I feel like I am in a daze,
Like I am buzzing off some wine,
As if the fates are trying to tell me
Something is very wrong,
And I just don't know it yet.
The three of them will watch me
Stumbling through live,
And as one of there sick jokes
They will throw me a curve ball,
And laugh as I struggle through it.
That is why the fates are so cruel.
-MostEvilKitten 'The Fates'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hate is A Powerful Thing
Chapter Nine: Not as Dead as I Feel
By: MostEvilKitten
The train had stop at Hogsmeade station a while ago and they could hear everyone get off the train. Harry watched out the window as Hagrid took the first years towards the boats. Then he watched the older students piled into the horseless carriages Pansy and Draco had explained to Harry how they manager to come into the compartment and was stuck there until the spells on the door wore off.
As the last carriage full of students headed for the castle the door swung open with a bang. All three of them looked at the door happily. They wanted out of the stuffy compartment. They walk out of the compartment just as the old lady is the food cart came down the isle making sure that everyone was off.
"You three need to hurry before all the carriages leave you." she began, but suddenly stopped when she saw Harry standing there. She became as white as a sheet and fainted dead away.
"Well I guess we better hurry then." Said Pansy as she stepped over the fainted form of the food crate lady. Harry watched in shock as Pansy walked away without a care and Draco followed close behind her. He stood there for a few minutes more before shaking his head and following them off the train.
When Harry got off the train he notice that there was still one carriage left for them and that Pansy and Draco were already climbing into it. Harry stood there for a moment looking around the stations. It was completely empty. Not a soul in sight. A slight breeze past by and Harry noticed a small piece of parchment slowly float towards him carried on the breeze.
The parchment landed at his feet and he looked down at it curiously before keeping it up and reading it. It was an announcement that there would be a funeral for him the next day and that everyone at Hogwarts was welcome to attend.
'So Draco and Pansy were telling me the truth then.' He thought to himself as he looked back at the carriage just in time to see Draco's head pop out of the window to look for him. When Draco saw that Harry was standing back on the platform he waved Harry towards the carriage so that they could be on their way. 'What am I going to do about everyone when they realize that I am not dead?' He began to panic.
He left as if the whole world was caving in on him. Suddenly his knees gave out from under him and the next thing he knew was that he was sitting on the hard wooden floor of the platform. Draco who had been watching this jumped out of the carriage and ran towards Harry.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked as he went to help Harry off the floor. Harry shook his head. No, he wasn't all right, how could any of this be all right. His friends and family thought he was death. He had been missing for over a month and even he didn't know where he was. He had been living with abusive relatives all his life and Dumbledore knew about it. How could this be all right?
For a moment he just sat there and stared at the parchment announcing to everyone that he was death. He read it over a couple of times. The writing sound so formal as if whoever wrote it was writing something like a newspaper article that really didn't matter to anyone. Would anyone actually attend his funeral? Would they cry over him? Why would they cry over a murderer?
He had zoned out so much that he didn't even realized that Draco was moving him towards the carriage until he was actually in the seat and they had started towards the school. When he came back to reality he looked up at the two Slytherins who were looking at him in worry whispering to each other about things and Harry didn't even bother to try and listen to what they were saying, it just didn't matter at the moment.
Harry didn't talk to either of the Slytherins on the ride to Hogwarts he just sat there staring out the window deep in thought. Pansy watched him with a painful expression she didn't know what to do at the moment. Although she was a Slytherin and Slytherins knew more about personal pain and loss than the other houses, but she didn't really know how to handle Harry. Most people in Slytherin was there because their parents or family member were either former Death Eaters or dark supporters, it was no secret. Although no came out and said it to their faces really.
Slytherins were like a family, everyone in the house knew something about loss and pain and they all helped each other through the pain and suffering, but something like this that had been going on for so long, that had left such emotional scars, Pansy didn't know how to deal with it. She mentally praised Harry for his great job at acting, because no one had every seen the signs of abuse in all the years that he had gone to Hogwarts.
There were signs through, but may people were always to stuck on the fact that he was the Boy-Who-Lived to see to the real person behind the title and she mentally kicked herself for being one of those people. Looking back at the years she could see it now. When Harry would come back to Hogwarts he would always look a little too skinny and he was get bigger as the year went along only to come back to school the same as before.
He would never go home for the holidays opting to stay at school even if everyone else had left to go home. In classes and when she would see him in the corridors and the library he was always quite and pensive, trying not to be noticed, but failing in that endeavor. Now she could see some of the warning signs that all the Slytherins knew about, but they couldn't fully put together because he was a Gryffindor and all the Gryffindor had they're prefect lives with nothing but happy moments.
She never knew how incredibly wrong she was until she saw Harry laying on the seat on the Hogwarts Express with all those cuts and bruises. She wondered if anyone one else in Gryffindor had lead a live of pain like this, only to think about what she heard from her parents about what happened to the Longbottoms, were they Neville's parent? How could she have been so wrong as to think that the Slytherin house had the corner on loss and suffering? It was just that everyone acted as they did, even the Gryffindors, but now she knew it was only an act.
