Conquering Magic
Chapter 5: Sorting
The Great Hall really looked like it did not have a ceiling and just opened up to display the sky above us. Thousands of stars illuminated the big room, supported by thousands of candles. The light of the stars and candles gave the hall a homely and welcoming feel. The four House tables, representing the four founders, were filled with older students. They were talking to each other excitedly, catching up with their friends.
We arrived at the front of the hall, where all the teachers sat. In front of their table stood a stool. On this stool the sorting hat lay, it looked tattered and like it would fall apart at the slightest touch. The surrounding students became quiet as the hat opened a tear around its brim like a mouth.
After a jolly song, the sorting finally began. "Hannah Abbot", Professor McGonagall shouted, reading her name from the list of new students. Hannah hesitantly approached the Professor and sat on the stool, uneasiness clearly visible in her brown eyes. Then McGonagall placed the hat on Hannah's head. After a few seconds, it declared "Hufflepuff!" in a loud voice, prompting the Hufflepuff table to clap excitedly.
Just like in the Original, Susan and Hermione ended up in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Then "Harry Potter!" was called out by McGonagall. It was my turn. My name caused all the surrounding students to whisper and stare at me. As I made my way up to the stool, I checked my Occlumency a last time before my sorting. Noticing that everything seemed to be in order, I sat down.
McGonagall placed the hat on me. Its large size, being too big for my head, caused my eyes to be covered by the speaking hat. Then I heard a high-pitched voice in my head. "Someone interesting for once! Mind-shields on an eleven-year-old. I didn't have one like you in ages! Well child, mind lowering your defenses?" the hat said, obviously in a great mood. „No, sadly I can't" I replied, trying my best to sound like a sheepish child. "That's unfortunate. Where would you like to go then? Since sorting you normally is not possible, I will trust your judgment!"
"Hufflepuff would be my preferred choice then, so that I can be friends with everyone! The Slytherin and Gryffindor hate each other. I don't want to be part of that. Ravenclaw would be alright too, I suppose." I said to the sorting hat, hoping that he would respect my decision.
"Then it better be: Hufflepuff!" the hat screamed out, making the Hufflepuff table erupt in cheers. Smiling, I made my way over to the table of the Badgers. The most important step in my plan to make the whole student body loyal to me was just achieved. I really was glad that everything worked out like I intended it to.
Hufflepuff was always regarded as the House of the leftovers and the dimwitted. This was precisely the reason why I wanted to join the House of the Badger.
Hufflepuff, as a house, never had any problems with everyone else. This would help me to befriend anyone belonging to the other houses easily. Nobody ever disliked a Hufflepuff because of their House, only because of the members' own behavior.
Ravenclaw would also have worked too, but the Ravens did not have such a tight-knitted dynamic inside their House, making it harder to unite the House under my leadership. Hufflepuff was already "ripe for the picking", I only needed to rally most of the Puffs behind me and the rest would follow willingly along. They were a real tight-knit family.
Hufflepuffs were the most loyal of them all. Shaping them to be my blindly loyal soldiers and supporters was therefore a must. Achieving this was only possible if I joined them. Additionally, no one would suspect me to have any "evil" plans, like taking over the world, simply because a normal Hufflepuff would never try such a thing. Even teachers and Aurors thought that way, making the reputation of my house a perfect shield for me.
Obviously, Sylitherin was my "real" house, but revealing my ambition to everyone was not cunning at all in my opinion. Hiding my real motives behind the Hufflepuff facade was far more intelligent for the moment.
After sitting down between Susan and a boy that introduced himself as Cedric Diggory, another target of mine, I quickly started to shake hands and introduce myself to my housemates. They were all very glad to have me.
Daphne and Draco were sorted into Slytherin and Neville into Gryffindor, where Hermione waited for him. I cheered for each of them and was thankful that my sorting did not affect theirs. I was especially worried that Neville would join me in Hufflepuff. Luckily, the hat did not miss the brave nature that was hidden within the boy.
Looking over to the Ravenclaw table, I finally saw Cho. I immediately understood why the Original liked her so much. She had a beautiful face with asian features, her irises were dark, and her black hair lay orderly on her lithe shoulders. Although she was only twelve, it was noticeable that puberty hit her early, just like most magicals, causing her body to show signs of blooming into that of a woman. Just like most second years, she was noticeably taller than all the first years, myself included.
I still could not wrap my mind around her absence on the Hogwarts Express. But before I could think about it further, Dumbledore stood up and "delivered" the food. The old man was smiling at me after he was done. His long, gray hair and beard made him look like the second coming of Merlin. I smiled back at the old man, not letting my guard down for a second. Then I finally started to dig in, using the cutlery expertly, unlike a certain redheaded first year Gryffindor.
After the eventful day, I finally arrived at my bed. My three roommates, Ernest Mcmilan, Wayne Hopkins and Justin Finch-Fletchley were already sleeping. We had a long talk after we arrived in the dorm and became quick friends. Naturally, Susan was delighted to have me with her here in the House of the Badgers, and we also talked for a while before all the first years had to head to their dorms.
I closed the curtains of my bed quickly and charmed them. After I was done, they did not let sound and light through and only opened when I wanted them to. After making sure my privacy was secured, I reached into my trusty pouch and retrieved a big book from it.
