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Harry Potter and the Wanderer by The Shadows
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Harry Potter and the Wanderer

The Shadows

Chapter Six: The Hogwart's Express

Harry apparently slept in the next morning, as the first thing he noticed when he opened his eye fact that a lot of people were moving about in the hall and downstairs. As he slowly got dressed, he realized that it sounded like a few people were planning on going out for the day.

The last thing he did before pulling on his robes again - he felt more comfortable wearing them suddenly, rather than just normal clothes - was to check his bracelet, to make sure it hadn't fallen off in the night. As he expected, he found it snugly attached to his wrist still. He fingered it for a moment, wondering briefly what had gotten into him last night, and then let the sleeves of his robes fall down to cover it.

He found Mrs. Weasley, Luna, and Hermione in the kitchen eating lunch. "Sleep well, Harry?" Molly asked him when she heard him drag a chair out from the table. Luna and Hermione looked to him quickly, as though they hadn't noticed his arrival.

"Yeah... thanks," he said with a grin. "Didn't think I was that tired, but I guess yesterday was a long day. Fun, but long."

"Anything you'd want to have done differently?" Hermione asked him, not meeting his eye.

He shrugged. "Not really," he replied, propping his head up in one hand. This action allowed her to see that he was wearing her bracelet, but it didn't exactly reveal that fact to the world. "It was good. It's just the rest of life that's all buggered up." He sighed as he set his head down on the table. "Yesterday was a dream."

"Dreams are meant to be shared, Harry," Luna said with a grin to him. "Dreams and wishes built the world, remember? Not fears or worries... dreams and wishes." She seemed to be talking more to herself than anyone else in the end, and Harry tuned her out as he looked at the table.

No answers had come to him in the little bit of sleep that he had managed to obtain. Hermione looked dead tired, too, and he closed his eyes slowly. He was responsible for that, too. Two kisses shared, and already she was suffering.

He didn't say another word at the table, and when he finished lunch, he retired to the living room and sat next to the fireplace with one of his new books, the one Lupin had given him. He looked up once or twice when a few people called to him - it was especially difficult to ignore Ron's suggestion of flying practice - but he had come to a realization. It was really something that he had discovered partway through last year after Umbridge had taken away his Quidditch and his best class.

If he poured everything he had into the DA, he could forget most of his troubles. Most of his worries. Most of his fears. He knew that Rozan had tried to enforce upon him a sense that he had to keep alert and not let things get to him, but it wasn't as easy as the time wolf had made it sound. The more he thought about the end of his birthday, the more confused he got, so he did the only thing he could think of.

He planned. After the first couple of days of flipping through books and preparing charts and writing in his lesson planner, almost everyone in the house - his house, he corrected in his own mind - was leaving him alone when he had the books out. They knew how serious it was to him, and how he needed to be alone with his thoughts to prepare.

Of course, the fact that Hermione had taken up the other seat by the fireplace to read didn't always help things. He had caught her simply looking at him once and a while - not to mention catching himself looking at her - but for the most part she either sat and read, or she actually helped him - just like he knew she could. He was glad for that help, but it usually only lasted a few minutes at a time before he would remind himself why he was putting so much into the DA and withdraw again to the books.

There were a few days here and there where he would take a break and go flying with Ron and Ginny, and occasionally Fred and George as well. Whenever he came back from that, he would always find his defense book open to a different page and a few quick scribbles added to his lesson planner.

Hermione's smile was what always drove him out, because it made him want to stay.

Several Sundays later, Harry finally managed to get all his books, clothes, and belongings that he was taking with him into his trunk, although he had to get help from Ron and Lupin to get it to close.

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day," Harry said slowly as he took a seat at the table between Hermione and Ron.

"Mat uay?" Ron asked with his mouth full, earning himself reproving glares from several people in the room. Harry, being used to it, understood completely.

"The day I would consider anywhere but Hogwart's to be home," he said, looking around the kitchen. "That, or the day that I studied for hours on end - I think I beat a few of Hermione's records from last year," he said with a grin to her.

Both his friends chuckled about that, but then Hermione snapped forward and grabbed at his arm. "Harry! Oh, Harry, I figured it out! How could I have been so blind? The answer's been right in front of us this whole time..."

"What answer?" Harry asked cautiously, noticing that everyone in the kitchen seemed to have frozen and were watching their interaction.

