It has been almost two weeks now - Damn! Time does go by fast! Anyway, I've been busy with school, so I haven't had much time to write. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Harry finally meets everyone - well, almost everyone!
Also, I have been trying to answer every review, but FF has been messing with me for the past few months so I apologise once more if you don't receive a reply from me.
The train rounded a corner (a corner!) and suddenly the view of the platform was gone. Almost instantly, a huge barrage of people who had been staring out the windows to say their last goodbyes started moving to the hallways. Harry rolled his eyes at their eagerness - greediness - to get a compartment to themselves.
Wrinkling his nose, Harry shouldered his backpack which was filled with such a large variety of things that a normal person would think that someone had simply taken a random collection of ephemera and had thrown it in a bag. Harry however, didn't really mind what other people said. His collection of bottle caps was in his opinion incredibly important.
Harry stumbled as someone tried to push past him, and when he turned his eyes almost bugged out. The shock of light brown hair, bright blue, inquisitive eyes and arrogant tilt of his head were all very familiar features to Harry and the fact that he was seeing them here… was… well… a shock.
"Justin!" He cried out and the boy who had already started moving after he had fallen down turned harshly at his name and winced when he hit his head against an open compartment door. His blue yes widened and his jaw quite literally fell, revealing white and exceptionally brushed teeth.
"Harry!" He cried out and jumped to his feet, dragging a leather bag along with him. Justin was dressed in a t-shirt with a muggle band's name printed on the front, and long black slacks.
"What are you doing here!?" They both cried out at the exact same moment, staring at each other. An older student shoved past them muttering something about annoying muggles. They ignored her.
Justin and Harry opened their mouths at the same time to reply to each other's question, but Harry waved his hand at Justin, gesturing him to speak first.
"You didn't tell me that you were switching schools!" Justin accused. Harry blinked and realised suddenly that, indeed he had not. Then again, he hadn't felt the need - Justin had told him that he was leaving anyway.
"You told me that you were going up north!" Harry exclaimed and Justin just stared at him.
"What?"
"Up north implies that you were going to the north of England. Not Scotland-" Harry cut himself off, realising something very important.
"Oh my God!-"
"Not quite," Justin said dryly.
"You're a wizard!" Harry exclaimed as if he hadn't heard Justin speak.
"No shit!" Shouted an annoyed student from an open compartment near them. The compartment door slammed shut. Harry and Justin stared at each other for a long moment - then burst out laughing.
"I can't believe that your dad let you come!" Justin said silently as they started making their way down the corridor while they intermittently looked into compartments to see whether it was full or not.
Justin raised an arm to sling over Harry's shoulders, but stopped himself just in time, seemingly remembering Harry's weird haptophobia. *1(A/N)
"So how'd your parents take it?" Harry asked finally. Justin shrugged and sighed slightly exasperatedly.
"Mum was pretty excited that we now have a wizard in the family. Dad's not very pleased 'cause he says I won't have a normal - you know Muggle - education. He's making me take tutors in the summer."
Harry winced sympathetically. He had met Mr Finch Fletchley, and knew that he was a very strict and traditional parent. Finding out his son was a wizard would go against his very nature. Nevertheless, it seemed that he had let Justin come to Hogwarts.
Harry suddenly felt much better upon realising that Justin would be at Hogwarts with him.
"And yours? You did Sherlock take it?"
Harry chuckled and stopped walking for a moment. "Dad just accepted the fact that magic was real. Then my grandfather showed up and told my dad and Mycroft that he's a squib - non-magical people born to magical people - and then Mycroft told them - uh-" Harry paused. He didn't want to tell Justin about him being famous in the magical world. He didn't want his friend to treat him any different.
"Mycroft told them…?" Justin prompted. Harry smiled suddenly and shrugged.
"And Mycroft told them that he already knew about me being a wizard but had wanted me to lead a normal life so didn't tell me anything." It wasn't really a lie. He was just leaving out the rest of the truth.
Justin eyed him for a moment, then he nodded. He seemed to trust Harry's judgement. If Harry didn't want to tell him anything, then he didn't really need to know. Harry realised this and he smiled inwardly; with loyalty like that, Justin was destined for Hufflepuff.
"I was honestly so scared to see you before I went to Hogwarts, I thought you were going to deduce it all." Justin said, grinning. Harry scowled at the slightly hidden insult.
"You said up north! Not Scotland!" Harry exclaimed again and Justin waved a hand dismissively.
