04 - Not Difficult, at all
The last time Harry was in the Great Hall everything was in disarray, as it's bound to be when a place is used as a war zone. Seeing the candles float, all the tables filled with children, sensing the magic pass through him, and watching how the enchantments in the ceiling are working perfectly, is enough to make him gape as if he was truly first-year. There was a close call for years but he recovered.
(Yes he did. No, what do you mean "are you crying?" That's sweat not tears, go get your eyes examined (he just denied when Hermione asked him, he can't be mean to them while he's all mushy))
There were the whispers about Harry Potter coming to Hogwarts that year, the most loud of all them sounding close to him, and yes. That's Draco. Harry's face does something funny and thankfully they're still following McGonagall walking as a line so no one noticed him. His eyes look up a moment and his eyes lock for a second with his most detested professor. His most, recently dead, detested professor that is also a master in the art of 'not mind-reading'. He averts his eyes quickly and ends up looking at the Headmaster.
Which is almost as bad, if not worse.
Thanks to McGonagall's hurried steps, he manages to almost make the kid back to him stumble, successfully distracting him of blue twinkling eyes that were devoid of live and joy not too long ago.
They stop in front of the teachers table and McGonagall leaves to retrieve a stool and the sorting hat. Harry uses that moment to inform his group of friends that he could probably go to any house except Ravenclaw and that he wishes that no matter what house they end up they'll keep being friends. Neville, Hermione, Theodore and Ron, moments after being bombarded with a rant about house prejudice and not wanting to set off another being so close to the teachers, tell him to stop being so nervous about the houses, weren't you the one that said they don't matter?
Neville is sure that no matter what the hat decides, Harry will no stop being their friend even if it kills him. Unless some of them decides that they don't want to be friends anymore and honestly, Neville doesn't think that any of them would ever want to do that, at least for now. He's still in awe at the fact that Harry got a Weasley, that comes from one of the most Light-aligned houses, to be amicable with a Nott, definitely a Dark, if not Grey, house.
Hermione did read a lot about Hogwarts, Wixen history, and the Second Wizarding-War (she doesn't get why they call it the first, did they forget about the Dark Lord Grindelwald? Honestly) and she admittedly has some reservations about the house that You-Know-Who was sorted into, and she wanted to be in the same house as the great Albus Dumbledore. But after spending a day hearing Harry's loud, and some unconscious, thoughts about the houses, she thinks any house will be alright for her. Even if she knows that she'll either be a Ravenclaw ir a Gryffindor, she can't see her stop being friends with the boy that doesn't seem to care to have a filter. And the other boys seem nice too, she honestly wants to become real friends with all of them.
Theodore's thoughts are complicated. He genuinely got to like the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Reject-Unspoken-Rules, and he wants to be friends with him. But if Harry goes and gets sorted into Gryffindor, his life in Slytherin (because that's where he's going to be sorted, it's not up to question) could be either compromised, or improved. Usually when he finds a complicated situation, he mentally goes over the pros and cons before deciding anything, as his father has been teaching him since he was old enough to be able to choose anything. But looking at the kid that just moments ago was almost bursting with muted passion and emotion looking so squirmy and self-conscious all of sudden is enough to make Theo say they'll be friends no matter which house anyone goes. Neville Longbottom, Granger and Weasley agree to that, which helps his sudden resolve. Now, Theo keeps his promises, and since this is one, he better start thinking on a way to tell his father that his friendship with the Boy-Who-Defeated-His-Ex-Master is in fact a calculated choice and that is useful.
Ron, who had already internalised that he was going to be if not friends, friendly, with a snake, can't seem why being friend with two would be that different. Half his mind is thinking if after they got sorted the Slytherins get slimy hands, and his other half is thinking no that's ridiculous. His other half has the mixed voice of his dad and Harry, and that helps him decide to give the Slytherins a chance, if only for Harry and Nott. Harry who looks weirdly insecure, it's unsettling to see a person who was lecturing him less than 10 minutes ago look like that. The others tell him the same, and seriously, if someone that looks that flustered can get into the snake's house then maybe they're really not filled with mainly bad persons.
Harry's saved from having to try to answer without sobbing by Professor McGonagall calling them again, now holding the Sorting Hat.
The song's the same as before, and the reaction of the kids aside from the ones in Harry's New BFF'S Club is the same as well.
This time,Harry is paying more attention to the Sorting. It helps that he's not afraid of not being sorted to any house and being sent back to the Dursleys, that's certain.
Abbot, Bones, Finch-Fletchley go to Hufflepuff. Boot and Brocklehurst get into Ravenclaw.Bulstrode is the first sorted Slytherin and Lavender as well as Seamus get into Gryffindor. Just as the last time.
