The Board of Governors
No one knew what had just happened, luckily the hat clarified, "Dumbledore! I must speak with you!"
The headmaster approached the stool and took the hat off Lyra's head. She looked around like she had just woken up. Dumbledore put the hat on his head and stood there for a few minutes. After the first two, McGonagall spoke quietly to Lyra and she mumbled something back. McGonagall passed her back the invisible Whispers and she walked back down to Harry.
He asked, "What's going on?"
"The hat told me not to say anything but I'll tell you later," Lyra said quietly.
Dumbledore continued to stand on the stage with the hat on his head for another few minutes, staring off into the distance, before taking it off and handing it back to McGonagall.
Raising his voice to the students, he said, "Children, we will have to delay the sorting. Additionally, I need to recall the three students that have already been sorted. Mr. Adamson, Miss Baker, and Mr. Bell; please rejoin the first-years in front."
The three students hesitantly stood and rejoined the other first-years. As they did, the colors on their uniforms faded back to black. Dumbledore then waved his wand in a large sweeping motion and the floor itself moved, with all the tables, towards the entrance about fifteen feet. With another sweep of his wand, a large table was conjured with benches to run perpendicular behind the first-years standing at the front.
"All first-years, please sit at the new table. Food will be available shortly. Please do not badger Miss Black about the current situation." With that, whispered something into his hands and food appeared on all the tables except for the first years. Dumbledore leaned over to McGonagall and whispered something to her and then the both of them exited the hall from a door to the side of the teaching table.
Despite telling everyone not to try to bother Lyra about the situation, that was exactly what they did. Harry and Lyra sat at the side of the table with their backs facing the teacher's table, so students from every table descended on them and pushed other first-years on the other side of the table out of the way to ask what was going on. Lyra was already anxious from the sorting and this kind of attention caused her to almost burrow into Harry's side with Whispers under the table between them.
Finally, Harry had enough and pulled his staff out of his pouch, stood on the bench, and slammed it into the table. A small shockwave pulsed forward, knocking down the students right in front of them and staggering the ones further back. A large shield held in place around them keeping anyone from approaching again.
"Back off!" Harry said firmly. "Lyra hasn't told me what is going on and she's not telling you either. Wait for Dumbledore to say something."
From the teacher's table, a small man with fierce features stood on the stage behind Harry and said, "Mr. Potter. Do not use magic unprovoked on other students, use your words first next before resorting to force. As for everyone else, take your seats, now."
Despite his small size, something about him made everyone feel very compelled to do what he said and they returned to their seats to whisper about 'the Black princess' and 'Harry Potter.' Harry was irritated as he dropped the shield, he was just protecting his sister and wouldn't have needed to if that tiny man had been doing his job in the first place.
Harry and Lyra stopped paying attention to them as in a blink of an eye, all the platters on every table were covered with food. Most of it was cuisine they had never experienced before, so for now, they stuck to the things they knew. Fruits, vegetables, fish, and plain chicken. Lyra took her salad plate and put it between them and loaded it up with food for Whispers.
After the dessert came out, Dumbledore and McGonagall returned through the door they left from, had a short discussion, and sat down to eat. Everyone was quiet as they spoke but when they started eating, the conversations started up again. As the students finished their desserts, Dumbledore stood up and walked to the lectern on the stage. The hall became almost deathly quiet. The first-years on Harry and Lyra's side of the table turned around to face the teachers.
Dumbledore smiled at all the students, "In all my years of teaching here, I believe this is the first time I have not needed to call everyone to attention for the start of term announcements. I hope this trend continues in the future." From the tone of his voice, it didn't sound like he was very confident that it would. "To start, I would like all of us to welcome our newest member of the teaching staff, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart; adventurer and author, as he takes up the post for Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
A man in a cape that looked to Harry like a blue hoohoo stood up and waved with a smile that seemed to sparkle in the light of the room before sitting back down. There was applause scattered around the room.
"Next, as a result of a situation last year, we are clarifying our rule about the Forbidden Forest. You may now refer to it as the Permissible Forest, as it will be permissible to enter with a staff member accompanying you. You may thank Mr. Draco Malfoy for this change. Unauthorized visits will still be forbidden."