"Yeah, yeah. The great Harry Potter Holmes wasn't able to deduce that his friend was going to Hogwarts!" Justin said giddily as he turned around and knocked on the door of a compartment, which he then opened. Harry stared at his back for a few moments. Sure, it wasn't the first time that Justin referred to him as 'friend', but it warmed his heart nonetheless.
"Hello!" Justin said in an overly bright voice. Harry smirked. When he had met Justin, the other boy had been all stuck up and arrogant. He had matured a lot in one year. He had become a little more open.
Shaking his head from all stray thoughts, Harry looked into the compartment over Justin's shoulder.
Sitting there was a bushy-haired girl with a bookish looking face and buckteeth. She was already wearing her unmarked, black Hogwarts robes. Overeager, much? Sitting across her, was a slightly chubby boy, with shy eyes that kept flickering between the floor and the faces of the other people in the compartment. He was wearing mismatched muggle clothing - a tight pair of trousers which obviously fit on a much smaller child. He wore a pink t-shirt with a deerstalker and a catchphrase printed on it.
Harry almost burst out laughing at the text printed on there. It read; 'Sherlock lives'.
Justin saw at what he was smirking and let out a snort. The poor boy looked down at the ground obviously thinking that the newcomers were laughing at him.
"Oh! No, sorry! Longbottom - we weren't laughing at you!" Harry exclaimed, then looking at the girl, he smiled charmingly at her.
"May we sit here? Everywhere else seems full…"
She blinked at him for several moments. Isolated nerd then - couldn't comprehend the fact that someone wanted to talk to her. She scooted closer to the window and allowed Harry to sit down next to her; Justin sat across Harry.
"You see, the stuff printed on your shirt was pretty big a few years ago - all over the muggle news."
"Oh! Yes of course - Sherlock Holmes. He pretended that he had died and then dismantled Moriarty's criminal organisation. Two years later, he came back and started solving cases again!" The girl exclaimed and Harry grinned at Justin, sharing their inside joke. "I am such a fan! The way he solves cases…" She sighed happily while staring at the place above Harry's head. "I wish I could meet him!"
Harry's lips twitched. If she found out he was his son - she would go mental!
"H-How did you know my name's Longbottom?" The shy boy suddenly spoke up. All eyes turned to him, then the girl turned her interested gaze to Harry.
"Yes - how did you know?"
Harry squirmed under her stare.
"Uhm. His name is written on his trunk?" He said quickly, eyes glancing up at the trunk that Neville had dragged all the way to his compartment instead of leaving it in the trunk car.
He grabbed Justin's hand and dragged him out of the compartment and started rushing him down the hall.
"Harry? W-what?"
Harry grabbed the door handle to a compartment, shoved Justin in, and followed him seconds after. He slammed the door shut. They stood silently for a moment, panting slightly.
"Uh, yeah, sorry. She was giving me hungry looks like I was a juicy steak. I didn't want to reveal my skills in the art of deduction - she would make the connection."
"But how did you know his name? I mean, I looked at his trunk, but his name wasn't there. It just said NL and there's no way you would have been able to pick his name right. Especially not a name like Longbottom."
"He had his name sewed onto the back of his coat which was laying on the bench next to him. Surely you saw it?"
They both heard a sudden cough and both boys turned to the source only to find two slightly older, ginger twins huddled up next to the window. They stared at the two friends and the others stared back.
The status quo prevailed for several moments before the twin's faces broke out in wide, mischievous grins. Harry grinned back, instantly recognising a prankster's face when he saw one. He exchanged another grin with Justin and they both sat down across the twins.
"You met a Longbottom?" One of them questioned with a raised eyebrow. Harry nodded slowly, but it was Justin who answered.
"Uh yeah. Well, Harry says his name is Longbottom. I mean he deduced it. But this overeager girl was scaring the crap out of Harry."
"She wasn't scaring me-"
The second twin chuckled and shook his head. "Mate, women are scary. If you don't believe that, you haven't met our mother. Oi Forge, remember that time that we sent mum that toilet seat from Hogwarts-?"
Justin grinned appreciatively, "You've got guts mate," he said addressing… Forge, "If I did that to my parents…. Oh, they would go mental!"
The twins grinned again, "That's exactly why we did it!"
"I'm Gred," said the one on the right and with a tiny mole above his eyebrow.
"And this is Forge." said the other, pointing at himself. Then they leaned forwards at the same time, eyes looking around conspiratorially.
"And we," they said at the same time before looking at each other, affronted.
