Author Chronicles: The Magic Link - Philosopher's Stone
a magical fanfic by charity236
Disclaimer: I didn't create Zelda or Harry Potter. Flames will be given to Rauru to melt his chocolate coins. Please R+R!
Chapter 2: Sword-Tricks and Scabbers
'Hoo! Wake up!'
'Aaahh!' Link shrieked and fell out of bed. Hagrid just snored louder.
Link looked at the clock on the wall. It read 5:30am.
'Geez it's early! Kaepora, why did you wake me up? I was having the best dream...'
'What? Zelda, Ruto, Malon, Saria and Nabooru all in the same room? Hooo!'
'No! Of course not!' Link said. He had the same dream he'd been having for weeks - he was pulling the Master Sword out of the Pedestal of Time.
'There's someone waiting downstairs for you. Hoo,' Kaepora hooted loudly.
'Be quiet Kaepora, I don't want anyone finding out you can talk!'
'Alright then. Come on, he's getting impatient. Hoo.'
Link and Kaepora slowly crept out of the room, leaving Hagrid to snore away.
Downstairs, a fire had already been lit, but not by the barman.
A person with red eyes, a blue and white bodysuit with a funny symbol on it, and a golden harp.
'Sheik! It's good to see you!' Link cried.
'Sssssshhhhh!' both Sheik and Kaepora warned.
'Sorry,' Link said. 'Anyway, how are you?'
'Fine, on the surface. There are many secrets that the Sheikah must hold.'
'Uh... great.'
'And you, Link?'
'Well, it's only the morning of my second day here and I'm homesick already!'
'Pity. But, I can make that homesickness go away...'
'How?' Link asked cautiously.
'With a song,' Sheik's eyes glittered, something which Link had rarely seen from him.
'Repeat this. It is just the Minuet of Forest with a different end.'
Sheik played (note: the following is written as if you were playing the game) A, C-Up, C-Left, C-Right, C-Left, C-Right, C-Up. Link did the same.
'Very well played. That is the Minuet of Returning. Whenever you wish, play that song to warp to your house. But be careful when using it - you may miss out on things that happen in the Human world.'
'Thanks, Zel- Sheik. Now I don't have to use that Floo Powder stuff to get home!'
'Don't call me Zelda!' Sheik's eye twinkled again. 'Goodbye, Link.'
'See you, Sheik.' Link waved as Sheik played the Minuet of Returning to go home, wherever that was. As soon as he had gone, the fire went out.
'Well, that was an interesting visit.' Link was grateful.
'Come on, we'd better get back to our room, hoo.' Kaepora didn't want anyone to know they'd been downstairs at 5:30 in the morning.
'Wake up, Link!!'
'Huh?' Link had a small nap - the clock now said 8:30. He had dreamt the exact same dream that he had earlier. Link had a sudden urge to play the Minuet of Returning so he could get the Sword, but the sight of Hagrid stopped him.
'Get up Link, it's time fer breakfast. We'll be headin' out for King's Cross at 10, which gives yeh plenty of time ter get on the train.'
Hagrid and Link went down to breakfast. Kaepora had flown off, probably to find some worms. Link enjoyed the sausages and eggs that Tom the barman served him.
When Link walked back up to his room alone (Hagrid wanted to talk with Tom a bit), he found Kaepora sitting on Link's bed.
'Hello Link, hoo. I've just been out to get some grub.'
'Hagrid and I had breakfast downstairs - he's having a drink with the barman,' Link grinned.
'You'd better get packed. Hagrid bought you a large chest to keep your Hogwarts stuff in.'
'What is this Hogwarts place, anyway? I'm still not sure about this.'
'[sigh] It's a giant castle, which is a school for magic,' Kaepora answered. 'There are lots of classes, like Potions, and Transfiguration - where you learn to turn stuff into something else.'
'Sounds pretty cool, then.'
'Yes.'
'What about my sword? Will I be able to use it?'
'Probably not in lessons, but lots of people will be interested. They will want to see you use it. And your Ocarina... I bet that hardly anyone at Hogwarts has ever HEARD of one, let alone seen one. Plus the rest of your weapons and items... they could be a target for thieves.'
'Have you ever heard of the Gerudo, Kaepora?' Link rolled his eyes. 'They are a bunch of thieves. And I stole from them four carpenters, and that Fireblizzard Sword (A/N: read Return to Hyrule for more info) from Ganondorf! How hard could it be to steal stuff back from other kids?!'
'It depends on how much magic they know.' Kaepora looked disgruntled.
'Anyway, there's a lock on this chest (he pulled it up onto the bed - it looked like a Boss Key chest) that no-one except the holder of my sword could break.' Link pointed at the keyhole - it had a lock for a normal key, but underneath was a hole for the Kokiri and Master Swords.
'All right already, just get packing. I can hear Hagrid walking up from his table now.' Kaepora hooted softly, then fell silent as Hagrid entered the room.
'Packin', are yeh? Good idea.' Hagrid sat down and read a copy of the Daily Prophet (the wizard newspaper) while Link packed his chest.
'Now, we gotta get ter King's Cross,' Hagrid informed Link when he was ready. 'Professor Dumbledore hired us a Ministry of Magic car to get there in. He said to 'em that he had a friend who was comin' to Hogwarts, but didn' know the way. And it's kinda true too.'
'Okay. Er, my owl will fly to this train station thing, I think HE knows the way,' Link said. Kaepora quietly said, 'Don't worry about me, I'll find you. You don't want to look more of a strange person, do you?'
Link growled softly, and picked his heavy chest up with ease.
'Isn' that a bit heavy for yer, Link?' asked Hagrid.
'Nope!' Link replied happily. He had his Golden Gauntlets on, but Hagrid hadn't noticed.
'That's weird,' thought Hagrid to himself. 'But then again, everything about him's weird. I even think his owl can talk!'
'Come on, the car is waiting for us.' Hagrid got up and made for the door.
'Hagrid? What's a "car"?'
'Blimey! Yeh don' even know what a car is?' Hagrid was extremely shocked.
'I'll tell you why I don't know about this weird stuff later, Hagrid. When we get to Hogwarts.'
'Oh, if that's how yer feel. Anyway, a car is a... well, it's made outta metal, and has wheels. You can get in it and drive it around to get to where yeh need to go.'
The odd pair walked down the stairs. Hagrid said a brief goodbye to Tom the barman, then went over to yet another door.
Link walked through, and a noisy road met his shocked eyes. It was almost nothing like the simple dirt paths of Hyrule Field. There were "cars" everywhere.
'Aaahh!' cried Link and he almost ran back through the door. Hagrid grabbed his shirt just in time and pulled him over.
'Don't be frightened. It's just a road filled with cars and trucks and motorcycles and buses and such.'
A dark green car sat next to the kerb. A wizard got out and opened the door.
'Well Link, get in!' said Hagrid, and gave Link a little push.
'Oof!' Link gasped, winded. 'Did you call that a little push?'
'Yeah,' laughed Hagrid before he got in himself and put the seatbelt on. He had to give Link some help, though.
'Last stop, King's Cross Station,' the driver announced after about half an hour. Hagrid and Link stepped out of the car quickly.
By 10:35, Link had found a trolley for his chest (even though he didn't need it) and Hagrid had led him down to the station. He gave Link his ticket.
It said to be on Platform 9 & Three Quarters, but Link only saw Platform 9 and 10.
'Where's Platform 9 & Three Quarters?' Link asked Hagrid, but he had gone. Disappeared.
'Damn it!' He kicked at the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10, and his foot passed through thin air. It disappeared for a moment.
'Huh?' Link got his Lens of Truth out from his bag and used it - there was a door just there! A sign above it said "Platform 9 & Three Quarters".
'Yes, I found it!' Link walked through the barrier, careful to not let anyone see him, for he was already being stared at.
There were many people on the small platform. A big red smoking thing sat on rails - the train, Link supposed.
'Hoo hoot!'
An owl came swooping down at Link.
'Aaahh! No wait, that's just Kaepora. Come on, I need to get on this train thing.'
By this time, it was 5 to 11.
Link scrambled up on the train - Kaepora had opened the door for him - and pulled his treasure chest up.
