The group of black robed children presses around him, suffocating him. He
was not claustrophobic but this, this was too much. The waves of black
cloth made it seem as if he was in the center of some violent storm. They
moved in closer and then farther away. Just when he began to feel that he
would be able to breathe they surged back towards him. It was enough to
make him want to scream, but just then a large number of the students broke
away and walked towards a line of carriages.
He did not follow them because they were all older children. Instead of moving towards the carriages he remained rooted to the spot. It was after all his first day at a new school. If he was not supposed to go with the carriages he did not know what to do. But this problem was solved moments later when a large, hairy man yelled and caught their attention.
"Oi! First years o'er here." He beckoned towards the lake and a small fleet of row boats. At first they just stood there unsure as to wether they were supposed to get in the boats. Soon they were surging towards the boats. Quickly everyone was loaded into the boats and they were moving swiftly across the lake.
Soon the small armada landed on the opposite shore and the children were herded off towards the large castle in front of him. They moved through the door and up the stairs inside. The inside of the building was magnificent. Walking into it was like walking in to a fairy tale. Pictures of dragons and knights adorned the walls. While ancient suits of armor lined the halls. He would not have believed that such a place could exist if he had not see it for himself.
Still, something seemed wrong he could not put his finger on it but something definitely seemed wrong here. As he continued up the stairs he shut out the random conversations of the students around and focused slowly on discovering what it was that seemed worng. He was looking at the when he noticed what it was. The pictures were moving! Or more precisely the people in the pictures were moving. Not just in their own frames either, they would move from picture to picture to converse with the other paintings.
They were talking to each other while they pointed at the body of students. He turned to get the attention of another student. He wanted to make sure that what he was seeing was real and that he was not going insane. Before he could speak, however, the group was halted by a very old and very severe looking woman. All of the conversations were halted with a single icy glare from her.
When all of the conversation had stopped she began to speak. " I am Professor McCgonical(I don't have book handy sorry if spelling is incorrect. I can spell Antidisestablishmentarianism without looking at anything, but that name really is bothersome) In a few moments you shall be sorted into your hoses. They are Gryffindor, Sliytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff." she paused for a moment and then smiled. " Allow me to be the first to say. Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." With that she turned and disappeared through a door behind her.
A short while later they were led through that door and up to a large table at the other end of a great hall. Around him there were hundreds of students all dressed in the same black robes. Each table was decorated differently one with green and silver another red and gold. Each also had a banner showing a different creature. But the people were all dressed the same. A dark flowing robe with the Hogwarts symbol. As he passed the people he felt that their eyes were following him.
After what had seemed an eternity he and the other first years reached the end of the great hall. Once again they were stopped by the old woman. This time she was holding a roll of parchment. She was standing next to a stool on which sat the strangest, oldest, dirtiest and most tattered hat he had ever seen. As seemed to be the case with everything here in the castle something about the hat did not seem right. Before he could decide on what it was however his attention was drawn by the old womans voice.
"When I call your name come foward and sit on the stool. I shall place the hat on your head and it shall decide what house to place you in." She then unrolled the parchment and began calling names. Quickly he became uninterested with this and began looking around the hall. His attention was soon drawn to the ceiling which appeared to not be there. Where he should of seen the concrete covering over his head he saw instead.
He did not have time to marvel over this however because he noticed that the last person had just been called and he would be next. He began to look around the hall once more. What he saw unnerved him more than a little. The students and professors all seemed to be staring at him. He brought his attention back to the woman trying to forget about the glints in everyones eyes. He was suprised however to find not an old woman but a young boy with unkempt hair, glasses, a scar and startilingly green eyes. He was holding the unrolled parchment and as he read off the last name he smiled slightly as if it was all some great joke. He said.
