Chapter 6 Better be...?
As soon as the boats docked Damian jumped out, keen to find Hugo and Lily and desperate to get as far away from Costello as possible.
"Wait here for the moment, Garrow's going to be out in a minute to bring all of yer in," Hagrid bellowed out.
Damian felt sick to the pit of his stomach. He just couldn't believe it could possibly be real. Costello couldn't have followed him to Hogwarts.
"Dude you look like a ghost." Recognising Hugo's voice Damian turned round to see him and Lily standing beside him.
"Seasick?" suggested Lily.
"What's your worst nightmare," asked Damian.
"Spiders," said Hugo immediately, shuddering at the thought of them.
"Umm all the teachers constantly talking about Dad in lessons, no wait, the teachers mistaking me for Mum," said Lily.
"That's a rubbish nightmare, at least mine's an actual thing," said Hugo.
"Oh shut up Hugo, being scared of spiders is nothing to be proud of," snapped Lily.
"Well anyway," said Damian interrupting his bickering friends "my worst nightmare's called John Costello and he's managed to follow me all the way from Hawkesbury Upton." He turned to point to Costello who had already managed to find himself five admirers who were spread around him in a circle listening intently to whatever he was telling them.
"Well I already don't like him," said Hugo.
"What, why not?" said Damian surprised.
"Meh, I trust your judgement," said Hugo shrugging.
"Yep, definitely looks like a complete jackass to me," said Lily nodding her head in agreement.
Damian felt real gratitude towards his new friends but was stopped from discussing it any further when the large oak doors to the castle swung opened with a bang. A small dark haired man appeared from behind the door, he took a moment to look over everyone before stepping forward to address the students.
"First Years, you have arrived at Hogwarts." Whilst he lacked height he did not lack authority for as soon as he started speaking everybody fell silent. "I am deputy headmaster Garrow and I am to escort you to the main Hall for sorting." It looked to Damian as though this was not a task he relished. "Follow me, there will be no need to speak."
Marching silently behind the professor the first years made their way into the main hall. When they finally got inside the building the first thing Damian noticed was the rest of the school. There were four long tables filled with students each presumably one of the houses and in front of them was the teachers table. Damian felt rather uncomfortable as all eyes in the hall turned to the first years, it was almost as though they were being put on show for the rest of the school.
As Damian looked further around the Great Hall he gasped in astonishment. As magical as Hogwarts had seemed from the outside it was even more wondrous on the inside. Floating candles and torches lit the whole room whilst ghosts floated serenely around it. Looking up Damian realised the hall's ceiling had been enchanted to look like the night sky at its most perfect.
"What are you staring at, anyone would think you'd never seen a ghost before," said Lily winking at him.
Garrow brought the group to a halt next to the teachers table "You will now be sorted into your houses, you will be in your chosen houses for the duration of your time in Hogwarts, however long or short that time maybe. To be sorted you will place the sorting hat on your head, when it has made its decision you will then join your new house and sit quietly with them until the sorting is over."
Even Professor Garrow's monotone voice could not force Damian to contain the excitement and nerves he was feeling. As his heart started to beat faster Damian felt his hands begin to clam up. Looking around him his fellow First Years didn't look too confident either. Many of them were staring at their feet and one particularly pale looking boy looked as though he might throw up.
"We will begin with George Bishop," said Garrow still looking as though he didn't want to be there.
A fair haired boy made his way nervously up to the sorting hat. His legs were shaking so much Damian wondered if he would actually make it to the hat upright. The boy did make it though and sitting straight down he placed the hat on his head which after thirty seconds bellowed out "HUFFLEPUFF" The boy looking relieved his ordeal was over quickly, scampered over to the Hufflepuff table who all cheered enthusiastically at his arrival.
After watching another nervous student get sorted into Ravenclaw without too many difficulties Damian began to think that maybe the whole thing wouldn't be too bad, although he wished they weren't being sorted alphabetically as he could have done with some more time to prepare.
"John Costello," said Garrow.
John Costello confidently strolled up to the sorting hat and placed it on his head. Damian had almost forgotten Costello, distracted by his nerves and new surroundings. He wondered if maybe there would still be a chance to avoid his nightmare. After a similar time period to the fair haired boy the hat shouted out "SLYTHERIN" John Costello looked neither pleased nor displeased with this but nodded acceptingly and walked smartly over to the cheering Slytherins.
As soon as the Slytherins had quietened down Blaine Durnell's name was called and he was promptly put in Gryffindor. Damian knew he must be up soon, his heart was racing and sure enough...
"Damian Dursley."
Time seemed to move slowly for Damian as he made his way to the hat, concentrating with all his might not to fall over. The hat was so big that once it was on his head he realised to his relief that he could no longer see all the watching students.