'Now you have to find a compartment, you know,' Kaepora hooted.
Link looked around the train, but all the compartments were taken, except the last one.
'Hello, can I sit here?' Link asked the first person he saw in the compartment, a black-haired kid with glasses. Next to him was a boy with red hair, who was staring at the other boy.
'Sure you can,' the black-haired boy replied.
'Come on, Kaepora,' Link called, and Kaepora flew in and landed on one of the seats. Link followed him, and put his chest on the rack above before sitting down.
The red-head kept his eyes on the black-haired boy, who was looking at Link.
'Who are you?' Link asked the boys.
'I'm Ron Weasley,' the red-head exclaimed when he realised a question had been asked of him.
'Harry Potter,' the other boy greeted.
'Really? A girl in Diagon Alley told me a bit about you...' Link raised his eyebrows. '...Oh, I'm Link.'
Harry and Ron nodded, allowing Link to go on.
'That's my owl, Kaepora,' Link continued, pointing at the large owl. 'Don't ask about his name. And he doesn't like cages, if you wanted to know.'
'Um, hello Kaepora,' said Ron. He swore Kaepora had said 'hello' back. Harry got up to pat the big owl.
Link took off his sword and shield and laid them on the seat next to Kaepora.
'I like that sword,' Harry complimented.
'Thanks.' Link was a bit nervous.
'Why do you have that stuff anyway?'
'Long story, I'll tell you at Hogwarts.' Link said. 'It's kinda got something to do with my mother, and... yeah.'
'Your mother? What happened to her?'
'She died when I was about one, and I never knew my father.'
'Oh,' Harry nodded. 'Orphan like me.'
There was a long silence.
'So Harry, what house do you want to be in?' Ron asked.
'Houses?'
'Yeah. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. All my family's in Gryffindor, but I suppose Ravenclaw woudn't be too bad,' Ron said.
Link agreed, but something distracted him for a moment. A Triforce mark had appeared on the back of his left hand. Link was about to put the hand in his pocket, when the mark disappeared.
'Link? Are you alright?' Harry had been watching him - luckily he hadn't seen the Triforce.
'Fine. Just fine,' Link said. 'How about a sword demonstration?'
Harry and Ron were awestruck as Link pulled all the stops out on an invisible enemy. Halfway through the mini show, the door of the compartment opened.
'Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one,' said a bushy-haired girl. A worried boy was behind her.
'Hermione!' Link exclaimed.
'Oh Link, hello,' Hermione replied.
'She's the girl I met in Diagon Alley,' Link informed to Harry and Ron.
Ron was about to say that he hadn't seen any toads, when Hermione saw Link holding the sword in mid-stab.
'You still got that sword? Hogwarts students aren't allowed,' she said.
'I'm excused from that rule, if it exists. Ask Dumbledore if you want!' said Link in a joking tone, but he knew it wasn't a laughing matter. He needed it at his side at all times, no matter what the situation was.
'Well, sorry.' Hermione watched Link, who started performing again.
'Wicked! I'm going to watch too!' said Neville, the boy who had lost his toad. Hermione sat down as well, resigned to watching the outstanding tricks.
'I'm Hermione Granger, who are you?' she asked Harry and Ron.
'Ron Weasley.'
'Harry Potter.'
'Really?' Hermione's eyes rose to see Harry's forehead for a moment. 'I read about you in... too many books to remember.'
'So who are you?' Link asked Neville.
'I'm Neville Longbottom. Don't laugh at my name.'
'Nice to meet you - I'm Link. Just Link. I know my name's weird, but I can't help that. Oh, and Kaepora, would you like to hop down?' For Kaepora had been nestling on the luggage rack, but when he heard Link say to come down, he did so.
'This is Kaepora.'
'You must have trained him very well,' said Neville. 'Unlike my toad, Trevor. He keeps getting away from me!'
'Well... yeah, I trained Kaepora good. Took me ages.' Kaepora gave Link a sour look.
'Come on, can you do some more tricks?' Neville asked.
'Alright then.' This time, Link pulled out the sword-wand, which he had named Triforce.
'Is that your wand?' Hermione asked curiously.
'Yes. It was custom-made.'
'Really?'
'Actually, I have no idea who it was really made for. But Mr Ollivander sensed that I should have it.'
'Can I take a closer look?' Hermione asked. Link passed it to her, and everyone crowded round to see it.
'What's this triangle thing on the end?' Harry asked.
'Um... hey, do you want me to do some magic? I only know one spell which Mr Ollivander taught me.' And at the look on Hermione's face, he continued, 'I got my Hogwarts stuff yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to look at the books.'
Link grabbed the wand back from Hermione, cleared his throat, then said 'Orchideous!' Just like Mr Ollivander's wand did, a bunch of red roses burst out from the tip of the sword-wand.
'Nice. Are you going to give those roses to someone?' Hermione asked.
'Um, a friend of mine,' said Link. The friend who had helped him to seal Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm. Princess Zelda.
'Ooh, who's your friend?' asked Neville.
'Her name's Zelda,' said Link, wondering how much he should reveal about his life.
'Sounds like a witch,' Harry said.
'Can I try that spell too?' asked Ron.
'Sure! It isn't copyrighted or anything!' Link joked as he put the roses into his bag.
After 5 minutes, everyone in the compartment had mastered the Orchideous spell. There were flower bunches everywhere.
'Come on Link! Slash some!' Neville urged.
'Okay! Who wants to hold a bunch while I cut it with my sword?' Harry, being very brave, had a go first.
Swipe!
'Wow!' Harry was impressed. The bunch had been cut through several places in only four seconds before it fell to the carpeted floor. And Harry hadn't even been scratched.
Soon everyone was holding the flowers while Link cut them.
After about half and hour, there was a knock on the door. Link opened it. A plump witch was pushing a trolley along - full of food and drinks. Link wanted to buy some Lon Lon Milk and Triforce-shaped cookies, but they didn't have either. Instead there was a wide variety of other things, including Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs and Whizzing Fizzbees. Harry (he had a lot of money, thanks to his bank vault) and Link almost bought everything. The only thing Link didn't get was pumpkin juice. 'Yuck!' he thought.
Link, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Kaepora (he wanted some) enjoyed eating the sweets. Neville got a surprise when he opened a Chocolate Frog, but instead of a frog, he found his toad, Trevor!
'Trevor!' cried Neville, and hugged him.
After everyone was full, there were still a lot of sweets left. They split them evenly and put them in their cases (except Link, who got out his magic wallet and shoved them in). Kaepora just ate his on the spot.
All of a sudden, the compartment door opened yet again.
Three boys entered. Two were really heavy-set, while the third was thin and pale.
The pale boy asked, 'Everyone's saying that Harry Potter's in this compartment, along with a nut who does sword tricks.'
'You're that kid who I talked to in the robe shop at Diagon Alley!' Harry exclaimed.
'So you're Potter.'
'Yes. And he's Link, the "nut who does sword tricks",' Harry pointed at Link, who blushed.
'Scared are you?'
'No,' Link said. Link could actually FEEL the Triforce mark appearing on his hand this time. He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled the Kokiri Sword out from its sheath again.
'I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. And this is Crabbe and Goyle.' Malfoy pointed to the two boys behind him. 'So, fairy boy -' (Malfoy had seen Navi by this time) '- going to chop me up like mince meat are you?'
'You wish,' Ron snarled. He and Harry clenched their fists. Link got his sword ready for battle.
'No, Link! If you kill him, you'll surely get EXPELLED!!' Hermione shrieked.
'You make that sound like a bad thing,' Malfoy sneered.
'Well it is, you-'
'Shut up Hermione! I don't want you to get into this fight too,' Link growled. 'And you, Malfoy, get lost or you taste sword.' He got ready to slap Malfoy with the flat of the blade. 'One more peep from you-'
'HOOOO!'
'OUCH!'
'Get that bloody owl off me!'
'A rat's trying to bite my finger off! Help!'
Kaepora had swooped onto Malfoy's head, ruining his hair (Harry thought he must have taken hours to put hair gel on it) and scratching him. Ron's rat, Scabbers, had bitten Goyle's finger.
