Percy's PoV.
"Good luck." Harry told me and he went to sit down as I slowly made my way up the Hall. An old man stood up at the head table and most everyone's attention was given to him. Quickly, I scanned the room to find the other people I know and Draco caught my eye. He nodded minutely so as not to be noticed by anyone else and I gave him a slight smile in return as the old guy started speaking.
"Welcome all of you to a new year of school here at Hogwarts. I know you have all heard rumors about a new student joining the third years and they are true. I'm sure all of you will join me in welcoming him to our halls. Might I present Johnathan, Harry Potter's twin brother." At that practically everyone in the room started to talk.
"Impossible!"
"Harry Potter never had any siblings!"
"How come he's only coming now?" Etc. You get the picture. The old man raised his hand and everyone went silent and he beckoned me forward. The little man standing next to a stool motioned for me to sit and I did so, trying to ignore the whispers amongst the students. A hat was placed on my head and a second later there was a voice in my head that wasn't supposed to be there.
How interesting, it said, loyal to a fault and courage beyond what I usually see. Resourceful too, almost to the point of being cunning. Plenty of potential here, but where would you do best?
Um, do you talk about all the students like this when you're sorting them? I thought to the voice in my head.
Like what?
Like they can't hear you, or are you just talking to yourself and we can just happen to hear you too? The voice chuckled at that.
I might be mistaken but I think you just insulted me. Not very wise to insult the thing that will decide what fate you will have to face for the rest of your years here at Hogwarts and possibly even after you leave.
You may decide which house to put me in but you do not decide my fate.
But there is darkness in you, and where I put you might just get you to give in to it.
You know nothing about me! I mentally growled at the Sorting Hat. You don't decide what I do, so get the Hades out of my head! I slammed a metaphorical door on the voice to prove my point and I was surprised that I had shut the Hat out of my head completely because I could feel it trying to get back in. It finally gave up after almost a minute.
"Fine!" I heard it shout out loud. "If that's the way you're going to be, then enjoy your time in Slytherin!" I ripped the Hat off my head and handed it back to the short guy, who pointed me towards the table Draco was sitting at. No one made a sound as I made my way over to the table. Fortunately both Draco and Pansy were quick to shake off their shock and made room for me between them. After a few minutes of awkward silence the old man that introduced me started talking again.
He explained that the dementors will be stationed at the school entrances and not to give them reason to harm us, blah, blah, blah. Then he introduced two new teachers, Professor Lupin, who I had met on the train, and a Hagrid, judging from the more welcoming reception, most people already know him and like him. After that food appeared on the tables and everyone started to dig in. I didn't though.
"Aren't you hungry?" Pansy asked me when she saw I wasn't getting anything.
"The dementor and the stupid hat put me off my appetite." I told her.
"You should at least have a little something." She said, reminding me of my mom. "Here, what would you like?" She grabbed my plate.
"I don't care." I said and she rolled her eyes at me before filling my plate up with food.
"Why didn't you tell us who you really were?" Draco asked from my other side. Anger and disbelief coloring his tone.
"Would you have believed me if I did?" I shot back.
"No, of course not."
"Exactly."
"There you are, and you have to eat all of your vegetables or you won't be getting any deserts." Pansy interrupted by placing my plate back in front of me, full of food. "Now eat."
"Yes, ma'am." I picked up my fork and started to eat without looking at what I had on my plate. My eyes roamed around looking at the other students, most of which I caught staring at me but they quickly looked away when they noticed that I caught them staring. Finally, I found Harry sitting with his friends, Hermione had joined them, but it was the expression on my brother's face that really got my attention. A combination of confusion, shock, and betrayal that made me look down at the table, feeling like I did something wrong.
"Don't worry about him. Gryffindor's think they're better than us and that all Slytherins are evil." Pansy said to me.
"Funny, Neville said almost the same thing except he used the words 'stupid and impulsive' when he told me about how Slytherin views Gryffindor." I told her dryly.
"Well, they are." She said defensively. "And if you don't believe us we can tell you all the things that your brother has done in just the two years he's been here."
"That sounds like a good idea for when I really need some cheering up." I told her before turning back to my food.
"What happened with the Sorting Hat that made it shout out like that?" Draco asked me imploringly. "The only time it speaks out loud is when it sings its song at the beginning of the sorting and when it shouts what House you're in." I couldn't help but stare at him, wide eyed.
"It sings?" I asked in disbelief, and both he and Pansy laughed at me. "Glad I missed that, otherwise I would have insulted it on that as well as the fact it talks to itself." Apparently others around were listening to our conversation because about eight people stared at me, shocked. "What?"
"You insulted the Sorting Hat?" An older kid asked me.
"Yeah, then it said something about how it has the power to decide my fate, I told it to get out of my head and I sorta kinda shut it out of my mind, which it really didn't like, so here I am." That got me even more strange looks.
