Sirius was in shock. This wasn't right; he must have misheard what the Sorting Hat shouted out. But, no, at far-right table the Slytherins were clapping and cheering for him.
Suddenly, the weight of the hat was removed from his head and a familiar voice said, "Mr. Black, please join your house."
"No, it's wrong," Sirius said, as he turned looked up at Professor McGonagall. "I don't belong there."
"I beg your pardon?" she asked, sounding taken aback.
"The hat is wrong," Sirius tried to explain. "I'm supposed to go in Gryffindor."
He noticed that nobody was clapping anymore; instead, everyone was staring at him, and whispers began to break out around the Great Hall. Sirius glanced over at James, who shrugged helplessly, looking slightly disappointed.
"The Sorting Hat clearly said Slytherin," Professor McGonagall said, sounding impatient. "Now please join your table. Unless you would prefer to return home?"
Returning home definitely wasn't an option, and Sirius knew he wouldn't be able to explain the situation properly to McGonagall with hundreds of eyes watching them. With resignation, Sirius slowly made his way toward the Slytherin table while the next student was called forward. He sat down across from Milo Avery, who offered a friendly greeting but was still looking at him strangely.
As the sorting continued, Sirius tried to think of ways to amend this problem. Perhaps Dumbledore would allow a re-sorting giving the circumstances; that is, if he believed Sirius' story about going back in time. Surely Dumbledore, the great wizard who has seen and done so much in his life, would understand what happened.
Sirius' thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an older girl with caramel-coloured hair and a shiny prefect badge pinned to her robes, who sat down next to him.
"What's wrong?" Andromeda asked him, looking concerned. "What happened up there?"
"I was confused – I am confused… I'm not supposed to be in Slytherin!"
"Where did you expect to go?" his cousin asked, a teasing smile on her lips. "Hufflepuff?"
"No, Gryffindor… last time I went to Gryffindor."
"Last time?" Andromeda repeated uncomprehendingly.
Sirius struggled to find the correct words to explain the situation to her. Then, Rabastan Lestrange slid onto the bench beside Avery, offering Sirius a polite nod in acknowledgement. Sirius closed his mouth; he would have to be careful about how much information he gave away around these Slytherins. They couldn't be trusted.
Andromeda stood back up and patted him gently on the shoulder. "Just hang in there," she said kindly. "We will talk later, okay?"
Sirius nodded and watched her walk back down the other end of the table to sit with her friends.
"Lupin, Remus!" McGonagall's voice rang out, as Sirius turned his attention back to the sorting in time to see a young Remus walking forward to put on the Sorting Hat.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted a moment later.
Sirius watched sadly as Remus nervously walked toward the table on the other side of the hall. He continued watching as Mary MacDonald and Marlene MacKinnon also went to Gryffindor again, then Ravi Malhotra was sorted into Hufflepuff while Nathaniel Merritt went to Ravenclaw. Garnet Mulciber joined the Slytherin table, taking the seat next to him. Sirius shook Mulciber's offered hand in greeting (he figured that he had caused enough of a scene for one night) but didn't engage in conversation with him.
Soon, it was Peter Pettigrew's turn. It was a couple of minutes before Sirius remembered that Peter had been a Hatstall – a rare occurrence where the Sorting Hat takes over five minutes to choose a house. He watched the tiny boy sitting on the stool, looking petrified and knew the hat was trying to decide between Gryffindor or Slytherin. Slimy bastard should be put in Slytherin, Sirius thought darkly, before remembering (with great irritation) that that was the house he was currently stuck in.
When the hat finally called out Gryffindor, Sirius watched resentfully as the rat joined the table on the other side of the room. He was quickly followed by James, who instantly struck up a conversation with Peter. It was sickening to watch; Sirius had planned on keeping James and Remus away from Peter this time around.
Now it was Snape's turn to be sorted and, although he wasn't surprised, Sirius watched with annoyance as the greasy-haired boy joined their table. Snape locked eyes with the Sirius and evidently remembered him from the train, because he quickly looked away and began to speak to Lucius Malfoy, who had come forward to greet the new students.
