Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling. This version of Aleister Crowley, along with 1,083,092,867 others, was created by Kamachi Kazuma.

Previous chapter posted on 17th March 2025.

Chapter 03: The Small Yet Great

Part 3

"Abbott, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The Sorting had begun, and Elly looked through her ward's eyes as the boy with salt-and-pepper hair from earlier joined the house in blue, and the redheaded girl joined those wearing yellow trim.

Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Once again, dire imprecations ran through the magician's mind, though she kept herself silent.

Harry been in a state of near shock at Sally's sudden reappearance, and in greater turmoil at how Sally seemed to have no memories of him at all. Instead of an interrogation on the spot, though, he had reminded Harry to act normally, lest the very girl he was trying to save grew suspicious of him, and a very shaken Harry had somehow managed to pilot himself to behave in a manner passing for normal until this point.

And as much as she wanted to ruminate more about how the Library of Prohibited Books also existed in this world, now in a form closer to what she remembered, there was a more pressing problem to address.

"Moon, Lilith!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Harry, are you there?" Elly asked again.

"Yeah." Harry mentally replied.

"When you put on the Hat, you need to be prepared for it to look into your mind." Tom Riddle had remembered his Sorting, and so Elly knew what to expect. "I don't think there's any way around it. We just need to deal with what happens when it happens."

Aleister Crowley had been a maker of plans. Not once, but several, intertwined, simultaneous, with layer upon layer of contingencies for failure, for expected deviations, for unexpected deviations, for the unknown…

In this new world, in her position, Elly could only deal with things as they came.

There was nothing else. There was only so much she could do.

"Perks, Sally-Anne!"

Harry's head jerked upwards at the sound of his friend's name. It's not Sally-Anne, he thought. They had both snuck into St. Ursula's records office more than once, snooping on row after row of brown folders locked away in metal drawers. Without a doubt, Sally's name…was just Sally Perks.

"Remember, it's Sally. Not Salty, not Perks, and especially not Perky. I'll rip your eyes out if you forget." The memory surfaced in Harry's mind, and Elly found that Harry's hands had slowly balled into fists.

Just one more mystery to solve, Elly thought to herself.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Harry and Elly watched Sally, with her lightening hair, join the Hufflepuff table, before turning his gaze back to the front of the Great Hall.

There was the slightest of pauses as he locked eyes with Professor McGonagall.

"Potter, Harry!"

He stepped forward. Tiny whispers broke out like little fires, and he ignored them.

The Hat went over his head, and then he could only see its dark interior.

"I see." A small voice spoke into his ear. It was slightly different, Harry thought, from how he talked to Elly. "Without a doubt…yes. First, I must reassure you. I cannot speak to anyone else of what I see of your mind during a Sorting. Such are the enchantments placed upon me by my creator."

But Dumbledore–

"Knowing this, the Headmaster has asked before about the contents of Tom Riddle's mind. In accordance to my functions, I said naught."

But then Elly–

"Oh, yes. Though I cannot speak to her, nor know what she thinks, I definitely knows that she exists. You remember her, after all." There was a pause, as if the self-styled Thinking Cap was actually in thought. "Enough about that. She's not the Hogwarts student here; you are."

"And thank goodness for that." Elly remarked. Harry saw her in his mind's eye, with her own black pointy hat on as if in solidarity. He smiled.

"Indeed," the Hat said, "you are a difficult case. You don't lack courage, for sure. Neither do you shy away from hard work, and there's a healthy love of knowledge as well. Not to mention…an entire Church? If that is not called ambition, I don't know what else is."

Harry felt his face go red from the casual revelation of his secret goal.

But I don't really want to go to Slytherin.

He had seen the memories of the last War. He had seen who had supported the murderer of his parents, and knew which House the Death Eaters and Riddle had so heavily recruited from.

And even during Riddle's own time as a student, there had been…

"Not Slytherin, huh? It could help you on the way to greatness, without a doubt. But that's fine as well. To live is only an instinct, but to move forward like you do takes courage. And for that, you can take your place in GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry heard the last word shouted to the entire Hall, and took off the hat. His legs were trembling, and he couldn't seem to get them to stop.

He took his place at the table, deaf to the cheers in his name, and cast a quick look over at the Hufflepuffs–at Sally.

