Better be…
When the morning came, Harry and Lyra took Whispers to check on the common room. They skipped breakfast to see the results of the Druid's blessing.
There was no one there yet, but it was incredible. The Balete trees for their small clearing looked to be about half as old as the ones on the island. The largest one already had enough space on top of the main trunk for around five people to sit comfortably. Most of the others hadn't spread enough yet, but they would make good climbing. Lyra was all ready to scramble up to the top, but Harry stopped her because he wanted to make sure it would be safe for them to climb due to the magical growth.
They also avoided eating the bunches of bananas that had just barely sprouted for the same reason. There were blossoms all over the other banana and mango trees, promising a large amount of fruit. The walls of the room had changed to appear like it was a landscape that stretched to the horizon. One wall had an appearance that overlooked a bay of water. Lyra let out a small gasp when she saw a pair of dolphins playing in the waves in the distance.
At regular intervals along the wall, there were small red circles. Harry approached one and a round door shimmered into existence with the circle becoming a brass knob in the center of it. The two children walked into the interior to find a single bed in the middle of a large room that had the appearance of being underground. The ceiling was low but had a bit of vaulting to it. There was polished wood paneling along the walls and some circular windows along the wall with light streaming in, one window had a writing desk next to it. Next to the bed was a small nightstand, a wardrobe, and a bookcase. All of the furniture was made of dark polished wood that matched the walls. There was a lot of empty space, and on one wall there was another round door that matched the front door.
Harry and Lyra both had a look of familiarity on their faces and saw it. "This seems familiar," Lyra remarked, "but I can't figure out from where."
"I know what you mean, and it's scratching at my mind, but I can't figure out what it means."
The two of them turned around and exited the room. When they got out they found Newt, Tina, Glen, and Dumbledore standing outside speaking with each other. "Good morning!" Harry said merrily.
Dumbledore faced the children and his look turned serious. "What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"
As Dumbledore was speaking a look of realization crossed both children's faces. Lyra looked back at the room they just came from and looked back to the Headmaster as her smile grew wider. When he finished speaking, Harry had a wide grin on his face and yelled, "All of them at once!"
At the same time, Lyra cried out, "It's a Hobbit hole!"
A kind smile appeared on Dumbledore's face, not unlike the one that Gandalf would have when thinking pleasant thoughts, "It is indeed, after meeting with Harry in Diagon Alley, I realized it has been nearly thirty years since the last time I read The Hobbit, so I created some time at the end of each day to read it again. When looking around your common room, I realize that what you wanted to achieve here was in the first line of the book - 'And that means comfort.'"
Both children thanked Dumbledore over and over. Glen confirmed for them that the trees were indeed safe to climb on, though they would grow some more over the next day or two, and they could see Dougal and Whispers climbing above them. The two children jumped into the trees and began to leap from the branches with the same ease that Whispers was having. Dougal moved a bit slower in his climbing and swinging, but having Whispers, Harry, and Lyra jumping around seemed to motivate him to move quicker than he normally would. They also found out it would be safe to eat the fruit as soon as it was ripe.
With nothing else to do, they went back to the common room. Some of the other first-years were there, Gemma was relaxing on the couch with a book but turned to address them. "You two missed breakfast."
"We were checking on our new common room," said Harry.
Gemma gave them an indecipherable look before remarking, "You realize, only Lyra is guaranteed to be in Scamander House. Harry, you're going to have to sit under the sorting hat like everyone else."
Both Harry and Lyra panicked, "Harry has to be with me, I need him."
Harry looked down to reassure his little sister, and even though he was terrified of them being separated, and said, "I will be with you, we worked hard on this together. I will make sure that hat knows where I belong."
That seemed to reassure Lyra a bit, but she still seemed worried, Gemma just gave them a shrug. Checking the clock, they realized they were almost late to meet Miss Greengrass.
When they got down to the greenhouses, Miss Greengrass was waiting there with a bowl of grapes by her side. "I wanted to formally introduce myself. My name is Daphne Greengrass. Mr. Bell told me that Whispers like grapes, so I thought to bring him some."
Whispers climbed down from Lyra's shoulders and approached Daphne and took a bushel of grapes from her. He sat down on the ground and began to eat them.
"Thank you, he does love grapes ever since he discovered them a few days ago." Remembering introductions from other times, he continued, "To formally introduce myself, I am Harry Potter, and this is my sister Lyra Black."
Daphne quirked an eyebrow a bit at Lyra's introduction, but instead said, "I mostly wanted to meet you because a friend of mine said she knows you." Turning to the greenhouse, "You can come out now."
