Chapter Three
Harry felt a sharp tug behind his navel the second his hand touched the book.
He felt as If he were moving faster than light. He was soon relieved of this
sickening feeling as his feet slammed into the ground. He staggered a little,
but did not fall as most of the others did. Taking a few deep breaths he
regained his bearings and looked around the room in awe.
He was standing in a large entry hall with two gigantic oak doors leading into
it and several doors and halls leading out of it along the walls. The room was
magnificent, to say the least. Expensive looking portraits hung all over the
walls and shiny suits of armor stood all over the room.
"Welcome to Hogwarts Castle Harry" Dumbledore said. Harry stared at him.
"Castle?" he questioned. The old man just smiled and winked at him. He then
began to walk toward some of the majestic twin-doors in the hall, motioning for
Harry and the others to follow.
"Ah, excellent, were just in time for dinner. Am I correct in assuming that
Hermione has explained to you all about the sorting ceremony?" Harry nodded and
the Headmaster continued. "Wonderful, Minerva, would you
please go and fetch the sorting hat from my office? I'm going to have to
make a short speech announcing your existence and then we can get you sorted
Harry". Harry nodded to the Professor and they all followed him over to the
doors.
When they opened the doors it was into yet another gigantic hall. This hall was
much the same as the one they had just arrived in except there were four gigantic
tables filled with students and smaller head table where the other professors
were sitting. As soon as Harry had walked into the room he almost moaned in
pleasure due to the wonderful aromas of food in the air. He looked over and
noticed that the tables were all filled with dozens and dozens of many
different varieties of food. Harry once again realized how hungry he was. The
winter was always a tough time for food and all he had to eat in the past weak
was a can of tuna, a can of dog food, and a small loaf of bread, and he had not
eaten anything in the past two days. He had to actually bite his lip to keep
him self from running over and shoving as much food in his mouth as humanly
possible, but he did not want these people to get a bad first impression of
him. Mag was acting just as anxious as Harry. She was walking back and forth
restlessly waiting for permission from Harry to begin satisfying her own empty
stomach.
Harry was so caught up in all the food that didn't notice as every head in the
hall turned to stair at him. Nor did he notice as the hall broke out into
whispers.
"Who is that?"
"Why is he dressed like a muggle street rat?"
"What the hell is that thing doing in hear?"
"I sure wouldn't want to cross that guy"
"Where the heck did he get all those scars come from?"
"Are we aloud to have dogs in school?"
Almost every one in the hall were ether looking at him with fear or giving him
disgusted looks as if he were some thing stuck to there shoes. But he didn't
notice, all he wanted was the food. The smell of it
was almost hypnotizing him. He hoped to God that they would give him some. Now
that all this food was right in front of him, it became so much harder to
ignore his hunger.
The hall fell silent and tore there eyes away from the stranger as the
headmaster walked up to the head table and faced the students. The headmaster
began, "Good evening my friends, I come before you all today to announce some
wonderful news. For some time, a boy who should have been among you all in you
studies, has been missing from our world. I am pleased to announce that we have
found this young man and he will know be beginning his long overdue education
here at Hogwarts. I would like you all to meet Harry James Potter, who is just
about to be sorted."
The hall then broke out into a loud roar.
"Did he say Harry Potter?"
"I thought he was dead."
"That filthy street rat is Harry Potter?"
"Cool, I hope he's in Gryffindor."
Just then Professor McGonagall entered the hall carrying a stool and a hat. She
set them both in the middle of the hall and walked over to the side. Dumbledore
then spoke again, "well then, on with the sorting. Harry, if you will." Harry
had torn away from the food and began to walk toward the stool, Mag following
obediently at his side.
That was when he first noticed how many people were in the hall. This made him
very uncomfortable. He forced himself to ignore them as he sat on the stool
and, feeling a bit silly, put the hat on. When he did he heard a voice in his
head.
"A yes you, I was wandering when I'd be seeing you. Let's see, oh my there's
talent, much talent indeed. A fast learner. Oh my yes,
very good mind. Loyal to your friends, you are also. Lets see, cunning, oh dear
very cunning, very impressive, you would do great in Slytherin, yes very great
indeed. But theirs one quality in you that outdoes them all, yes, you are
defiantly the most courageous I've seen in a long time, better make it... GRIFFINDORE!!"
Most of the students from three of the tables began to cheer loudly, the students
from the other table mostly just scowled at him in disgust. Harry did not like
the cheering at all; he hated being the center of attention, especially in such
a large group of people. Fighting the impulse to take of out of the hall, he
nervously walked over to the Gryffindor table to where Hermione and Neville had
scooted apart to make room for him.
