I'm soooo sorry for getting this chapter out late! (Ducks flying objects) I'm really, really, really, really sorry! My pace is slowing down, so the next chapter might take a while too.
How long will Harry be staying in the past?
Maybe a couple months…four or five…Chapter-wise, I have no idea.
Is Draco going to get Gryffindor's memories soon? And will he be sent back in time or how else would they communicate? Are there going to be reincarnations of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw as well? Will Harry and Draco still remain friends despite the fact that their former personal ended up hating each other? What will happen with Snape? Will people ever find out about Harry being Sal and Draco being Griff?
Draco will be getting Gryffindor's memories soon-ish, but he won't be going back in time. He'll have to wait until Harry gets back to his own time. Helga and Rowena have reincarnations in Harry's time as well. The rest you have to wait to find out.
Wouldn't the wards attack him (Harry/Sal) anyways? What difference would the time jump make? They'd still exist, wouldn't they?
Yes, the wards should have attacked him, but, as I explained in this chapter, the overflow of magic from the castle overbalanced the wards, so they couldn't have attacked him. The more important non-animated ones have a sort of backup, but the rest of the wards won't come up until the magic gets back into balance, which is when Harry can go back to his time. Get it?
Wouldn't Snape remember what Harry looked like in the future and connect it to Evan?
Don't worry, Harry has thought of this and will fix the problem before he gets back to his own time.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
:Mindspeech:
-Parseltongue-
Chapter Eight: The Sorting
The rest of the day was spent lazing around in bed, watching the considerable number of victims of potions accidents coming in and guessing their causes (The potions teacher must be appalling, Harry thought disgustedly, to let that many accidents happen). Madam Pomfrey didn't pay much attention to him as he didn't need any healing and she had her hands full all day. She did, however, give him a couple of pairs of robes to wear, although they were a bit long.
Finally, the sun set and the hospital wing grew quiet. Harry stared off into space, his eyes unfocused as he tried to figure out exactly how an overbalance in power could have knocked him into a different time and how he would get back to his own. He had spent much of the day pondering different things, like that morning, when he had suddenly noticed that he hadn't seen the wards since the night before and had eventually concluded that the overflow of magic from the castle overbalanced them.
The non-animated wards had a power source that acted as an anchor, so they quickly came back up, though the animated ones, which were made of magic and had no power source, wouldn't come back up until the magic got back into balance. Well, at least that was how Harry figured it. It was rather confusing, as all magical theory was just that, theory, and nobody was exactly sure how magic worked.
If he used the same theory, that the magic had overflowed and was out of balance, than it could be that Harry would be sent back home when the magic rebalanced itself, which it would do naturally in time. His theory about that was that the magic had…well, there really was no words for it, but rather similar to a whirlpool.
The water, in this case magic, was pulled towards the bottom by the imbalance, into the spiral, and down, down, down to the bottom. Assuming that the 'whirlpool' was the imbalance in magic, the whirlpool would stop by itself eventually, when the magic rebalanced itself. It wasn't a perfect comparison as there wasn't even a cycle, rather the whirlpool was pinning him down at the bottom, but he couldn't think of anything better. That meant that when the magic rebalanced itself, which could take any anything from a couple of hours and a couple of years, the wards would come back, though that didn't matter, as he probably wouldn't be there when they recovered.
Harry also had another theory, that if he stayed in the past, the magic would stretch like a rubber band and eventually fling him back to his own time and a little beyond. He tended towards the first idea more though, as it made more sense given some of the other, more well know magical theorems.
Harry was considering exactly how the magic had managed to bring him back in time when there was a knock on the door of the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey came through a door outside Harry's line of vision and opened it, letting a woman inside. Harry set aside his musings, not that he had been getting that deep into them, to watch.
He quickly identified the woman as a twenty-years-younger Professor McGonagall. She wasn't that different, Harry decided after a minute of careful studying, she just looked…well, younger. Her hair was pulled back into the severe bun that he recognized from his own time, although the colour was far richer and the hair thicker. She wore the same glasses perched on the end of her nose but her face was almost free of the lines that adorned the McGonagall that he was familiar with; he didn't know if they were due to age, stress or a combination of the two. The Professor talked to the nurse for a few more minutes before making her way over to Harry's bed.
