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It was beautiful. The train, a scarlet steam engine stood proudly on the mostly empty platform. A sign overhead read Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock. Behind him, Harry saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been. Off to the side of it, there was a small circular platform which a pale, redheaded girl walked off. Alongside her was a woman who looked remarkable like her, or rather, it was the other way around, Harry supposed.

The older woman was rather tall, with a strong set jaw and a single gold-chained monocle covering her right eye. Harry wondered where they had come from, since he could see no entryway anywhere on the platform save on the side that he himself was standing on. Above the platform was another sign, which read Apparition point, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

Looking back at the train, Harry couldn't help but marvel at it again, as a cloud of smoke billowed from the engine before floating over the platform. Putting it from his mind for a moment, Harry walked over to the train and began loading the contents of his cart onto it, starting with Hedwig's cage.

Hedwig was Harry's owl, a beautiful snowy owl covered in pure white feathers from head to toe. Professor McGonagall had taken him to the pet emporium after they had finished getting his supplies, as a small treat. And when he had gone to pay for her, McGonagall had even insisted on doing so herself. Saying it was a birthday present from her. It still caused Harry to feel warm and fuzzy inside whenever he thought of it.

After putting in Hedwig's cage, Harry encountered a small problem. His trunk was much too heavy. He pushed and shoved and heaved but he could barely budge the thing up the stairs. A small smile came up over his face as he found himself a reason to try one of the spells that he had been most excited for. 'The professor did say that we weren't allowed to do any magic at home after all.' Harry thought as he took out his wand and pointed it at the trunk.

"Wingardium Leviosa." He spoke as he swished and flicked his wand as the book had described. Unfortunately, the trunk stayed firmly on the ground, still in gravity's grasp. Frowning, Harry wondered if he had said the incantation wrong, but he was sure he hadn't. With a small frown, he pointed his wand at it, and tried again. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He commanded, hoping that the trunk would simply lift.

This time, the trunk twitched into the air for a moment, but then fell back down onto the stone platform with a dull Thunk of wood. 'Come on damnit, just float.' Harry thought angrily as he did the spell for the third time. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He said again, some of the frustration leaking into his voice. Miraculously, the heavy wooden suitcase didn't just float up into the air, instead it leapt, shooting into the sky and almost hitting the top of the train's doorway.

A smile split Harry's face from ear to ear as he used the spell to push his trunk into the train, putting it down next to Hedwig's cage. Hedwig herself simply hooted at him in congratulation. His elation was short-lived, though as someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, young man." The voice said. Looking over his shoulder, Harry spotted the woman he had seen walking off the platform earlier. Locking eyes with her, he noticed that the monocle did nothing to detract from the stern air her blue eyes conveyed. "Where are your parents?" She asked.

Nervously, Harry pushed his glasses up his nose. "Uh, my parents aren't – uh – with us so to speak. My uncle dropped me off." Harry said quietly, more than a little intimidated.

The woman's eyes softened somewhat. And when her eyes flicked to his forehead, to the scar that sat upon his brow, he saw recognition flare in her blue orbs. "Harry Potter." She murmured softly. "I'm sorry about that Mr. Potter. My name is Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE." She continued, sticking out a hand that he quickly shook. As she held his hand in hers, she went on. "I simply came to inform you that use of underaged sorcery is strictly prohibited outside of registered areas such as Hogwarts or Diagon Alley."

"Oh, uhm, the Professor – Professor McGonagall that is – she only said that we weren't allowed to do magic at home. I, uh, didn't know." He told her, fidgeting slightly under her gaze.

"That's quite alright, Mr. Potter. Consider this an unofficial first warning." She said, before turning on her heel and making her way back to the little girl he had seen her with earlier. 'Good going, Potter. You've set two steps into the magical world and you're already in trouble.' He thought, before making his way onto the train and taking his things into an empty compartment. Sans magic this time.

Looking over at his owl, Harry couldn't help but notice how miserable she seemed, cooped up in her cage. "Do you want to fly to Hogwarts girl?" He asked her quietly, and when the owl bobbed her head, he carefully unlatched her cage door and opened the compartment's window. Hedwig, for her part, simply nipped at his fingers softly before taking off into the skies.

To pass the time, Harry grabbed his copy of Theories of Transubstantial Transfigurations and began reading. Before long, a knock sounded on the door to his compartment, looking out, it was the redhead who'd come with Mrs. Bones. Harry managed to plaster a smile on his face as he opened the door for her, hoping to put his best foot forward.

"Hi, can we sit here?" She asked. Looking over her shoulder, Harry could see another girl standing there. The second girl was rather short, with mid length, blonde hair which she wore in pigtails. He nodded quietly as he stepped to the side, letting them in.

"Do you guys need any help with your trunks?" Harry asked, and at their nods, he helped drag the wooden cases into the room. Soon after, they were all sat down, with the girls on one side of the compartment and Harry on the other. Soon enough, the blonde girl stuck her hand out for Harry to shake.