The door opened and a shorter girl in Slytherin robes came out. She had wavy brown hair and round glasses over her hazel-colored eyes. She smiled a bit as she walked over towards them. The list of people Harry knew was pretty short, so he quickly realized who it was.
"Tracey!" he yelled and ran over and picked her up in a big hug. She hugged him back and Harry put her back down and looked at her, "You got shorter." He remembered the two of them being the same size in kindergarten.
She giggled a bit, "You got taller Harry, I'm happy to see you're alright. We never knew what happened to you and your relatives told people you were sent to a children's jail."
Harry's eyes darkened at the thought of his aunt and uncle, but he shook it off as Tracey gave an involuntary shiver, "That's not what happened, but I don't want to talk about what did. I was happy where I ended up and I got to meet my sister." He pulled her over to Lyra, "Tracey, this is my sister Lyra Black. Lyra, this is Tracey Davis, we were in kindergarten together and her mother was my teacher."
The two girls shook hands. Whispers looked up at Daphne saying "Daff," then looked at Tracey saying, "Truss." He held out his hand to Tracey.
Tracey was shocked having not heard him before. Harry nudged her in the side and she reached down to shake his tiny hand. Again he said, "Truss."
"How does he talk?" asked Tracey.
"He learned, I guess. We've known him since he was a few months old and he started by mimicking the movements of our mouths, then he started making noises that sounded like whispers, which is when he got his name, and after a year, he started saying simple words," Lyra explained. "We're teaching him to read now, he seems to recognize words, but can't seem to connect the words to speaking very well."
Both Slytherin girls were very impressed. Daphne told them they should talk to Professor Kettleburn, who taught Care of Magical Creatures. They said he would love to know about Whispers and probably be very interested in spending time with an animal that he doesn't have to worry about losing a limb to.
Daphne and Tracey told them about many of the other teachers and in the end, started giving them all sorts of warnings about Professor Snape. Both Harry and Lyra said they had met him but couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't like him as a teacher. He had already taught them a lot and they were looking forward to potions. The girls were very confused. No one liked Snape, even the Slytherins were on edge around him despite the strong defense of his own house.
They started to head back for lunch and talked about all the weird things in the school along the way. Lyra wanted to know why something as dangerous as the Whomping Willow was allowed to be there, but neither of the Slytherin girls had an answer for her. Harry asked about any secret rooms they knew about. They sat down at the end of the Slytherin table to eat lunch together, talking as they ate about all things Hogwarts. Draco walked by and gave a small nod to Lyra before continuing to the far end.
Marcus Flint did approach them, "Potter, Black. The two of you don't have a house now, but when you do, Slytherin doesn't allow others to sit at our table."
Lyra seemed to shrink away from the large boy. Harry wanted to do so as well but he also wanted to stand up for Lyra who was clearly scared. He stared at the larger boy and said, "we were told that to survive in Slytherin you had to be cunning and make connections. This seems like the opposite of that."
Daphne backed him up, "Exactly what Potter said, when I'm finished with Hogwarts, I want to be able to ally with others who weren't Slytherins at Hogwarts, so I might just sit at the Ravenclaw table tomorrow."
The larger boy curled his upper lip showing his crooked teeth. "Every action has consequences," he muttered and he walked off.
"That boy needs another bludger to the face to fix his teeth," Tracey whispered after he had gone.
Their conversations turned to quidditch and Lyra brought up the accident yesterday and the bludger that the Weasley twins took to the museum.
"No way, you can't dent a bludger," said Daphne with disbelief.
"Those redheads took it to the museum by the locker rooms," Lyra said, "Though we haven't checked if they actually did anything."
What they didn't know is that earlier that morning, an owl had arrived at the home of one Nymphadora 'Don't-call-me-that' Tonks. The owl delivered a letter and a small vial filled with what looked like white smoke. At the moment, the young woman had an athletic build, short purple hair, and orange eyes. She was shoveling eggs and toast into her mouth as the letter got dropped off next to her. She used one hand to continue eating while the other opened the letter and began reading. Halfway through, she choked on her food causing her hair to grow and turn green and curly before she coughed and expelled the food from her throat.
Her mother and father had been sitting at the same table the entire time, watching her display of table manners. While she was choking, her father - Edward Tonks, reached over and snagged the letter, the vial rolling onto the table. As his daughter was recovering, he started to read. It looked like it was written by two different people at the same time.
