Disclaimer: All rights to the Harry Potter franchise and characters belong to J.K. Rowling
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
"Different language"
Harry Potter slowly pushed his trolley along the platform, eyes looking at the groups of people on the platform. The train station surprisingly wasn't as crowded as he thought it was. The young boy had decided to come to the train station as early as possible. Harry took a train from Diagon Alley all the way to the train station. During the ride, Harry had received countless looks, ranging on curious to shock. Harry ignored them; already knowing he was a remarkable sight with a large trunk next to him along with an owl. Harry felt a shift underneath his robes. In addition, a snake.
The young boy rolled his eyes as the snake shifting underneath him again, hissing to him as it moved around trying to get comfortable. It is like sleeping on snow. The snake hissed underneath his robes, making Harry roll his eyes as he continued forward through the station, searching for the platform. Harry took a quick look around before he replied to the snake.
I am not the one who has to deal with the constant tickling. Harry said softly as he moved slightly to side as the snake's scales ran along his sides, almost making him laugh. Instead, the young boy grimaced. As soon as we get to school, I need you to look around. I heard Hogwarts has dungeons and secret passageways through the whole school. Find as many as you can and I'll make sure to find a nice mouse for you later. Harry muttered as the snake shifted again. He gritted his teeth. He hated being tickled!
Yes, master. The snake hissed before he settled down around Harry's midsection. Harry shook his head before he continued onwards, looking at the various numbers along the walls. At platform nine, he looked at the wall in front of him, eyes narrowed slightly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ticket. He stared at the ticket for a few moments before he looked at the number again. 'Where was the platform!' Harry mentally screamed in his mind.
His answer came from beneath his robes. You have to walk between walls, master.
"And have the potential to get a concussion? I don't think so." Harry muttered. The snake let out a hissing sigh. "Just walk between the wall master. Nothing bad will happen. I promise.
""Your promises mean nothing to me, Sebastian. If I recall the last time you promised; I had to stop my Aunt from chopping your head off!" Harry hissed back at him.
"Then run at the wall. The chances are that either you make yourself looking like an idiot, or you have the chance of getting to Hogwarts. Take your pick."
Harry sighed and cursed magic underneath his breath. You may want to try running. Sebastian added from beneath his robes. Harry pulled his trolley backwards from the barrier, pulling back a safe distance. He looked around quickly before he began to push the trolley forward and at the barrier. His shoes pounded against the floor as he ran forward. The wall approached him quickly and Harry closed his eyes right before he hit the wall. Instead of feeling his trolley stop and himself being thrown whichever way, he felt something like water running slowly around him. He could not help but shiver as the water ran along his skin before he opened his eyes. In front of him was a bright red steam engine with the word Hogwarts Express written along the side in yellow, curvy writing. The train let out a bellow of steam as someone pulled its engine, sending smoke up and into the air. Harry could not help but grin at the sight.
Harry looked around, noticing that the platform itself had only a few people on it. Harry looked down at his watch, noticing that it was at least an hour before the train boarded by anyone else. Harry slowly pushed his trolley forth, watching to find a compartment on the train. Harry quickly found one and took it for himself. He placed his truck on an overhanging luggage rack. He pulled out a few books from his trunk before he put it on the rack. He sat down on the seat, leafing through the pages of the book about the mind arts. Harry was soon lost to the world as he read his book, drawn into the books contents.
As Harry reached the part on building up a shield around the mind, he looked up as the compartment doors opened. A girl with wild, bushy hair stood in the doorway, making Harry look up from his book.
"Erm… hello," she started slowly, looking shyly at the young boy. "Mind if I sit here?"
Harry shook his head offering the seat with a wave of his hand. She smiled at him in thanks before she pulled in her trunk. She pulled out her wand once her trunk was fully in the compartment. Harry raised an eyebrow, watching as she waved her wand in a swish and flick motion. The trunk slowly levitated into the air and settled onto the luggage rack.
"The levitation spell," Harry muttered as she placed her wand into the fold of her robes. "Impressive. Wish I had thought of that." Harry said as he frowned slightly. Underneath his robes, Sebastian let a hissing laugh.
She sat down across from him and the compartment was silent. Harry frowned before he introduced himself, "I'm Harry… Harry Potter." Harry held out his hand for her to shake.
"Hermione… Hermione Granger." She said as she shook his hand. Her brown eyes widened as she realized his name. "You're Harry Potter? I've read so much about you."
Harry raised an eyebrow as he placed his hand by his side. "Really? I wonder how accurate everything was since they don't even know me personally." Harry said as he moved his hand to his lap.
