A/N - A big thanks to the people on Writer's Den Discord for giving me input on my ideas for this story! Heccate had a bunch of wonderful ideas that I will be incorporating into this story, so a few new side-arcs will be popping up. I'm very excited to see where it goes!
September 1, 1996
With a resounding boom, the doors to the Great Hall swung open. Professor McGonagall, clad in her traditional green robes, led a line of timid first years down the gap between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Harry noticed the lack of chatter between the first years as they caught their first glimpse of Hogwarts. Instead, they walked in tight packs, silent and unsure.
The Sorting Hat rested upon its stool at the front of the Hall. Presumably someone had set it up when Harry hadn't been paying attention. Even the Hat didn't seem as vibrant as it had in years past.
McGonagall stepped up to the stool and removed a scroll from her robes, clenching it in her hands. A hush fell across the hall as the Hat shifted for the first time. The rip in its brim opened wide and the Hat began to sing:
In times of yore, when powers raged,
And gods had not yet fled,
Four founders of magic uncaged,
Forged ahead where none had tread.
Cunning Slytherin of airy towers,
Dear Ravenclaw of molten light,
Humble Hufflepuff of earthen flowers,
Great Gryffindor of fiery might.
Stone by stone was Hogwarts raised,
Their vision come to life,
Never dreaming it might be razed,
In the coming days of strife.
When at last they stood as three,
Curses upon the land were laid,
A bitter spirit then did flee,
A price thereafter to be paid.
Now we stand as houses four,
Fighting for each bit of glory,
By the wayside lays our lore,
Our forgotten memento mori.
Elements five do grow,
Now a mystery comes to roost,
A single seed to sow,
A new one introduced.
A world waiting to be renewed,
Ready to change the game,
My friends, beware the feud,
Or see the land aflame.
Fate will see us through,
Meddlesome though she is,
Herald the drum's tattoo,
Heed the words Death says.
Though I quarter every year,
Though I send hither and yon,
Though the rivalries I fear,
I must send you on.
Please see the warning signs,
Please hear the words I sing,
Break out of your confines,
Every string becomes a ring.
Now you know, now you hear,
Now I must begin to sort,
Those who stand before me here,
Now you join your court.
Scattered applause broke out, though no one really knew what to make of the Hat's song. It was even more cryptic than it had been last year, and that was saying something. Harry was especially creeped out by the Hat's references to Fate and Death; and knowing that a good deal of wizards were Pagan and thus worshipped various iterations of Death didn't make him feel any better. He'd put a good number of Galleons on himself being the only person not about to die that Death had made an appearance to in recent years.
"Reckon the Hat's gone a bit loopy?" Neville whispered to him across the table. Harry had to choke back a laugh at that.
"Too right it has," he whispered back, "want to join my cour-"
"Bain, Gavin." Harry was cut off by Professor McGonagall beginning the Sorting and both boys turned their attention back to the front. The Sorting continued along and as the last student joined the Hufflepuff table, McGonagall swept the Hat and tripod stool off the dais and Dumbledore rose from his seat.
"Welcome! To our students new and old, welcome! I will have some remarks for you later, but for now, tuck in!" With a grand flourish of his wand, the House tables filled with food.
"We've got another Defense teacher." Ron said, speaking around a mouthful of chicken.
"Yes, how observant of you, Ronald." Hermione said, looking at Ron in distaste. "Umbridge was hardly fit to return, was she?"
Ron simply shrugged and returned to his plate of food, stacked several chicken legs high.
"I suppose we'll have to wait and see what this one is like," she mused.
"She can't be as bad as Umbridge." Neville interjected.
Harry gave a wry smile. "Careful there, Nev. Don't want to jinx it, do you?"
Neville chuckled and shook his head. Harry remained quiet after that, taking in the babble of conversation that washed over the Gryffindor table.
Soon, the last of the pudding was frantically being shoveled into Ron's mouth. Dumbledore stood once more, preparing to speak. He fiddled with his sleeves, a move Harry knew was made to hide his blackened hand.
"There are a few traditional start-of-term announcements I would like to deliver. Mr. Filch has asked that I remind you of…" Harry tuned out at this point, knowing that it would be the same drivel about banned items and Quidditch tryouts. He began toying with his napkin, tearing small pieces off the corners. He jolted back to attention when Hermione's elbow dug into his ribs.
"We have a new member of staff joining us this year," Dumbledore was saying, "Please welcome Defense Professor Semiramis Ramat to Hogwarts!"
