AN Hello! I'm back with chapter 8! Thanks for all the reviews, and, according to the most direct review I got relating to length, I'm going to post one chapter a day max, I'll just improve/lengthen that chapter if I get extra time. To the story (Train, Sorting, HOGWARTS! Harry Age: 11 years and 1 monthish)
Harry watched as the dark pines bent against the breeze. Ever since he'd been imprisoned by the Potters, he'd spent every moment he could alone. Potter Manor had a huge pine forest behind it, so it was the area he generally went. Sometimes he'd say he was going to the woods, then upon reaching them he'd apparate to Riddle Manor, riding Goliath and asking the Dark Lord if there were any missions for him. During the month he'd been gone, there'd only been one mission, it was more of something the Dark Lord had just come up with for Harry, which had him assassinate a few ministry officials. Griffith had been told who Harry's 'father' was, and every once in a while it was like Griffith suddenly remembered it and had a quick mood switch. They had grown closer in their one-way friendship, of course, Griffith didn't know that. Harry smirked. The Potters were extremely lazy once you got to know them, they usually woke up at nine or ten, the record was about twelve, at which point Harry had woke them up. Harry, on the other hand, woke up at six am every morning. He'd practice his moderate occlumency as he stared into the forest.
"Praet! Praet! We need to pack up! We're going to Hogwarts!" Griffith yelled as he sprinted towards Harry.
"Mhm, I already packed while you were still sleeping, we're due to be there at eleven o'clock correct?" Harry asked.
"Yeah! Mum is making breakfast, pancakes and homemade syrup!" Gryffith exclaimed excited.
"Cool, I'll go see if I can help her," Harry responded, playing the angelic helper child.
Griffith rolled his eyes, "You're always so eager to help with things, probably going to be in Hufflepuff or somethin'," He told him.
"Na, I think I'll get in Gryffindor, if I get anywhere else I think I'll die!" Harry exclaimed, internally changing the word Slytherin for Gryffindor. Of course, he was going to try to NOT get in Slytherin, so why did he still hope the hat would refuse after he threatened to destroy it and replace it with an evil duplicate.
"You better! If you aren't, I think I'll have to end our month-old friendship!" Griffith called behind Harry, "I'll be in the yard on my broom if you change your mind!"
Then Griffith ran off to the front yard as Harry stepped into the Gryffindor house. Immediately, he was assaulted by a warm gust of air filled with an overly sweet smell as well as a bready one. Closing the door quietly behind him, Harry carefully wiped off his shoes and set them side-by-side by the door. Walking into the kitchen, Harry blinked for a few seconds to adjust to the ridiculous bright golds and reds. Lily Potter was by the stove, a spatula in hand. Harry resisted scowling at the sight of a witch doing house elf work, and much worse, doing it on purpose. Instead, Harry walked over and waited for a moment to see if the Potter would notice him, but of course, ignorant fool that she was, she did not.
"Do you need help with anything?" Harry asked, smiling angelically.
"No no, but thank you for asking Praet, you're so sweet, I wish a bit of your manners rub off on Griffith," She told him, her smile and obvious joy made Harry involuntarily shudder, which luckily she didn't notice.
"Are you sure? I don't mind helping, and if I help we could probably get done twice as fast," Harry tried again, he wasn't sure if he'd rather help cook or fly with Griffith.
"Well, it's almost ready, how about you go get Griffith and I'll finish real quick?" Lily asked, Harry internally sighed in relief and left the kitchen.
Once outside of the kitchen, Harry fanned a bit of air in his face as he started to overheat. Pulling out his wand, Harry cast a minor cooling charm on himself, letting out a small sigh as he immediately felt better. After a minute, Harry finally reached the front door. He pulled it open just as Griffith face planted into the ground. Harry let out a small laugh out of hearing range of Griffith. Griffith apparently had absolutely none of his father's talent in the pointless sport. He watched as Griffith stumbled to his feet, his face red with a few scratches, and a little mud.
"Hey, your mum told me to tell you that breakfast is ready, you might want to clean up first though!" Harry said, holding back a smirk. Harry walked back inside where Lily Potter was just finishing setting the table. Her husband was standing there awkwardly as he waited for her to finish, having likely already offered to help, "I'm back, Griffith had a little mud on him so he went to the bathroom to clean up," he told them.
