"Ey."

"U-um…"

"G'evenin to you too!" A headpat followed the greeting.

"Eeek!" A kid looked like he'd pass out as he had been sneaking glances on Harry and had been caught.

Harry Potter sighed internally as he stood in the line of first-year students of Hogwarts who had been arranged into a neat two-column line, and were heading into a huge hall of some sort.

The hall had floating candles at its ceiling and had four long tables arranged so that they formed pathways towards the end of the hall, where there was an elevated table that seemingly housed a number of high-ranking individuals.

Harry nodded and glanced around the tables, and noted the hallmarks of the Hermetic Order. 'So. The youngest and most inexperienced students go to sit furthest from that end-table, the older get arranged into ranks towards the end-table, and as you rise in rank and power you get to sit closer to the Headmaster, who I think is that old bearded guy over there…'

Harry couldn't say that he had much experience with the Hermetic Order, considering that his Tradition was something else entirely, but he had picked up the basics when he had finally come across a fellow mage of Sahajiya Tradition and had been told of the wider Mage society.

However, Harry was quite aware of the fact that Hermetic Order was very authoritarian, and that the students were expected to obey their masters, and that elaborate and covert battle over ranks, secrets and status would be on-par for the Tradition.

If he was honest didn't mind that he had been roped into the Hermetic Order, even if he felt a bit iffy over the way they had approached him.

Being given a chance to learn from other Traditions was a huge honor, even if Harry wasn't willing or expecting to give up on his original Tradition, though.

"Greetings all! The school year has started, but we'll be having a surprise event! That is, the Sorting Ceremony will now begin!" The Headmaster of Hogwarts announced cheerfully while McGongall gave him a parchment of some sort. "Right! The first person to be sorted is… Acrombe, Aria!"

A first-year student stood up like she was spring-loaded, accompanied by a scared 'eeek?!' noise, and she quickly wobbled to a peg chair that had been set up before the end-table.

The first-year student quickly sat on the peg while McGongall put a hat of some sort on top of the student's head.

"Gryffindor." The hat formed a mouth from a tear at its side and spoke a word, and McGongall took the hat off the student's head.

The first-year student let out a huge relieved sigh and quickly skipped back to the same seat she had come from, leaving McGongall holding the hat.

'So that's a judging ceremony of some sort, right? Oh, right, McGongall mentioned something about sorting, so this is it, then?' Harry deduced as the students started getting called one-by-one… And after some time, his name came up.

"Potter, Harry." The Headmaster called.

Harry nodded internally, and put on his best act to imitate what he had seen.

"Eeeek?!" Harry stood up instantly, as if he was spring-loaded, and hurriedly wobbled to the chair while looking extremely scared, cowed, and anxious.

A murmur came from the rest of the students while McGongall just stared at Harry for a bit.

"Mr. Potter, what was that… Nevermind." McGongall looked like she wanted to comment on something, but decided against it. "Stay still, please and thank you."

"Gotcha." Harry sat on the peg chair that seemed to adjust itself to better fit him, and the hat was placed on his head, covering his vision.

"Oh. Oh my." A voice echoed in Harry's head.

Harry guessed that it belonged to the hat.

"You guessed right."

'You're here to read my mind and look for treachery or disrespect towards the Elders of the Order?'

"To Sort you into a house, actually."

'Officially.'

"I wouldn't tell you if that other thing was the case, you know."

'Called it. Well, welcome to hell.' Harry offered cordially with a hint of sadness in his internal voice.

"Appropriate." The hat sounded like he was done with life as it peered into Harry's memories.

After all, only the unaware, foolish or insane would peer into the mind of the Tradition whose Sphere of Magic was Time.

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"...Can I get a smoke break?" The Sorting Hat spoke after sitting a couple of minutes on Harry Potter's head.

The whispers had already started to spread amongst the students of Hogwarts, while the students of Durmstrang, who had spread to the tables of Slytherin and Gryffindor, just stared at the event, and the students of Beauxbatons, who had spread to tables of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, had turned away from the Sorting and started to whisper amongst themselves about their own affairs.

