Hiding at Hogwarts

~ by Healer Pomfrey ~

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

17 – Plans

Everyone looked at the ancient Potions Master in surprise. Salazar smirked and shortly explained, "A Horcrux is a piece of a human soul. I once knew someone who divided his soul into several pieces, making five Horcruxes. He had an evil mind, and I knew that he was up to no good; therefore, I invented a potion, which has the effect that it gathers parts of souls back into their original body."

"Would you mind sharing the recipe?" Severus queried, seeming uncharacteristically excited.

Salazar chuckled, before he said, sounding more amused than regretting, "I'm sorry, my boy, but since it was one thousand years ago and I never used it again, I don't remember the exact ingredients. However, the recipe must be in one of my potions books. I'm afraid Harry will have to spend some quality time in my library skimming the books for the recipe."

"No problem," Harry threw in, glancing at Severus. "May I go and begin right away, sir?"

"No," the adults replied, simultaneously, causing Harry to inwardly groan. 'Why does everyone have to be so over-protective?' he thought in annoyance, wondering if he could sneak out and go to the Founder's library during the night. However, knowing that the Founders always woke up when he did as much as leave his own room, he grudgingly dismissed the thought. To his chagrin, until the end of the holidays, Helga and Madam Pomfrey did not allow him to leave his quarters let alone spending time in the cold, wet Chamber of Secrets.

HP

In the morning of the day, on which the students were supposed to return from their holidays, the teachers once again joined him for breakfast in his quarters, like they had made it a habit during the holidays.

"Harry, Ronald Weasley has decided to come back to Hogwarts tonight," Minerva spoke up, hesitating. "Severus told me that in this case you want to be re-sorted?"

"Hmmm," Harry said, unintelligently. In fact, since he had discussed the matter with Severus on the first day of the holidays, he had had been distracted by his illness and by the discussion about the Horcruxes and had not thought about Ron and a possible re-sorting again. He remained thoughtful for a moment, before he replied in determination. "Yes please."

"All right, Harry," McGonagall said, giving him a sharp look. "You don't have to decide this now though, you can still think about it and tell me until ten minutes before the beginning of the Feast tonight."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, Professor. I really appreciate it, but it's okay. I've made my decision. I'd like to be re-sorted." Turning to his Head of House, he added, "Remus, please don't take this personally. It's not that I didn't like having you as my Head of House. These last few months were just awesome. It's really only because of Ron."

"I know, Harry," Lupin replied in a soft voice, returning the smile. "You'll be dearly missed though, not only in our Quidditch team. But let's see if the Hat is willing to place you in any other House anyway."

"All right," Harry agreed. 'That's true; I won't be able to play in the team anymore,' he mused. A sudden thought crossed his mind, and he turned to the Headmistress. "Professor, would it be possible to be sorted before dinner? I mean not in front of everyone?" he asked, hesitantly.

McGonagall nodded in understanding. "Yes Harry, we can sort you right away if you prefer a smaller audience," she agreed immediately. "We only have to call Professors Sprout and Flitwick." Seeing that everyone had finished their breakfast, she suggested, "Let's go to my office and get over with it right away."

~ The Headmistress' office ~

With mixed feelings, Harry let himself sink into the chair between Severus and Remus and observed how Professor McGonagall fetched the Sorting Hat from the shelf. 'I just hope it'll sort me into a House, where I can get away without attracting much attention, although I really liked Gryffindor,' he thought. An instant later, his vision became blocked by the Hat, when the Headmistress placed it on his head.

'Why do I have to sort you again?' the Hat's voice penetrated his ears.

'Please just do it,' Harry thought back, recalling what Helga had told him about Sopho, whom she had described as a stubborn old piece of cloth. Fawkes had called him an annoying busybody.

'No. I can't sort you in any single House,' the Hat informed him. 'You belong to all Houses.'

Harry groaned. 'Two and a half years ago, you could sort me into Gryffinor, and you also offered Slytherin. Why is that not possible now?' he thought back, very upset.

However, the Hat did not reply but instead shouted into the room, "Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff."

"Sopho!" Godric admonished the Hat from his position in the portrait behind the Headmistress' desk, where all four Founders were assembled to watch Harry's re-sorting. "Behave yourself and properly sort the boy."

"I can't sort the boy. As the heir of all Founders, he belongs to all Houses," Sopho replied, demonstratively closing its mouth.

Like in a daze, Harry tore the Hat off his head and handed it back to the Headmistress. Shaking her head in annoyance, Professor McGonagall placed the Hat back on its shelf, mumbling something to herself like "time to abolish that antiquated piece of cloth". "Very well, Harry," she finally said, as she returned to her desk. "You now belong to all Houses."

