51Chapter 2 – Sorting
Lily Potter nee Evans lay in her bed, beside her husband, both wide awake. The day had been a tiresome one. With both their jobs at the ministry they always had very little time to spend at home and with their family, furthermore whatever time they managed to spare was spent with their younger son, Alex and with all the media circus rotating around the fall of Voldemort.
In all honesty Lily knew that she couldn't have handled half of it if her eldest son hadn't helped as much as he did. Harry, with his eleven years on his back, shouldered his duties as bigger brother and Heir to the House in a way that commendable didn't quite describe. His parents quickly got used to rely on him to take care of his younger brother while they dealt with their jobs and the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense.
Yet, while Harry succeeded as a son in an exemplary manner, the same couldn't be told about his parents; and that knowledge was keeping the read haired witch awake.
"James," she mumbled, "do you think we are bad parents?"
"…. Are you thinking about Harry?" he asked back with turning to look at her.
"Yes. We keep failing him over and over again. We couldn't even see him off this morning. By the time we got back home he had already packed and flooed to the platform."
"He also prepared breakfast for us before leaving…" James whispered back.
"He is… such a wonderful boy… *sniff* but we…"
"I know…. I know Lily. If he hadn't helped us as he did over the years I don't think we could have handled everything as well as we did."
"Did we really? Done things well I mean."
"Lily what we've done, what we are still doing is to create a world were out children can live happy with having to worry about people like Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eaters. We are doing this for their sake."
"I know… I know but…" she hesitated. "When was the last time you stopped and spoke to him about something that wasn't his brother or something that had to be taken care of around the house?"
"I… I… I can't remember," James admitted. The sound of defeat in his voice mirrored Lily guilt laced ones.
"Me neither. Oh, James how can we claim that we are trying to make things better for our family when we can't even spare the time to sit and talk with our children? He must hate us by now."
"I… I don't think he does, Lily," James said, but for some reason his voice sounded even sadder than if his son actually hated him.
"…. Maybe he doesn't… But do you think he loves us? Did we ever give him a reason to?"
"We… we did our best, Lily. We never spared ourselves. You know it."
"… I know. But was it enough, James?"
"… We'll make it up to him, Lily,"
"When?" She sobbed. "When are we supposed to do that? Now that he's gone for nine months a year for the next seven years? We almost don't know anything about him and we live under the same roof. Who will he be we he returns for the holydays? Will we have time to find out?"
"I… I'll write him every day...," he tried to say but he was cut off by his wife throwing herself in his arms, looking for solace.
"Liar. You know that with him gone we'll have to look after Alex even more. We'll have even less time than before."
"Lily…."
"We failed James… we failed and we are too late to make a difference now. Whoever he will become… whatever sort of person that kind, sweet boy will turn into… it won't have anything to do with us. We… we lost him…"
"Don't say that, love," he tried to reassure her. "He knows that we love him. I'm sure that if we try we'll manage to reconnect with him."
"I hope so, James… but I can't bring myself to believe it…"
They didn't say anything else. Words were useless at that point. She contented herself with the warmth coming from his husband in a hopeless attempted to ward her heart from the coldness that crept inside her. Her thoughts run again to his child, far, far away from home, in a dark old castle. Would he make friends with the other students? Would he enjoy classes? What house would he be sorted into?
"RAVENCLAW!" the Sorting hat shouted. It didn't take him more than a minute for the old rag to decide where to put the raven haired teen. While the boy possessed, like most children, traits from all houses his passion for books and thirst for knowledge clearly directed him to that particular house.
He quickly walked to his table where is new housemates welcomed him with a warm applause. He was pleased that when his name had been called up no one associated him with the Boy-Who-Lived. It wasn't a well known fact that the Vanquisher of Voldemort had an older brother. Perhaps later some would start wondering but for the time being he was content with not being labeled as an accessory to his brother legend. It was quite a good start in his opinion.
The girl he had met on the train, Stephanie Chambers, was sorted in Slytherin just like she had predicted. The other boy, Archibald Rowels was stepping up in that very moment to be sorted as well. The hat wasn't on his head even five seconds when it shouted…
"RAVENCLAW!"
Archibald stood up and began running toward… the Slytherin table, no doubt to rejoin his unrequited crush.
"Mr. Rowles," the Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall shouted. "Your table is that one," she pointed to the Raven claws. The Great Hall shared a chuckle at Archie's expenses, while the boy reluctantly strutted to his table, shooting kicked-puppy-like glances to the girl who had been sorted in the wrong House. Namely not his own.
"Damn!" he swore as he sat beside Harry.
"Nice try, mate. Next time though, try to have the Hat sort you into her house instead of sneaking there the very first night."
