The Sorting
“GRYFFINDOR!” Harry barely noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer in his relief. He only really noticed that even people outside Gryffindor were cheering, despite that not happening for anyone else, when Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand while the Weasley twins yelled, “We got Potter! We got Potter!”
Harry sat down opposite to the ghost in the ruff that he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted him on the arm, giving him the feeling for ice water being dumped on him. That feeling was only magnified by the looks he saw getting thrown around. One of the older years would look at him and would be all smiles and happy words, but then they would look at the oldest students (and for some reason, Percy Weasley) with expressions that just screamed “he doesn't belong here”.
Harry looked around the room to ignore the looks and realized he could see the High Table properly now. Hagrid was at the nearest end to him and gave him a thumbs up when he caught his eye and Harry did his best to grin back at him. In the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, was Albus Dumbledore. Harry spotted the nervous young man, Professor Quirrell, from the Leaky Cauldron wearing a large purple turban.
By the time he had zoned back into the Sorting “Thomas, Dean,” had joined the Gryffindor table, and “Turpin, Lisa,” became a Ravenclaw. Then Ron was called up, he was turning a slight shade of green and Harry crossed his fingers under the table. “GRYFFINDOR!”
Harry joined the rest of the table in clapping for Ron as he collapsed into the chair next to him.
“Well done, Ron, excellent,” said Percy in a pompous voice but there was something off about his tone. “Zabini, Blaise,” was made a Slytherin and Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. Harry looked down at his plate, the empty gold reminded him of his hunger.
Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet and was beaming at the students with his arms opened wide. “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!” He sat back down with a thank you and everyone clapped and cheered. Harry was torn between laughing or not.
“Is he — a bit mad?” He asked Percy “Mad?” said Percy. “He's a genius! Best wizard in the world. But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?” The older students chuckled a bit at Percy's answer.
Harry's jaw dropped when the plates in front of them filled with food. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork and lamb chops, sausages and bacon, steak, boiled and roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some reason, peppermint humbugs. Harry had never seen such a diverse spread of food, let alone been allowed to eat from one. Sure the Dursleys didn't starve him but they always made him get his food last and with his Uncle and cousin that is nearly the same thing. He made a point to get a little bit of everything except the humbug. ‘This is so good.’
The ghost in the ruff sighed, “That looks good.” Harry looked up from cutting his steak, “Can't you–?”
“I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years,” said the ghost. “I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. Have I introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower.”
Ron then said something about the ghost being known as Nearly Headless Nick and then Seamus Finnigan asked how someone could be nearly headless and Harry doesn't really remember how they said it because Sir Nicholas RIPPED HIS HEAD OFF. The ghost seemed pleased about the shocked reactions of Harry and his yearmates and put his head back on to tell them to help the house earn the House Championship this year.
Shortly after that deserts appeared and Harry helped himself to a treacle tart as the conversation turned to families. Seamus has a magical mom and a muggle dad and Neville has a magical family. (Neville's Great Uncle Angie reminded him of his cousin.) The older years had started making faces again, Ron seemed to notice as well. Percy Weasley and Hermione Granger were talking about lessons on his other side and after he answered one of her questions about Transfiguration he shot a look over her head at a group of older years that looked like they were celebrating something with an amused smile.
Harry was starting to get tired and as he was no longer in a conversation he took another look at the High Table. Hagrid was drinking, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore were talking, and Professor Quirrell was talking to a hook-nosed teacher. The greasy looking teacher's eyes quickly shifted to look past Quirrell's turban and straight into Harry's eyes – and a sharp, hot pain shot across Harry's scar.
“Ouch!” Harry clapped a hand to his head. “What is it?” asked Percy. “N-nothing,” Harry answered, not noticing the Twins taking mental notes.
The pain was gone quickly but the feeling that the unknown teacher didn't like Harry didn't fade. “Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?” he asked Percy. “You know Quirrell already huh? Oh no wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches potions but he doesn't want to — he's after Quirrell's job.”
Harry kept his eyes on Snape until the desert disappeared but Snape didn't look his way again. Professor Dumbledore stood once again and the hall fell silent. “Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have just a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well,” Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. “Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind you that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone who wishes to play for your House team should contact Madam Hooch.” There were some cheers at that, the most noticeable was that of one of the older Gryffindors. “And finally, 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.”
Harry had joined the awkward chuckle that followed before he saw Percy's worried expression. “Is he serious?” Harry muttered to him. “Must be,” said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore.
