Yay I updated =)
Sorry, about the wait. I hope everyone enjoys the chapter.
Kind of a filler but whatever. =/
Chapter 8
'It was magnificent, spectacular, breath taking.' Danny thought as he stared at the castle.
Danny was flying across the dark lake creating a wake through the lake water. As Danny was flying he stared at the illuminated castle, coupled with the moonlight showing the true beauty of the castle.
'No wonder the others wanted to come back so bad.'
Danny started to speed up as he approached the school. He scanned the gigantic towers as he was flying closer and closer to the castle. He circled around the tall towers and looked over the entire castle looking over the many spires and lights glittering out of the countless windows. 'This is amazing!' Danny thought.
Danny continued to fly around the castle passing through some of the structures to inspect the indoors of the castle. Danny stared at the long expanse of hallways and quickly started to feel some vertigo noticing that all the halls looked very similar. 'I'm going to get lost in here.' Danny thought in amusement
Danny continued to explore the halls trying to get a sense of direction but was failing. Danny finally made his way to the stairs and looked at the big staircases moving from time to time at different directions. Danny's jaw was open as he stared at the enchanted stairs.
'Moving staircases! That's so cool.'
Once Danny stopped staring at the stairs he noticed some noises coming from below him. He started to fly towards the large open space of moving staircases. He flew down several stories phasing through any staircases that moved in his way.
Once Danny neared the bottom he noticed a crowd of students all walking through a large hallway.
'They must be going to the feast. I should follow the crowd.' Danny thought to himself.
Danny flew invisible above the crowd, trying to not attract attention. A short distance later he finally reached an opening in the large hallway towards two gigantic doors. The halfa flew through the doors and into the great hall. He looked wide eyed at the gigantic room. The four house tables started to fill up with excited students, the candles above lit very bright to light up the room and the teachers all staring at the students.
Danny quickly noticed Dumbledore staring out at the students at the centre of the table. A few seconds of studying Dumbledore at the table when Dumbledore looked over straight at the invisible floating Danny.
'Can he see me?'
Danny moved over to the other side of the hall and as Danny moved, so did Dumbledore's head straight at Danny.
'Ok, he can see me while I'm invisible.' Danny thought amazed.
Danny then waved his invisible arm towards Dumbledore testing to see if Dumbledore can actually see him. Dumbledore then nodded towards Danny acknowledging the wave and turned away from Danny to look over the students.
As Danny stared out at the crowd he noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione taking a seat in one of the middle tables. 'That must be the table for Gryffindor.'
Minutes passed by when it seemed that everyone was now sitting in their house some people started to silence everyone in the great hall then everyone turned their heads towards the large doors.
A tall stern faced woman in green wizard robes walked through the large doorway with approximately 50 eleven year olds.
Danny saw how nervous and scared the first years walking single through the middle of the hall. Danny empathized with the young kids; he knew what it was like starting in a new school. 'Hopefully all these kids have easier lives than I had in high school' Danny thought with hope.
'This might as well be high school, but at a younger age' Danny thought sadly.
All the first years followed McGonagall towards a stool with an old hat sitting on it.
As the first years neared the hat on the stool the hat came to life and started to sing a song.
In times of old, when I was new,
And Hogwarts barely started,
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted.
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning
To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning.
"Together we will build and teach"
The four good friends decided.
And never did they dream that they
Might some day be divided.
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there, so I can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry's purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose
Intelligence is surest"
Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name."
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot
And treat them just the same."
These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light.
For each of the four founders had
A house in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so,
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning just like him.
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor.
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest
and taught them all she knew,
Thus, the Houses and their founders
Maintained friendships firm and worked in harmony
for several happy years,
but then discord crept among us
feeding on our faults and that, like pillars four
had once held up our school
now turned upon each other and
divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
must meet an early end.
what with dueling and with fighting
and the clash of friend on friend.
And at last there came a morning
when old Slytherin departed
and though the fighting then died out
he left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
were whittled down to three
have the Houses been united
as they once were meant to
because that is what I'm for.
But this year I'll go further,
listen closely to my song:
though condemned I am to split you
still I worry that it's wrong,
though I must fulfill my duty
and must quarter every year
still I wonder whether sorting
may not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
the warning history shows,
for our Hogwarts is in danger
from external, deadly foes
and we must unite inside her
or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you...
let the Sorting now begin.
When the hat finished the last verse it had soon became lifeless. Everyone started to applaud but it was coupled with whispers and mutterings on what the song had meant.
Danny stared at the magical hat in interest. He'd never seen anything like it and the magic involved in creating the hat must have been very advanced. Danny then thought about the words of the sorting hat and came up with one great conclusion. 'The hat is warning everyone about Voldemort.'
Then Danny started to get frustrated, 'Why couldn't everyone just know and accept that Voldemort is back. I mean there's plenty of proof all around.' Danny thought tightening his fist angry at everyone's ignorance.
Then Danny's fists loosened and Danny's anger slowly burnt away as he looked over the students below him in the hall. 'Most people are just too afraid to see the truth' Danny thought as he started to shake his head. 'I can't blame them for being afraid.'
"Abercrombie, Evan" Danny heard from below him.
Danny looked down at the scene below and saw one of the first years shuffling up to McGonagall holding the sorting hat beside the stool.
'The sorting has begun' Danny thought with enthusiasm.
