Author Notes: Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. I am rather surprised that this story has generated as much interest as it has. I don't pretend to be a great writer, English was always my worst subject though I'd like to think I have a buff creativity muscle. What I write here is primarily aimed at entertaining myself and I am rather chuffed that it is able to also provide some measure of entertainment to others. The interest shown in my story has certainly prompted me to pay a bit more attention to my proofreading, hopefully that shows up in more polished chapters and less need to repost each chapter multiple times (I'm an optimist). Note this has been a quick update but I am not expecting the next to be quite as fast being that I'm not quite sure where Chapter 9 is taking me.

As always answers and replies to questions and comments are or will be posted at www fanfiction net/topic/135718/89507238/1/

Update 14 July: Many thanks to Aletheya for proofreading this chapter.

Chapter 6 - The Sorting

The entrance hall was full of extremely nervous looking first years waiting for Professor McGonagall to return. It was only fractionally warmer here than out of the lake, so the students were still all wrapped up tight in their thick robes. Summer already seemed like a long time ago.

Over by his goons, a perplexed Draco Malfoy keep glancing across the crowd at Harry. A little further away, Ron was nervously shifting on his feet, mumbling something and fiddling with his wand. Occasionally tiny orange sparks would fly from the end.

Hermione stood next to Harry and was busy interrogating Neville on his life, in an effort to find some worthy examples to show him, that he had nothing to worry about. It was hard to get Neville to speak positively about himself, but Hermione's perseverance was beginning to show results. It seemed Neville wasn't scared of some rather nasty plants.

Also nearby, Susan and Hannah were busy reassuring each other that if they ended up in Gryffindor and Slytherin they would still remain the best of friends no matter if they had to fight every other member of their new houses to do so.

Harry listened to his friends for a moment before deciding to go introduce himself to a few of the other students. He picked those that weren't so involved in their own preparations. Most seemed happy for the distraction and those that weren't that friendly were at least polite.

He continued chatting with people until a shriek from one of the girls had everyone turn and gasp in surprise. A strange assortment of ghosts had just floated through a wall seemingly deep in conversation with each other.

'Ah, the ghosts coming in to scare the first years again. I am sure one of the staff must put them up to it. Ghosts are notoriously bad at remembering any dates apart from their death days. Most couldn't even tell you what year or day of the week it is even if you had told them the day before.'

"Can they hurt us?"

'Generally, no. There are a few spells that can grant them certain powers for a short time and some spirits that can interact with the physical world, but there is nothing to fear from any of these particular ghosts. The poltergeist named Peeves is a different story. He likes to play pranks and he's hurt many a student over the year.'

"Can't they get rid of him?"

'I'm not sure. I would have thought so but maybe his essence is tied to Hogwarts in some manner.'

Harry listened to the ghosts pass on their best wishes before Professor McGonagall returned to lead them into the Great Hall. As they passed through the massive doors Harry's jaw dropped.

"Wow."

'That's getting repetitive.'

"Shush you. Just because you've seen it before. It's amazing."

'It's very impressive charms work, if that is what you mean.'

"No, I mean it's beautiful. Like a romantic dinner for a hundred people on a dark lake."

'If you say so.' Tom's voice was dismissive.

Harry finally took his eyes off the room and looked at the small stool placed just beside where Professor McGonagall had come to a halt.

"That is the sorting hat? Not very impressive."

'Indeed, though it's one of the more powerful magical artifacts within the castle. What the founders were thinking of when they chose to enchant that ratty old thing with so much power I have no idea.'

Both Harry and Tom went quiet as they listened to the song sang by the Hat.

'Different words but pretty much the same old song from when I was here.'

Without delay, Professor McGonagall started the sorting and Harry clapped along with everyone else as first Hannah and then Susan went to join the Hufflepuff table, both obviously relieved to be together.

'And so the two loyal friends join the House of the loyal.'

As names continued to be called out, Harry glanced over at the teachers sitting at the head table. Not all their faces were visible from where he stood but, as they moved about, one face came into view from behind Hagrid.

'SNAPE? What the hell is he doing here?' Tom's sudden exclamation caused Harry to twitch.

"Ahh.. what? Who is Snape?" He smiled and gave a little shake of his head to Hermione, who was giving him a concerned look.

'Damn. Sorry, Harry. I need to think about this and you need to pay attention to what is going on without me distracting you. I'll go hide deep in the quiet. Best of luck Harry. Remember, no matter what house you end up in we can make it work for us, don't worry about it.'

"Okay, then... thanks Tom."

Harry felt Tom's presence fade away. It was strange, but it was not a surprise as they had practiced this a number of times in preparation for this moment.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Harry gave Hermione an encouraging smile, "Go get em, Hermione!"

Hermione returned his smile and straightening her back strode forward confidently and her head disappeared under the hat. A few seconds passed and then 'GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry clapped loudest.

It was a long wait till Harry's turn. He watched as Neville joined Hermione at Gryffindor's table and Draco went to Slytherin.

