A/N: I hope I didn't scare anyone off when putting Harry into a fifth house. Hey, it's an AU story for a reason. All right, some review responses, then on to the chapter.

Dmmason03:  I agree with you about the shipping situation. I have no ships planned as of yet, as it is only a first-year book at this time. I will eventually get around to a pairing, but it will never be prominent in my stories. I'm not much of a romance author. I concentrate more on magical theory and action.

Vicious Lily: In this very chapter, you will discover many things about Draconus house. I hope you like what you read. I put a lot of thought into the house, and I think it came out rather nicely.

Athenakitty:  The symbol of Draconus house is a dragon, and its colors are purple and black.

ZeonReborn: Draconus is the fifth house at Hogwarts. Harry will sleep in the Draconus dormitories

Wolfmoon: I'm glad you like it. I'll try to keep you interested.

Alex20: I'm not going to change Hermione's character until way later. The powerful looking purple aura is actually important for book FIVE, if you really want to know. It's just foreshadowing for now.

Nevets: Harry's magical sense is not actually visual. He just picks up on the magic of the room, and his brain interprets it as visual information. So, yes it does effect the way he sees the world around him.

Tristin Silver: I certainly have to change book five's plot. I also need to change book three's plot, for reasons that should become apparent in this next chapter.

Xenocide:  Argh! You've discovered my nefarious plot! Actually, the working title for Draconus house was MageHammer, but I couldn't figure out a good symbol for it. Then, someone I was talking to mentioned the word Draconis. I liked the sound of it, and I thought of that phrase. It fit perfectly with my story, so I altered the word slightly, and made it the house name. You hit the nail right on the head with that thought!

Aensland: I am following a basic template when I say that the Harry/Hermione pairing is the most likely. In any love story, the romantic interest of the hero is always, or at least almost always the most important female in the story. Since Hermione is, without a doubt, the most important female character in my story, it follows that Hermione should eventually be the romantic interest of Harry. I think that's where J.K. Rowling is going with her stories as well. If she changes it, so will I. My pairings are going to be MOSTLY the same as hers. In any case, if you're waiting for the pairing to be evident, you'll be waiting for a long while. I have no plans for them to become involved as more than friends until after fifth year. Still, book six four books away, and I'm not done with this first one yet.

**

Chapter 04: Rules and Regulations

**

Silence reigned in the Great Hall. In all of the years Albus Dumbledore had been at Hogwarts, whether attending as a Student, Teacher, or Headmaster, he had never heard such silence in the school as at this very moment. If he weren't versed in physics, he would have sworn that the entire universe had stopped for a brief rest, allowing for a moment of absolute silence. Even the normal night sounds from outside had ceased.

The moment was gone as quickly as it had come, however. The silence was replaced with whispers the quickly built to an unimaginable volume. Through the whispers, Dumbledore noticed that Harry was still standing in front of the entire school. He wondered for a moment why he had not gone to sit with his house, before realizing that the Draconus house had no table. Harry's magic, which he had not reigned in yet, played with Dumbledore's senses, allowing him to realize exactly where Harry was in terms of power. He was quite powerful for an eleven year old. The magic was unfocused and untrained, but he had the raw magical strength of someone in fourth year.

While Dumbledore was pondering what to do, Minerva McGonagall got tired of seeing her young friend squirm uncomfortably in front of the eyes of the entire school. She tapped her spoon against her crystal goblet, and the ringing sound quickly silenced the hall. "Harry, since there is no table for Draconus House at the moment, feel free to sit wherever you wish." Harry scanned the hall, and immediately walked to the Gryffindor table, and sat next to the young muggle-born girl. Minerva thought her name was Granger, but couldn't be sure.

The sorting ceremony continued, but Dumbledore's thoughts were on Harry. He didn't know anything about Draconus house, other than what he'd read in his reference books about running the school. He hadn't read through those books in almost 50 years, since he'd taken over as Headmaster after Armando Dippet had retired. Looked like it was time to dig the books out again. If what he remembered was true, then Harry would need some special treatment, and some extra classes.

Finally, the sorting was done. Dumbledore stood, but couldn't think of anything intelligent to say. The only things that really came to mind were meaningless phrases that he hadn't used in years. He was scarcely aware of his mouth moving as he went through the opening phrase, but almost kicked himself when he actually said "nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak!" He struggled not to blush, and waved his hands to summon the food from the kitchens. He glanced at Minerva, and saw her raised eyebrow. He smiled, rather embarrassed with himself.

