Author's Note: This chapter is up and ready. Please post in the 'Review' section concerning any writing errors, or of anything else you would like to share otherwise.
Chapter 9
Lending A Helping Hand
Year 1 - Hogwarts Castle - Earth
As everyone was being ushered towards the Great Hall, a bizarre cackling noise suddenly erupted from out of nowhere and a rather petite man with wicked dark eyes and a wide mouth, who floated cross-legged in the air, appeared directly in front of McGonagall, thus blocking her path along with all of the students into the Great Hall.
"Oooooooh!" he exclaimed with an evil cackle. "Icky firsties! What fun!"
"Peeves!" shouted McGonagall angrily. "Get out of my way and leave here at once before I hex you!"
"Ha-ha! Look at the old-" Peeves started to say before he was suddenly flung sideways across the corridor and vanished directly into the far wall of the chamber with a loud shriek of surprise.
The Professor immediately turned to see a few of the students with their heads momentarily ducked down low in order to avoid getting hit in the head or whacked across their faces by Harry, who had reached out with the Force and grabbed ahold of Peeves, before flinging his arm out in the direction that Peeves had been sent flying across the chamber and straight through the wall.
"Sorry, Professor," he apologized to the Deputy Headmistress as the students who had ducked out of the way promptly straightened themselves up again. "Who was that, anyway?"
"That's quite alright, Potter. But, please, do be more careful from now on," remarked the Professor sternly. "In any case, that was Peeves. He's the school poltergeist. And a most wrecked and vile one, at that." Harry nodded in response; pretending that he didn't know anything whatsoever about Peeves, even though he'd heard dozens upon dozens of rather nasty stories from Sirius concerning the poltergeist. McGonagall then immediately turned and continued through the doors into the Great Hall, with all of the students forming into two separate lines as they followed closely behind her.
Harry looked all around him in sheer awe and wonder at what he saw upon entering the Great Hall for the very first time. Even though he had heard plenty of stories from Sirius concerning this very large room, it was still a marvelous sight to behold: as it was lit rather abundantly by thousands upon thousands of burning candles which floated high above four very long tables that were evenly spaced out on the Hall floor, where the rest of the students were all sitting.
All four tables were laid with glittering plates and goblets, and at the front of the Hall was another long table, where all of the teachers were sitting.
Professor McGonagall led the first-years up to the front of the Hall before turning around and asking everyone to find a seat, and once every last first-year student had found a place at any one of the four tables, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, promptly stood up to speak.
"Welcome, everyone, to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he proudly announced. "Now, before we begin the start-of-term banquet, I would just like to say a few words. First off, as we would normally begin this new term with the Sorting Ceremony in order to both commemorate and place newly arriving first-years into each of their appropriate Houses, but in light of most recent events this evening, we have decided to postpone the Sorting until tomorrow morning. So, to each and everyone of you here, make sure that you are all up bright and early at promptly six-o-clock sharp, and are here in the Great Hall for the start of the Ceremony."
Nearly everyone of the younger students immediately groaned at hearing this news; a large number of them due to their extreme hunger.
"And second, the first-year students should note that the forest on the castle grounds is strictly forbidden to all young pupils, to which a few of the older students would do well to remember that also," said Dumbledore as his twinkling eyes flashed in the clear direction of where the Weasley twins were seated. "I have also been asked by Mr. Argus Filch, the caretaker, to remind all of you that absolutely no Magic is to be used between classes in the corridors. Furthermore, Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone of the second-year students and above who is interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor is strictly out-of-bounds to everyone that does not wish to suffer a most painful death."
The majority of the whole student-body instantly began muttering and whispering to one another about what had just been said, some of them were a bit confused while others began speculating and coming up with theories as to why the third-floor corridor was, as of this year, forbidden to enter.
Harry glanced over at Percy who was sitting just a few feet away on the opposite side of the table from him. "He's not serious?" he quietly muttered towards the older Weasley sibling.
"Must be," said Percy as he frowned at Dumbledore. "It's odd, though, because he usually gives a reason as to why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest is full of dangerous beasts, and everyone knows that. I do wish however that he'd have at least told us Prefects about it."
Potter briefly glanced in the Headmaster's direction just as Dumbledore was taking his seat again. Then, a moment later, when Harry turned his eyes back to the table, he suddenly found to his complete surprise and utter amazement that all of the dishes across the table, as well as all of the dishes along the three other tables, were now piled-up with food.
