First of all; a big thank you to everyone who left an opinion on where Harry should be sorted, your reasoning truly helped; THANK YOU :-D I would also like praise the HP-Lexicon for its existence; it was very useful when I wrote this chapter.
I also thought I should probably put a disclaimer in here somewhere for good measure, so although it is very obvious; I own nothing of much value, least of all the fantastic HP-universe. How I wish I did :_(
That should be all for now; go ahead and read the chapter. As usual I'm happy for any constructive criticism (or flattery), so do tell me what you think :-)
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Chapter seven - Different world, same people
The door opened. They were greeted at the door by a tall, rather strict-looking woman.
"The firs´-years, professor McGonagall", Hagrid said stating the obvious.
McGonagall? Ah, so this is the professor who answered my letter…
"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here." She answered letting them all into the entrance hall.
Wow. This place is huge.
As they followed professor McGonagall through the vast hall Harry scanned it, rather impressed at the magnificent room. His books had told him a lot about the ancient Hogwarts and its many myths, about it former and present greatness. Seeing it with his own eyes was another matter entirely from simply reading about it. Now he might even believe some of it. The building, at least, told its own story of past prominence.
They passed a door from which many voices could be heard; obviously the rest of the school were already at dinner or at whatever welcoming event took place as the students returned from summer break.
Harry and the other first years however were led into a small empty chamber. As they entered most of them for some reason hovered much closer together than necessary. Harry being a person appreciating personal space ignored this strange behavior and stopped at a spot a fair bit to the right of the pack.
They just stood there, most nervously throwing glances about the room and at each other, for a few seconds before McGonagall started talking again. "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seat in the great hall, you will be sorted into your houses…"
She went on for a few minutes about the different houses and the point-system; which would earn or lose their house points depending on their behavior.
Harry had already read about the four houses a few weeks ago. He found the manner in which they were going to be divided rather interesting. It was clever in a way to sort them with personality traits as base, but in many ways perhaps less so. He couldn´t help questioning the sanity of putting all the foolhardy people together and so on. Mixing so many people of the same disposition like that with no opposites to balance things up, well… Honestly it seemed like asking for trouble. Furthermore one could learn more, develop more, interacting with people different from oneself. Even Harry realized this and he didn´t even like interacting much.
Whatever; it wasn´t really Harry's problem. He just couldn´t help getting annoyed by such blatant retrogressive stupidity when he came across it. What annoyed him the most was that this world seemed so keen on keeping up its traditions, putting no stock into development. Seriously, this sorting system had apparently been practiced for centuries; someone ought to have considered it was rather outdated.
As Harry found the system of sorting as such somewhat ridiculous he honestly didn´t care where he was sorted and hadn´t given it any further thought.
"- sorting ceremony will take place in a few moments before the rest of the school. In the meantime I suggest you all smarten yourself up as best you can." McGonagall finished, throwing some disapproving looks around to some of them, Harrys beanie being one receiving target. "I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." She said before leaving the chamber.
The others were obviously very nervous as they looked terrified and were mostly quiet. An exception was a girl whispering mindlessly about all the spells she had read about wondering which one she´d need for the sorting. Harry tuned her out as she was getting on his nerves. Stupid girl, she really believed they would be tested of their abilities before having learned a thing? Idiot.
Harry was quickly getting quite bored, staring off into space, effectively ignoring his surroundings. His boredom was remedied soon enough though as several ghosts came floating through a wall. Harry knew a lot about them, yet again from his readings. Seeing them, as usual gave a whole new sense of reality to their existence.
The ghosts indulged in some inane chattering in between themselves as well as addressing some of the frightened new students; Harry found the exchanges rather entertaining to watch.
They were interrupted by McGonagall's return. She shooed the ghosts away and ordered the first-years to form a line and follow her. They did and ended up in a much more remarkable room. Harry's eyes widened as he took in the great hall.
Candles floated above the five long tables (one for each house and one for the staff) and the ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky.
It was an amazing view but Harry would have enjoyed seeing this place a lot more if everyone present in the hall had not turned their heads around to ogle at the newcomers as they walked in. He really disliked being put in the spotlight like that, though he was grateful it was not directed only at him personally. No one seemed to take any more notice of him than of the other first-years, thankfully. They were led to the top of the hall, facing the students and with their backs to the teachers table.
