Eventually, they reached the final station and went to the bathrooms to change into their school robes. The first years were led by Hagrid to some rowboats from which they rowed over to the castle of Hogwarts. It was fantastical, with towers that shot into the sky and it was perched on top of a massive hill. The way over was fairly smooth, Ron and Hermoine remained in the same boat as Harry. Only one of the other kids almost fell out of the boat before being pulled back by the others.
The first years made their way up to the great hall after docking, waiting nervously outside the big doors while Hagrid led them. Draco Malfoy shot a dirty look at Harry. Harry didn’t feel a big need to respond and turned away to keep talking with his friends.
A severe woman in black robes and a pointy witch’s hat appeared around the corner. “Thank you, Rubeus. I’ll take it from here.”
Hagrid nodded back. “Be on mah way then. Best of luck firs’ years.”
His eyes lingered on Harry as he scanned the crowd. Then he turned and walked off. The woman continued speaking.
“Now, Students. We will be calling your names alphabetically by last name. Be ready, and be on your absolute best behavior as you go up to the sorting hat. The hat will be placed on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses.”
Ron cursed quietly and Harry and Hermoine looked at him. “My brothers Fred and George told me I would have to wrestle a troll.”
“That’s nonsense”
“That would be rather graphic.”
Hermoine and Harry looked at each other. Ron squinted at Harry. “Why would it be graphic?”
The doors began to open to the great hall. Harry stated the obvious answer to Ron’s question,
“Because you would be torn limb from limb. Even the smaller ones are stronger than the average adult from what I’ve heard. I’m sure they don’t want blood everywhere during the welcoming ceremony.”
Ron chuckled nervously. “Haha. I guess not. Good thing it's just a hat then, right?”
Hermoine chimed in.
“They could use magic to clean it up, you know. Wizards almost never have to worry about messes with all the cleaning spells out there.”
Harry saw that she was smirking as Ron turned a shade paler.
“Don’t even joke about it. I didn’t know trolls were so strong. But it’s just a hat… that can’t be too bad.”
The doors opened and they went inside. The hat began singing some long song that Harry didn’t pay attention to. Ron seemed to relax at the singing hat. Harry stared upward at the floating candles, their melted wax disappearing before it could fall down onto them. It looked like the night sky above them. Amazing.
“Hermoine Granger!”
Ah, they had begun already. Harry was too busy taking in the surroundings to focus. The hat was slowly lowered onto her head after she nervously left. It sat there for a long pause. “Gryffindor!”
Hermoine stood and sat at her table. Harry started paying more attention to the sorting.
“Draco Malfoy!”
The hat barely touched the boy’s blonde head before it shouted out. “Slytherin!”
More names. That girl on the train was apparently named Pansy Parkinson. She went to Slytherin.
“Harry Potter!”
There was a murmuring in the great hall. They were surprised Harry was here. Why? He would have thought it would be known he was coming to school this year considering how famous he appeared to be. Harry walked up and sat down in the chair as the hat was slowly lowered.
It landed on his head and Harry felt something in his mind like a tingling on his scalp.
‘Now you are a difficult one. The cunning of a Slytherin simply to interact with others. A mind of a Ravenclaw no doubt. Loyalty and Bravery abound. Now which to choose...’
Harry thought about which he would choose. His eyes scanned the silent hall as the hat deliberated. His eyes locked on Hermione. How did he know if he would ever find a friend again? He should go to her house. Ron was after Harry but hopefully Ron would be in Gryffindor as he had told them before.
‘Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor’
‘Making a choice, aye? Well, it’s as good as any of the others. I’ve never seen one so balanced before. Best of luck.’
“Gryffindor!”
The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers. Two of the Weasley brothers, Fred and George, started a chant as the hat was removed and Harry made his way to Hermoine.
“We got Potter, We got Potter, We got Potter.”
Harry pasted a smile on his face as he went over to Hermoine and sat next to her. The other girls on either side of him looked annoyed as he focused on her, but Hermoine didn’t seem to mind so much. Harry wondered if he was being rude and so attempted to speak to the girls around him. But they just were confused by his strange thoughts and didn’t understand him, so he went back to talking to Hermoine. Fred and George were still cheering a little ways down the table. Ron was up now and Harry watched as he walked up to the chair.
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The hat took a few seconds, but eventually…
“Gryffindor!”
Ron came down and walked over to the table and seemed relieved. He waved at Hermione and Harry but went over to sit with Fred and George. Harry turned to Hermoine.
“Are friends supposed to sit together? Or is it just that brothers are more important than friends?”
Everyone around him was looking at him like he was a freak again. His chest twinged. Even here? Hermoine and Ron hadn’t seemed to mind him, what was different now?
“You’re right Harry, he probably just wants to sit with his brothers for now. That doesn’t mean we’re no longer friends.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
The hat finished sorting and an old man with a massive beard stood at the head table. It was Headmaster Dumbledore.
“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! Now let’s begin!”
