“Where do you want to sit?” asked Rose.
“Let’s try to find James,” Albus answered. He didn’t particularly want to sit with his brother, but he didn’t know anyone else on the train.
They wandered down the aisle until they found James sitting in a compartment with their cousins Fred and Louis and two girls Albus didn’t know. Albus’ father had once said that James, Fred and Louis were a gang unlike Hogwarts had seen since the days of his father, James’ namesake.
“What are you doing here twerp?” James scoffed. “Shouldn’t you be with the rest of the ickle firsties?”
Albus felt his cheeks begin to redden. He knew James was only doing this to impress his friends. “We thought we might sit with you,” Albus answered.
James made a great show of looking around the compartment. “Can’t you see there are already five people in here? I suppose Rose can stay if she really wants, but you’ll have to find somewhere else.”
Albus turned to Rose. “Do you want to sit here?”
“No,” said Rose. “We’ll find another place.” Together they turned and left the compartment. When they finally found an empty compartment two cars back, Albus was about to enter, but Rose stopped him.
“I’ve been thinking Al,” she began, “maybe we shouldn’t sit together.”
Albus was hurt. Rose had always been the cousin he was closest to. Did she think she was too good for him now?
“Why not?” said Albus, offended.
“It’s not like that Al,” said Rose, realizing he had taken it the wrong way. “It’s just that this first train ride is really important. It’s where our dads met and became best friends for life. I just think it would be a good idea to meet some new people so we don’t only know each other.”
“I guess you have a point,” said Albus. He hugged his cousin and they went off in opposite directions.
Albus came to a compartment with only one occupant. It was the blond boy from the platform. “Mind if I sit here?” Albus asked.
The boy turned to him and shook his head.
“My name’s Albus, by the way. What’s yours?”
“Scorpius,” answered the boy quietly.
“That’s a cool name,” said Albus. Scorpius smiled.
When the trolley lady came by, Albus bought half a dozen Chocolate Frogs (he wasn’t allowed to have them at home) and a bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. He offered Scorpius a Chocolate Frog, but he declined.
“Father says it’s unbecoming of a Malfoy to accept gifts.”
“Oh,” said Albus, “well it’s unbecoming of a Potter not to offer.”
For a moment there was silence and then both boys started laughing. The two boys talked about everything from wands to Quidditch teams until eventually they reached the topic of Hogwarts Houses.
“So where do you think you’ll be sorted?” Albus asked.
“Well my whole family has been in Slytherin, but I’m not really worried about where I go,” Scorpius answered.
Albus was quite surprised by this answer. For one thing, Scorpius didn’t seem like he came from a family of evil Slytherins; he was a nice boy and fun to talk to. Albus also couldn’t believe how unconcerned Scorpius was. He thought all first-years were worried about what House they would be in; it was certainly his greatest concern. However, Albus hid his surprise as well as he could and simply responded, “My whole family’s been in Gryffindor.”
Before Scorpius could say anything, the train came to a stop. The boys quickly changed into their robes and joined the throng of students crowding the aisle of the train.
Albus found Rose outside on the platform talking to two other girls.
“Oh, hey Albus,” said Rose when she noticed her cousin. “Meet my new friends. This is Leah Jordan,” she said, indicating the dark-skinned girl with curly hair. “Her dad is good friends with Uncle George.”
“Nice to meet you, Albus,” said Leah, shaking his hand.
“And this is Holly Colfer. She’s from Ireland.”
The short brunette with the big smile waved happily. “Hi, I’m Holly!”
When they reached the lake, they discovered only four people fit in each boat, so Rose and her two new friends climbed in a boat together along with a chubby boy named Kevin Brock and Albus and Scorpius were left to find a boat of their own. They joined a boat that was already occupied by two other boys. The first, with sandy brown hair and an unmistakably Irish accent, was Patrick Finnigan. The second boy claimed his name was Algernon Bunbury.
Once in the castle, the first-years were greeted by Deputy Headmaster Flitwick, who was so small, he was almost trampled by the eleven-year-olds in their excitement. Unperturbed, Professor Flitwick stood on a book that was more than half his size and cast a Hover Charm on it. Floating ahead of them, he led the students into the Great Hall to be sorted.
