Spell of Time
By: xxlostdreamerxz
Disclaimer: No, I do not own HP.
The Great Hall was lit with enchanted candles which floated and sparkled brightly. The four long tables were piled heavily with delicious food and ravenous students. It was a customary for the students and staff to listen to Dumbledore's speech before dinner. However for some particular reason, the headmaster seemed to be waiting for something...or someone...
A loud bang resounded through the hall as the great doors swung open, causing most of the students and staff to jump out in shock. In the entrance way stood the two newly instated teachers. The audience gaped in shock as they watched the blonde...err...Draco drag his dark haired friend towards the staff tables.
"DRACO! GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!" growled Harry as he yanked himself free, and shot Draco his nastiest glare. "I swear! You're mental or something! Did you have to drag me all the way up here from the staff quarters!"
"Hey! It wasn't my fault!" complained Draco while he sat down elegantly at the table. "You're too slow!" he wined, "If we walked at your snail-like pace, all of MY food would be gone by the time we got here!"
Harry muttered some colorful curses under his breath before he plopped down grumpily next to Draco at the staff table. "Why me?" he grumbled before he looked up in resignation. It seemed as if Draco would never grow up. The older he got, the more annoying he became. Would there every be an end to this madness?
With a curious look towards them, Dumbledore stood up in front of the Great Hall which instantly silence. "My dear students! Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts!" he exclaimed cheerfully, as many of the students roared with approval. "I would like you to welcome the two newest addition to our staff, Mr. Smith and Mr. Eaton!" The students exchanged glances before a nervous round of clapping was heard. "Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that a list of objects forbidden inside this castle is pasted upon his office window. If I add, the consequences will be disastrous if not obeyed," he said solemnly, however his eyes were twinkling with laughter. "Most importantly, with the help of our esteemed staff, we have prepared a show for you tonight."
"REALLY?" exclaimed Sirus, who was just about dancing with joy. "CAN I HELP?" he asked hopefully, however they was a mischievous glint within the depths of his sparkling blue eyes. Professor McGonagall looked as if she wanted to do nothing more at the moment then to scold him. However thankfully, the headmaster intervened before any damage could happen.
"That won't be necessary, Mr. Black," stated Professor Dumbledore, however his eyes were twinkling with laughter. "I'm quite sure that we'll be able to handle the show just fine on our own."
Sirus wiped a mock tear from his eye and nodded somewhat reluctantly. "I understand Professor," he said a bit dejectedly. "I'm not good enough to be a part of your...show..." His entire demeanor portrayed sadness and rejection, however his face told otherwise. For at the moment, Sirus Black was trying his best no to crack up.
James snickered softly, as he saw through his best friend's act. "Oh Padfoot..." he said in a sing-song voice. "Look what I have here!" At that, James held up a gigantic piece of Honeyduke's best chocolate and began waving it in front of his face. Almost instantaneously, Sirus' face cleared up and a huge smile broke across his face. All thoughts about teasing the headmaster disappeared instantly from his mind, for the only thing that was important at the moment...was the FOOD...
"Yummy," he said cheerfully, as he tried to snatch the bar away from James. "Come on Prongs! I'm hungry!" he wined pathetically. "You wouldn't want you bestest best friend to die of hunger would you?" Sirus gave James his infamous lost puppy eyes expression, which caused his friend to hesitate slightly. Almost instantaneously disappeared from his hand, and was currently traveling down towards the black hole, also known as Padfoot's stomach.
"Hey!" cried James indignantly, giving Sirus a playful punch in the shoulder. "I was going to eat that you know!" he said crossing his arms, as he pouted. "After all Sirus," he said slyly, "We wouldn't want you getting fat, would we? After all, what would the girls say?"
Sirus' mouth dropped open in mock surprise. "FAT! ME!" he shouted in disbelief. Instantly he climbed onto the table, ignoring groans of annoyance from the staff, as he did a few poses. "You know what Prongs? I know I'm sexy, but you don't have to be jealous and all..." he taunted, however his eyes twinkled with laughter which was an obvious indicator that he was joking. "After all, most of the female population tend to fall for my charming personality," he said charmingly, as he fluttered his eyelashes. At that, the remaining Marauders snickered softly in disagreement.
Remus let out a soft snort, " As far as I know it, no sane witch could ever fall for your so called 'charms'," he softly, however his amber eyes were bright with mischief. "Or have you forgotten about your last girlfriend..."
