Harry Potter and the Legacy of Slytherin

Chapter 10

Early-Morning Sorting

When Harry woke up the next day, he pushed the curtains of his bed aside, to see a small pile of trunks next to the door into the dormitory. It looked as if everyone's property had been recovered from the train, and taken to the individual dormitories. But despite the relief Harry had on seeing his trunk again, there was only one thing that caught his attention, sitting on top of the pile.

"Hedwig!" Harry cried softly, rushing forward to open her cage. Luckily, nobody seemed to be awoken by Harry's call, and Hedwig maintained her usual, dignified silence as Harry opened her cage. As soon as it was open, Hedwig flew onto Harry's shoulder, nipping the top of his ear gently, relieved to be released from her cage after so long.

"Yes, I missed you too, girl..." whispered Harry, reaching up to stroke Hedwig's head gently. For a few minutes, Harry just stood in his pyjamas, stroking Hedwig and taking comfort from her presence. Then, Harry had a sudden thought; Sirius would want to know what had happened. Even though he probably knew about the attack already, he would want to hear from Harry, to know that he was alright.

"Do you feel up to a delivery?" Harry asked. Hedwig's response was a soft, gentle hoot that Harry couldn't help feeling was an affirmative response, so he nudged her into perching on the top of her cage while he looked for parchment and a quill. After retrieving them, and giving Hedwig an Owl Treat to munch on, Harry kneeled on the ground in front of his trunk, and started writing his letter.

Dear Sirius,

I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has already told
you about the attack on the Hogwarts Express yesterday,
so I won't say anything more about it. My scar hurt a
lot while it was going on, but Ron and Hermione hid me
in a cupboard, so Voldemort didn't see me.
I just wanted to write to you, and let you know
that I'm alright. As far as I know, the only people
who got hurt were the driver and tea lady. Dumbledore
says this attack was just intended to frighten everyone,
so maybe that was all he was planning to do.
Please let Remus know everyone is alright - I'm
sure he'll be worried as well. I hope you two are okay,
and that I can see you both soon.
Harry.

His hurried note to Sirius finished, Harry attached the note to Hedwig's leg, and walked over to the window. Hedwig was hooting happily; she had been shut in the cage for too long now, and the prospect of stretching her wings was enticing. She didn't need any encouragement to take to the air, and Harry stood at the window watching her until she was just a dot on the horizon.

"Sirius?" came a voice from behind Harry. Suddenly, Harry was struck with a sense of terror, horrified at the prospect that he might have given away his connection to Sirius by sending a letter to him in the middle of a crowded dormitory. But as he spun around to look, he realised that the voice came from a certain redhead, sitting on the bed next to his.

"Was that for Sirius?" Ron asked again, in a slightly more urgent whisper, trying not to wake any of the others. Harry's only response was a short, relieved nod, which seemed to satisfy Ron; details could wait until later, when there were not so many other people in the room. Relieved not to have been caught writing to Sirius, Harry flopped back down onto his bed, and lay still until after the rest of the occupants of the room had started to get dressed.

* * * * *

It was almost an hour later by the time Harry and Ron descended the staircase into the Gryffindor Common Room, and they were surprised to find it empty. Their roommates were nowhere to be seen, and neither was Hermione, or any of the other members of Gryffindor House. For a few minutes, they sat around on one of the sofas, waiting for someone else to appear, but it soon became obvious that nobody else was coming.

Just as Ron was starting to pace the room out of boredom, Harry noticed a piece of parchment attached to the Gryffindor notice board, which was written in a very conspicuous golden ink, which seemed to give off a faint glow all around it. Ignoring Ron's soft muttering, he stood up and crossed the room, and peered at the golden lettering intently. He quickly noticed that it was written in Professor McGonagall's tiny, relentlessly neat handwriting.

"Hey, Ron!" called Harry, "Look at this!" Ron ran across the room to look at the notice, and together, they squinted to read the glowing script.

The Sorting Feast
As you are all aware, it was not possible to arrange the
Sorting for last night, as a result of the events on the
Hogwarts Express. Therefore, the Sorting will take place before
breakfast this morning, at eight a.m.
Would all students please endeavour to be in the hall before
this time, so that they do not disrupt the Sorting Ceremony. Classes
will begin as usual at nine, and timetables will be given out once
the ceremony is concluded.
Signed,
Minerva McGonagall

As soon as he had finished reading, Ron shot a quick look at the clock in the corner of the room, which gave the time as five minutes to eight. Without waiting for Harry to realise how late they were, Ron grabbed him by the back of his robes, and started pulling him toward the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. As soon as they made it through the Fat Lady's portrait, Ron broke out into a run, closely followed by Harry, who soon caught and passed his friend.

