Sirius found an empty carriage and took his seat, watching as the other eleven-year-olds desperately pushed towards the windows of the train in a last effort to wave goodbye to their families. His had long gone. Despite his brothers pleading, his parents had apparated shortly after seeing Sirius onto platform 9 ¾, and Sirius had remained impassive throughout. In all honesty he was ecstatic. He had felt a slight pit of guilt in his stomach at the prospect of leaving Regulus to suffer their parents alone, but his younger brother had always been the more well-favoured child. In fact, Sirius thought, with him being gone from the house, Regulus would quickly find that it was a much more peaceful atmosphere.
"Mind if I join you?" a scruffy-haired but grinning boy asked him as the train began pulling off, students peeling themselves away from the windows as the platform slowly disappeared. "James Potter" he introduced himself, as he held his hand out in an offer of a handshake, just as his dad had shown him this past summer.
"Sirius" he responded, taking the other boy's hand in a firm handshake, the harsh etiquette lessons his father had given him flashing across his memory. "First year too?" he asked, as the boy sat across him in the carriage.
"Yeah" came the enthusiastic nod before he immediately began rummaging through his satchel. "I know mum packed me some chocolate cauldrons in here somewhere" he muttered, shaking the bag left and right to try and uncover them from the mass of items his mum had put in there. "Found 'em!" the child smiled at the boy opposite, holding out a slightly squished chocolate cauldron.
Sirius accepted the cauldron easily "cheers", he smiled before taking a bite "these are my favourite". In the Black household, things like chocolate cauldrons were not easy to come across. His parents were of the traditional mindset, that children ought to eat three square meals a day and that treats were not necessary. In fact, the only person he ever got given chocolate cauldrons from was his Uncle Alphard, and that was only when the sweets could be slipped into his pocket without drawing the attention of his parents.
"Me too!" the other child enthused "though this is the first one I've had in an age" the child added, throwing his new acquaintance a cheeky grin "Mum banned them after I gave Cousin Mary one that exploded".
Sirius let out a bark of laughter at this, finding this boy to have a sense of humour that was right up his alley. "Bet cousin Mary thinks twice before taking anything from you" he got out through laugher, "still, I'm partial to a bit of pranking myself" he added, lest the other boy think him a bore.
"Are you really?" James asked in excitement, the glow of a plan appearing across his face.
"I thought it might be nice to" Sirius paused, thinking of the right wording "welcome the students back, so to speak" he added with a wry grin, before the two began speaking in hushed tones.
"Say, what do you think about capsizing this thing?" Sirius laughed over to his friend as they creeped across the lake in their small boat.
James laughed in return, moving his body from side to side and causing the boat to rock. "Only the giant squid to fear" he teased, as both boys fooled around.
"If either of you do something that lands me in that water, you'll be sorry" a ginger-haired girl who had the misfortune of being grouped on their boat fired out, causing their giggling to dwindle. She glared at the two boys for a moment, before turning to the girl next to her to gush about the castle they were slowly approaching. Both boys glanced at each other, silently agreeing to rock the boat again, when they reached their destination.
"It's even better than Mum said" James breathed, as he looked up at the castle, lights glimmering through the tall windows that spanned the entire building.
"Race you to the entrance hall" Sirius called, as he immediately began running up from the lake to the castle, the half-giant still assisting the more nervous students out of their boats.
"Hey! You had a head start you cheat!" James hollered back, sprinting up in an attempt to catch up with, and then overtake, the other child.
"Mr Black" the stern voice of one of their new professors called, as Sirius halted just outside of the grand entrance to the castle. The professor was dressed in green robes, her hair pulled back in a tight bun that sat at the nape of her neck. "And Mr Potter too, I see" she added, as the second boy finally caught up with his friend. "It would do you both well to remember to conduct yourselves with the appropriate decorum of a young wizard whilst in this castle, rather than in the manner of a Cornish pixie".
