The one where they become Red and Gold.
After the train left the station I started searching for the rest for Harry and Hermione when I found Harry coming out of a compartment in the train, the moment he saw me he rushed towards me and asked “Everything okay?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t it be?” I asked with confusion.
“I saw you with aunt Chloe on the platform, you were crying.” he said as if that explains everything
“So?” I asked while moving towards the compartment
“Well, I've never seen you cry, it was a bit unsettling.” Harry said in a small voice which caused me to stop and turn around.
“Don’t worry you won’t see it again.” I said after a few seconds and turned around again.
“I’m not saying that to make you feel bad or anything, it was just unexpected.” Harry said hurriedly explaining, which I already guessed so I just brushed him off. “I know, look, it doesn't matter.” I continued moving and searching for Hermione and Ron but couldn’t find them. “Where is everyone?” I turned and asked Harry, and finally he led me to the compartment where Ron and Hermione were sitting. And finally we settled in and just talked amongst us.
Topics ranged from differences between wizarding families and muggle families to wizarding and muggle food. A few people poked their heads in our compartment too, like Neville who was looking for his toad, and twins who were there to show Lee Jordan's tarantula. I was almost asleep when the sweet lady came in. “Anything from the trolley dears?” After a quick purchase of Bertie Bott's every flavour candy and some pastries we again began the pointless discussion About everything and nothing.
After a few minutes I got super bored and decided to go to sleep. “Alright this is getting a little too boring, I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when we get there.” I said to harry and pulled out my wand
“Are you going to change now?” Harry asked while Ron was giving my wand a curious look.
“I’ll just transfigure my clothes.” I waved him off and turned my wand towards me “stupefy” with that I was out cold.
It only felt like minutes when Harry woke me up again. “Are we here already?” I asked as I looked at the window, it was very dark outside now.
“Yup, the train just stopped, come on.” Harry left after Hermione and Ron. Transfiguring my coat into the school robe I went outside too. The moment I stepped out I was immediately hit with a chilly breeze of Scotland, looking around I saw children mingling together, so I started walking towards Harry and Hermione. A few seconds later Hagrid called all the first years, and after gathering around him we started walking behind him and reached bank of the lake.
“Let’s get in that one” I said pointing to a boat and went to sit in it, a few moments later when we all settled in we started floating towards the castle. After a few seconds we finally saw the castle in all its glory, glowing in distance yet still towering over all of us, while all of us were just mesmerised by the sight I felt a sort of awareness snapped to me, a welcoming feeling came from the direction of the castle. The moment we entered the wards of the castle recognised me as lord Slytherin. Now I was aware of the entire layout of the castle, I could feel all the students to some extent, I couldn't exactly pinpoint who it was but I could see where someone was. But one of the most disturbing things was how much Voldemort was just glowing like a beacon. There’s no way Albus can ignore this!
Finally we reached our destination where Hagrid handed Neville's toad back to him, and then we entered the castle and followed Hagrid, I could hear every single student in our group whispering excitedly and marvelling at the castle, the moving paintings pointing and talking to us, the slow soothing classical musing that was playing in the distance.
Suddenly the ghost of Sir Gregor McQueen and Sir Gareth Seaford jumped out of a wall with swords in their hands and started fencing in front of us, which caused every student to come to a sudden stop, while Hagrid kept on moving, but he stopped after a few steps when he realised that children were too interested in watching the spectacle in front of them. After a few seconds and a few exchanged words Sir McQueen suddenly thrust his blade and stabbed Sir Seaford in the stomach which caused a lot of alarmed cries from students, but then suddenly both instantly straightened up and jumped into a wall while continuing their spar.
Whispering excitedly about the show that was put on by the ghosts, all the students excitedly followed after Hagrid and reached a big giant door which swung open revealing McGonagall “The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall,” said Hagrid pointing to us all.
“Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.” Here standing in front of us all, McGonagall looked more like a deputy headmistress than a saleswomen we saw at Hermione's house.
“Welcome to Hogwarts,” said Professor McGonagall. “The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.” great more people to socialise with.
