Harry watched as both Hermione and Neville were sorted into Gryffindor as he waited for his own turn.
The train ride had been much more enjoyable than he had originally expected and that was entirely due to his two new friends. He knew his grandfather would be happy that he had made friends, because the only friends he'd had up until now were his own cousins in Tír na nÓg. Luckily, Dudley didn't seem as irredeemable as he had believed, but granddad had said that if he had gotten to the boy any later that might not have been the case. Dudley was still young, not even a teenager, and therefore, it was possible to guide him down a better path then the one he was currently on. If Dave had waited much longer and hadn't dealt with his parents then it was possible Dudley wouldn't have changed and possibly ended up in prison at some point or even dead.
Dudley was no longer his problem thank goodness, but hopefully, they could at least become friends if Dudley's changed his bullying ways. He could really blame Dudley for bullying him considering he was only following his parents lead. They had done absolutely nothing to curb their son's behavior so it was no wonder that Dudley hadn't known what he was doing was wrong.
Harry knew that he was going to have to be on his guard now for this was Dumbledore's territory and though the headmaster had seemed genuinely remorseful for placing Harry with the Dursleys once he had discovered the abuse that didn't mean that he would stay so. He was obsessed with controlling him after all and both Harry and his granddad were almost sure that Dumbledore would attempt to gain control of him again.
Dave had told Harry that Dumbledore was to used to people dancing to his tune, though it was still possible that the headmaster really had learned a lesson.
Harry felt that unlikely, mainly because Dumbledore had been manipulating people for decades and someone like that was unlikely to change or to stop cold turkey, but he kept his opinions to himself.
"Harry Potter!" McGonagall called.
There was immediately muttering from three of the four house tables while the Slytherins kept mostly ignoring him, except for ones like Draco Malfoy who gave him looks of deepest loathing.
Harry walked forward and sat on the stool and McGonagall promptly put the hat on his head.
"Well, this is very interesting," the hat muttered. "I see that you are not completely human. Its been a long time since we've had a sídh here, not since your mother actually, even if you're only half."
"You will not be spreading that around I trust," Harry demanded.
"No, what I find in a students head remains between me and them," the Sorting Hat promised. "Albus is far too meddlesome for his own good and I don't tell him anything he doesn't need to know. Albus is the only one I ever talk to because most consider me just a hat, a magical one to be sure and one of the few items still in existence from one of the four founders, but not with intelligence of my own."
"Good," Harry said simply. "Now put me in Gryffindor with Neville and Hermione."
"Wouldn't you rather be a Ravenclaw? You certainly have the intelligence for Rowena's house. You will do well in the house of the ravens."
"No thank you. In order to accomplish my full potential I need my friends," Harry replied mentally.
"Yes, I see now that you have a mission and while you would do well in Rowena's house I see now that it wouldn't suit your aims. Very well then," the hat muttered mentally. "Gryffindor!"
There was an immediate cheering and clapping, as the hat was lifted off Harry's head and he immediately rose and headed for the Gryffindor table to join his two friends.
"Well, I'm certainly glad that you got into Gryffindor," Neville smiled.
"Me too," Harry said smiling anytime. "It wanted to put me in Ravenclaw. Said I had the intelligence to be one the ravens. I simply convinced it otherwise."
"I'm glad you did, although we still could've been friends if you had ended up in the house of the ravens," Hermione who was sitting beside, Neville said.
"Of course, we could have, but we wouldn't have been able to spend as much time together, so I'm certainly glad we all ended up in the same house," Neville immediately agreed. "Now, we have seven years together."
The headmaster rose in order to make a speech and everyone listened as he spoke, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
Dumbledore sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or roll his eyes.
