McGonagall had told Harry not to expect the news that the four houses being dissolved to go over well with students, but what unfolded before him was absolute anarchy. Students had jumped to their feet and on top of their benches to shriek their dismay back up at him. Empty plates and silverware clattered across the tables in the frenzy. The entire display was proving to be too much for Harry. All he could see was a tangle of the people he cared for fighting off insurmountable forces of Death Eaters. They were all going to die unless he could do something to protect them. But he couldn't protect them. He was powerless, and they were all going to die.
Professor McGonagall could see Harry's distress and promptly inserted herself in front of him to face the waves of outrage. She bore the face of the stern transfiguration teacher that the students had come to respect and fear. The familiar narrowing of her eyes let everyone know that she was not going to have any this in her school.
"Quiet down!" she bellowed, her voice far less amiable then the previous Headmaster's. "You should be ashamed of yourselves." She admonished. "Behaving like a band of animals on your first day back! Shame on you." She took a moment to breath as he words sunk in over the students. The hall had grown deathly silent in response, but the faces of the students remained angry.
'I am not doing this to punish you." She continued in a lighter voice. "I understand how upset you must feel, but this is the way things are going to be. There is no use carrying on over it. Common rooms will no longer be password protected, and will be open to any and all students. Dormitories will, however, be protected by passwords, and we must sort you all into new room assignments before the feast can continue."
This brought on a new wave of outbursts. Young girls clutched their friends and sobbed, unwilling to be torn apart. Now McGonagall was beginning to look flustered. This time, Harry knew what needed to be said. He touched McGonagall's elbow, and she looked back at him.
"Can I say something?" he asked.
"By all means." She responded, gladly stepping away from the eye of the crowd.
"Can I just, can I say something for a minute? Please?" Harry asked of the students. They hushed down, hoping that Harry had returned to tell them that he had talked this crazy idea out of Professor McGonagall's head. With the attention of the crowd back to him, he continued. "Do you all realize the things we've been through together? You lived through a war. You all stayed here, stayed brave, when Hogwarts was being terrorized by the Carrows. And Professor McGonagall, this remarkable woman, protected you. She was the first person to walk into battle for all of you. We need to listen to her and respect her, because she's earned that from us.
'History is going to look back at our generation and how we handled ourselves after these tragedies. They'll look to this moment, and how do we want to be remembered? Like a bunch of angry, spoiled children? No. Like adaptable, mature young adults who learned what sacrifice is, because that is who we are. These dorm assignments will be temporary. They'll be switched up four times this year, so if you can't bunk with your friends this time, you still have three more chances." The faces on the crowd were beginning to soften. He was finally getting through to them. "I would now like to make an example of myself, and get sorted." He said resolutely.
He looked expectantly back at the Headmistress who quickly flicked her wand. With a light sound, seven tall, black vases appeared in midair along the front of the staff table. They bobbed slowly in their levitation and were each emblazoned with a large, golden number ranging from one to seven. Harry's eyes panned down to the end and found the vase labeled seven, assuming it was for seventh years. His robes whipped behind him as he quickly walked the length of the staff table. Sitting directly behind the seventh vase was Hagrid, who gave Harry a watery wink. Apparently the speech had struck an emotional chord inside the half-giant. As Harry came to a stop in front of the vase, he caught a quick glimpse of a red haired man sitting beside Hagrid, and the subsequent double take proved this man to be Arthur Weasley.
Mr. Weasley gave a small wave then pointed to the vase, reminding Harry to continue. Harry wiped through the confusion in his head to begin making sense of the moment. He'd have to hang behind later and find out what Mr. Weasley was doing there, but for now he needed to finish what he had started.
He plunged his hand into the vase, and was shocked to be met by a plume of frigid air that numbed his fingers. His hand shot back out of the vase in response, and he was surprised to see a small bit of parchment wrapped around his forefinger. He unwrapped the parchment to find two words written upon it: "Boys, Three." He didn't know what this meant, but he guessed that it wasn't important enough to share. He walked back over to stand beside Professor McGonagall.
"I hope that the rest of you will be able to follow my example." Harry said. He looked pointedly towards the Gryffindor table. They looked back up at him with stunned silence for several moments.
With a noisy clatter, Ron stumbled off of his bench and began marching up towards the front. Hermione and Ginny followed after, greeting Harry with large smiles. Ron and Hermione took turns at the seventh year vase while Ginny approached the sixth. Harry turned back to the Great Hall as he heard more clamoring, and saw several Hufflepuffs lead by Hannah Abbott heading towards him. Scarcely had the Hufflepuffs reached the vases but a handful of Ravenclaws joined them. Among them were Luna Lovegood and Michael Korner. McGonagall watched the students and grinned appreciatively, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
But this moment of small victory was short lived as the hall came to a stand-still. All eyes were now focused on the glowering Slytherin table, anxiously waiting to see if anyone would represent their house. It was obvious that the entire reason the houses were being dissolved was for their benefit. If the houses remained, the Slytherins would be thought of as Death Eathers. Would they really be so prideful as to refuse this offer?
Harry's breath caught. The Slytherins that weren't avoiding Harry's eye contact were glaring directly back at him in defiance. It had seemed like it was all going so well just to be ruined this easily. All the Slytherins had to do was sit there and the whole year would be abundantly more difficult.
And that is when an unlikely blonde head rose above the others. Immobilized by shock, the entire school watched as Draco Malfoy paced up towards the seventh year vase and took a number. He nodded back to the Slytehrins, as if confirming that this was the right thing to do, and they looked back at him with utter confusion.
With Draco's actions, the entire Great Hall was filled with the sounds of scraping benches as the students stood up to be sorted, following the examples of their leaders.
At this point, McGonagall stepped in with a list of students by year to add some organization to the event. The list began with new first years, who had been anxiously standing in the back of the hall the entire time. Harry moved out of the spotlight and joined the slowly growing pool of students who had been sorted. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were already comparing room assignments.
"Girls, One." Said Hermione.
"Boys, Four." Said Ron.
"Girls, Four." Said Ginny. Harry held out his paper.
"Boys, Three." He read.
"Better luck next time, mates." Sighed Ron. Hermione smacked his arm.
"What is that supposed to mean? Are you not happy about sharing a dorm with your sister?"
Harry zoned out as Hermione and Ron began a typical spat. Harry found himself watching Malfoy, who stood only a few feet away.. He seemed somewhat lost, yet oddly comfortable with what the evening had turned into. Blaise suddenly appeared next to him.
"What'd you get?" Blaise asked. Draco angled his paper so that Blaise could read it. From where he was standing, Harry could read the words "Boys, Three."
Harry still didn't know what "Boys, Three" referred to, but it looked like he would be sharing it with Malfoy.
