Chapter 3

They sat down at the Gryffindor table and impatiently waited for the sorting ceremony to begin, or at least James and Sirius were impatient. Remus, however, sat nodding his greeting to people he knew and glaring at the Slytherins randomly. Although Remus didn't like confrontation, that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy mild taunting…as long as the Slytherins didn't come too close.

Just then the doors opened and Professor McGonagall marched in with the first years trailing behind her. They looked nervous, scared, amazed, and small. Each of them was looking all around them, craning their necks as if they were trying to see everything at once. Remus grinned at them. He remembered his first day. He had been scared as well, and nervous that he wouldn't be placed in a house at all because of his condition.

Professor McGonagall stopped at the front of the Great Hall and the first years all gathered around her. Then the hat began to sing. Remus found it amusing how the first years' faces immediately expressed shock and relief. He glanced at James and Sirius, who appeared to be listening raptly to the song that the hat was singing. Chuckling to himself slightly, Remus realized that his two friends enjoyed the song immensely, as it was their favorite part.

"When I call your last name, please come up and put the hat on. Then you will be sorted into your houses," Professor McGonagall called out after the hat had finished singing. Remus glanced back over to James and Sirius, who had lost interest once the song had ended. Remus rolled his eyes and focused on the sorting to see how many of the first years would become Gryffindors.

"Albertson, Jessica."

A scared looking little girl walked forward, her dark hair falling into her eyes. Remus smiled slightly. "Poor kid," he thought.

"Ravenclaw!" the hat yelled out, much to the small girl's relief. She took the hat off and walked to her new house.

"Benson, Joshua."

"Hey Remus," whispered Sirius, poking him in the shoulder. With raised eyebrows, Remus glanced over at his dark haired friends.

"Yes?" he asked softly. Dimly he heard "Slytherin" being yelled in the background.

"Any brilliant prank ideas?" questioned James.

"Yeah," agreed Sirius. The two of them had been sitting there, thinking about it intently. For some reason they couldn't come up with anything that was worth attempting.

Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't know. Why don't you turn something of theirs pink and…I don't know, have it follow them around all day."

When he saw the gleam that instantly appeared in James's brown eyes and in Sirius's blue eyes, Remus instantly regretted saying anything. He had seriously hoped that they wouldn't take him seriously. The next instance, however, they had their heads close together and were whispering their newfound plans to each other.

"Crap," Remus thought forlornly. "That was a really bad idea."

He sighed and turned his focus back to the sorting. Now that half of the first years were gone, he could see the new kid who had ridden in their carriage. He was standing poised and with an arrogant air that was obviously feigned. Remus was willing to bet that his family was a pureblooded one. That meant that he would probably be in Slytherin. Then again, Sirius was pureblood and had an evil family who believed that purebloods were better than everyone else and he was in Gryffindor. "His family disowned him though, and they dislike each other immensely, and Sirius refuses to believe in his parents' teachings," Remus though to himself, now eagerly awaiting the boy's sorting to see if his prediction was correct.

It was a long time before he knew, though. After all of the first years were sorted, the boy with blond hair remained standing there, now looking a bit confused and worried. He glanced over his shoulder at all of the other students. His gaze ended up meeting Remus's, who smiled encouragingly at him. The boy gave a small half smile as well before turning back to the front to look at Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore.

Professor Dumbledore stood up and the dull roar of chattering in the hall immediately became silent. He grinned at all of his students, opening his arms wide as if to give them all a hug of greeting, like a grandfather would to a grandchild that he seldom saw. Remus felt himself grinning at that thought. "Welcome to a new year," he said. His blue eyes were twinkling and a soft grin was on his face. "Before we feast, I wanted to introduce you to our newest exchange student. He has come from the United States of America. He is in his third year and I'm assuming you are all going to make him feel welcome."

Professor Dumbledore sat down and Professor McGonagall called out, "Pettigrew, Peter."

Peter, now having lost all of his composure, looked nervous as he walked up to the stool somewhat hesitantly. He sat down on the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Remus watched him and even James and Sirius were able to draw their attention away from their planning to see where this new student would go. "Dude," muttered Sirius in Remus's ear. "It's taking a long time!"

Remus rolled his eyes and tuned him out. Indeed it was taking a long time. Even longer than his sorting had. "I wonder what the hat's saying and what's preventing it from sorting Peter into a house," wondered Remus, beginning to grow tired of waiting for the hat's verdict.

"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted out eventually. Remus laughed slightly as Peter took off the hat and regained his haughty manner. Slowly, he made his way to the Gryffindor table and sat down at the far end, ignoring all of the congratulations of his housemates. Remus raised his eyebrows at that and turned towards James and Sirius who both shrugged in mild confusion. It didn't seem like the new boy was very…nice.

"He's probably just trying to…adapt," muttered Remus to his friends, who again shrugged.

"Whatever," muttered Sirius and looked up again as Dumbledore stood up, demanding silence again.

"Alright, now that we have finished with the sorting, there is only one thing I have to say," he paused for effect, gazing around his students happily. "Eat up!"

A.N. alright, that was a fun chapter. Please review, even if I don't deserve it. Thank you for reading this!