'Shoo!' Dumb Crabbe was trying to knock Kaepora off Malfoy's head and pull Scabbers off Goyle's finger at the same time - no easy task.
Kaepora, who seemed to think that Malfoy had learnt his lesson, glided back to the luggage rack. Malfoy pulled Scabbers off Goyle and threw the old rat. He hit the window and fell to the floor. Hermione poked him.
'He's not fainted,' she said. Ron came over too. He listened to him then exclaimed, 'I don't belive it - he's gone back to sleep! Then again... that's all he does anyway.'
'Come on Crabbe, Goyle,' Malfoy said and they left.
'Now he's gone, why don't we tell each other about our family and stuff?' Neville said. Ron and Hermione happily joined in, cross-legged on the floor, but Link and Harry didn't have family. Or at least their mums and dads.
'Who looks after you?' Link asked Harry.
'[shudder] My Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley. I hate them all, and they hate me too. Just because I can do magic - they hate the stuff,' Harry grumbled.
'I have no family that I know of at all,' Link said sadly.
'Poor you.'
'Well... there's a talking tree that looks after me,' Link said (Harry raised an eyebrow). 'And several kids, but Mido isn't very helpful. Saria's nice, though.'
'Saria? Who's she?' Harry asked.
'My best friend. We hang out all the time, in the forest.' Link stopped to glance at Ron, Hermione and Neville. They had stopped chatting, and were listening to him talk.
'What?' Link demanded.
'Oh, uh, nothing.' Ron looked away.
'Anyway, Saria taught me how to play the Ocarina,' Link went on.
'What's an ocarina?' everyone except Link, Kaepora and Navi asked (she had fallen asleep on the seat).
'I'll show you.' Link pulled out his Ocarina of Time.
'Do you know any songs?' Hermione asked, intrigued.
'Sure I do.' Link started playing Saria's Song.
Everyone except Link, Kaepora and Navi got up and started dancing.
'Geez, I didn't realise that would happen,' Link said sheepishly.
~Link, is that you?~ Saria asked.
'Sssshh! I'm in the Human world, on a train, with 4 other people in this room!' Link hissed below the music (he had set the Ocarina on Auto-Play). 'I didn't mean to call for you, I just wanted to play the Ocarina.'
~Oh. Okay then. Don't worry, I'm here to talk whenever you want. Goodbye Link.~
Link set the Ocarina back to Manual-Play and started playing again.
'Is there a [puff] more relaxing song you know?' Hermione asked - she was red in the face.
'Sure. I just hope you don't fall asleep!' said Link. No-one except Kaepora knew what he was talking about.
Link pushed his lips up to the Ocarina and started playing the Goron Lullaby.
His four new friends fell asleep almost at once.
Link talked to Kaepora about his masks for about half an hour, and once Neville stirred, Kaepora fell silent.
Neville woke up. 'I'm sure I heard that owl of yours talking to you about Zotas and Gurons and Dokus or something while I was asleep. I'm sure of it,' he said. 'By the way, what happened? It's dark outside now!' Neville looked at his watch. '5:30?!' He rubbed his eyes to check if they were working properly, accepted the fact that it was dark, then attempted to wake up Ron and Hermione, to no avail.
'Let Kaepora help, Neville,' Link said, and Kaepora let loose a gigantic HOOT that would have woken Talon from the other side of the world.
'Aaaahh!' screamed Ron.
'Shush, it's just Kaepora.'
'Are we there yet?' Harry asked sleepily.
'I'll ask the driver. You all get into your robes,' said Hermione (she already had hers on). She walked out.
All they had to do was slip the robes on. Link put his own robes on, then slid his sword and shield strap over his shoulder. He fastened the top of the robes with a special gold Triforce button. Ron must have noticed, because he said, 'Why do you have that triangle thing everywhere? It's on your robes, your shield, you wand, even... your hand.'
'My h-hand?!' Link looked at it. The Triforce mark had appeared again. 'It's just a temporary tattoo.' Link rubbed it on his robes. It disappeared. 'See? It was about to come off anyway.'
'But why do you have it in so many places?' Ron asked.
'It's... it's the symbol of my country.'
'Okay.' Link could tell that Ron didn't believe him.
By the time the train had stopped, Link was thoroughly bored.
'Oh good! We're finally here!' he cried.
'I think we have to leave our stuff on the train,' said Ron.
'Whatever. See you Kaepora.'
'Hoo. Goodbye,' the owl said softly.
The train station was packed with Hogwarts students. A loud voice yelled, 'Firs' years over here!' It was Hagrid. Link ran over to him, with Harry, Hermione and Ron in hot pursuit (Neville had lost Trevor again and was trying to find him).
'Hello Harry. Link! How are yeh? I see yeh made some friends, eh?'
'Yep!'
'You four, meet me at my cabin tomorrow mornin'. It's Sunday tomorrow so you get a day ter look around Hogwarts, and I got a bone ter pick with yer, Link. I want ter ask a few questions, and I'm sure yer friends feel the same.'
'Okay? All firs' years here? Righty, let's get movin'!' Hagrid said. Link followed him. 'No more'n four to a boat!' Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville scrambled into the nearest boat, but Link was smaller than most of them, so he got in too. Hagrid had a boat all to himself.
Hagrid yelled 'Row!' and the boats sailed over the water slowly.
A few minutes later, Hagrid yelled out again.
'Round this turn and you'll get yer first sight of Hogwarts!'
Link thought it was amazing, but would never take the place of Hyrule Castle.
Once inside the wonderful castle, the first years were sorted into alphabetical order of names by Professor McGonagall.
'Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will start in a moment, but before you sit down, you must be Sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony at Hogwarts, 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.
'The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each has its own noble history and have produced outstanding witches and wizards. While here, your triumphs will earn house points, but rule-breaking will lose them. 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 start in a few minutes, in front of the entire school. Please use this waiting time to smarten yourselves up a bit. I will return when we are ready.'
Neville refastened his cloak (it was hanging off his ear), Ron rubbed his dirty nose and Harry tried to flatten his fringe. Link decided to shove Navi back into his bag.
After a short wait, McGonagall came back. She beckoned the first-years to follow her, and she pushed the wooden doors of the Great Hall open.
Link had almost never seen such a beautiful room, maybe excepting the Chamber of Sages. Thousands of candles, which hovered above everything, lit the room. A few hundred students sat at the four long tables. A shorter table stood at the front of the hall, where the teachers sat. McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they were facing the four house tables. Many faces were looking at Harry or Link (or both) with extreme interest.
To avoid the staring eyes, Link looked up. The ceiling looked exactly like the sky outside. Wow, thought Link. He looked back down just in time to see McGonagall walk back in with a four-legged stool, which she placed in front of the first years, then put an extremely old and frayed wizard hat on top of it. She walked up to the teacher's table, then the hat began to sing.
'What the...?' Link wondered.
After the song had finished (it had told of how the first years must put on the hat to be Sorted), everyone clapped loudly.
McGonagall stepped up again, this time with a long scroll.
'When I call your name, put on the hat and sit on the stool to be Sorted,' she said.
After a few minutes, McGonagall called up the first of Link's new friends, Hermione. The hat yelled 'Gryffindor!' as fast as she had put it on. Ron groaned a bit.
A few minutes later, Link was called up. He could hear much whispering from the students behind him. He thought he heard Malfoy say, 'That's the fairy kid who does sword tricks!'
Link walked up to the stool, grabbed the hat and put it on before sitting down.
'Why hello there,' said a small voice in Link's pointy ear. It was the Sorting Hat. 'Hmmmm. Difficult, very... You've got a good mind in there, a fair bit of talent - maybe too much?' Link blushed. 'Oh, and what's this? A weird triangle thing... Courage, I see. An enormous amount. So where should you go?'
'Not Slytherin, NOT SLYTHERIN!' Link whispered to the hat. A small voice coming from his bag said, 'Good on you, Link!'
'Why not?' said the hat. 'Everything's there. I reckon you'd do good in Slytherin - but your spirit don't want that, oh no. Are you sure about this?'
'Yes,' whispered Link.
'Fine then, you're in GRYFFINDOR!' the hat shouted the last word.
