[A/N: I rewrote and expanded upon the courtroom scene starting just after Harry gave his testimony. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do. It paints Albus in a somewhat Darker light. ]
Just a reminder: Check your PM box. I answer as many questions as I can when I get the reviews. FFN still hasn't re-enabled their PM notification emails.
Chapter 7: We're off to be a Wizard (and Witch)!
Right after the courtroom scene, 'The Burrow,' Ottery St. Catchpole
Arthur Septimus Weasley was in a foul mood, which to anyone who'd ever met the man; was wholly uncharacteristic of him. Someone had to really do something stupid to even get a mild rise out of him so when he'd learned that his wife had co-authored an illegal marriage contract with Albus Dumbledore between their daughter and Harry Potter, well that was the spark that lit the inferno.
He flooed home and bellowed out at the top of his lungs, "MOLLY ANNE WEASLEY! GET OUT HERE THIS INSTANT!"
Molly came running into the living room, her face white with fear and not a bit of confusion, "Ar, Arthur? Wha…"
"SILENCE, YOU IDIOTIC WOMAN!" He interrupted her then lowered his voice to a hard growl, "Did you or did you not pen a marriage contract for Ginny to Harry Potter with Albus Dumbledore?"
"Art…"
"ANSWER ME!"
"Y, yes, I did but…"
"No! There are no 'buts.' You brought shame and dishonor to our family, Molly. I had to publicly denounce and rescind that idiotic contract you stupidly co-authored. What the bloody hell were you thinking?"
"Albus said that it would be a good idea to bring our families together before Harry started school where he'd be set upon by all those other darker families."
Arthur scrubbed his face angrily with his hands, "Albus doesn't have the authority to do that nor do you have the authority to sign as the parent. That's MY job! Only the Head of House has the legal and magical right to author a marriage contract."
Molly sank into a chair looking distraught and wrung her hands, "But he said…"
Arthur looked ready to have an aneurysm, "What? What did the so-called 'Great and Powerful' Albus flipping Dumbledore say?"
She sort of twisted in her chair like a child being forced to give up a secret, "He said that if I signed under my maiden name, it would allow me to get around that 'silly notion of… Head of House… authority," she nearly whispered the last part as she trailed off at his thunderous expression.
Arthur was livid! He didn't command much respect in the Ministry; he knew that but frankly didn't care too much. But here at home? He was supposed to be the final word, the undisputed leader and king of House Weasley! An idea formed in his head, borne from a barely remembered event in his childhood.
Pulling out his wand, he intoned, "I, Arthur Septimus Weasley, as Head of the Ancient House Weasley do hereby restrict my wife, Margaret 'Molly' Anne Weasley from communicating with the outside world. Her magic shall be limited to the confines as defined by the Wards of this House. Any and all communication with others outside the Family, be it in visual, written or verbal form, to and from said wife; shall pass before myself for approval or denial. This punishment shall continue until I or the next Head of House rescind it. So shall it be!" There was a flash of red light that encompassed Molly and himself before fading away. He gave her one final glare then headed back to the office.
Unseen by either of them was the daughter in question who watched the proceedings with wide eyes, open mouthed, trembling hands and pale face.
Saturday 1 September 1991 Dursley Residence, absurdly early in the morning
In a scene reminiscent of their fishing trip to Wolf's Bay a couple of years ago, Vernon woke Harry up at an ungodly hour. While it wasn't super early like that trip had been, it was still absurdly early to Harry who hadn't managed to fall asleep until it was nearly two in the morning simply because he was so excited about finally being able to go to Hogwarts!
"Gah…who, uh…urg…" He flopped back onto his bed and thumped his pillow over his face to block out the light.
"Get up, you lazy bum unless you want to miss the train to Hogwarts and have to walk the entire distance?" Vernon smugly suggested as he nudged his nephew's knee then grabbed Harry's foot and tugged gently.
"Urgenblarget…"
Vernon chuckled, "And good morning to you too. Come on, your aunt is starting breakfast soon and I want you up and ready to head out to King's Cross within half an hour."
