Chapter 4: Hogwarts
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, including the majority of characters, spells etc. used in the fic
Edward managed to find an empty compartment towards the end of the train; he wanted to read his books in peace. Soon the door opened and one of the red heads walked in,
"Do you mind if I sit here? All the others are full" he asked.
No way did Edward want to sit here and endure this boy's mindless rabble, so he turned back to his book, not uttering a word.
"Err… Okay, I'll just take a seat" the boy sounded quite nervous.
"My names Ron by the way, Ron Weasly. What's yours?" Ron said, trying to make conversation
Again Edward didn't even acknowledge him. "I can tell what house you're going to be in, Ravenclaw for definite!" he laughed.
'The train hasn't even started moving yet and I'm already mind numbingly bored!' Edward thought to himself.
"Why, because I read? Well, you probably won't even get sorted into a house then" Edward said rather snappily.
Ron was taken back for a moment, he realised he was getting on the boys nerves. Just as he was about to leave the compartment, the door opened again, this time a raven haired boy walked through.
Edward groaned under his breath, 'this is going to be a long journey!'
"Is that seat taken?" the boy sat down before anyone answered.
"I'm Harry Potter you probably know my dad; James Potter, he's one of the top aurors" Harry stated rather pompously.
"Yes! The man who catches dark wizards? My father has mentioned him before" Ron replied excitedly, he was probably delighted to have someone else to talk to rather than Edward.
"Does you Dad work for the Ministry of Magic too? Which department is he in?"
Ron looked reluctant to answer the question; his face was turning a shade of beetroot. "He's in the misuse of muggle artefacts department" he mumbled under his breath, Harry pulled a face that looked somewhat like a grimace.
Somewhere outside a whistle was blown, a signal that the Hogwarts Express would be leaving any moment now.
'Thank the Lord! Only 5 more hours of these idiots!' he thought to himself.
The scarlet steam engine soon set off, and it began increasing in speed, the waving families disappeared. Edward had to endure an hour of them talking about quidditch; well it was more of an argument:
"The Chudley Cannons are by far the best!"
"If the bottom of the league is the best, then yes. My Dad and I support the Tornado's"
"More glory supporters" Ron said with his head in his heads.
The conversation moved onto Hogwarts, specifically the four houses."I'm definitely going to Gryffindor, my whole family has been in that house for generations" Harry spoke, a proud look on his face.
"I will be too, all my brothers are in Gryffindor. At least we will be together" Ron looked happy at this fact, maybe he didn't have many friends.
"What house do you think you'll be in?" Ron asked, involving him yet again.
"We'll I definitely would not fit into Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff is out of the question! So either Ravenclaw or Slytherin, personally I think it's going to be Slytherin"Edward replied nonchalantly.
"What!" Both boys screamed, Edward looked at them, confused.
"You actually want to be in Slytherin? What is wrong with you?" Harry commented maliciously
"And what's wrong with Gryffindor? To brave for you, huh?" Ron said.
"Bravery?" Edward sneered, "That's just a sympathetic word for foolishness and stupidity".
Just as the boys were going to retort, the compartment door slid open again. This time the blonde haired boy walked in with two large, wide shouldered boys tailing him. "My, my, what is happening in here? You can here you from the other side of the train" He said.
"This snake is saying how he wants to be sorted into Slytherin, and insulting Gryffindor!" Ron yelled in outrage.
"Well, I'd say he has the right idea, wouldn't you?" He replied casually.
He stretched his hand in front of Edward and left it there, Edward stood up clasped his hand around the boys and shook it firmly.
"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, this is Crabbe and Goyle. Why don't you join us in our compartment, away from these muggle lovers?" Draco pointed over his shoulder; the two rotund boys nodded their heads.
"What's your name?" He asked
"Edward Burke"
"I've never heard of a Burke before, are you foreign?" The blonde haired boy looked wary
"No, I'm from London"
"Oh, I see" Draco said simply, he quickly retracted his hand, backing away from Edward.
"Well I can tell who you are. Red hair, covered in freckles, second hand robes. You're a Weasley; a disgrace of a pureblood" Draco looked disgusted.
"Excuse me!" Ron's face looked like a tomato.
"Come on guys, this compartment is full of filth." Draco smirked as he said this, the burley boys just sniggered at his comment.
Edward sat back down in his seat, what had he done wrong? 'The boy seemed to like me at first, what did I do?'
"Bet you're considering Ravenclaw now, aren't you? No muggle-born would last a month in Slytherin house" Harry told him whilst Ron was complaining about Draco. 'Is that it? Because my mother was a muggle? But they don't know that, I don't know that!' he thought angrily. 'Well, that isn't going to stop me, I will show them'
The scarlet steam rolled into the station at a small village, outside of the compartment you could hear many loud footsteps moving up and down the train.