"He should have been sorted into Slytherin." She whispered to Draco. They had been discussing what they were going to do when they got to the school and the whole student body and most of the staff pass out in shock. Harry had been listening to the conversation and she didn't think he would have heard her comment about his sorting, but he was proven wrong when he turned his head to look at her.
"The sorting hat wanted to put me into Slytherin. It said I would do well in Slytherin, but I was too frightened to go, because everyone told me that Slytherin is where all the dark wizard and witches came from. I didn't want to be known as a dark wizard so I asked the hat to put me into Gryffindor and it did." Harry said simply. "Maybe I should have listened to the hat?" He added.
Draco and Pansy in wide-eyed wonder. They had never heard of anyone actually asking to be put into a different house than that which the hat decided and similarly they had never heard of the hat letting someone into a house in which the hat thought the person wasn't really suited for. So how did Harry do this?
Draco wanted to ask Harry a question about his sorting and if he knew about the resorting that would happen tonight, but Harry went back to staring out the window. Draco watched him for a moment before deciding to tell the Gryffindor anyways.
"Harry I forgot to tell you something else that is important. Well not as important as other things, but something you have to know before we get to the feast and scare everyone to death."
Draco mentally grinned at this. He really wanted to see everyone pass out with shock as the so-called dead Harry walked into the Great Hall escorted by two Slytherins and one of them a Malfoy. It was going to be all too delicious.
"They are starting a new tradition tonight Harry." He continued. "There are going to pick eight people, two from each house, fifth years and up to be resorted into another house, something to do with 'Inter-house Relations'. The eight people are going to be picked at the feast tonight and sorted into another house."
Harry just looked out the window and nodded at Draco, but Harry never said anything else the rest of the way to the school. Draco was getting anxious as the carriage came to a stop jus outside the front doors. Everyone else had already gone into the Great Hall for the beginning feast when they entered the castle. They were standing in front of the doors to the Great Hall when Harry stopped walking as stared at the doors nervously.
"Come on Harry we should go in." said Pansy trying to comfort the boy. Harry looked her in the eye and she could see the pain in them. Harry nodded and Draco pushed the doors open all three of them stepped into the hall to the sound of otter silence.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remus Lupin, the new/returning Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts was wandering the corridors trying to get everything together as the students would soon be arriving. He was finding it hard to concentrate because his mind kept wandering to Harry, his best friend's son. The boy had lived an every short unhappy live and that made him felt extremely guilty and sad.
When James and Lily died and Sirius was crated off to Azkaban, Remus wanted nothing more then to adopt Harry and raise the child properly, but his status as a werewolf made it impossible. No one in their right mind would ever allow a werewolf to adopt a child, the Ministry wouldn't hear of it. The Ministry also wouldn't let James and Lily made Remus Harry's godfather, which was truly their first choice, so the honor had gone to Sirius.
Remus knew this, although he doubted every much than Sirius ever found out that he was the second one on the list to be Harry's godfather. It was something that ate away at Remus every time he tried to get Dumbledore to at least let Remus visit the boy and was denied every time. Now Harry was dead and there was no way to say the things that he should have said a long time ago.
He should have told Harry everything about his parent and about how much he cared for him when he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor in Harry's third year, but he listened to Dumbledore yet again and remain silent. It was so unfair to the boy. Remus could see that Harry wanted nothing more than just to be loved by someone. He knew it but keep the boy at arms length because Dumbledore asked him not to tell Harry anything about his pass, that the boy wasn't ready for that yet.
What a fool he had been to listen to Dumbledore about that. He wished for nothing more than to take it all back, to go back to Harry's third year and tell him everything he wanted to tell him, but that was simply impossible now. He was dead.
Remus couldn't think straight and Sirius wasn't helping him either. Sirius had be running around doing things for Dumbledore, or so he told Remus, and not grieving over the loss of his godson. Remus thought that his was so sort of defense mechanism in order to handle the pain of his loss. He tried to get Sirius to talk to him, but it always ended up with Sirius shouting at Remus and leaving for yet another mission for Dumbledore.
It was hard for Remus trying to get his lesson plans together, especially when planning the fifth year classes. He would find himself wondering what Harry would like to learn this year and then remembering that Harry wouldn't be there. He had to redo all his lesson plans a couple of times because they were unreadable with all the tear stains that were left after tell himself yet again that Harry was with his parents now.
But right now he couldn't think about that. The students were going to arrive shortly and he had to get to the Great Hall in time to greet them. He raced now the corridors towards Great Hall when he heard two voices coming from one of the empty classrooms and moved to investigate them.
"Did you get everything done?" Sirius' voice came to Remus' ears and made him even more curious. What was Sirius doing here?
"Yes everything has been put into motion." Said Severus to Remus' shock. Sirius and Snape working together? This didn't add up. What the hell was going on?
"I just hope everything will turn out all right. I hope that he will wake up from the coma." Said Sirius. Whom could Sirius be talking about?
"Yes the boy should wake up all right. If he doesn't show up by the time all the students are accounted for then I will go down to the train myself and bring him back here." Said Severus.
"I will go with you. I don't think that he will take it to well to see the 'greasy git' when he first wakes up. He needs someone he trust to be there for him and I want to be there for him like I never was before." Sirius' voice was full of sorrow, and Remus wonder who the hell they were talking about. It sounded like they were talking about Harry, but that couldn't be possible.
