Harry awoke at just after eight on the morning of September 1. As he awoke, he noticed that Fawkes was on the bed. The phoenix trilled a greeting, and Harry smiled warmly. He’d become fond of the bird in the few times he’d seen it.
Harry got out of bed and crossed his room to the small bathroom to wash. Within twenty minutes he was clean and dressed. By nine-thirty he had eaten breakfast and returned to his room. It was then that he noticed Fawkes had a scrap of parchment tied to his right leg. He untied it and read the short message.
“Harry”, it began, “Fawkes will be taking you to our train platform at Kings Cross in a city called London. The train leaves at eleven. Have a good day.”
It was signed Albus Dumbledore in fancy script. Harry read it twice more and then threw it away. He gripped his loaded trunk in his left hand, and with his right hand gently held Fawkes’ tail feathers. “To Kings Cross, Fawkes”, he said. The phoenix trilled and the two vanished in a flash of fire.
Harry found himself standing before a large purple train. It looked like a steam engine but he knew it wasn’t, because there was no steam. He thought it was funny that of all the ways the train could have looked, this was chosen. He walked to the rear of the train and took a seat in the very last cabin.
He opened his trunk and took out all eight of his books, just to look at them again, and then closed the trunk. Since the end of July, he’d read through the set and practiced every spell he found until he could do all of them effortlessly. He’d also brewed all of the potions for the first five years. He figured that would be enough, because Potions would be optional in his last two years, and unless something changed, he’d decline. He didn’t think much of Professor Snape.
He quickly learned anything that required a wand. He assumed it was because of his training and concentration. He’d read in Magical Theory about the three components of spellcasting.
After a little while Harry opened his trunk again and removed one of the black school robes, and put the books away. He put the robe on over his clothes and sat back down to wait for eleven. Checking his watch, he saw that it was only a bit after ten. He could hear people gathering outside the train. He wondered if anyone would join him in this compartment.
The train rolled out of the station at just after eleven. Harry was alone in his compartment; apparently all the rest of the students were in others. He wondered how many students there were; and how many other boys would be in his house in his year. For that matter, he wondered what house he’d be in. He figured that as long as he wasn’t in Slytherin he’d be fine.
At around noon a woman pushing a cart came through the door. Harry didn’t want anything, as he was still full from the huge breakfast he’d eaten. The woman with the cart left when he said so.
Harry watched through a window as the train rolled northward. He didn’t know where Hogwarts was, as its location was something of a mystery, but as he knew the trip wouldn’t end until dark, he figured that Hogwarts had to be far from the train station, probably a few hundred miles.
He could have flown – he’d been flying since he was nine – but apparently that would be a very bad idea on this world. There were apparently no spells to allow a wizard to fly unassisted. If someone had an Animagus form that could fly, they wouldn’t need assistance, but otherwise brooms or other flying devices were necessary. It was better that he ride with the students anyway.
Harry practiced basic spells as the hours rolled on, and soon enough it was past nightfall and the train was pulling into another station. He could scarcely believe he’d been alone in the compartment the whole day; he’d imagined at least one person would have come looking for him. Evidently nobody had.
The train pulled slowly to a stop. Harry left his compartment and stood at the back of the crowd of students, all of whom were jamming themselves forward, trying to get to the door. Finally it was Harry’s turn and he walked through, and made his way to the door. He exited the train and again stood at the back of the crowd.
Harry stood on the chilly platform in the dark, watching and waiting. And then he spotted a lantern about eight or nine feet in the air, just off to the side. It was unquestionably Hagrid.
And indeed it was: Hagrid’s familiar voice called out, “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!”
Harry followed the crowd as it moved along behind Hagrid, who was calling for more first years. The crowd followed him down a steep and narrow path. It was so dark Harry thought they must be surrounded by a forest.
“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec”, Hagrid called over his shoulder, “jus’ round this bend here.”
