Chapter 5
It had been a week since Harry had been to Diagon Alley, and he needed to wait one more before Professor Dumbledore took him to the train station. As a result, Harry was cramming as much information in his head as much as possible. He had read both of his etiquette books, though he was spending most of his time reading books for the school year. Transfiguration, charms, and defense against the dark arts seemed to be his favorite so far. Even if he hadn’t practiced any spells with his wand, he could still try it wandless. It was harder but he got the grasp of simple spells like giving someone nightmares for the night or learning to throw little fire balls at object. It was practical since he no longer has to get up, he could just throw a little fire ball at it, and it would catch on fire. The only complicated thing he managed to learn to do willingly is the spell that made people contort, he vaguely remembers doing it at six years old. He couldn’t control it at that time, now he could. It wasn’t as powerful when he did it at six, but Harry assumed it was because it was accidental magic. His magic has always been stronger when he did it on accident vs when he did it on purpose. Harry would have to do that spell when it was important because the after affects made him sickly. Harry knew it was because whatever it was called it must have been a strong spell. Though he mainly just learned to improve things he could already do, he could now do most wandless magic without getting incredibly tired. He was proud of it.
During the week it became widespread in the orphanage that he would be going to some ‘posh’ boarding school in Scotland. All the kids looked at him with pure hatred, some kids even had the guts to call him names. Harry did his best to ignore it, but the kids soon learned that he wouldn’t do anything other than glare if they called him names, the name calling got worse. But it never went physical until a kid named, Tanner Hill, had challenged him.
Harry was sitting in the library reading his potions book, he had neglected to read it as it seemed dull compared to his other books. But now he had two days before he left and he needed the information, he refused to look like a muggleborn. Not that he was against them heck his own mother was a muggleborn, but he was scared people would take advantage of the fact and use him.
“Hey freak!” Tanner jeered while a group of kids walked in with him. Tanner had messy brown hair, black eyes, and wore a black T-shirt. The other kids had a faint smile, but they all seemed weary of the idea. ‘Oh, how I will show them.’ Harry thought to himself grinning before innocently saying,
“What do you need?” Tanner started walking up to him but before he could raise his hands a force pushed Tanner backwards. Harry was sick of it all; he will show these people his true power. Harry gave a wide smile as he noticed tanner stare up at him in shock. Without saying anything Harry forced his power on the boy which made him contort, his screams filled the air. Not wanting to be too loud Harry retracted the spell, Harry grabbed his potion book and quickly ran out of the library to his room. He felt nausea taking him over when he arrived. He fell onto his bed and fell asleep. When he awoke, he immediately went to take a shower as a layer of sweat was on his skin, he instantly he felt better. Going downstairs he noticed no one was looking at him, and if they did, they adverted their gaze away almost the second they looked. Harry felt relieved that his example of Tanner Hill worked, quietly sitting down he ate with perfect manners. His etiquette books taught him perfect table manners, he also read on proper introductions in conversation. Harry doesn’t plan on using this too much, but it would be useful for professors, and students. Harry learned that fear is a good way to get someone to be loyal to you in the short term, but if you gain an emotional connection, they will be loyal to you long term.
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Today was the day, Harry will be going to Hogwarts. Harry was pacing in his room the anxiety of going was creeping up on him, he soon forced himself to calm down, he knew panicking would do nothing wrong. Thirty minutes later Professor Dumbledore came through the with a warm smile, Harry forced himself to not smile back. When they got to the bus Harry quickly took a seat and put his owl on the other seat, holding it for his professor. Harry was sitting on the bus reading his book on Hogwarts History. It was rather interesting, the four houses that you could be sorted in are connected with founders of the school. Salazar Slytherin founded the Slytherin house, Godric Gryffindor founded the Gryffindor house, Helga Hufflepuff founded the Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw founded the Ravenclaw house.
When they arrived at kings’ cross station, Professor Dumbledore led him to a wall and simply told him to walk through the wall. Harry was hesitant but ran past it, when Harry did, he saw the train. It was an amazing sight; Harry could feel the magic thrumming around him. The only thing that really annoyed him was the bright cheery smiles of the children and parents. A specific family caught his eyes though, they all had bright red hair, and they seemed to have cloned themselves with the sheer amount of them that where there. Harry scoffed a little bit and walked into the train looking for an empty compartment. Harry suppressed a chuckle with the size of this train, it didn’t even take him five minutes to find an empty compartment in the back. Sitting down he grabbed his potions book from his trunk and continued to read it with perfect posture. He felt slightly ashamed for wearing muggle clothes, but he only bought school robes and he was supposed to put those on when they arrived at the castle.