"I wanted to but the as soon as it was on my head it just said 'She told me not to send the stalker after her,' before sending me here. Blasted rag!"
"He does have to take in account the student's preference but he also has to uphold their safety," Harry explained. "I guess that whatever plan for Stephanie you had in your mind must have scared him enough to skip your opinion altogether."
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Archie protested, but he was betrayed by his own blush. That obvious show of emotion wouldn't have helped him in Slytherin if the House rep was to be believed.
"Bright side, you are in the House of the intelligent, now. Perhaps she will see you in a new light. Nah. But if you keep your grade high enough you might offer her some… private lessons…"
Harry mild innuendo was enough to send Archie's mind to its happy place and the boy didn't fuss anymore about his placement.
The sorting proceed without further… incidents and after a few ritual words, which didn't make quite sense, from the Headmaster the students enjoyed their first meal at Hogwarts.
All sorts of food where present and Harry was delighted to see is favorite sweet among them: treacle tart. He couldn't help but enjoy a few servings of the sweet delicacy.
After the feast was over they were led to the tower were the Ravenclaw dorm was. Differently from the other Houses their dorm couldn't be accessed with a password but by answering correctly to a riddle. A show of intelligence and a hindrance if you were in any sort of hurry. Noting that Harry vowed to be ready for anything the following day of classes could throw at them so that he wouldn't have to return there in a hurry. He was confident with his own intelligence but he wasn't about to challenge it when it wasn't needed.
On the other hand their dorm had another difference from the others. Its common room was a library itself, filled by tomes that couldn't be found in the school library. Harry licked his lips in anticipation. The kind of things he could learn from those books that weren't in the standard curriculum he could only imagine. Alas he couldn't spend the night reading since the train ride, the sorting ceremony and the feast took their toll. His young mind was clouding already and the thought of the bed was quite endearing at that point.
The rooms in Ravenclaw housed no more than two students, a forced requirement for those who wanted to study in a tranquil environment but without cutting themselves completely out of every social interaction. Harry was glad of this since he was more than capable of losing his sense of time if he was particularly engrossed by a book.
Much to his surprise, and chagrin, Archibald was his roommate. Harry reflected that, knowing the other boy, perhaps he had just lost the calm study environment in favor of a more chaotic but amusing one.
He wasn't quite sure if he had gained of lost something but he would soon find out.
With all said and done they slipped under the covers of their four post beds and promptly fell asleep.
He had a long interesting day coming next and Harry wanted to be at his very best in order to become the best student to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts.
Morning came too soon and yet not soon enough. Harry slipped outside of his bed to get ready for the day. For once he forfeited his morning run in favor of preparing for the new day. The castle was huge and until he was confident that he could navigate its corridor without getting lost he would make sure to be ready with an ample margin before setting foot out of his dorm.
Archie was still sleeping, soundly seeing how the boy could produce quite a racket with his snore. Luckily Harry was a heavy sleeper otherwise he would have caught very little rest the previous night.
"Oi, wake up stalker. Its morning already," he shook him.
"Hmm… five more minutes," he mumbled.
"Suit yourself," Harry shrugged before turning back to prepare his bag. He slipped out of his room and into the common room while Archie kept sleeping. There were already plenty of other students up and about, reading or preparing for the coming day. There was a boy about to leave the dorm and Harry joined him quickly.
"Hey," he shouted and the boy stopped and waited for him. "Good morning. Are you heading to breakfast? Oh, I'm Harry Potter."
"Michael Brooke," he shook his hand "and yes, that were I'm headed. Would you like to join me?"
"Sure. You are a second year, aren't you?"
"Right. So how's Hogwarts treating you so far?" Michael asked.
"It's great. The castle is wonderful, the food is great and don't get me started on the books in the common room. I just had the chance to glance at a few titles and I already have to make a priority list of what to read first."
Michael chuckled in response. "I hear you mate. When we found out that I was a wizard I was scared out of my wits and even a little scared of being away from home for nine months, but now…" The look of wonder in his eyes spoke volumes.
"Oh. Well, my parents are both magical so I didn't have the same problem but I can see how it would trouble a Muggleborn. Are you doing fine on this side? People are treating you well?"
"As much as it could be expected. Most people are fine but there are a few stuck up gits… Nevermind. Racism it's still problem for the Muggles too."
"True," Harry commented. "Hey, what book would you recommend I should read first?" Harry asked moving the conversation to nicer topics.
"Hmm… Well since our Head of House is the Charm Professor…"
They discussed books and spell all the way to the Great Hall where they parted ways. Michael joined his year mates and Harry somewhere further down the table.
He began eating while his eyes explored his surroundings.
It was still rather early and there were very few people already awake, most from his House and from Slytherin.
