CHAPTER 9: THE BOY WHO SORTED IT ALL OUT
Harry wasn't sure what to expect. He thought he had readied himself for practically everything when his name was called. Then he discovered that wasn't really true. He hadn't been ready for the whole of Hogwarts to discover his true and full name. Professor Sinistra, un-coached and uncontrolled by the many schemes of the headmaster, had read out his name exactly as it was, from the scroll. He found that he wasn't exactly ready for the pin-drop silence that followed either.
It was rather cloying until someone broke out of the trance-like silence and murmurs of surprise, curiosity, and speculation rose and ebbed like palpable waves of human emotions, all around the vastness of the great hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He hadn't thought to suppress the knowledge of his true name floating about. He made a mental note to self to attend to erasing that particular knowledge from the public memory as soon as he could find a quiet, private minute.
He turned his attention back to the sorting when his name was called out again. This had to be handled carefully.
''Potter-Black, Hadrian''
Harry was expecting the hush by now. But what he got was a crescendo of murmurs and questions floating around. He would bet his best cloak that Dumbledore hadn't at all planned for Professor Sinistra to be the conductor of this particular orchestra. Well, it was time to make hay while the sun still shone. He decided to play dumb and kept looking around in the queue although there wasn't anyone standing before him. He hadn't planned for the reveal of his family this soon and he would stick to the story he had let out so far.
A name in a scroll wouldn't change his plans, he was determined. Girding his loins internally, he sighed inwardly even as he maintained the confused look as Professor Sinistra raised her voice and called out of Hadrian Potter Black once again. No one stepped forward until Professor McGonagall stood up at the head table, cast a sonorous on her throat, and called for silence; the hall quieted immediately.
She then looked directly at Harry and called out, "Harry Potter; your name is recorded in the school records as Hadrian Potter Black by magick. Step forward, accept your name and the hat. Hurry up child, you're holding the line".
Harry was all for playing naive and uninformed. If he played his cards right then the memory wipe curse later would help reinforce his innocence. He widened his eyes, near impossibly large, and looked amazed. "Who, me? I'm Harry. Just Harry...Alright." He trailed off, sounding confused and scared as he stumbled over to the stool. Then abruptly he changed his approach; squaring his shoulders visibly, he gently took the hat and asked, "May I?" A tear-like mouth appeared on the peak of the floppy hat and it voiced, "Please. I've been waiting for someone to ask."
No one watching had a clue on what to expect. Harry nodded and then took out his wand and waved it over the hat and centuries of grime seemed to fall away, revealing red, velvety softness, an untarnished golden ribbon and buckle circling the rim and the base, much to the surprise of everyone present. Audible gasps of surprise spread like ripples even as students and staff alike rose to their feet to see better. "What? It was dirty and asking for a good scrubbing. Aunt Petunia would kill me if I even touched something that was that grimy..." Harry muttered mutinously and plopped down on the three-legged stool.
The murmurs had turned into amused chuckles, just as he intended. Harry ignored it all and set the now spectacularly clean hat over his head, smiled, and closed his eyes, setting his mindscape into a reception room. He was nobody's fool and would lower his shield for none and nothing. He turned his attention inwards and noticed that in his mindscape, time seemed to slow down to a trickle. 'Hello, sir. Welcome to my mind. Please don't go exploring, it's not a very welcoming place, I must warn you.' A deep voice chuckled and rumbled 'then how am I to sort you, young man?'
'Oh, that's rather easily solved. Ask me any question. I'll answer as honestly as I can unless it puts the lives of my loved ones at risk.' The hat's voice seemed to echo everywhere and come from nowhere in particular even within his mind; 'Hadrian Potter Black, I assure you on the magicks that made me and keep me that all I discuss and discover here is strictly between the student and me. I would betray no confidences; would I not have warned everyone what I discovered in minds like that of Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, and Bellatrix Black, otherwise? It's not in the nature of magic that governs me to reveal the secrets I discover, by any means. Tell me, child, what drives you?'
Harry thought back into the mindscape with a sigh of relief, 'Thank you, you set me at ease. It's all I truly want you to know... For myself. To be at ease and peace and live without fear and learn all about the magnificent wonders of magic. But that kind of peaceful interlude aught not to be just mine but accessible for everyone. It cannot be while we as a society remain locked in prejudice and poor, incomplete, incorrect information, and poorer choices. Our leaders know nothing, bury their heads in the sand, and think nothing of sinking all of us. History is invisible and rendered pointless and we never learn from our past mistakes. I want to learn and I want to teach. I want peace, unmarred by prejudice.'
The Hat echoed back into his mind as if thinking deeply, pondering where to box him into. It chuckled when it heard his last thought. 'Hmmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Such ambition. Such a drive. Such a clever mind and such a brave soul. Your mind shields are spectacular, child. But my magic is past all that. I've seen your mind, your thoughts, and your soul as I was designed to do. And I wish you well. You will find mentors and friends and allies as a Ravenclaw!' The last word was shouted out and Harry stood up, took off the hat, bowed reverently to it, and returned it to a perplexed Professor Sinistra.