Together, they bolted down the halls of Hogwarts, which were unnervingly empty. Clearly, they were the among the last to get the message about the rescheduled Sorting. As they ran past the silent statues and doors, the only sound they could hear was their own footsteps and rushed breathing. At one point, Harry was sure he heard one of the portraits shouting at him to slow down, but he couldn't wait to be sure. Luckily, Peeves didn't seem to be anywhere in sight, or else a bad situation could easily have become much worse.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, it certainly seemed as if the entire school was already assembled there. The tables looked as full as they always did, and the first years were already gathered at the entrance to the hall. Once they had pushed past the milling crowd of nervous 11-year-olds, they could see the staff table, where all the usual staff were sitting, including Hagrid, who gave them both a hearty wave across the room, and Dumbledore, who simply sat there smiling at them.

It didn't take long for them to locate Hermione, who was sitting alone quite close to the middle of the table. Clearly, she had made sure that the seats nearest to her were not taken up by anyone but them, and Harry suddenly felt guilty for being late; Hermione must have been waiting for some time. As soon as she noticed them, she waved them over, and Harry ran over to her quickly, with Ron not far behind.

"Where have you two been?" demanded Hermione, as they quietly slipped into the seats she had left for them.

"We didn't see the notice..." gasped Harry.

"How many times do I have to tell you to check the notice board every morning?" Hermione sighed, looking with some concern at Ron, who was still panting heavily.

"At least one more," mumbled Harry, not in the mood for another lecture so early in the morning. Luckily, Hermione's attention was still taken up with Ron, so his comment went unnoticed. She seemed to be fighting the urge to help Ron, who was still fighting for breath. For a few more minutes, Ron continued to gasp, but it didn't take long for his flushed face to start returning to normal.

"What took you so long, anyway? You should have been up ages ago!" said Hermione, when Ron's face had faded back to a near-normal colour.

"We were up early!" insisted Ron, earning no more then a set of raised eyebrows from Hermione.

"We were! I had to write a letter..." Harry said, giving Hermione a significant look with those last words, to get the implication across. Immediately, Hermione's eyes brightened in understanding, and she looked around to make sure nobody was listening to their conversation.

"So, you've been up in the Owlery all this time? No wonder I couldn't find you in the Common Room..." she said brightly.

"Well, no..." Harry replied.

"What do you mean?" she said.

"I didn't go to the Owlery. Hedwig was sent straight to our room, so I just sent a letter from there..." Harry told her, knowing full well what her reaction would be.

"You sent a letter to Si-Snuffles? In the middle of your dorm room?" said Hermione, her voice rising slowly.

"Quieten down, will you?" hissed Harry, "D'you want everyone to hear? I just wanted to get the letter off as soon as I could, so as soon as I saw Hedwig, I wrote a note and sent her off with it. Alright?"

"Well, I'm glad you managed to get a note to him so quickly, but really, Harry... Sending an owl to him in the middle of the dorm room? What if you'd been seen?" whispered Hermione. She looked sorry for shouting at him, but she still insisted on pointing out his mistake. Luckily, Harry was saved from responding by Ron, who answered the question for him.

"So what? He didn't have to say who the letter was to..." Ron said.

"No, but it still would have been risky... It would have led to a lot of questions if he'd been seen!" Hermione insisted.

"It doesn't mean he has to answer them, does it?" Ron replied.

"No, but do you really want people asking questions? Harry might-" started Hermione, before being interrupted by Harry.

"Shhh!" he said, trying to quieten them both down. For a moment, both Ron and Hermione went silent, and then they realised why Harry wanted them to be quiet; the entire hall had fallen silent, and Professor Dumbledore was standing at the head of the Staff Table, waiting to give his start-of-term speech. As soon as they realised that they had been arguing in front of the school, Hermione blushed a bright shade of red, and Ron seemed to be considering ducking under the table to hide.