A few minutes later he heard his fellow students walking in and laughing, Harry hoped that they would all calm down. He hated the noise, in his orphanage everyone had to remain silent in the presence of their ‘caretakers’ or else they would receive punishment… He was thrown out of his thoughts when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Looking up he saw a blonde-haired boy looking at him curiously. He was paler than Harry himself, which was hard to accomplish, though this boy’s skin looked healthy a complete opposite to Harry’s sun deprived skin.
“Hello, may I help you?” Harry asks politely, Harry wanted this boy to leave but he didn’t know who he is. He may be useful later.
“I was wondering why you are sitting in the Slytherin area, literally everyone knows the Slytherins sit in the back. Even filthy mudbloods.” The boy sneered. Harry suppressed a growl but gave a polite nod before explaining,
“I have not been sorted yet. How can I possibly know where to sit if the seats are labeled for certain houses? Anyway, I am Harry Potter, you are?” Harry asked innocently fully aware of the fact that he was being glared at.
“That’s exactly why we don’t want you here! You’re the bloody boy-who-lived, of course you’ll be a stupid Gryffindor! As for me my name is Draco Malfoy, heir of the Malfoy’s.” Draco snapped; he was clearly losing his patience.
“Well nice to meet you Malfoy. Since you answered my question, I will answer yours, I came here to escape my peers. They are quite loud, and it hurts my ears. I am not interested in arguing but there are clearly more compartments back here, I don’t plan in bothering you so you can leave me alone. As for the Gryffindor statement I do not like being generalized based off of events that happened when I was one, or in books that over dramatize things for views. I can assure you that I am an average human being. I would like to read my book now, if we are done talking.” Draco’s eyes widened, he nodded curtly and headed to another compartment with his friends. This was not what he was expecting of the boy-who-lived, and it seemed as if his friends agreed just by seeing his face. Though it was clear Pansy was fuming with anger.
When they arrived at the compartment Pansy immediately yelled quiet enough so Potter couldn’t hear, “I cannot believe the nerves of Potter, probably will be a stupid Gryffindor! For a filthy halfblood to order you around, and you just let him as well.” Pansy huffed then sunk into the plush seats on the train. However, Draco didn’t agree with that statement, Potter wasn’t demanding he leave. He was asking. As much as Draco liked Pansy the girl did have an easy time taking words out of context, not that he was defending him. Its just that the boy interested him.
“I don’t think Potter was too bad, he was polite enough to us. Though I think we need to keep a close eye on Potter, he could be useful to us.” Blaise Zabini stated while he took out a book on charms. At this Draco snorted and said, “With all your reading Blaise sometimes I wonder if you’ll be a Ravenclaw!”. Everyone else giggled and their conversation turned to lighter subjects.
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Harry was sitting down reading when was interrupted by a red-haired boy came in, Harry inwardly frowned but kept his inside face passive. The boy looked slightly embarrassed before asking,
“Hey uh can I sit here? All the compartments are taken up at the front, but you have to promise not to hex me. I know you Slimy Slytherins don’t like Gryffindors.” Harry just stared at the boy; he was rude and biased, at least Malfoy knew to not directly say his opinion. Containing a sneer, he begrudgingly nodded before returning to his book. The boy frowned but stepped in and took a seat. After a few minutes of silence, the red-haired boy finally introduced himself and said “Well I’m Ronald Weasley but call me Ron. Who are you?”
Looking back up at the Weasley he nodded in acknowledgment and Harry said, “I am Harry Potter, please call me potter. But if you insist on Harry, I won’t get mad.” Ron eyes widened noticeably before his face soon switched to confusion.
“Then why are you here with the Slytherins? C’mon I’m sure someone will move for you!” Ron said while he grabbed Harry by the arm pulling him up. Harry flinched away fast; he wasn’t used to any form of touching unless he was being beat by his ‘caretakers.’ Harry quickly sat back down ignoring Ron’s protest to go up to the front of the train. Harry finally snapped and said,
“Ron, I already said I’m not interested. You can stay here and be quiet or just leave, we have not been sorted yet for all you know you could end up in Slytherin.” Harry said before opening his book again and began to read, completely ignoring Ron’s shocked and angry expression. He muttered something but sat down. ‘
Thirty minutes passed and Harry was enjoying the comfortable silence that spread across the compartment. They soon were interrupted by a brown bushy haired girl; she was asking if someone had seen a toad named Trevor. Ronald Weasley seemed very interested in this toad, but Harry knew it was because he wanted to leave the compartment. Harry hated fussing so without word Harry simply held out his hand and a toad was gently flying to it. Harry scowled in disgust, but he handed the toad to the girl who’s eyes where as wide as day.