" Dursley, Vernon"
***
"Ahhhhhhhh!" The yell crashed through the house as Vernon Dursley of Privet Drive woke from his nightmare. Anyone in the house who had been sleeping was no longer as the tidal wave of sound washed through the house. He did not seem to care however, as he quickly got out of bed and pulled on some clothes. His wife Petunia was too startled to say anything even as he stormed out of their room.
"Harry Potter!" He yelled as soon as he was standing outside the door to the young trouble makers room. He waited impatiently several moments before rapping sharply on the door and saying " Harry Potter you get out here this minute or I will give you a beating such as has never been given in the history of beatings." By this time his face was blushing a deep purple and he was at a lack of breath.
He waited several more minutes and was about to knock on the door again when it suddenly opened. A young boy no more than sixteen opened the door. His hair was askew and he was wearing glasses. The only real distinguishing mark on him was the scar.
When he was young Harry had been attacked by an evil wizard. But the spell that was meant to kill him rebounded off of him at the caster. Still he was not left untouched by the attack. He had a lightning scar on his forhead and his parents were dead from the same spell that killed him.
That is why he was living with these people instead of with his mother and father. It only took him a moment to realise that his Uncle was not happy. He looked even madder then usual then usual, and given the norm, that could not be a good sign.
His Uncle began to speak." I have had it Potter! I can not sleep with you in this house. You are a menace, a freak a.. a... ah... Regardless you are no longer welcome in this house!" Harry just stared at him this was an unexpected turn of events. When he continued to stare his Uncle began to get angry again." I am not joking Potter you have until 5 o'clock to be out of this house." With that he and the rest of the family went back to sleep.
Harry glanced at the clock on his bedside table it read 4:00. He had only an hour to get his stuff together. He rushed around the room gathering his belongings and throwing them in his trunk. First he grabbed his school books and other school things. Then he grabbed a small bag from Zonkos joke shop and threw it into his trunk also. He continued rushing around the room gathering the odd items he had aquired over the years. Last he placed the firebolt he had gotten from Sirius and the invisiblity cloak he had gotten from his dead in the trunk.
He looked at the clock it now read 4:45 he had fifteen minutes to be out of the house. He grabbed the last package left unpacked and Hedwig and his trunk and raced downstairs. He started a fire with his wand in the fireplace and grabbed some dust from the package. He threw the dust onto the fire which grew to a new height and became green. He stepped into the flames with all of his belongings. When he stepped into the fire he said "Diagon Alley". Instantly he was gone from the house and in The Leaky Cauldron.
When the Dursleys woke again they would find Harry gone and a fire in the fireplace. Harry did not care however. He just thought about what a great birthday presant it was to be thrown out of the home he had known for the last fifteen years on his birthday.
Now it might seem strange that he would be happy to be thrown out of his home. Not so however, he had always been mistreated by the Dursleys. They did not like magic and therefore hated Harry. When his cousin Dudleys birthday came around he would get T.V.'s computers and mountain bike. But on Harrys birthday Harry would only get tissues if they even remembered that he was alive. Harry however felt, that this last gift of theirs was worth more than all of Dudley's put together. He was free at last from those horrible people.
He pushed these thoughts aside temporarily as he walked up to the owner of this tavern/inn." Hallo Tom. How have you been.
Tom smiled showing all of his rotten teeth in doing so. " Very well Mr.Potter and you."
"I am doing great. I need a room too Tom if you can spare one."
Tom Shifted uncomfortably he did not want to tell Hary, The-Boy-Who-Lived, that he did not have room for him. Harry read this in Toms body movements and thus spared Tom the trouble.
"If you do not have room that is alright Tom. I will send an owl to Ron and Hermione to see if I can stay at one of their houses. I can sleep out here in the dining hall at night."
Tom could not bear to think of Harry sleeping on the dirty floor. " I am sure I can find you a room Mr. Potter especially if it is only for a short period of time. Harry smiled his thanks.
"I do not have the money on me to pay you for the room on me I will need to visit Gringots."