Many people looked over to Draco's place at the Slytherin table. He was alternating between feeling proud of this accomplishment and showing embarrassment for whatever must have changed the policy.
"There is also a change in the broom policy for first-year students. They are not allowed to bring their own brooms, however, they are now allowed to try out for the quidditch teams. All students are reminded that using magic in the hallways between classes is not allowed. The third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is closed for the first half of the year as it is under reconstruction after an incident last year."
Dumbledore started to walk away back to his seat before looking up as if he just remembered something important and returned to the lectern. "And one more thing, due to the situation that occurred earlier this evening with the sorting, there will be no classes until Monday. Please use the next five days and the weekend to organize clubs, hold quidditch tryouts, and have a good time. First-years, please stay in the hall, everyone else please return to your dormitories."
No one moved.
Everyone was silent.
Then a boy with dreadlocks at the Gryffindor table stood up and yelled, "Five-day weekend!"
Everyone cheered, and the four house tables filed out of the hall, most of them casting glances back towards the first-years still sitting there. At the same time, all the teachers except Dumbledore and McGonagall headed out themselves.
When everyone had left, Dumbledore addressed the first years. "We will be announcing exactly what occurred at a later time, I don't believe even Miss Black knows the extent of what has transpired, so she may share as much of her conversation with the Sorting Hat as she chooses later tonight. Professor McGonagall will escort all of you to a temporary dormitory for the next few days before the sorting can proceed again." He turned and headed out the back of the hall.
"If you will all follow me," McGonagall proceeded out the main doors of the halls with all the first years scampering after her. Harry felt Whispers climbing up on his back as they left. After ascending one flight of stairs and going down a long corridor, they stopped at a set of double doors. Their professor pulled out her wand and tapped the door while reciting, "New Adventures." A click could be heard from the door.
Turning to the students, "This will be your temporary dormitory. The password is the phrase I just spoke, 'New Adventures.' You will need to say that out loud before entering."
She opened the door to a room lined with couches and small tables. There was a large fireplace on the far wall with windows overlooking the grounds to the sides of it. Several portraits were on the walls all seemed to be looking at them. A woman in one of them waved to the children, startling some of them.
"To the left are the beds for the girls, to the right are the boys. I will return in just a moment." She flicked her wand and a ball of fire shot into the fireplace, igniting it, then she turned and left the room.
As soon as the door was shut, all eyes turned toward Lyra. Ginny approached her first, "So what can you tell us?"
The other students gathered around and Lyra backed up into Harry who gave her a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Lyra looked to the rest of them and then to Harry who just nodded to her.
"The hat couldn't sort me. He said that all the houses would work for me and asked me to pick one but I didn't know what to do." She looked around at the curious faces around her. "He said that he would find a way to solve the problem and then called for Dumbledore. It will be solved by Monday though, right?"
No one knew what to say, luckily before anyone could say anything Professor McGonagall entered the room again with an older girl with light brown hair and green on her robes and tie.
"Students, this is Gemma Farley; Prefect for Slytherin House. For the next few days you are here, you will have a prefect from each house supervising you, giving you tours of the school, and teaching you about the school rules. Until tomorrow night, please speak to her about anything you need." McGonagall walked Miss Farley over to the fireplace and knocked on a brick towards the top. The fire went out and the fireplace itself turned sideways to reveal a path to another bedroom behind it. The two exchanged some words with each other before McGonnagal headed out the front.
After she had left, the girl turned to all the first years. "You may all call me Gemma. If you need anything at night, please knock on the fireplace and I will be out shortly. All of your things should be in the rooms next to a bed. We will be getting up at seven in the morning, and at eight we will head to breakfast. Following breakfast, we will return to this room to plan our day. Does anyone have any questions?"
Colin raised his hand and Gemma nodded to him. "How is there a room behind the fireplace if there are windows next to it that look outside?"
Everyone else realized that just then too.
