Senior Year
YGOxHP Yaoi meaning SLASH, M to cover my ass for the future violence, disturbing, sensitive topics touched here and if and when I choose to throw in LEMON. Undetermined permanent pairings, adult situations. A. U. OOC Post OotP. Bisexual!Harry in most of my stories because…I feel evil…and it to be more likely then a gay!Harry as his –albeit poor- romantic history with females is still there.
R&R
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh or Harry Potter
Chapter 2
Upon arriving at Grimmauld he was met with an air of sober silence. The screaming portrait of the late Walburga Black had been covered by a curtain with a silencing charm and left untouched and as Harry dragged his trunk up the multitude of steps felt a bizarre déjà vu as he remembered that the room he was staying in belonged to Sirius.
Who was now dead of course.
It still stung quite a bit and the air of staying in a dead man's room left him feeling uncomfortably cold and somewhat awkward.
Slinging his trunk onto the bed, he sat down and glanced around at the Black family belongings hanging off the walls and couldn't help but wonder about Sirius. He tried blocking it out and getting over it as he was not the type of person to cage his emotions up or be repressed, he was Harry Potter and was therefore expected to pass each milestone with ease and fit the mould of altruistic hero. Whilst he was fine with slotting into this persona it didn't erase the fact he was human and needed the mourning process. Too bad he himself did not acknowledge this fact, for someone like him it's much easier to ignore the hurting and carry on. That's just what hero's do, so that's just what he did.
At lunch Harry saw Miss Weasley cooking enough for a banquet and he was immediately eclipsed by two Weasley twins.
"I need….air," choked out Harry as the two let go and ruffled his hair.
"We missed our little triplet!" said Fred with a grin.
"-yeah and we couldn't even send you any of our pranking kit prototypes," pouted George.
"I suppose you won't have that much need for them though," chirped Fred "-since you made head boy now,"
"Yeah, just don't become a pompous git like our Percy," said George wryly.
"Never," smirked Harry.
"We did get you a little something-something though, we figured that exploding snap gets boring eventually," added George. Harry tilted his head curiously as Fred grabbed something from his pocket and George grabbed something from his. They were shrunken boxes which enlarged slightly as they took them out of their pockets and handed them to him.
"What is this?" asked Harry quietly, reading the box which was labelled "Duel Monsters Starter Kit 1" and "Duel Monsters Starter Kit 2".
"We thought you'd recognize it, it's muggle but it's actually really, really cool," grinned Fred. Recognition dawned on Harry's features, it was the game Dudley was obsessed with! The one with monsters and tournaments that came on TV, too bad Dudley kept losing as his rather one track mode of thinking always left him rather unable to strategize and face real tough opponents properly.
"I do sort of recognize it now…yeah, and thanks you two," Harry smiled at the Weasley twins who ruffled his hair in turn but then sighed in mock-despair when it returned to it's original state. It wasn't the same as the bird's nest they were so familiar with, and Fred made an overdramatic display of "mourning" the death of Harry's hair while George still attempted to mess it up and failed.
"Okay, okay! My hair isn't ruffle-y anymore!" laughed Harry, batting George's hand away. Suddenly they heard the sound of people running in from the other room and Harry was immediately attacked with more hugs.
"Ron! 'Mione!" he grinned as the two let him go.
"We missed you so much Harry and the Order wouldn't send our letters through!" exclaimed Hermione "-and congratulations on making Head Boy,"
"Yeah and guess what? 'Mione made Head Girl," half-sulked Ron though he was still happy for Harry.
"There is one downside though mate," grinned Ron suddenly and then he leaned in somewhat dramatically.
"You have to share the prefect cart with Malfoy,"
When they went to Hogwarts early for their safety sermon, they was a mix of happiness of friends seeing each other and grumpiness at having to be at school two weeks earlier then everyone else. The senior years, sixth and seventh were mingling more then normal as they were all taking in the empty carriages when they arrived off the fairly barren early Hogwarts Express. When they arrived at the castle-school they were surprised to see the staff aside from Dumbledore standing in front of the grand doorway into the castle.