Good morning Miss Nymphadora Tonks,
This letter is from George and ^your favorite^ Fred Weasley. We are writing to you as we would like a favor. We are prepared to repay you with a minor favor of your choice. We are in possession of a memory, one of ours, that we would like a pensieve sketch of. As the greatest, bestest, and most gorgeous Auror, that we know, we would hope you could use your connections in law enforcement to obtain it. If it could be animated, that would be even better. We are trying to set up an exhibit in the Hogwarts Quidditch Museum. It would feature the illustrious Boy-Who-Lived.
In his latest feat of awesomeness, outside of children's books, he managed to dent a bludger. You read that correctly, HE DENTED A BLUDGER. We are going to put the ball in the museum and wanted the sketch to help authenticate it.
We could always go through a more costly source to obtain the sketch, but we know about the dragon with the purple eyes and hoped you wanted no one else to know about it. Please update us as soon as possible with the date we can expect it back.
Yours in chaos and surprise,
Fred and George ^the better-looking one^ Weasley
Edward passed the letter to his wife, Andromeda, as his daughter had recovered from the choking and was drinking a large orange juice to wash everything down.
"These are Charlie's little brothers, right?" Andromeda asked.
"They are a dead man's little brothers," mumbled the again-purple-haired girl, who did not wish to be called Nymphadora.
"Well, you've got a big day ahead," her mother reminded her, "you've got the auror trainee draft to prepare for. Funnel your anger into your training and you'll do fine."
She grumbled a bit more, then grabbed the letter and the vial before heading out the door.
Back at Hogwarts, the children finished lunch and weren't sure what to do, so they returned to the first-year common rooms. Gemma was with them again and it seemed like their whole year had decided to come back, not knowing what to do with their free time. Everyone looked to Gemma for some direction.
She looked at all the young, expectant faces, looking to her for something, anything. With a big sigh, she said, "Let's go to the library. You could all use some more time there studying for your classes. Take with you your books for Defense Against the Dark Arts - all those Lockhart books, you can start reading them now. Professor Lockhart hasn't released a syllabus on what order he will teach his material in, so start with Magical Me and go from there in any order you wish."
Harry and Lyra sat in the library and went through Magical Me. Lyra couldn't read as fast as Harry, so he helped her through it. He also told her to send a letter to Jameson to see when he would be coming to help her with her reading.
Magical Me read like an autobiography of a fictional character. Harry didn't know what to make of it. It seemed like most of it was an exaggerated tale of the man who was going to be their professor, but it hid a few hints of wisdom smuggled in. There were many mentions of magical creatures that Harry wasn't familiar with. Werewolves, ghouls, banshees, and many more. Werewolves sounded interesting, so he retrieved a different book on them. From the introduction, they sounded like evil creatures who masqueraded as ordinary wizards until the full moon when they would attack and kill whomever they would come across. He certainly did not want to meet up with one of them. Professor Lockhart must be an incredible wizard if he managed to defeat such a beast.
Soon enough it was getting close to dinner, so Gemma brought them back to the common room to get their dress robes and cloaks with the silver fastenings. They were finally going to get sorted.
They were all met by Professor McGonagall outside the great hall. She thanked Gemma for looking after all of them and let her join her classmates. Once McGonagall confirmed that everyone was inside, she turned to the first-year students.
"I gave you this speech before, and I'll do it again. You are about to walk through these doors and be sorted into your houses. Your house will be like your family. You will be with them for the next seven years. Hogwarts has been around for more than 900 years, so it is unlikely you will get the chance of a resort due to another house being established in the next four years. Trust the hat, trust your instincts, trust Hogwarts. Let's head in."
The doors to the great hall opened and they walked in. Standing at the front next to the wooden stool was Newt Scamander, with Hogwarts robes colored orange and pale green. On the stage behind him were five large banners with all the houses of Hogwarts on them. In the center was a large orange banner with a shield on it that had a demiguise on it looking outwards with bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle. The shield had vines of green twisting around the outline and in a large scroll underneath was written, "Scamander."
The students lined up in front of the stage and McGonagall walked up to the top, "Due to the incredible nature of this event, I will be passing off my regular duties to Founder Newton Scamander. He will read the students off for the sorting and the resorting." She passed the sorting hat and the scroll to Newt.
Newt took the hat and placed it down on the stool. It straightened itself out and then slumped to create the features of its face. The brim ripped open and opened for it to say:
"I bet you all were thinking I was going to sing again, weren't you? Well, for the first 100 years after I was created, I didn't have much trouble making a new song every year. After that, it took longer and longer to make an original song every single year. Now, it takes the entire school year for me to think up something new." Most students had only heard the hat sing and yell out house names, so there was silence across the room as it spoke to them.
