Hello again! Again, some dialogue is taken from the books (such as McGonagall's and Dumbledore's welcome speech and the Sorting Hat's song), but I try to avoid that as much as I can, so… Yeah.
Thanks you cookyc, samsyrra (),CharmedandTwilight31, egyptian1995, BloodyPhantom and lettheloveflow fir the reviews!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. BloodyPhantom owns Jericho and the idea for the story.
Listening to: Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People, I'd Lie – Taylor Swift and Just A Dream – Cover by Sam Tsui & Christina Grimmie
(Just in case you wanted to know some good songs :P)
Standing on the gravel ground, Jericho ignored the loud conversations of the kids around him, walking around a curb with a group of people considerately smaller than him. A large man with wild black hair who, had he heard correctly, was called Hagrid, had sought him out and told him that he would be entering the school with the first years- a standard way of entry for new students. As he had already been in the school for his registration, the boy didn't understand fully why this was necessary, but he decided not to argue.
"Oohhh!" The sound seemed to come from all the first years and Jericho found himself looking up at the breathtaking castle that was Hogwarts.
Not that he would voice his opinion as the eleven year olds did, but Hogwarts really was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. With the sparkling black lake, the high mountain on the other side and the many windows that reflected the starry sky and vast amount turrets and towers, the stone castle truly was a sight to behold. Especially when Jericho compared it to his last school, which had been a medium castle made of black marble, spiked fences, pointed towers and tinted windows, making it look more like a fancy prison than a school.
"No more'n four per boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a line of small boats sitting in the water by the shore.
Jericho stepped into a boat with two girls and a boy, who he later learnt were named Romilda Vane, Astoria Greengrass and Kyle Nudds.
After verifying that everybody was in a boat, the huge man called "Forward!" and all the boats moved as one, gliding across the lake and towards the castle.
The girl in front of him turned around, her brown hair shifting slightly in the wind and said, "Hello. I'm Astoria, Astoria Greengrass. And you are?"
Looking into the girl's light brown eyes, Jericho saw no ill intent, so he answered truthfully, "Jericho Slyder." He had no desire to make too many friends here- he never liked popularity- so he purposely made his answer short, giving no details.
Greengrass nodded and gave him a one-over, raising an eyebrow. "A bit tall for a first year, hmm?"
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid before he could answer. The first boats had reached a cliff and they all bent their heads as the little boats carried them through a curtain of greenery that hid a wide opening in the cliff face.
"I'm starting late. Third year." He replied after they raised their heads again.
The girl nodded again and turned away, looking around.
The boats carried them through a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they stepped out of the boats and onto a floor of rocks and pebbles.
Hagrid checked the boats as people climbed out of them, making sure they were secure. Jericho looked around the shipyard, taking in the dark stone and ropes hanging on the walls.
Hagrid starting walking, knowing the students would follow. They walked through a passageway in the rock, exiting onto damp grass in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a small flight of stone steps and stood around the huge, oak front door, Jericho standing at the back of the group. Hagrid knocked on the door three times and the wooden doors swung open, revealing a tall woman in dark green robes.
"Here 'r the firs' years, Professor McGonagall." The giant said while leading them into the entrance hall. The light colored stone walls were lit with flaming gold torches, the ceiling too high to see, and a beautiful marble staircase leading away from them led to the upper floors.
"Thank you, Hagrid. You may go to your post at the head table; I'll take it from here." The woman- Professor McGonagall- responded.
Hagrid walked away, pushing open the doors to what must have been the Great Hall and walked inside, the doors closing behind him. When the doors were open, many loud voices carried through and Jericho winced slightly, hoping not all meals would be as loud, as his sensitive hearing may not let him survive the year if they were.
The stern looking professor led them into a small room off the hall that was empty besides the people currently inside. Jericho leaned against the wall, not wanting to be too close to the nervous, sweaty first years that needlessly crowded together. He had the urge to sneer, but restrained himself, not wanted to appear snobbish, as he was sure it would cause him to.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall, drawing Jericho out of his thoughts. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.
"Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."
She gave Kyle Nudds, the boy from his boat, a pointed look and Jericho noticed that his black robes had a gummy worm sticking out of the pocket. This time, he couldn't stop a small sneer from finding its way to his face. Idiot.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
After she left, the first years started muttering to each other and Jericho ignored them, losing himself in his thoughts. Again.
He had read about the Hogwart's Houses and was curious about where the famed Sorting Hat would place him. He knew that he wouldn't be in Hufflepuff; he wasn't overly patient and he honestly hated working. He'd rather persuade someone else into doing it for him. That brought him to another house: Slytherin. Jericho was cunning and ambitious, as he had proved multiple times; he could easily see himself in Slytherin.