"No charge Mr. Potter. I will not accept money from you after all that you have done and will have to do for us all, wizard and muggle alike."
"Thank you again Tom and you could just call me Harry."
"Alright then Mr. Potter."
"I said... oh nevermind thank you again Tom. I will return later I am going to go to Diagon Alley to shop for school"
"Alright then Mr. Potter."
Harry then walked out of the tavern into an alley that held the hidden entrance to Diagon Alley. When he walked through the gateway it was like stepping into another world. No longer did he see the typical muggle trash. He had stepped into a nineteenth century city. The alley was lined with shops each of which carried strange items from flying broomsticks to boomslang skin.
He ignored all of this however as his first destination was Gringots the wizards bank. The tall white marble walls of that building soon came into view as he made his way down the alley. As he made his way down the alley he heard a very familiar voice coming from a very familiar store.
He turned to greet his best friend of six years, and his breath caught. He had forgotten just how beautiful she was over the short weeks since last he had seen her. The modest black robe she wore did well to hide her natural feminine charms. But that did not make her any less beautiful to Harry.
Her luxurios brown locks cascaded down past her shoulder. Her eyes sparkled with mirth, while her smile grew when she saw harry. He thought that she must be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Hermione stopped when she reached him, not noticing the way he was looking at her. " Hello Harry. How have you been?"
"Fine, thanks and how have you been?"
" Marvelously. I am here to pick up some materials I need for an experiment I am doing. What are you doing here Harry?"
Harry had been staring at her while she was talking and he almost did not hear her question." Wha?... Oh, well I was..." an idea suddenly dawned on Harry. " Hang on, say Hermione are your parents here with you?"
"Yes, of course. Why?"
"I think I would like to talk to them." Hermione began winding her way through Diagon Alley. Harry just stood and watched her for a while. Then he realised that he was going to lose sight of her, and that she was leading him to her parents. He began sprinting off in their direction.
***
Several minutes later Harry, Hermione and her parents were sitting at a table in the dining room of The Leaky Cauldron. Harry was talking to Hermiones' parents.
"So you see I have no place to stay until school starts and was wondering if I might... well... could... I wonder if..."
"If you could stay with us for the summer." Harry nodded. "well, I don't see why not." Harry was greatly relieved. "We are leaving tomorrow. So you must be ready."
"Thank you very much. I will be ready." With that Hermiones parents left Harry and Hermione alone in the dining room.
" Isn't it great Harry you are going to spend the summer with us."
"Yes it is. I thought I would have to send an owl to you and Ron and then wait for your return owl. While I shared a room with someone here at The Leaky Cauldron."
"Well that is not a problem now you will be spending the summer with us. Though I am not sure where you will sleep there are only two bedrooms in the house. Mine and my parents."
"Well I suppose that your parents have an idea since they agreed to allow it. I am just thankful that I won't have to bunk with any strange people. Which reminds me I have to go to Gringots to get Toms' pay. Are you going to come Hermione."
They once again left The Leaky Cauldron and headed down Diagon Allley to Gringots. Harry gave the goblin his key when he reached the bank. Harry was still slightly suspicous of goblins they had caused a lot of trouble in the past. But that was a long time ago and they ran the bank that his money was in so he supposed he would have to trust them.
" Ah yes, Mr. Potter." That was all the goblin said before he turned and began to beckoning to them to follow him. He led them to a dark cavernous chamber, they were standing on a precipice. A cart on railroad tracks were in front of them. They did not hesitate to get in behind the goblin because while it did not look sturdy they had done this before and were still alive.
They flew through the dark caverns and chasms on their cart. Harry tried to look over the side but saw very little but darkness. Sometimes though he would swear he could see flashes of fire. The fire of the dragons that were said to guard Gringots. All too soon the ride was over, the goblin got out and unlocked the vault that held Harrrys' fortune. He grabbed a couple of hanfuls and then returned to the cart.
