Title: Strings of Fate
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Being raised only by his Aunt, Harry comes to Hogwarts not only knowing about the Wizarding World, but with a kind of training no one at the school is expecting.
Albus Dumbledore sighed as he sat in the chair in his office. Professor McGonagall also sighed quietly as she sat in hers, but Professor's Flitwick and Sprout looked entirely to awake for such an ungodly hour, while Professor Snape looked the same as he always did. The September Second, five am, Head of House meeting was a longstanding tradition that dated back several hundred years, giving the heads of house the ability to review any surprises during the sorting of the new first years and to discuss any issues that occurred during the first night. The only time it was not held at five am was on those years where September Second fell on a weekend, in which case it was pushed back to nine am
"Well, let's get started. Severus, how are your new Slytherins doing?" Albus asked, rubbing his eyes then replacing his half-moon glasses.
"No problems. They all know what to expect." Severus replied.
Albus simply nodded. That was the same answer Severus gave every year.
"Fillius?"
"There were no issues last night. I am given to understand that Miss Patil was a bit concerned that she got sorted into a different house than her twin, but not overly surprised. We might want to keep an eye on Miss Granger though. She was able to guess the entrance riddle, even though the first night one is usually the hardest to ensure that a Prefect or Seventh year is escorting the first Years." Professor Flitwick replied.
"The Lion's are good." Professor McGonagall said without need to be prompted. "Although they are disappointed that Mister Potter was not sorted into Gryffindor. Young Mister Weasley seemed most vocal in his… disappointment, but the Twins managed to quieten him down."
"The Weasley Twins defusing a situation?" Flitwick asked in astonishment.
"That must be a sign of the Apocalypse." Snape drawled.
"And how is Mister Potter settling in?" Dumbledore asked, redirecting the conversation to what he really wanted to know.
"He seems to be settling in quite well. Though on a slightly concerning note, Miss Tonks has taken him… under her wing, so to speak." Professor Sprout said.
Pomona Sprout was simply glad that the living arrangements for Hufflepuff were the House's closet guarded secret or that comment would have been taken in a completely different light. All the other Houses had separated the boy's and the girl's dorms.
"My God!" Minerva said. "That's almost as bad as the Weasley Twins mentoring him."
"I'm sure his Potter arrogance will only grow from the attentions of a Seventh Year Girl." Snape sneered.
"I will have you know that Miss Tonks is Mister Potter's Cousin." Pomona replied, sternly, always one to defend her Puffs.
"Oh please, Severus. The boy's an Evans to the bone." McGonagall replied. "His sorting into Hufflepuff is so like Lily I can only assume he has been trained by his Aunt. The kind of training your Slytherins would drool over."
"It's true." Flitwick added. "Based on her background information, we fully expected Lily Evans to be sorted into Ravenclaw, but she convinced the Sorting Hat to sort her into Gryffindor."
Severus simply grunted.
"Lily was a master of public opinion. If she wanted to, she could have run Slytherin House by second year if she had been placed there. She wanted to be seen as brave. Mister Potter on the other hand chose Hufflepuff. No offence Pomona, but that means he wants to be seen as being harmless." Minerva concluded.
"None taken." Sprout replied.
"Thank you everyone." Albus said. "Severus, you might want to withhold judgement on young Mister Potter until you meet him. Minerva is right, his Sorting shows him as more like his mother than his father."
Harry awoke at six am the next morning, rolling over briefly and burying himself in the covers, before sighing and getting up. Hedwig sleepily hooted from her perch beside the wardrobe.
"Morning, girl." Harry muttered as he pulled on his uniform, sans tie and robe.
He opened the door to the living room, took one step and stopped dead. All three girls were up and about. Susan had just come out of the bathroom, dressed in her robe and drying her dark red hair with a towel. Hannah was just emerging from her own bedroom, her blond hair in a pair of pigtails, dressed in a pair of long flannel pyjama pants, witch were pink with unicorns chasing each other over them, and a white t-shirt, which was riding up at the bottom where she was idly scratching her stomach, which would have given Harry pause in any case.
But the reason Harry stopped dead was sitting on one of the couches giving him a cheeky grin. Tonks was dressed in a pair of, what could only be described as, micro-mini hot pants and a tank top that looked at least a size too small, both in a deep, rich blue that was matched by her hair.