There was a loud “Oooooh!”
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. There was a great castle on the other side, on top of a mountain, with many lights filling its many windows. Hagrid called out, “No more’n four to a boat!”
And indeed there were many boats upon the black lake. Harry got into one, and was soon joined by three others, all girls. As soon as all the first years, and Hagrid, were in boats, they began to move forward. Eventually they reached a rocky cave that had a lot of plants hanging off the roof, some reaching down to the water and in. They eventually reached a kind of underground harbor, and the students clambered out. Harry stood at the back, listening to the few sounds in the cold night air.
The group climbed a passage in the rock, following Hagrid and his lantern. Eventually they came out onto a hill and stood on its smooth, damp grass. They walked up the nearby flight of stone steps and stood in the shadow of a tremendous wooden door. Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and pounded on the door three times.
It was opened at once, by a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes. It was Professor McGonagall; Harry recognized her at once by her sharp eyes and stern face.
“The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall”, said Hagrid. She thanked him and pulled the door wide open. Harry stared up at the high ceiling: even the entrance hall was colossal, and this was only a small piece of the great castle.
Professor McGonagall led everyone across the great stone floor, into a small and empty chamber. When everyone was inside she set into a speech. Though Harry thought it probably would be important, he couldn’t help tuning it out. He was concentrating on the hundreds of auras in the hall. He recognized five, and as they were all close together, he suspected it was probably the staff table.
He then noticed that Professor McGonagall had left the chamber. He heard a few students talking, but for the most part the group was silent.
Eventually Professor McGonagall returned, and led the large group into the hall. Harry gaped. There were hundreds of people here; the ceiling was almost twice as high as even the entrance hall’s ceiling had been; the ceiling looked not like a ceiling, but as if it opened onto the sky itself. The room was lit by thousands of candles that floated in mid-air without any support of any kind. There were five tables; four for the students and one at the head of the hall, for the teachers. Harry saw Albus Dumbledore in the center of that table. On his right side, though several seats away, was Professor Snape. On his left side, but each closer, were Professors Flitwick and Sprout. Harry did not recognize anyone else except Hagrid, who sat at the very end, on the left side.
The group moved forward, following Professor McGonagall as she led them to the small raised platform on which the staff table stood. All eyes were on Hogwarts’ newest students. Harry wondered which among these people were in their final years, readying to leave school and make their way in the world. He supposed he would get to know at least a few: the seventh years of whichever House was his.
He thought about Son Gohan and how his older ‘brother’ was only around ten years older, and yet the man somehow was both ‘brother’ and ‘father’ to Harry, even without so much as a drop of blood in relation. It went beyond blood, Harry suddenly realized: Gohan, and Gohan’s friends, were his family. Family wasn’t necessarily who you were related to; it was who loved you and protected you, and who you loved and would be willing to fight to protect.
But, as these warm thoughts rushed through Harry, he remembered that none of those people were here. And then he heard Professor McGonagall’s voice, and he saw that she had placed a small stool in front of the first years, and there was a ragged hat sitting atop it. The hat was dusty, dirty, and faded; and possessed a very wide tear near the brim.
For a timeless, measureless moment, no one moved.
And then the tear opened wide like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.
When the hat finished its song, the hall was filled with the sounds of applause. Professor McGonagall stepped forward, a long roll of parchment in her hands. “When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted”, she said. “Abbott, Hannah!”
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, and sat down. A moment’s pause, and the hat cried “HUFFLEPUFF!” The people at the rightmost table began to clap and cheer. The girl called Hannah Abbott rushed over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down.
The next student, a girl called Susan Bones, also went to Hufflepuff. The next student, a boy called Terry Boot, was sorted into Ravenclaw. This time, it was the table second from left.
A girl called Mandy Brocklehurst was sorted into Ravenclaw, just after Terry Boot. Next was a girl called Lavender Brown, who was sorted into Gryffindor, bringing cheers from the people at the far left table.
