Shattered Illusions Chapter Four: Friends, Feasts, and Sorting
Freak blinked. Ron Weasley? But that was like a normal person's name. Freak worried his lip between his teeth, was he in the wrong place? He always thought that since he was a freak, and his name was Freak, that other freaks would be named Freak as well. Uncle Vernon said that Freaks didn't deserve normal names.
But then again, Freak never really thought about other freaks, or if there were any. He thought maybe his parents were freaks, and that's why he was a freak. Kind of like Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were Dursley's so Dudley was a Dursley as well.
Freak looked at the boy. Ron didn't really look like a freak. He had clothes that fit him and he was skinny, but not as skinny as himself. His hair and skin wasn't dirty like his, and he didn't have a hideous scar on his forehead.
Aunt Petunia always told him that only freaks had scars like his. That always confused him. He got his from a car crash, so did that mean that all freaks were in car crashes? Or that maybe everyone that was in a car accident was a freak? But the thing was, he never saw anybody else with a lightning bolt scar. Deep down in the deepest pits of his subconscious, he always just thought he was alone. The only freak.
"Hello?" Ron asked, waving a hand in front of Freak. "Are you in there?" Freak looked a bit worried, what was he supposed to do? He couldn't say anything! But then Ron gasped.
"You're Harry Potter!" Ron exclaimed, "I can see the scar!" Freak looked shocked and confused until Ron pointed to his forehead. Freak looked away ashamed, he knew the scar was ugly but he couldn't get rid of it. But then he realized something.
Ron thought he was Harry Potter because of the scar. Did that mean that Harry Potter had the same scar? Harry Potter was also a freak?
"You ok?" Ron asked. "You're really quiet." Freak nodded.
"Can you talk?" Ron asked curiously. Freak hesitated. He could say simple things like 'yes' and 'no', he couldn't talk in big sentences and he couldn't pronounce his R's. He also know he wasn't supposed to talk, and when he did he would be in huge trouble. Obviously he was more freakish than Ron and the other kids. He was way shorter, only coming to Ron's armpit or so, and he was just...freakish. The others were allowed to talk, but he wasn't.
He wondered if Ron knew he was sitting with and talking to a freak. If he did, would Ron still sit here? Freak supposed he would, only because there was nowhere else. Ron had even said that there wasn't anywhere else. That meant that he tried to sit else where, but with no room, he had to sit with Freak. Ron must have known he was a freak.
Finally Freak nodded. He could talk after all, he was just really bad at it and he wasn't allowed to.
"Well why don't you then?" Freak didn't know what to do! Obviously Ron didn't realize that he wasn't supposed to talk. Either that or Ron really did realize and he wanted to get Freak in trouble. Dudley used to do that. Freak decided to shrug, that should get him off Freak's case.
"You know, you're not quite how I imagined Harry Potter to be like." Ron said after about twenty minuets of silence. Freak's eyes widened. Ron was starting to get suspicious! They would realize that he wasn't Harry Potter and send him back. Freak slumped.
"Oh, it's not a bad thing." Ron frowned, "I just thought you would be more...well, less shy. Louder I guess. And taller." Freak looked at Ron apologetically. Ron shrugged.
A minute later, "Are you excited about school?" Ron asked. Freak smiled a bit and nodded enthusiastically. Then pointed to Ron and put his hands up as if to say, "You?" Ron laughed and said, "Yeah! What house do you think you'll be in? I think I'll be in Gryffindor." Freak shot Ron a confused look.
"Don't tell me you don't know about the houses!" Ron exclaimed. Freak shook his head slowly.
"Well, it's said that Gryffindors are brave and daring. They value nerve and chivalry too." Ron said thoughtfully, "Hufflepuffs are hardworking, patient and loyal. Ravenclaws are really smart, and Slytherin...Well let's just hope your not in Slytherin." Freak looked confused.
"It's said that not a single witch or wizard that went bad wasn't in Slytherin." Ron said quietly. "You-Know-Who was a Slytherin." Who was You-Know-Who? Ron looked surprised, "Surely you know who You-Know-Who was!" Freak shook his head, feeling stupid.