"You must be Mr. Harrison," She said, her voice the same stern one that she would use twenty years later, "My name is Minerva McGonagall and I will be your transfiguration professor; I hold this position in addition to being the Head of Gryffindor House." Of course Dumbledore would introduce the poor, traumatized new kid to the Gryffindor Head of House right before the sorting. How typical.
"Hello Professor McGonagall," Harry said politely.
"Professor Dumbledore sent me to bring you to the Great Hall for your sorting. Follow me," she said, walking off. Harry followed her, staring around at everything around him as if he had never seen any of it. They arrived at the Great Hall rather quickly, despite Harry's constant dawdling, and Professor McGonagall led him inside.
The sorting hat was set up as it was at the beginning of every year, though it didn't sing. Harry supposed that it only sang once a year or something; he didn't really care about the enchantments on the old hat.
"You are to put the hat on your head and it will sort you into one of the four houses," Professor McGonagall said before walking over to the staff table and sitting down in her usual seat to the left of the aged Headmaster. Harry pretended to look nervous as he walked over to the stool and sat down, placing the hat on top of his head. He could feel the object prodding at his Occlumency walls and let them down, careful that only the hat was given entrance.
:Hello: Harry said, grinning as he felt the hat's surprise. It opened its mouth to shout, but he cut in before it could :I wouldn't do that if I were you.:
Harry could feel the hat's hesitation before it asked,
:Why not:
:Founder's privilege, I'm afraid: Harry said::we're allowed to punish you fairly if you give away private information about someone in our house. As I'm Salazar Slytherin, which makes me automatically a Slytherin, if you say something I can punish you as I see fit. I've already got a lovely situation in mind involving fire and a sharp pair of scissors…And I already have reason to believe that you gave away private information about a Slytherin; a certain Tom Marvolo Riddle. How did the headmaster know that he was the heir of Slytherin:
Not that he was. The wards had chosen his mother but that didn't mean that he had Salazar's blood running through his veins. Riddle's mother had passed on Parseltongue to him but, as his relation to the Slytherin family was almost nonexistent, it would have completely died out within the next few generations.
:You're bluffing: the hat yelled, panicked::Godric removed you from all of the wards:
:You think that he could have removed me from every single ward: Harry asked, amused::Do you know how many there were? Do you think that he would waste his energy removing something as trivial as the right to punish you over the right to control parts of the castle? Not that he could: he added as an afterthought.
:I…But…: The hat seemed to be lost for words::You…:
:You can sort me now: Harry thought smugly.
The hat didn't bother to even pretend to do his usual routine of looking at his mind: You're cunning of course, that was your trademark, and intelligent. There's a great deal of talent here, and a…surprising loyalty towards your friends. And my, do you have bravery…wherever did that come from:
Harry scowled,
:That's my business, thank you very much.: The hat seemed about to say something snappish, but wisely kept its mouth (or mind) shut, remembering the earlier threat.
:Well then, better be…: the hat thought, finishing out loud, "SLYTHERIN-GRYFFINDOR."
There was a ringing silence for a few seconds before whispers sprang up around the hall like hundreds of snakes. Harry took the hat off and looked inquiringly at the headmaster. That seemed to snap the headmaster out of his shock and he stood up.
"Mr. Harrison, please meet me in my office at the end of dinner. In the meantime, you may sit at the Gryffindor table," Dumbledore said and the whispers stopped again, though a couple continued to pop up all over the hall.
Harry just shrugged and made his way over to the Gryffindor table. They all eyed him distrustfully and scooted together, so that the only empty space was at the end of the table. Harry really didn't care, so he sat down and served himself some food. The whole hall watched him eat a few bites before the whispers all sprang back again.
