THE SORTING HAT
Regulus didn't know much about the Rosiers, but he remembered their name from the family tapestry. He would have really liked to chat with Evan more, but he decided to follow his idiot brother and his friends. He rather cursed himself for his attachment to Sirius, but it was barely a couple of hours until their journeys would be separate anyway. Merlin knows when they'll spend this much time together again...
He thought of Evan. If he really belonged to their family, even if he was just a distant relative, why wasn’t he happier that he met a Black? Instead, him being named after a star was what got his attention. How weird!
Returning to the carriage, James had calmed down. When Regulus handed him the golden snitch, he quickly pocketed it, then shot a reprimanding look in the direction of the grinning Sirius.
The rest of the voyage passed quieter. Remus read, Peter bought half the buffet car, James and Sirius talked about Quidditch. Sometimes Regulus also commented on the subject, but his knowledge was dwarfed by James’. The boy knew every player of every team, the results of all the important matches and the coolest tactics. He knew which broom was the best for which position and had strong opinions about the best brands.
They changed into their robes a few minutes before arrival. The four boys also proudly put on their red-and-gold tie and laughed to find that it was already short, even though it had been long the previous year.
Regulus wondered if his brother was ashamed of himself in the early days when he was sorted into Gryffindor. Sure, it was a surprise for every professor and student, but Sirius himself convinced the Sorting Hat of where he belonged. Was he as scared on the train as his younger brother was now? Is that why he didn't write all year? Did he know that no matter the outcome, there would’ve always been someone who wasn’t satisfied? If he had chosen Slytherin, he would have contradicted himself, but as he ended up in Gryffindor, he contradicted everyone else – which one is worse?
There was a knock on their compartment’s door. A skinny, long-haired girl poked her head in. She wore large glasses, a scarf in her hair, and a million chains and beads around her neck. She was already in her robe and judging by her blue-bronze tie, she belonged to Ravenclaw.
“Hi,” she said. Her voice sounded like a mouse squeak compared to the boys.
James was the only one who, though he let out a huge sigh, replied to her. “Hello.”
“I was thinking maybe...”
“No, Trelawney, thank you, but we don't want any more palm-readings,” Sirius interrupted. “The last one was enough for a lifetime.”
“Yes! You never tell us anything good!” Peter nodded, then shivered. “What does it mean ‘you shall be careful with silver, because that will be your demise’? I still haven’t figured it out! Who says things like this?”
“Still better than mine…” James growled. “In principle, my life line is short. Really encouraging, I have to admit.”
“I can't control my inner eye …” Trelawney was rather embarrassed by the non-cordial welcome.
“Well, we're not curious about your inner eye.” Sirius's patience ran out and he just nodded toward the door. Trelawney, though not offended, left the cab dismally.
“This girl creeps me out. If it were up to her ‘inner eye’, we would all be living a pretty miserable life in the future.”
Regulus shivered, as always when he thought of his future. He didn’t want a very long life, just a meaningful and memorable one. It was scary to think that maybe he could catch up with his destiny sooner and leave this world in such a way that no one would remember his name.
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice indicating that they’re expected to arrive in a few minutes and they had to leave their luggage on the train as they were being transported separately to the castle. Regulus was reluctant to entrust, but managed to hide his doubts and landed with the other students when the train arrived at Hogsmeade. In the dark, he was very careful not to bump into anyone when someone finally lit a torch not so far from them.
“Firs’ years over here! ’ere!” A huge, hairy man was the owner of the voice. He smiled broadly at them from behind his beard. So, he's the gatekeeper... “Come ’ere firs’ years!”
“I'm sorry, Reg, but we have to seperate now…” Sirius pursed his lips. “See you later.”
Regulus nodded and followed the group led by the giant. Although he saw nothing in the dark, he could have sworn he was in a forest. Because of the cold of the evening, he tightened his jacket over his robe better and dug his hand deep into his pocket. There were strange noises in the distance that didn’t fail to make first years shudder. Regulus knew that a team this large had little chance of being attacked by a monster, but he stayed close to the giant — he no doubt had the best chance of surviving.
