Chapter 9: First Year (Part 2)
4th, August, 1998.
Harry added the memory then went back to his seat. "This is my memory of the sorting and then of going up to the tower." he explained.
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face
"Minnie!" the Marauders cheered making Minerva glare at them.
and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.
"At least you figured that out Harry it took your father and godfather three weeks and 21 detentions before they figured it out." Minerva commented smiling at a very red James and Sirius.
"We didn't mean to do it." James said defensively.
"Yeah how were we to know it would explode?" Sirius added.
Remus had noticed the confused looks on the others face's so said, "We weren't friends at first I was considered loopy as I used to mutter to keep the wolf at bay when I could feel it coming close to the surface, but James and Sirius were nice enough about it then we gradually became friends." he explained, "These two decided to set up an indoor fireworks display on Halloween and it went wrong. No one was hurt but a few of the fireworks landed on the house tables just before they exploded and everyone got covered in food."
"We were first years, besides it worked in second year when you helped us Moony." James said.
"Yes it did and it was Dumbledore who stopped me from giving you three detention. He said it was in holiday spirit and it cheered everyone up, the war was getting worse, so I couldn't punish you for it." Minerva told them, they snickered.
"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of the Dursleys' house in it.
"And even the Dursleys themselves. Which would be more of a challenge." Ron said chuckling.
The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones 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 empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they normally would have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be 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."
"That's exactly what you said to us. Word-for-Word." Lily told Minerva who just smiled.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor,"
The Marauders and twins cheered.
"Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."
They boo'd this time.
"Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."
"We didn't bother," said James pointing to himself then Sirius. "We were soaking wet, we fell in the lake, so there wasn't really much we could do."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.
"That won't help son." James said, "Nothing and no-one can beat or tame the Potter hair."
Harry nodded, "I noticed."
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall, "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
"Of course it was a joke you idiot." Fred said.
Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet—what on earth would he have to do?
"Just have to put on a hat." George said.
"Well we didn't know that did we?" Harry replied.
He hadn't expected something like this the moment he arrived.
"Oh yes, it's so hard to put a hat on." Fred said sarcastically, making the Goldedn Trio glare at him.
"You told me we had to wrestle a troll so shut it." Ron told him.
"Um… Ron?" Harry whispered to him so only he could hear, "We did eventually do that."
"You wrestled it, I just hit it with its club." he whispered back with a smirk.
He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learnt and wondering which one she'd need.
Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue.
"Wow. You could do that before you even got a wand!" said Sirius, impressed.
"Before you even knew your a wizard!" James added.
Harry shrugged. "It was accidental magic I didn't control it." he said.
He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.
"Dramatic much?" snorted Sirius.
"It runs in the family," said Remus, looking at James. James took it as a compliment.
Then something happened which made him jump about a foot in the air—several people behind him screamed.
"What is it?" asked James.
"Must be ghosts." said Sirius.
"Could be Peeves!" they said together, gleefully.
"What the—?" He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first-years.
They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk
"Fat Friar!" James said.
was saying, "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance—"
"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?"
"Finally, one noticed!" Lily said.
A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first-years.
"Nick!" said James and Sirius.
"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"
"Noooo… we just felt like standing there," said Harry sarcastically making everyone laugh.
A few people nodded mutely.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first-years, "and follow me."
Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead,
"I remember that feeling." said Lily.
Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.
Professor McGonagall led the first-years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.
The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open up to the heavens.
Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat.
"Zat's the Sorting Hat?" Fluer asked curiously.
"Yes it is. I'm guessing you didn't go to Hogwarts Fluer?" Lily asked.
"Non, I went to Beaubaxtons in France." she explained.
This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house. Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing—noticing that everyone in the Hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it too.
For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth—and the hat began to sing:
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
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.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
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 there kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends."
"I think its also house rivalries that make most people in Slytherin go dark," Draco said, "from the moment the hat shouts Slytherin we're automatically branded as evil." he explained.
Harry nodded, "I think your right Draco, but I think that's only part of it, there are other factors too, like how you were raised and how much ambition you have."
"It's true. Regulus and I both had mixed messages growing up it was my decision to go to the light instead of the dark side." Sirius said as Regulus nodded, "Regulus obviously was a Death Eater but he was killed trying to leave."
Cissy shook her head, "We don't know how he died Sirius," at this the four who knew the truth looked down so no-one saw their knowing looks, "I was told about the meeting when Voldemort was told of Regulus's disappearance. We thought he was killed on a mission but no-one ever found his body." Cissy explained.
"That's because only I know the whole truth of that." Regulus commented.