"Well Damian Dursley where shall I put you," said a small voice in his head "Difficult, very difficult."
Brilliant thought Damian even the hat doesn't know where I can go, I'm not going to be able to fit in anywhere.
"Oh you're a worrier alright," said the hat "but where to put you that's the question. Let's see, you're loyal, very loyal but with just a trace of arrogance. Yes, more ambitious than you realise and not without intelligence either. Hmm but yes I think I know where I'll put you, better be GRYFFINDOR."
Damian clenched his fist in celebration. He'd made it, he'd actually been sorted into a house and best of all it had been Gryffindor. He'd never voiced his thoughts but he knew deep down he'd wanted to go to Gryffindor. After reading about his Uncle and the brave Gryffindors it had always seemed like the best house to Damian. He walked over to the table with a huge smile on his face although he received a rather mute reception from the Gryffindors. James and Fred though soon made up for it with a huge whoop and even found it necessary to stand up to give him a hug and ruffle his hair. Damian suspected this had more to do with their desire to show off than any genuine affection they had for him.
"Yes Damian son, I always knew you had it in you."
" CONTOL YOURSELVES, SIT BACK DOWN AT ONCE." Garrow bellowed out at them.
Damian couldn't stop grinning; he'd made it to Hogwarts, he'd been sorted away from Costello, everything was going to be fine. Now he just had to keep his fingers crossed Hugo and Lily would be joining him.
He waited patiently joining in the cheers as several others were sorted into Gryffindor although it was with some reluctance that he clapped Tina and Tanya Raeburn's arrival at the Gryffindor table. At last Lily's name was called out. Upon hearing her name there were a few murmurs and looks exchanged, Damian assumed this was another example of his Uncles fame. As she went up to the hat James Potter shouted out to her "Go on Lily do the business, bring it home."
Rolling her eyes Lily strolled confidently up to the Hat and flipped it extravagantly on to her head. No sooner had the hat touched her than almost immediately there was a call of "GRYFFINDOR."
Well one down one to go thought Damian, smiling at Lily as she joined him on the table, now they just had to wait for Hugo.
It didn't take too long until Hugo's name was also called. He walked up to the chair looking just as nervous as Damian had been. Looking round Damian saw a pretty red head on the Ravenclaw table who he guessed was Hugo's sister giving him the thumbs up sign. Hugo though didn't seem to notice, he was muttering intently to himself as he put the hat on seemingly only focused on the job in hand. Hugo was on the chair by far the longest of any of the students and after a few minutes had passed Damian exchanged an anxious glance with Lily. But they didn't have to worry for only a second later the sorting hat's lengthy consultation with Hugo was over when it shouted out "GRYFFINDOR." looking relieved Hugo jumped down from the chair and he ran over to join their table, leaving only Christina Yang to be put in Ravenclaw and the sorting was over.
It had been a long day for Damian and he was starting to feel hungry. He tried to look away innocently as his stomach rumbled loudly causing several faces on the table to be turned looking for the culprit. He hoped food would at some point be provided but looking down the long polished table he could see no sign of any. He was distracted from his food worries by the sight of the headmistress arising from her position at the centre of the staff table. It had been Ginny who had first mentioned the Headmistress to him when they had been in Diagon Alley. Apparently she had only been in the post a few years and had been a bit of an outside candidate for the post not having previously taught at the school. Looking up at her she had a very grandmotherly look to her and her wrinkles and old fashioned glasses showed she had lived a long life. Yet her spiky grey hair and the glint in her eye gave her an edge that impressed Damian.
"Welcome one and all to Hogwarts. To those I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting, my name is Professor Maddock. As Headmistress I have the honour of being responsible for you and your education whilst you are at my school. The years I spent as a student in this castle were some of the best of my life and I hope yours will be to, I urge all of you to make the most your time here. Now to some notices. Firstly let me introduce a new member of staff to you, Professor Stirling will be taking your Defence against Dark Arts classes." She indicated with a wave of her hand a middle aged man seated at the far left of the teachers table who gave a curt nod at the introduction.
"We wish Professor Stirling the best of luck in his new position. Now, your caretaker Mr. Ackart apologises for his absence but wishes to make all aware that the full list of school rules are pinned to his notice board. He would also like to make all new students aware that he will ensure anyone breaking these rules will be appropriately punished." Maddock's grey eyebrows appeared to lift slightly as she said this. "Well, I have spoken for quite long enough, enjoy the feast," she finished before clapping her hands and immediately the tables were filled more plates and bowls than Damian had ever seen before.