Soon, a couple people gathered up the courage to talk out loud and the Great Hall was filled with noise again. Harry hated that everyone was talking about him and hated the fact that everyone was watching him. Hundreds of pairs of watching eyes drilled into his back and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
Harry closed his eyes, calming his nerves before opening them again. He ignored the stares, picking at his food and studying the people at the different tables. Snape was at the Slytherin table, of course, sitting at the end, apart from everyone else, which marked him as an outcast from his own house, much as it looked like Harry himself would be.
Harry sighed, the wards were not flawless and there were occasionally outcasts from Slytherin, although they were rare. In the middle of the table sat Lucius Malfoy (Harry was disappointed to note that he hadn't graduated yet), surrounded by many familiar faces: Narcissa and Bellatrix Black (his eyes hardened and he quickly looked away to stop himself from glaring), Crabbe and Goyle, and a couple of other people who looked vaguely familiar.
He didn't really recognize anyone at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables; a couple looked familiar, but he didn't know any of them. The Gryffindor table was packed with familiar people: Remus Lupin was talking to Peter Pettigrew (Harry closed his eyes, willing himself to calm; he would deal with the traitorous rat, but now was not the time), who was sitting next to the other two marauders: Sirius Black and James Potter. His heart throbbed painfully at the sight of the two and he looked away quickly. His eyes caught a flash of auburn hair which was quickly identified as belonging to one Lily Evans. His mother. He looked away as his vision blurred and he scolded himself for being so weak. Harry also saw the Longbottoms, and, like at every other table, people who looked vaguely familiar, although he was a bit surprised not to see any Weasleys; he had assumed that they would be there when he saw Malfoy.
Curiously, he switched his vision so he could see auras. The bright auras burned his eyes, much like a light would do if one suddenly turned it on when your eyes were adjusted to darkness, and he switched back into normal vision and he blinked several times to rid his eyes of the bright auras that had temporarily been branded into them. The auras had never done that before, and he suspected that it had something to do with the magical balance (or lack of it).
Harry's eyes still burned and he kept them closed for a minute, moisture collecting at the corners of his eyes as his body feebly attempted to take away the pain. He finished his meal silently without looking up again, deciding not to try that again for a while. Nobody bothered him or talked to him and when Dumbledore excused the students, he made his was up the staff table.
"Ah, Mr. Harrison…Come with me," Dumbledore said when he spotted Harry. Dumbledore lead him to his office and entered; Harry automatically filing away the password 'sugar quills' for future reference. After they entered the office, Dumbledore sat down at his desk and Harry hesitantly sat down on one of the chairs.
"You present me with another unusual problem," Dumbledore said, "Never before has anyone been sorted into two houses. You can choose one of the houses now or we'll have to organize a mixed schedule for you."
Harry pretended to think for a minute,
"I can't choose."
"Very well," Dumbledore said, "We'll have to sort out your schedule then. You can sleep in the Gryffindor common room tonight. Professor McGonagall will see you tomorrow morning about your schedule. Your school things have been bought, and I'll send a teacher to bring you to Hogsmeade this weekend for robes and a few personal things. Do you have your wand?"
"Yes, sir," Harry said, pulling his phoenix feather wand out of his pocket, "But I don't have any money!"
"Don't worry, all your things have been paid for," Dumbledore reassured him.
"You didn't have to," Harry said, pretending to look embarrassed.
"It's quite all right. One last thing: what electives do you wish to take? We have Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, the Study of Ancient Ruins, Muggle Studies, and Divination. You can probably fit two into your schedule."
"Er…Care of Magical Creatures and…Divination," Harry said, deciding to stay with his two usual subjects.
"Thank you. I think that's all for tonight," Dumbledore said, tapping his wand on a glowing, red sphere.
A minute later, the door was opened by Professor McGonagall, "You called, Albus?"
"Kindly show Mr. Harrison the way to the Gryffindor common room, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said.
"Come with me, Mr. Harrison," Professor McGonagall said.
"Bye Professor Dumbledore," Harry said as they left the office. As he left the tower, he felt a mild tracking charm attach to his aura. He smirked, let the old fool try. The way to Gryffindor tower that Professor McGonagall showed him went through only the main corridors; they did not once go into one of the many secret passageways that Harry knew of.