She looked at him in dismay. "It wasn't true?"
Harry shook his head. "None of it… only my birthday and the day of my parent's death. The only thing I remember is a flash of green light and cold, high-pitched laughter." Harry muttered, the hairs on the back of his neck rising up as he remembered the dreams he had once he was younger.
Hermione looked at him with rapt attention, listening to him closely. Her eyes looked at him with sadness. She opened her mouth to speak, but Harry cut her off with his hand. "Don't worry. It was a long time ago."
The two fell into silence once more. Harry went back to reading his book. Hermione looked at him in curiosity before she spoke softly, "What are you reading?"
Harry looked up at her. "A book about the mind art, Occlumency," Harry said before going back to his book.
"Occlu- what?" Hermione questioned.
"Occlumency, the art of shielding your mind," Harry said as he looked back at her. "It creates a shield around your mind so people can't get into it. Apparently, our headmaster is one. I want to learn it. There is also an attacking form of it called Legilimency. That's the one that reads people's minds."
Hermione stared at him in surprise. "Wizards and witches can read your mind?" Hermione questioned hesitantly.
Harry nodded. "If they're really good at it, they can even control the person." Harry said.
Hermione looked frightened at that part. She squeaked slightly as she spoke again. "Do you have another book on that?" Harry shook his head at her.
"Sadly, no. It's hard to get a book like this. But I will let you read it after I'm finished with it." He said.
"Promise," she said as she looked at him.
Harry nodded at her with a smile on his face. He went back to his book. As Harry read the book, he was once more interrupted as the compartment door opened once again. A young boy stood in the doorway this time, already wearing his school robes. The young boy had dark brown skin and close-cropped hair. He stared at them with a blank look, hands clasped behind his back.
"I heard that Harry Potter is on the train. Are you him?" The boy asked with a bored tone. Harry raised an eyebrow at him, eyes slightly narrowed.
"I'm him. And you are?" Harry questioned as he reached for his wand.
"Zabani, Blaise Zabani." The young boy said, continuing to stare at him. Hermione looked at each of the boys, eyes darting back and forth between them.
The compartment was silent once more with Harry staring at him and Blaise staring back at him. Slowly, a grin broke across Harry's face. He held out a hand to Blaise. "I don't know why, but I find myself liking you, Zabani."
Blaise nodded as he shook Harry's hand and sat down next to Harry after pushing his trunk onto the luggage rack. Hermione gave them last one look before she rolled her eyes, shook her head and muttered, "Boys," before she looked out of the window, watching the scenery roll by.
Harry went back to his book while Blaise looked around the compartment before settling on looking out the window. As the train ride slowly began to go by the trolley woman came by asking for snacks. Feeling hungry, Harry ordered a few of the snacks, never hearing of any of them before and wanting to try a few of them. Blaise raised an eyebrow at Harry before he took one of the offered snacks. Hermione took a few herself and the three slowly began to chat.
"Do any of you know about the houses?" Blaise asked as he took a bite out of a Licorice Wand. Harry and Hermione shrugged slightly. "I read about them a bit. Slytherin sounds like it has a rather bad reputation of being evil." Hermione said.
Blaise chuckled softly at her answer. "I wouldn't say evil. I mean sure they have given off a bad reputation. Slytherin's are the ones that prefer to hide in the background and work out things for themselves. Sure, the Dark Lord was in the house, but that doesn't mean it's evil."
Harry nodded from where he was sitting. "Very true Blaise. I have always wondered why a so-called dark house is still at Hogwarts. People make it seem like it's the birthing place all evil wizards. I mean look at Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort's top lieutenant, was in Ravenclaw when she was in school." Harry said.
Hermione bit her bottom lip gently. "But then why is the house called a dark house?"
Harry shrugged while Blaise chuckled. "Because Slytherin's aren't afraid to use everything in their power to get what they want," Blaise said. "Slytherin's reply on cunning and subtlety to get what they want. They usually work from the shadows and as I said before… they will do anything in their power to get what they want. They're blood purist too. Most of them look down on people with 'tainted' blood."
"Muggle-borns and half-bloods." Harry said quietly. Blaise nodded at him.
"What about Gryffindor?" Hermione questioned.
Blaise smiled in reply. "The Gryffindor's pride themselves on being the hero and doing everything right. They're vaulted for their courage and bravery. They are apparently, where all good wizards come from. They don't judge too much on how 'pure' your blood is."
"And Hufflepuff?" Harry questioned.
