The hat went all the way down his face. Hiding him from the rest of the hall.
“Interesting.” a voice sounded in his head.
“Can you read my mind?” Harry thought.
“Not with those shields, no.”
“Then how did you hear my question?”
“You projected your question past your occlumency barriers.”
Harry inwardly celebrated. “Ok then, are you able or will you tell anyone about what we talk about?”
The hat hummed. “No, it's not possible for me to talk to anyone about anyone's sorting. The noble houses would have vanished me long before now if their secrets somehow got out.”
“Great! I need to be put into Gryffindor.”
“That… that's not how this works!”
“*Sigh* Just take a look. ”Harry dropped his barriers, allowing the hat in. “Start with the last 4 years please, that should be enough.”
The hat was silent for a few minutes (from Harry's perception).
“So that's why…” the hat struggled to find words.
“Yup, Gryffindor please!”
“*Sigh* fine, each of the founders have secret rooms for their inheritances. All of the other descendants have been warned as well. They will call out to you when the time comes. The books the other Ravenclaw descendants recommended are a great start, but keep in mind that only the Slytherin inheritance has been partially claimed.”
“How will I know?”
“It'll feel like the castle is calling out to you, she will lead you to where they are once you accept.”
“Ok. thank you, is that all?”
“Hmm… OH! Snape and Dumbledore are both master Legilimens, remember that even if you are safe, others around you may not be.”
“F**k”
“Also, you may need to revise your plans. Dumbledore won't allow others to butt into his authority over the school. He's not the kind old grandfatherly figure he tries to portray.”
Harry and the hat talked for hours, it had great advice and helped him refine his views on the staff and castle as a whole. It helped him come up with some ideas for the short term so he wouldn't mess up everything before he could get back to Ragnok and fix their previous plan.
The conversation only stopped when Harry felt a headache, the hat explained to him they were talking in accelerated time. It had only been about 10 min on the outside world, and the hat was surprised that Harry lasted as long as he had.
“Gryffindor!” yelled out loud. “Good luck lord Ravenclaw” whispered in his head as harry took off the hat
¾ of the hall burst into cheers and applause. The Slytherin table politely clapped, just enough that they didn't look like total jerks for staying silent.
The Gryffindor table was extremely boisterous. Students were jumping and cheering, the two redheads were doing a silly dance while cheering “We got potter! We got potter!”
As he approached his house table, the twin redheads tackled him. “Blimey mate!”
“You could've told us”
“We chased down the mighty”
“Hogwarts express”
“With THE”
“Harry Potter!”
“Right, I'm sure it would've been a heroic tale.” Harry kept making his way to Hermione's seat, the twins chasing after him.
“It would have wooed all the ladies”
“Nobody's fell the foul beast yet”
Harry sat directly next to the beaming Hermione, the twins hopping over the table to sit across them.
Hermione let out a kind of squealing sound before hugging him. “Oh Harry, I'm so glad we're in the same house! That stupid hat tried to send me into Ravenclaw. I had to argue with it to send me into Gryffindor, I just knew you would be here too!”
The twins looked baffled. While Harry took his time to mentally translate her speed talk.
“Hermione, take a breath. Even I found that hard to understand.”
She blushed. “Sorry.”
“Gred, Forge. This is my friend Hermione. We met just before school.”
“Ooh Harrykins”
“Already has”
“A girlfriend?”
“No. I do recall introducing her as a friend. ”Harry glanced at her, she was blushing even worse now. “Also, can we quit with the back and forth speech? It's kind of annoying.”
The left twin clutched his heart. “Oh Harrykins you wound me! Our patented doublespeak, annoying?”
“Usually that would earn you at least one prank, but since you saved us from missing the train we will call it even.”
Harry gave them a smirk, silently promising them hell if they pranked him. Giving the twins chills before they were interrupted. “What?! You almost missed the train?!” harshly whispering, Hermione looked about to scold all three of them.