"Okay Praet dear, you can start eating, I'm sure Griffith will be back in a moment," she told him, pushing a humongous tower of pancakes towards Harry as he sat down.
Lily Potter had been obsessed with getting Harry 'fattened up' even though Harry knew that she and her husband had already agreed that it was likely genetic. Every time Harry ate though, they were shocked with the huge amounts of food he was able to down in one go. James Potter sometimes joked that Harry must have an enlarging charm on his stomach to fit all the food. Harry quickly slapped a huge slab of butter on the thick pancakes. It was the one thing he could deal with at the Potter's manor. Their food was just about as good as the house elves of Riddle Manor, which both amazed and disgusted Harry.
By the time Griffith walked into the room, Harry had already downed two of the humongous pancakes that were at least two decimeters in diameter and around a cm thick. Griffith still had a few scrapes visible on his face, but otherwise it was impossible to tell he'd taken a tumble. Griffith's parents had already finished eating, having waited only a little while after Harry started.
"I'm gonna go check my trunk and make sure I've got everything," Harry told them, putting his plate in the sink and running up the stairs. His room, which was the old nursery, had his trunk neatly placed in the corner. Harry quickly apparated to Riddle Manor to inform the Dark Lord of his departure. Upon finding that his adopted father was off at a raid, Harry apparated to the forest where Goliath was. Goliath was in a laying position, and set his head down so that he and Harry were almost at eye level. Harry reached up and rubbed the cool scales behind his spikes. Harry sat down and leaned against his familiar. The Potters had kept asking Harry about getting a familiar and he told them he'd gotten a special one a while back, but refused to mention anything about it except that his name was Goliath. Harry stood up after a minute or two and apparated back to Potter Manor before one of the Potters might wonder where he was. Harry pulled out his wand and cast a tempus, half past ten o'clock. He picked up his trunk and walked softly down the stairs.
Apparently he'd taken longer than he'd thought, as all the Potters looked ready to go, "Sorry for taking so long, had trouble finding a book," he lied smoothly.
"No worry! Ready to go? We're taking the floo, just take a handful of powder and say King's Cross Platform 9 ¾, throw the powder in the fire, and step through, Lily is going to go first," James Potter explained, then he turned and gave Lily a quick kiss, "See you soon!"
After she went, Harry walked through the floo with practiced precision, forgetting to act like it was his first time. He exited the fire and immediately realized his mistake when the Potter woman looked at him with shock. Internally wincing, Harry forced himself to look a tad sick, but nothing that would be exaggerated enough for it to seem like an act. The fire flashed green again and Griffith stumbled through, with a lot less elegance than Harry had. Harry put on a pretend surprised and confused look on his face like he didn't understand why Griffith had trouble with it. Then the fire flashed green one last time and James Potter walked out. Lily Potter led them over to where six of the Weasleys stood, this included Ronald, Fred, George, and Percy Weasley. Harry sadly knew them well enough, as Ronald or Ron Weasley was his and Griffith's age.
The adults quickly engaged in useless conversation. Eventually, the only children remaining were Harry, Ron, and Griffith. Then Griffith led them off onto the train, and proceeded to get them a compartment in the very back. Harry ground his teeth, refraining from complaining about the fact they would have to walk very far to get off the train. They quickly associated themselves so that Ron and Griffith were on one side and Harry was on the other. A few minutes later, a kind looking lady walked up with a trolley.
"Anything from the cart dears?" she asked, immediately Griffith shot up, Harry internally groaned as the greedy boy bought everything left on the trolley while Ron made a comment about having brought his own. Harry quietly snorted, the Weasley probably couldn't have afforded one thing off of the cart even if he wanted to.
After a minute of shoving candy in his mouth, Griffith offered a single chocolate frog to Ron and Harry. Harry took it with a quick thanks, and opened it with his left hand while his right hand was raised to snatch the frog the moment it opened. Harry held the frog in his hand until the magic in it stopped animating it. Then Harry started nibbling. He observed Ron's pet, a small light brown mouse that looked fairly new.
"What's your new pet's name?" Harry asked.
"He's named Woody, I got him a few days ago," Ron said, smiling as he looked down at the cute mouse.
"Cool, have either of you read your books yet?" Harry asked.
Griffith scoffed, "No, with all my extra training, I already know most of the spells we need to learn," he boasted.
"Really?" Harry asked, "Can you show me? I haven't done any spells yet."