As far as Dumbledore was concerned, dinner couldn't pass quick enough. There was a magus in his school for the first time in several hundred years, and he wanted to find answers to his questions. He'd read the stories about Draconus house for years, and had searched all over the school for any indicators that he was near to the dormitories, but had never found any. He had almost convinced himself that it was just a set of fancied stories, when Harry sat on the stool. Now he had proof that Draconus house was real, and he would finally have his many questions answered.

Finally, dessert was done, and Dumbledore stood once again. It was time for his start of term notices, but he was on autopilot, and gave the standard notices, the forest was forbidden, no magic in the halls, and a final, hurried notice about the third floor corridor being forbidden.

**

When Dumbledore told the students about the Third floor corridor on the right hand side, Harry's eyes went unfocused. A presence inserted itself into his mind, and fed him an image. The image flew down a hallway to a door. The door opened, and Harry saw a giant black shape with three heads and sharp teeth. He couldn't exactly see what it was, as the image went away too fast, but had a feeling that anyone heading into that room would most assuredly regret it.

**

Dumbledore led the students in singing the school song, then asked the prefects to lead their houses to the dormitories. The school slowly filed out, leaving a very alone Draconus student. He didn't have any prefects, or any housemates either. "Harry?" The young wizard looked at him. "Would you please come up to my office? There are some particulars about your house that we need to take care of." Harry nodded and stood. His eyes went unfocused for a moment, and he aimed his feet at the door. Dumbledore was puzzled, but followed him.

In the hall, Dumbledore noticed that Harry seemed to be following Minerva to his office. All four heads and a few of the senior teachers were asked to go to his office, so they could talk about Harry's unusual situation.

It was when he arrived at his office that he noticed the first thing out of the ordinary. His gargoyle wasn't guarding the door like normal. He knew for a fact that he hadn't told anyone his new password, and the gargoyle was under orders to prevent anyone from entering the office when he wasn't in it. He'd have to have a talk with the gargoyle later, to see why it opened. Well, at least no one had entered without him, although from the grasp that Minerva had on young Harry's arm, she'd restrained him from doing so.

Dumbledore lead the group of teachers up the steps to his office, where there were just enough chairs for everyone. Dumbledore ushered Harry to a chair, and took his seat behind his desk, which vanished into thin air, much to his surprise. Dumbledore liked the feeling of being behind a desk. It put him in a position of objectivity, so that he could make hard decisions without being forced to deal with the issue on a personal level. Yet another puzzle to solve at a later time.

Harry looked a little wary, but mostly comfortable. Every few moments, his eye would slide over to observe Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin House. Severus had a sneer on his face, and was looking at the boy with barely disguised disdain. Dumbledore was going to break the ice with an introduction, but Harry beat him to it. "Is he going to attack me?" He asked, turning his eyes to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was taken aback by the question, as was Snape.

"I do not believe so, Harry. Why do you ask?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Every time he looks at me, his aura flares. My aunt's aura does that whenever she's really angry with Dudley, and it usually ends up with him getting punished in some way. Since his aura is flaring, I have to guess that he's angry about something concerning me, and the intensity of the flares points toward a violent outburst." Harry explained. Dumbledore was shocked. Minerva had mentioned that the boy had some ability to discern when magic was being done, or things were enchanted, but he'd never expected that he would be able to use it like some sort of empathy.

Dumbledore glance sharply at Severus, who looked like he didn't know whether to be shocked, or glare at Harry. He seemed to have settled for a shocked glare, which didn't seem very frightening. Harry was beginning to look uncomfortable, and Dumbledore decided it was time to move on. "I'm sure that Severus will be able to restrain himself, Harry. What we need to get sorted out right now, is the particulars of having a magus attending classes." Harry smiled at the word 'magus,' and Dumbledore put things together quickly. When he'd called Harry a wizard, he had frowned. Now that he looked back at it, it wasn't that the statement was unbelievable; it was the word 'wizard' that Harry had disagreed with.

"First things first." Said a voice from the shelf. The teachers all turned to look at the sorting hat, which had woken up once again. "Young Magus Potter needs a keeper. Put me on his head again." Dumbledore did this quickly, and once again the hat sat deliberating. "The boy is strong, brave and honest. He's cunning and devious when the situation requires it, and a hard worker. His mind is sharp, and he's got a good work ethic. So, I need a keeper that will refine those qualities. Snape, you dislike him far too much, so you're out." Snape sneered at the hat, which had absolutely no effect. "Sprout, he'd be good with you, but you're a bit soft to look after a magus." Sprout, who was the head of Hufflepuff house, looked a bit deflated. "Flitwick, I think you'd rather study him than discipline him, so you're out as well." The eager look vanished from the tiny Professor's face. "McGonagall…" The teacher looked steadily at the hat. "You'd be a fine choice. I'll come back to you." The hat surveyed the room. "Hooch, the boy has an ability that's right up your alley, but you're a little too far away from the everyday school environment, so you're out." The hat rotated all the way around, finally landing on the Headmaster. Dumbledore got an eager look in his eye. "No way, you old coot!" The hat laughed. "You're also to far away from the everyday for him. Better be… McGonagall!" The hat finished. Harry smiled. Obviously, Minerva had made a good impression on the boy. Harry's eyes shut in brief pain, which was gone before Dumbledore could grow concerned. "Now, put me on the keeper's head." That was done quickly, and Minerva's eyes shut the same way that Harry's had. "Now you may continue, Dumbledore."

