It was a month into the school year when the new transfer student arrived. It was diner time on a dark and stormy night, rain was pelting the windows and falling over head in fat drops but no one was paying attention. All eyes were drawn towards the figure that marched up one of the many isles leading to the faculty of the school. The old three legged bench was placed in the center of the front and the sorting hat sat on top of it. Many began to murmur as the raven haired boy took his seat, head held high with such confidence unlike any first year the school had ever seen, and the sorting hat was placed on his head.
The old stitches formed a sarcastic smile and a fold made makeshift eyes as the hat came to life. "Oh, you may not think I'm pretty but don't judge on what you see. I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat then me. There's nothing hidden in your head, The Sorting Hat can't see. I'll tell you were you ought to be.."
There was complete silence while the hat seemed to be thinking hard about where to place the new student.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Professor McGonagall lifted the hat from the boy's head and sent him off towards his new house. The students already inhabiting the table were divided in the ways they greeted their new housemate. Some of the students gave him a warm welcome while others looked terrified to be breathing the same air. The raven haired boy didn't seem to mind their reactions as he joined the table and began to partake in eating the feast. The meal was uneventful, save for the occasional louder laugh then normal. When it ended the boy stood and followed his housemates up to the Gryffindor tower, careful not to brush against anyone or look at them for too long. But the care he was taking as if balancing on the edge of a knife was taking it's toll on his temper as he waited for every last Gryffindor to make their way through the narrow portrait hole before he went through himself and he nearly missed slipping in as he didn't pay attention to what the password was.
As soon as the new student entered the common room all chatter died down and all eyes moved to him. He straightened himself up and gave them a sneer that would make a pure blood proud, "I don't enjoy being stared at! I'm not here for your entertainment!" He snapped to cover the underlying feeling of nervousness. What was he doing standing in the middle of a crowd of children, exposing himself and his family like this??
Several sets of eyes found their feet or the floor suddenly very interesting, except for one. A bright blue pair of eyes, magnified by a pair of glasses seemed fixated on him. The boy they belonged to cocked his head to the side and blinked a few times as if he were seeing a ghost from the past. "Rudolph..?"