disclaimer: anything you recognize is not mine

Chapter 6

Sirius

Often times, one is taught to believe one thing for their entire life, and as we get older, we formulate our own opinions. Sirius Black was told as long as he could remember that Slytherin was not only the best house, but the only acceptable house. But Sirius was sneaky and clever, not to mention, mischievous by nature. He found the books that resided in the Black family library with no ripped out pages or burn marks, and he read. He found that maybe, just maybe, he didn't want to be in Slytherin. Maybe Slytherin was for the dogs. And Sirius Black was no dog.

The Great Hall was alight with floating candles, and the ceiling had been transfigured to look like there was no ceiling at all; Sirius gazed up and saw the royal blue night sky, and thousands of small stars that sparkled like his cousin Narcissa's diamond earrings.

Speaking of Narcissa, Sirius saw her smirk at him from the Slytherin table. When he caught her eye, she winked. Sirius hated her more than words could express. She wasn't nearly as bad as Bellatrix, though. Bellatrix, who made Sirius watch as she used unforgivable curses on garden rabbits. Bellatrix, who would shut off the lights in Sirius' room and lock the door, laughing as he begged her to let him out. Bellatrix had been nearly expelled what felt like a hundred times, but she was a Black after all, and they were powerful. And rich.

Seeing Narcissa and Bellatrix grinning so pompously at him from the Slytherin table filled Sirius with a hatred for the house he had never felt before.

"You alright, mate?" asked James, "you don't look too good."

Sirius shook his head, ignoring the nausea in his stomach. "Fine. Just… nervous."

"Don't be nervous," said James. He looked at Bellatrix and Narcissa who were still staring their younger cousin down, and recognized them from the papers. "You're better than th-"

"Black, Sirius," called out McGonagall. Sirius felt like he had just been doused in freezing water, and was certain he was going to vomit. He walked up to the Sorting Hat, placed just so on the wooden stool, and tried to ignore the whispers fluttering around the Great Hall. If you were a Black, you were either hated or feared. Sirius just wanted to be loved.

The Sorting Hat plopped down on his head and Sirius anticipated it to yell out "SLYTHERIN" in an instant, just like it had for all his family.

"You don't want to be in Slytherin, I presume? Son, don't act so afraid, not a soul besides you and me can hear our little conversation."

Please, just put me in any other house. Any other house, I'll do anything, I just can't be like them.

"I've sorted all of your family members to date, Mr Black, and not a one I've ever chatted with like this. As soon as I hit their heads, I knew. But no you, Mr Black. Not you. You're a firecracker, I can see it now. Gryffindor worthy. But that mind… exceptional. A real Ravenclaw mind. No, not a Hufflepuff. Definitely not a Hufflepuff. And, you know what, too wild to be a Ravenclaw. You know, I think today's a day to make history."

What's that supposed to-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The entirety of the Great Hall went silent. Even the staff. Sirius saw Bellatrix out of the corner of his eye, she looked horrified. Narcissa had her hands over her mouth, her boyfriend Lucius clutching her shoulder. In fact, the whole Slytherin house was acting like they were all told they were dying. Then he heard a cheer. Shocked, he looked over and saw James, jumping up and down, clapping. He didn't care that everyone was looking at him, he didn't care that the rest of the Hall was deadly silent. And slowly but surely, the Gryffindors started to clap, then whoop, then chant "WE'VE GOT BLA-ACK, WE'VE GOT BLA-ACK!" Sirius felt the smile creep up on his face. He hated the fact that he wanted to cry with mirth, he would do that later. As he walked to the Gryffindor table with wobbly legs, he caught the look of Andromeda, Narcissa and Bellatrix's sister and Sirius' only good cousin. She looked at him with a mix of pride (and was that envy?) from the Slytherin table. She winked at him while Bellatrix fumed and Narcissa sat shocked.

Mikey Corner was sorted into Hufflepuff, Bruce Clark, Ravenclaw, and J.J. was in Slytherin. James was sitting next to Sirius at the Gryffindor table (no surprises there) and tried to hide how disappointed he was that none of his friends were in his house. Sirius could only imagine all of them talking about how great it would be to live in a dorm together, how much fun they would have.

Snivellus got Slytherin, just like he wanted, but that red haired girl (the one with all the blubbering) was in Gryffindor. Snivellus' crushed look gave Sirius a strange sort of satisfaction.

A small, slightly chubby, first year sat across from Sirius and James, and gave a timid smile. He had been on the stool for a while, Sirius could only imagine why. Just by looking at him, though, Sirius thought it must have took the hat everything in it to not put him in Hufflepuff.

"I'm James, and as you probably noticed, this is Sirius Black." James extended a hand to the boy.

"Peter, Peter Pettigrew."

"Lupin, Remus," called McGonagall. Sirius recognized that name from the boy on the train; the one with all those scars.

He was on the stool for some time, and was looking progressively more and more anxious. Sirius didn't know why he felt so drawn to him, but there was unexplainable pull he had to yell at the hat for making Remus nervous. Maybe it was because he related to Remus, and he had never related to anyone before, he couldn't say.

After what felt like ages, the Sorting Hat bellowed "GRYFFINDOR!" and Remus slid off the stool. Peter excitedly beckoned for Remus to sit next to him, Remus looked more than happy to oblige.

As he sat down, he and Sirius locked eyes.

"You two know each other?" asked James, curiously.

"You two know each other?" asked Peter, incredulously.

"We've met," said Sirius quietly. James looked at him and quirked an eyebrow but didn't say anything. The strange silence between the four boys was quickly broken, however, as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore came up to a podium and cleared his throat, signaling for everyone to quiet down. Shockingly enough, they did. Even Bella.

Dumbledore smiled softly out at the crowd of students. "Welcome," he said, "to my dear first years, your new home. A place where you are free to play, to create, to wonder. Within these walls, everyone is odd, everyone is different, but this is what unites you." The old man grinned. "But enough of all that. I'm sure you're all starving." And with that, he waved his arm (though Sirius suspected it was for dramatic effect) and, suddenly, food was piled up on the long dining tables. And good food, too. He and James exchanged gleeful looks, then grabbed everything in arm's reach. Remus looked, frankly, overwhelmed, like he had never seen food before, and Peter pointed it out.

"Mate, you know what chicken is, right? It's not anything extraordinary..." Remus smiled shyly, while James and Sirius outright laughed, catching Peter pleasantly off guard.

As the feast progressed, the Great Hall swelled with laughter and excited conversations about summer holidays, and first years introducing themselves to other first years. Sirius hadn't even given a thought to what his mother and father would say about him being in Gryffindor, except for one thing as the houses were guided by prefects out of the Great Hall.

They're going to be so pissed.

And he was deathly afraid. But nevertheless, he smiled.

a/n: thanks for reading! the next chapter is from james' perspective.