McGonagall began to yell an announcement out as the other Head of Houses sorted out their respective factions into their proper grouping and then ordered them into lines.
"Prefects! To the front!" said McGonagall, a small line of students came out from the different houses and stood beside the staff. Harry and Hermione stood together whilst Harry had a quick scan over the other prefects. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott came from Hufflepuff, Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil came from Ravenclaw, so far so good….
Sure enough, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson emerged from Slytherin and joined the line and McGonagall called forward the Head Boy and Head Girl so everyone was clear on who it was.
"Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are the Head Boy and Girl with the authority to issue detentions if they catch you breaking the rules including those included in the Senior Handbook. They also have permission to dock points, as do the other prefects,"
"Wait wait, THAT'S Harry?" was the consensus of the rippling whispers, along with note of how he changed his hair and glasses slightly and how he was so much cuter now.
"Quiet down! Now, you're also called here for the safety sermon which is being held within the Great Hall by Ministry officials so please keep in mind the strictly enforced code of conduct. You wouldn't want your house points to be in the negatives before school officially starts for everyone," said Flitwick, stepping in for McGonagall who walked down inspecting the uniform briefly.
There were murmured compliments to one another as students fiddled with the new pearl white uniforms feeling quite strange to be out of their messy black robes. It felt as if they were starting Hogwarts all over again. The students nervously walked into Hogwarts and thankfully nothing inside had changed and nothing in the Great Hall had either except the tables were absolutely barren and lacked chairs.
"Students, this is Miss Amelia Bones from the Ministry of Magic here to deliver a safety sermon following the authorization of melee weapons here at Hogwarts," said Snape rather sourly, who privately thought they should have followed the example of Durmstrang a long time ago and already implement this.
The hour passed with Ms Bones telling the students of legal repercussions of their weapons and if someone got seriously hurt and chose to press it. They were going to do a mass presentation of their weapons to the other and the Head of Houses were going to make note of the weapons deemed inappropriate [ex: a medieval mace] and present them to Dumbledore who takes authorization from the student. Any student carrying an unauthorized weapon that harms another not only faces penalties at school but gets punished to the full extent of the law. Those hurt with authorized weapons verbally consent to it not going to court, as every authorized student is listed with their weapon and there were no secret. Everyone was aware of the risks of challenging other students should their be an accident –this was the same policy Durmstrang had.
On the dorm entry for every house after the safety sermon students read out their planner for the next two weeks which was the same for everybody so nobody was handed an individual planner, the house all attended the same classes with other houses at different times. This was when they learned from their Head of Houses that the next two weeks was nothing but a drill testing out how they coped with senior protocol and learned how to fight in emergencies so they could take charge in times of stress should the staff be incapacitated.
There was an immediate buzz between the students of other houses on who they so desperately wanted to fight in their practice classes, and surely enough, Malfoy was smirking at Harry as they passed in the corridor.
"I'll see you in sparring class," he said, with a minimal of snarky remarks which had gotten increasingly subtle as even he seemed to be taking protocol to heart [which felt a bit weird for everyone].
It was hard to stay cool, calm, collected and level headed ALL of the time and it was even harder not to lose one's temper and lash out but it was now required of the older years who all of a sudden felt more adult then child. The world would be at war, and the elder years of Hogwarts were feeling it.
The Slytherins faced off against the Gryffindors for their first lesson which was mainly going over the rules of duelling and the other half was 'friendly' fighting so the students got familiar with melee weapons. The classes were all defensive fighting drills of some sort split into two types, spell duelling and physical defence.
"You scared Potter?" said Malfoy just as they did back in Gildery Lockheart's duelling classes. To Malfoy's surprise, Harry just chuckled softly -finding it a bit silly.
"You wish," he smiled [which infuriated Malfoy].
