The First Sorting

"Now we are all gathered here, I would like to formally welcome you to Hogwarts, the first school of witchcraft and wizardry. Before we bring the excellent feast Mistress Helga Hufflepuff and the house elves have prepared; we intend to sort you into the houses of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffindor. This will encourage your own individual talents, while working within your houses." Godric's loud voice boomed over the children, some of whom paled a little at his words.

With Salazar's deep set frown and Rowena's smooth, ethereal look, I gave the children a welcoming smile and saw several looking rather relieved around the Hall; though many were distracted by the glowing candles overheard and the magic ceiling, a dark night sky showing through with bright stars. I saw Hector and Gwenith both looking happy and well, Gwenith gave me a nervous smile and Hector waved, I hid my laughter at some of the children's confused expressions as to why one of the boys was waving at the teachers.

"Black, Alaricus." Rowena read from a scroll and a young boy with dark hair and eyes step forward, he was rather tall for his age and there was a slight arrogant air to his step, for all his eleven years. Salazar step forward.
"The Black family has strong magic within their veins; their family is one of the oldest within the wizarding world." Salazar said.
"It should not solely be based on your family's ties, the boy should prove his mind and heart to us." Rowena said. Salazar growled formidably, but assented to Rowena's wish. The Sorting consisted of a long scroll of questions and puzzles. Some more obvious, 'If you had to create a potion that would ensure one thing what would that be? Love, power, glory or wisdom?' and some less so, 'There are three boxes before you, the first is old and cracked with the dirt of time, the second gleaming and new with gold inlaid, the third plain and made of tin with the sign of Merlin. Which one would you open?'

Normally it was easy to tell which student should belong in which house, Hector was sorted into Gryffindor and I was content with that, Gwenith into my own house and Alaricus Black did get sorted into Slytherin. But it was not always so easy. I rarely got involved in the other three arguments, but when one girl, named Letitia Degaré, started to cry when Rowena and Godric were fighting over her, I decided enough was enough.

"Rowena, Godric. Stop this at once." They both quieted, and I was surprised but pleased they had, I turned to the girl, "Where would you like to go?"
"That's not the point of the Sorting, Helga. You can't just ask students where they'd like to go." Rowena said.
"Ro, I will not have arguments over this any longer." I turned back to Letitia, "Now, where would you like to go?"
"Your house." she said miserably, I gave her a warm, sympathetic smile.
"If that is truly what you want and if Professors Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin believe that to be acceptable."
Salazar nodded, a smirk on his lips which I did my best to ignore, knowing that little arrogant smile always made my stomach curl with pleasure and heat. Rowena and Godric grudgingly agreed and Letitia happily went off to sit with her other housemates. I walked back to Salazar's side.

"That was very pleasing to me." he murmured softly.
"Preventing Godric and Rowena from arguing? Sometimes I believe that is my only role here, stopping you three from arguing all the time." I had not meant to feel so irritable, but I often felt tired from breaking up arguments between my adopted children let alone three adults! Salazar looked somewhat repentant.
"You are right, we must think of a better way of doing this, it sounded so straight forward when Rowena had it written down."
I nodded, but said nothing else, keeping my eyes focused on a boy who was sorted into Gryffindor. We were finally nearing the end of the Sorting with the 'W's.
"I just meant when you stand up for yourself, it's very arousing." Salazar whispered in my ear and I felt my cheeks go pink, I hoped desperately hoped none of the students had seen.
"Salazar, you should not say such things in the Great Hall."
He gave a small chuckle and I rolled my eyes at him, though with some affection.

Once the notices and warnings about the Forest had been done by Rowena, I welcomed all the students to the school and started the feast, which was certainly greeted with much enthusiasm by our new students, especially the ones who came from poorer backgrounds and it looked as if their eyes would go as wide as their dinner plates once the food appeared. I gave them all a warning to eat slowly and not too much, otherwise they would very likely be sick. Though it had little effect until Salazar got up and glared at a few, till they would raise their spoons only by inches towards their mouths. Once he had resumed his seat, he turned to us all.