He excitedly eyed the food around him. His previous experience with wizard food had not left him totally convinced of its merits but he had to admit what was in front of him looked very impressive. His rumbling stomach would certainly be grateful for it so he dived in.
Ten minutes later after finishing off the last of his Pumpkin Pie Damian turned his attention to his fellow Gryffindors. Failing to get any conversation out of Blaine Durnell other than his name he began to speak with Chris Fairbanks and Amorette Marsh. However, despite his attempts not to be too judgemental he couldn't help but find them both quite annoying. Looking further down the table it appeared Lily and Hugo weren't getting on any better. Tanya Raeburn was staring coldly at both of them, daggers in her eyes. Glad he was safely away Damian turned to ask Chris what he knew of the teachers.
"Ah yes you're been brought up a muggle so you won't know anything about them, god that must be lame." Trying to ignore the fact that Chris had used 'lame' in a sentence Damian let him continue. "Well let's see, Flitwick the charms professor's been here the longest he's the tiny one next to the Maddock."
Taking a look at the teachers table Damian realised Flitwick was indeed tiny, even the miniscule Lily would have to be careful not to step on him. "What's Maddock meant to be like, I heard there was a bit of opposition to her getting the job," asked Damian.
"I heard she's bonkers," chimed in Ammorette.
Damian felt she was in no position to comment.
"Nah if you want bonkers my brother said Hollis the potions teacher's properly mental. Maddock's a little weird and apparently she's not exactly the greatest head teacher in the world but she's still got quite a lot of respect in the magical community. Anyway there wasn't really a lot of choice. Flitwick was offered the job but he turned it down, said he too old. In fact the only other person to apply for the job was Garrow.
"The one who brought us in?"
"Yeah the really miserable one. Head of Slytherin house and Transfiguration. No one really knows why he didn't get the job, maybe they thought he'd depress us all too much," added Chris, who had a seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of the history and personality of all the teachers in Hogwarts as well as most of the celebrities in the magical world.
"What about that new teacher?" asked Damian, feeling he may as well take this chance to get all the information about Hogwarts he could from Chris.
"Sterling the new Defence against Dark arts teacher," said Chris. "He's a journalist. Not sure why he's here really to be honest. There's so many people trying to become Aurors at the moment I thought they'd get one of them to do it. There was even a rumour Harry Potter himself was going to teach some classes."
Damian was fairly certain Lily would have ensured this a scenario that was never likely to happen whilst she was at the school.
By the time Maddock had called an end to the feast Damian felt more informed on life at the school and looking down uneasily at his waist he felt he was probably a bit fatter too.
"Right, First Years follow us please."
The shrill voice had been emitted from one of the older girls who on her crisp robes had a sparkly badge with a large P on.
"Damian how'd you like to take a more exciting route to the common room," said James appearing over his shoulder and grinning down wickedly at Damian.
Damian was considering the merits of this when Lily got up to join them. "No thank you, I don't fancy being led into the dungeons or into a sinking step on my first night."
"Lily where's your sense of adventure," said Fred also joining them.
"I'm quite happy to have an adventure as long as neither you or my brother are anywhere near it," said Lily.
"Suit yourself." said James as he and Fred wandered off in a completely different direction to the rest of the Gryffindors.
"Do they really know a different way," asked Damian.
"Yeah they probably do," admitted Lily "learning secret passageways appears to be one of their few skills in life."
Feeling mildly disappointed he'd missed out on a chance to learn a secret passageway on his first night at school Damian turned to follow the rest of his Gryffindors after the high pitched girl. After several flights of steps they were confronted with a portrait blocking their way into the common room.
"This is the fat lady," said the girl, pointing to the portrait behind her. "Any time you wish to enter the common room you must give her the week's password. This week's password is Dumbledore's army. I suggest you do not forget it."
Damian was struck once again by how difficult wizards liked to make things for themselves. If it wasn't remembering passwords, it was staircases that moved without telling you or steps that you could sink in.
Following the other Gryffindors through a portrait of a lady even fatter than he was, Damian found himself in the Common room. It didn't have any particularly impressive features but it did give Damian a rather comfortable homely feeling about it. After separating from the girls, Damian and Hugo made their way to the boys Dormitories. A quick introduction to the slightly posh Edwin Renick and Damian jumped straight into bed. Despite spending nearly the entire day sitting day down Damian felt immensely tired. As his head went down on the pillow Damian thought of all he had encountered so far that day and of the wonderful possibilities that lay ahead.
Okay so Gryffindor's not the most original choice in the world but it was just where the characters seemed to fit.
Also appologies for the lack of a sorting song. Due to irreparable damage the hat recieved during the war it can now no longer sing and is currently only capable of sorting students...or my attempts to write a song really sucked.