Chapter Seven:

Scavenger Hunt

Life had become rather interesting with Albus Dumbledore as Headmaster. Not only had he turned down Riddle for a job, but also Riddle had become a power hungry fiend trying to destroy wizarding England. And now they were in the middle of a war. Sure, life didn't seem very different inside the castle yet right outside the Sorting Hat could tell that this was a war that could rival the wars of old.

Some of the students seemed to be oblivious to this fact, however. The crowd of first years that had come into the school this year was just trying to have fun. They pulled silly pranks in the hallway and caused chaos in class. But the teachers were quiet this year no matter what chaos they caused: it helped keep the students from knowing what danger they could be in. For this year Albus Dumbledore had done the unthinkable; he had admitted a werewolf to school. Nothing about the boy suggested anything strange about him except maybe his raggedy appearance and monthly 'trips home to sick relatives.' The Sorting Hat thought that Remus Lupin was a perfectly nice trustworthy boy. Horace Slughorn still thought the boy was very suspicious, maybe even a Death Eater, but the staff was willing to accept him. The Sorting Hat didn't find a werewolf at school was a problem at all.

Yet there was still the issue of Sirius Black, a boy he had sorted into Gryffindor. Had the Sorting Hat known what kind of trouble Mrs. Black would cause him by sorting her son into Gryffindor he would have sorted the boy into Slytherin. She had come to Hogwarts the day after the sorting to complain to him and reprimand her son for being sorted into Gryffindor. People these days were so picky.

"You have dishonored the House of Black!" she shrieked to her son. "And you," she screamed turning to the Sorting Hat, "are the cause of all this!"

"Me, my good lady," he retorted, "I only do my job and clearly that boy is not Slytherin material." He turned to where Sirius sat on the floor rubbing his arm for his mother had used it to drag him to the Headmaster's office so tightly that her nails had left puncture marks.

"I WILL NOT HAVE MY FAMILY ASHAMED AGAIN!!" Mrs. Black screamed picking up a lit candle in the room.

"Oh not again," moaned the Sorting Hat. However the flame was now a little too close for his liking. "I say, my good lady, move that flame away from me at once. Hey!"

He ducked to avoid the candle but then sighed in relief as he heard someone say, "Good morning, Walburga. Is something the matter?" Albus Dumbledore walked over to where Sirius sat on the floor and helped him up. Sirius did not say anything and just turned to look at some of the objects floating around the room.

"Yes, Headmaster," spat Mrs. Black lowering the candle, "that thing sorted my son, the eldest child of the House of Black, into Gryffindor with Mudbloods and Blood traitors. If it had been Ravenclaw I would consent, but Gryffindor?! It's an outrage that that rag sorted my son into a house of such filth. I demand that he be moved to Slytherin House at once."

The Sorting Hat was about to retort to the nasty women about calling him a rag and his old master's house filth but Dumbledore held up a hand to restrain him and to silence Mrs. Black. "Mrs. Black, as you should well know Hogwarts is not about separating people into so-called statuses, but about unification and education. There is nothing to be said when the Sorting Hat makes his decision: it is final. He has done so almost every year since Hogwarts began, and his judgment is to be trusted. I am certain your son shall bring great honor to your family's name through Gryffindor House. Just give it a bit of time and you will find that this House suites your son best. Now, Walburga, I suggest we let Sirius get to class because I know Professor McGonagall would not be happy to have a student from her house late to her class on the first day." Sirius looked over toward them and left without another word. Mrs. Black turned to leave but then looked back to where Dumbledore sat behind his desk.

"Know this, Dumbledore," she sneered, "I will not let my other son fall into your tricks. He will be known as being the greatest of the House of Black, greater then you will ever be."

"Perhaps," mused the Headmaster, "Perhaps not. Good day, Walburga." Mrs. Black stormed out of the room.

"Well, she's a charming lady, isn't she," stated the Sorting Hat sardonically.

