Ch. Err I dunno, The Sorting, IF you recgonize it, THEN it doesn't belong to me
Harry waited for most of the students to pile off before he made his exit.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there Harry?" Hagrid's large hairy face called from above the see of students. "C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Hagrid led the group of first years up a steep slippery path. It was narrow and dark, the dense tree canopy shielding them from most of the little light the moon gave. The dark atmosphere seemed to suck the words right out of the children, leaving a quiet foreboding atmosphere.
"Ye'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "Jus' round this bend here."
A loud "Oooooh!" followed the bend for the narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a large black lake. Harry groaned softly on seeing the water. Perched atop a mountain on the other side, with its windows sparkling in the starry cloudless sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry breathed a sigh of relief on noticing them, he was sick of swimming. Going with the flow, he found himself on a boat with Ron, the bossy girl and the boy who lost his toad.
"Everyone in?" Hagrid shouted from a boat of his own. "Right then FORWARD"
As his word finished, the boats glided off shore in synchronization and glided across the glass still lake. The trip was quiet as all the new students were absorbed with watching the castle loom over head and get larger as they got nearer.
"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as the boats neared the cliffs. Everyone ducked as the boats glided through a curtain of ivy that hid a opening in the cliff face. The tunnels they were now in were dark, noone had put any effort to putting up even a torch. Moments passed when dim light could be seen then the boats came up to a harbor that glowed softly with torches along the walls. As soon as the boats docked, everyone clambered onto the rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid after all the boats were empty.
"Trevor!" Cried the boy, apparently that was the toad he was looking for. He held out his hands and gratefully took the toad. They then followed Hagrid's lamp up a passageway in the rocks and emerged on some damp grass in the shadow of the looming castle.
Harry hung back as the rest crowded around a huge oak door.
"Everyone here? You there, Still got yer toad?"
Hagrid raised his large hand and knocked on the door three times. It opened while the third knock was still vibrating. A tall, black-haired woman with emerald green robes stood there. Her face was set sternly and her hair was up in a very businesslike bun.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall,"Hagrid said.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She opened the door wide allowing entry. The entrance hall was large, so large that Harry was sure a couple of nice sized Dojo's could fit inside. Flaming torches decorated the walls giving ample light, but were not quite enough to reach the ceiling. A large marble staircase was prominently placed leading travelers to the upper floors.
Professor McGonagall led the group across the flagged stone floor. A drone of voices could be heard from a doorway to the right, the rest of the school must already be here, but the Professor led the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They group crowded in, standing rather close together, peering about nervously. Harry was reminded of a subway, not the incredibly crowded ones of Tokyo, but more like the mildly crowded ones of Nagoya during rush hour.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the Professor as she towered over the first years, "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, You will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered on the toad boy's cloak which was fastened under his left ear, on Ron's smudged nose and then on Harry's half concealed face.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," she turned to exit, "Please wait quietly." And with that she was out the door.
A low rumble of voices started as she left. Harry's translation charm only caught bits and pieces, but it calmed down almost immediately after that. Most of the first years looked terrified. Their eyes were wide and some were ringing their hands nervously. The bossy girl was whispering very fast half of what she said skipped by Harry, and the other half made no sense. Harry stood confidently that whatever happened next, he'd be prepared, or so he thought he would be.
Harry was proud to have only jumped a couple of feet in surprise, others had screamed. Harry immediately went into a nonchalant defensive stance. Around twenty pearly white and semi-transparent people had floated through the wall. They glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glanced at the bunch of first years who were watching them nervously. The ghosts seemed to be arguing amongst themselves. What looked like a little fat monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance "
"My dear Friar, Haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost I say, what are you all doing here?" The speaker, whom was wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the group of first years.
Nobody answered.
"New students!" exclaimed the Fat Friar with an air of self satisfaction. He smiled at the group. "About to be sorted. I suppose."
A couple wide eyed people nodded.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know." He said with a big smile.
"Move along now," McGonagall's voice cut in sharply, "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start. The ghosts floated away through the opposite wall, some giving cheery waves to the group of first years.
"Now form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."