"They attacked you because you couldn't call that place your home!" she breathed, giving him a light squeeze. He could feel in one part of his mind the fact that her hand was wrapped around the bracelet he was wearing under his robes, but most of his mind was paying attention to her. "That was part of the charm, remember?"

"What charm?" Harry asked, confused.

"Honestly, don't you pay attention to anything?" Hermione asked, shaking her head, but not letting go anyway. "The charm that protected you at the Dursley's. It was activated by the blood relations, but part of the spell said that you had to return there once a year, and call the place home! It wasn't your home, though. You said it yourself - you considered Hogwart's to be your home."

"I do wish that we were in class right now, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said from the doorway, startling them as they hadn't noticed her appearance. "Because I believe that would have been worth fifty points to Gryffindor! I will have to tell Albus once I get a chance, but for now, we must get moving . The Hogwart's Express is leaving soon, remember?"

Hermione blushed a little at the compliment and, after giving Harry's arm an extra squeeze, she released him and stood from the table. "Let's get going, then," she suggested, looking around the room to the other students there. Aside from Harry and Ron, both Ginny and Luna were there as well.

It was no simple matter to organize everything so quickly, but somehow the group managed it and made it onto the train in time. Once finding an empty compartment, the group of five slide in and sat down. Almost as soon as they had, though, Hermione leapt to her feet again.

"Come on, Ron, we have to go to the prefect's cabin, remember?" she said, pulling him to his feet. Obviously she hadn't really thought things through very well when they had entered the cabin, as she was on the inside and had to climb over Harry to get out. As he leaned back to give her more room, though, he noticed her hand deliberately entering one of the pockets of his robes, depositing a rolled up bit of parchment. Once she was standing, she looked meaningfully at him briefly before looking to the others as well. "We'll be back later, don't worry."

As the train shuddered into motion again, Ginny and Luna both sat forward. "So, Harry, what are you planning for the DA this year?" Ginny asked almost at once. "You've been working so hard at it, I'm sure it's something amazing, right?"

Harry didn't reply right away. His mind was on the parchment in his pocket. When he looked up to them and saw both their expectant faces, he groaned. "Sorry," he explained as he stood quickly. "I don't think lunch is agreeing with me. Be right back." he stopped at the door to the compartment and withdrew his gold sack and tossed it onto the table. "If the snack lady comes by, get me a bit of everything, and a couple of extra Chocolate Frogs for Ron. Hopefully I'll be feeling better by then..."

Ginny nodded, and he stepped out, relieved his ruse had worked. He should have known it would... it wasn't a far fetched lie or anything. He had gotten away with bolder half-truths before, after all. The help from Fred and George had taught him a great deal about it. This year was bound to be different without those two around.

He walked down several train cars, pausing briefly to speak with a couple of other students as he went. Ernie and Seamus were playing Exploding Snap in the middle of the aisle, while Michael Cormier and and a fourth year Ravenclaw that Harry didn't recognize seemed to be talking rather heatedly inside another one until he walked passed, at which point both said hello to him.

Once he finally made it to the loo, he closed the door swiftly and locked it behind him. He then sat down a little unsteadily on the chair in the room - he had never really understood why it was there until then - and pulled the note out of his pocket.

"Harry,
I know the risks. Trust me. But I don't care. You should know that by now. I ignored the risks just to stick with you before. And I know that they are even higher now. But I still want to try to be with you, if you'll let me. I know what the bracelet means, you explained it to me. You are promising to keep me safe. Just please remember that it is part of the three vows. You don't have to keep me safe from yourself.
If you don't want to see what we could have together, if anything, then I'll still be your friend. I can't promise you anything about the future, you know how I feel about Divination, after all, but I can promise you that I will be there to help you, whether you want it or not. If you don't want to try at anything more than what we have right now, though, I'll understand - just destroy this note and we'll pretend I never wrote it.
With love,
Hermione."

Harry folded the note up carefully and tucked it back into his robes. He was crying, even if he wasn't man enough to admit it. He simply sat there on the chair and let the tears roll down his cheeks for a few minutes until a lurch in the train reminded him of where he was. Quickly, he stood up and washed his face with a touch of cold water.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and started back down the corridor for his compartment. He returned to find the two prefects back from their duties already, and a large pile of sweets sitting on the table.

"Hope you don't mind that we ordered a little extra," Ron said as he ripped open a Chocolate Frog and bit it's head off almost savagely to prevent its escape.