'All right!' Link got up and walked over to the Gryffindor table. Malfoy jeered, 'Loser! Sword-fighting loser!' Ron almost punched him.
Link sat down next to Hermione. 'Well done!' she said as Neville was named a Gryffindor as well. 'I had a feeling you'd be in Gryffindor!'
'Gee, thanks,' Link said, bashful. Maybe it was just his Triforce of Courage that made him say not Slytherin...
'Potter, Harry!' yelled McGonagall.
'What?'
'Harry Potter?'
'Potter?'
'THE Potter?' People were whispering much more about Harry than they had about Link.
After about a minute, Harry was chosen for Gryffindor too. Then there was a short wait before Ron's turn. Being a Weasley, he was declared a Gryffindor.
'Isn't it strange that all of us ended up in Gryffindor?' Link asked his friends. They agreed, but Harry didn't feel like telling them that he would have done well in Slytherin. Just like Link would have.
Suddenly a hush fell over the tables. The Sorting Hat had gone, and an old man with a long beard and hair, who was wearing half-moon glasses, got up. Link supposed he was Dumbledore.
'Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! I would like to give a few notices before we tuck into our delicious feast,' Dumbledore said. Link looked at the plates in front of him, but they were empty. Not a single crumb of food.
'First years should know that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students,' Dumbledore continued. 'And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.' His eyes flashed in the direction of Ron's mischievious twin brothers, Fred and George.
'Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes.
'Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should talk to Madam Hooch.
'And finally, this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out-of-bounds to anyone and everyone who doesn't wish to die an extremely painful death.'
Harry laughed, but was one of the few who did.
'Now, tuck in!' Dumbledore yelled.
'Yay!' Link cried, and grabbed a bit of everything within his reach except pumpkin juice. Instead he got out some more Lon Lon Milk and poured some out.
'What's that?' Hermione asked.
'It's really good milk,' replied Link cautiously, careful not to let too much info out. 'Not like in the factories. Would you like to try some?'
Hermione had a small taste. 'Mmmm, this is delicious!'
'I know, maybe I should ask Dumbledore to get the tables to have some on the table tomorrow?'
Harry and Ron were talking to a ghost, who had just arrived.
'Hello there! I'm Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the resident ghost of Gryffindor,' he said.
'I know you!' said a sandy-haired kid named Seamus. 'You're Nearly Headless Nick!'
'I would prefer you to call me Sir Nichol-'
'Nearly Headless? How are you nearly headless?' Link asked.
'Like this,' Nick said in annoyance, and pulled his head off his neck. Someone must have tried to chop his head off, but didn't do it properly.
'Eeeeww!' squealed Hermione. Link felt a bit sick.
When everyone had finished eating, the last of the food disappeared from the golden plates, leaving them sparkling like before. Then dessert arrived. Ice-cream bins of hundreds of different flavours, pies, tarts, eclairs and donuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding.
Link tucked into almost everything chocolate. 'Good stuff, eh?' he asked Ron through a mouthful of chocolate mud cake.
The talk turned to families again.
'My gran brought me up and she's a witch,' said Neville, 'but my family thought I was Muggle for ages. Great Uncle Algie kept catching me off guard - he pushed me off Blackpool pier once, I almost drowned - but nothing happened until I was eight. My uncle was hanging me out of an upstairs window from my ankles when Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he let go of me. But I bounced - all the way down the garden and onto the road. Great Uncle Algie was so happy he bought me Trevor.' Neville held Trevor the toad up. Link laughed.
After a long while, when Link had finally finished his chocolate pudding along with a few big eaters around the room, Dumbledore got up again as the food vanished.
'Has everyone had a good eat?' he asked. Some people nodded or said 'Yeah!'
'You've got a day to walk around freely tomorrow. But now it's time for bed. Chop chop!'
As Hagrid got up from the top table, Link ran up to him.
'Hello again! Did yeh have a nice feed?' he asked.
'Yes Hagrid. I was wondering, could you look after my horse for me?'
'Horse?! You never mentioned anything about a horse before!'
'I didn't mean to. Just... take this fairy, and when you get back to your cabin, take the mask off her, will you? My owl will come over to bring the mask back to me,' Link explained as he pulled Epona out of his wallet (he'd put her there for safe-keeping).
What?! Hagrid thought. A fairy-sized horse? Or is it just a toy? A trick?
'And no, it's not a joke, if that's what you were thinking,' Link said.
'Alright, Link. I'll take this horse. What's her name, anyway?'
'Epona. Sing this song to make her happy.' Link pulled his Ocarina out again and played Epona's Song.
Hagrid thought that a song wouldn't cheer Epona up, but the fairy-horse flew out of his hand and nuzzled Link's cheek.
'Come here... Epona,' Hagrid said doubtfully. 'Goodnight, Link. And don't forget to come to my cabin tomorrow.'
'Goodnight Hagrid,' said Link, and played the Song of Soaring to let Kaepora know to get the Fairy Mask back from Hagrid.
Link ran to catch up with Harry and Ron, who were following the rest of the Gryffindors.
'That was a sweet song you were playing,' Harry said. He must have heard Epona's Song.
'Yeah, I know. So where are we're going?' Link asked.
'Gryffindor Tower. That's where our dormitories are. My brothers told me about it,' Ron said grumpily. He had 5 brothers, but only one sister.
The person at the front of the group of Gryffindors, Percy Weasley, stopped in front of a portrait of a fat woman in a pink dress.
'Password?' the Fat Lady said. Link was amazed to see the painting talk.
'Caput Draconis,' said Percy, and the Fat Lady's painting flipped up to reveal a hole, beyond which were several chairs and a fireplace. Percy climbed through the hole, and so did everyone else.
'The girls' dormitories are up this way,' Percy pointed out. 'And the boys' up here.'
Link climbed the staircase until her reached a door with a sign on it - First-Years. He opened the door and went in.
Six beds stood in the circular room, with piles of luggage next to each beds. Link recognised his chest and unlocked the special lock before taking his robes off. His good old Kokiri Tunic was underneath, and in his bag held three other Kokiri Tunics, plus Goron and Zora ones as well.
Link grabbed his bag and placed it in the chest - the bag was too lumpy and fragile to sleep on. Then he locked the chest and placed his sword and shield under his four-poster bed before the other boys came in.
'Cool room!' said Dean, another first-year, as he came in. He walked over to his bed, got something out of his trunk, and stuck a poster of his favourite soccer team up on the wall.
Ron, Harry, Neville and Seamus had all come into the room together. They got into their pyjamas, and hopped into bed before saying 'Goodnight.' Ron, however, thought of something.
'Link? Why aren't you going to put your pyjamas on?' he asked Link.
'I... don't have pyjamas,' he said truthfully.
'Right,' said Ron sarcastically, and he fell asleep.
Link sat on his bed, waiting for Kaepora to come with his Fairy Mask.
By that time, Hagrid had settled the full-size Epona into her "new" paddock. It obviously wasn't as big as Lon Lon Ranch's field, but it'd do.
Hagrid lay the Fairy Mask down on a barrel in front of his house. Kaepora swooped in immediately.
'There yeh are,' Hagrid said. 'Well? Grab it an' go. And tell Link goodnight again from me. Yeah, I've guessed that yeh can talk, and I'm going ter find out the truth tomorrow anyway. Goodnight to you.'
Kaepora hooted loudly, carefully grabbed the Fairy Mask in his beak, and flew off to Gryffindor Tower.
'Hoo, Link, here I am,' Kaepora said softly.
'Finally!' Link snatched the Mask from Kaepora, unlocked his chest again, and put the Mask in.
'So are you going to sleep here tonight or head off to the Owlery?' Link asked Kaepora.
'Stay here, I think. Just to keep an eye on you.'
'Alright then. Goodnight.' Link got into bed and fell asleep.
Kaepora woke up for a midnight snack. He flapped over to Link's bed to see if he could scrounge a lolly from Link's bag.
But Link was gone - the covers had been pulled off.
'Where is he? If he gets caught sneaking around, he'll be in so much trouble,' Kaepora thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next Chapter: What The Heck?!
Where the heck did Link go anyway?