"Yes Professor" Sirius answered solemnly, though he quickly glanced back at his friend with a cheeky smile.
It was not much longer until the rest of the first years began drifting into the entrance hall, milling around the stern professor who kept a particularly watchful eye on the two boys that had arrived first.
"Welcome to Hogwarts" she spoke in a commanding tone, the voices of the students fading away as she did. "I am Professor McGonagall, professor of transfiguration, and head of Gryffindor House", at this she glanced back at the two boys she'd welcomed, sensing they may just be joining her own house. "In a moment, you will follow me through into the Great Hall for your sorting ceremony".
James nudged his new friend with an elbow "what house are you going for?" he asked.
"Dunno mate, I guess it- " he began answering.
Professor McGonagall, much to Sirius' relief, interrupted their conversation "if you'll follow me" she addressed the group.
"Evans, Lily" The professor called, and James watched on as the ginger haired girl who had scolded them in the boats nervously approached the sorting hat.
"Reckon she's muggle born?" James whispered to his friend as the girl took her seat on the sorting stool.
"I guess, why?" the other boy asked back, his own nerves beginning to grow at the prospect of being sorted. He glanced towards the Slytherin table, where he easily caught the piercing blue eyes of his cousin, causing him to shudder. Sirius was well aware that the expectation was that he would end up on that table, surrounded by the sons and daughters of wizards his parents had hosted at many a dinner party over the years.
"Hellooo" James sang, waving a hand in front of his friends face to break him out of his thoughts.
"What? Sorry" Sirius answered flustered, suddenly realising the hundreds of pairs of eyes that had fallen on him.
"Black, Sirius" the professor repeated, looking at the child in encouragement.
The walk from the crowd of first years up to the sorting stool felt miles long. Sirius could hear nothing save his own heart pounding in his chest as he approached, giving his professor a tight smile as he did so.
Well, what have we here? the hat began as soon as it touched his head. I've sorted many students of the Black family over the years, yes, a family that does well in Slytherin. Sirius desperately tried to clear his head, but all he could see was the snarling face of Walburga Black, and the irate face of his father as they discussed politics at the dinner table. If this is where Slytherin's ambition got you, he could count himself out. He'd much rather be singing with the Hufflepuffs than plotting with the Slytherins. No, he trashed that thought out of his head. He couldn't afford to be housed anywhere other than Slytherin, he thought, shuddering at the idea of returning to Grimmauld Place in summer as the member of any other house.
"Gryffindor!" the hat boomed, and it was as if everything had been sucked into a vacuum. Hundreds of pairs of eyes shifted from the Slytherin table to the small boy perched atop the sorting stool and back again. An unprecedented moment had just taken place and everyone, including the faculty, were half expecting the hat to decide it had gone mad for a split second and announced the wrong house.
"Mr Black" his professor interrupted his thoughts once again, when it became clear that the hat's judgement was final. "Please make your way to the Gryffindor table" she added to him quietly.
As he stood from the stool, Sirius' eyes briefly met those of his cousin, and he felt his stomach drop. She looked overly satisfied, as though she was already penning the perfect letter to her Uncle Orion and Aunt Walburga. Well, Sirius thought, at least I won't have to break the news myself.
"Jheeze, would you look at that chicken" James enthused, grabbing a leg and placing it on his plate. "Oi, cheer up mate, you could've been a Hufflepuff" he jested, extracting a small smile from his new friend.
"Right" Sirius forced himself to laugh, loading his own plate up with some food if only to distract himself. He was hungry, but every bite seemed to taste like ash in his mouth. He forced himself to eat it nonetheless certain that if he didn't, he'd be serving detention by the end of the night for sneaking out to the kitchens.
"What were you thinking" a voice hissed behind him, and Sirius didn't even need to turn to know that it was none other than his cousin.
"I don't know what you're talking about Cissy" he answered, biting into a piece of chicken to stop him saying anything to the girl that he might later regret.
