Chapter 7:The Sorting Ceremony
"Hello?" the man in the mirror said.
"I'm sorry, I thought you were Sirius," James said, making to put the mirror away.
"But I am Sirius," the man said. "Who are you?"
"I am James Potter," James said.
"Are you Harry's son?" Sirius asked.
"Ye-yes I am," James said. "H-how do you know my dad?"
"I am his godfather," Sirius answered, "or at least, I was when I was alive."
"But who are you?" James asked, trying not to sound rude.
"My name is Sirius Black," the man said, sounding quite bored. "I was sent to Azkaban Wizarding Prison for the attempted murder of one Peter Pettigrew. I escaped from there after twelve years of waiting. My goal was to complete the murder I was imprisoned for. I failed again and was almost sent back to Azkaban if it wasn't for your father helping me out. He flew to my captor's office and gave me a hippogriff to flee on. For a while I was living in a cave near Hogsmede off of rats and other small animals. The next year, I went to live at my dear mother and father's house. Albus Dumbledore used this house as the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix....."
"What's that" James interrupted questioningly.
"It is a league of witches and wizards that was gathered together for the soul purpose of fighting the Dark Arts. Our greatest adversary was Lord Voldemort and his gang of Death Eaters...."
"You know Voldemort is dead?" James interrupted again.
"You are becoming more and more like your father, James," Sirius said, grinning. "He was always interrupting me when I was alive. Yeah I know Voldemort is dead, I've seen him."
"Where are you?" James asked.
"In the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, there is a room with a black veil. In that veil, there is a hole to another world. This world is split into two sub-levels each; the good and bad areas of the muggles and the good and bad areas of the witches and wizards. A rule of thumb here is that if you are placed in the bad area upon arrival, you can work to get to the good area, depending on how bad you were in your life. On the day Voldemort was brought in, I had just completed my duties to get out of the bad area and I came face to face with him. Since then, I have been with your grandparents," Sirius said.
"Okay, okay. I didn't ask for your death story," James said, looking pretty bored.
"You asked where I was, and I told you," Sirius said defensively.
"Anyway, what did you say about my grandparents?" James asked, looking excited.
"I said I've been living with them for a while now. It's good to see them again. But they're sleeping right now," Sirius added, looking at the expecting expression on James' face. "You're gonna have to call back later to speak with them."
"So what happened to you and the Order?" James asked, bringing the conversation back to Sirius' past.
"Well, we eventually got word that your father had found his way into the Department of Mysteries to try and find me, but I was at home safely feeding Buckbeak. From what I heard, Harry tried to contact me, but that damn house-elf, Kreacher, had told him I was at the Department of Mysteries and that I would not be returning. Harry never bothered to contact me on this mirror. So most of the Order went to the Department of Mysteries and found Neville Longbottom and your father in the room with the black veil. It was there that I met my cousin again, and naturally, due to our hatred towards each other, we dueled. Beatrix caught me by surprise with a stunning spell in my mid-section, and I fell through the veil. I was disappointed with myself that I had failed in protecting your father," Sirius said. A dull silence followed this little speech, then, on a lighter note, "So enough about me, let's talk about you. Who is this Sirius you tried to contact?"
"He's my best friend. He's the son of Ron and Hermione Weasley," James said.
"I knew there behavior would eventually get them married," Sirius said, laughing.
James and Sirius talked for a while about many things. At around 2:30, a grumpy old wizard knocked on the compartment door, pushing a food cart with all of James' favorite candies, including Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, Fizzing Wizbees, Pumpkin Pasties, and Cauldron Cakes. James bought a little bit of everything and started eating. Sirius looked out of the mirror hungrily at the food. When he had eaten all he could, James began talking to Sirius about the different stuff he could learn at school. When Sirius found out what school James was attending, he was furious.
"Why are you going to Durmstrang? I thought you would be going to Hogwarts like your father?"
"Me too, but I have to attend Durmstrang for at least one year before I can transfer. Looks like I'm there," James said, for the train had slowed down and finally stopped. "I guess I'll talk to you later then, Sirius," James said to the mirror.
"Call on me if you need anything, James," Sirius said, and he left. James got off of the train and started heading up the trail towards Durmstrang, which seemed smaller than he would have thought, growing up with stories about Hogwarts and how big it was, when a little boy caught up to him. This boy had the looks of someone who had gotten barely any sleep for the last few nights. He had bags underneath both of his eyes and he stifled a yawn before talking.
