Chapter Two – The Sorting

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series and all its attachments belongs to J.K. Rowling, all I own is Kishan, the plot (Most of it) and Ivy

Harry was terrified. After Hagrid had knocked on the harbor door, it had been opened by a stern faced witch who had introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. The Professor had given them a speech detailing the houses and their point system. Then she had left them waiting for the sorting ceremony to begin.

Malfoy had approached Harry again and attempted to convince him to leave Ron and the others and join him. When he had finally realised that it wasn't going to happen, Malfoy had ended up making threats to Harry. By then Harry had decided that he didn't care which House he went to, as long he wasn't in the same house as Malfoy he would be happy. But that wasn't why he was terrified.

He was terrified because they were about to be sorted in front of the entire school. Sure, he was less scared now that he knew a hatwould be sorting them, but the appearance of the ghosts had put them all on edge, and relief could only do so much to fix that.

As the sorting hat ended its song, Professor McGonagall unrolled a scroll and called out "Hannah Abbot." Hannah sat on the stool and the sorting hat dropped over her head.

A moment later the hat shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!" and the left table burst into applause. Shortly afterward Susan joined her at the Hufflepuff table, and after that, the table at the right started clapping as Terry became the first Ravenclaw.

Lavender Brown became the first Gryffindor, and the table at far left celebrated, the Weasley twins catcalling. Tracey became a Slytherin, and the table at far right applauded. Hermione Granger was sorted into Gryffindor, and Daphne went to Slytherin.

Neville surprised them all by being sorted into Gryffindor; they had expected him to go to Hufflepuff. After Ernie joined the Hufflepuffs, Malfoy was called up. The hat had barely touched his head before it shouted "SLYTHERIN!"

Then it was Kishan's turn. The hat dropped onto his head, blocking out the hall.

"Ah, Kishan Parekh," said the hat, "Smart, but your attitude of only learning that which you deem useful will not endear you to the Ravenclaws. Hardworking, and loyal to those who have earned your trust, you tend to work alone, suspicious of people when you first meet them; Hufflepuff is not the place for you. You possess cunning and ambition, the origin of your cleverness and hardworking attitude, but you are firmly on the side of the Light, and as many Slytherins are Dark or Neutral, you will not be welcome there, regardless of your Slytherin qualities."

Kishan was getting worried he wouldn't fit in any house, when the hat said "Aha, a thirst for adventure, satisfied - for now – by the books you read. Despite your Slytherin qualities, I believe you will do well in - GRYFFINDOR!" the last word was shouted out to the entire hall, and Kishan made his way to the Gryffindor table, seating himself next to Neville, clapping as Padma was sorted into Ravenclaw, and her sister into Gryffindor.

Now it was Harry's turn. The hall quietened as he made his way to the sorting hat, the few initial whispers of "Harry Potter," and "Boy-Who-Lived," being silenced when the hat dropped over his head. The hall watched in hushed trepidation, waiting.

Ron, from his place in line, could see Harry silently mouthing over and over, "Not Slytherin."

The tear that was the hat's mouth opened, and the hall tensed. "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted, and the Gryffindor table burst into its loudest applause yet, the Weasley twins shouting "We got Potter!" over and over, as Harry sat down next to Kishan. It took the Gryffindor table much longer to quieten down, but finally the sorting continued.

As Ron went up Harry crossed his fingers under the table, and barely a second later the hat declared him a Gryffindor. Ron sat down to Harry's right, a little pale from the sorting. He had been second last to be sorted, and as Blaise was sorted into Slytherin and Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll, a man with a long white beard and twinkling blue eyes, seated at the centre of the head table, stood up.

"Welcome, all new students, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I am Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of this fine institution. I have many announcements to make but they can wait until after the feast."

There was a flurry of movement among the older students as they began helping themselves to the amazing feast that had just appeared on the table, and after a few stunned seconds, the first years did the same.

'P,

"Well, in the kitchens there are five tables set up in exactly the same way," Percy was explaining to some of the interested first year where exactly the food came from, "and the house elves make the food and put it on those tables, and send it up when it's time for the feast."

"House elf?" said Kishan who had asked about the feast in the first place, "what's a house elf?"

"They're creatures which work in old Wizarding households, keeping the place clean, being sent on errands, making food, things like that. Their greatest desire is to work, to please their family, which they are bonded to, because their family is the thing they care for the most."

By this point all the wizard-raised first years, and a few of the muggleborns had stopped listening to Percy's lecture, until Harry, Kishan, Hermione, and -by obligation- Ron were the only ones still listening.

