Disclaimer: Of course, I do not own Harry Potter and all Credit for the sorting hat song goes to qwert

First-year Sorting Wednesday 1 September 1971

Severus carefully packed his muggle clothes into his trunk making sure everything was securely locked away. Then he and the girls packed up the playing cards and divided the last of the sweets between them, before joining the crowd in the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Severus shivered in the cold night air and gathered Lily close to him so that he wouldn't lose her in the crowd. A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and a booming voice called out.

'Firs' years! Firs' years over here!' A giant of a man was walking among the students, His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard.

'That's the Gamekeeper, Hagrid. You two will be safe with him while I have to go with the rest of the school.' Petunia reassured before following the rest of the school students. Severus guided Lily over and waited with a huddle of students surrounding the gamekeeper, guessing that they were fellow First-years.

'C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years?.' Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

Tucking Lily underneath his arm he could feel her clutching at the front of his jumper as Hagrid started to lead them all off the station.

'Firs' years follow me! Mind yer step, now!' Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side that Severus thought there must be thick trees there.

'Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' Hagrid called over his shoulder, 'jus' round this bend here.'

There was a loud 'Oooh!' from the students as the narrow path 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.

'No more'n four to a boat!' Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Severus helped Lily climb into a boat before quickly getting in after her. Two other girls joined them.

'Everyone in?' shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. 'Right then - FORWARD!'

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the vast lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

'Heads down!' yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a huge opening in the cliff face. Severus had to wonder why the students had to duck their heads when they were so much smaller than the giant.

The boats carried them through a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

'Everyone here? … Nobody fell into the lake?' asked Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. 'Right then, this way!'

They clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the castle's shadow. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face. Severus and Lily remembered Petunia's warning not to cross Professor McGonagall.

'The firs' years, Professor McGonagall,' sounded Hagrid

'Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.' Professor McGonagall pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big it could have fit both his house and the Evans' into it comfortably. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches filling up the hall with a warm glow. The ceiling was too high to make out and a magnificent marble staircase stood facing them leading to the upper floors of the castle.

Following Professor McGonagall across the flagstone floor, Severus could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right – the rest of the school must already be here – but Professor McGonagall showed the First-years into a small empty chamber just off the hall. They crowded in, standing closer together than they would usually have liked, everyone was peering around nervously.

'Welcome to Hogwarts,' said Professor McGonagall. 'The start-of-term banquet 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 at Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend your free time in your house common room.

'The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

'The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.' Professor McGonagall's eyes roamed the students, landing on those whom she deemed messy students. 'I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly.' She left the chamber.

'Are you sure your mother never told you anything about how they sort us?' Lily asked

Severus swallowed nervously trying to dislodge the sudden lump in his throat.

'She refused to say anything, just like Petunia.' Severus now wished both his mother and Petunia hadn't been so secretive about it.

The students started talking at once, questioning each other about how they were to be sorted. They murmured all sorts of crazy ideas to each other, causing some of the more nervous students to look a bit green.

Then something happened to make Severus and Lily jump about a foot in the air – several people behind them screamed.

Severus and Lily gasped. So did the people around them. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first years.

'They must be the Hogwarts Ghosts!' Severus explained to Lily as the ghosts talked to the students closest to them. 'They probably don't even realise when they go straight through the wall from one room to the next.'

The ghosts seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: 'Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -'

'My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, He's not even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?' A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered.

'New students!' the Fat Friar beamed. 'About to be Sorted, I suppose?'

A few people nodded mutely.

'Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! 'My old house, you know.' Severus had no trouble at all believing that the golly fat Friar had been a Hufflepuff.

'Move along now, Move along, The Sorting Ceremony Is about to start.' Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away over the students and through the opposite wall.

'Now, form a line,' Professor McGonagall told the first years, 'and follow me.'

Severus walked over and got into the line behind Lily and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

The Hall was even more marvellous than what Severus had imagined. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles, which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting divided into their houses. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table that stood perpendicular to the students where the teachers were sitting.

Professor McGonagall led them up close to the staff table so that they came to a halt in a line facing the teachers, the other students sitting at tables on either side of them.

The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts appeared misty silver. Severus looked up and gasped, the ceiling was velvety black and filled with stars. Severus had read that it was bewitched to look like the sky outside but it was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all and that the Great Hall didn't simply open up to the heavens.

Severus looked back down to see Professor McGonagall silently placing a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched, frayed and extremely dirty.

'I wonder what face Petunia pulled when she realised she had to wear that Hat?' Severus whispered to Lily who tried to smother her giggles.

The hat twitched, a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth – and the hat began to sing:

I am the Sorting Hat

You can find me at Hogwarts School

I am never wrong

For I am not a fool

Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw

Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin

Were the original founders

They had one thing in common

They all wanted to build a school

Which they named Hogwarts

There they could teach their magic

To students of all sorts

Gryffindor chose the brave at heart

And Ravenclaw favoured the mind

Slytherin liked the swift and cunning

While Hufflepuff preferred the kind

They had no way of deciding

Who should go where?

When they were all dead and gone

So they did what was fair

Godric then took me off his head

And put some brains in me

Then he turned to the others

'This is how it's going to be…

Once the child places the hat

Upon its little head

The hat will choose where it should be.

That's what Gryffindor said

So now you know

How I came to be

I bet you'll never find

A smarter hat than me

So put me on your head

We'll have a little chat

I'll find the perfect place for you

For I am the Sorting Hat!

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. Severus finally spotted Petunia at the Ravenclaw table, he pointed her out to Lily who waved wildly in her direction.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she called 'Addams, Bonnie!'

