Chapter 2
Hey chapter 2 arriving at Hogwarts and whatnot, introducing new buddies and friendos. Enjoy and stuff.
"Full up, sorry" the story was the same for the first four compartments he popped his head into, serves me right, took too long he thought glumly.
Will had decided to change into his uniform as soon as he boarded and he was regretting that now, would he have to sit alone? He wouldn't want that but then again, he did manage to steal away a Spider-man comic from his suitcase, reading quietly on a train ride didn't sound so bad If he couldn't occupy his time with conversation.
Where the hell did Pansy get to? He thought, he wasn't sure If she'd be polite company, but she was the only person he'd said more than a couple words to, and she didn't seem to hold a grudge.
"Ah!" he heard a small yelp and felt someone walk into his back and the sound of someone dropping something on the carpeted floor.
He spun on his heels and found a yellow haired girl kneeling to pick up a dropped book, he gleamed the words 'Plants' on the front cover but she quickly snatched it up before he could read more.
"I am so sorry" she said in a trembling warble, her face red with embarrassment. He recognized her, this was the girl who helped him up earlier.
"Oh, it's not an issue, don't worry" He assured her "Not the first time I've suffered a collision today, hope It's not becoming a trend." He smiled, trying to make her feel more comfortable.
He saw a flash of recognition pass through her eyes.
"Oh! You're the boy from the station!" She exclaimed, then she snorted and let out a giggle at his little joke when she realized what his comment was referring to.
"Yep! I didn't have the chance to thank you properly because of the argument" he said "William" he added, pointing a thumb toward himself.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Hannah!" she responded.
"Well Hannah, thanks a lot for giving me a hand I appreciate it" he said.
"Oh uh, no problem, I didn't really do much anyway" she said sheepishly, looking rather uncomfortable with being thanked.
"Nonsense! That injury to my backside could've been fatal" he exclaimed with a toothy smile, she let out another snort though this time seemed to hear what sound she just produced, and her cheeks turned a rosy colour to reflect how she was feeling.
It made Will want to make some lighthearted banter at her flustered nature, but he didn't want to come off as mean considering he just met her.
"Though, do you mind If I ask one more favour from you?" he asked, feeling rather like a saddo for what he was about to ask.
Hannah nodded with a raised eyebrow.
"Can I sit with you? All the other compartments are occupied." The words fell out his mouth with an awkward smile on his face, he didn't want to impose if he wasn't wanted.
"Oh yeah of course! We have two more spots open in ours!" she said with more enthusiasm than he was expecting, considering how shy and unsure of herself she had seemed for most of the conversation.
"Oh fantastic!" he said, he hoped this other person was the friendly sort, Hannah shuffled past him in the train corridor and beckoned him to follow.
"Yeah, honestly, I'm grateful you asked, the other boy is a bit… shy" she said choosing her words carefully.
"That doesn't sound too bad, what's his name?" he asked.
She turned her head around for a second and shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head.
"Oh, he's REALLY shy" Will realized with Hannah giving him a nod in agreement, well at least Hannah talks, though it will be weird having a stranger listen in on their conversation. He decided he'd at least try to get a name.
They passed through two more carriages before they arrived at Hannahs, they had passed by a compartment that held Pansy, she was looking quite angry in fact. She had her arms crossed with the three other girls sitting next to her laughing at something that she clearly didn't find very funny.
They made eye contact as they passed, he gave her a quick wave. Her scowl deepened.
Hello to you too he thought.
In another few doors they had finally arrived at their destination.
"Here we are" Hannah said as they entered.
His eyes were instantly drawn to the other occupant of the room, he couldn't even tell if they were a boy or girl at first. They were curled up on one of the chairs, their robes already on and hood pulled up over their face which was aimed out the window, inattentive to the world around them.
They didn't even look toward them as they entered, though Will did see the reflection of their eyes in the window move slightly telling him they weren't sleeping.
Hannah took her seat just opposite of them, Will elected to sit next to them.
"Um, hi" Will said as he took his seat, which by the way was incredibly comfy. It felt like sinking onto a soft cloud.
