September 1st, 1991
The train ride was going swimmingly, that is until a red head slammed open the door and looked in. "Has anyone seen Harry Potter? He's supposed to be on the train." All 4 inhabitants of the compartment looked at each other and then at the boy. Harry sighed internally and said, "yeah that's my name, don't wear it out." Terry and Parvati looked taken aback for a moment then shrugged it off and looked at the new arrival. Padma looked vindicated and had a twinkle in her pretty eyes that worried Harry. Hopefully she didn't have a problem with her eyes because those potions sucked and for the equivalent of 10000 pounds you would assume they could make them at least taste decent. Either way he hoped she didn't need them.
While Harry was having his internal monologue, he missed most of what Roy or Rob or whoever was talking about. He did catch the last bit though when the boy asked to sit in the compartment with them. "No, we're full up" Harry replied. They were in a small compartment since they shared a wall with the bathroom and there was only space for 6 people. That being said Harry liked having room to lounge and didn't particularly want to be pestered by anyone asking about his so-called fame. "But everywhere else is full" replied Ron. Looking past him at the compartment adjacent to theirs Harry observed a compartment with only 3 people in it.
They looked older and had green trim on their school robes but the important and really the biggest reason Harry suggested that Ron go sit with them was that there was more room in it than they had. Pointing at the other compartment Harry just said, "go ask them." Ron made a face and started going on about evil slimy snakes at which point Harry said; "what are you a moron? Snakes aren't slimy and if they were evil why would the NHS use them as a symbol? Also, in case you missed it, those are people not snakes. I'm not sure you understand what snakes are."
Ron just stood there, mouth agape and Harry ejected his wand from his holster. Giving it a wave at the door a fire show of blue and silver sparks shot out of his wand and the door closed and locked leaving Ron on the outside mouth still agape. "Umm Harry?" Parvati spoke up, trepidation in her voice. "Yes?" Harry replied. "I think he was referring to those students as Slytherins not as actual snakes..." Harry looked at the others in the compartment and said; "yeah, but he was being loud and annoying me, so I needed a way to get him to shut up and leave.
If Roy wasn't so interested in the memory of my parents' murder maybe I would have let him sit with us but reliving the worst day of my life, one that I don't really remember doesn't fill me with fuzzy feelings." Padma spoke up possibly hoping to change the subject; "Harry, what spell did you use? You didn't say an incantation and what was with all the sparks?" "Oh well, I just closed the door and used a locking spell on it and as for the sparks that always happens. I've actually named my wand sparky. I think it's awesome! Although Tom the bartender at the Leaky Cauldron didn't think it was awesome when I set the bedsheets on fire, but it was fine. I paid for new sheets and just stopped practicing while lying in bed." The others in the compartment just stared at him.
September 1st, 1991
The train ride was going swimmingly, that is until a blonde kid tried opening the door to their compartment and crashed into it. Judging by the blood coming from his nose he suspected it was broken. With another wave and fireworks show of Harry's wand the compartment door opened and Harry said, "can I help you?" The blonde boy now clutching his nose and the other two students just stood there looking at him.
Harry gave it another moment and closed the door again this time the pretty lights his wand made ended up making it to the other side of the door before it closed possibly, no make that definitely singeing the blonde boys' eyebrows off. Harry didn't know it but that day he made 3 lifelong friends. The fact that Terry, Padma and Parvati had all met and had all disliked Malfoy had engrained within them a love of Harry who had so nonchalantly and possibly unknowingly harmed the blonde twit.
The next arrival at their door was a welcomed distraction in the form of the snack trolly lady. Harry having not eaten in around 6 hours bought a substantial number of sweets and a few bottles of fruit juice. He had tried pumpkin juice but decided he didn't like the oddly sweet yet bitter taste of it and swore to stick with either apple, pineapple, orange, or even mango juice. Really anything but pumpkin juice. The others all grabbed a few things and they all dug into their sweets with vigour.