"The 'Puffs are generally the ones that people ignore and don't think are too dangerous. But that's people's downfalls." Blaise muttered to himself.
"Why's that?" Hermione questioned.
"The 'Puffs value loyalty above everything. If you mess with one of them, you're messing with all of them. That's why you shouldn't ignore them. Once they work together, they can get things done quickly."
"And Ravenclaw?" Hermione asked.
"Ravenclaw values knowledge. They are the 'book-worms' of Hogwarts. Ask a Ravenclaw a question they will most likely know the answer to it. They take knowledge above everything else and are very prideful of everything. The only bad thing I can probably say about them is that they use books answers for everything instead of their actual smarts."
Outside the sky began to darken and the lanterns slowly went on. Blaise looked out of the window. "Looks like we're almost there. I'd change if I were you." Blaise said, looking at Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived nodded and pulled his robe out of his trunk, quickly changing into his robes. Harry placed his book back in his trunk and sat back down on his seat.
The train slowly began to stop and all of them stood up as the train stopped completely. The trio made their way quickly off the train and through the crowd of people onto the platform.
On the platform, Harry heard a loud voice: "Firs' years, Firs' years over here!
The man before him was easily the tallest man Harry had ever seen before in his life. He held an lantarn aloft as he stared over the crowd and at the student's in front of him. A feeling passed over Harry. For some reason he felt as if he had seen the man before from somewhere but he couldn't remembered where.
Evenin'," the man said as he looked down at them as he first years slowly made thier way to him. "No need to be 'fraid." He said as he looked over each of them, seeing the frightened looked on there face. "The name Hagrid, Rubeus Hagrid." He smiled at them all from beneah his beard before he turned away from them. "C'mon, follow me," He looked over the crowd. "Any more firs' years? A'right, everyone follow me!"
The man that Harry was pretty sure part giant led them down a path and towards a lake. "You'll see Hog'art's in just a moment." He said as they moved around a bend. In the distance a large castle stood on the edge of the lake. Light's illuminated the window's of the castle, causing everyone to "oooh!" at the sight. Hagrid smiled at the expression's across thier faces. At the lakes edge, boats sat in the water. Harry climbed into the boat with Blaise and Hermione. A pudgy faced boy joined them afterwards. The boat ride took them underneath the castle and they all stepped out of the boats once they stopped. Hagrid led them to a large door and knocked on it three times.
The door opened after the third knock and a tall, dark-haired woman stood there, wearing an emerald-green cloak with a stern look on her face.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said as he held a lantern aloft.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She looked them all over once before she turned around and made her way up the step and towards the entrance hall. She turned to face them once again.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall. The doors behind me are where you shall be seated. Before you are to be seated, you will be sorted into your houses. The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are here, your house will be like your family. You will have classes with your housemates, sleep in the same house dormitories, and spend your free time in your house dormitory. While at Hogwarts, your good deeds will be awarded with house points, while rule breaking will cause you to lose them.
"At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup. The Sorting Ceremony will begin in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. Please, wait here before the hall is ready for you."
She turned away from them and walked through the doors. The students around him chatted softly among themselves.
"So the rumors on the train were true," A blond haired boy drawled from behind Harry. "Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." The hall went quit as the first years looked around the hall for the famous wizard. Harry turned slight to the side, staring at the boy from the corner of his eye. Blaise shifted beside Harry. Hermione watched the blond boy slowly approach Harry.
Draco Malfoy stepped fully in front of Harry, staring at the young boy with a sneer on his pale face. Draco Malfoy was used to getting anything and everything he wanted, and he wanted an alliance with the boy-who-lived. He planned carefully before the train ride on how he would offer his friendship with the young boy. The young boy looked to both of his sides, seeing an unfamiliar witch (probably muggle-born, he thought a sneer pulling at the corner of his lips) and Blaise Zabani. He didn't mind Blaise too much despite the fact that he didn't show support to the Dark Lord. Draco heard different stories about the Zabani family being a neutral party. Maybe he could change that… Draco smiled mentally at the thought. The fact that he had a muggle-born with him made Draco wonder just how the boy kept his circle of friends. Perhaps she could change that too.
The students around Harry looked at the young boy in awe, whispering to the people next to him while the others tried to get a better look at him. Harry narrowed his eyes at the blonde-haired person in front of him, already getting a feeling of revulsion from him. The boy in front of him reminded him of a skinner Dudley Dursley. Harry may have been a bully himself, but the fact that the young boy in front of him held himself like his superior made the young boy's hand move closer to his wand.
