Disclaimer: I do not own HP. All characters and HP universe belong to JKR. I'm not making any money from this so just leave me alone.

Chapter 6

As Harry groggily opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of stark white walls and sunlight streaming in through the large windows. The cheery sound of birdsong felt strangely out of place as he rubbed his eyes blearily. Feeling slightly disoriented he skimmed through his memory trying to recall what had happened. He vaguely remembered boarding the Hogwarts express and then the sudden attack by the Deatheaters. But, his current location still remained a question. He didn't recall anything else after having blacked out from the unforgivable that the death eater had cast. He shuddered at the memory the excruciating pain that the curse had brought about, temporarily blocking that part of his memory from thought and concentrating on determining his surroundings.

"Good, your finally awake." a kindly face peered at him. "How are you feeling today, dear? That was a horrible curse to cast at anyone and a child especially." said the motherly woman with a hint of anger in her voice. He figured from her manner that she was probably a nurse and that meant that he was in a hospital wing of some sort.

He groaned as he tried to sit up. "Now, now, try not to move too much. Here are a few potions that should help." she said as she helped him into a sitting position and was soon pouring copious amounts of potions down his throat. He winced at the taste and was glad that she was so quick with the potions or he might not have wanted to down anymore after the first vial.

"I'm Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse. I don't usually get students this early in the year, mind you but that incident on the train has been very unfortunate for all of us. Now, just rest up and I'll be around to check on you later."

"Ok…" Harry mumbled as he tried to comprehend everything that she had said. His mind was still reeling slightly and he could feel a headache creeping onto him.

"Harry! Are you alright?" he heard two urgent voices calling his name as his parents rushed into the infirmary.

'Oh no…' he thought. He didn't think he could take anymore of his mother's fussing as it was he was still feeling as if he had been trampled by a herd of rampaging hippogriffs.

In no time, a tear stricken Lily was by his side followed by his father who put an arm around her comfortingly. He hardly heard what she said but from what he could decipher, they had been worried sick and something about not endangering himself foolishly like that ever again. He just nodded and reassured his mother that he was alright and that that he was just having a little headache and if it was alright if he could go back to sleep. After what seemed like forever, Madam Pomfrey bustled into the room and ushered his indignant parents out of his room with a firm no-nonsense term, muttering about over-concerned parents who could not even let their son have some rest and recuperate.

……..

To be honest, James and Lily had been terrified when they had heard of the attack on the train. They had been very afraid that this latest attack would have something to do with Harry.

As members of the Order of the Phoenix they had been summoned the moment they had received word of the attack. It seemed rather arrogant of Voldemort to think that he could just waltz in and attack the children and expect them to not be on their guard. Although, in reality they really hadn't been on guard since the move had never been expected. Voldemort had never ventured to attack Hogwart's and it had always been considered a safe house of sorts as it was believed that Dumbledore was the only wizard that could hold off the Dark Lord in a duel.

The entire order had been in a state of disarray and shock as they had quickly apparated to the scene of the attack. However, many minutes had passed and the deatheaters had managed to capture the train and most of its occupants. They could only imagine the horrors that the poor children may have been subjected to under the Dark Lord's cruel minions.

They had found that several children had indeed been cursed and some by unforgivables nonetheless. James and Lily were particularly distraught to find that their precious son had also been one of the unfortunate victims of the torture. As much as they would have liked to believe otherwise, I t did seem unlike Voldemort to take hostages and leave so many students unharmed. After all, he had never shown any mercy to women or children in his many raids. Thus, the alternative was that he may have been looking for something or someone. It was a possibility considering the way the deatheaters had attacked and their haste to board the train and search it. But as far as anyone knew, there was nothing valuable on the train. Albus Dumbledore did have a sneaking suspicion but he had reassured the order members and teachers that there was nothing of importance on the train and instead to focus their efforts on the safety of the children aboard.

James and Lily were beside themselves in worry when they had found Harry unconscious in the hallway, not to mention that he was displaying the aftereffects of the cruciatus curse. They did not notice the slight worried crease that passed over Albus' features and the temporary lost of his ever-present twinkle. There were many twists in fate's plans that had yet to be made known.

…………

A good nights rest later, Harry was pronounced as well as he could be and reminded firmly not to overexert himself before being sent off to the headmaster's office. There were several other students with him who had also missed the welcoming feast due to their stay in the hospital wing. They were escorted by a prim Professor McGonagall to a rather scary looking stone gargoyle. The first years nearly jumped in surprise when the two stone sentries jumped aside to reveal a stairway leading to Professor Dumbledore's office.