They returned to the main bank and this time Harry did not try looking over the edge of the cart. As soon as they reached their destination he and Hermione ran out of the bank shouting back their thanks. Hermione checked the time on their way out it was 8 A.M.
He did not follow them because they were all older children. Instead of moving towards the carriages he remained rooted to the spot. It was after all his first day at a new school. If he was not supposed to go with the carriages he did not know what to do. But this problem was solved moments later when a large, hairy man yelled and caught their attention.
"Oi! First years o'er here." He beckoned towards the lake and a small fleet of row boats. At first they just stood there unsure as to wether they were supposed to get in the boats. Soon they were surging towards the boats. Quickly everyone was loaded into the boats and they were moving swiftly across the lake.
Soon the small armada landed on the opposite shore and the children were herded off towards the large castle in front of him. They moved through the door and up the stairs inside. The inside of the building was magnificent. Walking into it was like walking in to a fairy tale. Pictures of dragons and knights adorned the walls. While ancient suits of armor lined the halls. He would not have believed that such a place could exist if he had not see it for himself.
Still, something seemed wrong he could not put his finger on it but something definitely seemed wrong here. As he continued up the stairs he shut out the random conversations of the students around and focused slowly on discovering what it was that seemed worng. He was looking at the when he noticed what it was. The pictures were moving! Or more precisely the people in the pictures were moving. Not just in their own frames either, they would move from picture to picture to converse with the other paintings.
They were talking to each other while they pointed at the body of students. He turned to get the attention of another student. He wanted to make sure that what he was seeing was real and that he was not going insane. Before he could speak, however, the group was halted by a very old and very severe looking woman. All of the conversations were halted with a single icy glare from her.
When all of the conversation had stopped she began to speak. " I am Professor McCgonical(I don't have book handy sorry if spelling is incorrect. I can spell Antidisestablishmentarianism without looking at anything, but that name really is bothersome) In a few moments you shall be sorted into your hoses. They are Gryffindor, Sliytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff." she paused for a moment and then smiled. " Allow me to be the first to say. Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." With that she turned and disappeared through a door behind her.
A short while later they were led through that door and up to a large table at the other end of a great hall. Around him there were hundreds of students all dressed in the same black robes. Each table was decorated differently one with green and silver another red and gold. Each also had a banner showing a different creature. But the people were all dressed the same. A dark flowing robe with the Hogwarts symbol. As he passed the people he felt that their eyes were following him.
After what had seemed an eternity he and the other first years reached the end of the great hall. Once again they were stopped by the old woman. This time she was holding a roll of parchment. She was standing next to a stool on which sat the strangest, oldest, dirtiest and most tattered hat he had ever seen. As seemed to be the case with everything here in the castle something about the hat did not seem right. Before he could decide on what it was however his attention was drawn by the old womans voice.
"When I call your name come foward and sit on the stool. I shall place the hat on your head and it shall decide what house to place you in." She then unrolled the parchment and began calling names. Quickly he became uninterested with this and began looking around the hall. His attention was soon drawn to the ceiling which appeared to not be there. Where he should of seen the concrete covering over his head he saw instead.
He did not have time to marvel over this however because he noticed that the last person had just been called and he would be next. He began to look around the hall once more. What he saw unnerved him more than a little. The students and professors all seemed to be staring at him. He brought his attention back to the woman trying to forget about the glints in everyones eyes. He was suprised however to find not an old woman but a young boy with unkempt hair, glasses, a scar and startilingly green eyes. He was holding the unrolled parchment and as he read off the last name he smiled slightly as if it was all some great joke. He said.
" Dursley, Vernon"
***
"Ahhhhhhhh!" The yell crashed through the house as Vernon Dursley of Privet Drive woke from his nightmare. Anyone in the house who had been sleeping was no longer as the tidal wave of sound washed through the house. He did not seem to care however, as he quickly got out of bed and pulled on some clothes. His wife Petunia was too startled to say anything even as he stormed out of their room.
