*Chapter 8*: The First Impression The first impression Harry found Tonks sitting in an empty compartment near the back of the train. "Why is such a beautiful lady like you sitting alone?" he asked her as he entered the compartment.
Tonks face brightened when she saw Harry. She jumped up and hugged him. "It good to see you Harry." She said. "Where is your luggage?" she asked seeing that he wasn't carrying anything.
"In my pocket." He answered. "You still haven't answered my question Dora." He said wanting a reply from her as he sat next to her.
Her face darkened considerably seeing Harry wasn't going to drop the topic. "Harry, you may not know this but I have no friends at Hogwarts. Most of the boys are interested in my because I can change my form at will. Most the girls hate me and are mean to me because they think I will steal their boyfriends. Some don't care whether I exist or not. The rest try to bully me because to them I am a freak." She said somberly.
"Well this year is going to be different Tonks. Now that I am here nobody is going to bully you or harm you in any way." Harry stated. This statement earned him a kiss on his cheek from Tonks.
"That so sweet Harry but you just are a first year student. You may be powerful and more advanced than a normal first year but I don't think you would be able to go up against a group of upper classmen. I don't want you to get into trouble just for me." She said not knowing the true extent of his training and power.
"For you Tonks I could take on full legions let alone few upper classmen. Just point me in the right direction and see your troubles disappear." Harry said placing his hand on hers trying to comfort her.
Tonks couldn't control herself she leaned down and kissed Harry on his lips. He eagerly reciprocated the kiss and deepened it. His tongue slowly gained an entry into her mouth. Tonks and never kissed any one like this before but she knew Harry as a good kisser.
Harry's raging hormones wanted him to take Tonks right now. He controlled himself as he didn't want to treat Tonks like a two bit whore and take her on the train.
Tonks seemed a bit disappointed when the kiss was broken. She then realized that she was short of breath and her breathing had become heavy.
Harry removed a ring from his pocket and handed it over to Tonks. "You aren't proposing to me, are you?" she asked with a bit of panic in her voice seeing the ring in his hand.
"Not right now Tonks. I can do that later if you want me to propose to you. This is an enchanted ring for your protection from my enemies. It would also signify that you are under the protection of the house of Potter." Harry casually replied.
Tonks accepted the ring while thinking about her future wedding with Harry.
(((o)))
Harry and Tonks were enjoying a good conversation. The talk was mainly about Tonks future plans and her goals. Her dream to become an auror was the crux of the conversation.
Suddenly Harry's focus shifted from her towards the door. He looked at Tonks and said, "Play along with me."
The door burst open and three boys entered the compartment. The middle one was a pale blond boy. He was looking at Harry with a lot of interest.
"You see Tonks, this is the exactly the reason I don't like to venture into the public. Where ever I go riff raff like this follows. If you are here for my autograph or bestowed me with gifts I am not interested." Harry said arrogantly.
"I am not riff raff. I am Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Draco shouted indignantly.
"Well Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, I didn't ask for your name nor do I care about it." Harry sneered at him.
"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your father. He didn't know what was good for him, either. Marrying a mudblood and opposing the dark…" Draco couldn't complete the sentence as he felt his throat constrict by an invisible force. He was slowly lifted into the air by his neck.
"If you insult my parents again then I will show you the true definition of torture." Harry said in a slow and dangerous voice. With a flick of his hand Harry tossed Draco and his goons out of the compartment. Draco passed out after hitting the compartment wall on the other side and landed on Crabbe and Goyle. The door shut itself.
"That was scary. How did you do all that without a wand?" Tonks asked impressed by the power, Harry had displayed.
"I am Harry Potter, Tonks. I can do wandless magic." He said with a hit of laughter.
"Seriously Harry, how did you do it?" she asked again.
"If you were anyone else, I would have showed you my wand hidden in my invisible wrist holster. But since you are my lovely Dora, I am telling you the truth I really am capable of wandless magic." Harry said pulling Tonks into another kiss.
