ON TWO LORDS AND A PRINCE
CHAPTER 14: LIONS DISPUTE THE SERPENTS
They arrived at Hogwarts amidst glorious evening sunshine, which made the old castle look both impressive and welcoming. For some reason though Harry wasn't quite as overjoyed to see the school as in previous years, probably because he no longer regarded it as home, Llyn-y-Fach had taken that place in his heart despite the fact he'd only been living at the welsh manor for only a month. Even so it was good to be back amongst the familiar surroundings and the routine of school after the upheaval and shocks of the summer. His return was not without worries though, mainly about how the rest of the students would react to him and how he would be able to maintain his tentative friendship with Malfoy.
Harry was pleased to hear that the familiar voice of Hagrid shouting his customary cry of: "firs'-years! firs'-years over here!" above the noise of the platform. He was even happier to him call "Al' right, Harry," from across the platform as Harry pushed his way across the platform towards the carriages, a greeting which Harry returned, he had been worried that Hagrid would be angry at Harry for his criticisms of Dumbledore.
Word quickly spread amongst the students that Snape was absent from the teacher's table as they walked towards the great hall. Malfoy had told Harry that both Voldemort and the ministry had no idea where Snape was and that he might miss the start of the school year but even so to actually have that confirmed was a shock. Needless to say Ron was extremely happy at the prospect of potions lessons without Snape a sentiment that was shared by both Dean and Seamus. Harry was more worried though even if he didn't like the man he was still one of his teachers, a sentiment shared for obvious reasons by the Slytherins, one of whom asked Professor McGonagall about the head of house only to be told that the headmaster would explain everything.
All this was quickly driven out of Harry's mind by the three new teachers that were sitting at the head table, sitting in Professor Moody's old seat left was an old woman who Harry recognised instantly to his pleasure as old Mrs Figg, his mad babysitter and the woman who was supposed to protect him at Privet Drive. The other two faces were equally familiar. Sitting to Dumbledore's left was his father's brother and Harry's namesake dressed in some fine green robes that looked somewhat ceremonial, besides him was Harry's other uncle, Sam. Both men wore cold and calculating expressions on their faces as they scanned the faces that walked into the great hall, the former paying particular attention to the Slytherins.
"What the hell are they doing here?" he exclaimed quietly to Ron who was walking alongside him.
"You know them?" the redhead queried as they took their places at the Gryffindor table.
"Yes, the woman's my old babysitter, Mrs Figg, and the two men are my Uncles, 'Slinker' and Sam." He explained hurriedly.
"Your Uncles!" Ron said sounding surprised, "You said they were nice people, those two look pretty mean, although not as bad as Snape."
"They are, they're just putting on act for the students," Harry responded, "When it came to pranks those two gave my father as good as they got when they were our age. They just made sure they were never traced to the trouble."
A few moments later, Professor McGonagall led in a group of about sixty nervous looking first years, even Harry's cousin Owen who always seemed composed looked a little pale. It was another boy who caught Harry's eye though, it was clear from the way that Owen looked at him when the two first year's eyes met that a new rivalry had emerged to replace that of Harry and Draco. The boy in question was tall, with auburn hair that was a similar colour to Owen's hair.
"Abikar, Anita!" McGonagall called after the sorting hat song had finished. A young Asian girl tried on the hat, which promptly sorted her into Ravenclaw. A couple of Hufflepuffs and the first new Gryffindor followed until one of Owen's friends was sorted into Slytherin without much hesitation. It was the student that was sorted just before Owen that caused all the talk though.
"Dumbledore, Orion!"
The object of Owen's wrath stepped forward somewhat more confidently than the rest and put the head on his head, with only a quick glance to his famous ancestor at the head table. It must have been at least five minutes before the hat finally announced "GRYFFINDOR" and a relieved Orion ran to the Gryffindor amidst loud cheers, which Harry contributed to. Owen was up next and took next to no time to be sorted into Slytherin. Sam made no reaction as his son strolled to the Slytherin table in a Malfoy-like manner.
"Arrogant Prick," Orion Dumbledore muttered from his seat opposite Harry.
"He's acting just like bloody Malfoy." Ron commented under his breath, but sufficiently loudly so as Harry could hear what he said.
"He'll be pleased to hear that, Owen hero worships Malfoy." Harry replied after they had celebrated Alberta Finchley being sorted into Gryffindor.
"You mean that he's your cousin?" Ron asked sympathetically, "You know, the one you keep on complaining about because he's worse than Malfoy."
