It was not without delight that Minerva watched this year's new students line up behind her to enter the Great Hall. Every year, the Sorting was one of the events she was most anxiously looking forward to. Often you could tell by the look of a student who they were, or where they were coming from. Many wizarding families were still marrying one another, creating what they called 'pureblood bonds'. Minerva had never thought too highly of wizards who belived themselves superior towards Muggles and Muggle-borns. Personally, she had never seen any reason in keeping an eye on one's bloodline, considering that statistically more Squibs were born in pureblood families than in any others. But people had, of course, to choose for themselves.
She placed the Sorting Hat on its stool in the centre of the stage and withdrew a little sheet of paper from her pocket: this year's list of names. Meanwhile, in old fashion, the hat began to move, gave an indiscernible yawn, and, finally, began its annual song:
"Welcome here at Hogwarts!
Enjoy the time you're here.
You'll love this place, I promise,
So please forget your fear!
I once belonged to Gryffindor,
The truly brave magician
And friend of cunning Slytherin
(A man of great ambition).
Together with Wen Ravenclaw
And Helga Hufflepuff
They made a dream of theirs come true:
A school for magic stuff.
There is a house for each of them
And I'm supposed to guess
What personality you've got
And where to put you best.
If you are used to working hard
And truthful, loyal friends,
If you believe in faithfulness
In Hufflepuff this ends.
If you are sometimes out of bounds,
But brave at heart and soul,
If you act quicker than you think
Gryffindor is your goal!
If you know what you want
And are prepared to fight for it,
You'd better be in Slytherin,
'Cause that is where you fit.
Or maybe you enjoy to think?
Consider youself clever?
If so, I think that Ravenclaw
Will be the best choice ever!
Rely on me, you'll like my choice,
I'll look into your mind,
So that you go into a house
Where you'll be with your kind!"
The students burst into applause. Minerva smiled broadly and exchanged a look with her old friend Albus Dumbledore, who was sitting at the Headmaster's seat for the first time in his life, looking almost as excited as most of the first-years did, though not nearly as frightened. Seeing him like this reminded her of how important the Sorting was in the course of the start-of-term celebration. It was Hogwarts's first impression on the new students, though not its last. And it was a good impression. Generally. She glanced at the Sorting Hat, checking whether it was ready to begin, and unfolded her list to read out the first-years' names.
'Avery, Julien,' she read. A tiny boy climbed up the stage and placed the Sorting Hat on his head, almost completely disappearing under its huge brim as he did. It took a while for the hat to decide.
'SLYTHERIN,' it cried, suddenly reminding Minerva where she had heard the name Avery before. This had to be the son of Antonius and Therese Avery, a pureblood couple from Manchester she had once been on good terms with. Her parents had been friends with Antonius's parents, she recalled. Long line. Very distinguished.
'Barks, Dodona!' she read, wondering if this was going to be her first Gryffindor. The girl seemed thoroughly confident, placed the hat on her bunch of disturbingly blonde hair and was seconds later sorted into - Ravenclaw. Minerva suppressed her urge to shrug and very consciously readjusted her spectacles. Well, then. The hat would, of course, know what it was doing. She could see the Head of Ravenclaw, Professor Flitwick, talk quietly to Doris Crockford, their new Charms teacher, who had taken the job after Professor Lockhart-Bones had so tragically died during a Letifold-attack at the African south coast. Flitwick seemed very pleased. Had he been betting again whose house would come off with the most first-years? Minerva suppressed a grin and returned to her list.
'Black, Sirius!'
A strongly built, black-haired boy climbed the stage, clearly recognizable as one of the many members of the Black family. He was his father's image, bearing all the characteristical features of their branch. His nose was slightly smaller than she would have expected, but his movements were straightforward and elegant, as his father's and grandfather's had been. An appealing young man. Minerva gave him an appreciative smile.
'Well, then,' she thought after getting a rather refined smile in return, 'another candidate for Slytherin.'
