Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of... not me. I am not in any way profiting by this story, but merely taking the opportunity to play in JK's sandbox for a bit. Any resemblance to any living person, etc, is completely unintentional.
As Harry removed the hat from his head, he noticed that the table for the house of the loyal was cheering and clapping loudly, but the other three seemed rather shocked. More than one student at the Slytherin table was laughing, while some Ravenclaw students were clapping politely. The Gryffindor students, one and all, though, seemed completely taken aback. Harry walked over to his table, sitting next to the blond girl that had been sorted first (Hannah, he thought her name was), and a curly haired boy who grinned at him as he sat down.
"Justin Finch-Fletchley, nice to meet you!" he exclaimed before Harry could even sit down.
Harry found he rather liked the boy's enthusiasm. "Harry Potter," he began, waiting for the boy to look at his scar and be done with it. He was rather surprised when the expected glance never happened.
"Yeah, I heard," he laughed, then clapped politely as the next student was sorted.
Harry was about to respond when he heard an indignant squawk from the blond haired girl to his right. Harry glanced that direction and saw a tall, blond haired boy shoving the girl over. "You're Harry Potter," the boy stated as he sat next to Harry, taking the spot the girl had been sitting in a moment ago. He took a long look at Harry's scar- much to Harry's irritation- before holding out his hand. "Zacharias Smith. I'm one of the last descendants of Helga Hufflepuff herself. You might say I was destined to be here," he intoned, sounding very much as though he was declaring from on high rather than attempting to hold a conversation.
Harry snickered as a stout-looking boy with sandy hair rolled his eyes. "Smith," Harry began, "that was pretty rude, pushing that girl out of the way like that." As he responded, Harry noted absently that the boy he had shared a compartment on the train with, Ron Weasley, was sorted to Gryffindor.
Smith's face darkened in anger, but before he could respond, the headmaster stood, raising a hand to gather the attention of the assembled students. Silence fell instantly.
"Allow me to welcome all of you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before we tuck in to the wonderful feast that has been prepared for us, there are a few start of term announcements. First, understand that the Forbidden Forest is just that- forbidden. A few of our older students would do well to remember this as well," he added, with a pointed look at the Gryffindor table. The list of banned objects now includes some two hundred and seventeen items, and can be viewed in its entirety in Mr. Filch's office. Finally, the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to any who do not wish for a most painful death." Harry laughed at this, but was one of the few who did. An older, good looking boy who might have been in his third or fourth year was sitting a few seats down, and frowned at Harry and the sandy-haired boy, who had also laughed.
"I don't think he has kidding," he said, sternly. Harry's laughter died, as did the other boy's. Harry turned his attention back towards the headmaster, and as he did, he caught the gaze of a sallow, dark-haired man with a large, hooked nose seated at the professor's table next to a professor wearing a bright turban. Harry felt a brief, burning sensation in his scar and shook his head. As he did so, the burning subsided, but Harry didn't think he would forget the look of pure loathing directed at him by the hook-nosed professor. The boy across from him gave him a questioning look, but Harry shook his head.
"And lastly, a few final words to share with you. Nitwick! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" With those words, the headmaster clapped his hands, and piles of food appeared on the table.
Harry, never having seen this much food in his life, just stared for a moment as the other students started putting food on their plates. Much of the food was familiar, such as the roasts and other meat dishes (though even many of those had oddities, such as sauces that changed colors), but others were completely foreign to him. Finally, he decided to put mostly food that he knew he liked on his plate, adding a few of the unfamiliar things to try afterwards. Justin Finch-Fletchley grinned at him, having had a similar idea himself. He also poured himself a nice full goblet of orange juice, relieved that that much at least was normal. Harry grinned back at the other boy and took a long taste of his orange juice- and nearly spat it back out again.
"Pumpkin juice, nothing quite like it!" the boy across from him said as he took a drink from his own cup. It certainly wasn't bad, Harry decided, but was quite a shock when Harry was expecting orange juice! "Ernie Macmillan, by the way," the boy said, extending his hand across the table. "And let me just say that it is quite an honor to be in Hufflepuff with you," he added, a bit pompously, but with none of the rudeness or assumption of Zacharias Smith, who looked quite sullen at being ignored.
