Six Years Later
The forest hummed in content until a lone owl broke the silence, swooping down to a disheveled, dirty, and vicious child. Dropping its letter it soared away, never once thinking more of the child, just knowing it had done its job. The boy, known as Harry Potter to the wizarding world, stared at the envelope. He remembered how to read, it had just been a long time. He wondered how the people found him. Or that matter the owl. He constantly moved around, never staying in one place for very long. It was hard living on your own in a forest, but somehow the boy had survived. Even if it was the forbidden forest.
Young Harry was always hiding from the people that entered what he deemed as his forest. A half giant called Hagrid, an old man referred to as Albus, and a scary looking man always dressed in black referred to as Severus. There were also two, dog like people, one called Padfoot and the other Moony. He trusted none of them. Harry also avoided the centaurs and the acromantulas. He didn't want anything in this forest that could talk to tell these strangers about him. The only problem was, they were not the only ones who came. Sometimes others would come, calling his name because they seemed to know he was in there. He would not be fooled. They didn't care.
Although he had lost all trust in humanity, Harry was still very much human and as such truly wanted to learn more about these people and that castle that was located when one left the forest. He had decided that when all the small humans came back, he would make an appearance. If only for a little while. As we all know, curiosity killed the cat and unfortunately, young Harry was very much like a cat. A vicious, carnivorous, dangerous cat, but a cat nonetheless.
Many weeks passed and still the boy waited. He knew that it would not be very much longer and that excited him. Harry wondered what the little people were like. He was not apt to trust them, but they did not seem nearly as dangerous as his "family" had been. Sure, they hurt one another, but it was always healed, apologies were given, and it was never to the extent he had suffered. His anxiety was surmounting, but he knew it would be well worth the wait. If it proved to be a total disaster, he always had the forest to come back to.
Finally the day had come. The little ones had arrived, looking nervous, scared, excited, and quite a few other emotions that Harry did not understand. He didn't truly have a definite grasp on these emotions. His sight was immediately drawn to flaming red hair on a rather tall, gangly looking young person. He was intrigued, use to the black hair of himself, Hagrid, and Severus and the white hair of Albus. Red was not really a color Harry saw unless it was blood.
Silently the boy followed in the shadows, watching as they entered the grand castle, watching the looks of awe on their faces. Lining up, they listened to a rather harsh sounding woman whose mouth was set in such a thin line, Harry was sure it would disappear completely. She explained about the four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. She then told about the points awarded and taken from the houses for behaviors and what not and how in the end the house with the most points won the house cup.
For a short period of time, the children were left on their own. Some were talking amongst themselves, trying valiantly to figure out how one was sorted or what house they wanted to be in. Harry did not care what house he was in, just as long as they let him stay. He heard a few people mention how Harry Potter was to start this year, but they had been unable to locate him to get him to come. He heard that many were rather interested in meeting him, but he did not care. At that time, the doors to the Great Hall opened and the first years were led in. Harry, staying as much to the shadows as possible, followed.
He watched the hat as it sang, in awe of it. He then listened to the sorting. Once it reached Draco Malfoy, he knew at once he did not want to be in Slytherin. That boy seemed conceited and full of himself and that could be seen just by looking at his face. Once everyone was sorted, he saw Albus stand to address the students.
"Welcome! Welcome! I'm pleased to see the number of new students we have this year, but I believe there is one more to be sorted." At this, Harry was extremely startled. How had he known he was here? "If he would please step out of the shadows, he could introduce himself and be sorted into his house." At this, the boy did step out of the shadows. Everyone gasped, no one had noticed him until now. Taking in his filthy body, long, tangled locks of the darkest imaginable black hair, and wild emerald green eyes, they wondered if they wanted to know him. They feared that he might attack.
With slight trepidation Harry approached the old man at the table. "Boy, do you know who I am?"
"Albus," said boy grunted.
Smiling, with a twinkle in his merry blue eyes he replied, "Yes, I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Who might you be young lad?"
"Harry," he grunted again.
"Ah well, Harry is it? Do you have a last name to go along with that prestigious first?" He said with a slight chuckle.
"Potter. Harry Potter," he replied. Stunned gasps flew out of just about every mouth in the room. The twinkle in the man's eyes dimmed.
