'I can't believe I'm finally going to Hogwarts with Sev tomorrow! It's going to be so fun! I've already read all of the books for school, Severus looked at me a bit crazy when I mentioned that, but whateverrr.
I'm a bit sad Petunia isn't able to come with us though, she's become even more distant since I got my letter. I hope she warms up once I come back for Christmas. I miss her.'
- Excerpt From 'Journal of Lily Evans (DON'T TOUCH!)
Kings Cross Station,
Hogwarts Express
1st September 1991
'-use of swords and other weapons, whether enchanted or not, has died down dramatically since the Statute of Secrecy was implemented; though some small hobbyist duelling circuit's focused on their use do exist. Sometimes a challenger from one such group will make headlines after getting far in an international tournament.-'
'Knock Knock'
The train had just pulled out of Kings Cross Station when his reading was interrupted. Harry peered over his book,
(The History of Weapons in Magical Society), towards the slowly opening compartment door. A red haired boy in clothes slightly too big for him, with an anxious expression was standing there.
"Er, sorry, you don't mind if I sit in here do you?" The boy nervously muttered. "Every other compartment is either too full for me or doesn't have anyone in it."
"Of course! Let me help you with your trunk." Smiling, Harry hopped over to the struggling boy, thinking about how this was the perfect chance to make a friend away from any influence the Dursley's might have.
"Oh thanks, I should be okay but if –oh blimey you're strong." Ignoring him, Harry grabbed hold of the trunk, smoothly lifting it up into the storage area. His hair parted slightly as he did so, revealing his scar and making the other boy's already wide eyes wider.
"Bloody 'ell you're Harry Potter!" He exclaimed, shock over his face. He dropped into his seat, and after taking a few seconds to calm he continued.
Sitting back down Harry sheepishly replied, "Yeah, I am…"
"Coooool," Ron said with a grin, quickly calming down as he noticed Harry's embarrassment. "Oh yeah my name's Ron by the way, Ron Weasley and uh, don't worry though, I won't bother you about anything. I hear enough about you from my sister anyways" He rolled his eyes fondly before kicking his feet up to lay upon the seat.
"Huh. No offence I don't think I know your sister. I might've talked to your Dad earlier though. Arthur, right?" With a slight expression of confusion Harry asked.
"Ohhh, you must've been the one my Dad was talking to earlier. He did say he was helping out someone coming through the barrier for the first time" Ron said in realisation, before he continued with slight mirth,"Well. You'll see what I mean next year about her."
Harry shoved his confusion about what was up with Ron's sister away to ask about something that was, in his mind, more important."Yeah, that was him. Say, do you know much about Hogwarts then? Having a big magical family and all. I've only read a bit about it in books this last month."
"Oh, well I don't know too much other than there's floating staircases that move around and how some of the teachers are a bit mad. Fred and George, my brothers, did tell me that the First Years have to fight a troll to get sorted, but I took that as a lie. The nutters." Ron explained. though he started to seem a bit annoyed once he mentioned his brothers.
Harry made a mental note to watch out for any moving stairways. He did want to know more about the houses though, he hadn't gotten far in
'Hogwarts: A History' as he was too focused on reading about magic.
"What house do you think you'll be in then?" Harry asked, "I heard a bit about them before from some blonde person when I was getting my robes. He seemed a bit snobbish though." thinking back to the moment, the blonde kid didn't seem too bad, but his father that came to collect him looked at him a bit funny and just caused Harry's instincts to flare.
"
Ugh. They were Malfoy's I'd reckon, considering what my Dad has let slip sometimes. You'd be best to stay away from them if I were you. After all, they were on the wrong side of the war." said Ron in a troubled tone, scowling. Harry felt a shiver run down his back; he'd definitely keep an eye on Malfoy now. He should probably do some research into what happened during the war that he apparently put a stop to. Pausing to let the moment pass, Ron continued,"Anyways I'd probably go in Gryffindor to be honest, my whole family went in there. I wouldn't mind going somewhere different from my brothers though. It doesn't matter if we're in different houses though we can still be friends. If you want to, that is." Cheeks running red as he mumbled the last part.
Warmth flowed through Harry and he smiled as he said, "I'd love that!" Ron smiled in relief. He also started to shuffle around in his pockets for something.