"No." McGongall answered while the woman was looking more than a bit wary.

"A shame." The Sorting Hat looked like it prepared for a dive, and then planted itself properly on Harry's head again.

The whispers continued to grow.

Dumbledore smiled warmly and his eyes twinkled a bit, causing the whispers to quiet down a bit but not die out.

The Sorting Hat let a suffering groan.

The whispers rose in intensity.

Dumbledore played a tune on a harmonica.

The whispers quieted down.

The Sorting Hat produced a lit cigarette from somewhere and let out a puff, and McGongall took it away before the Hat could take a second puff.

"Right! Screw it!" The Sorting Hat finally spoke, causing everyone in the hall to stare at it, with some having more shocked expressions than others due to the extremely crass language the Hat had used. "I've seen enough and too much!"

"Is there a problem-" McGongall started, but the hat spoke over her.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hat screamed.

The hall went quiet, and Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a bit.

Professor Sprout let out a gasp and put her hand on her chest in sheer surprise.

"JUST KIDDING! FUCK YOU, HARRY POTTER! YOU'RE GOING TO SLYTHERIN!" The Hat screamed again. "Now get me out of his head and never put me there again!"

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'My apologies.' Harry offered the hat.

"Not your fault mate, but I feel as if I've lost like a hundred years of my sorta-life from looking at that." The Hat stated as McGongall took it off Harry's head, and the voice went quiet after that.

Harry looked around the hall, and noted that quite a few students had extremely shocked expressions.

A pair of red-headed boys looked like their lives had been turned upside down while they sat at the table with red and gold banners over it.

Ron and Neville had passed out, although Harry suspected it was more due to the effect of Ayahuasca that he had made the pair drink in the train than the announcement just now.

A boy with silver-white hair at the table with silver and green banners looked like someone had hit him in the head with a sledgehammer.

"Harry Potter. Before you join your housemates at Slytherin, could I trouble you to come with me to my office? There are some things I'd like to tell you, and then I'm sorry to say but you have another event after that." A calm voice came from behind Harry and he glanced at the end-table to see that Dumbledore was looking at Harry with a good-natured twinkle in his eyes.

"Sure thing."

Ten-ish minutes and some navigation through winding hallways and illogically ascending and descending stairs later Harry ended up in the Headmaster's office.

"So…" Harry looked around the office that was full of all sorts of strange devices.

Honestly, it didn't look like what Harry had imagined the office of a Master Mage of Hermetic Order to look like, but in retrospect it would make sense for someone who reached the rank of a Master to expand their horizon and reach to learn from other Traditions.

Then again, from what Harry had heard the Hermetic Order were quite insular and very arrogant, so it seemed a bit odd for them to learn from 'lesser' magics, but Harry recognized that he might have let his own preconceptions of Hermetic Order paint his view of them. 'Huh. Well, I'm glad that I was wrong and Hermetics aren't just a bunch of gaping assholes who are on a life-long spicy taco diet- Or perhaps it's just that Dumbledore is an outlier. I'll have to keep an eye out.'

Harry sat down on a comfy lazy-boy seat that Dumbledore motioned, opposite to the Headmaster's desk, and Dumbledore patted a couple of devices with his wand before sitting down as well.

"Harry, I trust that you have questions?" Dumbledore put his hands on his office. "Although, if you don't mind me saying this, you seem remarkably calm."

"It would be supremely disrespective of me if I lost my marbles when I've been offered the honor of learning from another Tradition." Harry bowed his head a bit. "That being said, I would appreciate a small summary of what is expected of me, Master."

Dumbledore looked uncomfortable to be referred to in such a way, and adjusted his position on the seat while offering a bowl of yellow drop-like things for Harry. "Sherbert lemon?"

"Thank you." Harry took the offered piece of what he presumed was candy, causing Dumbledore to blink.

"You know, I offer one to everyone who comes to my office but you're the first one who actually takes up on that offer." Dumbledore took a piece of candy from the bowl as well.

"Hm. If you want to, we can redo the event and I'll refuse cordially." Harry offered.

