AN- No one will really read this so I might as well get on with the writing of the story huh?
H/H FOREVER!
Bye!
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When Ron and Harry got off the train, they found themselves, not an old castle as expected, but at the edge of a sheltered bay on a small lake.
All around them the other first years were milling around, not knowing where they were supposed to go.
' C'mon Harry! This way!' Ron said as he pulled on Harry's arm. ' Percy told me that first years get to ride to the castle on boats instead of going in the carriages with all the other years.'
Sure enough there was a fleet of boats waiting for them at the waters edge, and with the boats was Hagrid.
' Oi! Firs' years over here!' Hagrid was bellowing. ' All righ' there Harry?' he asked when he caught sight of Harry and Ron.
Harry smiled and waved as he climbed into a boat after Ron. Most of the other first years were in the boats, four students to each, but Harry saw Hermione and Neville just coming off the platform where the train was. They apparently hadn't found Trevor the toad yet as Neville looked about ready to cry. Seeing most of the other boats already full and Hermione looking worried, Harry stood up in Ron and his boat and waved them over.
Ron grabbed Harry's robes.
' What're ya doing?' he hissed after Harry sat back down. ' I don't want to sit with that bossy know-it-all!'
' Relax, I was waving to Neville. I felt sorry for the guy. I guess Hermione has attached herself to him though...' Harry said. Again, he wasn't EXACTLY lying. Ha HAD been waving to Neville along with Hermione, and Hermione DID seem to have decided that Neville couldn't get along without her. Which Harry had to admit to himself, Neville probably couldn't.
Neville was rather shy, but thanked Harry and Ron profusely for letting him ride with them. He seemed so nervous and overly grateful that Ron started blushing and telling him it was really not a problem and forgot to glare at Hermione when Harry helped her into the boat.
' Thanks, Harry.' Hermione said, looking down away from his eyes as he gave her a hand into the boat.
' No problem.' Harry answered. There had been an odd sort of feeling in his stomach when Hermione had taken his hand. It had left him feeling breathless and weak, almost like when Dudley punched him in the gut, except that it wasn't a really BAD feeling. Harry thought with a groan, that he must be getting sick. (AN- Of course Harry wouldn't think he might like Hermione, he hardly knows the meaning of "affection". He's never really experienced it...)
' Everyone ready? All righ' then, FORWARD!' yelled Hagrid, once he saw that everyone was in a boat and settled.
The boats all started off from the shore at once, and headed towards the open lake. Once they were clear of the bay they got their first look at Hogwarts.
It seemed to Harry, that it had been pulled straight out of his dreams. The castle stood proudly atop a cliff that dropped away into the lake, which was surrounded on all sides by thick forests. It was a stunning and inspiring sight.
The walls of the castle were taller than most houses Harry had seen and were made of huge blocks of some unknown grey stone. The towers seemed to be rising up into the sky as though they belonged in the clouds more than they belonged on the ground. They were made of pure white stone that seemed to have been carved from the mountain itself, as there were no seams or cracks to show where bricks might have been laid. At the back of the beautiful castle was a large turret made much like the other towers except that it was shorter, wider and made of a black material that looked at though it was a smooth as glass but as opaque as a rock. Harry's eyes seemed to slide around the tower as if the tower were pushing his attention away, much like the leaky cauldron had until Hagrid took Harry inside.
All of the students looked as impressed as Harry, except Neville, who happened to be crouching in the bottom of the boat fighting off a wave of seasickness. When he looked up for a moment and caught sight of the castle though, he forgot about his stomach and was lost in the beauty of the scene.
As the boats came closer to the castle the cliff blocked their view of it and broke the spell over the first years and people returned to talking and giggling nervously. Here and there though, a face or two kept the look of wonder.