"I don't think that would be good. It is too public and you might be caught."
"I am his bloody godfather Snape and I am going to be there."
"Just the reason you should not go, because if you get caught when we go down there to get him, then who will be there for him later. Harry is going to need you in the coming month and if you go and get yourself caught you won't be able to be there for him." Said Severus.
This was too much for Remus. They were talking about Harry as if he wasn't death, but how could that be, the ward that told Dumbledore if he was alive or not had stopped working and even Dumbledore thought the boy death. What was going on? Sirius and Severus continued their argument not notice that Remus had stepped into the classroom and was looking at them in shock.
"What are you two saying?" asked Remus and the two dark haired men looked up at the werewolf. "Are you guys saying that Harry is alive, and that he is on the train in some kind of coma? What did you guys do?"
"Remus it is a long story and we don't have that much time. You should be heading for the Great Hall."
"No, I am not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on around here. What happened, and where is Harry?" Remus demanded to know.
"Remus." Said Severus as he stepped forward. "All you need to know right now is that Harry Potter is not death. He is very much alive and is now the train here. Hopefully he will wake from the magically induced coma he as been in for the last month. If not I must go down to the train and bring him back to the hospital wing in order for Madam Pomfrey to have a look at him."
"You. You mean that he is alive?" Remus asked almost on the verge of tears. His hopes and wishes would all come true with one word and they would all come crashing down with another."
"Yes Remus Harry is alive." Said Sirius. Remus felt as if his knees would go out from under him. Harry was alive and Sirius knew it.
"And you didn't tell me earlier Sirius?" Remus began to get angry. "How could you let me think that Harry was death this whole time."
"Remus calm down, I will tell you the whole story later when we have time. You will understand the whys and wherefores later, but now you and Severus must going to the Great Hall and act like you don't know." Said Sirius and Remus looked at him skeptically. "Please Moony, just trust me."
Sirius' voice was pleading and Remus hadn't heard him like that in a long time. Remus agreed to do as Sirius asked, but warned Sirius that if he didn't like the explanation that he would do serious harm to Sirius and all Sirius did was smile at his old friend and nodded.
That was how Remus found himself walking into the Great Hall with Severus by his side and for one was not arguing for the particulars of their past. Remus was silence as the hall started to fill with the returning students and everyone just thought he was still every upset about Harry's death.
The only people Remus watched come in where the Weasleys and Hermione all looking extremely upset and not talking to anyone. Everyone that past them gave them looks of pity before taking there seat at their house tables, wondering who was the unfortunate eight people to be resorted tonight.
As the last of the students came into the hall Remus heard Severus sigh in relief. Then lean toward Remus and whisper that Draco and Pansy were not among the other student. This could only mean that they had found Harry on the train as he had planned. Remus looked at the Potions Master wondering why he had planned for two Slytherins to find Harry and not any of the Gryffindors, especially not Hermione and Ron, but his thoughts where soon interrupted by the door of the Great Hall swinging open. Everyone was waiting for the new first years to come in, but when they all saw the three people standing at the door the Hall went completely silent, because there standing in the doorway was a very pale Harry Potter flanked by two Slytherins, one of the a Malfoy.
Remus watched the Gryffindor table carefully and noticed Ron stand up shakily and slowly walk towards his friend as everyone staring at him. When Ron finally got to the pale boy he whispered in a seemingly frail voice, "Harry?" Harry nodded to this and Ron gathered him up into a bone- crushing hug. It was extremely to sudden for Harry and if one was looking they could see the panic in Harry's eyes, but only a couple people were looking, Draco and Remus.
The panic in Harry's eyes made Remus' breath caught in his throat. What happened to the boy that would have made him react like that? Remus thought for a moment before paling he suddenly knew why Sirius didn't want anyone to know what had happened during the last month. His mind reeled with the thought, hoping to whatever power above him that he was wrong, but one look at Severus seemed to tell him that he was right in his thinking.
Severus was looking at the boy with a sorrowful expression and Remus knew for Severus to actually show emotion in public something terrible had to have happen. Remus closed his eyes for a moment and opened them when he heard Ron speak again.
"But they said that you were dead." Ron's face had a mixture of emotion on it. That of happiness that Harry was back, sadness he still felt from someone telling him that his best friend was death, and also hurt that someone could tell him such a lie, because here was Harry standing in front of him every much alive. "They said that you were dead." He said again still struggling with everything.
Dumbledore was suddenly at their side trying to calm Ron down as everyone in the Great Hall watched on in wonder. "You told everyone that he was dead and obviously he is not, because here he is." Ron yelled at the Headmaster and no one stopped him, or said anything about it.
"That is yet to be seen Mr. Weasley." Said the Headmaster. "I must ask him to come with me for a moment." Dumbledore looked a Harry and Harry nodded to him. Then Dumbledore looked up to the head table and moment for Professor Snape to go with them.
