- Text Size +
The Sorting Hat’s Song


Severus didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Lily on the Express on the way to Hogwarts. He’d been ‘round her compartment to find her, but Alice Bell told him that she’d gone off with Remus Lupin. Frank Longbottom had given him quite a stare - his eyes narrowed suspiciously - which made Severus think perhaps Lily had been telling them how he’d upset her during the summer by not being around as much as she might’ve liked... Or else Frank Longbottom simply didn’t like Slytherins. Either way, Severus had been quick to duck back out of the compartment and be on his way.

Hopeful to find Lily and Remus (whatever was she doing with him anyway? Severus wondered), he had walked on down the length of the train and right into James Potter, waiting in line at the sweets trolley. “Watch where you’re ruddy going, you --” James had started, turning around. He stopped when he saw it was Severus that had walked into him and a great smirking grin crossed his face, “Oi, it’s you is it? Had a whole summer off, Snivvey, and you still haven’t had a chance to wash all that grease out of your hair? No wonder you walked into me - couldn’t see me through all that mess, could you?” James exaggerated getting out of the way, “There you go,” he said, “A nice wide path so your smell won’t kill anybody.”

Severus grit his teeth and, fuming, stormed off, suppressing the urge to hex the life right out of James Potter. Malfoy had been quite generous with showing him how to perform several dark spells to protect himself against the Gryffindor bullies over the summer - but it seemed a bit early on to start exercising such things. Especially with the trolley witch right there and Bilius Weasley ahead of James in line to boot.

Severus escaped off to the Slytherin compartments again, giving up finding Lily as a bad job, and slipped into a mostly occupied compartment with Evan Rosier and a couple other of the second year Slytherins. They talked amongst themselves, warily shooting glances at Severus. Those whose parents were members of the Knights of Walpurgis or the Death Eaters were aware that Severus Snape had spent the summer at Malfoy Manor, in the presence of the Dark Lord, and they seemed keen to stay clear, probably at least until they knew how much of a connection to Voldemort he had and whether it was a favorable one or not.

He fell asleep to the smooth hum of the train as it moved across the country, ever northward, and dreamed of things far more pleasant than the term that lay ahead of him at Hogwarts.

The castle was looming dark against dark sky when he awoke, the soft glow of the Hogsmeade station lanterns lit upon his face. He sat up to find the others had already cleared out of the compartment and quickly made to collect his things and join the bustling crowd in the hall of the train. They jostled and pushed their way out onto the platform, the engine steaming and hissing behind them.

“Firs’ years, over here! Firs’ years!” Shouted Hagrid, looming high above the students, waving his dustbin lid sized hands to gather attention of the youngsters as all the eleven year-olds scurried toward him, apprehension on their faces.

Severus followed the crowd moving away from the platform - although he didn’t really know where they were going, he figured they knew better than he did. He was staring up at the castle, hoping they wouldn’t be walking all the way up to the grounds themselves (and thinking he may have preferred the little boats from last year if that were the case), when he found himself looking down at a cluster of little carriages. They stood in a long row and students were climbing into them, though there seemed to be no horses to pull them. Severus stood on the crest of the hill and watched as the students filled the buggies, and glanced about, wondering where the horses were. To his amazement, though, once the carriages were filled, they began to roll forward of their own accord, away and on up the road toward the grounds of Hogwarts.

He was so dumbfounded that he was caught up in the sweeping push of students and ended up unceremoniously clustered into one of the carriages, sitting opposite a Slytherin third year girl whose dark eyes sent a chill down his spine as she stared at him for a moment before turning away. He swallowed and held tight to the book bag he’d brought along, his fingers tight ‘round the shoulder strap.

The little carriage carried them up through the dark grounds of Hogwarts, between wide black gates adorned with winged boars, and along the winding path toward the front entrance doors, which glowed, flung open wide, the warmth of the castle beckoning them inward. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of a sense of wonder as he looked up at the castle. Despite not really fitting in here, despite all the horrible things the Gryffindors said about him, he still felt as though he were arriving home.