McGonagall placed a stool with a frayed, old-looking hat on top in front of the first-years. Harry's eyes widened yet again as the hat suddenly began to sing. What the hell!?
Oh
you may not think me pretty, You might belong in
Gryffindor, So put me on! Don't be
afraid!
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You
can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For
I'm the Hogwarts
Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in
your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will
tell you
Where you ought to be.
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and
chivalry
Set Gryffindors
apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs
are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any
means
To achieve their ends.
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though
I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!
Oh I see, that is an entertaining way of telling us how they are going to divide us. Huh, well that's somewhat amusing I suppose. At least enough to shock you awake. Creepy thing…
The applause broke out as the hat finished its song. Harry winched, was all that noise really necessary? He found it quite unpleasant. The hat's actually bowing to the tables? Oh God this place is weird. Wonder if the hat's really a person who's been hexed into a hat or something… What a boring way of existing… Did I miss something?
He probably had, because now students were one by one being called by McGonagall who read their names from a long parchment, to go put the hat on. When they did the hat after only a moment, or in some cases after a while, called out to the hall to which house the student in question would go.
Can it read your mind? How rude. I'd rather not have that… thing read my mind. Are they stupid? Who would want some unidentified, possibly human, singing object to look inside their head like that? How uncomfortable… I suppose I can't really get out of it. But still… You're supposed to just go to the table of the house the hat decides on? Easy enough… Hmm, I like blue and green. Red's okay I guess. I hate yellow though, hope I don't get Hufflepuff and have to wear yellow accessories for seven years… Not that I'm that vain or anything, but yellow's just plain irritating… Good thing none of them have orange, I REALLY hate orange. I'm hungry, I wonder what's for dinner… Oh, I should probably pay more attention; it might be my turn soon. Oh God, they're all gonna stare at me, I hate that. Damn, she'll call my name too, then they're really gonna stare. Wish I could just pull the beanie down over my eyes. Oh I should probably take that off if I'm going to put that other weird hat or whatever it is on… Harry looked around guardedly. No one was paying any attention to him as they all had their eyes fixated at the person currently putting the hat on.
Harry put the beanie away inside his pocket and tried flattening his bangs down. He was partially successful as he'd had the good sense to put some hair gel into his hair that morning.
The person getting sorted right now was Malfoy, the snobby kid he'd met at that store Harry realized. The hat screamed Slytherin and McGonagall was soon down to "P" on the list. Harry got a bit nervous and shifted uneasily as the list would shortly inevitably reach his name.
"Potter, Harry!" As McGonagall called his name and Harry cautiously stepped towards the hat whispers broke out all over the hall. Figured. Harry frowned and fixated his eyes on the floor as he walked. "The Harry Potter!?"
People are so bothersome. Couldn't they just shut up? It's enough having all of them stare at me… Stop looking! God I hate people sometimes.
Harry kept his gaze on the floor as he took a seat on the stool. He was relieved at the darkness when the hat dropped down on his head and covered his eyes.
"Hmm", a voice whispered in his ear. Harry jumped, badly. Don't do that! Do you have any idea how creepy that is if you don't see it coming! The hat had audacity to chuckle. "My apologies, Mr. Potter, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm contemplating where to put you, but you already know that. There's no need to be so suspicious, I merely look to see your most prominent qualities and ambitions to properly place you in the most suitable house. I'm not going to snoop around your mind unnecessarily; you are quite a paranoid child, aren't you? Now what do we have here? You have a big thirst for knowledge, you want to discover anything and everything there is to know. This seems to be your greatest ambition. What is this? You truly are very private aren't you? You don't want attention drawn to your person… Well it is quite clear, although you do have courage, a lot more than you yet know, that Gryffindor is not for you. You are loyal mostly to yourself and thereby no Hufflepuff, although you are hardworking. Slytherin might suit you, but it fits ill with your desire to blend in and you do treasure knowledge high above power or recognition. Better be RAVENCLAW!"
Harry quickly took the hat of as the thing finally sorted him. Whatever that hat is, it sure is talkative. Okay, Ravenclaw… That's the blue and bronze banners with the eagle on it… Harry looked up throwing a glance at his destination. The entire room had once more broken out in applauds. I wish they wouldn't do that. Well anything to distract them from their gawking I suppose…
Harry then happened to glance to his side and found that someone, namely McGonagall was staring attentively at him, not clapping as she was holding the parchment of names. Her grim expression made Harry uncomfortable. He gave her a questioning look before quickly lowering his gaze to the floor again as he made his way towards the Ravenclaw table. He hurriedly sat down at the end of the table. The applause finally died out and the sorting resumed. Harry let out a sigh of relief.