Once the sorting was completed, the large feast appeared on the table. Sirius ate in silence, barely listening to the conversation around him and only replying in one-word responses when he was directly spoken to. Finally, the meal was finished and Dumbledore gave his welcome speech, before sending them all off to bed. Sirius considered hanging back in the Great Hall and try to speak to McGonagall or Dumbledore but, as he was swept toward the Entrance Hall by the sea of students exiting the Great Hall, he decided to wait until morning. He knew that would have better luck discussing the matter calmly with McGonagall before classes started, rather than tonight when everything was hectic.
He figured that he could survive one night among the snakes before being rightfully sorted to Gryffindor, so he joined the other first-year Slytherins as they followed the prefects down the stone steps into the dungeons. The path to the Common Room was longer than Sirius expected and they kept turning down so many different dimly-lit corridors, he didn't know how he would remember his way back out. Finally, the group of Slytherins stopped at a bare stretch of wall.
"The password will change every two weeks and the new one will be posted on the bulletin board in the Common Room," Andromeda explained to the new students. "For now, the password is fortis sanguine." As soon as she said the word, an opening appeared in the wall and the students filed into the common room.
As he entered, Sirius looked around in disgust at the Slytherin Common Room. It was as gloomy and unwelcoming as he imagined it would be. Unlike the circular Gryffindor Tower, with its comfortable chairs and large windows that looked out into the sky, the Slytherin Dungeon was a long room with windows looking directly into the lake. Illumination came from the fireplace and round, green lamps that hung from the low ceiling. The entire room gave off the feeling of cold detachment and Sirius wondered how anyone could feel at home here – it was worse than Grimmauld Place.
Lucius Malfoy led the first-year boys through a door and down a long hallway. He pointed out the room for the first-years and left them to settle in. The dormitory was much larger than Sirius expected. There were five four-poster beds that were set quite a bit apart from one another, ensuring the students plenty of privacy, and next to each bed was a desk, bookshelf, wardrobe and armchair.
Sirius saw his trunk beside a bed that was positioned under a window. He collasped on his bed and shut his eyes, wishing away this nightmare.
"So, Snape," Avery's voice called out after a moment. "I don't think I recognize your surname. Are you Pureblood?"
Sirius opened his eyes and looked over to see Avery scrutinizing Snape, with his arms crossed over his chest. Mulciber and Lestrange stopped what they were doing to watch, too.
"Does it matter?" Snape retorted, with a tinge of pink on his cheeks.
Judging by the expressions on the faces of their roommates, Sirius knew it mattered quite a lot. Had it been anyone else, Sirius would have rushed to their defense and told Avery to stick his pureblood bigotry up his ass. But since it was Snape, Sirius was content to watch him squirm.
"Well," Muliciber explained, stepping forward to stand beside Avery, facing Snape. "The rest of us are Pureblood and its not very often that a mudblood would-."
"I'm halfblood," Snape replied quickly, cutting him off. "My mother is a pureblood. Her surname was Prince and she was in Slytherin when she came to Hogwarts."
"And your father?" Avery asked, refusing to let the matter drop.
"I don't know him," Snape responded quickly.
"I thought your father was a muggle," Sirius replied without thinking.
Every head turned to look at him, and Sirius wished he hadn't said anything. He didn't really want their attention on him.
"Really? A muggle?" Lestrange asked, turning back to Snape with a sneer. "That's even worse than having a mudblood parent for a parent. If your mother is pureblood, why the hell would she get off with a Muggle?"
Snape's face was getting redder by the moment. Sirius knew he should keep his mouth shut and stay out of it, but the urge to insult Snape was too strong.
"Probably the best she could do, if she looks anything like her son," Sirius remarked, as he stood up, smirking in Snape's direction. Lestrange, Avery and Mulciber burst out laughing.
Snape was seething by this point. He grabbed his wand and pointed it at Sirius. "Furnunculus!", he shouted.
Sirius reacted instinctively, quickly reaching for his own wand and wordlessly deflected the spell, sending it back at Snape. The other boy screamed as his face erupted in painful-looking boils.
