AN:If anybody wants to beta pm me, please review if you have any suggestions.

Chapter 2: Playing With Fire

The second the lemon women opened the gigantic door it was like she made a portal to a whole new world. There were candles dancing through the air controlled by some invisible puppeteer swinging back and forth above students head. But it was the ceiling that drew Harry's attention. To say it was similar to looking at the night sky didn't give it justice. The only thing Harry could compare it to was if you were seeing the life of stars play out in front of you. Pulsing out with a gigantic power that while he couldn't understand it he didn't need to. It was beautiful without any context of what it meant. Then suddenly there was a symphony of colors weaving in and around the stars somewhat resembling aurora borealis to finish the utter perfection that the mock sky was.

Looking around Harry realised it was not only him that was mesmerized by the light show but all of the first years looking at it with awe. Soon enough the stars dwindled down to a less spectacular visual and the lemon women walked up to where an old stpl sat near the teacher's table. From her pocket appeared a large scroll and an old witch hat. After putting the hat on the stpl something amazing happened. The old leather suddenly sprung to life and the stitches are creases became a set of eyes and a mouth. The 'mouth' opened up and said,"

Oh you may not think me 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

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 folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

At the end of the hat's song the hall erupted in applause from every table. Once the clapping had faded the women unrolled her scroll and said, "One by one I shall pronounce a name. That person will sit on the stpl until the sorting hat places them into a house and then go to their respective house". All of the first years shuffled in place with a mixture of nervousness and excitement for what was about to come. The first one to be called up was a girl named Hannah Abbot. She quickly jogged up to the hat and put it on her head after sitting on the stpl. Once the sorting hat was put on her head its 'face' scrunched up and Hannah got a puzzled expression on her face.

After a minute or two its 'mouth' opened and a shout of,"HUFFLEPUFF" rang through the hall. The table next to harry that held student with yellow and black clothes all clapped loudly and Hannah walked over to a section of unoccupied bench near the center of the huge table.

Making the sorting kinda short so you don't have to read pages about insert name here and different ways of saying the hat shouting houses out.

"Terry Boot ... RAVENCLAW, Susan Bones ... HUFFLEPUFF, Lavender Brown ... GRYFFINDOR, Mandy Bucklehurst ... RAVENCLAW, Millicent Bulstrode ... SLYTHERIN, Vincent Crabbe ... SLYTHERIN, Justin Finch-Fletchey ... HUFFLEPUFF, Seamus Finnigan ... GRYFFINDOR, Daphne greengrass ... SLYTHERIN, Gregory Goyle ... SLYTHERIN, Hermione Granger ... RAVENCLAW, Neville Longbottom ... RAVENCLAW, Ernest Macmillan ... HUFFLEPUFF, Draco Malfoy ... SLYTHERIN, Pansy Parkinson ... SLYTHERIN, Parvati Patil ... GRYFFINDOR, Padma Patil ... RAVENCLAW"

Tables cheered for their new house mates and the amount of first years left to be sorted slowly decreased. Finally Harry heard a name being shouted that he recognized ,"Harry potter". The twenty feet before the stpl suddenly felt like it was twenty miles and his legs resembled like jello. Making sure that he didn't trip while walking up to the stpl Harry sat down on the wooden seat and placed the hat on his head. Suddenly Harry heard a voice inside of his head saying,"Ahh Harry Potter now lets see, a strong desire to prove yourself. Willing to work hard but only if it helps you reach your own goal, and very studious .Well then there's only one place for you HUFFLEPUFF!"

Harry walked to the table clapping and sat down next to Susan Bones. A short blonde haired girl who had almost sprinted to get sorted. An older student next to him clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder and said,"My names Cedric Diggory welcome to Hufflepuff". After the remaining first years got sorted the headmaster rose,"Welcome to another year of Hogwarts and tp those that have graced these halls for the first time I welcome you. Hogwarts is a wonderful place and I hope you make all you can of the next seven years you will attend here. Well I won't ramble on any more, dig in".

Instantly any type of food you can think of appeared on the table in front of Harry. After loading food onto his plate Harry turned to look at the staff table. The headmaster looked just like a great and powerful wizard should to muggle standards. A long pure white beard tucked into his sash and half-moon glasses that covered his twinkling blues. His robes were a powder blue with stars slowly moving around the fabric. Next to him was the women that had sorted the first years. Harry turned to Cedric and said,"Hey Cedric who's the teacher that looks like she just sucked on a lemon?"

Instead of responding Cedrics eyes bugged out and he choked on his food for a second. After washing it down with water from his goblet he said,"Thats professor McGonagall she teaches transfiguration and I wouldn't let her hear you say 's rather strict but a good teacher. The woman tp her left is our head of house professor Sprout she teaches herbology. As long as you pay attention,follow her instruction, and be respectful to her the class is rather easy."

Before he could ask more about the teachers Susan said,"So Harry did you here there having a dueling tournament this year. My auntie told me that Mad Eye moody is actually going to be are Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher this year tp".