(((o)))
Their kissing was interrupted when the compartment door opened and a redheaded boy came in with a smaller version of him following behind him.
"Tonks, I should have known." The taller redhead said pompously. "Only you can show such blatant disregard for the rules. You will be getting a detention with Filch and I also would be informing your head of house about the incident."
"Tonks do you know the prick talking trash in our compartment?" Harry asked her.
"Unfortunately, his name his Percy Weasley and he has an axe to grind against me since I refused to date him and hexed his nads when he couldn't take no for an answer." She answered.
"I am a Hogwarts prefect and you will address me with respect." Percy said in a condescending tone.
"Well Mr. Prefect it wasn't Tonks who threw Malfoy out. If you trouble her again then you will probably end up in a worst state than him." Harry said in an equally condescending tone. "She is under the protection of my house. You should be grateful that the Malfoy boy is still alive. I was well within my writes to kill him for insulting my house."
Percy fumingly left the compartment since he couldn't do anything in the matter. He decided to report the incident to professor McGonagall.
"That was bloody brilliant mate. Percy needed to be taken down a peg or two. His ego has inflated tremendously since he was made a perfect. I am Ron Weasley by the way." Ron said excitedly as he entered the compartment.
"I feel sorry for you Ron; you have to share the same house with him. You have my sympathies." Tonks said.
"So which one of you two really tossed Malfoy out? Not that I am complaining or anything, I just wished that I was here to see it happen.
"I did that to show him the consequences of insulting my family." Harry said in a neutral tone studying Ron.
Ron left the compartment after a bit of a small talk.
(((o)))
Soon after Ron left them, the bushy brown hair girl Harry had seen inside Flourish & Blotts opened their compartment door. She had already worn her Hogwarts robes.
"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy name Neville lost one." She said in a bossy sort of voice.
"Before asking a stranger any question it is always polite to introduce yourself first." Harry politely said interest in knowing the girl's name.
"I am Hermione Granger." She said with a hint of blush.
"I am Harry" he said. "This here is Tonks." He added pointing towards Tonks next to him. "As for your earlier question, we haven't seen a toad. Is the toad wearing a 'toad collar.'?" He asked.
"I don't know. What is a 'toad collar'?" Hermione asked.
"As the name suggests the 'toad collar' is a collar for toads to wear, Hermione. As living creatures cannot be summoned small pets like toads are made to wear a collar in case they get lost." Tonks answered.
"Oh! I will go ask Neville." She said as she left the compartment.
In a few minutes she returned with Neville. He was a round face boy with a short, chubby build and blond hair. He was a bit on the chubby side in Harry's opinion. He was a bit teary eyed.
"Hi I am Neville Longbottom." Neville said as he followed Hermione into the compartment.
Harry again introduced himself and Tonks to the newcomer. "So Neville, Hermione here was telling us that you lost your toad."
"Trevor ran off when I boarded the train and he doesn't have a collar. My grandmother will kill me if I lose him." Neville said with a sob.
Harry taking pity on Neville tried to locate the toad using his shadow power as he knew the toads like dark damp places. Since it was evening his powers were not at their full strength. With some difficult he managed to locate the toad in the ladies toilet of the train.
"I suggest you look for your toad in the toilets as the love damp and dark places." Harry told them.
(((o)))
Tonks gave Harry a good bye kiss as she disembarked from the train and headed towards the carriages. She had enjoyed her snogging session with Harry and hope to continue throughout the year in Hogwarts.
The cool night air didn't affect Harry as he got down from the train. As the child of the night they always felt pleasant to him. He heard a large man shouting for first years to gather around him in a strange accent. Just by looking at him he could tell that the man had some giant blood in him. By giant blood he didn't mean the children of Gaia but a magical species of really large people.
The man introduced himself has Rubeus Hagrid. He was the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. He instructed the first years to follow him. Hagrid lead them down a dark steep and narrow path.