Harry slipped into the back of the line, no point giving people fair shot at his back. In front of him was the boy that had lost his toad. The group made their way out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
To say Harry was impressed would be a severe understatement. The Hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles what were floating in midair over four long tables, it seemed that there were more candles than people sitting beneath them at the tables. Lying on the tables were glittering golden plates and goblets. At the head of the hall, a slender long table rested, a row of adults sat there. Harry presumed that they must be the teachers. Professor McGonagall led the first years towards that table until they were parallel with it. Students in front with teachers behind. Harry shifted slightly uncomfortable in not easily being able to see everyone. What seemed like hundreds of faces were staring at them, maybe mild curiosity in their faces. Harry's gaze kept shifting and eventually landed on the velvety black ceiling, it was dotted with stars, and the constellations looked slightly odd, the ones he saw shouldn't be out at this time. He heard the bushy brown haired girl whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts a History'"
Harry remained quiet but as he looked at it he couldn't shake the feeling that there wasn't really a roof above his head, and if he got enough momentum he could hop right out of the building. Keeping his gaze moving, he noticed Professor McGonagall placing a four-legged stool in front of the line. She placed a old battered pointy hat on the stool. It's brim was frayed and it was patched in several places. The hat sat there a moment with all eyes of the student body on it, as if waiting for something. The hat suddenly twitched, it wiggled, it coughed up blood, err forget that last bit, got too much into another story. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.
"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
. . . yadda yadda yadda, if you have the book, go look the rest up I'm too lazy to finish it.
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It did a funky little jiggy bow to the four tables and went still again.
Harry heard some of the other first years mumbling amongst them selves. A little tension that he didn't notice before slipped away as he realized all he'd have to do is put on the hat. It seemed easy enough.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long scroll.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she paused to look at the scroll. "Abbott Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blond pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over here eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause -
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down there. The ghost of the Fat Friar was waving merrily at her.
And we'll just skip all the superfluous people shan't we? I mean, you know who they are, you wouldn't be much of a Harry Potter fan if ya hadn't read the first book, or at least saw the movie. Anywhoo, on we go.
"Potter, Harry!" Silence spread over the hall, and whispers broke out as no one stepped forward. "Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
"Where is he?"
The mumbling became more intense as a minute passed without anyone stepping forward. Suddenly the Sorting Hat shouted in an annoyed tone, "OH COME ON SAOTOME, GIVE IN! THEY'RE GOING TO CALL YOU POTTER WETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!" The muttering increased in volume
Harry glided over to the hat, seeing as it called his name, and sat on the stool, he was aware of the stares he was getting from nearly the entire population, and Malfoy seemed to be glaring at him. The hat was soon dropped over his head and he heard a small voice in his ear. Luckily it seemed to know Japanese, hmmm, interesting, you're going to be the most challenging student of the century for me. Plenty of courage, loyalty and intelligence, but also an uncanny ability in manipulation and deception. You'd do wonderful in Slytherin, but Slytherin would not do well with you. You loyalty is the type Helga loved in a student, but then again, the Hufflepuffs would have trouble with such a wild horse as you in their midst. Your mind is keen, but applied totally differently, Ravenclaw is definitely not for you. Looks like Gryffindor might be the only ones that could handle you. Let's pray the school survives.
To the rest of the school, the hat's shout of "GRYFFINDOR" wasn't quite as enthusiastic as usual.
He took off the hat and slinked over to the table on the left. Which was cheering quite loudly and Harry heard some people chanting "We got Potter." "Saotome," he said in a resigned voice, he sat at the end of the table next to Hermione and across from Parvati Patil. A ghost sat by Parvarti, Harry recognized the ghost as one from the small room earlier. Thomas Dean and Ron soon joined the table as they were sorted, and the hat and stool taken away by McGonagall.
Harry surveyed the teacher's table now that he had a better view, Hagrid was at the nearest end making jovial faces and giving him the thumbs up. Down towards the end of the High table was Professor Quirell, Harry vaguely recognized him from that trip to Diagon Alley. The man had a funny looking purple turban on his head.
The man seated in the center of the table rose, Harry could see that his beard was longer than any other he had seen before, reaching past the waist. The man's arms open wide in an inviting gesture. His eyes twinkled with mirth.
"Welcome!" he said, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" The last four words were odd, for some reason the translation Harry had been hearing failed on those words.
"Thank you!" The man said before sitting down. Most of the hall cheered, but Harry saw some confused faces among the other first years at the other tables.
Harry turned his attention back to his table, and his jaw dropped in surprise for just a moment before a gleam appeared in his eye and a smirk appeared on his face. The food that had appeared was all foreign to him, but that didn't stop his nose and stomach from recognizing some of it.
