31 August 1991 Saturday again

Now I am starting writing in my new cordovan leather journal. I think I will get it stamped with my bind rune later. The person who has entered our compartment is our first muggleborn, a lovely young lady who just said "Hmph!" at me even though I was quite serious. I told her that I was noting down who I meet as I meet them and that she could feel free to watch so she'd know I wasn't writing anything bad. And the reason I'm taking notes is that I am hoping to meet a lot of people an the train and make friends, but I don't expect I'll actually remember much without notes. So:

Hermione Jean Granger, born 19 September 1979, so we must be polite because she's an older woman, sorry Hermione, I was just trying to be friendly. I'm still learning this "making friends" thing. Well, that's OK, then. Friends? Of course! And once the train gets going we'll introduce you to the others.

Anyway, Hermione's parents are dentists with a practice in London. She's read all about me, but that's all old news, and it was all stuff my mother did anyway? They wouldn't put it in a book if it wasn't true! What, you've never read an outdated science or history book? They mean it to be true, but that doesn't mean they're always right. Besides, I was there and they weren't. Heck, I am the only living witness to whatever happened, so any conclusions are just artist's reproductions really.

This is kind of fun writing back and forth. I should give Neville a pen too, then it would get really chaotic. Hermione, did you know most pureblood wizards have never seen Biros? They're kind of like the American Amish, although I kid you not, I know a guy who will be in next year's class who likes Chuck Berry. Who's your favorite band? I really like The Waterboys, Enigma and U2, I wish I could bring CDs with me to Hogwarts. Well, if you can get them on vinyl, wizards do have things that act like record players. We had a music party at Neville's house last month. That's wonderful, I'll have to see if I can get Mum to pick me up a few and send them.

Oops, someone else at the door, oh, hi Ron, sure you can sit with us. Sorry I didn't get more time to talk yesterday. Introduced Ron to Hermione, he already knows Neville. Ron's Dad works for the Ministry, in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department. Oh sure, here it is, compliments of the Dark Lugnut himself. Why do I call him that? Well, a lot of people are uncomfortable with people saying "Voldemort," especially any of his repentant ex-followers, cos he used to Crucio people who weren't respectful enough to him. Really, he was a nutter, it's a wonder anyone followed him. Here he was trying to make the world safe for purebloodcracy (cool, I got a snicker from Hermione!) and purebloods were the main ones to get killed. There are whole lineages gone now and it's all his fault. Most of the lines that got ended were his followers. But most people call him "You Know Who" which is just too cute.

Yes, Ron, there are repentant Deatheaters. I know because they're all sworn to me. Sworn to me? Well, erm, I'm kind of an Earl. The Most Honorable, the Earl of Black, presented to the Queen and everything. Oh, cut that out. You all have permission to call me Harry.

So anyway, I'm going to close this for a bit, cos I have to take Hermione to meet Padma Patil. She's really smart and reads a lot too, I think you guys might get along. She has a sister who's a real girly-girl, and they're identical, so it's a little unnerving at times, but at least they don't complete each other's sentences like I've heard Ron's older brothers do. I haven't actually met the twins yet. His other older brother, Percy, is the Griffindor prefect, and he reads a lot and likes things to be orderly and make sense too. Oh, he is not, he just finds the whole family all together to be a bit overwhelming. There are seven Weasley kids, all redheads and all pretty boisterous except Percy and Ginny.

Anyway, come on Hermione, I have people you have to meet.

So now I've got Hermione sitting with Padma and Morag and some Ravenclaw girls from second year, and they're discussing The Hobbit, so I think I've left her in good hands. Draco just introduced me and Theodore Nott, who prefers to be called Theo. He's tall already, his birthday is October 31, and he's an introvert, so I told him that I am happy to meet him and would like to be friends, but I'll let him decide when to talk, cos I know I get a bit excited at times. Theo draws, and he's quite good. We're going to sit down and look at my pens and nibs later when we're someplace quieter, i.e. not on the train.

