Chapter 3 -Beginnings…
"Anstay, Olivia!" A rather tall girl with short dark hair made her way nervously forwards to the stool, and, glancing desperately at Professor McGonagall, obviously wishing that she was not the first in the line, put the dilapidated hat on her head. The hat cogitated for a moment, and… "Ravenclaw!" it called to the hall. The girl stood up immediately, blushing as she almost lost her balance, as the table with blue and silver drapes behind it started to cheer. She walked to the end of the bench, then sat down quickly, closing her eyes and looking as though she was trying to shrink out of sight.
The next person in the queue was Sirius's cousin, Bellatrix, who swept forwards, nose raised like her sister, and stood with a ramrod-straight back, her hands folded on her lap after placing the hat on her head. A seconds pause, and… "Slytherin!" the hat screamed, and the girl smiled, placed the hat back on the stool again, and swept off again, to the Slytherin table, where her Narcissa welcomed her and let her sit next to her. Andromeda, on the Ravenclaw table, who had been talking happily to Olivia, trying to dispel her nervousness, saw this. Her smile faded. Another sister lost to Slytherin.
Sirius was next, and his scowl at his cousins on the Slytherin table vanished, and was replaced with…well, not quite total and utter dread, because after all, this was Sirius Black, but definitely pretty near. He didn't want to be in Slytherin, he knew that. He'd much rather be in Gryffindor. But if he wasn't in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, then…his mother would kill him, to put it bluntly. His father probably wouldn't care, they hardly ever saw each other, but…no, he had to be in Gryffindor. Walking forwards uncertainly from almost the end of the queue, he put the hat on his head, then sat down. The hat whispered in his ear, "Ah yes, another Black. There are so many of you, aren't there? I see you're worried I'm going to place you in Slytherin…but I don't think you have the right mind for that. Definitely not Hufflepuff, no…and I think you're a bit too headstrong for Ravenclaw, and they've never appreciated pranksters…no, it has to be…Gryffindor!" Sirius sat, stunned, for a moment, then really realised what the hat had just said. He was a Gryffindor! The first in his house for…well, centuries, and no-one could take that away from him! He wasn't going to be a Slytherin, like the rest of his stuck-up, Muggle-hating family, he was a Gryffindor! YES!
A huge grin spread across his face as he swaggered to the end of the Gryffindor bench, sitting down with the red and gold hangings behind him. He could see Andromeda beaming proudly and waving at him, and he waved back, but he could also see Narcissa and the newly-sorted Bellatrix, glaring at him. He hadn't seen them for a few years now, and he was glad of it. And if he could manage it, he would try to avoid them at school as well.
He wouldn't manage it.
After Sirius, another Slytherin was sorted in; "Bulstrode, Justin!" then a girl called Florence Clearwater went into Hufflepuff. Trevor Cranston became the second Ravenclaw, and then a girl called Ariadne Crossfield, stunningly but slightly over-the-toply beautiful, was sorted into Slytherin. The D's, Rose Dalfin and Amelia Dean, both became Ravenclaws, then Natasha Earnshaw, a Hufflepuff, and then it was Lily's turn.
Lily made her way forward nervously, the others whispering, "Good luck!" to her. What she was most worried about wasn't what house she was going to be in, as she didn't really know much about them, but that she would actually get sorted at all. None of her family had ever been magical, so why was she? What if she just sat there for ages with the hat on her head, and nothing happened? But she was there, and sitting down, her eyes tight shut, with the hat, and…it was speaking to her in her head! This place was just weird.
"Yes…interesting mind, very interesting, I see you're not afraid to stand up for what you believe in…well, I think I'd better place you in GRYFFINDOR!"
Lily's eyes snapped open. It had sorted her! She was really going to be a witch! She put the hat back on the stool and walked, as if in a dream, over to the Gryffindor table, and sat down near Sirius.
Next in the queue came Rosa, who wasn't quite as nervous as Lily, but not far off. And the hat sorted her into… "Gryffindor!"
Further down the line, Imperia, Hazel and Maria were still talking, very quietly. "This is so weird! Wouldn't it be great if we were all in the same house?"
"Yeah, and it looks like it's going that way, doesn't it?"
Imperia, however, looked far from happy. She knew that, with her family's history, she had little or no possibility of being a Gryffindor, what she really wanted to be.
"Imperia? What's wrong?"
This question from Maria jerked her out of her reverie. "Oh, nothing. Just a bit nervous, that's all." Maria nodded at this – it was to be expected, after all.
Next was a tiny boy, with watery light brown eyes, called David Gudgeon. Just before he reached the stool he stumbled, and caught hold of the stool to stop himself falling, pulling it over, the hat with it calling, "Oh! I say, do be careful." Blushing furiously, the boy righted the stool and sat down with the hat on his head, eyes downturned because of the laughter coming from the tables. "Hufflepuff!"
Maria next. She walked forwards, biting her bottom lip, but she had nothing to worry about. The hat, seeing, in her mind, bravery and a wish to do what was right, placed her straight in Gryffindor.
