Distraction, of a sort.
Minty the house elf was near the end of the train, having had to inspect each booth for lost luggage or pets, when he discovered the compartment. The room was blackened and charred, the remains of the curtains still smoking, and there was still a small fire in the corner where the overhead shelf had once been. Minty grumbled, normally they got at least two weeks before the first serious bit of damage. It took no time at all for him to repair the damage of course, it was fixing itself around him as he grumbled, but he did feel like he really shouldn't have had to be repairing already. It just didn't seem fair. As the last curtain tie neatly knotted itself back up with a flourish, Minty looked around the room angrily chewing the word "Weasleys!" And disappeared with a pop.
The headmaster was beginning the long stroll from his office to the great hall when he was startled by the sudden arrival of the irate elf. "Weasleys!" The elf again chuntered.
"Ah, Minty, which Weasleys have earned your ire today? And what could they have done so early in the year?"
"Weasleys blew up a compartment! Weasleys exploded on the train!" Minty raved.
"And how do you know it was them?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"Who else? Who else but Weasleys!" Minty responded.
"Well now, it's the beginning of a new year, maybe we have a new pupil who can engage in mischief."
There was a sudden silence at the prospect of a new prankster. Minty had a quiet wide eyed terror that harmonised perfectly with Dumbledore's forlorn frown.
"Let's hope it's the Weasleys..." Dumbledore murmured. As keen on forgiveness as he was, he was really hoping it would be them McGonagall would be shouting at in a few hours, the alternative was too horrible to contemplate.
Sat at the teacher's table, Dumbledore recounted the event to McGonagall who agreed with his sentiments. As the doors opened to the returning older years however, their faces fell. Fred and George seemed altogether far too clean and uncharred to have been responsible, and Percy seemed far too calm for them to hit someone else with the prank. He wasn't calm by any stretch, Dumbledore could tell being a prefect was already giving the boy both pride and a headache, but he was too calm for the twins to have done anything yet.
This concerned the old headmaster, as it suggested that maybe it wasn't a prank, maybe an attack of some kind? He hoped the first years were ok, but Minerva was about to check on them any moment so if that was the issue he would find out immediately. For now his priority would be Harry, it had been too many years since he'd seen the boy and Albus was looking forward to seeing how the boy had grown up away from all the craziness that his mere existence would have brought.
As the first years were brought in, he received a light tap on the shoulder from Madam Pomfrey, and a slip of paper was pushed into his hands, on it read "Send someone at once, scared burnt child in my pub, trying to keep him calm. Be quick. - Aberforth."
Dumbledore read the note, growled imperceptibly, and nodded to Pomfrey. She would head down immediately. The note told him all he needed to know. As soon as the sorting was finished he would go down himself, check on the poor boy and make sure he was ok, and then raise all hell on the Slytherins who did this. He stopped himself a moment, chided himself, and corrected that to the student. He didn't know who did it, and always assuming it was a Slytherin was never going to help.
The first years filed in and stood, with either awe mixed with fear or a feigned disinterest from the snobbier children, as each name was read out he jotted down their name, a distinguishing feature, and their house. He never needed it past the first week or so but it helped make them feel welcome for him to know their name.
After "Draco M, blonde snob, Slytherin (obviously)" was noted, he looked around for Harry. He wasn't there.
A cold clammy vice gripped the Headmaster's heart, of course it would be Harry that was attacked. The poor boy has only just stepped fully into the magical world, excited to start learning and meeting new friends; only to be attacked by other students and by the sounds of it nearly killed! Whoever did this would be expelled tonight.
A note popped onto the plate in front of him:
Headmaster -Stop-
"Victim Harry Potter -Stop-
He is terrified but says he was not attacked -Stop-
Not making much sense -Stop-
Arrive ASAP -Stop-
Pomfrey -Stop- -End-"
Poppy Pomfrey was the only person Dumbledore knew who still used the Telegrammia spell for sending messages. It was slow to write messages, it only worked if you knew exactly where the recipient was going to be, and it made you look incredibly outdated, but Poppy liked to keep a record of every note she sent and there was no other way to do that so she kept using it.
As the feast drew to a close, Dumbledore stood up, looked over at the assembled faces and began to speak: "before I send you all off to your beds, I wish to just say a few words!" He looked down at his pre prepared note cards, and as he did a new one popped on top:
"Headmaster -Stop-
Be faster -Stop-
You have explaining to do -Stop-
Pomfrey -Stop- -End-"
"Oh dear." He murmured to himself "A few Words!" The headmaster proclaimed to the hall "now off you go!"
After the children fed out into the stairs and off to their beds, Dumbledore collected Professor McGonagall and began the walk out to the grounds.
They walked in silence for a time before McGonagall spoke, "This is about mister Potter isn't it?" She asked, slightly irritated at being kept in the dark.
"Unfortunately Minerva my dear, I feel many things in the coming years will involve the young mister Potter, this is just the first" Dumbledore replied as they exited the gates of the castle. "To Aberforth's" he told her, and then popped away. A second later, she followed.