House of the Hero
It has been many years since I last spoke to one who uses magic in the same many as you. And I have never encountered one with a second consciousness.
Harry froze. Could the hat be referring to the Kyubi?
The nine-tailed fox? So you house a supposed 'demon' to act as a shield. How very Gryffindor. But this magic you use, these 'ninja techniques'... they are the way of the cunning are they not? A way that befits your great ambition. Such a match for Slytherin too.
Not Malfoys house, was his immediate response. If Slytherin house lived up to their reputation it could well have been the best match, but the way Malfoy demonstrated a complete lack of any kind of cunning soured the idea.
Oh? An argument based upon the members of the house? How unusual, the hats mental voice was amused. Most people simply demand a house. That kind of logic would see you well in Ravenclaw, much the same as the way you seek knowledge.
Harry gave a mental shrug. He didn't really know much about Ravenclaws students.
Of course your knowledge mainly comes from putting in the work. And that, with your loyalty to those who earn it, would make you a good fit for Hufflepuff.
Wasn't that the house that annoying guy is likely to go to?
I suppose putting you in the house of the loyal with someone you already dislike would be a problem for house unity,the hat acknowledged. Which leaves it down to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.
What should I expect from them?
You want to know about the houses before making a decision, was the hats excited response.
I haven't exactly grown up around this stuff-
Only the purebloods tend to, the hat interrupted. That doesn't stop them deciding which house they have to go to before they even get here!
The hat did the mental equivalent of taking a breath.
Each house has a separate common room, which serves to protect the dormitories, the hat explained. Most are protected by both obscurity, in that the other houses theoretically do not know where they are, and by a password.
Gryffindor and Ravenclaw both house their common rooms in towers, but while Gryffindor uses the usual password, Rowena decided it was better to test her students wit each time they returned to their common room, rather than merely their memory.
Test their wit how?
Riddles and word games.
How well would the translation spell work for them?
The hat stopped to consider the question.
Good point. In that case, better be "Gryffindor!"
The hall erupted into applause, particularly from the table of red and gold that Harry walked toward once he had removed the sorting hat.
Granted, the applause was mostly polite, and was nearly entirely absent from the green and silver table (aside from some sarcastic claps), but it was all for something Harry had actually been through (even if everyone else had gone through the same) which was more than could be said for when he received applause in the Hidden Leaf Village.
He spotted the pair he had sat with on the train, and decided to sit with them again.
At least he'd already been answering their questions about who he was, and wouldn't have to deal with the same questions again this way.
He accepted the tables congratulations on being sorted into 'the best house', and turned back to see the remaining students being sorted.
Zachariah Smith did indeed go into Hufflepuff as they'd expected, leaving Harry feeling as though he'd dodged a kunai about that house.
Finally the sorting was finished, and professor McGonagall had removed the sorting hat and its stool, and the headmaster stood to speak.
"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet I would like to say a few word. And those words are," he said, finishing with what, even with McGonagalls translation spell were merely nonsense sounds.
With the headmaster finished the tables started to fill with food of all kinds, most of it completely unfamiliar to Harry, but with occasional familiar foodstuff as well, though unfortunately there was no sign of any ramen.
He listened to the conversations going on around him as he picked out a selection of foods to try.
Granger and Longbottom did act as buffers, as he'd hoped, and shielded him from the rest of the table, not that they seemed to notice.
Many of the conversations came down to their connection to the wizarding world, which parent they inherited their magic from, and what they were excited about in upcoming lessons.
The mention of 'matchsticks to needles', from Grangers discussion with a much older red-head about transfiguration, was particularly interesting for Harry.
If the hunter-nin back home, and other specialists for that matter, had that ability (and to think it was a first year spell) they would be able to use practically infinite ammunition, and even make it seem they had none of their senbon left.
The mention of potions, one of the fields he felt particularly confident about being useful back home straight away, being taught by a teacher who seemed to hate Gryffindors left his feeling a bit more mixed.
On the one hand it would make lessons difficult. On the other he would need to work at a much higher quality than the other teachers would accept, which would be all the better for potions he would be using himself.
The way that the defence lessons, which sounded particularly useful, were always taught by a different teacher was more directly concerning.
Either there was a strict syllabus that each teacher would have to stick to, limiting how much extra he could study on the subject, or they would lose at least a few weeks at the start of each year when the teacher determined what level they were at.
Either meant that the most directly useful, at least once he was sure he wouldn't lose his only wand, subject didn't cover as much as it could.