When his name was called, excited whispers broke out amongst all the students and even those few that hadn't been paying much attention to the sorting twisted their heads to look.

As the oversized hat fell over his eyes, almost knocking his glasses off, he wondered why they hadn't chosen a more suitably sized hat to sort children.

A faint voice came from right next to his ear, "Already with the questions, eh? Intelligence and curiosity are some of Ravenclaw's favoured traits. Well, let me sate that curiosity. Sorting is just one of my many responsibilities, young boy. I see that you are not at all scared to be here, impressively Gryffindor, that is. Humm, a little doubt over here and something you don't want me to know. Not to worry, your secrets are safe with me especially since you are doing such a fine job of concealing them. Slytherin would impressed. I see that you are a hard worker but too focused on the goal to be true Badger material. Hufflepuff would still have been happy to have you, but I think elsewhere for you.."

Harry whispered in a voice he hoped would be heard only by the hat, "My friend went to Gryffindor. I think I would be a good fit there..."

"Ahh so you would tell me my job, eh? You have some nerve. So, who am I to disagree when my master would be so proud. GRYFFINDOR!"

The hall broke out in a torrent of clapping and shouting. Once again he found himself absentmindedly shaking hands as he made his way to sit between Hermione and Neville, who had saved him a spot. Two older redhead twins who reminded him of Ron Weasley clapped and chanted, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

He rolled his eyes at them and they winked and returned cheeky grins.

As the rest of the first years were sorted, Harry congratulated both Hermione and Neville before turning his attention back to the staff at the head table. He looked at the greasy haired man that Tom had called Snape. An unpleasant and unhappy looking man with a hook nose and sallow skin. The man noticed his gaze and turned his cold gaze on Harry and his sneer became more pronounced. Harry affected an expression of puzzlement and turned away.

One of the twins leaned across the table towards him, "Impressive. Snape normally waits till his first class before demonstrating his hatred for all Gryffindors. Seems he's got a headstart with you. Fred Weasley by the way and there here is George." Both brothers shook Harry's hand.

At Harry's questioning glance back at the staff table George added, "He's the Potions Professor, Head of Slytherin, Wannabee Defence of the Dark Arts teacher and an all round unpleasant fellow. To not get on his bad side you can either.."

Fred interjected, "..be in Slytherin or .."

George finished the sentence, "..not attend Hogwarts. Oh look we got little Ronniekins. Welcome to the Lions, Ron!"

Another boy who had introduced himself as Percy Weasley when he had shaken Harry's hand stood up and, in a pompous voice, said, "Well done, Ron, quite excellent."

The two twins rolled their eyes before turning their attention to the head table where the Headmaster had just stood up smiling broadly to welcome everyone and finish off with some nonsensical words.

Harry exchanged confused looks with Hermione and Neville before asking the twins, "What's nitwit, blubber, oddment and tweak?"

Fred just laughed, "Some people think we are a bit.."

"..crazy but we don't hold a candle up to the madness of.."

"..the great Albus Dumbledore."

Harry laughed with the others and then looked down as the table suddenly groaned under the weight of a massive banquet. He and the others wasted no time in getting started gorging themselves on the steaming food. It had been a long train ride with only a few snacks to keep them going, so there was little talk as the students started working their way through the spread.

Harry decided that whilst the variety was great, the dishes could do with a bit more flavour. He had long ago taken it upon himself to make the bland dishes his Aunt had taught him more interesting, so he had invested in a number of cookbooks and taught himself many new recipes. His collection of books had grown over the years and he had come to really enjoy his time cooking and experimenting with his recipes. He wondered if the elves would be okay with him occasionally cooking himself a meal.

After the initial rush to fill stomachs abated, many at the table interspaced bites of food with conversation. Harry answered a few questions asked of him and added a few brief responses when the round-the-table questions got to him. Questions such as first accidental magic, favourite quidditch team and preferred model of broom. Even though everyone was friendly enough and he was sitting next to Hermione, he started feeling a little lonely. He was too used to the occasional snide observation or chat with Tom and he still hadn't returned. He wished he could call him back but he knew from testing that until Tom judged enough time must have passed, neither of them were going to be able to hear each other.

Soon, the desserts were finished and the dishes all disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared. Dumbledore gave some warnings about the nearby Forbidden Forest, informed everyone on the restriction on casting magic in the corridors between classes, mentioned Quidditch trials and gave a very strange warning about a very painful death waiting in the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side that got many people whispering. Finally he ended with the very badly sang school song. Harry tried to pay attention to it all.

Percy, who turned out to be one of the Gryffindor prefects, led Harry and the other first years on a crazy journey along corridors, through doors, many hidden, and up staircases to the Gryffindor Tower. Harry, tired like the rest but also now feeling Tom's missing presence more keenly, tailed the group and barely paid noticed when they encountered Peeves the Poltergeist. He didn't even notice Percy opening the door to the tower. When the group came to a halt he woke up enough to glance around the common room and idly note that it looked rather comfortable, before letting himself be led to the first years boys dorm.