Across the Hall, the girl turned.

Their eyes met once more, and something passed between them.

Then Sally was looking back at the Sorting, and Harry looked away as well.

A wave of regret hit him. Could he possibly have convinced the Hat to put him in Hufflepuff, for him to get close to Sally again?

"There's no point in that line of thought now, Harry." Elly admonished him, sounding stern for the first time in a while. "You would do better to focus on the future."

Harry exhaled. He knew Elly was right.

Turning his gaze back to the front, he spied Dumbledore's distinctive appearance on the high table, looking very much like his Chocolate Frog card. There were also other adults, whom he assumed to be teachers. None of them looked particularly familiar, except for a man with greasy hair, and, if he looked carefully, a hooked nose. He seemed to be glaring at Harry, and Harry found himself quickly turning away.

"That man is another concern," Elly said quietly. "But you can leave him be for now."

Harry decided to listen. Instead, he looked to his right and found Neville beside him, still slightly frozen from shock. He gave the round-faced boy a small nudge and a smile, and received a smile in return.

At long last, the Sorting ended, and the feast began. Food had appeared on the dishes in front of him, and Harry didn't hesitate to eat. St. Ursula's hadn't starved the children under their care, but with so many, the food given to each child was never quite fully filling.

Harry listened to his Housemates as he ate. A sandy-haired boy, Seamus Finnigan, was talking to a red-haired boy, Ron Weasley, and a few others about Quidditch. The 5th-year Prefect, Percy Weasley (and Harry was beginning to realise what a big family they were) chatting away with an older girl with silver hair in a short-ish cut. Something about Charms.

Hermione was there as well, rattling off facts about the Great Hall to a dazed-looking first-year girl. He'd seriously thought that the Hat would have put her in Ravenclaw instead, but it seemed like they'd all ended up in the same place.

Somehow, nobody was trying to talk to him, despite the rowdy reception he got. He turned to Neville. "Hey, Neville."

"Y-Yes?"

"Thought I'd get to know you better." Well, this sure was awkward. "You–" He remembered Draco Malfoy, and thought it was a fair topic to start the conversation, if he wasn't rude about it. "What's your family like?" He gave a wry grin to soften the question. "Raised in an orphanage, you see. Don't know anything about how families work, let alone wizarding ones."

"Raised by my gran. She's a witch." Neville took a bite of potato. "But my family thought I was a Muggle for ages. Great-uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me–"

Harry narrowed his eyes.

"–he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, and I nearly drowned, but–"

"I don't think your family should be trying to drown you." Harry cut in. "That's ridiculous. Not even to force magic out of you." He and Elly reached the same conclusion that Muggles seemed to be looked down upon as some sort of lower beings.

Neville's face fell. "I don't suppose you'll like that he was also dangling me outside an upstairs window by my ankles."

"Of course not." Harry shook his head. "Are they still doing this sort of stuff to you? Are you hurt?"

"It's fine, Harry." Neville shook his head. His expression was now slightly unreadable. "But thanks."

"I just want to say that my uncle and aunt tried to beat the living daylights out of me, and I ran away." He bit into a chunk of steak, and in the period of chewing suddenly realised that everyone around him at the table seemed to be listening in.

"Not that that's going to stop you." Elly grinned.

"You're right." Harry mentally shot back. "They're not the ones I'm afraid of any more." Opening his mouth, he continued. "That's why I ended up in an orphanage. If someone tries to harm you like this again, you shouldn't just accept it."

A moment of silence passed as everyone digested the statement. "I can see why you ended up in Gryffindor," the older silver-haired girl spoke up.

Harry didn't know how to respond to that, so he continued speaking to Neville. "If you want to practice magic to fight back, I don't mind doing it together."

"I don't feel comfortable endorsing violence as a first resort, though," Hermione spoke up. "And isn't it a crime to use magic on Muggles, unless the situation calls for it?"

Harry looked down at his plate.

"Be that as it may," that was Percy Weasley, "sometimes, you do get into these situations, and you should be fine with defending yourself."

There was a retort of 'no, but' and other murmurs of 'Harry Potter wants to learn how to duel?' spreading up and down the table, and Harry sighed.

"Sorry, Harry."

