Chapter 4: Nice Hat

                

"First years this way." The giant who I met in Diagon Alley was directing the way. He grinned at me.

"Been staying out of trouble, eh Sirius?"  I only gave him an innocent look, and then we were pushed apart by the crowd of people.

"How do you know Hagrid?" James asked me. I flashed them  a grin.

"Oh, he caught me trying to kill Snape in Diagon Alley."

            He piled us onto small boats, and on his signal, we began to glide across the lake to the large  brightly lit castle. Though James and I got  a bit impatient, and somehow we all ended up in the lake.

We followed him to the castle where a teacher called Professor McGonagall took us up to the great hall.

"I am Professor McGonagall.   You will follow me." She led us through the doors and into a hall, brightly lit with candles.  There were four long tables, each crowded with students. They were all watching us.  I hardly knew where to look, at the students, at the teachers, or at the decorated stone walls, and finally decided on up.

 I looked up. The ceiling looked exactly like the sky outside. Clear and bright. The stars shone brightly, and my eyes automatically went to my own star, which winked cheerfully at me.

We were lined up on a small stage in front of all the other students. A short professor bought out a stool with a battered old hat on it.

"What's that for?" I whispered to James.

"I don't know." He whispered back. Remus shrugged. Peter gave a squeak.

Then the hat began to speak

"Well I may not be beautiful,

But it's my guarantee,

That you will never find,

A cleverer hat than me,

I'm not the type of hat,

You wear to block the sun,

I won't sit atop your head all day,

That would be no fun,

But if you'd like me to see,

What's going on in your mind,

Step right up and put me on,

I'll see what I can find,

Now it's time for you to know,

In which house you belong,

Come to me, the Sorting Hat,

For I am never wrong,

You could be in Gryffindor,

Where the brave find their success,

You could be a Hufflepuff,

Loyal above the rest,

Perhaps you are a Ravenclaw,

With a mind that's wise and clever,

Or maybe you belong in Slytherin,

Where power is your greatest endeavor,

But you'll never know where you belong,

Until I look inside your mind,

For I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,

                                             The one and only of my kind!"

The hall clapped loudly.

"That's it? Try on a hat?" James asked.

"Don't look at me. I don't know anything." I told him. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he was silenced by a look from Professor McGonagall.

"When I call your name, you will step forward and try on the hat." She looked down at her list

"Black, Sirius."

I started. Then I flashed James and Remus a quick grin to and walked over to the hat, trying to get my hands to stop shaking. I picked up the hat and put it on. It slid over my eyes. I heard a small voice in my ear.

"Oh this is a good one to start out with. A twin, I love twins. They are so interesting, Now where was I? Oh yes. An unusual amount of power. Unused. Untrained. But lots. Loyalty. Honor. You've got quite a temper there. Fear too. And large knack for mischief.  My, what a destiny. That explains the power you've got. You're the last, aren't you?"

Last of what? I asked. The hat replied. "Why, of your line! Oh well. Well, there's no question here. You're in GRYFFINDOR!"

This last word was shouted. I pulled of the hat and walked, shaking with relief, over to the table where I was immediately congratulated and pounded on the back by almost the entire table. As I sat down I thought about what the hat had said. A destiny? The last of what?  I must have had a confused look on my face because an older boy leaned over to me. He had kind eyes.

" Don't worry about what the hat said. No one can really figure it out. So don't waste your time." He smiled at me, then held out his hand

"Frank Longbottom. 6th year"

"Sirius Black."

"Well, welcome to Hogwarts, Sirius." I grinned and turned my attention to the sorting. Peter was in some sort of trance. Remus looked green and James had a look of absolute terror on his face.

"Lupin, Remus."

Remus looked even greener if that's possible. But he stepped up and put the hat on. I crossed my fingers. A second later it yelled "GRYFFINDOR."

I yelled and cheered the loudest, I think. Remus sat down across from me. He still looked green.

"What?"

"You're green."

"Shut up." He said, wearing a relieved and rather silly smile.

"Pettigrew, Peter." The hat took a very long time to decide for Peter. Then it shouted Gryffindor. Peter ran down and sat next to Remus. Then he noticed the whole hall laughing.

"What? What is it?" he asked

I, unable to speak, pointed to his head.

"The hat." Remus got out between gasps.

Peter turned bright red. He was still wearing the hat. He ran up and gave it back.

"Potter, James." James had barley put it on his head when it shouted " GRYFFINDOR."

"YES!" We slapped a high five and he sat down next to me.

We all held our breath when Professor McGonagall called "Snape, Severus." Then let it out when the hat called "Slytherin."

I noticed James watching a girl with red hair. She was sitting  nearby me, waving at a girl in line.

"White, Erin." The other girl moved to the front. I stared. She was short and thin with long blond hair and big bright smiling blue eyes. A complete opposite to my black hair and pale eyes.

"GRYFFINDOR" She walked over to our table and sat down across from James. I grinned at her and she smiled back. There was something about her that shook me even then.

" Erin White."

"Hi."

"And you are?"

" Oh. Uh, Sirius. Sirius Black."

"Nice to meet you Sirius Black."

"Er, yeah you too." She turned to watch the last people being sorted.

"Smooth." James was smiling.

"Shut up."

I watched the ret of the people being sorted. Then  I looked over at James. He was smiling a very goofy smile at Lily Evens. I waved my hand in front of his face. No reaction. I nudged Remus who turned and looked at me.

"Watch this." I mad several faces at James then poked him and still nothing. But I got reactions from Remus, Erin, and the rest of the table. Finally I punched James in the shoulder.

"What?" he asked as Lily sat down next to Erin.

"Are you even alive? I've been trying to talk to you for like five minutes and all you've been doing is stare at Lily. Do you like her?'

"NO!" he looked terrified at the very thought.

