Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

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Chapter Three

The usual chaos that was associated with Platform 9 ¾ seemed to be even more so this year. Whether it was just the excitement over Hogwarts re-opening or due to the fact that this year there was no fear of an attack, since there was no more Voldemort, but it seemed to fill everyone with positive energy. The students seemed to rush into the scarlet train enthusiastically, saying frantic goodbyes to their parents.

Harry watched as the train began to pull out of the station and settled back in his seat. Damien was already pulling out his notebook, planning all sorts of pranks that had to be done this year, leaving Harry to his thoughts.

They had all arrived early so that they could board the train without much commotion. James and Lily had gone into the teacher compartment, near the front of the train while Harry and Damien had chosen a quiet compartment near the back. Damien informed Harry that this was the usual compartment that he, Ron and Hermione sat in.

Harry's mind was buzzing with thoughts. He had so much to figure out. He had decided to come along to Hogwarts since he figured that Remus was right. It was time he put a little trust in his parents. He knew that he wasn't quite ready to face people such as Albus Dumbledore, since he had still not figured out what he felt about destroying Voldemort. His nightmares were going to be difficult to deal with, especially with four other boys in the room, but Harry figured he could just cast 'Silencio' around his bed. He didn't pay much attention to how all the students might treat him. He wasn't bothered about that. If they ignored him or were wary about him that would suit him fine. If they tried to be too friendly with him, Harry had ways of dealing with that as well. He might be going to Hogwarts of his own choice this year but that didn't mean he was going to change his attitude about certain things. He was still Harry; he could be as mean and as arrogant as he wanted if it kept others away from him.

His train of thoughts was broken as the doors to his compartment opened and three people walked in. Ron, Hermione and Ginny came inside the compartment, huge grins plastered on their faces at the sight of Harry sitting with Damien, ready to attend Hogwarts.

"I still can't believe you're coming to Hogwarts this year. It's wicked!" Ron said sitting down opposite Harry.

Ginny sat down next to Harry, slipping her hand into his as she sat down.

"I think the school agrees with me. You make things so much more interesting!" Ginny whispered with a sly smile.

Harry couldn't help but smile back at her.

The rest of the journey was spent talking amongst themselves. Harry, Damien, Ginny and Ron had a game of exploding snap while Hermione buried herself into her notes. She looked happier than ever as she told them all how much work they were going to have to do this year. Ron just muttered something about her being 'mad' and 'obsessed' before tuning her out.

"It seems your dad's quite excited about teaching." Ginny said after they had finished their third game of exploding snap.

"I know." Damien said with a heavy sigh.

"As if having mum there wasn't bad enough but now I have dad there as well. Do you realise how much harder I'm going to have to work? I can hardly pull any pranks with both my parents there!" Damien continued.

"Do you know, for a minute there, I thought you were talking about actual school work!" Hermione said with a disapproving look on her face.

Damien gave her a mock glare but didn't say anything.

Ron and Hermione had to go into the Prefect compartment to take care of their prefect duties, leaving the other three by themselves. They came back just as the train started to slow down. Everyone got dressed into their school robes. Harry could feel anxiety build in the pit of his stomach. He was going back to Hogwarts! He remembered how different the circumstances had been when he came here last year. He had not ridden the Hogwarts Express, but had flooed to Hogwarts instead. He remembered the conversation he had with Dumbledore in his office. Harry had been so angry with Dumbledore for forcibly bringing him to Hogwarts and then not sorting him but placing him in Gryffindor. He hoped that his first night in Hogwarts was going to be different this year.

xxx

The main doors opened and the flood of students poured in, eager to get out of the cold. Harry was glad that no one had really noticed him so far. Everyone was focusing on getting out of the cold and inside the school.

As Harry walked into the main hall he found the décor to have changed. He looked around and saw that everyone else had noticed as well and were quietly discussing it with each other. It wasn't much that had changed but it was still noticeable. The colour of the walls was much brighter and the curtains looked newer.

"Looks to me like they took advantage of the fire and renovated!" Ginny whispered so only Harry could hear her.

Harry thought the same and let another small smile come to his face. At least he had changed Hogwarts a little bit.

He saw Professor McGonagall approach the grand stairs and watched as her presence caused a hush to fall over the chattering crowd. Her stern eyes roamed around the room until everyone had turned their attention to her.

"Welcome, students of Hogwarts! Please follow me to the Great Hall."

With that, she turned around and marched her way to the Great hall, with the students following her.

"She says the same thing every single year." Damien informed Harry.