With a clap of his hands suddenly the table was filled with trays and trays and trays of delicious food. Harry’s eyes widened and his breathing hitched. He began panting as he stared at the full turkey in the tray in front of him. The girl to his left looked nervous. “Uh, Hermoine…”
“Harry, what’s wrong?”
Harry’s heart was beating hard as he resisted throwing himself forward. He licked his lips. “Sorry. Hungry.”
With his hands trembling he took a heavy helping of meat onto his plate. He grabbed the silverware and began shoveling the food in his mouth as fast as he could, resisting the urge to dig in with his hands. Everyone shrugged off his strange behavior, including Hermoine luckily.
But then Harry took seconds and kept going. Hermoine and the others were glancing between his stomach and his plate in shock. Harry kept eating and took thirds. Now even some of the people from the other tables were looking his way and Harry forced himself to calm down. This was a terrible first impression.
His heart rate slowed and his breathing slowed. Everyone was staring at him, including Dumbledore. Harry leaned back and put his hand over his stomach. He tried to sound convincing, but his usual calm voice didn’t help his lie here.
“Ah, so full. So full. Couldn’t eat another bite. Nope. Definitely not.” He definitely could, but even this much was making him look like a freak. Best to stop now before they grew alarmed.
Almost everyone turned away. Hermoine looked between her half eaten plate and Harry’s which had only the tiniest scraps left.
“I didn’t realize you were that hungry. ”
Harry tried to think of what to say, before settling on something unspecific.
“I have a large appetite. Just got over excited I guess.”
At that, everyone went back to their food. Several of the Gryffindors laughed and congratulated his prowess at eating. Harry wasn’t sure why that was praiseworthy but accepted the congratulations anyway.
After the feast, Dumbledore made some announcements. Avoiding the third floor corridor, not going into the Forbidden Forest. Harry noted them but didn’t pay them much mind after figuring out where those places were. His perfect memory meant he didn't have to pay too much attention to the words to remember everything that was said. The headmaster was the most powerful person, so naturally it would be best to follow his rules if Harry could.
The Gryffindors were ushered into their common room behind a secret entrance behind one of the moving paintings. It seemed almost all the paintings in this castle were alive somehow, able to move and speak. They came in and the Prefect explained the various rules about their stay. Harry noted the rules the same as before as he inspected the room. It seemed cozy. The Prefect finished up and started giving bed assignments. Harry was with Ron and Neville Longbottom who had lost his toad on the train. Harry went up and put away his luggage as Ron began chatting with Neville.
Harry finished getting settled and stood and tuned in to their conversation.
“...know any spells yet? My brothers taught one to me, but I think it's a dud. It never does anything.”
“No. What spell?”
Ron looked around.
“Scabbers? Scabbers?”
Ron's fat rat hesitantly came out from under the bed and walked onto Ron’s hand. Ron picked him up and held his wand above it. He flicked it as Neville and Harry watched.
“Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.”
Nothing happened. Harry stepped closer to inspect the rat. Had it only changed a tiny amount? The rat looked up at him and jolted and squeaked. It thrashed and bit Ron’s hand and fell to the floor. It ran for its little life as Harry tracked it with his eyes.
“Ow.” Ron sucked at the bite on his thumb. “What was that about?”
“Oh, animals really hate me for some reason. I went to get a toad or owl and the whole shop tried to run away from me. Quite disappointing.”
Neville looked intrigued.
“Really? I’ve never heard of something like that before. Do you mind if I try with Trevor?”
“Sure. I don’t understand it either.”
Neville went to his things and picked up Trevor that was sitting in a cage so he wouldn’t hop off. Neville picked him up and drew him closer to Harry. Again it seemed perfectly fine until it spotted Harry at which point it struggled madly before escaping Neville’s grip and hopping off at top speed. Neville ran after it and caught the toad before it could make its way out the door. He put it back in its cage out of sight of Harry and the croaks seemed to calm down.
Neville returned.
“That was weird. I wonder if Hagrid would know something.”
Ron asked the question Harry was thinking.
“Why would this Hagrid know about it?”
“Well, he’s the gameskeeper of Hogwarts, isn’t he? He must deal with all sorts of magical animals. He would know something.”
Harry slowly nodded. A versatile gesture indeed.
“That’s a good idea. I’ll go after classes tomorrow and ask him.”
Neville looked nervous for a few seconds before he spoke.
“Can I come?”
“Certainly. Ron? Do you wish to come too?”
“Definitely," Ron replied. "Neville’s right, I’ve never heard of something like this before. It’ll be interesting at least.”
“Nice to meet you, Harry,” Neville said.
“You as well Neville. Would you like to be my friend?”
“Er, um. I mean sure. That sounds good.”
“That’s good. I’m glad we are friends now.”
Neville glanced at Ron in slight confusion.
“Don’t worry about Harry, he’s just very straightforward. He did that to me too after a girl we were with called Hermoine started it.”
A few minutes later, they were ready for bed. Ron spoke up.
“Night, guys.”
“Night.”
“Goodnight.”
Ron blew out the candle and then crawled into bed. It was the most comfortable thing Harry thought he had ever slept in, and he fell asleep in moments.