"Alright," Dumbledore began, "first I'm going to give you a little history, Harry. A thousand years ago, there were four extremely powerful wizards and witches. These four people were so powerful that nobody would approach them. They were regarded as beings to be feared. So they made an effort to separate themselves from the rest of the world. They contracted a group of magi, which were a special type of human magic users, to help them build a castle in this Location.

"It really is rather ironic that by giving the people what they wanted, they scared people more than before. The wizarding world, as a whole, saw the creation of this castle as a threat to their safety. The four most powerful humans in the world and a pack of magi, which the wizards were afraid of anyway, were building an almost impenetrable fortress. The magical community came to the conclusion that they were trying to stage a takeover of the government.

"Now Harry, you should know that in a battle, numbers are not the only thing that matters, but numbers do tend to play a large part of any war. By the time this castle was finished, the rest of the magical world had decided to declare war upon the castle. At the time, there were just about one hundred people living in the castle; the four founders, and about ninety-six magi. When the war was declared, the magi collected their children, bringing the total number of people up to just fewer than two hundred people. The attacking forces began moving. Wizards and witches had created armies of thousands, from all over the world. This is the basis of the Great Magical War, which ended with the provisional surrender of the four founders. The provisions of their surrender forced the castle to be transformed into a school, where the younger generations would learn the magical arts from these four powerful sorcerers. Each founder had a different teaching style, so they created four separate houses to sort the students into, where they would teach the students that would respond to them best.

"They only had one small problem. They had promised sanctuary to all magi in the castle. Magi, however, did not learn in the same way as the rest. They had to be sorted into their own house, which was named Draconus. Soon after the opening of the school, the magi began to diminish. Every year, there would be less of them, until the house was finally empty. That was nine hundred years ago. Draconus house has not had a member since before the founders stopped teaching."

"I see." Said Harry. This was an interesting development. "May I ask a few questions before things get any stranger? They really don't have anything to do with this subject, but I forgot to ask the most important one before, and I'd like to ask it before I forget it again." Dumbledore nodded, and Harry turned to his first magical friend. "Professor McGonagall, why does your aura seem different than everyone else's here? It's mostly human, but I see a small part that reminds me of the biggest lion at the zoo."

The shock on McGonagall's face was comical, but she managed to get her jaw off the floor fairly quickly. "I'm an animagus, Harry. That means that I can become an animal when I wish to. The animal I become is a cat."

"Ok," Harry said, "that explains the resemblance to the lion. Can I ask you to transform for me? I just thought of something frightening, but I'd like to see if there's any chance of it being true before I say anything."

McGonagall looked confused, but nodded her head. The quickly turned into a cat, and allowed Harry to get a good look at her. His eyes narrowed, and then widened in horror. His face went deathly pale all of a sudden. McGonagall got worried for her friend quite quickly, and transformed back. "Harry? Are you all right?"

"Professor, a first year in your house, by the name of Ron Weasley, may be keeping an animagus as a pet. When you transformed, the animalistic aura became the prominent one, the human part fading almost completely into the background. When I saw Ron's rat on the train, I saw a little bit of human in it's aura, but didn't think anything about it. Now that I've seen what you look like when you transform, I'm almost sure that the rat is actually not a rat at all." Harry said.

The room became quite animated at this little revelation, but calmed down after Dumbledore stated that he would investigate personally. "Now Harry, do you have any other questions?" Harry's eyes were unfocused again, and he shook his head. Dumbledore started to explain some of the particulars that needed to be solved, but Harry stood and walked over to one of the pictures. He whispered something in the ear of the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw, and the portrait laughed and nodded. Before Dumbledore could ask what he was doing, the small frame slid forward, revealing a drawer full of badges. Each badge had a picture of a silver dragon spouting purple flames emblazoned on it. Harry affixed one to his cloak, and slid the drawer shut. He whispered to the portrait once again, and the woman laughed and nodded once more. "Well, I guess that answers one of the problems."

