I do not own anything. Everything is property of J.K. Rowling.
Neville Longbottom pulled his blankets up to his chin and smiled to himself. He had only been at Hogwarts a few hours, but he already loved it. He remembered stepping into the Great Hall, his new friends next to him. He let his fond memories carry him into a deep, peaceful slumber.
Neville woke with a start just a couple hours later, to the sound of boisterous chanting. He and the other first year Gryffindor boys, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas, looked to the door of the dormitory, where a hooded figure stood. Everyone was too afraid to speak. The figure pulled back his hood, to reveal one of the older Gryffindor boys Neville recognized from the feast. His face was painted in red and gold.
"Oy, mates!" said the boy. "It's tradition that we have a party in the common room first day back, just us guys." He gave a warm smile and beckoned for them to follow. Neville gave a huge smile as he climbed out of bed. He glanced at his dorm mates and saw that they also looked very excited. Wow, Neville thought, delicious food, cool castle, and now wild parties? I'm going to like Hogwarts.
As the boys reached the common room, they saw many other boys circling the perimeter of the room. They all wore face paint and loin clothes. They gave a savage chant, "First years caede! First years caede!" Some of them beat drums. This is quite a strange party, Neville thought to himself. The first years were pushed into the ring of boys. Sitting in an armchair was a tall boy in an executioners mask. "Welcome to Hogwarts. Let's begin this party. Dance!" He commanded, and the drummers began to pound louder. The first years looked at each other, unsure of what to do. "I said DANCE!" the boy yelled in a harsh voice. They all began to move their feet to the beat of the drums. The circle clapped on and roared in laughter. Neville gave a nervous gulp. "Faster!" called a few onlookers "Happier! Harder!" After a few minutes the leader yelled "ENOUGH!" and the room fell completely silent.
"What kind of party is this?" Harry asked.
"SILENCE!" yelled the leader. "You don't speak unless spoken to!"
One of the boys in the circle said in a Scottish accent, "I believe we have our first victim. How about a classic? A good old fashioned spank line!" His eyes rested on Harry.
"Good thinking, Wood," said the hooded figure. " Everyone...paddles out!"
In that instant, two boys conjured wooden paddles and distributed them to all of the boys encircling the five young Gryffindors. They stood in a long line, one behind the other and spread their legs. The leader of the pack was first in line and he ordered Harry to get on his hands and knees. Harry, worried about what these boys were capable of doing if he did not obey, reluctantly gave in and got down on all fours.
"FORWARD!" shouted the leader. Harry knew he had no choice and began to crawl through the tunnel of legs, each person giving him a good slap on the ass as they shouted catcalls and whistled. Harry held back tears as the savages jeered and laughed at him. It was not the pain that brought tears to Harry's green eyes (he was used to that by now after ten years of getting pounded by Dudley and his gang); it was the humiliation.
After what seemed an endless amount of time, Harry emerged from the spank line, his ass baboon red. Neville cowered in fear hoping to God that this would not happen to him. Ron found his two twin brothers, Fred and George, in the crowd and looked up at them with a shocked face. They had never mentioned anything like this when they spoke of Hogwarts.
"Sorry, little brother." They chuckled in unison. With that, the crowd turned their focus to the redheaded first year. The Weasley twins shot short glances at the crackling fire and then back to their leader. The leader gave a curt nod. Ron's two older brothers grabbed him with sly smiles on their face. They brought him right before the fireplace and pulled down his trousers just enough to exposed his rump.
"HELP! HELP!" cried Ron but it was no use.
"Shut up!" hissed the leader. Ron did not need to be told twice. He could sense the boy stepping slowly up behind him while his brothers held him in place. He noticed he held something in his hand but he could not see what. He shoved the tip of it into the hot fire. His dorm mates gave a collective gasp. Two seconds later, Ron felt a searing pain on his left butt cheek. The four other first year boys shielded their eyes just as it dawned on him what was happening. I'M BEING BRANDED! Ron thought in horror. He let out a bellowing scream and desparately tried to wriggle free. But then the brand was removed and the pain ebbed away. Two boys held up mirrors and Ron could see the scar on where he had been burned. It read: Gryffindor Hazing Party '91.
Harry, Seamus, and Dean had backed against the wall in fear. However, Neville was petrified and had not moved. Dozens of sets of eyes rested on Neville. He noticed everyone's head turned in his direction.
Oh, no! he thought. "W-what's going to h-happen to me?" Neville managed to utter. The leader walked slowly to Neville, his cold laughter filling the room. "Give him the water treatment!" the leader commanded. Neville did not know what they meant by water treatment, but soon found out as a jet of ice cold water hit his face. He gasped, and looked to see two wands pointed at him. "Aguamenti!" Neville braced himself for another shot of cold water, but instead got a faceful of boiling liquid. Neville shouted in pain. He was hit again and again, alternating hot and cold water. He fell to the floor, shielding his round face. The horrible pain spread through his entire body, until finally, it was over. He pulled himself from the floor, shaking. He felt tears in his eyes, but quickly blinked them away. He took his place in the group of huddled first years.
