri cracked open a book he'd snuck out of the house, and Ron and Ernie got going with a game of exploding snap.

Unfortunately for Neville, toads are not an animal commonly taught tricks and so after the 50th time of being prompted to jump through a small hoop, Trevor quit entirely, jumping through the crack in the compartment door instead.

"No! Trevor!" Neville ran out of the compartment, looking frantically in all directions before dashing off to the left. His departure was punctuated by a loud bang as Ron nearly lost a finger putting down the jack of clubs.

Anxious to get out of the compartment before it exploded along with the cards, Eri politely excused himself and went off in search of Neville, and by extension, Trevor.

On his way down the train he almost collided with a short, bushy haired girl wearing a muggle outfit, consisting of jeans and a sweatshirt.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Have you seen a toad, a boy named Neville's lost one and I told him I'd help search for it. Of course it couldn't have gotten very far, this being a moving train and all. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way."

The girl spoke so quickly that Eri was barely able to keep up, "Uh, Eridanus Black, but you can call me Eri."

"Alright then, Eri, have you seen the toad?"

"Actually, I was looking for Neville, he's my best friend so I'm already in on the toad hunt."

The Hermione clapped her hands excitedly, "Oh good, if we split–"

A loud scream from somewhere further down the train drowned out whatever Hermione was going to say next. The two children shared a look, before hurrying in the direction of the screeching.

They met up with Neville right in front of the compartment where the shrieking was coming from. Sure enough, when they opened the door to look inside, there was Trevor sitting harmlessly in the centre of the floor as a shrieking pug-faced girl pressed herself into none other than Draco Malfoy in an attempt to get away from the toad.

"Hello again, cousin."

Realising other people were witnessing her outburst, the girl stopped wailing long enough for Neville to swoop in and grab the toad. Draco looked up at the figures standing in the door, headed by his cousin.

"Eridanus," Draco replied, bowing his head in greeting. After the encounter in Diagon Alley he had all but demanded his father tell him about his cousin on the Black side (whom Lucius knew nothing about), then was pleasantly surprised when the Prophet the next day filled in all the blanks for him.

Eri shook his head, "Honestly Draco, I didn't know you were friends with a human alarm bell. I'm sure half of Scotland heard her yelling."

The Malfoy heir pushed the girl off him, not wanting to make a fool of himself in front of his cousin.

"She was just easily startled. It's not everyday someone actually decides to bring a toad as a familiar." The sentence was punctuated by a pointed glare at Neville, who in turn shrunk behind Eri.

"Anyway, Eridanus, these are my friends, Theo Nott, Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson," Draco continued, pointing at each of the occupants of the compartment in turn.

"A pleasure," replied Eri, "You already know Neville, but this is Hermione Granger."

When the girl was introduced, she stepped out from behind Eridanus to give a wave. She barely opened her mouth to speak when…

"What are you even wearing?" sneered Pansy, looking over Hermione's outfit, "Are those muggle clothes?"

Hermione crossed her arms defiantly, "If by muggle you mean non-magical then yes. Nobody in my family's magic at all except me so wearing robes through central London would have me sticking out like a sore thumb."

The residents of the compartment looked at her with thinly veiled disgust.

Draco looked back at Eridanus, "Sullying yourself with mudbloods already? What would your–"

"Scourgify!"

Whatever else Malfoy was about to say was swallowed up by the soapy bubbles filling his mouth.

Smoke was practically rolling off Eridanus, and Neville grabbed his arm to pull him back, "C'mon, mate, he's not worth it."

The Black heir glared at the boy literally foaming at the mouth and stormed out of the compartment leaving Neville and Hermione to catch up to him.

"Was that a 3rd year spell, Eri? That's awfully impressive. What did that word mean? The one that your cousin called me?" asked Hermione once she had caught up to Eridanus.

"It's a terrible name, a slur even, for muggleborns," snapped Eri, "It was very rude of him to disrespect one of my friends within seconds of meeting them."

The girl blinked owlishly at him, "are we friends?"

At this point they were once again in front of the compartment that Ron and Ernie were still playing exploding snap in.

Neville laughed, "You think the great Eridanus washes out someone's mouth with soap just for fun?"

Eri playfully shoved his friend into the compartment, following behind then sticking his head out to reply to Hermione, "I'd like to think we are, toad hunting does bond people. I'll see you around, Hermione."

