The five-minute call for arriving at Hogsmeade caught all of the children by surprise as they were so engrossed in their conversations. Hermione was pleasantly surprised that she was able to talk to the children. Harry was relieved that he'd only needed to take a book away from here 4 times.

When they got off the train they heard Hagrid calling out for all the first years. Walking over they saw that he had his Aictuilaxr hanging burrowed in his beard, it's small tentacles waving around outside.

"Hey Hagrid. You've met Hermione. This is Susan, Hannah, and Neville."

"Hey Harry, I'm glad to see you made it. Do thank your aunt for Nibbler, though I've 'ad to 'ave Professor Babbling redo the charms on me 'ouse on account of them keep failing when Flitwick did them.

"Looks like everyone's 'ere, so everyone follow me, and mind your feet on the path, it's a bit wet."

Hagrid led all of the first years down to the edge of a lake that had a shimmering scintillating barrier crossing it at halfway.

"Right everyone, four to a boat." Once all of the first years had found a place Hagrid called forward and the boats moved away from the shore towards the barrier. As they passed through, Harry and Hermione shivered at the feeling of fingers caressing their soul, then Hogwarts came into view and all of the first years let out a gasp at the sight. The boats carried on towards a cave wreathed in ivy and passed through with a shout of "Mind your heads" from Hagrid.

Hagrid then led the children up a twisty set of stairs to the Castle. The doors open after he bangs on them with one meaty fist to reveal a stern looking witch with a severe hairdo and professional robes.

"The first years Professor McGonagall"

"This way" McGonagall says with a slight Scottish accent. She leads them to an antechamber where she tells them to tidy up while she prepares the Great Hall. Four ghosts come in, chatting about a ghost called Peeves. However, Harry and Hermione are more interested in the people that Susan and Neville introduce them to. Including Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Lavender Brown, Anthony Goldstein, and Sue Li. Draco Malfoy was pointedly ignored due to his continuous attempt to be introduced before apologising for his behaviour on the train. At some point Chirpy crawled up on top of Hermione's head in order to get a better view.

McGonagall returns and leads the students into the Great Hall before going off to one side and returning with a three-legged stool and an old hat. She places the stool on the floor at the centre of the Hall and places the hat upon it. As she steps back a tear forms on the hat and above it the cloth above it scrunches up to form eyes. It opens it's mouth as if to speak, and a teacher with wild hair and bottle glass glasses convulses once as her eyes roll up in her head and says in a strange voice that can be heard clearly throughout the Hall.

Oh you of wixen kind remember the lessons of iron

Nightmares stalk the dream once more

Beware The Mantle of Light the wearer's soul has turned to darkness

The mundane born lead the way

Hark the reborn children of Light

Ere you of wixen born wasted for the lessons of iron

The hat then says "A True prophecy has been heard and recorded on the wall of words. So mote it be!"

Whispers go around the hall with variations of "I thought she was a fraud."

The hat waits for a moment before clearing it's throat. "Well that was different, I guess I'm not going to sing tonight. So if you would begin Professor."

Professor McGonagall started to read out the names from the roll she was holding, and everything went as expected until she called Granger, Hermione. Hermione dutifully walked forward and sat down on the stool, as the hat was placed on her head she heard the hat speak from outside.

"Miss Granger, would you be so good as to remove your familiar from your head please? As I'm unable to sort you while he's there. Incidentally, he would be a Hufflepuff if he was a student"

Absolutely mortified, and blushing bright red, she lifts off the hat and moves Chirpy into her lap before putting the hat back on.

In her mind she heard "Ah, that's much better let's see."

"Please can I be Gryffindor, as I've read it's the best house and the one that Albus Dumbledore was in."

"Now hold on child, I haven't even had a chance to look yet, now let me see. Very intelligent, book smarts, not very social, you'd do very well in Ravenclaw, but with what you did yesterday I can't rightly put you anywhere but… GRYFFINDOR!" The last word was shouted out loud. With as much chutzpah as she could manage with titters still passing through the hall she made her way to the Gryffindor table to cheers.

The next interruption came while Neville was being sorted, and the doors to the Great hall opened and three figures in grey robes walked in. The sorting hat stopped and said.

"I don't care how important you think it is, I'm in the middle of the sorting. If you absolutely can't wait, the Grey Lady can show you to where you need to go." Then went back to sorting as the three figures turned around and walked out followed by a Ghost. The headmaster looked like he was absolutely desperate to follow them but stayed sitting on his throne.

Finally it was Harry's turn and he sat down on the stool.

"Hmm, what do we have here?"

"Hi, erm, hat sir, could I go to Gryffindor with my friend please?"

