Title: "One Plus One Equals One "
Rating: PG-13 for now, may go up to R later. Genfic.
Disclaimer: Honestly, I own nothing. Don't sue.
Summary: Daniel descended as a 11 years old Harry Potter…well, sort of.
Inspirited by Corwalch's "Two Shall Be As One", diverged as Daniel went back a bit further.
One Plus One Equals One
by novacarta
Y1: The Sorting Crap
Hundreds of eyes followed the first years through the double door to the front of the Great Hall where the teachers were sitting and watching them like some hunting hawks. The intensive attention did no good to comfort the children. When Professor McGonagall made them to line up facing the students, even the most attention-seeking kid had to pretend looking at the bewitched ceiling in order to distract oneself from a nervous breakdown.
Harry envied them.
As beautiful as the great hall was, it was no much difference from other muggle castles around the country. The novelty wore off pretty quickly after he stepped into it. He tried to focus on the starry ceiling, but his mind kept wondering back to the old headmaster sitting right behind him. Harry only caught a glimpse of the creepy old man before he turned his back, but the purple robe hurt his eyes, and the grandfatherly smile reminded him their last meeting. Harry only hoped what they had done would serve to divert suspicion from them, or things would be VERY ugly when their cover was blown.
[How fast can you get me out of here again?] Harry asked.
[Say the word and we will be in London in a blink.] Daniel assured him. [Come on, the sorting is going to begin.]
Truth to his word, Professor McGonagall brought out a four-legged stool and a dirty pointed hat. She set them down and moved aside. After a moment of silence, the hat twisted to open a mouth and song:
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
……………….."
…………
……
It was more like a poem with rhythm than a song, not terribly composed and quite informative. Unfortunately the hat appeared to be tone-deaf. [How could a hat sing without a vocal cord anyway?] Harry grimaced.
Lucky for all, the song soon came to an end. Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long scroll. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."
"Abbott, Hannah!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The sorting went on. Neville Longbottom became a Gryffindor. He was so relieved that he ran off with the hat still on his head. Two-thirds of the first years had been sorted when "Peverell, Evangelos" was called.
Harry took a deep breath and sat on the stool. The hat sunk straight down, its brim touching his nose. He saw only darkness, and smelled something musty and damp.
[Do you think it has fleas?] Harry wrinkled his nose in distaste. [My head is itchy!]
[No, that's not flea. It is the Sorting Hat.] Daniel paused. [It is searching for your memory. Might be this is how it match a student with one of the houses.] He trailed off again. Harry could feel his gentle touch fumbling around in his mindscape. Daniel explained as he copied a few memories and placed them outside of their occlumency haven. [We have to let it see some memories or it may ask question, I will shield your mind in case you think of something sensitive.]
[All right.] Harry agreed. He focused on the sorting hat, and suddenly he could hear a small voice murmuring inside of his head.
[Interesting. It's rare to see someone so young with a mind so organized.] The voice sounded interested and delighted. [A clever and curious mind, and so much courage to support your quest for truth and knowledge! Oh, don't forget your loyalty to your family and friends, fiercely so! You even want to follow your guardian's footstep to be a muggle archaeologist, don't you? Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. You could fit in anyone of them, but where should I put you?]
[It really doesn't matter. I just want to enjoy school.] Harry shrugged. [And make friends.] He added, thinking of his lonely days in primary school. For the first time of his life there was no Dudley to ruin his reputation, he was determined to have a taste of true friendship.
[Bad experience of bullying...I see then. You will be best taken care of in HUFFLEPUFF!]
A great cheer went up from the Hufflepuff table. Harry beamed at the welcoming faces and bounced to join the other first years at the end of the long table. Gryffindor table was the one next to them, Neville met his eyes with a big grin. However, their attentions were pulled back to the sorting when Professor McGonagall announced the next name.
"Potter, Harry!"
A rash of excited whispers broke out in the hall. Everyone was craning to see their famous hero, even the teachers sat straight up alertly. They waited and waited, but no one came forth.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips sternly and turned to the remaining first years. She seemed a bit taken aback when she realized there were only four children left. Her eyes skipped over the girl and two black boys, and landed on the boy with red hair.
"Mr. Harry Potter?"
The boy shook his head fiercely as if he was terrified by the through. "No…I, I, I'm Ron, Ronald Weasley!" He managed to stutter.
By now people all realized something had gone wrong, they stared at the fidgeting children in confusion, and the four kids stared back with frightened eyes.
After a while, Dean Thomas stepped up. "Professor, I think he is not here." He said nervously.