"Hello, I'm Hannah Abbot." She said before pointing at the redhead next to her. "And this is my friend Susan Bones. What's your name?" She introduced herself.

Reaching out, Harry took her hand in his as he replied.

"I'm Harry Potter."

"Are you really?" The redhead, Susan, Harry corrected himself, gasped out. "Maybe that's why Auntie wanted to talk to you?" She guessed.

"Uh, Mrs. Bones is your aunt?" At her nod, he continued. "She, uh, she didn't know who I was. She just came over to tell me not to use magic outside of school."

"Oh, yeah that makes sense."

Everything was quiet for a moment before the blonde, Hannah, spoke again.

"So, what are you reading?"

Harry's eyes flicked over to his book, and he held it up to show them.

"It's Theories of Transubstantial Transfigurations by William Manton. Professor McGonagall said it was a good basis for Transfiguration theory." And it was, it covered the laws and rules of transfiguration where the base material of the transfigured object was altered. It built upon the rules and laws that Gamp discovered and published which was covered in A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, their textbook for the first two years of schooling.

"Oh, is Transfiguration your favourite class then?"

"I don't know yet, I hadn't been able to try any of the spells until just now. It all sounds wicked though." An excited gleam shone in Harry's eyes as he thought of all the different spells he had read about in the last month. He couldn't wait to try them all out. The girls in the compartment just smiled back, Harry's excitement was infectious.

For a little while longer, they simply sat at talked, getting to know each other. For example, Harry discovered that Susan and Hannah had known one another for years. Their mothers had been friends from Hogwarts, before Susan's parents had met their end during the war. With her aunt spending a lot of time at work, she spent a lot of the time at the Abbots, and the girls were inseparable.

It was because of this that both girls hoped to make it into Hufflepuff together. The Abbots, apparently, all went to Hufflepuff. Had for 6 generations, Hannah had claimed proudly. And Susan, who admired her aunt a great deal, wanted to join the house she had been in when she attended the school.

"So, what house do you want to go to?" Susan asked. As the minutes passed and they got to know each other, the girl had gotten more and more vocal, though she was still quieter than Hannah by half.

"I don't know yet. Professor McGonagall said all the houses have their virtues. My parents were both Gryffindors though, so maybe there?" He said, idly wondering where he would end up. He ignored the little voice in the back of his head telling him that he wouldn't be sorted into any of the houses. That whatever test judging them would send him back home to the Dursleys.

On and on, they talked. Even as the trolley came by, they bought some candy, and continued their chat. And for once, Harry felt as if he really were making friends. All good things must come to an end, though, and that end came when another knocked on their door.

It was a pale boy, with platinum blonde hair that was slicked back with a little too much hair gel, and light grey eyes. He was flanked by two other boys, both thickset and extremely mean looking. They stood on either side of the blonde, looking a bit like a pair of bodyguards.

"Is it true then?" The blonde said. "People were saying that there was someone who looked like Harry Potter in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

Though he knew about his fame, having had some less than pleasant encounters when he had visited Diagon Alley with Professor McGonagall, Harry still had no clue of how to deal with any of it. To be honest, the fact that so far everyone had known his name still felt very odd, and more than a little unwelcome.

"Yes."

"Well it's nice to meet you." The blonde continued on, oblivious to Harry's growing discomfort. "This is Crabbe, and Goyle." He said, pointing to the boys on either side of him. "And I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy." After introducing himself, Draco panned his eyes around the compartment, for the first time looking at Hannah and Susan.

"Abbot and … Bones right?" He said with a smile, before looking back at Harry. "You'll find, Potter, that some wizarding families are better than others. You seem to be doing all right so far, but I could help you with that." He finished, sticking out his hand for Harry to shake, but Harry didn't take it just yet.

"What do you mean, better?" Harry asked with a light frown. Both Hannah and Susan had looked a little off when Draco had said that, and it did not fill him with confidence.

"Well, you wouldn't want to be hanging around with riffraff. Blood traitors and Mudbloods and the sort." By the gasps from the girls, Harry surmised that whatever Draco had just said, it hadn't been good.

"What's a Mudblood?" Harry asked, the unfamiliar word felt strange on his tongue, almost like just saying it dirtied him.

"It's a bad word used to describe Muggleborns." At his confused look, Hannah continued. "People with nonmagical parents."

And the light frown that had steadily been growing on Harry's face morphed into a scowl. The wand that he had been fidgeting with in his lap began emitting angry red sparks as he spoke, deathly quiet. "My mother was a Mudblood." Crabbe or Goyle, one of the two, Harry couldn't be bothered to remember which, yelped as one of the sparks hit his hand, singing it.

"I think you had better leave." Harry bit out, trying to keep a lid on his anger. He had already gotten into trouble once today, but if Draco and his little thugs didn't get out of his sight soon, Harry would undoubtedly give in to the urge to use some of the Hexes he was wanting to practice.

It seemed that Malfoy, at least, had some survival instinct as he immediately fled the compartment. Only staying long enough to give on last parting shot as he spun on his heel.