"Jesus Christ, Indy." Harry said, after his mind rebooted. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
This outburst caused Susan to shake her head as she disappeared into her bedroom and Hannah to flick here eyes between Harry and Tonks, drop the hand that was scratching her stomach, and blush.
"Just trying to get a reaction." Tonks said slyly.
"Damn it Indy, I'm eleven. Heart Attack's the best you're gonna get, so can you please go put some damn clothes on? Unless you want to explain to Professor Sprout why one of her First Years keeled over dead in his living room." Harry grumbled.
"Oh, you're no fun." Tonks pouted as she went back into her room.
"It's too early in the morning." Harry said, as Hedwig flew out of his room and perched on his shoulder.
"Good morning to you, too." Hannah said.
Harry looked up and saw Hannah sitting on the other couch, looking at him with a shy smile and a blush on her cheeks.
"Sorry, Hannah. Good morning. How did you sleep?" Harry replied, trying to keep the annoyance with his cousin out of his voice.
"Quite well, thank you." Hannah replied jovially. "And yourself?"
"Apart from Indy's little show, I'm ok." He replied, moving over to one of the study desks to write a letter home.
Half an hour later, Harry was finished writing his letter home and was reviewing it one final time. At first glance it appeared to be a simple letter stating that he was fine and had been sorted into Hufflepuff.
'Ok, let's double check.' Harry thought. 'Security checks. One, two and three deliberate spelling mistakes – check. Coded cipher key – check. Encrypted message – check. Ok, I think that is done.'
Harry folded the parchment and put it in his pocket, Hedwig watching him from his shoulder.
"I'll get you to take this to Aunt Petunia after breakfast, ok girl?" Harry said to his owl.
Hedwig hooted softly in acceptance.
"Hey, Harry. Are you ready to go to breakfast, or do you two want to be alone?" Tonks said from the near the corridor door.
Tonks, with her hair now back to neon pink; Hannah and Susan were all dressed in the Uniforms and were waiting by the door.
"Yeah, coming. Just let me grab my robe and tie." Harry replied.
The Great Hall was abuzz with activity, with the teachers presiding over the organised chaos from the head table. Harry nodded at Susan and Hannah that they should go sit at the Hufflepuff table.
"We'll save you a seat." Hannah said, as Harry moved towards the Ravenclaw table.
He found Hermione down near the foot of the Ravenclaw table sitting with one of the Indian twins who had been Sorted directly before Harry the previous evening. As he reached her position he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Tonks speaking with a pair of redheaded twins at the Gryffindor table. As soon as she started talking to them, half of the teacher at the head table went grey.
"Good morning Hermione." Harry said, as he squatted in between Hermione and the other girl's chair. "How was your evening?"
Hermione perked up as soon as he stopped by the table and enthusiastically began talking, introducing him to her new friend and dorm mate Padma, who politely said hello and went back to her breakfast, watching him in her peripheral vision. After a few minutes Harry rose and made his way to the Gryffindor table where he repeated the process with Neville, before finally returning to the Hufflepuff table.
As he sat down in the spare seat between Hannah and Susan, he noticed that the redheaded twins were whispering to each other and glancing over at Tonks, who had a smirk on her face.
"Hey, Potter." A second year boy said. "Why were you talking to Ravenclaws and Gryffindors?"
"Hermione and Neville are my friends. I made friends with them on the train, the same time I made friends with Susan and Hannah. Are you suggesting that I abandon my friends because they are in a different House?" Harry replied, his voice even and calm, with a slight look of disappointment in his eyes. "That I should have abandoned Susan and Hannah had I been sorted into another House?"
"Um… no." The boy whispered, feeling like he had been yelled at by his father and reduced his mother to tears.
"So how are they?" Susan asked, ignoring the comment of the other boy.
"They are fine. Hermione was… overly enthusiastic. I don't think she has had a lot of friends and she thought we would not want to be friends any more." Harry replied.
"We'll have to do something to reassure her." Susan said, thoughtfully.
"How about a study group? She's a Ravenclaw, and they love to study. We could invite Neville, and make it into a social and education thing." Hannah added.
"That's a good idea." Harry replied, causing Hannah to blush.
"Go to stop doing that." Hannah whispered to herself.
Just then Professor Sprout came past and handed out their schedules.
"Huh. Herbology up first with Ravenclaw. We can run the idea past Hermione then. Maybe invite her dorm mate Padma." Harry mused.
TBC….