Please review! It makes me feel special :)
~~~
a magical fanfic by charity236
Disclaimer: I didn't create Zelda or Harry Potter. Flames will be given to Rauru to melt his chocolate coins. Please R+R!
Chapter 2: Sword-Tricks and Scabbers
'Hoo! Wake up!'
'Aaahh!' Link shrieked and fell out of bed. Hagrid just snored louder.
Link looked at the clock on the wall. It read 5:30am.
'Geez it's early! Kaepora, why did you wake me up? I was having the best dream...'
'What? Zelda, Ruto, Malon, Saria and Nabooru all in the same room? Hooo!'
'No! Of course not!' Link said. He had the same dream he'd been having for weeks - he was pulling the Master Sword out of the Pedestal of Time.
'There's someone waiting downstairs for you. Hoo,' Kaepora hooted loudly.
'Be quiet Kaepora, I don't want anyone finding out you can talk!'
'Alright then. Come on, he's getting impatient. Hoo.'
Link and Kaepora slowly crept out of the room, leaving Hagrid to snore away.
Downstairs, a fire had already been lit, but not by the barman.
A person with red eyes, a blue and white bodysuit with a funny symbol on it, and a golden harp.
'Sheik! It's good to see you!' Link cried.
'Sssssshhhhh!' both Sheik and Kaepora warned.
'Sorry,' Link said. 'Anyway, how are you?'
'Fine, on the surface. There are many secrets that the Sheikah must hold.'
'Uh... great.'
'And you, Link?'
'Well, it's only the morning of my second day here and I'm homesick already!'
'Pity. But, I can make that homesickness go away...'
'How?' Link asked cautiously.
'With a song,' Sheik's eyes glittered, something which Link had rarely seen from him.
'Repeat this. It is just the Minuet of Forest with a different end.'
Sheik played (note: the following is written as if you were playing the game) A, C-Up, C-Left, C-Right, C-Left, C-Right, C-Up. Link did the same.
'Very well played. That is the Minuet of Returning. Whenever you wish, play that song to warp to your house. But be careful when using it - you may miss out on things that happen in the Human world.'
'Thanks, Zel- Sheik. Now I don't have to use that Floo Powder stuff to get home!'
'Don't call me Zelda!' Sheik's eye twinkled again. 'Goodbye, Link.'
'See you, Sheik.' Link waved as Sheik played the Minuet of Returning to go home, wherever that was. As soon as he had gone, the fire went out.
'Well, that was an interesting visit.' Link was grateful.
'Come on, we'd better get back to our room, hoo.' Kaepora didn't want anyone to know they'd been downstairs at 5:30 in the morning.
'Wake up, Link!!'
'Huh?' Link had a small nap - the clock now said 8:30. He had dreamt the exact same dream that he had earlier. Link had a sudden urge to play the Minuet of Returning so he could get the Sword, but the sight of Hagrid stopped him.
'Get up Link, it's time fer breakfast. We'll be headin' out for King's Cross at 10, which gives yeh plenty of time ter get on the train.'
Hagrid and Link went down to breakfast. Kaepora had flown off, probably to find some worms. Link enjoyed the sausages and eggs that Tom the barman served him.
When Link walked back up to his room alone (Hagrid wanted to talk with Tom a bit), he found Kaepora sitting on Link's bed.
'Hello Link, hoo. I've just been out to get some grub.'
'Hagrid and I had breakfast downstairs - he's having a drink with the barman,' Link grinned.
'You'd better get packed. Hagrid bought you a large chest to keep your Hogwarts stuff in.'
'What is this Hogwarts place, anyway? I'm still not sure about this.'
'[sigh] It's a giant castle, which is a school for magic,' Kaepora answered. 'There are lots of classes, like Potions, and Transfiguration - where you learn to turn stuff into something else.'
'Sounds pretty cool, then.'
'Yes.'
'What about my sword? Will I be able to use it?'
'Probably not in lessons, but lots of people will be interested. They will want to see you use it. And your Ocarina... I bet that hardly anyone at Hogwarts has ever HEARD of one, let alone seen one. Plus the rest of your weapons and items... they could be a target for thieves.'
'Have you ever heard of the Gerudo, Kaepora?' Link rolled his eyes. 'They are a bunch of thieves. And I stole from them four carpenters, and that Fireblizzard Sword (A/N: read Return to Hyrule for more info) from Ganondorf! How hard could it be to steal stuff back from other kids?!'
'It depends on how much magic they know.' Kaepora looked disgruntled.
'Anyway, there's a lock on this chest (he pulled it up onto the bed - it looked like a Boss Key chest) that no-one except the holder of my sword could break.' Link pointed at the keyhole - it had a lock for a normal key, but underneath was a hole for the Kokiri and Master Swords.
'All right already, just get packing. I can hear Hagrid walking up from his table now.' Kaepora hooted softly, then fell silent as Hagrid entered the room.
'Packin', are yeh? Good idea.' Hagrid sat down and read a copy of the Daily Prophet (the wizard newspaper) while Link packed his chest.
'Now, we gotta get ter King's Cross,' Hagrid informed Link when he was ready. 'Professor Dumbledore hired us a Ministry of Magic car to get there in. He said to 'em that he had a friend who was comin' to Hogwarts, but didn' know the way. And it's kinda true too.'
'Okay. Er, my owl will fly to this train station thing, I think HE knows the way,' Link said. Kaepora quietly said, 'Don't worry about me, I'll find you. You don't want to look more of a strange person, do you?'
Link growled softly, and picked his heavy chest up with ease.
'Isn' that a bit heavy for yer, Link?' asked Hagrid.
'Nope!' Link replied happily. He had his Golden Gauntlets on, but Hagrid hadn't noticed.
'That's weird,' thought Hagrid to himself. 'But then again, everything about him's weird. I even think his owl can talk!'
'Come on, the car is waiting for us.' Hagrid got up and made for the door.
'Hagrid? What's a "car"?'
'Blimey! Yeh don' even know what a car is?' Hagrid was extremely shocked.
'I'll tell you why I don't know about this weird stuff later, Hagrid. When we get to Hogwarts.'
'Oh, if that's how yer feel. Anyway, a car is a... well, it's made outta metal, and has wheels. You can get in it and drive it around to get to where yeh need to go.'
The odd pair walked down the stairs. Hagrid said a brief goodbye to Tom the barman, then went over to yet another door.
Link walked through, and a noisy road met his shocked eyes. It was almost nothing like the simple dirt paths of Hyrule Field. There were "cars" everywhere.
'Aaahh!' cried Link and he almost ran back through the door. Hagrid grabbed his shirt just in time and pulled him over.
'Don't be frightened. It's just a road filled with cars and trucks and motorcycles and buses and such.'
A dark green car sat next to the kerb. A wizard got out and opened the door.
'Well Link, get in!' said Hagrid, and gave Link a little push.
'Oof!' Link gasped, winded. 'Did you call that a little push?'
'Yeah,' laughed Hagrid before he got in himself and put the seatbelt on. He had to give Link some help, though.
'Last stop, King's Cross Station,' the driver announced after about half an hour. Hagrid and Link stepped out of the car quickly.
By 10:35, Link had found a trolley for his chest (even though he didn't need it) and Hagrid had led him down to the station. He gave Link his ticket.
It said to be on Platform 9 & Three Quarters, but Link only saw Platform 9 and 10.
'Where's Platform 9 & Three Quarters?' Link asked Hagrid, but he had gone. Disappeared.
'Damn it!' He kicked at the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10, and his foot passed through thin air. It disappeared for a moment.
'Huh?' Link got his Lens of Truth out from his bag and used it - there was a door just there! A sign above it said "Platform 9 & Three Quarters".
'Yes, I found it!' Link walked through the barrier, careful to not let anyone see him, for he was already being stared at.
There were many people on the small platform. A big red smoking thing sat on rails - the train, Link supposed.
'Hoo hoot!'
An owl came swooping down at Link.
'Aaahh! No wait, that's just Kaepora. Come on, I need to get on this train thing.'
By this time, it was 5 to 11.
Link scrambled up on the train - Kaepora had opened the door for him - and pulled his treasure chest up.