"Whatever that means," Severus threw in. "If you don't want to attract additional attention by this very extraordinary Sorting, I suggest remaining in Gryffindor like before."

"Yes sir, I'll do that," Harry agreed immediately, "if it's still possible."

McGonagall's features softened, and she sounded relieved, when she said, "Yes Harry, I believe that would be the best."

Dumbledore, who had so far been quietly observing the event from his portrait, cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, my boy, but I don't believe it'll be possible to just ignore your latest Sorting, as here at Hogwarts, the Sorting is a magically binding matter. I'm certain that if anyone gives you House points, for example, they'll automatically become added to every House." Ignoring a collective groan, he continued, "The only way to prevent this would be to immediately abolish the Sorting system, although it even might be too late with this either."

Harry stared at the portrait of the former Headmaster in shock. 'If Ron hears about this, he'll go nuts again,' he thought, terrified.

"Let's see," Severus spoke up, smirking. "Five points to Harry Potter for the courage to have the Hat re-sort him."

While Harry looked up in surprise, everyone else turned to the small copy of the Hour glasses on the Headmistress' desk, letting out a collective sigh as five points were equally added to each of the four Houses.

'Dumbledore is always right,' Harry mused, feeling extremely annoyed at his new situation.

"Albus, what do you recommend? Should we abolish the Hat?" McGonagall asked her old mentor.

"I'd stick to the Sorting system, until you have found a better system," Dumbledore replied, only to add, "Believe me, during the last fifty years, I've pondered the matter at least once a year. However, there is no better method. You could let the students choose their House, but that way, I believe that in ten years at the most, there wouldn't be any students left in Hufflepuff and Slytherin."

"That might be true," McGonagall agreed.

"Excuse me, Professors," Harry threw in, glancing from Dumbledore to his guardian. "What exactly will be the consequences for me? Apart from the fact that I won't be able to play Quidditch anymore."

McGonagall smiled at the boy. "Harry, I can imagine that you'll still be able to play Seeker. The Heads of each House could talk to their Quidditch captains and suggest that they allow you to train with their teams from time to time and that they make you the reserve Seeker in case the first Seeker cannot play in a match for some reason."

'Ah, how often does that happen?' Harry thought, sadly. 'Once in five years?'

"Harry, don't worry; it'll happen sooner or later," Severus said soothingly, correctly interpreting Harry's subdued look.

"Yes, it will," McGonagall agreed, "plus I've thought about something else." Turning to her colleagues, she continued, "I'd hear your opinion about setting up a Hogwarts Quidditch team to play friendship games, later maybe even a tournament, against other magical schools or perhaps other institutions like the Ministry or St. Mungo's."

"A wonderful idea," Professor Sprout said warmly, "and Harry could be the captain of our school team, representing all four Houses."

Everyone agreed with the plan, and the Headmistress promised to address the topic at the Welcoming Feast. The teachers decided that Harry was allowed to stay in his own rooms instead of changing dormitories every night.

"However, you should regularly spend some time in each of the common rooms," Severus said sternly, "also in Slytherin." Seeing that Harry looked at him with apparent apprehensiveness, he suggested, "I'll take you to the common room and properly introduce you to your new House mates, and so will the other professors. I suggest that you take dinner at the Gryffindor table tonight; however, come to me right after the end of the Feast, and you can join the Slytherins for our House meeting."

"Tomorrow it's Hufflepuff then," Professor Sprout added, smiling.

"Mr. Potter, we expect that you efficiently work on more understanding and friendship between the Houses," Professor Flitwick voiced his opinion, promising to introduce Harry to his House two days later.

"I'll definitely try," Harry replied, eagerly. "Professor McGonagall, would it be possible to make kind of a study room for our year, where I could spend some time together with friends of different Houses instead of only being able to be together with them every fourth day? Or may I take my friends into my own quarters every now and then?"

"Make a study room for every year," Rowena Ravenclaw threw in from Godric's portrait. "I've seen some important conversations taking place in at least two of these rooms."

The teachers promised to further discuss the matter in the staff meeting that was going to take place in the afternoon, and the Headmistress dismissed everyone.

~ The Great Hall ~

Ten hours later, Harry was sitting between Hermione and Fred, observing with mixed feelings how Professor McGonagall rose from his seat to address the students. 'Oh Merlin, I hope Ron is going to take this well,' he thought, unable to see into the face of his former best friend, who was sitting on Hermione's other side.

tbc...

Thank you so much for your many kind reviews here and your comments on Facebook. As requested, we will see a bit about Harry's school life in the next chapter. Would you like Ron to play a (good or bad) role in this story or not?