"On the count of three," said Snape, raising his wand to signify the two could walk away from their head to head stance. Taking paces forwards the two stopped and turned around sharply, both of them totally ignoring the fact Snape hadn't finished the countdown.
"Expelliaramus!" yelled Harry, shooting the disarming charm like a shot of blue lightning from his wand which Malfoy snorted at put a weak shield up against it that disintegrated after it absorbed the shot.
"Typical. Sectumsempra!" snarled Malfoy shooting the violent slashing hex to which Harry's eyes widened and without even thinking about it mid Malfoy's shout he put up a quick shield of his own.
"Protego!" a bright red shield came up briefly and protected Harry, thinking fast he aimed a quick shot for Malfoy's feet.
"Confringo!" it was a dangerous blasting curse that makes whatever comes into contact with it burst into flames, in this case it was the space of ground inches from Malfoy's feet which made him shriek and fall backwards quickly to narrowly avoid the flames as they dissipated.
In quick succession Harry raised his wand and summoned Malfoy's which had rolled to the floor into his hand. While Malfoy was slowly getting up Harry heard cheering from the Gryffindors which was along the lines of 'Finish him off!' and he raised a brow at Snape who was glaring at him but wasn't going to stop the fight until their was an achieved victor.
"Mobilicorpus!" Harry had aimed it at Malfoy himself and rose him into the air slightly.
"Is this duel over Malfoy?" but the blond hadn't the humbleness to respond until he was harshly thrown into the wall and let down.
"Yes," he hissed from the floor in pain and accepted his wand back from Harry, practically yanking it from him and hastily wiping it on his robe as if it now had half-blood germs.
"This is not over though Potter," he growled, to which Harry responded simply.
"I know,"
Some students coped with physical defence classes quite well and others didn't such as Neville Longbottom, but Harry and Malfoy were still neck and neck even when not fighting with wands or weaponry.
The weapons classes were quite scattered though almost everyone had some type of blade, so they were taught the rudimentary basics.
On a less serious note on the last day of their emergency training, they finally practiced the new induction for welcoming the fresh batch of first years and returning students. Harry and Hermione both suspected that there were other reasons they were changing things around, so they asked McGonagall when they separated themselves from the others for a brief moment.
"Mr. Potter, Ms Granger, whilst it isn't really your business the school is under intense inspection to see if the money we're receiving is spent wisely. The Ministry is watching us carefully and has the power to pull the plug on our funding and shut down the school if they see fit, they're looking for anyway to fill their treasury incase…" McGonagall stopped, but then sighed realizing she couldn't really hide it from those two particular students who always believed Voldemort was back from the start.
"War is publically declared,"
"I get it! Though it's sort of stupid for the Minister to even think of cutting back on education though," said Hermione somewhat vehemently, to which McGonagall merely nodded and let Hermione return back to the line of Gryffindors.
"You look…really pretty in the uniform 'Mione," said Ron shyly, feeling awkward.
"Thank you Ronald," said Hermione with a light blush as they stood in line and listened to Snape talking. It seemed that appearance was becoming one of the sole bones keeping the school funded.
" 'Cor did you see Harry though? He's a right knockout," sighed one of the girls dreamily.
Harry turned a deaf ear to it and turned to McGonagall who wanted a private word.
"As Head Boy you have a lot of responsibilities to new students," began McGonagall who smiled tightly as Harry nodded along.
"I don't mean just the first years either, I'm not sure whether you've been informed or not but we're having rather late transfer students attending when school begins," said McGonagall.
"The Headmaster thought it fit that you be the one to give them an introductory tour and be their…guide so to speak. You'll be looking after a lot of first years too, can you handle that Mr. Potter?," said McGonagall.
"I can handle it but uh…what year are they going in?" asked Harry curiously.
"Fifth, they're only one year behind you but the headmaster has arranged it so their classes are close to yours so you can show them around easier," said McGonagall.