When it's Hermione's time to get sorted, it look like Hermione is having a conversation with the hat. After a few moments, the hat screams her house and Hermione walks to the Ravenclaw table with a determinated face, flashing their group a smile when she walks past them.
Then it's Neville's turn, and before Neville leaves Harry tells him to remember to take the hat off before leaving in the nicest way possible. Neville isn't offended by that, if only because Harry seemed way too ackward trying to say it without sounding like a prat, and when the hat screams "Gryffindor!" Neville takes the hat off his head before heading to the lion's table.
Theodore walks confidently when it's his turn, knowing the house he's going to be sorted into. And soon enough, he's walking to the Slytherin table. Harry sees him trying to hide a grimace when Theo notices Malfoy boasting while moving his hands way too much, and grins unabashedly. Poor Theo.
Harry looks at Ron's eyes when McGonagall calls his name,finds only a look that could be described as "don't make me repeat the speech, I'm about to throw up out of nerves", and goes to sit trying to hide a chuckle.
The Hall is silent while he sits and let McGonagall put the hat on his head, blocking his vision of the Hall, which is probably for the best. Harry's still worried, even with the reassurances of his friends. He really doesn't care that much, or at all, about the houses anymore, but he knows that the majority of Hogwarts does. He knows that no matter what house he gets in, he's going to be fueling the Hogwarts Rumour Mill. And what if after his friends notice how bad the gossip goes about the houses they decide to stop being his friend? Harry would've keep working himself into a panic if it wasn't for the hat's voice.
'Oh my, quite the mind you got here, Mr. Potter' The voice resounded in his mind, and Harry's really hoping that the hat can't tell anyone what he sees inside his head. While Harry is praying to Merlin, the hat skims through his memories in a quick matter, as its job is only to sort people by their qualities and ideals '. What a life you have lived, it certainly hasn't been easy for you ' what an understatement, really '. I still stand by my past, or whatever it's the correct word, opinion of your potential to become great in Slytherin, and you certainly are brave enough to go to the lions again, but it seems that a new house could be better for you, child. May the house of badgers help heal your heart'.
"Hufflepuff!" The hat shouts, causing disbelief in the lions table, curiosity in the tables of the eagles and snakes, and loud cheers in the badgers table.
Before walking to the Hufflepuff table, Harry makes eye contact with his four friends, and is relieved to find only smiles coming from them. Neville's smile is reassuring and happy, the hat told him that his own sorting was balanced between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and he's wondering if Harry's was the same. Hermione's smile is quick but full of teeth and cheer before she turned to keep listening to what the Ravenclaw's prefect was saying to the firsties. Ron smiles like he's telling him "See? You didn't have nothing to worry about." Even when his own face is slightly green by the fact that his own sorting is nearer. And Theo's smile is a secretive thing, because he's now a Slytherin and Slytherins have decorum, even if no one seems to have told Malfoy that. If he hears about Lord Malfoy one more time he'll have to take drastic measures.
Feeling better, Harry heads up to where the other firsties are waving to him. They introduce themselves and everything goes well, until Harry turns and sees a handsome familiar face trying to introduce himself.
"Cedric Diggory" the face says, and Harry's brain turns to autopilot. The sorting ends with Zabini getting into Slytherin; Dumbledore, recently dead, mentor, schemers of his dead and ex-(boy)friend of Grindelwald Dumbledore, begins the same speech of his first year, including the "very painful death" part. Some laugh, Harry's not between them, and the feast begins. It tastes like ashes in his mouth.
How could've forgotten about Cedric? About all the people that the war killed that has attended Hogwarts? About the kids that got killed in his past life and now he has to interact with like nothing is wrong?
He's fucked, he's so so fucked. How will he survive seeing them on a daily basis while being constantly reminded of their deaths? Cedric, Dumbledore, Fred... Colin. Oh God Colin, did he die? Maybe it's a blessing that he didn't wake up on his original timeline after he died. Only imagining all the persons that could've died while he was unconscious and the Dark Lord's side thought itself the winner makes him feel ill.
Harry's not able to enjoy the feast, nor to maintain a single conversation with his new yearmates. He tries, but his smiles keep feeling strained and he doesn't manage to look at Cedric in the eyes. The Hufflepuffs take notice of this, and while they're all curious about the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-A-Badger, the older ones make sure that the young don't pester him too much; they'll have time to get acquainted with him later, and maybe by that time the kid will be feeling better. The youngest female prefect takes notice of how little he's eating and by means of secret language gets a girl that was seating close to Harry to discreetly add small bits of food on his plate. Harry doesn't notice, eating in autopilot as he is.