"Thank you," said Dumbledore, not seeming at all concerned with having to wait, "I hope everyone will consider my words worth waiting for, even if it does mean delaying your other conversations somewhat. First of all, let me offer you all a somewhat belated welcome to Hogwarts. After the events of yesterday, I am glad to see you all here, safe and well. Hopefully, everyone has managed to find their way here by now, so I can start to give the usual start-of-term messages. First of all, the Forbidden Forest is indeed forbidden, despite certain attempts to rename it the Come-on-in Forest."

Many of the older students gave a small, appreciative laugh at Dumbledore's joke, mainly to encourage the younger children that were standing at the end of the hall. But the little ripple of laughter died quickly, leaving Dumbledore to continue his speech.

"Second, the area around the Whomping Willow is also out-of-bounds, for reasons that should be quite plain to you. Third, Mr Filch has asked me to direct your attention to the list of banned items on the door to his office, as many of you have been carelessly tripping over the lower half of it. And lastly, I would like to introduce to you all Mr Kingsley Shacklebolt, who will be taking over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Dumbledore's last comment was accompanied with a quick nod toward the end of the table, where a tall, imposing black wizard was sitting, looking out at the assembled faces of the students in front of him. His eyes were dark and unreadable, and he had a single gold hoop in his right ear, reflecting the early-morning sun across the room. He seemed to be unfazed by being the centre of attention, and Dumbledore soon continued with his speech.

"He will be teaching you to take care of yourselves, in these difficult times." Dumbledore said, in a slightly more serious tone of voice, "As will all the other members of staff, in their own ways. I trust that you will heed their lessons carefully, now more than ever. And now... With no further ado whatsoever, I give you the Hogwarts Sorting Hat!"

Dumbledore finished to a brief round of applause, which he acknowledged with a small smile, before placing the Sorting Hat on its stool in front of the teacher's table. Harry felt a surge of relief at seeing the hat again, happy to see normal events unfold again, and also remembering gladly the time the hat had helped him when he had needed it, down in the Chamber of Secrets. Soon, the clapping started to die down, and Dumbledore returned to his seat, just as the Sorting Hat came to life, and began to sing its newest song.

I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,
And as you will soon see;
You'll never find, in all the world,
A smarter hat than me!

I'll sort you into the houses,
Left by the Hogwarts Four,
Where their students will carry on
Their names for evermore.

In Slytherin you'll find the strong,
With no time for the weak.
Cunning thoughts fill up their minds, and
With silver tongues they speak.

Gryffindor holds the noble and brave,
Defenders of the light.
With iron will, and lion hearts,
They stand for what is right.

The clever go to Ravenclaw,
There to enhance their mind.
Quick witted, learned scholars all;
They hope wisdom to find.

While loyalty's home is Hufflepuff,
The seat of people just.
Hardworking, honest, loyal and true;
In them we place our trust.

So now you're here, where will you go?
Which of these houses great?
Just place me now atop your head,
And I'll decide your fate...

The entire hall broke out into a thunder of applause, all enjoying the Sorting Hat's latest song, and also appreciating the return to normality after the events of the day before. The new students stood at the entrance to the Hall and clapped politely, still too nervous to do much more. On the other hand, the older students were more enthusiastic, and gave a standing ovation, much to the delight of the Sorting Hat; it even bent itself in half, in a rough approximation of a bow.

As soon as the applause had died down, Professor McGonagall stood at the front of the crowd of gathered first years, and started reading from a list of names. Once she did, sound of hushed talking slowly started to fill the room, as those students familiar with the Sorting diverted their attention to those sitting around them. Harry, Ron and Hermione were no exception, and knowing their voices would be lost in the chatter, they spoke freely.

"What do you think Snuffles will do when he gets your letter?" asked Hermione.

"Scream blue murder," said Ron, with a grin spreading across his face. The thought of Sirius' reaction to today's events was amusing, but Harry was still worried about it; Sirius was still a hunted man, and he didn't want to provoke his Godfather into some rash reaction that he would come to regret.

"Oh, be serious Ron!" Hermione said, knowing full well what thoughts would be going through Harry's mind.

"I am being serious!" Ron insisted, "He's going to do his nut when he hears about this!"

"I'm sure Snuffles will be reasonable about it... There's no way Dumbledore could have prepared for the attack without knowing about it beforehand," said Hermione.

"Yeah... But maybe he did know about it..." muttered Ron, looking at Professor Snape with narrowed eyes. Snape was sitting halfway between Dumbledore and the new teacher, Shacklebolt, and concentration seemed to be focused on his dinner rather than his fellow teachers.

"Oh, honestly Ron... What are you accusing Professor Snape of now?" Hermione said, exasperated.

