The Sorting

Sirius trudged up a gravel path along with all the other first years, led by the bobbing yellow lantern that a huge man who'd introduced himself as Hagrid carried. The land was washed with a pale pink light from the setting sun, and the tall trees lining the path threw long shadows over the small party of first years who were walking up to the castle.

The knot of worry that had been forming in Sirius's stomach seem to twist itself tighter as the spires of the castle came into view as they rounded a bend. Sirius had seen enough pictures of Hogwarts to know which of the towers was Gryffindor's, and as the Black Lake caught his eye, reflecting the colours of the sunset in it's shimmering surface, he knew that below it was the Slytherin House's dungeons. He would do anything not to have to spend the next seven years in those dungeons under the lake.

"... sort of pretty, don't you think, Sirius?" Sirius jumped at the sound of his name, his musings cut short as James, who had been chattering along at his side, looked up, expecting an answer.

"Um, yeah, real pretty," Sirius said vaguely, trying to construct a coherent response from what he'd heard of the question.

James narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "You don't know who I'm talking about, do you?"

Sirius grimaced and admitted, "No, not really."

"Lily Evans! The girl on the train, with the hair, and the eyes..." James trailed off and raised his eyebrows, clearly waiting for a sign of recognition from Sirius.

"Sorry to break it to you, mate, but all the girls on the train had hair and eyes."

"Long red hair, green eyes, we were in her compartment on the train for a while, she left with Snivellus-"

"Oh!" Sirius remembered suddenly. "Snivellus's little girlfriend. Yeah, she's alright. Kind of bossy, though, don't you think? I doubt she'd be up for some fun and rule breaking."

James shook his head roughly, like a dog shaking water out of it's fur. "Did you say girlfriend?"

Sirius smirked slightly. "Keep your hat on, mate, I don't know anything about Snivellus and Evans. They do seem to never go anywhere without each other, though."

"Really?" James asked anxiously, biting his lip. "You think so?"

"You ponder that, James. Believe it or not, some girl you've barely talked to is not the end of the world." But being put into Slytherin would be, Sirius added silently in his head. He sighed heavily and clenched his fists tightly.

"What's your problem?" James asked. "You haven't listened to a word I've said all the way up to the castle, and now you're staring at Hogwarts like it's the worst thing that's ever happened to you. Aren't you excited?"

"No!" Sirius burst out suddenly. "No, I'm not excited, okay? You're fine, your parents were in Gryffindor, and they'd love you even if you weren't. You know that families tend to get sorted together! All mine have been in Slytherin, and I'd give anything to break the trend!"

"Well, if you want it that badly, it must mean something to the Sorting Hat, right? It wouldn't put you somewhere you'd hate to be," James said unsurely, clearly wrong-footed with this role of giving assurance.

"You don't get it, do you?" Sirius said, lowering his voice now and refusing to make eye contact as he walked, staring at his feet instead. "You really don't see it. If I'm in Slytherin, I hate myself. If I'm in anything but Slytherin, my parents disown me for not being the son they raised. Well, yeah, I'm not the son they raised because I'm not a prejudiced monster!" Sirius burst out bitterly. He kicked petulantly at a rock by his feet and then groaned angrily when all he did was scuff his shoe.

Even though Sirius was very pointedly not looking at James, he could feel his friend's sympathetic gaze on his face. James opened and closed his mouth, clearly at a loss for what to say.

"It's fine," Sirius muttered, calmer now. "Everything's fine. I'll be put in Gryffindor and my parents will get over it. Right?"

James looked at him pityingly. "Who are you trying to convince, me or you?"

Sirius glared at him. "Myself."

James grabbed the front of Sirius's robes and pulled him aside, out of the stream of first years. "I won't pretend to know what it's like because my parents would do anything for me," James snapped, intense and oddly angry. "If you get put into Slytherin it won't change who you are, and if you don't and your parents hate you for it, then they weren't worth it in the first place."

"My parents are all I have," Sirus mumbled, ashamed to admit it.

James reached up and squeezed Sirius's shoulder quickly, looking straight into his eyes. "Not anymore, they aren't."

Sirius's mouth was uncomfortably dry and he felt like his tie was choking him. He slipped his first two fingers inside the collar of his shirt and tugged at it, trying to breathe.

"You look like you just saw a Dementor, mate," James remarked.

Sirius tried to say something witty back, but he couldn't seem to make the words come out of his throat. He coughed and managed, "I'm not surprised."

"Hey, calm down," James tried again. "You'll be fine."

Sirius sighed. James had been making attempts to get a smile out of him since they'd been ushered into a room behind the Great Hall by a tall, severe looking witch to wait for the Sorting. He shook his head. "Don't even try. Just... I just want to get it over with. I'm tired of waiting."

"C'mon." James nudged Sirius playfully with his arm. "Who cares about Houses? We're at Hogwarts!"

Sirius knew it was a lie - the Sorting was everything to James - but the fact that he'd bothered to tell the lie finally made the corners of his mouth twitch.

"Yes!" James shouted, throwing his arms up into the air in triumph when he saw the smile. "I knew I'd do it eventually!"

"Is everything a competition with you?" Sirius asked.

James was about to retort when Professor McGonagall, the witch who'd greeted them, reappeared, scowling ominously. "Who is foolish enough to make all that noise?" she demanded to know.