Harry was amazed. He was in a boat drifting rather efficiently towards a castle. A month ago, he was living in a cupboard and stealing just to have the basic things everyone else had. As amazed as he was, he couldn't stop from thinking about how much trouble he could cause. After all, he was sure he would have down time and downtime is boring. He was brought out of his contemplation by a splash, well two splashes. Turning to the commotion he saw a blonde kid and a red headed kid break the surface of the lake. It looks like Weasley and Malfoy decided to share a boat, and then abruptly decided to stop sharing a boat. Decidedly odd, but at least it wasn't boring.
McGonagall was staring at two shivering 11-year-olds with murder in her eyes. Well Harry thought it was a murderous gaze, maybe she just had heart burn. Harry spaced out when McGonagall started talking about houses and family and things. Soon they were ushered into a large hall with long dining tables that were filled with students. McGonagall Then set a 3-legged stool down and withdrew a scroll and spoke aloud; "When I call your name, you will step forward and sit on the stool. The sorting hat will then be placed on your head, and it will sort you to your new house.
"Abbot-Hannah." A nervous looking girl with blonde pigtails scurried up to the stool and sat down. A few moments after the hat was placed on her head the brim opened up and a bellowed shout of "Hufflepuff!" echoed throughout the hall. The newly minted Hufflepuff scampered to the yellow and black bannered table. "Bones-Susan." This time a red headed girl walked up to the stool and was, in short order also placed in Hufflepuff. Next was his sort of friend Terrys turn. He was the first to be sorted into Ravenclaw.
A few more names went by before he heard; "Malfoy-Draco." The hat had barely touched his head before he was sorted into Slytherin. The funny thing was that after all of the previous sorting's the respective houses would clap and cheer, however, the Slytherin students seemed put off by the eyebrow-less Malfoy heir. Harry only stopped chuckling when he heard; "Patil-Padma." She was sorted into Ravenclaw after about 2 minutes. Parvati was soon after sorted into Gryffindor.
Harry was up next; "Potter-Harry." The hall quieted down for about 10 seconds before hushed whispers erupted from every table. Confidently Harry strode up to Professor McGonagall and sat on the stool. When the hat was placed on his head, he heard a voice in his mind.
"Well let's see now, bravery? Yes, almost a clinical disregard for your own well-being." "Hey!" Harry snapped. "Everything I do is regarding my safety. If I must choose between a little risk or pain in the moment to come out on top later then it's probably worth making the trade off." "That's a rather cunning way to look at things. Risk versus reward. Oh yes, I can see it. You would do well in Slytherin." "Not a chance in hell would I accept going to Slytherin. What is the point in being cunning, ambitious, and sly if you wear a uniform that says: hey look at me, I'm most likely planning something. No. Only a moron would go to a house where everyone is scheming. You couldn't trust anyone with anything, plus you just sorted a kid with no eyebrows there. I don't want to look at that every day, it's creepy."
The hat pondered his words and said; "well you have no loyalty, and I mean zero loyalty to anyone. You do work hard but for the most part it's for self-gain. You have a decent brain." "What a ringing endorsement" Harry blithely cut in. The not so, but still a little pointy hat continued as if Harry hadn't just interrupted him. "I guess that leaves…RAVENCLAW!"
Harry hopped up off the stool to loud applause from the Ravenclaw table and polite clapping from the Hufflepuff table. The Slytherin table was ignoring him as if he didn't exist and the Gryffindor table looked devastated and a little confused. Harry sat down between Terry and Padma and happily chatted away until the sorting continued.
With the sorting at an end the headmaster stood and said, "before we begin, I have a few words to say… okey-dokey, blueberries and hokey." With that he sat down, and the food appeared. Harry had never seen this much food all in one place before. There was chicken, fried and grilled. Potatoes mashed and un-mashed. Beans, green and not green. Sausages, bread, and about 25 other dishes that he could see.
"Wow." Harry said. "Is there always this much food at every meal?" A pretty Asian girl sitting across from him said; "it's usually not this grand every day, only for feasts. Every day of the week there is a different menu. Last year Mondays were always roasts and trimmings and Tuesdays were different international dishes like curry and rice." "Nice! I love a good curry." Harry replied.