Harry put on a calm facade. “Yes, I was running a bit late. Luckily I managed to catch up just in time.”
“Harry! You can-”
“Hermione.” Harry took on a harsher tone. “Don't. We've talked about this.”
She stopped and thought about what he said. You could see the moment she recalled the conversation. Her face morphed into a frown, and she seemed to be slightly frightened.
Flashback
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“HARRY! You can't just do that! What if-”
“Hermione.” taking the same tone as at the feast. “You need to read more about noble houses, don't talk down to someone from the titled houses. If I were inclined, you could be tried for all sorts of things just for making me look bad. Not to mention, this is my family's shop. I can literally do anything I want.”
“But-”
“No. This isn't the same as the ‘muggle’ world.” trying to keep his distaste for the term out of this conversation. “Please, just read the book I gave you on noble houses.”
“Besides, we've talked about this dear, even if you can't help yourself. Save these tirades for out of the public eye.“ Emma chastised.
-Later, at the grangers.
“Harry! Tell me this isn't true!” waving the book Hermione just started reading at him.
“Everything there, as far as i can tell, is completely true and sadly, legal.” Harry had a frown and slight disgust on his face when he glanced at the book.
“But… it's wrong!”
“And?”
“You can't be serious?! Do you actually agree with this?!”
Harry grabbed the book out of her hand, and took her hand with his other. He led her to his room, where he kept his books.
It took him a bit to get the primary book from his trunk and discreetly change it into a certain book. Before sitting down on the bed, Hermione pulled along with him.
“Read this chapter.” handing her the book.
Hermione's face morphed from happy and prideful, to sad and dejected, to angry and righteous. “How?! And nobody else has done anything?!”
“Just her. There have been others that have tried, but she's the only one even close to getting results. It doesn't matter if I agree with that stuff, it's just how things are…” for now.
Soon she was absorbed once more into her books, completely forgetting Harry, who had to explain to her parents about throwing her some of the dark side of the magical world.
Flashback End
“Zabini Blaise”
“Slytherin!”
As soon as the last student sat at the Slytherin table, Dumbledore clinked his spoon to his goblet, getting the attention of the entire hall.
"Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you." he rose from his chair, spreading his arms wide. “Now, let the feast...begin!” With that, the tables were filled with all sorts of foods.
It was like a couple of kids got together to come up with ’dinner’ ideas. Harry had to search the table before finally finding any vegetables.
Harry did his best to gather a somewhat nutritious dinner. All while people around him tried getting closer to ‘the boy who lived’. He'd have to check the rules once more, but he was already plotting a way for him to be left in peace while eating.
“Harry” Hermione dragged him out of his plans.
“Hmm?”
Hermione pointed to the two boys that joined them on the boat. “Neville was just asking about the ‘boy who-lived’ books. Was it you who made them recall them?”
“Nope.”
Neville tried a couple times before managing to speak up. “But … i.. I heard that the potters were the ones who had them taken down….”
“That's right.”
“And you're the only potter alive…” Hermione suspiciously pointed out.
“That you know of.”
The other two sat in shocked silence.
“Harry…”
“Nope.”
“But.”
“Not talking about it. Especially not here.”
In the ‘silence’ everyone couldn't help but notice the other redhead, especially Neville, who was being peppered with food from the messy redhead.
“Ronniekins!”
“Do we need to write”
“A letter to mom”
“About your”
“Horrible eating habits?”
Ron's face paled a little but he kept shoveling as much food into his mouth as fast as possible.
Then Harry spoke up. “Maybe you should add that he did it in front of two heirs of house, even catching one in the splash zone.”
That got the boy to stop. He glanced at Harry, then at Neville, who still had bits of potato on his robes. He froze, then got up and repositioned himself at the very end of the table.
“Gross” Hermione finally spoke up.
“Thanks Harry.” Neville managed.
“Sorry Neville. I didn't know how to get him to stop or leave without it ending much worse. The twins gave me another idea. Thanks guys.”