James gulped and shrank behind Sirius. Sirius would have found James's fear of the teacher humorous if Snivellus hadn't snickered quietly and leaned over to whisper something snide to Lily, who stood at his side. Instead of laughing, Sirius rallied in opposition of anything Snivellus found funny. Professor McGonagall finished reprimanding James and disappeared through the side door from which she'd entered, and Sirius took the lack of supervision to glare at Snivelly and say tauntingly, "What's so funny, grease-ball?"

The Snape boy sneered and said superiorly, "I guess I should have pegged you two to get in trouble before you're even Sorted."

Sirius's tension about the Sorting reared it's head at Snape's mention of it and he snarled, "Want me to wipe that sneer off your face, Snivelly?"

"You want to go ahead and get expelled on your first day, it's fine by me."

"Is that a threat? I don't take threats from scrawny little gits," James spoke up, reaching for his wand, as did Sirius.

"Just shut up about him, Potter!" This high pitched order came from Lily Evans, who stepped forwards, her wand drawn, her flaming red hair coming loose from its braid. She brandished her wand and edged in front of Severus a bit, shielding him with her body. "Just leave him alone! Is that so difficult for you? And if I was such an arrogant prat as you are, I wouldn't display it to everybody," she snapped.

James slumped back, disappointed. Sirius cast a glance at his friend's crestfallen face and took over the offense, taunting Lily with, "Ooh, there's that redhead temper."

"Shove it, both of you!" Lily's face was flushed, and she rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and raised her wand. "I swear, Black, I'll hex you to Merlin's-"

"Silence, all of you!" McGongall was back, her eyes flashing dangerously and her face like a thunderhead, boding ill for anyone who stepped out of line. "You, little girl, put your wand away. You two-" she nodded at Sirius and James "-stop making trouble. Oh, I know it's you," she added at James's expression of feigned innocence. "And a word to the wise: stop your mischief before you get sorted, because afterwards it will result in points being taken away from your Houses." She gazed around at their faces. "Oh, this year is going to be lovely, isn't it? I'd better go tell Filch to prepare some more detention slips."

Sirius thought he would never be as thankful for his surname as he was now. All his life his mother had told him he didn't have the proper pride, that he took for granted what it meant to belong to what she called, "the most noble house of Black." He'd thought she was a fool.

Now, though, he couldn't be glad enough that the name "Black" made him only the sixth person to be sorted. He was so tired of waiting and wondering and fearing what the hat would shout to the Great Hall full of pupils.

Sirius tensed as Professor McGonagall squinted at the several reams of parchment she grasped in her hand and called in a ringing tone, "Black, Sirius!"

Sirius tried not to run as he climbed to the platform and took a seat on the battered stool before him. He could hear the soft murmur of hundreds of children's voices whispering to each other, and he closed his eyes so that he wouldn't have to face that fearful crowd of students. Soft fabric slipped over his forehead and down across his eyes, and Sirius opened them to stare at the black felt inside of the sorting hat. His longish hair fell down into his face and tickled his nose, and Sirius gripped the sides of the stool tightly with his hands and tried to resist the urge to push his hair out of his face. If only the hat would speak and the ordeal would be over…

Why so concerned? asked a small voice in Sirius's ear. Hmm, resentment towards your family, fear… impatience… yes, Mr. Black, I'll be finished soon.

Sirius panicked that the hat was saying these words to the full hall, and then his breath caught as he understood that only he could hear the voice.

You're torn between your family and your heart, the Sorting Hat continued. Always follow your heart, Sirius. Go where you belong… GRYFFINDOR!

The first thing heard Sirius heard after that beloved verdict was a shout of exultation, and he lifted the Sorting Hat from his head to see James leaping into the air and cheering. He caught sight of Remus, the slight boy from the train, grinning and clapping, and Sirius found his own anxious worry replaced by a burning desire that they would both join him at the table with a red and gold banner over it, even if Remus had wanted to be in Ravenclaw.

Sirius watched as Evans, Lily was sorted into Gryffindor and laughed at James's loud whoop of joy. He was shortly joined by Remus, who shook his head ruefully and took a seat next to Sirius.

"It's not Ravenclaw, but it'll do," Remus said, smiling at Sirius.

Sirius grinned. "It won't be too bad. You'll have me and probably James here in Gryffindor."

Sirius's smile broadened at how the boy's face lit up. He must not be used to having stammered for a moment before asking incredulously, "Really? I will?"

"'Course you will, what'd you think?"

"I- I don't know- thank you," Remus said, looking thoroughly confused.

"Remus." Sirius took hold of Remus's shoulder and made him face towards him. "We're your friends. Otherwise we'd have to actually read Hogwarts, A History, and why would we do that when we can have you?"

Remus grinned and his eyes sparkled, alive and finally truly happy. "Yeah, who needs Ravenclaw?"

Sirius thumped Remus on the back and shouted "That's the spirit!" and then turned his attention back to the Sorting Hat as Pettigrew, Peter trotted happily over to the Gryffindor table and James walked up to the platform, his head held high and proud.

The Sorting Hat had hardly left Professor McGonagall's hand when it bellowed "GRYFFINDOR!" Sirius and Remus cheered until their throats were hoarse as James strode to their table, pulled Lily's hair as he passed her, and then took a seat on the other side of Sirius.

Sirius closed his eyes for a moment and beamed, feeling the glow of the candles on the inside of his eyelids and the presence of Remus and James on either side of him, and he thought with elation to himself that, at that very moment, he had everything he'd ever wanted.

A/N: I absolutely loved writing this chapter, so I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Judging by the number of reviews I got for the last chapter, though, it appears that nobody is reading this, so I don't know if it's worth continuing. So please review and tell me what you think! Reviews = love.