Harry accepted his hand, smothing a twinge of annoyance as the boy glanced up to see his scar. "Nice to meet you, Ernie. I, uh, didn't really know anything about the houses before I came here, but this one seems pretty nice, for the most part, I guess."
"Neither did I," Justin added. "I was down for Eton when my letter came. I couldn't believe that I was a wizard, but I couldn't pass up the chance to come here instead."
The blond haired girl to Harry's right- who had apparently gotten her seat back, as Zacharias Smith was now sitting several places down, glowering in Harry's direction, looked at him, apparently confused. "But, I thought you'd know all about the houses and Hogwarts and everything? I mean, after you saved the school and all..." Harry gave her a blank look, and the girl's pink cheeks turned even more red. "It was in The Early Adventures of Harry Potter, how you single-handedly stopped an invasion of vampires..." she trailed off, as the other boys around Harry were also staring at her.
"Er, anyhow," Harry began, trying to awkwardly change the subject, "I'm really looking forward to classes. I looked at my books a bit, but there were some things I couldn't even try out at home, like potions." Ernie and Hannah both looked as though they'd bitten a lemon at that statement. "What?"
"I've got a cousin who's a few years out of Hogwarts," Ernie began. "He says that Professor Snape- that's the potions professor, but he's also head of Slytherin- strongly favors his own house. He's also known to be a bit harsh with the other three houses, especially Gryffindor. Guess we're lucky not to be there, yeah?"
"I hear that he poisons some of his students to test their antidotes," Hannah added, and it was a testament to just how bad of a light rumor painted the professor in that no one even batted an eye at that claim.
There was no more conversation after that, and the students found themselves comfortably full and on their way to their common room. The house prefects led them down into the basement, and Harry thought he caught a whiff of the feast before they stopped before a portrait. "Perseverance," the prefect stated, and the portrait swung open, revealing a large round room with a low-ceiling, and comfortable-looking couches scattered about. "That's the password to get into the common room," the prefect said as he led the first-years in. "Make sure you don't forget it, or let the other houses know. The other houses- especially Gryffindor- have a lot of pranks, and we don't want them to get in here." He motioned for the first years to have a seat on the couches- Harry wound up between Ernie and a red-haired girl that he didn't yet know- as the other fifth year prefect followed the group in and let the portrait hole close.
"Professor Sprout will be down here in a moment," the newly arrived prefect said, making sure the first years were settled before finding a seat of her own. Some of the students talked quietly while they waited, but Harry stayed quiet, wanting to make a good impression.
It wasn't long before she arrived. Professor Sprout appeared to be a dumpy little witch, but had a warm, welcoming smile as she looked over the first years. Harry was rather relieved that her gaze didn't seem to linger on him unduly. "Welcome to Hufflepuff house, boys and girls. I want you all to know how very proud I am to have each and every one of you here. I am Professor Sprout, and in addition to being your head of house, I am also the Herbology professor. Being in Hufflepuff is a great honor and a great responsibility. I expect all of you to work hard, work together, and support each other. Look around you," she continued, and paused as the students complied. "This is your family for the next seven years, and even afterwards. I hope that you'll learn to rely on each other, just as you can rely on myself, the other professors, and your prefects. Now," she said, clapping her hands together sharply, bringing the first years' attention back to herself, "while Jake and Sarah are passing out your timetables, I have one last, but very important thing to say. I understand that there is quite a bit of competition for the House Cup, and in quidditch. However, I expect that you will not let competitiveness get out of hand. The House and Quidditch Cups are all well and good, but there are many more important things." She smiled at the students, who now all had their timetables. "To bed with you lot, then. My door is always open if you need anything."
Harry joined the other boys as they made their way through the somewhat rounded tunnel that led to the first year boys' dormitory. There, he met the fifth Hufflepuff boy, a tall, brown haired boy named Wayne Hopkins who seemed a bit nervous around Harry. Zacharias Smith continued to ignore Harry and Justin, and only halfheartedly tried to converse with Ernie before huffing and pulling his curtains shut. Harry thought to stay up a bit and talk with his new roomates, but sleep claimed him as soon as his head touched his pillow.