As they continued to approach the cliff Harry started wondering whether something had gone wrong. There wasn't anywhere to get out of the boats and they were still headed right for the cliff. He was about to call this to Ron's attention when he realized that a large part of the bottom of the cliff was covered in vines. By itself, this wasn't so unusual, but Harry noticed that only one part was COMPLETELY covered, and they seemed to be headed right for it. Remembering what Hagrid had told him, about things never being what they seemed when magic was involved, Harry decided that the vines must have been grown there to hide an entrance.
Sure enough, when they were coming right up to the cliff, Hagrid called out for everyone to duck down low and the vines parted as if they were being pulled aside by some invisible hand, revealing a passage through the cliff.
From his crouching position in the bottom of the boat, beside Ron, Harry looked over to see how Hagrid was going to get through.
Even with Hagrid crouched down it was obvious that he wouldn't fit under the low archway. Only when Hagrid's boat went under the wall, Hagrid's head didn't even brush the ceiling. It was as though the ceiling had stretched up for Hagrid, or maybe Hagrid had shrunk to fit. It looked as if nothing had changed but the fact remained that the roof was only about a foot above Harry's head, which meant that Hagrid's should have been scraping the ceiling.
Once again Harry reminded himself that nothing was ever what it seemed.
Inside the tunnel the students' voices echoed back and forth creating eerie whispering sounds. Eventually everyone fell silent as they continued on. When it seemed that they must be just past the outside castle walls above the boats emerged into an open cavern with a rocky sort of beach. It was an underground harbour for the boats.
All at once the first years started talking again and calling out to their friends on other boats as they climbed out onto the stones and pebbles.
Hagrid bent down to pick something out of a boat he was inspecting.
' Oi there! This your toad?' Hagrid called out to Neville, who whipped around with wide eyes filled with hope then relief.
' Ahhh, Trevor!' he sighed as Hagrid handed the toad back to him.
' This way everyone!' Hagrid instructed, winking at Harry with a twinkle in his eyes.
He led them up a passage in the rack wall. It was a long way up, made longer by everybody's nervous anticipation.
It was especially hard for Harry, who had grown to hate small places after so many years sleeping in an increasingly cramped hall closet. He wasn't claustrophobic exactly, but the press of students in front and behind him, along with the narrowness of the passage made Harry feel frustrated. Like he needed to stretch his arms and legs out as far as he could, or run as fast as he could. When Harry judged that they were about halfway to the top of the cliff it started to get to him. Harry started to meditate, doing the breathing exercises he had been taught. Almost right away Harry felt better. As though a fresh cool breeze had reached him down in the dim rock passageway.
Harry continued to meditate the rest of the way and it felt as if they reached the top in no time and he was coming out into a grassy courtyard inside the castle walls.
Hagrid led them up a flight of stairs to crowd around the huge, oak front door.
' Everyone here then?' he asked turning to face them all.
' No, I'm not!' called someone hidden in the back of the group.
' Heh heh.' Hagrid chuckled, then turned to Neville. ' Still got yer toad? ... Good then.'
Then Hagrid turned back to the door and raised a giant fist to knock on it three times and it swung open on it's own. In front of the students stood a tall, black haired, stern looking witch. Harry thought at once that this was not someone to make cross.
' Here are the firs' years, Professor McGonagall.'
' Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here.'
With a quick glance over the students and a " Follow me." she turned and led them through the entrance hall, which could have easily fit the Dursleys' house, to an empty chamber to the right of a door through which Harry could hear the voices of the other students.
' Welcome to Hogwarts.' said Professor McGonagall. She had a sort of clipped way of talking, and sounded very strict. ' The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you can sit down for your meal you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is very important, as, while you are here at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family within this school. You will have classes with the rest of your house and you will sleep in your house dormitory.
' The four houses are Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has it's own noble history and has produced many great witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your accomplishments will earn your house points and any rule breaking will lose your house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. It is a great honour so I hope you are each a credit to your house.
' The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school so I suggest that you try to smarten yourselves up as best you can while you are waiting.'