The first-years suddenly began to frantically grab a bit of everything in front of them: quickly filling their plates up to max capacity, while also taking large bites out of other pieces of food that they grabbed, before putting it on their now overflowing plates as well.
Harry briefly placed two fingers on his forehead, and all of the students momentarily stopped what they were doing, before they promptly resumed eating again, albeit at a more casually slower rate of pace. All of the teachers over at the High Table must have taken notice, because Potter suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see McGonagall looming over him.
"Potter, might I have a word?" she asked quietly.
Harry shrugged and instantly turned his feet around to stand up from the table. "Sure," he politely agreed upon him shrugging in response to her request.
McGonagall then promptly asked Potter what had happened just now with all of the students in the Great Hall, as both she, Dumbledore, as well as the other teachers and Professors had immediately noticed every one of them (especially all of the first-years) momentarily stop what they were all doing, which coincided with her and the others at the High Table all confusingly looking at one another upon seeing Harry do whatever it was he just did.
"Oh, you mean me doing this?" said Harry, as he gestured with his hand; touching his forehead for a split-second with his two fingers before dropping his hand down back to his side. "I just telepathically suggested to mainly all of the first-year students to simply slow down while eating their food, is all. I mean, I know that everyone was rather quite hungry but I don't think that anyone would want to be going to sleep tonight with an upset stomach, due to them eating too much too quickly."
McGonagall nodded understandably. "Very well, Potter," she remarked with a slight smile. "That will be all, thank you."
Harry immediately gave a polite nod and smile back at her, before returning to his seat at the table, with Professor McGonagall herself turning and steadily walking back to her place at the High Table.
While the students were busy eating, a large number of what appeared to be ghosts floated both through the Great Hall's entry doors as well as up through the floor and also up through the long tables too. Although, these ghosts were of a palish-white hue, and not the typical bluish-white hue that Harry saw when he first encountered the Force Ghost of the late Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn.
"Hello! How are you all this evening? And welcome to Gryffindor!" one male ghost cheerfully exclaimed the moment his head popped up from underneath the center of the table. He then casually floated up through and past the table altogether before slowly turning around to view all of the students who were apparently sitting at what was formally designated as the "Gryffindor table". "Oh, yes, introductions. My name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service."
Harry promptly cleared his throat and spoke directly to the ghost. "Pardon me, Sir Nicholas, but we haven't been sorted yet - the first-year students, I mean - and the Sorting Ceremony won't take place until tomorrow morning."
"Oh," replied Sir Nicholas as he was slightly taken aback by the news. "But you're all sitting at the Gryffindor table, aren't you?"
Potter shrugged at his question. "I suppose so, yes," he remarked bluntly.
"Hello, Sir Nicholas," greeted Percy casually. "Did you have a pleasant summer?"
"Rather quite dismal, actually," said Sir Nicholas irritably. "Yet once again, my request to join the Headless Hunt has been denied."
"I know who you are!" Ron piped-up suddenly as he turned to look at Sir Nicholas' ghost. "My brothers have told me all about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer that you call me Sir Nicholas, thank you," the ghost responded stiffly to the redhead's comment.
"Nearly Headless?" a sandy-haired little boy named Seamus Finnigan asked curiously, who was in fact the same little boy that sat with Harry, Ron, and Neville in the small boat which had taken them across the lake to the castle. "How can you be Nearly Headless?"
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.
"Like this," he said irritably. He immediately seized hold of his left ear and pulled, with his whole head promptly swinging off his neck and falling onto his shoulder as though it were on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, albeit not very well. And upon looking rather pleased at the stunned expressions on the students' faces, he then swung his head back up onto his neck, coughed, and said "So, be seeing you all at the Sorting Ceremony tomorrow morning then, I suppose. Yes?"
Harry, Ron, Neville, and all of the other first-years who were sitting at the "Gryffindor table" nodded silently in response.
"Um, excuse me, Sir?" exclaimed Seamus, who was looking at Nearly Headless Nick and clearly wanting to ask the ghost something. "Who is that ghost over there at the far table?"
Nearly Headless Nick briefly glanced over at the horrible ghost who was sitting right next to Malfoy with blankly staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes which were stained with silver blood. Draco, as it appeared, didn't look all too pleased with the current seating arrangements.