"A house elf sees it as a great insult to be offered payment, to them the person is implying that they need further incentive to care for the family, they in fact gain magical sustenance from working, and may starve to death without work. They are able to consume human food, but it is inferior to the magic they gain. A family can free a house elf, in a similar manner to how wizards may be dismissed, if they believe the house elf has failed to obey their commands, and the house elf will take it as an indicator that it has failed to care for their family, and have difficulty in finding a new family to serve, and may eventually die due to lack of work.

"Many families treat their house elves badly, causing the bond to weaken, and as a result, if the house elf is ever freed, it will disown its family, and may even begin asking for payment, as a rebellion against the bond that caused its suffering. House elves have their own type of magic, given to them by the bond, which many wizards underestimate; they can apparate – teleportation – through anti-apparition wards, for example," Percy went on to explain some of the possible origins of house elves to a very eager Hermione, while Fred and George told Harry, Ron, and Kishan, in whispers, how exactly to get into the kitchens.

"But don't tell anyone;" said Fred,

"We wouldn't want to lose our reputation," continued George

"Because some silly first years couldn't keep this quiet," finished Fred, who then loudly said "So Percy, why is it that you can perfectly quote one of your History of Magic essays," to throw off anyone suspicious of their whispering.

'P,

Percy led the first years through the halls of Hogwarts, explaining some of the things they passed, like the changing staircases, the false steps halfway up, the portraits, Peeves, the ghosts, until they finally reached a portrait of a stout woman in a pink dress.

"Password?" She asked.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and portrait swung open, like a door, revealing a round hole in the wall. Percy ushered them through it, before following behind them, the portrait swinging shut behind them. They entered a round cosy room with squashy armchairs, a few tables, and, directly opposite the entrance, a roaring fire blazed merrily in a hearth, between two huge wooden doors.

"The dorms are through those doors," said Percy, gesturing, "boys on the right, girls on the left."

The first year boys trudged up a spiral staircase, reaching a door with a plaque with 'First Years,' written on it, on the wall above it. They opened the door to find that their things had already been brought upstairs. They changed into their pyjamas, and, after a few muffled goodnights, were sound asleep.

'P,

"And then he took points from Harry for not watching Neville's potion, even though it wasn't Harry's job to do that," exclaimed Ron, who had just finished ranting to Hagrid about Snape's potions lesson. Harry had been invited to Hagrid's for tea, and had brought Kishan and Ron along.

Hagrid had asked how their week had been, so they had told him about their lessons, Harry noting that it was because of Kishan that they hadn't been late for their first few lessons, he had gotten the other two up early, so that they could have more time to find their classes. It was when they had started telling Hagrid about today that Ron had started raging about Snape.

Harry had just started talking about their upcoming flying lessons, when Fang, Hagrid's enormous black boarhound decided it was bored of slobbering all over Ron and moved to Kishan, who petted it awkwardly with a nervous, fearful glance at the now sleeping dog.

When they had first arrived and heard the dog barking on the other side of the door, Kishan had looked terrified, ready to bolt back to the castle at a moment's notice, only relaxing when the dog had proved to be just as much of a gentle beast as Hagrid himself was. Kishan had later confessed that he was absolutely terrified of dogs.

Harry decided to distract Kishan from the snoozing boarhound, and cast about for something to talk about. His eyes fell on the newspaper on Hagrids table, the Daily Prophet, the Wizarding newspaper that many of the students subscribed to. He remembered the shock he had felt the first time the mail had been delivered, as thousands of owls flew in through the windows of the great hall, delivering letters, packages, and newspapers to the students.

Harry picked up the newspaper on Hagrid's table, looked at the headline, and was immediately distracted from his task by the news story. He read through it quickly.

"Hagrid," he began, "This Gringotts break in, it happened on my birthday, it might have happened while we were there!" Ron and Kishan, who didn't know the details of Harry's visit to Diagon alley, looked at him quizzically.

Harry waved them off; he would tell them about it later. Hagrid shifted uncomfortably, and Harry glanced at the newspaper again. 'The vault in question had been emptied earlier that same day…' Hagrid had emptied the vault they had visited; it could be the same one that had been broken into.

He questioned Hagrid again, but Hagrid changed the subject, and eventually he ushered them out, sending them back to the castle. Harry filled the other two in on the events of his visit to Gringotts, and on the newspaper article.

They knew for sure that Hagrid was hiding something about this, especially after Ron had explained to the other two how difficult it was to rob Gringotts in the first place, but they couldn't do anything much about it, their school life kept them too busy to investigate this further.

'P,

Harry, Ron and Kishan snuck quietly downstairs, careful not to wake any of their fellow first years. The previous day Malfoy had tried to steal Neville's remembrall, after it had fallen out of his pocket after he broke his wrist, Harry had confronted him, and Malfoy had flown off with it, Harry in pursuit, until Malfoy threw the remembrall into the air and flew off, leaving Harry to dive after it, eventually coming out unscathed.