"Here it is! Wanna play some exploding snap? It's easy trust me, it will make the journey go way quicker." He said with excitement while waving a slightly charred and scruffed deck of what looked like playing cards. Harry nodded. After all, he wanted to get to Hogwarts as soon as possible and learn some magic!
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somewhere Near Hogwarts
Hogwarts Express
1st September 1991
"I can't believe you bought so much from the trolley Harry, by Merlin you ate so much, do you have a bottomless stomach or something?" Ron slurred, groaning around on a wrapper and crumb covered floor, as he struggled to get back up.
Harry though felt fine, he was usually ravenous for food and never really stopped feeling hungry. He giggled in amusement down at Ron whilst reaching into his backpack,"Well I had to try at least everything once, I've never had any of it before." He glanced at the darkening sky outside. "We should probably get changed though; it's getting dark out so we'll most likely be at Hogwarts soon."
"Ugh yeah you're right, lemme just lay here a bit longer." Muttered Ron, who was still groaning on the floor.
Harry rolled his eyes and started getting changed. Soon after Ron got up and slowly did as well.
"Do we really need to wear these hats? They seem like they'd poke someone's eye out." Questioned Harry as he eyed the item on the other boy's head suspiciously.
Ron looked at Harry, smirking,"Don't worry mate, if that happens I'm sure they'll be able to fix your eyes right up." He then looked down to the side.
Following his gaze, Harry looked at the rat Ron had bought out earlier that had just kind of been frozen still the whole time, not moving. "
Tch, I'm pretty sure Fred and George did something to Scabbers. He's not usually like this." Ron muttered in a frustrated tone. Harry himself felt a bit worried too. He knows he usually has a 'frightful' affect on animals, but nothing like this. Maybe it was the rats' old age, Ron did say it was quite old.
"Maybe you should ask a teacher in Hogwarts. There should be someone that can treat injured animals right?"
"Yeah that's probably a good idea," As Ron went to pick up Scabbers the train started to slow down as well.
"Oh looks like we're here. I can't wait to see what Hogwarts looks like!" stated Harry, excitement in his voice. He reached up to get his trunk, but nothing was there. He patted around the area above worriedly.
Ron piped up behind him,"I wouldn't worry about that mate: the Hogwarts Elves would've taken our stuff into the castle by now." Harry's head shot around. this was the first time he'd heard of Elves existing.
"Elves are real?!" He exclaimed in wonder.
"Well house elves are real -they help around homes and such. Most rich people like the Malfoy's have one." Bemused, Ron added, "I don't think any other type exists; apart from in legends and stories though."
'Knock Knock Knock'
A rapid knock interrupted them, and the door flew open. Behind it was a young girl with unbelievably frizzy brown hair and a raised eyebrow.
She spoke up in a hurried tone, "Good, at least you're ready. Come on then we need to get off the train." As quick as she came, she spun around and left.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, shrugging in bewilderment before hurrying off as well.
A loud voice boomed over them as soon as they stepped off the train and out into the chilly night. "-RST YEARS, FIRST YEARS, over here now quickly!" The boys caught sight of the giant of a man waving over towards them, he continued in a hurried but cheerful tone. "Come on now, onto the boats ye' all go"
Seeing as everyone else was getting into the boats, Ron and Harry quickly followed, managing to find one with enough space for them. Two girls were already in the boat, one with brown hair tied into pigtails and one with a somehow darker shade of black hair than Harry.
"Hi there! I'm Tracy and this is my friend Daphne, she doesn't talk much so don't worry if she doesn't say anything haha." Came the cheerful voice of the brown haired girl. Daphne, who was sitting opposite Harry, rolled her eyes; they were a shade of pale blue.
Harry replied with a smile, "Hiya, I'm Harry this is Ron, nice to meet you both!" Ron did a slight wave at his name. Both the girls intensely looked at Harry , their eyes darting to his forehead where his scar was just slightly visible through his fringe, they both let out a slight gasp. Daphne tried to hide her reaction composing herself quickly, as she did she also preemptively poked Tracy stopping what looked like a shout.
