Chapter 3

"You're running late." The cold voice was their first greeting as the doors opened. A man stood in the entrance, and despite being nearly seven feet tall, he was still dwarfed by the much larger Hagrid.

"Er, sorry Alistair," Hagrid apologized. "It took some time to get them all gathered, lot of new students this year, what with the new Headmaster and such."

"Ah, yes. The new head master, don't get me started on him." Alistair replied, sighing. He then turned his attention to the first years. "I am Professor Trannyth, Welcome to Hogwarts. Now if you will please follow me, I'll be leading you to the Sorting ceremony." One by one, the first years fell in line as they followed the tall man up through the dark hallways of the Hogwarts castle.

"Did your brother tell you about him at all?" Rose asked Albus, as they walked a decent distance from the head of the line.

"No, but he seems like kind of a jerk." Albus answered, his voice low so that he wouldn't be overheard.

"Yeah, I suppose he does. If one of our teachers goes insane, and starts killing people, I'm putting my money on him." Rose giggled.

Before Albus could respond, they came to another doorway, and stopped. Professor Trannyth turned to address them.

"Now students, behind these doors is the Entrance Hall, beyond which lies what some of you already know as the Great Hall, where the sorting will be taking place. Once inside the Great Hall, stand in line at the front and I shall call out your names. When you are called, please step forward, and take a seat on the stool, and you will be sorted into one of the four Houses of Hogwarts," he explained. "These are named after the founders of our school, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

Albus tuned out as Professor Trannyth proceeded to explain the point system for the yearlong competition for the House Cup. He wondered if James and Akuji were already seated with other cousins from his family to place bets as a joke on which house he would enter like James had said he would. And how would Crevan's House be decided, he had never heard much about how the system adapted for exchange students and he was interested to see what would happen. His trip to la la land was interrupted by Rose poking him in the side and he was returned to the here-and-now to hear Trannyth giving one more formal welcome to the new students before turning towards the doors and stepping through them. They followed as he led them across the deserted Entrance Hall and through the grand doors of the Great Hall.

Albus looked at his feet, trying not to make eye contact with the hundreds of students that looked curiously upon the first years as they were marched down the center aisle to stand in front of a stool which in turn sat in front of a grand table, at which the staff all sat, save Trannyth, who turned to address the students.

"Let's jump straight into it then." He said, aiming his wand at the stool. In a flash of smoke, an old, beaten hat appeared sitting atop the stool.

"What a crummy old hat." Albus heard someone mutter behind him somewhere. Must have been a muggle born, as surely every wizard born would know of the Sorting Hat, created by the founders of Hogwarts.

"Very well," Trannyth said, picking the hat off the stool in his right hand, he pulled a parchment from his pocket with his left and let it unravel. "Nancy Anders." He read.

Slowly, a timid blonde girl stepped forward, eying the stool. "No reason to be shy." Trannyth urged surprisingly softly, a faint smile reassuring the girl. Maybe Albus had been wrong about him after all. The girl sat down, and the hat was placed on her head. A moment later...

"Hufflepuff!" The hat bellowed through the hall. The girl jumped off the stool, and hurried over to a table, where she was welcomed by her cheering housemates.

And so it went, one by one the first years were counted down and sorted. Albus waited anxiously. Despite what his father had said at the station, he couldn't help but yearn to not be put in Slytherin. He wanted, no, he needed to be placed in Gryffindor. Finally, his time came.

"Albus Potter!" Trannyth said, his eyes flicking straight to Albus as he stepped forward. Despite the time that had passed since his father's triumph over Voldemort, Albus could still sense eyes locked him from all around the hall, trying to get a look at the second son of The Boy Who Lived.

Upon taking a seat on the stool, he suddenly found himself in darkness, as the over sized hat was placed on his head. Immediately, he heard the hat whispering to him.

"Ah, yes. I would know you anywhere. Mm hmm, I see. I see. Just like your father eh?" The hat rambled, not stopping. "He loathed the idea of being in Slytherin as well. James also protested the possibility. Very well, kind of boring though..."

"Gryffindor!" The hat bellowed throughout the hall.

Thrilled, Albus handed the hat back to Professor Trannyth and ran to join the cheering Gryffindor table. As he walked down the table, a student he wasn't familiar with flew from the bench like the metaphorical bat out of hell and hurried fast as he could to the other end of the table. Looking away to the place he'd just vacated, he saw Akuji beaming at him.

"Saved you a spot." She almost squealed, practically dragging him onto the bench next to her.