Gemma sighed. "The answer is that they aren't actually windows, just glass enchanted to appear like they are windows that look out over the grounds. What we see reflects the current time of day and weather but if someone were to go stand outside on the path, you wouldn't see them from the window in this room. If you want to know more about magical windows, please ask me tomorrow, though you may have hundreds of more questions by then, so I suggest you start writing them down."
Harry felt a scratching at his head as Whispers started preening his hair, so he reached up to take him down. Gemma looked at him and asked, "What are you doing Mr. Potter?"
He held Whispers close to him as he knew people tended to scream when they saw him for the first time. "I'm holding a demiguise, the others have seen him." The other first-years nodded to Gemma. "Please don't scream and I'll ask him to turn visible."
Gemma looked at him funny but nodded, staring at the empty spot in his arms. "Whispers, you can come out now."
Lyra reached out and patted his head and slowly he faded back into visibility. A series of awws came from the other students and Gemma looked amazed.
"Is he your familiar?" asked one of the other students.
Lyra answered, "He's our brother. His name is Whispers. He occasionally talks and we're teaching him to read."
Gemma looked skeptical. Harry pointed at her and said, "Whispers, this is Gemma. Can you say, Gemma? Ge Ma, Gemma."
Whispers looked at Harry and back at Gemma, then in a low voice almost like a growl or a croak said, "Ge Ma."
Everyone gasped. Gemma's eyes were even wider than the wide-eyed first years. "That's... that's incredible."
Everyone else started to ask Whispers to say their names, which he didn't want to and climbed into Lyra's arms for her to hold him. Harry calmed everyone down. "He's a bit overwhelmed now, he'll warm up to everyone after a while."
After a little more prompting, everyone went to their rooms to find their things and get ready for bed. Harry changed into some pajamas he had bought in Diagon Alley and went back to the common room to sit by the fire. There was a girl already at the fire reading a magazine, curled up on the couch.
Harry introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Harry."
The girl lowered her magazine. She had dirty blonde hair that was about as long as Lyra's was when she had it in a tight braid. She had her wand stuck behind her ear and she had bright blue eyes that reminded Harry of the other Hidden.
"Hello Harry Potter, my name is Luna Lovegood," she smiled. Her smile seemed to relax him a bit.
Whispers took the moment to jump up onto the couch with Harry and look at Luna.
"Hello, Whispers. Are you Whispers Potter or Whispers Black?" Luna tilted her head while talking to him. "Lyra said you are both of their brothers."
Harry watched Whispers stare at the girl. No one they met before spoke to Whispers like a person except the times the aurors were teaching him how to read. Whispers walked over to the girl and placed his hands on her shoulders and his eyes lit up blue. When Charlie or Chief did that to him or Alastor, they would always stop after a moment. With Luna, Whispers held the gaze for nearly a minute before stopping and looking at her very strangely.
Harry had learned a year ago what Whispers was trying to do, and that he didn't just stop immediately like when Chief did it to him or Charlie did it to Alastor was very interesting.
Harry looked at Luna strangely and asked, "Do you know what he was trying to do?"
"I think he liked my eyes, I liked his too, so I looked back."
"He definitely likes your eyes but that's not quite what he was doing."
"Oh, well if he wants to do it again, I'd be happy to have another staring contest."
"Well, the longest one I've seen was probably close to twenty minutes, though it was between his father and cousin."
"I'd better practice often then." Luna smiled and laid down on the couch with her magazine above her head and went back to reading.
Harry read his potion ingredients book until he saw Whispers fall asleep in front of the fire and then he picked up the sleeping Hidden and took him to bed.
A group of eleven older witches and wizards entered Hogwarts. All of them were grumbling. They walked straight into the Great Hall to find all the tables cleared out except for one large round table with places for around thirty people. All of the professors were already seated at the table. The Sorting Hat was resting next to a large stack of papers, loosely bound between two wooden boards with the Hogwarts crest on the top.
A tall witch wearing a hat with a stuffed vulture on top of it spoke up as they headed for the table, "Albus, why did you drag us out here? We don't meet until this weekend to nominate a new member to the board."
"We had a situation with the sorting tonight, Madam Longbottom," said Albus. "The Sorting Hat refused to sort a student and called for a point of order to tell me how it needed to be handled."