The carriage came to a stop before the wide staircase and the others all jostled out ahead of Severus, who took his time gathering his things to carry inside. He followed the Slytherin girl up the stairs and into the Great Hall, swept along in the movement of all the arriving students. The air was abuzz with shouts and calls as friends reunited and stories of summer days gone by were exchanged. Laughter echoed off the walls and the voices seemed to rise up, so loud they were almost tangible. Severus looked around as he settled in at the Hogwarts table - he seemed to be the only person in the entire Hall who was not speaking.

But then everyone was sitting down and Dumbledore stood up at his place at the faculty table and raised his arms high above his head, a silent call for decorum. Instantly, the room fell into silence - every eye was upon Dumbledore as he stood before them, his smile wide and welcoming. “Hello and welcome back,” he said, his voice bouncing off the wall.

“Jolly didn’t have much of a choice, I reckon,” muttered Mulciber, rolling his eyes. Several Slytherins snickered along the table.

Dumbledore either didn’t hear, or didn’t react. He smiled ‘round the tables and said, “Minerva, if you please… the first years.”

McGonagall, who had been standing a bit to the side, went to a little door and opened it up, disappearing within as Dumbledore sat once more and turned to say something to a witch whose name Severus did not know, seated beside him. She smiled at whatever it was Dumbledore had said, then nodded and whispered something back. As she spoke to him, her eyes swept the length of the Slytherin table, landing right on Severus, and paused before she turned back to Dumbledore completely.

Severus frowned. She was too far away to try to peek into her mind, he reckoned, but he would certainly like to know what she’d been looking at.

There was a sudden commotion by the door McGonagall had gone through as the troop of first years bustled nervously into the room, nervous chatter humming among them. McGonagall hissed, “Shhhh,” and they quieted as she led the to the front and center of the Great Hall as Professor Flitwick rushed over, magicked a stool and set upon it the faded lump of dirty material that Severus recognized at once as the Sorting Hat.

There was a moment of anticipation and silence, the First Years all glancing around the room in awe or staring at the hat with wide-eyed fear. Severus saw a couple of children he recognized from visits to the Malfoy’s during the summer.

A throat cleared. The brim of the Sorting Hat split open like a yawn and several of the First Years stumbled backward, one even tripped over her own feet in surprise, tipping right into Frank Longbottom, who was seated at the front corner of the Gryffindor table. He caught her easily and righted her gently, making her cheeks turn the brightest pink you’d ever seen. The room fell silent other than the scuffle of all that, however, and the hat’s voice clearly rang over the entirety of the room.


Welcome back to Hogwarts,
I see we’ve quite the throng
Of First Years to be sorted into houses
To which they will belong

The choice I make today, you see, Will shape the future each of you embraces
That is my job you see, wee ones,
To put you in your places

Just put me upon your heads
And we’ll see to which you’ll be bound
For that is the system
On which the school was found

Godric Gryffindor said, you see,
It’s most important to seek courage
While Helena Ravenclaw
Said the best was those who sought knowledge

Salazar Slytherin preferred
That power be at the top of the list
But Helga Hufflepuff saw all as equal
And helped every wizard or witch

Perhaps we all should be a Hufflepuff,
As it’s hard work to be brave, powerful, and smart,
But alas, we split you up,
Despite the warnings in my heart

For things are getting crazy in the world,
I hear terrible things are happening every day
But I am just a Sorting Hat,
And nobody wants to hear what I have got to say

So split you up I shall,
Just as tradition calls,
For this is how it’s always been
Within these castle walls.




Silence fell over the Great Hall once more when the hat had finished, a pause of contemplation, and then clapping broke out among the established students - most heavily from the other three tables, Severus noticed, as Slytherins only clapped halfheartedly. Yaxley was scowling, his mouth turned into a sour pucker, “What’s the hat getting at, going political?” He growled, “Bad enough we need to endure old Albus’s groanings, now we’re being made to listen to a bundle of ruddy cloth, too?”