Severus stood up and gave Remus a pointed look as if he wanted Remus to come along with him, so Remus stood with the Potion Master and headed to where the Headmaster was standing. When the two Professors arrived Dumbledore headed out of the door with the three of them in tow. Before they left Remus told Ron to sit back down at the Gryffindor table and Snape motioned for the two Slytherins to head to the Slytherin table and all three did what they were told. As they left the Great Hall a wall of sound erupted from behind them.
As they were heading down the corridor Professor McGonagall was coming to see if everyone was ready for the sorting ceremony but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the three Professors and a supposed dead student walk towards them.
"I am sorry Professor, but there are certain things that we must attend to and the sorting will have to wait until we finish." Dumbledore told McGonagall, and she nodded. "I don't think that we shall take to long with this."
"Yes Headmaster." She said and retreated back to the room with all of the first years in it. The four of them walked to an empty classroom near the Great Hall where they could have some privacy. When they got into the room Remus showed Harry to a seat while Snape and Dumbledore whispered by the door, only to have Severus disappear form the room for a few minutes. When he arrived back at the classroom he was carrying a small bottle of clear liquid.
"Now Harry in order for us to tell if this is the real Harry Potter we are going to have to give you a truth potion. It is a weaker potion and you will only be able to answer with a yes or a no. This potion will only last about five to ten minutes. Do you understand?" ask Dumbledore and Harry nodded. Severus walked towards Harry and told him to open his mouth. When he had do so Severus put two drops of the liquid on his tongue.
Within a couple minutes Harry began to feel a little out of sorts, as if he had been drinking some good wine and the world went a little fuzzy. Then he heard the first question asked him. "Are you Harry Potter?" Dumbledore's voice sounded so far away and Harry was compelled to answer him.
"Yes." Harry said in a weak voice.
"Do you who took you from the Dursley's home?" asked Dumbledore.
"No."
"Do you know where you have been for the last month?"
"No." Said Harry. Dumbledore stopped to think of another question he might ask and as the Headmaster was thinking Remus took the opportunity to ask a question of his own. A question that was burning in the back of his mind since he saw Harry reaction to Ron's show of affection.
"Harry did the Dursley's abuse you?" Remus said quickly, because if he didn't he might not have gotten it out. Dumbledore and Severus both looked at him as if the man had gone crazy.
"Yes." The boy said weakly. Remus closed his and took a deep breath in. He was glad that the Dursleys where dead, because if they weren't then he would have gone there right that minute and killed him all himself, and he didn't really want to go to Azkaban right when he had a chance to help Harry.
"Well I guess that is all we really need to ask him." Said Severus and Dumbledore agreed with the potion master's judgment.
"I agree. We should be getting back to the feast and start the sorting ceremony." Said the Headmaster. Severus went over to Harry to get him to come with them back to the Great Hall. After a few more minutes the four of them walked through the doors to the hall and Dumbledore motion for Harry to take his seat at the Gryffindor table.
Harry quietly walked over to the Gryffindor table and took his normal seat next to Ron where there was an empty space before. Still Harry talked to no one. Dumbledore and the two Professors went up to the head table and took their seats. Harry could feel everyone look at him even when his head remained down not talking to anyone.
"I know this is a shock to most of you, but as you can see Harry Potter is alive and well, and with us now. Let all welcome him back." Said Dumbledore and a loud clapping went up as most everyone in the hall cheered for Harry being alive. Still Harry head remained down not talking to anyone.
"First before we bring in the first years we will get the names of the eight people who with be resorted into new houses, and the sorting hat with call the names." Announced Dumbledore as he gestured toward the sorting hat sitting on the three-legged chair.
"I will call the eight forward to receive a new place at Hogwarts." Said the sorting hat. "When your name is called come forth and try me on. The first will be, Terry Brook." A Ravenclaw boy stood from his table and walked toward the chair. When he sat down he put on the hat and it took a minute before the hat called out a house. "Gryffindor!" It yelled. Terry walked over to Gryffindor and sat down by Dean and Seamus. Harry noticed that when he sat down on the bench the Ravenclaw emblem suddenly changed to a Gryffindor one.
"Next will be John Boyer." A Slytherin seventh year stood up and walked forward. When the hat was on his head it shouted "Ravenclaw!" John took his place at the Ravenclaw table. "Susan Bones." Susan walked shyly up to the chair and sat the hat on her head. "Ravenclaw!" The hat yelled. Susan quickly took her seat.
"Now I will call Cassandra Knight." A sixth year Gryffindor stood and was resorted into Hufflepuff. "Emily Johnson." A sixth year Slytherin stood and was also sorted into Hufflepuff. Then there was a seventh year Ravenclaw who went up and tried the hat on only to be put back into his own house.
"Lastly I will call Harry Potter." Everyone seemed to hold their breath, wonder where the Boy-Who-Lived-Then-Died-Only -To-Come-Back was going to be place. Harry slowly stood up and walked to the front of the hall. He picked up the hat and saw down on the chair, looking at the old worn hat in front of him. Then careful placed the hat on his head.
"Ah mister Potter back again, well, well, well, I see that you have changed from the first time I saw you. Yes, defiantly changed and I also see that you will not fight my choice this time, very well. Well then better be." The Great Hall was absolutely still and silent, but soon the silence would be broken when the hat shouted. "Slytherin!"