A Millicent Bulstrode was then made a Slytherin. The next student, a boy called Michael Corner, was sorted into Ravenclaw. Then came another Slytherin, a boy called Vincent Crabbe.
The very next person was also a Slytherin, this one a girl called Tracey Davis. Then came a Hufflepuff boy called Justin Finch-Fletchley. The next sorting, a Gryffindor boy called Seamus Finnigan, took by far the longest yet: almost a minute. Most had been a few seconds.
Then in rapid succession came an Anthony Goldstein, who was made a Ravenclaw; a Gregory Goyle who went to Slytherin; a Daphne Greengrass who also went to Slytherin; and a Hermione Granger, who was made a Gryffindor. Then came a Wayne Hopkins, who was made a Hufflepuff after only a moment.
Harry was feeling more and more alive as the Sorting moved onward. The number of first years was dwindling rather quickly. A Megan Jones went into Gryffindor. A Su Li went into Ravenclaw. The next, a Neville Longbottom, stayed on the stool for a good while before being declared a Gryffindor. When Neville’s House was announced, he was evidently very happy about it, because he ran off with the hat, and had to run back amid a laughing hall to give it to a Morag MacDougal, a girl promptly made a Ravenclaw. Next came an Ernie Macmillan, who shortly became a Hufflepuff.
The next boy, a Draco Malfoy, swaggered forward and was sorted faster than anyone yet; he hadn’t even time to sit down before the hat screamed “SLYTHERIN!” He walked away, looking rather pleased.
There weren’t very many left now. A girl called Cornelia Moon became a Hufflepuff. A boy called Theodore Nott went to Slytherin. A Pansy Parkinson also went to Slytherin. Then came a pair of twin girls: “Patil, Padma” going to Ravenclaw and “Patil, Parvati” going to Gryffindor. Next was a Sally-Anne Perks, who was made a Hufflepuff.
Finally it was Harry’s turn, and he walked forward from the back as Professor McGonagall called out “Potter, Harry!”
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 a small voice in his ear. “Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. A very sharp mind too. Quite a lot of focus on your goals: I see you think of yourself as rather a living weapon, well, that’s not terribly pleasant. It is different though. And power...oh my, yes, I’ve never seen its like.
Harry interrupted with the hard thought, “Not Slytherin”, asked the hat. “Are you quite sure? You could be great, you know, it’s all here in your head. Well...no, that wouldn’t be right. I think you have some of the right goals, but I wouldn’t consider you noble, and you don’t plan on being at all chivalrous...I see I have no real option...I’m going to make you a RAVENCLAW!”
And Harry heard the hat shout this last to the entire hall. He took off the hat, stepped off the stool, and walked over to the Ravenclaw table. He was so wrapped up in what the hat told him, he hardly noticed that he was getting easily the loudest cheer yet. The Ravenclaw table had gone wild.
Only five students remained. A boy called Zacharias Smith became a Hufflepuff. A boy called Dean Thomas was made a Gryffindor. Next was a girl called Lisa Turpin, who went to Ravenclaw. A Ron Weasley became a Gryffindor, and the sorting ended with a boy called Blaise Zabini, who was made a Slytherin.
As the feast commenced after a few words from Dumbledore, Harry thought hard about what the hat had said to him. The hat didn’t consider him noble, and it recognized, and seemed to dislike, his view of himself as a living weapon – an avenger. The hat recognized that Harry had no intention of being fair with those he knew he would have to face down one day: Lord Voldemort and his servants.
But Harry had no time for fairness. He'd learned a lesson from Gohan's stories about the battles he'd been in: Evil had no remorse. When the side of Good hesitated, innocent people died. And Harry didn't want the lives of innocent people on his conscience. So if he had to be a weapon...so be it.
Harry had found his destiny. The only question was when and how he would meet it.
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(Posted Sat, 27 Dec 2003 22:52)
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