"You had better watch it, Potter. Or you'll go the way of your parents. They never knew what was good for them, either."

… Don't be afraid! And don't get in a flap! You're in safe hands (though I have none) For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The little voice in his head was back. In that moment, Harry neither felt brave nor quick-witted or any of it. It whispered in the back of his mind that he would be sent back. That he would be stuck once more, without magic. Ostracized and alone.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

As my, dare I say it, friend was called up, I gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she passed me, her pigtails bouncing with every nervous step. She put on the hat, which flapped over her eyes, and after a moment –

"HUFFLEPUFF!" It shouted, and the table clad in yellow and black began applauding their new member.

"Bones, Susan!" McGonagall called out, beckoning Harry's other friend over. And after a moment, the hat shouted once again.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

As more and more people were sorted, Harry began to notice something. Sometimes people were sorted immediately, the hat putting them into their house the moment it touched their heads. With others, it sat there for a while, sometimes even a couple of minutes before it decided. The voice in the back of his head whispered at him again, what if it simply didn't sort him anywhere? What would happen then? Would he be sent back – Harry shook his head. He couldn't think like that.

He snapped back to reality as Malfoy made his way to the hat, swaggering through the hall as if he owned the place. The hat had scarcely touched his head before it came to a decision.

"SLYTHERIN!"

And eventually, McGonagall made her way to the Ps, quickly reaching Potter. "Potter, Harry." She called out, and the hall went completely quiet. The only sound in the hall was that of his shoes, clacking on the flagstone floor. When he was about halfway to the hat, the whispers started.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he 97 was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"

Harry, simply glad at being considered for any of the houses, closed his eyes and waited.

"Yes, brave no doubt about that. But I think, I think that you could be great. And on your path to greatness, it better be –

SLYTHERIN!"

The shout drowned out all the sound in the hall, so much so that Harry couldn't hear the clapping. For a moment, he thought he might have gone deaf, but when he took the hat off, he saw that the hall wasn't silent because he wasn't hearing it. No, the hall was silent, because no one was moving. As he stood up, he heard one set of hands, clapping slowly. Turning, he spotted a single wizard, sitting at the center of the teacher's table in a large golden chair, politely clapping for him. Silently, Harry made his was down to the table in green and silver and sat down at the end of it.

The sorting ended with a dark-skinned boy named Blaise Zabini, who joined him at the Slytherin table. The boy sat himself on as close to the rest of the first year Slytherins, and as far from Harry as he could.

Albus Dumbledore, I recognized him now from one of the Chocolate frog cards I had gotten, had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome," he said. "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!"

"Thank you!" He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.

Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.

"Mad and senile that old man. Father says he should have been replaced ages ago." It was Malfoy, but Harry ignored it, even as the rest of the first years, and some of the second years who were close enough to hear it nodded along. Instead, Harry piled his plate high with all of the delicious foods that were stacked in front of him. The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if It made him sick.

Tomorrow, he could deal with whatever problems his sorting into Slytherin might bring him. For now, he could at least enjoy the feast while it lasted.

A/N: Okay, just over 3000 words for the chapter itself, excluding this AN of course. I'll be honest in saying that a lot of it is almost identical to Canon, but I wanted to use this chapter to clarify a couple of things. First off, yes, Harry had his own room and did not sleep in the cupboard, ever. Nor was he starved or overtly abused. I refuse to believe that Figg would miss something THAT obvious, and I was never a fan of evil Dumbledore, so he wouldn't let that shit slide if he was told.

No, he was lightly neglected. Raised without any love, not fed or given as much as Dudley and occasionally got a smack when he misbehaved, like every other kid in the 80s-90s. No, instead he was just ostracized and ignored, which might actually be worse than physical abuse, from a mental health perspective. It's much easier to denounce the people raising you as evil, and their opinions on you moot if they hit you. When it's like this, he will constantly wonder if he is even worth anything constantly.

Also, because McGonagall got him when he was supposed to get his letter, he never met Draco and McGonagall, despite being head of Gryffindor, never displayed an overt bias against Slytherin. Even saying that all of the houses have their merits. Without Ron and Hagrid warning him, Harry likely wouldn't have been against it as much, even with Malfoy going there.

It's mostly after this that I'm throwing Canon out of the window. Mostly because before this point, Harry had 0 influence on the events. After all, the only point of divergence here is Harry's behavior/mindset, (which is why he was at King's Cross early, and thus didn't meet the Weasleys) and the deeper lore of the world which I will be expanding later and has little to no bearing on the story at this point. But, now that he is in Slytherin, events in Hogwarts will be vastly different for Harry.

By the way, if you have left any reviews with either questions or real feedback beyond 'nice story bro', first off thank you, and I've replied to you all with a PM. The thing is, I've recently discovered that PMs don't sync with the FFNet App. So if you have left a review here like that, consider checking the website if you are curious for my response to any reviews you left.

As always, thanks for reading and have a good one!