The other boy sitting next to him didn't budge or say anything for a few seconds.
A muffled grunt rose from him, Will thought he could hear what was supposed to be a hello in that grunt.
"I'm Will" he introduced, though the boy wasn't so accommodating, leaving a dead silence in the air with only the light sound of flipping pages from Hannah producing any sound.
Hannah looked up from her book and caught his eye, giving him an 'I told you so' look.
He exhaled a disappointed breath and fished in his robe pocket, pulling out the brightly coloured comic book he brought with him, the thought striking him that he won't get to finish the series until he gets home, unless they sell them at Hogwarts.
He had barely turned the first page before he was interrupted.
"What is that?!" he heard Hannah blurt out loudly.
His eyes circled around the room expecting to see a spider or something causing such a reaction.
"What? What is it?" he asked, lifting his feet off the ground and checking himself for any creepy crawlies, spiders were a big fear of his, just as they should be for any reasonable individual.
"That!" She continued, pointing a finger toward him. Initially he thought it was behind him but there was nothing but the seat, he followed her finger one more time and realized It was pointing at his comic.
"A comic book?" he asked and answered.
"That's what it's called?" she asked, leaning toward him from her seat to get a better look at it with a positively mystified look on her face.
"W-what? How do you not…?" he asked, puzzled at her question,
"Wait is that some muggle thing?" she asked, answering Wills question with her own.
"Oh, wait are you from a wizarding family?" He had read about this in his magic history textbook, a lot of wizarding families didn't have any interaction with the muggle world, thus the two societies evolved at very different paces. It seemed magic acted as a handicap to the wizards and witches who used it as much as it was a help, when it came to technological development anyway.
"Yeah, my family is considered one of the 'Pure blood' families, old fashioned nonsense in my opinion, but that means I haven't spoke to many muggles" she spoke without meeting his eyes, her eyes still locked on the comic examining it the way one might examine a strange looking animal or plant.
"Oh, that explains it then, it's called a comic book, fantasy stories about heroes" he explained, holding it out toward her and flipping through a couple of pages of Spiderman fighting against his villain of the week with bombastic action and tall skyscrapers, Hannah looked positively dazzled by the sight of the buildings.
She probably hasn't even seen a picture of New York city if her family doesn't talk to muggles. Will thought, smiling at her reaction to the art that was just a part of everyday life for him.
She saw him smiling and quickly changed up her tune, sitting back and taking more leisurely glances at the pages, trying her best to look disinterested as to not look like uninformed though miserably failing.
"So do all muggles live in those?" she asked nonchalantly, nodding her head at a page wh-ere spiderman was swinging through two massive buildings with traffic full of different coloured cars beneath them.
"Uh some people live in big buildings like that, but others live in normal houses" he answered.
"Hm" she hummed, though he could see the curiosity behind her eyes, wanting to ask more questions but not wanting to seem like an idiot or too overbearing.
"Do you just want to read it yourself?" he asked, cutting to the heart of it, he could always finish it later, plus if he wouldn't get the chance to continue the series until he gets home, he was fine delaying the gratification of finishing the comic.
"Uh no- I mean yeah! But aren't you reading it? I really don't want to bother yo- "she stammered out.
"Its fine Hannah I swear!" he said.
"In exchange though, I would love to have a crack at that tome you're reading." He offered, gesturing to the heavy book about plants she was flipping through, it wasn't in the books they were required to buy and if it was a higher level herbology book he'd love to read it, he had already devoured the one they were told to buy.
She looked like she was seriously considering it for all about five seconds.
"Deal!" she exclaimed a little too loudly, thrusting the book towards him and snatching the comic from his hand with the swiftness of a striking snake. He blinked in awe at how quickly she completed the deal, already shuffled up into the corner of her chair knees to her chest with the comic holding her full attention.
He shook his head and instead turned his attention to the book, adopting a similar pose to Hannah and turned the first page.
'Chapter 1: The many applications of the Dittany plant' Will read, with a smile appearing on his face without him realizing at the text in front of him.
"God, I love magic" he whispered.