McGonagall stepped forward and lifted the sorting hat with one hand, consulting a list in her other with downturned eyes. “Andrews, Tabitha.” A tiny, mousy-looking girl wobbled her way up to the stool and sat down nervously. McGonagall dropped the hat upon her head... and so the sorting had begun.

As it took place, Severus glanced across the room as the sorting took place and spotted Lily, grinning at the end of the row the new Gryffindors were sliding into, next to Bilius Weasley. The Head Boy badge glittered in the candlelight from Bilius’s chest as he greeted each new student with a wide smile on his face. Severus scowled. Lucius Malfoy wouldn’t be happy to hear that Bilius had been awarded Head Boy, that was for sure. He’d spent quite a lot of time over the summer billowing on about Bilius Weasley and what a terrible excuse for a prefect he’d been. “He’s too soft,” Lucius had claimed, “But he’s one of Dumbledore’s favorites. He’s a shoe-in for Head Boy.” He shook his head, “Not for earning it, but for being such a filthy Muggle-Lover.” Severus frowned and looked away as Bilius turned to Lily and said something to make her laugh as another of Lucius’s comments simmered in his mind - “Nobody who actually deserves it ever gets the things they want.”

Last year had seemed to take much longer, Severus thought, despite the fact there were far more First Years this time than there had been the year before. He reckoned it was because he’d been so nervous about his own turn up on the stool beneath the hat. “Jackson, Alabastar,” was sorted Slytherin, and “Pewitt, Ali,” was put into Gryffindor, and before Severus knew it, “Yohann, Stefjan” was a Ravenclaw and the sorting had come to an end, all of the First Years tucked away into their houses.

Dumbledore stood up and clapped his hands twice, calling out, “Let us fill our faces with a most delicious meal!”

The gold plates popped onto the table at once and just like that the Great Hall was consumed with excited squeals and talking as the students fell into the eating of the meal. Narcissa was seated across from Severus, a bored sort of expression on her face. Now that Lucius had finished school and she was seventh year, she seemed almost awkward without him as she cut her roast, the engagement ring on her finger glittering.

“So when are Lucius and you gettin’ married?” Demanded Alistor Mulciber around a mouthful of potatoes.

“Over the summer,” answered Narcissa, delicately wiping the edge of her mouth with a napkin. “We’ll send you an invitation, of course, when it’s the proper time and we’ve got the details made up entirely.”

Mulciber nodded, then turned away to speak with his brother, Geoffrey, not caring to hear anymore.

Narcissa looked down at her plate. Severus felt suddenly rather sorry for her. These were Lucius Malfoy’s friends, not hers, and they seemed only to care about her when he was around - just as they’d done to Severus. He cleared his throat, “I’ll bet you miss Lucius.”

“I do,” Narcissa replied, cutting a bit of potato up into small pieces.

“Seems odd without him ‘round here, doesn’t it?” Said Severus.

Narcissa nodded.

Out of things to say, Severus turned back to his own meal.

He needed to find a way, he realized, to show the older Slytherins that, even without Lucius around, he was worth being friends with. He couldn’t possibly endure an entire term of being practically invisible as he’d done all day, especially when he knew if he were to get up and go talk to Lily at the Gryffindor table he’d become un-invisible really quickly. He would have to write to Lucius, he decided, and get some advice on what to do to get the Slytherins to pay him attention.

Thinking of Lily, Severus looked over her way again and saw she was talking rather animatedly to her friends, her green eyes flashing with an excitement that matched the flush of her face. Frank Longbottom was talking to the new First Years, and, with an unhappy twist to his stomach, Severus noticed James Potter just a couple seats away from Lily, smiling over at her. As he watched, anger boiled in his blood, and suddenly the goblet at James’s elbow shattered for what seemed no reason at all, splashing him with pumpkin juice and pulling his attention from Lily. Severus felt his heart rate quicken - he’d done that, he knew it, just a little wizard might before they’ve learned to control their powers. Sirius Black was laughing as James sopped up the juice from his face and out of his hair.

Well, thought Severus, whatever keeps him from looking at my Lily.