Albus Dumbledore was one of the greatest wizards who'd ever lived. Severus Snape was the bravest man his father ever knew. James Potter had given his life for his family. These were the men that had given him and his name and for the first time, Albus Severus Potter felt the full weight of their legacies bearing down on him.

The huge shadow of Hogwarts Castle fell over all the first years, both welcoming and intimating, like a strict grandmother. Hagrid the Giant, the elderly groundskeeper and a friend of his family, winked at him and Rose as they started for the boats. Albus started at the black, seemingly endless expanse of water and shivered. The warm morning had cooled to a chilly evening; summer had faded to autumn in the course of twenty-four hours. Only the gentle sound of little waves as the boats glided across the lake broke the silent black sky. Countless stars was scattered overhead, silently watching the final leg of their journey.

When they arrived at the front doors of the castle, a tiny man greeted them. He wasn't much taller than the new students, but he still carried the warm confident air of an intelligent and approachable authority figure. Though his small liver-spotted face was folded over several wrinkles and his scanty hair was withered and grey, his eyes sparkled with the excitement of a child.

"Hello. Welcome, welcome!" he chirped. His voiced carried a slight wheezing quality. "You are here to learn magic at Hogwart's. I am Professor Flitwick; I am the Head of Ravenclaw House and I will be your Charms instructor. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour." the professor smiled then, as if a memory came to him, "The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. Don't be nervous, only completely truthful."

At this time, the students became restless and more nervous. Professor Flitwick led them inside. That Great Hall of Hogwarts was a large room with high ceilings that reflected the outsider sky. Hundreds of small candles floated in the air, lighting the room in a bright but gentle glow. In it were five long tables: a table for the staff and each of the four houses. In the center of the staff table sat an old woman with a severe air but a nurturing smile- Headmistress McGonagall.

Nervously, Albus waited in line with the other first years as one by one, the old Sorting Hat placed them in their houses. The first of them, "Bellemount, Beatrice", was sent to Ravenclaw.

"Grant, Cathy." The girl who he'd seen sit next to Malfoy on the train sat on the stood for but a moment when the Hat yelled "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Speaking of Malfoy, when his name was called, the Great Hall went quiet. The pale, blond boy sat on the stool. Albus was sure of where he'd be going.

The Hat screamed "GRYFFINDOR!"

The stunned, awkward silence remained; no-one had even clapped for the poor child. Malfoy, though looking very upset (at his sorting or everyone's reaction Albus couldn't tell), took it all in stride. He marched to the Gryffindor with his chin up and his shoulders back and sat at the very edge of the table. A few of his housemates, a couple upperclassmen girls, scooted away slightly. When Tullis Malsenior became a Slytherin, Malfoy was immediately forgotten.

Albus shifted uncomfortably; a dark, heavy sensation was settling in his chest. He felt very bad for Malfoy, which surprised him. All his life, he'd been told to never trust a Malfoy. Not by his parents (his father claimed that Narcissa Malfoy, the boy's grandmother, had saved his life) but by others, the people who remembered his family's allegiance to the Dark Lord. Though they uttered not a peep of blood purity rhetoric or dissatisfaction with the new Ministry, the Malfoys had always been treated with suspicion. After all, they'd tricked everyone into thinking they were innocent years before and returned to wreak havoc in Voldemort's name.

But, Rose had told him that she ran to Malfoy's friend, the muggleborn Cathy Grant, had called him friendly and shy. Perhaps it wasn't fair to judge him based on events that had occurred long before he had even been born; perhaps he would be different from his family. Actually Albus thought it silly to say "perhaps", since now young Malfoy would be the only lion in his family. 'Just like Sirius Black.' Albus thought. 'He was the only one in his Slytherin family to end up in Gryffindor. And they disowned him for it.'

His old panic set in. Would he share a similar fate if he were sorted in Slytherin? Sure, a few of his cousins had been sorted into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but no Potter or Weasley had worn green and silver robes. He wished he could be last, but there were only so many names between him and the Sorting Hat.

"Martine, Marigold" "RAVENCLAW!"

"Nott, Felix" "SLYTHERIN!"

"Oslo, Vincent" "SLYTHERIN!"