'Now you have to find a compartment, you know,' Kaepora hooted.
Link looked around the train, but all the compartments were taken, except the last one.
'Hello, can I sit here?' Link asked the first person he saw in the compartment, a black-haired kid with glasses. Next to him was a boy with red hair, who was staring at the other boy.
'Sure you can,' the black-haired boy replied.
'Come on, Kaepora,' Link called, and Kaepora flew in and landed on one of the seats. Link followed him, and put his chest on the rack above before sitting down.
The red-head kept his eyes on the black-haired boy, who was looking at Link.
'Who are you?' Link asked the boys.
'I'm Ron Weasley,' the red-head exclaimed when he realised a question had been asked of him.
'Harry Potter,' the other boy greeted.
'Really? A girl in Diagon Alley told me a bit about you...' Link raised his eyebrows. '...Oh, I'm Link.'
Harry and Ron nodded, allowing Link to go on.
'That's my owl, Kaepora,' Link continued, pointing at the large owl. 'Don't ask about his name. And he doesn't like cages, if you wanted to know.'
'Um, hello Kaepora,' said Ron. He swore Kaepora had said 'hello' back. Harry got up to pat the big owl.
Link took off his sword and shield and laid them on the seat next to Kaepora.
'I like that sword,' Harry complimented.
'Thanks.' Link was a bit nervous.
'Why do you have that stuff anyway?'
'Long story, I'll tell you at Hogwarts.' Link said. 'It's kinda got something to do with my mother, and... yeah.'
'Your mother? What happened to her?'
'She died when I was about one, and I never knew my father.'
'Oh,' Harry nodded. 'Orphan like me.'
There was a long silence.
'So Harry, what house do you want to be in?' Ron asked.
'Houses?'
'Yeah. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. All my family's in Gryffindor, but I suppose Ravenclaw woudn't be too bad,' Ron said.
Link agreed, but something distracted him for a moment. A Triforce mark had appeared on the back of his left hand. Link was about to put the hand in his pocket, when the mark disappeared.
'Link? Are you alright?' Harry had been watching him - luckily he hadn't seen the Triforce.
'Fine. Just fine,' Link said. 'How about a sword demonstration?'
Harry and Ron were awestruck as Link pulled all the stops out on an invisible enemy. Halfway through the mini show, the door of the compartment opened.
'Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one,' said a bushy-haired girl. A worried boy was behind her.
'Hermione!' Link exclaimed.
'Oh Link, hello,' Hermione replied.
'She's the girl I met in Diagon Alley,' Link informed to Harry and Ron.
Ron was about to say that he hadn't seen any toads, when Hermione saw Link holding the sword in mid-stab.
'You still got that sword? Hogwarts students aren't allowed,' she said.
'I'm excused from that rule, if it exists. Ask Dumbledore if you want!' said Link in a joking tone, but he knew it wasn't a laughing matter. He needed it at his side at all times, no matter what the situation was.
'Well, sorry.' Hermione watched Link, who started performing again.
'Wicked! I'm going to watch too!' said Neville, the boy who had lost his toad. Hermione sat down as well, resigned to watching the outstanding tricks.
'I'm Hermione Granger, who are you?' she asked Harry and Ron.
'Ron Weasley.'
'Harry Potter.'
'Really?' Hermione's eyes rose to see Harry's forehead for a moment. 'I read about you in... too many books to remember.'
'So who are you?' Link asked Neville.
'I'm Neville Longbottom. Don't laugh at my name.'
'Nice to meet you - I'm Link. Just Link. I know my name's weird, but I can't help that. Oh, and Kaepora, would you like to hop down?' For Kaepora had been nestling on the luggage rack, but when he heard Link say to come down, he did so.
'This is Kaepora.'
'You must have trained him very well,' said Neville. 'Unlike my toad, Trevor. He keeps getting away from me!'
'Well... yeah, I trained Kaepora good. Took me ages.' Kaepora gave Link a sour look.
'Come on, can you do some more tricks?' Neville asked.
'Alright then.' This time, Link pulled out the sword-wand, which he had named Triforce.
'Is that your wand?' Hermione asked curiously.
'Yes. It was custom-made.'
'Really?'
'Actually, I have no idea who it was really made for. But Mr Ollivander sensed that I should have it.'
'Can I take a closer look?' Hermione asked. Link passed it to her, and everyone crowded round to see it.
'What's this triangle thing on the end?' Harry asked.
'Um... hey, do you want me to do some magic? I only know one spell which Mr Ollivander taught me.' And at the look on Hermione's face, he continued, 'I got my Hogwarts stuff yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to look at the books.'
Link grabbed the wand back from Hermione, cleared his throat, then said 'Orchideous!' Just like Mr Ollivander's wand did, a bunch of red roses burst out from the tip of the sword-wand.
'Nice. Are you going to give those roses to someone?' Hermione asked.
'Um, a friend of mine,' said Link. The friend who had helped him to seal Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm. Princess Zelda.
'Ooh, who's your friend?' asked Neville.
'Her name's Zelda,' said Link, wondering how much he should reveal about his life.
'Sounds like a witch,' Harry said.
'Can I try that spell too?' asked Ron.
'Sure! It isn't copyrighted or anything!' Link joked as he put the roses into his bag.
After 5 minutes, everyone in the compartment had mastered the Orchideous spell. There were flower bunches everywhere.
'Come on Link! Slash some!' Neville urged.
'Okay! Who wants to hold a bunch while I cut it with my sword?' Harry, being very brave, had a go first.
Swipe!
'Wow!' Harry was impressed. The bunch had been cut through several places in only four seconds before it fell to the carpeted floor. And Harry hadn't even been scratched.
Soon everyone was holding the flowers while Link cut them.
After about half and hour, there was a knock on the door. Link opened it. A plump witch was pushing a trolley along - full of food and drinks. Link wanted to buy some Lon Lon Milk and Triforce-shaped cookies, but they didn't have either. Instead there was a wide variety of other things, including Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs and Whizzing Fizzbees. Harry (he had a lot of money, thanks to his bank vault) and Link almost bought everything. The only thing Link didn't get was pumpkin juice. 'Yuck!' he thought.
Link, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Kaepora (he wanted some) enjoyed eating the sweets. Neville got a surprise when he opened a Chocolate Frog, but instead of a frog, he found his toad, Trevor!
'Trevor!' cried Neville, and hugged him.
After everyone was full, there were still a lot of sweets left. They split them evenly and put them in their cases (except Link, who got out his magic wallet and shoved them in). Kaepora just ate his on the spot.
All of a sudden, the compartment door opened yet again.
Three boys entered. Two were really heavy-set, while the third was thin and pale.
The pale boy asked, 'Everyone's saying that Harry Potter's in this compartment, along with a nut who does sword tricks.'
'You're that kid who I talked to in the robe shop at Diagon Alley!' Harry exclaimed.
'So you're Potter.'
'Yes. And he's Link, the "nut who does sword tricks",' Harry pointed at Link, who blushed.
'Scared are you?'
'No,' Link said. Link could actually FEEL the Triforce mark appearing on his hand this time. He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled the Kokiri Sword out from its sheath again.
'I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. And this is Crabbe and Goyle.' Malfoy pointed to the two boys behind him. 'So, fairy boy -' (Malfoy had seen Navi by this time) '- going to chop me up like mince meat are you?'
'You wish,' Ron snarled. He and Harry clenched their fists. Link got his sword ready for battle.
'No, Link! If you kill him, you'll surely get EXPELLED!!' Hermione shrieked.
'You make that sound like a bad thing,' Malfoy sneered.
'Well it is, you-'
'Shut up Hermione! I don't want you to get into this fight too,' Link growled. 'And you, Malfoy, get lost or you taste sword.' He got ready to slap Malfoy with the flat of the blade. 'One more peep from you-'
'HOOOO!'
'OUCH!'
'Get that bloody owl off me!'
'A rat's trying to bite my finger off! Help!'
Kaepora had swooped onto Malfoy's head, ruining his hair (Harry thought he must have taken hours to put hair gel on it) and scratching him. Ron's rat, Scabbers, had bitten Goyle's finger.