The girl waved as the door slid shut and turned to skip happily down the corridor. The horrible girls at her old primary school had told her no one would want to be friends with her even if she moved schools and now look! Two new friends and she hadn't even made it to the castle yet. Yes, things were indeed looking up for Hermione Granger in the wizarding world.

—–-–—

After a few hours, the train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform, where a lamp shone light over the heads of the students.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

Eri and his friends looked up to see a half giant attempting to shepherd the swarms of children hurrying off the train with a lamppost that he was using as a walking stick.

"C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

The boys hurried to follow the towering man down a narrow winding pathway through the woods. Eri couldn't stop himself from thinking that this was the perfect scenario for mass kidnapping.

Eventually, the narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. [scs]

Nothing could have prepared Eri fully for seeing Hogwarts for the first time, and he stood for a minute staring up at the school in wonder and amazement.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.

This led to a small scrabble for the boats, in which Eri was beat out by a boy who hastily introduced himself as Dean for the last spot in the boat with his friends, and instead opted to ride with Hermione and two other girls who introduced themselves as Padma and Parvati.

Once all the children had settled, the small fleet of boats moved forwards, cutting their way across the glassy surface of the Black Lake and towards the castle where they would spend the next 7 years of their lives. Ducking through a curtain of ivy, the boats deposited them at a boathouse.

Luckily for Hagrid, the students were still mostly silent from shock, so he was quickly able to lead them up the cobblestone path to the school, stopping after leading them inside and up to a large set of oak doors.

The giant barely raised his fist to knock before the door was swung open, revealing a stern looking witch in emerald robes.

"Hagrid, how is it that you manage to be late every year," she snapped at him, before turning her attention to the children, "I'll take them from here."

She led the new students into the small antechamber chamber adjacent to the grand entry hall, with another large oak door to their right which, judging from the noise on the other side, led to the Great Hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am the deputy headmistress, Professor McGonagall," said the imposing witch. "The start-of-term feast 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." [scs]

Eridanus tuned out the rest of her spiel about the merit and qualities of the different houses as he'd read about all the houses many times before. Although he showed bravado and bantered readily with his father, part of him was terrified that where he spent the next 7 years of his life was entirely dependent on one moment.

"I will go alert the headmaster that you are present and ready to be sorted, and when it is time, these doors will open and you will proceed in an orderly fashion to the front of the hall," concluded McGonagall, leaving no room for argument before she slipped into the Great Hall.

The buzz of whispers began immediately. Ron was hyperventilating about the prospect of not being in Gryffindor, Neville was worried the hat wouldn't find space for him anywhere, Hermione was making a verbal pros and cons list of each house, and poor Eridanus was stuck in the middle of it all, wondering if he was more Black or Potter at this point.

Just as Eri was about to offer consoling words to the Patil twins who were very worried about being split into different houses, the oak doors in front of them swung open, and Hogwarts newest students tentatively stepped forward into the silent Great Hall.

Eridanus was scanning the ceiling of the hall, the black expanse dotted with stars, looking for any of the Black family constellations as he shuffled forward with the mass of students.

Hermione saw him gazing upwards and whispered, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Eri smiled at her whispering back, "I know, I've read it too. I'm looking for my family's stars."

They stopped at the front of the hall, the house tables behind them and a simple wooden stool in front of them with a patched and frayed wizard's hat sitting atop it. McGonagall smiled and tapped the hat once with her wand. The hat's folds became more defined, forming facial features, and then, it began to sing:

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"[scs]

The entire hall, first years included, clapped loudly upon the conclusion of the song, then silence fell again as the deputy headmistress conjured a scroll out of midair.

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

A girl, presumably Hannah Abbott, nervously stepped forward and sat on the stool, allowing the hat to be placed on her head. There was a brief pause before the hat yelled out "HUFFLEPUFF!" and the girl walked happily over to the cheering table, her school robes immediately adopting yellow and black accents.

Eri barely had time to process how quick her sorting was as the next name that left McGonagall's lips was, "Black, Eridanus."

The boy put on a brave face, giving a quick thumbs up to all his new friends, and strode forwards to sit on the stool. The hat was dropped on his head and he found that the brim almost completely covered his eyes.

"Hmmm…a Potter eh? AND a Black!"