"I always say it!" Gred exclaimed. Forge frowned.
"No, I do!" He replied.
"We can say it together," Gred said rolling his eyes.
"Fine."
They turned back to Harry and Justin who were staring at them with bewilderment.
"And we-" They said very dramatically, "Are The Weasley Twins."
"Pleasure to meet you," Justin said leaning forward and speaking in a conspiratorially, "I am Justin Finch-Fletchley. and this is my dear, dear friend Harry Potter-Holmes."
The twins's eyes narrowed and Gred frowned. Then they turned to each other and scowled. "Damn. We owe Jordan ten galleons."
Justin turned to Harry who shrugged.
"Jordan - our friend Jordan - bet that you would be on the train today. We were convinced that Dumbledore kidnapped you and sent you somewhere to train you or something."
"Why would Dumbledore want to do that? I mean he's the headmaster and Harry's just a student right?" Justin asked slowly, eyebrows furrowing.
The Weasley's exchanged a meaningful glance.
"Mate, that's Harry Potter-Holmes!" Fred said grinning. Harry was pleased that someone had finally said his name properly without prompting. Seeing the expectant gazes looking at him, Harry assumed that it was his turn to say something… Well… it was now or never.
"Uh, yeah, Justin. I'm sorta famous in the wizarding world. Uh. There was a magical incident or something when I was a kid and I supposedly killed a Dark Lord that was terrorising magical Britain at that time."
"Supposedly?" Justin said, eyes wide. Harry shrugged.
"Well… I am the only person who has survived the attack and I was a year old at the time. And there is no possible way I would have been able to tell anyone anything at that age. Therefore, the fact that everyone says that I killed a Dark Lord is essentially… gossip."
The Weasley twins started laughing loudly.
Their merry laughter was rudely interrupted someone knocked on the door and instantly, all the patrons of that compartment sobered up. The compartment door moved and revealed a head full of shocking peroxide blond.
"Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed somewhat happily. He had been dreading that that obsessed girl had come looking for him.
"Come! Sit!" Harry exclaimed gesturing at the spot next to Gred. Malfoy obliged and then upon seeing who was sitting next to him, physically recoiled.
"Weasleys," Draco Malfoy spat out in a way that wasn't very unlike what Lucius Malfoy had spoken to Sherlock Holmes mere minutes ago. Both Weasleys scowled deeply, completely and utterly mirroring Malfoy's feelings back to him.
"Malfoy." One of them said, hostility clear in his voice. Harry raised an eyebrow, and eyed the standoff with interest. The differences between them couldn't be more apparent. The Weasleys, while clean and well-taken care off, were dressed in slightly ratty robes that were a smidgen too snug. Their bags were worn and littered with holes. Their faces were happy, and open; full of emotions.
Draco Malfoy on the other hand, was cold and closed off. His pale, aristocratic face still had a lot of baby fat - as most eleven years old had - but it was evident that he would grow up to be aristocratic Lord that he was destined to be. His clothes were custom-made (that much was evident) and very well taken care off.
There was simply no reason why two families from such different social classes would have anything to do with each other - so why the animosity?
Harry eyed the three boys with interest, trying to figure it all out. However, before he could formulate any possible theory from the facts he had already deduced, Malfoy's steady, and very cold gaze rested upon him.
"Associating with the mudbloods and blood-traitors now, Potter?" Malfoy said suddenly. Both Weasley's levelled insulted and heated glares at him. Justin frowned, obviously realising that this was an insult of some kind.
Harry cleared his throat, wondering how he should tackle this problem. Evidently, Malfoy's loyalty to his father went very deep, and the fact that Sherlock had insulted the latter rather deeply, did not help the situation.
"I am sitting with Fred and George Weasley-"
"-We said Gred and Forge! How would you even know our proper names?!" Harry ignored the exclamation and went on.
"-And Justin Finch-Fletchley. The twins are nice and are good pranksters. Justin is a little snobby-"
"Hey!"
"But he's the best friend I could have wished for." Towards the end, his tone became increasingly colder, and the temperature in the compartment decreased dramatically. His tone was deceptively calm as he said the following words; "And don't you ever dare call them some… derogatory term."
Malfoy looked suitably cowed for a moment before a familiar flash of anger whispered through his eyes and he jumped to his feet in anger. "Your father insulted my father!"
Harry raised an eyebrow and glanced at the others, who were staring at the two eleven year olds with wide eyes which kept going back and forth as if they were watching at tennis match.