"Even then, I have students and professors coming to me each year to tell me I messed up the iambic pentameter of a verse or that the rhymes didn't match. You're all lucky you all even get a song at all instead of just a lecture. With a new house, that I know nothing about, I'm not going to have something for you after less than a week." The hat paused as it looked around the room at all the students.
"I will write a new song for next year, but if anyone wants to write a song themselves, send it to the headmaster and I will award 100 points to the house with the best submission, awarded either at the end of this year or the beginning of next. Good? Put me on a firstie's head and let's get started."
Everyone was a bit stunned, but Newt took it in stride. "I'm sure that even those who have been here for a few days have realized that this is a very peculiar castle. Imagine how boring school must be in other places that don't have a talking hat or a giant squid. Let's get you all in some houses so we can eat."
"First things first, Lyra Black!"
Lyra hesitantly walked up to the stage and sat on the stool. The hat was lowered onto her head. A voice echoed into her mind, "Well now, Miss Black, we found a place for you after all. You're going to Scamander, of course, but is there anything you would like to say while we're here?"
"Please put Harry in my house. I can't do this without him."
"You'll still have Whispers, and Harry will visit you whenever he can, wherever he ends up."
"Dumbledore told us this morning that he understood that our common room was about comfort. Harry taught me about comfort, he is my comfort, I can't do this without him."
"From what I can see in your head, he would also do well in all of the houses, maybe we can create a new one just for him?"
Lyra was starting to get angry, "This isn't funny, don't take my brother from me. The Creeping Death almost took him from me, and I am going to burn it to the ground one day. Don't you dare do the same thing."
"That's what I was looking for, Newton said that one of your qualities was the fierce protection of your family. I wanted to see it for myself. May Merlin have mercy on that tree, because I know you won't."
"SCAMANDER!"
Lyra jumped up to the cheers and applause of the whole room and smiled as she walked towards the empty Scamander table. She gave a fearful look towards Harry as she passed by the group of first-years.
Newt called out, "Ryan Adamson!"
The boy who had gone to Ravenclaw the first time came up and sat down on the bench. After half a minute, the hat called out, "Hufflepuff!"
This drew some quiet conversation from everyone around about how he could have switched so quickly to another house.
"Shirley Baker!"
The hat had barely touched her head as it called out, "Gryffindor!" She hopped up and ran to the table as her robes gained the red and gold patterns for the house of the brave.
"Arthur Bell!"
He had gone to Hufflepuff the first time around. The hat didn't immediately call it out this time. After two minutes, the witch at the staff table in the red hat held up two fingers. Ten seconds later, the hat called out, "Scamander!"
Harry cheered as Arthur went over to join Lyra at the table.
"Flora Carrow!" The hat deliberated for half a minute then called out, "Slytherin!"
"Hestia Carrow!" Flora's twin sat on the stool and the hat called out, "Slytherin!" nearly immediately.
"Colin Creevey!"
For Colin, the hat was on his head for a minute before it called out, "Scamander!"
The sorting continued with a few more heading to Scamander, including the Luna girl Harry had met on the first night, the girl Daria, who had tried on the quidditch uniform with them, and another name Meliandra.
Finally, Newt called out, "Harry Potter!"
Everyone grew silent as Harry walked up the steps and sat in the chair. The hat was lowered onto his head and he heard a voice in his head, "Well hello there, Mr. Potter."
The sensation of hearing someone else's voice inside your own mind was a chilling experience that was unfortunately all too familiar to Harry, so he immediately reached up to throw the hat off his head but found that his hands wouldn't move, his body was frozen in place. He started to panic, he could feel his magic fluctuating and the stool underneath him beginning to rattle. Students in front of him started to show signs of fear too and all the first-years took a few steps back.
"Calm down Mr. Potter, I am on your head, not in it."
"Please let me move my hands, I don't like this, I really don't like this." Harry felt a pulse of his magic go off and Newt was pushed back a few steps.
"Don't go throwing me off, I'm releasing your hands now."
Harry shook his arms as he could move them, and wiggled his toes as well. He started to calm down and the stool he was sitting on stopped wobbling.
"Let's get back to your sorting, alright? You don't have to worry about possession in your life, there is a great deal of protection on your mind. You just need to think about the people important in your life, those you love, for it to be the strongest. Like your sister, you have great potential in your mind for all the houses.