"I'm always telling you that it's my treat, but you usually refuse. Guess I figured out how to convince you, eh? Just leave!" Harry said with a grin as he pushed Ron over and took a seat next to him. Hermione was in the middle of a pastry cream, and licked her fingers before looking to him.

"Feeling any better, Harry?" she asked. "Ginny and Luna told us you weren't feeling well, but we were about set to send out a search party anyway. You were gone for almost an hour."

Harry shrugged as he picked up a bag of lemon drops. "I got tied up saying hi to a few people."

"And you left me out... how touching..." Harry didn't have to turn around to know who the drawling voice belonged to. "And here I was beginning to think you cared."

Harry decided that he didn't really want to turn to talk to Malfoy right then, but an orange streak shot passed him, making him turn around quickly to find the Slytherin prefect being attacked by none other than Hermione's kneazle Crookshanks.

Harry stood up quickly and grabbed for the catlike creature, and was rewarded by claws up his arms. Not stopping anyway, he caught the animal by the waist and pulled him off his enemy. As soon as he was free, Malfoy had his wand levelled at Harry.

It was then that he noticed the two large students behind Malfoy - his drones, Crabbe and Goyle. Both also had their wands out. He didn't really have a chance, not with an angry cat in his arms.

He ducked to the side as two jets of light shot passed him and struck both Crabbe and Goyle, encasing them in giant bubbles until they fell to the floor. He turned in surprise, and Luna shrugged as she picked up the most recent edition of the Quibbler again. "Their smell was getting to me," she explained.

"Here, Hermione," Harry said as he leaned over to return Crookshanks to her owner. Once he had released the animal, he turned back to Malfoy.

"Thank god," Malfoy sneered. "And here I thought you were about to kiss that mudblood, too. That would have been far too much..."

A deafening bang echoed up and down the train car, and several compartment doors shot open to see what had happened. Harry was standing in the entrance to his cabin, his wand held unsteadily before him. Malfoy, on the other hand, had been smashed against the other side of the train, and was lying on the ground out cold.

Harry was fuming mad, and he barely registered the fact that there were people cheering for him. He stood there breathing heavily until he felt hands on his shoulders. That brought him back to reality somewhat, and made him question exactly what spell he had cast, but he didn't know. He turned, his eyes still narrowed in anger, and found both Ron and Hermione pulling him back inside.

"You'll probably get a detention for that one, mate," Ron muttered to him once he was sitting down. "But even if it was a week with Umbridge all over again, I'd say it had to be worth it, right?"

"If he calls her a mudblood one more time..." Harry replied angrily. He caught her brown eyes unexpectedly with his emerald ones, and that calmed him down suddenly more than he had thought possible. She looked a little worried, but mostly pleased. He shrugged. "I'm not standing for it. It's not right, and everyone knows it."

"What is a mudblood, Harry?"

Everyone turned quickly to the door again and found it had been opened without a sound. Standing just inside was a young girl who looked to be a first year. She had short blonde hair and green eyes, and was wearing a green tunic and brown slacks.

To everyone's surprise, Harry smiled and motioned her to have a seat with them. "Everyone, I think I told you all about Kailyn," he explained, looking around. "Well... here she is, I guess."

"Can I try to guess names?" she asked before he could continue.

Harry frowned in surprise, but shrugged. "Sure. I guess I told you a bit about everyone here at some point or another."

"You muttered in your sleep some, too," she said with a bit of a giggle. Turning, she looked first to Ginny. "Well, you are a Weasley, I guess, with hair like that. Given that you're a girl, that would make you Gin, right?"

"Uh... Ginny," Ginny corrected her with a glare at Harry.

"Sorry Ginny," Harry said quickly. "You never seemed to mind when we called you Gin, and it must have slipped my mind..."

"You're Luna," Kailyn continued before Harry could say anything else. "And you must be Ron with hair like that. That, and it looks like you are eating everything in sight."

Ron hit Harry in the arm, but was smiling anyway.

"So last but not least, you must be Hermione," Kailyn suggested, looking across the table to her. "And I'm guessing that is Crookshanks."

"Right on all counts," Hermione said with a grin. She then looked over to Harry. "You must have talked about us a lot for her to know us all already, but you barely said a thing about her."

"It's a gift I have," Kailyn explained. "I can recognize people I've never met. Makes things interesting sometimes, but few people have ever complained."