"Sure!" Griffith responded confidently, pulling out his wand. Suddenly, Harry heard the sound of the glass door opening. Turning his head, he saw a dark brown eyed girl with a dead bush for hair, he immediately classified her as a mudblood.
"Has anyone seen Neville's toad? He seems to have lost it somewhere," the girl asked, everyone shook their heads. "Oh, okay," she turned to leave, then noticed the wand in Griffith's hand, "Ooh! Are you going to do a spell? I've read my books and tried a few simple spells and they've worked splendidly," she told them enthusiastically.
Griffith nodded, pointing his wand at a chocolate frog card, "Wingardium Leviosa!" he said, and watched proudly as it floated a few inches off the floor after a moment.
"Woah! Neat, my name's Hermione, Hermione Granger, by the way," Hermione told them, "I was raised with muggles so this whole world is astonishing! The things you can do with magic are wonderful!" She exclaimed.
"I'm Praet Riddle," Harry told her, giving her a small smile, she returned it, and turned towards towards Weasley expectantly.
"I-I'm Ron, Weasley," He stuttered, Harry raised an eyebrow at him in question.
"I'm Griffith Potter, only known survivor of the killing curse," Griffith announced proudly.
Hermione's eyes widened in admiration, "Really? Can I see it? Your scar?" She asked excitedly, Griffith puffed up a bit and pushed his hair out of the way. "Wow! I read about you in my books, you caused one of the most powerful wizards of the century to go into hiding!" Then she looked at Ron and Harry again, "So were you guys raised by wizards too?" she asked.
Ron nodded, "I'm from a light pureblood family, my dad works in the ministry, his name is Arthur Weasley" he told her.
She looked at Harry, he winced, "Uh, I'm a halfblood," he told her quickly.
"Really? Who're your parents?" She asked.
"Uh, I-" Harry started.
Griffith cleared his throat, "It's a delicate subject," he told Hermione.
Her eyes flashed with understanding, although Griffith and Harry knew it was likely misunderstanding, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for bringing it up," she quickly said. Then she rushed out of the compartment.
As soon as she left, Ron sat up, "Who are Praet's parents?" he asked loudly, apparently he'd somehow not come to the same conclusion as Hermione.
Harry dramatically gulped, "Um, I'm well, the, you know, he's my father," he blabbered, "Griffith, you tell him."
Ron looked at Griffith expectantly, "Well, Praet was abandoned by his father when he was five, his father isn't a good person," he said.
"Was he a Death Eater?" Ron asked, to which Harry responded unintelligibly, "What'd you say? I didn't hear you?" Ron asked.
"He's not, he's… he's…" Harry said, "He's so much worse!" He gasped out.
Ron's eyes widened in shock, "Your dad is You-Know-Who?" He asked finally, Harry nodded numbly. "Uh, well, don't worry! I won't judge you any different because of it," Ron reassured him after a moment, "You're not at all like your father, don't worry," he added.
At that moment, the door burst open once again, and in stepped the blonde headed Malfoy, "Hello again mudblood," he sneered at Harry, Harry held back a laugh.
"Oh look at this!" Malfoy added, looking over at Ron and Griffith, "A blood traitor and a halfblood as well!" he exclaimed.
"Well, filth, I thought I'd take the disgusting duty upon myself to inform you we will be arriving soon," Malfoy told them, then he exited the compartment.
As soon as he left, all three of them burst out laughing, Ron looked at Harry, "If only bloody Malfoy knew just who he was calling a mudblood and what it implied!" He said between chuckles.
After that, they each grabbed their trunks and Ron quickly put Woody back in his small cage. Then they set off on the long treck to get off of the train. Harry sighed aloud, but no one really seemed to mind. Harry stepped off the train to see humongous man with an untidy beard waving first years onto the boats. Harry supposed it was Hagrid, as Severus had sometimes complained about him being a 'big fat oaf', Harry grinned at the thought of Severus, then frowned when he remembered something his father had mentioned. Apparently Severus was greatly biased towards Slytherins, which was good, but would likely mean the man wouldn't treat Harry well.
"Well come on then! Firs' years on ter the boats!" Hagrid told them, Hagrid put the mudblood, Griffith, and Ron onto a boat with himself, and Harry was stuck on a boat with the Malfoy, a fat looking stupid kid, and a somewhat pudgy nervous looking boy whom Harry assumed was Neville.