"Just very prejudiced, I'm afraid," replied Albus Dumbledore. "She would not be too fond of Mr. Lupin unfortunately." That, the Sorting Hat could only wonder how Remus Lupin would fair in a dorm with a haughty pureblood, the son of one of the greatest blood traitor families, and a dimwit.

"I counted the new students last night, there were only thirty-nine. Is there a vacancy this year?" asked the Sorting Hat.

"No, one of the new students will be arriving this evening around nine o'clock. I'm afraid your work for this year is not complete yet; you'll have to sort him once he arrives. He was unable to arrive on time. There was a family issue," answered Dumbledore.

"Anything to deal with our favorite Mr. Riddle?" asked the Sorting Hat sarcastically.

"No," chuckled Dumbledore reading over a letter from the Ministry of Magic, "Not at all."

OoO

All was quiet in the first year boy's dorm in Gryffindor Tower. Well almost, a little pudgy boy named Peter Pettigrew sat on the floor scarfing down candy his parents had sent him upon the news that he had been sorted into Gryffindor.

The other three boys sat on their beds two with black hair glaring at each other across the room. Sirius Black stared unblinkingly at what he believed to be his archrival: James Potter. The Potters and the Blacks had never gotten along and considering his mother was already angry with him for being in Gryffindor he wasn't going to be at all friendly with James Potter. Of course, a first year Slytherin named Severus Snape was close to taking James' title in Sirius' book: it was the only thing they had agreed on since they met on the train.

James ruffled his hair trying to think about the best way to stop this silence: it was unnerving. He didn't want to talk to Sirius because he would just act plain rude. The kid on the floor was too interested in his candy to notice anything else and a sandy haired boy who looked like he had run into a hippogriff along the way was too busy reading a book to notice anyone. Remus Lupin puzzled James; Remus was very polite but seemed to try to avoid any type of attention. He sat at the back of the class and didn't say anything all day. Something had to be done for the sake of James' sanity.

"Hey, guys," said James standing on his bed. The other three boys looked up, which was a good start. "I was thinking, since it's our first full day at school that we should have a look around." Sirius rolled his eyes at the thought of just running around the school like idiots trying to find their way around. "Only we won't just walk around, it will be too slow…does anybody like games?"

"Ooh! Ooh! I love games!" exclaimed Peter bobbing up and down in place.

"Well, good, Pettigrew. We're going on a Scavenger Hunt," declared James. Peter cheered waving his candy bar in the air.

"Scavenger Hunts are for sissies," retorted Sirius looking away from the other three. He wanted to join, but if his cousins caught him playing he wouldn't be so lucky as this morning.

"Oh, lighten up, Black," replied James. "We're only eleven. We are still allowed to act like sissies."

"You're going to need a list," interrupted Remus. James looked over at him amazed that Remus Lupin could speak.

"Well then will you make us a list, Lupin?" asked James jumping off his bed and walking over to where Remus sat.

"Please, will you make one? Please!" begged Peter scuttling over.

Remus closed his book and placed it on his bed. "Alright," he sighed pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill.

"Yay!" shouted Peter jumping to his feet. Remus was busy scribbling down the list as the other three put on shoes. James shoved something into his pocket that looked like a silk bed sheet to Sirius. If Potter honestly thought that he could disguise himself as laundry when they were out then he was a lot dumber then Sirius thought.

"Here," said Remus passing James the piece of parchment. James looked at the list and added a few more interesting items:

Oldest Statue in the School

Tallest Tower in the School

Tea Leaves

Portrait leading to Gryffindor Common Room

Something Powerfully Magical

An Old Magical Object

Pebble from the lake

Toothpick from Transfiguration

One of Filch's Keys

Owl Feather

"You guys can't go outside," protested Remus. James looked over at him.

"Well we can too. Everyone has to play including you, Lupin," proclaimed James. Remus opened his mouth to return the argument but Sirius and Peter were already at the door. Sirius had a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Ready, set, go!" Sirius shouted. James, Sirius, and Peter dragged Remus out of the dorm, down the stairs and out the portrait hole.

"Found it," stated James and Sirius at the same time. Remus sighed and checked it off.

