Chapter 2
Standing on the gravel ground, Jericho ignored the loud conversations of the kids around him, walking around a curb with a group of people considerately smaller than him. A large man with wild black hair who, had he heard correctly, was called Hagrid, had sought him out and told him that he would be entering the school with the first years-a standard way of entry for new students. As he had already been in the school for his registration, the boy didn't understand fully why this was necessary, but he decided not to argue. One thing he learned while growing up was to pick and choose your battles. Whether or not he should enter with the first years or the other students was a pointless battle to argue.
"Oohhh!" the sound seemed to come from all the first years and Jericho found himself looking at the breathtaking castle that was Hogwarts.
Not that he would voice his opinion as the eleven year olds did, but Hogwarts really was one of the most beautiful sights he had even seen. With the sparkling black lake, the high mountain on the other side, and the many windows that reflected the starry sky and vast amount turrets and towers, the stone castle truly was a sight to behold. Especially when Jericho compared it to his last school, which had been a medium castle made of black marble, spiked fences, pointed towers, and tinted windows, making it look more like a fancy prison than a school.
Jericho successfully dodged some questions from his three boat mates, giving them short, tense answers to their questions—his name, his older appearance, his bloodline, and other meaningless enquiries. He had no desire to make too many friends at Hogwarts and he never liked popularity.
The boats carried them through a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they stepped out of the boats and onto a floor of rocks and pebbles.
Hagrid checked the boats as people climbed out of them, making sure they were secured. Jericho looked around the shipyard, taking in the dark stone and ropes hanging on the walls.
Hagrid started walking, knowing the students would follow. They walked through a passageway in the rock, exiting onto damp grass in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a small flight of stone steps and stood around the huge, oak front doors, Jericho standing at the back of the group. Hagrid knocked on the door three times and the wooden doors swung open, revealing a tall woman in dark green robes.
"Here 'r the firs' yers, Professor McGonagall," the giant said while leading them into the entrance hall. The light colored stone walls were lit with flaming gold torches, the ceiling too high to see, and a beautiful marble staircase leading away from the led to the upper floors.
"Thank you, Hagrid. You may go to your post at the head table; I'll take it from here," the woman –Professor McGonagall-responded.
Hagrid walked away, pushing open the doors to what must have been the Great Hall and disappeared inside, the doors closing behind him. When the doors were open, many loud voices carried through and Jericho winced slightly, hoping not all meals would be as loud, as his sensitive hearing may not let him survive the year if they were.
The stern looking professor led them into a small room off the hall that was empty besides the people currently inside. Jericho leaned against the wall, not wanting to be too close to the nervous, sweaty first years that needlessly crowded together.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said, drawing Jericho out of his thoughts. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly…" Jericho half listened to the professor. He had, of course, read Hogwarts, A History and knew the basic facts of the Sorting Ceremony and the houses. He tuned back in when she was nearing the end of her speech. "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." She gave Kyle Nudds, a boy from his boat, a pointed look and Jericho noticed that his black robes had a gummy worm sticking out of the pocket. Jericho couldn't stop his eye roll and the small shake of his head.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," Professor McGonagall said. "Please wait quietly."
After she left, the first years started muttering to each other about the sorting. Jericho ignored them, losing himself in his thoughts. Again.
He was rather curious where the famed Sorting Hat would place him. He knew that he wouldn't be in Hufflepuff; he wasn't overly patient and he honestly hated working. That brought him to another house: Slytherin. Jericho was cunning and ambitious, as he had proved multiple times, and he was sly. Just how many times had he managed to sneak in and out of the house without being caught? He could easily see himself in Slytherin.
Ravenclaw was for the intelligent and the witty, which he was as well. The only problem with Ravenclaw is that he wasn't a fan of studying. He memorized things easily and he saw no point to studying things he already knew or that would never come up in real life. As for Gryffindo, he was brave, but Gryffindors were also known for the boldness and Jericho was anything but bold or rash. He was sneaky and liked to fly under the radar; not bold.
"Get ready," a sharp voice said, interrupting his thoughts. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Professor McGonagall had come back and was gazing at them through her spectacles. "Now, form a line and follow me."
Jericho pushed himself off the wall and stood at the end of the line, having been told by Dumbledore beforehand that he would be called up after the first years were sorted.
McGonagall pushed open the double doors with one long-fingered hand and led them into the Great Hall.
Thousands of candles floated above tables that were covered with shining golden plates and goblets. At the end of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the group forward so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of students looked over the first years and most stopped at him, giving him a look of confusion. Dotted here and there among the students, ghosts shone misty silver. Ignoring the staring, Jericho looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. It was charmed to look like that, according to Hogwarts, A History.