Harry, in the meantime, had waved aside Hermione's objection with his left hand, as his right was currently still gripping his wand in a deathlike state.

"So your grandfather's the new teacher this year?" Ginny asked the girl.

"Yeah," she said with a shrug. "But don't spread it around too much. I want to be me."

"You didn't answer her question, Harry," Luna pointed out as she set her magazine down. "Are you calm enough now to talk about it?"

Harry glared out the compartment door at the still body of Malfoy and his goons, and then shrugged, looking back to Hermione. "I made a promise," he said softly. He then looked back to Kailyn as though he hadn't said anything. "A mudblood is a really foul name for someone who doesn't come from a pure wizarding family," he explained. "One of the greatest insults you'll hear at the school. Only a couple of people are low enough to utter it."

"They..." Kailyn was suddenly looking a lot quieter and withdrawn than she had been a moment ago. The bubbling enthusiasm had died down into quiet fear. "They don't have names for half breeds, do they?"

"What, you're a half breed?" Ron asked at once. Luna kicked him under the table, and he stifled a curse, but didn't say anything else.

"I'm not all elf, that's for sure," Kailyn mumbled.

"You'll be fine," Harry reassured her. "You look human, and they won't know the difference anyway. Besides, from what I've seen of your grandfather so far, having a bit of elven blood should be a good thing. Mind you, I don't think blood matters much, myself."

"What do you mean, Harry? It kept you safe for years!" Hermione pointed out.

"I think what matters it your heart and mind," Harry replied. "Cause I don't care that you are from a non magical family, or that Ron is a pure blood. I'm sort of stuck in the middle, and I don't care."

"Thanks," Kailyn whispered. She then looked up. "So, did you like my present?"

"Uh..." Harry stumbled. He had told the others that it was elven candy. This could be a problem. "Actually, I did. Thank you very much, Kailyn. I'll be sure to..."

"Oh, Kailyn," Hermione interrupted suddenly leaning towards the younger girl. "We'll be approaching Hogwart's soon, so I think you should get changed before too much longer."

Kailyn leapt to her feet in an instant. "Right! I almost forgot completely... I hate those robes, though, too confining," she said, shaking her head. "Well, I'll see you around."

She was out the door without another word, and stepped both over and on Malfoy as though he wasn't even there as she left. The speed she was moving made it incredible how silently she moved, too. The door had shut before anyone had even realized it.

"Well, we should get changed, too," Ginny pointed out as she looked outside. "We are getting a little close, aren't we?"

"Right," Ron said, standing at once. "We'll leave to let you get changed," he said, clouting Harry on the arm when he didn't move.

"I'm not feeling too well again," Harry muttered as he set his head down on the table. This time, he wasn't lying. The realization of what he had done to Malfoy earlier was starting to sink in, and he didn't really want to be in trouble before the school year had even started.

"Then cover your head with your arms so your robes cover you, and don't move until we say you can, got it?" Hermione suggested. "If that's okay with you two, anyway..." she added, looking over to Ginny and Luna.

"I trust Harry," Luna said as though she were still reading from the closed magazine in front of her. "He won't look."

"Get out, Ron," Ginny said firmly to her brother.

"Gee, thanks," Ron muttered sarcastically under his breath. Nevertheless, he turned and left the compartment as his sister drew the blinds closed. He was surprised when he got outside and found that Malfoy was gone. "Must've woken up... the git."

Once Ron returned to the inside and told Harry that the three were gone, he felt as though a great burden had been released from upon him. He looked to Ron and grinned. "Guess I'll have to skip that detention that Snape would've given me, then," he muttered as the group made their way off the train once it had shuddered to a stop. The gut wrenching feeling was fading fast, and he was feeling like his normal self again.

As always, Harry paused once his feet were on solid ground and simply looked across the large lake at the magnificent castle that was Hogwart's... his school. Lights were flickering in several of the towers, but it was obvious even from the great distance that everything was focusing on the great hall.

Beyond the castle, he could just make out the rings of the hoops on the Quidditch field. He stopped looking, though, when he heard the loud voice calling over the crowd.

"'Arry, Ron, 'Ermione!" The three turned to wave back to Hagrid, and he grinned to them. "See ya later, you three!" The teacher of Care of Magical Creatures then turned his massive back on them and started shouting to the first years to follow him.