"And you are," Harry questioned glancing at the boy.
"I am Draco Malfoy," the boy introduced, expecting him to know of him.
"And?" Harry offered as he raised an eyebrow at him.
Draco's cheeks burned red as Hermione covered her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as Blaise snorted.
"Blaise," Harry asked as he turned his head to acknowledge the black boy. "Who exactly is this?"
"This is Draco Malfoy, Harry," Blaise supplied helpfully, a grin on his face. "The heir to the Malfoy family. His father is Lucius Malfoy, one of the Boards of Governors at the school."
"So he's important," Harry questioned.
Blaise nodded his head at Harry's side, a grin on his face. Draco stared back and forth at the two, ears turning a pink color as he continued to be embarrassed by the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Listen to me, Malfoy," Harry muttered as he stepped in the boy's personal space. Draco backed away slightly, but Harry continued to move closer to him. "I don't like you. You may think that you're the top dog here, but that is going to change. You're on my territory now. Get in my way and I will knock you down." Harry whispered to him. From Harry's side, Hermione and Blaise looked at the young boy in surprise, having never seen this side of the young boy during the train ride. Draco sputtered unintelligently as he backed away from Harry a shadow falling across his back as he bumped into something.
Behind him, Prof. McGonagall decided to make her re-entrance into the hall. She stared at the sputtering boy with a brow raised. "Is everything alright, Mister Malfoy?" The boy shook his head rapidly as she continued to stare at him, falling silent as he fell back in line with everyone else.
"Everyone, please, follow me into the Hall where we will begin the Sorting Ceremony." She said. She turned around once more, walking inside the now opened doors of the Great Hall. Harry, Hermione, and Blaise followed behind the tall professor, the group of students following behind the trio.
Harry looked around the hall, seeing various groups of older kids, sitting at four different tables, each of them clad in robes of red, blue, yellow, and green. The first years approached the large stool in front of a long staff table where they all stopped. As Professor McGonagall began to speak, Harry looked slowly around the hall, mystified by the candles floating through the air around the room. Hermione nudged him on the side, startled Harry looked at her in curiosity.
"What," he whispered at her. Instead of answering, she pointed upwards. Harry followed her finger, looking up where the roof of the hall was supposed to be. Instead of seeing the ceiling, Harry saw the beautiful night sky, stars twinkling brightly in the distance. He smiled at the sight.
"Its enchanted to look like the weather outside." Hermione whispered into his ear.
"How do you know?" He whispered back.
"Oh," A blush tainted her cheeks faintly, "read it in Hogwarts: A History." She replied, eyes looking at the floor sheepishly. Harry grinned, touching her on the arm gently, saying:
"It's alright, Hermione."
"While I'm sure you two love birds are enjoying your chat," Blaise's voice broke into both of their ears, causing each of them to blush darkly as they looked away from each other. "The Sorting is about to begin."
The pair went silent, looking away from each other, eyes settling on the hat as its brim opened wide and began to sing. Harry ignored the song, instead choosing to glance around the hall once more. His eyes settled on the long staff table in the middle of the room. His emerald green eyes landed briefly on Professor Quirrell. As he stared at the back of the man's head, another man, one with greasy dark hair, looked at him fully in the eyes. Harry stared into the man's dark eyes for a few moments. Harry quickly looked away as he felt a probe on his simple mental shields, not even noticing that the man's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Harry shook his head as he felt a painful, prickling sensation on his scar. He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth together as the pain washed over him before it vanished. Harry looked back up at the staff table once again, staring at the center of the table. So this must be the great Albus Dumbledore, Harry thought as he stared at the old man, seated in a large chair, looking at the gathered first years with a smile on his face. A long silver beard stretched down from the man's face and towards the table, disappearing at his chest. Harry briefly wondered how long his beard was and if the old Headmaster had ever slipped on it. Harry chuckled softly underneath his breath at the thought, already imagining the funny site.
Harry looked up as Professor McGonagall pulled out a sheet of parchment. "When I call your name, please come forward and place the hat on your head and sit on the stool to be sorted," Professor McGonagall said. "Abbot, Hannah!"