"And your father insulted mine - no - he threatened him." Harry's tone was still cold, but his eyes had softened somewhat in understanding and he sighed. "Look, Malfoy. You aren't your father, and you may try hard, but you will never be him. You are your own man, Draco."
"I haven't given you permission to call me by my first name," Malfoy said in a weak voice.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Fine. Malfoy. You're not terribly bad. I saw your true character ever so briefly back in the tailor's shop and I know you're not your father. You are not bloodthirsty, nor can you uphold that perfect aristocratic mask every single hour of the day. For God's sake Malfoy! You're a child! Enjoy it while you can!"
"Hear hear!" The Weasley twins said in unison.
"Now, Malfoy, let me introduce you to my friends. Properly," he paused and sent Malfoy a disarming smile. The blonde boy looked uncertainly at the other people in the compartment, but then finally, he sighed and nodded. Harry smiled inwardly. It seemed he was going to give it a shot - that was more than Harry had been expecting.
"These are George and Fred - oh, pardon me - Forge and Gred. They enjoy pranking their siblings - seven in all, I believe - and have a reputation at Hogwarts for being pranksters. They play quidditch as beaters and are quite fond of chocolate frogs."
Malfoy, George and Fred blinked at him in surprise. Justin sighed deeply as if this had occurred a lot already. Harry shrugged inwardly and chuckled - actually, it had.
"B-But how?! Wow. That's amazing! Imagine how much we could rile old Minnie up with that!" George said with a grin.
"Deduction," Justin said in a drawl. All eyes turned to him. Harry grinned proudly - apparently the boy had learned something from him in the past year.
"But how can you possibly know all that?" Malfoy exclaimed. Harry leaned back into the bench and chuckled.
"I saw their siblings on the platform, and I heard their mother saying their names and mentioning a 'Bill' and a 'Charlie' who I assumed are your brothers. Their mother was also pretty adamant about them… keeping in line while at Hogwarts and Fred and George have mentioned (and displayed) their pranking tendencies more than one time on this train ride. In fact - I'm pretty sure I saw a young red-headed boy earlier on covered in what looked like dirt. I assume you pranked him earlier - judging by the similar dirt under your fingernails-"
At that, every eye turned on the twins' fingernails and all the heads belonging to those eyes leaned closer to look at the small specks of dirt.
"Also, if you may have noticed-" Justin rolled his eyes at the tone of his voice which implied that Harry thought the exact opposite, "-the large calluses between the thumb and forefinger which shows that you both obviously often hold a sort of bat in your hands. The callouses neither resemble the ones one receives from cricket or baseball bats."
Malfoy, Fred and George stared at him. Finally Malfoy cleared his throat loudly.
"And the chocolate cards?" He questioned silently. Harry blinked - he had thought that would have been… well… obvious.
"Yeah - We don't collect chocolate cards!" Fred said with a frown. George blushed and reached into his pocket before pulling out a large stack of pentagon-shaped cards.
"Ah, yes - I assumed you collected them together…" Harry said wrinkling his nose and tapping his chin with his forefinger.
"But how did you know? They were in my pocket." George questioned silently. Harry shrugged.
"Lucky guess."
Harry's audience chuckled appreciatively, but their laughs were abruptly cut off when the compartment slammed open again. Harry groaned.
"For the love of God!"
"Not quite," Said a familiar, timid voice and Harry glanced at the intruders and almost groaned at the sight of curly-haired obsessive fangirl. To his delight, however, Neville was standing behind her, smiling timidly at his joke. Harry sent him a brief, encouraging grin.
"Neville's lost his toad." The bushy-haired girl said, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the patrons of the government. Harry pursed his lips to stop himself from chuckling - no doubt their mischievous expressions would set off a scholarly person like her.
"Oh, I saw you earlier. Before you ran from our compartment!" The girl said, eyes focusing on Harry and Justin who shifted uncomfortably.
Harry cleared his throat nervously and glanced at the twins who were grinning in realisation - evidently they had realised that Harry and Justin had been running from her.
"What's your name?" She said, her eyes narrowing. Harry flicked his head to the side, letting his hair fall over his very unusual scar.
"Bond," He paused, wiggling his eyebrows. Justin rolled his eyes, by now very used to the cliched introduction Harry always used when he told people 'who he was'. The girl's facial expression turned into a 'seriously?' frown.
"Ah. And I'm Moneypenny." She said without skipping a beat.
"Finally!" Harry exclaimed, "Finally! Someone gets my reference!"