"No, no, this is quite refreshing." Dumbledore smiled and the pair ate the candy.

"Hm, sour…" Harry nodded his head. "Well, regardless, thank you for sending me minions to protect me, back on the train-ride here."

"Hm… I suspect Miss Granger told you about the mission?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a bit. "In truth I suspected that a certain Lucius Malfoy as well as a number of other Noble and Ancient Houses of our… I suppose that you are aware of Traditions?"

"Yes. I've had quite a bit of experience in my Tradition, but I must confess that seeing Hogwarts for myself has broken many of my preconceived notions of Hermetic Order." Harry bowed slightly. "For the better, I assure you."

"I am glad to hear that!" Dumbledore seemed to be quite cheerful. "My, I feel quite stupid. I had prepared a whole song and dance about convincing you to study with us, and so forth, but in retrospect… Could I ask what rank you hold in Sahajiya? Ah- my apologies. Your Tradition does not hold 'Ranks' in the same manner… Could I ask what level of knowledge you hold?"

"It's alright, after all, the Council of Nine Traditions has mandated ranks, so… I would guess that I'm a Disciple at this current moment?"

"Thank you. That makes things simpler- As you have guessed, I hold the rank of a Master." Dumbledore bowed his head a bit. "Now then. As you have guessed, I'm certain, Hogwarts and the rest of Magical Britain hold a separate Consensus which allows us to exist and perform Vulgar Magic without incurring Paradox. I'm certain you've noticed that we perform magic out in the open amongst ourselves?"

"It was quite a shock to see Hermione pull out a foci and perform Vulgar Magic on the open like that, willy-nilly and in order to perform a simple physical feat." Harry nodded. "But I deduced as much after I calmed down after seeing that. And in retrospect using a foci and Magic Spell is very much what Hermetic Order does, so perhaps I merely lacked the proper state of mind to realize it."

"Yes, and we can do that as long as we maintain the Statue of Secrecy, which on-paper protects muggles from us and us from Muggles."

"And in reality?"

"As long as we maintain the Statue of Secrecy we can maintain our own Consensus without interference by the wider Consensus." Dumbledore explained. "This is why I'd like to ask you to not perform magic you may or may not learn here in a place where muggles could see you do it. At worst it might crash the two Consensus together, and the stronger- The wider Consensus- would overtake our version of it, and invite Paradox to the vulgar magic that we perform amongst ourselves. Moreover, our Consensus only protects our Magic, so yours will be affected by Paradox as normal."

"I understand. It is quite an interesting scheme, if I'm honest, and an impressive one as well." Harry nodded. "I've heard of Mages who departed this world to escape Consensus, but for Hermetic Order to make their own hidden Consensus instead of trying to fight the Consensus that the Technocracy built…"

"It was a bit of a touch-and-go." Dumbledore agreed. "But it has served us well."

"I can see… Well, I thank you for inviting me to Hogwarts and giving me a chance to learn Hermetic Order's way of Magic." Harry bowed a bit.

"I'm glad that we can speak of this like two adults. If I'm honest I expected you to be objecting quite a bit and perhaps angry over all of this." Dumbledore seemed to cheer up quite a bit. "I must confess that it is refreshing to speak to a hero who listens."

"I've heard that it is important for students to obey their masters in Hermetic Order." Harry bowed his head, making Dumbledore's smile waver a bit.

"It's true, but we do not enforce that sort of thing too harshly in Hogwarts. That is to say, we do not hold executions or something like that- We do take house points and give detentions for disrespect of Professors and so forth, but nothing too extreme!" Dumbledore made a calming motion as he seemed to realize why Harry had been so reverent. "If you have something you object with then I'm very much keen on listening, and you won't be punished for speaking your mind."

"In that case, I would have appreciated a heads-up on that whole 'prophecy' thing that called me here, but I understand if you had no way of contacting me to tell me about it- After all, I wasn't exactly here." Harry nodded. "Moreover, this event won't mess with my own plans- After all, I have the Time to attend here."