The cabin settled into a comfortable silence, interrupted every now and then by Hannah asking him a question about muggle life or asking him to explain where Spiderman came from and him questioning her about magical life or if she had encountered any of the magical beasts only referenced in passing in the textbooks they were required to purchase.
It was astounding hearing the tales Hannah told him about Dragons and Hippogriffs, but it made him feel itchy all over from hearing the stories of giant spiders, something that Hannah went into in excruciating detail when describing how hairy its legs were and how big the fangs in his mouth were.
"…and then there are Nifflers, tricky beasts them, my granny has one called Chips." Hannah finished, not noticing or not caring about the pale pallor that had set on Wills face after the extended lecture on the different types of massive spider she had given.
A rapping on the door of the cabin interrupted them before Will could inquire more.
The door was rather roughly slid open after another second, revealing a familiar face.
"What are you doing here?" Will asked confused.
Pansy Parkinson didn't respond straight away, just darted her eyes around the occupants of the cabin and in a huff sat down with crossed arms just across from Will and next to Hannah.
"Don't much feel like sitting with that insufferable lot" she spat out with venom that sounded more potent than the venom of those spiders Hannah described.
"Well, you could at least ask before you barge in here" Will said in response, Pansy narrowed her eyes.
"Excuse me? It's YOUR fault they were being so insufferable, they found the way I fell oh so amusing and they found this even funnier." She said, pushing away her black hair and showing a terribly painful looking purple bruise on her forehead.
Will winced and let out an apologetic "oh."
"That's terrible! Why would they be so mean?" Hannah said, Pansy just shook her head and shrugged, though she tried to hide it with a demeanour as prickly as a cactus, Will could tell whatever happened in that cabin had hurt her.
"Well, of course you can sit with us, you probably remember me from earlier I'm Hannah." Hannah introduced herself and extended a hand that Pansy took and shook with some hesitance.
"Oh, I remember you, thanks, Pansy" she introduced herself quickly, her attention turning to the mysterious occupant of the cabin, still bundled up in the corner and attention focused out the window.
"Who are you?" Pansy said, loudly and bluntly.
They didn't respond, this seemed to tick the irritable girl off.
"I said who are you?" she said even louder now, Hannah met Wills eyes silently pleading with him to intervene and looking incredible uncomfortable at the thought of some sort of conflict breaking out.
Will sighed, preparing himself to engage in another battle of words with Pansy.
"Pansy they are just a bit shy- "that was all Will managed to get out before Pansy decided she was tired of being ignored, already ticked off It seemed she wasn't willing to another embarrassment today.
With cat like grace, she leant forward, grabbing a handful of the cloak and pulling it back hard and fast, she was probably expecting more resistance as she fell back on her chair, just narrowly avoiding getting another bump on the head.
"PANSY!" Will yelled out, throwing himself forward to grab back the cloak from her hands, beginning a grappling match with the girl. What the hell was her problem?
He saw movement from the corner of his eye as Hannahs hand went to her mouth and eyes went as wide as dinner plates, she was looking straight ahead, straight towards the person right next to Will.
"Get…Off…Now!" Pansy got out between strained breaths as they played a game of tug of war with the cloak, both not giving up an inch.
"Will, Pansy" He heard Hannah mumble out, she was tapping on his shoulder like a woodpecker with the comic he borrowed her, he ignored it.
"Stop it!" Hannah said louder, Will propped his foot up against her chair, letting him give a solid pull that nearly yanked the thing out of her hand, but she regained her grip and pulled back, the fabric was burning and squeezing his palm tight leaving it feel like it was on fire, but he wasn't about to give up.
"WILL!" Hannah yelled one more time, he sent a glance to his left, and what he caught a glimpse of made him forget about this stupid little fight.
He let go of the cloak, causing Pansy once more to fall back into the chair, though once again the back of her head was protected by the soft cushioning.
The boy next to him was sitting upright now, his chestnut brown hair was messy thanks to the hood of his cloak, his similarly brown eyes were watery and red from the tears flowing from them, his hands rested in his lap shaking like he had no control over his body.
Those weren't the most noticeable thing about him though, the most noticeable thing was his nose… or rather his lack of one.