Albus was amazed at the sight of the Great Hall with its long tables and enchanted ceiling. Of course he had heard plenty of stories about it, but it was different to actually see it for himself. At the front of the Hall, Albus could see the withered old hat that had once belonged to Godric Gryffindor sitting on a stool. Suddenly a rip near the brim of the hat opened up.
It yawned. “Is it that time of year again? I suppose you’re all expecting a song. Well there isn’t one this year, I didn’t get around to it.”
Albus was stunned; this did not seem like the Sorting Hat his father had described.
“Besides,” the Hat continued, “that was just a bonus I threw in over the centuries; it was never part of my original contract.”
“Well it is still your duty to sort the new students,” said Flitwick, “so let’s begin. Atherton, Aaron!”
A tall boy walked up to the stool, sat down, and proudly placed the hat on his head.
“Gryffindor,” the Hat droned. “Yippee.”
“Baldwin, Red!”
“Gryffindor again,” the Hat yawned.
Next, Kevin Brock, the chubby boy from Rose’s boat, became the first Hufflepuff and Algernon the first Ravenclaw. Rose’s friend Holly also joined Hufflepuff and “Creevey, Colin” became the third Gryffindor.
Albus began to wonder if a House could fill up. There were already three boys in Gryffindor and his name was in the later part of the alphabet. What if, when it was finally his turn, the Sorting Hat said, Well you should be in Gryffindor, but there’s no more room there. Albus tried to shake this thought out of his head and continue to watch the Sorting.
Patrick Finnigan was walking over to the Hufflepuff table and a large, ugly girl (“Grubus, Olga”) was putting on the Hat.
“Slytherin,” the Hat sighed. Albus took another look at the girl and swallowed. He definitely did not want to be in Slytherin.
The Sorting continued. Leah Jordan went to Gryffindor, Trisha Macmillan went to Hufflepuff, and Jezebel Madu, a dark, haughty-looking girl, went to Slytherin. Now it was Scorpius’ turn. Scorpius sheepishly placed the Hat on his head and, after a pause, the Hat said, “Slytherin.” Albus groaned.
Eventually Professor Flitwick reached the P’s. “Penfold, Jim!”
“Ravenclaw,” the Hat grumbled.
“Potter, Albus!”
The room grew quieter when Professor Flitwick read the name, but Albus thought it was just his imagination. He tentatively walked up to the front of the Hall and sat on the stool. He could see hundreds of eyes staring at him. He placed the Hat on his head and it slipped down over his own eyes; at least he wouldn’t have to watch everyone watching him.
“Well,” the Sorting Hat whispered in his ear, “another Potter. I’m going to tell you the same thing I told your dad” you’ll do well in Slytherin.”
“No,” muttered Albus, “not Slytherin, anything but Slytherin.”
“Yeah, your dad tried that one too. Not gonna work this time though.”
Albus started to panic. He had to convince the Hat he didn’t belong in Slytherin. He decided to take the offensive.
“You seem a lot different from how my dad described you,” he said to the Hat.
“Yeah, well you try being lit on fire and shoved onto a fat kid’s head and see if your attitude doesn’t change a bit!” the Hat retorted. “Now where was I?”
“You were about to sort me into Gryffindor.”
“Nice try kid. With cunning like that, you’ll be great in Slytherin.”
“But I don’t want to be in Slytherin!” Albus protested. “My dad said I’d be able to choose.”
“Yeah, well that’s only if I like you. Your dad was alright, but you’re a pain in the brim. I’m putting you in Slytherin and that’s final.” The Hat shouted its decision to the Hall.
Albus walked, head hung low, over to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Scorpius. His worst fear had come true. Over at the Gryffindor table, he could see James laughing and the Weasley cousins staring in awe. He sat with his head buried in his arms for the rest of the Sorting ceremony and nearly missed Rose being sorted into Ravenclaw.
Albus Potter and the Sorting Snafu by rjc917
Chapter Notes: Albus meets new people and gets sorted.
Chapter Endnotes: Bonus points to anyone who can figure out where some of the names in this chapter came from!