“How did you do the accio charm wandless, and wordlessly? That’s so cool!” The girl beamed at him in awe. Harry suppressed a scowl but gave her a small smile instead. Her face turned slum and she said, “Well I must leave so I can give this to Neville, I’ll see you around. What is your name so I can know how to find you? I’m Hermione Granger in case you are wondering.” Harry was about to open his mouth, but Ron answered for him, Harry scowled as Ron said
“Well, this Hermione is Harry Potter, of course he’ll be strong!” Ron said dumbly, completely unaware of the glare Harry was giving him. Harry looked back at Hermione, she looked excited her smile widened and she was about to speak but she noticed Harry’s facial expression, so she gave a quick nod before leaving the compartment. Ron looked over at Harry and glared but he did not comment, Harry was just glad she was gone and went back to his book. The rest of the ride went without incident. Harry somehow managed to fall asleep on the train so when he woke up, they had ten minutes to get their robes on and put everything away in their trunks. Harry did it al quickly not wanting to be talked to by his peers, though he noticed Malfoy and his gang was staring at him and his robes when he was walking back to his compartment. Harry was wearing the average black robes, it was one of the higher quality robes, a complete contrast to his secondhand muggle clothes.
When they arrived at Hogwarts Harry swiftly left the train excitement in his veins when he looked up at the castle. It was massive, it reminded Harry of castles in the movie he watched when he was five. He had snuck out of his ‘room’ that was cupboard to watch it, the Dursleys never even realized he was standing by the door watching it with them. Harry was brought back to reality when he heard a big man with brown scruffy hair and beard yell,
“Fisr’ years this’ way!” the man repeated over and over while pointing to a bunch of boats. Harry shivered, he never rode in a boat before, and defiantly not in the dark like this. When the tall man noticed all the first years were there, he gave the instructions to four people a boat, Harry was about to walk to Malfoy asking to sit in a boat with them when he was pulled by a smiling Ron. Harry contained a scowl and nodded since Malfoy’s boat was full. He was sitting on a boat with Ron, Hermione, and a kid named Neville. Harry did not dislike Neville much to his own surprise, the boy was quiet and shy, and he was polite. After what seemed to be an eternity they arrived at their destination. After a few minutes of walking, they saw the entrance the castle. The tall man opened the door revealing a middle-aged woman waiting for them.
She gave the man a smile and as she dismissed him saying “Thank you Hagrid, I got them from here.” The man, Hagrid, simply nodded his head before walking away. The women turned back to the students, she smiled and said warmly “Come children.” She said before she turned around and started walking down the hall. Harry followed behind her looking around soaking up the interior of the castle, he didn’t bother listening to Ron who was talking at him. They soon stopped by a big door that was closed shut, the woman silenced the children that were talking. When everyone silenced, she stated “Now before we go into the great hall and eat dinner, I must explain something for the muggleborns. There are four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Today you will be sorted into one of those houses, remember no house is ‘evil’ nor is one house ‘good’ they are of equal status. I am Professor McGonagall, your transfiguration teacher, and the headmaster of the Gryffindor house. When we enter, I want you to make a neat line and we will call your name when it’s your turn.” Everyone said yes and in that moment the doors opened revealing many children sitting down looking at the new batch of students.
Harry quickly got into line and let the show go on, a hat was sitting on a normal wooden chair, Harry was curious on what will happen as he never actually read up on the sorting had process. All of a sudden the hats wrinkles opened, and it began 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 tops hats sleek and tall, For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat. And I can cap them all!” Everyone on the tables started clapping, even some of the Gryffindors where cheering, though the Slytherins just politely clapped their hands. The other houses where a mixture of both. All of sudden he heard Professor McGonagall say,
“Amelia Bones!” A red-haired girl walked up sheepishly and sat on the wooden chair, Professor grabbed the hat and put it on the young woman’s head, and the hat yelled,
“HUFFLEPUFF!” The Hufflepuff table cheered with big happy smiles, Harry nearly grimaced at the cheering, it was annoying. This seemed to have lasted for a few minutes so far, he learned Draco Malfoy was a Slytherin, and his side kicks he saw where also sorted in Slytherin. Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Hermione Granger was sorted in Gryffindor. Harry didn’t bother paying attention to the other sorting’s until he heard his own name being called.
Harry walked up to the chair, he could hear and see the whispering of the people on the tables and looks of awe in their faces. Harry did his best to ignore it. The young Wizard calmly sat down on the chair as Professor McGonagall put the hat on his head, immediately he could feel his head being infiltrated.
“Ahh Harry Potter, where to put you? I haven’t seen a mind like this since 1938, I’m afraid of the path you are going Potter. Ravenclaw will give you the knowledge your mind begs for, as for Slytherin they would give you the power you crave.” The hat grumbled as it went through his memories and morals.
Harry frowned but eventually said, “Put me where you think I would do the best, sir.” The hat seemed shocked but agreed. All of a sudden Harry was forced into reality, the crowd was watching him with silence. Then the hat screamed,
“SLYTHERIN!”
The crowd burst into yelling and accusations, even the Slytherins lost their composure but gave a weak clap anyway.