"Hi, my name is John Laozi," the boy said.
"I'm James Potter," James said. "Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, you too," John said. "Hey listen, who were you talking to on the train? I was sitting in the compartment behind yours, and when you got out, nobody followed you."
"Oh," James said, racking his brain for a decent answer. "I guess he was my great-uncle. I have to check with my father."
"But how did you talk to him from here?" John asked, looking confused.
"My father left his cell phone in my trunk and I had it on speaker phone." James lied quickly.
"Can you repeat that in English?" John asked, dumbstruck.
"My father left his muggle communications device, which lets me talk to my friends and family from long distances, in my school trunk, and I had it on a mode where I can talk to someone over the device without holding it up against my head," James said, feeling he couldn't have said it any plainer.
"What dorm do you think you're gonna make it into?" John asked, who had clearly not heard a word of what James had said.
"What do you mean?" James asked, his turn to look confused.
"What dorm do you think you will make it into?"John asked.
"Which ones are there?" James asked.
"There are the green and silver Eels, the blue and bronze Falcons, the gold and red Tigers and the brown and orange gophers," John said in an exasperated voice.
"That sounds like a cheap rip-off of Hogwarts," James said angrily.
"Your point," John said rudely. "Anyway, I think I will make it into the Tigrons. The worst one is the Goph-ons. The others are called the Eelons and the Fal-cons. Real original on that last one, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess," James said.
James and John made there way up to the castle where the crowd dispersed to the left of the Entrance Hall into the Dining Hall. Here, James and John followed the rest of the first years up to the front of the hall to the long teachers' table. It was here that James had noticed Headmaster Lockhart, wearing his stupid grin.
"Welcome, students," Lockhart said. "As you all may have heard, Rufus Quagmire was sent to Azkaban this summer, so I will be replacing him as headmaster. Now down to business. In front of me," Lockhart gestured to the students in front of him, "are this years new students. We will sort them as soon Professor Jugar returns with the eggs."
James thought he misheard Lockhart. Why would eggs be needed in the sorting. When Professor Jugar returned with the eggs, it was explained to James. Each person was to pick an egg out of the hat, take it to a bowl, and crack it. Inside, there would be no yolk, but a booming voice announcing the Dorm they would be sorted into.
"When I call your name, grab an egg," Professor Jugar said to the trembling first years.
"Andrews, Rosalinda."
A little girl marched forward, grabbed an egg, and cracked in the bowl.
"Eelon," the egg yelled.
Rosalinda walked over to the Eelon table and sat down. This same process repeated itself over 20 minutes, until James was called forward.
"Potter, James."
James picked up an egg and cracked it. He waited with bated breath for almost half a minute when the egg yelled, "Tigron". James walked over to the Tigron table and joined John, who had also made it into the Tigrons. After another 30 minutes, the sorting was done and all the students were looking at Lockhart.
"I have some announcements to make, but not until after we eat."
James had been expecting the food to appear out of the tables like at Hogwarts, but what happened in Durmstrang was hundreds of house-elves ran around the tables with plates of different foods. After everyone had eaten their share of food, Lockhart stood up again and addressed the waiting students.
"First of, I want to congratulate last years Quidditch Champions, the Fal-cons." Everyone mildly clapped. "Inter-Dorm Quidditch tryouts will be held on the week of September 21 through 28. Next, I want all of you to remember that on no account, should you be out of bed past mid-night, any of you. I prefer you all I bed no later than one, except the Quidditch players who have till two. Lastly, classes will begin in two days time, so I suggest taking your schedules you receive tomorrow at breakfast and locating your classrooms. Anyone found tardy in the first week will only get a warning and Dorm Point deduction, but after that, it will be a detention for each tardy. Have a great sleep and I'll see you all down here bright and early no later than ten."
Everyone got up and made their way back to their dorms. James followed John, who seemed to know his way around Durmstrang pretty well, considering he was a first year.
When they Finally reached the entrance to their Dormitory, John gave the password, Trome Dlov, to the tapestry of a female giant who looked oddly like a man named Hagrid that James had heard about from his father, and they entered. James immediately headed straight to the door labeled first years. Inside, James found his trunk set next to very comfortable queen size bed, with red and gold blankets and the symbol of a Tiger. James got out of his muggle clothing, being one of the few who forgot to change on the train, and got into his pajamas. James got into bed and pulled his covers on, feeling that Durmstrang might not be that bad of school after all.