She looked for a moment at Neville franticly brushing at dirt on his robes that wasn't there, at Ron self-consciously rubbing his nose where there was still a smudge of dirt and at Harry, who was nervously trying to flatten his hair, to no effect.
' I will return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly.' then the professor turned and left.
Harry swallowed nervously. ' Ummmmmm... How, exactly, do they sort us Ron?'
' Some sort of test I think. Fred told me it hurt a lot, but then... well it WAS Fred so he was probably trying to scare me.' Ron answered.
Harry's heart jumped. A TEST? He hadn't expected anything like this on the first day! He knew a lot of the THEORY for the spells in his books but he hadn't dared to try anything yet!
Hermione didn't seem too worried though. She was whispering excitedly to anyone that would listen about how she had read all the books and wondered which spell she would need. From the looks on most other people's faces though Harry didn't think he was the only one that didn't know any REAL spells yet.
Harry started getting nervous again despite the realization that he wasn't the only one that didn't know any spells, so he started meditating once again. He imagined himself as a pond. The surface of the pond was rough but as Harry started to calm down so did the water. When the pond in his mind was completely calm Harry imagined it becoming frozen solid, so that he would be able to keep his mind calm and so that nothing would affect his emotions. As this mind set slipped into place Harry's face became blank and emotionless. He looked around and felt as tough he was detached from everything that was going on.
When Ron started talking to him about what the test might be Harry answered without thinking about it too much and felt as if he were listening to someone else with his voice carrying on the conversation.
And then it was time. Prof. McGonagall came back into the chamber and led them back out into the hall.
' Everyone get into a single file line and follow me up to the front of the Great Hall. You will then line up against the front wall and face the house tables.'
(AN- I was going to end it here and finally post it... but there's now a virus on my computer and I can't connect to the Internet to post it. So I figured that I'd keep writing, when I have the time, until I could post it at school or get my computer fixed. Once again I apologize for the lack of posts in the last few months.)
' Everyone get into a single file line and follow me up to the front of the Great Hall. You will then line up against the front wall and face the house tables.'
At that she turned around and opened the door and Harry and Ron got their first view of the Great Hall.
At first all Harry could do was wonder why they had never finished building the Great Hall. It didn't even have a ROOF! He almost stopped following Ron. Then he realized that the ceiling was actually there but had an illusion over it, like the tunnel in the cliff, to make it look like the outside sky. Or at least Harry figured that was the only reason for them not having a roof over something called the "Great Hall".
He would have asked Ron but everyone was being quiet and Harry would have been too embarrassed to break the silence just to ask Ron about something that he didn't NEED to know. Harry noticed that Ron wasn't nearly as impressed with the hall as most of the other students. But then, Harry thought, he has a lot more people to be nervous about living up to and to letting down if he isn't in Gryffindor. I guess I'm lucky not to have anyone to let down.
Once they were all lined up at the front of the hall Prof. McGonagall brought out her wand and tapped it on a worn looking hat, with a rip in it's brim, that was sitting on a stool in front of the first years. She then went to the head table with the rest of the staff and stood behind her chair.
Harry's attention was suddenly brought back to the hat as it started to move on it's own. As Harry watched the hat started to sing, and as it did Harry felt his mind slipping from his meditation and he was forced to focus on the frozen pond again. Unfortunately he didn't feel quite as detached as he had before.
(Insert song here)
The hall erupted in applause as the hat finished it's song and fell silent once more. The hat was looking much less worn than it had before, as though the applause and attention were giving it vitality.
Prof. McGonagall then motioned for silence and got it almost at once. She pulled a piece of parchment out of her robes.
As she unfolded the parchment, she said ' As I call your names you will go up one by one to put on the sorting hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!'
She said this all in one tone so that "Abbott, Hannah." took a moment before realizing that her name had been called.
