Chapter 4
The teacher with an equally pointed hat took out a long piece of parchment and started calling out names. The person would step forward, wear the hat and the hat would declare which house they belonged to. The whole procedure was instant and firm but for a select few the hat seemed to take a moment long. The names were called alphabetically, Harry realized, which would mean that Harry would wear the hat before Dudley.
That made him pull in a short sharp painful gasp. That was not fair. He wanted to go to the same house Dudley would. Dudley had said that he would be given to the Slytherin house because both his parents were from that house, but Harry did not feel too sure about it. What if he and Dudley were sorted into two different houses? How would he ever bear it and manage?
A ‘Granger, Hermione’ was chosen into the Slytherin house and their table erupted in shouts and hoots and she had been one of those that required an extra second to be decided on. Harry was sure that he even saw the girl speak something.
The beautiful boy Harry had seen previously stepped forward at ‘Malfoy, Draco’ The hat had shouted Slytherin before the hat had even touched the boy properly.
A lot many were declared into different houses after them, like ‘Mew, Maekuri’, ‘Joon, Nixha’, ‘Lengdom, Afi’, ‘Parkinson, Pansy’, ‘Diaz, Ramin’ who all turned out to be Slytherins, etc.
Then the witch called ‘Potter, Harry’ and everyone went silent. Harry took a large gulp of air and walked on trembling limbs to the chair holding the hat. He tried not to look at anyone as his teacher placed the hat on him.
“Hmm,” a voice in his head said, making Harry jump in his seat, a few titters making his ears hot, “So, where shall I put you?”
“Slytherin please, please, Slytherin,” Harry thought thinking about the beautiful boy and what Dudley had said.
“What an apt choice, indeed,” the hat said before shouting out, ‘Slytherin’.
A staggering Harry was pulled into the crowd at the Slytherin table and people thumped him on his back and wished him success and Harry could not help but notice how the other houses were looking at him, like he had somehow disappointed them. Before he had a chance to react to them, the teacher called out, ‘Snape, Dudley’. The hat took another moment to decide before shouting ‘Slytherin’ making Harry shake in relief.
Dudley came and sat by Harry and thumped his back lightly, his touch somewhat familiar and welcomed to Harry at the moment than the others had been. Ronald Weasley, who was also selected into the Slytherin house was sitting in front of them and he deemed to say to Harry, “All right there Harry?”
Harry nodded, suddenly grateful to Ron for no other reason than acceptance. Alteast he didn’t seem to be in a mood to tease.
Dumbledore, their headmaster, said a few things and then the plates before them were suddenly full. Harry look on with a sense of wonder and a bit of worry. Can he take as much as he wants or that would be taking too much? But he was so hungry. Not that he would be able to eat too much anyway. Harry’s appetite had not been something that had been encouraged at his home.
So Harry pulled a few bites of this and a few bites of that till his plate was half full. Still expecting someone to swoop down on him and tell him so much food was not allowed for him, Harry started eating. The food was delicious, even more delicious than Aunt Petunia’s but Harry could not eat much due to his worry. If he forced himself, he would become sick; if he left anything behind, he would be wasting.
Deciding to go with the latter unhappily, Harry pushed his plate away and started looking around his House table. Everyone ate with gusto, even Dudley even though he was so thin. Harry knew Dudley would be purposefully sick later but did not have anything to say about it. Not that Dudley would listen to him anyway. Dudley usually ate a bowl of ice cream before heading to the loo to be sick as this made his throat feel better but Harry wondered if that would be possible here. Harry was not entirely sure if there was a fridge at Hogwarts really.
Soon, they were bustled up by the House prefect and taken to their rooms towards the back of the school. The way was lit by fire scones and the odd shimmering ghost. When they reached the common room, the prefect directed them to their rooms with instructions and a list of rules that everyone listened to carefully. Nothing very strict, just not to be caught in any wrong doing and not to harass their housemates.
Dudley headed towards the bathroom and Harry looked on, a bit worried. He was already so thin. This was definitely not helping.
It was then that Draco stepped forward and asked, “You are Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?”
“Ye-yeah…”
“Didn’t thing you would end up in Slytherin, so welcome home I guess,” Draco said with a wide smile.
“Than-kk you,” Harry stuttered out.
Ron, who had come to stand by Harry and stare murderously at Draco drew his eyes next. Draco turned his head and frowned before saying, “What is a Weasley doing in Slytherin?”
Ron gave an ugly smile then and said, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
The comment seems to take Draco aback. He does not comment on Ron anymore, but does give Harry a searching look. Harry smiles at him in retaliation and Draco, unbelievably, blushes to that.
All the first years walk to their bed and Harry is out of it by the time the lights are puffed out.