In spite of the Dreamless Sleep, Harry woke up with an aching head and the vague feeling of having slept restlessly.

He would have tried to close his eyes against the pounding in his temples, but the other two beds were empty. He felt around for his glasses before remembering he no longer had any, then sat up and squinted at the clock.

Past breakfast. He wondered how he had slept through the bell, or why no one had brothered to wake him.

With a groan, Harry rolled out of bed and looked around for his clothing.

"You all right, mate?"

Harry looked up blearily. Sirius was in the doorway, frowning at him.

"Head hurts," he admitted.

Sirius made a face. "You too? Between you and Moony, the greasy git's going to run out of headache potions."

Harry wasn't in the mood to appreciate the joke. "Where is everyone? Why didn't you wake me?"

"Moony wouldn't let me. Said you didn't get to sleep until late." Sirius tilted his head to one side, looking him over. "You don't look too well."

"I'm all right."

As if on cue, his head gave a stronger throb, making him wince and put a hand to his temple.

"Right," Sirius said, drawing the word out. He leaned against the doorway and folded his arms over his chest casually. "Get a potion from the greasy git. He's good for that, anyway."

Harry had finally found his shoes, so he had an excuse to look down. "I will when I see him."

"Moony's bringing you breakfast."

"That's nice of him."

"Hmm." Sirius pushed away from the doorway and walked seemingly aimlessly into the room. "Say, where're you keeping all your stuff?"

"What stuff?" Harry asked, instantly suspicious. Now that he was forced to focus, he noticed that Sirius' pockets were bulging oddly.

"Oh, you know..." Sirius said, still in the same falsely casual tone. "All that stuff Moony said you'd better hide."

Harry contemplated not telling him, but this was Sirius. Anyway, he would find out sooner or later. They were sharing a room.

"In there," he said, pointing in the direction of the hidden panel. "The panel opens and there's a sort of cupboard or wardrobe or... I don't know."

"You mind if I stow some things?"

"Go ahead," Harry said, trying to keep the wariness out of his voice. What things could Sirius have got his hands on that needed to be kept hidden?

To his annoyance, there was no way to see. Sirius had emptied his pockets and shut the panel quickly before Harry could move closer.

"Come on," Sirius said cheerfully. "Let's not wait around for Moony. Are you dressed yet?"

Harry looked down at the rumpled shirt he had pulled on without looking at it properly. His head was still throbbing.

Sirius frowned. "We'll find the greasy git first. I saw him go into one of the classrooms."

"Maybe we should wait," Harry said half-heartedly. "What if he comes back and can't find us?"

"You worry too much. Anyway, knowing him he'll go running to the slimeball if he can't find us, and there we'll be."

Harry's nodded reluctantly. Sometimes it was easier just to agree.

Unfortunately, Snape was neither in the classroom Sirius claimed to have seen him enter earlier, nor in his office.

"Hrmp," Sirius said, looking at Harry with some concern. "I don't know...."

Harry leaned against the wall and tried to take deep breaths. The walk hadn't done him much good.

"If it's that bad, let's go to Pomfrey." Then Sirius snapped his fingers. "That's it! That's probably where he is. You remember how he went on about us taking him away from his work."

"Huh?" Harry asked dully. Trying to follow Sirius' leaps of thought while nursing a headache was too much. He felt renewed sympathy for Lupin. "What are you talking about?"

"Last night he -- oh, forget it." Sirius grabbed Harry by the arm and started pulling him toward the stairs. "Even if he's not there, Pomfrey will give you something."

By the time Harry was sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, drinking a nasty concoction Pomfrey had given him, he was slightly more appreciative of Sirius' efforts. The headache was already gone, and he hadn't needed to ask Snape for a potion, which in his mind was a very good thing.

"Let's find Milo. He must be wondering where we went."

But they didn't get very far.

No sooner had they left the hospital wing, Lupin skidded to a halt next to them. "We have to go! Run!"

"What -- ?" Harry started to ask, but as he turned to look at Lupin, the question froze on his lips.

Without another word, they were off running, Harry and Sirius following Lupin's lead.

He almost tripped on the staircase, where the trick step vanished underneath his foot, but Lupin and Sirius caught him and dragged him up the rest of the way to the second floor. Harry suddenly knew where Lupin was leading them.