"He gave you that scar!" Ron exclaimed. "He killed your parents!" Freak's mouth fell open but then closed it, remembering that they weren't talking about him, they were talking about Harry Potter. They went back to silence.
Awhile later Ron chuckled. "You're a quiet one but I like you." He said. Freak felt his heart flutter. Nobody had ever said anything so nice to him. "Want to be friends?" Freak's eyes widened. He had never had a friend before! Well, except the snake he found in the garden once, but Uncle Vernon killed him.
Freak nodded quickly, a grin on his face. He was quite excited but he made himself squash it down a little. He knew that once they found out that he wasn't Harry Potter, they'd send him away. Freak was preparing himself for the disappointment.
Suddenly their door slid open and a bushy haired girl came in. "Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost his." They both shook their heads 'no'. "Hey, you're Harry Potter!" She exclaimed and plopped down on the seat across from him.
"I'm Hermione Granger." She said and then turned to Ron. "And you are?"
"Um. Ron Weasley." Ron said.
"Pleasure." She said a bit sarcastically. "You should get your robes on, I suspect we will be arriving soon." Then she was gone. Ron looked at Freak in confusion, Freak shrugged his shoulders.
When they got off the train, they were greeted by a huge man with shaggy hair and a beard. "First years this way! First years!" They all followed the giant into boats. Harry didn't like the boat, he never learned to swim and after the couple of times Aunt Petunia held his head underwater, he was afraid.
The fear soon vanished when he saw the castle. It was huge and beautiful. Freak blinked and rubbed his eyes, surely it was a dream. He was probably in his cupboard sleeping. But it was a dream he never wanted to wake up from.
Freak was in awe when they entered the castle, there were ghosts and the paintings on the walls moved. Ron grinned excitedly at Freak when a woman stopped them in front of the door.
"I'm Professor McGonagall. If you'll wait here a moment, please." She said, then walked through the doors. They all stopped and the crowd burst into excited talking.
"So it's true then!" A voice said loudly, causing everyone to stop talking. "Harry Potter's come to Hogwarts." Everyone gasped. "I'm Draco Malfoy." Ron snorted.
"Think my name's funny, do you?" Malfoy asked, "No need to ask who you are. Red hair and a hand me down robe, you must be a Weasley." Freak felt a surge of anger, how dare he say mean things about his friend! Freak started listening again. "You don't want to go around making friends with the wrong sort, I can help you there." Malfoy put his hand out and Freak jumped back, eyes wide.
Freak wasn't sure what the blonde boy was doing, he didn't understand why his hand was out like that. Was he going to hit Freak? He didn't get to find out because the stern looking woman came back and tapped Malfoy with a scroll.
Malfoy was red with rage, a look Freak remembered quite well from Uncle Vernon.
"We're ready for you now." McGonagall said, leading them into the room. Freak's mouth dropped open. The room was huge. There were long tables filled with older students and another table with people, who Freak was sure were the teachers.
McGonagall had them stop in front of a wooden stool with a hat on it, Freak looked at it curiously. First the hat started singing, much to Freak's surprise. Then the McGonagall called a name and the person went up, then McGonagall put the hat on the person's head.
After a couple of seconds the hat called, 'Gryffindor!' and the person went to the Gryffindor table. A couple more people got called up and sorted, a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff, before Freak understood that the hat was sorting them. Soon Hermione and Ron were both sorted into Gryffindor and Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin.
Freak shook his head, he didn't want to be sorted into Slytherin, even if it didn't have bad people. Malfoy was there and he had a feeling they wouldn't get along. Somehow, the blond reminded him of Dudley. And while being at school, pretending to be Harry Potter, he didn't want to be reminded of his home life. He knew he was going to have go back and that was bad enough.
Suddenly 'Harry Potter' was called and someone shoved him from behind. Everybody was leaning on their seats waiting, it made Freak uncomfortable. He shuffled over to the stool and sat down, McGonagall placed the hat on his head. The hat murmured in his ear.
"Plenty of courage I see...A thirst to prove yourself...But where to put you?" Harry closed his eyes and wished for anything but Slytherin. "Not Slytherin? Are you sure? It could help you along the way to greatness, no doubt about that. No? Well, better be Gryffindor!"