"Ah. The Sphere of Magic of Sahajiya… Indeed, that makes this very simple." Dumbledore smiled quite jovially. "So you do not mind that I've called you from your own affairs?"

"I do not mind. But I'd like to ask, why exactly did you want to call me specifically?" Harry lifted his eyebrow.

"Are you aware of a man named 'Voldemort'?" Dumbledore asked.

"Hm…" Harry rummaged through his brain. '...I think I've heard of him somewhere…' "I think I've heard of something like that, but don't know for certain. Right now at least."

"Would you mind if I gave a quick summary?"

"Go ahead, Professor." Harry nodded.

"In summary, Voldemort is the mage who killed your parents."

"Ah, that makes sense." Harry nodded. "Please continue."

"It is my belief that he is planning on killing you as well." Dumbledore seemed to waver after Harry's nonchalant response.

"Hm… Why would he do that?" Harry lifted his eyebrow.

"Besides the fact that you nearly killed him when he tried to kill you?"

"That sounds like a skill issue, if I'm honest." Harry stated a bit dryly. "But yes, I can see that as a reason. But also as a reason to not try to kill me, if the last time ended like that. Is there something else that you're not telling me?"

"Yes, but I'll keep that a secret for now."

"I understand. I hope I have not overstepped by asking." Harry bowed his head. '...Secrets are a supremely important part of Hermetic Order from what I've heard... The higher-rank, older and stronger you are in the Order, the more important secrets are entrusted to you… I might have messed up a bit. Asking a Master to reveal their secrets to a Disciple of a different Tradition… Man, it's like telling a Sahajiya to take abstinence… oops.'

"Not at all. Thank you." Dumbledore bowed his head a bit in turn. "I am sorry but I must keep that secret from you for now- Rest assured that I'll tell you once the time comes."

"I see. I am grateful for your forgiveness. Shall we move on to the next item on the list as to why we are here?" Harry prodded on.

"Could I ask what happened with the Sorting Hat?"

"He looked into my thoughts. That is quite a dangerous thing to do." Harry sighed. "I tried to warn it, and steer it clear of more dangerous complications."

"I suspect that is why it took him so long to sort you…" Dumbledore nodded. "And the House that he Sorted you in? Which one was it really?"

"Slytherin, I believe. Although he stated that I would better be suited to this 'Hufflepuff' as for my intentions, but my methods would make me an outcast there." Harry noted. "The Hat told me about specific qualities that each house represents, and I must confess that I agree with its statements."

"I see… In that case I must warn you, like how I stared when we first arrived to my office, that there are multiple Ancient and Noble Houses of Hermetic Order who seek to court your attention in Slytherin. Which is why I sent Miss Granger, Mr Longbottom and Mr Weasley to accompany you- To ensure that you'd have a balanced view of Hogwarts and our Tradition." Dumbledore bowed his head a bit. "I also hoped that you four would become friends. I hope that I have not overstepped."

"We are of different Traditions. I won't judge you for your methods if you do not judge mine." Harry offered in turn.

"You drive a hard bargain… I accept this offer." Dumbledore nodded seriously. "I must say, Slytherin indeed suits you. And I do not mean this in a bad way- For a long time Slytherin has been associated with dark magic and cruelty. I hope that you can change this outlook to what it was intended- To be a house of nobility and cunning."

"I certainly hope not- I suspect I would find a whole pincushion of daggers in my back if a member of a foreign Tradition tried to influence the way Hermetic Order does things." Harry bowed cordially to Dumbledore's compliment.

"I suspect that this is indeed the case… But I hope you won't mind if a foolish old man dreamed of the opposite being the case." Dumbledore sighed. "Nonetheless I hope that you won't lose your way in there. I'll keep my eye on you."

"I thank you for your care and time." Harry noted. "Now then… If this line is cut, you mentioned something about an event?"

"Yes, there is an event called 'Weighting of the Wands' that takes place tonight, before midnight. Normally it would have taken place- Ah." Dumbledore paused. "My apologies. In my haste and preparation I've skipped over some things."