Across from Akuji, to Albus's surprise, Crevan nodded in acknowledgment while next to him James sat with his face in his hands, trying desperately to hide from the shame of his brother at so close a vicinity. He did feel a little guilty about causing James duress, but didn't have time to think about it long, as soon Akuji was speaking again.

"I knew you'd be in Gryffindor." She said, patting him on the back. "Now I get to be your mentor in the art of shits and giggles in this gulag they call 'educational system'. Not to worry, no one's going to mess with you, not on my watch. If they do, I'll have an excuse to fillet them alive."

"Yeah?" Albus said, not sure how to respond properly to such a welcome. "What can you do against vampires? I saw one on the train."

"Vampires?!" James sounded a mix of astonished and bemused, looking up. "There're no vampires at Hogwarts stupid!"

"Shush you!" Akuji snapped, glaring at James. She then turned back to Albus. "But he's right; there are no vampires at Hogwarts."

"But I saw one. He was on the train. He had black eyes and hair, and he was pale and tall and..."

"Look liked that guy?" Akuji smiled, pointing across the hall towards the Slytherin table.

"Yeah! That's him!" Albus exclaimed, surprised. This time Akuji snickered along with James while Crevan raised one immaculate eyebrow in curiosity of the sight.

"Sorry to disappoint kiddo," Akuji fondly patted him on the head. "That's Cyrus Starch, Prefect to House Scaly and resident metamorphmagus. He does the whole Dracula shebang to intimidate people but he's harmless."

"Great," Albus sighed, "one godbrother showing up in drag with the physical accessories to boot wasn't bad enough."

James winced at the memory even though he laughed while Akuji snickered. "So I've heard. I also heard about the time you drank undiluted Sonorous Skittles formula at age five and sang everything in opera for three hours straight."

Albus glared at his brother who shrugged unapologetically. Clearly he had a lot of catching up to do if he wanted to be seen as an equal individual here away from their shadows. He was still glad of the providence that put him in this position and intended to enjoy it while learning the ropes in the autonomous world of boarding school.

Suddenly, Albus found his attention drawn away from the conversation as he heard "Rose Weasly!" called out. He watched anxiously, as his cousin and friend took her spot on the stool and the Sorting Hat placed on her head. He wasn't sure if the hall actually went quiet, or if it was only his imagination, but moments later the hat had decided.

"Ravenclaw!" It announced to the Great Hall.

The Ravenclaw table cheered on, but Albus couldn't help but feel his heart sink. Whenever he and Rose had discussed their futures at Hogwarts, they had always assumed they'd both be in Gryffindor. Rose made eye contact with him across the Hall, and frowned, but shrugged and ran off to join her table. Albus watched as she sat down, a smile on her face as she began talking with her new Housemates. When Professor Trannyth spoke again, his attention was drawn back to the man.

"That's odd." He said, eying the last child waiting to sorted. "That's the end of the list, what is your name?"

The child stood silently for a moment, eyeing Trannyth, or were they looking beyond him. Suddenly, in a flash, it drew its wand. The reaction was almost immediate, as Trannyth stepped back. Behind him, the entire faculty stood from their chairs. Before anyone had a chance to truly react, the child spoke.

"Hēi'àn de zhǔrén shàngshēng," The child announced before aiming it's wand at its feet. "Měi gèrén dōu bìxū zhīfù de jiàgé, bìxū guì zài qiánmiàn!"

Suddenly, black fire erupted from the wand, and struck the ground beneath it. In seconds, the child was completely engulfed in the dark flames.

Trannyth immediately drew his want and aimed at the child. Without a word, water shot out of his wand and hit the flames, but it didn't have any effect. The entire Great Hall was in uproar by now, as the students had all noticed what was going on and most were screaming. Within thirty seconds of the event, the flames were gone, and all that remained was a pile of ash in the spot where the child had once stood.

"Silence!" A voice boomed throughout the hall. All the students turned to look as the school's new headmaster stood behind the staff table. "Prefects, if you will please escort your houses to your dormitory, the school is now on lock down."

Immediately, all the students seemed to rise as one. Albus stared horrified at the ash pile, before getting up as well. As he started to make his way to the grand doors, he stopped when he noticed Akuji hadn't moved.

"Akuji, we have to go." James urged from the other side of the table, the crowd pushing him along towards the doors.

"Akuji..." Albus started, then stopping himself. She had a look on her face. He couldn't call it fear. He couldn't call anything.

Was it anger? Concern? She was a blank slate.

He felt like he shouldn't ask. So he just continued along. The flow of the crowd eventually blocking her from sight.