"You'll be picking them up from the platform 9/3 quarters tomorrow, you can get there early if you go to the headmaster's office in the morning. He'll provide you with a method of transport to get to the platform before they arrive. It is not necessary for you to stay for the rest of the welcoming rehearsal as you will be escorting," said McGonagall, leaving Harry a bit in the lurch.
"Well then, I'll just be going," mumbled Harry, happy to leave the stares that were occasionally directed his way from the 'fan club'.
Harry was pleasantly surprised to see Dumbledore's office had been completely redone after his last magical rage fit had destroyed the entire room. Fawkes even seemed delighted to see him, which seemed to surprise Harry that the phoenix remembered him.
"Harry my boy –lemon drop?" offered Dumbledore with a leisurely smile as he propped one into his mouth.
"No thanks," Harry turned sheepish "I see you got your office fixed up,"
"Yes, yes my boy and it was no trouble, I was due for a clean out," said Dumbledore waving his hand airily.
"You'll be picking up the transfer students," he said "-but to get to platform 9/3 quarters in time you'll need Fawkes to take you there, good luck," smiled the elderly wizard as Fawkes flew onto Harry's shoulder and they disappeared in a flash of bright fire.
Harry awkwardly stuck out in bright white and nobody else had seen the new uniform so he got a few curious stares. He stared out at the Hogwart's Express pulling up and excited first years pointing and staring, and a few of those directed at him.
He waited near the platform barrier, waiting for some strange new faces. He had no idea what they looked like so all he had to go on was to look for some lost looking older kids who he hadn't seen before.
While he waited he felt a bit silly and a bit self conscious especially when first years came up to him shyly.
"Are you a wizard teacher?" asked a young boy, voice unbroken and very excited looking.
"No, but I am a wizard," smiled Harry, it was nice to feel pride when he said it.
"I go to Hogwarts too but I'm a sixth year, I'm just wearing the new senior uniform," shrugged Harry.
"Oh cool! So how do they sort us? What's your name? Oh and what's that badge?" the kid started firing questions until Harry put up his hands in mock surrender.
"I'm Harry Potter and this badge is just to say I'm prefect Head Boy," he laughed nervously as the kid's jaw dropped at his name, having heard the legend.
"As for the sorting, well…I can't tell you because part of the fun is not knowing. Tradition n' all," said Harry, gently moving the kid in the direction of the closest open train door.
"You should get going to grab a seat close to your mates before it fills up," and with that, Harry turned back to the barrier and saw three older teens he hadn't seen before making their way to him.
Harry stared for a moment and wondered if they were the transfers, they probably were. He took in their appearance for a moment, one of them was a pale skinned albino, another looked possibly middle eastern and finally there was the incredibly short fellow with the spiky tri-coloured hair.
"Are you uh...Harry Potter?" asked the short one.
"Yeah, I take it you guys are the new transfer students?" he asked.
"Yep we are, we were just told to look for a guy dressed in all white," said the short one sheepishly.
"Pass your stuff and I'll load it on the train, go and find the compartment at the far back with the red door and get comfy," he had directed them to the prefect's compartment, which would be empty since all the prefects were already at school.
They gave him thankful and somewhat relieved looks and handed him their luggage which he seemed to lift quite easily, insisting that it was no trouble.
They found the empty compartment and sat together and waited for a moment until Harry came in eventually looking a tad rushed off of his feet. It turned out being Head Boy had responsibilities that he couldn't ignore.
"Sorry about that!" he came in and then sat alone facing the three transfer students who sat together in the prefect cart.
"It's the first years, they're a bit chaotic to deal with and there are no other authority figures on the train," said Harry, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"It's okay, thanks for meeting up with us. It's weird starting late with all the little kids looking at us," said the blond one, which reminded Harry that he didn't even know the names of who he was picking up.
"So, who're you guys?" he had to ask, and suddenly the shortest one felt a tad rude and spoke up.
"I'm Yugi Mutou," they shook hands along with trading cheesy smiles to boot.