Harry removed his chopsticks from where he had secreted them, first tenant of life on the road, always be ready for food in case it happens by. And with no more pause, he initiated the age tested Saotome school of indiscriminate grappling hunger cessation techniques. This had the mild side effect of stopping everyone else at the table from eating as they stared at the blurring arms and disappearing food in-front of Harry. Even more remarkable, or at least to the people viewing the Saotome art, was the fact that none of the food missed Harry's mouth and his place remained perfectly clean. The pause in everyone's eating just left more for Harry in his mind, and they quickly started moving when they realized that there would be no food left if they weren't quick.
Harry was very pleased to have his fill, and with a contented sigh leaned back on the bench.
"What a hearty appetite." The ghost in the odd looking ruffled collar said with a smile.
"Always eat your fill," Harry said with a shrug, "you never know when your next meal will be."
The ghost paused for a moment, weather it was from the language, or the actual phrase Harry didn't know. Then said, "oh, dear me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"I know who you are!" Ron suddenly said through a mouthful of food. He quickly swallowed before continuing, "you're nearly headless Nick. My brothers told me about you."
The ghost looked flustered for a moment then replied in a stiff voice. "I would prefer Sir. Nicholas" Harry tuned the rest out and started to juggle with some fruit he found on the table. Very good hand eye coordination practice, and if there was anything he learned from Genma, it was to make everything into training and practice.
After everyone ate as much as they wanted, the food disappeared and desserts replaced it. Surprisingly enough, there was Harry's favorite ice cream among all the other sweets. He took a small serving of amacha ice cream.
yadda yadda yadda, there was small talk, random things were discussed and I'm poking that fast-forward button again, but not too hard mind.
Harry glanced back to the teacher's table, his glance swept over Hagrid, whom was taking a drink from a flagon and merrily chatting with the person next to him. Minerva McGonagall was talking with Dumbledore. The last person up there that he knew still had his head intrenched in that silly purple towel, or at least that's what it looked like to Harry. He was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, sallow skin and a hooked nose.
The black haired man suddenly looked strait past the towel and into Harry's eyes. A sharp stab of pain in his forehead accompanied it. But as quickly as it came, it was gone. Leaving Harry wondering, he hadn't had any pains from his scars in a while. The look the teacher had given him also left Harry confused. He'd seen animosity in the man's face. Harry wondered if Genma had ever been to Britain.
I'm going to stop there because I got stuck and figured an update would be good. Enjoy the long chapters (well for me) while they last and if you don't review, I'm going to pout.
Harry waited for most of the students to pile off before he made his exit.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there Harry?" Hagrid's large hairy face called from above the see of students. "C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Hagrid led the group of first years up a steep slippery path. It was narrow and dark, the dense tree canopy shielding them from most of the little light the moon gave. The dark atmosphere seemed to suck the words right out of the children, leaving a quiet foreboding atmosphere.
"Ye'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "Jus' round this bend here."
A loud "Oooooh!" followed the bend for the narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a large black lake. Harry groaned softly on seeing the water. Perched atop a mountain on the other side, with its windows sparkling in the starry cloudless sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry breathed a sigh of relief on noticing them, he was sick of swimming. Going with the flow, he found himself on a boat with Ron, the bossy girl and the boy who lost his toad.
"Everyone in?" Hagrid shouted from a boat of his own. "Right then FORWARD"
As his word finished, the boats glided off shore in synchronization and glided across the glass still lake. The trip was quiet as all the new students were absorbed with watching the castle loom over head and get larger as they got nearer.
"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as the boats neared the cliffs. Everyone ducked as the boats glided through a curtain of ivy that hid a opening in the cliff face. The tunnels they were now in were dark, noone had put any effort to putting up even a torch. Moments passed when dim light could be seen then the boats came up to a harbor that glowed softly with torches along the walls. As soon as the boats docked, everyone clambered onto the rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid after all the boats were empty.
"Trevor!" Cried the boy, apparently that was the toad he was looking for. He held out his hands and gratefully took the toad. They then followed Hagrid's lamp up a passageway in the rocks and emerged on some damp grass in the shadow of the looming castle.
Harry hung back as the rest crowded around a huge oak door.
"Everyone here? You there, Still got yer toad?"
Hagrid raised his large hand and knocked on the door three times. It opened while the third knock was still vibrating. A tall, black-haired woman with emerald green robes stood there. Her face was set sternly and her hair was up in a very businesslike bun.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall,"Hagrid said.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She opened the door wide allowing entry. The entrance hall was large, so large that Harry was sure a couple of nice sized Dojo's could fit inside. Flaming torches decorated the walls giving ample light, but were not quite enough to reach the ceiling. A large marble staircase was prominently placed leading travelers to the upper floors.