"Wow!" Mulciber exclaimed, ignoring Snape as he walked over to Sirius. "You can already do nonverbal magic already?"
"'Course he can," Avery said proudly, before Sirius could try to come up with an excuse for his above-average magic skill. "He's a Black. He was probably born with a wand in his hand."
Sirius muttered the counter-curse and Snape's boils disappeared. Snape shot Sirius a murderous glare, then turned to his bed, roughly pulling the emerald curtains shut in anger. The other boys chuckled at Snape's distress and went back to unpacking their trunks.
Sirius got into bed, not bothering to unpack. He hoped this would be the only night he had to spend in this room. The elation that he had felt about getting one over Snape was quickly dissipating, as he thought about James and Remus up in the Gryffindor Tower without him. As he stared out into the depths of the lake, Sirius reaffirmed to himself that he would speak to McGonagall first thing in the morning and get this mess straightened out.
*.*.*
"You better get up, Black," a voice called out, bringing Sirius out of his sleep.
Sirius sat up slowly, feeling disheveled. He pulled back his bed curtains to see Rabastan Lestrange standing by his bed, buttoning up his robes.
"Where is everyone?" Sirius asked, as he glanced around the empty room.
"They already went up to breakfast," Lestrange replied as he grabbed his bag and walked toward the door. "You need to hurry up, or you will be late for the first class."
Looking at the clock, Sirius cursed to himself. So much for getting McGonagall alone before breakfast.
While muttering angrily in the dark, underwater dormitory, Sirius dressed as quickly as he could, before grabbing his bag and heading up the stairs to the Great Hall.
When he entered, he looked longingly at the Gryffindor table, where James and Peter were laughing about something. Sirius felt sick to his stomach; that was supposed to be James and him laughing together.
"Sirius," a voice called out and he looked over to the Slytherin table where his cousin Narcissa was patting the bench beside her. "Have a seat."
Sirius shrugged to himself and sat down next to Narcissa. He grabbed a piece of toast off of a plate and nibbled on the corner of it.
"How are you this morning?" Narcissa asked, as she added a spoonful of sugar to her teacup. "Sleep well?"
"Well enough, I guess, when you are sleeping in a cold, musty dungeon."
Narcissa looked at him suspiciously. "I do hope you are finished with these foolish pranks. Last night, when you stayed on the stage after your sorting, it was horribly embarrassing. My friends think you are a bit… unhinged."
"I wouldn't argue with that," he muttered.
"You are a student at Hogwarts now, Sirius, it's time to grow up and stop acting so childish—"
"Leave him alone, Cissy," Andromeda cut her off, sitting down across from them. She passed Sirius a piece of parchment. "Here's your timetable, Sirius. Slughorn passed them out earlier." She looked at him closely. "Are you feeling better this morning?"
"I don't know. Have you ever felt like you were trapped in a strange world that you don't belong in?"
Narcissa huffed and rolled her eyes, but Andromeda held his hand for a moment, while giving him an encouraging smile.
"It can be hard starting school, leaving behind everything you know at home," Andromeda said. "Let's meet up this afternoon, after classes are done. You can tell me all about your day."
Sirius made plans to meet her later by the lake, then he trudged off to his first class of the day.
When he entered the Charms classroom, Sirius took a moment to assess the seating situation. Students were sitting two to a table and there were only two seats left. One was next to Rabastan Lestrange and the other was beside Marilla Flint - a disgusting girl, who currently had her pinkie finger shoved up her nose. Just as Sirius was trying to decide which would be the better option of the two, Snape walked into the room. He was obviously doing the same quick assessment as Sirius, then with a glance at one another, they both made a beeline for the seat beside Lestrange.
Snape got there first and set his bag down on the table, giving Sirius a superior smirk. Then, Lestrange reached over and pushed Snape's bag to the floor, causing his books to spill out.
"Have a seat, Black," Lestrange said, as if Snape wasn't even there.
Sirius gave Snape a pleasant smile as he pushed past him and sat down. He watched as Snape picked up his bag and books, before tramping back to the table where Flint was now examining her finger, looking at the treasure she had dug out of her nose. Snape continued to glare at Sirius, who turned around, ignoring him.