The blond-haired girl nervously left the line, walked over to the stool, lifted the hat, sat down, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes and sat waiting, clutching the stool beneath her. A moment's pause -

'HUFFLEPUFF!' Shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Bonnie went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Severus saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

'Anderson, Katherine!'

'HUFFLEPUFF!' Shouted the hat again, and Katherine scuttled off to sit next to Bonnie.

Avery, Garreth was the first to become a Slytherin, Severus noticed that Slytherins were more reserved, seated at the far left they clapped politely. Severus was starting to feel sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during sports lessons and unless Lily was the captain he was always the last to be chosen.

'Black, Sirius!'

The boy who had been so worried about being sorted into Slytherin like his entire family, looked like he was walking towards his execution. He sat on the stool for a long time before the hat shouted out 'GRYFFINDOR' Black hollered with glee and eagerly went over to the table on the far right, as they exploded with cheers.

Severus was dismayed to see that Slytherin and Gryffindor were the furthest away from each other, meaning that he would be separated from Lily by the entire Great Hall.

'Bones, Isaac' and went to Hufflepuff but 'Boot, William' became the first new Ravenclaw and the table on the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws including Petunia shook hands with the boy as he joined them.

'Brown, Gilbert!'

'GRYFFINDOR!'

Twins Alecto and Amycus Carrow joined Avery in Slytherin

'Clark, Judith!

'HUFFLEPUFF!'

Sometimes, Severus noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others, it took a little while to decide. 'Erickson, Camelia' a sandy-haired girl, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared her a Ravenclaw.

And then it was finally Lily's turn.

'Evans, Lily!'

Lily leapt out of his arms and practically ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. It didn't take long for the Hat to shout out 'GRYFFINDOR!' Severus sighed unhappily, he had known she would be in Gryffindor.

A horrible thought struck Severus, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if Lily started making friends in Gryffindor? What if she started to like them more than him?

When Longbottom, Frank was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Frank. When it finally shouted, 'GRYFFINDOR' Frank looked like he let out a sigh of relief.

'Lupin, Remus!'

'GRYFFINDOR'

There were still quite a few people to go through.

'McKinnon' ... 'Meadows' ... 'Moon' ... 'Moore' ... 'Mulciber ' … 'Nobel' ... 'Parkinson' ...

'Pettigrew, Peter!' the fat boy from Madam Malkins waddled up to the hat placed it on his head then waited … Severus didn't even have Lily to wait with as the sorting dragged on. One minute then two and three minutes passed as the students started to whisper amongst themselves, craning their heads to get a good look at the boy who was taking so long.

At the centre of the table, in a large gold chair sat the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore's bright starry robes and silver hair shone as brightly as the ghosts as he frowned worriedly at the boy in front of him. Four minutes passed and then finally at five minutes and fifteen seconds, the hat opened its mouth

'GRYFFINDOR!'

Severus could see the fat boy slump in relief before he took off the hat and made his way over to the Gryffindor table.

'Potter, James!' The pretentious eager knight to be from the train swaggered forward when his name was called causing Severus to roll his eyes. The boy got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed 'GRYFFINDOR!'

'Queen' … 'Quirrell' ... 'Scrimgeour' ... and … 'Shacklebolt' were called up and then finally...

'Snape, Severus!'

Severus walked up and sat on the stool, the hat slipped over his eyes and all he could see was the black inside of the hat.

'Hmm,' murmured a small voice in his ear. ' You have quite an eagerness to learn, and not a bad mind either, combined with such resourcefulness to survive. Such talent as well, oh my goodness yes … So where shall I put you?'

Severus gripped the edges of the stool and thought Slytherin, please Slytherin

'Slytherin eh?' the hat chuckled 'are you sure? You could be great in Ravenclaw you know, it's all here in your head.'

NOT RAVENCLAW! Severus thought. Despite now being friends with Petunia, Severus didn't think he could survive the next seven years sharing a house with her. they were far too alike to tolerate each other for long periods.

'Not Ravenclaw?' the hat chuckled. 'Ah yes, you and miss Petunia Evans. Like two peas in a pod when it comes to determination and gathering knowledge. Perhaps the Ravenclaw common room could not survive the two of you together ... I know just the house for you, you will need your cunning for – 'SLYTHERIN!'

Severus heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and gave a small smile to Lily at the far side of the hall and then to Petunia when he walked shakily over to the Slytherin table to sit down next to his fellow first-years.

'Congratulations Mr Snape.' An older blond student commended

'Thank you.' Severus politely replied, only because he could see a Prefect badge gleaming on the boys' impeccably expensive robes. It was never wise to anger someone who could use their greater knowledge of magic against you

There were nine people left to be sorted after Severus. 'Stebbins, Elliott – Hufflepuff,' …. 'Thomas, David – Gryffindor,' … 'Thyme, Edith – Slytherin' … 'Trelawney, Sybill – Ravenclaw' ... 'Vance, Emmeline – Gryffindor' ... 'Wagner, Elaine – Ravenclaw' … and the last three 'Wilkes, Cuthbert', 'Yaxley, Augustus' and 'Zabini, Amara' were all made Slytherins.

Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. Severus looked down at his empty gold plate, he couldn't believe how quickly the day had gone.

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore rose from the head table, his arms wide open as if to gather them all up for a group hug.

'Welcome!' Dumbledore beamed. 'Welcome First-years to Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are; Mandrake, Newt, Boil and Cauldron!'

Severus' mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.

Severus piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all just as delicious as Mrs Evans' food.