The black robed teacher was a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose and yellow, uneven teeth. He had shoulder-length, greasy black hair which framed his face in curtains, curling lips and dark, penetrating eyes that resembled tunnels. The man for some reason was glaring in Harry's direction, Harry was pretty sure that the man hated him judging by the way he was looking at him.
Harry placed his focus back on the sorting, mostly just to stop looking at the glaring man. Daphne and Tracy were sorted into Slytherin house along with Malfoy and the two boys that Harry was pretty sure were his bodyguards. Harry saw the bushy haired girl - Hermione Granger was her name apparently - get sorted into Gryffindor.
Harry would have figured that she was more of a Ravenclaw person but who was he to argue with a magical hat. Eventually Harry was called up, Harry walked up towards the stool and sat down. He barely was able to see the hall staring at him before the hat was placed on his head.
'Oh,' Harry heard the hat speak, the odd thing was that the sound wasn't so much coming into his ears as it was already inside his ears. 'yes Mr Potter, I am speaking into your mind. Do not worry, what happens between you and me is strictly confidential, nobody else will know, student or teacher. I give you my word.'
"This is the sorting hat speaking, isn't it?' Harry mentally asked. 'What do I call you?'
'Hat will do, now shush. I need to sort you. Hmm, you have such an interesting mind, far less simple than most. Plenty of courage, not a bad mind either in terms of intelligence. You only have one friend at the moment but you are very loyal to him, even if he is a snake. There's talent, oh yes, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?'
'You're asking me? I thought this was your job.'
'It is, but there's nothing wrong with asking, is there?' The hat replied. 'Tell me Potter, do you have anything to say?' The hat asked.
'I...I don't really have a preference', Harry admitted. 'I...I just want to learn magic.'
'Why?' The hat asked.
'What do you mean why?'
'Why do you wish to learn? For the sake of learning?' The hat asked.
'No...no, I just...I love magic.' Harry replied. 'I want to be the best at it'.
'Hmm, I can see why. Your 'relatives' would never dare hurt you if they thought you would be a powerful wizard.' The hat said, Harry couldn't help but notice the disdain in his voice when he said 'relatives'. 'If I may, I'd recommend Slytherin.'
'Slytherin?' Harry asked.
'Yes, you'd be a perfect fit.' The hat replied. 'Not only do you possess the Salazar Slytherin's ability, but you are also a powerful and clever yet ambitious wizard. Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness.'
'Greatness?' The word echoed in Harry's head. 'Greatness, I like that.' Harry grinned, not just mentally.
"In that case," The hat spoke loudly so that everyone could hear. "it had better be Slytherin!" The hat yelled.
Harry felt the hat get removed, he stood up and looked at everyone. The Hufflepuff's looked surprised and a few looked worried, the Ravenclaws also looked surprised but not that bothered. The Gryffindor's looked like somebody had killed and curb stomped their puppy before pissing on it, they had clearly been hoping that the boy-who-lived would become a Gryffindor just like most people expected.
Harry walked to the Slytherin table, the majority of them looked surprised and disbelieving. Harry saw Tracy and Daphne sitting opposite each other and took a seat next to Tracy.
"Girls." Harry nodded to them.
"Called it." Daphne smirked at Tracy.
....
Once people were able to get over the shock of having the boy-who-lived in Slytherin, the sorting continued. Blaise was sorted into Slytherin as well, but instead of sitting with Harry, Daphne and Tracy, had chosen to go sit next to a third year student. Harry and the girls shrugged it off, they were hardly best friends and Blaise probably knew the third year.
Once the sorting was done Professor Dumbledore stood up, his blue eyes twinkling as he began speaking to the hall.
"Welcome, welcome to all students, new and old. Now before we dig into our wonderful feast, I do have a few choice words for you all. They are Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you." He smiled before sitting down. Before Harry could wonder just how sane his headmaster was, something very magical happened.
Harry couldn't help but feel like he was in heaven when a wide variety of food suddenly appeared on the table, there was everything from ice cream to chicken to sweets and chocolates. Harry looked around and saw the other students all looked happy about it as well.
Harry began eating, though he did notice how well mannered everyone else on the Slytherin table looked when they were eating, and he liked it. This was so much better than the Dursley's where his Uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley would just shove as much food into their mouths as possible while Aunt Petunia would sit at the side and calmly eat her little salad, like a giant fucking ugly bug.
Harry happily began eating, though he did pause when he spotted the Gryffindor table, specifically Ron eating his food as if he was afraid it would disappear if he stopped. It was a horrible sight, Harry could see the food dropping out of his mouth and into his lap and on the table. Harry glanced to his side and saw Tracy looking displeased by the sight of Ron eating.
"What are you looking at?" Daphne frowned before she looked behind her and saw Ron eating. "Ew." Was all she said before she turned back with a disgusted face before shaking her head and continuing to eat.
"Disgusting, isn't he?" Malfoy called from a few seats down. "I doubt his parents taught him any manners."
"Probably not," An older Slytherin agreed. "his brothers at least know how to eat without looking like animals."
"What do you think, Potter?" Malfoy whispered to Harry. Harry did not immediately reply as he chose to swallow his food first.
"I think...that I don't really care enough about Weasley to waste my dinner time discussing him." Harry replied before taking a sip of pumpkin juice, which didn't taste all too bad. "This is also the first night here, I'd like to wait before making any opinions."
"A very Slytherin answer, Potter." A fourth year said with an approving nod.
"Guess the hat is good at doing his job after all," Harry commented with a small smirk before he glanced back at Weasley. "and I'm thankful for that, if not then I might have been sitting there." Harry added, earning a laugh from the nearby Slytherin's.
"Well done, you are killing it." Harry heard Jet quietly hiss.
Everyone continued eating and talking until eventually everyone had finished eating, Dumbledore stood up again.
"Ahem," Dumbledore coughed. "yes, yes, I am glad you have all enjoyed yourselves. I just have a few more words before we retire for the evening. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of two red headed twins at the Gryffindor table, the twins simply smiled back. If Harry had to guess then he would say they were probably related to Ron.
"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors." Dumbledore continued, he went through several more announcements before he got to the end of his speech. "And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
Harry blinked at that, wondering if he had heard right. He saw that Tracy and Daphne looked a bit confused as well, that brought him some comfort, but the real question now was what kind of school would allow something dangerous enough to kill to be in a school?
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore said happily. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed, not that Dumbledore appeared to have noticed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
What better way to round off a great evening than with musical chaos? As the rest of the teachers maintained 'fixed' smiles, Professor Dumbledore conducted the school in an 'interesting' anthem, with everyone singing their tune of choice. For Harry it was the worst singing he had ever heard since the last time Dudley had been in a school play.
"Ah, music," Dumbledore smiled once that travesty of music had finished. "A magic beyond all we do here!"
"Oh great," Harry said under his breath, "turns out I should have just gone to music school instead." Tracy heard his comment if the restrained laugh was any indicator.
.....
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