August 28 1995
"I got in. I got in!" Harry exclaimed while shouting. He was at the Granger's home to tell Hermione the good news. He knew the location of the house as it was the place that he and Hermione would study. "Really? That's great!" Hermione said while rushing to Harry to give him one of her back crushing hugs.
"Oof" Harry said out of the sudden pain in his back. Hermione cringed when she noticed his reaction to her hug, she tried to break the hug but was surprised when he didn't let go of her so she decided to continue her hug.
After a minute and a few second they broke off the hug. "Hey now that we don't have to study anymore, do you want to have a dinner in London. You know as a celebration for passing this test. You could choose the restaurant." Harry suggested with hopeful eyes.
Hermione's eyes bulged out of surprise. She look for any signs of lying or her instinct that it maybe be a trick or a prank. Seeing that he was genuinely sincere and serious. Deciding to take the risk of being hurt again as no one really tolerated her presence for a few hours or days. "Okay how about this Thursday? Two days before we go to Hogwarts." Hermione suggested.
Harry smiled happily and innocently at her response which made Hermione happy. "Great! Where do we meet? What time do we meet?" Harry asked excitedly. "At the Leaky Cauldron maybe at 9? If that's okay with you." Hermione asked.
"Of course it is." Harry replied quickly, he took a glance at the wall clock and saw that it was getting late. "Huh, I should go. Got to tell Jasmine the good news." Harry stated, he then looked at Hermione and closed the gap between them and hugged her.
Harry made an emphasis on not making it a friendly hug and make it more intimate. He breathed in the scent of her hair and neck while hugging her lovingly. "Thank You" Harry said quietly in her ear and then quickly broke off the hug. He then rushed to the door and waved his hands goodbye at Hermione. "Can't wait for this Thursday. See you." Harry said and then left.
Hermione was speechless throughout the interaction and just put a hand up as a reply, too shocked at what just happened. "See you." Hermione said quietly at the closed door. Hermione's mother, Sophia Granger, watched the last interaction with amusement, she liked this Harry Potter unlike the other one. He was polite, kind and well-mannered young man. He also seemed to be a genuine friend to her daughter who had a very hard time making friends throughout her life.
Seeing that Hermione was spacing off she decided to snap her out of her thoughts. "I think he likes you." Sophia said. Hermione was startled at her mother's statement, she blushed immediately.
"Wh--at do…..Do you mean?" Hermione stuttered. Sophia rolled her eyes and offered Hermione as glass of water.
"Oh please, I know what I just saw Hermione and anyone who would also see the interaction would agree that he just asked you out on a date."
"A date? He didn't asked me on a date mum, he asked me to celebrate with him for passing the exam" Hermione argued while taking a sip of the water.
"A celebration which only the two of you will be spending time together. That is a date." Sophia argued back with amusement and with a slight chuckle.
Hermione was deep in her thoughts, she was thinking of the times about other kids her age, from her pre-school until today and how they use to trick her into becoming her friend only just to dig dirt on her or use her for homework. Thinking about those memories made her eyes teary.
Seeing that her daughter was on the brink of crying she rushed towards her and hugged her immediately. "Oh Hermione. I'm sorry for reminding you of that, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." Sophia said while stroking her daughter's hair. Hermione just buried her face on her mother's should and cried. She wasn't full crying but tears were running down her eyes.
"It's okay." Hermione replied quietly. Sophia pulled back and held Hermione by the shoulder and wiped the tears on her eyes. Seeing that she is still crying he pulled her into a hug again and let her cry on her shoulder and kept comforting her.
September 1 1995
Harry and Jasmine were looking for Hermione, she and Harry had gotten really close and known each other so much that he knew that Hermione is probably the first person to arrive at the train station, at the end of the train, there they found Hermione with another girl, a blond girl who was reading a magazine backwards.
"Hey Hermione." Harry greeted to her, Hermione immediately got up and hugged him, after she broke off the hug, she point her hands to the girl, "This is Luna by the way, Luna Lovegood, she's been my friend ever since second year, she is a year below us Harry." after introducing Luna she looked at Luna and introduced Harry.
"Luna, this is Harry, Harry Potter, and Michael's…." Hermione said but was cut off by Luna, "Michael's squib twin brother." Luna said, Harry rose his eyebrow while Hermione asked "How did you know that?" she asked.