"Harry Potter!" He yelled as soon as he was standing outside the door to the young trouble makers room. He waited impatiently several moments before rapping sharply on the door and saying " Harry Potter you get out here this minute or I will give you a beating such as has never been given in the history of beatings." By this time his face was blushing a deep purple and he was at a lack of breath.
He waited several more minutes and was about to knock on the door again when it suddenly opened. A young boy no more than sixteen opened the door. His hair was askew and he was wearing glasses. The only real distinguishing mark on him was the scar.
When he was young Harry had been attacked by an evil wizard. But the spell that was meant to kill him rebounded off of him at the caster. Still he was not left untouched by the attack. He had a lightning scar on his forhead and his parents were dead from the same spell that killed him.
That is why he was living with these people instead of with his mother and father. It only took him a moment to realise that his Uncle was not happy. He looked even madder then usual then usual, and given the norm, that could not be a good sign.
His Uncle began to speak." I have had it Potter! I can not sleep with you in this house. You are a menace, a freak a.. a... ah... Regardless you are no longer welcome in this house!" Harry just stared at him this was an unexpected turn of events. When he continued to stare his Uncle began to get angry again." I am not joking Potter you have until 5 o'clock to be out of this house." With that he and the rest of the family went back to sleep.
Harry glanced at the clock on his bedside table it read 4:00. He had only an hour to get his stuff together. He rushed around the room gathering his belongings and throwing them in his trunk. First he grabbed his school books and other school things. Then he grabbed a small bag from Zonkos joke shop and threw it into his trunk also. He continued rushing around the room gathering the odd items he had aquired over the years. Last he placed the firebolt he had gotten from Sirius and the invisiblity cloak he had gotten from his dead in the trunk.
He looked at the clock it now read 4:45 he had fifteen minutes to be out of the house. He grabbed the last package left unpacked and Hedwig and his trunk and raced downstairs. He started a fire with his wand in the fireplace and grabbed some dust from the package. He threw the dust onto the fire which grew to a new height and became green. He stepped into the flames with all of his belongings. When he stepped into the fire he said "Diagon Alley". Instantly he was gone from the house and in The Leaky Cauldron.
When the Dursleys woke again they would find Harry gone and a fire in the fireplace. Harry did not care however. He just thought about what a great birthday presant it was to be thrown out of the home he had known for the last fifteen years on his birthday.
Now it might seem strange that he would be happy to be thrown out of his home. Not so however, he had always been mistreated by the Dursleys. They did not like magic and therefore hated Harry. When his cousin Dudleys birthday came around he would get T.V.'s computers and mountain bike. But on Harrys birthday Harry would only get tissues if they even remembered that he was alive. Harry however felt, that this last gift of theirs was worth more than all of Dudley's put together. He was free at last from those horrible people.
He pushed these thoughts aside temporarily as he walked up to the owner of this tavern/inn." Hallo Tom. How have you been.
Tom smiled showing all of his rotten teeth in doing so. " Very well Mr.Potter and you."
"I am doing great. I need a room too Tom if you can spare one."
Tom Shifted uncomfortably he did not want to tell Hary, The-Boy-Who-Lived, that he did not have room for him. Harry read this in Toms body movements and thus spared Tom the trouble.
"If you do not have room that is alright Tom. I will send an owl to Ron and Hermione to see if I can stay at one of their houses. I can sleep out here in the dining hall at night."
Tom could not bear to think of Harry sleeping on the dirty floor. " I am sure I can find you a room Mr. Potter especially if it is only for a short period of time. Harry smiled his thanks.
"I do not have the money on me to pay you for the room on me I will need to visit Gringots."
"No charge Mr. Potter. I will not accept money from you after all that you have done and will have to do for us all, wizard and muggle alike."
"Thank you again Tom and you could just call me Harry."
"Alright then Mr. Potter."