They continued with their meal until everyone was stuffed and the headmaster stood up to address the hall. "Just a few last-minute notices: the forbidden forest is as the name would suggest, forbidden. Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has a list of banned items which he has posted in all the common rooms. I suggest having a look at the list since it is currently up to some 493 items. And lastly, the 3rd floor corridor just past the statue of the one-eyed witch is currently out of bounds unless you hope to die a slow painful death… and with that off to bed."
Harry just stared at the teachers table wondering what kind of school he just joined. His staring was interrupted by a sharp pain in his scar. Looking towards a sallow faced man who was talking with another teacher wearing a purple turban. Harry winced but quickly rallied by punching his scar really hard. This wasn't a new thing for Harry. Often when his scar acted up simply bludgeoning it would stop the pain. Well, it would stop the searing pain. Being hit in the head was a duller pain but a dull pain was better than feeling like his head was being split open.
What Harry didn't see was that when he punched his scar the man in the purple turban shot forward like he was hit in the head from behind. The correlation between these two acts wasn't noticed by anyone seeing as how when Quirrell's head was jolted forward it collided with the rather large and oddly hooked nose of the potion's teacher. Harry never noticed the scuffle at the heads table because by that point all the first year Ravenclaws were being herded towards the entry hall in an effort to guide them to their new common rooms.
Once safely ensconced in the Ravenclaw common room they were given a tour around the study area and library shelves. As it would turn out Rowena Ravenclaw was also a closet Slytherin. It was explained to them that she had linked the shelf to the library. This way if you knew the name of the book you were looking for and it hadn't been checked out of the library yet all you had to do was request it from the directory book. The book would then show up on the shelf with a record of the withdrawal appearing in the library's checked out page. This way Ravenclaws could always be the first to check a book out when it came to doing homework. Harry admired the underhanded tactic greatly.
They were then told where their rooms were and that it was 2 to a room. By having only 2 beds in each room it allowed them to have a dresser and personal desk each so they would have a quiet place to study. Harry liked this idea as well since he wasn't great at sharing his things, or space, or really just sharing. Harry doesn't share he thought. Thinking in the third person and whether that was a sign of good mental health caused him to be momentarily distracted long enough to miss a haggard little man entering the room.
He was pulled from his internal pondering when the short man cleared his throat and said; "hello my name is Professor Filius Flitwick, and I am your head of house. I am also the charms teacher and I run the choir club. I am very happy to see all of our new first years made it up here safe and sound. While you wear the blue and bronze uniform, I expect you to align with the values with which this house was created. Whit beyond measure, is man's greatest treasure. In Ravenclaw we pride ourselves on our intellect and our relentless pursuit of knowledge. But be warned, too much of anything can be bad for you. Everything in moderation. Too much studying will have you burning out and possibly failing a test or paper if you neglect your sleep. Writing 6 pages of parchment when all that was required was 2, will see only your first 2 pages being marked and will most likely lead to a failing grade. Showing your knowledge is good, but quality has quantity beat. Being able to show that you understand the material while not simply rehashing text verbatim will lead to academic success. With all that being said, I hope you all have a wonderful night's sleep, and, in the morning, you will receive your schedules at breakfast." With that he gave a little bow and left.
Leaving the Ravenclaw common room Filius shook his head. "Well at least that went smoothly." He thought back to the altercation between Quirinus and Severus. It appeared that Quirinus inexplicably head-butted Severus in the face. An action that he vehemently denied. What was certain was Severus's broken nose. After a moment of stunned shock Severus then drew his wand and banished poor Quirinus across the teacher's table.
The fight was soon broken up and Severus's nose was quickly mended. Separating the two teachers Quirinus escaped the hall running to his quarters and Severus strode towards the dungeons all the while seething. Filius wasn't sure why it had happened, but he knew he was glad that the day was over.
Searching for the room with his name on it, Harry was pleased to see he was bunking with Terry. After settling in, he bid Terry a good night and went to bed with a smile on his face. This was going to be a good year.