"Well, Dumbledore sent him off on some secret mission over the summer, didn't he? He might have gone back to You-Know-Who, so that he can tell Dumbledore what he's planning..." Ron said.

"I suppose so..." started Hermione, and carried on talking to Ron. But Harry wasn't listening to any of them; he was thinking of the events of the twenty-fourth of June, after the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.

When Voldemort was talking about his missing followers, he mentioned one who would be punished for being too cowardly to return. Harry was in no doubt that he was talking about Professor Karkaroff, who had been terrified at the reappearance of the Dark Mark on his arm. All over the summer, Harry had been looking for any report in the Daily Prophet that might suggest Voldemort had found Karkaroff, but there had been nothing yet.

But Voldemort also said about another Death Eater, who he believed had left him forever, and would be killed for it. In all likelihood, Professor Snape was the one who had left Voldemort; Dumbledore trusted him completely, and for all his unpleasantness, Snape had never betrayed that trust. Much as Harry disliked Snape, he was afraid that if he was spying for Dumbledore, his life could well be in danger.

"Farrell, Chloe," called out Professor McGonagall, almost unnoticed by the three, as Ron and Hermione were still talking, and Harry was still thinking. Slowly, he directed his attention back to his friends, who didn't seem to have noticed his distraction at all.

"What do you think about him?" asked Ron, nodding towards the dark figure at the end of the staff table.

"Shacklebolt?" said Harry, "Looks pretty normal..."

"Can't be too sane, though, or Dumbledore never would have hired him..." Ron said, remembering the assortment of strange DADA teachers that had taught them in the past.

"Well, I checked the register of former Head Boys - he's in there," Hermione said approvingly, "According to the book, he went on to Auror training, too."

"Cool..." said Ron, "As long as it isn't another idiot like Lockhart, we should be fine..." But he seemed reluctant to meet Harry's eyes, and Harry suddenly realised that Ron was deliberately trying not to mention Professor Moody. For a few moments, all three of them fell silent, thinking thoughts that none of them wanted to voice.

"Slytherin!" came the voice of the Sorting Hat, although none of the three had noticed which student was being sorted.

"You don't think he could be... I don't know..." Harry said, hesitant to ask what he really wanted to ask. Luckily, Hermione realised what he meant, and saved him the trouble.

"A Death Eater in disguise?" she said, laughing, but not nastily, "I don't think You-Know-Who is going to try the same thing twice, and I'm sure Dumbledore would have checked everyone before they started term..."

Hermione was trying to keep her tone light, and she was fairly successful in trying to seem confident and unconcerned. But her words seemed too familiar and rehearsed, as if she had been asking herself the same question for some time now. Obviously, Hermione was as worried as he was, and Hermione had probably already thought of most of Harry's concerns already. Knowing that someone else was as worried as he was made Harry feel better, and he smiled at Hermione in understanding, a gesture she soon returned.

"Lazenby, Malcolm," came Professor McGonagall's voice again, but her gaze seemed to be fixed on Harry, Ron and Hermione, rather than on the list in her hand. Immediately, all three of them fell silent, long enough to hear the Sorting Hat's call of 'Gryffindor'. Soon after that, McGonagall diverted her attention back to her list, which allowed the conversation to continue.

"I wonder what's going to happen about yesterday..." Ron said, trying to change the subject.

"Well, the Prefects were up in arms about it..." Hermione said, "They had a meeting about it late last night. They're talking about organising student patrols at night, to try and help out the teachers..."

"I hope they don't do anything dangerous..." said Harry.

"What, like taking a stroll down forbidden corridors guarded by three-headed dogs?" Ron asked. His teasing had the desired effect, as Harry visibly relaxed. If there was anything the Prefects couldn't handle, Dumbledore would never let them patrol at night, and he knew it.

"I'm just worried about the new first years... A lot of them were really scared when they arrived. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them weren't sure about staying here..." Hermione said, concern clear in her voice.

"I'm sure they'll stay. If Dumbledore can't convince them, nobody can." Ron said. Harry nodded in agreement, and Hermione looked comforted too.

"Warren, Eretria," came the last name on the list, and soon after came a call of 'Ravenclaw' from the Sorting Hat. Without any cue whatsoever, the soft chatter died almost immediately as Dumbledore stood again, ready to start the feast.

