The Sorting
Remus waited in line for the re-sorting, the group of Sixth-years knowing each other’s surnames well enough to put themselves in some semblance of the order that McGonagall would call them out in, so that there would only be a few embarrassing times when someone was behind someone who they were meant to be in front of and had to walk around the other person. The small group of new students were huddled at the end, it didn’t matter what order they were in as they would be sorted last and they hadn’t had sufficient time to sort out what order they should be in anyway as they had no prior knowledge of each other’s names.
While waiting for the first years to get sorted, he gazed out across the great hall which, while being just as big and grand and packed as it had been five years ago, had lost its sense of novelty as he had been eating every meal here for most of his year since he was eleven, and it therefore no longer seemed out of the ordinary. He reminisced about when he first came up here, worried about the house he would get, terrified that he would make a fool of himself in front of everyone before school had even started and of how he had never wanted to go through it all again, despite knowing that he would have to in six years as it was the beginning of his newt years. He was a lot more confident now however, as he was fairly certain that neither James nor Peter would get sorted into another house, despite Peter’s own worry that he wasn’t brave enough, as he had voiced on the train. He was also rather sure of the fact that nobody else would be sorted into Gryffindor and disrupt the usual harmony of his dorm, though nothing could of course be said for the new kids as they had not had enough time in the room beforehand to get a grasp of their personalities.
He watched as the first years continued to get sorted into their houses, the numbers ebbing away as more and more people got sorted into the houses that they did, or in a few cases, didn’t, want. The first year's ceremony came to a close, taking a lot less time than he remembered his own taking, though that may have been because the sorting hat took almost seven minutes to decide his alone, deliberating between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor for what seemed at the time like an eternity. He really hoped that it would not take so much time over him again, he knew that he would ultimately be put in Gryffindor again, however his Ravenclaw traits had also increased rather a lot considering that he wasn’t even in Ravenclaw.
Avery was the first name to be called from his year group, a sixth year Slytherin who kept to himself unless he was around other Slytherins. He got resorted back into Slytherin, and the next person got called up. It was Sirius Black, who was not only a Slytherin, but the prince of Slytherin himself. He was a blood-purist and was known for hexing or even cursing people in all years, both younger and older than himself. Remus had been on the receiving end of this enough times to know not to provoke him and even his friends, who liked to call themselves the marauders, were scared of him. On many occasions they had had to make sure that their pranks didn’t affect him for fear that he would do something to them. It was safe to say that he would be sorted back into Slytherin as there was no way someone so prejudiced could be put anywhere else.
The hat seemed to take a while to decide where to put him, however, taking over three minutes to decide before shouting out “GRYFFINDOR”. This caused a tidal wave of muttering throughout the great hall. Black looked nervously left and right, and in all honesty, it was the first time Remus ever remembered Black’s face being anything other than a blank mask. The sorting ceremony moved on but very few people were still paying attention. Remus himself stood rooted to the spot as the list continued through the C’s and D’s, unsure whether or not he still wanted to be Gryffindor if it meant sharing a dorm with him. He was brought out of his thoughts for a moment when Lily Evans, one of his really good friends and the only person in Gryffindor who shared his dedication to schoolwork and felt the same need to prove themselves. She got put in Gryffindor, so he decided that he did still want to be in Gryffindor to be with her.
He still felt really nervous when, a while later, it was his turn to go up. He sat on the stool and put hat on his head, fully prepared to spend just as long sitting there as he had last time. Hmm, interesting, he heard the voice say in his head. What to do? What to do? What was it I had you in last time? Gryfiindor, wasn’t it? Gryffindor would still do you well, however, I sense that Ravenclaw could take you just as far. Tell me, which would you prefer?Ooo, I sense that that might be a tricky question. You want to be with your friends I see. Well, I’m sure you’d make lots of new friends in Ravenclaw too and who’s to say that they will all remain in Gryffindor as well. It seems like you are having a bit of a mental dispute about this yourself. Gryffindor would surely nurture the more daring side of you, but is that really what you would like? It will be hard to find a job as a werewolf, you would need to be almost perfect, but I sense you are already aware of that. What is it that you are so worried will happen to you in Gryffindor? I don’t think it's just that. Is it Black? It is, I can tell. I don’t think you really need to worry about that for too long, there is more to him than it seems.
The sorting hat continued on with its internal speech for what seemed like hours, but was realistically only slightly more time than before, probably about eight minutes. The hat finally came to the conclusion that it would let him decide, because picking Ravenclaw would show that he was smart enough to stay far far away from Black, but choosing Gryffindor would make him brave for choosing to face him instead, and loyal for choosing to remain with his friends. After taking a few moments to decide for himself he chose Gryffindor. He knew it wasn’t the most clever choice ever, but his friends were much more important than his fear. The sorting hat called out his decision and he ran off the stage, almost forgetting to leave the hat in his haste to leave, worried that if he stayed too long he would change his decision, which he was already regretting.
He sat down by Lily, as far from Black as he could get, though that part of the table was already suspiciously empty. He knew he would have to talk to him at some point, as he would almost definitely be in the same dorm as him and would also be in the same classes too but he was attempting to stay away from him for as long as possible.
The next person to get called to the sorting hat that Remus was friends with was Mary Macdonald, who was sorted into Gryffindor, closely followed by her close friend Marlene McKinnon, who also got sorted back into Gryffindor. Dorcas, Marlene's girlfriend, was next, getting sorted into Hufflepuff again. Mulcibur was the next name called. He was one of Blacks loyal supporters and Remus really hoped that he wouldn’t get sorted into Gryffindor as well, that would definitely be the end of him. Thankfully, he was sorted into Slytherin, where he belonged. That didn’t necessarily stop Black from inviting him around, but from the looks of it Black didn’t care about him as he hadn’t even lifted his head when he was called. A few more names were called, and then it was onto the P’s. James was called first, and he barely sat on the stool before the hat called out Gryffindor, just like last time. Next was Peter, who sat down nervously on the seat, and, from the look of his furrowed brow, seemed to be having a rather heated argument with the hat. After a few minutes, though still not as much time as it had seemed to take for him, the hat called out Slytherin, much to the shock, for the second time that day, of the entire hall. There was no way Peter, timid little Peter, was in Slytherin. That just couldn’t be the case.
James wasn’t having it though. He waved Peter over to their table and let him sit there anyway. McGonagall didn’t even purse her lips, she seemed rather pleased about James’ decision, as was Remus, as there was no way Pete would survive on a table full of Slytherins who no doubt all hated him. Peter sat down nervously and the sorting hat continued as if nothing had happened. Remus watched as Peter glanced nervously over at Black, who at this point seemed to be pretending not to notice how empty the table was around him, though Remus thought that he might look somehow slightly affected. Serves him right, he thought, he shouldn’t have done those things, if no one likes him then that’s on him.
The last person who Remus really knew who got sorted was Snape, or Snivellous as they liked to call the greasy coward. He got sorted back into Slytherin, where Remus was sure he would stay for another two years of loneliness and misery. Remus laughed internally as he thought of Snape’s blood purist views, as by now they all knew that he was a half blood himself.
The re-sorting ceremony finally came to a close, the few new students all getting sorted into Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and the feast finally began. Overall it was a cheery and pleasant affair, all the students were happy to be with their friends again, but for Remus and the rest of the Marauders there was a cloud looming overhead as the fact that they would have to be sharing a dorm with Black himself, and for Peter with Snape, Avery and Mulcibur, was not pleasant in the slightest.