"Wonder how Grawp is this year?" Ron muttered under his breath as they turned away. Harry didn't feel like thinking about the giant hiding in the Forbidden Forest, and so he ignored him.

A sinking feeling came over Harry without warning as he looked to the carriages that would take everyone else up to the castle. He hadn't ever wanted to see the Thestrals again. But they were there, plain as day to him, and the scant few others who attended Hogwart's that had seen someone die.

He was surprised to find Ron on one side of him suddenly and Hermione on the other, half steering half guiding him to the closet couch to get inside. He must have looked as bad as he suddenly felt.. All he managed was a weak smile to them as he sat down, and they flanked him at once. Luna and Ginny climbed in after him, and then Neville appeared and joined them as well. The entire group who had defied all logic, fought against a dozen Death Eaters, and escaped with their lives, were together again.

Harry couldn't speak to any of them as they made their way up to the castle.

Everything changed the moment he stepped foot into the Great Hall. It was just as it should be, and Harry suddenly felt a lot better about everything as he looked around. Even as he remembered the last time he had been within the Hall, he still felt better being back.

Not only was the night sky absolutely fabulous through the ceiling, but the decorations were on the level of trying to upstage his birthday party. He froze, though, as he heard the soft growl, but as he looked around the hall, he realized that he must have been imagining it. There was no sign of the time wolf anywhere.

As he took his seat at the Gryffindor table and nodded to each of his classmates and friends who greeted him, he noticed that there were three seats not filled at the staff table. Hagrid was still with the first years, as was McGonagall, he was sure. But the third chair, that which belonged to the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, was also empty.

"Any idea where he is?" Ron asked him, nudging him.

"How would he know, Ron? He just got here, too," Hermione pointed out.

Ron shrugged. "He did meet the guy before, remember?" he replied. "I thought he might have mentioned something."

Harry didn't reply right away, as he had just noticed Hagrid slipping in the side door. Slipping in wasn't the right term, really, not for a half giant, but it was what the man had tried to do, that much was obvious. He turned with half the rest of the school towards the large double doors that the first years would be coming through any minute now.

Sure enough, the doors swung open slowly, revealing Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration Professor, leading a long line of timid, scared looking first years down the centre of the hall. She stopped once she reached the end next to the stool with the Sorting Hat on it, and turned around to face the first years.

The rip on the brim of the Sorting Hat caught everyone's attention as it opened slowly as though yawning. Once all eyes were upon it, sound started to emerge, though it was not what anyone expected at all.

"Ignore my warning, and it will repeat. I will do my duty to the school and to the founders, but I will not do so happily. Splitting the students into houses... dividing to allow conquest... it is not what the founders had in mind. Great Gryffindor the brave, Ravenclaw the wise, Hufflepuff the kind, and Slytherin the ambitious... your ideas will be passed on."

It could not really be called a song. For one, the hat had simply spoken the words, rather than sing them. Also, judging by the murmurs that were apparent at the Staff Table, it had never practically refused to do its duty before, either.

Professor McGonagall appeared to be a bit unnerved as well, but she did better than most at hiding it. "When I call out your name, you will come up and sit on the stool, and I will place the Sorting Hat on your head. It will tell us which house you are to be Sorted into, and then you can make your way to the appropriate table."

"Ali, Lisa."

Harry zoned out almost at once as he looked down the long line of students to be sorted. He found Kailyn near the middle, and found himself feeling almost as nervous for her as he had for himself when he had started. He almost missed clapping loudly for the first Gryffindor to be sorted, though he did miss the name entirely. He heard Ron's stomach growl, though, which brought a small grin to his face.

It took a moment for him to realize that the growl he had heard was not coming from Ron. The only reason he actually clued in was because Hermione was nudging him to get his attention, and trying in vain to point to the main doors without making it obvious.

He turned slowly away from the line of first years, his heart skipping a beat as he looked. The great blue and white time wolf that had visited him over the summer was slowly walking into the hall. The fact that McGonagall had stopped calling out names said that she had also noticed the creature, and by the whispers that were echoing through the Great Hall, she was not alone.

"I don't believe it," Harry heard Hagrid say as the half giant stood slowly from his chair. "If I didn't see it wit me own eyes, I wouldn't believe it."

Rozan the time wolf trotted up between the tables, right next to the line of first years, many of whom leapt out of the way as though afraid that the wolf might turn at any minute to attack any of them. The time wolf paused next to Harry and turned to look at him for the barest of moments.