A boy called Derek Heaney was sorted into Ravenclaw, and then came two Hufflepuffs, Eric Hillman and Bertha Jorkins. "Keslake, Robert!" was sorted into Ravenclaw, and then came two brothers, Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange, the second continually sneaking looks over at Bellatrix on the Slytherin table. "Slytherin!" was called for both.
Next, a short boy with long wavy golden hair and rather weak chin walked up to the stool. He left behind him, in the queue, a couple of rather giggly girls. "Hufflepuff!"
Remus was next, and as he walked up the side of the line, his eyes met Hazel's and she gave him a smile. He smiled back, feeling a bit better. 'Please let me be in the same house as her…' he thought to himself. 'Please…'
Seating himself, he pushed his sandy hair back out of his eyes, and put the hat on. "Hmmm…quite difficult…you could definitely do well in Ravenclaw, no doubt about that, you have the mind for it…but I feel that you would do rather better in a different house…yes…I think…GRYFFINDOR!"
Hazel watched Remus walk, relieved and smiling, over to the Gryffindor table, and collapse on the bench next to Sirius, looking exhausted. Frowning briefly, she wondered why…
Two twins, Archibald and Millicent Macmillan, were sorted next, but unlike Rodolphus and Rabastan, they were split up, Archibald going into Hufflepuff house, and Millicent going into Ravenclaw.
"Malfoy, Imperia!" Imperia was, quite possibly, the most tense of the whole crowd of first years. If she was sorted into Slytherin, she would probably finish school having no friends, because she knew Gryffindors and Slytherins didn't get along, and none of the Slytherins looked very nice. However, if she went into Gryffindor, her surname would count against her, and her parents were definitely be displeased, to say nothing of her brother Lucius, but she would at least have friends. She decided to leave it down to the hat, and try not to influence it either way.
"Ah yes, a Malfoy…but you're quite different from the rest of your family, aren't you? You don't understand your family's prejudices…and you would value friends above power. Yes, quite unlike them. Especially your brother, as I recall…well, for you, the way is obvious. Not Slytherin, definitely not, and you would find yourself unhappy in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, I believe. It'll have to be…GRYFFINDOR!"
Yes! She was a Gryffindor! The first in her family for centuries to be a Gryffindor! And nobody could take that away from her. And, to make things easier, she already had friends there, whom she could see clapping and grinning at her, beckoning her to come and sit next to them, which she did. She felt…welcomed.
Following her came Frederick Nott, a Slytherin, then, "Pell, Melanie!" who became a Hufflepuff. The rest of the P's came after her; Peter Pettigrew first. He was shaking all the way to the stool, and looked as though he really would like the ground to open and swallow him up, or at least everyone to look away and talk quietly among themselves. "You have it in you to be brave, I see…but it could take quite some work to bring that to the surface. You would possibly be best in Hufflepuff…but…I see you find it hard to make friends, and you wish to be in Gryffindor along with the ones you already have. Yes…I think you might do well in there, with help…I am not totally convinced, however…but…you'd better be in GRYFFINDOR!" Peter stumbled over to the bench next to the other boys, and sat down, trying to sink lower so nobody could see him.
It was Hazel's turn next, then James's. Seating herself, her dark hair hiding her face, Hazel listened to the hat. "Of course, another Potter. Well, looking at your mind, I think you'll be as easy to place as your father was. I feel that you both have the same bravery and disregard for the rules…GRYFFINDOR!"
Remus heard this, and thanked his lucky stars, which were quite possibly being displayed on the magnificent ceiling. They were in the same house!
James sat down next, grinning at Sirius, Remus and Peter on the Gryffindor table. The hat went on, and, "As easy as your sister to place. GRYFFINDOR!"
Like Sirius, James swaggered over to the table, and sat next to Sirius. They were all in Gryffindor and, in their elation, it didn't occur to any of them that this was slightly strange.
Gryffindor house was now full, and there were only six children left to sort. A boy with greasy hair and darting black eyes, "Snape, Severus!" came next, and went into Slytherin as soon as the hat touched his head. After him another Slytherin, Gertrude Tarpen, was sorted, then a Hufflepuff, Emily Tompkins, two Ravenclaws, Katie Tyler and Clarence Wainwright, who had been looking terrified at being almost the last in the line, and finally Albert Zabini, a Slytherin, who obviously knew he was going to be last in the queue and blatantly didn't care and didn't look nervous at all.
The sorting was at an end, and all that was left before the start of the great feast was a speech from Dumbledore, who, after Professor McGonagall had rolled up the parchment list and taken the Sorting Hat away, stood from his seat, shaking his starred purple robes off his hands and opening his arms wide. "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to speak to you all. I hope you all enjoy your time here, and, well…Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
The first years looked at each other, confused, for a moment, then started to laugh along with the rest of the school. Suddenly, the empty dishes in front of them started to fill with food.
"Wow…"
Each doling themselves out a good plateful, the groups began to talk and laugh amongst themselves, wondering what their time at school would be like, and what their lessons the next day would be.