Polite applause broke out as the newly named Professor Ramat stood to acknowledge the applause. Snape glowered even more at the clapping and Harry wondered what the new professor could have done to earn his ire so quickly. Whatever it was, he mentally added a few points in the Reaper's favor.
"And now, I must address the present situation with Voldemort." That effectively halted the applause and a strained silence descended. "He is recruiting ever more followers and becoming more brazen in his attacks. Hogwarts is well protected, he cannot reach you here. Nevertheless, I am afraid that I must ask every student to strictly abide by the rules, for your safety and that of your peers. We will be increasing the number and frequency of patrols, so I would request that any late-night wanderings be postponed for the time being." Dumbledore's eyes found Harry's as he said this and Harry shifted, knowing full well he'd broken curfew more times than he'd care to count.
"We must band together and remain strong. If we falter and fall, it will only be from within. A great Muggle politician once said 'a house divided against itself cannot stand'. I believe we all must take his words to heart and face the coming days as one, with heads held high." Harry looked over at the Slytherin table, curious what their reaction would be. Draco Malfoy looked utterly bored, as expected. Crabbe and Goyle were on either side of him as his ever-present bookends. There was a tall, olive-skinned boy across from Malfoy with his back to Harry. Harry was fairly sure that it was Blaise Zabini, a pretty quiet Slytherin he'd not had much contact with.
"And on that note, it is time for you all to return to your dormitories and turn in. Off you go!" Dumbledore retook his seat and the Great Hall filled with the scraping of benches against the stone floor.
The trio and Neville were joined by Ginny on their way out of the Hall. "The Hat gets more depressing every year, doesn't it?" She asked.
"Sure, but what about that mystery it mentioned?" Hermione responded. "It said something about a seed too. It sounds like something weird is going on at Hogwarts."
Ron snorted. "Hermione, when isn't something weird happening at Hogwarts? I say we forget about it, it'll find us eventually if the past five years are any clue."
Harry nodded his agreement, thankful to Ron for dismissing the Hat's song. Hermione could be like a dog with a bone when she wanted to know something.
The group came to a halt, waiting for a staircase to switch to the landing that led to Gryffindor Tower. The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins broke off from the main group, leaving for the kitchens and dungeon.
"Oi, Potter!" The shout rose above the remaining Gryffindors and Ravenclaws milling about. Harry turned around, only to see Katie Bell elbowing her way past unsuspecting students.
"What in Merlin's name," she panted, "is this about?" She jabbed her thumb toward the gleaming Captain's badge pinned to her chest. "Care to explain, Potter?"
"Hi to you too, Katie." Harry weakly responded. "Explain what?"
"Come off it, Harry. I know McGonagall offered you the position first." The staircase finally moved and Katie determinedly followed him up the stairs. "You'd make a brilliant Captain!"
"Look, Katie, I turned it down because I've got way too much going on this year. Besides, I've still got a year after this to be Captain if I want to. You don't. You're going to be a great Captain, I really don't see the problem here." Harry said, wincing at Katie's disbelieving expression.
"Me? Bloody hell, Harry, you've never lost the Snitch!"
"Your point? I'll still be on the team, just not as Captain." Harry tried to brush off her comments.
"If you're sure, then." Katie said. She still seemed hesitant, wanting to make sure Harry was truly okay with the situation.
"Yes, Katie, I'm fine with it. I wouldn't have turned the position down otherwise. Ah, look, the Fat Lady!" He cried, seizing the opportunity to slip away from the conversation. He dashed through the portrait hole, not stopping to say hi to anyone as he rushed up the stairs to his dorm.
Closing the door behind him, Harry collapsed onto his familiar four-poster bed. Hedwig hooted at him from her cage, ruffling her feathers irritably.
"Sorry, girl." Harry said, reaching over to unlock the cage. He let Hedwig climb onto his arm and brought her to his chest. She nipped at a few strands of his hair as he carried her over to the window. Harry undid the latch and with a final hoot of farewell, Hedwig glided out into the night to hunt down her dinner.
Harry left the window open for her return and sunk back onto his bed. The door swung open, admitting a laughing Ron and Neville.
"Did Katie get to you, mate?" asked Ron. "You took off like a bat out of hell."
"In my defense, she's scary!" Harry replied, prompting a new round of laughter. The door opened once more, Seamus and Dean walking in on the scene.
"Our brave Saviour!" Neville choked out between laughs.
"Oi, I'd like to see you face down a girl on the warpath!" Harry said, throwing his pillow at Neville. Neville tossed the pillow back, grinning like a loon.