"What do you mean he is not here?" Professor McGonagall barked, demanding an explanation.
"Obviously none of us here is Harry Potter." The girl spoke up impatiently.
"Oh no!" Hagrid jumped up suddenly, his chair fell backward with a loud thud. "The boys are right, Harry is not here! How is it possible? He was at the Hogsmeade Station, I saw him with my own eyes!"
The panicky buzz flooded over the Hall was getting louder and louder. It became quite difficult to hear who was saying what over the hubbub.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore stood up and roared. All noises ceased abruptly.
"It seems that Mr. Potter has unfortunately misplaced himself. We will send someone to bring him back." The Headmaster nodded to Hagrid, the huge man nodded back and left hurriedly. "At the moment, we shall proceed with the sorting. Please continue, Professor McGonagall."
The Professor complied reluctantly, but neither she nor the students were paying much attention. Whenever the hat shouted out a house, they clapped politely but lack of enthusiasm. Dean Thomas was sorted into Gryffindor, the girl Lisa Turpin joined Ravenclaw, Ronald Weasley went to Gryffindor, much to Daniel's relief, and the sorting ended with "Zabini, Blaise," who was made a "Slytherin".
Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet again. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Please enjoy the feast!" As he sat back down, foods and drinks appeared out of thin air and covered the tables.
The old students blinked blankly, all were shocked by the fact that the Headmaster had just finished the speech in two sentences, and no strange remark had been given at all.
"He must be quite shaken up." A Third year Hufflepuff boy told them. "Dumbledore always spews nonsense along his speech. This one is too normal that it's abnormal. I'm Cedric Diggory, by the way. Come on, have a pie!"
Harry took a piece off the plate as a polite gesture and started eating. The first years started introducing themselves between bites, all of them looked friendly and easygoing. Hufflepuff got the least first years this year, which Cedric waived it off as nothing unusual. The group contained three girls and four boys, including one pureblood, one muggleborn, four half-blood, and one muggle-raised.
"What do you mean by muggle-raised?" Ernie asked.
"I am a half blood wizard, but I am raised as a muggle since my parents passed away." Harry explained. "I don't even know I am a wizard until this summer. Obviously someone cased a dark curse on me and made my magical signature disappeared. My guardian thought I had been turned into a squib, but we figured it out when I turned his hair blue. It definitely was magic, because shampoo didn't help him a bit. The color stayed a whole week."
They laughed and began to share their stories of accidental magic. Time seemed to have slipped away when they were busy laughing. Foods were cleared out and replaced by desserts. Harry ate an apple crisp, and Daniel had a chocolate éclair. No one except their full stomach noticed their brief exchange.
It wasn't long before the banquet finished. Professor Dumbledore stood and opened his arms wide as a signal for silence.
"I understand many of you are feeling tired now, so I will keep the start-of-term notices as short as possible." Dumbledore recited some school rules and Quidditch trials, and then his tone changed into a secretive one. "And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
A few students laughed but Harry didn't find it amusing. [What kind of school this is to keep a place so dangerous in a corridor and inform everyone its location?] He blurted out. Some mischievous students, most likely included him if he wasn't so wary of the headmaster, bound to view it as a challenge. How could the teenagers resist the lure of adventure?
[Might be that is exactly what he want.] Daniel commented. [To lure someone into a trap or something. You'd better stay away from there.]
"Now, second years or above are dismissed. Fifth year prefects and all first years please stay behind." Headmaster announced.
Harry noticed many students looked relieved. Cedric noticed his questioning look and grinned. "Dumbledore forgot the damn school song." He whispered. "If you have sensitive ears, you should thank Merlin for the mercy." He ruffled Harry's hair and ran off to catch up with his friends.
"Hufflepuff students, please follow me." A mid-aged witch with gray hair came up and walked them to the High Table. "I am Professor Pomona Sprout, the Head of Hufflepuff house and your Herbology teacher. Professor Dumbledore would like to speak with all of you and ask some questions, please answer him honestly."
They assembled in front of the High Table. Dumbledore inspected them behind his half-round glasses and nodded his thanks to the professors. "You might have noticed that Mr. Potter didn't show up for the sorting," he said somberly. "I would need any information you can provide. Does anyone have personal contact with Mr. Potter today?"
Ron spoke up reluctantly. "My family met him at the muggle side of the Platform. He asked for the direction of Platform nine and three quarters, and he went through after my twin brothers." His face suddenly turned a scarlet shade of red. "They…er…they crashed into each other…" Most of the first years chuckled or giggled at his embarrassment, obviously they had all witnessed the impressive entrance and the chaos followed. Daniel scowled when Harry laughed along remembering his embarrassed predicament.