"Slytherin would do well for you as it would teach you cunning and give you greater ambition than what you have now. You have the potential for greatness, greater than even you think could be possible.
"You would step in the way of a charging beast without thinking to protect those that are important to you and even someone you've just met. This is an admirable Gryffindor quality.
"You seek knowledge, you won't stand to be ignorant, and you don't even need books to learn. Every day just digging in the dirt teaches you new things, you could teach the other Ravenclaws that knowledge does not come just from books and teachers, it comes from experience and experimentation. That house is currently lacking this kind of drive for knowledge.
"And Hufflepuff, you would be a natural leader in that house, the kind of loyalty you inspired in the Hidden, the changes you made within Severus Snape, you would be an ideal student in the House of Helga.
"You will use everything I mentioned so far to survive, I feel that you could make it out of nearly any situation you were put in using only your mind and your magic. This is a quality I am finding so far in the other students I have put into Scamander house. I am going to ask you where you would like to be placed, already knowing the answer."
"Then put me with my sister," Harry told the hat with determination.
"And what if I decide to put you in Slytherin instead? I feel like your greatness would be wasted anywhere else."
"Then when Lyra gets enough magic to destroy the Creeping Death, I will take you along with her and show your face to it before she kills it."
"And that's what makes my decision, just like it made my decision for your sister."
"SCAMANDER!" the Hat yelled out loudly into the hall.
Harry jumped up and ran down the steps to Lyra, giving her a huge hug as he arrived at the table. Everyone was cheering. Even at the Slytherin table, mostly because they were happy he didn't go to Gryffindor.
As he sat down, Lyra whispered to him, "What happened at the beginning?"
"The hat spoke to me inside my head and had my body frozen so I couldn't move. You remember the last time I had a voice in my head?" he whispered.
A look of anger took over Lyra's face, she jumped up as the next student got sent to Slytherin. She marched up the steps and snatched the hat out of Newt's hands and placed it on her head. She stood there with a determined look on her face before her hair glowed and burst into flame as it had done at the Dursley house.
Panic spread across the room and Newt snatched the hat off her head but no damage was done. The face of the hat turned to Lyra and the brim opened to say, "Point taken, I will not do something like that again, though as far as I am aware, I am indestructible."
The fire on Lyra's head went out and she went back to sit at the table. A Ravenclaw girl from the table next to them leaned over and asked, "What was that?"
Arthur turned to face the girl, "I don't think Lyra wants to talk about it. While the hat might be indestructible, you aren't, so don't push it." The girl quickly turned back around.
Harry gave Arthur a soft punch on the shoulder saying, "Thanks."
The sorting continued until they got to the last student, "Ginevra Weasley!"
She walked up confidently and Ginny seemed to freeze as the hat was put on her head. The hat seemed to turn and glare at Harry who focused on Ginny and could see her fingers moving. Harry nodded his head and the hat turned back to face forward.
The Professor in the red hat raised her fingers every minute starting at two minutes. When she reached five minutes, people started whispering "hatstall" again like they had done with Lyra the first time. Harry could see the girl's eyes start to water a bit.
When seven minutes rolled around, the hat bellowed out, "Better be GRYFFINDOR!"
She jumped up as the hat was taken off her head and ran over to the table of red and gold. All four of her brother were there waiting for her and gave her big hugs before sitting back down.
There were eight students in Scamander house, four boys and four girls. Nine students went to Gryffindor, eight to Slytherin, seven to Ravenclaw, and ten to Hufflepuff.
Professor McGonagall stood up with another scroll and passed it to Newt. He opened it and placed it on the lectern in front of him. "Now we will do the resorting for all the students that requested it. If you requested a resort, please stand up at the front of your house table and I will call your name.
After everyone was lined up at the front of their tables, Newt looked at the scroll in front of him and called out, "Hermione Granger!"
There were only three students from Gryffindor who had asked to be resorted. A girl with bushy hair and her cloak wrapped tight around her ran up to the stage, a clicking noise followed her as she ran.
As she sat down on the chair, she reached her right hand out of the cloak to secure the Sorting Hat on her head. After ten seconds the hat cried out "Ravenclaw!"
Thunderous cheers rang out through the room from the table of blue and bronze. With a look of glee on her face, she ran over to the table passing between the students waiting to be resorted from Ravenclaw and Slytherin. As she passed through the group, Vincent Crabbe, who was waiting with the other Slytherins, grabbed onto her cloak and yanked it, hard. The silver clasps on the front broke as he pulled it away and she fell on the floor by the stage.