Harry already knew that Dumbledore was nuttier than a fruitcake, as the headmaster leaving him with the Dursleys without bothering to check that he was doing well was proof of that as far as he was concerned, so he said nothing and simply filled his plate. He was going to have to be very cautious around the man and he knew it. He had no doubt that Dumbledore would call him into his office for one reason or another, so it was a good thing that his granddad had taught him the sídhe version of Occlumency. There was no way for Dumbledore to do Legilimency on him without him knowing, no way for the headmaster to get past his shields at least not by the passive method, which was reading surface thoughts. Dumbledore would not do more than that because it would be totally illegal and he wouldn't want to come to the attention of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Harry noticed one of the teachers staring at him. The man was wearing a turban. Harry pretended not to notice that the teacher with the turban and was staring at him, but he was already thinking fiercely thinking it was quite odd. Harry wondered if the man had some kind ulterior motives since he kept shooting Harry looks, all throughout the meal. Something else to be on guard against, Harry sighed mentally.
Finally, the meal ended and Dumbledore gave another speech before telling the prefects to lead their charges to their houses.
Harry had noticed that Dumbledore was basically ignoring him throughout the meal, but while he was grateful he knew that it wouldn't last. Both he and his granddad knew that Dumbledore was far too obsessed with fulfilling the prophecy, that the headmaster wouldn't be able to leave him alone and just let him enjoy his time at Hogwarts with his friends. Dumbledore truly believed that he was the only one that could possibly help Harry defeat Voldemort.
He and granddad had studied and knew every move Dumbledore had made and how the headmaster was so impressed with his own intelligence and cleverness that he truly believed he was the smartest wizard alive. He did not take into account that plenty of intelligent people had been to Hogwarts since he had been headmaster, which was one of his many faults. The only reason he and granddad had the upper hand at the moment was because Dumbledore was frightened of his grandfather's power.
He apparently knew enough about the sídhe to know that he had to be very careful or he could end up on the wrong end of one. Sídhe had a different kind of magic to those of the wand waving sort and they tended to be extremely powerful. They were also very protective of children and considering that he, Harry, was the grandson of one Dumbledore was going to have to move very carefully. If his granddad found out that Dumbledore had deliberately placed him in danger then the headmaster was going to regret the day he was ever born and that was before Sirius also got involved.
Sirius had every reason in the world to hate Albus Dumbledore, because after all, Dumbledore had likely deliberately left him in Azkaban by not demanding a trial and for that reason alone his godfather had every reason to come after the headmaster legally. The fact that Dumbledore had deliberately placed him in an abusive environment and never once checked up on him like a guardian should, was just another bone of contention between Sirius and the headmaster.
If Dumbledore tried anything and tried to get his godfather to cooperate in whatever scheme he cooked up he knew that Sirius would give the old man short shift. No, Harry suspected that Dumbledore wouldn't involve Sirius in any of his schemes likely already knowing that Sirius would report to him and his grandfather immediately.
Harry and Neville immediately went up to their dorm as soon as a prefect had pointed out which one was theirs and immediately got ready for sleep as they were tired. Their trunks was at the foot of their beds brought from the train by the house-elves.
Harry brushed his teeth and got dressed for bed as his grandfather had made sure he had a whole new wardrobe. He was out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow.
~~~Dave and Harry~~~
"So how are you settling in?" Sirius asked one night about a week later. Harry was talking to him through what was known as a two-way mirror and Sirius of course had its partner.
"I'm settling in just fine, Sirius," Harry promised. "You already know that I was sorted into Gryffindor like my parents and you were and I've also made friends with Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger. I am having a bit of trouble with Ron Weasley who is trying his best to force his way into our group and tries to push my two friends aside. He seems to be determined to be friends not with Harry Potter, but with the Boy Who Lived. He keeps trying his best to distract me from my classwork and the only way we can avoid him is to spend most of our time in the library outside of class. He never goes there unless he has to."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Sirius said sympathetically. "Most of the Weasleys I like, at least the ones I know. Ron is just one out of nine of them, two adults and seven children. I know Arthur and Molly, the parents and they're really nice people, though Molly does have a temper on her and tends to yell at her twin sons when she's upset at them for getting into mischief."