"Congratulations Harry" Hermione said as she made room for him. "Yeah, welcome
to Gryffindor Harry" Neville said nervously. Harry nodded his thanks, but was
only half listening. He was once again caught up with all the food in front of,
which he was eyeing anxiously. Ginny must have noticed Harry's reaction to the
food. "Help yourself Harry" She said to him, as he
practically shivered with anticipation. "Really?"
Harry asked with a hopeful smile on his face. Hermione then spoke up, "Of
course Harry, you are a student here now, and this food is for the students."
Harry didn't ask again, he gave them all a thankful look, and began to eat
everything he could reach. He silently threw some chicken under the table to
where Mag was sitting at his feet. Hermione, Neville and Ginny were all staring
at him with slight sadness. Harry looked up at them and asked "wha'". Hermione couldn't help herself and asked "When was
the last time you had something to eat, Harry?" immediately wishing she had not
said anything. But Harry did not look offended. He thought for a moment and
said, "two days" and returned to the food, occasionally darting his eyes around
nervously at the people around him, most of which were making no effort to not
to stare at him.
He noticed that there were two girls across from him who were staring at him
with disgusted faces. His head quickly shot up and he locked eyes with the two
girls. There disgusted looks immediately turned to fright as they both let out
little squeaks and shot there eyes down at there plates. Harry then continued
eating, occasionally staring back at everyone around him who where eying him.
He felt very uncomfortable the whole time, but was too hungry to care.
All Harry cared about at the moment was the food. This was literally the best
food he had ever eaten, and defiantly the most food he had ever eaten at one
sitting in his entire life. Most of the people where he came from, including
him, would kill for an opportunity like this. If not for the
education, then just for the food. And he was defiantly not going to
take it for granted.
Within twenty minutes he had consumed more than he had in the past month and
was at last full. He was also glad to see that most of the people around him
had gone back to minding there own business.
Harry could not remember ever being this happy. At least not since his friends
all died. He was now anxious to start school. Wondering when he would be able
to start he turned to Hermione, who seemed to be on top of things, and asked
"Hermione, when da I get ta
go ta school with you." Hermione smiled at Harry's
enthusiasm towards school and said, "Well, I guess you should be able to start
tomorrow, even though your still behind and don't have your supplies yet. I'm
sure Neville could lend you some robes until you get your own, right Neville?"
Neville then replied with a little more enthusiasm than before, "sure Harry, no
problem, they might not fit you very well though." Harry grinned at the nervous
boy and said "tanks a lot Neville, that'll do jus' fine."
By that time dinner was over and Hermione, Ginny and Neville began to escort
Harry back to the Gryffindor tower. As they were walking out of the hall Harry
thought of something else. "Uh, wha' exactly are da' classes ya' take 'ere?" he
asked. Hermione, who Harry noticed always seemed to be ecstatic about the topic
of school, replied "well, we study transfiguration, herbology,
potions, charms, care of magical creatu..."
Hermione was cut of by the cocky voice of a tall redheaded boy who was being
followed buy two other boys and the same two girls who were staring at Harry
with disgust earlier. "Stop boring the man know it
all; I seriously doubt he wants to be pestered by your rambling about school
Granger." The four of them turned towards voice and all of them glared at him,
except Harry, whose face remained blank.
"Shut the hell up Ron, why do you have to be such an ass all the time" Ginny
said with rage. Ron just glared back at her and said "why do you have to hang
out with these two losers all the time, its so embarrassing being related to
you some times." Ron then turned back to Harry and held out his hand, "I'm Ron
Weasley by the way, nice to meet you. You don't want to hang around with the
wimp and the now it all here; they don't really fit in around here any. We can
help you get to now the place much better than they can I assure you."
Harry look at him and chuckled a little at the at the boys offer of friendship.
Harry reached out grabbed his hand. Ron smiled, thinking that Harry was
accepting his friendship, but his smile quickly vanished as Harry started to
squeeze his hand harder and harder until Ron was on his knees trying to hold
back tears. Harry just stared at him with a slightly amused face and said,
"Whose da wimp, Ron?"
Harry then let go of his hand. Ron got up and immediately took several steps
back. He looked at Harry with shock and fear and stuttered, "w-what
the hell man, I didn't do anything to you." Harry, whose face was still blank,
replied "No, but I don' like people who judge others so easily."
Ron hade now regained his cool and said "you better watch yourself Potter; you
don't want to get of on our bad side." Harry raised an eye brow in amusement.
"Well dat sounds terrifyin',
ya do all look like a scary lot, 'specially
dem two", Harry replied sarcastically, motioning to
the two girls who were cowering away from Harry. Ron got a furious look on his
face but could not think of anything witty to say. The group then walked away,
all shooting Harry glares which caused Mag to growl with malice.