As Tracy flinched back, rubbing at her side, Daphne quietly spoke up. "Well it's nice to meet the both of you too." The boats started moving as she finished and the giant's accented voice started ringing out over the collection of children,
"Alright now you youngsters, keep your limbs inside yer boats so you don't fall. If you do, don't worry my friend Gary will help you out." A large shadow suddenly moved underneath the boats, but for some reason steering slightly clear of Harry's boat. The commotion caused someone to scream and fall out of their boat. Luckily a large green tentacle shot up from the water and grabbed them before placing the now very terrified child back in their boat. "See now you'll all be fine ye 'ave nothing to worry 'bout; we'll be in the castle in no time"
The boats started to speed up, as they got to the middle of the lake the castle came into view no longer hidden by fog that previously obscured it. He was filled with wonder as he saw it for the first time; it was beautiful. A strange tingle that he had felt before, at the platform entrance, suddenly came over him. This time it felt stronger, it felt like being dunked in an ice water bath.
-ba thump-
His magic thumbed through his body in response causing what felt like fire to flow through his body, he flinched in surprise.
As he did so he felt a hand on his shoulder, Ron was looking at him in slight concern.
"You alright there mate?" He whispered.
Recovering quickly and noticing no one else saw, Harry whispered back, "Yeah thanks, I'm fine, just felt a chill." Ron nodded and let his shoulder go with one last reassuring squeeze before looking back at the castle.
After admiring the view of the castle for a few minutes they arrived at a large mossy dock that was lit by some blue floating flames. Standing upon the dock was Professor McGonagall in a fancy green dress robe and witches hat. Harry smiled and waved at her. She did a slight nod in return, her lips pulling into a small smile.
As soon as they docked all of them scampered off the boats, glad to be on dry land again and away from the giant tentacle creature. Professor McGonagall turned towards the giant, who was in the process of getting off his larger boat, and in a warm tone, "Thank you Hagrid for guiding them safely. Make sure you don't arrive at the feast in the middle of the sorting ceremony."
"Ah ye' know it was no problem, and I'll start making my way over now heh." Hagrid replied as he lumbered off into the castle.
As he walked off the Professor turned towards them "Quickly now children, no tardiness and follow me!" The First Years hurried along to keep pace with her quick strides that were leading them deep into the castle. The patter of their shoes echoed through the halls until they came to a stop in front of a large wooden door. Harry examined the door and saw strange writing glowing with a faint silvery blue glow that flowed all over it in strange swirling patterns. Every other child also had a visage of wonder as they looked around and saw the ethereal magic that seemed to emanate from every object of the castle. After giving them a slight time to look around, McGonagall's stern voice rumbled over them, silencing any chatter.
"Now children, take one last look at yourself to make sure you are presentable and take a deep calming breath." She made the motions of breathing in and out as she did. She was about to continue when a sea of eclectic voices interrupted her. Harry turned around to see a group of transparent flying people.
"-Now yes of course I remember when that king came here to go through our libraries looking for anything to do with Arthur-"
"Say Baron fancy doing a haunting at a local muggle village, could be just like the old times!"
"-I remember when a good old wyvern hunt was-"
'POP'
A loud weird sounding pop echoed through the entrance hall and what he now realised were probably ghosts quieted down seeming to realise what was happening.
"Oh so so sorry Professor didn't realise it was that time of year again. Time goes by so quickly, you know. It is excellent to see all these young faces, I hope the sorting goes swimmingly and I'll be sure to see some of you later!" Apologetically exclaimed a large humble looking ghost in a monk's attire as he smiled down at everyone. "We'd best all be off then toodaloo~" The monk waved farewell and started to fly off, the rest of the ghosts following.
As they did a singular ghost was unnervingly staring at Harry, his expression was muddled with a look of despair and shock . He was wearing what looked like armour barely hanging onto its last thread, missing sections in many places, an empty sword sheath at his side. A young woman of a ghost paused briefly beside the figure to whisper something in his ear that knocked him out of his stupor. He took one last glance at Harry then sped along towards the other ghosts.
"We're already late enough as is, come now children line up nice and orderly." Professor McGonagoll uttered in a hurried tone a nearly hidden frown on her face. Everyone was quick to line up, mostly as they wanted to sit down and eat. Well Harry did anyway.
The Professor twitched her right hand causing a refined wand to appear, glancing back to see everyone ready she flicked her hand. The still doors started to glide open. As the other side revealed itself Harry let out a quiet 'wow'.
He glanced around the enormous room he and his fellows were being led into. 4 long tables ran most of its length each filled with hundreds of students in different colour uniforms on each. At the end of the room on a raised table he could spot a diverse group of older figures; he spotted Hagrid shuffling his way into his considerably bigger seat at the end of the table. His gaze continued to the walls around him, glancing at the large stained glass windows at the sides of the room showing a variety of different creatures, magic wielders and knights in a large array of animated scenes. Finally he looked straight up seeing the clearest twinkling night sky he had ever seen; everything was so amazing.
