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CHAPTER 2

A/N: bold lettering is excerpted from the book

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The next morning, Harry excitedly woke up around six o'clock, and decided to make breakfast for himself and his "Aunt Minnie", seeing as how the Hogwarts' elves would be providing cooked meals for them and everyone else while at school. Just as he was putting the finishing touches on breakfast, Minnie came into the kitchen and was surprised that Harry had cooked, but decided it would be foolish to cook something else when there was already something made. After the two finished their breakfast, Minnie complimented Harry on how excellent it was, and said that she would take care of the dishes since he had cooked, while he went ahead with his morning exercises before she took him to Platform 9¾. When they were ready, Minnie flooed Harry and his trunk to the platform then went on to Hogwarts so that she could get her things unpacked and get ready for the students to arrive that evening. Harry found a seat in an empty compartment on the train quickly and settled in to enjoy the ride.

After a few minutes, he watched a red-haired family enter onto the platform and then he heard what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handker chief.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose."

The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.

"Mum — geroff." He wriggled free.

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.

"Shut up," said Ron.

"Where's Percy?" said their mother.

"He's coming now."

The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny red and gold badge on his chest with the letter P on it.

"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —"

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once —"

"Or twice —"

"A minute —"

"All summer —"

"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.

"Because he's a prefect,"said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there."

She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.

"Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea though, thanks, Mom."

"It's not funny. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins al ready and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.

"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"

Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.

"Who?"

"Harry Potter!"

Harry heard the little girl's voice.

"Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, oh Mum, oh please. …"

"I'm sure you'll get plenty of chances to see him when you start going to Hogwarts next year, but for now please remember that boys — especially Harry Potter — arenot to be goggled at like something in the zoo," her mother replied gently.

"Oh, alright" the little girl replied dejectedly, although her face said that she would have preferred to give her mother the slip and sneak onto the train for a peek anyway.

A few minutes later, the youngest redheaded boy walked into the compartment and asked if Harry minded him having a seat there, to which Harry replied "Oh no, I don't mind at all".

"Thanks, I didn't really want to look for an empty one, and figured that this one was good enough with only one other person in it."

After introducing themselves to each other, with Ron fainting at hearing who Harry was exactly, they started talking about various subjects until the Trolley witch came by and asked them if they'd like anything. Harry decided that he'd rather try a bit of everything than miss out on something that was potentially good, paid the woman twelve sickles (he gave her a small tip) and brought everything back into the compartment. He decided that he would put most of it in his trunk for later though, as he didn't want to seem like he was too much of a pig, but shared a couple of chocolate frogs with Ron. Harry then opened one up and was surprised to see his own face staring back at him, with his name underneath the picture. The extremely odd thing was that he didn't even remember this picture being taken, but thought it must have been when he took his very first trip to Diagon Alley when he was shopping with Minnie for some books when he was almost eight years old. He turned it over and read the following:

Harry James Potter

Boy-Who-Lived, Defeater of Voldemort

Widely recognized as the person who brought

about the downfall of Voldemort, Harry is the

youngest person to have earned their own

chocolate frog card. We hope that wherever

Harry is, that he will be enjoying finding his

picture inside a frog very soon.

Ron, wondering why Harry had been quiet for so long, asked him who he had gotten on his card, to which Harry replied "I got myself, but I don't remember this picture being taken."

"WOW! I didn't even know you were on a card either, can I see it?"

"Sure, but I want it back as it's me. If I get another one though, I'll give you one"

"Ok, thanks a lot"

After Ron finished looking at the card and handed it back, someone knocked on the door of the compartment. That someone happened to be looking for a toad that kept getting lost. He introduced himself as Neville Longbottom, and there was a girl that was helping him look, who introduced herself as Hermione Granger.

"No, sorry, we haven't seen any toads in here, did you try everywhere in your compartment?"

"Oh, no, it didn't occur to me that he would try to hide in my own compartment, thanks," and with that the two left, but before the door shut all the way, someone else came sauntering in.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy care lessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snig ger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Both Harry and Ron stood up.

"Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.

"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.

Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle — Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scab bers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disap peared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a sec ond later, Hermione Granger had come in.

"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.

"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep."

And so he had.

After Draco Malfoy and his cronies had left the compartment, they decided that they had better get changed into their robes, and did so just before there was an announcement that they would be arriving in five minutes' time, and to leave their things on the train and they would be taken care of. When the train finally stopped, they got off and heard a loud, booming voice saying "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

The person that was saying this had a very big hairy face (that was attached to an enormous body) that beamed over the sea of heads.

"C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed the big man down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," the giant called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" the giant called out, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione, whom they had met briefly while on the train.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled the giant as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said the giant, who was check ing the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after the giant's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

The giant then raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the cas tle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there, and was someone that Harry recognized at once as "Aunt Minnie", but he was going to have to start calling her by Professor McGonagall as he was now in school.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the giant.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.

"The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hog warts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry ner vously tried to flatten his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor Mc Gonagall. "Please wait quietly."

After a few minutes, Professor McGonagall had returned.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the stu dents were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candle light. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked up ward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.

Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.

Harry had suddenly started noticing that everyone else in the hall was now staring at the hat, suddenly decided that he had better start looking at it too, as it seemed the right thing to do at the time. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:

"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 than me.

You can keep your bowlers black, your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat and I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head that the Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin you'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid! And, for Merlin's sakes, don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none), for I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

"You wouldn't want to actually kill him, you would be in Azkaban for that. I know an excellent way that you can get him back without having to resort to drastic measures." Harry whispered back.

"Oh, cool, thanks a lot. We'll talk more after we get sorted, no matter what houses we end up in, promise?"

"Yeah, sure, the whole house rivalry thing is stupid anyways."

And with that, they went silent to wait for the sorting to actually begin.

A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause —

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Raven claws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers cat calling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the House at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Sea mus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat. At this, Ron looked slightly happier, figuring at least he wouldn't be in the same house.

A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?

When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

There weren't many people left now.

"Moon" … , "Nott" … , "Parkinson" … , then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" … , then "Perks, Sally-Anne" … , and then, at last —

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like lit tle hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… Oh, My … a descendant of all four houses, first time ever in the same person … So where shall I put you?"

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, its all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no? Well, if you're sure — better be …"

A/N: Evil Cliffhanger, I know … don't hate me too much, next chapter won't take as long, I had a business trip that I had to travel for besides deciding if I wanted to continue the story. I do want more reviews though, as I am not getting anything else for writing it.