"Marik Ishtar," they also shook but something rang as rather cold from the guy which made Harry want to frown for a moment.
"Ryou Bakura," said the albino, shaking Harry's hand [and to make a crucial moment awkward, there were sweaty palms to boot]. For a moment there was an awkward silence and nobody really knew what to say to slice it until Harry finally broke it.
"So…did Dumbledore sort you out with a house yet or are you going to be sorted at the ceremony with the first years?"
"They were going to give us a private sorting but the only house with spare fifth year dorms is Gryffindor, so they put us there," said Yugi, Harry's expression brightened considerably at this and suddenly it felt like he had a bit more control over the situation. He at least could help them integrate with the rest of the house this way, which made his job to look out for them considerably easier.
"That's great! It means you guys are with me and the others," grinned Harry and they looked quite relieved by this, so they'd know one other person at least.
"Everyone in Gryffindor is dead nice so you don't have to worry…well Seamus can be a jerk sometimes but that's about it really," said Harry as he thought it over for a moment,
"So what happens when we get there?" asked Marik.
"Well, everything's changed a bit this year but basically after we get off the train, the first years cross the pond and we take carriages with the other fifth years," explained Harry somewhat unsurely but hoped it didn't show.
"Then the senior years greet everybody in and we follow go to the Great Hall, and sit in on the first year sorting. It doesn't take as long as you'd think, then there's the start of term feast," the others didn't understand what Harry meant by the older students 'greeting everybody in', but Harry assured them that it was going to be really cool. They asked what the school was like and he answered as honestly as he could.
"This Snape guy sounds horrible," said Yugi after Harry briefly outlined them about the staff.
"He's good at his craft, but he's so biased to his house its ridiculous. I mean, I get why. A lot of the school isn't exactly nice toward Slytherin, so somebody has to be, but he goes above and beyond," said Harry sourly.
"Okay, officially not looking forward to Potions class now," said Marik dryly.
"Everything's going to be really…hectic 'cause of all the new changes and we won't be in any of the same classes because I'm not in the same year as you. They made it so your classes are close to mine though," said Harry, who frowned slightly as the train, went under the final tunnel; he realized they'd be there soon.
"You guys should change into uniform now; we'll be there soon," he murmured as he started staring vacantly out of the window, seeing the distant shadow of Hogwarts' tallest tower. He could see the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest which were close to the train tracks and scowled. Then he peered closer, nose bumping against the glass.
"That's weird," he mumbled to himself, fogging up the window slightly.
"Hm?" Yugi asked, diverting Harry's attention to them midst-change [which he wished he hadn't because eye contact was kind of awkward with a shirt pulled halfway over your head].
"There's a huge fence around the entire Forbidden Forest," said Harry somewhat surprised.
"The Forbidden Forest?" Yugi raised an eyebrow and looked out the window with Harry and saw a bright glistening fence that probably cost a lot of money to build and place.
"Yeah, it's where Hogwarts gets a fresh supply of potions materials for the entire school, but there's some really dangerous stuff there," said Harry, remembering when he had to serve a detention with Hagrid there to harvest ingredients back in first year and found the dead unicorn.
"Speaking from memory?" smirked Marik.
"Yes," replied Harry with a grimace. "There's no shortage of giant man eating spiders, feral vampires and human-hating centaurs,"
"That gate…if I didn't know better…looks silver," said Harry with a raised brow.
"-and this means what, exactly?" replied Marik, turning briefly as he pulled down the undershirt. He expected to hear some remark about the tattoos that took up the entirety of his back, but was surprised when Harry didn't say a damn thing. He didn't figure it was any of his business, it looked somewhat ethnic and he really didn't want to get into an awkward conversation about a culture he had no knowledge of. He was curious though, but opted not to show it.
"There was a rumour going around that Fenrir Greyback escaped from prison," explained Harry, looking very uncomfortable.