"We know the truth of that. It was closer to what Sirius said but you will just have to wait to find out about it as it plays a role in our seventh year." Harry told them.
"How'd you find out?" Regulus asked.
"That's for us to know and for you to find out. Okay back to the memory Ladies and Gentlemen." Harry said making everyone chuckle again.
"So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."
Harry, Ron and Hermione smirked at each other and glanced at Minerva who's lip's twitched.
Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he
wished he could have tried it on without everyone watching.
The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause—"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Bones, Susan!"
"So some of the Bones must have survived!" said Lily happily.
"It was Amelia Bones and her brother Edgar's daughter Susan." Minerva explained.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
"We were at school with his parents they were a year above us." Remus said.
"RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them. "Brocklehurst, Mandy"
went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender"
"Greg's daughter, you reckon?" Remus asked.
"Greg?" Sirius questioned.
"Greg Brown, Gryffindor. Same year as Lucius and Cissy, remember?" said James.
"Oh yeah, course I remember. Their fight in Transfiguration was famous!" exclaimed Sirius. "The whole school heard about it!"
"Yeah." Cissy said, "I remember him."
"Shame Lucius left before us," said Sirius. James stared at him. "What? it was fun hitting him with bludgers in second and third year!"
"Oh. Yeah, that's true." James admitted.
became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.
"We did that too," said Sirius. "Every sorting!"
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became the first Slytherin.
Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked an unpleasant lot.
"They are, Harry," said James. "Well, some of them," he added under Lily, Cissy, Draco and Andy's glares.
He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during sports lessons at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they like him.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide.
"Took about four seconds with me," said James proudly.
"Took its time with me," muttered Sirius.
"Didn't take that long with me, but it wasn't just two seconds either," said Lily.
"Same here," Remus said at the same time as Dora.
"It couldn't decide wether to put me in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor." Dora said. "It eventualy put me in Hufflepuff."
"Finnigan, Seamus" the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
Hermione blushed as most people snickered.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.
Ron groaned.
A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous.
What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?
"That can't happen!" said Sirius. "Can it?" he added uncertainly.
"It cant." Minerva said smiling.
When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR", Neville ran off still wearing it,
They all laughed.
"That was pretty funny." the twins said.
and had to jog amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."
Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.
There weren't many people left now.
Moon David, in Ravenclaw… Nott… Parkinson… then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"… then "Perks, Sally-Anne"… and then, at last—"Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Of course." Harry moaned, "There was always whispers." he explained to his parent's and the others who looked confused.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the Hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.
"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes—and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?"
Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."
"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that—no? Well, if you're sure—better be GRYFFINDOR!"
"It almost put you in Slytherin?" Draco asked shocked Harry nodded.
"Wow it was close then." Percy said also shocked, "Mind you it did that with me as well because of the ambition to do well, it also considered Ravenclaw." he admitted.
"It considered Hufflepuff for me." Charlie said.
"We were considered for Slytherin too." George said pointing at Fred as he said it.
"I was considered for Ravenclaw." Hermione said.
"No surprises there Miss Smartest Witch Of Her Age." Harry teased, Hermione blushed.
Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole Hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily towards the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet.
Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
Everyone grinned as the twins stood and bowed.
Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged into a bucket of ice-cold water.
He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs-up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd got out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole Hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts.
Harry spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.
And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Turpin, Lisa" became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now.
Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.
"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise" was made a Slytherin.
"He was quite quiet most of the time. He's actually a really good friend of mine." Draco said, "Especially because he stayed neutral through the war, he helped a lot when I wasnt at home." he explained.
Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.
Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.
Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Nothing probably could." Minerva said smiling.
"Welcome!" he said. "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!"
He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.
"Is he—a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.
"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"
Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some reason, mint humbugs.
The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry
"They better not have." Lily said furiously with James nodding next to her.
"They never." Harry said before glaring at Ron as he opened his mouth to speak and shaking his head making Ron close his mouth with a pop.
but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry wanted, even if it made him sick.
Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the humbugs and began to eat. It was delicious.
"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak. "Can't you—?"
"I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you—you're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy—" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnegan interrupted.
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.
"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell on to his shoulder as if it was on a hinge.
Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly.
Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back on to his neck, coughed and said, "So—new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us
win the House Championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable—he's the Slytherin ghost."
Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.
"Good." Ginny said smirking at Draco, who pouted.
"Well in my defence he's creepy." he said. Regulus Cissy and Andy nodded.
"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.
"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.
When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before.
"Ah, those marvelous house-elves!" Sirius commented making Hermione glare at him.
A moment later the puddings appeared. Blocks of ice-cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding…
As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.
"I'm half and half," said Seamus. "Me Dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
They all laughed.