Harry managed to untangle himself and ooze off to the bathroom to perform his morning routine, idly noticing that Dudley's underpants weren't strewn on the floor and that the window was actually open for once. Once that was done, he got dressed in a nice pair of blue jeans with his socks and trainers next before digging through his closet for his favorite lucky Iron Man T-shirt. He ran his fingers through his hair in one last vain attempt to get it to settle down before heading out of his room.
He entered the kitchen and saw his aunt busily making a batch of stuffed waffles and greeted her.
"Good morning, Aunt Petunia? Is that my recipe?"
She happily greeted him, "Good morning, Harry and yes. I figured that you'd be too keyed up to properly cook so I'll be the chef for the morning. I made two kinds of stuffed waffles; one with blueberry filling, the other is a French vanilla crème. There's a bowl of sliced strawberries in the fridge if you'd be so kind as to retrieve for me?"
Smiling at her thoughtfulness, Harry opened up the fridge and pulled out the bowl of berries and carried it to the table. Vernon walked in then with the morning paper and got settled, his cup of morning tea already poured. Dudley was heard thundering around upstairs, "Mu-uumm! Where are my socks?!"
"Check the wash hamper, Dudley!"
"Harry, your trunk is already loaded into the car," Vernon said as he turned the page of the newspaper, "Don't forget to pack your lunch basket."
"Thanks, Uncle Vernon."
Once Harry finished breakfast and brushed his teeth, he reentered the kitchen and began packing the lunch hamper with the sandwiches he'd made the previous day. In went a stack of paper plates, a handful of plastic utensils, napkins and a couple of bottles of water. Next were the travel size bottles of homemade balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing. Harry, along with Hermione, had spent a week trying to figure out which flavors they wanted. Harry was all for something original while she wanted just the basics; naturally Hermione won, especially after she broke out the 'big guns' when she pulled the pleading puppy dog eyes.
Once the bag containing the garden salad was packed in alongside the dressing, in went the bag with the sandwich buns followed by the plastic tub of slow cooker BBQ pulled chicken he'd made yesterday. He finished checking the basket and hauled it over to the door where his jumper and backpack were waiting.
King's Cross Train Station, London Platform 9
The Dursleys' and Grangers' met up in the parking structure outside platform nine and got their respective kids and their trunks unloaded. Hedwig had been sent ahead last night so she wouldn't have to suffer the indignity of being stuffed in a small cage the entire train ride (Hermione had talked about getting a pet but nothing had resulted from it.) As with all their usual greetings, the two prospective magical students embraced each other and jumped up and down chanting, "We're off to be a wizard! We're off to be a wizard!"
Dudley shook his head and slugged Harry on the shoulder, "Dork. Can't you even go five minutes without making a fool of yourself?"
Harry cocked his head to the side and put on a thinking pose, tapping a finger to his chin, "Um… nope! We're off to be a wizard!" He whooped excitedly.
The two families arrived at the location where Professor McGonagall had said that there would be marker to direct them to the portal to Platform 9 ¾. They all looked around confused until Hermione noticed the Hogwarts crest engraved onto a pillar. She experimentally touched the pillar with her hand and gasped when said hand went right through as if it were a mirage!
"I found it!" she yelped, "It's here, through this pillar." She demonstrated her experiment again to the others. Dudley tried to do the same but found that it wouldn't work for him.
"It won't let me. Aww…I wanted to see the train too!"
Harry thought about that for a moment before taking Dudley's hand and pushing it onto the pillar. Both of their hands vanished into the concrete. "Ah! I guess they did it that way so a random muggle couldn't accidentally fall through."
"Wow, a wizard did something logically?" Petunia quipped sarcastically to Emma who snorted in laughter.
Once on the other side, everyone stood there for a moment taking in the sight that was the Hogwarts Express. The Olton Hall class locomotive was a shiny jet red and black with gold trim and headed a line of seven passenger cars in matching colors. Dan noted that there was a baggage car right behind the locomotive tender and a kitchen/dining car right behind that, followed by three general seating carriages and two compartment carriages. The adults pushed the kids' trolleys over to where a conductor was standing, "Excuse me, sir? Is this where we go to get our kids' trunks loaded?"