Professor McGonagall led the group across the flagged stone floor. A drone of voices could be heard from a doorway to the right, the rest of the school must already be here, but the Professor led the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They group crowded in, standing rather close together, peering about nervously. Harry was reminded of a subway, not the incredibly crowded ones of Tokyo, but more like the mildly crowded ones of Nagoya during rush hour.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the Professor as she towered over the first years, "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, You will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered on the toad boy's cloak which was fastened under his left ear, on Ron's smudged nose and then on Harry's half concealed face.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," she turned to exit, "Please wait quietly." And with that she was out the door.
A low rumble of voices started as she left. Harry's translation charm only caught bits and pieces, but it calmed down almost immediately after that. Most of the first years looked terrified. Their eyes were wide and some were ringing their hands nervously. The bossy girl was whispering very fast half of what she said skipped by Harry, and the other half made no sense. Harry stood confidently that whatever happened next, he'd be prepared, or so he thought he would be.
Harry was proud to have only jumped a couple of feet in surprise, others had screamed. Harry immediately went into a nonchalant defensive stance. Around twenty pearly white and semi-transparent people had floated through the wall. They glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glanced at the bunch of first years who were watching them nervously. The ghosts seemed to be arguing amongst themselves. What looked like a little fat monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance "
"My dear Friar, Haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost I say, what are you all doing here?" The speaker, whom was wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the group of first years.
Nobody answered.
"New students!" exclaimed the Fat Friar with an air of self satisfaction. He smiled at the group. "About to be sorted. I suppose."
A couple wide eyed people nodded.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know." He said with a big smile.
"Move along now," McGonagall's voice cut in sharply, "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start. The ghosts floated away through the opposite wall, some giving cheery waves to the group of first years.
"Now form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."
Harry slipped into the back of the line, no point giving people fair shot at his back. In front of him was the boy that had lost his toad. The group made their way out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
To say Harry was impressed would be a severe understatement. The Hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles what were floating in midair over four long tables, it seemed that there were more candles than people sitting beneath them at the tables. Lying on the tables were glittering golden plates and goblets. At the head of the hall, a slender long table rested, a row of adults sat there. Harry presumed that they must be the teachers. Professor McGonagall led the first years towards that table until they were parallel with it. Students in front with teachers behind. Harry shifted slightly uncomfortable in not easily being able to see everyone. What seemed like hundreds of faces were staring at them, maybe mild curiosity in their faces. Harry's gaze kept shifting and eventually landed on the velvety black ceiling, it was dotted with stars, and the constellations looked slightly odd, the ones he saw shouldn't be out at this time. He heard the bushy brown haired girl whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts a History'"
Harry remained quiet but as he looked at it he couldn't shake the feeling that there wasn't really a roof above his head, and if he got enough momentum he could hop right out of the building. Keeping his gaze moving, he noticed Professor McGonagall placing a four-legged stool in front of the line. She placed a old battered pointy hat on the stool. It's brim was frayed and it was patched in several places. The hat sat there a moment with all eyes of the student body on it, as if waiting for something. The hat suddenly twitched, it wiggled, it coughed up blood, err forget that last bit, got too much into another story. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.
"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
. . . yadda yadda yadda, if you have the book, go look the rest up I'm too lazy to finish it.
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It did a funky little jiggy bow to the four tables and went still again.
Harry heard some of the other first years mumbling amongst them selves. A little tension that he didn't notice before slipped away as he realized all he'd have to do is put on the hat. It seemed easy enough.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long scroll.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she paused to look at the scroll. "Abbott Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blond pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over here eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause -
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down there. The ghost of the Fat Friar was waving merrily at her.
And we'll just skip all the superfluous people shan't we? I mean, you know who they are, you wouldn't be much of a Harry Potter fan if ya hadn't read the first book, or at least saw the movie. Anywhoo, on we go.
"Potter, Harry!" Silence spread over the hall, and whispers broke out as no one stepped forward. "Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
"Where is he?"