As he rode the rotating stairs up to the office, Harry couldn't help but feel apprehensive as he wondered which house he would be sorted into. His parents had both been Gryffindors and so had his uncles and almost anyone he had known. He couldn't imagine being anywhere else, not to mention that his parents would be direly disappointed. But, he couldn't help but wish to see what it would be like outside Gryffindor. What little he knew about the other houses had been read from 'Hogwarts, a history', the information distorted by the impressions and stories told to him by his father and uncles. He wondered fleetingly if he might end up in Ravenclaw since his father had complained increasingly that he was starting to spend more time reading than playing pranks around the house like he used to when he was younger.

He hadn't really agreed with his dad though. He found that he liked to read and when he was reading, he felt like he was immersing himself in another amazing world. He had read almost every single book in their home and those that had been put on higher shelves to prevent him from reading them he had secretly levitated off, replacing them with other books, when he had read of the levitation spell. That was another thing that he found he could do. He realised that if he concentrated hard enough he could carry out many of the simpler spells wandlessly. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be able to do that but then his parents had always passed off some of his random outbursts of magic as wild magic which according to Lily occurred in young children occasionally.

He had managed to pick up the nifty trick of doing wandless magic when he had been reading a section on fire spells. He had been muttering 'incendio' under his breath will trying to copy the wand movements when suddenly the quill he had been using as a makeshift wand burst into flames. He had dropped the quill in his shock and had nearly set fire to the library. Fortunately he had read the counterspell and quickly put that into action. His aptitude to cast wandless spelled had only fuelled his desire to read and learn more and he soon found himelf adept at many simple charms. He had not told his parents though. He had felt that if they were to find out he would be indefinitely banned from ever practicing wandless magic since it was rather taxing on himself and could be rather dangerous as he had realized from his near burning experience.

Harry was brought out of his recollections as he found himself standing in a rather curious room. It was filled with numerous trinkets and bizarre contraptions that swung back and forth, ticked and moved in ways that defied the law of gravity itself. Behind an old oak table stood an elderly wizard with a long graying beard and rather comical half moon spectacles. He found the man a funny sight in his bright purple robes combined with the classes and his grandfatherly appearance. He quickly stifled the giggle that tempted to erupt from his chest at the sight. He doubted that it would be a good idea to burst out into laughter for no obvious reason so soon after he had been released from the hospital wing. He was not that keen to visit the white walls of the infirmary anytime soon.

The Headmaster seemed oblivious to his mirth, instead cleared his throat and spoke in clear voice. "As you may all well know, I am the headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore." the elderly man said with a twinkle in his blue eyes. "Due to some unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances, you have been unable to attend the welcoming feast and thus the sorting. I certainly hope that you are feeling much better in the care of our esteemed mediwizard. I am sure she has taken the outmost care to ensure your health and safety and you would do well not to cross her for she is knowned to be rather harsh in ensuring that her advice is followed." he said with a smile.

"Now, to update you on what you may have missed. The third floor corridor and Forbidden Forest are out of bounds for all students and our resident caretaker, Filch is not very tolerant of pranks so it would do well to stay away from him in your first few weeks until you get a better grip of the castle and its whereabouts. It would hardly be a favorable to make yourselves known to him so early in the year."

"That being done, we can now move on to the sorting." said Professor Dumbledore as he placed a rather old and worn looking hat on the table in front of the students. "Perhaps we could start with you, Miss Bones?" he said looking at a small girl standing to his right.

Harry watched in interest as what he first thought of as a rather musty old hat came to life and soon began shouting out the house names that the respective students had been sorted into. When his turn came, he walked carefully over to the stool, making sure to not touch any of the unusual gadgets that littered the room and gingerly placed the hat on his head. He was startled when he could hear a voice in his head. He nearly fell of the stool in fright but managed to keep his bearings and the hat on.

"Hmm… who have we got here? Young Mr. Potter or maybe Riddle? It seems that there is much that you do not know yet. But not to worry, it will all come to you when the time is right. Now what house should I put you in?"

The hat seemed to ponder over that for quite some time going over various houses and their attributes in his head. Harry did not understand the first few things that the hat had told him but he did not think too much of it as he was too busy worrying over his house placement. He wringed his hands nervously as he hoped that the hat knew what it was doing.

"Of course I know what I'm doing! I'm the sorting hat after all and I'll tell you that I'm not dirty or musty. I'm in perfectly good condition." the voice in his head said rather indignantly before calling out….

AN: I'm in a much better mood at the moment so i thought i'd add a little more to my story. Thanks to momocolady (claws? you'll find out later on :p don't want to give away the story ), DestinyEntwinements, hy-nguyen, Smittened By Marauders for your reviews.

I know it might be annoying that i just had to stop it at the place where he was sorted...yeah i know this is a common trick, but i couldn't quite decide on a house... any ideas? I think Gryffindor is a bit typical, and Slytherin seems a bit dark, Ravenclaw is a possibility though i'm not sure how i'd write that. I'm not thinking of having Harry all dark... but not all light too... if you know what i mean?