“The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours”
“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.” Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville, Ron and me, as I was wearing a ‘guns and roses’ t-shirt, jeans and converse under my robes. But instead of saying anything she simply turned away and left us standing there, after a few minutes ghosts phased through walls and began chatting to all of us cheerfully.
“Move along now,” said a sharp voice. “The Sorting Ceremony’s about to start.” Professor McGonagall had returned.
One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall. “Now, form a line,” Professor McGonagall told the first years, “and follow me.” with that everyone followed the witch. Reaching the door of the hall she simply waved her hand and giant doors of the hall opened and we walked between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.
I could hear children excitedly pointing at the enchanted ceiling of the hall, “It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History.” hermione whispered to us, and it looked absolutely fantastic, it almost looked as if the there was no ceiling, instead the four walls were simply vanishing into a starry sky. Finally we came to stand in front of the sorting hat which was sitting on top of a stool. The hat looked extremely worn out I was about to whisper a joke about it when it suddenly sprung to life and started singing
“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,
But don’t judge on what you see,
I’ll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There’s nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can’t see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, If you’ve a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means To achieve their ends.
So put me on! 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 whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. “So we’ve just got to try on the hat!” Ron whispered to us. “I’ll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll.”
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!”
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment’s pause — “HUFFLEPUFF!” shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. We saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
“Bones, Susan!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!” shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
“Boot, Terry!”
“RAVENCLAW!” The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
“Fall, Cassius!” hearing my name I moved forward towards the stool, giving McGonagall a nod I sat down on the stool and she placed the hat on my hat.
“Well-well, what do we have here?” I heard a small voice, but there was only one thing I could say at that point.
“Good lord! you smell like musty old blankets! And not the good ones, the stuffed in the closet kind” I exclaimed out loud, which caused a smattering of laughs in the hall, in response the hat also said “I’m a thousands of year old enchanted hat, what were your expectations huh?” which was a fair point to be honest, “It’s not like you’re seeing me for the first time.” this time the hat spoke in my ear. ‘Looks like the hat can see all of our memories.
“Yes, I see it all, I see you both too. Oh you’re familiar with this world, through books and moving pictures you’re more familiar with this world than some of the teachers. But now you’re not sitting in front of some moving pictures or reading some fantasy book. Now you’re in the middle of the action child. How are you going to handle this huh?” the hat asked us lightly, chuckling.
“I have no idea, but don’t worry, I'll figure it out as I go along.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing lad, because you’re in the position to change this entire world in your image.” hat said again this time a little seriously. But what is the meaning of those words?
“Are you talking about the fact that this is just my imagination or the fact that I have future knowledge?” I asked a little apprehensively
“Now that would be telling.” again the hat just laughed
“Come on! Don’t be like that!”
It would be extremely helpful if you could just give us a hint!
“I don’t have all the answers, child, I’m just an enchanted hat, who’s job is to sort people in a house, nothing else.” it said a little somberly, which reminded me of something I wanted to ask.
“By the way you’re a hat who puts all the innately evil kids together in one group, how is that good for anyone?” It looked like I asked this question out loud again, because there were a lot of people laughing out there but students on the Slytherin table definitely knew who I was talking about.
“You talk too much,” hat said in a deadpan tone
“So that means….”
“GRYFFINDOR!” hat shouted and moved towards the table and sat in front of the Weasley twins.
After a few more students McGonagall finally called Hermione “Granger, Hermione!” Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
“GRYFFINDOR!” shouted the hat. And she came and sat beside me, her face was split into a big grin. And we pleasantly watched and waited for everyone else.
Finally after many students Harry's turn came “Potter, Harry!” As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
“Potter, did she say?”
“The Harry Potter?”
“What’s with the red hair?”
“GRYFFINDOR!” that shouted again and a smiling Harry came and sat with us too. After a sorting was finished Dumbledore said a few warnings about forest and Filch’s request, and after saying a few random words he sat down and food appeared.
With a gusto children happily dug in their food and I piled on a few pieces of roasted chicken, lamb and potatoes. But after taking a single bite it was clear that every single dish in front of me was extremely bland. Picking up my goblet I tried the pumpkin juice but I quickly spat it back out too, because it was extremely sweet “Holy shit! That's so bad! Why do people drink this?” I asked people who were looking at me as if I was the mad one.
