Chapter 2: The Sorting
As they looked in, nearly 300 people looked back at
them, staring in disbelief. A tall severe looking figure rushed towards them.
"What do you think you are doing!" it bellowed. Looking closely they could see
it was a female professor. The rest of the school continued to stare, and James
replied clearly: "We were a bit late getting off the train." Sniggers filled
the room, as four of the five gazed innocently at the woman and Peter
whimpered. "You've missed the Sorting!" the woman shrieked. James and Sirius
could see their brother and sister behind the woman, both shaking their fists
threateningly.
A small teacher rushed out of the hall, while the
oddest-looking man Lily had ever seen approached them. He had blue eyes, a
crooked nose, long white hair and an even longer beard, and he was wearing
bright green robes. He grinned conspiratorially at them. "I am Headmaster
Dumbledore," he said.
"Very pleased to meet
you!" they interjected.
"And this is Professor
McGonagall." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Minnie is very organised, and
you've upset her plans. I apologise for her.
"What happened was obviously an accident, no-ones
fault. So lets get you Sorted so you can eat." The tiny man had rushed back in
again, with a stool and an extremely patched Hat. He unfurled a piece of
parchment and intoned solemnly: "Black, Sirius."
Sirius approached the hat jauntily, stuck his tongue
out at his sister and put the hat on. "Sirius Black," the hat said angrily, "You're late. I'd just thought of
some lyrics for next years song."
"Song?" thought Sirius
The hat chose to ignore
that.
"Too naughty for
Ravenclaw," it was muttering, "too clever for Hufflepuff. You have ties to
Slytherin, but you're so brave, I think GRFFINDOR!" Sirius jumped as the hat
roared the last word. He got up and approached that table.
"Evans, Lily," the
Professor called. As Lily pulled the hat on she could see Sirius arguing with
his sister. "Miss Evans," the hat said grumpily, "I think I'll put you
Slytherin." At her terrified mental howl it chuckled. "Joking Lily. You're
certainly clever enough for Ravenclaw, but your courage and trickery outweigh
that. GRYFFINDOR!" it yelled. "Thanks!" Lily thought.
"Lupin, Remus."
Remus approached the hat with trepidation. Would it
know his secret? His suspicion was confirmed as the hat said "Aaahhh. You're a
werewolf. Congratulations."
"What!" he thought
incredulously.
"Yes it takes a lot of
courage to live a normal life under a burden like that. It can only be
GRYFFINDOR." Remus could have jumped for joy; he would be with his friends.
Pettigrew, Peter."
"Peter…hmmmmmm…very
difficult," the hat said, "You are not very academic, nor loyal, but I don't
think you would fit into Slytherin either. You must face what is to come with
courage, and make it GRYFFINDOR!"
"Potter, James."
James skipped happily over to the hat. All his
friends were in Gryffindor. "James Potter," the hat whispered in his ear, "very
brave, no doubt about you, join your family in GRYFFINDOR!" That was a foregone
conclusion. James wasn't just like his mischievous father in looks only, as his
harassed Grandmother had been heard to howl. He ran of to join the others, who
were already stuffing themselves with food.
"Wicked!" Lily yelled.
"The food's good, isn't
it?" replied Sirius.
"No, I meant us all being in the same house!"
"That's definitely good,"
Remus agreed. James had piled his plate with food, but he had little time to
enjoy it, as he saw Davis approaching. Snatching up his plate, he ducked under
the table, followed by Remus. The two boys crawled up to the other end and
reappeared, stuffing their mouths. Lily and Sirius blinked, then continued
eating.
David Potter approached them. "Where's my brother?"
he said, looking around distractedly. "I saw him a minute ago."
"You have a brother?"
Sirius asked innocently, while Lily smiled charmingly up at him. "Poor thing,"
Sirius added sweetly. David glared.
"Peter!" he snapped.
"Where's James?" Peter looked like he was going to cry again. David took a deep
breath, then walked out of the hall with Sirius' sister.
By the time the five had finished eating, the hall
was empty. "Where do we go now?" Lily wondered. They were all full, sleepy and
slow. "Lets ask Professor Dumbledore!" James suggested. They ran up to him as
he was about to leave and said "Professor, where do we go now?"
He smiled down at them.
"Did no one wait for you?" When they shook their heads, he continued, "Come
then, and I will show you to Gryffindor tower."
They followed him as he led them through corridors
and up stairs, and grinned happily as he nimbly jumped trick stairs and avoided
angry suits of armour. It was only when they reached a portrait of a very fat
lady that he stopped.
"Professor Dumbledore," smiled the lady as Lily
nearly jumped out of her skin.
"My dear fat lady," the
headmaster began, "could you possibly let me in, even though I'm afraid I don't
have the password?"
"Certainly not, Professor!"
the lady looked horrified. "Only the heads of house to be allowed in. I couldn't
possibly allow it!"
"My dear fat lady," Dumbledore
began again.
"No." she said flatly.
"But the poor children………."
"NO!"
By now the 'poor children'
were laughing hysterically. Dumbledore looked annoyed. "Stubborn bi…………" he
muttered.
"Sorry, Professor?" Sirius
asked.
"You'll just have to camp
out here until someone lets you in," the Headmaster explained. The five
groaned. Luckily, at that very moment, Esmerelda Black stuck her head out from
behind the fat lady, who had swung forward.
"Siri-poo!" she cooed, "There
you are!" Sirius flushed, whilst the others, Dumbledore included, sniggered.
"Quickly now," Dumbledore herded
them in. "Bed time."
Inside the Gryffindor common room, Esmerelda, a
pretty sixth year, didn't look so pleased to see Sirius. "Up there!" she
snapped at the boys, "and straight to bed."
The boys went up the
indicted staircase and into a room marked 'First Years'. Five four-poster beds
were in there, one already taken. The four boys collapsed onto the beds and
fell asleep, fully clothed.
Esmerelda led Lily up the other staircase. "There." She
pointed at a door, before disappearing up the next set of stairs. Lily opened
the door and entered a circular room, complete with four staring faces.
"Who are you?"
"Who are those boys?"
"Why were you late?"
"Do you like any of them?"
the faces asked.
At the last question Lily scoffed.
"No!" She pulled off her clothes and put on her pyjamas, muttered "Tomorrow"
and fell onto her bed. She was soon deeply asleep.