"I said... oh nevermind thank you again Tom. I will return later I am going to go to Diagon Alley to shop for school"
"Alright then Mr. Potter."
Harry then walked out of the tavern into an alley that held the hidden entrance to Diagon Alley. When he walked through the gateway it was like stepping into another world. No longer did he see the typical muggle trash. He had stepped into a nineteenth century city. The alley was lined with shops each of which carried strange items from flying broomsticks to boomslang skin.
He ignored all of this however as his first destination was Gringots the wizards bank. The tall white marble walls of that building soon came into view as he made his way down the alley. As he made his way down the alley he heard a very familiar voice coming from a very familiar store.
He turned to greet his best friend of six years, and his breath caught. He had forgotten just how beautiful she was over the short weeks since last he had seen her. The modest black robe she wore did well to hide her natural feminine charms. But that did not make her any less beautiful to Harry.
Her luxurios brown locks cascaded down past her shoulder. Her eyes sparkled with mirth, while her smile grew when she saw harry. He thought that she must be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Hermione stopped when she reached him, not noticing the way he was looking at her. " Hello Harry. How have you been?"
"Fine, thanks and how have you been?"
" Marvelously. I am here to pick up some materials I need for an experiment I am doing. What are you doing here Harry?"
Harry had been staring at her while she was talking and he almost did not hear her question." Wha?... Oh, well I was..." an idea suddenly dawned on Harry. " Hang on, say Hermione are your parents here with you?"
"Yes, of course. Why?"
"I think I would like to talk to them." Hermione began winding her way through Diagon Alley. Harry just stood and watched her for a while. Then he realised that he was going to lose sight of her, and that she was leading him to her parents. He began sprinting off in their direction.
***
Several minutes later Harry, Hermione and her parents were sitting at a table in the dining room of The Leaky Cauldron. Harry was talking to Hermiones' parents.
"So you see I have no place to stay until school starts and was wondering if I might... well... could... I wonder if..."
"If you could stay with us for the summer." Harry nodded. "well, I don't see why not." Harry was greatly relieved. "We are leaving tomorrow. So you must be ready."
"Thank you very much. I will be ready." With that Hermiones parents left Harry and Hermione alone in the dining room.
" Isn't it great Harry you are going to spend the summer with us."
"Yes it is. I thought I would have to send an owl to you and Ron and then wait for your return owl. While I shared a room with someone here at The Leaky Cauldron."
"Well that is not a problem now you will be spending the summer with us. Though I am not sure where you will sleep there are only two bedrooms in the house. Mine and my parents."
"Well I suppose that your parents have an idea since they agreed to allow it. I am just thankful that I won't have to bunk with any strange people. Which reminds me I have to go to Gringots to get Toms' pay. Are you going to come Hermione."
They once again left The Leaky Cauldron and headed down Diagon Allley to Gringots. Harry gave the goblin his key when he reached the bank. Harry was still slightly suspicous of goblins they had caused a lot of trouble in the past. But that was a long time ago and they ran the bank that his money was in so he supposed he would have to trust them.
" Ah yes, Mr. Potter." That was all the goblin said before he turned and began to beckoning to them to follow him. He led them to a dark cavernous chamber, they were standing on a precipice. A cart on railroad tracks were in front of them. They did not hesitate to get in behind the goblin because while it did not look sturdy they had done this before and were still alive.
They flew through the dark caverns and chasms on their cart. Harry tried to look over the side but saw very little but darkness. Sometimes though he would swear he could see flashes of fire. The fire of the dragons that were said to guard Gringots. All too soon the ride was over, the goblin got out and unlocked the vault that held Harrrys' fortune. He grabbed a couple of hanfuls and then returned to the cart.
They returned to the main bank and this time Harry did not try looking over the edge of the cart. As soon as they reached their destination he and Hermione ran out of the bank shouting back their thanks. Hermione checked the time on their way out it was 8 A.M.