"I don't see anyone," Lupin said, his eyes darting this way and that along the empty corridor. "Come on!"

They were inside in a minute, tripping over each other and their own feet in their haste.

"Shh!"

Harry held his breath. Lupin, whom he couldn't see in the darkness, was still panting from his run.

"I don't hear anything," Harry said after a few moments that felt like an hour. "I don't think anyone saw us."

"I don't think so either, but if they're searching the school, we can't take any chances. We need to stay quiet."

"What the bloody hell?" Sirius said. "Who's after us?"

"Did you say someone's searching the school?" Harry asked. His skin felt prickly with apprehension. "Are they looking for us?"

"I... I don't know," Lupin said, swallowing audibly. "Some Aurors. I didn't actually see them."

"You... didn't... see... them...?" Sirius repeated slowly. Harry imagined he could see the exact expression on Sirius' face.

"I saw them on... on the Map."

There was a short silence. Harry had just barely caught himself about to demand what Lupin had been doing with the Map.

"Think we can get some light?" Sirius asked. "I can't see a blasted thing."

"Go ahead."

After some shuffling, Sirius found the lamp and lit it.

Harry looked around. The space that had seemed small but cozy to him the last time he had been there, now seemed claustrophobic. Lupin's face was extremely pale and he was still clutching his wand. Sirius was sweaty and dishevelled. Harry suspected he didn't look much better himself.

"Well, sit," Sirius said. To lead by example he plopped down on one of the overstuffed pillows. "We can't do much else."

"Right," Lupin said. He finally noticed that he had his wand out, frowned at it, and put it away. "We'll just wait."

For a few minutes they sat in silence, which grew more and more strained.

"So, what happened?" Harry asked when he couldn't stand it anymore.

Lupin started to shrug, then sighed. "I came back and you were gone. I thought I'd take a quick look at the Map to save myself some time."

"And you're sure you saw Aurors?" Sirius asked, frowning. "You're sure?"

"I didn't recognize all the names," Lupin said, a little defiantly. "There was a whole group of them. I didn't think I should give them the benefit of the doubt."

"But they might not be after us," Harry said, his head clearing a bit now that the sense of immediate danger had passed. "It's the first day Hogwarts is officially open. They might be here as a precaution."

"Maybe," Lupin said, looking doubtful.

Sirius leaned back against the wall, still frowning. "It was a good idea to get us out of the way, Moony. That was good thinking. But now what?"

"I have the Map with me."

Harry couldn't help seeing how Sirius' eyes lit up at that, and he exchanged an uncomfortable look with Lupin. Beside the Invisibility Cloak, the Map would be one thing Snape would not want to fall into Sirius' hands, had he known Harry still had it.

"Let's see it," Sirius said, just as Harry had known he would. "We'll know when they leave."

"If they leave," Lupin said, a little desperately. "What if James is right, and they stay as long as the Feast?"

It was Harry and Sirius, this time, who exchanged an uncomfortable look.

"Let's not think about things that haven't happened yet," Sirius said finally. "Look, I'm starving! Isn't it grand we got all this food when we did?"

Harry tried to smile, but his face felt wooden. It was all very well to hide, and all very well they had plenty of food from their kitchen raid, but Lupin was right. They were in a world of trouble if it wasn't safe to leave their hiding place before night came.

The Map was spread out on the top of a box in front of them.

"I see them," Sirius said right away. He tapped his finger on the parchment. "There. And there."

"There, too," Lupin said, pointing at another spot. "The dungeons."

Harry squinted at the group of tiny dots milling around on the Map. It looked like most of the Aurors were in the antechamber just off the Entrance Hall. A few others were in the Great Hall, and the two Lupin had spotted had left the dungeons and were now making their way up to the first floor.

"Does it look like a search to you?" Sirius asked. "They seem to be standing around doing a whole lot of nothing."

Lupin was following the progress of the Aurors on the main staircase. "I don't know."

"Let's just keep an eye on them."

With that, Sirius seemed to lose interest in whatever the Aurors were doing at Hogwarts. He pulled a Quidditch magazine from another box, popped open a bottle of butterbeer, and settled back, looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

Unfortunately, no amount of food or Quidditch magazines could last them through the hours of captivity that followed.