"The Sorting is now complete," Dumbledore was saying, "and in a moment, the feast shall begin. First, I must direct you to the piece of parchment that will shortly appear in front of you. These are your timetables for the new year, and you will all notice that classes begin this morning. I feel that, under the circumstances, it would be best to resume a normal routine as early as possible. Therefore, I must ask you to make sure you do not linger too long at the tables, and ensure you leave in plenty of time to retrieve your books. Tuck in!"

As soon as the words left Dumbledore's mouth, a breakfast feast appeared on all four tables, much to the surprise of some of the new arrivals. On top of each plate was a parchment envelope, which Harry assumed contained the schedules for the year. Most of the timetables were immediately moved to make way for food, but a few students opened them up and started reading the contents.

As usual, Ron immediately went to the food, sweeping the envelope onto the table and starting to pile bacon and sausages onto his plate with glee. Hermione, on the other hand, went straight to the envelope, tearing it open and quickly reading through the contents. Torn equally between curiosity and hunger, Harry paused long enough to retrieve a slice of toast and a glass of pumpkin juice from the golden plates on the table, before turning his attention to the new timetable.

"Wha's n'xt 'Arry?" Ron said, through a mouthful of bacon and egg. Hermione looked at him with a look of resigned disgust on her face, and rolled her eyes at Harry, who grinned in response.

"Looks like Charms," Harry replied, "Then Transfiguration. Not too bad for a first morning..."

"When's Potions?" Ron asked, his mouthful of food swallowed, and his voice full of dread.

"Thursday afternoon... And Defence is on Thursday morning." Harry said, putting the timetable away, and reaching for some eggs.

"Think we'll learn how to defend ourselves against Snape?" Ron said, earning a laugh from Harry, and an amused grin from Hermione.

"No... They won't do advanced stuff like that until the NEWTs..." was Harry's brief reply, before he started eating his breakfast. For several minutes, all three went silent, as they tucked in to their food hurriedly, not wanting to be late for their first lesson of the year. It wasn't long before even Ron had eaten sufficiently, and Hermione was reaching for her bag, ready to go to the lesson.

"Hey, how come you brought your bag to breakfast?" Ron asked, staring at Hermione.

"Thought it would save time later..." muttered Hermione, who was putting her timetable in the front of her bag.

"But how did you know what to put in there, before we got our timetables?" Ron asked, bewildered. Harry looked at her expectantly too, wondering how she knew what books to prepare.

"I've got them all! Shrinking Charms are a wonderful thing, you know..." Hermione said, with a sly grin on her face.

"You could have told us you were doing that! We could have done it too!" Ron complained.

"I would have done, if you hadn't been so busy sending letters in the middle of the night..." she said tartly.

"But now we've only got... 5 minutes to go!" Ron wailed, unhappy at the thought of another run through the school.

"Well, you'd better get going then, hadn't you?" Hermione said, winking at Harry before she walked out of the Hall. For a minute, Ron just looked at her retreating back in shock, until Harry nudged him to get his attention.

"Come on... We'd better get going..." he said, sighing. The prospect of another run across the school was not appealing, but he had very little choice. Ron, unexpectedly, started grinning at the thought.

"Bet you a Chocolate Frog I can snatch Hermione's bag before you can..." Ron said, before setting off at a sprint. Harry shook his head despairingly, and then ran to catch Ron up. He had no intention of snatching Hermione's bag, of course. But he wouldn't want to miss Hermione's reaction for anything.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. And since I can barely afford to own me, I'm obviously not making any money off of this...


Okay, first of all - I'm sorry this took so long. A lot of things (Not least reading OotP!) have delayed this chapter a lot longer than necessary. I am still continuing the story, and it's going to stay as a fifth year fic. I need the Weasley twins in Hogwarts, so there's no way to change it to fit around OotP.

You'll also have noticed Kingsley Shacklebolt popping up - he's very similar to the OC I had planned, so I just used him instead. Luna and Tonks might make appearances later too, but they won't be as important to the plot as they are in OotP.

Now, to the usual bit - saying thanks to all the patient reviewers who have made their presence known since last time. Much thanks to www.me, Inu Yokai, myrhfire, brownbear, Sirius_Black, skysong and Mella deRanged. I hope most of you have come back to read this chapter, and enjoyed it.

There will, of course, be no prizes whatsoever for noticing the (quite obvious) Pirates of the Caribbean reference in this chapter. However, if you want to point it out for the others, then you know precisely how to do it... ;)