"Sir?" Harry asked. "I have another question. Am I going to be able to ride the winds in the morning while I'm here? I haven't done it in over a week, and I'm looking forward to being able to do it again."

The question confused Dumbledore. "Could you explain what you mean by 'riding the wind,' Harry? I've never heard of that before."

"It would probably be easier to show you." Harry said, standing up from his chair. He walked to the back of the room, where everyone could see him properly. Harry concentrated for a moment, and then the oddest thing happened. Sprouting from his back, right at the shoulder blades, were a set of wings. They were very large, glowing white wings, with a span of about 15 feet Dumbledore reached out to touch one, his mouth hanging open. His hand passed right through it. "The wings aren't real, Professor. They don't even move. My aunt Petunia said that it's a 'physical manifestation of magical ability.'" I don't really know what she meant by that, but I do know that my wings let me ride the wind." As if to prove his point, Harry rose about four feet from the ground. Madam Hooch was gaping openly, and couldn't seem to get her jaw off the floor.

When he set himself back on the floor, his wings disappeared. Dumbledore took the opportunity to go into research mode, followed closely by Professor Flitwick. "Harry," he said, "Could you remove your shirt and turn around? I'd like to see where your wings appear from." Harry shrugged, and did as the Headmaster asked. When the teachers examined his exposed shoulders, they saw something strange. Arranged in a three layered, tight spiral were hundreds of tiny little symbols created from what appeared to be scar tissue. "Harry, do you know what these markings mean?"

"No I don't, Professor. My Aunt drew the symbols for me, so I could see them, but I couldn't understand what it meant. Aunt Petunia thought it might be some kind of language, but nobody she talked to could recognize the symbols." Harry said.

"Alright Harry, it has been a very tiring evening for everyone. All that's left is to figure out where you will be sleeping." Dumbledore said.

It was McGonagall that responded before anyone could make a suggestion. "I would think that he would be sleeping in the Draconus dormitory."

"Minerva, nobody has been able to find those particular dormitories since the last magus left the school. He'll need somewhere else to sleep until we can find them.

"I know where they are." Harry said quietly.

"You do, Harry?" Dumbledore asked. Snape snorted his disbelief, and Harry cast a heated glance at him. This man had been just on the verge of attacking him all night, and now he was questioning his honor? Snape returned the glance with a hateful sneer, and Harry lost it. He called for that presence from earlier, and felt it respond. He pictured Snape falling into a hole, and winding up in the Great hall, and sent the feeling of a question. He felt the acceptance of the presence, along with the feeling of anticipation.

"I know the location as well." Said McGonagall. "The hat gave it to us when it was on our heads." She could see the questioning look in Dumbledore's eyes, but couldn't satisfy his curiosity this time. "I'm sorry Albus, but rule number two of Draconus house states that no one but members of Draconus house and their keepers are to know the location." She could see his disappointment. "The only exception to the rule is any honorary member may visit the dorm, provided that they are accompanied by a member. So, all you have to do is do something worthy of Harry's approval, and you may be considered an honorary member.

"There are rules governing just that house?" Snape cut in. McGonagall nodded. "What are they?"

"You will find out rules as they are broken." McGonagall said. "It is the Draconus custom to keep secrets until events force the release of information." Snape nodded, realizing the Slytherin nature of that rule. It seemed that all four houses were blended together when creating the Draconus house. Seeing the shocked looks on the other Professors' faces, McGonagall explained herself. "In order to properly govern my young charge, I have to know about the customs of the Draconus house. The sorting hat fed my mind the information that I need. Now, I will escort Magus Potter to his dormitory. It has been a long day, and I'm sure that we are all tired. McGonagall led Harry to the door, and down the stairs. Snape took two steps, as if to follow, before the floor opened beneath him, swallowing him up quickly. He barely had the time to be shocked, however before he ended up in the Great Hall

**

After twisting and turning through the halls for around ten minutes, Harry and Minerva arrived at their destination. It was an unadorned stone wall, with no markings at all. Minerva had no idea how to enter, but Harry did. Lifting his hand, he placed it on the stone and traced a pattern that only he could see. The wall parted, much like the archway into Diagon Alley, and they walked into the room.

It was as if no one had left. There was no dust, no grime, no wear and tear of time on the furniture. "Well Harry," McGonagall said, "I'll leave you here for the night. Tomorrow, we'll take care of your schedule." She left Harry to explore the dormitories.

Harry was far too exhausted to take the time to explore his new home, and fell asleep right on the couch, in front of the fire.

**

A/N: Well, it's a bit shorter than I'd hoped, but I wanted to separate classes from orientation. There were so many questions to answer in this chapter, that I din't want to add classes and more confusion to the mix. So, join me for my next chapter, Classes and Confusion!