English is my second language. Even though I have read the chapter several times and have let other people check it as well, I apologize for any mistakes. All possible mistakes in this chapter belong to me alone.


Chapter 3 – A New Home?

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

With these words, the sorting hat finished its song, and thunderous applause broke out in the hall. Harry, however, was relieved that he only had to put on this hat, fearing the worst before, such as having to pull a rabbit out of the hat or so. Still, he would have preferred if not hundreds of students and teachers watched him.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward again and began to read out the names of students, who then came forward, took a seat on the chair, and put the hat on. Sometimes only seconds and sometimes several minutes passed before the hat loudly announced a house for the student. Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones came to Hufflepuff right at the start. More students followed that Harry did not know. The two gorillas from earlier on the train, Crabbe and Goyle, came to Slytherin, even though the two did not seem so cunning… Maybe he should avoid this house, Harry thought. When the annoying Hermione Granger finally came to Gryffindor, he also added this house to his list of unfavorable houses.

Then Professor McGonagall called out, "Greengrass, Daphne!"

Daphne stepped forward, her expression stoic as usual, but Harry thought he saw her hands trembling slightly as she took a seat on the chair and Professor McGonagall put the hat on her head. Harry noticed how excited he was to see in which house Daphne would get sorted. He didn't know her enough to guess.

The hat, however, only took a few seconds before it announced loudly, "SLYTHERIN!"

Harry heard people applaud, but it felt like they were fewer than with the previous Slytherins, who had already received less applause than the other students. Daphne herself did not seem to be surprised by the hat's decision and went to the Slytherin table at a controlled pace.

Harry felt uneasy. Now his only friend among the students, if you could already call them friends, had come to the very house that he had wanted to avoid. His queasy feeling only got stronger when Malfoy was also sent to Slytherin just a fraction after the hat touched his head. Malfoy sat down, grinning broadly and apparently happy with himself next to his two gorilla buddies.

When his own name was finally read out and wild murmurs broke out all over the hall, Harry just felt miserable. He went forward fearfully and sat down. The hat dropping over his eyes, he only saw black.

"Hmm," Harry heard a voice in his head. "Difficult, really difficult. I see a lot of courage, the willingness to stand up for people who are important to you. You have a smart mind as well. Also talent. And, yes, a strong urge to prove yourself. Now then, where should I put you? Maybe to Slytherin, where the girl you are thinking of is already? Yes, Slytherin could make you great, you know, it's all there in your mind and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no question. But I'm afraid it could bring you a lot of suffering along the way, although the future is of course uncertain. Then maybe Gryffindor, your parents' house? They would surely be proud of you if you became a Gryffindor."

Harry tensed up at the thought of his parents, feeling an emptiness within him. His parents had been in Gryffindor! That could link him with them. He could walk in the same rooms that his parents had once housed. However, he also knew that this was, if anything, a weak substitute for his lost family life. His parents were dead. He had never really got to know them and there was nothing he could do about it. Still, it hurt. Harry was all too aware that he longed for something, that he missed something he had never been able to experience: love, family, caring. A home. His parents. He longed for a future that had long since fallen victim to the past. The feelings threatened to overwhelm Harry.

The hat had apparently drawn its conclusions though. "Well, I think I now know which house you belong to, Mr. Potter, SLYTHERIN!"

Harry heard the hat shouting the last word into the great hall ... and he heard the loud, wild babel of voices breaking out all over the hall. After the hat was removed from his head, he saw many students looking at him stunned. Some even pointed at him, apparently expressing surprise at the hat's decision; and nobody applauded. With shaky knees, Harry got up and went to the Slytherin table, seeing many shocked faces on his way. All eyes in the hall were focused on him. Harry swallowed. Somehow, he had imagined his first evening at Hogwarts to be more enjoyable.

Halfway to the Slytherin table, he then suddenly heard lonely clapping from the teacher's table. Surprised, Harry turned around and saw who was clapping there. It was an old man with long silver hair on a large golden chair. That had to be Albus Dumbledore! Harry felt like the Headmaster was smiling encouragingly, but there was no joy in that smile, rather a certain sadness, Harry thought. Other students and teachers started clapping all over the hall, although the general babel of voices was still clearly audible.