HP-HP-HP
Harry joined Ernie and Justin as they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry was sure he'd get lost along the way, so he was pleased that the two boys waited for him. They were met by two of the girls in their year, a fair-skinned redhead named Susan Bones and a short, dark girl with close-cropped hair who introduced herself as Megan Jones.
When they arrived at breakfast, Megan and Susan went and joined the other three first year girls, while Harry, Justin, and Ernie sat down near Wayne Hopkins, who appeared to be reluctantly talking with Zacharias Smith, who frowned darkly at Harry before lowering his voice, ignoring the three entirely afterwards.
This was fine with Harry, who had decided to skim through the first chapter of his Defense Against the Dark Arts book before class. He wasn't sure exactly what the class would consist of, but it sounded serious and he didn't want to be unprepared. He ate idly, deciding as he took a long drink from his pumpkin juice that, while it might not be orange juice, it was still quite good. The prefect who had let them to their dorms the previous night was on hand to show them around for the first day.
Harry found himself sorely disappointed with his first lesson. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, a stuttering man named Professor Quirrell, stammered his way through an entire class period without managing to teach anything of note. Worse, the strong, almost overpowering smell of garlic left Harry with a terrible headache, which thankfully dulled soon after Harry left the pungent classroom.
Transfiguration was next, and Harry was sure he'd have never found the classroom in time if Jake, the fifth year prefect, hadn't been there to show the first years where to go. Professor McGonagall was every bit as stern as he'd expected her to be, starting the class off with a warning.
"Foolishness and playing around will not be tolerated," she said. "There will be no goofing around in my classroom. Transfiguration is a very serious and dangerous subject, and anyone who cannot remain serious themselves will be asked to leave and not return." She then turned a desk into a dog and back again.
As Harry expected, the first years, himself included, were no where near ready for that level of magic. Instead, McGonagall instructed them all to begin turning matchsticks into pins. Harry had tried this briefly at the Dursleys, but hadn't had the time to master it. Still, with McGonagall's patient instruction, he'd come quite close- his pin was only a little dull at the end, and the hole wasn't quite right- earning him both a point for Hufflepuff and a tight smile from Professor McGonagall.
Potions, which took place after lunch, was an entirely different affair. The classroom which was located in the dungeons, was dank, stuffy, and generally unpleasant, and the professor was every bit as nasty as he'd been led to believe.
"Potions is a very exact art. There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations, and therefore I doubt that any of you will even realize that this is magic at all. I can teach you to bewitch the mind, ensnare the senses and even put a stopper in death- that is, if you're not as foolish as those I usually must teach." Harry dutifully wrote down the professor's words, mindful that Snape's nearly black eyes were glaring at him the entire time the man spoke. He then worked his way down the roll, pausing when he reached Harry's name. "Potter... our new celebrity. You'll find that fame will not substitute for talent in my classroom," he said, still glaring at Harry as he finished taking attendance. As he finished, he turned back to Harry. "Potter!" he barked with an abruptness that caused Harry and several others to start. "What would you get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Even if Harry knew- and he was pretty sure he didn't, as this wasn't in any of the books he'd read or skimmed that he could recall- he didn't think he'd be able to answer while staring into the hate-filled eyes of Professor Snape. "I... don't know, sir."
"You don't know?" he said, slightly mocking. "Very well, then. Where would you look for a bezoar?"
Harry brightened. This one was in his potions text- he'd found it during lunch, when thinking about what Hannah Abbott had said about Snape liking to poison students. "In the stomach of a goat, sir," Harry said.
Snape paused, his brow furrowing as he coldly regarded Harry. He looked as though he was going to ask another question, but abruptly turned away, slowly walking towards the front of the classroom. "A point from Gryff- Hufflepuff for your unpreparedness, Potter." It was a measure of the instant dislike the students had for Snape- or how cowed they were- that no one glared at Harry for losing a point for Hufflepuff, nor called out Snape for his unfairness.
Fortunately, the rest of the class was uneventful, and Harry thought that he did quite well on his first potion. It helped that Ernie, who was his partner, was a deft hand at potions, and the two worked quietly and efficiently together. Ernie was even able to show him a couple of tricks to improve on the directions in the book. Harry was a bit reluctant, but Ernie seemed quite proficient at potions already, so Harry resolved to learn as much as he could from his partner. Harry figured that the potion turned out alright, given that Snape only glared as it was turned in, without making a single comment.