As they reached the end of the path Harry heard Hagrid shout, ""Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here."
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. On the other side of the lake Harry could see a vast castle perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, with many turrets and towers.
'So this is Hogwarts. Too bad, my enemy has made it his stronghold. I will slowly take back from him and make him suffer for my father's death and the pain he put my mom through.' Harry thought. His thought process was broken when he heard Hagrid's voice.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.
Harry landed in a boat with three pretty girls. One of them was Daphne Greengrass. He didn't know the names of the other two girls with him. The redhead girl seemed to be an early bloomer and had curves that could rival 14 year old girls. The even though the blond haired girl had no striking features, Harry felt that she was pretty.
Harry introduced himself only with his first and gauged their reactions. The redhead Susan Bones was the first of the trio to realize that he was Harry Potter. To Harry's relief she didn't act like a fan girl. During the boat ride Harry found out the blond haired girl was named Tracy Davis.
(((o)))
The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Mostly everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. Harry helped the three girls get onto the dock from the rocking boat. They all thanked him.
The first year students clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.
"Everyone here?" Hagrid asked before knocking on the door three times.
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
Though the interior of Hogwarts castle were magnificent they were nothing compared to the interior Potter manor. Harry was more interested in the four girls walking around him. Hermione had caught up with Harry and was walking besides him. She was giving the group around her snippets of information about the Hogwarts castle.
Professor McGonagall led the students into a small empty room next to the hall. Harry had studied the layout of Hogwarts using the second version of the Marauder's Map.
"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… Harry droned out rest of her speech and used the time to see the entire female population in his year. Other than four girls around him, three girls of Asian descent caught his eyes. Two of them were identical twins. Rest of the girls in his year didn't seem interesting to him.
Harry thought process ended when he felt professor McGonagall stare at him. He just gave her a goofy grin which caused her to do a double take. She remembered James using that expression before playing a prank. She just hoped Harry hadn't inherited his father's mischievousness.
"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. I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
(((o)))
Professor McGonagall came back and led them to the great hall. Everybody, except Harry were awed by the sight of the hall. Hermione whisper, "The ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
Harry was about tell Hermione to stop spouting random information when 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.
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!" Ron exclaimed. "I'll kill Fred; he was going on about wrestling a troll."
"Get real Weasley. Full grown adult wizards have trouble facing trolls. They won't expect an untrained first years to face them and live." one girl sneered at Ron.
"With the exception of Harry Potter of course. He could take on any creature and come out with a scratch." Another girl with blonde pigtails added with dreamy expression.
'Great, I will have to deal with fan girls while I am here. I hope that Tonks and these lovely ladies around me would keep them away.' Harry thought.
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!"
The pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails who seemed to be a Harry Potter fan stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down.
After a moment's 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 on the table waving merrily at her. 'So her name is Hannah, huh. I need to be careful around her.' Harry thought.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah. Harry was a bit disappointed that Susan ended up in Hufflepuff and not in Gryffindor. 'Something like this isn't going to stop me from befriending her. I guess Tonks will have some company in her house. Susan probable won't care that she is a Metamorphmagus.' Harry thought.
"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 the first Slytherin. She was the one who sneered at Ron.
"Davis, Tracy" became a Slytherin but she sat far away from Millicent.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" became a "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 behind Ron 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. 'So at least one of the girls that I like is in Gryffindor. It would be a great challenge to change her nature. I will add it to the 'to do list'. Classes any way are going to be boring.' Harry thought.
Harry knew he wasn't going to learn much at Hogwarts. The only reason he was here; was to make Dumbledore's life a living hell before he killed him.
"Greengrass, Daphne." She joined her friend Tracy in Slytherin. The hat barely touched her head before it yell out her house.