One of the old men grumbled a bit, "Maybe we just need a new hat."
The hat itself spoke up, "Or maybe you could retire Daniel, my job is in the charter. Yours is just temporary."
A few people laughed, and Daniel responded, "So then why don't you tell us why we are here Mr. Hat?"
"That was the plan until you interrupted. My job is to sort the new students into one of the four houses belonging to the four founders. The four founders wrote the original charter for the school which is in the documents next to me." The hat leaned to the side, indicating the stack of parchment. "It is very long and contains many archaic rules that modern life has made irrelevant. One such rule is that it is a prefects' job to vanish all the bodily waste their housemates accumulate in the latrines but the school's plumbing has made that irrelevant. There are many other similar sections. However, there is one specific section for why we are here tonight." The hat paused for a moment and then shuffled a few feet closer to the center of the table.
"The founders were some of the most arrogant people I have met even 900 years after their deaths. However, they did anticipate the day that a student would come to this school that wouldn't fit properly into one of the four houses they had set up. They included a procedure to be used in case a student didn't fit in any of their houses and a new one needed to be created."
This statement had all of the teachers and governors erupting into a debate, most of them were against a new house, others thought it was about time, and the rest thought that everyone just needed to shut up.
The hat seemed to share the opinions of that last group as he scrunched down and then jumped into the air, landing with a bang that sounded like he was made of stone. After the noise, everyone seated at the table was silenced. Some of the people at the table tried to cancel the silencing charm but nothing seemed to work.
The hat continued to speak, "The charter is magically bound to the school. You could all argue all night and it wouldn't stop this process that I am informing you of now. During the sorting this evening, I stopped the process when I was on the head of Lyra Cassiopeia Black. She possessed qualities from all the houses but was unable to be placed in any of them for reasons I will not share with any of you. Tonight I will go through all the still-living students I have sorted that are now legal adults and find the ones who had a mind most similar to Miss Black when I initially sorted them. Tomorrow night, I will be placed on the heads of all of those present here and see if any of the potential nominees have achieved the kind of life that will allow them to join the esteemed ranks of the founders of Hogwarts with their own house.
"If none can be found, I will demand that the girl choose a house to join. If a nominee exists, they will be summoned to the school and will work with Miss Black to help set up a house that this school can be proud of. On Sunday evening, the sorting will resume again. Additionally, all students below the fifth year will be allowed an opportunity to have themselves re-sorted. This doesn't mean they will get the new house, or if they will get any change. Though they will get the chance to try me on again. I will now start my deliberations, please return here tomorrow night." The hat slumped down.
No one said a word.
After a minute, the hat straightened back up, "I've lifted the silencing charm. You can all start to argue again."
And so they did.
In the morning, Gemma led the group of first years down to the great hall. This morning, Colin had a couple of disposable cameras with him and was taking pictures of everything in the castle during their short walk. The tables had been rearranged again, so now there was a shorter table in between the four house tables. Gemma sat with the first years there as they had breakfast.
Harry heard some students at another table muttering about all the teachers being at breakfast. This wasn't normal and no one seemed inclined to leave when they finished breakfast. Around 9 a.m., when they would have left for classes, Dumbledore stood up and walked to the lectern on the stage. All whispers and conversation stopped.
"I could really get used to this," he started. "There was a meeting with the faculty and the board of governors last night regarding the sorting incident. The Sorting Hat led the meeting to discuss a provision that has been in the Hogwarts Charter since the founding of the school but has yet to be fully used. I say fully used because apparently in 1845 and even as far back as 1312 the situation also occurred but nothing came out of it.
"The Founders enacted a magical clause in the charter that if the Sorting Hat found a student that could not be sorted, a procedure would begin where it would examine all current alumni for notable magical achievements and select one as a potential founder of a new house. In 1312, there had been a recent goblin rebellion and there lacked any notable living alumni who could found a house, and in 1845 the nominee for the founding position declined the honor."
There had already been whispering as soon as it was mentioned there may be a new house founded, and a lot of people weren't interested in the history of the situation. Dumbledore simply waited for the whispering students to become quiet again.