Like I am buzzing off some wine,
As if the fates are trying to tell me
Something is very wrong,
And I just don't know it yet.
The three of them will watch me
Stumbling through live,
And as one of there sick jokes
They will throw me a curve ball,
And laugh as I struggle through it.
That is why the fates are so cruel.
-MostEvilKitten 'The Fates'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hate is A Powerful Thing
Chapter Nine: Not as Dead as I Feel
By: MostEvilKitten
The train had stop at Hogsmeade station a while ago and they could hear everyone get off the train. Harry watched out the window as Hagrid took the first years towards the boats. Then he watched the older students piled into the horseless carriages Pansy and Draco had explained to Harry how they manager to come into the compartment and was stuck there until the spells on the door wore off.
As the last carriage full of students headed for the castle the door swung open with a bang. All three of them looked at the door happily. They wanted out of the stuffy compartment. They walk out of the compartment just as the old lady is the food cart came down the isle making sure that everyone was off.
"You three need to hurry before all the carriages leave you." she began, but suddenly stopped when she saw Harry standing there. She became as white as a sheet and fainted dead away.
"Well I guess we better hurry then." Said Pansy as she stepped over the fainted form of the food crate lady. Harry watched in shock as Pansy walked away without a care and Draco followed close behind her. He stood there for a few minutes more before shaking his head and following them off the train.
When Harry got off the train he notice that there was still one carriage left for them and that Pansy and Draco were already climbing into it. Harry stood there for a moment looking around the stations. It was completely empty. Not a soul in sight. A slight breeze past by and Harry noticed a small piece of parchment slowly float towards him carried on the breeze.
The parchment landed at his feet and he looked down at it curiously before keeping it up and reading it. It was an announcement that there would be a funeral for him the next day and that everyone at Hogwarts was welcome to attend.
'So Draco and Pansy were telling me the truth then.' He thought to himself as he looked back at the carriage just in time to see Draco's head pop out of the window to look for him. When Draco saw that Harry was standing back on the platform he waved Harry towards the carriage so that they could be on their way. 'What am I going to do about everyone when they realize that I am not dead?' He began to panic.
He left as if the whole world was caving in on him. Suddenly his knees gave out from under him and the next thing he knew was that he was sitting on the hard wooden floor of the platform. Draco who had been watching this jumped out of the carriage and ran towards Harry.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked as he went to help Harry off the floor. Harry shook his head. No, he wasn't all right, how could any of this be all right. His friends and family thought he was death. He had been missing for over a month and even he didn't know where he was. He had been living with abusive relatives all his life and Dumbledore knew about it. How could this be all right?
For a moment he just sat there and stared at the parchment announcing to everyone that he was death. He read it over a couple of times. The writing sound so formal as if whoever wrote it was writing something like a newspaper article that really didn't matter to anyone. Would anyone actually attend his funeral? Would they cry over him? Why would they cry over a murderer?
He had zoned out so much that he didn't even realized that Draco was moving him towards the carriage until he was actually in the seat and they had started towards the school. When he came back to reality he looked up at the two Slytherins who were looking at him in worry whispering to each other about things and Harry didn't even bother to try and listen to what they were saying, it just didn't matter at the moment.
Harry didn't talk to either of the Slytherins on the ride to Hogwarts he just sat there staring out the window deep in thought. Pansy watched him with a painful expression she didn't know what to do at the moment. Although she was a Slytherin and Slytherins knew more about personal pain and loss than the other houses, but she didn't really know how to handle Harry. Most people in Slytherin was there because their parents or family member were either former Death Eaters or dark supporters, it was no secret. Although no came out and said it to their faces really.
Slytherins were like a family, everyone in the house knew something about loss and pain and they all helped each other through the pain and suffering, but something like this that had been going on for so long, that had left such emotional scars, Pansy didn't know how to deal with it. She mentally praised Harry for his great job at acting, because no one had every seen the signs of abuse in all the years that he had gone to Hogwarts.
There were signs through, but may people were always to stuck on the fact that he was the Boy-Who-Lived to see to the real person behind the title and she mentally kicked herself for being one of those people. Looking back at the years she could see it now. When Harry would come back to Hogwarts he would always look a little too skinny and he was get bigger as the year went along only to come back to school the same as before.
He would never go home for the holidays opting to stay at school even if everyone else had left to go home. In classes and when she would see him in the corridors and the library he was always quite and pensive, trying not to be noticed, but failing in that endeavor. Now she could see some of the warning signs that all the Slytherins knew about, but they couldn't fully put together because he was a Gryffindor and all the Gryffindor had they're prefect lives with nothing but happy moments.
She never knew how incredibly wrong she was until she saw Harry laying on the seat on the Hogwarts Express with all those cuts and bruises. She wondered if anyone one else in Gryffindor had lead a live of pain like this, only to think about what she heard from her parents about what happened to the Longbottoms, were they Neville's parent? How could she have been so wrong as to think that the Slytherin house had the corner on loss and suffering? It was just that everyone acted as they did, even the Gryffindors, but now she knew it was only an act.