"Li, Su" became a Ravenclaw
When Neville Longbottom 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. The Patil twins were shorted into different house surprising Harry. 'I guess I at least have a couple of girls that I like in every house.' Harry thought.
"Potter, Harry" McGonagall called out. Dumbledore and Snape leaned in front from their position on the head table to get a better look at him.
When his name was finally called, he walked up with slowly with an aura of pure confidence and power. A lot of the girls who had noticed him stepping out of the line had heart shapes in their eyes with a slight drool coming down their lips. You could see that he was a heartthrob of the little ankle biters and he knew he was quite the looker for a young age. He was almost 5 feet tall, 4 feet 11 inches, to be precise and was quite muscular for his age with green eyes that matched with his short black hair that stuck out everywhere. It gave him a roguish innocent look that all the girls seemed to go crazy for. To the girls, he was definitely going to be one hell of a hot guy in the future if he already wasn't one.
Unlike the sorting of other students where the sorting hat remained stationary till it yelled out the name of the house, the hat started to twitch and move around on Harry's head.
"Hmm, how peculiar?" said the hat. "If I didn't know any better I would have thought I am sitting on an empty stool rather than your head Mr. Potter. I have never in my 1000 years of existence seen such type of Occlumency. Your shields completely cover the existence of your brain. Could you lower them so I can sort you?"
Dumbledore was surprise even though he didn't show it. His plans to find out details of Harry's up bringing had failed before they even started. 'How could a first year student have learnt Occlumency to a level where he can even stop the sorting hat from entering his mind?' Dumbledore wondered. Snape however, was looking wide eyes seeing that a 1st year knew Occlumency, not to mention it was the son of his arch-nemesis. A professor wearing a turban also looked at Harry with great interest.
"Nope. My mind is my own. I will never let anyone enter it. You can put me in Gryffindor just like my parents before me." Harry told the hat.
"Just arrogant like your father Potter. He also thought he could do anything he wanted. You will lower your shield and you will lower them now." Snape said angrily.
"You should have a chat with you godson professor. Specifically, what I do to people who insult my family. If you insult my late father or my family you will suffer a fate far worse than him. Since he was a minor he got off easy with a simple warning. I would also be writing to his mother telling her to teach him some manners, before she permanently losses him." Harry said with a hard edge. He really had no intention of killing Draco so soon but he needed to make a statement.
The effect of his words was obvious. Whispers broke out in the hall. The purebloods knew the consequences of insulting powerful family but they didn't expect a first year especially 'the boy who lived' to threaten in this manner.
Dumbledore didn't like this one bit. Harry was too independent and knew the pureblood ways. He needed Harry to be broken and easily moldable the way he saw fit. The greater good depended on it.
"Are you threatening me Potter?" Snape snarled. "You are just like your no good father, thinking that you are better than everyone…"
Harry cut short Snape's rant by sending lighting at him from his finger tips. This caused Snape to howl in excruciating pain. The muggleborns and some of the halfbloods felt as if they were watching a scene from star wars.
Snape felt like being hit by a thousand Cruciatus curses simultaneously. He had never experienced such a pain even Voldemort's Cruciatus curse wasn't this strong.
Harry stopped his attack after a few seconds and Snape fell on the ground with his body convulsing violently.
The entire hall was in a state of shock. The power displayed by Harry Potter was unheard off. There were rumors that Charles Potter had used similar powers to defeat death eaters but no one really believed them. The muggleborns and some of the halfbloods thought that Harry was a sith lord in making.
"Well I can see that you have the courage and mannerisms of a Gryffindor. A Gryffindor you shall be." The hat said.
As Harry removed the hat, Dumbledore stood up and said, "Mr. Potter I can't allow you to attack my teachers and …"
Harry cut Dumbledore off by saying, "Oh, no, headmaster. You will find that you are powerless to punish me in this situation. Snape being a member of a lower house tried to slander the name of my house, one of the oldest house currently in existence in the magical world, I am well within my rights to punish him as I see fit. Irrespective of him being a teacher in this school." In a perfect imitation of Darth Sidious.