He bowed to the head table and headed out smiling cheerfully to join his friends in the table of now wildly cheering Ravens. The other students of Slytherin House, Hufflepuffs, and even the older Gryffindor students were eyeing him speculatively. Teachers seemed mostly stunned although a rather fat man with an enormous mustache looked cheerfully disappointed as he was congratulating another rather diminutive professor with bald, compact almost dwarfish body and stringy wisps of hair bushing out if his large ears. Only Professor McGonagall seemed to grow angry if her reddened, flared nostrils and tightly pursed lips were any indications. Harry shook hands all around and then indicated that he wanted to continue to observe the sorting; he had nearly missed the next one.
Rivers, Oliver - Neville supplied the name of the student as he watched a pale, scared-looking tow-headed boy of indeterminate features was heading off to Gryfindor even as his uniform we rippling to reflect the red and gold of the house colors.
Roper, Sophie - had already sat herself down upon the stool. Confident and personable. Every I dotted and every t crossed. It took less than a minute before the hat announced her house affiliation as Gryfindor.
Runcorn, Alana - A large-boned girl who closely but not entirely resembled Millicent Bulstrode but with more markedly feminine and delicate face was quickly sorted into Slytherin before Harry could form any kind of impression about her.
Thomas, Dean - His friend from the train walked up to the hat like the personable and easy-going boy he was and smiled at everyone and everything as he donned the hat. Less than a minute later he was joining Hermione in Gryffindor house, happy with his sorting until he caught sight of Malfoy and grimaced. It must have occurred to him that they would be sharing dorms for the next seven years. Oh, joy.
Turpin, Lisa - a smartly dressed girl with short, pixie cut dark hair and distinctively fae features and rather elongated eyes the color of peat moss, between green and brown quickly sorted into Ravenclaw and joined them. Harry, Neville, and Luna all welcomed her with smiles and moved to make space for her, and turned back to the sorting.
Weasley, Ronald - Professor Sinistra was calling out the name for the third time but there was no student answering that name. She turned to McGonagall who gestured to indicate she moved on to the next name on the list. It was the last one and Harry's new friend from the train.
Zabini, Blaise - Black haired Italian boy with impeccable clothes and honey brown eyes and sat on the stool and placed the hat gingerly on his head, closing his eyes like he was going to take a nap sitting right there. His whole body language implied that he was a languid cat, one step away from purring. Harry smirked at the boy's affectations. The hat and the boy seemed to have a long leisurely discussion and the hat seemed to reflect the same smirk the dark-headed boy held as it announced that Blaise belonged to Slytherin.
With that, the sorting came to an end and Professor McGonagall raised her hands and gestured a welcome, even if it was rather curtly done. The table was suddenly overflowing with rich and oily and rather heavy English fare and meats of every kind. Harry spied steamed vegetables in a lonesome bowl three heads away and reached for it, helping himself to some and then passed it on to the Patil sisters who asked for it. A lot of older students were clamoring for his attention. He repeated the request to come back to their questions in a later and more private setting. Time flew as they all are and chatted. Soon, the plates cleaned themselves as the dishes vanished to be replaced with dessert, ice creams, fruit bowls, and sweet pies of many kinds. Harry, Luna, and Neville ate some fruits and nuts dribbled over with maple syrup and then sat back quietly waiting to be dismissed.
Soon the plates also vanished and the students fell to silence. Harry cursed himself for not noticing that Dumbledore had appeared. The wily old wizard looked ruffled and annoyed for a brief second before he stood up, throwing his arms dramatically in a gesture of welcome. "Welcome to a brand new academic year at Hogwarts and welcome to the 1001st batch of witches and wizards. I'm sure you're all pleasantly full and eager for bed so I won't delay you long. Let me remind you that a few things are banned at our campus and the full list is posted with Mr. Filch at his office for your reference. Do check in with him. Forbidden Forest is as the name indicates; forbidden at the risk of expulsion. I would also advise you all to avoid the third-floor corridor if you want to avoid the most painful death. Now I have a student who missed his sorting to catch up and then we can all settle down for the night. Now step forward Mr. Weasley. Minerva, if you will, please..?"
Professor McGonagall brought in the three-legged stool and hat, and a lanky, tall, rather ruffled looking red-headed boy with an angry, tired face trailed behind, nearly bumping into the now irate professor. The hat nearly drowned out the narrow, lanky head of the boy and jerked, "Ha! Another Weasley! I know just where to put you. Gryffindor!" The table of red lions thumped and wildly cheered as two voices raised over the others, "atta boy ickle Ronniekins, we've gotcha!"
This was apparently an unwelcome kind of attention to the little boy. The young Weasley boy seemed to redden with embarrassment as he shook off his brothers' arms and joined the other first years. He hadn't noticed the Malfoy glowering at him and everyone else around him. He ignored everything and everyone with the same blankness he used to ignore the many food stains on his robes.
Harry turned his attention back to the two fifth-year prefects who were instructing the first years to follow them up the stairs to their common rooms and Dormitories located in the Ravenclaw Tower on the west side of Hogwarts Castle.