It was when the students moved into the brightly lit Great Hall, that they noticed Harry's presence. It had been too dark to notice anyone outside and whilst they were in the Main hall, everyone was too busy noticing the changed décor. Now, however, the students saw that Harry was walking amongst them. Harry was walking alongside with Damien with Ron, Hermione and Ginny around him. As expected, whispering started and the majority of the students stopped in their tracks.

Harry continued walking, acting as if he was oblivious to all the attention he was getting. From the inside, Harry was panicking. He hated attention, especially this kind of attention. He hated people staring at him, whispering about him. He focused on getting to his table and sitting down. He knew this was going to happen, it was inevitable, but it didn't make him like the situation any better. Most of his life he had been hidden away by Voldemort. Only a handful of people knew about him and had met him. It was difficult to deal with so many people focusing their attention on him.

Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table with Damien and his friends sitting around him. The students had taken their respective seats at their tables as well. The whispering didn't stop but seemed to intensify. All the students were looking over at him. Some were craning their necks to look at him but would quickly recover their positions if Harry looked over at them. Harry smiled, knowing that the majority of the students were still terrified of him. As he thought this, however, he saw many students giving him shy smiles and some even waved, albeit hesitantly at him. Harry ignored them.

Harry looked over at the staff table and his eyes met with twinkling midnight blue ones at once. Harry only let his gaze stay with Dumbledore for a moment or two before looking past him. He distracted his attention by looking at the two smiling people sitting next to each other at the staff table. James and Lily gave Harry a small wave and smiled at him. Harry smiled back before looking at the rest of Hogwarts staff. There were no new additions to the staff and with the exception of Snape, everyone else was present.

The doors to the Great Hall opened again and a stream of extremely small and scared looking children came inside. Harry looked over as the doors opened and saw Neville Longbottom, sitting near the end of the Gryffindor table. Harry had not seen or spoken to Neville since the last battle. He had met Frank and Alice, who had personally thanked him for saving Nigel. Neville had come along to Potter Manor but hadn't said anything to Harry. It seemed that most of the students were staring at Neville as well as he had stormed out of the castle the previous year. It seemed he was the focus of attention as well as Harry was. Harry looked away from Neville. He was too tired to deal with him today.

The group of terrified first years gathered near the front of the hall, shaking with nerves. Harry was curious to see the sorting begin; he hadn't seen anyone being sorted before.

The whispering of the students died down as Professor Dumbledore stood up to face them all.

"Welcome to Hogwarts! I have great pleasure in welcoming all of you back to Hogwarts. Before the sorting takes place I have a little announcement."

Harry felt his heart speed up. He could just tell that this 'little announcement' had something to do with him.

"I know it is customary for our first year students to be sorted before anything else happens but I hope that everyone will excuse me for changing the schedule a little. I have to right a wrong." Dumbledore continued.

The hall was eerily silent. For most students it was hard to think of the great Albus Dumbledore to have done anything wrong. They were all staring at him, waiting anxiously to hear what he had done.

"Mr Harry Potter! Please come to the front." Dumbledore's voice rang out in the hall.

Harry felt his heart skip a beat as his name was called. Everyone's eyes fell on him. He was staring at Dumbledore, silently cursing him for doing this. Was it not enough that everyone was already focusing all their attention on him, that Dumbledore had to call Harry to stand in front of the entire school?

Damien, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were all staring at Harry as well, scared expressions on their faces. They weren't afraid of why Harry was being called to the front but more scared of how Harry was going to react. Harry slowly rose out of his seat, never letting his eyes move away from Dumbledore's smiling face.

James and Lily were looking panicky as well and James started to rise out of his seat before Professor Sprout stopped him. Harry walked over to stand before Dumbledore as calmly as he could. He was trying to think of all the things he could have done that would make Dumbledore call him to stand in front of everyone. 'If he mentions Voldemort, I'll kill him!' he thought as his hands curled into fists. Harry thought that maybe Dumbledore was going to make a speech on what had happened in Hogsmeade between Harry and Voldemort. He was not going to be Dumbledore's little pin up hero. He wasn't going to put up with it.

Harry stood before the Headmaster and waited for him to speak. Surprisingly it was Professor McGonagall who spoke to him.

"Please take a seat, Mr Potter." she said as she gestured towards a three legged stool.

Harry was momentarily startled. From all the things he had been expecting, this was not one. He looked up at his equally surprised looking parents before looking at Dumbledore again.

"I believe I owe you a sorting." Dumbledore told him with a smile.