The others laughed.
"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.
"Well, my Gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville,
"His Gran?" asked James slowly.
"What happened to Alice and Frank?" Lily questioned.
"Our sister." Cissy and Andy replied. "Bellatrix."
"You will find out the rest later." Harry added.
"but the family thought I was a Muggle for ages."
"Dosent he mean Squib?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, we think he forgot the word or didnt know it." Hermione smiled.
"My great-uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of
me—he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned—but nothing happened until I was eight. Great-uncle Algie came round for tea and was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my great-auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go."
They all looked shocked.
"But I bounced—all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased. Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here—they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see."
"Hmm… I seem to remember being thrown out of Ron's bedroom window once." Ginny said glaring at the twins who looked ashamed.
"Well thats why Mum stopped us from playing Truth or Dare." Bill said, "We just got worse the older we were." he explained to everyone who had not seen a game of Weasley Truth or Dare.
"And your mother was right to ban that game in the house. Why I suggested it to you in the first place I don't know." Arthur said.
"We were bored, it was when Mum was pregnant with Ron, and it was raining," Charlie told his father, "and you suggested we play a game Bill asked 'What kind of game' and you said 'Truth or Dare' so we invented our own version and taught it to Ron and Ginny when they were old enough." he explained.
"Arthur!" Molly said shocked, "It was you who told them to play it?"
"Mum it was me and George who took it to the extreme. Dad didn't tell us to make it worse." Fred told her while all the Weasley kids nodded. Molly huffed and went back to watching the memory.
"Great-uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."
On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons.
("I do hope they start straight away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult—"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing—")
Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the high table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose and sallow skin.
"SNAPE!" James yelled.
It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes—and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead. "Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.
"What is it?" asked Percy.
"N-nothing."
Percy looked at Harry, "You should have said something you know." he said. Harry shrugged.
"It really was nothing compared to everything else." he replied.
The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off the feeling Harry had from the teacher's look—a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.
"He didn't." Harry said.
"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.
"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to—everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."
Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.
At last, the puddings too disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The Hall fell silent.
"Ahem—just a few more words now we are all fed and watered."
"Fed and watered?" Fred questioned.
"He must think we're horses." George joked.
"I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."
The Marauders grinned as did the twins.
Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.
"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."
"That just gives troublemakers incentive to go and have a look." Remus commented.
Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.
"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.
"No that's me." Sirius said cheerfully. Everyone else groaned at the pun.
"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere—the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that."
"Never stopped us, did it?" grinned James.
"Nope." Sirius grinned back.
Minerva rolled her eyes as did Remus.
"I think he might have told us Prefects, at least."
"And now before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore.
Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he were trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself snake-like into words.
"Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
And the school bellowed:
"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."
Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march.
Sirius grinned. "We always sang to slow songs and we were always the loudest too!"
Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand, and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.
"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! "And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
"What's with him and horses? He used to say that to us as well!" James said.
Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was wondering how much further they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.
A bundle of walking sticks was floating in mid-air ahead of them and as Percy took a step towards them they started throwing themselves at him.
"Peeves!" Sirius, James and the twins said grinning.
"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first-years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves—show yourself."
A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.
All the men chuckled.
"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"
There was a pop and a little man with wicked dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.
"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle firsties! What fun!"
"Said the same to us, didn't he Padfoot, Moony?" asked James.
"Yeah." they replied.
He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.
"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.
Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head.
They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.
"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us Prefects."
"Prefects? If he doesn't listen to teachers, or even Dumbledore, what makes him think he'll listen to a prefect?" wondered Sirius.
"He listened to us sometimes though." interjected James.
"He did?" Minerva asked.
"Yeah." Sirius put in.
"How come?" Dora asked.
"We're fellow pranksters," said James simply, as if it were obvious. "Though he was often more of a hindrance than a help."
"Here we are."
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" she said.
"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it—Neville needed a leg up—and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.
Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase—they were obviously in one of the towers—they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.
"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."
Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once. Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream.
He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny.
"Stupid Voldemort." Harry muttered so only Ron and Hermione could hear him.
Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier; he tried to pull it off, but it tightened painfully—and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it—then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape,
"Greasy git." James said. Lily smacked him on the back of the head.
whose laugh became high and cold—there was a burst of green light
"Oh no… that's…" began Sirius but his voice trailed off at Harry's nod.
"The Killing Curse." Harry confirmed quietly.
and Harry woke, sweating and shaking. He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.
"Good." Lily nodded, "You definatly dont need to remember that."
"I think that's enough for tonight." Harry said smiling.
Everyone nodded and either headed home to return in the morning, or up to bed for the night.