Once the sorting was finished, Dumbledore stood up before all of the students, soon the whole hall had gone quiet. Danny was impressed by Dumbledore's complete authority over the students.
Dumbledore started to talk about all any information that the students needed, like not going into the Forbidden Forest, Quidditch tryouts and rules that a man named Filch wanted pointed out to the first years.
Dumbledore was in the middle of his speech when a toad faced woman clad in a pink cardigan with matching pink purse stood up and cleared her throat. "Hem, hem" she said trying to get everyone's attention.
Everyone turned their attention to the short toad faced woman, it was like everyone was shocked that someone had the guts to interrupt Dumbledore. "Thank you Headmaster. For those kind words of welcome." The woman said.
"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say." The woman said smiling. "And to see such happy faces looking up to me!"
Danny looked around the hall and noticed very glum and bored faces instead of the happy ones that the woman had described.
"I'm very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll all be very good friends" The woman said with delight.
Danny tried not to burst out laughing when he heard the woman say that. 'She would be destroyed in a few minutes at my school.' Danny thought smiling.
Then suddenly the woman started to talk more businesslike than her all smiles squeaky voice. "The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance..."
As the woman spoke Danny began to pale. And more than usually. 'Oh no, the ministry they can't have...' Danny thought. As Danny continued listening to the woman his assumptions were confirmed.
'I knew the Order talked about the possibility that the ministry would interfere with Hogwarts. But never thought they'd actually take action and so quickly.'
Danny stared at the woman continue to speak and started to come closer to inspect her. As Danny came closer he noticed Dumbledore stared at him and slowly shake his head, indicating to not come closer.
Danny stopped in his tracks and slowly floated backwards. He then started to listen again to the woman's speech.
"...and pruning whatever we find practices that ought to be prohibited" The woman said finishing her speech and sat back down in her chair.
Dumbledore started to clap suddenly, and soon the rest of the staff followed his lead. A few of the students joined in but most looked too bored and confused to clap. As the clapping died down Dumbledore stood up again. "Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating"
'I can't believe that Dumbledore would let her in here.' Danny thought distressed.
'I got to see Dumbledore once I have a chance.'
The feast had finally finished and a very bored Danny finally noticed Dumbledore getting up to tell the students to go to bed for the night.
All the students had gotten up and started to leave the hall through the huge doorway. Danny then looked over at Dumbledore who had gotten up from his seat and left through a door that was on the right and behind the staff table.
Danny followed Dumbledore as he twisted through the extravagant hallways.
Dumbledore kept walking until he walked up to a statue of eagle inside of a circular structure. Dumbledore neared the structure.
"Fiery Gumdrops"
The eagle suddenly started to move upwards and Dumbledore turned and stared straight at Danny and said "Please follow me Danny, there is much to discuss."
With that Danny started to float up the now fully elevated staircase and walked inside an expansive office that had moving portraits everywhere and very complex instruments littering the shelves. Dumbledore strolled up to a large desk that had a brilliant red and yellow bird perched on the side.
Danny stared at the room open mouthed, utterly amazed at the old and magical decor. The instruments looked as if they'd come out of his favourite fantasy novel. He was tempted to touch them, but he had important things to tend too.
"I see you've taken a liking to my office" Dumbledore stated.
Danny looked around the room once more and said "Its amazing Dumbledore, it's almost like Clockwork's tower except less spooky"
"You'll have to tell me about this Clockwork at another time. But, I'm guessing you have a few questions for me." Dumbledore questioned.
"Yeah, what is this ministry lady doing here at Hogwarts? I thought that the ministry was against you, so why are you permitting her to teach here?" Danny asked.
"The ministry has given me no choice Danny. The reason I'm still Headmaster is solely based on her employment." Dumbledore said very glum.
"So you would have been kicked out of Hogwarts if you didn't let her teach?" Danny asked.
"That is correct"
"They shouldn't be allowed to do that!" Danny exclaimed.
Dumbledore sighed before explaining, "They are the ministry Danny, which is the equivalent of the government for muggles like you. Surely you have encountered the muggle government doing something unfair."
Danny thought of the guys in white immediately and scowled. "Yeah I've seen that before."
"So, you understand now?"
"Yeah" Danny said, sighing again.
"Danny I need you to promise me something." Dumbledore said with a serious face.
"What do you need" Danny answered
"I need you to stay away from Professor Umbridge. She has a reputation of hating half breeds. And I don't think she'll like you too much if she finds out about your human side." Dumbledore explained.
Danny nodded, not saying a word.
"Now I would like to show you your living quarters Danny, follow me." Dumbledore said now standing.
After a short walk outside to the open fields just outside the castle, Dumbledore pointed up to a very high and distant tower. "I had some house elves complete clean and renovate the top of the tower. No one can get in except for someone who can fly or go through walls. You should find some food from the feast up there as well."
Danny stared at the tower completely surprised. "Wow, that's..." Danny paused. "This is perfect." Danny said smiling.
"Whenever you need food just go underneath the great hall and get some food from the kitchen." Dumbledore explained
Danny nodded and started to float up to the tower when Dumbledore stopped him. "Danny, I need you to do something for me while you're here at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said seriously.
Danny eyes hardened and stared at Dumbledore's blue eyes. "What do you need" Danny questioned.
"I want you to keep an eye on Harry."
Edited and Posted May 24th/2012
Authors Note: Yeah, this story now has an end and a very good idea of how it's gonna get there. It'll be epic, trust me ;)
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Until next time,
Prophet =P