The book was dark red and displayed the Potter crest, a black shield with crossed bloodred swords and a soaring black dragon. At first, I was hesitant to bring it with me to Hogwarts, but it was charmed to return to the Family vault at Gringotts in case it was ever stolen or lost, and I always carried the pouch I stored it in with me. The book was quite peculiar, as it was expanded on the inside and therefore had many pages without appearing to be extremely thick. So much knowledge was stored inside, that I didn't even manage to finish one hundreth of it. In the month, I had access to the family vault.
On my birthday, I naturally visited Gringotts to confirm my status as the Heir to the Potter family. Besides receiving the Heir ring, a beautiful gold band with the Potter crest engraved into it, I was finally able to visit the family vault. Inside, besides mountains of gold, I found many family tomes and relics, such as old wands, clothes, knives and jewelry. The book I held in my hands was reserved for the family head and heir and gave me access to all the books that were linked to it. Among them was every book that was ever part of the Potter library.
This book contained knowledge beyond my imagination. Besides family rituals with amazing effects, it also contained information about other forbidden magics. Most importantly, it finally gave me a way to further my studies in Legilimency. Only because of the book was I able to read the minds of my friends as easily as I did. Learning to influence and bend the minds of others to my will still required study though.
At the moment, I was reading about the family puberty ritual reserved for the Heir. There were others with varying effects, but the Heir ritual was by far the most potent and also the most handy. Besides optimizing physical and magical growth ,and making the user more attractive, it also enhanced the charisma of the user greatly.
According to the book, the ritual was reserved for the Heir because it would grant them the needed charm to unite the family behind them after they became the head. Other children weren't allowed to use it because it could lead to a conflict. Both users of the ritual had the needed persuasiveness and charisma to establish themselves as the head of the family. When they both laid claim to the position, a fight within the family usually broke out, often with casualties.
This ritual was the most complicated I had ever seen. I required dozens of runes to be written in Dragonblood, 1 Dragonheart, 7 Veelahairs and 10 kilos of gold. Furthermore, a special potion needed to be consumed three times a day, for at least a week.
I had most of the ingredients to brew the potion, only missing dragon scale powder and the puss from a Mimbulus Mimbeltonia. They were both hard, but not impossible to get. Dragonblood in the quantities I needed it in and the heart of a dragon were definitely harder to come by.
I set myself an alarm for tomorrow and fell asleep after two hours of reading and planning for the ritual.
All the first years gathered in the common room the next morning. It was very cozy in the Hufflepuff common room. It seemed to be sunny and warm in the large area, many plants decorated the room, giving it a natural and welcoming look. The theme of the common room was clearly circles, as almost everything, from windows, doors, arches and sofas, seemed to be circular.
"Hey Sus, how was your first night here at Hogwarts?" I asked my female friend. The sleepy girl replied "I was very excited and did not fall asleep that fast, but the bed was very comfortable." before yawning. I laughed at her cuteness, causing her to pout at me and say "Don't laugh at me Potter!" with anger evident in her annoyed voice.
During the walk to the Great Hall for breakfast we talked about our roommates and first impressions of Hogwarts. "I already dislike the weird Professor with the turban. Not to mention the Slytherin head of house, that guy is scary!" Susan said casually during our conversation, making me look at her with razed eyebrows. The girl had an amazing perception, probably due to her Aunt, and identified the two biggest threats to her safety easily. Even if she didn't know what made them dangerous. "Me too. We better stay away from them" I replied.
We sat down on the yellow and black table after arriving in the great hall. I chose to sit next to Cedric, the future leader of Hufflepuff in the Original. Susan sat down on my other side. "Good morning Cedric, how was your first night back in the castle?" I asked the half asleep third year. "Good Harry" he replied, nearly falling asleep while eating his cereal. "Well the hickeys on your neck certainly explain how good it was" I laughed, causing Susan to giggle and blush a bit.
The older boy nearly broke the bowl his cereal was in while jumping up from his seat. "What! Where?" Cedric screamed out, causing a few of the students to look at us. I started to laugh, Susan joining me and replied "Nowhere anymore, I already applied a concealing charm" with mirth in my voice.
He calmed down after he heard me and sat back down. "Thanks Harry", "No problem Cedric". "Well, who is it? Since I saved you from walking around with a hickey all day, I think it would be fair that you tell me who gave it to you!" I then said to the other boy, causing his eyes to widen comically.
He obviously hesitated before he replied "Patricia Stimpson" in a quiet whisper. Looking over at the girl in our house, I noticed her brown hair, hazel eyes and relatively short stature. She wasn't a complete looker, but still a pretty girl. Luckily, he did not have any involvement with cho yet, as that would complicate my plans unnecessarily.
Looking over at the Ravenclaw table, I saw her looking directly at me. I sent her a cheeky wink before turning towards Susan. I thought that her looking at me was due to my fame as the Boy Who Lived and thought nothing of it.
While talking with Susan, I noticed the Slytherins' arrival. Daphne was walking in the front, together with Draco and the Prefects. She and Draco seemed to have already established their position in Slytherin. In the House of the Snakes, a hierarchy dictated the structure within. Dracos and Daphne's position was to be expected, because of their family backgrounds.
After sitting down, the gorgeous girl noticed me looking at her and sent me a dazzling smile. I waved back at her. Draco also tried to get my attention, with limited success, as I was beginning to talk to Susan again. I only managed to send him a nod before Susan demanded my full attention.
Author note: Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!
What do you think about Harry's House? Was he smart in choosing Hufflepuff?