They soon arrived at a large black lake. The moon was reflected on the surface of the water, and sure, many would have rewarded the sight had they not been wolf-hungry. Not one disgruntled first year growled and sighed with a rattling belly or complained through the entire trip. Regulus hadn’t been really hungry until then; for the idea of family meals never brought about his appetite. Either it was some ministry thing that annoyed his father throughout dinner, or the life of one of his mother’s “girlfriends” was the dining topic. Sometimes Regulus felt he knew more about these strangers than about his family. Except for Sirius... He once knew him. If it had been him at all.
“We're almos’ ’ere!” The giant said, then pointed to the boats lying on the shore. “Fou’ to a boa’! C’mon, c’mon!”
Regulus boarded the boat with two girls and a boy, though he could not see their faces. He sat in the head and silently watched the ever-approaching castle, which would now be his home for seven years. It sounded rather scary that he had to share a room with complete strangers and live his everyday life so far from home.
His parents first wanted to send him to Durmstrang or Beauxbatons – after receiving the news that their older son had been sorted into Gryffindor – which was not a big problem in the sense that Regulus spoke French well (as everyone did in his family) and was also open to learn German. Luckily, he managed to dissuade his parents from this idea, since no matter how much he wanted to start on a clean slate somewhere, he couldn’t imagine being in a place where he couldn’t even stumble into Sirius in the corridors.
The boat reached the other side of the shore. Regulus got out and also helped the girls who were chattering all the way behind him. They thanked him with a sincere smile. The boy at the back was still staring at the castle with his mouth open, as if he hadn't even noticed they had arrived. Regulus was about to leave him there when the boy started talking to him or to himself.
“It's huge!”
“Be quick!” The gatekeeper shouted.
The boy quickly scrambled out of the boat and followed the others, striding alongside Regulus. On the long flight of stairs, they almost fell more than once, but finally they stopped in front of a huge gate. The gatekeeper knocked on it three times—which with his strength was more like a thump—and barely finished the third when the castle gates opened and behind them stood a tall witch with black hair. She tried to look at the group with a stern face, but it seemed that, just like the giant, she was beside herself with joy at the sight of so many newcomers. From her long, emerald green robes, Regulus immediately recognized Professor McGonagall, who had been a character or rather a spoiler in more than one of his brother's stories. So she is the head of Gryffindor house...
“I brought them, Professor McGonagall,” said the gatekeeper.
“Thank you, Hagrid,” she nodded in response, then turned to the students. “Follow me!”
Stepping into the entrance hall, Regulus felt even smaller. As everyone else entered, the gates closed and Professor McGonagall began her monologue.
“Welcome to Hogwarts. The much-awaited start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before that, the Sorting Hat will assign you to one of the four houses. It is very important to be loyal to your houses and love each other, as in the next seven years you’ll spend more time with the rest of your houses than with your own families. Every house has a common room, where you can spend your free time between and after classes, in a cultured manner, of course.”
There was a soft murmur from all sides. The closer they got to the sorting, the more students became nervous.
“There are four houses at Hogwarts,” the professor coughed to silence the students. "Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. With your performance, you can contribute to your house by receiving points, but if you are caught in any rule-breaking, you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points receives the House Cup. I hope you’ll all do well and bring glory to your houses. The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin in the Great Hall. Until then, you might would all like to smarten yourself and line up one by one.”
Regulus was scratching his head back and forth. Of course, no one wanted to be in the front, so they moved back, and Regulus stayed there as the first in line. He was about to change his position when he heard a familiar voice behind him. It was Evan, from the train.
“Can I stand here? I don't know anyone very well.”
“Sure,” Regulus said with relief. It was still better standing with Evan at the front than alone.
“Are you nervous?”
“Why would I be nervous? Everyone in my family was a Slytherin.”
“Except your brother.”
