The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." McGonagall said.
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit a whole house inside of it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Harry had seen at Gringotts himself, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They first years followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Y/n, Harry and Ron could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right, the rest of the school must already be here. Professor McGonagall however showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"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." She began to announce.
"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." Professor McGonagall explained now. "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 rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. 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's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair and Y/n made sure he covered his right eye with his hair again.
"I shall return when we are ready for you." said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly.
She left the chamber. Harry swallowed. "How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet... what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived.
Y/n looked around the room now to see and that all the other students looked terrified. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.
'Well we all prepare in different ways I guess.' Y/n thought to himself before he turned to look at the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead them to the great hall.
Then something happened that almost made him jump about a foot in the air... several people behind him screamed.
Y/n and the others turned their heads to see about twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance..."
"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost ...I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.
Nobody answered.
"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"
A few people including Y/n nodded mutely.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"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."
"Good luck you two." Y/n whispered to Harry and Ron.
"Thanks." Ron gulped nervously.
Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron and then Y/n behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Y/n had heard and read about about the Great Hall before but the sight itself was even better than he could ever of imagined. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.
Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.
As they walked Y/n looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper to someone. "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.
Y/n looked down again now as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Y/n could just hear his brother Atticus scoffing in his head at the sight of it.
Y/n turned his head to try and see if he was right but instead noticed that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he turned back and stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth and the hat began to sing.
♫ 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 and even Y/n was impressed as he clapped. The hat 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 Y/n and Harry.
"Look's like it." Y/n whispered back Ron.
"I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll." Ron grumbled.
Y/n just smiled but only for a moment, while it was easier than fighting a troll he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching the thought made him nervous.
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!"
"They are going to call out our names?" Y/n asked as his face slightly became paler and Atticus began to smirk with pride.
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line past Y/n, and sat down on the stool. The hat was placed on her head and fell right down over her eyes. A moments pause...
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Bones, Susan!" McGonagall called out.
"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.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers, Y/n could see see two older red headed twins catcalling and he assumed they must be Ron's brothers.
But Y/n was no longer smiling or happy as he nervously played with his fingers hoping Professor McGonagall wouldn't call out his full name.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him. He looked to see Y/n was looking pale himself now.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The students continued to be sorted, Sometimes the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron just groaned.
Y/n shut his eyes now silently praying it would not happen...but it did.
Professor McGonagall stared at the scroll for a moment before raising her head.
"...Grindelwald, Y/n."
The entire hall fell into silence and some gasps escaped students.
"Did McGonagall just say...Grindelwald?" Y/n heard a student whisper.
"It can't be... not the Grindelwald's." Another started.
"He'll be in Slytherin for sure..."
"Well we don't want him in our house."
Y/n reluctantly began to move his legs that now felt like they were incased in cement. All around he could feel the stares of the other students as their whispers began to get louder.
As Y/n reached the stool the entire hall of students had begun talking amongst themselves.
"Why is everyone surprised by Y/n?" Harry asked Ron not quite understanding.
"Bloody Hell..." Was all Ron was able to get out as he looked at Y/n in shock.
"Silence." A loud voice called out and everyone stopped to turn and look at a man sat the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. This was Albus Dumbledore. His silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. His gaze seemed to sit firmly on Y/n as he sat forward in his chair with intrigue.
For the first time Y/n wished he was back at home and not at Hogwarts now. He took his seat on the stool and closed his eyes unable to look at the crowd of students who would be looking at him. Some in shock, while others wore glares.
McGonagall placed the sorting hat upon his head now.
"Grindelwald?" The hat suddenly sprouted into life. "How tricky...very tricky indeed. You have the attributes of all the houses, very rare. With an intense thirst for knowledge you could do well in Ravenclaw, Resourceful too a great trait for Slytherin... But so Courageous too...Where to place you..." The Sorting Hat hummed as some fabric frowned in deep thought.
Y/n just wanted to be in a house that would let him make friends without being judged for his family history. His thoughts were interrupted when he Hat began to stir.
"Better be....GRYFFINDOR!" The hat cried but no cheers erupted from any of the tables. The only sound was the teachers clapping.
The hat was removed from Y/n's head now and he quickly got off the stool. The first year students parted on either side of him as he walked past them holding his arm and walked to sit at the Gryffindor table alone.