The place where his nose should be, was savagely scarred, like the claw of some animal had gouged off his nose leaving that part of his face fully open, letting us see literally inside his face, even taking part of his upper lip with it.
It wasn't very pleasant to look at in the slightest, unnatural and gruesome but Will knew the poor boy probably had all this stuff said to his face by crueler people than him.
Will was at a loss for words.
"You absolute idi- "Pansy started, pushing the cloak from out over her face and getting a look at the boy, she had the same reaction as Hannah and Will, wide eyed and mouth open, all three looked like a dumb school of fish.
"I'm so sorry" Pansy spoke first, sounding genuinely empathetic, she made to give the cloak back, yet it was just awkwardly held in midair with the boy not moving to take it. Pansy looked unsure for a second, but she just decided to place the cloak on his lap.
"Are you ok?" Will said, feeling stupid as the words left his mouth, he obviously wasn't ok, the guy looked traumatized, and he flinched when Will spoke, as if he expected him to ridicule him.
Will didn't know what to do, thankfully, Hannah had a better handle on how to deal with these types of situations.
Hannah reached out slowly with a warm smile, gently taking hold of the boy's hand and giving it a small shake that the boy responded too in kind. His shaking started to steady a bit, realizing we weren't going to bully him or laugh at him.
"You don't have to worry, I'm Hannah. Sorry about Pansy she didn't mean anything by it" she said full of empathy, Pansy and himself both nodded along with echoes of 'yeah' and 'we're sorry.'
The boy sniffing and red eyed wiped his eyes with his sleeves, his head darting between the three of them, the sadness being replaced with confusion.
"Y-y-you aren't g-going to l-laugh?" he stumbled out, the question hit Will right in the feelings, what has this boy been through?
"Of course not! we aren't that mean." Will said, shaking his head.
"Yeah! No one should be making fun of you, you don't have to worry, all the people I've met so far have been nice" Hannah said with earnest belief, Will thought it was a bit naïve, he knew how cruel some other kids could be.
Pansy clearly thought the same, if the people in her compartment made fun of her because of a bruise he didn't want to imagine what they would say if they saw this boy's nose.
"T-t-that b-boy did" he said, fresh tears welling up in his eyes as he thought back to the incident.
"What boy?" Pansy asked.
"H-his friends called him D-Draco" he said, Will saw Pansy's face turn at the sound of the name, but he was thinking how strange some of these wizards' names were.
"Ugh... I've had the displeasure" Pansy said, the revolted look on her face not fading.
"A horrible git" she stated, the boy nodded his head in agreement with Pansy, relieved to have someone share the same view of this Draco that he held.
"Do you want us to tell a teacher? I'm sure they wouldn't le- "Hannah started.
"NO!" the boy yelled a little too loudly, his voice cracking a bit.
"I-I-I know if he finds out and gets in trouble, he'd only come after me harder next time." He explained, it was true, the only way to really get rid of horrible people like this Draco was to stand up to them and show that you're not going to be some easy target.
"Plus, his father is quite rich, I doubt he'd let any actual consequences for his darling boy" Pansy spat, Will thought it sounded like she was talking about a plague with how venomously the words came out. He decided he would quite like to meet this boy, to see if he could meet the truly low expectations he had.
"Well, I wouldn't worry anymore about that ass. I'd like to see him open his stupid mouth when he sees you with your three new friends." Will said grinning, eyes flicking between the other passengers, hoping he wasn't alone in thinking that friendship was possible.
"Yeah of course!" Hannah nodded and smiled.
Pansy looked vaguely uncomfortable with the thought, but Will thought the guilt of yanking the cloak caused her to give a slight nod and a smile that looked more than a bit forced.
For the first time since he met the boy, he had a smile on his face, genuine and bright eyed.
"I'D LOVE TH- "he began, all but yelling, halfway through awkwardly stopping and clearing his throat to play off his excitement.
"I'd love that actually" he said more reserved, a light blush gracing his cheeks.
"Great, then since we're all friends, uh what's your name?" Will asked, realizing he hadn't got it yet.