"Oh, that's the Bloody Baron," said Nearly Headless Nick, as he turned back to face Seamus. "He's the resident Slytherin ghost. I do so hope that whichever of you first-years gets Sorted into Gryffindor will help us win the House Championship this year. Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning, you know. Slytherin House has taken the Cup six years in a row now! And that barmy git is becoming almost unbearable because of it!"
"How did he get all covered in blood?" Seamus inquired with great interest.
"I've never asked," answered Nearly Headless Nick delicately before floating off. He then promptly turned around again to look direction at Seamus. "And that's "Sir Nicholas" not "Sir", my boy," he politely corrected the little boy, with Seamus nodding understandably in reply.
As everyone was busy eating, conversations began to arise concerning the students families and home-lives.
"So, what's your family like, Seamus?" asked Neville curiously.
"I'm half-and-half," replied Seamus. "Dad's a Muggle. Mum's a witch, and she didn't tell him until after they were married. Sure was a bit of a nasty shock for him when he finally found out about it, though."
Everyone around the table instantly laughed at his funny comment.
"What about you, Harry?" the little boy asked the Padawan directly with a very curious expression on his face. "Where have you been all this time?"
Potter looked up at Seamus upon taking the last bite of his food, before carefully chewing and then swallowing it. The other students around the table started asking him similar questions, though before he could answer even one of their many inquiries, the remains of what was left-over on everyone's plates vanished almost as quickly as when the food had first appeared; leaving them sparkling clean just as before. And a moment later, the desserts appeared exactly in the same way as the food which the students had just now finished eating, leaving nearly every one of the first-year's mouths watering greatly as all eyes were staring hungry at the blocks of ice cream, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs, and many, many more deliciously-looking desserts galore.
The students, including Seamus, must have instantly forgotten about asking Harry so many questions, as they were now too busy chowing down on their most favorite and yummy treats. And once more, Harry mentally advised all of the first-years at all four of the tables not to eat too much all at once, lest they risk getting rather unpleasant stomach aches as well as headaches due to them scarfing down on the frozen desserts (or just any of the desserts in general), with a large number of the students in turn not surprisingly ignoring the hint regarding the sweets.
Once everyone was either full or stuffed, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The majority of students in the Hall fell silent, apart from those who had obviously overeaten themselves, as their moans, groans, whimpers, and whines could clearly be heard echoing throughout the large room.
"Ahem," the Headmaster expressed loudly, clearing his throat. "Now that we are all fed and watered, it's high-time for everyone to get some shuteye. There's a really, VERY big day ahead of all of you tomorrow. Professor Filius Flitwick, who is the Head of Ravenclaw House, will show the first-year students to their temporary rooms for tonight. So, now, off to bed with you lot!"
The first-year students who had unfortunately eaten way too much dessert all started whimpering and whining even louder now, with a few of them even tearing-up and then gradually crying in pain due to their upset stomachs and/or pounding headaches. And it was no surprise that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were undoubtedly among those bunch.
Shaking her head, Professor McGonagall looked over to her left at an elderly woman (who was glancing over at her in turn) dressed in old-style nurse's clothing and gestured with a nod to her, with the woman immediately rising from her seat at the High Table and making her way to each of the first-years who weren't feeling well; slowly gathering them together in a group and gently herding them all towards the entrance doors of the Great Hall.
The little girl with short black hair, who sat in the boat along with Parvati, Padma, and the redheaded little girl whom Harry had previously comforted earlier just outside of the Great Hall, was crying so much that she doubled over in agonizing pain from her upset stomach and miserable headache, albeit most likely from eating too much of the frozen desserts.
"OW, OW, OW, OW, OW! IT HURTS TOO MUCH!" she wailed in agony, before partially curling-up into a semi-fetal position on the floor. "I WANT MY MUMMY!"
A small minority of the students who hadn't overstuffed themselves looked on at what was happening as they uttered soft and gentle expressive noises of sympathetic pity towards the suffering child; wanting in some way to help her, but stayed where they were since they didn't think that they were allowed to, while more students on the other hand glanced at one another and started whispering back and forth amongst themselves.
Harry, meanwhile, had immediately gotten up from his seat at the "Gryffindor table" and silently walked over to where the dark-haired little girl was laying in agony on the Hall floor to try to both help and comfort her, but only after he had looked over towards the High Table at both Professor Dumbledore as well as Professor McGonagall for their approval, to which the Headmaster nodded with both a smile and a twinkle in his eye, while McGonagall gave a briefly warm smile of her own before nodding her approval also, and Potter in turn graciously mouthing the words "thank you" to them in gratitude.
