The door swung open at once. A tall, grey-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had quite the stern face. Harry instantly recognised her from his parent's description. Minerva McGonagall, she was supposedly quite a powerful witch, and treated all of the houses fairly.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was quite large. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches and the ceiling was too high to make out. A magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school presumably- but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing quite close together.
"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 an important ceremony. While you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts."
At this Harry and Oliver shared a look. There was little doubt in his mind that his brother would be in Gryffindor, he was very much like their father. On the other hand, Harry had almost no idea which house he would be in. He felt he could fit into all of the houses.
"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 Hogwarts, 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 honour. 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 flicked across the crowd and lingered on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear. Harry didn't even want to know how he had managed that.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber.
"My brother says we have to fight a troll!" Ron exclaimed loudly to Oliver.
Harry rolled his eyes, not surprised at all that one of the Weasley twin's would say something like that.
Draco snorted causing Ron to turn to him. "What?" he snapped angrily.
Draco raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you honestly believe that they would make us fight a troll for the sorting ceremony. Do you know how dangerous that would be?"
Ron opened his mouth to argue but Harry stopped him. "Seriously, Ron, they put a hat on your head. Don't be stupid."
The Weasley went bright red and glared Harry and Draco. "Slytherins, the lot of you." he muttered under his breath.
Oliver looked as if he was about to reply when several people around them screamed.
Harry turned to the direction of the yells and saw a group of ghosts float through the back wall.
Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"
"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost- I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.
"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"
Harry nodded along with a few others.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Move along now," McGonagall said sharply. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years. "And follow me."
Harry ran his hands through his hair a few times, straightened his robes and followed after the professor. He raised an eyebrow when he walked in, it certainly was as impressive as his parents had described. Thousands of candles were floating in the air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting.
The tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. Professor McGonagall led the first years up to the front of the hall where the teachers sat at a long table.
Harry looked at the staff table and caught the eye of his pseudo-Grandfather, Dumbledore, who looked proud, though he quickly cast his eye onto his brother and across the hall.
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 candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History." Harry rolled his eyes at this, was there anything this girl hadn't read?
Harry 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 very dirty. Harry shivered unconsciously at the thought of putting it on. He took great pride in his hair after all.
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 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 don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables before it became still again.
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 moments 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 Ravenclaws 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 the twins catcalling.
"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, Seamus," 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. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.
Neville Longbottom 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 run back to return it.
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!"
There weren't many people left now. A pair of twins were split up, one going to Gryffindor and one to Ravenclaw.
And then, "Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out across the hall. Most expressing their surprise at the fact that the Potter's had two children.
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was a hall looking at him in confusion and interest.
"Hmm… Difficult. Very difficult. Very loyal I see, very loyal indeed. Plenty of courage, too. Quite a sharp mind as well. There's talent, my goodness, yes- and a nice thirst to prove yourself better than your brother, to prove that you're not just the brother to the Boy-Who-Lived, now that's interesting…"
Harry clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I do not want to be better than Olly-"
The hat laughed. "Please, Mr Potter, you can't lie to me. Besides, it is not wrong to seek greatness. Hmmm… but where to put you?"
Harry shifted nervously. He had always wanted to prove himself, to be seen as 'Harry Potter' not just the brother to the Boy-Who-Lived- but he wanted even more to be at his brother's side, he didn't want to outshine him, he was his brother after all, his best friend.
The hat laughed again, and Harry realised that it had been listening to his inner monologue.
"Indeed Mr Potter, indeed. You would do well in any of the four houses but you have made it clear, you value your family and friends above all else. Yes it better be… HUFFLEPUFF!"
Harry stood amongst cheers from the right and moved to the Hufflepuff table. He took a seat next to Susan Bones, a pretty, pale faced girl with long red hair, red lips and kind eyes, who was chatting happily with Hannah Abbot, they both turned said hello and shook his hand as he sat down.
"Potter, Oliver."
The entire hall seemed to quieten and crane their necks. Harry did his best to watch as his brother as he sat on the stool and placed the hat on his head. His brother seemed to be in a very intense conversation with the hat and after a minute the hat opened its mouth-like rip widely and yelled; "GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry didn't fail to notice that Oliver had received the loudest cheer yet and found himself clapping with no small amount of enthusiasm. Harry knew that Oliver based himself after their father and dreamed about being a Gryffindor. Harry caught his brother's eye and smiled brightly, he couldn't help but be proud.