“That was”
“Brilliant”
“You'll have to teach us!”
The excited twins slipped back into ‘doublespeak’, much like Hermione and her fast speak.
“It's like”
“You changed”
“Into a little Lordling!”
The twins kept pestering him throughout the meal, keeping most Harrys ‘fans’ away.
Soon the food vanished, and Dumbledore was standing. With a clap far too loud to not be magic, he gained the hall's attention once more.
“I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that the 3rd floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you.”
The man clapped again, making all sorts of sweets appear.
Everyone was too busy eating and defending their favorite sweets to bother Harry. It's the most peaceful time during the feast so far. Even if it was like a battlefield everywhere around him. Harry shrugged and nibbled on some sort of tart that was sitting in front of him.
Once most of the hall seemed to be finished, the sweets vanished and Dumbledore gave a nod. the older kids filed out the doors to the main hall. The 1st years made to follow but were stopped by a couple of older looking students wearing different school badges than the rest.
Soon, the stern lady joined them with her patented frown. “The prefects will show you the way to the dorms tonight. The following week, they’ll pick you up from the common room, lead you to the great hall for meals, lead you to each of your classes and back to the common room. Be sure to pay attention, they're only obligated to lead the way until the end of the week. They will also be available for questions and help if necessary. Any questions?” she paused for a moment before storming off to who knows where. Nobody even had time to ask a question.
“Alright!” the older boy exclaimed, then looked embarrassed before looking towards the older girl.
“*Sigh* Kay, pay attention. We will be taking the shortest route to the common room.”
With that the group was led out of the great hall.
The route they took was wonky. They went through the grey halls just fine, what concerned Harry though, was the stairs. It would be one thing if he just had to wait for the stairs to swap to where he wanted, but they would swap locations or directions while people were on them. If that wasn't bad enough, there were legitimate traps along the stairs. If you walked fast trying to make it to the top before the stairs started moving, you were liable to break an ankle. The worst traps though, would just drop you. All of the stairs nearby would just vanish, dropping you all the way to the ground, and if you were on the top floor…
They made it to the common room entrance and Harry was disappointed. The prefects said something about a password but Harry was too busy watching the moving portrait, who decided that napping was a better use of her time than accepting the password and letting the group in. They all waited a solid 15 minutes before the portrait allowed them entrance. They had to cram themselves through a hidden door behind the portrait before finally making it to the common room.
The common room itself was quite nice. The deep red and golds looked nice, and the furniture looked homey despite the probable thousands of kids using them for who knows how long. There were desks for study, couches and tables and fireplaces to hang out, bookshelves lined with reading material. There was enough light from the floating candles and the windows on each wall, even if that didn't make sense… and directly opposite to the entrance were two doors.
“This is the common room. We usually hang out here after classes, or you can use one of the abandoned classrooms. Try to be respectful of others' space.”
The prefect girl immediately continued after the boy. Gesturing to the doorways opposite. “The boys dorms are to the left, girls to the right. We've had many cases of boys trying… but boys aren't allowed to enter the girls' dorms.” giving side-eye to a group of guys watching the first years.
With that, the prefect girl walked off. Harry figured she really didn't like the prefect position.
While the other first years were distracted with exploring the common room, Harry snuck off to the dorms.
“This…”
The room was quite small considering the size of the furnishing. There were 5 large beds with accompanying trunks, nightstands, and wardrobes. The beds and walls were decorated with red and gold decorations. There were a couple desks and a fireplace crammed in.
Ignoring the rest of the decorations, Harry found what was supposed to be his bed, indicated by his trunk. Harry was most definitely not sleeping next to the bathroom. He levitated his trunk to the far side of the room, next to a window. He wanted easy access for Hedwig, and having a window next to him seemed…freeing.
He swapped the trunks, unpacked his things and got dressed for bed. Afterward, Hedwig tapped on the window and Harry let her in. Then soon drifted off to sleep.