"I'm bored," Sirius said, propping his head up as if it had grown too heavy for his head. "Are they gone yet?"

"No," Lupin said shortly, not bothering to look at the Map.

Harry sat up and peered more closely at it. It was true the Aurors were still at Hogwarts, but they stayed mostly on the ground floor. The two who had ventured up the staircase had gone briefly into the hospital wing, but had rejoined the others.

"I suppose they will stay all day," Sirius said, sniffing irritably. "Then what?"

Harry couldn't help looking at Lupin. Lupin was scowling.

"Maybe we can get a message to Professor Snape," Harry suggested. "Let's see if we can find him."

It must have been a sign of their growing desperation that even Sirius did not scoff at this idea.

"No good," Lupin said after a few moments. "He's right there next to McGonagall."

Harry was not quite willing to give up. He was trying to figure out their own location. "Where are we?"

Sirius shook his head. "It's not on the Map --"

"I know that," Harry interrupted. "You told me. Just where, about?"

"There," Sirius pointed to a corridor on the second floor. "Should be right here."

"We're close to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Harry said, pursing his lips. "Very close."

"Who?" Sirius asked, looking at him like he'd grown a second set of ears.

Even Lupin took his eyes off the Map long enough to give Harry a confused look.

"Oh, come on," Harry said, looking at one and then the other. "Moaning Myrtle! She was here even when you were at Hogwarts. And I must have told you about her...."

"Er..." said Sirius.

"No," Lupin finished for him.

"Moaning Myrtle is the student who was killed by the basilisk, the first time the Chamber of Secrets was opened," Harry explained, feeling odd that he knew something about Hogwarts that they didn't. "And she lives in that bathroom!" He pointed at the place on the Map, just a few centimeters away from where Sirius had pointed earlier.

"She lives in a girls' loo?" Sirius repeated, tilting his head to one side.

"Because that's the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."

"Oh," Sirius said. He didn't look particularly excited by this information.

Lupin scratched his neck. "The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in a bathroom?"

"Yes. And I reckon there's no one else who can open it. You need to speak Parseltongue."

"What good is that to us?" Sirius asked, looking even more disinterested.

"I'm a Parselmouth," Harry said, rather annoyed. Hermione, by now, would have understood.

Sirius waved him off. "Not that --I know that. But what good is the Chamber of Secrets to us?"

"I just thought...!" Harry huffed irritably. "I just thought, if it starts to get dark and we're still here, I can open the Chamber of Secrets and Milo can go down there. It'll be perfectly safe...."

He trailed off, because while Sirius looked a great deal more interested now, Lupin was looking at him reproachfully.

"Right," Lupin said. "Because that's where Hogwarts stows all its monsters, isn't it."

"That --!" Harry let out an indignant breath. What was wrong with Lupin? "That is completely not what I meant! If it wasn't the full moon, I'd say we could all go down there together, right now."

Lupin started to reply, then shook his head and looked away.

Sirius rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, presumably in support of Harry. "Look, it doesn't even matter. They're leaving."

Harry looked where Sirius was pointing. The group of dots was in the Entrance Hall, close to the doors. As he watched, they formed a more orderly line and trickled out into the courtyard and then away across the grounds, toward the gates.

"Great," Harry said with not much enthusiasm. "We can go now, I reckon."

"We'll wait until they've definitely gone," Sirius said. "Say, do you see the greasy git anywhere? I lost track of him."

The three of them were quiet as they searched opposite ends of the Map.

"Here," Sirius said suddenly. "He just popped up out of nowhere!"

Harry looked where Sirius had pointed, and immediately knew how Snape had managed such a trick. "Hmm," he said noncommittally. "Wonder what he's doing way up there."

"Probably though that's where we'd go," Sirius said, making a face. "We did go to the seventh floor that one time."

"Right," Harry agreed, relieved Sirius didn't seem interested in Snape's sudden appearance anymore.

"They've gone," Lupin informed them. He picked up the Map and folded it. "Let's leave here."

Harry couldn't help noticing that Lupin still wouldn't look at him. He sighed. It was only a few hours before the Sorting now, and he rather wanted Lupin on his side.

"Where were you?"

Harry, experiencing an irritating sense of deja vu, was tempted to tell Snape they had been in the library, doing some light reading, that whole time. He wisely kept his mouth shut.