She went up shaking visibly and put on the hat then sat down. The hall was silent for about twenty seconds before, ' HUFFLEPUFF!!!', the sorting hat shouted out.
The third table to the right cheered wildly as Hannah took off the hat, set it down on the stool and ran smiling to sit at her new house table.
After the first student had been sorted things went very smoothly, most people having to wait between ten and thirty seconds to be sorted.
' Granger, Hermione!' (AN- How is it pronounced? Is it HER-MY-OWN? I'd like to know if someone could tell me in his or her review!)
Hermione walked up to the hat without her confidant "I-know-what-I-need-to-aren't-I-special" look, put on the hat and sat down.
After thirty seconds passed and the hat still hadn't said anything some of the students at the tables started to whisper and Hermione's cheeks became flushed. Hermione sat there for almost a full minute before the hat finally called out "GRYFFINDOR!!!"
The cheers from the Gryffindors, as Hermione scurried over to the table with her head down, weren't as loud as they had been for the other new Gryffindors.
More students were called until "Longbottom, Neville!"
As Harry watched Neville walk to the hat, he half expected Neville to trip over his own two feet, he was shaking so bad. He made it to the stool and put on the hat without any accidents though, and as he sat on the stool his hands stopped twitching nervously and lay on his lap, his shoulders relaxed and his head came up. When the hat yelled "Gryffindor!" Neville just smiled widely and calmly walked over to the table.
Harry turned to Ron and raised his eyebrows, wanting to know if Ron had noticed that Neville hadn't seemed like Neville for a moment. Ron just shrugged but Harry could see that Ron had noticed the difference also.
Then came "Malfoy, Draco!"
When Malfoy got up to the stool and pulled on the hat it yelled "SLYTHERIN!" before Malfoy even had a chance to sit down. The cheers from the Slytherin table were wild as Malfoy walked over, but they had to be in order to be heard over the Boo!'s from the Gryffindor table, which earned a stern glare from Prof. McGonagall.
As the number of students still standing shrank, Harry concentrated on keeping his mind calm and detached. He was working so hard at it that when Prof. McGonagall called "Potter, Harry!" he wasn't even nervous anymore. It felt to Harry, that whatever happened would be happening to a different person and he needn't worry about it.
Harry could hear people whispering things like " Is it REALLY him?" and " Oh my GOSH! He looks SOO much better than I thought he would." The latter comming from some girls named Patil or something (and the Weasley twins!). He ignored the whispers as he walked to the hat and sat down with it on his head, but the image of the pond, frozen in his mind, was starting to crack.
And then, all of the sudden, the whispers stopped. All the noise stopped in fact and all Harry could hear was his own breathing and his own heart beat.
' Hmmmmmm... Well now this IS odd.' said a small voice in Harry's ear.
It had been so unexpected that Harry almost flinched when he heard it. Of course, he thought, this must be the Sorting Hat!
' Yes I am the sorting hat, but then you knew that when you put me on didn't you? I had intended to look into your heart and mind to tell which house you belong in, as I do with all new students, but... well I'm embarrassed to say, that for the first time since my creation, I cannot. Would you happen to know why Mr. Potter?'
Harry was getting nervous now. He was having a hard time keeping his mind in the calm meditative state.
I have no idea; Harry thought hoping that the hat could still hear his thoughts. You mean there's nothing in my mind at all?
' No, no, no...' the hat assured Harry. ' ...nothing like that. I just can't seem to find anything at all... Oh wait a moment. HERE'S something. Hmmmm. You wouldn't happen to be in a trance of some sort would you? Oh no of course you wouldn't you don't learn that until seventh year... but then why are your mind and heart locked up like this?'
Umm... Oops?
' I beg your pardon?'
Harry let his training in meditation slip and no longer felt detached, but rather he felt quite nervous indeed.
I think that maybe it was locked up like that, because I had been meditating before I put you on, Harry told the hat.