Draco and Justin didn't look amused. After all, Harry had used that name the first time he had met both boys.
"So, Moneypenny. You said Neville's lost his toad?"
The boy behind her nodded meekly, realising that the question was also addressed to him. The girl, who had introduced herself mockingly as 'Moneypenny' nodded stiffly in affirmation.
"My name is Hermione Granger," she said self-importantly. Harry sighed. He knew her type. While intelligent, people like her were more book-smart rather than generally-intelligent. Their memory was usually exceptional. Harry hoped she would eventually outgrow it.
"No. Your name is Moneypenny. Now, old boy," he said now addressing Neville. "Shall we go to the prefect's compartment and ask one of them to cast some magic and possibly… summon your toad?"
"Oh, God, I sound like I'm about to summon a demon," Harry murmured to himself. The other students in the compartment shot him odd looks. *2(A/N)
Harry swiftly stood up, brushed past Granger and gently pushed Neville in the right direction, leaving said girl in a compartment with a boy who hated her whole race and a couple of twins who did so many pranks that Granger was destined to hate them.
Oh the chaos that would ensue….
"So, Neville, I absolutely love your t-shirt!" Harry said with a small chuckle. He did in fact love the t-shirt. It said #SherlockLives on it. Suddenly Neville's face was dusted with a little pink and he ducked his head
"Thanks Harry," the boy said. Harry was a about to reply before his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Huh. I never introduced myself as Harry."
Neville gave him a shy, sly smile. "No you didn't. Your friend said your name just as you were leaving our original compartment."
Harry blinked. How had he missed that? "Ah. Good job on spotting that."
It seemed that the boy he'd thought would be the least aware of his surroundings was in fact the most aware. "You're Harry Potter."
It was a statement, nothing else. There wasn't anything else. He didn't want an autograph, or a handshake. It was simply a statement. Harry stared at him for a moment before chuckling and nodding.
"Very good, Neville. How did you deduce that?"
"Deduce?"
"Yes, the act of observing and then drawing the most probable conclusions, no matter how strange."
"Hermione went into a rant about deduction… and a man called Sherlock Holmes… after you left."
"Ah." Harry paused in his musings, "So… how did you deduce that?"
"I know that Harry Potter was born a day after me and I just… thought that maybe… he'd be in the same year as me. I guess," he hesitated, but Harry gave him an encouraging look. "I thought that there can't be many Harrys in one year."
"Very sound, Neville. Very good…" Harry trailed off. "But make sure not to guess your theories. Properly draw your own conclusions."
Neville's eyes narrowed in thought as he mulled things over.
"Ah, I believe we're here," Harry said, gesturing at the compartment nearest to the conductors cabin. There was a large 'P' attached to the door-handle. Harry knocked on the door.
Almost instantly a red-headed head popped out. His face was smattered with freckles and his robes were plain black, worn and had red and gold trimmings. A Prefect badge was pinned to the right side of his chest and on the left a Gryffindor insignia.
"Yes?" He said in a self-important way. Harry wondered whether this was another Weasley - the twins' brother. Harry jabbed Neville into the ribs, prompting him to speak.
"Uhm… I lost my toad." He fell silent, looking at his shoes and Harry sighed. Eventually, Neville would become the bravest of them all, but not yet. Not today.
"We wondered whether there's a spell to summon it-"
"Him." Neville interrupted quietly. Harry smiled.
"Him," Harry corrected himself.
"You're firsties?" The boy said, eyeing their unmarked robes. He looked about fifteen. Harry nodded in affirmation.
"Well. Look closely. You'll have to do this in a few years." The boy said, clearing his throat. He withdrew a wand and did a simple swishing movement. "Accio-" He interrupted himself mid-sentence.
"What's the name of your toad?"
"Uh, Trevor."
"Accio Trevor!" The boy intoned. Harry and Neville stood there for a few minutes, staring around them in confusion. Had the prefect mispronounced the spell? Their doubts were destroyed as a few moments later, a large, dark green, sphere-like thing flew at them and-
Splat!
Harry was forced to hold back his laughter - the toad had landed in the middle of the red-head's proud face. Neville evidently didn't find it all that amusing. He had unlike Harry, instantly rushed forward and was now pealing the toad off a wailing Weasley.
"Trevor!" He exclaimed, hugging the struggling toad to his chest. "Thank you…" Neville trailed off, not knowing what the prefect's name was.
"Percy Weasley, Gryffindor House Prefect," The boy said proudly, while glaring at Neville's pet.