"The Sorting Hat will notify the faculty and the board of governors tomorrow night if a nominee can be found. On Sunday night we will have the new sorting. Also, a special opportunity will be granted to all students in their fourth year and below. If any students in those years wish, they may be resorted."
Dumbledore waited again for the talking to die down.
"The resorting does not guarantee any particular house. It also doesn't guarantee the student will be sorted out of their current house. The hat will simply look into your head again and see if there is a better fit now that you have grown. If you wish to be resorted, please speak with your head of house. I hope everyone has a good day."
As Dumbledore went to sit back down, the entire student body seemed to turn to Lyra again. Harry turned to the oncoming students and had his staff halfway pulled out of his pouch before Gemma stepped in front of Lyra.
"If anyone has any questions for Miss Black, please put together a list of questions and give them to one of your house prefects, they will pass them to me. If she feels like answering, she will." Turning to her table, "We're heading back to the dorm."
The first-years started moving quickly, the rest of the student body moving after them almost herding them out of the room. They arrived back at their common room, and Whispers came running out of the boys' room and jumped into Lyra's arms. They went to sit on one of the couches in the corner.
Gemma stood by the fireplace, "In light of the announcement at breakfast, I am going to ask for help directing your tour today. Everyone is to stay in the room until I return."
After Gemma left, Arthur Bell, the boy who had been sorted before Lyra walked over to her and handed Whispers an apple. "Whatever your house becomes, we know what animal will be the mascot." Some of the other students looked confused. "All of the houses at Hogwarts have a mascot. My sister is in Gryffindor, they have a lion. Ravenclaw has an eagle, Hufflepuff has a badger, and Slytherin has a snake. Miss Black's house will definitely be a demiguise."
When they had been told about the houses back on the island, Harry had been very interested in Slytherin because of the snake. Though he wasn't sure about the cunning and ambition of the house. Harry was more interested in protecting his family than being in charge of anything. Hufflepuff seemed like a good option, from the stories Tristan told, they seemed the closest-knit group, like a real family. Lyra told him he would make a good Gryffindor just from how he stepped forward into the inner circle of the Creeping Death or protected her from the Lampong charging. He loved learning new things and books were one of the things he always thought about but never had while he was on the island so he was instantly drawn to the rumors of a private library in the Ravenclaw tower.
More than anything, he wanted to protect Lyra. While she was very independent while they were on the island, since encountering people again, she became more withdrawn and tended to stay as close as possible to him when they were around others. So until she was able to open up, as she did with the rest of their family, he would be there for her.
Lyra took in what Arthur had been saying, and it seemed like Whispers was paying attention to it as well. Whispers took a bite of the apple and grunted out, "Hnk Oo."
All the other students were amazed again by the talking creature. Arthur began trying to get Whispers to say 'apple' while the other students watched. He managed to get as close as he was going to in a few minutes. It sounded like 'Hap-a.' Most of the more complicated sounds made using his tongue he was having trouble mastering.
Whisper's eyes glowed and he vanished. A second later, Gemma returned with a tall boy who had crooked teeth and a younger girl with blonde hair. Both of them wore Slytherin robes.
"This is Mr. Flint and Miss Greengrass. Mr. Flint is the captain of the Slytherin quidditch team. Ms. Greengrass is in her second year. They will help escort all of you on our tour around the school. If you have any questions, please ask them. I will first review the houses for you. Obviously, we believe that Slytherin is the best of all the houses. Each house will tell you that it is the best. However, Slytherin has won the house cup the last seven years and the quidditch cup every other year including the past one. Slytherin is the house of cunning and ambition, so it is no surprise that we achieve our goal to be the best more often than the other houses."
She let that sink in before continuing, "Slytherin is not a welcoming place for those who are not pureblood wizards. If the hat offers you a place in our house, consider that you may have a daily struggle to assert yourself as coming from a lesser lineage. The most cunning among you may be a half-blood or a muggleborn but you may be better suited to achieve your ambitions as a snake hiding in the fur of a lion. A Slytherin will recognize another Slytherin, even if you wear different colors than us."