"This Sorting business needs to be rethought. Rowena's brilliant idea of a test clearly did not go to plan. Either the test needs to be changed or we develop an entirely different way of sorting the students." Salazar said.
Rowena's lips became a thin line, "I seem to remember you praised my plan in sorting the students."
"Yes, but that was only in theory, none of us could have foreseen how such an event would work out."
"Salazar has a point; this Sorting caused too much confusion and ambiguity." Godric said.
"We can't perform occlumency on the students though." Rowena said.
"Of course not," Salazar supplied, "And may I also point out, it was Helga who first thought of this, not I."
Rowena's sharp eyes fixed on mine, till I lowered them to my plateful of food.
"Ro, don't be harsh. Too often it falls to Helga to stop us from fighting and for this school to stand the test of time we need to be strong together." Godric murmured, with an intimate smile towards me. I saw Rowena's grip on her knife tighten considerably and I swallowed nervously.
"I know that, but I can't think of anything else we could do." Rowena said.
"Let's not think about it right now, we have another year to try to think of something else." I said and everyone resumed their dinner.

"I miss having dinner in our rooms; I miss the conversations we all had." Salazar said. He was sitting by my fire again, while I brushed out my hair. He glanced at me, then beckoned me over and tugged on my nightdress to have me sit down beside him. I complied and sank back against his leg.
"You just miss being able to run your hand up my leg and teasing me under the table." I murmured and heard his soft laughter.
"Aye, I'll not deny that."
I finished brushing my hair and felt his hand run through my loose curls, then cup round my face and turn my face up to his. My smile was involuntary when I saw his own and he gently kissed the corner of my mouth. He knelt by my side and brought me into a deep kiss.
"You are the only woman on this earth who has ever made me smile."
My smile became stronger and sweeter, he pulled me close against him and the tightness of his hold was probably a little too much, but I didn't want to let him go. He slipped an arm under my legs and lifted me up. I giggled a little. But when he placed me on the bed he silenced me with another kiss.

Salazar was very gentle tonight, lathering kisses all over my body, gentle, closed-mouth kisses and making me moan with longing when he thrust so slowly and sweetly inside me. He held me tightly against him afterwards and barely said a word; he just gazed upwards into the bed canopy. I remembered what he had said about me being the only woman to make him smile. Where there no others? Not even his mother? I kissed his forehead.
"I'm not doing a very good job, if I'm the only woman who can make you smile." I said and a little smirk came back to his lips. But it did not last long.
"Are you sure there are no others? Surely your mother made you smile?" I whispered in the darkness and felt his body tense.
"She died when I was very young."
"But you cannot remember her making you smile? I remember my father, he used to tell me stories and there would always be a Helga in them. I was very put out when I went to a Dame-school and none of the stories I had been told had a Helga in them."
"No, Helga, I cannot remember. I did not see her very often as a child, as is the way with children of noble birth. I was only six when she died."

I held him closer, "I am sorry. How did your mother die?"
His fingers dug into my waist and when he spoke his voice was low and rough, "Hush Helga, I do not need your words. As to her death, it was at the hand of a muggle Priest. He raped her then slit her throat, while I watched. He would have killed me, had not the Black family saved my life."
"Salazar…" I whispered, finding hot tears prickling my eyes, but knowing he would hate me for them.
"It was long ago. It does not matter."
"Salazar, of course it matters–"
"Helga!" he rolled me onto my back, firm hands keeping my wrists pinned to the bed and his dark eyes glaring above me, "Stop it. I have no desire to think upon it."
"I'm just…sorry."
"Sorry will not help me, it never has."
"Salazar please…"
He gave a long sigh and then rested his head on my shoulder, "I just hate them all. I hate them all so much."
I wanted to tell him so badly, through the tightness of my arms around him, through my lips pressed to his mouth and my hands soothingly running through his hair, how I would protect him and love him. I wanted to love him. But I knew he would never let me, Salazar did not only dislike weakness in himself, but in all things. And though I had always seen love as a means of strength, he would never change his mind.

A/N: *Sniffs* poor Salazar, never thought I would feel sorry for that guy!

Also, no Sorting Hat! Apparently, the idea of the Sorting Hat was Gryffindor's idea, as a way of sorting students when all the founders were dead. But there are a couple of problems with this, one of them being we don't know how the founders did sort students at the beginning. I was trying to come up with a dozen ways that didn't involve:
a. Students using magic (many of them and their parents would have been too scared to use it frequently).
b. Occlumency.
c. Mislabeling students (think Neville Longbottom, he even thinks he's been wrongly sorted and would be better in Hufflepuff. How would this be avoided if it was just based on first impressions?)

So I am going to be introducing the Sorting Hat much earlier on and treating the 'How-will-we-sort-students-when-we're-dead?-idea' as a bit of a Hogwarts myth. Sorry devoted HP fans. But that's why this chapter took so long!