AN: If anyone doesn't like what house I put Harry in...don't hurt me! -runs for her life-
Harley: "Anyone messes with the writer, they'll get a fish upside the head!" -waves around a big fish-
Thanks for the save...where the heck do you keep that thing?
Harley: "...I don't really know..."
Joker: "Hammerspace, look it up!"
-sigh- I need to see a shrink, I'm actually having a conversation with fictional characters...also, sorry for the wait! BTW, I'm looking for suggestions to alternate book/title names, if you got one let me know. :)


"RAVENCLAW!" the Sorting Hat announced, causing the table to Harry's right, decorated with blue and bronze, to burst into applause and motion Harry over to them.

Harry took off the Hat and handed it back to Professor McGonagall before making his way over to the table, Jin at his heels.

"Miss me?" Harry joked, sitting with Hermione and Luna as Jin sidled next to him. He fixed his pet with a fierce gaze and ordered, "Don't jump on the table; we don't want a repeat of what happened at Thanksgiving Dinner."

"What happened then?" Hermione asked.

"You really don't wanna know," Harry responded, a grimace crossing his face. He turned his attention to the last people being sorted, noticing that it was Ron's turn. 'Wonder where he's going to end up.'

"GRYFFINDOR!"

'Not surprising.' Harry thought as he watched Ron being welcomed by Percy and be pestered by Fred and George.

After the last student was sorted, McGonagall rolled up the scroll and took the Sorting Hat away; idle chatter started up as she put the hat away somewhere and returned to the table.

When McGonagall sat down, Dumbledore stood up and was beaming at the students, his arms open wide; as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome!" he spoke, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

"Is he insane?" Harry asked to no one in particular as everyone clapped and cheered.

"Insane?" an older year spoke, "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he's a bit mad, yes. Want some potatoes?"

Harry noticed the spread of food suddenly around him, "Holy Hermes! Where'd this come from?!"

"The kitchens, of course," Luna answered, grabbing some Yorkshire pudding.

"Okay…" Harry remarked when Jin suddenly tried to jump onto the table to get some food. He grabbed his pet by the collar and yanked him away, growling in warning, "We don't jump on tables."

"I've never—" someone started.

"We're bonded, and pass that along will you? I'm tired of having to explain it over and over," Harry interrupted, "Oh, and pass the chicken."

"What does he like to eat?" an older student asked.

"Mainly raw meat or whatever I don't want to eat," Harry answered before noting that several of the teachers were handing coins to a diminutive man, "What're they doing?"

"My guess, Professor Flitwick won a bet," a student said before introducing herself, "Penelope Clearwater."

"What kind of bet?" Harry inquired.

"Most likely the Professors bet on what house you'd end up in," Penelope remarked, "I'm guessing the odds were in favor for you getting in Gryffindor, which is why McGonagall looks a bit disappointed."

"Why'd the odds be for Gryffindor?" Harry responded, half-guessing what the answer could be while starting on some chicken and giving a Jin a piece.

"Both your parents were in that house," someone else answered.

"I may be their son, but I'm not them," Harry retorted, finishing his piece and popping a cherry tomato into his mouth, "I'll be in whatever house is good for me, not one somebody else wants me in."

"That's smart thinking," someone commented.

"Why else do you think the hat put me here?" Harry joked.

"You have a point," a girl sitting across from him answered, "Cho Chang by the way."

"By the way, who's the guy with the big nose and greasy hair?" Harry asked, recognizing the man as one of the two that tried to kidnap him years ago and not liking the glare he was receiving.

"That's Professor Snape, he teaches Potions," an older student answered, "But everyone knows that he'd rather have Quirrell's job, that's him with the turban, Defense Against the Dark Arts. He knows an awful lot about Dark Arts, Snape."

"But why is he glaring at me…I can think of one reason, but that wouldn't be enough for that level of glare," Harry retorted.

"Snape doesn't like any other house other than his own, Slytherin," Penelope answered, "But maybe there's another reason…"

Harry looked back to Snape, sticking out his tongue to annoy the man before turning his attention to Quirrell and immediately got a bad vibe off him, and that was before a sharp, hot pain shot across his scar. "Ow!"