Centering himself he came back into the moment, the frizzy haired girl from the train was in front of him muttering what he realised to be whole paragraphs from 'Hogwarts: A History'. Professor McGonagoll had
continued forwards towards a small wooden stall with a large frayed hat on it. Taking out a large gilded scroll from underneath the hat she cleared her throat.
"The sorting ceremony will now begin. Please remain quiet. Hat, you may begin." She turned towards the large hat and small groans could be heard throughout the room. Harry wondered why she was talking to the hat but then it suddenly started talking in a gruffled voice.
"Well well, another lot huh. Lemme sing a song to mark this occasion." Then it started singing.
Harry didn't have this scenario in mind when he was thinking about coming to a magic school. Sure he knew he'd see some weird and mind-boggling stuff, after all the some of the bits he read in the magic books mentioned some strange things but they never mentioned a magic singing hat. The singing wasn't that bad though, at least not as bad as Aunt Petunia's shrill voice whenever she sang.
As the Hats last note to ended a smattering of claps echoed through the hall, the loudest being from the pair of red haired boys on the red table and an old professor with the longest beard he'd ever seen who was sat in the centre of the Professors table. Professor McGonagall then spoke up as the claps petered off, unrolling the scroll as she did.
"Now I will say your names in alphabetical order, you will come up and sit on the stool as I place the Sorting Hat upon your head and allow it to sort you into your future house. Let us begin, Hannah Abbot." Harry watched as a small freckled blond haired girl walked up and sat under the hat, after a few seconds it shouted.
"Hufflepuff!" The yellow table let out a huge cheer welcoming their new member as she ran up to them.
The sorting continued, with each person taking around 5-10 seconds. Harry started to pay attention when the frizzy hair girl, Hermione, was called up. The hat was on her head for at least a minute, maybe two before it suddenly shouted.
"Slytherin!" There were a few quiet gasps from the room before a few claps started that quickly died down as the girl walked stone faced and confident to the end of the table and sat down. The other first years there shuffled slightly away apart from Tracy who shuffled closer with a smile. Professor McGonagoll spoke up again calling the next person, which happened to be Daphne who also went to Slytherin.
As the sorting went on he kept half an ear out for his name and other on what the muttering older students were saying.
"This year's a bit small aint it?"
"Well you know the war and all that-"
"-Potter is in this year isn't he? Do you see-"
"Did you see that Muggleborn go into Slytherin? I hope she will be okay in th-"
"Harry Potter." His name rang out throughout the hall silencing any conversations. Ron patted his back with a whispered 'Good Luck'. Harry took a deep steadying breath and squared his shoulders. Not focusing on anything but moving forward, even as the volume of the hall suddenly shot up. As he made it to the stool and sat down the Professor gave him a kind smile and a nod. The Hat then flopped down over his head and blocked his vision. An old voice suddenly spoke in his mind.
'Well what do we have here, you're an interesting one aint you lad.' The Hat's voice echoed in his head. 'You certainly take after both your parents don't you?'
Harry spoke up for the first time, eagerly wanting to hear about his parents, "What were my parents like? How am I like the-"
'Slow down a bit ha,' interrupting Harry's question the Hat let out a chuckle. 'You're parents well, I wasn't surprised when Albus told me they got together I'll tell you that. They were both determined and stubborn, but very smart, especially your mother. You take more after your father though he had a very instinctive way in how he thought. Now where to put you. You don't have any preference do you? You just want unhindered freedom in life, I can see why you'd want that. Hmm you would do well as a snake, you would be great in fact, but well you can't stand the kind of mental games they play there you're a bit too honest and forward for that.' Harry let out a slight half-hearted grumble at that.'The badgers and ravens would give you a steady time here but that's not what you need, your Dragons-Blood needs some excitement therefore the only true answer is-'
"GRYFFINDOR!" The Sorting Hat was yanked off his head as thunderous cheers, hollers and clapping rang throughout the hall. Slightly confused by the Hats last sentence Harry still made sure to remember the words 'Dragon-Blooded.
He stepped forwards towards the Gryffindor table, smiling wide as he sat down. Harry was met with pats on the back and numerous welcomes. Was it weird that it already felt like home to him?
.