"Slimy git," Sirius muttered, as he pulled out his Charms textbook.
Lestrange sniggered, then asked in a low voice, "Is his father really a muggle?"
"Yes," Sirius replied, not bothering to explain how he knew that information.
"Disgusting," Lestrange said, his lip curling.
Sirius rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to tell Lestrange that he had no issues at all with muggles; his only annoyance was Severus Snape. He didn't get the chance to say anything, however, before Flitwick walked into the room and started their lesson for the day.
After Charms class (in which Sirius amazed everyone with his well-progressed magical skills), they had History of Magic. Professor Binns was as dull as Sirius remembered it and he spent most of the class going over his speech to McGonagall in his head.
When History of Magic finally ended, Sirius went to the Great Hall where he quickly scarfed down a sandwich, then headed to the Transfiguration classroom. He was pleased to see Professor McGonagall already there, preparing for her lesson.
"Mr. Black," she commented, hardly looking up. "You're twenty minutes early for class."
"I need to speak with you," Sirius said, pulling a chair up and sitting across from her.
Professor McGonagall listened quietly to him as he explained the entire situation to her. When he finished, Sirius hoped she would insist he speak to Dumbledore immediately; or, even better, just use her power as Deputy Headmistress to re-sort him herself. However, what happened next was not at all what Sirius had expected.
"Mr. Black, that is the most ridiculous story I have ever heard!" Professor McGonagall said, when he had finished. "Where would you come up with such nonsense?"
"Can't I just try the sorting again?" Sirius asked.
"No, the hat's decision is final."
"But it's wrong," Sirius insisted. "Can I at least see the Sorting Hat once more? Just to ask it if it made the right call?"
"Absolutely not," McGonagall responded. "If I was to allow one student to do that, then everyone would want to."
"Fine, then let me see Professor Dumbledore," Sirius said, hearing the frustration in his voice. "I will explain this to him, and he will believe me!"
Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows at his aggravated-sounding tone, and her mouth formed a thin, straight line. Sirius knew her well enough to realize that he was at risk for pushing her too far.
"Professor Dumbledore only meets one-on-one with students for special circumstances," she replied after a moment. "And I will certainly not be wasting his time with these stories you make up. Now, I don't want to hear another word about this, Black. If you have more questions, I will ask you to direct them to your Head of House, which is Professor Slughorn."
*.*.*
After classes had finished for the day, Sirius sat by the lake, absentmindedly pulling strands of grass from the ground, as he comtemplated how best to work with his situation. If he stayed at Hogwarts, it looked like he was going to stuck in Slytherin for the next seven years, sharing a room with future Death Eaters. He knew that Professor Slughorn would be no help to him. The last time Sirius was at school, Slughorn was constantly lamenting about how he had "missed out" on getting him in Slytherin, as if Sirius were some sort of collectable. There was no way that man would risk losing Sirius now.
Going home wasn't an option, either. His parents probably would have let him leave last time (when he was sorted into Gryffindor) but now he was in Slytherin, exactly where they wanted him. Besides, even if he were permitted to leave the school, he would likely be sent to Durmstrang instead. And how could he save James from there?
Sirius eventually came to conclusion that he would have to stick it out in Slytherin. At least he would be able to obtain good information to feed Dumbledore in a few years, when the older man starts the Order of the Phoenix. Besides, he and James could still be friends. They had a connection, an unbreakable bond. Something as trivial as different houses shouldn't come between them.
A shadow appeared loomed over him, and Sirius looked up to see Andromeda smiling down at him.
"How was your first day?" she asked, dropping down onto the grass next to him.
"Alright I guess," he replied, staring into the lake. "Charms, History, Transfiguration – nothing too exciting."
They sat in silence for a moment, until it was broken by Andromeda saying, "What a strange tree. I don't remember seeing it before; they must have planted it over the summer."
"That's the Whomping Willow," Sirius replied, following her gaze. "It was planted for Remus to… never mind." He shut his mouth, having almost revealed Remus' secret to a Slytherin prefect. He loved Andromeda, but he wasn't sure that he could trust her yet.