'Shoo!' Dumb Crabbe was trying to knock Kaepora off Malfoy's head and pull Scabbers off Goyle's finger at the same time - no easy task.
Kaepora, who seemed to think that Malfoy had learnt his lesson, glided back to the luggage rack. Malfoy pulled Scabbers off Goyle and threw the old rat. He hit the window and fell to the floor. Hermione poked him.
'He's not fainted,' she said. Ron came over too. He listened to him then exclaimed, 'I don't belive it - he's gone back to sleep! Then again... that's all he does anyway.'
'Come on Crabbe, Goyle,' Malfoy said and they left.
'Now he's gone, why don't we tell each other about our family and stuff?' Neville said. Ron and Hermione happily joined in, cross-legged on the floor, but Link and Harry didn't have family. Or at least their mums and dads.
'Who looks after you?' Link asked Harry.
'[shudder] My Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley. I hate them all, and they hate me too. Just because I can do magic - they hate the stuff,' Harry grumbled.
'I have no family that I know of at all,' Link said sadly.
'Poor you.'
'Well... there's a talking tree that looks after me,' Link said (Harry raised an eyebrow). 'And several kids, but Mido isn't very helpful. Saria's nice, though.'
'Saria? Who's she?' Harry asked.
'My best friend. We hang out all the time, in the forest.' Link stopped to glance at Ron, Hermione and Neville. They had stopped chatting, and were listening to him talk.
'What?' Link demanded.
'Oh, uh, nothing.' Ron looked away.
'Anyway, Saria taught me how to play the Ocarina,' Link went on.
'What's an ocarina?' everyone except Link, Kaepora and Navi asked (she had fallen asleep on the seat).
'I'll show you.' Link pulled out his Ocarina of Time.
'Do you know any songs?' Hermione asked, intrigued.
'Sure I do.' Link started playing Saria's Song.
Everyone except Link, Kaepora and Navi got up and started dancing.
'Geez, I didn't realise that would happen,' Link said sheepishly.
~Link, is that you?~ Saria asked.
'Sssshh! I'm in the Human world, on a train, with 4 other people in this room!' Link hissed below the music (he had set the Ocarina on Auto-Play). 'I didn't mean to call for you, I just wanted to play the Ocarina.'
~Oh. Okay then. Don't worry, I'm here to talk whenever you want. Goodbye Link.~
Link set the Ocarina back to Manual-Play and started playing again.
'Is there a [puff] more relaxing song you know?' Hermione asked - she was red in the face.
'Sure. I just hope you don't fall asleep!' said Link. No-one except Kaepora knew what he was talking about.
Link pushed his lips up to the Ocarina and started playing the Goron Lullaby.
His four new friends fell asleep almost at once.
Link talked to Kaepora about his masks for about half an hour, and once Neville stirred, Kaepora fell silent.
Neville woke up. 'I'm sure I heard that owl of yours talking to you about Zotas and Gurons and Dokus or something while I was asleep. I'm sure of it,' he said. 'By the way, what happened? It's dark outside now!' Neville looked at his watch. '5:30?!' He rubbed his eyes to check if they were working properly, accepted the fact that it was dark, then attempted to wake up Ron and Hermione, to no avail.
'Let Kaepora help, Neville,' Link said, and Kaepora let loose a gigantic HOOT that would have woken Talon from the other side of the world.
'Aaaahh!' screamed Ron.
'Shush, it's just Kaepora.'
'Are we there yet?' Harry asked sleepily.
'I'll ask the driver. You all get into your robes,' said Hermione (she already had hers on). She walked out.
All they had to do was slip the robes on. Link put his own robes on, then slid his sword and shield strap over his shoulder. He fastened the top of the robes with a special gold Triforce button. Ron must have noticed, because he said, 'Why do you have that triangle thing everywhere? It's on your robes, your shield, you wand, even... your hand.'
'My h-hand?!' Link looked at it. The Triforce mark had appeared again. 'It's just a temporary tattoo.' Link rubbed it on his robes. It disappeared. 'See? It was about to come off anyway.'
'But why do you have it in so many places?' Ron asked.
'It's... it's the symbol of my country.'
'Okay.' Link could tell that Ron didn't believe him.
By the time the train had stopped, Link was thoroughly bored.
'Oh good! We're finally here!' he cried.
'I think we have to leave our stuff on the train,' said Ron.
'Whatever. See you Kaepora.'
'Hoo. Goodbye,' the owl said softly.
The train station was packed with Hogwarts students. A loud voice yelled, 'Firs' years over here!' It was Hagrid. Link ran over to him, with Harry, Hermione and Ron in hot pursuit (Neville had lost Trevor again and was trying to find him).
'Hello Harry. Link! How are yeh? I see yeh made some friends, eh?'
'Yep!'
'You four, meet me at my cabin tomorrow mornin'. It's Sunday tomorrow so you get a day ter look around Hogwarts, and I got a bone ter pick with yer, Link. I want ter ask a few questions, and I'm sure yer friends feel the same.'
'Okay? All firs' years here? Righty, let's get movin'!' Hagrid said. Link followed him. 'No more'n four to a boat!' Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville scrambled into the nearest boat, but Link was smaller than most of them, so he got in too. Hagrid had a boat all to himself.
Hagrid yelled 'Row!' and the boats sailed over the water slowly.
A few minutes later, Hagrid yelled out again.
'Round this turn and you'll get yer first sight of Hogwarts!'
Link thought it was amazing, but would never take the place of Hyrule Castle.
Once inside the wonderful castle, the first years were sorted into alphabetical order of names by Professor McGonagall.
'Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will start in a moment, but before you sit down, you must be Sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony at Hogwarts, 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.
'The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each has its own noble history and have produced outstanding witches and wizards. While here, your triumphs will earn house points, but rule-breaking will lose them. 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 start in a few minutes, in front of the entire school. Please use this waiting time to smarten yourselves up a bit. I will return when we are ready.'
Neville refastened his cloak (it was hanging off his ear), Ron rubbed his dirty nose and Harry tried to flatten his fringe. Link decided to shove Navi back into his bag.
After a short wait, McGonagall came back. She beckoned the first-years to follow her, and she pushed the wooden doors of the Great Hall open.
Link had almost never seen such a beautiful room, maybe excepting the Chamber of Sages. Thousands of candles, which hovered above everything, lit the room. A few hundred students sat at the four long tables. A shorter table stood at the front of the hall, where the teachers sat. McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they were facing the four house tables. Many faces were looking at Harry or Link (or both) with extreme interest.
To avoid the staring eyes, Link looked up. The ceiling looked exactly like the sky outside. Wow, thought Link. He looked back down just in time to see McGonagall walk back in with a four-legged stool, which she placed in front of the first years, then put an extremely old and frayed wizard hat on top of it. She walked up to the teacher's table, then the hat began to sing.
'What the...?' Link wondered.
After the song had finished (it had told of how the first years must put on the hat to be Sorted), everyone clapped loudly.
McGonagall stepped up again, this time with a long scroll.
'When I call your name, put on the hat and sit on the stool to be Sorted,' she said.
After a few minutes, McGonagall called up the first of Link's new friends, Hermione. The hat yelled 'Gryffindor!' as fast as she had put it on. Ron groaned a bit.
A few minutes later, Link was called up. He could hear much whispering from the students behind him. He thought he heard Malfoy say, 'That's the fairy kid who does sword tricks!'
Link walked up to the stool, grabbed the hat and put it on before sitting down.
'Why hello there,' said a small voice in Link's pointy ear. It was the Sorting Hat. 'Hmmmm. Difficult, very... You've got a good mind in there, a fair bit of talent - maybe too much?' Link blushed. 'Oh, and what's this? A weird triangle thing... Courage, I see. An enormous amount. So where should you go?'
'Not Slytherin, NOT SLYTHERIN!' Link whispered to the hat. A small voice coming from his bag said, 'Good on you, Link!'
'Why not?' said the hat. 'Everything's there. I reckon you'd do good in Slytherin - but your spirit don't want that, oh no. Are you sure about this?'
'Yes,' whispered Link.
'Fine then, you're in GRYFFINDOR!' the hat shouted the last word.