"He should have been sorted into Slytherin." She whispered to Draco. They had been discussing what they were going to do when they got to the school and the whole student body and most of the staff pass out in shock. Harry had been listening to the conversation and she didn't think he would have heard her comment about his sorting, but he was proven wrong when he turned his head to look at her.
"The sorting hat wanted to put me into Slytherin. It said I would do well in Slytherin, but I was too frightened to go, because everyone told me that Slytherin is where all the dark wizard and witches came from. I didn't want to be known as a dark wizard so I asked the hat to put me into Gryffindor and it did." Harry said simply. "Maybe I should have listened to the hat?" He added.
Draco and Pansy in wide-eyed wonder. They had never heard of anyone actually asking to be put into a different house than that which the hat decided and similarly they had never heard of the hat letting someone into a house in which the hat thought the person wasn't really suited for. So how did Harry do this?
Draco wanted to ask Harry a question about his sorting and if he knew about the resorting that would happen tonight, but Harry went back to staring out the window. Draco watched him for a moment before deciding to tell the Gryffindor anyways.
"Harry I forgot to tell you something else that is important. Well not as important as other things, but something you have to know before we get to the feast and scare everyone to death."
Draco mentally grinned at this. He really wanted to see everyone pass out with shock as the so-called dead Harry walked into the Great Hall escorted by two Slytherins and one of them a Malfoy. It was going to be all too delicious.
"They are starting a new tradition tonight Harry." He continued. "There are going to pick eight people, two from each house, fifth years and up to be resorted into another house, something to do with 'Inter-house Relations'. The eight people are going to be picked at the feast tonight and sorted into another house."
Harry just looked out the window and nodded at Draco, but Harry never said anything else the rest of the way to the school. Draco was getting anxious as the carriage came to a stop jus outside the front doors. Everyone else had already gone into the Great Hall for the beginning feast when they entered the castle. They were standing in front of the doors to the Great Hall when Harry stopped walking as stared at the doors nervously.
"Come on Harry we should go in." said Pansy trying to comfort the boy. Harry looked her in the eye and she could see the pain in them. Harry nodded and Draco pushed the doors open all three of them stepped into the hall to the sound of otter silence.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remus Lupin, the new/returning Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts was wandering the corridors trying to get everything together as the students would soon be arriving. He was finding it hard to concentrate because his mind kept wandering to Harry, his best friend's son. The boy had lived an every short unhappy live and that made him felt extremely guilty and sad.
When James and Lily died and Sirius was crated off to Azkaban, Remus wanted nothing more then to adopt Harry and raise the child properly, but his status as a werewolf made it impossible. No one in their right mind would ever allow a werewolf to adopt a child, the Ministry wouldn't hear of it. The Ministry also wouldn't let James and Lily made Remus Harry's godfather, which was truly their first choice, so the honor had gone to Sirius.
Remus knew this, although he doubted every much than Sirius ever found out that he was the second one on the list to be Harry's godfather. It was something that ate away at Remus every time he tried to get Dumbledore to at least let Remus visit the boy and was denied every time. Now Harry was dead and there was no way to say the things that he should have said a long time ago.
He should have told Harry everything about his parent and about how much he cared for him when he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor in Harry's third year, but he listened to Dumbledore yet again and remain silent. It was so unfair to the boy. Remus could see that Harry wanted nothing more than just to be loved by someone. He knew it but keep the boy at arms length because Dumbledore asked him not to tell Harry anything about his pass, that the boy wasn't ready for that yet.
What a fool he had been to listen to Dumbledore about that. He wished for nothing more than to take it all back, to go back to Harry's third year and tell him everything he wanted to tell him, but that was simply impossible now. He was dead.
Remus couldn't think straight and Sirius wasn't helping him either. Sirius had be running around doing things for Dumbledore, or so he told Remus, and not grieving over the loss of his godson. Remus thought that his was so sort of defense mechanism in order to handle the pain of his loss. He tried to get Sirius to talk to him, but it always ended up with Sirius shouting at Remus and leaving for yet another mission for Dumbledore.
It was hard for Remus trying to get his lesson plans together, especially when planning the fifth year classes. He would find himself wondering what Harry would like to learn this year and then remembering that Harry wouldn't be there. He had to redo all his lesson plans a couple of times because they were unreadable with all the tear stains that were left after tell himself yet again that Harry was with his parents now.
But right now he couldn't think about that. The students were going to arrive shortly and he had to get to the Great Hall in time to greet them. He raced now the corridors towards Great Hall when he heard two voices coming from one of the empty classrooms and moved to investigate them.
"Did you get everything done?" Sirius' voice came to Remus' ears and made him even more curious. What was Sirius doing here?
"Yes everything has been put into motion." Said Severus to Remus' shock. Sirius and Snape working together? This didn't add up. What the hell was going on?
"I just hope everything will turn out all right. I hope that he will wake up from the coma." Said Sirius. Whom could Sirius be talking about?
"Yes the boy should wake up all right. If he doesn't show up by the time all the students are accounted for then I will go down to the train myself and bring him back here." Said Severus.
"I will go with you. I don't think that he will take it to well to see the 'greasy git' when he first wakes up. He needs someone he trust to be there for him and I want to be there for him like I never was before." Sirius' voice was full of sorrow, and Remus wonder who the hell they were talking about. It sounded like they were talking about Harry, but that couldn't be possible.