As a pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stepped forwards slowly, looking frightened and nervous at all the eyes staring at her, sat on the stool, pulled the old hat on her head. The Great Hall was silent before –
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted to the whole school. The table on the center right cheered and clapped as the young girl sat down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry clapped along with everyone else as others called up and seated onto the stool and placed in their houses. Before:
"Granger, Hermione!" Professor McGonagall called as she glanced at the list. Harry touched her shoulder, whispering, "Good luck" into the young girl's ear. Next to Harry, Blaise grinned. She smiled at him in thanks before she practically ran up to the stool, jamming the hat eagerly onto her head. The hat went silent for a few minutes before screaming out: "GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry clapped loudly as Hermione made her way towards the Gryffindor table; the table on the far left. Harry narrowed his eyes slightly as the young girl tried to sit by a group of chattering girls. The girls proceeded to get up from their seats and move away from the young witch. Harry's hand went to his wand, almost pulling wooden stick out and sending a hex at one of them. The young boy had more self-control then that however, but later he would find a way to get them back.
Harry turned back towards Professor McGonagall as she said, "Potter, Harry!"
The Great Hall went silent and whispers started to explode through the hall like wild fire. Harry ignored the whispers and the eyes of all the others on him as he moved up to the stool. A sneer plastered on the boys face before he placed the hat onto his head, the brim falling over his eyes.
"Ahh, Mister Potter," a voice broke out from inside his mind. Harry tightened the hold on his basic mind shields. The voice turned into a chuckle. "Simple shields such as those won't do anything to affect me, Mister Potter. The founders've themselves made me; I know all of their secrets, how to bypass what you have as shields are also in here. Now stop struggling, let's see what you have in here." The voice whispered with a crackle. Harry closed his eyes before he relaxed, lowering his shields slowly. "Very good Mr. Potter, with work those shields can be great." The hat murmured, "Now what is in here…"
Harry felt a weird pressing sensation against his head, closing his eyes as he shivered in revulsion. "My, my Mr. Potter," the hat commented." You certainly have had a rough childhood until the day you learned of your magic. The deeds you have done have shaped you into a familiar person that walked through these halls a long time ago."
Question's filled the young boys mind s the hat's answers. "But it appears you have a compassion in you to those you call your friends, Mr. Potter. Bravery, cunning, knowledge, loyalty; you have all the representations of all houses inside of you. Which house would you like to be in?"
Harry's thoughts turned towards the sad expression on Hermione's face as her house ignored her, filling him with anger. "So you want to be with Miss Granger… so much like your father, Mr. Potter. He loved the bookworms too." Harry was sure that the hat was smiling before it yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!" so the whole hall could hear.
Harry pulled the hat off his head, ignoring the cheering of the house of red and gold. People tried to get the young boys attention, but Harry ignored each one of them, moving to sit down next to Hermione. Hermione blushed as Harry sat next to her with a smile. "This seat isn't taken is it?" Harry questioned with a smile on his face.
Hermione shook her head as she looked everywhere else instead of the dark-haired wizard in front of her. Up in the line, Blaise grinned at Harry, winking briefly at the young boy before they went back to the sorting. The Sorting Ceremony quickly drawled to a close with "Thomas, Dean," a black boy went into Gryffindor. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and a red-haired boy named "Weasley, Ronald," became Gryffindor. "Zabini, Blaise," was called and Harry watched as his friend went into Slytherin with a small grin on his face after he winked at Harry. Professor McGonagall rolled up the scroll and placed it into her robes before she put the Sorting Hat away.
At the high table, Albus Dumbledore slowly stood up, eyes sparkling as he stared out at the hall. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" he said, beaming to the gathered crowd. "I have a few words for you all, but I am pretty sure that you all are mostly hungry!" he grinned as a pair of redheaded twins spoke up loudly at his exclamation. "Please, tuck in!"
Dumbledore sat back down as the hall cheered for him, the redheaded twins being the loudest to cheer. Harry looked down at his plate, eyes widening slightly as he saw the gathered food. The once empty dishes in front of him were filled completely with food. Harry smiled at Hermione before he dug into his food, helping himself to a bit of everything. Hermione tentatively reached for the food, helping herself to some of the roast chicken, boiled potatoes, peas, and carrots. The hall was loud with the sounds of dishes scraping together, people chatting with their friends and making new ones. Harry listened to all the conversations around him.
Harry chatted briefly with Hermione, asking her questions about her home life as deserts appeared in front of him. Harry ate at a slower pace, feeling a bit sleepier as he continued to eat, and his stomach becoming fuller as he continued to eat. Across from the pair sat a redheaded boy, shoveling mouthful after mouthful of food into his mouth. The young boy burped loudly in the middle of Hermione's sentence causing the pair to look at him in slight disgust.