Y/n could feel the hall still had their eyes on him and that some of the Gryffindor's had not been happy to have him in their house. Y/n just looked down at the table not daring to say a word to anyone else.
"Grindelwald, Atticus." Professor McGonagall called out now as the hall turned their heads again.
"Another one?" The students began whispering again.
"Wasn't one bad enough?"
Y/n watched from the corner of his visible eye as his brother sat down on the stool now full of confidence as the sorting hat was placed on his head.
"Another Grindelwald eh?" The hat asked. "But where to put you, with your brother?" It hummed but Y/n could see Atticus shaking his head. "No? Well...There can only be one place for you then...SLYTHERIN!"
Atticus grinned with pride as the hat was removed from his head and he made his way to the Slytherin table to sit with his fellow house mates. Atticus seemed to get a warmer reception from the Slytherin house than Y/n had gotten from his own.
When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."
Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself as he sat next to Atticus and the two quickly engaged in a conversation.
There weren't many people left now. "Moon". . . , "Nott". . . , "Parkinson". . . , then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil". . . , then "Perks, Sally-Anne". . . , and then.
"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?"
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.
"Hmm." said the hat. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes... and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting. . . So where shall I put you?"
Y/n saw Harry gripped the edges of the stool.
"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the hat suddenly. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that... no? Well, if you're sure... better be GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table erupted into a large cheer as Harry took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet.
Harry arrived at the Gryffindor table now and Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
Harry surprised them all when he sat down next to Y/n however. Even Y/n was surprised as he looked up from the table for the first time to see Harry say next to him.
"You're sitting next to me?" Y/n managed to utter.
Harry gave him a smile and Y/n tried to return it.
Harry could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. Harry then spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.
And now there were only three people left to be sorted. Dean Thomas a boy even taller than Ron, had just joined Harry at the Gryffindor table.
"Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry clapped loudly with the rest of his house as Y/n quietly joined in happy for Ron but not wishing to draw attention to himself.
Ron made his way to the table and collapsed onto the bench on the other side of Harry.
"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin.
Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll now and took the Sorting Hat away and Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.
Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"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!"
"Thank you!"
He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered.
Y/n still felt unsettled by everyone's reaction to his family name but Dumbledore's random behaviour made him smile just a little.
"Is he... a bit mad?" Y/n heard Harry ask Percy uncertainly.
"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"
Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.
The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if It made him sick. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.
Y/n however only took a very small amount as he wasn't feeling very hungry anymore. He ended up pushing some peas around his plate with a fork instead.
"That does look good." said a ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak.
"Can't you... ?" Harry begun to ask.
"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you. You're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy..." the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.
"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said. "So...new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable...he's the Slytherin ghost."
Y/n, Harry and Ron looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was on the other side of Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.
"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.
"I've never asked." said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.
When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding.
As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families much to Y/n's displeasure.
"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
The others laughed.
"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.
"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me, he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced...all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here. They thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."
"I suppose one of your grandparents must have brought you up too..." Ron awkwardly started now as he turned his gaze to Y/n and it caused several of the others around them too stop eating and awkwardly look as well.
Y/n just nodded slightly.
"Why exactly did everyone go silent when Professor McGonagall called out Y/n's name?" Harry asked curious now.
"Crikey Harry you've never heard of the Grindelwald's?" Ron asked him and Harry shook his head.
"I've read about them over the holidays." Hermione's voice echoed in nearby. "They're a very famous family who's fame started with Gell..."
"I come from a bad family Harry..." Y/n uttered now interrupting Hermione's speech as he looked down at the table. "My family is filled with Wizard's and witches who have committed unforgiveable crimes. My grand uncle was Gellert Grindelwald terrorized the wizarding world as he tried to change it, believing that the Muggle world should under the wizarding world's control and my parents were devoted followers of you know who...That's why no one wants to be near me." He finally stated what was on the other students minds.
"You do not have to keep talking to me Harry, I would not want too either considering everything my parents have done to support you know who..."
Harry looked at Y/n and for a moment felt a sight anger to hear his parents had been followers of the man who had killed his own parents. His anger however quickly subsided as he remembered the short time he had spent with the boy. He had not been cruel or unkind at all, quite the opposite. He had even apologized for his own brother's poor behaviour.