The conductor smiled, "Just the two?" Once Dan nodded, the conductor pulled out a pad of tickets, wrote on two of them and tore them in half. Harry and Hermione were handed their stubs and instructed not to lose them. Once the station tags were attached to their trunks, the conductor used his wand to levitate their trunks into the baggage car.
The platform was quickly filling up with families and students. Vernon had found the two kids an empty compartment and they dumped their bags (gently setting the food hamper on the seat) and gathered around a crying Petunia and Emma. Both women pulled their respective charges into their arms.
"Harry," Petunia sniffed as she held his face between her hands and looked into his eyes, "I want you to promise me that you will do your absolute best in class, stay out of trouble and not go looking for problems. If that headmaster of yours tries anything, go straight to Daggerclaw. I wrote him and gave him our permission to act as in loco parentis beyond what your Head of House would be officially able to accomplish."
"I promise, Aunt Petunia."
It was Vernon's turn next and he gave his nephew a manly sort of hug and ruffled Harry's hair. Harry scrunched up his nose, "I'll make you both proud of me, Uncle Vernon."
"I know you will, Harry. Make some friends and show that school of yours just what a determined Potter can do." Harry grinned warmly.
The train engineer blasted the final warning whistle. There was a cacophony of doors being slammed shut with the kids waving and calling out their last goodbyes to their families before the train began chuffing and pulled out of the station.
Harry sat back in his seat and sighed; Hermione opposite of him sniffing back some light tears. He reached over and took her hand, "Hey, it's not like we'll never see them again, you know."
She laughed weakly, "I know I'm being silly. You'd think that we're being shipped off to war or something."
Harry glanced at the inner door then back to her, "What do you say about investigating the rest of the train?" She finished wiping her eyes and agreed.
They walked up and down the aisle trying to not bump or jostle the other students who were heading the opposite direction. It quickly became apparent that Harry was being recognized as he was constantly being stared at, something that was starting to annoy him. Hermione noticed as well and patted him on the back in commiseration, "You knew this was going to happen, Harry. Best to just get used to it."
"I know; it's just…embarrassing. I feel like I ought to have circus music accompanying me." Her sweet laughter rang out down the hall.
In one compartment, Hermione noticed one boy sitting alone holding onto a toad. She tapped Harry on the arm and pointed out the scene, "Let's go introduce ourselves. He looks like he could use a friend." He nodded his acceptance. He knocked on the door before opening it, "Hi! Do you mind if we join you?"
The boy looked up in surprise, his mouth dropped open when he saw who it was, "Um, y…yeah. Hi, me, uh…please!"
"Hi, I'm Harry Potter and this is Hermione Granger." He held out his hand in greeting while she waved her hand.
"Hi, I'm Neville. Neville Longbottom." He weakly grasped Harry's and shyly smiled.
"So Neville, you looking forward to starting at Hogwarts too?"
Neville shrugged awkwardly, "I guess so. I was surprised to get my letter. I hadn't shown much accidental magic growing up so my Gran and family kept trying to force it out of me. It was a shock when the owl showed up!"
Hermione cocked her head, "What would've happened if the letter never came?" Neville shivered violently.
"I don't want to know what might've happened. I don't think Gran would've banished me but I just don't let myself think about it." Neville then turned to Harry, "I've heard so much about you growing up; I think I'm still stunned that you're sitting here speaking with me of all people."
Harry grinned, "You seem like a good person, Neville and it was Hermione who spotted you sitting alone. We could always use another friend. So what House do you hope to get into?"
Again Neville shrugged, "I'll go wherever they send me. You?"
"Hufflepuff for me," Harry replied, "It's the one most closely associated with family, Earth magic, food and just…life."
Hermione agreed with his statement and said that she hoped to be sorted there as well, "I know I come across as the ultimate bookworm but I also want to make friends, work with others to achieve a common goal and frankly, I want to be where Harry is. He's my best friend in the whole world." She bumped his shoulder with hers and smiled warmly at him.