Eridanus jumped slightly at the voice in his head. Regulus had told him about how the sorting happened but it was entirely different to experience something rather than hear or read about it.

"Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see, and loyalty to spare. Not a bad mind either and plenty of raw ambition. There's talent there for sure but legacies do often get confusing…"

Eri sat wondering if there was any rhyme or reason to the hat's ramblings, or if there was perhaps just a complex magic enchantment done beforehand and the hat simply added theatrics to predetermined outcomes.

"Questioning my brilliance, eh? I know just where to put you Mister Potter-Black…"

"RAVENCLAW!"

There was a brief pause as everyone had expected the Black family heir to end up in Slytherin, but it quickly gave way to a roar of applause and cheering from the blue and bronze of the Ravenclaw table.

Eri was a little disappointed when none of his friends ended up in the same house as him, but he introduced himself to the boy sitting next to him, Terrance Boot, who staunchly insisted that everyone call him Terry, and introduced Padma to everyone once she too had been sorted into the house of eagles.

The sorting ended with Malfoy's friend being sent off to Slytherin and the headmaster walked up to the podium to address the student body.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" [scs]

The students cheered once again and all manner of food began to appear, piling itself high on the tables.

After stuffing themselves full of food, the Ravenclaw first years rose from their seats to follow their 5th year prefect, Penelope Clearwater to the Ravenclaw common room, their home away from home in Hogwarts Castle.

Ravenclaw Tower was officially the tallest tower at Hogwarts. It used to be the same height as the Gryffindor Tower but after the lions taped a yardstick to the top of their tower, a few clever Ravenclaw students permanently stuck a 3 foot tall marble spire to the top of theirs.

After climbing flights upon flights of stairs, they finally stopped in front of a dark wooden door with no handle, and a knocker shaped like an eagle.

"This," said Penelope, "Is the entrance to our common room. It is protected by both a password and a riddle. The password changes every fortnight and the riddle is different every time."

She turned to address the brass knocker, "thestral." The brass knocker came to life and ruffled its feathers before issuing its riddle.

"What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?"

Penelope smiled and replied, "man."

The door swung open to reveal one of the most beautiful rooms Eri had ever seen. The common room had a double height ceiling, the ceiling itself doomed and painted to resemble a midnight sky, with many arched windows breaking up the monotony of the stone walls. The large circular room had bookshelves inset into one half of it, with tall ladders to read the books near the ceiling. In front of the cases were a long ornate study table and plenty of comfortable looking plush dark blue chairs and couches. Opposite the books was a roaring fireplace, on top of which was a small marble statue of a woman that Eri assumed was Rowena Ravenclaw. On either side of the fireplace were two staircases leading upwards, one with a dark blue carpet and the other bronze.

"Welcome to our common room," said the prefect, smiling at the awestruck faces of the first years, "You must be very tired. Girls' rooms are up the blue stairs, boys up the bronze."

The boys raced up their staircase, finding the door with a bronze number one on the front and pushed it open to find five four-poster beds with dark blue velvet curtains arranged in a circular fashion around the room.

Eridanus immediately claimed the bed in the centre, with Terry Boot and Kevin Entwhistle to his right, and Anthony Goldstein and Stephen Cornfoot to his left. Once they claimed their beds, their trunks appeared neatly at the foot of the bed.

Entirely too exhausted from the long day, the boys wordlessly changed into their pyjamas and climbed into their beds. With a quick round of "good nights", they were fast asleep.

—–-–—

After the sorting, Dumbledore immediately rushed back to his office to check the rollbook. There, where Harry James Potter's name once was, was a new name that he was far more familiar with, Eridanus Harry Black.

The headmaster picked a lemon drop out of the crystal dish on his desk and sucked on it thoughtfully. It seemed he would need to send a letter to Lord Black as soon as possible. He was of course overjoyed at the boy's safety, but extremely confused by the situation surrounding it.

He quickly penned a letter then paused. This was not information that he wanted to risk being intercepted. Perhaps he could call in a favour with an old friend to get it delivered quickly and quietly.

A/N: Another one! I'm on a roll with these early chapters. Someone asked why Regulus was tempted to flat out murder Harry when he first saw him, it's because after spending too much time with the locket, he felt similar magic in the baby. (:

Thanks again to everyone who left a review! I'm happy to answer questions are long as they don't ruin surprises. Please review (even just to say hi), favourite and follow! Thanks!