The Marauders: Year One | #Wattys2016

The Sorting of Sirius Black

"A'right then," Hagrid said, counting up the little boats to be sure nobody had been lost out on the water, "Yeh ready fer the sortin', you lot?" he looked around at them, "Mus' be excited. I remember me own sortin'... seems like ages ago..." Careful no to trod on any of the tiny first years, he made his way to the door opposite the boats and herded them through it into a long corridor, past stationary suits of armor and paintings and what seemed like a million old, wooden doors. They made their way up a long staircase and found themselves in a narrow little room where they all crowded around behind Hagrid. He looked them over, waited for the last of them to arrive into the group, and said, "Now yer'ta wait here," he instructed, "Professor McGonagall will be comin' 'round fer yeh in a mo'. Nice lady, she is. She'll bring yeh in ter the Hall ter be sorted. Good luck, the lot of yeh!" He grinned under all that hair and turned and walked away.

The first years looked around at one another, a nervous energy filtering through the crowd of them. Sirius looked at James and Remus with wide eyes. Sirius whispered, "I'm so bloody nervous."

"Me, too," James admitted.

"And I," agreed Remus.

Sirius could feel his palms beginning to pool sweat. If he ended up in Slytherin, he didn't know what he would do. Then again, he wasn't sure what he'd do if he didn't, either. His parents would not be happy at all if he was in any of the other houses, but a part of him wanted so desperately to defy them in some way and being sorted to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff seemed the ultimate way to do it. At least if he went to Hufflepuff, he'd be with his cousin Andromeda, who was much more kind than most of the other people in his family...

The door opened again and all the first years looked up to see a witch with long brown hair that hung in a braid over her shoulder. She wore emerald green robes and a tall hat. She had a sort of beauty about her sharp, young features. She smiled at them all in a friendly sort of way. "My name is Minerva McGonagall," she announced, "And I'm here to bring you all into the Sorting Ceremony." Her voice carried a thick Scottish twinge to it. "You will follow me out this doorway to the Great Hall, where the other year students have had a seat at their house tables, and one by one you will be sorted. Once you have been sorted, you will go and sit at your respective house table, where you will meet the rest of your house members and we will all enjoy the start of term feast." Her eyes twinkled conspiratorially, "I have heard," she added, "That the house elves of Hogwarts have quite outdone themselves with the meal this year, so please, give us no troubles, so that we may all sit down and eat as quickly as possible."

There was a muttering assent through all the first years, and Professor McGonagall turned and led them through the door and into a wide room, decorated with banners that bore the Hogwarts crest - lion, raven, badger, snake. Standing up at the head of the room was a long table with a bunch of teachers seated at it, looking on joyfully as the lot of first years shuffled by behind McGonagall. In the center stood a large podium and behind it was a middle-aged wizard with a long greying red beard, wearing purple robes flecked with silver stars. He smiled as they walked in, peering at them through half-moon spectacles.

"That's Dumbledore," whispered Remus to James and Sirius.

McGonagall led them to the center of the front of the hall, facing the teachers, and stopped them there, then went to the corner and brought over a short, three legged stool and a worn out old brown hat that looked quite pathetic. She put the hat on the stool and stepped back.

There was a long pause of silence, everyone around the hall staring expectantly at the hat. Most of the first years looked quite confused, but Sirius whispered, "That's a magic hat, that is." James and Remus looked over at him, "It can read your mind, like, and tell you what house you belong in." They looked amazed and turned back to stare at the hat.