When they got to Gryffindor tower, Professor McGonagall turned to look at him,
"You look remarkably like one of my own Gryffindors, James Potter; he's in your year. Anyway, the password to the common room is 'unity conquers'." The portrait swung open, "The boys' dormitories are on the left. You're a sixth year, so your bedroom should be on the sixth floor."
Harry thanked her and entered the common room, wincing at the bright shade of red covering the walls. He walked up the stairs to the sixth floor but hesitated at the door; some sort of commotion was taking place inside. Harry knocked on the door and the noise stopped abruptly. A couple seconds later, a disheveled Remus Lupin opened the door.
He looked surprised to see Harry there, but recovered quickly, "What do you want?"
"I'm supposed to sleep here, I think. This is the sixth year boy's room, right?" Harry asked, pretending to look confused.
"Er…Yeah, but there isn't an empty bed," Remus said. There was a sudden noise in back of them, and they turned to look. A gold and green bed appeared by the window. It didn't move the other beds and the room didn't expand, but it just…did somehow.
"Well, I guess that settles it," Harry said::Though I think that the red clashes with the green…I suppose I'll have to live with Gryffindor red.: The green of the bed turned red instantly. :Thank you.:
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked, picking himself off of the ground. Apparently, the marauders had been in the middle of a pillow fight when he had knocked. Harry bit his tongue, trying desperately not to let any undesired emotion show on his face.
"I'm supposed to stay here tonight," Harry said, walking over to the bed, which had a couple robes and a pair of pajamas laid across it along with a small pile of school books.
"But you're a Slytherin!" Sirius exclaimed angrily, "Slytherins don't belong in Gryffindor!" He's not Sirius, he's not Sirius, Harry chanted over and over in his mind. The Sirius he knew had cared for him; wouldn't let such silly prejudices turn him against Harry. But deep inside, a tiny sliver of doubt had lodged itself into his mind.
"I thought the hat said I was a Slytherin and a Gryffindor…" Harry said uncertainly.
"You can't be both a Slytherin and a Gryffindor!" Sirius hissed angrily, "Slytherins are sneaky, lying bastards who don't deserve to go to this school!" Harry's hands started to ball into fists, but he quickly squashed the anger that had flared up behind his masks.
"And Gryffindors are?" He asked coolly.
"Gryffindors are brave and noble. You can't be both!" Sirius said, glaring.
"Mm-hm," Harry said, mentally sneering at the biased words. He proceeded to ignore them, changing swiftly into his pajamas and sliding into his bed.
"Are you ignoring us?" James asked angrily. He had watched the fight between the new boy and Sirius silently, knowing that it was personal to Sirius. Sirius had been raised by Slytherin parents, and had a large grudge against anyone in the serpent house.
"Mm…If you say so," Harry said sleepily although in truth he wasn't tired at all. James was his father but he wasn't yet. Did that make James his father or not? Harry didn't know; he was so confused. He also wondered why seeing his father didn't affect him as much as seeing his mother. Perhaps it was merely because his last father was an absolute bastard that he had wanted nothing to do with.
James glared at him, whipping out his wand but Remus stopped him,
"Er…James, do you really think that that's the best idea? I mean, he's our roommate, and he is a Gryffindor. Maybe he doesn't know about Slytherin being...Dark and all that." Harry was grateful for Remus's help, but couldn't help getting mad at him for categorizing his house so easily. Slytherin house, he corrected himself firmly. He hadn't made that mistake in a long time; perhaps he really was getting tired?
"Remus, don't tell me that your defending the slimy little worm," Sirius said, his eyes narrowing. It was almost amusing how quickly Sirius came up with insults according to Harry's house, especially since none of them were accurate.
"No!" Remus said quickly, "I'm just saying that there's a chance that he's not all bad!"
"Well, I'm not about to go off killing any innocent Muggles," Harry said, wrinkling his nose, "It's not like I'm into that sort of thing, not that you'd believe me."
"Why should we believe you?" Peter asked unpleasantly. Harry mentally snarled at him, but was careful not to let it show on his face.
"Why shouldn't you?" Harry asked, "Good night." He rolled over to face the wall.