Ravenclaw was for the intelligent and the witty, which he was a well. The only problem with Raveclaw is that he wasn't a fan of studying. He memorizes things easily and he saw no point to studying things he already knows or that will never come up in real life. As for Gryffindor, he was brave, but Gryffindors were also known for their boldness and Jericho was anything but bold. He was sneaky and liked to fly under the radar; not bold.
"Get ready," said a sharp voice, pulling him out of his thoughts for the Merlin-knows-how-many-th time that day. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
Professor McGonagall had come back and was gazing at them through her spectacles.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."
Jericho pushed himself off the wall and stood at the end of the line, having been told by Dumbledore beforehand that he would be called up after the first years were sorted.
It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting.
McGonagall pushed open the double doors with one long-fingered hand and led them into the Great Hall.
Thousands of candles floated above tables that were covered with shining golden plates and goblets. At the end of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the group forward so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of students looked over the first years and most stopped at him, giving him a look of confusion. Dotted here and there among the students, ghosts shone misty silver. Ignoring the staring, Jericho looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. It was charmed to look like that, according to Hogwarts, a History, which he had read a few weeks before boarding the train, not wanting to know less about the school than the other third years.
He looked down and saw McGonagall place a stool in front of the line of new students and placed a pointed wizard's hat on top of it- the Sorting Hat. Jericho nearly grimaced at the state of the hat. The pictures of it in Hogwarts, a History must have been taken years ago; it looked much cleaner in the book.
The hat twitched slightly and opened up in the middle. Jericho smirked, having read about what was about to happen and knowing how much it would shock the majority of the first years. As he knew it would, the hat started to sing.
"Oh you may not think me pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The first years were mostly shocked and looked at each other incredulously and the rest of the students and the teachers clapped, the loudest coming from the red and gold table. Gryffindors. As Jericho had thought before, they were the boldest.
After the applause settled down, Professor McGonagall stepped forward while holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," She stated. She then unfurled the parchment and read the first name, "Alpore, Christopher!"
A short boy with spiky, sandy blonde hair stepped forward nervously and sat on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on his head and it fell past his eyes. There was a moment's hesitation before it cried, "RAVENCLAW!"
The hat was lifted from the boy head and, looking relived, he walked to the blue and bronze table that was occupied by kids who were clapping politely.
Jericho ignored the rest of the sorting; only paying attention when the three kids from his boat were sorted. Astoria Greengrass was placed into Slytherin, Kyle Nudds went to Hufflepuff and Romilda Vane received cat-calls from some students when she walked sensually to the Gryffindor table. Jericho hadn't even known that an eleven year old could walk sensually.
Instead of paying attention to that, he was looking at the staff table, taking in their appearances and putting names to the faces. He had received- believe it or not- a pamphlet from Hogwarts and knew who was who, but you can never judge someone by a picture. Their appearances in real life gave a much better gist as to how they acted.
He looked for the teachers whom he had classes with along and found them easily. Most looked normal enough, but Professor Snape seemed to exude an air of darkness- not evil, just… dark. Also, Professor Babbling looked rather odd, along with Trelawney. He had decided to take Ancient Runes and Astronomy as his electives, so he supposed that Trelawney's attitude didn't really matter.
After observing the staff, he let his eyes slide to the Gryffindor table, looking for his new friends. Well, he was only on first name basis with one, so he supposed it was friend rather than friends. Looking at the table, he saw Weasley, but Granger and Harry were absent. Thinking about where they could be, he figured that Harry must have gone to the Hospital Wing.
Turning his attention back to the sorting, he realized with a start that the last first year was being sorted and that he was getting even more funny looks than before. The student- Mika Vex- was placed in Ravenclaw, and Dumbledore rose to speak to the school. Jericho stood alone in the middle of the room.
"Hello everyone," Said the Headmaster, his voice echoing through the hall. 'He must have used a wordless version of sonorus.' Jericho thought."As you can see, we have a new student this year that is not in First Year. He is a transfer student, coming to us from experţi academy in Romania. He has yet to be sorted and he will be placed into a House right now." Turning his twinkling blue eyes to Jericho, he said, "Please welcome Jericho Slyder."
There was applause from the hall, most smiling at him. They all seemed quite content with him being here now that they knew why. The Slytherins clapped, but did not smile- unsurprisingly.
Taking Dumbledore's speech as her queue, McGonagall stepped forward and said, "Slyder, Jericho." More from tradition than by need, he figured.
Jericho stepped forward, his head held high, and sat on the wooden stool. He felt the pressure of the hat being placed on his head and straighten slightly.
'Well, well, well, a transfer student!' A voice echoed through his mind. 'Hello Mr. Slyder.'
'Hello Mr. Hat.'
'Oh, and he has a sense of sarcasm! Wonderful! You know, boy, it'd be a lot easier to sort you if you lowered your occlumency shields.'