“What are you talking about? This is really good.” Ron said with a mouth full of food, a little disgusted. I turned my head around and contemplated what I should do.
You can call a house elf…
‘I don’t know the names of any house elf’
Sure you do, Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment and Tweak. Dumbledore called right before the feast, they were the ones who brought all the food.
Of course those are names of the elves. I mean why do things the easy way?
“Nitwit” I called the name and a second later an elf was standing behind me.
“You called nitwit?” he asked in a squeaky voice
“I did nitwit. Can you please take this away, and in future never serve me this. Ever.” I immediately handed him the goblet, but I could see it was a mistake as the elf immediately started tearing up
“Did sir Lord Slytherin not like elves work?” he asked me in a wobbly whisper, thank god for that
“No! no, I like your work. It’s just that I don't like overly sweet drinks, so instead of this can you get me something else?” I asked him in a soft tone, at which the little guy immediately got excited and started nodding his head “Yes! What would you like?”
“Bring me a lemon honey tea, don’t add any sugar, don’t add any milk, okay?” I told him, and he raised his hand to apparate away but I stopped him and gave him the plate I piled my food on. “Take this plate with you, and add more spices and salt.”
“How much?” he asked looking at the plate and then at me
“At Least six times more.”
“Nitwit will be right back!” and with that he disappeared.
“So those were elves' names?” Hermione said a little wonderly.
“Yup, he may act like a demented old fucker but he’s a lot more cunning then what people give him credit for.” I said looking at Albus who simply raised his glass to me and then turned away to talk to Minerva. A few minutes later nitwit came back and handed me back my plate and produced a cup of tea.
“Just a second,” I stopped him and tasted my food and tea, “this is brilliant nitwit. From now on please serve me this tea only, and add more spices to whatever you’re serving. Okay?” by the way he was nodding and the way he was vibrating I'm sure he was very happy. “thank you nitwit.” After that everyone just enjoyed themselves and tried not to be disgusted by the way food was flying out of Ron's mouth. After all of us were done we were shepherded by prefects to our common rooms.
“Let’s go, we have a long trek ahead of us.” I said as I remembered that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw common rooms are in towers, so we will have to climb the grand staircase.
“What do you mean?” Hermione asked me.
“Look all around you, all of these people here, yet none of them are overly fat, except for firsties. Do you know why?” I pointed out to her to which she just gave a confused look “No.”
“Because of that.” I said pointing to the changing staircase
“Christ on a bike!” “Mother of God!” "Wicked!" Hermione, Harry and Ron exclaimed together while looking at the staircase in astonishment.
“Yup, students and teachers climb these stairs everyday,” I said merrily as we began following Percy, “that’s why people are so fit here.” and with that we all stopped and waited for stairs to turn and merge into a different platform.
“These stairs are not safe, like at all.” Hermione said, scaredly looking down.
“Castle changes itself with time, during my great- great grandmother’s time these stairs were in a spiral, around a giant pillar,” I told her as we crossed a painting of an old man welcoming us to Hogwarts, waving back to him I told others. “and many of the paintings you see around you were on that wall, stairs and platforms used to appear out of that pillar.”
“You know a lot for a firstie.” Percy remarked
“Wanted to know about every house before I came here, who knows where I might end up.”
“That’s true, the hat said I had a chance for Ravenclaw.” percy told us, after a few more minutes we reached the portrait of the fat lady.
“Password?” she asked percy
“Caput Draconis” and with that the portrait hole opened and we all entered the common room, which was exactly what you would imagine a gryffindor common room to look like. There were big handmade banners, stationary lying around everywhere, big comfortable looking couches in front of the fireplace and the entire room was covered in dark red and gold accents. After giving us a few seconds to gawk at everything we were directed to our dorms.
After a quick good night to Hermione we went to our dorm room and everyone quickly got ready for bed.
See, that wasn’t so bad.
‘I’m in school again Chat, how’s that not bad?’
You know what i mean,
‘Whatever, I’m going to sleep’