The girl scrambled to her feet to try to snatch her cloak back, but everyone saw that where her left arm should have been was some kind of prosthetic. From about six inches down from her shoulder was the stump of her arm inside a silver cage. Harry could see tiny runes etched into the metal, below the cage was a wooden arm with a spool of silvery thread attached to it. The threads ran in patterns along the arm and across the back of the hand and into the joints of the fingers. The girl was crying as she tried to take her cloak back from the taller Slytherin boy. Harry could see a few people at the Slytherin table laughing at the sight of it, including Draco Malfoy.
Just as Harry was pulling out his staff to intervene, heavy pressure fell on the entire room. It felt like a monsoon, if each drop of water weighed a hundred pounds, pinning everyone to their seats or the floor. Dumbledore stood and casually walked down the steps of the stage towards the boy with the cloak who was flat on the floor. As he got there, he laid a hand on the girl with the prosthetic arm and she seemed to be able to sit back up, though she was still crying. Dumbledore picked up Vincent, like he weighed nothing, and pulled the cloak from his grip. Dumbledore carried him by the robes on the back of his neck out the entrance to the Great Hall.
The moment Dumbledore exited the hall, the pressure disappeared and everyone got back up. Professor Flitwick, who had reprimanded Harry after the first sorting ceremony and Professor McGonagall were attending to the girl on the floor. They gave her back her cloak and Flitwick escorted her out of the room. There were a few whispers around the room. A Hufflepuff behind Harry was heard speaking to one of the first-years that had been sorted there.
"It happened last year, a troll got into the school and it found her in the bathroom. She survived, but not before it crushed her arm. It couldn't be repaired," the older student was explaining.
Lyra pulled on Harry's sleeve, "I met her in the library, she was really nice, I helped her with a project."
People continued to whisper, after another five minutes, Dumbledore came back into the room and went back to the front, making no comment on what had happened. He gave a nod to Newt, who looked back at the scroll and called out "Lee Jordan!"
A dark-skinned boy with short dreadlocks strolled up on the stage as if he owned it. The hat was put on his head and after half a minute called out, "Scamander!"
The students at Harry's table cheered, while the redheaded twins ran over to the boy with the dreadlocks and started sobbing exaggeratedly, crying, and yelling, "No Lee, don't leave us! We can be better! You're breaking our hearts!" Then they collapsed on the floor. After a few moments, they stood back up and took bows to applause from the Gryffindor table.
Lee sat down at the Scamander table with a huge smile on his face and introduced himself around.
"Neville Longbottom!" Newt called out.
A chubby boy with a frightened look on his face walked onto the stage, looking around nervously. The hat was put on his head and within seconds it cried out, "Scamander!" He let out a breath he had been holding and walked cautiously down the steps to the table.
Harry saw in his eyes the same fear Lyra had around new people, so he immediately introduced himself. "Hi Neville, I'm Harry." The boy murmured back a greeting and Harry took it upon himself to introduce Neville to everyone else at the table. The sooner he was comfortable around everyone, the sooner he could become the person he was to those he cared about, like how Lyra was with him.
Newt meanwhile called out, "Millicent Bulstrode!"
A girl who seemed to act exactly like Neville had when he was introduced walked up on the stage, she also was sent to be with them in Scamander house. When she got to the table, Lyra took it upon herself to introduce her to the whole table to make her comfortable.
"Vincent Crabbe!"
There was silence. Draco called out from the Slytherin table, "The headmaster dragged him off!"
Newt called out, "Then he forfeited his opportunity and stays in his current house." He looked down the list again, "Tracey Davis!"
Harry perked up as Tracey walked up the stage. The hat was put on her head and after a minute it called out, "Slytherin!" She gave a small smile to Harry before going back down to the Slytherin table.
"Gregory Goyle!"
The boy that had delivered Lyra's letter on the train walked up to the stage and sat on the stool. After just ten seconds, the hat called out, "Scamander!" The boy trudged down the steps and sat opposite Harry, giving him a nod.
"Yuri Moon!"
An Asian girl took the stage and was sorted into Scamander house, she sat down with them and introduced herself, "Please call me Lily."
"Theodore Nott!"
A very skinny boy sat on the stool, the hat stayed on his head for three minutes before calling out, "Hufflepuff!" He looked a bit fearful as his robes changed color to yellow and black as he walked down to his new table.
