SPOV
Hold on… did Al just hug the headmistress of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry? Did he just call one of the most formidable witches of our age an old bat? And did she just threaten baby photos, and magical retaliation?
"Rosie, Louis, Lucy good to see you all… oh um hello Fred." The headmistress added skeptically as if to contemplate asking him to empty his pockets.
"Has everyone gotten off the boats? Yes? Would everyone then please follow me?" She added pulling herself up to her full height and schooling her expressions back into that of a stern professor.
"Old bat... really? Al… you are amazing…" I whispered as we walked up towards the castle entrance.
"I try" he answered smiling. "She's super proud of Dad. Thinks he will be Minister for magic one day."
Al's natural good humor vanished the second we walked into the great hall to the sight of floating candles and a ceiling that crackled with lightning and thunder. I didn't mind that he had grabbed my arm for comfort, although I doubt he was even aware of the movement…
APOV
I couldn't concentrate any longer. The sight of my brother, my cousins, and my god brother Teddy all laughing in their gilded ruby robes made me feel incredible nauseous. I knew that they all had a place and a home in Gryffindor house, which of course made me even more terrified at the thought of my own impending sorting.
I could almost picture the venomous green of Slytherin dripping off me, a fitting sight to match my emerald eyes. All the while my dread was met with thunderclaps and streaks of forked bolts of lightning as a tempest clattered along the enchanted stones above. A dark hint of anger bubbled deep inside me and I had to suppress the monstrous whispers that echoed in my heart.
SPOV
As i looked over towards Albus I noted the sickened expression that hung plastered painfully along his face. It looked like he had just swallowed a hand full of turd flavored Berties beans. That or he had been made to listen to a particularly whiney mandrake infant without the buffer of his protective earmuffs. I was vaguely aware that his grip on my arm had tightened just as a beak nosed professor began to call out the names of each student to be sorted. As first year after first year was called, Al seemed to increase the pressure on his vice grip, the tightening of his fingers causing a wave of pain to shoot up my arm each time. I tried to give him a reassuring smile but I was too nervous myself now. All I solicited in response from Al was an even greener shade of skin tone.
APOV
I was nervous, barely even aware of what was happening around me. Even though James was a royal prat, I loved him and the rest of my family beyond comprehension. I couldn't bear the thought that they might hate or be disappointed in me. I heard names being called but I couldn't make out whose they were until finally—
"Scorpius Malfoy!" the beak nosed professor in charge of the sorting had called loudly. The whole hall quieted to dull whispers and hushed snickers. I squeezed Scorpius's arm reassuringly and gave him a gentle nudge forward towards the stool, an action I'm sure which could not have gone unnoticed by most of the crowd watching. The professor placed the sorting hat on the now seated Scorpius and total expectant silence engulfed the great hall. A minute went by and the hat said nothing. Two more passed in silence to the anticipation of the hall.
SPOV
"Interesting… FASCINATING…" drawled the ancient tattered rag directly into my head. "Cunning, more than even your father or his father or his, or even the famed Brutus Malfoy who crossed the sea before Hogwarts was even an Idea... but there is bravery too I sense… and kindness. A real courage for one so young…. And true Loyalty… but more than anything I sense intelligence. You would do very well in Ravenclaw… but whats this." The hat paused. "You have a rather strange piece of magic attaching you to… Albus Potter." said the glorified dishrag in its whimsical smug tone… what did it just say? "I cannot separate the two of you… I can't seem to decide where you belong." The hat paused slightly.
"What do you mean, you can't decide? Isn't that your singular purpose for existing? You overworn piece of rotten sack—" I started to snap. "—now don't get cheeky with me young Malfoy. What this means is..."
APOV
Suddenly Scorpius robes changed purple and a Hogwarts crest appeared instead of the traditional house crest. Confused, everyone sat in silent bewilderment waiting for the hat to speak.
"Mmm this is very interesting… very interesting indeed." the hat had mused aloud for all to hear. "There is strange magic surrounding this child. Headmistress, I simply cannot sort Scorpius until I have had time to examine another student. The younger Potter boy must step forward." the Hat said simply as though he hadn't just defied a thousand years of wizarding tradition or very publicly mentioned the respective sons of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy in the same sentence.
The whole hall began humming as people turned to their neighbors to guess and gossip over what could possibly have been meant by the mention of Albus Potters name. The beak nosed professor looked expectantly at my honorary aunt Minerva who nodded silently in response, gesturing for me to approach the stool. I had no idea what had happened, I had alphabetized my classmates and knew i had six more names before this awful moment should have come.
It was all i could manage but to obey dazedly.
Never had anything like this been recorded in the history of the school. I came closer to Scorpius who gave me a worried questioning look.
I heard it as soon as the professor placed the sorting hat on my head. A probing voice projected directly into my mind. It was creepier than my Dad had described. 'I wonder if this wasn't what Jamie feels when I seem to know exactly what he's thinking' I managed before the hat interrupted my chain of thought.
"Interesting… very interesting indeed. The same piece of magic… You two are bound together very strangely indeed young master potter. Your parents shared a similar yet different sort of bond. They were destined to be adversaries and yet you…" The hat seemed to pause at this.
"Yet we what?" I snapped apprehensively. The hat simply ignored me and continued its musings.
"I see courage oh yes no doubt… and extraordinary loyalty, but mostly to family, and friends." The hat added after a pause. "Ahhh and kindness too! Such a sense of giving but again only to close family and friends and not i think humble enough for the Badgers... OH BUT WHAT'S THIS? what a Fine Fine Brain! Curiosity! Intelligence! You're even smarter than your aunt was young potter… or even your namesake…" The hat paused again. "Albus Dumbledore was truly an extraordinary wizard, to be of equal or finer metal is a rare gift. Yet... much to your distaste... I sense extreme cunning, and a drop of something dark... Something that I sensed even in your Father… something I sensed in Vol... in Him..." at this the hat paused longest. Just when I doubted I would hear its voice again it resumed. "Tradition and cunning, strong leadership potential yes yes... resourcefulness, pragmatism, shrewdness, Ambition. And since I cannot separate one from the other young potter… you BOTH... belong in…."
And with that both my robes and Scorpius's changed to a brilliant emerald with the silver and green coiling serpent of "Slytherin!" emblazoned on our respective breasts. An enormous gasp erupted from the entire student body. Even the teachers seemed shocked. I stood motionless and confused as a ringing deafened my ears. A high pitched tone that kept me lost and addled.
Never had this happened in the history of Hogwarts sorting. Nobody had ever been sorted in a pair before... And now... on top of it... I… was a Slytherin.
