Chapter 3 - Entrance

Almost at once the door opened. Waiting inside was a thin woman dressed all in green. The large man gestured at all the students and proclaimed, "The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall."

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Harry tried to pay attention to any names he heard. The woman in green was one of the professors named McGonagall, and the large man was called Hagrid. The students all followed Professor McGonagall into the castle and they quickly came into a large hall with several doors leading out of it, including a large doorway on the right. Harry could hear the din of a crowd through that door; he guessed the rest of the student body must be that way.

Professor McGonagall began speaking, and Harry tried to pay attention, but found it difficult. It was a bit hard to hear from the back where he was lingering, and the first thing that McGonagall said was announcing there was a banquet, which thoroughly distracted Harry as his lunch on the train had been the only food he had eaten in nearly three days. Harry refocused his attention in time to catch Professor McGonagall announcing something about sorting the students into houses, though he did not catch the names. As Professor McGonagall walked away, Harry silently berated himself for not paying close enough attention and missing things.

The students began murmuring and quietly talking among themselves. Harry spotted the brown-haired girl from earlier, who appeared nervous and was rapidly mumbling to herself. Many of the students, including one of the red-haired boys he had seen earlier, were simply shuffling their feet awkwardly as they waited. Professor McGonagall returned only a few moments later. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start. Now, form a line and follow me."

Harry let the students all line up, took his place in the very back, and then followed them through the large doors he had noticed earlier. When he passed through the doors, Harry almost forgot to keep walking; the ceiling was a starfield, and thousands of candles were just flying in the air above providing illumination. The hall was full of students, far more than he had thought, all seated on four great tables that ran the length of the hall. Professor McGonagall directed the students to line up near the front, where there was an additional table full of adults. Harry filed in with the other first year students and stood off to the right when directed. He kept his head down as much as possible, which as he looked around was what most of the other new students were doing. Professor McGonagall then retrieved a stool, and some kind of pointy hat and placed them in front of the line of students.

Once again Harry was in for a surprise, as the Hat began to move, and then sing. Harry paid attention as best he could, and this time he came away with the names of the four houses that he had missed earlier. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Harry listened to the hat describe them, and quickly decided that Hufflepuff sounded the most like him. He certainly wasn't afraid of hard work, but he didn't consider himself brave, studious, or cunning. Harry was still thinking about the different houses when he heard Professor McGonagall call out, "Abbott, Hannah!"

Harry watched, a horrible feeling forming in his stomach, as a small girl seemed to bounce out of the line of students and plop herself onto the stool. She put on the hat, which almost completely covered her face, and then the hat shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!" The table farthest from Harry erupted in cheers, and Hannah jumped off the stool and ran over to the cheering table to take her spot.

This process repeated itself with the next student, but Harry had almost stopped paying attention. Individual attention was rarely a good thing for Harry. Harry watched distractedly as several students were sorted into each of the houses, and then suddenly he heard "Potter, Harry!"

Immediately, Harry noticed a shift in the conversations in the hall. Almost everyone seemed to have interrupted whatever they were talking about and began whispering among themselves. Harry stood rooted to the spot.

Professor McGonagall once again called out "Potter, Harry!" and Harry knew it was now or never. He stepped forward and began slowly walking towards the stool, fully aware that seemingly every eye in the hall was focused on him. Had it been this way for everyone else? He didn't think so. He didn't remember all the chatter in the hall coming to a halt with each other name called, but maybe he was just imagining it? He was halfway to the stool when, suddenly, someone behind him called out. "Hey, that's my robe!"

Harry froze, and he didn't dare look behind him. He looked forward at Professor McGonagall, who had a slightly puzzled expression on her face, when the boy behind him spoke up again. "That's my robe! It's got my initials on the back; you can see it from here!" Harry chanced a look up at Professor McGonagall again, who had taken a step closer to Harry. She looked at the student behind Harry and said, "You are?" she asked, and the boy replied "Dean Thomas." Professor McGonagall looked directly at Harry and said incredulously, "Mr. Potter, is this true? Did you steal that robe?"