Harry nodded in reply. Unlike Draco, who revelled in the attention Owen gave him, Harry did not like his second youngest cousin mainly because he possessed the bad combination of Malfoy's beliefs and arrogance along with the kind of seriousness and pomposity displayed by Percy Weasley. At least the real article had a sense of humour and refused to take Harry's teasing of Malfoy and his opinions personally, unlike Owen who took everything Harry said to his hero seriously.
"You're his cousin!" the young Dumbledore exclaimed quietly from opposite Harry, "You mean he has decent family! How is that possible?"
"He's been corrupted by the Malfoy family. He idolises Draco Malfoy who's in my year," Harry explained, "Most of the rest of my relatives are decent people though. His grandfather is deputy head of the Department of Mysteries for instance."
"Malfoys!" Orion exclaimed, "Why on earth does your grandfather allow people near him?"
"Blame my grandmother, she still regards them as family despite their allegiance," Harry answered, "Besides my grandfather thinks he can persuade Draco to join the light side if he's around often enough. Hasn't worked though."
"Not if he goes around calling my grandpa a senile old fool who is going to lose us the war and that the rest of the light side were incompetent and couldn't do anything without grandpa. Not even you went that far," the auburn haired first year hissed angrily, indicating Harry at the end of his tirade.
"That's because I'm not a bloody death eater wannabe, even if he won't admit because he's afraid of his parents reaction." Harry replied tersely, his annoyance aimed at Owen not Orion.
"Is that because Voldemort killed your parents?" Orion asked, causing everyone to flinch at the dark lord's name. Harry nodded in reply. There were other reasons for the Evans family dislike of Voldemort, including the 'death' of Tom Riddle, but these were far too complex to tell a first year during the sorting ceremony.
Harry, Ron and the first year fell into silence to watch the sorting ceremony. Most notable was a run of eight successive Slytherins started by "Nixon, Richard!" and ended only by a friend of Orion's named Thomas Reynolds, who sat down next to the auburn haired first year at the Gryffindor table. He also recognised the surnames of several death eaters among those that were sorted into Slytherin, most notably Lacetter and Nott who seemed to know each other. The later also gave his Ravenclaw namesake a poisonous and somewhat superior glare as he walked past. Harry guessed there was a family dispute between the two branches of the Nott family over allegiances in the current war, as he knew that the elder Nott was no death eater supporter.
Finally the sorting finished and the hat and stool were cleared away by Professor McGonagall allowing the headmaster to stand up and introduce the feast, "I have a few words to say," he said unusually solemnly, "Uneaten food is waste."
The headmaster's great grandson burst into hysterics as the feast appeared, causing a few strange looks from the other tables. Reynolds, who was sitting besides the younger Dumbledore, ignored his friend and began to tuck into the feast, pausing only to ask to see Harry's scar. Harry ate in silence; Ron was too busy stuffing himself to talk. Orion soon recovered from his laughter and tucked into the fest claiming that the headmaster's comments were an inside joke from the Dumbledore family reunion.
"You took a long time to be sorted, Ori," Reynolds said to his friend, once the Gryffindor table had stopped paying attention to the younger Dumbledore.
"Yes," Orion replied, sounding as if he was holding something back, "The hat couldn't decide between placing me here or in Ravenclaw. Glad I got Gryffindor though, you know what Dad's like…"
Reynolds nodded, "Gryffindor or bust," he said, interrupting his friend.
"…Exactly. Grandpa wouldn't have cared though. Heck, I could have been sorted into Slytherin and he still wouldn't have cared one way or the other."
"Talking about Slytherin, what about Rich's belief that you were going to be sorted there? He seemed totally convinced that you would end up with them." Reynolds replied. It seemed Harry hadn't been the only who could whether the auburn haired boy was holding back.
"That was Rich being hopeful; look where he's sitting." Orion replied glancing across the hall to his friend.
Reynolds grinned, "At the Slytherin table. But come on, the hat must have considered putting you in Slytherin," the brown haired first year continued sounding slightly exasperated.
Orion glanced quickly around to see if anyone was listening before whispering his reply to his friend. Fortunately Harry had fifteen years of experience from living at the Dursleys of appearing not to be listening when he actually was.
"It gave me a choice, Gryffindor or Slytherin. Naturally I choose Gryffindor."
"It gave you a choice!" Reynolds exclaimed in a tone of voice considerably louder than the one Orion had been speaking in.
"That's not all," Orion continued, still not raising his tone of voice beyond a whisper, "After I chose, it decided it wanted me in Slytherin…"
"What!" Reynolds exclaimed, forgetting that he was supposed to talking quietly, "Then what are you doing here? Everyone knows that you can't sway the sorting." Harry looked surprised; he had certainly managed it in his first year.