"If I avoid you just because of your family then that makes me no better than Malfoy." Harry said finally thinking back to the boys behaviour towards his friend Hagrid. "That was the rest of your family not you." Harry told him as he looked to Ron for some form of back up.
"Er...yeah I suppose you were kind enough to share those sweets with us on the train..." Ron added. "And you offered me a Ptomely so I guess you're alright."
Y/n just looked at Harry and Ron now and for the first time since the sorting he was beginning to feel better.
"You're not still on about those missing cards are you Ron?" One of the twins joked.
"Shut up.." Ron just frowned.
"I'm Fred." One of the twins introduced themselves to Y/n now.
"I'm George." Said the other.
"I saw you two back at Kings Cross pretending to be each other to prank your mother." Y/n said to them.
"We're always doing that." Fred said.
"Mother still falls for it every time." George added.
"I can see why..." Y/n couldn't help but say but it seemed to amuse the twins.
"If you liked that one then you'll like our pranks on old Filch."
"Sometimes we even prank Mrs Norris."
Y/n was not sure who either of these people were but he could tell he did not want to be on the receiving end of one of the twins pranks.
"I heard old Grindelwald had a scary eye." Ron asked Y/n getting his attention. "Is it true?"
"Yes it is true." Y/n nodded. "I have never met him as he is locked up in his tower, but we have seen photographs. My brother Atticus and I inherited the trait from him." Y/n explained as he moved some of his hair to the side to reveal the eye covered by it did not match his other brown pupil but was in fact a silvery white.
"Woah...Wicked." Ron said in both shock and awe.
"Speaking of eye's..." Percy interrupted. "I shall be keeping mine on you."
Y/n didn't argue with Percy simply understanding his feelings of wariness.
The group returned to eating now and after Harry's encouragement Y/n began to eat some desert to make up for the lack of food he had eaten earlier.
Harry could see Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons now as he overheard some of their conversation.
"I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult..." Hermione rambled.
"You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing." Percy informed her.
Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.
It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.
"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.
"Are you okay Harry?" Y/n asked noticing.
"What is it?" asked Percy who had also noticed.
"N-nothing. Harry told them. The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look, a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.
"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.
"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to . Everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."
Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.
At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.
"Ahem... just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you." Dumbledore began as all the students watched him. "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.
"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.
"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.
"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 laughed, but he was one of the few who did.
"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.
"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere... the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."
Y/n got the feeling Percy did not like not knowing things before anyone else.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.
Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.
"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
Y/n watched perplexed as the rest of the school bellowed.
♫ Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald, or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot, just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot. ♫
Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.
"Ah, music." he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.
A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.
"Peeves." Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist. " He raised his voice, "Peeves...show yourself."
A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered and Y/n an a few other first year students giggled.
"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?" Percy asked.
There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks. "Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!" He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.
"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.
Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.
"Are you alright?" Y/n asked Neville who starred at him wide eyed for a moment.
"Uh...Yes." Neville stammered a little scared at Y/n.
"You want to watch out for Peeves." said Percy now, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" she asked.
"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.
Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase, they were obviously in one of the towers. They found their beds at last: six four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.
"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to both Y/n and Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."
Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once.
Y/n lay on his new bed that night replaying the events of the day in his mind as he remembered everyone's reactions to his family name. He felt discomfort and knew that he was most likely in for a hard time. But if he could make friends like he had done with Ron and Harry he knew he could do it. He stroked Noctis's head one last time for the night as she nuzzled into his leg before his own eyes slowly began to close.
"There, look."
"Where?"
"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."
"Wearing the glasses?"
"Did you see his eye?"
"Did you see his scar?"
Whispers followed Y/n and Harry from the moment the two left the dormitory the next day. People were lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at them, or doubled back to pass them in the corridors again, staring. Harry wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to classes.
There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts, wide, sweeping ones, narrow, rickety ones, some that led somewhere different on a Friday, some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Harry was sure the coats of armor could walk.
The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose, and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"
Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch. Harry, Y/n and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning. Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.
Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick.
And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.
They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for. Y/n was not a fan of this subject much at all and agreed with Ron's grumblings about it.
Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.
Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.
Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile.
McGonagall had looked over's Y/n's match which had turned silver but remained in it's original shape. As she examined it she assured him that he he was on the right path and just needed some more practice before he would be able to get it.
The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but Y/n wasn't so sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.
Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Y/n and Ron didn't have much of a head start.
Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.