Upon approaching the spot where the little girl was half curled-up on the floor, with the elder woman herself about to lift the crying child up into her arms and carry her to the Hospital Wing, Potter crouched down on his knees and the little girl slowly looked up at him as he held out his hand towards her, offering to help her get on her feet. And once the child took Harry's hand, she steadily and a bit painfully got to her feet while continuing to cry: her tears flowing down the sides of her face.
Not wanting to see her or any of the others suffer the way that they were, Harry momentarily and gently embraced the little girl in a warm and caring hug, before slowly pulling away again. As he did so, the little girl all of sudden began to feel a little better, as the pain of both her stomachache as well as her headache, had somewhat diminished. While at the same time, Harry whispered comforting words into her ear; telling her that it was going to be okay.
"Th- Thank you," the little girl said with a small sob.
Harry nodded with a compassionate smile. "You're welcome," he replied graciously. He immediately turned to look up at the elder woman dressed in nurse's clothes who promptly spoke directly to him.
"What was that, Potter?" she asked in a confused tone of voice. "What did you do?"
"I took away some of the pain from both her headache and her stomachache," answered Harry.
He then looked back at the little girl and politely asked what her name was, with her giving it as Pansy Parkinson. Potter turned his head to look at the elder woman once again, and asked her permission to come along to the Hospital Wing, as he wanted to try and help the other children who were also in pain from overeating too much of the desserts.
The elder woman (who went by the name of Madam Pomfrey) kindly obliged the little boy's request even though she was far more than capable of tending to the children herself, but only after having looked over at the High Table to Dumbledore and McGonagall both for their consent, to which they agreed.
As he watched his friend leave the Great Hall with Madam Pomfrey and the other students to go to the Hospital Wing, wondering why he was even going along with them to begin with, Ron grimaced-up his face in a bitterly jealous expression that was most likely directed towards Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle specifically.
'I hope Harry doesn't even think about helping or trying to befriend those vile snakes!' Ron thought inwardly to himself as he watched in distaste as Potter stepped through the entrance doors of the Great Hall, and out into the corridor.
Harry must have sensed this, because he all of a sudden momentarily turned to look over at Ron with a rather particularly stern expression that seemed most unsettling to the redhead, which in turn made Weasley blush and then slunk down low in offense.
The rest of the first-year students who hadn't needed to go to the Hospital Wing followed Professor Flitwick (who was a dwarfish-looking half-goblin and half-human cross-breed) out of the Great Hall, and through several hallways and corridors (including an area of the castle with what was known as the Grand Staircase, which rose-up to seven stories high and constantly moved back and forth between adjoining corridors, with a number of the steps often rising or falling out of position on some of the staircases, while other steps simply disappeared altogether), until they came to a two-way corridor where a pair of intricately designed doors mysteriously appeared before them.
"Right," said Professor Flitwick. "Here we are, everyone. This will be where you stay for tonight, until you are all Sorted into your own Houses tomorrow, of course. In you go, now."
All of the students slowly stepped forward as the double doors gradually opened up to reveal a lavishly adorned bed chamber which had a large number of both boy and girl beds inside it, as well as several nightstands (one in-between each bed), and came complete with a bunch of adjoining bathrooms also.
Ron, Neville, and the Patil twins all gazed around the room in sheer wonder and amazement, as did all of the other first-year students upon them stepping inside. And upon looking around a little more closely, they all noticed several trunks, each with their own names on them, carefully placed in a designated area of the room.
"Well, this is where I leave you all," the Professor added bluntly. "I will be back first thing in the morning to take you all to the Sorting Ceremony in the Great Hall. So, be up and ready to go by seven-thirty exactly. Goodnight!"
With that, the doors closed behind Professor Flitwick as he waddled out of the room, leaving all of the remaining first-years alone.
As everyone went about getting themselves ready for bed, Ron started to wonder if Harry was planning on joining them and whether or not Professor Flitwick was in fact heading directly over to the Hospital Wing to fetch him straight away, or if Potter was going to decide to stay with the other students in the Hospital Wing for the night, the latter of which the redhead had seriously hoped wasn't the case.