"He's a really, really dangerous werewolf. He doesn't just turn into one at the full moon either, apparently he let the 'wolf side' take over completely and then hid out in the Forbidden Forest to stop Ministry officials from trying to get him back," said Harry, looking uneasy.
"Okay, note to self, stay the hell away from that place," said Marik flatly.
Harry then yawned and looked away awkwardly when he caught a rather suspicious looking bruise on the albino boy's arm that had been there for quite a while. There was no shortage of little, little bruises and healing marks but it was enough to unsettle Harry somewhat.
Yugi could tell the werewolf thing must really be bothering the other boy, but didn't really know what to say so instead opted to change the subject a bit.
"I can't believe all of these things really exist," said Yugi in slight awe.
"Yep," all of a sudden the train came to a halt, making them flinch and jerk forward and suddenly cut the conversation.
Harry got up briskly and unlocked the prefect compartment and hopped off the train to the rather run down platform.
He held his hand out to little Yugi and helped them off the train, which was a tad unnecessary and with the way things were going, Marik wouldn't be surprised if kissing on the hand was next.
They were led to the carriages which were pulled by some of the creepier things Marik and Ryou had seen but they didn't comment about it.
"Wow, carriages? Great, where's the castle?" asked Marik sarcastically, to which Harry looked amused and pointed over his shoulder.
"Right over there, that's Hogwarts," and sure enough it was a castle, a huge one. Marik blinked owlishly having not quite expected Hogwarts to look like that, but after a moment, wondered why he was so damn surprised.
The carriage stopped and they got off in time to see the somewhat distant first years reach the other end of the pond and getting off the rickety wooden boats.
They were walking off in a line looking rather dazed, but the view was covered by a series of small, pink, blossoming trees that let pink petals drop from it in the breeze and coat the ground. Harry hadn't even noticed when the trees had actually come into bloom or if magic was responsible, he strongly suspected the latter. Walking between the new trees littered to frame an arch way they followed a line of first years.
Harry smiled a bit when he heard awed gasps coming from the transfer students behind him and from the first years in front. The students were walking in a line brought together by two lines of tall students dressed head to toe in white cloaks with their hoods up, standing either side to let the gaggle of awestruck first years pass through the middle.
The first years looked somewhat scared by the seniors who bowed their heads in respect and didn't move an inch as the blossom petals breezed by.
"Welcome," came the soft but unanimous murmur from the older years, Harry almost snorted and wondered if it would seem half as magical if they'd been their for the practice-rehearsal of the welcoming but didn't bring it up as it would spoil the moment for the transfer students who had yet to even blink.
At that cue, the grand oak doors of Hogwarts were opened by the two closest seniors and Minerva McGonagall was stood there and took charge of the glassy-eyed freshmen.
"First years this way, come with me," she said. The gasps and childlike wonder only increased as they were led inside on their way to the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony.
"You guys just follow me, the seniors come in last after they greet in the rest of the school," said Harry, running a hand through his hair as he tried to remember yesterday's practice drill.
Marik, Yugi and Ryou were somewhat wide-eyed as Harry led them down another, emptier corridor but their attention was diverted by moving and talking portraits and torches strapped to the stone walls that lit as they walked by.
"Hello Harry!" waved a medieval knight from a picture of the round table, except the others were catching a daytime nap on the table.
"Hey," he grinned back at the knight, trying to remember his name desperately [and took a mental note to talk to the portraits more].
"I haven't seen these faces before, and they look too old to be first years," said the knight.
"They're the transfer students," explained Harry, the three didn't say anything and continued to stare at the talking, moving portrait.
"Ah! Well! In that case, if you ever find yourself getting lost just ask one of us! Any portrait for that matter," said the knight warmly.
"We'll be sure to do that," muttered Yugi weakly, who was getting severely overwhelmed.
They followed Harry to a small door used primarily by the staff to get in and sit at the nearby staff table in the Great Hall without having to cross through the field of students.