Any child that has grown up in a magical environment in the last fifteen years knows of mad Eye Moody. He was a famous aura from the war easily bringing down more death eaters than any other person (except Dumbledore of course). So it would explain why Harry might be a little excited about the prospect of being taught by him. Harry quickly swallowed his steak and said,"No but I can't wait! I heard that the last time they had a dueling tournament was ten years ago, I thought it was discontinued?"

Cedric chose this time to speak up,"Apparently Dumbledore thought it would be a good motivator for student. Like for them to make connections from spells they use in class and how to use them in a real life situation. Also this will cause a lot of people to look up spells to use so it does make sense. "

Harry said,"Well competition is a good motivator and when your whole entire class is looking at you it makes you try even harder so you won't look like a fool. So have you tried any spells yet Susan?"

Susan shook her head no,"My aunts so strict she even locked up my wand at night so I wouldn't try to cast a spell when she was asleep. What about you, have you tried any?"

"No Sirius thought I'd burn the house down or something."

Susan seemed puzzled by this,"Why would he think about something like that?"

"Well when we were in Ollivanders and i finally found my wand a huge thing of fire leapt out. Something like that didn't happen to you?"

"No all i got was black and white sparks and I'm pretty sure that what most people normally get. The only other thing I've heard happening when a persons wand being chosen their hair turning bright blue". The girl sitting opposite of Susan blushed and kicked her under the table. Harry vaguely remembered her name being Hannah Abbot.

"So you changed your hair blue?" An embarrassed nod,"Thats awesome i wish i could do that."

Suddenly all the food disappeared from the tables and student started standing up. A small group of older Hufflepuffs walked to the Center of the long table and said,"All first year Hufflepuffs please follow us. We are the perfect for our house and if you ever have a problem please just talk to us." After introducing each perfect to the new student they started walking tp their common room. It ended being in a small corridor on the third floor next to a statue of a dancing leprechaun. All you had to do was rub his head and a portion of the wall would open.

To put it simply the Hufflepuff common room was one of the homiest places imaginable. There were large plush chairs that when you sat in them you almost felt like they would swallow you up and a giant hearth on the right. With a fire burning at just the right temperature to make you warm but not to hot. The girls dorms were located on the right side through a door that apparently if a boy tried walking through would vanish all of his clothes and stun him. On the left side was a similar doorway but for males. After walking into the male dormitory door there were seven doorways. On each door was a number guilded onto the four Hufflepuff boys found there trunk already unpacked and sitting next to their assigned beds. Not much afterwards they each fell asleep.

THE NEXT DAY

Harry gulped in anticipation and knocked on professor McGonagall's door. Earlier at breakfast professor Sprout handed out a note out to each first year with a time and location on it. After asking professor Sprout what this meant she said,"It's for the scrying ceremony of course". The scrying ceremony was the place that each person found out what their specific branch their gift of magic lied in. Harry's note said,"Harry Potter 12:30 Transfiguration Classroom".

The door swung open and a stern-faced woman motioned for him to come in. She motioned him to the center of the room and said,"Please remain as still as possible. This will pass fairly quickly". She raised her wand at him and without saying a word a grey light shot out of her wand and struck Harry in the chest. For a second it swirled around Harry until it became still. Suddenly a bright red light replaced where the grey used to be and it finally faded after a few seconds.

Professor McGonagall stared at him for a second then said,"Wait for me to return mister Potter". She ran to her floo in the corner far more agile that a woman of her age should and shouted,"Headmasters Office". This made Harry worried, was the result of the scrying bad? Would they send him back and refuse to teach him? What would Sirius say? Would any other institution let him in? Was there something wrong with me? Was would i die?

Before Harry mind could think of any other horrible scenarios the floo's fire erupted with a bright green fire. From the flames the imposing figure of the headmaster emerged. Harry gulped what was so bad that the headmaster himself had to talk tp him. Dumbledore's face spread into a grandfatherly smile and said,"Hello Harry now don't worry there is nothing wrong with you or anything like that so don't worry about that".

"Sir what caused professor McGonagall to react that way tp my scrying results?"

Dumbledore waved his wand and two plush chairs that had the Hogwarts insignia embroidered onto the front appeared. Dumbledore motioned for Harry to sit in the chair nearest to him and said,"Sit down Harry". Dumbledore looked him in the eyes and said, "You see Harry magic in its base form is separated in four different elements, Fire, Water , Earth, and Air. when a persons magic affinity is based off of these base elements they are called elementals. Back before wand were made these were the only magic users able to access their own power successfully. Elementals became legends for their power and headed all the magical research at the time. Eventually when wands were created people with different affinities were finally able to use their power. This opened the magical world up from just a small select group to a larger community. But the stories of the elementals mystical accomplishment lived on. Hearing that a person is an elemental inspires fear in some minds because of their feats. The last confirmed fire elemental in Hogwarts was 109 years ago. Normally a specialist is hired to teach student found with a branch of magic that none of the faculty are familiar with but elementals are very rare so I will have to teach you how to controle fire."

Only one word reverberated into Harry's mind,'Awesome'.