Dean cleared his throat lightly. The other boys chuckled as the leader dragged Dean to the center of the circle. He raised his wand and shouted "Petrificus Totalus!" Dean fell to the floor, his whole body stiff as a board. With another wave of his wand, Dean was pulled from the floor, now hanging upside down like a dead fish. Dean's eyes darted madly back and forth. The leader pulled out an electric razor and turned it on. The boys in the circle cheered. Wordlessly, the leader pulled the razor across Dean's mass of black hair, letting it fall to the floor of the common room. The leader brought the razor to Dean's eyebrows and shaved them off in a single motion. They then ripped his shirt off intending to remove every single hair from Dean's black chest but when he went in for the kill, he realized that there was no hair to shave. The leader roared with laughter and announced to the crowd that the boy did not have any chest hair. This caused the rest of the room to yell taunting remarks. I'm only eleven. What did they expect? Dean thought to himself. The leader rubbed his hands across Dean's chest. "Smooth as porcelain!" he jeered. Dean had never felt more humiliated in his entire life. With a flick of the boy's wand, Dean fell to the floor and was able to move again. He stumbled quickly back to his fellow victims.
Now, there was only one first year who had, up to this point, just watched his new friends get hazed. The party moved toward the small Irish boy. He knew he was defenseless. He braced himself for the worst. He felt himself being dragged to the center of the room. He knew it was no good to protest. A cage lowered from the ceiling and captured Seamus, who began to shake in fear. A group gathered around the small cage and reached their arms in through the bars. They touched the tip of their wands to Seamus. Each poke caused an electric shock to bolt through his body. He twitched as each person shoved their wands into his pen while others threw food at him. Finally, once every person had delivered a high voltage shock to Seamus, The cage disappeared. Seamus traveled wide-eyed back to his companions. A mix of sympathy and fear upon their faces.
Neville hoped that the hazing would finally be over. Everyone had gotten their special treatment. But he was devastatingly mistaken. The leader stood up and spoke. "Well done, boys. This year's party is going to end with a little trip...to the Black Lake!" Each first year was grabbed and taken to the portrait hole. Their captors led them down numerous flights of moving staircases and dark corridors followed all the while by the rest of the older Gryffindor boys and their chanting and drum beating.
All of the sudden, Neville saw a man at the end of a long hallway. He had black, greasy hair that lay limply on top of his shoulders. Neville recognized him from the feast. He was sitting at the head table so Neville knew he was a teacher. Relief came over him like a wave. He would put a stop to this torture. However, the leader greeted the man warmly. "Ah! Severus, what brings you wandering the halls tonight?"
"I am taking a small break from the Slytherin hazing party. It was getting a little too rambunctious for me. But I will say, that Malfoy boy can give a hell of a lap dance," replied Snape. "I see the Gryffindors have quite the party this year. Where are you lot off to?"
"The Black Lake" said the leader. Then he leaned closer to whisper something else in Snape's ear. When he stood back up straight, the two chuckled maliciously.
Neville did not even want to think about what he had whispered. The leader and Snape waved goodbye and the group traveled along, their chanting and drum beating starting up again. They exited the castle and within a few minutes reached the rocky shore of the Black Lake.
The boys grabbing their arms let go. The leader then shouted, "CLOTHES OFF!" The boys knew better than to question. Silently, they all stripped to their boxers. But it was not enough to satisfy the crowd. "All the way, gents," he said. Slowly, they turned to face the lake and shed the last of their clothing. There were a few smirks from the crowd.
"Take a swim," the boy ordered them.
The first year boys walked slowly to the water's edge and tentatively inserted their toes into the icy chill of the lake.
"TOO SLOW!" yelled a voice from the crowd. The next moment they were pushed into water. Neville was eerily reminded of the day his Uncle Algie had pushed him into the lake at Blackpool Pier. He had nearly drowned.
"Enjoy your skinny-dip!" came a voice from the crowd through loud cheers.
Neville saw the reflection of Hogwarts against the ripples of the Black Lake. The institution he had once admired had now become a personal hell.
Just as the boys could feel their toes numbing, the leader beckoned them to come ashore. They did so gratefully and dressed quickly. To their surprise, the crowd gathered around them and clapped. "Nicely done, mates," said the lead boy. The entire Gryffindor class started to make their way back to the castle.
"Next year, we will be the ones to take part in these festivities," said Seamus excitedly which cheered them up a bit.
Neville was the most relived he had ever been in his life. After all that he had been through tonight, he was officially a Gryffindor.