"We'll never be able to finish this before curfew," Remus said to the others.

"Not if we each find a couple of the items and then met back up somewhere," James countered.

"I'll get an owl feather…and tea leaves," whispered Peter.

"Wimp," muttered Sirius.

"I'll get the pebble from the lake and a toothpick from McGonagall's room," responded James.

"Hey! How come he gets to do all the cool stuff? I could get both those things faster then he could," complained Sirius.

"He called them first," replied Remus. James stuck his tongue out at Sirius. "I'll find the oldest statue and tallest tower."

"You probably already know what it is," snapped Sirius. Remus just shrugged with a smile. "Fine, I'll find something powerfully magical and an old magical object. All of us should meet up at Filch's office." All four nodded and sped off in different directions.

OoO

The Sorting Hat woke up from a nice long nap on the shelf. The incident with Walburga Black had made him extremely tired. However, he felt as if he had had a dream that he just couldn't recall. It was a good dream, he remembered that much.

The door to the office opened and the Sorting Hat opened his mouth to complain to Professor Dumbledore, who had left fifteen minutes ago, about some unimportant thing (it was a habit of his) but stopped upon seeing who it was.

Sirius Black crept into the room but stood up relieved when seeing Professor Dumbledore was not present. He walked around the room apparently looking for something: perhaps he had dropped something earlier this morning. "Good evening, Mr. Black," said the Sorting Hat after clearing his throat. Something in the boy's eyes did not make the Sorting Hat feel very good about what was to come.

Sirius reached up and grabbed the Sorting Hat by the brim muttering, "An old magical object."

"Let me go," demanded the Sorting Hat trying to wriggle out of Sirius' grasp but to no avail. Sirius turned about the room making the Sorting Hat feel seasick. He was about to reach up and try to catch one of the silver objects whirring around the room when Fawkes the Phoenix burst into flames.

"Cool," murmured Sirius in awe. He waited until Fawkes popped out of the ashes as a little baby bird and then snatched him up. Sirius stuffed the Sorting Hat and Fawkes into a little sack and ran out of the office.

The ride was bumpy just like when Lord Godric used to go out chasing giants away from Muggle villages so that no one would get flattened. It was thrilling but the Sorting Hat was terrified for his life. Fawkes squawked as they bounced along the way. "A bit bumpy, isn't it?" questioned the Sorting Hat when he was thrown against the side of the sack closest to Fawkes.

"Yes, quite. Have we met properly before?" chirped Fawkes ruffling his feathers trying to fly.

"No, no we haven't," stated the Sorting Hat though he had the hankering that they had met somewhere. But then they abruptly stopped and both were thrown backwards inside. There were people outside the sack whispering.

"Okay, you're here Lupin and so is Pettigrew, but where's Potter?" interrogated Sirius Black. There was a rustle outside and several gasps.

"James, how'd you do that? Can you teach me?" squeaked Peter Pettigrew.

"Where'd you get one of those? They're supposed to be extremely rare," said Remus Lupin.

"No bloody way," grumbled Sirius Black. "Potter has an invisibility cloak and I don't." The Sorting Hat knew that the school was now in big trouble. He remembered a boy by the last name Perevell who had a cloak like that when he returned for seventh year, and he caused the Founders a lot of trouble. He didn't want to imagine what kind of dilemmas James Potter could cause with one of those.

"No time to talk," responded James. "Filch is coming this way. We're going to have to act fast."

"Ickle-firsties out of bed," cackled a voice from above. The Sorting Hat could tell that Peeves would enjoy himself. The Sorting Hat just hoped that Filch wouldn't think that he was the reason for the students being out of bed out of hours.

"Go away Peeves or I'll set my mother after you. You wouldn't want that happening, now would you?" retorted Sirius slyly. It seemed that Peeves thought this was a good enough reason to leave them alone.

"What brings the firsties here tonight?" asked Peeves quietly.

"Trying to steal Filch's keys. Want to help?" interrogated James. Remus seemed to be trying to tell James not to say what they were doing but James Potter had a very big mouth.