"It was my fault, Professor," Lupin said. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I... I saw the Aurors and... I guess I panicked a bit. We thought it best to stay out of sight until they'd gone."

Snape glared at him.

"Which was good thinking!" Sirius put in.

Snape opened his mouth, but seemed to think better of whatever he intended to say. His eyes shifted from Lupin to Harry, and narrowed ever more slightly. "You did a good job of staying out of sight, indeed."

Harry swallowed and looked away, but it was too late now. He knew he looked guilty, because he felt so. He had the feeling Snape would corner him soon enough, and this time would not let him get away with keeping their hideaway secret.

"It was routine," Snape said, unexpectedly changing the subject. "The Ministry has an interest in school security, especially in light of recent events. Now, the two of you --" Snape indicated Harry and Sirius, "-- are to go to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall will take charge of you. You --" Snape grasped Lupin by the upper arm as if to make absolutely clear his intention of not letting Lupin out of his sight, "-- are coming to my office."

Lupin allowed himself to be dragged away, not even looking back once.

They turned and started walking.

"Well," Harry said with a tired sigh, "at least he'll get his potion."

"Right. He'll feel better after he does." Sirius reached out and awkwardly patted Harry on the shoulder. "Don't mind him. He always gets sensitive right before."

Harry shrugged and didn't say anything.

"Anyway, all's well that ends well." Sirius slapped Harry one more time on the back. "Look, here we are."

Harry looked up. They had reached the Great Hall, where McGonagall was directing students to and fro.

"I didn't realize it was this late," Harry said. The Great Hall looked ready for the feast. Every student he saw was already wearing school robes, and the enchanted ceiling overhead was darkening in front of their eyes.

"Mr. McKenna and Mr. Puddifoot," McGonagall called sharply. "Come over here at once."

Sirius sighed audibly. Harry had to pull him along.

"Did Professor Snape pass on my instructions?" McGonagall demanded as soon as they were near enough.

"We did see him," Harry said. "But he just said to come here and find you."

"I see," McGonagall said. "You must put on your uniforms. You may wait in the chamber off the Entrance Hall until the train carrying the other students has arrived. This way we will be sure not to lose you. I am letting the other children walk to the station to meet their friends."

As they walked back toward the dungeons, Sirius poked Harry in the ribs.

"The other children, she said," he said with disgust. "The other children! That woman!"

Harry tried not to laugh.

McGonagall was herding a group of children down the corridor.

Sirius hopped down off the table, where he wasn't supposed to be sitting, and smoothed down his robes. "Not a very large group, is it?"

"I'm surprised there were this many families willing to send their children," Lupin said, grimacing. "Especially when it's their first year and on such short notice."

Harry nodded, but said nothing. He couldn't help noticing that a lot of the children -- at least half of the group -- were familiar to him. He had seen them in the Great Hall at meals and in the hospital wing. Perhaps they had no families left to worry about them or make decisions about where to send them.

"All right, then," Sirius said, the lightness in his voice ringing false. "Remember, all together."

Lupin went a shade paler, but there was no time for either him or Harry to make another attempt at getting Sirius to cooperate. McGonagall was at the door, waving the children inside briskly.

"Don't dawdle, Perkins," she reprimanded a fat little boy who had stopped to crane his neck in an attempt to see into the Great Hall. "Come inside."

Harry remembered being eleven years old and standing in that very room, waiting to hear McGonagall explain what he would have to do. The same nervous, excited, and terrified feeling was stirring up inside him again, though this time, at least, he knew there were no trolls to wrestle or spells to perform.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said. "The Sorting ceremony will begin shortly, followed by the start-of-term banquet. There are four houses at Hogwarts, and they are called Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, and your house will be something like your family while you are here. You will sleep in your house dormitory, spend your free time in your house common room, and support your house by earning house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points shall be awarded the house cup."

As McGonagall wound down her speech, which seemed shorter than the version Harry remembered, he recalled that she would leave them for a short time before returning to lead them to the Great Hall. Desperately, he tried to think of just one more thing he could say to Sirius, before that happened.

Unfortunately, the chance was denied to him.

"Come forward as I call your names," McGonagall said, taking a roll of parchment out of her pocket. "August, Miranda."