"Oh, uh it's Harvey, Harvey Linmit" he answered.
"Nice to meet ya! Hannah Abbot." She reintroduced herself.
"Pansy Parkinson" Pansy muttered, her eyes wandering outside into the corridor. Probably wondering if it was a good choice to get involved with us.
"William Hawke, just call me Will though." Will finished these reintroductions by giving Harvey a handshake, he shook it eagerly.
"It's good meeting you all! Can I ask where are you all from? Oh, and have you guys cast any spells yet? And have you guys decided what house you want to be sorted into?" Harvey words fired out questions as quick as bullets, electrified with the excitement of having new friends, all the shyness about his deformity melted away in the face of acceptance.
Hannah eagerly engaged, the two chatting back and forth with Will occasionally chiming in with some comment or a question.
Most of what they were talking about went right over Will's head though, as when Harvey learned Hannah supported the same Quidditch team, The Appelby Arrows, they went into a lengthy debate about whether the Seeker on their team should be replaced.
Pansy even contributed a bit, mostly just to poke fun at their team, as she supported their biggest rival.
It all left Will feeling a little bit confused the more it went on, beater, seeker, snitch. These words really meant nothing to him, but the more he listened he formed some rudimentary idea of what this sport was and decided he liked it very much if it lived up to the hype.
Then the conversation shifted to one of Hogwarts Houses.
"Everyone knows Slytherin is the place to be, they've only won the house cup six times in a row, they produce lots of fantastic wizard, plus my parents say they get a lot of important jobs in the ministry" Pansy stated proudly, as if she was already a Slytherin.
The rest of them seemed more skeptical of her assessment however, as it left out the fact that Slytherin also produced the most dark wizards of any Hogwarts house, pure-blood terrorists were an especially vile poison that Slytherin house seemed to produce in droves.
"Nooo, I'm telling you Hufflepuff is the way, more Hufflepuff students then any others in Hogwarts, meaning more friends and more fun if you ask me. Not to mention the fact every accomplished herbologist who was anyone came from Hufflepuff" Hannah voiced, all that was true but from Will's own reading It seemed that, aside from herbologists and a few others, truly great wizards were a rare sight to see from Hufflepuff.
"Aha, Hufflepuff is for those want to settle more like. I'm telling you Hannah, Slytherin is the way to go." Pansy snorted.
"What about Gryffindor? They have the coolest symbol." Harvey commented.
"Yeah, they also have the dumbest students, you know there was a former Gryffindor adventurer in Tibet who charged straight into a yeti nest. Fat lot of good that 'bravery' did when he got ripped to pieces." Pansy mocked again, Will could tell she held the largest distaste for Gryffindor in particular.
"See that's why Ravenclaw is the best, you get all the smarts of a Slytherin and none of the tendencies to go all evil." Will said, chewing down some chocolate frog sweet that Hannah had bought for him, came with a cool card of a wizard called Arthur Shaksby, a powerful wizard who had banished all the werewolves from Brittany in France.
"What do you know about the houses? Pansy said accusingly, while simultaneously gesturing towards an un-touched chocolate frog on his lap.
"Mhm, but I read books, Hogwarts: A History has a chapter dedicated to the houses" he responded, tossing the chocolate frog at Pansy, she caught it and groaned when she unwrapped it to reveal she got Dumbledore, a pretty unremarkable card when it came to rarity.
"Maybe you would fit in in Ravenclaw then, that books not even required, and you've already read it" Harvey spoke, he was sunk in the chair with a bag of honeydukes on his chest, occasionally fingering the bag to pull out another one.
"Yeah, you big nerd!" Pansy said through a mouth of chocolate.
"Hey all I'm saying is you better pray I'm not in Ravenclaw, because if I am we're winning that house cup every year I'm there!" he shot back with a grin.
This back and forth went on for a little bit and Will found himself really enjoying the company of his new friends, if he could he'd make it so that they were all in the same house so they could spend more time together, but with the four of them it seemed inevitable they were going to be split up.
He pushed it from his mind though, best to enjoy the moment now.