Harry was pleased to see that Daphne was clapping slowly as well. He reached the table and sat down on an empty seat next to a tall boy who was probably a few classes above Harry and who introduced himself as Richard May. Daphne was sitting on the other side, diagonally opposite of him. Luckily, Malfoy was sitting several places away next to a horrible-looking ghost with a cloak stained with silvery blood. Something Malfoy was apparently not happy about, as Harry noted cheerfully.

Harry looked back at the teacher's table, where he now saw Hagrid and Professor Quirrell, the nervous man from the Leaky Cauldron, sitting with his big purple turban. Hagrid returned his gaze, pointing his thumb up, even though he looked a little uptight.

Harry looked away and followed the sorting of the remaining students. Finally, Ronald Weasley came to Gryffindor and Blaise Zabini to Slytherin. The latter sat down next to Harry, giving him a smile, which Harry replied.

After Dumbledore made a speech consisting essentially of the words "Nitwit", "Blubber", "Oddment" and "Tweak" Harry had to laugh out loud. "Is he... is he a bit crazy?" he asked Richard next to him.

"Crazy? Yes, in any case. That would be one of the loveliest things some in this house would say about our revered headmaster," he joked. "But he is loved and admired by most wizards and witches. And there are legends about his power and deeds. You should never underestimate him because he is undoubtedly a great wizard."

When loads of delicious food appeared on the tables, Harry's previous worries were finally forgotten. He tried all dishes with great pleasure and also indulged in the desserts until he felt he had to burst. For the first time in his life, he was able to eat his fill.

During the meal, Harry was chatting with Blaise sitting next to him. He learned that his family originally came from Italy, but that his mother had moved to Great Britain to marry his father. Apparently, he has died shortly after Blaise was born. There were of course more pleasant topics to talk about, but somehow Harry felt a certain attachment to the black boy. They then turned to more enjoyable topics, especially the Quidditch sport, which Blaise enthusiastically explained to him with the help of the cutlery, even if Harry's head ached after a short time.

Finally, Dumbledore got up one more time and familiarized the students with a few rules, and many of them rolled their eyes as if they had heard it all before. Only Dumbledore's admonition not to enter a certain third floor-corridor, unless you wanted to die an extremely painful death, was received with general confusion. Harry did not know what to think of all of this. What kind of school was that?

When all the students finally sang the school anthem loudly and wildly and often flatly, Harry really could not help but laugh so loudly that he almost fell off the bench. In any case, he was no longer in Privet Drive, that much was certain.

After Dumbledore ended the meal and sent the students to their beds, Harry and the other first-years followed two prefects to the Slytherin common room. Harry walked at the end of the group with Blaise and Daphne, but no one said a word, they were too busy gazing at everything around them. The portraits that moved. The ghosts that floated above them. All of Hogwarts' massive architecture. This really was no longer Private Drive!

After the two prefects led them into the dungeons of the castle and through an opening in a stone wall that opened with the correct password, they finally came into the Slytherin common room. It was illuminated by greenish ball lamps, and water could be seen through the windows. They were under the lake, Harry realized! High armchairs were scattered throughout the room, and shrink heads accessorized small tables.

Harry said good night to Daphne as she and her classmates Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis and Pansy Parkinson were led up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. The boys were led up other stairs and finally found themselves in a large room with five four-poster beds with green silk covers and blankets embroidered with silver adornments, medieval tapestries hanging on the wall. Draco Malfoy sprinted and first took a particularly large bed that even looked much more luxurious than the other ones, causing Harry to wonder why one bed was so different from the other four. Crabbe, Goyle and another boy named Theodore Nott, whom Harry had not really met yet, then choose more beds, so Blaise and Harry took the last two. Their suitcases appeared out of nowhere, but Harry was no longer surprised about anything here. Rather, he started taking his pajamas out of his suitcase and putting them on.

He had actually expected Draco Malfoy to say something to him, after all, they had not parted well on the train and now they would even share a room. Like all evening, however, Malfoy ignored him, and Harry was fine with that since he was too tired to argue now, his legs heavy as lead and his stomach full of food. With a sigh, Harry sank into the pillows and soon fell asleep deeply as the water of the lake splashed gently against the windows. Thus, he did not see Draco Malfoy signaling their other roommates to follow him, nor did he see the look Malfoy gave him. Otherwise, he probably would not have slept so well.


Next chapter: New Lessons and Old Experiences

Preview:

"Here, you're nothing, Potter," he said, looking down at Harry in disgust. "This is MY house! You have no business here. I am in charge here. Never forget that. You had your chance. Now you're just a smelly, disgusting little mudblood."