Harry felt all the anger leave him. He couldn't stop the small smile that came to his face. He was going to be sorted! He moved forward to sit on the stool and gracefully sat down. That was when Harry noticed the mass of students staring at him. For a moment there, Harry had almost forgotten that the entire school was watching. At once Harry's face began to heat up. He knew that the sorting hat spoke to you and told you all the reasons why you should be in whichever house, but he didn't know if the only person to hear the hat was yourself or the entire school! He had never asked Draco that.

It was too late to wonder now as Professor McGonagall placed the ragged looking hat onto Harry's head. Harry caught the look on Damien's face. He was looking mortified that Harry was going to be sorted. Harry knew that Damien was scared that Harry would be placed in a different house and then he wouldn't get to be in the same common room as Harry and wouldn't be able to spend time with him. A bored sounding voice filled Harry's head and Harry found himself holding his breath.

"Well, well, well. I see I have the pleasure to sort the great Harry Potter after all." Harry chuckled quietly to himself. It sounded as if the hat was even more upset than he was at not being sorted.

"I think that you know which house you truly belong to. You knew it even last year but you fought against it needlessly. You have plenty of traits, good and bad that would make you suitable for virtually any house. You have plenty of courage but you can be cunning at times and will strive to achieve what you set your mind too. You are intelligent enough but fail to show it at times. Loyalty is another strong point for you and one that will probably be the most tested." The hat continued.

Harry felt his heart constrict painfully at the last words the hat said. His loyalty had been tested and Harry felt that he ultimately failed. He had killed the one he had proclaimed his loyalty to. Harry tried to shake away his guilt. He couldn't deal with that just now.

"Well, I guess the decision is clear. You have two blood lines in you that would make you equally suitable in either house, but I think I will place you in…GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry let out his breath as an ear splitting roar filled the hall. The Gryffindors were cheering loudly with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Damien leading them on more energetically than ever.

Harry was glad that he was in Gryffindor. Aside from everything else, he didn't feel as connected to Slytherin as he did when he was with Voldemort. He was only proud of being the heir to Slytherin because of Voldemort. Now he felt that his Slytherin blood line was just another reminder to what he had lost.

Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Damien was grinning like mad.

"Oh Merlin! I swear, I think I nearly had a heart attack when you sat on that stool! I can't believe you got sorted. Thank God you're still in Gryffindor." Damien told him with a sigh of relief.

Harry couldn't help but grin back at the expressions on his brother and friends faces. He looked back up at the staff table to see Dumbledore looking at him. He raised his goblet and gave him a small nod before drinking. Harry returned the nod and looked away. He felt so much better sitting at the Gryffindor table now, since he wasn't sitting here because he had been told to but because he belonged there.

xxx

Harry walked up the winding staircases and tried to listen to what Ron was saying. He was feeling very tired all of a sudden. His lack of sleep over the last week and the very full dinner he had just had was making it hard to keep his eyes open. His first night at Hogwarts had been very memorable. The first year students had been sorted right after Harry had been sorted. Then Professor Dumbledore had introduced James to the school as their next Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry couldn't help the smile that came as James stood nervously before the students. He didn't look as brave as he was back at Potter Manor. Damien ducked his head in mock shame and shook his head from side to side, causing Ron, Hermione and Ginny to break into fits of silent giggles. Harry was watching his brother closely. He knew that Damien was only pretending to be ashamed. He silently loved the fact that his dad was with him as well as the rest of his family. Last year had been a very tough year for him and he deserved to have all his family with him at last.

Harry wasn't surprised that his room and room-mates were the same as last year. He quickly got changed into his night clothes and crept into bed, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Tired, Harry?" Ron asked with a grin as he settled into bed as well.

"Completely exhausted!" Harry answered.

"Well, get all the rest you can. Tomorrow's going to be hectic. I bet you we get homework for every single class tomorrow." Ron said while stifling a yawn.

"At least Hermione will be happy." Harry answered.

"Yeah, mad isn't she?" Ron said sounding as if he had a big grin on his face.

"Hmm" Harry answered as he rolled over and settled comfortably in his bed.

He had ignored the other two boys in the room. Dean and Seamus got into their beds as well. Neville was nowhere in sight. Harry didn't bother thinking about him. He was too busy reliving his first few hours at Hogwarts. He couldn't believe how different he felt to last year when he had spent his first night at Hogwarts, starving and seething with fury. He had fallen into an uneasy sleep back then. Harry smiled as the memory came back to him. He had acted like such a brat then. He fell into a comfortable sleep before thinking one last thought.

'This year's going to be very different.'

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Yes, this year's going to be very different, Harry just doesn't know how different! (evil laugh) Anyways, please review to let me know what you thought of this chapter. Cheers!