"First Years with me! Over 'ere!" A massive man with an equally large booming voice and beard yelled out as the first years shuffled off the Hogwarts express, all dressed in newly bought robes, some still fiddling with the ties and adjusting the rather itchy grey jumper. A few older students guiding them along and encouraging some of the shyer students on towards this veritable giant.
The small black-clad horde of children swarmed forward, onto the rather small platform, it was night when they arrived, but the platform was well lit with lanterns of all things, like out of a fantasy story, accentuated by the white steam of the Hogwarts express dispersing around our legs just like back at platform nine and three quarters.
Will only had Hannah walking with him, Pansy seemed to think of herself as still too good for them and had slinked off to accompany the same gaggle of gossiping girls she had been with earlier, while Harvey was hanging back to make sure he was the last one to leave, he didn't want people to see his face, despite the urging of Hannah and Will he wouldn't budge, the trauma of it all forcing him to trail in the back with his robe hood up, accompanied by a sympathetic older Ravenclaw student called Penelope.
"Hurry on now! And keep close!" he yelled out once more before turning and beginning to walk, his hands were clenched around a lantern that was bigger than Wills head.
The first years all fell in behind the man, whispers flying between them all and began the last leg on the journey to place they will be studying and living in for years to come.
A straightforward trek down a stone staircase that zigged and zagged down from the grassy hill the station stood upon, probably attributed to his naturally nerdy nature, Will found himself thinking on the many different pairs of feet that had trod this same path before him, so many witches and wizards good and bad, powerful and weak, even his own father had walked the same path he was walking now.
But he would be better than them all, he knew he would be, he had to be. For mum, for Leah and for himself.
Though instead of walking, it appeared the last leg would be taken by boat.
"Come now! Three per boat, don't be sticking 'yer arms or legs out and whatever ya do don't jump into the water!" The giant boomed. Quickly they all split up into groups, Hannah stuck with Will, and they deliberately waited for Harvey to catch up, encouraging him to come sit with them before like… well, like magic the boat took off on its own across the lake.
A light fog was on top of the water that looked so black in the darkness Will would have thought it was tar if it wasn't for the lapping waves against the wooden boat and the reflection the lantern in their boat provided. Part of him again was almost lost once more in his own mind, thinking back to what creatures it is said lived in this lake. Merfolk, krakens and God knows what else.
But if there was ever a sight that could draw him from the depths of his mind, it was Hogwarts, for across the lake, perched atop a massive rocky outcrop was the castle itself.
In the muggle world, it would have known as an absolute marvel of engineering, a tourist attraction to top all tourist attractions for those medieval minded, and even in the magical world it was singular in its spectacle.
Tall towers topped with spires that stretched towards the sky with lights shining bright through what seemed a million little windows and buttresses, the various walkways and parapets done up with immaculate ornamentation. He spotted buildings described in his reading, the great hall with its stained glass that spew forth a warm light. The Ravenclaw tower and Gryffindor Tower, their potential homes.
All of this he would be pointing out to his friends though they were all rendered silent, each deep in thought and appreciation, this silence didn't last too long though, as Harvey eloquently broke the silence.
"You think they have an elevator?" a very prescient question judging from the staircase leading up to the castle from the boathouse.
Will silently prayed for his poor legs.
Professor McGonagall was a severe looking woman, her lips were pursed tightly as her eyes trailed across the rows of first years on splayed out in the entrance hall in front of her, betraying no emotion. She was the picture of perfect poise, her hands clasped in her front of her emerald robes.
"In a few moments you will all pass through this door behind me" she began, gesturing to the large double doors behind her, emblazoned with the Hogwarts sigil.
"However, before joining your classmates, you will be sorted into your house, this will be like your own home for your time here at Hogwarts" she explained, presumably for the few Muggleborns who still weren't clued in on what was about to happen.
"The four houses are Slytherin" a brazier erupted in flame in the northwest corner of the room, below it stood an hourglass about as tall as the giant that brought them hear, it was ornamented with shining gold with a gold snakes head with emeralds as eyes on top of. What looked like a thousand of those same emeralds lay in the top of the hourglass.