The mumbling became more intense as a minute passed without anyone stepping forward. Suddenly the Sorting Hat shouted in an annoyed tone, "OH COME ON SAOTOME, GIVE IN! THEY'RE GOING TO CALL YOU POTTER WETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!" The muttering increased in volume
Harry glided over to the hat, seeing as it called his name, and sat on the stool, he was aware of the stares he was getting from nearly the entire population, and Malfoy seemed to be glaring at him. The hat was soon dropped over his head and he heard a small voice in his ear. Luckily it seemed to know Japanese, hmmm, interesting, you're going to be the most challenging student of the century for me. Plenty of courage, loyalty and intelligence, but also an uncanny ability in manipulation and deception. You'd do wonderful in Slytherin, but Slytherin would not do well with you. You loyalty is the type Helga loved in a student, but then again, the Hufflepuffs would have trouble with such a wild horse as you in their midst. Your mind is keen, but applied totally differently, Ravenclaw is definitely not for you. Looks like Gryffindor might be the only ones that could handle you. Let's pray the school survives.
To the rest of the school, the hat's shout of "GRYFFINDOR" wasn't quite as enthusiastic as usual.
He took off the hat and slinked over to the table on the left. Which was cheering quite loudly and Harry heard some people chanting "We got Potter." "Saotome," he said in a resigned voice, he sat at the end of the table next to Hermione and across from Parvati Patil. A ghost sat by Parvarti, Harry recognized the ghost as one from the small room earlier. Thomas Dean and Ron soon joined the table as they were sorted, and the hat and stool taken away by McGonagall.
Harry surveyed the teacher's table now that he had a better view, Hagrid was at the nearest end making jovial faces and giving him the thumbs up. Down towards the end of the High table was Professor Quirell, Harry vaguely recognized him from that trip to Diagon Alley. The man had a funny looking purple turban on his head.
The man seated in the center of the table rose, Harry could see that his beard was longer than any other he had seen before, reaching past the waist. The man's arms open wide in an inviting gesture. His eyes twinkled with mirth.
"Welcome!" he said, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" The last four words were odd, for some reason the translation Harry had been hearing failed on those words.
"Thank you!" The man said before sitting down. Most of the hall cheered, but Harry saw some confused faces among the other first years at the other tables.
Harry turned his attention back to his table, and his jaw dropped in surprise for just a moment before a gleam appeared in his eye and a smirk appeared on his face. The food that had appeared was all foreign to him, but that didn't stop his nose and stomach from recognizing some of it.
Harry removed his chopsticks from where he had secreted them, first tenant of life on the road, always be ready for food in case it happens by. And with no more pause, he initiated the age tested Saotome school of indiscriminate grappling hunger cessation techniques. This had the mild side effect of stopping everyone else at the table from eating as they stared at the blurring arms and disappearing food in-front of Harry. Even more remarkable, or at least to the people viewing the Saotome art, was the fact that none of the food missed Harry's mouth and his place remained perfectly clean. The pause in everyone's eating just left more for Harry in his mind, and they quickly started moving when they realized that there would be no food left if they weren't quick.
Harry was very pleased to have his fill, and with a contented sigh leaned back on the bench.
"What a hearty appetite." The ghost in the odd looking ruffled collar said with a smile.
"Always eat your fill," Harry said with a shrug, "you never know when your next meal will be."
The ghost paused for a moment, weather it was from the language, or the actual phrase Harry didn't know. Then said, "oh, dear me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"I know who you are!" Ron suddenly said through a mouthful of food. He quickly swallowed before continuing, "you're nearly headless Nick. My brothers told me about you."
The ghost looked flustered for a moment then replied in a stiff voice. "I would prefer Sir. Nicholas" Harry tuned the rest out and started to juggle with some fruit he found on the table. Very good hand eye coordination practice, and if there was anything he learned from Genma, it was to make everything into training and practice.
After everyone ate as much as they wanted, the food disappeared and desserts replaced it. Surprisingly enough, there was Harry's favorite ice cream among all the other sweets. He took a small serving of amacha ice cream.
yadda yadda yadda, there was small talk, random things were discussed and I'm poking that fast-forward button again, but not too hard mind.
Harry glanced back to the teacher's table, his glance swept over Hagrid, whom was taking a drink from a flagon and merrily chatting with the person next to him. Minerva McGonagall was talking with Dumbledore. The last person up there that he knew still had his head intrenched in that silly purple towel, or at least that's what it looked like to Harry. He was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, sallow skin and a hooked nose.
The black haired man suddenly looked strait past the towel and into Harry's eyes. A sharp stab of pain in his forehead accompanied it. But as quickly as it came, it was gone. Leaving Harry wondering, he hadn't had any pains from his scars in a while. The look the teacher had given him also left Harry confused. He'd seen animosity in the man's face. Harry wondered if Genma had ever been to Britain.
I'm going to stop there because I got stuck and figured an update would be good. Enjoy the long chapters (well for me) while they last and if you don't review, I'm going to pout.