Regulus wanted to punch the boy. It wasn't even his fault though, as everyone knew about Sirius' case. Yet every time someone brought it up, he got angry.
He didn't like that Evan was so incredibly outspoken. Everyone in his family avoided embarrassing topics, at most they were only mentioned in one mysterious half-sentence.
“Except my brother,” Regulus muttered in agreement.
McGonagall finally managed to introduce an acceptable group into the Great Hall. The students were speechless as they entered; the hall was bathed in light due to the thousands of floating candles, and the older students at the four long tables were already smiling proudly. Some of them waved to friends and family members, but Regulus felt that if he looked at Sirius now, he would immediately throw up from the nerves.
“Look!” Evan whispered in his ear. “The ceiling!”
The ceiling was nothing but... the starry sky? Regulus remembered a passage from Hogwarts: A History where it was written that it was only magic, but it was really hard to believe that, since it looked so real.
McGonagall led the students in front of the teachers. She took a chair and placed an old, dirty hat on it. It can't be the Sorting Hat, thought Regulus, this must be a joke. He was just thinking about how he could avoid that dirty thing even coming near him, when the hat burst into song.
Regulus had never heard a sillier song. It was about the history of the Hogwarts houses and their founders, with a very corny ending of “together we are the strongest”. However, the hat received a big round of applause and then finally the sorting could begin.
“Abbott, Victor!” McGonagall called the first person. A blond boy stumbled over, his face was completely red. When the hat was placed on his head, he flinched for a moment and closed his eyes so as not to see his fellow students. The hat cried out after a few moments: "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table of Hufflepuffs welcomed the shy boy with joy, even their chubby house ghost applauded proudly.
"Amon, Randall!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Alston, Monty!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
A few more names were said, during which Regulus remained only hazy. He knew he could be next at any moment.
"Black, Regulus!" McGonagall's voice echoed in the Great Hall. Regulus bowed his head and stepped in the direction of the Sorting Hat. He tried to block out the whispers and stares around him.
He began to sum up the possibilities in his head. He wasn't brave and hot-headed like a Gryffindor. He would rather leave Hogwarts than end up in Hufflepuff. And despite the fact that he was smart, he couldn't imagine himself in Ravenclaw either. Although in Slytherin...
As soon as the hat was on his head, he could no longer see anything. He wondered why something so big had to be done for children. However, he didn't mind, because at least he didn't have to face the students staring at him.
And then the hat started speaking.
“Hmm, little Black... If I'm not mistaken, which I’m certainly not, I sorted your brother into Gryffindor last year…”
But I'm not my brother, Regulus thought.
“Oh, I know... You’re different, but you're more alike than you think, aren't you? I see you're loyal... But definitely not Hufflepuff. Let's say you could achieve a lot in Ravenclaw with that kind of wit... And as a matter of fact, you're braver than you think right now...”
Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin, Regulus chanted desperately in his head, I belong there.
“Slytherin? Well, if you insist on it so much...” And finally the hat shouted. "SLYTHERIN!"
Without even waiting for anyone's help, Regulus tore off the hat and hurried to the Slytherin table, which happily cheered him on. Stupid hat, he thought, it should have said Slytherin right away!
As he took his seat, he glanced quickly towards the Gryffindor table. Sirius was talking to James about something, but Remus pushed his shoulder and nodded towards the Slytherin table. Sirius looked at Regulus, then smiled faintly, as if to say, ‘I thought so, but I still hoped otherwise’.
“Don't care about him,” he heard a voice next to him. Up until then, he hadn't paid much attention to who was sitting at his table, but as he looked to his right, he saw a boy with a sunken face and greasy, black hair. His robes were tattered and he was already wearing his Slytherin tie, which meant he wasn't a first year student. However, he couldn't have been much older at first glance. “You've come to the right place. But I admit, I'm surprised that you didn't follow your brother's example.”
“I'm not my brother…”
“That's good. He’s already annoying enough by himself.”