"Ravenclaw" Another brazier to the right ignited, similarly a golden eagle revealed itself with sapphires. They similarly had a thousand or so in the top.
And so it went, with rubies for Gryffindor and Diamonds for Hufflepuff.
The professor went on explaining the point system, Wills attention lapsed however already knowing the information.
"Nice face" he heard a voice half whisper, it sounded like whoever said it was biting back his laughter. Will glanced to his left and saw Harvey, his hood was all the way up and head was faced at the ground. He couldn't see his face, but Will could tell he was tearing up from the sounds he was making.
There was a large group of kids with poisonous grins and that look in their eye that reminded Will of the bullies back home. They were led by some particularly smarmy looking boy with pale blonde hair and a face of sharp features that seemed scientifically developed to exude malice.
"What are you gonna cry for your mummy?" The blond boy whispered again, the rest of his hangers-on egging him on and laughing at his bullying, surprisingly or maybe unsurprisingly, he spotted the face of Pansy among them with the same group of girls that were making fun of her on the train. Though she wasn't laughing along with the rest of them, it was inditement enough to be hanging out with them.
"Leave him alone!" Will said, giving the best dirty look he can muster at the boy.
He turned his attention to Will then, looking past Harvey towards his new target and squinted his eyes at him.
"What? Just having a bit of fun, if he can't take this, he's going to be a pathetic wizard. Hufflepuff for him I reckon" he spat with a smarmy smirk, looking back at his groups of sycophants who were of course nodding and giggling like a pack of hyenas.
It clicked in Wills head then, this must be Draco.
"He said leave him alone now, you big greasy haired loser" Hannah spoke up, her brow furrowed and speaking in a way Will would've never imagined from the sunny girl he was hanging out with on the train, but the cause of defending her friend overruled her usual friendly disposition.
Will could tell this had gotten under his skin, his eye twitching in poorly held back fury. He even took a step towards him as if things were about to get physical. But before anything happened, the crowd of students began moving towards the now open doors to the great hall.
The little spat had made Will miss the last part of the professor's introduction.
"This isn't over." Draco spat, leading his little group towards the hall. He caught Pansy's eye as she went, she looked away so quick Will thought she almost had a little bit of shame about her choice of company.
The great hall was wonderous, four massive table stretched the length of it, one for each of the houses, with the ceiling alive with floating candles and a magically formed night sky right there in the hall, complete with glimpses of the moon behind dark clouds and bright stars. A beautiful tapestry.
All eyes of the other students where on them when they entered and Will thought he heard a few whispered bets on which first years will be sorted into which house, things like "Frizzly hair for Hufflepuff" or "Glasses for Ravenclaw."
Will wasn't traditionally very shy but even he felt apprehensive marching right up to the front of the hall, in front of every single student and faculty member. There was a chair and brown hat sat right at the front of the hall. Perfectly in sight of every teacher sat at the long table and the students sat on the house tables.
Professor McGonagall produced a piece of parchment from the sleeve of her robe.
"When I read your name, come up, sit on the chair and I shall place the hat atop your head and you will be sorted into your house" She spoke, and just like that read the first name off, then the next and the next after that.
Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw the proclamations from the talking hat rung out and everyone applauded, and the assigned house gave their new member a warm welcome, some came off the chair looking as happy as can be, proud of their house, others came off sulking sadly to their house clearly hoping they were meant for another.
"Pansy Parkinson!" The first name Will cared about.
She walked up with a completely neutral look on her face, neither excitement nor dread. Will was shooting daggers at her with his eyes, offended and disappointed she ditched them to go join the people bullying Harvey.
"Slytherin!" The hat was on her hat for all a couple seconds before it was decided.
A cheer rung out, polite claps went out and she slinked off to the Slytherin, the neutral expression not changing for a second.
"Hannah Abbot!" Hannah nearly jumped hearing her name called.
"Good luck" he whispered to her, she gave him a nod, swallowed her nerves and slowly made her way forward as pale as a ghost.
"Hufflepuff!" Hannah burst up, the colour coming back to her face, and she even let out a little squeak of happiness, quickly covering her mouth and making her way to the Hufflepuff table with red cheeks.