This caused the student population who knew the reference to context to burst into laughter.
Dumbledore tried to think of a counter argument when he failed to come up with some anything he said, "You must learn to forgive, Harry my boy." In his patented grandfatherly voice.
"First of all I am not your boy, so don't address me in such a manner. Secondly, I only forgive those who deserve my forgiveness. Thirdly, what I did to him was just a warning. The next time he tries to insult me or my family name due to some school yard grudge against my dead father, he will suffer a fate thousand times worse than this. So I suggest you keep your pet death eaters on a short leash at least in my presence." Harry said in his most formal voice.
"One more thing before I leave." Harry said addressing the student body. "Nymphadora Tonks is under the protection of the house of Potter. Anyone trying to harm or abuse her in any form, be it mental, physical or sexual will face the wrath of the house of Potters."
This caused a buzz in the student body. Tonks' tormentors decided it was in their best interest to leave her alone. They were also discussing how Harry potter had put Snape in his place.
As Harry headed to the Gryffindor table, the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry sat down next to Hermione opposite Parvati Patil.
"Harry, how did you do that? You shouldn't have attacked the teacher. How did you avoid getting into trouble? Are you a sith apprentice? Is the force real?" Hermione said in a very rapid manner.
Harry was the only one to follow all her question he decided to answer them in the order she asked. "Family secret, status, no, as far as I know it doesn't."
Hermione blinked a couple of times and looked like a fish out of water. "Oh" she said with a blush realizing he understood her completely. Nobody else could follow her when she asked so many questions.
Harry turned to Parvati and asked her politely, "So where are you from, India?"
"Yes, I am from Mumbai, India." She replied.
"So what made your parents chose Hogwarts over the premier magical school in Mumbai? Or the any of the four other premier schools of magic in India? They are far older and superior than Hogwarts" Harry inquired.
Percy Weasley wanted to object to Harry's statement but he wisely kept his mouth shut.
"My father is the Indian ambassador to U.K so he decided to move here with his family for the duration of his tenure in office." Parvati answered.
After having a small talk with Parvati, Harry turned his attention back to the sorting. There were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. Harry saw that Ron was pale green by now. The hat sorted him in to, "GRYFFINDOR!"
"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously shouted from where he was sitting as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin.
After the sorting and few nonsensical words from Dumbledore food appeared in the golden platters already placed on the table.
After dinner Percy led the first year Gryffindor's to their dormitories. On the way he began to lecture Harry. "Potter, I didn't say anything in the hall because I didn't want to make a scene but you were wrong. Hogwarts is the best magical school in the world. No other school comes even close to it. Let alone some school in a backward country."
Before Parvati could object to that statement, Harry retorted, "Hogwarts never was the best school in magic. Once upon a time it was on par with the 7 best schools in magic. In last few of centuries the standard of education in Hogwarts has gone down. Especially in the last 60 years. The only reason for me being here is tradition. Every Potter before me has gone to Hogwarts."
"Ha! Like that even possible seven other schools being better than Hogwarts. Hogwarts is the greatest and the oldest school of magic." Percy arrogantly said.
"The oldest school of magic was in Greece. It was destroyed long time ago. There are 3 schools more than 3000 years older than Hogwarts currently existing. The other 4 of the top 7 are also older than Hogwarts. A narrow minded person like you me never understand buy magic was prevalent in countries like Greece, India, Egypt and China long before it came to England." Harry countered.
Peeves the poltergeist interrupted their argument by throwing a water balloon at Percy. After pelting Percy with few more balloons he left.
After showing the entrance to the common room Percy left to change his clothes. The fifth year female prefect directed the girls towards a staircase leading to their room while she told the boys to take the other staircase to the room labeled first years.
Parvati thanked Harry before they went their separate ways by giving him a quick kiss on his cheek.