"Well, let me have a look and see what we see first shall we? Hmm, a good mind if slightly underused, sneaky, cunning and controlling, oooh so very loyal to your friend. But there it is, that streak of bravery a mile wide, you didn't even stop to think before putting yourself in his way did you. In that case better be Gryffindor."

The Gryffindor table exploded with cheers as Harry walked to his house table. He didn't even care, all that mattered is that he would be in the same house as his first friend.

Albus watched the sorting pensively. He wouldn't say things were going badly, but they were certainly unexpected. The protective wards on Harry's house were at full power for the first time since he placed them. It was regrettable that he'd had to force Petunia back to an unhappy marriage, but she needed to live in that house as he couldn't move the wards. It was also regrettable that he'd needed to turn her against her sister, but the prophecy needed an answer, and the only way to find it was to ensure that the two babies it could be were accessible.

Then there was the concerned floo call from Molly earlier. She hadn't being able to find Harry at the station, which while worrying at the time as Hagrid had only remembered that he was supposed to do so when he gave him the stone, however he realised that her worry was also about not making the connection with the boy who lived.

Which led onto the next worry, his mentor had asked him to look after the stone as someone had broken into their house and stolen a Gringotts letter after ransacking the place. So now he had arguably the most valuable artifact ever created, and someone trying to steal it. He daren't put up any protections that were too lethal, as it was a school full of children, and their inventiveness was only matched by their collective curiosity.

Then there were his responsibilities, the most important of which was the fact that Severus' Dark Mark still existed, this implied that Voldemort wasn't killed when his body was destroyed. His position on the ICW, and with tensions rising in Egypt recently with rumours arising of seeing hints that the gods might be moving again, blasted fairy tales, it was probably just muggles again like it was every time before. It doesn't help that Egypt has called an Emergency meeting for next week due to the disappearance of an entire family the other night. Then there was Fudge, and his constant reliance on Malfoy for advice. The man's as thick as two short planks, and as bent as a tin sickle. It's a shame that he couldn't just force him to sign a contract the same way he did to get Petunia home, but his own magic would cause any contract signed under duress to invalidate given enough time. Though he's not very strong, so maybe it would last long enough. Finally there is his Magical Guardianship, he knew he should have visited and started teaching the boy and checking up on him, but there never was the time, and Mrs Figg was just down the road, so she could see any gregarious problems and call him, which is how he knew that Petunia had left the protections there.

Ah, right the sorting has finished.

He stood up and looked out at the sea of faces.

"Good evening and welcome to our new students. Now normally I'd be enjoying this feast with you, but something urgent came up this evening, and so I will need to leave the rest of the evening in the capable hands of the Deputy Headmistress. But first a few words." He loved this bit, as it always confused the students when he called the house elves in charge of the food

"Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak" he waved his hand in a practiced manner as each elf appeared at the end of each table and summoned the food from the kitchen. He then stepped back from his throne and bowed to McGonagall and left before she could get within whispering distance.

Harry and Hermione watched as the Headmaster called out those words and a house elf appeared, they realised that no one else even reacted to their appearance, not even other mundane raised. Glancing at each other they tucked in and enjoyed the polite, but somewhat invasive questioning that came their way, especially from a family of red heads, the youngest of which Ronald Weasley out right accused Harry of stranding them on the muggle side of the station looking for him while he was nice and comfortable on the train. Apparently a sport called quidditch was the biggest thing to do at Hogwarts.

When they were feeling pleasantly full, and the house elves had cleared away the last of the plates, Professor McGonagall stood up and sent a sharp clap through the hall bringing conversation to a close. It was clear that the unexpected responsibility plus a long day had taken a toll on her when she gave the announcements

"Noo we've a' hud a guid meal, bit afore ah kin let ye gang tae kip thare ur a few announcements. Firstly kin a' th' fifth year prefects staun up. Foremaist years, thae fowk standing at yer buird wull leid ye tae yer dorm rooms whin we finish. Secondly, thare is a forest at th' lip o' th' grounds that houses dangerous creatures, a' students ur forbidden fae entering it wi'oot a warkers escort. Thirdly thare is a list o' banned products oan th' janitors door. Finally, th' third flair corridor oan th' left handside is oot o' bounds this year. If ye fin' yourselves thare please hauld yer horses fur th' stairs tae shift 'n' fin' anither wey tae yer destination.

Prefects, if ye wull. Guid nicht 'n' sweet dreams."

With that they were dismissed and followed the prefects up to the Gryffindor dorms. The boys were warned that they couldn't go up the stairs to the girls dorm without setting off an alarm and being ejected from the stairs. They were then each directed to their respective dorms.