"Can I tell you something, Dromeda?" he said a minute later. "You have to promise it stays between us."
"Of course. You can always trust me, Sirius."
He wasn't sure where to start, and eventually said, "I died."
"Well, I must say, you look pretty good for a dead man," she teased.
"No, I mean it – I died, two days ago in the year was 1996—"
"Sirius, this is 1971," Andromeda interrupted. "That's twenty-five years from now."
"I know! Just let me start at the beginning… or ending, I guess. I've already been to Hogwarts, but the first time I came it was different – I was sorted into Gryffindor. It caused a huge amount of tension and was the beginning of the family disowning me, but I didn't really care. I befriended James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew and we stayed best friends all through school. When we graduated, we joined the forces fighting Voldemort – the war is really going to pick up in a couple years – it's going to get really bad..."
Andromeda frowned at him but didn't say anything.
"James died because that little rat Pettigrew betrayed us," Sirius continued, desperate that she believe him. "James had a son named Harry, who actually saved the world because Voldemort tried to kill him, but he curse rebounded, killing Voldemort instead... well, sort of, he can't actually die, you see."
Andromeda's looked around to make sure there was no one else close by, then leaned in closer to him. "Sirius, you need to be very careful what you say around here. And you certainly can't say You-Know-Who's name out loud!"
Sirius lowered his voice but kept on with his story, as if she hadn't said anything. "I tracked down Pettigrew and I would have killed him, but he got away and faked his death. Then, I was framed for killing the bastard and was sent to Azkaban." An involuntary shiver went through him, and he wished that he had left that part out. "I spent nearly twelve years in prison, but eventually I broke out and tried to stop Peter from getting to Harry. Peter got away again, once again, and then he helped Voldemort regain his body and a second war broke out. Two days ago, I was fighting against the Death Eaters when I died. Actually, it was Bellatrix who killed me—she's one of Voldemort's top soldiers, you see. I fell through this archway at the Ministry of Magic and when I woke up I was eleven-"
"Enough, Sirius," Andromeda said, shaking her head as she held up a hand. "You you, I think Narcissa is right; it's time for you to grow up. I can't believe you would say such things against our family! I know you and Bella have never gotten on well, but to accuse her of killing you – even in the future – is terrible."
"Andromeda, you have to believe me! I can tell you things that no one knows. Like your future husband's name – you're going to marry Ted Tonks!"
She looked at him incredulously, then burst out laughing. "Ted Tonks? That muggleborn Hufflepuff? Why would I marry him? I've been betrothed to Jacob Selwyn for over a year now!"
"You're going to break off that engagement and run off with Ted. Your parents will disown you, but you won't care. You don't believe in their Pureblood propaganda either."
"I don't agree with a lot of the violence that is happening lately, but I promise you Sirius, I have no plans to run off with some muggleborn and leave my family behind."
"You will. Eventually, you will have a daughter too, and for some godforsaken reason, you will name her Nymphadora."
Andromeda froze and looked at his suspiciously. "Nymphadora?"
"I know… I don't know what you were thinking! She hates the name and prefers to just go by Tonks."
"I read that name once in a book and always thought if I had a daughter someday, I would name her Nymphadora… I don't remember ever telling anyone that, though."
"You didn't," Sirius insisted. "I've been in the future… or what was the future. Now that I'm in Slytherin, I don't know what else could change."
"Okay, look, Sirius. You obviously had some kind of delusion or really vivid dream, because you truly seem to believe what you're saying; but, now its time to come back to reality. Just focus on your schoolwork and make some friends – real friends in Slytherin, not someone in another house that you think met twenty-five years ago."
Sirius stared at her sadly, feeling worse than he did after speaking with McGonagall. He was so hoping that Andromeda would believe him. Although, he could understand why she didn't; if their roles were reversed, he likely wouldn't believe her either.
"Fine, I won't mention this again," Sirius relented, standing up and brushing the grass from his robes. "On one condition."
"What?"
"As soon as you fall in love with Ted Tonks, come find me, then we can continue this discussion."
He caught a glimpse of her shocked expression, before turning and walking back to the school.