Soon he was staring at the roof listening to the snores of the other boys. He was tired, but sleep didn't seem to be a possibility. He wanted to hear from Tom. It had been too long, when Tom had practiced retreating deep into what Tom called the quiet, he had never been away so long.

After an hour of laying on the bed, a very worried Harry finally sat up in bed and poured himself a glass of water. He rubbed his tired eyes and started calling out to Tom in his mind. He knew from their testing that they had never had any success hearing each other when Tom was in the quiet, but couldn't think of anything else to do.

"Tom. Can you hear me?"

"Tom. Where are you?"

"Why won't you answer me, Tom?"

"Please Tom, come back to me."

'Harry...' Tom's voice was so faint that Harry wondered he was imagining it.

"Tom. Is that you? I can barely hear you."

'Harry.. keep talking, please.' The voice seemed a little stronger.

"Tom. I'm here. What's wrong? Why are you so quiet? What do you want me to talk about?"

'Thank you, Harry. I've found you now. Something happened and I got... lost. It wasn't till I heard your voice that I could find my way back.' Tom's voice was much stronger now.

"I don't understand." Harry was confused but he felt his worry draining away.

'I'm not sure I do either, Harry. I was in the quiet, hopeful that the sorting should have been well over and about to return when a darkness washed over me. I say darkness but it' wasn't a literal darkness, being that there is no sight where I am except when you choose to share what you see. All my senses went crazy, I felt hot and cold, like I was moving fast and falling, swimming and spinning. Then it was gone and I was lost in the quiet.'

Harry was surprised a bit about Tom's words. Tom was usually a lot more literal in his descriptions.

'I wandered looking for my way out, but until you called had just found more quiet. Did anything strange happen during the sorting?'

"I don't think so. The hat could tell I was hiding something but seemed to only think that it meant I would make a good Slytherin, however it also thought I would make a good Gryffindor and Ravenclaw as well." Harry's internal voice was full of pride.

'Well, Harry are you going to tell me what House you got sorted into or do you want me to guess?'

"I should, but no. I asked for Gryffindor and it let me go there."

'So I'm guessing that rather than remembering the potential for which House would be most suitable you just followed Hermione?"

"Ehh.. yes." Harry blushed a little. "But you did say that Gryffindor would also be really good for my image."

'Indeed, Harry. Well done. So there were no unusual delays before or during the sorting?'

Harry thought back for a moment, "No. A few people took a few minutes and I guess I might have been a little longer but that was it."

'Then it is unlikely whatever happened to me occurred during the sorting. What about afterwards, during the banquet?'

"People chatted and then we had a big meal. I caught the eye of Professor Snape for just a moment, but I was a long way away and didn't feel anything. After dinner, Dumbledore mentioned something strange about the third-floor corridor and dying a painful death to anyone who went there. I didn't catch his eye at all. We met Peeves on the way back to the tower but I was at the back of the group and didn't get involved. Then we were back here and everyone else went to sleep."

Tom considered for a moment, 'I doubt it was anything to do with Legilimency. Your shields and defences are good enough that, even close up, Snape couldn't have gone in undetected. He was a very strong Occlumens but only a half decent Legilimens and I doubt even I could have penetrated your mind undetected with your current skill.' Tom paused for a moment, 'Why didn't you go to sleep with everyone else? You seem very tired.'

"I was worried about you. I didn't like it when I couldn't hear you."

'Thank you, Harry, though I think we need to discuss this more later. I can't remain with you forever.' This was a little sense of concern in Tom's tone.

"I know, but if you need to go, I'd at least like to say goodbye."

'That's very kind of you, Harry. You should sleep now. Goodnight, Harry.'

"Okay. Goodnight, Tom."

More Author Notes: Not too sure if the specifics are of much interest to anyone but the class lists I'm working with are as follows. I consider it my tweaked canon list.

Gryffindorstudents- Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Ronald Weasley, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Parvati Patil, and Lavender Brown (8 total)

Hufflepuffstudents - Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan, Wayne Hopkins, Zacharias Smith, Leanne Kettle, Megan Jones, Sally-Anne Perks and Lily Moon (10 total)

Ravenclawstudents - Padma Patil, Lisa Turpin, Terry Boot, Su Li , Michael Corner, Kevin Entwhistle, Stephen Cornfoot, Anthony Goldstein, Morag MacDougal, and Mandy Brocklehurst (10 total)

Slytherinstudents - Draco Malfoy, Millicent Bulstrode, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, and Tracey Davis (9 total)

P.S. Apologies to everyone that wanted a non Gryffindor Harry, I still think his personal traits still match that house best. Tom is not the one being sorted. Strangely enough the five story ideas I'm currently working on (two published) all have Harry in Gryffindor. I guess for the time being at least I'm stuck on that one particular piece of canon.

Update 27 September: Terry Boot's named fixed. He is not a toad! Thanks AllieOfGreenGables