Will clapped and whopped for his friend with Harvey joining in.
"Harvey Linmit!" Harvey looked positively sick, he was frozen and looked like he was going to faint, the joy for his friend burning away in the face of this endeavour.
"Harvey Linmit!?" McGonagall yelled once more, everyone looked around the hall for this mystery student, Will decided to act.
"Harvey, I promise you can do this, don't worry about that arse Draco or his stupid friends. Get up there, get into your house, and become the best damned wizard you can be" Will spoke, whispering in his friend's ear.
It took a second, but the words seemed to get through to Harvey, with him nodding and offering a weak smile before stepping forward, his hood still up with all eyes in the hall on this mystery boy.
McGonagall seemed to whisper something to him, Will couldn't make out the conversation going on but suddenly, he took the hood off. His eyes were all red and puffy from crying, his hands were shaky and fidgety, but he still sat there.
A gasp echoed through the hall, whispers took off and Will even saw a few people giggling at his misery.
"Silence!" the command from a black-haired teacher with yellow teeth quickly quieted them and quieted Wills growing frustration and anger at the lack of empathy from these students.
The hat was placed on Harvey's head, and in the quickest declaration of the night so far, it came back with an immediate answer.
"Gryffindor!"
Gryffindor erupted into cheers, followed by the polite claps of the other tables, except for Hannah at Hufflepuff who was cheering like he was sorted into her house, and even McGonagall seemed to be happy, smiling for the first time in the night and whispering something to Harvey that made him smile right back.
He caught Harvey's eye as he made his way to Gryffindor, and gave him a toothy smile and a nod, something he gave right back.
The night went on still though, dozen or so names went out, Draco of course went to Slytherin. Granger, Weasley and Longbottom all to Gryffindor. Then the name Harry Potter was called, a strange tension settled in the room with everyone seemingly on the edge of their seats at the drop of a hat.
A skinny black-haired boy with messy hair, green eyes and glasses went forward.
Harry Potter, the name was familiar, Will had heard it before but he couldn't for the life of him place exactly where he had heard it. But he could tell whoever this was he was quite important.
When the hat said he was meant for Gryffindor it didn't mean much to him, but the Gryffindor table let out the biggest celebration of the night. It was like an in-joke everyone in Hogwarts knew except for him, who the hell was this kid?
"Excuse me, who is that boy?" Will asked to the girl next to him.
She looked at him like he just asked who Jesus was.
"Harry Potter? The boy who lived?" she said, like it was self evident, the blank look on his face persisted.
"The dark lord tried to kill him, but instead he disappeared, and Potter lived with a scar on his head" she explained quickly.
Will nodded and thanked her, 'huh cool we have a celebrity in our year' he thought and left it at that.
"William Hawke!" His time came.
"Let's go Will c'mon" he muttered hyping himself up.
He felt his body move though his mind was still stuck thinking of his possible placement, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff.
The mantra ran through his mind as he sat, giving him a good view of everyone in the hall, all of them looking toward him, judging him.
The hat was lowered on his head as his stomach sank. He wanted to succeed he knew he did, he had too and Slytherin succeeded, they had talent and power. But still the morality of them left much to be desired was he willing to compromise?
Still academically Ravenclaw was brilliant and Gryffindors were famed for their rises to mighty power.
"Ahhhh another Hawke, I remember your father, particularly hard choice that." He felt his heart seize in his heart as the sorting hat spoke in his head. His father? What house did he get into? He needed to know.
"Hmmm yesss plenty of ambition and a brilliant mind, just like the last Hawke" Will gritted his teeth at this, he wasn't like that absolute sot, he refused to be compared to him.
"Ahhhh not wanting to become a snake like your old man?" those words sealed his resolve.
"Better be… RAVENCLAW!" Will let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and felt lightheaded from the rush he felt, he swore he was going to fall over but he didn't and saw his housemates clapping and cheering, welcoming with open arms.
It felt good.
It felt like home.
Hope you enjoyed review and whatnot for criticism because im not a very good writer and want to get better. Till next time peace out girl scouts.