Harry hesitated only a moment. He knew what happened when he got caught stealing. He took a deep breath, and then suddenly bolted towards the doors. The mass of students in the hall erupted, angling to get a view and chattering loudly as Harry ran down the hall. Harry approached the massive doors; his thoughts had not quite made it around to how he was planning on opening them. Harry prepared himself to slam into the doors and try to wrench them open when, for the second time that day, the anticipated impact never came. For everyone in the hall watching, Harry Potter vanished into thin air the moment he reached the entrance doors, leaving the stolen robes behind to crumple onto the floor.

The chatter in the Great Hall erupted into complete pandemonium as the entire student body watched Harry Potter disappear. After only a moment, a loud horn sounded from the front of the hall, and a commanding voice loudly proclaimed, "Quiet please!" The student body turned to see Professor Dumbledore standing up from his seat at the table, wand in hand. Dumbledore aimed his wand upwards and waved it sharply downwards. The sudden silence was loudly punctured by every window in the Great Hall slamming shut simultaneously. Professor Dumbledore turned to Professor McGonagall, "Minerva, I have sealed the castle; Mr. Potter is still on the grounds and I will retrieve him. Please continue the sorting and begin the feast, as I do not know how long it will take to retrieve Mr. Potter."

Without waiting for a response, Professor Dumbledore walked around the head table and strode down the length of the hall. As he approached the entrance doors, he gave his wand another quick wave and the doors flew apart just wide enough to allow him to pass through, and then closed just a quickly behind him. In the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall stepped forward again and loudly called out "Rivers, Oliver!"

Harry found himself completely disoriented. His robes were gone, leaving only his poorly fitting normal clothing. He was back in the entrance hall, with no clue how he got there. There was not time for that mystery right now though, he had to get out; they would be chasing after him, he was sure of it. He tried to open the door he entered through, trying to get back to the boats, but it would not budge. With nothing else to do, Harry picked a random direction and took off running down a hallway. While he ran, he suddenly heard a loud metallic clank ring throughout the entire castle; he filed that under things to worry about later. Harry ran for a minute until he was able to turn a corner and get out of view, and then began to check doors as he went. All of them seemed to be locked, so Harry kept going. In the distance behind him, Harry thought he heard a door slam shut, and he pushed himself to go even faster.

Eventually, Harry came to a staircase. He did not really want to go up, but he could not see any other choice. Maybe he could find a balcony, or an open window, anything he could climb out of. His mind made up, Harry pelted up the stairs and continued checking doors and windows, trying desperately to find any way out. He did not know how long he ran, nor how many doors he checked or flights of stairs he climbed, but eventually Harry was utterly exhausted and came to a complete dead end.

Near the end of the hallway, Harry spied a statue, some kind of large fat man with an axe. Harry threw himself onto the far side of it, which hid him from the hallway he had come down. He tucked up behind the statue, pulled his knees up to his chest, and breathed as deeply and as fast as he could. Harry belatedly noticed that he was crying, uncontrollably so, but he did his best to try to keep quiet. All around him the castle was silent, and the only noise that could be heard was his own stifled cries and his labored breathing.

Albus Dumbledore was perturbed, but his years of experience had long since taught him to expect the unexpected when serving as headmaster for a school full of wizard children. He strode confidently after Harry, wand out to guide him. The school wards informed him that Harry was still in the castle, and they were helping lead him to the boy. Once he apprehended young Mr. Potter, he would have time to address the business of the stolen robes, and more importantly how Mr. Potter had seemingly managed to apparate through the door in the Great Hall. Dumbledore climbed several sets of stairs and eventually found himself on the sixth floor, heading towards a dead-end corridor.

Dumbledore slowed his approach and called out, "Come out please, Mr. Potter. I know you are there."