"I don't think that would be good. It is too public and you might be caught."
"I am his bloody godfather Snape and I am going to be there."
"Just the reason you should not go, because if you get caught when we go down there to get him, then who will be there for him later. Harry is going to need you in the coming month and if you go and get yourself caught you won't be able to be there for him." Said Severus.
This was too much for Remus. They were talking about Harry as if he wasn't death, but how could that be, the ward that told Dumbledore if he was alive or not had stopped working and even Dumbledore thought the boy death. What was going on? Sirius and Severus continued their argument not notice that Remus had stepped into the classroom and was looking at them in shock.
"What are you two saying?" asked Remus and the two dark haired men looked up at the werewolf. "Are you guys saying that Harry is alive, and that he is on the train in some kind of coma? What did you guys do?"
"Remus it is a long story and we don't have that much time. You should be heading for the Great Hall."
"No, I am not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on around here. What happened, and where is Harry?" Remus demanded to know.
"Remus." Said Severus as he stepped forward. "All you need to know right now is that Harry Potter is not death. He is very much alive and is now the train here. Hopefully he will wake from the magically induced coma he as been in for the last month. If not I must go down to the train and bring him back to the hospital wing in order for Madam Pomfrey to have a look at him."
"You. You mean that he is alive?" Remus asked almost on the verge of tears. His hopes and wishes would all come true with one word and they would all come crashing down with another."
"Yes Remus Harry is alive." Said Sirius. Remus felt as if his knees would go out from under him. Harry was alive and Sirius knew it.
"And you didn't tell me earlier Sirius?" Remus began to get angry. "How could you let me think that Harry was death this whole time."
"Remus calm down, I will tell you the whole story later when we have time. You will understand the whys and wherefores later, but now you and Severus must going to the Great Hall and act like you don't know." Said Sirius and Remus looked at him skeptically. "Please Moony, just trust me."
Sirius' voice was pleading and Remus hadn't heard him like that in a long time. Remus agreed to do as Sirius asked, but warned Sirius that if he didn't like the explanation that he would do serious harm to Sirius and all Sirius did was smile at his old friend and nodded.
That was how Remus found himself walking into the Great Hall with Severus by his side and for one was not arguing for the particulars of their past. Remus was silence as the hall started to fill with the returning students and everyone just thought he was still every upset about Harry's death.
The only people Remus watched come in where the Weasleys and Hermione all looking extremely upset and not talking to anyone. Everyone that past them gave them looks of pity before taking there seat at their house tables, wondering who was the unfortunate eight people to be resorted tonight.
As the last of the students came into the hall Remus heard Severus sigh in relief. Then lean toward Remus and whisper that Draco and Pansy were not among the other student. This could only mean that they had found Harry on the train as he had planned. Remus looked at the Potions Master wondering why he had planned for two Slytherins to find Harry and not any of the Gryffindors, especially not Hermione and Ron, but his thoughts where soon interrupted by the door of the Great Hall swinging open. Everyone was waiting for the new first years to come in, but when they all saw the three people standing at the door the Hall went completely silent, because there standing in the doorway was a very pale Harry Potter flanked by two Slytherins, one of the a Malfoy.
Remus watched the Gryffindor table carefully and noticed Ron stand up shakily and slowly walk towards his friend as everyone staring at him. When Ron finally got to the pale boy he whispered in a seemingly frail voice, "Harry?" Harry nodded to this and Ron gathered him up into a bone- crushing hug. It was extremely to sudden for Harry and if one was looking they could see the panic in Harry's eyes, but only a couple people were looking, Draco and Remus.
The panic in Harry's eyes made Remus' breath caught in his throat. What happened to the boy that would have made him react like that? Remus thought for a moment before paling he suddenly knew why Sirius didn't want anyone to know what had happened during the last month. His mind reeled with the thought, hoping to whatever power above him that he was wrong, but one look at Severus seemed to tell him that he was right in his thinking.
Severus was looking at the boy with a sorrowful expression and Remus knew for Severus to actually show emotion in public something terrible had to have happen. Remus closed his eyes for a moment and opened them when he heard Ron speak again.
"But they said that you were dead." Ron's face had a mixture of emotion on it. That of happiness that Harry was back, sadness he still felt from someone telling him that his best friend was death, and also hurt that someone could tell him such a lie, because here was Harry standing in front of him every much alive. "They said that you were dead." He said again still struggling with everything.
Dumbledore was suddenly at their side trying to calm Ron down as everyone in the Great Hall watched on in wonder. "You told everyone that he was dead and obviously he is not, because here he is." Ron yelled at the Headmaster and no one stopped him, or said anything about it.
"That is yet to be seen Mr. Weasley." Said the Headmaster. "I must ask him to come with me for a moment." Dumbledore looked a Harry and Harry nodded to him. Then Dumbledore looked up to the head table and moment for Professor Snape to go with them.