"Causing Filch trouble; I love it," drawled Peeves. Peeves zoomed off down the corridor and pretty soon Peeves was singing the Hogwarts theme song inside a suit of armor very loudly filling in a couple spots with words not appropriate to type.

"PEEVES!" hollered Filch and the Sorting Hat could hear Filch storming down the hall to the singing knight. There was a clash of metal and the Sorting Hat knew that Peeves was making the knight perform lyrical ballet.

"Now," hissed James. They snuck into Filch's office and in a matter of a few minutes the keys were inside the bag jingling silently thanks to Remus. All four boys were under James' invisibility cloak creeping up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower.

Once inside their dorm Peter squealed, "That was amazing! You guys were so sneaky and brave. I wish that I were that brave. I'm not even sure why I was sorted into this house."

"It was completely mental. We almost got caught! Do you know how much trouble we could've gotten into?" Remus ranted. The Sorting Hat did not care how much trouble they would've gotten into: he just wanted out of the bag.

"Well, we didn't," pointed out James. "So we're okay. Let's see what we all got."

"Ooh! I've got an owl feather from the Great Hall and tea leaves from the kitchen," stated Peter proudly.

"The point was to go all the way up to the divination classroom and the Owlery. Merlin's beard someone needs a brain transplant," groused Sirius placing his sack on one of the beds with a large thump. The Sorting Hat got hit in the face with Filch's keys.

"Ugh," he moaned. Fawkes screeched in complaint.

"Did that bag just talk?" asked Remus.

"Nah," replied Sirius sitting halfway on the bag squishing the Sorting Hat.

"Alright, the Astronomy Tower is the tallest tower so I suggest not to take off on a broom from there during a flying lesson. The gargoyle in front of the Headmaster's office is the oldest statue."

"But, Lupin, that's not a statue. It's a gargoyle," countered James.

"A gargoyle is a type of statue," replied Remus in a rather educating type of tone.

"Gosh, you should be a teacher someday, Lupin," declared Sirius.

"Yeah, sure," responded Remus. If those boys knew what Lupin was, thought the Sorting Hat, they'd probably change their minds.

"Here's the pebble from the lake," proclaimed James throwing it on top of the sack narrowly missing Fawkes, "and the tooth pick from McGonagall's room, fresh from the box." Peter applauded and the Sorting Hat could feel James jump up onto the bed on the other side of the sack and take a bow.

"Oh yeah, so great. Not to mention that you had an invisibility cloak so it made this whole thing easier for you then everyone else," snapped Sirius shifting his weight on the sack crushing the Sorting Hat's face. "I, on the other hand, snuck into a highly dangerous territory." Peter Pettigrew gasped in awe. "I've got an old magical object," he said whipping out the Sorting Hat.

"Bloody hell," stated James looking at the Sorting Hat. "Where'd you find that?"

"Questions and protests later," answered Sirius holding up his free hand to silence Remus' oncoming complaint. The Sorting Hat could see that even after only one day this dorm was a wreck. "And something powerfully magical." He pulled out Fawkes for display. The baby phoenix attempted to fly away, but was still to weak to do so.

"How'd you find a phoenix in the school?" interrogated James pulling out the keys and twirling them around his fingers.

"You did not," protested an extremely pale Remus looking at the Sorting Hat and Fawkes. "You stole them from the Headmaster's office!" Peter gasped even louder this time.

"How'd you get in Sirius, I mean, Black?" asked a flabbergasted James.

"Well, James, I mean, Potter, I walked right in, picked them up, and walked right back out," said Sirius simply a smug look on his face.

"You can't go stealing the Headmaster's items! He'll come looking for them! What will we tell him then?" Remus shouted at Sirius though he looked more terrified then angry.

"He won't miss the hat. My cousin Cissy said that they only use the hat for the sorting at the beginning of the year," declared Sirius defiantly.

"Plus if Sirius could get in and out unnoticed it probably means that nobody's there," defended James. "You don't mind if I call you Sirius, do you? After all, we'll be dorming together for the next seven years."