"So we've established that girls are scary. Anything else happen that we should know about?" Ron asked.
The room settled down, each boy taking a seat on their bed. All eyes turned to Neville and Harry, both of whom had summer birthdays.
"What?" Harry asked, uncomfortable with the stares.
"Your manifestation!" Seamus exclaimed, "Let's see it!" He tugged on his collar for emphasis, the dark blue raindrop he'd gotten last October showing for a split second.
Neville jumped in, already knowing that Harry supposedly hadn't manifested on his birthday. He displayed his tree for the room to see. "I woke up to a huge green ball floating over my palm. I kind of squeaked and ran to show Gran." Neville blushed, but was clearly proud of his new tattoo.
"That's amazing, Nev!" Dean said, leaning over to see the delicate branches better.
"What about you, Harry?" Seamus asked.
"Er, there's nothing to show. Sorry, guys," said Harry. He unconsciously scratched his chest just over where his brand was. It wasn't a lie, more an omission of the truth.
"Nothing?" Seamus repeated, dumbfounded.
"Nothing."
"Come on, not all half-bloods inherit. Even some purebloods don't! Cut the guy some slack." Seamus coloured at Neville's proclamation and rushed to apologize to Harry.
"Don't worry about it, mate." Harry said.
"Well, three out of five ain't half bad. None of us got Snape as our advisor, that's gotta be good," said Seamus. "Imagine those poor sods who've got to learn from him. The twins aren't here anymore to provide a buffer."
Seamus was right. Snape was the faculty advisor for those who manifested a light talent, and unfortunately for both him and the twins, Fred and George had been forced to take their elemental class with him. Harry still wasn't sure who had come out of that deal better off.
Dean cleared his throat. "Actually…" He undid his tie with unsteady fingers, then tugged on the top of his collar. Traces of white ink were revealed the further down he pulled. One, two, three white spirals were etched on his skin, standing out in sharp contrast to his dark skin.
"How…" Neville trailed off. None of them were sure how Dean had managed a manifestation. Muggleborns didn't manifest, that was just a fact. Even for those descended from Squibs, the genes were just too far back in their family tree to make an appearance.
Dean gave a bitter laugh, tightening his tie once again. "Turns out I'm not muggleborn."
Harry didn't know what to say to that. Neither did anyone else. Ron was still staring at where Dean's tattoo was, Seamus's face was scrunched up in confusion, and Neville was just looking at Dean expectantly, waiting for him to continue.
"So I always knew my biological father died before I was born. My mum said he was a soldier who was killed in action. My step-dad was his best friend, so he lived with my mum for a few months after he died, to help out around the house and all that. Well, they fell in love and he ended up staying for good. Mum had me, then had my siblings with my step-dad. So I wake up on my birthday to a glowing white ball that I can't get rid of and I freak out, as any rational person would."
The room was dead silent, Trevor's occasional croak the only other sound besides Dean's voice. Everyone was entranced by Dean's tale.
"Mum came running in, followed by Dad. Mum panicked a bit, but Dad just sighed and gave my mum a look. Said it was time for me to know. The white ball went away a minute later and they sat me down at the kitchen table. Dad, the one who died, was apparently a wizard. He told Mum all about the wizarding world right before they were married. He was killed by Death Eaters when Mum was three months pregnant with me, not killed in battle like I was told. Here's the kicker: my step-dad isn't even a Muggle; he's a second generation squib. He said he's distantly related to my biological dad, but wouldn't give me his name. Mum wouldn't talk about him either. It's still a sore subject for both of them I guess. They said I'm a halfblood, and that's why I manifested." Dean smiled wryly when he finished.
"That's… insane." Harry breathed. He'd had his whole world turned upside down when he manifested as well, he could easily imagine what Dean was going through.
"No kidding. Things are a bit rough at home with Mum and Dad," admitted Dean, "I say they should've told me sooner, and they say I didn't need to know."
"Sure, you didn't need to know, but it would've been nice to know!" Neville burst out.
"Is what I've told them a thousand times." Dean said. "I keep asking them for information on my biological father, but all I know is when he died. That's not much to go off of."
"We can work with that. We'll figure it out, mate," Seamus told Dean, "The library's got to have some old Prophets we can go through."
"Give me a few weeks and we'll come back to that, yeah?"
Each of them assured Dean that they'd help when he was ready to start looking. Dean thanked them, then they each fell silent. Each boy began getting ready for bed, still thinking about all that had happened that day.
Harry lay awake that night long after the lights had been extinguished. School hadn't even started and he was already caught up in mysteries beyond him.