Dumbledore coughed to his fist and then sat up a bit on his chair. "Ahem. We're hosting an event called 'Tri-Wizard Tournament' in Hogwarts this year. I've gone ahead and had your name added to the pool of contestants, and it came up there under the name of your tradition- The prophecy that the Goblet of Fire used to call you here compelled me to speak your name, but I used the old name of your tradition instead of the new one."

"Hm. Indeed, that would explain why this 'Ron' fellow knew about it, considering that you seem to keep a very tight leash on your Consensus- And it's blind eye to the Traditions outside its reach." Harry nodded as another mystery came to light.

"Yes, and as you'll be attending the tournament, there will be a ceremony where the foci we use are checked to ensure that the contestants are capable of attending, and if the check is failed, a new foci is procured until all the contestants are ready- There are three 'stages' to the tournament, each intended to test the capabilities of the contestants, and a clue is given at the end of each stage for the next. There is a reward at the end of this as well." Dumbledore explained. "I've heard from McGongall that you have bought a wand?"

"Correct." Harry nodded. "Alongside various other items."

"Could I see it?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry offered his stick to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore stared at it, much like Hermione had. "Well. I suppose everything is in order."

"Very good." Harry nodded and made to stand up-

He suddenly felt quite wobbly, and the scene felt quite distant.

Eerie. Ominous.

Something was missing. An act that Harry needed to play, but had forgotten the words for-

He realized that someone spoke with his voice, but without his words-

His eyes felt as if they'd pop from their sockets-

It was wrong- it didn't make sense-

The opportunity was passing-

He reached for his other wand out of instinct, seeking for it to quell the shakiness-

"Now then… Before I pull you off the net and let you swim to your fellow Slytherins for what I'm certain to be a joyful exchange of greetings, I promised to your father that I'd return this to you. Please do not abuse it." Dumbledore looked a bit wary as he reached under his desk, and procured a silvery, velvet-like item that had been tied to a ball with a string. "It is your father's invisibility cloak."

The eerie feeling went away as Harry took the item, and he realized what was going on. 'Oh. Oops. Now it makes sense. I'm so going to kill myself at some point if I keep acting like this… Nice save, Dumbledore. Thanks.'

"Impressive. I trust that this is enchanted with the magics of Hermetic Order and thus is safe to use within your Consensus?" Harry glanced at the item and put it to his pocket to sit alongside the other, completely identical invisibility cloak.

"Yes. In addition, we have items called 'time-turners' that allow us to influence Time by means of moving a few hours to the past." Dumbledore reached to give an hourglass-like item to Harry. "This is not enchanted like one, but looks like one. Since Sahajiya magic is not protected by our Consensus, you can use this to conceal your magic to not incur Paradox in our Consensus."

"Thank you." Harry took the fake time-turner as Dumbledore put it on the table between them, and used the motion to hide the way his fingers shook. "Now then… Where exactly is the Weighting of the Wands taking place?"

"It takes place in the Dining Hall where you were Sorted, but an hour before midnight. In other words, in two hours." Dumbledore glanced at a device on the wall. "Can you find your own way there?"

"Yes. Thank you for this lesson and the gifts, Headmaster." Harry bowed and exited the room with Dumbledore playing a ominous exit-tune on a harmonica while he left.

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"...What is your opinion on him, Severus?" Dumbledore finished after Harry left.

"I believe that giving him the invisibility cloak was a supremely foolish decision." Severus Snape became visible as the disillusionment charm came undone.

The potions professor had been pointing his wand at Harry Potter's neck under the invisibility spell ever since Potter and Dumbledore left the dining hall, but Potter had done nothing to justify taking action- For now.

"Unfortunately I had no options." Dumbledore looked quite wary and leaned his chin on his hands.

"Did that man force you to swear a vow or something akin to that in order to-" Snape practically spat out.

"No. It had nothing to do with James. Rather…" Dumbledore paused. "Oh. I see. Of course. Indeed, Harry already had an Invisibility Cloak. In other words, if I hadn't given him that… My. Harry is indeed quite bold to be using his magic on me. Or rather, to force me to act."

"Hm?"