Greg and Chip are busy playing exploding snap, although they did say hi. Blaize and Millie are trying to see who can be the snarkiest and I think they're both winning. It's really funny.

Percy's off at a prefects' meeting, but I ran into Cedric, and he introduced me to his girlfriend, Cho Chang, who is the Ravenclaw Seeker. I kind of babbled something about him and Percy and he laughed and said no, they'd thought about dating last year and decided it would mess up their friendship too much. Really? Just like that, and you're not insulted that I thought that? And Cedric laughed at me again and asked why would he be? Well, muggles don't approve of men dating men. Well, muggles are silly. Heirs have to produce more heirs, to keep lines of succession going, but beyond that, who a person dates is their business. Does everyone think that? Well, more or less. People would mind more based on politics than gender, though. His parents would have been fine with Percy, are fine with Cho, but would kill him if he dated, say, Pansy Parkinson. Huh. So if I wanted to date Draco? So long as both of us end up getting married and producing heirs, we're fine. But last scions of Noble and Most Ancient Houses aren't allowed to marry men. That's only for younger sons. Alphard Black and Tiberius Nott, for instance, were together right up until he died.

So that was interesting. Every time I think I have wizard society almost figured out, I find something I've totally missed.

31 August Late

And now the sorting's done and I'm tucked in my bed and writing a bit more before trying to sleep. The train ride was lots of fun, but I gave up on trying to write. It got to feeling a bit awkward, so I took my journal back to the compartment and stuck it in my book bag. When I got there, Neville and Ron and Ernie and a couple of guys named Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan were talking about Quidditch vs. football. I said they're both great, and I brought a football with me in hopes of getting up a few pickup games. That made me two new friends right there. Dean's from Brighton, Seamus is Irish but lives in Manchester. We hung out for the rest of the ride and bought treats from the cart lady, a bit of everything so we could figure out which things we like the best, and taught Dean and Seamus to play exploding snap. I never did see Susan and Hannah on the train, although we caught up with them at the sorting later.

The boat ride to the castle was incredible. It was just getting dark, and the dying sunset light behind the castle and reflected in the lake was beautiful. All six of us couldn't go in one boat, so I stayed with Ernie and we joined up with Blaize and Millie.

Hannah and Susan went to Hufflepuff. Millie and Chip went to Slytherin. Seamus went to Griffindor. Greg went to Slytherin. Hermione went to Ravenclaw. Daphne went to Slytherin. Neville went to Griffindor, surprising no one but him. Morag went to Ravenclaw. Ernie went to Hufflepuff. Draco went to Slytherin, what a surprise, and so did Theo and Pansy. Padma went to Ravenclaw, Parvati to Griffindor. The girl right in front of me was even smaller than me and named Sally-Ann Perks. She went to Hufflepuff.

Then it was my turn. The whole hall started talking when my name got called, of course. So I walked in front of all those people and put an ancient hat on my head. I'm fine with anywhere, I told him, they all have their good points and bad points. The hat said that I would fit in well in any of the houses, but I would achieve the most and do the most good in... SLYTHERIN!

So I went and sat with Draco and Greg and Chip and Pansy and nodded at Theo as I walked by, and we watched the rest. Dean and Ron went to Griffindor, Blaize went to Slytherin, and then it was time to eat.

The food! Words fail. There was chicken. There was beef. There were things I had never seen before. There was a dish of something Asian and vegetarian that I had to try. There were potatoes cooked a dozen different ways, and all sorts of vegetables. I tried everything with mushrooms in it, and stuck to one treacle tart for pud as I was stuffed. Then there were more announcements - no going in the Forbidden Forest (the jokes write themselves), stay away from the third floor unless you want to die, try not to annoy Mr. Filch too much - and then we were dismissed to our various common rooms and I am tired, so I will write about my impressions of that tomorrow, and hopefully by then Tango will be speaking to me again.