But the hat took its time. In fact, Minerva could not remember that it had ever taken this long before and after a few minutes (noticing that the other students were getting restless and chatty again) she bent down, taking an apprehensive look at the boy's face to see if everything was quite in order. She was surprised to discover that he was fuming.
'Problems?' she enquired. The boy nodded.
'He wants to put me in Gryffindor. But I am not going,' he declared. 'All my family's been in Slytherin. Both my parents, my aunt, my uncles -'
The hat seemed to have dropped a remark. Sirius flushed and seized its brim.
'Well - yeah, but apart from him. And in any case - I. Am. Not. Going,' he growled. 'And nothing you say will -'
'GRYFFINDOR!' shouted the hat, causing Sirius to pale on spot.
'That... that is ridiculous,' he whispered as the hall burst into applause. 'There must be a mistake!'
Minerva straightened up and looked down at the other students. Most of them were clapping. On the Slytherin table, however, she saw a handful of fifth and sixth formers stare at the Sorting Hat, their mouths wide open in surprise and, unmistakably, disgust.
'Gryffindor?' echoed one of the girls' voices through the Great Hall as soon as the applause had ebbed away. 'He's a Gryffindor?'
As opposed to Sirius himself, none of his family seemed to think that he hat had been mistaken. On the contrary. When Sirius left the stage and sat down at the Gryffindor table as far away from his relatives as possible they began to whisper and hiss at him as if suddenly aware that he had never been one of them. Minerva felt a bit sorry for the boy, but the only way to help him out of this situation was to continue the sorting as quickly as possible.
'Black, Tarazed' joined her relatives in Slytherin as befit her family's standard, just as her cousin 'Black, Vega' and second-cousin 'Black, Viola'.
Slytherin house was certain to burst this year. Minerva called another couple of students who all went in there. Then a few Ravenclaws and a Gryffindor (Evans, Lily!), and, finally, 'Jorkins, Bertha', who became the year's first Hufflepuff.
Many others followed. Students went into all four houses. Minerva had not been counting her own (had there been seven or eight of them so far?), but she was glad to find out that 'Lupin, Remus!' was among them. A boy, Albus had informed her only a few weeks ago, who had been bitten by a werewolf at the age of four.
'What a tragic fate,' Minerva thought as the otherwise perfectly healthy looking first-year hurried to take his seat next to Sirius Black. 'I will have to keep an eye on him.'
Her full attention was brought back to the Sorting only when the Hat took another unusually long period of time to make its decision. She bent down in a would-be-casual way to have a further look on what was happening under the hat's enormous brim, remembering that this had certainly never happened as long as she could remember. At least not twice in a Sorting.
'That cap's getting old,' she resolved, brushing aside the Sorting Hat's edge, as well as a bunch of untidily long, black hair. The person under it was was shaking insanely and both his eyes were glittering in what appeared to be a dangerous manner.
'Tell him he can't put me in stinking Gryffindor,' the boy ('Snape, Severus!') hissed. 'I just... can't go in there.'
Minerva began to wonder whether she had missed another depreciating article in the Daily Prophet about how every attention-seeking celebrity in this country seemed to have been a Hogwarts Gryffindor once. She tried, however, not to show how much his remark hurt her pride and merely shook her head.
'I cannae influence the hat's decision.'
The boy looked up, clearly listening to what the Sorting Hat was saying, and then down again, staring into the crowd of students who were all staring up at him in anticipation of the Sorting Hat's decision. The hat's words seemed to disturb him to a great extend.
'Because father's going to kill me if you do,' he whispered, obviously replying to a question the hat had posed. 'No, seriously. He'll probably beat me until I breathe my last. I am not joking.' His face turned pale and paler as he spoke. The hat said something that made the boy shudder, but finally yelled, 'SLYTHERIN!', causing Severus Snape's face to lit up in a way Minerva had rarely ever seen. He glid down the stage and happily toddled towards the Slytherin house table under the cheers and clapping of the other students. Minerva exchanged a quick look of relief with Albus Dumbledore once more and finally went back to her list of names, with only three students remaining on it.