"Alright, Potter. Should I call you Potter or James?" asked Sirius offering his hand.

"James, and I'm not falling for the old joy-buzzer trick. That thing's eons old," replied James crossing his arms in front of his chest. Sirius laughed and put the joy-buzzer back in his bedside table drawer.

"You guys can call me Peter," announced Peter Pettigrew eagerly.

"And you may call me Remus or Lupin. Just don't give me any stupid sort of nickname like Peeves did," affirmed Remus. "Can we focus on a plan to get the phoenix and the Sorting Hat back?"

"Oh yeah, I heard Peeves call you 'Loony Loopy Lupin' this morning. It was hysterical," laughed Sirius in a rather doglike bark. The other three began to chuckle as well. The Sorting Hat watched in amazement at the four boys laughing together as friends when moments before they had been so hostile towards each other. They began tossing him around the room discussing how to return him. But then the Sorting Hat remembered what Professor Dumbledore had said earlier that morning.

The Sorting Hat cleared his throat. "I would suggest returning Fawkes and me as soon as possible. Professor Dumbledore has gone down to the gates to meet one more student who I was supposed to sort half an hour ago." James Potter dropped him at this news. All four boys turned extremely pale.

"We've got to get him back right now," pronounced Remus standing up. He put Fawkes and the Sorting Hat back in the bag. The Sorting Hat could hear their plan through the sack. "James, take the sack and Sirius with you. Sirius should be able to get you in. Then put them back in the exact places you found them in. Make sure you don't knock anything over. If anyone comes looking for the two of you we'll say that the two of you are in the lavatory." But before anyone could make another move the door swung open.

"Good evening," stated Professor Dumbledore mildly. "I was on a stroll back from the gates and I noticed a trail of candy wrappers coming from the Great Hall. So I followed it all the way up here." Remus, James, and Sirius all turned to look at Peter who smiled meekly and turned a dark shade of red. "Ah, Mr. Filch's keys. He said they'd gone missing," he said picking up the keys. "Silenced too, clever. Were you on a stroll as well, Mr. Lupin? I see you have a sack." The Sorting Hat could feel Remus' hand trembling as the sack was given to Dumbledore. When Dumbledore opened the sack Fawkes began chirping wildly. "My, my, Fawkes, how did you end up here? Certainly you did not fly?" The bird gave Dumbledore a slightly irritated look.

"We're terribly sorry, sir," said James. All four of them bowed their heads in shame, and the Sorting Hat couldn't help but feel bad for them. "We were having a scavenger hunt…"

"Ah, a scavenger hunt," replied Professor Dumbledore. "Such an enlightening game. Much better then looking for centaurs in the forest, wouldn't you say, my good friend?"

"Definitely better then looking for centaurs armed with arrows in the Forbidden Forest," retorted the Sorting Hat. The four boys looked up at Professor Dumbledore in shock. "You and Elphias performed some of the most ridiculous and stupidest stunts I have ever seen in Hogwart's history. At least Minerva and Tom didn't go looking for trouble besides trying to outdo each other. Filius and Pomona were good children, just caught up in a stupid grudge between two peers. Of course, you and Elphias did not beat Master Gryffindor in the trouble seeking business. He was a disaster in school." Everyone else in the room had begun snickering hearing about their professors being talked about in such a manner.

"Perhaps you can save some of those stories for another day. We still have one sorting to complete and then you have all year," interrupted Professor Dumbledore.

"Very well, where is this new student?" asked the Sorting Hat. Dumbledore turned around and in the doorway stood a boy who looked somehow very familiar to the Sorting Hat. Dumbledore placed the Sorting Hat on the boy's head and the Sorting Hat could see something in him that he had not seen for almost a thousand years. "GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat bellowed. Dumbledore pulled the Sorting Hat off the boy's head said goodnight to the now complete Gryffindor dorm and was walking back to his office before the Sorting Hat could say anything to the descendent of his late Master Gryffindor.