"Why did you get a toad anyway?" Percy Weasley said, nose upturned. Harry frowned slightly and glanced hesitantly at the blushing boy at his side, wondering whether the boy would answer for himself. Seeing Neville duck in embarrassment, he decided to defend his new friend.
"I happen to think that amphibians are a splendid pet to have. I happen to have a comatose reptile myself-" Seeing the confused glances he was receiving from the two boys, he elaborated, "I have a turtle. His name is Clyde. Anyway," Harry waved a hand in dismissal, "I do believe one shouldn't belittle other people's pets when one themselves owns a rodent."
"…Rodent? Clyde? What?" Said Percy blinking stupidly. "Wait, how do you know that I have a rat? Well had, Ron has him now."
Harry shot him a charming smile, "A magician's gotta keep his secrets!"
Neville gave him a blank look, evidently not understanding the muggle saying and Harry sighed exasperatedly. "Muggle upbringing right."
.
The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great, black lake. The twinkling stars, and a full moon were reflected on the surface and when Harry turned his head upwards to look at the real thing, not the reflection, he found that something else had caught his attention.
Perched atop a high mountain on the other side of the lake, with windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
Harry stared open-mouthed at the structure. The castle looked as though it had been built in the Early Middle Ages, but it's style was more Gothic than anything else. It made Harry wonder, whether some turrets had been built later on. However, the beauty of the castle wasn't what made Harry gasp in disbelief.
The castle's utter disregard of gravitational physics was almost an insult to that entire branch of science.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid - the giant that had met them on Hogsmeade platform - called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry blinked as his attention was diverted to the water and he wrinkled his nose. His father had told him over and over again that he always had to pay attention. And always had to make sure that he knew exactly who and what was around him.
Sighing, Harry made his way to a boat furthest to the right. Malfoy followed him, and after hesitating for a moment, Justin and Neville both followed them. The latter were still a little wary of Malfoy and Harry couldn't exactly blame them. While Malfoy had managed to refrain from calling anyone any names, his dirty looks still said a lot about what he thought about them.
"Everyone in?" Shouted the large man, who had claimed a boat for himself, "Right then - FORWARD!"
Almost like magic - no, not like - with magic, the fleet of little boats starting moving all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
"I think I've lost Trevor again," Neville's whisper was quiet, but it was so quiet that everyone heard him. Some of their soon-to-be fellow students turned slightly in order to either roll their eyes or give him a puzzled look.
Granger (who was sitting in a boat with a couple of twins and a red-headed girl) shook her head in a condescending manner.
"Again, Longbottom?" Malfoy said scathingly and all of the venom that he had been holding back the whole train ride suddenly became evident in those two words.
"Oi, there's no need to be so bloody mean!" Exclaimed a voice from the other side of their small fleet.
Malfoy's head instantly turned as though he had heard a familiar voice. "Shut up Weasley. Your poor language isn't welcome in our conversation!" Malfoy shouted back. The patrons of the several boats between them, turned to look at Malfoy and then swivelled back to 'Weasley' as though watching a tennis match.
"How'd you know I'm a Weasley?" Shouted the redheaded boy. Harry couldn't see him very clearly in the dark, but it seemed the had red hair, and pale skin - much like his brothers Percy, George and Fred. The question was reasonable, and had Harry not known the other Weasleys, he wouldn't have been able to deduce that this boy was one of them. He turned to look at Malfoy, curious how the boy had deduced that.
"Well, there's no need to really ask what your name is, Weasel. (Weasley frowned at his nickname), red hair, hand-me-down-robe and with more brothers than your family can afford. You must be a Weasley."
The last sentence was said with so much contempt that even Harry recoiled.
Harry's frown deepened and he turned his almost perpetually serious stare at Malfoy. To be honest, he was disappointed. He had thought that Malfoy would be better than this. Hell, he knew Malfoy was better than this. So far, Malfoy had been pretty mean to anyone who wasn't a pureblood and worshipped the old ways. It seemed thought, that Weasley was receiving extra-treatment.
A family feud, then?
"That's enough, Malfoy." He said, his tone serious. The blond boy turned to stare at him and after a brief staring match, he leaned back and seemed to acquiesce the demand.
"You tell him!" Said Weasley, grinning maliciously in triumph. Harry raised an eyebrow. It seemed the family feud went both ways.