Harry stepped onto the boat, Neville was busy and hadn't noticed him yet, but Harry was certain the moment he saw him he'd freak out. Draco had a humongous smirk on his face, and was trying to act like all of this, the castle and the lake, weren't completely amazing. Harry leaned over the edge of the boat with his mouth gaping open, he didn't exactly like the position, but it made him seem more innocent.
Harry turned back inwards just in time for Draco to make a report, "Well if it isn't the mudblood again! It's such a pleasure" He said, voice dripping with sarcasm. This caused Neville to look up, fear appearing on his face as he saw Harry.
Draco watched with amusement as Neville flashed out his wand in front of him, "YOU? W-What do y-you want? W-why did you d-do it?" He stuttered, his hand shaking, Harry looked at him with shock.
"What? I don't even know you!" Harry exclaimed, Draco had somehow managed to smirk wider as he watched.
"Y-you KILLED THEM!" Neville roared, Draco looked at Harry in shock, seemingly a bit alarmed before he covered it with a smirking mask, "YOU'RE A MONSTER! Y-YOU CAN'T TAKE ANYONE ELSE! I-I WON'T LET YOU!" He exclaimed.
Harry jumped to his feet, "I didn't kill anyone! What're you talking about?" He exclaimed.
Neville degraded to whimpering once again, and started sobbing, "You going to take me to join my parents? Son of the devil?" He asked. Draco finally seemed to realize what Neville was saying.
Harry widened his eyes in 'shock' "M-my brother did this? My stupid brother? I-I'm sorry! Oh I'm so sorry," Harry told him, after a moment he added, "I'm… um well I guess I'll have to tell you, I'm the weaker of the Dark Lord's twins."
Draco was sitting stock still on the bench, he was extremely confused, "But you can't be the Dark Lord's son! You're a mudblood!" He exclaimed.
"I'm not," Harry sighed, "Up to the age of five, I lived with my brother and parents, my brother, my own twin blamed me for everything!" Harry started, he was actually telling the truth, which added to the fun of it. "Mother and Father, oh they adored my brother! They thought he was the center of the world, my birthday is the day after his, but they never remembered! On my fifth birthday, my father a-and I went out, I thought he might have remembered me for once, but no. He did something with my memories, I can't really remember anything about them except for the experiences. Then he left me at an orphanage, an orphanage!I-I was a freak there! A piece of trash!" At this point Harry broke down in exaggerated sobs.
Draco seemed to feel much better about himself, having come to the conclusion Harry was very much disowned. Neville now was looking at Harry with pity after hearing the horrible life he'd had, "I'm sorry, I just, your brother killed my parents, and it sounds like it was only a bit after when you were abandoned. You are twins, you look exactly alike," Neville told him, he wasn't exactly the best at comforting though as Harry looked up with puffy red eyes.
Suddenly the boat bumped against the shore, Draco quickly got out, dusting off his robes and shooting a glare at Harry. Harry regrouped with Ron and Griffith, who were discussing professional Quidditch Teams. Hagrid led all the first years through the huge entrance to the top of some stairs, there a stern looking professor stood.
"Thank you Hagrid, you may go now," She instructed, Hagrid nodded and left. "I am Professor McGonagall, I am Gryffindor's Head of House. Here at Hogwarts, there are four houses you can be sorted with, this will determine where you sleep at night. These houses are organized according to personality. Other members of your house will become a family of a sort for you all," the Professor told them.
Then she led them into the huge dining hall, the Great Hall, Harry labeled it. He looked at the spelled ceiling and the four houses. They walked up and McGonagall told them to come up when she called their name.
"Potter, Griffith!" She called eventually.
The hall erupted in whispers, kids leaned to try and see his famous scar, Harry rolled his eyes. The hat sat on the boy's head for only a few seconds before calling out his house.
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled.
Harry droned out the rest of the sorting until his name was called. McGonagall looked afraid for a second, before covering it, "Riddle, Praet!"
Harry stepped up onto the platform, and felt as the hat set onto his head.
Oh my, hello Mr. Potter.
AN Hehehehhe! A few decisions I've come to about Harry's Hogwarts experience is that generally I won't put whether his emotions are genuine or not because it would get a little repetitive. Also, the way I pronounce Praet is (Pray-eh-T) or it could be pronounced like (Pray-it) Hmm… which one do you think I should go with?
-Ariana Flynn Riddle