"Hey! I resent that!"
"...the one who you 'accidentally' dumped your potions project on..."
"I wasn't aiming it towards her!" replied Sirus with shock reflected upon his face. "After all, no one deserves to be hit with the full extent of MY POTION'S experiment other then the 'greasy haired git" he said with hatred laced in his voice. Then again, that might be fairly true statement. For at any rate, Sirus was completely abysmal at potions, even probably horrible enough to give Neville a run for his money.
James added with a dreamy expression upon his face, " It was one of the best days of my life," he said cheerfully, his smile brooding when he caught sight of Sirius's frown deepening. "I mean, can you imagine that how hilarious seeing her exact her revenge..."
"Ever since her 'revenge', I have never been able to look at food the same way again" stated Remus with a slightly green expression. "It's a wonder that you still manage to have such an appetite Padfoot...it's not...well...normal, especially since you were after all the victim..." However, luckily before Remus was allowed to further his 'explanation', Dumbledore quickly intervened.
"I must say though Mr. Black, although your debate proved to be fairly interesting..." The headmaster paused momentarily and shot the Marauders a kind smile. "I'm afraid that I must cut you short, for our time is quite limited at the moment..." Finally he turned his attention back to the school, ignoring the fact that most of them had been watching the boys in amusement. Although it was fairly common for the Marauders to wreak havoc upon the school, it had never occurred during the welcoming feast.
"As I mentioned earlier, our staff has prepared a surprise for you tonight," he said carefully, as he studied the two new defense professors from the corner of his eye. Both of them were both lounging upon their chairs, every inch of an aristocrat. However, while Draco's face shone brightly with boyish enthusiasm, Harry's face was dark and devoid of emotion. It was strange, how two could be so different...yet so alike... However, the headmaster decided that now wasn't the best time to ponder such thoughts. Yes, he'd decide latter, when he was alone...without those haunted emerald eyes trained upon him. "Although many of you have heard the legacy of Hogwarts, you do not truly understand the depth and complexity of your houses," he said gesturing towards the stone walls. "None of you know what a honor it truly is to be selected by one of the four founding fathers of Hogwarts. And as for that, tonight we shall do something that has never occurred before in history..." The man paused slightly before continuing,"...we shall...sort the staff..."
At those words, a loud uproar echoed about the Great Hall. Most of it came from the students, who were cheering enthusiastically. Dumbledore raised wand and released a shower of red sparks. "The age of darkness is upon us, and in order to survive, be shall have to band together as one, but first we shall have to understand each other. And if we don't...we shall fall..." The headmaster sighed softly before continuing, " So during our performance, we shall have the sorting hat voice all of it's opinions aloud. It shall inform you of our strengths as well as weaknesses, as well as placing us in a house..."
Harry and Draco exchanged nervous looks, as they watched Professor McGonagall stride up towards the center of the room with the sorting hat in her hands. Obviously, the transfiguration professor didn't seem to notice the boy's stricken expression as she placed the battered old hat upon a small wooden stool. The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the rip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song:
In time of old when I was new
And Hogwarts barely started
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted:
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning,
To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning.
"Together we will build and teach!"
The four good friends decided
And never did they dream that they
Might someday be divided,
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?
The Houses that, like pillars four,
Had once held up our school,
Now turned upon each other and,
Divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
Must meet an early end,
What with dueling and with fighting
And the clash of friend on friend
Have the Houses been united
As they were once meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
And you all know the score:
I shall sort you into Houses
Because that is what I'm for,
Now let the Sorting begin.
A/N: I kind of shortened the song since I was too lazy too type everything out. P oh well, remember that his song solely belongs to J.K. Rowling...and I don't own it and all...sadly I'm incompetent and too lazy to make up my own song either...oh yea, if I spelled any of the professor's names wrong, please help! lol...some say that I'm slightly spelling challenged...and I have no idea how old most of the teachers are...so BLAH...I'm too lazy to make up my own characters...so I'm pretty much sticking to the original ones...
The hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time in history it was going to sort professors. Most students watched with excitement, since it wasn't every day that your get to know what house your professors would belong to. Other then the head of the houses of course, most teachers chose not to flaunt their house sprit, for that would show favoritism...
Professor McGonagall pulled out the traditional piece of parchment and began naming off the teachers. However, unlike previous sorting the list was not in alphabetical order...