Moments later she had them all lined up alphabetically. Harry found himself toward the front of the group in spite of his surname, with Lupin right behind him. They were separated from Sirius by a pair of nervously-giggling twins and the now sniffling Perkins. There was no chance for even one more word to be exchanged.

"Follow me," McGonagall said.

Harry followed the student in front of him, his feet dragging. This was it. He didn't feel at all ready.

What if Snape was wrong? What if the Sorting Hat knew it was him, and refused to sort him, or, worse, shouted out his name? That it had never done such a thing before didn't matter; things were always happening to him that had never happened before.

What if he got into Slytherin, like Snape wanted, only to watch Lupin and Sirius go off to Gryffindor without him? He didn't see Lupin in Slytherin, and if Lupin didn't manage it, somehow, Sirius would have even less reason to try.

If he tried at all! Sirius might get sorted into Gryffindor no matter what the two of them did. He might do it out of spite, after they went against his brilliant plan.

What if...!

He gulped as they entered the Great Hall. It was lit by thousands of candles and the tables were set for the great feast. It was quite obvious many students were absent. There were more than just the usual number of empty seats at each table, waiting for the new arrivals to fill them.

He tried not to look at the Gryffindor table. He didn't want to know, just then, if his friends were there.

He looked forward, instead, and looked at the head table.

Snape was there, looking pale and grim. Harry looked away again quickly before their eyes could meet.

The stool had already been set up, with the Sorting Hat on top of it. Harry waited for it to start its song. Any delay was welcome.

Others were waiting, too. The whole Hall was looking at the shabby hat.

Gradually, a low murmur started up and down the rows.

Finally, McGonagall cleared her throat. "When I call your name, you must put on the Sorting Hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."

Already something was wrong, Harry thought with a dreadful sinking feeling. What did it mean for the Hat to stay silent?

"August, Miranda."

The girl who was first in line tottered forward and almost collapsed on the stool, pulling the Hat down over her eyes.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

McGonagall looked relieved. "Cuthbert, Edwin."

Harry's heart was beating so hard now that he barely heard as Cuthbert, Edwin and then Glendower, Louisa were sent to Ravenclaw.

Lupin gave him a little push forward as the line moved up.

"Gunther, Gemma."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Hammond, Gareth."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Isaac, Norah."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lupin had to give him another push. He felt like all the air had been sucked from the Great Hall.

"Lachlan, Lacy."

Lachlan, Lacy sat on the stool for a good two minutes while the Hat contemplated.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The girl, looking so relieved she was almost crying, ran to the Hufflepuff table.

"McKenna, James."

It took a hard shove from Lupin to get Harry moving.

Feeling like his body belonged to someone else, Harry picked the Hat up and sat down on the stool. With no way to delay the inevitable, he set the Hat down on his head, where it slipped down over his forehead and left him sitting in total darkness.

"Ah..." said the Hat conversationally. "A bright mind, I see. Loyal to your friends. A thirst for --"

"Slytherin," Harry thought as hard as he could. Even in his thoughts, his voice shook badly.

"Eh? Slytherin, you say?"

"Please, yes, Slytherin. I want to go to Slytherin."

"Are you sure?" the Hat asked. "I see great power, but --"

"I'm a Parselmouth! I talk to snakes! I live with Snape! Please put me in Slytherin!"

"I see courage and --"

"SLYTHERIN," Harry almost screamed inside his head. "PLEASE, SLYTHERIN!"

"Hrmp," said that Hat. "Slytherin."

Harry sat there, waiting for it to go on, but it didn't.

Suddenly he realized he could hear clapping.

Had it said that last part out loud? Had it really said it?

He scrambled off the stool, pulling the Sorting Hat off, and saw that it was, indeed, the Slytherin table that was clapping.

He very nearly went with the Hat still in his hands, only just remembering in time and dropping it back on the stool.

"Moony, Milo."

Harry, who by this time was nearly at the Slytherin table, almost tripped over his feet. By the time he had sat down, Lupin was already on the stool, the Hat on his head.

It was an agonizingly long wait.

"Taking its time with this lot, isn't it?" muttered an older boy sitting across from Harry. "If it takes so long with them all, we'll not be done by morning."

Harry kept staring at Lupin and the Hat.

"Slytherin. Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin," he repeated over and over in his head, as if he could somehow force the Hat to hear it.

