Chapter eleven - From Hell to Home Again

The following September the first began Harry's second year at Hogwarts, and he, along with all the other students, travelled on the Hogwarts Express from King's Cross to Hogsmeade station (something which he was almost late for, as something that had big bat-like ears, majorly huge green eyes and wore a pillowcase that people said had escaped from a near-by animal testing facility had held up traffic somehow), and then from Hogsmeade station to Hogwarts in some horseless stagecoaches. Mere moments after Harry sat down at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall the doors at the end were opened, and silence fell. Professor McGonagall was leading a long line of first-years up to the top of the hall. All of them were shivering from nerves as they filed along the staff table and came to a halt facing the rest of the school.

McGonagall placed a three-legged stool on the ground in front of the first years and on top of it the same old, dirt, patched and frayed wizard's hat. Everyone within the hall stared intently at it. There was a moment of silence, then the same tear near the brim as last year opened wide like a mouth and, once again, it burst into song.

'I'm here to sort you, aren't I now?

Into a house,

That suits you best

For whom you are

Not who you ought to be.

Maybe you are a Slytherin,

Who know what they want

And aren't afraid to get it

Or are you a Hufflepuff

Loyal to the end, and

Unafraid of toil.

Maybe Gryffindor's for you

Where lie the brave, daring,

And not to mention caring.

How about Ravenclaw

The smartest of the bunch

The clever folk'll always come through in a crunch.

So which as you?

Brainy or brave? Hard working or ambitious?

Just put me on,

And I'll tell you who you are.'

The hall burst into applause, and McGonagall started speaking, saying the exact same things from one year prior. Harry stopped paying attention there and then, not in the slightest bit interested in the sorting. Sure, he clapped when a first year made it to Slytherin, but that was about it. The Sorting was not interesting in the slightest, just like last year.

The sorting ended with Ginevra Weasley, most probably the sister of the same Weasley that didn't like Harry or Slytherins, becoming the newest Ravenclaw. Dumbledore stood up and announced the feast once Ginevra sat down.

Later that night, at around midnoght, after much tossing and turning Harry finally decided that he would not be able to sleep at that point in time. So he did what any student would do in the middle of the night when they were unable to sleep: he went for a walk.

The corridors in Hopgwarts were the same as the last time Harry had gone wandering in the middle of the night. The were cold, dark, comfusing and imposing. Or they would be to pretty much anyone other that Harry. He preferred them that way, and they were much better than his time at the Dursleys during the summer had been.

Harry shuddered at the memory of it. It hadn't been exactly pleasent, and briefly he wondered two things. Why he hadn't agreed to go to Draco's when the blond had asked, and if it was possible to erase ones own memory of a terrible event. He didn't think you could, but it was worth finding out.

Whilst Harry was thinking about these things, he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. Had he, he would have noticed that his feet where carrying him to somewhere very familiar.

When he finally came to a stop and he started paying attention to where he was. He was in the exact same room as he had been in under a year ago. Everything was exactly the same as the last time he had visited it, some the plaster on the ceiling to the Mirror of Erised - Hang on! Harry did a doubletake, and saw that the Mirror was indeed there. That shocked Harry. He would have thought that after the fiasco with the Philosophers' Stone that it would either still be down in the final chamber or it would have been moved to a more secure location. Either way, Harry wasn't going to let an oppurtunity slip through his fingers.

Stepping up to the mirror, Harry expected to see maybe one or two things, as everyone invariably did. What he did not expect to see was four different things.

The first thing he saw was himself standing, laughing hysterically in number four, Privet Drive, over the dead bodies of Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Dudley. That alone made Harry's day to see, even though it was unlikely to ever happen.

The second thing Harry saw was nothing that seemed too surprisingly, though it seemed like a great idea: Harry was Supreme Ruler of the Wizarding World and had ordered the extermination of all muggles. Fun, no?

The next thing Harry saw was himself surrounded by literally thousands of books. It looked like paradise, though he knew that most people would not agree.

And the final thing he saw within the mirror was something that he felt vaguely disturbed about. What he saw was something he never really though could be anyone's heart's desire, so he came to the conclusion that either the mirror was broken or he was slightly mad. He wasn't quite certain which one it was. He saw himself surrounded by various types of cheese.

Shaking his head, Harry lefy and went back down to his dorm in the hopes of getting a few hours of sleep before he got up to go to classes.

A/N: I'm back to writing as you can probably tell, and I've planned out only part of year two so far. Looking at what I've got planned, year two should be longer than Year one, which was 17,043 words long by my count (not including author's notes and the like), though I'm not sure by how much.

About the Sorting Hat's song in this chapter, I really apologise for it. I can't write songs

Oh yeah, about this chapter, I finally came up with an answer to the question I was asked by a couple of people when I wrote the first scene about the Mirror of Erised, back in Harry's first year. That's why this chapter is about Harry finding it again. It was so I could show that Harry's Slytherin tendencies have developed a lot in about nine months or so.

john1234: Hiya mate! Evil Harry's fun! But he may just be dark... Actually, I don't know. Given some of the things he's into, evil is probably the most likely. heehee, glad you didn't expect Harry to give the stone to Voldy. It's always a fun little twist to have that no one does.

pickle-kitten: Thanks! It's great to know people liked it! I hope you like year two as well!

Shadowface: The Harry as the heir of Slytherin storyline has been used quite a bit, so no.

humg321: Well, there are lots of things up with Ed and Harry, but they will almost certainly resolve their differences, and I know the perfect time for the two of them to. As for the second year... well, I'm not going to give too much away at this point. Let's just say Voldemort is constantly trying to find ways to make himself more powerful.

Wirginia Riddle-Malfoy: Thanks! And a merry new year to you now.