When Harry opened the door they followed him in and gasped, almost stumbling into each other. The Great Hall was absolutely huge with a grandeur that was hard to put into words. Walking past the staff table to the empty Gryffindor seats, they saw the first years up in front all huddled together and whispering excitedly. The entire Great Hall was lit by tens of hundreds of enchanted candles that floated up and directed everyone's attention to the beautifully enchanted, tall ceiling.
"Is that…real?" said Ryou quietly, the entire ceiling was enchanted to show the night sky littered with stars.
"It's day time though," said Marik confusedly.
"It's not really an open ceiling, it's just enchanted that way to always show the night sky," explained Harry, who smiled slightly at the glassy eyed look of complete and utter awe. The Frog Choir [as conducted by the diminutive charms professor, Flitwick] began to sing in a tongue that the transfers couldn't recognize, but nonetheless sounded impressive as they simultaneously played a multitude of violins and other instruments.
"It's Latin," deadpanned Harry, when it became apparent from the transfer students' expressions that they had no idea what was going on.
"Come on, lets sit here," indicating to the end of the Gryffindor table close to the first years who were about to be sorted. Sitting nervously around Harry and feeling somewhat awkward being the first to be there as the other years filed in. Everyone's attention turned to the main doors of the Great Hall as the rest of the sixth and seventh year finally came in, marching in well practiced lines, pulling their hoods down and having their cloaks pushed back behind their shoulders and flowing out to show the pearl white uniform.
The magic of the Great Hall seemed to increase [If possible] as the rest of the school stared in curiosity, impressed, as they made their way down to the tables and sat close to one another whilst simultaneously flaunting their grace, similarly to Beauxbatons students.
McGonagall waded through the first years and stepped up to a conjured platform and placed a rather worn, practically ancient hat down on a wooden stool.
"So…how exactly do they get sorted?" Yugi asked.
"I'll let him explain," said Harry, pointing to the hat which ripped open a tear that looked suspiciously like a mouth of some sort and 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, You might belong in Hufflepuff, Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, Or perhaps in Slytherin
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
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!"
"…they try on a talking hat?" said Marik, blinking twice at the crumpled hat that sat perched on the stool until McGonagall called out for the first student to be sorted.
"Yep, it looks inside their head and judges what house they should be in," explained Harry.
They passed the time with quiet conversation and occasionally bothered Harry with curious questions until all of the first years were sorted and had taken their seats.
Dumbledore stood up at the end of the ceremony and made a welcoming announcement, turning the attention of the entire school solely to himself.
"Faces, young and old, I welcome you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," most of the school seemed to be staring at his rather odd robes, the eccentric headmaster had taken to wearing a long black robe with moving stars all over it. He's what you'd call a genius that walks to delicate line of mildly insane, but don't be fooled into thinking he's senile, a wizard's greatest mistake is underestimating Albus Dumbledore.
"To our new students and our transfer students, I wish you the best of luck here at Hogwarts. Never fear approaching a senior, portrait or suit of armour should you get lost a few times. Our prefects and staff members are also here if you find yourself needing any help. I'm sure that with the lengthy sorting, you're all starving, so without further ado…" he raised his wand "-bon appetite".
With a quick swish of the wand, the empty tables were blinded by a brief glimmer of magic, spreading rich foods down the entire length of table. The first years stared and eventually dug in after the older years did without hesitation; the entire Great Hall was filled with excitement.
Ryou instantly wished he hadn't sat next to Harry, finding the awkward feeling making it hard to eat some of the rich foods in front of him despite how hungry he was.
Marik and Yugi didn't seem to notice as they were busy tucking into the food themselves. Some of the first years stopped as did Marik and Yugi to stare at what Ryou was looking at also.
A silver-white ghost had flown close to the table dressed head to toe in Elizabethan clothing, greeting the first years.
"Oh Harry, are these the transfer students?" asked the ghost.
"Yep, guys, this is Sir Nicholas but everyone calls him Nearly Headless Nick," said Harry, a first year heard him and loudly asked across the table.