"My mom and Lily Potter worked together at the Department of Mysteries before she died and they were quite close." Luna replied and then continued to read the magazine, Harry tilted his head sideward to look carefully at the magazine and saw that the magazine's name was the Quibbler.
Harry and Hermione got the message clearly and didn't disturbed her, when the train started to whistle, Harry suggested that Rose should go and find some kids who are also first years. Jasmine whined at first and complained that she didn't want to go and that she can make friends once she was sorted but the truth is, is that she didn't want to deal with people who are only nice to her because she's the sister of the boy-who-lived.
Harry didn't force her to go and let her stay with them and the four played some board games to kill the time, after a while Jasmine slept, Luna continued on reading the Quibbler and Hermione and Harry tried to review again the books for their OWL year. Hermione did left for a while to go to a prefect's meeting and to do her duties as a prefect.
After many hours of the train ride they finally arrived, luckily no one bothered them throughout the ride. They were already in their Hogwarts robes and as per instruction by McGonagall when she flooed the Potter Manor to give him the good news.
He was to follow Hermione and not the first years, and when the sorting began his name will just be called, so he just followed Hermione into the carriage, "Hermione." Harry called, "Mmm?" Hermione respond while trying to get into the carriage. "What is that creature pulling the carriages?" Harry asked.
"Those are thestrals, they're creatures who can only by seen by those people who had seen death." Luna answered, Harry was still looking at the thestral, taking note on its scale, its wings, legs, body, its face and its red eyes. It was beautiful, Harry thought, though it was scary to look at yet it look so kind. "Did you see death Luna?" Harry asked.
"My mom. She likes to experiment with different spells and one day, one of her spells gone wrong and she…." Luna trailed off, still traumatized by that incident. "I'm sorry." Harry apologized while placing a comforting hand on her shoulders. "It's okay." Luna replied and smiled appreciatively at Harry which was returned kindly and the three got on the carriage and rode to the castle.
Harry, Hermione and Luna were sitting at the front of the hall, Harry was amazed at the roof of the great hall with its transparent sky complimented by the hundreds of candles charmed to float. The hall was bustling and was filled with noise of students chatting.
After a half an hour the gigantic door busted open and McGonagall came in with a batch of first years following her, Harry looked for Jasmine, she found her and she too was amazed at the roof of the great hall like he was. They reached at the front of the hall where a stool was placed with an old worn down hat. McGonagall faced the students.
"Before we start the sorting ceremony for the first year, we must first sort a fifth year transferee student. HARRY POTTER." McGonagall shouted through the hall. Everyone in the hall broke off in whispers and chatters at the sudden appearance of another Potter. As the family of their savior they knew of the family so well as they were the subjects of many articles and news, they were the inspiration of many of their stories in novels. So hearing another Potter was a big shock to them.
Harry stood up with a smile on his face, he walked over to the stool and sat down. McGonagall took the hat and placed it on his head.
"Ahh, Another Potter to have the grace of being sorted? Hmmmm let's see what we got here." The hat seemed to be not working, Harry thought as it suddenly became quiet. He wondered what he was going to do, maybe he should another minute before telling McGonagall of his conclusion.
"So, a pirate in your world huh? And you have retain the powers you had that made you a very powerful pirate, tell me Mr. Potter, what are your plans in this world?" the sorting hat asked. Harry thought of an answer for a while. His dream of killing all the celestial dragons for killing everyone he loved all because the celestial dragon that ordered his island's destruction thought that the island was ugly and therefore should not exist along with its inhabitants. So killing them and destroying the world government isn't feasible here.
So it looked within memories to see what his dreams are? His goal? His focus? He thought about it for a while and he looked at Jasmine, the sister he love so much, Hermione a friend he thanked the gods so much. Then he remember the thing he love about being a pirate rather than a revolutionary. 'Freedom' Harry thought as a reply for the hat.
"Interesting, you have the qualities of all houses Mr. Potter. Well everyone actually does but some qualities always sticks out the most out of these students. So I ask you Mr. Potter. What house would you want to be sorted to?" After a few seconds, the hat screamed "GRYFFINDOR!"