"Believe me, I know, as Fred and George have already gotten a Howler from their mother for a prank," Harry snickered
"Man that was fast, as schools only been in session for a week," Sirius laughed. "I'm really going to have to meet those two."
"I know they would be delighted to as they have the map that you created with my father. They stole it out of Filch's filing cabinet when he left them alone in his office."
"Well, that was fast work if you know they well enough to have them show you the map," Sirius said.
"Granddad and I studied a lot of things including who I would be going to school with, so I would know who would be friend and who could be a possible enemy," Harry explain. "Granddad wanted me to be prepared as much as possible saying that someone who pretended to be my friend might have ulterior motives."
"As much as I hate to agree with Dave, he's right," Sirius sighed. "None of us Marauders ever saw that Peter was rat in the grass. We were Gryffindors through and through and we believed in each other's loyalties. Remus and I can now see Peter for what he is, but that doesn't make your parents any less dead."
"You are older and wiser now and as much as I hate to say this Peter was a good actor," Harry said.
"Yeah, but he started to disappear frequently, especially after we graduated and he would give the stupidest excuses ever like his mother was ill. We never imagined he would betray us and instead James and I believed that Remus was the traitor just because he was a supposed dark creature."
"Those were very trying times," Harry told his godfather soothingly. "It was very hard to know who to trust. Of course, you trusted your friends and didn't question it when Peter kept disappearing on a regular basis. You weren't Slytherins that are suspicious by nature, who always believe people have an ulterior motive. No, you were Gryffindors the house of the brave, courageous and true. You thought having any Slytherin traits back then was the worst thing that could happen to you, but now you know differently, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do," Sirius sighed. "Your grandfather had a long talk with me. He pointed out that not all Slytherin traits are bad ones and it depends on how you use them. He gave us a lot of examples and though I didn't want to think about it he told me that if I wanted to survive the war that was coming that I would need to develop some Slytherin traits, as he pointed out that a pure Gryffindor is unlikely to live. He said that my family had a proud history of being Slytherin and that the traits Salazar prized the most weren't necessarily evil, though they could certainly be used that way. I have to admit he made me look at my family in a different way and while my mother was definitely insane and my father wasn't much better not all Blacks were like that throughout history. My family just perverted Slytherin's ideals over time as did many other families."
"It really started in the late 30s and early 40s when Tom Riddle went to Hogwarts. He's the one perverted Slytherins ideals, though that's not to say that some families hadn't done the same thing generations ago. It just became more prevalent once Riddle attended Hogwarts," Harry said.
"You might very well be right," Sirius said. "I'm sure Remus could do some research to find out if I cared enough to ask him but it doesn't really matter. I'm not really curious enough to bother."
"By the way, I already know about his furry little problem," Harry promised when Sirius paused. "Don't tell Remus I know, as he'll only worry that I'll reject him like most people do. I'll tell him myself when I come home for the holidays."
"Okay, thank you, pup," Sirius said.
"You're welcome," Harry promised smiling. "There's no need thank me, as I'm your godson and Remus, I'm sure, was an honorary uncle back when mom and dad were still alive. It was mentioned in the will about his furry little problem just so you know that's how I learned of it. It didn't take me long to figure out that Remus was a werewolf after that."
Sirius nodded and then asked, "Has Dumbledore been causing any problems?"
"Not at the moment, but then, it's only been a week," Harry said. "I'm sure that won't last though, as I'm sure he's trying to figure out what to do even though he had all summer. I'll let you know the minute I think he's trying anything."
"Alright, you be careful. Get some sleep you'll need it for class in the morning," Sirius said before he signed off.
Harry sighed and placed the mirror in his bedside table drawer before laying down and closing his eyes. It wasn't long before he was asleep.
~~~Dave and Harry~~~