He barely noticed when the ghosts swarmed into the hall, which was better than he'd have reacted when younger.
There had been a time when he couldn't help the feeling of being watched, of knowing the creaks in the building he lived in were more than just the noises of a house (which, as it turned out, was entirely correct, just it was ninja looking out for him {particularly the dog mask ANBU}).
As any child would, he became convinced that he was being haunted, that there were ghosts after him.
After a time the noises and sensation of invisible watchers stopped, nearly completely.
It had still taken a talk from the old man about the realities of living in a ninja village, and the way you couldn't escape being watched by someone, but he had reached a point of no longer caring about ghosts quite so much.
That didn't mean he was going to interact with them though, and he carefully kept away from the ghosts that approached the table.
Finally the meal, and the conversations alongside, came to an end, and the headmaster stood once more.
"Now that we have all eaten and drunk our fill," he announced, "I have some announcements. First, for all our first years, and those of our older students who need the reminder, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds. I am sure you will all hear rumours, during your time here, as to what the forest contains, and I am certain that you do not want to discover the truth of them first-hand."
A good evasion, Harry decided. If the rumours were true the students wouldn't want to run into whatever dangerous creature it was about, but if it wasn't true they wouldn't want to disprove it either.
"Furthermore," the headmaster continued, "a corridor on the third floor has been left in need of some repairs. As we do not use any of the rooms on that floor it is most advised that you avoid straying from the staircases on that level."
Much better than forbidding the corridor, Harry decided. For one thing, how would they know which corridor was forbidden? Not to forget the curious children who would want to know why it was forbidden.
"Our caretaker, mister Filch, has asked me to remind you that there is to be no magic used in the corridors between classes. And for those who wish to try out for their house teams, Quidditch trials will take place during the second week of term."
Harry had heard mention of Quidditch, some kind of sport that neither Granger or Longbottom had been interested in.
"And finally I would like to introduce you to our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, professor Lupin."
The man he indicated was wearing shabby robes, and had a very shabby look himself, was subject to a glare from another professor, this one in much better condition robes and a greasy look, particularly his hair.
"Who is that teacher glaring at Lupin," Harry asked of the table at large.
"Oh, that's professor Snape," the red head who'd been speaking with Granger answered. "Head of Slytherin house and potions teacher."
"If he hates Lupin that much, it should be a good sign for defence," he couldn't help but comment.
"And now," the headmaster announced, "let us sing the school song!"
From the responses of everyone who had been to Hogwarts before this year, Harry could tell this was going to be a horrible experience.
[|]
His expectations had paled before the realities of the experience.
From the lyrics to the execution the school song was something he never wanted to experience again.
Who had thought that letting everyone come up with their own tune was a good idea?
After the so-called song was over they were escorted to the common room by a couple of older students who apparently held an official position within the house.
On the way they ran into a bizarre looking spirit, a being that seemed similar to the ghosts but where they lacked colour was possessed of a clashing range, that was introduced to them as 'Peeves, the poltergeist', a troublemaker who was mostly harmless.
The route they took seemed oddly extended, at least until Harry was sure he had they should have returned to an earlier section of the castle only to clearly be somewhere completely different. Between that and the comment of "watch the staircases, they like to change", made it clear to Harry that the usual first step of visiting somewhere new (map out the area) wouldn't be as easy as he'd expected.
It also left him wondering just how anyone would be able to tell where the third floor corridor was.
At least he was able to memorise the route between the great hall and the common room, not to mention the password.
After they'd been directed to their dormitories, which they would apparently be sleeping in throughout their years at Hogwarts, he found that his trunk had indeed been transferred from the train.
Much to Nevilles delight his toad had also been brought to the dormitory, although the way it was in a hastily constructed cage indicated that its escape on the train was not an isolated incident.
The discovery that he would be sleeping in the same room as another four students who he barely knew was a worrying one, but the instinct to stay awake around people he didn't know warred against his training about resting wherever, and whenever, he had the opportunity on a mission, and eventually lost.
It didn't stop him waking up several times during the night, disturbed by the others, but soon enough it was time to get up.
Despite his continued unfamiliarity with the robes that defined the uniform it didn't him too long before he was ready to go. After a moments thought he packed a bag with what he was likely to need for any class and took it with him before finding his way down. To his surprise, he found himself one of the first students to reach the great hall for breakfast.
Once again there was no ramen.