"Smith, Zacharias," joined them at Hufflepuff, and sat across from Harry. "Thomas, Dean," joined Oliver in Gryffindor, "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw, Ron unsurprisingly went to Gryffindor and "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin.
Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet. He beamed at the students, his arms wide open as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat back down and the hall burst into cheers.
Harry watched as the dishes in front of him became piled with food. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and peppermint humbugs.
"Who eats those?" Susan Bones asked, wrinkling her nose and pointing to the peppermint humbugs.
"Dumbledore," Harry answered instantly, he received a few amazed looks from the students around him.
"How do you know that?" one older student demanded.
"He comes around for dinner every so often in the holidays. He always brings sweets, he's obsessed with them."
His year mates gaped stupidly at him, causing Harry to roll his eyes.
"So what's it like… living with the Boy-Who-Lived?" Ernie Macmillan asked.
Harry shrugged. "He's my brother, my best fr-"
"I bet he knows tons of magic! I bet Dumbledore has been training him his whole life!" Zacharias Smith interjected.
Harry laughed at that. "What like private lessons? We didn't receive anyth-"
"Well, not you. But Oliver did, right?" a second year asked. "Maybe they didn't tell you."
Harry didn't know if he should laugh, be upset, or be angry. He chose, for the sake of first impressions, to laugh.
"Look, I know you all think that Olly is an all powerful wizard who could beat anyone. But the truth is he's my brother and he knows just as much magic as I do… which is none at all."
Harry felt anger boil through him as he was the target of several disbelieving looks.
"You'll see when we start that he is just as good as the rest of us. I'll even put a galleon on it." He snapped. Harry then turned back to his meal. Moodily adding several potatoes to his dish.
Harry ate in silence for awhile, he ignored the conversations around him and hoped the rest of his time at Hogwarts wouldn't be like this. Though he eventually engaged in a polite conversation with Susan, Hannah and a fifth year prefect named Gabriel Truman about their first classes.
"The first things you learn is the really basic stuff. Turning a match into a needle and levitating a feather and stuff like that."
"That doesn't seem too hard," Hannah said.
"It's really quite easy once you get the hang of it but hard when you first give it a try."
Harry found himself quite excited for classes. He had waited his whole life to do magic. And now he was only a day away from learning.
Harry looked up to the high table. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. A young professor in an absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. Harry immediately recognised his mother's best friend, Severus Snape. The two had gradually reconnected after the first wizarding war and while he still hated Harry's father and thoroughly disliked Oliver, he seemed to tolerate Harry.
"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Snape?" he asked Gabriel.
"Oh, that's Professor Quirrell, he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. How do you know Snape?"
"Ah, he's my mum's best friend, though my dad and godfather hate him."
Gabriel seemed to be stunned at the fact that Snape had a best friend.
As the last of the foods disappeared Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.
"Ahem- just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.
"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.
"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.
"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
"I wonder what's in there," Hannah whispered to Susan.
Susan frowned. "So do I."
Harry gave Dumbledore a penetrating look, it didn't seem like his usual kind of joke.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.
Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.
"Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air, Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing, Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest, And learn until our brains all rot."
Everybody finished the song at different times. With the Slytherin table sitting in glowering silence. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.
"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
"First years, follow us," Gabriel said, motioning to himself and a pretty girl with short mousy hair beside him. "We'll take you to your common room."
Harry stood and followed the two prefects through the chattering crowd. They left the great hall and walked to the basement level of the castle. They walked into a broad stone corridor which was brightly lit with torches, and decorated with cheerful paintings of food. They walked for a few minutes before coming up to a few barrels that were stacked against the wall in a nook on the right-hand side of the corridor,
"This is the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room," the female prefect said loudly so the new Hufflepuffs could hear. "No student from another house has been in the common room for a thousand years and we want to keep it that way." She gave them a penetrating look.
"No password is required to get into the common room, unlike all the other houses. In order to reveal the entrance, one must tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff' which will make the lid swing open. However, if the wrong lid is tapped or the wrong rhythm is used, the intruder will be doused in vinegar and barred access." Gabriel added, before tapping the barrel in a short rhythm.
The first years all nodded their heads and followed the prefects into the Hufflepuff common room. The common room was round and earthy and low-ceilinged; it felt sunny, and its circular windows had a view of rippling grass and dandelions. There was a lot of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hung from the ceiling or sat on the windowsills. There were several overstuffed chairs and sofas upholstered in yellow and black.