They continued to listen in silence as the other students were sorted to the houses. Slytherin had grown with two pairs of twins, a couple of students whose names meant nothing to him, a couple of pureblood children who belonged to the sacred 28 pureblood families, and Evan Rosier, whose personality had as much to do with Slytherin as Regulus had to do with Hufflepuff.
There was also great joy at the tables of the other houses, even the ghosts would jump out of their (no longer existing) skins. Even the Bloody Baron imposed a festive mood on himself and chatted with the newcomers, but many moved aside when they saw his bloodstained clothes.
Evan sat down in front of Regulus and engaged in conversation with a boy sitting next to him. Regulus was glad that he didn't have to listen to the stories about stars and his family.
After the Sorting Ceremony, the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore rose from his chair. He cleared his throat as the entire room fell silent.
“Greetings to everyone here at Hogwarts!” he smiled. “I don't want to talk too long, because I think you all got hungry along the way. Allow me to introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Isaac Lauren Doves!”
A gray-haired man stood up from the end of the teacher's desk. He didn't exactly have a friendly face, he just gave a quick nod to the students as an introduction and sat down immediately.
“To conclude my speech, allow me to recommend the muggle sweet called sherbet lemon, which you can now find in Honeydukes by special request. Thank you for your attention, bon appetit!”
Regulus thought to himself that this old man had already gone mad by being a headmaster, but he was glad that he didn't have to listen to another speech about strength in unity and love for each other.
As Dumbledore sat down, the tables were suddenly covered with festive food. Regulus suddenly couldn’t even decide what he wanted, so he just took the bowl that was closest to him and put some of it on his plate.
He was about to start eating the tasty looking fries when he heard a familiar female voice behind him. It hit him so suddenly that the morsel almost caught on his throat.
“Hi, Regulus.” As he turned around, he found himself face to face with his cousin, Narcissa Black. She was in her last year at Hogwarts and was Head Girl. The last time they met was at the beginning of summer, when they got to know Narcissa's boyfriend, Lucius Malfoy, who somehow always had a say in everything. Regulus was certain that their relationship would end in marriage, so even though he had just missed Malfoy at Hogwarts (he graduated last year), he would still see him at family gatherings.
“Hi, Narcissa.”
“I'm glad you got into Slytherin. I confess I was scared for you because of last year's case…” His family didn't talk openly about Sirius when they didn't have to. They just called it ‘case’, ‘problem’ and ‘accident’. “Congratulations to you too, Evan.”
Evan's mouth was full of cake, so he just smiled and nodded. Narcissa suppressed a short grimace and hurried back to her seat at the other end of the table.
“She always had a style,” Evan said after swallowing the bite.
“Do you know her that well?”
“I suppose you can say that. My aunt Druella is her mother. We are cousins.”
“We are cousins from the other side of the family tree.”
“Yes! So we share the same cousins, but we are not related. Isn't that weird?”
Regulus thought to himself, Merlin, have you seen our family tree, but instead he just nodded.
“You didn't think about going to Gryffindor because of your brother? I know that house is quite interesting, but I would definitely follow my brother if I had one.”
“I'm not a Gryffindor at all.”
“I just thought because... On the train, you know... You got along with them so well.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don't laugh much, do you?” Regulus raised his eyebrows at the question. Why would he laugh all the time? He’s not mad. “They still made you laugh, as I saw! Of course, that's no reason to go to Gryffindor, but...”
Regulus looked at the boy with wide eyes. Does he always speak his mind like that? Merlin, he'd rather jump off the top of the Astronomy Tower than put up with this for seven years.
“How about using your mouth to eat, Rosier?” said the greasy-haired boy next to Regulus after a rather long silence.
“Oh, please, don’t be mad at me!” he said, looking deeply into Regulus's eyes. “I didn't mean to offend you. It's all just so interesting, isn't it? Your brother being a Gryffindor, Andromeda marrying a Muggleborn…”
Regulus just sighed. It wasn't even worth getting upset about. All he needed was to get through dinner, then he could avoid Evan Rosier from afar for the next seven years.
“Yes, quite interesting.”