Neville was surprised and said so, "I would've figured you'd want to be in the same House as your parents, Harry. I never thought you'd want to be a Puff."
Harry held his hands out wide, "Well that's thing, I wasn't raised by my parents so how could I be held to their same standards? My aunt and uncle raised me as part of their family so I would naturally look to them as my ideal of how to behave."
"True. So what sort of hobbies do you have?" He saw Hermione glance over at Harry and grin widely.
Harry cleared his throat and looked down, sort of shyly, "I love to cook and garden."
Neville sat up in surprise, "Really? Gardening? What kind of plants do you have? Do you grow anything interesting? I have a greenhouse at home." He said all in a rush, it was clear that he enjoyed gardening as well, if his questions about the care and handling of plants were any indication.
"I have a small greenhouse at home as well; it's sectioned off in two parts. The side in which you enter has the normal vegetable and flowers and behind a curtain is where I keep my magical plants. I only got that part started within the past year thanks to my Uncle Remus."
"You also mentioned cooking? What sort of things do you make?"
Harry smiled widely.
Hermione left the compartment to go grab their bags and the hamper. When she returned, she discovered that the occupancy had risen to include three other boys; one of whom was speaking to Harry in a rather pompous manner.
"…you don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort, I can help you there." He held out his hand.
Hermione tapped one of the bigger boys on the shoulder, "Excuse me, may I get past?"
All eyes turned to her; the one who had offered his hand, a pale-haired boy sneered at her, "Who are you?"
"Let me put this stuff down and I'll answer that properly." She replied in a huff.
The larger boy on the left moved out of the way just enough so she could place the bags down on the seat before turning to the snobby boy, "Hello, my name is Hermione Granger of the non-magical House of Granger."
The boy blinked and straightened up, apparently not expecting such a formal response from a girl he didn't recognize, "Hello, my name is Draco. Draco Malfoy, Heir to the Noble House of Malfoy." He didn't offer his hand nor was she expecting it. She cocked her head in the direction of the other two boys. "Oh, this is Crabbe and Goyle," he said dismissively.
She waited for a moment before lightly clearing her throat. It was enough that the larger boy with the shaved head caught on, "I'm Vincent Crabbe of the Ancient House of Crabbe." The third boy introduced himself as Gregory Goyle, also from an Ancient House.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Now that the introductions are done, might I ask why you sneered at me? Why does my coming from a non-magical house concern you?" She answered with such an imperious stare that caused the leader of the three to wilt.
Sensing a trap but seeing no way he could avoid it, Draco blushed, looked around trying to not make eye contact and made some sort of sub-vocal comment about muggleborns trampling on time honored traditions.
Hermione thinned her lips in disappointment, "I see. Well, if you have nothing further?" she motioned to the open door, the dismissal practically dripping in contempt. The three boys slunk out as quickly as they could. She turned back to Harry who was practically rolling around in laughter while Neville was staring open-mouthed, "Miss me?"
Harry lost it at that and was on the floor laughing his butt off.
Just as they were about to get the table set up to have lunch, there was a hesitant knock at the door. Hermione opened it to see a pair of first year girls standing in the passageway; one with blondish red hair, the other honey blonde in pig-tails.
"Hi! I was wondering if you've seen a boy by the name of Neville Longbottom?" The blondish red haired girl asked cheerfully.
Hermione pulled back to show that Neville was inside. The boy in question perked up when he spotted the two of them, "Susan! Hannah! Hi, may they come in and join us?" he asked Harry with a hopeful face.
Harry shrugged a shoulder, "I don't see why not? Hermione?" she smiled graciously and welcomed the pair into the compartment.
The girl identified as Susan introduced herself as 'Susan Bones' and her friend as 'Hannah Abbott.'
Harry stood and bowed his head as was appropriate, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ladies. My name is Harry Potter and this is my best friend in the whole world, Hermione Granger." Susan's and Hannah's eyes nearly popped out of their skull when Harry introduced himself.
"You…you're Harry Potter?" Hannah squeaked. Harry just smirked and nodded once. "Wow! I've heard so much about you and your efforts to bring equality to the lower ranked Houses."