'All right!' Link got up and walked over to the Gryffindor table. Malfoy jeered, 'Loser! Sword-fighting loser!' Ron almost punched him.
Link sat down next to Hermione. 'Well done!' she said as Neville was named a Gryffindor as well. 'I had a feeling you'd be in Gryffindor!'
'Gee, thanks,' Link said, bashful. Maybe it was just his Triforce of Courage that made him say not Slytherin...
'Potter, Harry!' yelled McGonagall.
'What?'
'Harry Potter?'
'Potter?'
'THE Potter?' People were whispering much more about Harry than they had about Link.
After about a minute, Harry was chosen for Gryffindor too. Then there was a short wait before Ron's turn. Being a Weasley, he was declared a Gryffindor.
'Isn't it strange that all of us ended up in Gryffindor?' Link asked his friends. They agreed, but Harry didn't feel like telling them that he would have done well in Slytherin. Just like Link would have.
Suddenly a hush fell over the tables. The Sorting Hat had gone, and an old man with a long beard and hair, who was wearing half-moon glasses, got up. Link supposed he was Dumbledore.
'Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! I would like to give a few notices before we tuck into our delicious feast,' Dumbledore said. Link looked at the plates in front of him, but they were empty. Not a single crumb of food.
'First years should know that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students,' Dumbledore continued. 'And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.' His eyes flashed in the direction of Ron's mischievious twin brothers, Fred and George.
'Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes.
'Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should talk to Madam Hooch.
'And finally, this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out-of-bounds to anyone and everyone who doesn't wish to die an extremely painful death.'
Harry laughed, but was one of the few who did.
'Now, tuck in!' Dumbledore yelled.
'Yay!' Link cried, and grabbed a bit of everything within his reach except pumpkin juice. Instead he got out some more Lon Lon Milk and poured some out.
'What's that?' Hermione asked.
'It's really good milk,' replied Link cautiously, careful not to let too much info out. 'Not like in the factories. Would you like to try some?'
Hermione had a small taste. 'Mmmm, this is delicious!'
'I know, maybe I should ask Dumbledore to get the tables to have some on the table tomorrow?'
Harry and Ron were talking to a ghost, who had just arrived.
'Hello there! I'm Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the resident ghost of Gryffindor,' he said.
'I know you!' said a sandy-haired kid named Seamus. 'You're Nearly Headless Nick!'
'I would prefer you to call me Sir Nichol-'
'Nearly Headless? How are you nearly headless?' Link asked.
'Like this,' Nick said in annoyance, and pulled his head off his neck. Someone must have tried to chop his head off, but didn't do it properly.
'Eeeeww!' squealed Hermione. Link felt a bit sick.
When everyone had finished eating, the last of the food disappeared from the golden plates, leaving them sparkling like before. Then dessert arrived. Ice-cream bins of hundreds of different flavours, pies, tarts, eclairs and donuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding.
Link tucked into almost everything chocolate. 'Good stuff, eh?' he asked Ron through a mouthful of chocolate mud cake.
The talk turned to families again.
'My gran brought me up and she's a witch,' said Neville, 'but my family thought I was Muggle for ages. Great Uncle Algie kept catching me off guard - he pushed me off Blackpool pier once, I almost drowned - but nothing happened until I was eight. My uncle was hanging me out of an upstairs window from my ankles when Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he let go of me. But I bounced - all the way down the garden and onto the road. Great Uncle Algie was so happy he bought me Trevor.' Neville held Trevor the toad up. Link laughed.
After a long while, when Link had finally finished his chocolate pudding along with a few big eaters around the room, Dumbledore got up again as the food vanished.
'Has everyone had a good eat?' he asked. Some people nodded or said 'Yeah!'
'You've got a day to walk around freely tomorrow. But now it's time for bed. Chop chop!'
As Hagrid got up from the top table, Link ran up to him.
'Hello again! Did yeh have a nice feed?' he asked.
'Yes Hagrid. I was wondering, could you look after my horse for me?'
'Horse?! You never mentioned anything about a horse before!'
'I didn't mean to. Just... take this fairy, and when you get back to your cabin, take the mask off her, will you? My owl will come over to bring the mask back to me,' Link explained as he pulled Epona out of his wallet (he'd put her there for safe-keeping).
What?! Hagrid thought. A fairy-sized horse? Or is it just a toy? A trick?
'And no, it's not a joke, if that's what you were thinking,' Link said.
'Alright, Link. I'll take this horse. What's her name, anyway?'
'Epona. Sing this song to make her happy.' Link pulled his Ocarina out again and played Epona's Song.
Hagrid thought that a song wouldn't cheer Epona up, but the fairy-horse flew out of his hand and nuzzled Link's cheek.
'Come here... Epona,' Hagrid said doubtfully. 'Goodnight, Link. And don't forget to come to my cabin tomorrow.'
'Goodnight Hagrid,' said Link, and played the Song of Soaring to let Kaepora know to get the Fairy Mask back from Hagrid.
Link ran to catch up with Harry and Ron, who were following the rest of the Gryffindors.
'That was a sweet song you were playing,' Harry said. He must have heard Epona's Song.
'Yeah, I know. So where are we're going?' Link asked.
'Gryffindor Tower. That's where our dormitories are. My brothers told me about it,' Ron said grumpily. He had 5 brothers, but only one sister.
The person at the front of the group of Gryffindors, Percy Weasley, stopped in front of a portrait of a fat woman in a pink dress.
'Password?' the Fat Lady said. Link was amazed to see the painting talk.
'Caput Draconis,' said Percy, and the Fat Lady's painting flipped up to reveal a hole, beyond which were several chairs and a fireplace. Percy climbed through the hole, and so did everyone else.
'The girls' dormitories are up this way,' Percy pointed out. 'And the boys' up here.'
Link climbed the staircase until her reached a door with a sign on it - First-Years. He opened the door and went in.
Six beds stood in the circular room, with piles of luggage next to each beds. Link recognised his chest and unlocked the special lock before taking his robes off. His good old Kokiri Tunic was underneath, and in his bag held three other Kokiri Tunics, plus Goron and Zora ones as well.
Link grabbed his bag and placed it in the chest - the bag was too lumpy and fragile to sleep on. Then he locked the chest and placed his sword and shield under his four-poster bed before the other boys came in.
'Cool room!' said Dean, another first-year, as he came in. He walked over to his bed, got something out of his trunk, and stuck a poster of his favourite soccer team up on the wall.
Ron, Harry, Neville and Seamus had all come into the room together. They got into their pyjamas, and hopped into bed before saying 'Goodnight.' Ron, however, thought of something.
'Link? Why aren't you going to put your pyjamas on?' he asked Link.
'I... don't have pyjamas,' he said truthfully.
'Right,' said Ron sarcastically, and he fell asleep.
Link sat on his bed, waiting for Kaepora to come with his Fairy Mask.
By that time, Hagrid had settled the full-size Epona into her "new" paddock. It obviously wasn't as big as Lon Lon Ranch's field, but it'd do.
Hagrid lay the Fairy Mask down on a barrel in front of his house. Kaepora swooped in immediately.
'There yeh are,' Hagrid said. 'Well? Grab it an' go. And tell Link goodnight again from me. Yeah, I've guessed that yeh can talk, and I'm going ter find out the truth tomorrow anyway. Goodnight to you.'
Kaepora hooted loudly, carefully grabbed the Fairy Mask in his beak, and flew off to Gryffindor Tower.
'Hoo, Link, here I am,' Kaepora said softly.
'Finally!' Link snatched the Mask from Kaepora, unlocked his chest again, and put the Mask in.
'So are you going to sleep here tonight or head off to the Owlery?' Link asked Kaepora.
'Stay here, I think. Just to keep an eye on you.'
'Alright then. Goodnight.' Link got into bed and fell asleep.
Kaepora woke up for a midnight snack. He flapped over to Link's bed to see if he could scrounge a lolly from Link's bag.
But Link was gone - the covers had been pulled off.
'Where is he? If he gets caught sneaking around, he'll be in so much trouble,' Kaepora thought.
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Next Chapter: What The Heck?!
Where the heck did Link go anyway?
Please review! It makes me feel special :)
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