Flint made a face like he had tasted something sour but said nothing. Greengrass kept her face completely emotionless the whole time.
"The next few days, you will have a new prefect with you each night. They will all tell you about their own houses and their opinions of the others. So will we. Ravenclaw is the house of intelligence and curiosity. This doesn't mean you are smart, you currently could have the brains of a bowtruckle. The students in Ravenclaw share the desire for more knowledge. More than anything else, they want to accumulate new knowledge. This tends to make a lot of the students isolate themselves from others and there is often a lot of competition among them for the top spots among students each year. The top twenty students in each year almost always contain every Ravenclaw student for that year. There is always a Ravenclaw student in the top two students, except last year when they were bumped down to #3 for the first-years. The #2 spot was taken by Miss Greengrass here." Gemma gestured to the blonde girl she brought in.
"Hufflepuffs are loyal to each other first and foremost among their ideals. Their founder, Helga Hufflepuff, had no qualifications for who she wanted in her house. This leads a lot of students to say that you get chosen for the 'Puffs if you don't fit in anywhere else. I will let their prefect tell you why that isn't true as they could explain it a lot better than I could. I will tell you that most houses are very competitive with each other and the 'Puffs are more family-oriented and have less competition than the other houses.
"Gryffindors are the rivals of Slytherin house. While we prefer to move covertly, they are about bravery and brash action. They are the ones who will jump through fiendfyre to save a kitten without hesitation or remembering that it is fiendfyre.
"As for our new house, we will all get to know Miss Black over the next few days, and hopefully learn what makes her unique. We have already seen her love of animals, she is family-oriented, and she has taught Whispers to speak and read. These might be the core qualities for her house or it may be others."
Mr. Flint spoke with a perpetual sneer on his face, "Who is Whispers?"
"Whispers is a demiguise that came with Miss Black and Mr. Potter," Gemma responded. "I assume he's hiding right now."
Flint looked unsure and Greengrass showed a bit of interest through her emotionless mask.
"We are going on a small tour of the school. I received information from the other prefects that will be with you that they all want to show you different things for the first time, so Slytherin will be showing you the general layout of the school as well as the most commonly known hidden passages. Ravenclaw will show you the library and tell you about the tutoring systems and clubs. Hufflepuff will show you the grounds and greenhouses. Gryffindor will show you the quidditch stadium and probably something to do with fighting trolls."
From there they set out on their excursion. They climbed to the top of the main staircase and made their way back down. On the way up and down, they were shown where there were specific stairs that were not the right height, others you sank into and had to pull yourself out of, and a few places where you would always skip a step without realizing it until you were past it. The castle was already very peculiar. They were shown a few secret passages that would be shortcuts to other wings of the castle or to hidden rooms that, to access, you had to say a password to a portrait, tickle the foot of a statue, or flirt with a horse on a tapestry.
Gemma informed them, "This is a very weird castle. Some things only happen on a rainy day during a year with an odd number or a Wednesday when you've just had your heart broken. While it is fun to find out all the secrets of the castle, you will never find all of them, it's just not possible." Some students reacted to this with resignation, the look on Colin's face just got more excited.
Their tour continued with looking for all the classrooms. A lot of them moved each year but were generally in the same area. There were a lot of empty rooms in the castle as well. Some of them were behind doors that were blank walls, others had invisible handles, and a few were just regular doors too. Flint showed them one door that would only open if you kicked it in with the bottom of your right foot. It didn't matter how strong you were as even Ginny was able to accomplish it with her right foot and Flint could not do it at all with his left foot or by running into it with his shoulder.
By the time they had made it back to the main floor, it was time for lunch and everyone was exhausted. Before they entered the great hall, Harry asked Gemma, "Is there a way to send food to Whispers or should I go get him?"
Gemma thought for a moment before looking up and saying, "May I speak to an elf?"
An elf, smaller than Darby, popped right next to them, "How may I's be of service?" it asked looking up at Gemma with huge tennis ball eyes.
"There is a demiguise in the first-year dorms. Bring it some food like..." she turned to Harry for prompting.
"If you have any bananas or mangos, that would be great. He also likes apples, fish, or juicy insects."