Severus stood up and gave Remus a pointed look as if he wanted Remus to come along with him, so Remus stood with the Potion Master and headed to where the Headmaster was standing. When the two Professors arrived Dumbledore headed out of the door with the three of them in tow. Before they left Remus told Ron to sit back down at the Gryffindor table and Snape motioned for the two Slytherins to head to the Slytherin table and all three did what they were told. As they left the Great Hall a wall of sound erupted from behind them.
As they were heading down the corridor Professor McGonagall was coming to see if everyone was ready for the sorting ceremony but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the three Professors and a supposed dead student walk towards them.
"I am sorry Professor, but there are certain things that we must attend to and the sorting will have to wait until we finish." Dumbledore told McGonagall, and she nodded. "I don't think that we shall take to long with this."
"Yes Headmaster." She said and retreated back to the room with all of the first years in it. The four of them walked to an empty classroom near the Great Hall where they could have some privacy. When they got into the room Remus showed Harry to a seat while Snape and Dumbledore whispered by the door, only to have Severus disappear form the room for a few minutes. When he arrived back at the classroom he was carrying a small bottle of clear liquid.
"Now Harry in order for us to tell if this is the real Harry Potter we are going to have to give you a truth potion. It is a weaker potion and you will only be able to answer with a yes or a no. This potion will only last about five to ten minutes. Do you understand?" ask Dumbledore and Harry nodded. Severus walked towards Harry and told him to open his mouth. When he had do so Severus put two drops of the liquid on his tongue.
Within a couple minutes Harry began to feel a little out of sorts, as if he had been drinking some good wine and the world went a little fuzzy. Then he heard the first question asked him. "Are you Harry Potter?" Dumbledore's voice sounded so far away and Harry was compelled to answer him.
"Yes." Harry said in a weak voice.
"Do you who took you from the Dursley's home?" asked Dumbledore.
"No."
"Do you know where you have been for the last month?"
"No." Said Harry. Dumbledore stopped to think of another question he might ask and as the Headmaster was thinking Remus took the opportunity to ask a question of his own. A question that was burning in the back of his mind since he saw Harry reaction to Ron's show of affection.
"Harry did the Dursley's abuse you?" Remus said quickly, because if he didn't he might not have gotten it out. Dumbledore and Severus both looked at him as if the man had gone crazy.
"Yes." The boy said weakly. Remus closed his and took a deep breath in. He was glad that the Dursleys where dead, because if they weren't then he would have gone there right that minute and killed him all himself, and he didn't really want to go to Azkaban right when he had a chance to help Harry.
"Well I guess that is all we really need to ask him." Said Severus and Dumbledore agreed with the potion master's judgment.
"I agree. We should be getting back to the feast and start the sorting ceremony." Said the Headmaster. Severus went over to Harry to get him to come with them back to the Great Hall. After a few more minutes the four of them walked through the doors to the hall and Dumbledore motion for Harry to take his seat at the Gryffindor table.
Harry quietly walked over to the Gryffindor table and took his normal seat next to Ron where there was an empty space before. Still Harry talked to no one. Dumbledore and the two Professors went up to the head table and took their seats. Harry could feel everyone look at him even when his head remained down not talking to anyone.
"I know this is a shock to most of you, but as you can see Harry Potter is alive and well, and with us now. Let all welcome him back." Said Dumbledore and a loud clapping went up as most everyone in the hall cheered for Harry being alive. Still Harry head remained down not talking to anyone.
"First before we bring in the first years we will get the names of the eight people who with be resorted into new houses, and the sorting hat with call the names." Announced Dumbledore as he gestured toward the sorting hat sitting on the three-legged chair.
"I will call the eight forward to receive a new place at Hogwarts." Said the sorting hat. "When your name is called come forth and try me on. The first will be, Terry Brook." A Ravenclaw boy stood from his table and walked toward the chair. When he sat down he put on the hat and it took a minute before the hat called out a house. "Gryffindor!" It yelled. Terry walked over to Gryffindor and sat down by Dean and Seamus. Harry noticed that when he sat down on the bench the Ravenclaw emblem suddenly changed to a Gryffindor one.
"Next will be John Boyer." A Slytherin seventh year stood up and walked forward. When the hat was on his head it shouted "Ravenclaw!" John took his place at the Ravenclaw table. "Susan Bones." Susan walked shyly up to the chair and sat the hat on her head. "Ravenclaw!" The hat yelled. Susan quickly took her seat.
"Now I will call Cassandra Knight." A sixth year Gryffindor stood and was resorted into Hufflepuff. "Emily Johnson." A sixth year Slytherin stood and was also sorted into Hufflepuff. Then there was a seventh year Ravenclaw who went up and tried the hat on only to be put back into his own house.
"Lastly I will call Harry Potter." Everyone seemed to hold their breath, wonder where the Boy-Who-Lived-Then-Died-Only -To-Come-Back was going to be place. Harry slowly stood up and walked to the front of the hall. He picked up the hat and saw down on the chair, looking at the old worn hat in front of him. Then careful placed the hat on his head.
"Ah mister Potter back again, well, well, well, I see that you have changed from the first time I saw you. Yes, defiantly changed and I also see that you will not fight my choice this time, very well. Well then better be." The Great Hall was absolutely still and silent, but soon the silence would be broken when the hat shouted. "Slytherin!"