On his left sat one of the new students who had been sorted a while before him; a tall boy with dark blond hair and excited brown eyes. He turned to Harry whispering, as the sorting continued; "Hey, my name's Terry Boot, I guess we'll be in the same class." He stretched out his hand and Harry cautiously shook it. "Hello. Harry Potter", he answered quietly.
"Do you know why everyone started whispering when they called your name?" Terry Boot asked curiously.
"Yes. It has to do with something that happened when I was a baby. Apparently I'm famous because of it", Harry explained, his tone betraying his dislike for this fact. "Some insane wizard cursed me but it backfired, since a lot of people lack common sense they assume it was thanks to something I, who was a toddler at the time, did", Harry continued rolling his eyes.
"Oh. I have never heard that story", Terry replied looking interested. "You see I had never actually heard of the wizarding world before my letter came, my parents are both muggle. I'm really happy to be here though, this place is amazing." He said looking around the hall excitedly. "Can you believe that ceiling? It's remarkable."
The boy babbled on for the rest of the sorting like this, with Harry just nodding or saying yes or no from time to time. Only one more student was sorted into Ravenclaw after Harry (a girl with very light blond hair named Lisa Turpin).
An old man, sitting in the middle of the staff table got to his feet as the hat was removed from the room. The man looked quite extraordinary with his long silvery grey beard and half-moon shaped glasses. He opened his arm wide grinning at them all. "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet I would like to say a few words and here they are; Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you", and with that he sat back down while the students clapped and cheered. Harry just stared. Was that supposed to be the headmaster? Do they actively try to be weird? That performance really doesn't give me a lot of faith in his ability to rule a school. Not to be judgmental, but what the hell? I mean… Food! Damn I'm hungry.
Big piles of all type of food one could think of had appeared on the dishes in front of them. Harry was reluctantly impressed.
"Wow, how did they do that?" Terry said amazed with a thrilled look before starting to load his plate.
Harry looked at the people surrounding him. They were all busy gathering food to their plates. Surveying the hall he concluded that there were about 60-70 students in each house. At his table were, apart from the older students and him, eight new students. Beside him was Terry Boot, who was even now chattering away apparently not yet having noticed Harry wasn't listening anymore.
Opposite Harry sat Lisa Turpin and on her right a dark-haired girl Harry remembered as Padma Patil. A bit further up the table on that row was a boy with dark hair whose name Harry couldn't remember, already in conversation with an older student to his right. On the other side of the anonymous older student was a somber looking girl with black wavy hair and an air of arrogance about her, neatly cutting up the food on her plate. Isabel McDougal if Harry remembered correctly. On Terry's left there was chubby boy with curly hair and kind light brown eyes, whom Terry was now talking to as he seemed to have finally noticed Harry's lack of interest in his monologue. Anthony Goldstein Harry heard the chubby boy introduce himself as to Terry.
A few seats to the left of Goldstein sat the last of the new students; Kevin Entwhistle. He wasn't talking to anyone but appeared to, like Harry, be interestedly studying the hall and the other students. They locked eyes for a moment. Harry stared expressionlessly and Entwhistle looked away in favor of putting some potatoes on his plate. I want potatoes too. Harry realized he hadn't taken any food yet. He abruptly gathered a bit from some of the tastier-looking dishes and began eating, now ignoring his new environment, instead focusing on the best-tasting meal he had ever had.
Throughout the meal Harry could on and off feel the looks he was given by various curious students of all the houses. He took care to keep his eyes on the table, doing his best not to pay any attention to the uncomfortable feeling of being watched.
Dessert was another lavish affair with every sweet dish one could think of. Harry didn't enjoy this as much as dinner though as he didn't really care much for sweets. Instead of paying any them much attention he looked up at the High Table studying the teachers.
Hagrid was drinking big gulps from his goblet looking like he was enjoying himself immensely. Does he have a drinking problem? Wait a minute I recognize that guy! It's that strange man from the Leaky Cauldron… Harry had spotted the man in the turban whom he had noticed on his way out from the Leaky Cauldron the day he went to Diagon Alley with Hagrid.
