A/N: Next chapter, onto the Hogwarts express. Meeting new people. I'm going to follow the book as best I can. No, Harry is not going to be a prat. How do you think he's going to act towards the people who were his friends in the alternate universe? You'll just have to read and find out, wont you?
Harry spent the next 5 days at the Malfoys' mansion learning how to play Quidditch and a number of other things Harry was amazed at. It turned out that the Malfoys were quite rich. Harry met their house elf, Dobby, and felt a bit sorry for the creature. Dobby seemed like a slave more than a servant, and that's what house elves are for, or so Draco explained it. Harry convinced Draco to be a bit nicer to Dobby. Also, Harry was getting quite good at Quidditch, Lucius had purchased both boys new Nimbus 2000's. The best and newest model of broomsticks on the market.
"And when you go to Hogwarts, they put everyone in different houses. There's Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. I know I'll be in Slytherin. All my family has been. If I landed in Hufflepuff, I'd leave."
"I hope I'm in Slytherin." Harry thought, "At least I'd have a friend."
The boys left to Kings Cross Station on September the first after much scrambling around to gather their belongings. They arrived at the station at 10:45, just in time to catch the train.
"Alright boys, it's very simple. Just go straight through the metal barrier between platforms nine and ten. It leads straight to the Hogwarts Express." Lucius explained.
Harry was very nervous, and didn't seem to think that it should work. He watched Draco go first, and he copied him. He took the barrier at a full sprint, pushing his luggage cart in front of him. He passed through the barrier with ease, and stood panting on the other side. Lucius came through the solid metal behind him and ushered the boys onto the train. Steam was billowing out the stack and many other parents were biding their children goodbye for the upcoming months.
Draco and Harry found an empty compartment and stowed their luggage away on the racks. No sooner had the train started, the compartment door opened and a stern looking girl with big bushy brown hair stepped in.
"Have either of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost his." She said in a very bossy tone.
"No, we--" Harry started to say, but she had already shut the door and proceeded to the next compartment in search of the missing toad.
The boys began to talk of Quidditch and other boy things when two huge boys their age opened the door. Harry looked nervously at Draco, they looked like bullies.
"I was wondering if you'd ever find us. I thought you'd missed the train!" He laughed at his own joke, the large boys laughed too, though they didn't seem to know why. "This is Harry Potter. Harry, these are my friends, Crabbe and Goyle."
Crabbe and Goyle grunted in hello and sat down next to Draco. Harry thought they looked a bit like the picture of a troll he saw in his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Both of them had great hairy arms and thick greasy hair. And they seemed to have similar intelligence as well.
The witch came by with the cart of sweets. Harry intended to buy as many candy bars as he could. The Dursleys never gave him pocket money. But when he looked at the cart, he noticed that it didn't hold anything he recognized. Some stuff called pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs, Droobles best blowing gum, and Bertie Botts every flavor beans. Harry, along with Draco, bought a little of everything. All four boys stuffed their faces with the various sweets as the sky outside grew darker.
An older boy with flaming red hair and a great shiny badge on his new school robes opened the door of Harry's compartment. "I am to inform all students that we will be arriving at the school within the hour. I suggest that you change into your school robes soon." He left without another word or any chance of response.
"That was Percy Weasly," Draco said while they changed into their robes, "He's from a really poor family with about a hundred kids and his father works at the ministry. Dad doesn't get along with him well. I hear him talking about him all the time. Says he's obsessed with muggles. Weird guy."
Harry wondered why it would be so weird to be interested in muggles. He, himself, was very interested in wizards. Wouldn't it be the same the other way?
They unloaded off the train and walked past large carriages drawn by grey, reptilian like horses with big leathery looking, green wings. Draco said they were called Thestrals and only people who have seen people die could see them. Harry figured that since he couldn't remember seeing anyone die, he must have been there when his parents were murdered.
They walked over to Hagrid who was beckoning the first years over. Draco, Harry, Crabbe, Goyle, and four other first years loaded into a large rowboat. It was one of a giant fleet lead by Hagrid across the seemingly bottomless lake to the giant castle that was Hogwarts.
The first years lined up outside the Great Hall to wait for the sorting. None knew what was in store. The huge doors opened and the first years were greeted by many staring faces from the students and teachers alike. Professor McGonagall led them up the middle of the hall. She stopped them and placed a three legged stool in front of them and set a raggedy old patched and frayed wizard's hat on top of it. Everyone watched the hat intently until the brim opened like a mouth and it 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 top 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.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a steady mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The hall erupted into applause. Professor McGonagall started calling off names. Students walked up, sat on the stool, and she placed the hat atop their heads. For some, the hat took a long time to consider what house to put the student in, and some it decided immediately. Once it decided, the hat shouted the house name for the whole hall to hear and that table burst into applause.
"Potter, Harry," She called after "Perks, Sally-Anne."
Harry nervously walked to the stool and took a seat. The hat was placed on his head. It was much too large and it fell clear over his eyes and all he could see was the tag that read "7 5/8".
"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear, "Difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage, not a bad mind either. There's talent too, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you? For those qualities fit all four houses."
Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought "Not Hufflepuff, Gryffindor sounds okay, but I know people in Slytherin! Please Slytherin?"
"Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice, "Are you sure? It's a big decision that I was placed in position of making. Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, that right, so if you're sure it better be SLYTHERIN!"
Harry heard the last word shouted to the hall and he took off for the table to the far right that was clapping and whooping wildly. They were all wearing scarves of green and silver. Harry took a seat in between Draco and a large blonde girl he heard someone call Pansy. He hadn't ever seen a girl that looked less like a pansy.
When the remainders of the first years were sorted, Dumbledore stood for his beginning of the year speech. The hall was very quiet and everyone turned to him. "For those of you whom are new, welcome to Hogwarts! For those of you who are not, welcome back. I just have a few words to say before the feast, and here they are: Nitwit, blubber, oddment, and tweak! Happy feasting, and dig in!" he said.
The plates in front of everyone on the tables magically filled with all the food Harry could imagine. He and Draco ate until they were at the point of bursting. After the dessert, the plates cleared and prefects lead everyone to the houses. Slytherins were led down to the dungeons.
The crowd stopped in front of a seemingly bare stretch of wall.
"The password, for now because it gets changed often for security reasons, is 'Serpensortia.'" The prefect said loudly for the whole group to hear,"The boys dormitories are to the left and down the stairs, and the same for the girls on the right. In your rooms by 10, and lights out at 10:30. Your luggage has already been brought up by the house elves." The prefect explained. Draco, Harry, and the 3 other first year boys went down the stairs to the left and entered the door labeled with a silver plaque on the outside that read "First Years." The boys entered a circular room with stone walls and floors. It had no windows, which suggested they were in an underground dungeon. There were five beds with green hangings and green bedding.
It was already 10 by the time they had explored the common room, also a circular dungeon room with no windows, so they headed off to bed for the night.
A/N: I made sure he was nice to Dobby, see? He's not a prat! And it's bugged me since I read about the Thestrals. Harry should have been able to see them the whole time. Ron and Hermione aren't going to have a big part in this version of events. Sorry to those of you whom love them so much. I don't even think they'll come into the story at all… We'll just see, now wont we?