' Mmmmhmmmmmm. I see now. Yes that was the problem. At your age though? Not good to do that too often during this stage of your emotional growth... Ahh well, boys WILL be boys! Now, lets see. Difficult. Very difficult. You've got talent. Oh my yes, tons of it... A sharp mind and thirst for knowledge... Oh and an ambition to be independent, curious that... Ahhh and PLENTY of courage. Now what will it be? You've got talent and loyalty for Hufflepuff, intelligence enough for Ravenclaw, Slytherin would be good for you with that ambition, hmm, and there's bravery and power for Gryffindor. Very difficult... but I guess it had better be GRYFFINDOR!'
The last word Harry could tell had been shouted to the whole hall. The cheers were enough to shake dust loose from the ceiling and the only house not to cheer was Slytherin, and even then it was only because they made it a point never to cheer a Gryffindor.
Unfortunately Harry was not as calm as he had been before wearing the hat and he could feel his face start to turn red as he walked to a spot the Weasley twins had obviously been holding for him as they chanted " We got POTTER! We got POTTER!"
To Harry's dismay the seat was right beside Hermione. He didn't know why he had been nice to her before, but he hadn't known her very well at all and wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt; however, he had come to think that maybe Ron had been right. From the way he had heard her talking to other students, in the chamber they had been waiting in, Harry didn't think that she was really as nice a person as Harry had hoped she would be. He wanted Ron to sit with him and he KNEW that Ron wouldn't want to sit near Hermione. Also, Harry didn't want to have to pretend to be polite while listening to her condescending tone of voice all dinner long.
However, when the cheering had died down (Prof. McGonagall had finally had to let out a loud BANG! from her wand to get the students under control again), Harry sat down to watch the rest of the sorting. He saw that Hermione's head was resting on her fore arms, and though she wasn't going to start to cry she didn't look too eager to talk to anyone either.
Then, finally, "Weasley, Ronald!"
Ron sat on the stool for almost thirty seconds before the hat finally put him in Gryffindor.
Ron's smile when he came to sit beside Harry, with a short glare at Hermione, was so wide he was in danger of splitting his head in two. Fred and George slapped him on the back congratulating him; Ron didn't notice the sign they put on his back, but Harry did and pulled it off, crumpled it and tossed it away.
' Well done, Ron!' Percy said pompously from across the table.
Finally " Zabini, Blaise!" was put in Slytherin and the sorting was over. Someone at the Staff table stood up as McGonagall carried the sorting hat away, and Harry immediately recognized him as Albus Dumbledore; Ron had told Harry all about him on the train ride to Hogwarts.
' Welcome!' He said, his voice sounding much louder than it should have even though he was talking in a normal voice. ' Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts.' He paused to let the short applause die down. ' Before we begin our feast, I'd like to say a few words. And they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!' and with that he sat down again.
Everyone cheered and applauded, not least the Slytherins, but Harry was just confused.
Turning to Ron he asked ' Is he- a bit mad?'
' Mad? He's a genius! He's the best wizard in the world! But yes, he IS a bit mad.' Ron exclaimed, before turning to his plate.
' Potatoes Harry?' Percy asked.
Harry looked down at the golden plates that had been bare just moments before. They were now full of all the best food Harry had ever seen. It would almost have been too much for Harry a few weeks ago before Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, had made it his mission to "...get some meat on ya ta cover up those bones!"
Harry hadn't realized just how hungry he was. He took as much food as his plate could hold and dug in. He had seconds and thirds of almost everything. Eventually Ron and him started a contest, between the two of them, to see who could eat more. The twins volunteered to be judges.
Both Harry and Ron were eating so much that the other Gryffindors started putting bets on who would win. Even Neville got in on it, betting ten sickles that Ron would eat most.
All through dinner all Hermione did was push food around her plate and glare at anyone that tried to talk to her, but Harry thought he saw her slip some money to George who was taking the money for bets on Harry.