"Excuse me," Hermione muttered to the boy, sniffing disdainfully at him. Harry watched as the boy broke off from shoving a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
"Fanks," he muttered bits of ice cream flying out of his mouth to land in Harry's food and a few o his face. Harry wiped the concoction of spit and ice cream off his face, wiping it onto the table as he looked down at his food in disgust.
The boy swallowed his food, looking at the boy across from him, eyes widening in surprise. "Wore 'ary woter," he said over a mouthful of food. Harry grimaced as he looked at the boy, covered in small bits of food as he ran his hand over his face once more.
"Excuse me," Harry questioned as he wiped his hand on the tablecloth.
The young boy swallowed his food before he replied, "You're Harry Potter."
Harry looked down at himself in disbelief. "Would you look at that, I am!" He said sarcasm dripping off his words.
The boy looked at him dumb founded. "You may want to get your head checked, mate," the boy looked at him worriedly.
Harry looked back at the boy, almost letting his hand slap against his face. "It's called sarcasm."
The boy looked at him in confusion. "What's sarcasm?" Harry looked at the boy in front of him in confusion. At Harry's side, Hermione looked at with her eyebrows scrunched together.
"It's nothing." Harry replied.
The young boy nodded before he went back to his food. He dug into the ice cream, causing Harry to watch, in shock, at the boys eating habits, feeling slightly sick as he watched him. At his side, Hermione turned away in disgust.
The boy stopped once more. "I'm Ron Weasley," the boy introduced, "do you like Quidditch?"
"Do I - what?" Harry said.
"You haven't heard of Quidditch!" The boy exclaimed loudly, horror on his face at the thought.
Harry closed his eyes as the boy went on a tirade about Quidditch. For the next few minutes, Harry wanted to bang his head repeatedly on the table in front of him, not caring if he received a concussion from it. Ronald Weasley had to be the most annoying person ever on the face of the world! Harry would rather spend his time getting his butt beaten by Dudley back when the young boy could over power him then listen to this! Harry vowed that he would never have a Quidditch talk to Ron and if it were mentioned in front of the boy, he would be out of the door faster than you could say, "Snitch."
Thankfully, Dumbledore stood up once more, making the whole hall go silent. "I hope you all have enjoyed your dinner," the twins interrupted him with cheers. He smiled widely. "Thank you, Mr. and Mr. Weasley," the twins bowed before they sat down. "Now before we all get to bed I have to make a few announcements." He looked at the whole crowd.
"First and foremost," he started. "The first years should know that the forbidden forest, as its name suggests, is forbidden. Our caretaker, Mr. Filtch, has asked me to tell you that magic, as always, forbidden in the corridors between classes.
"Quidditch trails," Harry's head actually made contact with the table, "will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing is to contact his or her head of House and Madam Hooch. And finally, the corridor on the third-floor on the right-hand side is out of bounds for all students unless you wish to die a most painful death."
A few of the students in the hall laughed, but they were quickly silenced as they saw the look on the Headmaster's face. He smiled brightly at them all before he spoke, "Bedtime! Off you go! Prefect's please escort the first years to their dorms!"
The hall erupted with sounds as everyone stood from their tables. The Gryffindor's followed a redheaded boy with a shiny, gold badge on the front of his robes. The first years made their way slowly up the stairs of the hall, stumbling over one another as they rubbed their eyes from sleep. Harry made sure to stay away from Ron and stay as close to Hermione as possible. The young redheaded boy didn't like the brown haired witch. They passed portraits that moved back and forth in their paintings, whispering at them as they made their way up countless flights of stairs ad through passageways. Harry memorized each passageway, hoping they could be used in the future.
The tired group of first years stopped once they reached a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink dress.
"Password?" she questioned.
"Caput Draconis," said the young boy. The woman nodded at him with a smile before the portrait swung outwards, revealing an entrance. They all quickly scrambled through and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room. Percy directed the girls through a door on the right and the boys on the left. Harry waved tiredly at Hermione as she waved back sleepily, yawning as she followed the rest of the girls. Harry made his way slowly up the spiral staircase, dragging his feet up the stairs slowly. They reached a room at the top and opened the doors slowly. Five four-poster beds hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks already sat at foot of each of their beds. Harry crawled into his own, too tired as he closed his bedside clothes around him.
Sebastian slowly unwound himself from Harry, sliding up next to the boy as he lay on the bed. Harry looked at the snake with slight confusion. "You've been quiet, Sebastian," he commented.
The snake nodded his head, lying down next to the boy. "I've been watching, master."
Harry nodded at him sleepily and before he knew it, he was sleeping soundly in his bed.