Next were the Hufflepuffs, garnering Harry and Lyra's attention; Newt called out, "Hannah Abbot!"
Hannah ran up on the stage and put on the hat, after close to a minute it called out "Hufflepuff!" She looked a bit disappointed, but returned to her table and received hugs from everyone there. Harry smiled at her and nodded.
Susan Bones was called next and was returned to her table at Hufflepuff as well.
"Cedric Diggory!"
A tall boy walked up to the stage, he was the oldest student yet who had requested a resorting. Like with Neville, the hat was on his head for a matter of seconds before the hat called out, "Scamander!" He stood up to cheers from nearly every member of every house. The boy was certainly very popular. He smiled and waved to everyone before joining the table with Harry and the rest of the house. He was all smiles as he sat down and introduced himself.
Megan Jones rounded out the Hufflepuffs and also joined Scamander house.
Finally were the Ravenclaws.
A girl named Cho Chang was called first. She gave a wink towards the Scamander table, but after nearly five minutes was sent to Slytherin.
Two girls afterward, Sue Li and Patricia Stimpson joined them at Scamander house. Newt rolled up the scroll and passed it to McGonagall.
He turned back to the students. "Thank you for allowing me to be part of this momentous event. Dumbledore has yet again allowed me to recite the words of power to start this feast. Unfortunately, you won't get another feast until you come back after the winter break. Here they come, Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak, and Errant!"
As he spoke the words, food appeared on the tables and the sorting feast began.
Everyone at Scamander house talked, introduced themselves, and asked Harry and Lyra about the common room, but they wouldn't say anything about it just yet. There were plenty of new people to get to know too. Harry and Lyra were the center of attention but didn't end up speaking very much, just listening to everyone else's stories.
Colin, they had met in Diagon Alley and seemed incredibly enthusiastic about all things magic. Arthur Bell, who had broken his arm protecting Lyra, had an older sister in Gryffindor and already knew a great deal about Hogwarts and the things they would be doing every day. Luna Lovegood, who Whispers had actually engaged in a staring contest, just entertained the group by telling them about fantastical adventures she went on with her family to find different magical creatures. Her face seemed to alternate between great joy in her memories to sparks of sadness when thinking about them.
Then there was Meliandra Draghici, who had been asked to be called Meli. Her parents were muggles and had immigrated from Romania shortly before she had been born. They were both thrilled for her to be a witch. Both of her parents' families believed in a lot of mysticism, her mother had even taught her how to interpret tarot cards and perform palm readings as she was growing up.
Daria Delacroix was a curly-haired brunette. She had shown Harry her note-taking binder the day before, it was incredibly organized and she seemed like she wanted to stay very focused on her schoolwork. She mentioned her parents were muggles as well but didn't want to elaborate on the subject. She just made sure everyone knew that she was planning to be in the top spot for the class.
Last in their year was William Summerford. He was fun to get to know because every handshake with him included a small shock. When he would pick up any of his silverware, you could see tiny bits of electricity for a second as he gripped them. He seemed to like occasionally zapping people while they weren't paying attention to him. This led to one of the Ravenclaws behind him giving him a swat on the ear.
When dessert had finished, the first four houses left while Newt and Tina came down to the Scamander table and told them to wait for everyone to leave.
"For those who haven't been introduced to me yet, I am Newt Scamander, and this is my wife Tina. We will be with you for at least the first term, and almost certainly the second. We will now lead you to the common room and show you the passwords to enter."
With everyone else having left for their dormitories, the walk to the tapestry in the courtyard hall was silent.
When they arrived, Tina put her hand on the tapestry and spoke, "Wanderlust." It rolled up to reveal the doorway. The group entered and closed the door behind them.
They walked out into a small square clearing with tall bamboo all around them. When Lyra and Harry had been there before, it opened directly into the common room. The clearing had four paths. Left, right, straight, and back the way they came. Above them they could see the stars, there was the sound of crickets around them and a slight wind blew through the clearing.
"We are not outside, this is the entrance to the common room," Tina told them. "Everyone by now knows the password for the tapestry, so we needed another way to secure your common room. You will need to follow a specific path to reach your dormitories. If you don't follow the correct path, it will return you to the exit."
"Like this," Newt said as he walked off the path to the right. Moments later he came from behind them, the way they had come from. He had a purple dot on his forehead. "If you make the wrong choice, you will get a purple dot like this one. Only I or Tina can remove it. If you see any students from another house with this mark, alert us immediately."