"What will Uncle Orion think when he's told you're sitting amongst mudbloods?" she asked scornfully, glancing towards the ginger haired girl that Sirius hadn't formally been introduced to yet.
The eyes of the Gryffindor table shifted from the Slytherin student to Sirius, and Sirius was well aware that it was a now or never moment. Standing and pulling his wand from its holster, he pointed it straight at his Cousin and warned "call her that again".
Narcissa Black laughed back at the boy and then, glancing back at the ginger haired girl, an evil smirk taking over her face, "I'll call her what she is, Sirius" she spoke, though never taking her eyes off the girl.
"What is going on down here?" a Gryffindor prefect demanded, looking between Sirius and Narcissa.
"A private family matter, Prewett, that you would be minded to stay out of" Narcissa answered coldly, before walking away with one last smirk at her younger cousin.
"What was that about?" James asked his new friend, once everyone had lost interest and returned to their own meals.
"Black family troubles" Sirius mumbled back, sitting back down and offering the ginger haired student an apologetic smile, "nothing to worry about".
It was nearly three in the morning, and Sirius had been unable to sleep. He kept thinking about Narcissa, and the letters she'd likely already written to his parents detailing his disgrace of their family name. He had contemplated informing them directly, perhaps stealing some floo powder and telling them in person. A part of him liked to hope that they'd be proud of him regardless, that him ending up in Gryffindor didn't exile him from the family. He quickly quashed that hope, knowing deep down that it wouldn't be okay. He'd seen the tapestry loads of times. There was an odd Ravenclaw, and he was certain that there was that one Hufflepuff way over at the top left. A Gryffindor though? No, he was categorically certain that there was not a single Gryffindor on the Black family tree tapestry. Even the portraits that had been blasted off had no signs of allegiance to the red and gold house. If anything sealed his deal as an outsider to the family, it was tonight's sorting.
"Can't you sleep?" he heard his friends voice drifting from the top of the staircase where he had probably just left the dorm.
"Too much sugar for dessert probably" the boy smiled back from the common room, "thought I'd sit out here so I didn't wake anyone" he added.
"You should've woken me" James reassured him, "Mum gave me a bunch of stomach soothers" he added, "she knows what I'm like when I have free reign of desserts".
"Cheers mate" Sirius smiled back, "I think it's settled enough on its own now". He did, however, reach across to the table in front of him where he had been playing a one-man game of exploding snap. Reshuffling the cards, he looked back at his friend "fancy a game?".
"Your cousin seems like a right piece of work" James spoke as they finished up the first game, "can't say I envy you that".
"Oh, she's not so bad" the boy acquiesced "not compared to the rest of them anyway".
"Right, I didn't want to come across as rude, but I have heard some questionable things about the Blacks" his friend tried to approach sensitively. Sirius could sense that the boy was hesitant to offend him by discussing the nature of those questionable things he had heard.
Sirius sighed, "no need to dodge the topic with me, they're all awful" he forced a laugh in hopes of lightening the mood.
"You didn't seem so happy about getting Gryffindor" James observed, glancing over at the dark-haired child who still looked to be on edge.
"It's not that I wanted Slytherin" Sirius quickly assured his friend "far from it actually". He wasn't sure how to explain to the child that actually he was very happy with his sorting, just apprehensive about the reaction it would cause amongst his family. "It's just, no Black has ever ended up in Gryffindor before".
James looked understanding at this, "yeah, can't say it wouldn't have been a shock to the Potters if I'd have ended up in Slytherin". In fact, his parents probably would have found that to be very odd indeed. "Still, it might take some getting used to, but they'll come around".
"Yeah, you're probably right" Sirius responded, though lacking in sincerity. There was no way the Blacks would 'come around'. It was more than likely that, as they spoke, his face was being blasted off of the tapestry for good.
"Anyway, that cousin gives us any more trouble, and we'll see about slipping her an exploding cauldron" James assured his friend, evoking the first proper bout of laughter from the boy since he'd been sorted.