The Sorting Ceremony
The Great Hall was what it was: a great hall.
Four long wooden tables dominated most of the space. They were decorated with the colors of the four houses; green, blue, yellow, and red, with many plates and goblets already on top. Hundreds of students were there. The room was lit with thousands of candles floating in the air.
On a raised platform sat another table, this time with much older professors. Professor McGonagall led them to stand on it in a line facing the students. Before that, though, Harry caught sight of Severus sitting up there and smiled. Perhaps he was Professor Snape now.
The students were all facing them. It was slightly unnerving. Spread out along the students were the ghosts, staring unblinkingly at the new students.
He avoided this by looking up and seeing a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. Harry recalled that it was bewitched to look like the night sky. An annoying whisper from a bushy headed girl with serious buckteeth stated the same thing.
Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of them. On top of the stool she put a pointed hat. It was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Every student stared at it, and even Harry was slightly amazed when it twitched, tore near the brim to replicate something like a mouth, and began to sing:
Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!
The hall gave a loud applause. It bowed to each of the student tables and became quiet again. Harry was very excited to be sorted.
Professor McGonagall once again stepped forward with a piece of parchment. “When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!”
A rather pathetic looking girl stumbled her way out of their line. She almost fell on the way there, but managed to get to the stool and put the hat on. It promptly fell over her eyes and stayed quiet for a bit before a loud eruption startled the first-years,
“HUFFLEPUFF!” the hat announced. The table on the far right broke into cheers and the girl happily walked over and sat down.
Sorting students was quite repetitive. The only moments he paid attention was when Draco, Pansy, Vincent, and Gregory were sorted. They all went into Slytherin. Blaise would be last, so he didn’t know yet. Downsides of having a surname like ‘Zabini’.
He also paid attention during Weasley’s, the annoying girl’s, and Longbottom’s sortings. They all went towards the lion’s den. Harry laughed when Longbottom ran off with the hat in relief.
“Potter, Harry!” McGonagall announced. Loud murmuring instantly filled the hall. Harry rolled his eyes. This was pathetic.
He calmly walked over to the hat and placed it gently on his head.
“Interesting,” something in his head whispered. Harry snorted. “A great bit of bravery, unyielding loyalty, quite an intelligent brain, and very, very cunning… Now where to put you, Potter? You could be great in all the houses.”
Don’t make me sit with those dimwits of people called Gryffindors, Harry prayed. He felt the hat chuckle.
“You could be great, you know, in Gryffindor. I’ll admit your friends wouldn’t be rather bright, but it could guide you on your way to greatness!” Harry wished with all his might that this hat would not place him with Weasley.
The hat laughed again. “If that’s so, then, perhaps I will place you elsewhere…” it murmured one last time.
“SLYTHERIN!” it roared. Harry almost sagged with relief but caught himself. He took the hat off, gave it to a distraught looking McGonagall, and headed towards the green table.
The Great Hall was silent. Both older and younger Slytherins were too shocked that they got Potter to do the polite clapping that glided through their table earlier.
Harry plopped himself on the bench next to Draco. Next to him sat air, and in front of him sat a different spot on the bench. Pansy snapped out of the daze first and smiled at him.
“Thomas, Dean.” Professor McGonagall continued on in a shaky voice. Harry, however, wasn’t listening. He looked over at Severus, who was looking right at him and appeared to be contemplating something.
Harry simply smiled at his new Professor. He looked away when the Sorting Hat shouted, “SLYTHERIN!” one last time for Blaise to be sorted.
Newly made Slytherins were celebrating quietly. Gryffindors, however, were not- Harry saw Weasley, the annoying girl, and Longbottom screech when their ghost almost pulled his head off.
Harry grimaced and turned back to his own table. Crabbe and Goyle were trying their hardest to have basic manners. Draco, Pansy, and who Harry thought was ‘Nott, Theodore’ were arguing quietly. You wouldn’t be able to tell if you couldn’t hear them, they were so good at hiding it. ‘Bulstrode, Millicent’ was going on the same tour as Vincent and Gregory.
The eleven year old sighed. The only person to talk to would be Blaise, but he was having a staring contest with Theodore while Draco and Pansy argued with him.
He instead began to eat his potatoes quietly. Harry could feel the headmaster staring at the back of his head intensely, yet he did not turn. That would give him the opportunity of Legilimency, and he was not trained in Occulemency yet. Just another thing to add to the list.
Dumbledore stood up from his golden throne of a chair. Harry was too lazy to listen to the bastard’s entire speech, but he was pretty sure he heard “don’t go into the third floor corridor unless you wish to die a painful death.”
Interesting.
Harry was absolutely going to go into the third floor corridor, even though ‘Professor Snape’s’ eyes were inspecting him closely. He laughed quietly.
“First-year Slytherins, this way!” shouted a black-haired boy about fifteen. “I’m Marcus Flint, your Head Prefect of Slytherin and Quidditch Captain. You’ll be in your dorms in a second!” There was a girl with him too, but he didn’t introduce her.
Marcus led them down many moving stairs and corridors. At one point they walked straight through a wall.
Finally, after about ten minutes, the group arrived at the dungeons. Harry was not amused.
They reached a portrait of a man clad in ivy green that looked like royalty. The man resembled Harry a bit, with messy black hair and emerald eyes. He raised an eyebrow pointedly at Flint.
“Password?” He asked. Marcus ignored him and turned around to face the hoard of new students.