Gemma and the elf made a face at the mention of the insects but the elf squeaked out, "I's can do it!" and popped away.
There was a scattering of students at lunch as the day was being treated like a weekend and no one had classes they needed to go to right away. After lunch, they stopped at their common room to find a plate on the table in front of the fireplace about four feet across with a stack of fruit piled up in a pyramid. There were bananas, apples, grapes, pears, pineapples, oranges, and more. Whispers was lounging on the couch eating grapes like he was Cleopatra on a Nile barge. Everyone laughed, though Flint and Greengrass were shocked at seeing a demiguise in the room. Lyra ran over to him and picked him up, putting him on her shoulders.
Flint didn't seem to want to go anywhere near Whispers but Greengrass continued to inch closer, step by step until she was next to Lyra.
She stood a step away and stared for a while before asking, "Can I touch him?"
Lyra took Whispers down from her shoulders and told him, "Introduce yourself."
Whispers looked at Greengrass and held out his right hand. With his left hand, he pointed to himself and said in a voice that sounded like a whisper and a growl, "Whiissspers."
She was startled and jumped back a bit but slowly reapproached and shook the tiny hand of the demiguise, pointed to herself, and said, "Daphne."
Whispers tried to say her name a few times but couldn't transition between the 'ph' and the 'ne.' So he settled on just "Daff."
From there, they decided to continue the tour of the lower classrooms and the dungeons. Whispers came along this time, riding on Lyra's shoulders. On the upper floors, Gemma had shown them the general direction of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dorms. On the first lower level, she pointed the direction to the Hufflepuff dorm. The second subfloor didn't have any classes on it at the moment so she just took them straight to the dungeons. There they were shown where the potions classroom was. Nearly all of the rooms below the first level didn't move year to year, so Professor Snape chose one of them for himself as his classroom and office. When they got close to the potions classroom, Harry started to hear some snakes talking somewhere in the distance.
§That was a good mouse, I want another§
§Students bring good snacks§
§Wiggle for them, they'll bring more§
Harry could hear them coming from down a long corridor. As he was listening to them talk, the door to the potions classroom opened up and Severus stepped out. He was doing the thing he liked to do where half of his face was hidden in a shadow, and his cloak billowed in a non-existent wind. Arthur Bell and a couple of other students backed away from him. Lyra and Harry smiled up at him though.
"Good afternoon children," he spoke in a chilling voice.
"Good afternoon Professor Snape," Gemma responded for the intimidated children.
"I hope to see some of you in my house. If you have ambition you will find Slytherin is the best way to achieve it." He looked Gemma in the eyes for a moment, "Gemma has shown you where the other common rooms are but will not show you where Slytherin is. It remains a secret to all but the members of the house."
Harry looked down the hall where the snakes were still talking. He turned back to Severus to see him looking him in the eye. Harry felt a small push on his face like a strong wind.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Black. May I see you in my office for a moment?"
Harry started to respond, "Sure Se…" before Lyra elbowed him in the side and he switched to, "Yes Professor Snape."
The two children entered his classroom and Severus gave a glare to everyone who remained outside and shut the door.
He turned back to Harry and Lyra and let out a sigh. "Harry, you need to remember that I am Professor Snape while you're at school."
"I'm sorry S… Professor Snape."
"I need to ask you a question, how do you know where the Slytherin common room is?"
Without considering how Severus knew that he knew, "I can hear the snakes talking down the hallway, they mentioned getting fed by the students, so I figured that's where it was."
"Right, please just keep that to yourself, especially if you end up in another house than Slytherin. How are you both doing? And Whispers?" The little demiguise jumped off Lyra's shoulders onto Severus. "While you're here, I was hoping Whispers could give me some hair to experiment with and I have a problem with one of my snakes."
Lyra looked up to Whispers and signed to him quickly. He pulled out some loose hairs and handed them over quickly. Harry followed Severus into a back room where there was a glass tank with a snake lying in the bottom and not speaking.
"He's been lying there for the last few days and won't give me any venom for antidote potions."
Harry looked at the snake and spoke.
§Lesser snake, speak to me, why do you not give your venom?§
The snake picked up his head and tasted the air.