Professor Flitwick, in his high, wheezing voice, called out his name. The Hall burst into cheers as the son of the Chosen One took his seat on the old rickety stool as put on the Hat that had decided the fates of countless wizards and witches.

'Do you know what you want?' the Hat asked him.

His father hadn't mentioned that. 'I want to be in Gryffindor.' he answered politely. 'I want to be like the rest of my family.'

'They why do I feel a pull toward Slytherin?'

Albus reluctantly answered.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Albus had been with the Hat for less that half a minute, so when the Hat gave its answer, the cheers ceased immediately. Albus rushed off his seat and sat at the Slytherin table as quickly as he could. As the sorting continued, Albus kept his head down, but he felt all eyes on him. He looked up a few times and once, he thought he saw Malfoy give him a reassuring smile from across the room. His older brother James just stared at him in disbelief; despite constantly teasing Albus about ending up in Slytherin, he hadn't considered it a real possibility The rest of his relatives did the same, except for Rose, who didn't look the least bit surprised. When Rose put on the Hat, it cried "RAVENCLAW!" The crowd rustled slightly, but not much, since they had grown used to non-Gryffindor Weasleys. Just not a Slytherin Potter.

After "Zill, Sebastian" was sorted into Ravenclaw, the feast began. The tables were piled high with roast beef and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy, plump rack-of-lamb, and an assortment of decadent desserts. Despite the presence of all his favorite foods, Albus was too sick to his stomach to eat anything. The whole Hall, including the faculty, alternated their attention between the food, Scorpius Malfoy, and himself. The Slytherins, to their credit, at least tried to be friendly, though they too gasped and gossiped behind their hands.

When the night had finished, and Headmistress McGonagall dismissed them, Albus and the other first years followed a rather severe looking prefect named Penny Isles to their dormitories. She led them down a few flights of stairs to a large stone wall.

"Basilisk." she announced to the wall. It opened, relieving the Slytherin common room. Penny turned to the new students and explained. "To get into the common room, you will have to remember the password. It changes every fortnight, so make sure to check the noticeboard before you leave. Professor Slughorn is our Head of House, but he won't be here to greet you tonight because he has an important meeting with the Headmistress. You'll likely meet him in the morning."

Inside, the Slytherin Dungeon was grand, but somewhat distant. The common room had lots of low backed black and dark green leather sofas with buttons, skulls, and dark wood cupboards. It was cooler than the rest of the castle, due to the fact that it extended under the lake; Albus could hear the splashing of the waves and see fish swim by in the windows. The lamps gave off a greenish glow that filled the air and reflected off magnificent tapestries illustrating the house's history.

"Left is the girls' dormitories; right is the boys'." Penny pointed her hands to two corridors in opposing directions. With the green glow shining on her pale face and fair hair, her robes and tall hat, she looked a bit like the mysterious muggle stage performers his father had taken him to see when he was younger. "Your room will the one recently vacated by last year's seventh-years and you'll be there the remainder of your time at Hogwarts, until you graduate and a new batch of first years take your place. Each of you will have four roommates. They will be like your brothers and sisters while you're here, so I suggest you try to get along. Breakfast will be served from seven to eight a.m.; lunch from none to one, and dinner from five to six p.m. At breakfast tomorrow, you will receive your class schedules. I would suggest you bring your books to you first lessons; things pick up rather quickly here."

With that, Penny set them off to find their rooms. Albus's new room was the last one in the corridor. The room was long and narrow and had windows on three sides. The plush four poster beds were arranged in a row, with each boy's belongings stacked neatly at their feet; Albus's bed was the last in the row, on the far side of the room. His new roommates were Felix Nott, Victor Yaxley, Tullius Malsenior, and Vincent Oslo; at least two of them he knew to be relatives of former Death Eaters. He wondered if they wished he and Malfoy had switched places, stayed where they belonged. The boys didn't talk to Albus or even look his way, as if they'd done enough staring and whispering at the feast. With a heavy heart, Albus changed for bed and stared out at the window from under his covers until he fell into an uneasy sleep.

A/N: To the person who asked me not to put them in different houses, sorry but its really plot-relevant that it happen this way.