"And then there was a fight. The train conductor had to save him from the crowd and brought him back to the train. I found him in the last compartment and spent the rest of the trip together. Loads of people came to see him. " Ron was visibly deflated as he continued. "He went to the washroom just before the train stopped. I lost him after that."
[He offered to help me in the washroom for god's sake!] Daniel snorted. [As if I don't know how to wipe…] Harry had to bite his lower lips hard to keep from laughing out loud.
"We saw him on the platform when Hagrid came to collect us. He was standing right beside me." Dean looked around for affirmation, and they all nodded their agreement. "I don't remember seeing him after that."
"Did anyone share a boat with him? Or saw him walking away?" Dumbledore urged, the answers again were negative.
The teacher stood with Slytherin students spoke in his oily voice. "It seems to me that frame is not enough for our little celebrity, clearly Potter determine to ask for more attention by pulling a disappearance act!" A curtain of greasy black hair fell over his cheek, but Harry could still see the malicious pleasure on the man's face.
"Professor Snape!" Dumbledore frowned at him. Snape sneered in return but kept his mouth shut.
Decided that it was all he could get from the first years, Dumbledore sent them off to their dormitories. The children were heading to the oak door just as it was banged open.
"I can't find him!" Hagrid burst in and tramped across the Hall. "No one in Hogsmeade has seen him. I have checked the ground, the lake and even the edge of the forest, but I found no trail of him! He…" He stopped abruptly when he noticed the students, but it was already too late. He had just provided more fodder for the gossip mill.
Dumbledore let out a frustrated sigh.
Just as the old headmaster feared, gossips spread like wild fire as soon as the students stepped out of his sight. The first years followed the prefects heading to their common room, but they probably didn't remember the way because they were all deep in conversation.
"He must be kidnapped." Ernie breathed, wide-eyed. "Someone waited for him in the dark, and as soon as we've turned our backs, they ambushed him and took him away!"
"It could be." Hannah agreed. "Not everyone wants him back."
"He nearly got crushed simply because he showed his face. " Harry suggested. "May be he was scared away. If I were him, I would go straight back home."
Ernie stared at him. "He is the boy who lived. He won't be scared just because of a bunch of friendly people."
"Might be he fall into the lake then?" Harry suggested innocently.
"He is THE Harry Potter for god's sake!" Ernie rolled his eyes at his stupidity.
"It doesn't mean that he know how to swim." Harry pointed out.
"I still don't understand," Justin said. "If he is so important, why didn't he get a bodyguard? Or ask for a cop?"
"We don't have cops, we call them Aurors." Susan corrected him. "And Aurors can't help unless an order is issued or Harry Potter asks for it. It's against the regulations."
When the prefects called for their attention, they were already one level downstairs and standing in front of a large still life painting at the end of a corridor.
"Behind this, you will find the domain of Hufflepuff house. To enter, tap on it three times, and speak the password of the week. Like this." The boy prefect Marus Stebbins knocked on the golden frame three times. "Torchwood!"
The painting slid aside smoothly, revealing a tunnel mouth. The tunnel was short and well lit by torches, leading them into a warm and homey common room, which was decorated in yellow and black. Marus sent them off to their dorm immediately.
After a full day of excitement, the boys said their goodnights and settled into their four-poster beds in no time. Harry drew the curtains closed, and sank into the bed with a sigh.
[So, are you going to eavesdrop on them?] He asked as he hugged the blanket tight around him.
[No, even if I know where his office is, it would be too far out of my reach. Besides, I think we have pushed the limit enough for one day.] Daniel said. They discovered that the farther and longer they were apart, the more tiring it was for Harry to maintain the overstretched connection. Considering they had been half the train apart since this morning, Daniel didn't want to risk exhausting him further. [Sleep now. Classes start at eight, so tomorrow.]
[I bet the old man is beating Dursleys' door down.] Harry yawned and rolled over, his nose buried into the fat pillow. [Do you think he will find out the truth?]
[Oh, no doubt he will draw his own conclusion, we've left him enough cues after all.] Daniel smirked. [God knows how far it will be from the truth. He probably will go on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas.]
[Goose is good.] Harry murmured just before he fell asleep. [Goose is tasty.]
Daniel chuckled softly and let the boy sleep.
AN: Real life is hell, the next chapter might come a bit later.