"Ridiculous," said another boy down the table.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Harry jumped, so shocked that he almost fell off the bench.

Slytherin! Lupin had done it --somehow!

Lupin, looking like he had no idea how he had accomplished the feat, ran to join him at the Slytherin table.

"Pembleton, Anita."

They were reminded sharply that it was not over, as Pembleton, Anita went to Gryffindor. Lupin had gone pale once again.

With dread, Harry forced himself to look at the line of students who had not yet been sorted.

Sirius was glaring thunderously at them. He was making no attempt to hide it.

"Pembleton, Amelie."

Pembleton, Amelie joined her twin at the Gryffindor table, almost skipping down the isle the entire way there.

"Perkins, Noah."

The Hat had barely touched the head of Perkins before it shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!" and then --

"Puddifoot, Patrick."

Sirius, when he was enraged, could certainly look like he was enraged... and he was enraged. He shot out of line like a bludger, barrelled down the isle toward the head table, and there paused to give the entire Great Hall the benefit of his most vicious glare before he jammed the Sorting Hat onto his head, not even bothering with the stool.

There was utter silence in the Great Hall. Certainly, in the recent history of Hogwarts, no first year student had behaved in such manner.

Harry was too afraid to look at Snape, and, anyway, he could not take his eyes off Sirius, who, even now, with his head almost completely covered by the floppy Hat, was the very picture of wrath. Even from so far away, Harry could see he was practically vibrating, his hands clenched at his sides.

"Another one," muttered the boy across from Harry, when several minutes -- or so it felt like --had passed.

Lupin found Harry's hand under the table, and squeezed it so hard that Harry could no longer feel his fingers. His nerves felt like a string pulled so taut it had to break soon. Every second doubled the ache in his chest, until he almost didn't care what the outcome was. Let the Hat put Sirius in Gryffindor, if that's what it was going to do! Just let it be over before his heart gave out from the strain.

And then it was over.

With the force of a firecracker going off, Sirius exploded from under the Sorting Hat, ripping it off his head with one clawed hand. He shook it as if he meant to reduce it to shreds.

"SLYTHERIN!" he howled at the top of his lungs. "SLY-THE-RIN!"

And then, flinging the Hat back onto the stool, he took off for the Slytherin table, knocking so hard into Lupin and Harry that the bench they sat on was nearly toppled over.

His face beet red, Sirius slammed his forehead into the table and buried his head in his arms.

The silence in the Great Hall lasted for another stunned minute.

"That's the way," said a heavyset fourth year, reaching over Harry and Lupin to give Sirius a hearty slap on the back. "Hope they'll let you stay."

One by one, the Slytherins began to clap in agreement.

Harry finally got up the courage to look at the head table.

McGonagall, her face very white and her lips very thin, cleared her throat and adjusted her spectacles. She looked down at her roll of parchment.

"Salinger, Wilma."

Harry, in his relief, did not know if Salinger, Wilma ended up in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin, nor the fate of Sutherland, Selena; Tate, Juliette; Titus, Olivia; or Vaughn, Dominic.

They had done it.

He extracted his hand from Lupin's sweaty, shaking grasp.

"We did it."

Lupin turned to look at him with impossibly wide eyes, and nodded.

Together, they looked down at Sirius, who had yet to move.

"Zoltan, Quincy."

"RAVENCLAW!"

Zoltan, Quincy, the last student to be sorted, went to join his fellow Ravenclaws, while the stool and Sorting Hat were removed.

McGonagall looked like she wanted to say something. Indeed, Harry thought, she probably had a speech ready. It was, after all, her first year as Headmistress, and this was not a typical start-of-year feast.

Then, as if thinking better of it, or perhaps giving it up as a lost cause after the eventful Sorting, she raised her wand and called, "Let the Feast begin."

The tables groaned under the weight of the food that appeared. Harry, suddenly starving, could not stop himself from reaching for the platter of fresh bread. All around him, students were talking and laughing and already arguing, filling their plates and goblets until there were mountains of food in front of everyone.

Harry looked at Sirius again. All he could see was a patch of livid red skin where Sirius' hair didn't meet the crook of his arm.

He shrugged at Lupin, who looked back at him and shook his head helplessly.

"Put some of this in your pocket. He might be hungry later, and you can give it to him then."