"Our Head of house is Professor Pomona Sprout, she's Head of Herbology, and she brings interesting specimens of plants, some of which dance and talk, to decorate our room – one reason why Hufflepuffs are often very good at Herbology." Gabriel said with enthusiasm. He then pointed to two round doors that were in the walls of the common room.
"Those doors lead to the dormitories. Girls are on the left, boys are on the right. Your luggage will be waiting for you."
"You're probably all tired but we have a few things to tell you first," the girl said. "I'm Marilyn Flowers and that's Gabriel Truman, we're fifth year prefects."
"If you have any problems with other students, come to us." Gabriel told them. "We're on fairly good terms with all the other houses, though the Slytherins will sometimes tease you. But don't worry about that."
"We'll escort you to your first week of classes." Marilyn said. "Breakfast begins at seven thirty and ends at nine. Dinner begins at six and ends at seven. Lunch depends on your schedule which you will get tomorrow."
"Any questions?" Gabriel asked. When no one answered he nodded. "You can all go to bed now. Make sure to meet us here at seven thirty tomorrow and we'll take you all to breakfast."
The boys said goodnight to the girls and went right as the girls went left. They walked through the hall until they came to a wooden door with 'First Years' written on it.
Harry pushed open the door and the first years entered the room that would be their home for the next seven years. There was five four-poster beds, all of which were covered in patchwork quilts. The trunks they had left on the train sat at the foot of each bed. Copper lamps cast a warm light over our four-posters, and copper bed warmers hung on the walls. To the right of each bed sat a nightstand with many drawers to it, a small bookshelf and desk sat to the left.
Harry walked over to the bed with his trunk in front of it, his one was between Zacharias Smith's and Justin Flinch-Fletchley's.
They decided to unpack their things that night. Harry opened his trunk and pulled out his supplies. Books for recreational reading went to the book shelf, he placed his book bag next to his bed and his parchment and ink went on his desk. He pulled out all of his clothes and placed them in his drawer.
He pulled out several framed photos were placed on his nightstand. There was one of him and his brother, another of his parents, and one that was taken at a Christmas ball that featured all of his family standing in a line, Snape was in the picture as well as a few other family friends, though Snape looked thoroughly annoyed and his godfather Sirius and his father were throwing him dirty looks.
Once everything was unpacked he walked to the bathroom. He took a shower then brushed his teeth before pulling on his pyjamas and heading to bed. He didn't fail to notice that no one wished him goodnight.
The first week of classes was interesting, though not very difficult. He supposed he expected a bit more, from what he had heard and everything his parents could do, though he supposed it would get more challenging as the months and years went on.
Harry was thankful that the prefects led them around in their first week, otherwise he would have never found his classes. The castle was enormous, full of empty classrooms and secret passageways-he had already found more than he could count on his two hands-and from what his father had told him, there were many more.
His first class was Herbology with his head of house, Professor Sprout. He found it to be interesting and could certainly see the value of it though he couldn't see it becoming his favourite subject.
History of magic was one class he had been looking forward too, as Harry had always been interested in it, especially about Grindelwald and Lord Voldemort. Though it ended up being a huge disappointment, Harry found he could only listen to ten minutes of irrelevant facts about the Goblin rebellions before he fell asleep.
They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Tuesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets, Harry found this even more boring and irrelevant than History of Magic.
Charms with Professor Flitwick had the potential to be a very interesting class. His mother had certainly made the subject seem impressive with her wide array of powerful spells. However they were stuck doing theory and it didn't seem like that was going to change for awhile, much to Harry's disappointment-he wanted to actually cast magic, take a practical approach-not just learn about it.
Transfiguration was far more interesting for him, if just for the promise of the feats they would be able to accomplish later. The start of class had a bit of theory, but after that Professor McGonagall handed them each a match and told them to turn it into a needle. Harry focused, pointed his wand at the match and said the incantation.
Nothing happened.
He frowned, then tried again. The match stayed as it was. Just like the last ten times he had tried.
Harry made a fist and tried to think what he was doing wrong. He was saying the incantation correctly and the spell didn't need any fancy wand movements, so what wasn't working?
And then Harry had an idea.
He focused on his wand. He focused until he could feel the magic gently pulsating through it, he focused on how it it all connected. However instead of focusing inwards like he usually did with his meditations, this time he focused outwards, on the match. He concentrated until he could feel the match with his magic, and then he willed the match to turn into a long, sharp needle. And, to his delight the match had completely changed into the needle he had envisioned.
"Very good, Mr Potter." Harry looked up as Professor McGonagall approached. "10 points to Hufflepuff. Now try to transfigure it back."