"Were supposed to leave our trunks in here, c'mon Ron, we best get a move on" Harry said to the red head excitedly.
They both then exited through the compartment door. Edward stood from his seat and moved towards the door the boys just left from, he caught his reflection in the mirror; normally he would have looked like a charming young boy, with striking blue eyes, neat chocolate brown hair and high cheekbones. At this current moment, he looked green and had a layer of perspiration covering his face. He gave himself a mental speech to encourage himself as he exited the train and joined the other first years. He found himself stood behind the Malfoy boy.
"More mudbloods! My father would have a heart-attack if he knew how many they were letting in this year" he commented bravely, many heads turned to glare at him, including the Weasleys and Harry.
"Firs' years follow me! This way!" a gigantic man shouted.
Edward gazed up at him, he could barely see his face, it was covered in a mountain of bristly brown hair. The crowd of small boys and girls moved, their feet following the huge ones of the giant, when they turned the corner all that could be heard was 'oooo's' and 'ahhh's' of amazement. Even Edward verbally commented on the castles beauty, and he usually refrained from showing his emotions. The castle had many turrets protruding from the rooftops, with arrow slits and large windows in the walls. The moonlight shone off the lake and hit the stone bricks in a shimmering manner. It was truly beautiful.
"Four t' a boa', don't worry you ain' gunna fall in" he said, directing the last part at a large, chubby boy with a round face and brown hair who looked at the boats wearily.
Malfoy scoffed at his lack of bravery, Edward caught a glimpse of him saying "Hufflepuff!" to his cronies. The little boats set off, gliding across the moonlit lake, breaking the calm water surface. They reached what appeared to be the dock and all the first years scrambled onto the rocks, the huge man walked over to a large brown, old fashioned entrance door. He knocked three times and then it opened with a creak.
"Thank you Hagrid, inside first years" Mrs McGonagall said, Edward recognised her from their meeting at the orphanage.
Hagrid stumbled off into the distance as the first years entered the great castle. The entrance hall was massive; you could fit the entire orphanage into it. It had the same brickwork as outside, but there were paintings and portraits lining these grey walls, Edward was positive he saw one move. McGonagall led them into an antechamber; this is where she started giving a monotonous speech.
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Shortly we will proceed to the great hall where you will be sorted; there are four houses of which you can be placed into: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble traits and characteristics. Your education here lasts for seven years, so your house will be like your family. You will have many opportunities to gain points for your house, and any rule breaking will consequently lose you points." She paused a moment to give the children a stern glance, her eyes lingered a moment of Edward, and then she continued.
"When your name is read out in the hall, come forward and place the hat on your head. If you will follow me now." She led them to an even bigger door, this one was already open. As they entered all the faces turned to stare, it was like they were animals in a zoo. Some of the faces looked friendly, others frankly looked scary. Edward glanced upwards, he expected to see a celling, he was shocked when a night sky was in its place; it was a pitch black blanket, with many twinkling stars winking down at the inhabitants of the hall. There were five tables, each for one of the four houses, and one at the far end, facing the rest was the staff table. An elderly man with a long white beard was situated in the middle of the table. McGonagall eventually stopped beside a stool with an old raggedy hat sat on top. She picked up a scroll and unrolled it
"Abbot Hannah!" she called.
A young blonde girl came forth and sat on the stool with the hat covering the majority of her face. The hall was silent for a moment before a cry sounded:
"Hufflepuff!" The second table from the left jumped up and applauded the young girl.
'Alphabetically, that means I'm soon! What if I get sorted into Hufflepuff, I mean honestly, I think I'd rather go home'.
The moment came too soon for Edward, he dreaded the moment when the woman opened her stern lips and shouted "Burke, Edward!"
He gulped and then gracefully glided over to the wooden stool; before he sat down he caught the old man's eye, who smiled reassuringly. Edward slowly put the hat over his head and waited for the moment of truth.
'Ah! An interesting case'
'Good, very good, I enjoy the tough ones' Edward nearly screamed out loud; thankfully he refrained himself and was saved from the embarrassment it would have led to.
'A brilliant mind I see, Ravenclaw would be proud to have you. 'But also a major thirst to prove yourself, yes that is very clear! Also a small amount of bravery, but the cunning definitely overrides that. I know exactly where to put you!' Edward squeezed his eyes shut; this was the moment that shaped his path, all down to an old, smelly hat.
'Slytherin!'
Sorry I took a while, blame the exams! How tedious is revision? Honestly, there is so much more I could be doing with my time, like writing fanfiction! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank your the reviews. I do appreciate your constructive criticism, I'll try not to make it so obvious next time. Keep it coming, it can only make me become a better writer! :)