Despite that lack, there was a different range of foods for him to try, even as the other students trailed in from their respective common rooms.
One thing Harry noticed that seemed somewhat odd was the way the staff at their table sat, clearly watching and waiting for something.
It was only once the house tables filled that it was clear what they had been waiting for.
Each the heads of house, professors Flitwick, McGonagall, Snape and Sprout according to what he'd heard the night before, left the staff table and headed for their houses table, handing out sheets of parchment to the students and pausing on occasion to speak with a specific student.
When it was Harrys turn, he discovered that the parchment gave the details of his class schedule.
The schedule had a 'first year, Gryffindor' heading and detailed the lessons according to day of the week and period. The teacher and room was noted next to each lesson, which Harry guessed would be useful in later years when he had an idea of where was where in the castle. Normally, of course, details like 'fourth floor, west corridor, classroom three' would be all you needed to find the class, but given the way the castle seemed to defy the normal laws of space it wouldn't be simple as going up that number of stairs and being on the right floor.
Not all of the lessons were on magic, of course.
Alongside classes on charms (the core class on spells), transfiguration and potions there were lessons on subjects like history of magic, calligraphy (which he could tell would be important given how, by the sounds of it, most students {aside from purebloods of course} were unfamiliar with writing with quills) and a class on basic mathematics.
Calligraphy was the first lesson, according to his schedule, with charms the first magical class.
The last subject he would be introduced to, as it turned out, was potions.
Once he had the schedule committed to memory, which wasn't too different from one of the secret trainings of the ninja academy, he looked around for any sign of when it was time for the first period.
There was no clock in the hall.
"How are we supposed to know when it's time for lessons," he wondered out loud.
"Oh, you get used to the timing," one of the older Gryffindors told him. "Tends to be best to head out after the teachers leave for the first year or so."
Harry glanced at the staff table, and saw that the teachers were already gone.
Time to find the classroom.
[|]
The calligraphy lesson hadn't exactly gotten off to a good start.
Granger had asked why exactly it was required for them to use quills to write, and the teacher had delayed covering calligraphy until they had answered her question to the classes satisfaction.
It had all come down to parchment being superior to paper, in regards to how long it could survive.
The teacher admitted that it was possible that spells or potions could be created that would preserve paper for longer than their equivalent for parchment, which was less vulnerable to time already, but those spells and potions had not yet been created.
When the point was raised that their schoolwork wouldn't need to be preserved the teacher had made two counter-points: it was historically known for certain exceptional wizards and witches to come to conclusions in their work that advanced the wizarding worlds knowledge of magic by decades, and also without getting used to writing with a quill at school they wouldn't be as capable at using one to write a book.
They had further diverged into a discussion of the book industry in the wizarding world.
With the purebloods distrust of all forms of technology, not that the teacher referred to it like that, there was no place in the wizarding world for a printing press to mass-produce books.
Given that they were obviously unable to outsource book production, they had needed a magical solution.
Regular duplication magic faded after a time, so they couldn't use that.
In the end, a modified version had been developed, one that used blank books and the ink that would be used to copy the book magically.
One unanticipated side effect was the ability to 'reprint' books produced by that method into different ones.
The books produced this way combined the speed of production of non-wizarding books with the durability of parchment.
The only potential issue was needing the first copy being produced first.
With the explanation of why they still used quill and parchment finished the calligraphy lesson truly began, but was over before the non-purebloods had much chance to get used to the difference between writing with a quill and their normal writing implements.
Harry found it much easier, there not being too much difference between using a quill and parchment and using a brush and scroll.
The biggest problem was how the translation spell causing him to write in a different language to that he was used to interfering with the automatic process.
The next couple of lessons didn't seem to have any immediate importance.
There was a mathematics lesson before charms, covering the basics of fractions, while the charms lesson was all about wand movements, rather than starting them casting spells.
The first subject that saw them actually using magic was transfiguration, halfway through the week.
AN: With the interaction with an antagonistic Hufflepuff (even if he wasn't sorted yet) Gryffindor was really the only option.
As for the extra classes (and teaching people to write with quills), they are the sort of thing that really would be needed in Hogwarts, and would be the sort of thing that wouldn't be mentioned in canon, seeing as the series is from Harrys perspective and he was more focused on the completely new side of Hogwarts.
On a separate note I have signed up to the original works site (under the same username) as well, and have now started a story on it. My focus will remain on updating my fanfiction rather than the original work (which is much darker than the fanfiction).