Tina took over again, "The correct path is: Left, Left, Straight, Backwards. That means when you get to the last turn, you need to enter the clearing and turn back the way you came. Let's try it." They turned left from the first clearing. The second clearing looked exactly like the first one but they turned left out of that one as well. From the third clearing, they walked straight through to the fourth clearing. Once everyone was in the fourth clearing, Newt turned them all around and they walked back the way they came. Instead of arriving at another clearing after, there was a large door with vines growing on it, similar to the one behind the tapestry.
Opening the door, they walked into the common room that Harry and Lyra knew. It was dark now, but they could see that the Balete trees were even bigger than they were earlier in the day. A few more bananas had grown and they could see a few small mangos in the dark. The stars above were twinkling and they could hear crickets chirping every so often.
Newt looked towards Lyra, "Lyra would you like to give us some light, and tell us about the common room?"
She smiled and pulled a large feather and her staff from the pouch on her belt. Walking down the steps to the fire pit, she planted the hoohoo feather in the middle and stepped to the side. Tapping her staff on the ground the feather lit up and let off an orange glow that illuminated the entire room. The assembled students oohed and awed.
"This is our common room, it was made from an older room in the castle they used to use for astronomy on cloudy nights. The trees here are good for climbing and sitting in. They are very sturdy. There are bookcases around the room and places to relax. In the corner to the left of the entrance are mango and banana trees. The bananas are ready to eat, but we need to wait for the mangos to turn orange to be ripe. That is why I chose the colors for the house. The demiguise on the shield is because both Newt and I have brothers who are demiguises." She looked up and called, "Whispers, you can come down." Whispers turned visible as he dropped from the tree above, he landed on the ground and looked at the assembled group of students. The older students gasped while the first-years waved.
Whispers looked up at the students and growled out, "Welcom." More gasps were heard from the students.
"Whispers will often be around the common room. If he's hungry or if you are relaxed, he might show himself to you and say hello."
"Hello," said whispers in his growl of a voice getting another reaction of surprise from the students.
Newt took over, "Along the back wall, you will find small glowing circles, as you get close to them, doors will appear. Since we don't have many students now, we will combine dorms for the higher years. The blue circle will be for first-year boys and the red circle for first-year girls. The yellow circle will be for the other boys, the green circle will be for the other girls. Tomorrow we can discuss if the older students want dorms just for their year. Go back and look around."
Harry spoke up, "I highly suggest that after you explore the dorms, come back and sit by the fire, and you will feel better just looking into the flame. The feather comes from a hoohoo and the light of the fire will make bad thoughts fade away and good memories fill your head."
All the students went to their dorms, and later they all made it back to the fire. No one said anything as they all sat around the fire and let all the negativity and anxiety they had been feeling for any reason just fade away.
Everyone went to sleep that night with a smile on their faces.
Final count of students in Scamander House:
First-Year: Lyra Black, Arthur Bell, Colin Creevey, Daria Delacroix, Meliandra (Meli) Draghici, Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter, William Summerford.
Second-Year: Neville Longbottom, Millicent Bulstrode, Gregory Goyle, Yuri (Lily) Moon, Megan Jones, Sue Li
Third-Year: Lee Jordan, Patricia Stimpson
Fourth-Year: Cedric Diggory
Casting Choices:
Nymphadora Tonks: Zazie Beetz
Theodore Tonks: Richard Ayoade
Andromeda Tonks: Keeley Hawes
Author's Note: Most of the transfer students went to Scamander house on purpose. The hat tried to put as many of them as possible into the house to fill it up. I imagine that the hat does something like that every year as it is incredibly unlikely that there are a nearly even amount of students each year for every house. There should be at least a few years where there are patterns like - two Ravenclaws, forty Hufflepuffs, and no one going to the other houses. So the Hat balances the houses out as best as it can. Those later in the sorting probably get the worst of it as that's when forced sortings are more likely to occur.
Sorry, not sorry again about Hermione, it's going to fit in the story for different reasons later on. I didn't just maim her for nothing, it's part of her character development and it's even going to relate to her animagus form… but I'm almost as certain as possible that no one will guess what that is. I promise I won't critically injure or kill too many people for no reason.
This was just something I wanted to write ever since I responded to a question on Quora about how Harry Potter would be different if written by George RR Martin. Though in that response, she would have lost her arm in the Battle for Hogwarts. I put a lot of horrible stuff in that post, and I plan on using at least a few of those ideas in this if you want to dig it up for spoilers. Though if you do look it up, realize that I'm not going to use all of it because some of it was kinda sick and/or dumb.