"Weasley, please respect the fact that Malfoy has decided to withdraw. I don't care what sort of family feud is coming between you two, but I certainly know that I do not want to spend my next seven years at Hogwarts having to duck in hallways 'cause you two are duelling."
"Magic isn't allowed in the hallways. It's in the book Hogwarts: a History." Said Granger at the same time that Weasley and Malfoy exclaimed: "How did you know about the family feud?"
"Well… you just confirmed it, didn't you?" Harry said smirking and addressing both boys. Justin rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, merriment danced in his eyes.
"Okay, everyone, that's enough!" Hagrid said somewhat quietly. His deep rumble, however easily trumped the childish voices and everyone turned their wide eyes on him. He brushed his beard somewhat nervously at the attention. "Look 'ere, we're almost at Hogwarts. In fact - HEADS DOWN!"
It was so sudden, that some people almost didn't have time to react. They all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of under-ground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
"Oi, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. Harry had almost forgotten, about Trevor.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Malfoy shook his head in disbelief, probably wondering why anyone would choose to own a toad.
The first years clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on a smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. Harry looked around at the other first years. There were about forty altogether.
This made Harry wonder. Hogwarts couldn't be the only wizarding school out there. What was the British wizarding population anyway?
"Moneypenny!" Harry exclaimed, turning his head rapidly in search for her; she would know the facts.
"My name's Hermione!" A voice exclaimed and Harry turned around, only to come face to face with a frowning Hermione Granger. Harry chuckled inwardly and jabbed his elbow into Justin's ribs.
"Look! There she is!" *3(A/N)
Justin rolled his eyes at Harry's antics.
"So, Mo-" Seeing her glare, he corrected himself. He supposed that following the twins' advice would be the right thing to do. Women were frightening. "Granger. I assume you've read everything about the wizarding world by now?"
She raised her eyebrows questioningly. Earlier, when Neville (and his toad) and Harry had come back to the compartment, Neville had grasped Granger's arm and had led her (presumably) back to their compartment. She still wasn't aware who Harry really was and was therefore a little hesitant to talk to him.
"Well… yes," she still seemed hesitant to admit it. Harry wondered whether that was because she had been bullied for her intelligence her whole life and was afraid that was what Harry would now do.
"Right then, I assume you know what the current population of the wizarding world is?"
She blinked in surprise, but the answer left her mouth like a bullet with it's arse on fire, "About 3.25 million in the world, and 30.5 thousand in Britain. Birth rates are at about 10.65/1000."
Harry cocked his head to the side, mulling that over. So Hogwarts couldn't be the only British wizarding school. As he had noticed before, there were about 40 students in his year and if that was an average amount of students per year, that meant that there couldn't be more than 300 students at Hogwarts.
So if there were about thirty thousand wizards in Britain, and if birth rates (per year) were at 10.65/1000, that meant that meant that there couldn't be more than about 300-400 new births every year.
Harry shuddered, that was a dangerously low amount.
Nevertheless, the fact still remained that Hogwarts was a large school - the size of the castle proved that - so other wizarding schools were probably smaller. So Hogwarts' yearly admission of students was only 12% of the overall amount of viable British wizarding students.
"So, are you going to tell us mortals what you've just figured out?" Asked Justin. Harry was about to reply when a voice startled him.
"I remember you!" It had come from the other side of their small group. A small, but evenly proportioned boy was staring at him through a gap in the crowd. It parted when he started moving towards Harry who was frowning - trying to figure out whether he'd ever seen that boy.
Justin and Mafloy who were standing near Harry were glancing between the dark-skinned boy.
"I'm sorry. I think you'll have to refresh my memory," Harry said with a wince. He usually remembered everyone and everything to perfection.
"You're the boy who sat with this intimidating guy in our compartment!"
It was starting to come back. Harry had only ever been on two train rides in his life, the first one he had taken when he had gone to visit the rest of his relatives, and the second one had been the Hogwart's Express. He vaguely remembered playing the deduction game (on the train) with Sherlock.
"You're Dean Thomas!" Harry exclaimed suddenly, remembering how he and his father had deduced that fact from looking at the boy's gym bag. The other boy's eyes grew large. "Well… That's a weird coincidence!"
Thomas grinned, "Yeah, tell me about it. I only remembered you 'cause me mam and me spend the rest of the week on the look out for stalkers. The way you two were staring at us-" The boy gave a theatrical shudder. "-Wait. How did you know my name?"
Justin rolled his eyes again, "He plays this game with his father called 'deduction'."
"Like gobstones?" The young Weasley had joined the conversation.