Harry groaned while Hermione giggled, "I never said anything about the lower ranked Houses! Why does that paper always get their quotes wrong?"
Hannah just blinked owlishly, obviously not understanding so Hermione took it upon herself to explain what Harry really meant as the boy in question was pouting and grumbling under his breath as he dug into the food hamper.
With Neville's help, they got a foldaway table set up so Harry could unload the hamper of food. "So, as I've said, I love to cook. If you can think of the cuisine, chances are I've made it; From American game day snacks to full out fancy meals." He started pulling out the contents of the basket whilst explaining what they were. Neville's eyes bugged out and his mouth started watering at the heavenly aromas.
"Susan? Hannah? Have you had lunch yet? I've made enough for all here." The two girls agreed solemnly, still in awe at being in the presence of such a legendary person.
The food was dished out and soon they were enjoying their meal. Neville's eyes closed and he made a contented sigh of pleasure.
"Wow, Harry! This food is incredible. These vegetables are from your garden?" he asked as he held up a red and white ringed radish for inspection?"
"Yup. I've got the usual basic vegetables: three kinds of lettuce, two types of radishes plus a Chinese long green beans bush, regular green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and more. It makes the food taste so much better when it's fresh as opposed to buying it from the store with their unknown storage and shipping practices.
Hannah held up a forkful of the chicken, "What do you call this?"
"It's called 'Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches.' That goes with the sourdough buns. I found the recipe from a pen-pal of mine in the United States. What you do to make it is layer the chicken into the slow cooker along with measured amounts of corn flour, liquid smoke, onion powder, oregano, a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar, two tablespoons of Worst-of-the-shire sauce (Hermione rolled her eyes at that lame joke.) Anyways, there's a few other spices to add plus a bottle of barbeque sauce. You throw it all in there, mix it all up so the chicken is completely coated, cover it with the lid, and set the temperature knob to low and a timer for about six to eight hours. When the time is up, you use two forks to shred the chicken. After that, you can eat it in a bowl or on a bun like we're going to here."
"Wow, it's like sticky sweet heaven. The chicken practically dissolves in your mouth," Susan gushed as she savored the sandwich, "The sourdough is great too. It counters the sweetness just right."
While they were eating, there was yet another interruption. This time though, the person through the door didn't even bother knocking. The door was just thrust open and a red-haired kid with a mass of freckles on his dirty face stuck his head in.
"Oi, I heard that Harry Potter was in this compartment."
Harry sighed and waved from where he was. Because of the table he was unable to rise to his feet to greet the newcomer, "I'm Harry Potter. Who are you?"
"Ron."
"Do you have a last name, Ron?" Harry could just sense that this kid was going to be a difficult one.
"Um, yeah. Weasley."
A memory of an Arthur Weasley popped up in his mind, "Ah, is your father Arthur Weasley?"
Ron's eyes narrowed a bit and he grew wary, "Yeah, why?"
Shrugging, "No reason. I met him at the trial against Dumbledore. He was polite and apologetic about that illegal marriage contract between your sister and myself that your mother co-signed with the headmaster."
Ron managed to have the sense of embarrassment and the tips of his ears pinked, "Yeah, that was a right loud argument, mate. Listen, I was wondering if I could join you? Everywhere else is full."
Waving his hand at the already full compartment, "So is this compartment. Sorry, but I guess we could meet up again when we get to the school?"
Ron was already trying to get Neville to move, "Shove over, squib. Let the real wizards sit."
Hermione let out a gasp of shock. Hannah yelled at the git, "How dare you!"
The look on Harry's face was thunderous, "Now look here you idiot! I will not have you insulting my friends. Get out of here before I have you thrown off the train!"
"Is there a problem here?" said two voices in stereo. Harry spotted a pair of red-haired twins standing in the doorway.
"You resemble this one. Does this belong to you?" Harry said in contempt.
One of the twins grimaced, "What did he do?"
"He called Neville here a 'Squib.' Both Harry and I do not suffer verbal abuse of others lightly," Hermione explained with an angry look on her face, "You need to remove him before he finds himself flying without the aid of a pair of wings."
