Disclaimer: I didnt own Harry Potter or any affiliated works when I wrote the last chapter. Shockingly, I still don't. *sarcasm*
Author's note: For clarification, Dudley was the one getting his wand at the end of the last chapter. He got the phoenix feather wand, not Harry. Also, I realize that so far most of the story has been the same as the first book, but I'm trying to write this realistically, which mean I am starting with fairly minor changes. The story is going to diverge completely around chapter 5.
Italics are taken from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
On September 1st, 1991, Harry Potter ran straight at a brick wall, but didn't crash into it; he went straight through it. Two minutes later, at 10:02, Dudley Dursley, a fat blonde muggleborn boy, barged through the barrier to platform Nine and Three Quarters. At 10:03, Vernon and Pertunia Dursley crashed into the platform face first. Muggles could not enter platform nine and three quarters unless they were touching a wizard or witch.
Inside the platform, steam collected around a scarlet and black train with the numbers 5972 printed in white under a large scarlet and gold plaque which read 'Hogwarts Express'.
Although the platform was mainly empty, some wizards and witches were scampering around, escorting their children and tearfully wishing them farewell. The children were ignoring their parent's sadness and focusing on the future - freedom from their parents and an entire castle to explore!
"Wow!" Harry exclaimed breathlessly as his cousin rushed out the platform to find his parents and bring them back in. Harry, with much effort on his own part, dragged his luggage onto the train and to the last compartment of the train where, with a great huff, he collapsed, tired from the effort.
"Potter, out of my compartment." Dudley commanded when he entered the compartment five minutes later. With a sigh, Harry, used to being pushed around by this point, heaved his luggage to the third to last compartment in which a boy with blonde hair who looked about Harry's age was reading "Hogwarts: A History".
"Hello," Harry began, "May I sit in this compartment?" Harry was sure he could've sat in another compartment, but he did want to make a friend or two before Dudley began scaring them away by bullying them.
The boy looked up from his book, "Of course. I'm Zacharias Smith, just call me Zach. who are you?" he asked with a kind smile on his face.
"Harry Potter. Great book you're reading." Harry responded. Over the last month, Harry had read all ten of the extra books he got from Flourish and Blotts so that he could seem more knowledgeable about the wizarding world than Dudley. Hogwarts: A History, which Zach was holding in his lap, had been one of those.
"Are you really?" Zach blurted out.
"Yes, why?" Harry asked.
Zach's face went red with embarrassment, "I hope you'll forgive my rudeness, it's just that I grew up going to sleep with bed time tales about you!"
Harry's eyebrows rose a bit as he questioningly stated, "Bed time tales?"
"You mean you don't know about them? Books like Harry Potter and the Voracious Vampire or Harry Potter and the Voluptuous Veela?" Terry asked, pretending to be shocked.
Having put his trunk atop the shelf for it, Harry took a seat directly across from Terry, next to the window which overlooked the platform. The express would be leaving in ten minutes and Harry could see a pack of red heads just arriving on the platform.
"No, mate, I was raised by muggles. I haven't a clue about any of that." Harry responded, a bit annoyed that there were books about him that he hadn't read. Besides, what did 'voluptuous' mean anyways?
"Oh.. Well, could I see your scar?" Zach asked.
Harry grinned shyly and pulled up his bangs to reveal a light lightning bolt mark. He might not like the fact that he was famous, but he could understand wanting to see the scar.
"So that's where You-Know-Who..." Zach began.
"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."
"Nothing?" Zach asked eagerly.
"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."
"Wow," said Zach. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.
For the next three hours, the two talked about various topics: Quidditch, Hogwarts, Pets, and more.
"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Zach just as interesting as Zach found him.
"Er - Yes, I think so," said Zach.
"So you must know loads of magic already."
"Not really. We're not allowed to learn until we turn eleven." Zach informed Harry.
The train billowed and began chugging before leaving the station.
"Though," Zach began with a sly grin, "I do know one spell that my mum taught me."
"Well, have at it." Harry told him a bit impatiently.
"Well, my mum was annoyed that I kept outgrowing my clothes every two months or so, so she taught me the clothing adjustment charm." Zach told Harry before pointing his wand at him.
Harry reached for his own ten inch Mahogany wand with an Egyptian Sand Dragon heartstring on reflex. All summer, he'd been threatening the Dursleys with it when they were unreasonable, so it was a reflex.
As he was about to start his spell, the door swung open and a brunette with a mane of untamable hair and large front teeth stepped into the compartment.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy
sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.
"No, we haven't," said Zach, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."
She sat down. Zach looked taken aback.
"Er - all right."
He cleared his throat.
"Pannus Reparo."
Harry's jeans, which had been far to large for him and slightly ripped fitted themselves to him and were sewn together by the spell while his shirt shrank to fit him correctly.
"Great spell!" said the girl, causing Zach to puff out his chest, "I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you. "
She said all this very fast.
Harry looked at Zach, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.
"I'm Zacharias Smith," Zach muttered.
"Harry Potter," said Harry.
"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books. for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.
"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed. He had bought books on Wizarding History, but had decided to learn the ancient history first for the sake of chronological order. He had yet to learn about any magical history past 1600 AD.
"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."
And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Zach.
Harry frowned at his new friends rudeness, Hermione was no doubt just nervous, but decided that she was annoying despite her good intentions.
"What house do you want to be in?" Harry asked.
"Ravenclaw. I don't want to be a Slytherin or Gryffindor, they're always at each other's throats. Hufflepuff wouldn't be to bad either." Zacharias answered before taking a black cat out of a cage in which he'd been keeping it.
"This is my pet, Naut." Zach told Harry, holding out the yellow-eyed cat for Harry to hold. As Harry was taking the cat, the blonde ponce from Diagon Alley opened the door to the compartment, with one ugly brutes on each side of him, but was attacked by the cat. The trio quickly left the compartment while Zach apologized profusely.
"That was Draco Malfoy. I don't particularly like him, but his father's powerful. Doesn't matter, he'll be a slytherin anyways." Zach explained.
The hatred with which Zach said 'Slytherin' made Harry curious, so he asked, "Why do you hate Slytherins so much?"
"Most dark wizards are Slytherins." Zach explained.
After that, the two heeded Hermione's advice and changed into their robes. No point in being late on the first day after all.
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will besomething like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on a red head, Weasley's, smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall.
"Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Zach.
"Some sort of test, I think. My dad said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet - what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived.
He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue. He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.
Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Zach behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting.
These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.
The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.
Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing - noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:
"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.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Zach whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Dad, he was going on about wrestling a troll."
Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause -
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
" Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school.
He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.
Dudley was called up and after three minutes, the hat sorted him into "GRYFFINDOR!"
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.
A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?
When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."
Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.
There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last - "Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
The Harry Potter?"
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.
Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"
Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not with Malfoy or Dudley, not with Malfoy or Dudley.
"Not Slytherin or Gryffindor, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that - no? Well, if you're sure - better be RAVENCLAW!"