"That was... wow," Justin said as soon as he and Megan Jones left the classroom, just behind Harry and Ernie. "He really had it out for you, didn't he, Harry?"
"I don't know why," Harry responded. "I've never met him before." Harry had no idea why the man had almost taken the point from Gryffindor, but at the moment, couldn't care less. "I'll just have to make sure to stay on top of potions, then. I don't want to keep losing points..."
"It's completely unprofessional the way that man was going at you, and I for one will do anything I can to help," Ernie said. Harry smiled. It was nice having friends.
HP-HP-HP
The next day's classes were thankfully not nearly as eventful as potions were. Harry finally got to meet the man who'd sent him the joke spell book. Filius Flitwick was professor of Charms and the head of Ravenclaw house, and fell over when he called out Harry's name in the morning class. Like McGonagall, he showed off a bit of charms work and admonished the students to work hard and not play around too much, but seemed to have a kinder manner to him.
He also had herbology with the Gryffindors that afternoon, and hoped to take advantage of his first opportunity to speak with Ron Weasley since before the sorting. He thought the boy could be a friend, too, but Sprout arrived right after Ron did, and the red-haired boy was the first one out of the greenhouse after class ended, so Harry never got his chance. However, he did get what Justin would later laughingly refer to as a 'consolation Gryffindor.'
"Why didn't you tell me you were Harry Potter?" the bossy girl called from behind him as he tried to make his way towards Ron. He turned his head, hoping to get the girl to go away quickly, but he saw Ron leaving with the Irish boy he'd been working with. Harry sighed, and faced the girl fully.
"You never asked," he said simply, hoping the answer would satisfy her. It did not.
"Well, of course, you never gave me a chance, you were too busy starting fights before we even got to school, and turning my hair yellow, which was very rude and uncalled for, you know." Harry snickered, and the girl's frown deepened. "You should have been in Gryffindor. I've read all about you. You defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, you survived when no one else ever did. Why are you in Hufflepuff?" Fortunately for her, the girl didn't put any scorn into the word Hufflepuff as some students did, as most of Harry's fellow first year 'Puffs were still in the greenhouse.
"What's wrong with Hufflepuff?" he asked coldly. "I think it's brilliant."
Seeming to realize she'd messed up, the girl said in a rather small voice, "Yes, well... it's just, you were awfully brave to stand up to You-Know-Who, weren't you."
"I was one," Harry deadpanned. "For all I know, he was stopped by a dirty nappy."
The girl stopped, realizing that perhaps she'd overstepped her bounds. "Yes, well... I, er, guess I should go..." Harry just shrugged, not wanting to hurt the girl's feelings, but also not particularly wanting her around. Hesitantly, she started to walk away.
Zacharias Smith laughed, shaking his head. "You sure told her, didn't you, Potter." Harry rolled his eyes, as he still wasn't particularly fond of Smith. He noticed the girl's pace pick up at Smith's words, though, and felt a pang of guilt. He also noticed Susan Bones and Sally-Anne Perks, whose name he only knew due to roll calls in class, giving him rather pointed looks. He sighed, and struggled to remember what the girl had called herself when she introduced herself on the train.
"Er, Hermione... do you want to walk to the great hall with us?" he asked, finally recalling the girl's name but still not really wanting her around, but wanting even less to feel guilty for driving her away. The change in her demeanor was instantaneous. She turned and smiled brightly, showing her somewhat too-large teeth, and practically skipped back to the group.
She thankfully remained mostly quiet on the way to the hall, and seemed reluctant to return to her table. Fortunately, Susan seemed to have taken to her, and brought her over to her usual spot, joining Megan and Hannah. The girls soon had an animated discussion going, with much giggling and occasional looks towards the boys, which made Harry and Justin both a bit uncomfortable. Ernie seemed unfazed, however, and Zacharias seemed to relish the attention.
They spent the hour before dinner studying and laughing, mixing schoolwork with fun. Harry found that even writing essays wasn't too bad when he had friends to laugh and have fun with, and was able to finish much of the day's work before it was time for dinner.
Hermione seemed to be having a much harder time of things. While the other girls wanted to have a bit of fun while they worked, Hermione seemed insistent that they focus exclusively on studying. While they didn't overtly shun her, it was obvious even to her that she was wearing out her welcome, and finally contented herself to frowning disapprovingly and working quietly while the others had their fun.