"What have we got today?" Harry asked as he sat down next to Y/n.
"Double Potions with the Slytherins." said Y/n who was in the middle of his breakfast. He had arrived at the great hall for breakfast fifteen minutes before Harry and Ron.
"Snape's Head of Slytherin House." Ron started. "They say he always favors them...we'll be able to see if it's true."
"Wish McGonagall favored us." said Harry as he poured sugar on his porridge. Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.
Just then, the mail arrived. Harry had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.
Both Ron and Y/n had both received letter from home but Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far. She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls. This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl.
'Dear Harry, I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig. Hagrid.'
Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled a Yes, please, see you later on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.
It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.
At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry... he hated him.
Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, Yes." he said softly. "Harry Potter and the Grindelwalds.... Our new... celebrities." Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death...if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
'Powdered root of what to an infusion of what?' Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was. Hermione's hand had shot into the air.
"I don't know, sir." said Harry now.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, were sat shaking with quiet laughter.
"Tut, tut... fame clearly isn't everything." Snape commented as he ignored Hermione's hand.
"Let's try again. Grindelwald, Y/n." He suddenly called upon Y/n. "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"A bezoar is a taken from the stomach of a goat sir." Y/n answered.
Snape's brow raised ever so slightly. "It would seem that... one... of you is at least capable of reading a text book."
Snape turned his attention back to Harry now.
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes. He had looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did Snape expect him to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape asked next.
At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.
"I don't know." said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try asking her?"
A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased.
"Sit down." he snapped at Hermione. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."
"Didn't even give you a point for getting the answer right, what a git." Ron whispered to Y/n and Harry who were copying down Snape's words.
Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils.
Harry and Ron were working together, as were Seamus and Neville. Atticus had paired up with Malfoy while Y/n was working quietly with Hermione Granger who muttered the steps to her self.
None of the other students had wanted to pair with either of them so the two formed a silent partnership. Y/n did not mind Hermione's muttering as she walked though every step they took and asked him for the required ingredients. Y/n would just nod and add them as asked and soon their potion was bubbling away nicely.
Snape swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.
"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.
"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.
"You Potter...." He called out and Y/n looked to his side at Harry.
"Why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor." Snape said.
Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.
"Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty."
As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week, why did Snape hate him so much?
"Cheer up." said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George at least you didn't have to work with Neville or Hermione like Y/n did. She's mental that one." Ron commented.
"She was not that bad Ron. "Y/n started. "She is just a bit...dedicated to her school work."
"Meaning she's a know it all..." Ron rolled his eyes. "Hey can we come and meet Hagrid with you?" Ron then asked Harry who nodded.
At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.
When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang back."
Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.
"Hang on." he said. "Back, Fang."
He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.
There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.
"Make yerselves at home." said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.
"This is Ron." Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.
"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest." He let out a laugh.
"And this is Y/n." Harry finished introducing the two.
"I member, One of em Grindelwald twins." Hagrid nodded his head.
"Do you want me to leave sir?" Y/n asked looking down at his feet awkwardly.
"Go?" Hagrid asked and he turned to look at the boy. Hagrid's face softened and he smiled a little. "No, No ye can stay." Hagrid said surprising the boy. "Not ight to judge a fella just cuz of his family and any friend of Arry is a friend of mine." Hagrid gave his reasons.
Y/n smiled already understanding why Harry liked this half giant now.
The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry, Y/n and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons. Fang rested his head on Y/n's knee and drooled all over his robes as the boy stroked his head.
Harry and Ron were delighted when they heard Hagrid call Filch "that old git."
"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her, Filch puts her up to it."
Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid however like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.
"But he seemed to really hate me." Harry continued.
"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?" Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.
"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot, great with animals."
Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose. While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Y/n picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet. Harry turned his head to look at it as well.
GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.
Harry remembered Ron telling him and Y/n on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.
"Hagrid!" said Harry taking a hold of the cutting now. "That Gringotts break-in happened on they day we were in Diagon Alley! It might've been happening while we were there!"
There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time. He grunted and offered him another rock cake.
Curious Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?
As Harry, Y/n and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed were down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse.
Y/n had liked meeting Hagrid and quickly thought of him as the gentle giant type. He had talked about the animals in the forest that he looked after and Y/n could tell her had a deep respect and care for them.
Harry meanwhile was thinking that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?