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The next person to be sorted Gryffindor was another boy. Professor McGonagall called up Remus Lupin, the hat sorted him and he took a seat next to Sirius, who was too busy looking over his shoulder at the other boy from the train to notice that the poor boy was even there. Then, to Dora's pure horror, the very boy Sirius had been staring at since the sorting ceremony had begun was called up and swiftly sorted into Gryffindor before Dora could say "my life is going to be a living hell".
It seemed as if everyone in Gryffindor except Dora applauded. Some were cheering. Sirius was cheering obnoxiously loudly, it was like all Dora could hear was his laughter. It set her teeth on edge. The boy, James, strode over confidently and stood hovering over Sirius.
"Shift over mate, I'm not that thin!" He said, looking down at Remus who frowned in confusion. He shuffled over, not sure what else to do but oblige as James was still standing and everyone, even Professor McGonagall who hadn't yet called out the next person's name, was waiting for him to sit down. Dora watched as James wedged himself in between Remus and Sirius. He was grinning from ear to ear and immediately began chatting with Sirius, making no effort to keep his voice down as the sorting ceremony continued.
"Severus Snape," Professor McGonagall called and Dora saw Lily's head perk up. The hat couldn't have been on his head for more than a minute before he was sorted into Slytherin. Gideon raised his eyebrows. Lily's head fell back down and she stared at her plate.
"Is that your friend?" Dora asked, frowning. No one else had seemed to notice. Lily lifted her head, looking at Dora with wide eyes as if she hadn't expected anyone to notice.
"Yeah," She said with a sad sort of smile. "He was right though, he was in Slytherin."
"Did you meet on the train?" Dora asked and Lily shook her head.
"No, we've been friends for years," she said, "We grew up together."
"Well, if you've been friend this long separate houses isn't going to change that."
"I guess you're right," Lily shrugged, "Sev did promise that Hogwarts wouldn't change anything."
Dora's jaw clenched as she heard someone scoff from across the table. She didn't have to turn her head to know who had scoffed.
It was Sirius. Of course it was. He had choked on his water as he'd scoffed so at least there was that to make Dora feel better.
"Why would you want to be friends with old Snivelly?" He said once he'd stopped making stupid noises. James almost choked on his water when he heard the nickname Sirius had come up with, trying not to laugh as he drank. Lily's face twisted into an angry frown. Her jaw clenched and she shifted on the bench, screwing her hands into fists and shooting daggers across the table and James and Sirius.
"Don't call him that," She spat.
"What? Snivelly?" Sirius repeated, a massive grin on his face. He nudged James who was also grinning and the two shared a look.
"You know perfectly well what," Lily warned and turned away from them as far as she could whilst still remaining sat at the table. James laughed.
"Snivelly..." he mumbled through laughs and shook his head, wiping tears from his eyes. Honestly, it hadn't been that funny, "Good one, Sirius!"
Lily was seething and Dora wasn't much calmer. Lily looked about ready to dive across the table at them both. For their sake, Dora hoped she would refrain.
"What is your problem?" She asked, voice full of venom. Sirius simply shrugged, still smirking and didn't give any answer at all. Dora sighed, mainly to calm herself down, and turned her attention back to the sorting, eagerly awaiting Kingsley's sorting. From across the table, James and Sirius carried on joking and laughing. Dora shook her head. Boy was she in for a long year...
Dora successfully managed to get through the rest of the sorting ceremony and feast without murdering Sirius, or James for that matter. It had helped slightly that Kingsley had been sorted into Gryffindor as well. She spent the rest of the feast trying to catch his eye and sending messages for help in blink morse code but he was right down the other end of the table, too far away for her to catch his eye, and she didn't know morse code.
At the end of the feast, Gideon gathered all the first year students around and led them all up to the Gryffindor common room, herding them along like sheep. Dora took this opportunity to get as far away from Sirius and James as possible. She hung back as they had bounded up to Gideon. Dora stayed at the back and, reunited with Kingsley, chatted on their way up the stairs to Gryffindor tower.
"It was awful!" She complained as they trudged up yet another staircase, "Why can't you have a different surname? One that also starts with A and then you could have saved me from him!"
"They can't be that bad," He laughed, "You've only known them for a day!"
"Exactly! They're that bad it only took a day for me to realise they're awful!"
"You don't think you're overreacting a bit?" Kingsley said, cocking an eyebrow. Dora frowned.
"No. Absolutely not! And you'll find out too, soon enough, having to share a dorm with them," She spat. Kingsley only laughed more, "Erugh, I can't imagine what I'll do if you end up friends with them." She pouted.
"Then I promise we'll always stay better friends than anyone else," Kingsley said with a smirk. Dora grinned although she tried to hide it.
"Deal," Dora said, smiling, and held out her hand to Kingsley. He looked at her with a sideways glance and a half smile and shook her hand, "But you'd better mean that. God knows I'll need at least one friend if I'm going to deal with those two all year."
"We're here for seven years. You do know that right?"