After they were gone he turned back to his three companions who were all
laughing out loud. "Don think 'e' likes me much, do ya?" he asked with his own amused grin. Ginny said between
laughs, "That was brilliant, oh the look on Ron's face, I think you nearly made
him wet himself." "It's good to see him get put in his
place" Neville said with no apprehension like before.
"Wha's da' deal with all dem anyhow, why are
day all so rude" Harry asked after they once again began to climb up to the
tower. Hermione replied, "Oh, there just full of them selves. They think there
cool and consider us losers. The black boy was Dean Tomas, he basically just
follows the heard around. The red head is Ginny's brother; he's probably the
cockiest of them all. The other sandy-haired boy was Seamus Finnigan, he's just
like Ron except if possible, even dumber," Harry chuckled as Hermione
continued. "The two girls that were with them were Parvati Patil and Lavender
Brown, incase you couldn't tell by there makeup there both kind of sleazy".
Harry laughed and said, "I'll say, hey ya' think
there's a place I could clean up a bit, I aint as
well groomed as da rest of ya,
don wan' ta offend anyone." Ginny then spoke "of
course Harry, Neville can show you the showers in your dorms and you can get
changed and cleaned up."
Once they had made it to the tower, Harry was once again shocked by the
elegance of the castle. Hermione and Ginny decided stayed in the common room
while Neville led Harry towards the showers. When they got there Neville gave
Harry some robes and told him that he would be in the common room with Ginny
and Hermione when he was finished. Harry then took off all the rages he was
wearing and shoved them into his back pack. He had never taken a shower before
and wasn't exactly sure about how to go about taking one. He stepped in under
the shower head and twisted the knob, but nothing happened. He continued to
play around with it for a moment before he finally pulled up on it and a
scalding hot shower of water began pouring down on him. He jumped away in shock
and twisted the knobs until the shower was at least cool enough to stand under.
Grabbing a wash cloth and some soap, he began washing off the nine years of
grime covering his body.
An hour later a very handsome Harry Potter came down the stairs of the
dormitories and walked into the common room, his dog following closely by his
heals. He looked like a whole different person. His skin, although still
covered in scars, was no longer blackened with filth, but held a weathered
bronze tan. His hair still hung below his shoulders and was know soft and
shaggy instead of greasy and matted. His rags were gone and he now wore Neville's
neat robes witch were just a little bit too stocky. Harry felt a little stupid
wearing a robe but he still felt better than he had ever felt in a long time.
He was clean and had a full stomach, something he could not ever remember
being.
As he walked over to his three new friends, they all looked shocked. To be
honest they did not recognize him at first. Harry smiled a little at their
expressions and said "how da I look?" After a moment
Hermione spoke, "You look great Harry, almost didn't recognize you." Then Ginny
added, "yeah Harry, you look much better now." Neville
nodded his agreement and Harry told them all thank you.
They all sat and talked to Harry about Hogwarts and Quidditch,
which Harry had been very interested in.
After a little while a tall red headed boy with spectacles came over to
introduce himself. He turned out to be Ginny's other older brother Percy. Percy
seemed to Harry to be a bit up-tit and bossy, but overall a good guy.
Harry also was confronted by Lee Jordan, Fred Weasley, and George Weasley, who
he quickly became friends.
The small group continued to chat for about another hour when they all decided
to go to bed. Neville and Harry bid the girls good night and went up to there dormitory. When they got there they noticed that Ron, Seamus
and Dean were all sitting huddled up together on one of the beds.
"If it isn't Potter and the wimp, can't they see where there not wanted" Seamus
said with disgust. The other two boys both started to laugh but quickly stopped
as Harry advanced towards them with a murderous smirk on his lips. "you three
wan' another demonstration on who's really da' wimp?"
Harry asked. They were all silent and looking at the slightly mad boy with
apprehension. When none of them answered Harry said in his slow dangerous drawl
"den shut da' fuck up". He then turned back to his
bed and sat down on it with his back to them, not expecting the fight to be
over.
The three boys must have gotten there courage back because Harry soon heard
Ron's voice behind him. "Were not afraid of you Potter, the three of us could
easily take you and Longbottom with our eyes closed." Harry turned around and
saw three wands pointed at him. Mag was now growling, she looked as if she was
about to start tearing people to peaces. Harry did not know much about magic or
what kind of damage it could cause, so he did not want to be hit by any of it.
He slowly turned around and walked towards the three boys and said "is da' so Weasley, cause I don' recon all you rich punks could
even get past me an my dog, even if ya do have dem wands."