“And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!” cried Dumbledore as the rest of the teachers’ smiles grew strained. Dumbledore flicked his wand and out of it a long golden ribbon that twisted itself into words. “Everyone pick their favorite tune,” said Dumbledore, “and off we go!”
The following cacophony sounded more like a group of chimpanzees than a choir. The twins finished last with their very slow funeral March and suddenly they were being pushed to follow Percy up to the dorms. Harry was tired enough that he wasn't surprised that the portraits were talking and barely caught the two hidden passages Percy led them through. They climbed a few more stairways before the poltergeist woke him up fully for a little bit. Just long enough for Harry to pull on his pajamas and fall into bed.
…….
After the first years had crawled themselves into bed Percy went to join the rest of the Gryffindors in the seating area. The current topic of discussion was the third floor corridor. Based on what he heard from Oliver as he passed him it was mostly people trying to make other people laugh at the moment but the older phoenixes still seemed to actually figure it out. One of the 6th years said it was probably a creature for Care.
Percy made his way over to the “dragons’ seat”, letting himself be seated in between his brothers on the couch they had claimed when they reached for his arms. A list had been shoved into his hands, George's somewhat messy cursive a familiar sight with Fred's illegible cursive making small appearances. “Our observations-” “-our dear lead dragon,” the twins said as they laid down, taking advantage of the space they had gained on the couch when the last batch of dragons graduated at the end of last year. Percy huffed out a laugh and started to read the list.
- Potter can read facial expressions
- Ronny isn't a griffin
- Potter doesn't have a favorite food
- he likes treacle tarts a lot
- Longbottoms can't be trusted around our new firsty
- Granger is most likely a phoenix
- Potter's scar was hurting (Related to Snape somehow)
- We need to be more sneaky when going out to the forest
The exercise of awareness was something all current and previous dragons have enjoyed, studying the staff members and new Gryffindors and then using that information to help prepare the entirety of their house for the year. “Did you two not notice the third floor corridor thing?” Percy let his pompous mask fall now that he was within the safety of the common room. “Besides the obvious?” Fred asked, sitting up. Percy gave a hum of confirmation. George copied Fred's motion, “What did we miss?”
Percy didn't answer them, instead making eye contact with the oldest members of the other three groups. The four of them got up and moved towards the fireplace as everyone else rearranged themselves to be able to see them better. Fred and George both took that time to move to sit next to Lee in The Blanket Pile. (The loving title for the mess of blankets, pillows, and people that always seemed to form whenever they had a meeting in the common room.)
“Hey guys, great to see you all again,” the eldest niffler greeted with a bow. The oldest phoenix rolled his eyes at his boyfriend's dramatics but picked up where he left off, “Second years, welcome to your first pre-year meeting. We know it's late, no one will blame you if you fall asleep.” Cormac McLaggen scoffed at that. The griffin that was standing sent his fellow griffin a look before speaking, “We have at least one non-griffin this time around,” that caused some soft laughter and the phoenixes started giving each other fist bumps, “but remember to put in your bets for all the first years by the end of the week.” Oliver raised his hand but didn't wait for someone to address it before asking, “Can we just get to the interesting part now?” This was grouped with a variety of eye rolls and laughs as Percy took “center stage”.
“Okay first off, if you go into the forest be careful not to be seen. I know quite a few of us like to go in there and forage for ingredients, just be more sneaky.” There were noises of agreement and looks of blame thrown around before Percy moved on, “Longbottom said some concerning stuff about his family. I think we should figure out to what extent they are willing to put their heir in danger and do our best to help Neville with it.” The people who had heard Neville were nodding in agreement and people who hadn’t were leaning over to their friends and asking about what he said. “Now let's start on Potter,” that got absolutely everyone's attention, “starting simply, he seems well versed in reading people so if you can be careful about making any weird looks, at least until he knows us better. During dinner his scar started to hurt.” There were sounds of alarm and someone in the back was choking on their spit so Percy waited for everyone to call down, “I don't know why, he didn't say anything, just try not to gawk at the thing.”
Percy stopped for a bit to catch his breath and Katie Bell, a 2nd year niffler, asked, “What about the closed corridor?” Percy smiled at her, “I think it's best if we wait. Professor Dumbledore very briefly looked at Harry when he mentioned it so it is either something he's worried about Harry finding or it is something he wants Harry to find.” Percy stepped out of the way of the other “group leaders” as they tried to get everyone else to listen to the other things they had to say. It didn't work. Percy saw the twins look at each other, that look never ends well.