The Great Hall was almost completely silent. The teachers and Malfoy were the only ones clapping. Harry, completely oblivious to the silence, went to the Slytherin table and sat down. Malfoy gave him a high five and he looked back to see who was going to be sorted next. He was a little uneasy as he saw everyone staring at him.
"Why's everybody staring at me?"
"Dunno," Malfoy replied. "But hey, you're famous. You gotta get used to it."
Harry nodded and relaxed a little. Still, it seemed like nobody had believed he could be in Slytherin. Oh well, they'd just have to deal with it.
Finally the sorting was over, and good thing to because Harry was starving. Dumbledore stood up and said some nonsensical words, and before Harry could ask, food had appeared on the table before him. He was too stunned to eat just yet so he just stared at the food. The Dursley's never gave him this much food before.
"Come on Potter, dig in!" Malfoy's mouth was full of chicken, so Harry really wasn't sure what he said. But he seemed to snap out of his daze and he filled his plate.
Before he knew it, Harry was stuffed and more than ready for bed. He just wanted to get some sleep and start all over tomorrow. Lucky for him Dumbledore stood up and sent them off to bed.
"Now that we are all filled up, let us go to sleep. Prefects, will you please lead the first years to their houses. Tally-ho and good night."
Harry was relieved to leave the Great Hall ad head for the Slytherin common room. As the other houses headed up the grand staircase, Harry and the Slytherins headed down to the dungeons.
"Our common room is down here," the Prefect informed them. "Just right around this corner. Now, when you get down here you must always say the password or you can't get in. If you forget the password you could wait for someone else to come open it for you. If you're lucky, they'll help you out. But most likely, you'll be hanging around the halls for quite a long time. The password changes every so often, so make sure you remember it. Right now the password is 'pureblood'"
As soon as he said the password, the wall slid open and revealed the common room. Harry followed the rest of the first years inside and they crowded around the fire.
"This is the common room," the Prefect continued his tour. "It's where you will be spending much of your time when you're here. This is your study area, your hangout, and your relaxation space. Upstairs is the dormitories, the girls on the right and the guys on the left. Your stuff is already up there, go ahead and go to sleep."
Malfoy dragged Harry upstairs and claimed a room. Harry was with Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise Zabini. As soon as Harry's head hit the pillow, he was asleep.
Harry had a horrible dream that night. He was being sorted again, but the hat was becoming heavy on his head. It sunk lower and lower until it covered his whole face. He couldn't see anything.
Suddenly, the hat started showing him bad things about his past. He saw all the times he had been beaten up by Dudley and his gang, the times he was stuck in the cupboard under the stairs, the time the Dursleys took him away to the one room house on the rock. Harry was not enjoying seeing all of these images. He tried to call out for help, but no one would help.
He called out to Malfoy who simply shrugged his shoulders. In desperation, he called out to Ron who simply said, "I can't help you, you're in Slytherin. Every witch or wizard there is bad."
Harry was left alone in the Great Hall, everyone had left him. He struggled to get the hat off of this head, but it showed him one last bad memory:
Harry was home, wandering around the living room when the front door burst open. Next thing he knew he was upstairs in his bedroom, a lady standing with her back to him, yelling at another person. Suddenly there was a flash of blinding green light, and Harry woke up.