The three of them just laughed at this. Ron then said "well Potter, I'd say we
should teach you a little lesion about who's in charge in this dormitory. The
three of them all began to shout something but before they could finish, Harry
had swiftly closed the space between them, grabbing Ron's wand quickly out of
his hand and kicking Dean's wand right out of his grip while Mag bound on top
of Seamus, pining him to the ground, and began snapping his sharp teeth just centimeters
from his face. All this had happened before anyone had any time to react, or
even blink for that matter.
Everyone in the dorm but Harry looked shocked at the street kid's speed. Harry
then pulled the switch blade out of his packet and advanced towards Ron with
it. Ron began to back up apprehensively until his back was against the wall.
Harry reached forward to grab the front of Ron's robe and said in a soft but
deadly voice, "Now you listen ta me Weasley, I don
now much 'bout magic, but if ya go lookin' fer trouble with me, you gona find more dan ya can deal with. Now, I is goin'
to sleep, an I'm a very light sleeper so don' try nothin'"
Harry then walked over to his bed, bid Neville good night and pulled the covers
down to get in. When he first lay down on the mattress it almost brought tears
to his eyes it was so comfortable. That night Harry slept better than he could
ever remember sleeping. He didn't even have any nightmares.
Remus Lupin sat in front of his fireplace holding a glass of fire whisky. He
normally didn't drink much, but know he felt he needed to.
The events of the day were wonderful indeed. They had finally found Harry.
Remus had prayed for this day for over three years and it had finally come.
But the condition that they had found Harry in had broken his heart. He could
not imagine what kind of hardships his best friend's son had been through. He
wished Harry could have had a happy childhood and grown up in a loving home.
The thought of Harry's life till now depressed him so much that he could barely
even function properly. This was why he had been drowning himself with whiskey
for the past hour.
He was so lost in his unclear thoughts that he did not even realize that the
Headmaster had walked into his quarters and was standing over him. "Having
trouble dealing with reality are we?" Remus nearly yelled when the old voice of
the Headmaster broke his thoughts. Looking up at the headmaster Remus asked,
"Albus what are you doing in hear."
The old man looked down to the glass of whiskey in his hand and replied, "I
think the question is what are you doing". Remus
immediately felt ashamed at having resorted to alcohol in order to ease his
troubled mind.
He looked back to the old wizard and said sadly, "How could this have
happened?" Albus came and sat down on a chair next to him and said, "You must
not dwell on it Remus, all we can do now is try and give Harry the best life
possible. That is why I came here. I was hoping that if you were free tomorrow
after diner you would be able to give Harry his first tutoring session. We
might as well get him caught up quick."
Remus agreed eagerly at the opportunity to spend time with Harry. After the old
man left he went to sleep, looking forward to the next day.
End of Chapter Three
Thank you for reading this chapter of my story. Chapter four is currently under
work and should be up by next week sometime. The following are my responses to
my reviewers.
Eden's Echo: No, I do not plain on making a ridiculously
powerful 'super Harry'. Thanks for the review.
Elissar: Thank you, I will.
Spacecatdet: I appreciate you advice. I will admit I am
terrible with spelling and grammar and should probable look into that.
Shdurrani: Thanks for the review.
Raven Potter Weasley: I'm glad to see your enthusiasm. Your idea
really does sound like a good one but unfortunately I have already written a
basic plot line in my head and that is not part of it. So
sorry. On the other hand, I do plain on those pairings as of now and I
never did say Jack was dead, did I.
Scott: I'm glad you like my story. That thing about
the time line is very interesting. I had never known that but I have had other
people tell me that the dates were wrong. I may change that if I get time.
Thanks for the review.
Meresger: That's some very constructive criticism. Thank
you. I realize that there are a lot of plot holes but I do plan on filling them
in the future chapters using flashbacks and such. About Harry's birthday, I
honestly did not know that and may go back and change it but until then it is
irrelevant to the story. As for why Sirius broke out, I explained that it was
because he wanted revenge and wanted to look out for Harry. In the
Philosopher's Stone if you recall, Harry was the one to pull the stone out of
the mirror. Dumbledore would have stopped them before they could ever get the
stone. Ginny would not have poured herself into the diary so much because she
would not have had a crush on Harry and would have had Hermione and Neville's
friendship. About Harry being tracked by his magic. I
do not think it would matter where it came from, just who. Dobby probably used
elf magic to fool the system. I know the three students probably would not have
gone to London to find Harry but it fits well with my story line so what the
hell. The rest is all your opinion. Good Review, really made me think.
Dreams of Magic: Thanks for the input