"You have nothing to apologise for." Harry shook his head. "I should be the one apologising, you know." He gestured at the prying eyes, and some people hurriedly looked away. "But I'm sort of serious." Because I'm going to need to fight more magicians, he finished in his head, thinking of Sally's captors, and how strong they had been. Not to mention the whole Tom Riddle being alive thing.

"I-I might take you up on your offer." Neville quietly said. He cast around a nervous glance, and his voice dropped an octave lower. "I…"

"?"

"Never mind." Neville shook his head.

Before long, the main courses faded, giving way to a variety of desserts. Just like before, Harry tried a bit of everything.

"I sure hope they don't feed you like this every day," Elly joked. "You're going to get fat."

"You still can't stop me from eating my sweets, Elly." Harry took a spoonful of ice cream in chocolate mint, savouring it in his mouth. "Do you ever miss eating, Elly?"

"Not really." Even before she had died, she had spent much of her life upside down floating in suspended animation. Aleister Crowley, as the Board Chairman of Academy City, had never been one for physical pleasures. And Aleister Crowley, the magician of the Golden Dawn, had been quite the depraved hedonist, she thought to herself with a wry grin. But that's probably not for the ears of children.

"Oh…"

"But I do get to taste whatever you taste. If you enjoy it, it becomes a good memory, and that's more than enough for me."

At least, even dessert vanished, and Headmaster Dumbledore took to the podium once more. The Hall fell silent.

"A few start of term notices now that we are now fed and watered. First years, and a few of our older students as well, should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all students. That is why it is called the Forbidden Forest. If it were permitted it would be called the Permitted Forest."

Harry noted the sound of Hermione choking at the statement.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors." Dumbledore clasped his hands together. "Additionally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Are all wizards this eccentric? Harry glanced at the rest of the table, especially the older students. They seemed to be taking it in stride.

"Lastly, I regret to inform you that that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not be happening this year." Several groans could be heard, but the old wizard continued on serenely. "This is due to an event that will be starting in October and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy." There was a pause as Dumbledore's glance swept across the students. "Yet, I have faith that all of you will not be lacking in enjoyment. Indeed, I have great pleasure in announcing that this year, Hogwarts will be the host of the Triwizard Tournament."

Excited whispers and murmurs broke out through the hall.

"Yes, indeed. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities, until the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued for safety."

"Sounds like something we don't want to get caught up in." Elly muttered. Even so, she had the sneaking suspicion that misfortune was going to befall them. And Harry doesn't even have the Imagine Breaker in his hand.

"With that exposition out of the way, I must confess to an inaccuracy in my previous statement. The Triwizard Tournament is, in fact, not happening at all."

There were sounds of confusion.

"For the first time in history, a fourth school will be joining the tournament. Hogwarts will hence be hosting the Tetrawizard Tournament, with the heads of the three other schools appearing in October with their shortlisted candidates, with the selection of champions to happen on Halloween. There have also been various other changes to the tasks and the rules, allowing students that aren't champions to participate in a lesser capacity. We hope that this will give us a chance to foster better relations, especially with the addition of a school outside Europe, which will hopefully widen our horizons…"

Halloween again, thought Elly. There better not be any coups in the royal family happening.

The rest of the speech went on to detail how only those of majority age, which both Harry and Elly noted to be seventeen instead of eighteen or twenty-one, could freely enter their names to be selected as champion. Any younger student would instead need approval from both their guardians as well as the professors of Hogwarts.

For Harry and Elly, there were no thoughts of entering, but only of the magic they could witness, and what else they could learn, especially from three other foreign schools.

And then it was off to bed, for Harry's first night at Hogwarts.

I'm sorry nothing much happened this chapter.

The idea of the Triwizard Tournament happening in Harry's first year is borrowed from the excellent oneshot And the Unethical Binding Contract by SimplyMe51. The Permitted Forest joke is stolen from Methods of Rationality. Much of Dumbledore's speech is taken verbatim from the original Goblet of Fire.

I thought hard about which House Harry was going to go to, and eventually decided on something close to canon. I didn't really want to make too many more changes, considering the chaos that's going to happen soon…

Place your bets on who (else) is going to appear and where, or forever hold your silence.

Review please!