Harry held his breath. How had he been found? Maybe he hadn't, he thought. Maybe they were checking each hallway and calling out, trying to trick him into revealing himself. Harry kept completely still and silent, waiting and hoping the man would leave. He gripped himself around his knees, pulling his legs tightly into himself, and squeezed his eyes closed, begging to be left alone in his mind.

After a few moments, Dumbledore called out again. Harry, it seemed, was not going to reveal himself voluntarily. He sighed and waved his wand towards the end of the hallway. The statue of Gorric the Vast vanished, revealing Harry Potter huddled behind it.

The sudden loss of Harry's hiding spot frightened him yet again. He could not contain his yelp of surprise this time, and as he cried out in fright a loud crack rang through the hallway.

For the second time tonight, Dumbledore found himself shocked. With the loud crack came the sudden appearance of a red-haired girl. She was wearing a dressing gown of some sort, and it looked like she had just stepped out of a bath. She appeared facing Harry, and after only an instant she cried out "Harry!" and dove onto him, enveloping the boy in a hug. Dumbledore simply stared at the two children, seemingly frozen in place. He thought he might recognize the girl as being a Weasley, and he recalled they did indeed have a daughter. But that did not explain her presence, nor how she might know Harry.

For Ginny, appearing at Hogwarts was even more of a surprise to her. She had just finished drying her hair when she suddenly felt her entire body squeeze as if she was trying to shimmy through too tight a space. As suddenly as that feeling appeared, it vanished and she found herself looking at Harry, the boy she had met earlier. He was on the floor, sobbing, and appeared to be a complete mess. She lunged for him, engulfing him in a hug, both to comfort him and to steady herself.

Ginny tried to ask Harry what was wrong, but he was crying uncontrollably and did not seem able to answer her, doubly so now that his face was buried in her gown. Ginny tried to pull back and have a better look at him, but his arms were now locked around her and he was holding on quite tightly. Instead, Ginny looked around to try and figure out where she was. She guessed Hogwarts, since that is where Harry was headed, and the next thing she saw was an old man a short way down the hall with his wand pointed at her. She had seen him before in her brother's chocolate frog cards and called out "Professor Dumbledore?" while watching the wand warily.

Albus heard the worry in the girl's voice, and he realized how threatening he might look, pointing his wand at the two children trapped at the end of a hallway. Immediately, he decided that de-escalation needed to happen; too many unexplained events were happening. Dumbledore made a show of pocketing his wand. "Excuse me Miss, but might I have your name?"

Harry was still holding onto Ginny like a life preserver, but she was able to turn and answer the headmaster, feeling a sense of relief that he has put his wand away. "I'm Ginny Weasley sir. You might have met my brothers?"

Albus adopted his gentlest voice, "Yes, I thought you looked familiar. Miss Weasley, Harry here is having a bit of a frightful evening, as I am sure you have gathered. He is not in any trouble, but I do need to ask him some questions. Would you be so kind as to escort him to my office?"

Ginny turned to Harry, who is already trying to shake his head against her chest. "Harry" she said, and his motion stills. "Harry, I think we should go with him. I'll come with you." Ginny twisted around despite Harry's grip, and managed to pry one of his hands off of her. She gripped his hand hard with both of hers, and slowly stood up out of Harry's embrace. Once she managed to properly stand up she pulled Harry to his feet and stood somewhat between Harry and Professor Dumbledore.

Albus watched the two children as they came to stand. Miss Weasley looked his way. "Splendid. If you will follow me, please!" He set off at a leisurely pace, back towards the stairs, headed towards his office. While he walked, Albus pondered the situation. Somehow, Mr. Potter had summoned Miss Weasley to him, wards notwithstanding. He noted that Harry immediately calmed in her presence, and he was certain that the only reason Mr. Potter was willingly accompanying him was due to Miss Weasley's intervention. These thoughts, along with Mr. Potter's general appearance and demeanor, kept Albus deep in thought for the entire walk to his office. When he approached, he saw the gargoyle had already stepped to the side; Minerva must already be waiting.