“This is Salazar Slytherin, the creator of Slytherin and fourth founder. He also is cursed to forever ask ‘password’ every time a Slytherin wants to enter, so be nice. It gets annoying to only exist to ask a one-word question. Anyways, the password this week is tunngasugit. It’s Latin for welcome.”
Salazar Slytherin bowed and his portrait swung open to reveal a beautiful common room.
The walls were a pretty shade of grey. Snakes were carved carefully into them. It was lit by hundreds of candles in silver holsters on the walls.
On the very middle of the center wall sat a big, roaring fireplace. It was surrounded by formal dark emerald couches. There were huge windows overlooking the lake that Harry had learned in a book was named the Black Lake. Several plush green carpets were below wooden tables with at least four chairs each.
“Right then,” Flint started. “Welcome to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin. Professor Snape, our Head of House, will be down here in a minute to tell you all the rules. I’ll just go over them lightly for now.
“Rule One: Be in the common room by no later than 8:30, and be in bed by 10:00.” Harry almost laughed. Despite Jayden’s schedule, he hadn’t been to bed by 10:00 since he was nine.
“Rule Two: Always, always stick together. Slytherins are highly despised and even though you’re all first years, other houses will not hesitate to hex you in the hallways. That is why House Unity matters so much here. We don’t care about your stupid rivalries with other Slytherins, beyond that common room door, you are one.
“Rule Three: Don’t be an embarrassment. It’s embarrassing.” Harry and a few other people laughed.
At that moment, ‘Professor Snape’ came in with all his bellowing robes glory. He remembered a moment like this at Gringotts when they first met and smiled slightly.
“Rule Four: No rule breaking. If you do, don’t get caught,” Severus said swiftly. “I will most likely suddenly turn blind if you do so in my presence, but the other professors will dock an unnecessary amount of points just because you’re in the snake den.”
Harry grimaced. That didn’t seem quite fair, does it?
“As it is already past eight thirty, I suggest you go to your dorms immediately. Girls dorms are up the staircase, boys are right over there. Don’t even try to enter each other’s dorms, and if you have a problem with gender or sexuality, come speak to me or the prefects. Mr. Potter, a word if you will.” Severus finished.
The rest of the Slytherins, including all the prefects, went off to bed. Harry walked over to the fire and plopped down on sofa. Severus followed his lead and sat right beside him.
“We can’t continue to have a relationship like this at school, Harry. It would be too unfair to the other students if it would appear that I am picking favorites.” Severus explained gently.
Harry smiled slightly. “I understand. It will be quite weird to call my bonded ‘Professor Snape’, but we can work with that.”
Severus perked up. “About that bond, who else is in it?” he asked quietly.
“Uh, the ones I’ve met are Remus Lupin, Draco Malfoy, and you. There’s also two more, Sirius Black and Tom Riddle.”
The professor stiffened. “What.”
“My mates that I’ve met are-“
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. But you’re saying that you have five mates, two of them are mass murderers, one is a werewolf, only one is your actual age, and I’ve met all of them but never known?” Professor Snape demanded.
Harry looked up from the fire and stared at his new professor. “How did you know Tom Riddle?”
The potions master, if possible, stiffened more. “Tom Riddle… isn’t who you think he is.”
“I know exactly who he is. Voldemort,” he raised an eyebrow. “I’m asking how you know him.”
“I give up,” Professor Snape murmured. “When he was alive, I used to work for him. The mark is still on my forearm.”
“Show me.” Harry didn’t want to use his superior status in the bond over Severus to make him show it, but things had to be done. He had done it once before over Remus and he would do it again.
The professor lifted his left sleeve quite reluctantly. There rested the most hideous excuse for a tattoo to ever exist.
“That design is horrid. I’ll be removing it, if you don’t mind.” Harry pressed his index and middle finger onto the mark.
It sizzled away into nothingness. Severus hissed at the feeling. “How did you do that?” He demanded after a few seconds.
Harry had the dignity to look slightly ashamed. “As wrong and unholy as this sounds, I have full control over the body, soul, and mind of my submissives whether I like it or not no matter the type of bond. Switches not so much. But anyways, I get to choose what marks and blemishes are on you. It helps that the mark was made by another of my submissives and therefore easy to remove. In fact, I think I could just alter your body...”
He tapped the professor’s crooked nose a little hesitantly. It instantly straightened and became quite slim. Harry handed him a mirror he summoned to investigate his new nose.
“Do you like it?” Harry chirped. “If you don’t, I can change it back quite-“
“It’s fine,” the potions master interrupted. “You best be off to bed, now. Get some rest.”
Harry stood up and gave the still sitting Severus a small hug before walking off to the boys dorms. He was thankful that they all have separate dorms, but when he opened his at the end of the hall, it appeared to be that no one had been in there for about fifty years. Even the house elves.
The room was full of dust and dirt. It wasn’t that big, about 8x6 give or take. A dark wooden door was on the left side of black wall. On the right side was a desk and a few bookshelves of the same wood. A dark red carpet was in the middle of the room. Metal snakes occasionally slithered around the room. The most important thing, though, was the four-poster bed in the middle of the room with ivy green sheets and curtains.
He should probably take ‘the most important thing’ back. Thorn would probably smack him if he heard that, and him and Hedwig were looking rather annoyed trapped in their cages next to his trunk on a stand.
A quick cleaning spell rid the room of all the annoying dust and dirt. He then unlocked the cages and Hedwig instantly swooped around trying to catch the metal snakes. Thorn followed quickly after. Saphira came out of his robes and glared at the animals trying to catch her kin.
Harry merrily skipped off to bed. Not even bothering to change into his pajamas, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.