"I don't think so, Weasley," Malfoy said with a small snarl. By now, he knew Harry well enough to know what deduction was.
"Wait - Like deduction and induction?" Granger had stepped in now, eyes wide and eager. Harry bit his lip, hopefully he could hide his name from her for a few days at least. He didn't want her to hound him, greedily asking him for facts about his father.
"Uh… yeah. My dad works for Scotland Yard so he's learned a few tricks for the job and he's been showing me some stuff." Well, technically, Sherlock did work for Scotland Yard. As a freelancer of course. Uncle Lestrade even paid him sometimes.
"Does he really?!" Her eyes grew even wider, "Does he know Sherlock Holmes?"
Harry was saved from answering that question when Dean Thomas waved his hands in agitation. "So, what's the goal of the game? How do you play it?"
Harry shrugged. "You just observe other people and try to figure out stuff about them."
"That's a weird game," Weasley murmured. "I prefer chess."
Harry cocked his head to the side, "Then perhaps we can play together sometime?" Weasley examined him for a few moments, eyes narrowed, then slowly he nodded.
Hagrid returned before the first years could continue their conversation. He was closely followed by none other than professor Mcgonagall. Her eyes swept through the crowd of first years, assessing them. Her eyes lingered on Harry's for a moment longer and Harry caught an almost imperceptible upwards tilt of her lips.
"The firs'-years, professor McGonagall," said the large man.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide that she had just come through open and led the first years into the next room.
The Entrance Hall was so big that one could have fitted the whole 221 Block in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the one's at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here - but professor McGonagall showed the first-years into a small but empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously - Harry more so than the others.
While he had generally recovered from the Dursely's torture, his fear of touch had never fully faded.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said McGonagall, "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room…"
She went on to explain all of the houses, their names, traits and the point system. Personally, Harry thought that it seemed as though someone wanted a school rivalry.
"…I shall return when we are ready for you," said the transfiguration professor.
She left and suddenly, the nervousness in the room increased tenfold. The future students of Hogwarts were glancing at each other nervously, wondering how they would be sorted. Harry found himself curious. How would they be sorted?
Evidently, each of the houses had its traits, but how did the professors sort students into different houses according to their traits when they didn't know the students in the first place? Was it something magical that sorted them?
Harry's thoughts were interrupted as several people let out blood-curling screams.
And when he saw the source of their fright, he gasped in wonder - as did most of the people around him. About twenty ghosts - for they were silvery and semi-transparent - had just streamed through the back wall. They were talking to each other - no - arguing.
"Forgive and forget, I say we ought to give him a second chance-" a little monk-like ghost was saying.
"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"
A ghost, wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first-years.
"New students!" said the Friar, smiling around at them. Harry was too stunned to reply. If ghosts were real… what other supernatural things were real?! And how did ghosts - dead people - remain tethered to the living world? How was that even possible?
"About to be sorted, I suppose?" Said another ghost gruffly. This one was dressed in period clothes. A few of the pure-blood students nodded, evidently used to seeing ghosts - but perhaps not on a daily basis for they were also staring at them with wide eyes.
"Move along now," said McGonagall in a sharp voice as she entered the room once more, "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
I hope you liked the chapter.
In case you are interested about my change of penname: Leonhard Euler was a mathematician from the 18th century. He made important discoveries in fields as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory.
References:
*1: haptophobia: fear of touch. This is a legitimate fear. I have it.
*2: "summon a demon," reference to the show called 'Supernatural'
*3: reference to the recent meme circling tumblr. You know, the one where someone is looking for someone and they shout something into a crowd.
Anonymous Reviews:
Jasmine: Thank you for your review! And no, Harry isn't going to be friends with him. At best, they will be on ok terms.
Guest 1: Thank you!
Guest 2: Thank you as well! (also for your suggestion!)
CAHawkins: Yup I agree
Guest 3: hahah yeah. I think so too.
Sharon T: I hope the train ride lived up to your expectations! Thank you!
M: (Is that a reference to our favourite spy films? Omg, I'm such a nerd) Thank you! More is coming!
KK: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it... Just don't stay up too late to read this ff XD You're right. Harry/logic/science don't really mix with Hogwarts that well... I'm going to enjoy writing scenes about that!
Dragon: Ultimately, I think that there is a bit of every house in everyone... SO I guess HPH could be in any house. although Ravenclaw/Slytherin do fit him best...
Guest 4: Well.. here's the new update!
Fallow42: Thank you!