He replied, "I feared as much. I was right then in my assumption that you lived in the Forbidden Forest these past six years?" A nod was his only answer. Young Harry turned his head from side to side, as if examining the strange creature in front of him. "Well then, Harry Potter, are you ready to be sorted?" Again, he only received a nod. "Ah, a boy of few words I see. Well, on with the sorting! Please sit on the stool and place the sorting hat on your head Mr. Potter. We will soon know where to put you!"
Warily Harry sat on the stool, allowing the hat to be placed on his head. All he could see was darkness for the hat obscured all sight. He about jumped a foot in the air when a voice started to speak into his head, which he then placed as the sorting hat's voice. "Very difficult indeed! Hmm, plenty of courage, no doubt about that! Extremely cunning and sly and will go to any end to get done what is needed. Most definitely not Hufflepuff material. I do believe you would kill and eat them. Extremely intelligent! Hmm, I would sorely love to put you in either Gryffindor or Slytherin, but I believe you do not have the patients to deal with people who will want to pry into your life. The only problem is that Ravenclaw will want to study you as though you are a wild animal, which by all means you are," when said, the boy snarled viciously, drawing gasps from most. "Well, it had better be GRYFFINDOR!" With that said, the hat was removed from his head.
Standing at the front, he had no clue where to go or what it meant. Everyone was gapping at him. All were thinking along the same line, he was to be with the Gryffindors? Was the hat mad? They weren't even sure if he was able to actually get along with anybody without killing or attacking them. The general consensus of the school was that they were glad they did not get stuck with him in their house.
"Ah, congratulations Mr. Potter! I was wondering, if you know me, are there any others here you already know?," the headmaster asked.
"Hn. Severus, Hagrid, Moony, and Padfoot," he replied absently, starring at Moony and Padfoot at this very moment. The people he mentioned were gapping at him like fish and when he noticed the raised eyebrows and questioning looks, he sighed exasperatedly and decided a further explanation was needed. "I hunted you all each time you came. Hagrid was deemed too large to bring down, Albus too old to eat, Moony was a werewolf so that was a no. The only one I did consider eating was Padfoot, but then I decided he was much too hyper and I probably would not be able to catch him. Besides, he and Moony seem familiar. Oh, and no offense, Severus is just too greasy and strong in appearance."
"YOU WERE GOING TO EAT US?!?," were the enraged and shocked comments from everyone mentioned, including Dumbledore.
Looking at them as if they were mad, he replied "Of course I was! It's tiring eating the same thing over and over and you all seemed like a good idea. Besides, I don't like you. Any of you. What stopped me from eating you were the little people here. They seem to rely on you. I don't understand why. They seem capable of taking care of themselves, but you all are untrustworthy."
At this, everyone looked at the boy and wondered what kind of life he lived if he believed that they were all untrustworthy and if he would attempt to eat them any time soon. They then knew to be very wary of this new, young ward of Hogwarts.
"Well then! Now that this excitement is over, why don't you go and sit at the Gryffindor table. After dinner, we will have a nice discussion on when we can go get the supplies for your schooling. Yes, yes, very important indeed," Albus said.
Harry's brows furrowed. Just how was he supposed to know which table to go to? Then it hit him, the redheaded child went to that house as well. He'd just have to locate him and then he'd know where he was supposed to be. With that plan in mind, the boy scoured over every student, making them wonder what on earth he was looking for. They all hoped it wasn't dinner. Then he found the hair, but there were four people with that hair. He recognized one though as the boy of his search. He walked over to the Gryffindor table and plopped down on the ground next to it.
Titters of laughter rang out around the hall by this action, but were quickly quailed under a vicious scowl and an animalistic snarl from the boy. The blood child, as Harry deemed him, leaned over and whispered "hmm, mate, you're..ah..suppose to sit in the chairs, not the floor. How else are you goin to get to the food?" Frowning, Harry stood up and looked warily at the chair, as though it would bite him and gingerly sat down. "Names Ron, by the way. Just thought you ought to know. If you need help getting used to things, I can help. It looks to me as though you're a little lost."
When the food arrived, Harry about jumped out of his skin. He didn't understand how the food could just appear like that. He also was not sure as to whether he wanted to eat any of it or not. There was meat, but it did not look familiar to him. Deciding that he wanted to play it safe, he tried everything that Ron ate. Not sure if it was a good decision or not, he plunged ahead and decided he definitely liked the meat better this way than the way he ate it. It wasn't nearly as bloody and foul tasting.