Professor McGonagall had appeared, and had taken a fearful Harry with her to find Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, at which point Harry had been inducted into the team as Seeker. Harry had told Ron and Kishan about it later.

At dinner that day, there had been a confrontation with Malfoy, which resulted in Malfoy challenging Harry to a duel. Ron had offered to be his second, and Kishan had come with them in case they needed backup.

As they passed through the common room, a shadow rose up from one of the couches. "I can't believe you're actually going through with this foolishness!" Hermione Granger had overheard their confrontation with Malfoy, and had disapproved almost immediately.

Clearly she had been waiting for them in an effort to stop them. She followed them out through the portrait, hissing angrily at them, but when she turned around to re-enter, she found an empty portrait. The Fat Lady had gone on a midnight visit, leaving Hermione locked out of the common room. She stomped after them, following them, much to their annoyance.

Shortly afterward they bumped into Neville, who had been locked out of the common room after forgetting the password. The five of them crept down passageways and staircases, jumping at the slightest sound, worried that Filch or Mrs Norris would catch them at any moment.

They reached the trophy room, and froze. On the other side of the door they could hear Filch muttering to Mrs Norris, "Sniff around my sweet, they must be here somewhere." Ron glanced at Harry, looking terrified, as they began edging away from the door. But luck was not with them, and they encountered Peeves, who promptly shouted for Filch as they sprinted away, finding a locked door.

Hermione shoved Ron aside as he fumbled at the door. She waved her wand whispering "Alohomora." Kishan recognised the spell as the unlocking charm, but when Hermione tried the door it was still locked.

"Maybe if we both try the spell," he whispered. Hermione nodded, and they waved their wands at the same time, and this time the door unlocked, and they all tumbled through, just as Filch's voice was heard in the corridor, arguing with Peeves.

"That traitorous idiot," whispered Ron furiously, "He must have tipped Filch off that we'd be here." Harry nodded, it was clear that Malfoy had never intended to show up. He felt Neville tugging at his sleeve, and turned around. In an instant they realised where they were.

They were in the forbidden corridor on the third floor, and in front of them was a huge dog. It's three huge heads stared in their direction, and Harry realise that the only reason they were still alive was because the dog had only just been woken up by their frantic whispering, the moment it got over its surprise they would be very, very dead.

They screamed, and ran from the room, Kishan in the lead, all the way back to the common room, where the Fat Lady stared at their flushed and panting figures.

"Where have you all been?" She asked.

"Nevermind that," panted Harry, "Pig Snout, Pig Snout, Pig Snout."

The portrait swung open, and they scrambled through, collapsing onto the armchairs in front of the dwindling fire.

After a few moments of panting, Kishan called out "Ivy." With a pop, a small, leaf-green-eyed house elf appeared. When Harry, Ron and Kishan went down to the kitchens, a few days before, they had met Ivy, an excitable house elf who instantly took a liking to Kishan, making sure to let him know that he could call her whenever he needed anything, as they were supposed to serve all of the Hogwarts students learning there.

"Ivy is here, what is Master Kishan wanting?" asked the little elf brightly.

"Hi, Ivy, please could you bring up five glasses of water," said Kishan, smiling fondly at the little elf.

In the little time he had known the elf he had already grown fond of her, going to visit her often. Ivy popped away and returned shortly with the glasses of water, giving them out to all the first years.

"Thanks Ivy," said Kishan, and the little elf curtsied and returned to the kitchens.

Hermione eventually started shouting at Ron and Harry for almost getting them killed, then stormed upstairs, and Neville did the same shortly afterward, thanking Kishan for the water as he left.

"You okay, Kishan?" asked Ron, remembering that the other boy was terrified of dogs.

"I'm fine," said Kishan, his voice tinged with shakiness that hadn't been there when he had been talking to Ivy. He changed the subject a little hurriedly. "What do you think about what Hermione said?" he asked.

They discussed the trapdoor and the giant dog as they went up the stairs to their dorm, but quieted when they entered. As the adrenalin left them, fatigue finally caught up with them and they flopped into their four poster beds, sound asleep.

'P,

AN: Edit: Paragraphs broken up, grammar corrected. Pairings explicitly stated in the books are cannon; the ones stated afterwards by Rowling may be subject to change. A note about the time skips, this is because I'm trying to get through Philosophers Stone as quickly as I can, only including Key moments in the year, because first year will be short and almost the same, most of the main changes happen in Chamber of Secrets.

Until Next Time.

Nox