"Nearly Headless? How can someone be Nearly Headless?"
"Oh go on Nick, show them why you're called 'Nearly Headless'," smiled Harry. The ghost grinned back and him and tilted his head to the left and the first years including Yugi gasped as the ghosts' head hung only by a thin stretch of flesh attached to his neck.
"That's actually really cool," laughed Marik, whilst the muggleborn first years looked rather horrified.
"Well I best be off now, I have to get the Baron to keep Peeves away from picking on the first years," and with that, the ghost floated to the walls and went straight through them.
Harry lost his smile for a minute and turned to Ryou who wasn't eating, and gently nudged a plate of profiterole to him. It was coincidentally one of Ryou's favourites and despite lacking an appetite he started to eat it anyway, if only because of Harry's silent encouragement.
It was rather counter-productive though, considering he was the one causing the inner discomfort in the very pit of his stomach.
"Ryou, are you okay?" Harry asked.
"Um…yeah, I'm just a bit…overwhelmed, that's all," said Ryou quickly, digging into the profiterole with rather forced vigour as if he hadn't seen food in days.
Harry just put it down to Ryou perhaps being a bit socially awkward and decided to introduce a couple of the older students that were sat close by. A couple poked Yugi's hair and asked if he used magic to make it that way, while others merely gave their own name back and left them be.
True to his word, the Gryffindors were 'dead nice' and the transfer students seemed to ease up a bit. After the feast, the heads of house came down from the staff table and herded their faction to the entry way to their respective common rooms.
The Gryffindors were told the password and entered through the portrait of The Fat Lady and McGonagall handed out the timetables for tomorrow.
The rest of the day they had free to explore and attempt to map out the way to their classes, Harry offered to do so with Marik, Yugi and Ryou but the albino backed out awkwardly.
"I want to go to my dorm and unpack first," he said hurriedly, Yugi raised a brow at the fact Ryou was acting a bit off but didn't press it.
"Okay, well, your dorms are up the stairs on the third floor. Their should be an enchanted plaque with your name on it, all fifth years and up get singles so it might take a while to find yours up there," shrugged Harry.
Ryou nodded his thanks and was about to go to the staircase until he felt Harry's hand on his shoulder coupled with him leering over him slightly to take a peek at the timetable in his hands.
"Right. You have your first charms lesson first thing tomorrow. I have transfiguration about a corridor down from there, you guys all have the same timetable right?" to which Marik and Yugi nodded after a brief comparison.
"I'll wait for you guys here tomorrow morning and take you to breakfast and walk you down to your first lesson since it's on the way to mine. Breakfast starts at 7:30," said Harry, taking his hand off his shoulder and letting his hand hang at his side. Ryou nodded and quickly made his way to the staircase.
"Okay, see you guys later!" he felt like he couldn't have left faster and by the time he found his dormitory the feeling of butterflies in the bottom of his stomach still hadn't left. Originally he put it down to nervousness after discovering he was also a wizard, but to his mild horror it had centred from the guide that was showing them the ropes.
He took his belongings which had appeared on his bed and instead of unpacking, took a few moments to bury into the pillow and clasp his hands over his ears which sure enough –were burning with heat. Ryou decided nothing good would come of telling any of the others about his newfound insta-crush, and slowly pulled his trunk to his lap and slowly unpacked.
Cursing at himself in his head he let out a resigned, somewhat frustrated sigh.
"I suppose I have a crush on Harry Potter," he mumbled, feeling no better then the gaggling girls that spoke in not-so-subtle ways about Harry when he crossed them, he felt like one of many that probably liked him too. The chances were he was probably as straight as ruler too.
Sigh.
Now part of him was regretting not staying longer with the unbearably sweet senior, he started cursing inwardly at himself again for not sticking with Marik and Yugi while Harry toured them around Hogwarts.
Ryou decided that the conflicting feelings that came with being a teenager just plain sucked.