Harry checked that no one was watching before wrapping the bread, fruit, and raspberry tarts in a napkin and slipping them into the pocket of his robes.

Lupin had just reminded him that tonight he would be alone with Sirius. Suddenly his appetite was gone again.

"You'd best eat something," Lupin said. "It looks odd if you don't, and you already missed one meal today."

Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Right."

It seemed that measures had been taken to account for Lupin's condition. Mid-way through the feast, McGonagall held up her hand for silence.

"As you may have guessed, we have been working very hard to prepare the school for today. While I regret to cut short your festivities, I will need to meet with some students before you are all dismissed for the night. Please listen for your name, and if called, come up to the head table."

Taking out another roll of parchment, she adjusted her glasses.

"First, the prefects and the Head Boy and Girl. Abbot, Hannah."

Hannah, at the Hufflepuff table, wiped her mouth hastily with a napkin and hurried to the front of the Hall.

"Goldstein, Anthony."

The Ravenclaw prefect joined Hannah.

"Parkinson, Pansy."

There was silence. McGonagall was looking over at their table. "Not with us today? I'm afraid Slytherin has no prefect at the moment, then --"

"I am here."

Harry's stomach turned to lead.

It took McGonagall a moment to recover, but her voice was even when she spoke. "Malfoy, Draco."

Harry had happened to be looking at Snape, and so he saw the effect Malfoy's appearance had. Snape, it seemed, had neither known that Malfoy was still in the castle, nor could quite decide how he felt about it. A conflicting array of emotions flickered over his sallow face before an inscrutable mask replaced them. Snape raised his goblet in a toast as Malfoy made his way toward the head table.

"Great," Harry muttered.

Lupin elbowed him in the side to remind him where they were.

"Granger, Hermione and Weasley, Ronald."

Harry should have known it was coming, but was caught unprepared. He averted his eyes as his friends left the Gryffindor table.

"Winston, Claudius and Zeller, Zinia."

The Head Boy, a Ravenclaw, and the Head Girl, a Hufflepuff, joined the prefects.

"Cuthbert, Edwin."

Looking confused, the Ravenclaw first year stood up.

"Gunther, Gemma."

Another first year Ravenclaw hurried to the front.

"Perkins, Noah."

"Lachlan, Lacy."

A pair of Hufflepuffs, this time.

"Hammond, Gareth." And then, "Isaac, Norah."

Somehow, Harry knew Lupin was next.

"Moony, Milo."

Lupin tried to give Harry a shaky smile, which Harry couldn't force his face to return, and then he stood up and walked toward the front of the Great Hall.

"Tate, Juliette."

Tate, Juliette, who turned out to be a Slytherin too, squeaked with surprise.

"All first years," commented an older girl. "I wonder what she wants them for."

As McGonagall led the chosen students away, Harry couldn't help feeling abandoned. He poked at his food, no longer hungry.

He would have missed it if an older Slytherin hadn't felt compelled to take charge of the first years.

"That's our head of house, Professor Snape."

Harry looked up. Snape had left his seat and was making his way slowly to the end of the head table, stopping to speak with some of the other professors.

"I wonder where he's going?"

Harry, of course, had a good idea of where Snape was going. Someone had to make sure Lupin made it to wherever it was -- Harry only then realized he did not know -- he was to spend the night.

The feast ended. Harry had not eaten much, but his stomach felt as uncomfortable as if he had eaten three times his own weight.

"This way, first years," commanded Malfoy. Harry hadn't noticed him return. "Follow me. We are to go straight to our common room." His pale eyes swept over the Slytherin table. "All of us. Headmistress' order."

For one wild moment, as the other students stood up, Harry wondered what he was to do if Sirius refused to budge.

Sirius, however, stood up robotically, looking at his feet.

They marched in a tight group past the other tables, where the other prefects had not yet managed to get control, and out to the Entrance Hall.

"This staircase leads to the dungeons --" Malfoy stopped short, blinking. "Professor."

Snape had materialized out of the pitch blackness of the stairwell. His eyes came to rest on Harry.

"McKenna and Puddifoot are to come with me," Snape said in a grim tone. "Carry on, Mr. Malfoy."

There was a confused murmur among the Slytherins.