"Smith, Draco"
The blonde slowly rose to his feet, and exchanged an uneasy smile with Harry before strolling off towards the Sorting Hat. Unlike, most of the other occupant's, Dumbledore had caught the uneasy exchange between his two new professors. It was so strange, the fact that anyone would be worried about something so harmless. He stroked his beard thoughtfully, he was pretty sure that this sorting would definitely prove to be fairly interesting.
With his usual grace, Draco casually plopped down upon the slightly too small stool and crossed his arms arrogantly. To most of the students their new professor seemed to be the model aristocrat. Draco was cold, emotionless, and as arrogant as any other pureblood. Strangely enough, the mask that their new professor wore was by far, different from his carefree attitude a few minutes ago. However, only Harry caught the nervous look that shone in his friend's dark gray eyes. When no one moved, he lifted an elegant brow inquisitively. "Well? What are you waiting for?" he demanded as he shot a slightly annoyed look towards Professor McGonagall, who instantly jumped to her feet and plopped the hat onto Draco's head.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" chuckled the hat, after a few moments of tense silence. "A professor of all people!"
Draco rolled his eyes slightly. 'Wow, how ingenious of you,' he thought with a trace of sarcasm. 'The hat seems to have inherited more of the idiotic genes of Lord Gryffindor then any of the other bloody founders,' he thought to himself.
"Not at all, Professor...White," stated the sorting hat indignantly, after a moment's pause. "I can assure you that I received equal amounts of magical genes from all the founders!"
'Well in that case, I suppose one of the founders was suffered from quite a bit of insanity,' retorted Draco, looking positively pleased about the direction of this debate. It had been quite awhile since he'd been allowed to play mind games with people, especially due to his involvement with the war. He truly did not have enough time for such meager activities. His lips curled into a small smirk; however, he did now. Who better to play mind games on other then the sorting hat itself.
If possible, the sorting hat puffed out in anger. "How dare you! You...you..." the hat was slowly turning an interesting shade of red. "...you...ferret!" it exclaimed after scouring through Draco's memories.
"Hey! That wasn't fair!" pouted Draco, as he sniffed in annoyance. With a sly smirk on his face, Draco announced to the entire hall, mimicking the sorting hat's voice, "My, my, what do we have here? A cruel little hat! Oh dear me, that insult was completely out of line!" Draco's smirk widened as he continued, his voice returning back to normal. As a newly instated professor, I'm sorry to say that I'd have to deduct twenty points from Gryffindor." At seeing everyone's amazed and shocked glazes, he added, "It's not exactly the best thing to cross a defense professor!" He said with an smug expression on his face.
Sadly though, for the first time in history smoke was coming out of the top of the hat. As for a matter of fact, the hat looked as if it was about to explode any minute. "Enough!" roared the hat, as it jumped off Draco's head. "This one's a Slytherin! And the most bloody annoying one you'd ever meet! Now...get...him...away...from me!"
"Gladly," retorted Draco, as he slid his hand over his blond locks. He frowned lightly. "Look what you did! You got my hair messed up!" he complained pathetically as he returned to his seat. However, before he reached his designated sport he turned around and added, "And that, my dear sorting hat, shall be another twenty points from Gryffindor. After all, there is no cussing in school!" he said, waving his finger mockingly.
Thankfully, Professor McGonagall intervened before the seemingly innocent debate transformed into an all out battle between her new co-worker and the sorting hat. "Thank you, Mr. Smith. That will be all," she said sharply, shooting Draco a deadly glare which the blonde casually ignored. After all, if one could survive Professor Snape's potent glares, nothing could scare them.
Dumbledore had watched the exchanged in wonder. Truthfully, he didn't no whether he should be laughing or trying to figure out the facts. He shrugged lightly. Great Merlin! The had to be the first time in Hogwart's history that someone actually managed to infuriate the sorting hat to such a degree. He watched carefully as the blonde returned to his seat. Yes, a Slytherin...he'd do well to remember such a thing.
Moments later, a frustrated Professor McGonagall, as she tried desperate to silence the hall of whispering students. "Dumbledore, Albus" she called out, and instantly the hall fell silent. While every student's attention was focused upon the surprised headmaster's face. After all, it was just about every house's dream (if you exclude Slytherin) to have the headmaster as one of their house. Things were going to get interesting...fast...