"Grandpa did, says he was nearly sorted into Slytherin, but then he is a Lord of Magic," Orion said. Harry was not in the least bit surprised to hear that Dumbledore had done the same thing he had done, the headmaster was certainly manipulative enough to be a Slytherin, even if he was far too righteous. That little piece of information also offered the first practical benefit of being the Lord of Blood Magic, "I used Logic. After all, I wouldn't have survived five minutes in Slytherin because of all the death eater wannabes. That's when it tried to sort me into Ravenclaw. I spent the next five minutes trying to persuade it to sort me into Gryffindor, saying that Ravenclaw wasn't one of the original choices. I think it got fed up in the end and gave in." Reynolds laughed, but didn't say anything because Ron, who seemed to have overheard despite Orion's secrecy, got there first.
"You were nearly sorted into Slytherin, bloody hell."
"There's nothing wrong with Slytherin in principle," Harry intervened, responding to Ron's prejudices. Prejudices which he no longer held, "It's the beliefs of the people who get sorted there that makes Slytherin evil, not their character traits. Ambition and cunning aren't evil, but wanting to kill all muggle borns certainly is." Ron looked as if Harry had spoken gobbledegook.
"He's right. Not all Slytherins are evil, just most of them," Orion said, amidst doubtful looks from all those who had heard, "Mad Eye Moody was a Slytherin, and nobody has ever said that he's evil."
"Well no," Ron replied, speaking for the Gryffindors that had stopped their own conversations to listen, "But he is a bloody lunatic. You should have seen him in class last year."
"Moody isn't mad, he's completely paranoid. He just doesn't trust anyone. How Slytherin is that?" Harry responded dismissively, not bothering to raise the point that Moody hadn't taught them the previous year. After all Crouch had done a good enough impression so as to fool one of the old auror's best friends for nine months.
"But the Slytherins are all sneaky bastards, that's evil," claimed a fourth year who was sitting several seats down from Harry. The raven-haired boy shook his head in exasperation at his housemates prejudiced comments, attitudes such as that would not win the war.
"They're not sneaky, they're cunning and there is nothing wrong with that," he explained deceptively calmly, "There are limits to bravery. If you rush in without thinking you're relying on your luck, which will run out eventually. That's where cunning and a good plan come in, it means you're more likely to survive."
"There are limits to cunning too," Hermione argued forcefully. He hadn't noticed her sitting in between Neville and Ginny, several seats to Ron's left. "It doesn't matter what the objectives are you can not justify immoral actions, like deceit or killing."
"You weren't saying that in second year, nor would you say it during the middle of a battle," Harry responded. The two first years sitting opposite Harry had gone quiet and were listening avidly to the argument, "There is nothing wrong with deceit as long as its not malicious, just as there isn't anything wrong with killing in self defence. As long as you only harm enemies moral rules are pretty much irrelevant."
There was a stunned silence at the Gryffindor table, as everyone was too shocked to speak until Ron voiced what was on everyone's mind, "You sound just like a bloody Slytherin." he said gruffly.
"Well I was nearly sorted into Slytherin, you know," Harry replied with a shrug of the shoulders. He'd accepted his Slytherin side over the summer, mainly because he had to. If he hadn't he wouldn't have survived his month on the run nor would he be able to survive the war. Not that he didn't have Gryffindor traits, such as bravery, too; they just weren't as prominent as they used to be.
Another period of stunned silence ensued, followed by a some mutterings from Hermione that went along the lines of, "I should have known." Ron was slightly more complimentary, saying that it was likely that Harry hadn't been and that the news whilst surprising wouldn't affect their friendship. A crescendo of gossip spread across the hall as the news spread, until it reached the ears of Draco Malfoy at the Slytherin table, who faked an outstandingly convincing look of shock and said something to Pansy Parkinson that caused her to start giggling. Grey eyes met green across the great hall in a look that clearly said that Malfoy was going to use this information against Harry in their public 'enmity' now that it was public knowledge. Harry merely smirked in response, urging Malfoy to try; knowing that if he did the blond would end being humiliated in front school.
As a special treat, I posted the next chapter at the same time. As I said before I will continue this fic until it is finished regardless of book five's impending release nor will this fic contain any spoilers for OotP after its release.
Secondly, Snape fans, before you flame me for having your man disappear, he will be back teaching Potions and more importantly being Slytherins' head of house after Halloween. Until then, well you'll see.
Finally, Thank You to all those who reviewed Chapter 12. The reviews were much appreciated. If you want me to e-mail you when I update this fic leave your e-mail address in your review.