In the end Ron ate two pieces of pie and half a chocolate frog more than Harry. By the time that the money had been given out, the rest of the hall had finished eating and everyone was chatting, the older students explaining life at Hogwarts to the new.
Harry had noticed that there was at least one ghost at each table. ' Hey, Ron? What's with the ghosts?' he asked.
' Hmmm?' Ron looked around to the ghost at the Gryffindor table. ' Oh, my brothers told me about them. There's a ghost for each house. That's the Friar at the Hufflepuff table, that one at the Ravenclaw table with the spectacles is the head ghost for Ravenclaw.' he said pointing at a ghost that looked quite a bit like Mr. Ollivander. ' That one over there, by the "slimy git", is the bloody baron, and NO I DON'T know how he got that blood on him, he's the head ghost for Slytherin. And last, but not least, here comes Nearly Headless Nick!' Ron finished grinning as a ghost in a ruff and tights sat down across from them.
The ghost sighed (though Harry wasn't sure HOW) ' I really wish you wouldn't call me that! My name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington and-'
' NEARLY headless? How's that even possible?' a boy named Seamus Finnigan interrupted.
' Like this!' Nick said with a sigh as he pulled on his left ear and his whole head fell over onto his shoulder.
He quickly put his head back on straight as the demonstration had sent the two Patil girls into hysterics.
Trying to change the topic quickly Nick asked ' So, new Gryffindors? I hope you'll work hard and win our house many points! We've never gone this long without winning the house cup before. The Slytherins have had it six years in a row now and the Bloody Baron has become almost unbearable!'
As the other students continued with this conversation Harry studied the Professors at the staff table. An extremely short wizard with a high pitched voice was having a chugging contest with Hagrid (and WINNING!) and Prof. McGonagall was talking to Dumbledore. There was Prof. Quirrell talking to a man with a long hawkish nose and black greasy hair. As Quirrell turned his back to Harry in order to watch the conclusion of the chugging contest the man with the greasy hair turned and stared at Harry. As their eyes met, Harry felt a sudden searing pain in his scar. Harry might have screamed in pain, but the pain caused all of his muscles to contract at once keeping him from making any sound at all. As the pain continued Harry's back began to arch, then, as suddenly as it started and for as much reason, the pain stopped, leaving Harry looking rather silly and breathing hard.
' Ummm... not that it's any of my business, but what are you doing?' Ron asked, giving Harry an odd look.
' I uh- was just stretching. I'm getting kind of tierd.' Again Harry wasn't lying. His muscles had been stretched and Harry was EXHAUSTED!
Just then, Dumbledore stood up again and the hall fell silent without him having said a word or made a single jesture.
' I have a few reminders and notices to make now that we are all fed and watered. One: To all first years- and a few older students- the "Forbidden" forest IS indeed forbidden, hence the name.' he said, eyes twinkling merrily. ' Two: Although magic is allowed in the corridors between classes, it is not encouraged. Three: Quidditch trials will be held on the second week of term this year due to problems with some trees that decided to move to the centre of the feild during summer vacation. And last of all: The third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone that doesn't wish to die a very painful death.'
At the last remark several students laughed uncertainly but most looked serious and hushed the few that did laugh. Harry on the other hand didn't take the warning TOO seriously. After all he heard that kind of thing at least once a day with the Dursley's. (AN- They really DO treat him like Dobby don't they? >:-( )
' And now...' said Dumbledore with his twinkle back in his eyes. ' ...we sing the school song before heading off to bed. Everybody pick you favourite tune!' Then he flicked his wand, as if it were wet and he was trying to dry it off, and a long golden ribben came out the end of it and twisted itself into the words of the song.
'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.'
The song finished with Fred and George singing to the tune of a funeral march.
' And now to bed. Off you all go!' Dumbledore said.
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AN- La la la! Please review with any advice or suggestions you might have!
H/H FOREVER!
Bye!