The staff table on the other hand was rather filled. It looked like that organizing the day of classes required an early start. Harry gaze lingered on his professors.
Minerva McGonagall, the stern looking professor he had met the previous evening was a known face. His father warned him about crossing her and explained that she was tough but fair.
Charity Burbage the Muggle Studies professor was a round little woman who his mother often referred as a joke, since she didn't know the first thing about Muggles or their achievement in the past sixty years.
Septima Vector, the young and alluring Arithmancy professor that Padfoot used to rant about all the time. She was a student when the Marauders walked those same halls and Ms. Vector was one of the few failed targets of his Godfather failed charm. He looked forward to see what the witch that kept Sirius at bay could teach him.
She was chatting animatedly with the Divination professor Sibyl Trelawney. Harry narrowed her eyes at her. He knew by overhearing his parents speaking that she was the one giving the prophecy that pushed Voldemort after his family. The old bat wasn't responsible neither for giving the prophecy nor for Voldemort's actions but he couldn't help but dislike her regardless of that.
Beside her was Quirinus Quirell, his DaDA professor. He knew very little about the man, save for the fact that he had a very thorough knowledge of the subject he taught. He was talking with the Potion professor Severus Snape.
Snivellius, as his father called him was a supposedly reformed Death Eater, turned spy for the Order of the Phoenix while the war was still in Voldemort's favor, that is to say until his own killing curse rebounded on him. He didn't have a clear opinion on the man at that point. He had been a follower of the Dark Lord at one point, yet he willingly switched sides in a moment that could be considered untimingly at that point in time. Whether the man could be considered good or bad remained to be seen.
His father and his friends had a clear opinion on the man, which was to say 'hex him without warning' but they were know to be wrong about people allegiances from time to time. Peter Pettigrew was one of such instances.
The man turned his gaze from his colleague to meet Harry's, and for a tiniest fraction of a moment something passed through those hard schooled features of his. Something akin to guilt or perhaps regret but it was gone too fast for him to discern it properly. His gaze drifted away and didn't return, leaving a curious teen in its wake.
Harry didn't know what that meant but he was sure it meant something. He was too smart to miss the signals. Perhaps it was to do with Snape's lost friendship with Harry's mother, perhaps with Voldemort demise. Harry didn't know but he would make sure to keep a close eye on the man. Reformed or not having a Death Eater attention was a good reason to watch his back while walking down the empty corridors of the castle.
"Good morning, git," Archibald greeted as he sat beside him. Harry arched an eyebrow at his colorful choice of words as he turned to look at his new friend.
"Not that I'd want to discuss the truth of your statement, but what exactly prompted you to call me by that particular appellative?" he asked.
"You didn't wait for me to get up. I almost overslept and missed breakfast," he whined.
"What am I? Your mother? If you count on me to wake you up in the morning you've got another thing coming."
"But…"
"Oh, look! Stephanie," he pointed to the Slytherin table. Like a Pavlovian reaction the boy head snapped almost 180 degree backward to search for his intended target. Once spotted, the boy practically glided toward the girl of his dreams.
Harry didn't waste any time in following the exchange since he could easily predict the outcome. A moment later a grunt of pain preceded the physical wince of every boy that was looking in that general direction. Even a few teachers seemed to react in the same fashion and perhaps someone was about to reprimand the girl but soon enough the boy was back on his feet seemingly unfazed. A few words were exchanged at the boy was sent back whence he came from.
"She sent me awayyyyy," he whined as he sat back near Harry.
"I can't begin to fathom why she would," he said ironically.
"Really?"
"No. In fact I'm quite sure it has to do with the fact that you are rather bothersome and childish, you whine constantly and apparently you can't even get up in the morning by yourself. But then again that's just my opinion."
"Y-y-you have no proof of that!" Archie tried to defend himself.
"No, no I don't. In fact I wouldn't know the first girl about girls. It wasn't my arm she was draped to when you joined us on the train, was it?" He finished his breakfast and stood up, leaving behind a shell shocked boy with tears streaming down his eyes in a comical fashion.
He reached one of his house prefects and that was giving the schedule to the other first years. Charms was going to be their first lesson and would also work as introduction to Hogwarts since their Head of House was the Charm Professor. Harry couldn't wait but to begin learning from the fabled duelist Filius Flitwick.
Author Note:
Here the promised update. I don't know when the next one will be, probably not anytime soon. I'm working on ideas for my other HP fic and this is a secondary work. I need to come up with a plot damn it. I have a few vague points for this story but I have to string them together.
Anyway i could you some help for you readers. I'm in need of secondary characters for my stories. If you feel like it send me a small profile via PM of a character ot your choosing and I might use it in my story. Seriously it helps save time in writing.
Well that's everything for the time being. Keep in touch for more.