Harry nodded and concentrated again, he said the spell and focused on willing the needle back into a match. And the needle was a match again.
Harry glanced up and saw that Professor McGonagall was wearing a small, rare smile.
"Well done Mr Potter, 10 more points to Hufflepuff. I have never had a student that was able to do both of the Transfigurations in their first lesson. Try to change the needle's shape, add a pattern or something similar, the spell is the same, it is simply visualisation."
Harry nodded once again and tried to add patterns and the like for the rest of the lesson. By the end of the class he had transfigured his match into something resembling his own wand-curved and ridged, if a bit thin and silver.
When the class ended the Professor asked them all to turn in their match/needle. To Harry's satisfaction and to the annoyance of the Ravenclaw students who shared the class with the Hufflepuffs, he was the only one to transfigure the match into something even resembling a needle. When he handed it to the Professor she appraised it admiringly before giving him another smile.
"Wonderful work Mr Potter." She raised the needle in front of her and showed it to the class before giving him another 5 points. Harry noticed that many of the students were giving him dirty looks, even some of his housemates.
As the students began to filter out of to go to their next class, Harry called out to Professor Mcgonagall as she moved to go to her office.
"Professor, may I ask how my brother went in his first class?"
Mcgonagall turned. "I hope you're not planning to use this information in order to brag to your brother, Mr Potter."
Harry smiled. "Well now that you mention it… No, I was just wondering how he got on."
"He was unable to transfigure the match. Miss Granger was the only one able to transfigure to match into a needle by the end of the class."
Harry nodded. 'Thank you, Professor."
Potions was a subject that Harry was on the fence about. He liked the subject well enough and it was certainly important. However, no matter his personal feelings towards its teacher, Harry had to admit-Snape couldn't teach. Writing a potion's recipe up on the board, ordering them to begin and then walking around the class berating everybody did not quantify teaching in Harry's opinion. Thankfully Harry seemed to be exempt from the criticism, with Snape largely ignoring him throughout the lesson, though he did compliment Harry in a vague, roundabout way when he turned in his almost perfect potion.
The class Harry had been most looking forward to was Defence Against the Dark Arts however the lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. He could barely understand Professor Quirrell with his stutter and from what he could understand they were simply learning the theory to a pathetic curse that gave one a runny nose. He supposed it would get more advanced and more impressive as time went on but as it was Harry hardly thought it worth his time.
Harry was in the library. He walked slowly, reading the titles on the spines of the books, trying to keep his mind occupied. His first month and a bit at Hogwarts had been… disappointing. He had been excited for Hogwarts his whole life. His father would tell him and his brother stories about his time at the school, his mother would tell them how much she had loved it, as would his uncles. Whenever Dumbledore came around he would tell him stories about how his father got in trouble or the latest incident that had happened at the school-usually involving the Weasley twins. They had made it seem so wonderful.
But it wasn't. Sure he enjoyed the classes well enough, while he was at the upper end of most of his classes he still found them challenging enough to be interesting. However, even though he enjoyed the lessons, he still hated it there. He barely got any time to spend with his brother, the only class they shared was charms and Olly was with his friends a lot of the time. Everybody seemed preoccupied with asking questions about Oliver, they never asked him anything about himself. Most of his Hufflepuff year mates seemed to resent him, partly because he was more advanced than any of them, partly because he had taken to snapping at them whenever they asked him something about his brother-which seemed to be every time they opened their mouths to speak to him. The only people he was remotely friendly with apart from his brother were Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot.
This all culminated in charms class, the day of Halloween.
Professor Flitwick had announced to the class that he believed they were ready to make objects fly. He placed them all in pairs, partnering Harry with Ernie Macmillan, and Susan with Hannah. Harry saw that Oliver was partnered with a boy named Seamus Finnigan and Ron was with Hermione Granger. Harry and Hermione seemed to be in an unofficial competition for the top place in their classes, Hermione being a walking library of theoretical knowledge, but Harry being better at practical work. They could occasionally be found bickering in the library or on the benches of the main hall-usually when Hermione tried to tell Harry how to do his work.
"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too."
Harry saw from the corner of his eye that Oliver and his partner weren't having much success with their spells. Seamus even setting his feather on fire at one point.
Turning his attention back to his own table, Harry saw Ernie unsuccessfully attempt the spell for the fourth time.
"Macmillan," he started, causing him to look up. "Try to make your wand movements a little smaller.
"Well how about you do it then! If you're so good at it!" Macmillan snarled.