The Great hall burst into cheers and the hat was taken off. Freak felt something weird, and it made him smile. He walked quickly to the Gryffindor table with the rest and sat down next to Ron. He was uncomfortable within minutes, everybody wanted to touch him and kept sticking their hands out and he didn't know what to do when that happened.
Soon the sorting was done and the Headmaster made his speech, talking about something called the 'Forbidden Forest' and the third floor. When he was done the table filled with a huge amount of delicious looking food. Freak watched as everybody dug in happily. He wished he could have some as well, but he knew he wasn't allowed.
"Why aren't you eating?" Ron asked with a mouthful of food. Freak wrinkled his nose, Aunt Petunia would kill him if he acted like that when he got food.
"Harry?" Ron asked. Freak looked at him. "Why aren't you eating? Aren't you hungry?" Freak knew that lying never got him anywhere, so he nodded his head reluctantly.
"Take some food then, go on!" Ron urged. Freak didn't move so Ron put a lump of mashed potatoes on his plate along with a chicken leg. Freak looked at Ron worriedly, then looked up at the teachers. None of them seemed to notice so he smiled his thanks to Ron, who nodded for him to eat it.
Freak picked up his fork and scooped a bit of potatoes onto it carefully, then slowly put it into his mouth. It hurt, but the taste was so wonderful his mouth started watering for more. It was so much better than any of the food he got at the Dursley's. After another bite he looked up at the teachers to see if any of them were angry with him.
Freak caught the eye of the black haired man from the shopping trip. The man's eyes held such intense loathing that it made Freak's skin prickle. His scar started to ache and he brought his hand up to rub it, looking away from the man.
"So Harry, are you excited to start classes?" Hermione asked him. To be honest, he wasn't. Freak was nervous. He had never been to school before. He had taught himself to read small words and he had taught himself some math, but he couldn't write. Freak guessed that everyone else there knew how to write and read and do maths and everything, it was something that you start learning at a young age. If you're not a Freak that is.
Freak did know a little bit of sign language though. Ms. Fig had a book on it and when she baby sat him, she'd let him learn from it. Ms. Fig knew he couldn't talk, so she helped him communicate to her. He forgot most of it though, because his aunt and uncle stopped letting him go over there a couple of years prior.
"Harry?" Hermione asked, waving her hand in front of his face, "Aren't you excited." Freak shook his head a bit.
"Why not?" She asked, "Learning is great!" Freak stared at her. How could he answer that with body movements?
"He doesn't talk." Ron said for him.
"What? Is he mute?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I don't know." Ron said. They both looked at him. Freak didn't know if he was mute or not, so he shrugged his shoulders.
"Well try to say something!" Hermione urged. Freak's heart was beating quickly, he knew he wasn't supposed to talk. His uncle still hadn't punished him for talking right before they left. But he couldn't ignore a direct order, no matter who made it.
Freak opened his mouth but nothing came out. He was so afraid, he couldn't make any noise come out, let alone words!
"Merlin, I think you are mute!" Ron exclaimed. "Does your family know your mute?"
"Of course they know, Ron!" Hermione said, "How could they not? They live with him!"
"Do you know sign language?" Hermione asked. Freak gave a small smile and signed, "Some."
"I know the basics." Hermione said. "I bet they have a book about it in the library. I'll look tomorrow after classes." Freak was shocked. Had Hermione just offered to help him?
"Thank you." Freak signed. Freak wasn't really mute, but he figured it's best to let them think he is. Besides, its not so scary to sign.
"You're welcome." Hermione said. "Though, I haven't heard of very many mute Wizards or Witches." Freak still smiled, he wasn't a wizard anyway, so it didn't matter.
Soon the feast was over with and they were all led to their dorms. Ron and Freak were by their beds and Ron was changing.
"Well, I'll see you in the morning, Harry." Ron said pulling the curtains around his bed. Freak looked back at the bed. He knew it wasn't for him, he didn't deserve a bed. He shrugged and put his pajamas on, then took some clothes with holes in them and went under the bed. He used the old clothes as a pillow and fell into a deep sleep.