He looked down and saw McGonagall place a stool in front of the line of new students and placed a pointed wizard's hat on top of it-the Sorting Hat. Jericho nearly grimaced at the state of the hat. The pictures of it in Hogwarts, A History must have been taken years ago; it looked much cleaner in the book.
The hat twitched slightly and opened up in the middle; it started to sing. Jericho nearly grimaced again and thought to himself, 'Someone has to give that hat singing lesson.' He didn't understand how a hat that had been singing for thousands of years couldn't have a better voice.
After the hat finished its song, the students and teachers clapped, the loudest coming from the red and gold table. Gryffindors. As Jericho had thought before, they were the boldest.
After the applause settled down, Professor McGonagall stepped forward while 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 stated. She then unfurled the parchment and read the first name, "Alpore, Christopher!"
Jericho ignored the sorting. Instead of paying attention to that, he was looking at the staff table, taking in their appearances and putting names to the faces. He had received-believe it or not-a pamphlet from Hogwarts and knew who was who, but you could never judge someone by a picture. Their appearances in real life gave a much better gist as to how they acted.
He looked for the teachers whom he had classes with and found them easily. Most looked normal enough, but Professor Snape seemed to exude an air of darkness-not evil, just…dark. It spoke of a dark past. He wouldn't be surprised if Professor Snape was abused as a child. That would explain some of that darkness about him. He must have had a hard life.
Also, Professor Babbling looked rather odd, along with Trelawney. He had decided to take Ancient runes and Arithmancy as his electives, so he supposed that Trelawney's attitude didn't really matter.
And there was Professor R. J. Lupin. Jericho didn't know what to think of the werewolf professor. He was certainly the most tamed werewolf Jericho had ever saw. Flipping through his memories of all the previous werewolves he ran into throughout the years, he could not picture a single one of them sitting up on that professor's table. They would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Lupin, however, seemed to fit in just fine. He looked rather at home there, talking quietly with Hagrid, keeping one eye on the giant and another one on the sorting. He seemed to have the life most werewolves would envy for and have what all werewolves want; respect. Jericho would never have thought him a werewolf, if Jericho himself was a normal person. He quickly looked away when Lupin glanced over in his direction.
After observing the staff, he let his eyes slide to the Gryffindor table, looking for the three students that might actually become his new friends. Looking at the table, he saw Weasley, but Granger and Harry were absent. Thinking about where they could be, he figured that Harry must have gone to the Hospital Wing.
Turning his attention back to the sorting, he realized with a start that the last first year was being sorted and that he was getting even more funny looks than before. The student-Mika Vex-was placed in Ravenclaw, and Dumbledore rose to speak to the school. Jericho stood alone in the middle of the room, feeling awkward, but hid it well.
"Hello, everyone," said the headmaster, his voice echoing through the hall. "As you can see, we have a new student this year that is not in First Year. He is a transfer student, who was homeschooled in Romania. He has yet to be sorted and he will be placed into a House right now." Turning his twinkling blue eyes to Jericho, he said, "Please welcome Jericho Slyder."
There was applause from the hall, most smiling at him. They all seemed quite content with him being there now that they knew why. The Slytherins clapped, but did not smile-unsurprisingly.
Taking Dumbledore's speech as her queue, McGonagall stepped forward and said, "Slyder, Jericho." More from tradition than by need, he figured.
Jericho stepped forward, his head held high, and sat on the wooden stool. He felt the pressure of the hat being placed on his head and straighten slightly.
"Well, well, well, a transfer student!" a voice echoed through his mind. "Hello, Mr. Slyder."
"Hello, Mr. Hat."
"Oh, and he has a sense of sarcasm! Wonderful! You know, boy, it'd be a lot easier to sort you if you lowered your occlumency shields."
"Oh…Right." He lowered the shields in question and let the hat scan his mind. He had studied occlumency and built his shields the previous year, not wanting nosy witches and wizards to know his deepest secrets.
"Oh, a werewolf!" Jericho mentally flinched, not wanted to discuss this. Ever. "Oh, I don't mean that in a bad way, Mr. Slyder. It's just interesting, hmm? That the second werewolf to ever attend Hogwarts starts here the same year that the first is teaching? A great coincidence."
"Mhm," the teen mentally hummed his agreement.
"In any case, let us continue with your sorting. I see you've already given it much thought, and I must I agree with you, though I must add this. Slytherins are well-known for their secrets and you hold more secrets than most Slytherins…That said, I think you know where you belong. I hope you enjoy…SLYTHERIN!"