Hermione reluctantly rejoined her table for dinner, for which Harry was quite grateful. While he didn't want to feel guilty for chasing her off, he definitely didn't appreciate her trying to take the fun out of the Hufflepuff group's studying. He idly noted that she sat alone at the Gryffindor table, but after her comments earlier, didn't feel any particular need to do anything about it, either.
After dinner, the first year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs made their way up to the astronomy tower. Harry wound up falling a bit behind when he dropped his bag, and so by the time he reached the tower, his dorm mates had already paired off. He also saw that Ron had paired with the Irish boy from before, too, but finally found an open telescope next to Hannah Abbott.
"I hope you don't mind," he said, knowing that she usually paired with Susan or Megan.
"It's alright," she said, shaking her head and pointing to another pair of telescopes. "Megan's with Sally-Anne and Susan's still working on your Gryffindor friend, so I don't have a partner either." Harry wondered how Hermione became 'his Gryffindor friend,' but decided it wasn't worth the debate.
"Thanks," he said, and they set to work at the direction of Professor Sinistra. Harry decided that he rather liked astronomy. It wasn't magic, really, but it was still a lot of fun. He found Sinistra to be an interesting professor, and as there was no risk of haywire magic, nor any strong house rivalry in this group, she was a bit relaxed on discipline, so Harry was able to talk quietly with Hannah as well as Justin and Ernie, who were at the next telescope over.
Harry was also able to take his chance to catch Ron, catching him as he was packing up his equipment. "Er, hi, Ron..." he began, wincing inwardly at just how lame he sounded.
Ron didn't meet his eyes. "Uh, yeah, listen, Dean's waiting for me back in the common room..."
Harry was annoyed. They'd gotten along fine on the train, but now Ron seemed to be doing everything he could to avoid him. Part of Harry wanted to just let him go. After all, he had other friends now. He didn't need Ron's friendship. But another part of Harry recognized that all friendships were valuable, and wasn't willing to let go of the first person he'd befriended without a fight.
"What is it, Ron? Why do you have a problem with me all of a sudden?"
Ron looked uncomfortable. "It's not like that," he began, looking frustrated himself. "It's just, you should have been in Gryffindor..." Harry was getting very sick of hearing that phrase already, but several things clicked into place.
"That's the issue then? The Boy-Who-Lived, in the house of the brave like his parents?" Harry asked pointedly, and Ron nodded, reluctantly. "And Hufflepuff isn't the house of the brave, or the smart, or the sneaky. It's for all the rest, right?" Ron's nod was even more reluctant. "Well, I'm not going to change your mind." Ron looked surprised at this, and opened his mouth to respond, but Harry cut him off. "I'm not. Only you can do that. But think about this- loyalty and hard work are important, too, maybe even more important than just being brave."
"I... yeah, look, okay, Hufflepuff's not that bad, I guess. At least you're not in Slytherin," he said, sounding for all the world like he was speaking a curse. "And at least Hufflepuffs don't study all the time, like Ravenclaws." Ron sounded like he was trying to convince himself, but Harry supposed he should take what he could get. "Er, anyway, we should go back... don't want Filch to find us still out, and everyone's already gone."
Harry looked around, belatedly realizing that the others had gone on without him. He could understand, though, as they were supposed to go right back after class ended.
"It's alright, though, I found a shortcut. My brothers know this castle inside and out, but I can find things, too," Ron said proudly. Harry just nodded, and followed the boy down. After several staircases, though, they were stymied by a locked door. "I don't remember this one being here," Ron said, sounding a bit confused.
Harry shrugged. "Let me try. I found a spell in the charms book that's supposed to unlock things. It worked okay at the Dursleys', but I don't know if it'll work on a magic lock," he said, frowning thoughtfully. He pulled his wand nonetheless. "Alohomora!" he incanted, trying to keep his voice down, and was rewarded with a loud click.
"It worked!" Ron exclaimed. "C'mon, it should be just through here." He opened the door, pulling Harry through behind him.
"Ron..." Harry began, looking up at the three massive dog heads that were quickly stirring from their slumber, "this is a bad shortcut."