"Harry wandered quite close to Paradox just now, which forced me to give that cloak to him there and then to avoid accumulating more of it- To possible extent of a Backslash." Dumbledore explained as he suspected Snape had been too busy keeping an eye on Harry to notice what was going around Dumbledore. "I suspect that Harry placed himself into that precarious position deliberately to test just how important he was to my plans. Or maybe he did not, and just went with the flow."

"Perhaps he just didn't realize how close he came to doom." Snape offered a bit warily.

"Either way, it either means young Harry is either foolish, or is more cunning than I believe. Both are worrying thoughts when he heads for Slytherin." Dumbledore stated. "Do you believe that he was honest when he said he had the rank of a 'Disciple'?"

"I do not."

"But whether he lied down or up…" Dumbledore leaned harder on his hands. "I hope we have not invited a second evil upon us. One Marauder is already too much."

"Indeed."

"I trust you'll keep an eye on young Harry?"

"If you keep your eye on old Harry." Severus nodded quite severely.

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'So... Today at midnight, then.' Harry breathed out as he stepped out of the Headmaster's office.

'Man, I need to stop going to extremes when it comes to Paradox…' Harry childed himself for being foolish- He had already deduced that the micro-Consensus of the Hermetic Order worked in a different way than the major Consensus, but much like Dumbledore warned him, that didn't mean he was immune to Paradox there.

…Although, the major rush of adrenaline from nearing Backslash or Paradox was really good, in a masochistic sense, and tickled his Ecstatic self with the scent of potentially lethal and irrecoverable danger.

However, Adrenaline was a drug that could Walk Forward, and thus was not good for the moment other than for enjoyment.

Harry reached into his pocket and drew his other wand.

It was a bong.

Harry heated it with a pocket lighter, and took a long rip.

"Haa… cough…" The effect was slow, gradual, as Harry kept taking several rips while walking on the winding hallways.

The hallways seemed to curve to left, then to right, then up, and down…

Harry put the bong to his pocket and threw the older of the two identical invisibility cloaks on himself and began writing on a piece of paper.

The handwriting came to life in the form of a snake and hissed at Harry, and Harry hissed back at it to force it back into the paper to form words, and then he crumbled it up to form a ball.

The hallways pulsed with life, as if they were veins of a massive circulatory system, and Harry felt as if he was gently, slowly pulled alongside the blood that filled the hallways…

The heart pulsed with slow, deliberate beats, and exhaled Harry from its flap to another vein, where Harry made a dancing step to the side, and then to the other side, dodging the massive red blood cells that moved alongside the vein with zero hurry.

He paused as he came across a familiar spot, and knocked on the wall of the vein twice, then paused, then knocked thrice, then paused, and knocked on the wall once with his butt.

The wall opened to form a pair of seductive lips and parted to tell Harry to come in, and he opened the gigantic lips with his hands that became like sponges while colors swirled from the gentle light that cast itself on the side-chamber of the massive vein.

Harry waved his hand at a boy with raven-black hair who had closed his eyes from the pattern of the knocks, and had leaned back on his seat in a cabin.

"Hoooog." The Harry who was made out of melting wax greeted the sitting boy, and slipped a crumpled-up piece of paper to the boy's pocket, before tossing the younger Invisibility Cloak on top of the sitting boy, even if the cloak objected quite vocally to the treatment.

After that the vein pulsed, and melting Harry jumped out of the window of the moving train to avoid being swept up with the blood cells that coalesced outside the cabin…

He fell face-first towards the lake below…

His body relaxed…

Like a gently-floating snowflake in the winter…

Harry fell asleep.

Moments later he woke up, butt-naked and cold.

He glanced around, noted that it was almost midnight, and he was sleeping in a fountain that was raining ice-cold water on him.

He shrugged, got up, and started picking his clothes up from around the garden with a fountain where he had ended up, somewhere in Hogwarts. 'Now then… With the Invisibility cloak taken care of, time to go show my wand to those guys…'

Thinking of that, Harry reached for his fake time-turner, and spun it thrice.

Nothing happened.

Harry nodded, happy that everything was going more or less like he had planned.