Harry pointed his wand at the feather, gave a small swish and flick and quietly said, "Wingardium Leviosa."
The feather rose off the desk, hovering a few feat above the table. Harry concentrated and slowly brought the feather down and made it circle around his wand.
Ernie gave Harry a withering look. "Well, at least I have friends," he said quietly.
Harry pretended he hadn't heard him, and focused on keeping his feather circling around his wand. He bit his lip painfully as he tried to blink away the tears that threatened to fall down his face.
"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, having noticed Harry was levitating his feather. "Everyone see here, Mr Potter's done it!"
Harry bit down on his lip, hard, as he noticed everyone's gaze automatically flick to his brother-who was waving his wand around to no effect- as if Harry didn't exist, as if he had no value, no chance at being the first to complete the spell. Harry stared at his lap and tried to hide the fact that a warm tear had trickled its way down his cheek. He failed to notice Ron get into an argument with Hermione after she floated her feather above their heads and Hermione storm off as they left class.
"I heard he trapped it in a ring of fire." Justin Finch-Fletchley said.
"I heard he blasted it's head off." Hannah Abbot said excitedly.
"No, no, he spilt the ground open and it fell through." Ernie Macmillan insisted.
"What the hell is everybody talking about?" Harry asked as he sat down for breakfast.
Several people gave him shocked looks. "You don't know?" Wayne Hopkirk, one of Harry's dorm-mates, asked.
Harry shrugged. "What?"
"Your brother killed the troll that broke into the castle last night! There was a huge fight and one of the bathrooms got destroyed!" Zaharias Smith explained.
They all nodded enthusiastically at this, even Susan and Hannah, who were usually more down to earth when it came to his brother.
Harry shot them a disbelieving look. "There is no way Olly could take down a troll."
He grit his teeth when he was the target of several sympathetic looks. The Hufflepuffs seemed to believe that Harry's insistence that Olly wasn't the next Dumbledore or Merlin was due to jealousy.
Harry opened his mouth to argue when the whole hall went quiet. Harry turned and saw that Olly, Ron and surprisingly Hermione had entered the hall together.
Sighing, Harry stood up and made his way over to the Gryffindor table. Before his brother had a chance to sit down he had grabbed his shoulders and guided him out of the main hall. Harry continued to push his brother until they were around a corner, next to a suit of armour.
"Olly," he said. "What the hell happened last night?"
Oliver looked sheepish. "Ah, well you see… Ron said a few mean things to Hermione after Charms yesterday and Hermione ran off to the girls bathroom to cry."
Harry tapped his foot impatiently. "Ron's an insensitive jerk, what's new? Tell me about the troll."
Olly glared at Harry. "After Quirrell came in and warned us about the troll, I remembered that Hermione was still in the bathroom and didn't know about the troll. So me and Ron went down to warn her."
"And?"
"Long story short. We met the troll in the bathroom and we managed to knock it out."
"How?" Harry said. "Troll skin is naturally resistant to magic, so I doubt anything you know would be able to take it down."
"Ron was able to levitate its club above its head and knock it out."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised that he came up with that, that's pretty smart. Did you do anything?"
"I… uh… kind of…ah… stuck my wand up its… nose." Olly said quietly, staring at his shoes.
Harry stared. Oliver shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Harry then took a step forward and cuffed his brother over his head.
"Don't you ever do something like that again. Ok? Or I will bloody kill you myself."
A/N: WAIT! Before you start throwing things let me explain my reasoning for putting Harry in Hufflepuff. Ok?
Now, first off, what I am trying to create here is a realistic story; hence why James and Lily treat their son's as equals rather than completely ignoring Harry as they do in most stories of this nature. And realistically, Harry would be quite loyal to his family at that point in the story. However, this is going to change, in fact you can see the beginnings of this already. What we're gonna get is a very dark Harry in a position where nobody respects him and everyone underestimates him, a wolf in sheep's clothing if you will. And we're gonna see what happens because of this.
And then of course, Hufflepuff is the house of Cedric AND Tonks- which makes it automatically awesome.
You may have noticed that I am sort of rushing through first year, in fact the we're likely gonna get the end of first year in the next chapter or the one after. This is because there isn't much to write at the moment, I'm basically just setting up the story at the moment. Second year and the following years are going to be a fair bit longer until 5th/6th year-which is when the story is gonna kick off.
Don't worry though, you'll see Dark Harry before then, I promise.
Thanks for reading. Please review! Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I write more so… yeah, review lots.