Both twins rolled their eyes at their younger brother's idiocy and grabbed the protesting Ron under his arms and dragged him out of the compartment. They reappeared a few moments later.
"Sorry about that. You'd think that after five older children, our dear mother would have the parenting skills down pat. So… to introduce ourselves, my name is Fred Weasley and this is George."
"Wait, I thought I was Fred today?" the other interrupted.
Harry looked at Hermione with a glint in his eye as the twins went through an obviously rehearsed spiel, "Hermione? Didn't Professor McGonagall mention a pair of twins in her House? Something about how they liked to think of themselves as the reigning pranksters of the school?"
The twins trailed off and stared openmouthed at the two firsties.
Hermione tapped her chin in thought, "I do believe you're correct though when it comes to pranksters, you just can't beat the originals. Professor McGonagall did mention that the twins' pranks were old hat and rather predictable."
Fred turned to George, "Can you believe this Georgie? These two think that our pranks are old hat?" George shook his head in disbelief and dismay.
"And what about those 'originals' they speak of? Heroes of theirs perhaps? Maybe we should introduce them to our heroes?"
Harry gave a sly grin, "Which heroes would that be?"
The Twins straightened up and struck a heroic pose, "The Marauders, long may they prank! Four of the most devious people to ever have lived! Slytherins to this day still quiver in fear of their legacy."
"What were their names? I assume they had names?" Harry prompted.
The twins ping-ponged off each other in their response, "Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs."
Hermione let out a sort of strangled giggle, "Padfoot's head is gonna swell up knowing that their fans still know of their names and past exploits." Harry chuckled and shook his head at the look of shock and awe on the twins' faces.
"You know… you know who they are?" Fred whispered in awe.
Harry bowed his head solemnly, "I am sad to report that Prongs is no longer amongst the living. He died protecting me and my mother from the Dark Idiot nearly ten years ago."
Both twins dropped to their knees in utter shock. Fred whispered in awe, "Pr… Prongs was James Potter?" Harry sniffed sadly and rubbed his quickly reddening eyes. "Then that would make you Harry Potter? Wow, Georgie! We're in the presence of the Heir of Pranking Royalty!"
Harry smiled weakly through the tears, "Thanks. As for the others, the only one who I'll mention is the traitor Wormtail aka Peter Pettigrew. He's the reason why my parents are dead."
George looked puzzled, "Why won't you mention the other two?"
"Where's the fun in that? It would be a great prank if you and they were in close contact and you never knew it." George snorted and rolled his eyes before reluctantly agreeing.
The train eventually pulled into the station at Hogsmeade and disgorged its passengers. The new firsties milled around wondering what to do next when they heard a rough, West Country-accented voice bellow out from the night, "Fir's Yeh's! This way! All ye fir's yeh's! Don' be shy!" Harry could see a lantern swinging impossibly high in the air in the direction the voice came from. He nudged Hermione and led her and the others from their compartment towards the light. Their first view of the owner of the voice was one of awed surprise. The man seemed incredibly tall, even for an adult. His legs were as thick as tree trunks, his head seemed high enough to be able to see over the tree line! The man's face was covered with a thick, scratchy-looking beard but Harry could see the man's eyes twinkled with mirth at the approaching new students.
"Ev'ryone here? Alright! Follow me now!" He turned around and led the scared first years off towards a roughly cut path.
After a rather enjoyable boat ride where they got to see the castle all lit up followed by an arduous climb up a long set of stairs; the huge man knocked on a wooden door. The door opened to reveal Professor McGonagall staring at them all.
"The Firs' yehs, Perfes'or!"
"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them from here." The now identified Hagrid moved out of the way and headed back down the stairs.
Even though Harry and Hermione had known Minerva McGonagall outside of the school, within its walls she seemed a different person. More stiff and disciplined; definitely not someone they would want to anger. She gave a short speech about the qualities of the Houses and that the Sorting Ceremony would start in a moment.
"I suggest that you all smarten yourselves up while I'm gone." She eyed Ron's dirty face in displeasure.