Turban-man looked rather nervous at the moment, talking to a man with dark hair and a big hooked nose. I have a strange feeling about that man… Ouch! What the..? As Harry watched the turban clad man his scar suddenly flared with pain. He grimaced slightly rubbing his head. It went away as suddenly as it had appeared.
That's very strange… Maybe I just have a headache coming on or something… because of stress? But that's never happened before; my scar doesn't normally hurt when I'm getting a headache, what… Wait are they talking about me!? I don't like this, would people stop looking at me!?
Harry had once more looked up at the staff table only to notice McGonagall and Dumbledore immersed in a quiet conversation while glancing at him. Harry stared at them with a slight frown, catching McGonagall's eyes.
She looked inquiring, then a bit startled before swiftly looking away. She turned her gaze back to Dumbledore and they stopped glancing at him. They were talking about me!
Harry spent the rest of the meal unnerved, wondering why the headmaster and McGonagall had been talking about him and what they had been saying.
A while after Harry's unpleasant discovery the dessert dishes disappeared and the headmaster once more started talking. This time a lot more coherently, about some of the school rules. "- this year the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." Why does he want us to snoop around that corridor..? If he actually wanted to keep us away from a place there's no way he'd be dim enough to tell a few hundred children to stay away from there for some utterly mysterious unspecified reason. He must want to lure us there… but why? Unless he really is that dense, how'd I know? I don't know him; he does seem have his head pretty far up his ass… Even if he wants us to actually go to that corridor I will most certainly refrain, whatever his plan is it's probably not good, I think he might be senile…
"And now before we go to bed let's sing the school song!" Dumbledore gave his wand a flick and golden ribbons shot from its end forming lyrics for them to sing along.
Hogwarts,
Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether
we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could
do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're
bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us
things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do
your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.
...Yes, most definitely senile. To Harry's revulsion the entirety of the ridiculous song was carried out by Dumbledore and most of the students. Oh my God, that's horrible.
"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here. And now bedtime. Off you trot!" Dumbledore said happily, wiping his eyes, after the unmotivated applauds had ceased. Harry thought he might be sick.
"Hello all confused-looking first-years", a girl said smiling while approaching the end of the Ravenclaw table. "My name's Penelope Clearwater and I am one of the Ravenclaw prefects. If you're wondering something you're welcome to come to me. But first of all I'm going to show you to the Ravenclaw common room and dormitories. So if you would please follow me…" She trailed of leading them out of the great hall.
They followed her to the west end of the castle up a long winding staircase. Harry got his first view of the moving paintings as did the other first-year Ravenclaws of muggle background. Boot even ran up to one of them asking the figures within it a number of nosy questions, while Entwhistle let out a gasp of surprise when he noticed the first of the moving portraits. Harry settled for watching them in silent fascination.
They soon stood before a door with neither a handle nor a keyhole. Instead it had a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.
"Hello dears", the knocker said as they approached the door. Terry looked shocked. Harry rolled his eyes; he had sort of gotten to a point where nothing surprised him anymore.
"Hello Aves", Penelope replied. "You have a question for me?"¨
"Always. If I say "Everything I tell you is a lie," am I telling you the truth or a lie?" the knocker asked.
Penelope looked to be thinking for a few moments. "A lie. It can't be the truth without contradicting itself and therefore being a lie, but some of my statements can be lies, and this is one of those statements."
"Very good, perfect sense of logic as usual", the knocker said as the door swung open.
"This is how you get into our common room; each time you want to be let in you must answer a question Aves give you. If you answer it correctly you're granted access", Penelope explained to them as they all entered.
They found themselves in a wide circular room with a domed ceiling painted with stars. The windows were big and arched, offering a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains. It was furnished with several huge bookcases stretching along the walls and a number of comfortable looking armchairs in front of the fireplace as well as a number of desks with chairs surrounding them. The walls were decorated with blue and bronze wall hangings and the carpet was a midnight blue decorated with stars, much like the ceiling. Harry instantly loved the room, he felt very at home. Much more so than he ever had at his actual home.
"I understand that you must all be very tired after such a long eventful day, so unless you have any questions I'm going to take you all straight to your dormitories", Penelope told them looking at them questioningly.
"Will we start classes first thing tomorrow..?" the girl named Lisa Turpin asked.