The hat was removed and the green and silver table burst into applause, obviously pleased to have the transfer student. The other houses looked disappointed, but nonetheless, clapped politely. Jericho walked confidently to the Slytherin table. He sat down near the end, hoping that he would be left alone.
Seeing the doors open out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry and Granger walk in and rush to the Gryffindor table. Harry whispered a few things to Weasley and the red-head grimaced slightly before pointing at his table. Harry followed the finger and his eyes locked with Jericho's. The green eyed boy's face fell slightly before he gave a small smile, to which Jericho responded with a smile of his own.
Dumbledore rose once again and started this year's welcome speech, bringing Jericho and Harry's attention back to him. "Welcome!" Dumbledore said, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…" He cleared this throat and continued. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."
He paused and Jericho could tell that he wasn't happy about this news.
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued. "And while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises—or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly as he eyed someone at the Gryffindor table. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects and our new Head Boy and Girl to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," he said.
He paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.
"Oh a happier not," he continued. "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Only those who had been in the compartment on the train with Professor Lupin showed any bit of enthusiasm, even Jericho found himself clapping with a little bit more zeal then his housemates.
"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."
A humongous applause followed this statement, the loudest from the Gryffindor table and the majority of Slytherin's only clapped halfheartedly. Hagrid was cheerfully red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the table of his black beard.
Once the clapping stopped, Professor Dumbledore started speaking again. "Well, I think that's everything of importance," he said. "Let the feast begin!"
Food appeared on the tables as soon as Dumbledore sat down and Jericho had to stop himself from jumping. After getting over his initial shock, he smiled and reached for the roast beef, having not eaten on the train.
He had finished the roast beef, along with some fried tomatoes when a blonde boy and a group of Slytherins his age scooted down the table to talk to him.
"Slyder, huh?" drawled the blonde boy. Jericho could automatically tell he was the leader of the group. "I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy." Not giving Jericho time to say anything, he continued, "I've never heard of the Slyders." There was a questioning tone present in the statement, one he obviously wanted Jericho to answer.
Without gracing Malfoy with a look, Jericho said in a dry, bored tone, "No, you wouldn't have."
Another Slytherin, a girl whose nose resembled that of a pug interrupted. "I saw you with the Aynesworths at the train station," she said snidely.
Malfoy nodded as if meeting his approval. "The Aynesworths, a good, pureblood family. Not very well known, natural family. They can't trace their line too far back, not as far as my family, of course, but they're respectable. Are you their nephew or something? I didn't know they had any close relatives."
The same annoying Slytherin girl interrupted again. "They don't. I was at their Christmas party last year. There were no other close family members that I saw or heard of."
Annoyed at the group of Slytherins around him, Jericho interrupted before anyone else could speak. "I'm not related to them. I'm adopted. I kept the name given to me at the orphanage."
"Oh," Malfoy said, slightly surprised. "Purebloods don't usually adopt. Your real parents were purebloods, weren't they?"
"I wouldn't know," Jericho said through gritted teeth, thoroughly annoyed enough to show it. "I've been in and out of orphanages and foster homes since I was a baby, thank you very much."
"Why?" Malfoy continued to question, either ignoring Jericho obvious annoyance or not realizing it. "Did your parents abandon you? Or did they die? If they abandoned you, it probably means they were muggles because wizards aren't stupid enough to ab…"
Just as Jericho was about to snap the kid's neck, a cool voice interrupted him, "That's not really any of your business, is it Malfoy?" They all turned to see who had spoken and discovered that it was the dark, stringy boy beside Jericho. He was tall, with lanky black hair and wide, dark eyes. "It's none of your business but his, don't you think?" he asked as if asking about the weather.
Malfoy glared at him and seemed about to retort, but a piercing glare from Jericho shut him up. Instead, he huffed and slid back to his old spot, the others following his example.
Jericho turned back to the tall boy and the boy responded to the werewolf's questioning look with a shrug. "Ignore Malfoy. He gives Slytherins a bad name," he said. "Him and his gang. I'm Theodore Nott by the way. Call me Theo, Theodore's an old man's name."
Jericho mouth twitched in amusement. Maybe this school would be better than he thought. Heck, it was already better than his last one. After that darn teacher had let slip he was abandoned by his mother…well, the bullies had a great year at least. He hoped that this year would be easier to get through than his last.
But, of course, hope has a way of getting shot in the face, doesn't it?
This chapter was written by Protego Totalum, but I did make a several changes to fit how I see the story.
The next chapters will be all me and so would the chapters following. So, it would start the more sporadic updates, since those aren't already typed up as the first three were.
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