After he was sorted, Harry stood up and went to the seat that he was previously in. He was glad that he was able to choose the house he was to be sorted, he had chosen Gryffindor because it would be easier to have people believe that he is the true boy-who-lived when the time comes the information to be revealed. Plus it was the house that Hermione was sorted and Jasmine was likely to be sorted to Gryffindor too.
Also, people would question him more when he would be sorted into other houses, he was already attracting questions as it is, to quell the curiosity of the populace. The sorting for the first years started and like he predicted, Jasmine was sorted into Gryffindor.
After the sorting, Dumbledore tried his usual announcement before the feast began, he first announce the new Care of Magical Creatures professor as Hagrid has matters he has to attend to and that professor Grubbly-plank will be substituting him in his place.
He then announce the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor, in the middle of the announcement he was interrupted by Dolores Umbridge. Everyone was shocked at her actions, at her audacity to interrupt the headmaster, teachers were glaring daggers at her back.
Harry was taking notes of the reaction of the people, his fellow Gryffindor were in a mixture of anger and boredom, he look at the Hufflepuffs and they too have angry and bored students. The Ravenclaws were indifferent, bored and some were amused at the sudden development. The Slytherins were sneering and were amuse, the Slytherins obviously knew the power play that Umbridge had done.
Harry tried to listen at what she was saying but he was tired and hungry from the train ride and so he fell asleep. Umbridge was in the middle of her speech babbling about the Ministry's responsibility to keep them safe when suddenly a snore interrupted her, sniggers were heard from all house tables and they were looking for the person who was snoring amidst the speech.
Umbridge was looking for the student who had snored to reprimand him/her, when suddenly Dumbledore beat her to it. "Thank you Professor Umbridge, for that enlightening speech. Without further ado, enjoy the food." Dumbledore said jovially while gesturing his hands for the students to eat. An angry face Umbridge huffed and stomped towards her chair and sat down
Harry was energized at the smell of food, Harry was grabbing a lot of food and put them into his plate and started to eat on his food. Meanwhile Hermione was reprimanding him in whispers for sleeping while a professor as in the middle of her speech and his audacity to snore. Harry stopped putting food in his mouth, he straightened his back, chewed his food quickly and swallowed it. "I did?" Harry asked loudly.
"Yes, you did. You got to be careful next time Harry, professor Umbridge is here to find dirt on your family and the professors here in behalf of the ministry. If she found out it was you who had humiliated her, she would double her efforts on making your life, Jasmine's and your friends, hell here in Hogwarts." Hermione said in a whispered voice intensely.
Harry thought about what she just said, what she just said was true and he didn't want Jasmine's first year at Hogwarts to be terrible all because he was reckless, he nodded after a while. "Don't worry, I'll be careful next time." Harry replied with a smile and continued eating. Because he was very hungry from the travel, Harry ate a lot of food much to the surprise of the students.
He was eating at a rate that even the youngest Weasley boy couldn't rival. Students were in a mixed awe and disgust. Awe from the Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors and some of the Ravenclaws while many of the Ravenclaws and all of the Slytherins were disgusted by his eating habits.
"Weeeewww, now that was a feast." Harry exclaimed and stood up while rubbing his stomach and he looked at Hermione. "Where do I sleep? I'm sleepy." Harry asked at Hermione. She, like everyone else was having their jaws hanging by his carefree attitude. Hermione was gobsmack, just a while ago he had promised her that he would be careful and now here he is again, doing something that would warrant unwanted attention from Umbridge and would warrant punishment. She just face palmed herself as a response.
"Yes, now that we are fed and watered. We should rest for the coming days ahead. But before you go. I must announce that the forbidden forest is as it says forbidden and that being caught venturing to the area without permission will be handle with severe punishment and another note. Mr. Filch our caretaker has posted a list of banned items. Now off you go." Dumbledore announced and gestured for them to go. Hermione quickly stood up and grabbed Harry's hand to guide him to the tower.
"Hey, Granger. We still have to guide the first years to the tower." Ron Weasley said, Hermione groaned, she still couldn't believe that the buffoon had become the prefect. What was professor McGonagall thinking? "Ask someone else to help you. I have instructions from professor McGonagall to guide Harry on his first week." Hermione replied and without waiting for the other prefect she took hold of Harry's hand again and led him to the tower.