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, looking worried.

"It's nothing," Harry remarked as Jin licked at the scar in comfort, causing him to smile at the soothing gesture before giving Jin another piece of meat and scratching his ears, "I guess since mum or anyone else is here, you'll have to be the person to cheer me up."

"You'll at least be remembered for having an unusual pet," a ghost spoke.

Harry looked up to see a female ghost floating near him, Jin attempted to sniff her but let out a confused sound.

"I think I'll be remembered for being the Boy-Who-Lived or, my own spin on it, the Boy-Who-Didn't-Die!" Harry responded before asking, "What're you called, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Just call me the Grey Lady," the ghost answered, looking a bit wistfully at the food.

"You can't eat?" Harry asked, noting the look.

"No, haven't been able to since I died," the Grey Lady sighed.

"How'd you die?" Harry pressed.

"Harry," Hermione scolded, "That's rude."

"I'm known for being very blunt, 'Mione," Harry retorted.

The Grey Lady laughed, "It's been a while since anyone asked me that, but I simply made a very big mistake." She glanced towards the Slytherin table, mainly at its own ghost the Bloody Baron.

"He have anything to do with it?" Harry asked, noting her gaze.

"Uh…well…" the Grey Lady stammered.

"I didn't know a ghost could blush!" Harry laughed, seeing that her cheeks had become a lighter shade.

Eventually the main dishes faded away from the plates to be replaced by a multitude of desserts, though Harry could only identify a few of them; after a moment he decided to either Hermione or Luna what was what before trying anything, making faces at some of the odd names he heard.

Once the desserts were gone too, Dumbledore rose to his feet and the hall fell silent. As he began to speak Harry tuned him out, starting to feel a bit sleepy from all the food until something caught his attention. "…the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

"Makes you wonder what's hidden up there," Harry remarked, drawing a few looks.

"Don't even think about going up to find out," Hermione warned.

"Sorry about that, thing of habit, but I sorta remembered something my Aunt Selina always said 'If it's worth protecting it's…really valuable…'," Harry responded, at the last minute changing what the phrase actually was to not draw more suspicion to himself. 'Note to self, don't mention that the phrase is supposed to end 'it's worth stealing'.'

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore.

Harry noticed that the smiles on the teachers became oddly fixed and heard the groans of the other students around him, "Is it that bad?"

"You have no idea," Penelope answered, head in her hands.

"How bad can it be?" Hermione responded.

A minute or so later, the song was over with Fred and George finishing at the pace of a funeral march.

"God that sucked," Harry muttered before turning to Jin, "and I can't believe you sang along with it."

"I thought it was interesting, especially with Jin joining in," Luna spoke causing people to stare at her in disbelief as everyone started to exit the hall.

"And I thought I was odd," Harry joked as he followed the rest of the group.

"Our dorm is located on the west side of the school," the prefect instructed to the first years while most of the older years went on ahead, "If you get lost just ask another student, a teacher, or the ghosts and paintings to point you in the right direction, but not Peeves."

"Who's that?" a girl next to Harry asked.

The question was quickly answered by the poltergeist himself when he slammed a wastebasket onto the head of the prefect, yelling, "Hello ickle Firsties!" At the back of the group, Harry laughed at the sight, drawing Peeves' attention to him. "A Firstie that understands my humor!"

"I just like seeing people get hurt," Harry remarked with a grin, "You want funny, let me show you what I know."

"Leave, Peeves, or I'll get the Bloody Baron!" the prefect remarked after yanking the wastebasket off.

Peeves responded by blowing a raspberry and floating off.

"Well, that was amusing," Harry commented, drawing odd looks from the older years that had stayed with the group, "What?"

"Peeves doesn't like anyone," Penelope answered.

"My family says I can be very charming," Harry responded.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted, asking Peeves for directions will only make your situation worse," the prefect spoke, pulling out bits of trash stuck in his hair.

After composing himself somewhat, the prefect continued to lead the way, warning that the staircases tended to move and some had trick steps that you had to jump over. Eventually the journey ended up in front of door with a bronze, eagle-shaped doorknocker.

"Unlike the other houses, which use passwords, our common room opens via the answering of a riddle," the prefect spoke, causing Harry to grin.