Calm your mind.

It was the only thing that the wolf said before continuing, and then sat down lazily in front of the staff table. Dumbledore seemed to be the only one who wasn't surprised, and he looked down to the wolf for a moment.

"I suppose that this would be an excellent time to announce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, although I would have thought he wouldn't be arriving until after the sorting had finished," Dumbledore announced in a loud voice that quelled all the wild whispering that was running through the halls. "First of all, the creature that you can all see before you is named Rozan, and we are very fortunate to have him within our walls. He is one of the last time wolves, after all."

Everyone followed the Headmaster's line of vision as he turned towards the empty chair that was to house the new teacher. "We have had rather poor luck in our Defense teachers for several years, unfortunately. I must say that I believe last year was one of the worst... though I would never speak ill of a teacher, of course," he added with the barest of smiles to the students. A few of the bolder sixth and seventh year students made horrid retching sounds at his statement, but he ignored them. "This year, we are very fortunate to have among us a new teacher again, one that was no easy feat for me to find, either. Please welcome Professor Talisien," he announced, motioning to the empty chair.

A few of the students clapped uncertainly, as there was no one sitting in the chair, but just as suddenly the elf that Harry and Hermione had seen in Grimmauld Place appeared there standing. If they hadn't been watching very carefully, they would have sworn that he had been there the entire time, and they just hadn't noticed.

The effect on the students was immediate. Dozens of whispers started spreading instantly. "How did he appear like that?" "Does he have an invisibility cloak or something?" "Maybe he apparated in..."

Harry grinned to Ron as they heard the last one, and turned to Hermione before she could speak. "I believe that in a certain book it outlines how apparating within Hogwart's is impossible, right Hermione?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes at his question, but she was grinning as well. "I don't know how he pulled it off, but if he's got an invisibility cloak, then I guess he's not the only one, is he?" she replied knowingly, teasing him right back.

"I don't think he has one," Harry whispered in reply. "Remember how he disappeared from... home, and then reappeared behind us?"

"What are you two on about?" Ron interjected.

Neither had a chance to reply before Dumbledore was talking again. "Now, let us continue with the sorting. I believe there is the matter of an excellent feast once it is over, and I, for one, am looking forward to filling my belly with many delicacies."

"Very well, Headmaster," McGonagall said, turning back to the students and looking down at her list. "Kailyn... just Kailyn," she added hastily when she realized that there was no last name listed.

As the young girl walked forward and picked up the sorting hat, Hermione caught his eye, and she looked to his pocket curiously. She wanted to know what he had done with the note... if he still had it or not, in other words. Harry dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a few things. He knew that Hermione was watching him, and so he very carefully returned her note to his pocket, making sure she saw that he had read through it and hadn't destroyed it. He then picked up the small bag of Berty Bott's Every Flavour Beans and tossed them onto the table before dumping the rest back into his pockets again. He didn't really feel like trying his luck with them any further. That, and he needed some excuse for suddenly rifling through his pockets.

He looked back up to Kailyn, who was sitting perfectly still on the small stool with the hat down over her eyes. It seemed to him that it was taking an awfully long time to decide her house, and he wondered briefly if it had taken the same amount of time for him as he had argued with the hat about which house not to be in. He saw her lips moving wordlessly, and knew that she, too, was talking to the hat.

The rip opened again, and Harry realized that he was holding his breath. He released it as the hat shouted out Gryffindor, and he cheered as loudly - if not more so - than the rest of his house as she took the hat off with a weak smile and made her way over to sit with the other first years who had already been added to the Gryffindor table. He caught her eye as she sat down and winked to her, and she smiled back, tapping her left wrist as she looked away to speak with another first year that Harry knew he didn't know.

Confused, he looked down to his own wrist and saw the glint of gold showing just a little bit under his robes. He smoothed them down nervously as he looked back to the sorting, wondering how many other people had noticed. The fact that nobody had said anything told him that nobody probably had.

Once the last first year had been called into a house - Hufflepuff, as it were - and once Hermione had finished muttering under her breath at Ron to stop calling them all midgets, Dumbledore finally stood up again. "There is a time for speeches, and a time for listening. Thankfully, this is not that time. Tuck in!" As he spoke, there was an audible gasp from the first years, and a murmur of appreciation from everyone else as the food appeared on the table in front of them.

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Until the sun sets upon a broken world…

The Shadows

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