§A speaker, a lordling, I do not obey this man.§
§He wants more venom than I have, so I won't give him any.§
Harry looked back to Severus, "How often are you taking venom from him?"
"I milk him every four days."
"Try to keep at least a week between milkings and he will cooperate."
§The man who takes your venom will only take it once every week now§
The snake still did not want to obey.
§No. I am my own master, my venom is my own.§
Harry knew he was dealing with a snake who had been alone for too long.
§You are a lesser snake, not a king, not even a lord.§
§I am a commander, you will provide your venom to this man.§
The snake opened his mouth to show his fangs.
§I will not, my venom is my own.§
Harry picked up a silver stirring rod on a table and hit the snake on its head.
§You will listen, you will do as you are commanded.§
The snake rose to strike Harry but he swatted it again. This went back and forth a few more times until he lay back down again.
Harry turned back to Severus. "I'll probably need to come back a few times to get him to obey. Some snakes don't get the message for a while. After that, he'll be able to talk to any other snakes to make sure they obey me too. Though do not try to do that with magical snakes, just give them lots of food and a warm place to lie and they will likely be happy with the arrangement."
Severus just stared at the boy who had been beating a venomous snake and how Lyra didn't seem to be at all put off by the behavior. He had seen them with the giant snake and the army of cobras but this felt like they were breaking a new house elf in. He just nodded back.
"I'll let you back out to the others, just try to look scared, I have a reputation to uphold." He opened the door and they walked out with their eyes wide and slightly shaking. They tried not to talk much for the rest of the tour.
In the evening, Gemma said her goodbyes to the first years as she was replaced by a Ravenclaw boy named Robert Hillard. He told them that after breakfast they would get a tour of the library and information about the clubs and tutoring systems that were in place and to get a good night's sleep. Though for the rest of the evening he answered every question anyone had about magic that they could think of.
The Board of Governors returned that evening and gathered around the large table in the Great Hall with the other faculty and the Sorting Hat. At 10:00, the Hat straightened up and put on his wrinkled face.
"I have finished my deliberations. I have identified three possible alumni to be the founder of a new house. I will not tell you their names but I will tell you their basic accomplishments. The first did not seek out responsibility but while looking to help others it found them. They handled deadly situations which made the world a better place as a result. The second was a war hero who rallied a nation behind them. They are a scholar of the world and have the desire to teach. The last is a teacher, of sorts, but I don't think they would accept the position if it were offered. They prefer to work on one goal at a time and finish everything they set out to do." Many of the assembled adults seemed to be trying to work out who the three nominees could be.
"I will now be passed around the room and I will seek out memories connected to each individual and then will tell you when I am to be passed on." The hat turned to its right, "Lady Longbottom, please place me on your head."
The woman in question removed her stuffed vulture hat and put the Sorting Hat in its place. There was silence for a long time before she took the hat off and passed it to the governor to her right. This process continued for close to an hour. The others at the table ordered tea and snacks from the house elves and chatted with each other while they waited for their turn. At the end of the hour, Dumbledore put the Sorting Hat on his head. After around five minutes, he took it off and placed it on the table.
The hat folded itself into a face and addressed the assembled group. "I needed to remember who the original founders were while I was making my decision. Helga was the gentlest of souls but would face down the most terrifying of magical creatures if she needed to protect a student. Salazar was a dark wizard, known to perform some of the blackest magic known but used it to protect new wizards from religious zealots and the muggle communities they came from. Rowena sought out new information with reckless abandon, and would often need to be dug up out of piles of scrolls and books to get her to attend regular meals. And Godric, the man whose head I sat on for many years, was an amazing warrior, able to slay the greatest enemies, yet very often a huge idiot.
"You may object to my choice as he never completed his schooling at Hogwarts. Though he was chosen, accepted, and sorted, which confirms his eligibility."
The Hat began to glow with a multitude of colors before hovering a foot off the top of the table and bellowing:
"I NOMINATE, AS FOUNDER OF THE NEWEST HOGWARTS HOUSE, NEWTON ARTEMIS FIDO SCAMANDER!"