"What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?" the door knocker asked.

"Man," Harry spoke without hesitation, drawing a few looks when the door did open, he simply met the stares with a dismissive shrug, "I've heard harder ones from my uncle."

"Like what?" Hermione asked.

"Um…what's worse than being dead?" Harry responded off the top of his head.

"That's an interesting one," Luna spoke, "Is there more than one answer?"

"I guess; my Uncle said one of them was 'being forgotten' but he's a bit odd like that…even compared to the rest of my family," Harry answered before taking a better look at the common room, briefly glancing over the shelves of books and noting the very relaxing atmosphere. 'If it were a bit more chaotic in here, I'd be reminded of one of Uncle Riddles' hideouts.'

"Boy's rooms are through here, the girl's are through this one," the prefect spoke directing the way.

"Who's the statue of?" Harry asked as people either made their way up to the dorms or hung around in the common room catching up with their friends. For some reason, he was drawn to the white-marble statue of a woman wearing a sort of crown.

"That's one the founders of Hogwarts, Rowena Ravenclaw," the Grey Lady spoke, "Her motto was 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure'."

Harry glanced at the ghost and back to the statue several times, "You two look kinda similar."

The Grey Lady was quiet for a moment before whispering, "She was my mother…"

"Why're you hanging around here then?" Harry asked.

"Like I said, I made a mistake…" the Grey Lady answered before floating away.

"Your family is right, you are very charming," Luna teased before making her way up the girls' side.

"Being too charming will get you into trouble, though," Hermione advised, picking up on what Luna had said.

"Someone has to make sure I don't do anything incredibly stupid…but that never really works anyways," Harry laughed as he headed up to his dorm room. Entering the room Harry noted that his trunk was already there and Jin had taken to lying down on his bed already. The animal picked up his head and stared at his owner for a moment before yawning widely and settling back down, causing Harry to grin at the uneasy looks the simple action caused among his dorm mates.

Harry changed into some pajamas quickly and hopped into bed, nudging Jin to lay closer to the headboard so as to have more room.

"Word of warning guys, knock before you try to wake me," Harry informed with a smirk as he closed the curtains around him.

The other boys in the room glanced at each other warily.

"Do you think he was joking?"

"Hard to tell…"

After making sure the curtains were secured tightly around the bed, Harry laid back and pulled out a small mirror, glad that Remus had found another way to communicate with home, "Mum, dad, anyone there?"

"Harry, how are you?" Harley yelled, causing Harry to wince.

"Keep it down, mum," Harry responded with a smile, "I'm doing fine so far, I've made a few new friends already."

"That's great!" Harley beamed.

"Why are you talking to a mirror?" Joker's voice spoke somewhere over Harley's shoulder.

"I'm talking to Harry," Harley retorted.

Harry chuckled when Harley suddenly disappeared and his father showed up, "Hi there, dad."

"How ya doing, kiddo?" Joker asked.

"Fine, I've met a couple of the schools resident pranksters," Harry responded, a wide grin crossing his face, "I think I can teach them a few tricks of my own, cause a little chaos here."

"That's my boy!" Joker beamed before he was pushed out of the way by Harley.

"So, everything's good, no problems?" Harley inquired.

"I'm fine, like I said, but can you send me some special hair dye? I need a bit of a change," Harry responded with a scheming tone.

"…meaning what exactly?" Harley responded.

"He wants to blow something up!" Joker's voice answered.

"Wait at least a week before you do that," Remus' exasperated voice spoke, "By the way, what house you'd get into?"

"I'm a Raven," Harry responded, "And at least send some bottles with some stuff in them so I can keep up the lie that I dye my hair."

"Why'd you want to lie about that?" Harley inquired.

"It's a rare ability, remember? I think it's better to keep something like that to myself at least," Harry reasoned.

"That sort of thinking is why you're in Ravenclaw," Remus spoke, "Though I had hoped you'd have been in Gryffindor…"

"I'm my own person, remember that," Harry retorted.

They talked for a little while longer before Harry bid goodnight and stowed away the mirror in a safe place; he laid back and had a gentle grip on Jin's fur as he drifted off into dreams of multicolored explosions.