The Change

"Sirius, move," someone shouted from behind me and pushed me forward roughly. I had been looking at the carriages that everyone was getting on, and wondering where the horses were. When I turned around to glare at James, I saw Lucius Malfoy standing tall and proud, instead. He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and dragged me away from the train.

"Let go of me," I yelled trying to pull away in vain. He ignored me and kept walking until we reached Snape and two other boys. He threw me into Snape forcefully and I stumbled and stood up, glaring at him. He smirked at me and said, "You're in enough trouble, Sirius, don't look at me like that. I'm sure your mother wouldn't approve." He turned around and looked at James who was standing a few feet away looking confused and angry. He laughed and said, "Sirius, I am going to have to tell your mother you have become friends with a Potter. I feel it is my duty as a pureblood and future prefect of your house."

I didn't know what to say so decided to act stupid, "What are you talking about?"

Now he looked angry, not just amused, and he leaned down, putting his face in mine and whispered, "Do not insult my intelligence, Black. I know you were sitting with Potter on the train. I walked past your compartment. You can be sure your mother will agree with me that you need to be punished for this. Now, I'll leave that part to her," he added with a smirk. He turned to Snape and said, "Sirius will be traveling with you to the castle, Severus, and I trust you will tell me if he talks to any mudbloods or other riff-raff." Snape nodded and Malfoy walked away with the other students.

"Firs' years 'his way. Firs' years over 'here!" I looked around to see who was calling us and saw a huge man beckoning us towards him. Snape and the other two boys started walking to him and we all went to the lake. I reached the lake and looked up at the castle. It was beautiful and I fell in love immediately. I could feel the power coming from it and I felt at peace. I felt like nothing could hurt me as long as I was there.

"Hurry up, Sirius," Snape said climbing into a boat by the lake. I climbed in to the boat along with two other boys. When I looked around I saw James, Remus, Peter and the mudblood girl in another boat. I turned around quickly, though. I didn't want Snape to see me looking at them and then report me to Malfoy.

We were halfway across the lake and no one had said anything. Snape was glaring around at the other children. The other two boys were staring into space and I was playing with the water. Finally I looked at the two newcomers and said, "I'm Sirius Black, who are you?" I put my hand out for them to shake but they didn't shake it, one of the boys was going through his pockets while the other looked on. I looked at Snape, confused, and he just rolled his eyes and looked back at the water. Finally the boy looking through his pocket took out a piece of paper, looked at it quickly, and shook my hand, saying, "William Goyle, and this is John Crabbe."

I nodded and said, "What's on that paper?"

"Oh, just some names my father gave me. People I'm allowed to talk to and who I can't ever talk to."

I smiled and said, "Well, I bet my name is on there and so is Severus'. But the thing is, I don't recognize your names."

John and William looked embarrassed, as Severus spoke up. "That is because although they are pureblood, their families are not nearly as rich and powerful as ours. Their parents are below our parents."

I turned to look at Snape to say something but was interrupted by a splash and someone screaming. Our boat stopped moving suddenly and I turned to see what was happening. I looked in the water and was not at all surprised to see an angry Remus swimming back to the boat, where James was laughing. The mudblood girl was standing up trying to help Remus and Peter was in the corner obviously trying not to get wet. I was laughing hysterically when I heard the huge man's voice boom across the lake, "Get out of the wa'er. There's a gian' squid in there." I looked back at Remus and James and saw that Remus was panicking now, swimming full speed back to the boat and James now looked scared too. Remus reached the boat quickly and started to try to get back on. The boat started to tip and I could hear James yelling at him, "Remus, calm down, I'll get you back in. Calm down, you're going to tip the boat." Remus didn't calm down, though, and a few seconds later the boat capsized, throwing Peter, James and the girl in the water too. I could hear Snape laughing behind me and chuckled lightly myself as they all started swimming towards other boats. Remus, I saw, was trying to flip their boat back over to climb in. Peter was already halfway in another boat and the huge man was pulling Lily out of the water. James was swimming quickly back to Remus to help him with the capsized boat. After a few minutes together they flipped it over and pulled themselves back in. As soon as they were back in the boat, all the boats started moving again.

When we reached the other side the huge man gave James, Remus and Peter a towel like the one Lily already had. He shook his head at them and ushered us into the castle. When we were all inside, the door closed behind us and another door opened in front of us. A tall, fairly young woman was standing in the doorway. She looked serious and I knew immediately that I should cross her path as little as possible.

"Good Evening, I am Professor McGonagall. I am the Head of Gryffindor House and Deputy Headmistress. You will wait here and I will come back to get you in a few minutes when the rest of the school is ready." With that she disappeared back into the room she had come from. All at once the first years started talking. "How do we get sorted?" "Someone told me we have to fight a dragon!" "No way. We could die."

I shook my head. I, of course, knew how you got sorted but didn't feel like correcting these mudbloods. Let them think we had to fight a dragon. I turned around looking for James and saw him fighting with Remus. "Oh, come on, Remus, it was just a joke. I didn't mean anything by it."