"Any idea as to how they sort us?" Hermione whispered to Harry, "I couldn't find it in our books."
Harry shook his head, "No but I doubt it would be anything dangerous. Probably just a personality test based on what sort of qualities the House Founders looked for." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, "Don't worry about it, Hermione. We'll be best friends even if we get into different Houses." She smiled and relaxed into his arms.
Minerva returned and told her charges to follow her, "We're ready for you now."
The Great Hall of Hogwarts
'This room is huge! I'd bet I could fit the entire house in here with room to spare!' Harry thought in silent awe. His eyes roved over the ceiling that seemed to stretch forever into the heavens. Thousands of candles hovered above them but didn't drip wax down on their heads. He heard Hermione whisper about how the ceiling was charmed to resemble the night sky. He took her hand in his and gave it a comforting squeeze and received one in return. She nudged him on the arm and when he looked where she was discreetly pointing, he saw that the House tables were nearly half empty. It was a sobering reminder of the devastation that had been wrought from the last war.
Harry tore his eyes away from the sad sight of so few students and focused them up at the Head Table. He easily picked out Dumbledore, sitting there serenely in a gaudy looking gold throne. Harry grimaced but refrained from saying anything. To the headmaster's left was an open seat presumably for Professor McGonagall. To his right was a short man, described by both Uncles Remus and Sirius as being Professor Flitwick, their future Charms teacher. Next to him was a middle aged woman with graying flyaway hair and an earthy quality to her. Padfoot had described her as being Professor Sprout, the aptly named Herbology teacher and Head of the House that they hoped to get into. Next to her was a thin man wearing a turban and finally was a sallow-faced man with a big nose wearing all black who seemed to be sneering in his direction.
A tattered old hat sat on a stool, seemingly out of place until a rip in the brim opened up and it began 'singing' a tale of the Founders and what its job as the Sorting Hat was. Harry shook his head in disbelief and could tell Hermione was doing the same next to him. 'A hat? That's what they're going to use to sort us?'
Professor McGonagall read off a list of names for each of the incoming first years to come and sit on the stool while wearing the hat. Each sorting took anywhere from a mere moment to Hermione's case where it lasted nearly five minutes. Harry heard the Weasley idiot grumbling about how long it was taking and that he was hungry and rolled his eyes in derision. Finally, the hat yelled out, 'HUFFLEPUFF!' to the cheers of her new House and from Harry as well. Neville got up there and it seemed as if he were arguing with the hat. If a hat could look frustrated, this one managed it. It finally yelled out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
Finally, after getting through a pair of identical twin girls, it was Harry's turn under the hat. He sat down and grimaced as the hat was lowered over his head. Just then he heard a voice in his mind…
"Ah, welcome, Mr. Potter. You seem to be the talk of the school today."
"Wonderful. What are they saying?"
"Oh, nothing bad I assure you. Just a case of hero worship in some while others…well. Pay them no mind."
"Let me guess, the ones who didn't say anything nice came from the House of the silver and green?" Harry snarked to which the hat chuckled.
"Indeed. Now, where to put you?"
"I want to be with my best friend. I want to be in Hufflepuff."
"Are you sure? There's talent here, loads of talent I daresay. You should know that the headmaster seems to want you to be sorted into Gryffindor."
"Too bad for him; this is my sorting, not his. I know that and I feel that Hufflepuff can help me with my talents. I want to become the best chef in the world and I can only do that in the House that's closest to the kitchens."
The hat rummaged around through Harry's mind and memories, impressed by what he saw. Multiple heartwarming images of past family outings, the recipes found and the food shared between friends and family.
"Oh, yes. Without a doubt, I see. Better be… "HUFFLEPUFF!"
[A/N2: That's a good stopping point for now. I'll share Ron's and Draco's Sorting in the next chapter (It's a shocker). I wanted to give the train ride a different take on how Harry would handle Ron and Draco and frankly we all know how the Hat's Song goes.]
Recipes:
Stuffed Waffles with blueberry filling or French Vanilla crème (personal)
BBQ Pulled Chicken (Yummly)
Sourdough bread (Yummly)
Garden vegetable salad