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't!"

"James likes Li" He clamped his hand over my mouth.

"I. Don't. Like. Her. Get it?" I nodded unable to keep the smile off my face.

"Got it."

"Good."

Then Dumbledore had just stood up.

"Hello everyone. Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. I hope everyone had a good summer. Now just some announcements. First years should know that the Forbidden forest is off limits to all students as there are very dangerous creatures that could make you die a very painful death."

I glanced at James "That sounds like fun. We have to check it out."

"Definitely." He gave me the "I am up to no good" smile that would become so familiar in all the years I've known him. Knew him. Sometimes I still forget he's dead.

"Second a new tree has been planted on school grounds. It is called a whomping willow and it deserves its name. So I beg you to leave it alone."

I put that down in my mental " things to ignore" list. Also there was

1. leave Snape alone

2. stay out of the forbidden forest

3. forget James likes Lily

4. Behave myself.

 When he waved his wand, food appeared in front of us, filling our plates and goblets.  I stared in wonder. I'd never seen real magic preformed like that.  Remus poked me and James rolled his eyes.

"Just eat it, Sirius. Don't sit there gawking at it." he glanced at Erin and Lily. Lily was having more or less the same reaction and Erin was groaning.

"Let me guess, you two are muggle born."  Peter asked. Lily and I nodded, unable to really take our eyes of the magical food.

"Oh yeah? Well, watch this." James said. He took his goblet and drained it.  Seconds later, it was refilled.  He grinned and pointed to my untouched meal. I took his hint and dove in.

"So James," I asked, "What did the hat say to you?" I was wondering if it said something that  mysterious to everyone else.

"It said I was brave, and noble, and smart, and I had a lot for power." He said, 'How about you?"

"That what it said about me too, only…" I thought about telling him, but the words wouldn't come. So instead I shrugged, and refilled my glass.

"Only what?" Remus asked.

"Only not the noble part. It said I had a knack for mischief." I said, grinning.

The feast was terrific. I'd always had a big appetite. But Remus ate like a wolf. He ate like he was a starving man. I shrugged it off then concentrating on watching Erin and not letting James see, and watching James watch Lily.  We were even introduced to our resident ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, who, in response to my question, showed us just exactly how he was nearly headless by flipping his head over on his shoulder and put us all of the treacle pudding.  But he seemed nice enough, not like that Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron. I thought it was hilarious when   Snape looked sick as the baron  leaned passed him to  get the attention of several first years that were being disrespectful. I was glad Nick was our ghost. 

Soon we were all yawning.  Before we went to bed, Dumbledore told us we were singing the Hogwarts school song. He waved his wand and words appeared.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald,

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling,

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot.

A prefect took us up to the tower. A portrait of a fat lady hung over the door. She asked us the password and swung open to reveal the passageway. James and Remus didn't blink an eye at the talking picture but I stared. James just shoved me through the door and up to our common room.

 One thing about the wizarding world I'll never get used to is the pictures. It never ceases to amaze me when the subjects move and talk. I have a small one of Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs in our fifth year. It's odd, looking at it. Those boys used to be us. James and I are pouring itching powder down Peter's shirt while Remus is laughing. They all jump out of the way and grin up at me when a tear falls on the picture. We could have never known what would happen to us in the next four years. No. I'll never get used to it.

Anyway, we climbed to our dorms. There were four huge beds. I took the one in the middle, Remus on the left and James on the right. Peter took the one next to James.

          James said goodnight to everyone in turn. It was a ritual he would  do every night  in our years.

"Night Remus."

"Night James."

"Night Sirius."

"Night James."

"Night Peter."

"Night James."

 As we fell asleep I couldn't believe how lucky I was. Already almost everyone at the table liked me. All night I had made jokes and done impressions that made everyone laugh. I had gone from one friend to almost the whole house. I'd only been there one day and already it felt like home. I was almost asleep when I heard a small muffled sob. Like some one trying to cover it up. It came from Remus's bed.

"Remus?" I asked softly. The sound stopped. A sleepy "Yeah" answered me.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah sure, why not?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?" James was awake now too.

" Yes I'm fine. Go to sleep."

James peeked through his curtains just when I did. We exchanged a look and when we heard nothing went back to bed.

I stopped writing for a while. I think it's been a few days. I had some bad ones. On days like that I can hardly remember anything and my head plays tricks with me. Guilt tricks. I know it's my fault they died. If I hadn't insisted they use Peter. If I had done it. I know I am to blame. If I hadn't been such a coward, Lily and James might still be alive. But I know that I didn't betray them and I didn't kill those muggles. All I know on a day like that is I am innocent.

The others in here aren't though. They go crazy in here. But not me. I wonder why. I mean, I still have my powers even though the dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of everything. But I'm not mad. I know who I am, why I'm here. I can remember my life. Which is much more than others in here can say. I have to listen to these screams all the time. I was like that at first. But I stopped. Most scream for days. Then they go quiet. They all go quiet in the end.

Someone in the next cell is cursing Peter. One of Voldemorts old supporters. He knows. Others know. People out there know. But they won't admit it. And they would let an innocent man rot in this hell.

God, this is hard. Reliving this all over again. I started this as a way to forget where I am now. But sometimes remembering is worse. Remembering all I have lost thanks to Peter. That miserable, lying, murdering traitor. But he's dead and good thing too. And I'm alive. And Lily and James aren't. But they would want me to remember. Just in case. When I first got in here I waited for them to find something. Some proof that I'm innocent. But now I've given up on that. I've given up on almost everything expect James. Some how I know he's still here somewhere. I can feel him sometimes when things get too bad to handle and I change. I can smell him. I'd know that scent anywhere. I can't see him or hear him. But I know it. And he'd want me to remember. So I'm remembering.