Remus was shaking his head and said, "James, there was a giant squid in the water. It could have killed me."

"Actually I read that the squid is a vegetarian," the mudblood girl said.

Remus looked at her and said," Yes, but James didn't know that."

"I also didn't know there was a squid in there to begin with!"

"Stop fighting already. Remus, James didn't want you to get hurt so stop whining and James, maybe you should try thinking before you act. Now both of you stop," the girl said.

James just smiled and said okay and Remus nodded. I smirked at them and turned back around when the door opened. Professor McGonagall was standing in the doorway, "This way, please," she said.

We all walked into the Great Hall and I was stunned into the silence by how magnificent it was. The ceiling had me enchanted and I didn't even realize it when we reached the front so I wound up walking into Snape, who stumbled and said, "Watch where you're going, Black." I apologized and looked up at the Staff Table where I could see McGonagall carrying out a stool and an old ragged hat. The hat then started to sing but I didn't listen to it. I was looking around the Great Hall, searching for my family. I saw my cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa at the Slytherin table and then my cousin Andromeda at the Ravenclaw table. Andromeda smiled at me and I smiled back before my attention was brought back to the sorting hat. Professor McGongall had begun reading off names and I knew mine would be one of the first called. "Black, Sirius," she said and I stepped forward and was suddenly afraid of what might happen. I went up and sat down on the stool and suddenly I couldn't see as the hat dropped down over my eyes.

"Another Black. One of the younger ones I see. Well, Mr. Black, let's see what is in your head." The hat was silent for a moment and then said, "I see courage, stubbornness and loyalty. Oh yes, you are very loyal. You would die for your family and friends, wouldn't you? You're bound to be part of something big. Something huge. Well, I guess it should be Gryffindor then."

"No!" I thought before the hat could say anything.

"Mr. Black, your head clearly says you belong in Gryffindor."

"No, my mother will kill me! Please put me in Slytherin."

"I am sorry, Mr. Black, but you are almost the definition of a Gryffindor. One day you will thank me. This is a gift, Mr. Black. Just remember to learn from what is happening and what will happen." With that the hat yelled out "Gryffindor," and I took the hat off my head and walked to the Gryffindor table. I sat down in a chair, completely ignoring the rest of the sorting.

My mother was going to kill me. I wasn't even exaggerating, I was really afraid she was going to come to the castle, hunt me down, and kill me. I was a blood traitor. I was a disgrace to the name of Black and I had only been in Hogwarts for five minutes. She was going to disown me, I thought panicking. Where would I live then? I didn't know. I hated that hat. I was a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor. I was honored to be a Black; I was no blood traitor. I knew that my mother wouldn't think about that, though. All she would see was that I was a Gryffindor. She would hate me. My father and brother would hate me. I thought momentarily about running away before she could find me and punish me, but I didn't have anywhere to go. I was stuck with what that stupid hat had given me.

I snapped back to reality when James came up behind me and slapped me in the back, sitting down next to me and smiling. "You did it, Sirius. We are going to have so much fun this year. I'm already planning the first prank. It has to be HUGE so that we can make a name for ourselves." I just looked at him. I suddenly felt angry with James. Who was he to talk to me on the train? I bet it was his fault I had been sorted into this awful house. He had brainwashed me on the train. That was it. Then the little voice in the back of my head said, "Well, if he did, it was your fault you were even talking to him." I shook my head and looked down at my plate. I felt sick. This was the worst day of my life. I just wanted to go to bed.

For the rest of dinner I didn't speak but just stared at my plate. I didn't feel remotely hungry and I didn't feel like laughing or talking with James, Remus or Peter. I felt alone, isolated and helpless. Everyone I had ever know or loved was going to disown me and I knew it.

After dinner I followed the prefect upstairs and to the fat lady who asked for the password. The prefect told us to remember otherwise we couldn't get into the common room. He said, "loyalty," loudly and I tried not to sneer at how corny and cocky that was. Again I wondered how I was supposed to fit into this house. We went up three flights of stairs and stopped at a door marked, "First Years." We went inside and James immediately claimed the bed near the window and the bathroom. Remus, on the other hand, claimed the bed near the door and Peter looked at me uncertainly before taking the one across from Remus. I walked over to the bed across from James and pulled the bed hangings closed before falling heavily onto it and crawling under the covers.

I sighed and finally knew what I would have to do. I was stuck at Hogwarts and I was stuck in Gryffindor. There was nothing I could do about it. I knew my mother would come up to the castle and try to get me put into Slytherin but it wouldn't work. That would be when she would disown me; I realized that I couldn't stop any of this from happening. I would just have to make the best of it and try to prove to my parents that although I wasn't in Slytherin I could still be an honorable pureblood. I also knew that it wasn't James's fault that I wound up in Gryffindor. He was nice and I really liked him. He was the only good thing I could see about being stuck in this house. I knew James and I would have a lot of fun together and maybe even Remus and Peter too. At least, I thought as I drifted off to sleep, I would have good friends.