"As you are well aware," Snape said, addressing the Slytherins at large while keeping Harry pinned under his gaze, "the wizarding world has suffered many casualties. I counted many of the fallen among my friends. I considered it my duty to take charge of their orphaned children, all of whom were tonight sorted into the house of Slytherin."

The Slytherins were now silent.

"I have changed my mind, however, about allowing them to stay in the dormitory, at least until such a time as I am more satisfied with their ability to behave in a manner befitting our noble house."

All eyes went to Sirius, who was still staring straight at the floor.

Snape waved his hand dismissively. "Carry on, Mr. Malfoy."

Harry and Sirius were left behind with Snape as the Slytherins passed them. Only when the sounds of footsteps died away did Snape motion for them to follow him down the dungeon staircase.

Snape led them into his quarters. Harry, seeing Snape's hand twitch toward his wand and his eyes dart toward one of the closed doors, knew suddenly where Lupin was spending the night. He recalled the dirty and dank little cellar with a shudder.

As soon as the door to their room was shut, Snape rounded on them.

"Never have I seen such a display!"

Harry joined Sirius in staring at the floor.

Snape drew in a breath, as if readying to carry on his tirade, but when he spoke it was with odd calmness. "Nevertheless, you did do what I asked you, and that is something. Go to bed."

With that, Snape opened the door and let himself out, shutting it behind him. From the ripples of magic that went through the wood, Harry knew they were being securely locked in.

He swallowed and looked at Sirius. "I guess we had better go to bed. I'm very tired."

Sirius said nothing, but turned and walked to his own bed and began to change into his nightclothes.

Harry watched him for a few moments. He had never seen this side of Sirius, and he wasn't sure he liked it. Still, he wouldn't rather have Sirius openly hostile, especially after an already long and tiring day. He just wished he knew what was going on in Sirius' head.

Sirius got into bed, pulling the covers up almost over his face.

Harry snuffed out the torch before climbing into his own bed, trying to get comfortable.

He couldn't sleep. He wished he had thought to take the Dreamless Sleep potion, and that he had thought to remind Sirius to take his. He couldn't bring himself to break the silence in the room, though.

"James? Are you asleep?"

"No," Harry said quickly.

The bedsprings creaked, and Harry squinted until he made out a lump across the room. Sirius had sat up, pulling himself up against the headboard.

"The Hat took a long time with you," Sirius said. His voice was strained. "Did it try to put you in Gryffindor?"

"It was trying to tell me what it saw in me," Harry said cautiously. The Sorting Hat had not, after all, actually said where it thought he belonged.

"But you told it you wanted to go to Slytherin, and it let you?"

"I guess so."

Harry waited, but Sirius did not reply.

"I just kept saying, Slytherin, Slytherin, until the Hat gave up trying to put me anywhere else."

Sirius was still silent. Harry wished he hadn't said so much.

"Oh," Sirius finally said.

"It... took a long time with you, too, Paddy," Harry said quietly, afraid of Sirius' reaction. "A very long time."

Sirius sighed dejectedly. "You won't laugh? I didn't laugh at you when you said it tried to put you in Slytherin before."

"I won't laugh," Harry said. At the moment, laughing was the last thing he felt like doing.

There was silence. This time it was so long that Harry was certain Sirius had changed his mind.

"You went to Slytherin and then Moony did, too. I thought... I was so angry with both of you, I was going to let the damn Hat put me in Gryffindor just to show you..." Sirius trailed off.

"I was afraid you might," Harry confessed. "I really thought you would."

Sirius drew a breath. "Yeah, well, I got there and the blasted Hat was taking its sweet time. I thought about being in Gryffindor by myself...."

"And...?" Harry prompted when Sirius went silent again.

"And!" Sirius huffed indignantly. Harry saw him sit up straighter, pushing away from the headboard. "The filthy old rag said I was loyal and tried to stick me in Hufflepuff! HUFFLEPUFF -- my God!

"James?

"James, you're laughing, aren't you. Damn you."

Harry, who had been slowly dying, trying to hold his breath while his sides ached and tears streamed out of his eyes, fell completely apart. A horrible series of snorts, which he couldn't hope to stifle, exploded out of him.

Sirius slid down in bed and pulled up the covers. "Good night, James," he said contemptuously.

"I'm... I'm... sorry," Harry choked out.

But he could not stop laughing.