"You will go to breakfast in the great hall where you will receive your schedule. After breakfast you will go to your first class. You'll probably find it difficult finding your way around this place at first, I know I did, but you'll learn your way around in no time."
Most of them nodded in acknowledgement. "Do you have any more questions right now?" All of them shook their heads. "Then come with me", Penelope said walking through a door on the opposite side of the room from the entrance.
Beside the door was a marble statue of a woman wearing a diadem. "That statue is of one of the four founders of Hogwarts, Rowena Ravenclaw, after whom our house is named", Penelope told them as they passed.
They entered a long corridor with a dark wooden floor and walls in a light shade of blue with small bronze eagles painted on. As in all magical paintings the eagles all moved.
Seven doors lined each side of the lengthy corridor. "The doors on my right are the girl's dormitories and the doors on my left are the boy's. You all have door number three on each side", Penelope told them pointing the girls to the right and the boys to the left. "Your things are all inside already. You should probably go to bed soon as tomorrow will be your first day of classes. Goodnight and I'll see you tomorrow", she said smiling and waving to them, disappearing in through door number one on the right side.
Harry who was the closest to the correct dormitory door opened it and stepped inside, the other four boys entering right behind him.
The room was circular with five beds standing in a wide circle along the walls (short-end against the wall). It had a black carpet and the walls Harry realized, showed an accurate model of their galaxy, with images of all the different planets and moons. I think I love this place.
Harry went straight to the bed in front of which his trunk had been neatly placed. He opened it up and got out his toothbrush and nightclothes (which were one of Dudley's old enormous T-shirts and a VERY lose pair of sweatpants).
As Harry got back from the bathroom Boot, Goldstein and the dark-haired boy whatever his name was, were conversing vigorously practically pouring their life stories out to each other. Harry glanced to Entwhistle who was minding his own business, organizing some of his possessions into his bedside drawer.
Harry stretched, just now realizing how exhausted he was. "Excuse me, but could you keep it down. I would like to sleep", He said addressing his three new talkative roommates.
"Oh of course, no problem", Goldstein said giving him a faint but kind smile. "Anthony Goldstein, we haven't really met. Though I've heard of you of course", he said thoughtfully looking at Harry interestedly. Harry suppressed a sigh as he took Goldstein's hand and shook it. "I'm sure you have. Just don't believe everything you hear", Harry grumbled exasperated. Goldstein just looked at him curiously.
"So you are the famous Harry Potter? No offence but you're not really what I expected", the dark-haired and apparently rude boy whom Harry couldn't name broke in, studying Harry with a slightly condescending facial expression.
"Really? How disappointing then", Harry said coldly glaring at him. "I would continue a discussion with you on whatever your expectations might have been on a total stranger you know nothing of, except for some rumors of an event which took place when we were both babies. But as I already said, I'm tired, so if you would keep your voices down it would be greatly appreciated", Harry said in an even tone before promptly turning his back on them and climbing into his big four-poster bed, drawing the thick midnight blue drapes firmly shut around him. He crawled under the covers with a sigh of relief.
Finally free from the staring eyes of strangers Harry felt much better than he had in a long while. He could hear his name quietly mentioned from time to time on the other side of the room for the next few minutes or so. From what he gathered Goldstein and what's-his-name were filling Boot in on the story of why Harry Potter became famous.
Whatever. Let them talk, I'm too tired to care. I'm so glad this day is over with. I love these rooms. This is quite a transition from a cupboard. Just too bad I have to share them with those people. Wherever you go, there just is no escaping annoying people. They're everywhere. Sigh… I'm so tired, and tomorrow the classes will begin, that ought to be very interesting… I really like it how they cook the potatoes here, I wonder who cooks anyway? I'll have to ask sometime… Those beans were kind of cool, can't believe they make candy which taste like potato, not that I'm complaining… Hope the Dursleys house burn down and I get emancipated, that'd be great… Not that I actually want them dead or anything, just as long as I don't have to spend time with them I'm happy… Or with any other annoying people, which rules out most people… What is so special about that corridor? I wonder if they're hiding something there..? Dumbledore seems nuts or at the very least senile… Why were they talking about me? Were they really..? I wonder… Mhm, oh I'm sooo tire-
Harry slept like a rock that night, entertained by a number of pleasant dreams of new worlds and wonderful discoveries. He dreamt of opportunities and foreign places but morning arrived, much too soon.