"Well, Johnny, we didn't think you were Slytherin material." A voice I recognized said and I looked up to see the Weasley twins standing next to our table. Almost everyone else glared at them. I, on the other hand, smiled at them slightly.
"But from we just heard I think we might have to reconsider." Forge said smirking.
"We've never heard of a Slytherin being a prankster." Gred added with an identical smile.
"So it will be interesting to see what you can bring to our little group of misfits."
"If you're still interested."
"Why wouldn't I be interested? Causing trouble might be the one thing that I'm actually good at, even if it is unintentional most of the time." I told them, rolling my eyes.
"Would you two go away? And no Slytherin will be joining your little crusade against the school rules. We have more important things to do." A sixteenish year old girl told them as she stood up, I also noticed she had a badge kind of like the twins' older brother but her's had a 'P' on it.
"No need to get your wand in a twist." One brother said.
"We're not staying." Said the other.
"By the way, Johnny, we liked the stunt you pulled on our git of a brother."
"We couldn't stop laughing for all the time he was yelling at us for putting you up to it."
"You did what?" the older girl turned towards me. "You let these two worthless Gryffindors pull you into one of their schemes on the first day?"
"Nope. I willing played a joke on the head boy without their knowledge and he believed that they were the ones behind it when he realized what I told him was a trick." I answered her honestly, albeit with a mischievous smile.
"Why would you do it in the first place?" She demanded.
"Seemed like the thing to do at the time." I shrugged and she just sighed with annoyance.
"You two go back to your table." The twins flashed her identical smirks before heading back to Gryffindor's table. "Johnathan, what characteristics did the Sorting Hat say you have?" She asked me carefully.
"Loyalty, courage, and resourcefulness." I told her, looking her in the eyes.
"And did the Hat say anything about the other houses to you?" I shook my head and she cursed under her breath. "Johnathan, if you did force the Hat out of your mind before it finished judging you...What I'm trying to say is… you might not actually belong in Slytherin."
"You say that as if you think it's a good thing to not be in Slytherin House."
"Some people just aren't cut out for Slytherin." An older boy, who also has a badge, said, a bit indifferent.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I told him.
"Your sarcasm is noted." He replied with a small smile. "How long have you known that Harry Potter's your brother?"
"Since the first week of August. I also had no idea who I really was until Professor Snape showed up at my door."
"Well, I guess that's good, since you pretty much just found out that means you shouldn't have an over inflated head about being the brother of the boy-who-lived." Draco commented dryly.
"Which translates into: I don't think myself above everyone else simply because of who my family is. Unlike, what I'm guessing is most of you."
"How'd you figure that?" Someone across from me asked.
"The air of arrogance that most of you give off. Don't worry, I've dealt with spoiled rich brats enough to know what I'm talking about. Though I think the British term would be prats, rather than brats but that's beside the point." I went back to eating my food.
"Are you really comparing us to muggles?" Pansy asked, sounding offended.
"What makes you think he's comparing us to muggles?" a dark skinned boy around my age asked the Slytherin girl.
"On the train ride hear he made a comment about being raised by muggles." She informed him offhandedly before returning her attention to me.
"Yes because the only real difference between us and them is the fact that we have magic. I don't even see why, or how, that makes us better in any way." I answered her.
"We have the power to kill them with a single word if we wanted to. How does that not make us better than them?" The older boy across from me demanded.
"You clearly know nothing about muggle weaponry." I said to him. "You can trust a wizard, or witch, with magic about as much as you can trust a muggle with a gun. Let's just leave it at that." They all fell silent at that and we continued to eat our dinner. After a few minutes I picked up my goblet to get a drink and I nearly choked on the liquid. What I tasted was definitely not what I was expecting. Snickering sounded around me. "Oh, by the way Percy, that drink is a wizard exclusive so don't be surprised by it." I said to no one in particular in a higher octave than my actual voice before switching to my regular level. "Aw, thanks so much for the warning. I would have hated to have choked because I didn't know what it was. That means so much to me." Then I went back to the higher octave. "Don't thank me, it was my pleasure." I glared pointedly at Draco.
"Why are you glaring at me? I didn't do anything." He said, trying to defend himself.
"Exactly. You didn't tell me what I was drinking, so if I died from choking on it, it'd be your fault." He rolled his eyes at me.
"It's just pumpkin juice, for Merlin's sake. It's not poison."
"It is possible to choke on other things besides poisons. People die from choking on food and drink more often than you think."
"Shut up and eat your food, you annoying half-blood. You won't get another chance to until breakfast." He grumbled and the others looked like they were trying their best not to laugh.
"If I must." I pouted like it was a terrible thing to eat my dinner. The others cracked up laughing at that and after a few moments both me and Draco joined in.