"Hey, we're not finished with you!" Sirius exclaimed, but Harry ignored him. The marauders tried to get his attention, but he continued to ignore them until they gave up and went to sleep, though not before they had completely soaked his bed with water. Hogwarts indignantly dried his bed for him, though, and Harry soon drifted off into sleep.
Harry woke up in the middle of the night, gasping for air, visions of death and despair still flashing through his mind.
"Are you okay?" A voice whispered next to him. Harry jumped at the unexpected noise and turned towards the person in the bed next to him. Remus Lupin watched him with worried eyes.
"Just nightmares," Harry said, "Nothing new."
"Do you have them often?" Remus asked worriedly.
"Every night," Harry said bitterly, "Goodnight." He rolled over again and gradually drifted back to sleep.
Harry woke up early the next morning, even before the other boys. He changed quickly into the robes that Madam Pomfrey had given him, careful not to wake the marauders. When he was finished, he slipped his trunk, which had been in his pocket when he had traveled back in time, into a small, convenient pocket in his new robes.
He slipped out of the dormitories and through the portrait hole, wandering around aimlessly for a while and pretending to get lost several times for the sake of the tracking charm. He finally made his way down to the Great Hall, still a lot earlier than most students. He started to eat quickly, reading a charms book, hoping to finish breakfast before the marauders arrived.
His hopes were promptly destroyed as he heard the scuffling of running feet outside the door before it was flung wide open and the marauders paraded in. Harry groaned and snapped his book shut, knowing that the marauders wouldn't let him read quietly after the defiance that he had shown them the night before.
Harry grabbed a piece of toast and tried to leave, but it was too late; the marauders had spotted him.
"Where do you think you're going?" James asked rudely, blocking his path.
"I don't know…Maybe to the library? You do have a library, don't you?" Harry said, pretending to be clueless.
"Your not going anywhere after what you did last night!" Sirius said angrily.
"What did I do?" Harry asked. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but a voice from behind them interrupted him.
"Is there a problem?" Dumbledore asked.
"No," Harry and the marauders said at the same time.
"Good," Dumbledore said, "Mr. Harrison, Mr. Lupin, may I have a word?"
"Sure," Harry said, shrugging.
Remus glanced at his friends, who shrugged, "All right."
"Excellent," Dumbledore said, "Come with me." He made his way across the hall to the Slytherin table, "Mr. Snape, may I have a word?"
Snape looked up, carefully appraising the situation as only Slytherins could, "Okay." Dumbledore lead them to his office and they all sat down.
"Mr. Lupin, Mr. Snape, as Mr. Harrison is new to this school, he will need someone to show him around. As you are both in his year and each in one of his houses, I have chosen you two for that job. Are there any objections?" Dumbledore asked. Snape didn't look too happy at working with Remus, but he kept his mouth shut. "Good! One of you two will have to be with him nearly all the time for the first couple weeks, is that understood?" Snape and Remus obediently nodded their heads, "You two may be excused. Mr. Harrison, please stay behind so we can discus your schedule." When Snape and Remus left, Dumbledore turned back to Harry, "I've constructed your schedule so for the first week, you have classes with the Gryffindors and you sleep with the Slytherins. Where you sit is your choice, and after this week, you have classes with the Slytherins and you sleep with the Gryffindors. Your schedule will switch at the end of every week, do you understand that?"
"Uh…Yeah, I think so," Harry said, although he understood perfectly.
"Then here's your schedule and a map of the castle," Dumbledore said, "I'm afraid that the map only shows the main corridors, so there are many shortcuts that aren't on it. Can you find your way to the transfiguration classroom alone?"
Harry studied the map carefully, "I think I can manage."
"You may be excused, Mr. Harrison," Dumbledore said.
"Bye," Harry said, standing up and leaving the office. He strolled casually down the hall, resisting the urge to whistle. Everything was going along fine.
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Sorry, but updates may not appear weekly any more. My pace is slowing down, and I had to struggle to get this one out on time, but I still missed the deadline.
I'm begging anyone reading this for some prank ideas. Please? I really need some and I can't seem to think of any at the moment…