'Oh… Right.' He lowered the shields in question and let the hat scan his mind. He had studied occlumency and build his shields the previous year, not wanted nosy witches and wizards to know his deepest secrets.
'Oh, a werewolf!' Jericho mentally flinched, not wanted to discuss this. Ever. 'Oh, I don't mean that in a bad way Mr. Slyder, it's just interesting, hmm? That the second werewolf to ever attend Hogwarts starts here the same year that the first is teaching? A great coincidence.'
'Mhm.' The teen mentally hummed his agreement.
'In any case, let us continue with your sorting. I see you've already given it much thought, and I must say I agree with you, though I must add this. Slytherins are well-known for their secrets and you hold more secrets than most Slytherins… That said, I think you know where you belong. I hope you enjoy…' "SLYTHERIN!"
The hat was removed and the green and silver table burst into applause, obviously pleased to have the transfer student. The other houses looked disappointed, but nonetheless, clapped politely. Jericho walked confidently to the Slytherin table. He sat down near the end, hoping that he would be left alone.
Seeing the doors open out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry and Granger walk in and rush to the Gryffindor table. Harry whispered a few things to Weasley and the red-head grimaced slightly before pointing at his table. Harry followed the finger and his eyes locked with Jericho's. The green eye'd boy's face fell slightly before he gave a small smile, to which Jericho responded with a smile of his own.
Dumbledore rose once again and started this year's welcome speech, bringing Jericho and Harry's attention back to him. "Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…"
Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."
He paused, and Jericho could tell that he wasn't happy about this news.
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises — or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and Harry and Ron glanced at each other. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," he said.
Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.
"On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.
"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause.
Only those who had been in the compartment on the train with Professor Lupin clapped hard, Jericho among them. He was thankful that the man was there; if he hadn't, him and those who had been in that compartment would have surely been kissed!
"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."
A humongous applause followed this statement, the loudest from Harry's table and the majority of Slytherin's only clapping halfheartedly. Hagrid was cheerfully red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard.
Once the clapping stopped, Professor Dumbledore started speaking again.
"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"
Food appeared on the tables as soon as Dumbledore sat down and Jericho had to stop himself from jumping. After getting over his initial shock, he smiled and reached for the roast beef, having not eaten on the train.
He had finished the roast beef, along with some fried tomatoes when a blonde boy and a group of Slytherins his age scooted down the table to talk to him.
"Slyder, huh?" Drawled the blonde boy. "I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy." Not giving Jericho time to say anything, he continued. "I've heard of the Slyders; a good, pureblood family, worthy of Slytherin. However, I didn't know the Slyders had a child, let alone a teenager."
Jericho was about to reply when another Slytherin, a girl whose nose resembled that of a pug, interrupted, "They didn't. I was at their Christmas party last year; it was only Mrs. and Mr. Slyder." She said snidely.
Not letting anyone else interrupt again, Jericho stated, "Last year, they didn't have a son. Now, they do. I'm adopted."
"Oh." Malfoy said, slightly surprised. "Purebloods don't usually adopt. Your real parents were purebloods, weren't they?"
"I wouldn't know," Jericho said through gritted teeth, thoroughly annoyed. "I've been in an orphanage since I was a baby."
"Why? Did your parents abandon you? Or did they die? If they abandoned you, it probably means they were muggles because wizards aren't stupid enough to ab-"
Just as Jericho was about to snap the kid's neck, a cool voice interrupted him, "That's not really any of your business, is it Malfoy?" They all turned to see who had spoken and discovered that it was the boy beside Jericho. He was tall, with strawberry blonde hair and wide, hazel eyes. "It's none of your business but his, don't you think?"
Malfoy glared at him and seemed about to retort, but a piercing glare from Jericho shut him up. Instead, he huffed and slid back to his old spot, the others following his example.
Jericho turned back to the tall boy and he responded to the werewolf's questioning look with a shrug. "Ignore Malfoy, he gives of Slytherins a bad name," He said. "Him and his gang. I'm Theodore Nott by the way- call me Theo, Theodore's an old man name."
Jericho felt a grin slip onto his face. Maybe this school would be better than he thought. Hell, it was already better than his last one. After that damn teacher had let slip he was abandoned by his mother… Well, the bullies had a great year at least. He hoped that this year would be easier to get through than his last.
But of course, hope has a way of getting shot in the face, doesn't it?
That was the longest thing I've ever written. O.O 3, 640 words, not including the A/Ns!
Yes, I kept Malfoy a jerk, but Jericho can be friends with Theo! And Luna in a bit! Astoria is going to be his acquaintance, as you might have been able to tell by their interactions on the boat. Go to my profile and vote on if you want Jericho to have more friends in Slytherin and if yes, who.
Review! And Vote!