M...m...m...mutants?" Ron breathed as Harry's claw returned into his hand.
"Your English is shit." Harry said, unimpressed by his stutter.
"What the bloody hell are mutants?!" Ron blurted out.
"People who are born with a special gene called the 'X' gene, which makes them different in some way or the other, usually through physical appearance or abilities." Jean recited.
"It's somewhat similar to how wizards are born with magic while muggles aren't, mutants are just born with extra abilities, though the number of abilities depends on each person." Emma added, quite helpfully in her opinion. In fact she felt that she was so helpful that she deserved a treat, which is why she helped herself to another chocolate.
"Hey guys, look at this, 'Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans'", Laura said, reading off a package of sweets that she had. "do you think they actually mean every flavour?" She asked as she picked one out.
"They might." Jean said in a thoughtful voice. "We are dealing with wizard sweets."
"Hmm," Laura hummed before she put one in her mouth. "oh, that tastes like strawberry." She commented.
"Let me try," Harry said as he took one and popped it in his mouth. "hmm, that's chicken."
"Really?" Emma asked.
"Trust me, I know chicken." Harry said as he gestured to his sharp fangs.
"Bloody hell, are you a werewolf?!" Ron exclaimed, still not over his shock at the 'mutant' thing.
"No."
"A vampire?!"
"No, that's just part of my mutation." Harry sighed.
"You all...you all have c...claws and sharp teeth?" Ron gulped as he looked around, looking like a guy who was locked in a cage with lions.
"No, just the twins." Emma said, frowning at his attitude.
"R...right, I...um...I've just remembered that my brothers are a few compartments down, I'm...um...just going to go and see them." Ron coughed as he stood up.
"By the way," Emma spoke up. "if you're planning to not come back then you might want to take your trunk with you, after all we will have to get changed before we get there." She added, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at him.
"Oh." Ron said softly. He reached up for his trunk and barely managed to pull it down without dropping it on his foot, he pulled it out of the compartment with a bit of effort.
"I feel like he didn't like us." Harry said in a dry voice as he closed the door.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Emma asked, her voice was equally as dry.
"That was just ridiculous," Jean scowled. "he literally has a stick that can help him change reality but he is worried about us."
"Screw them," Harry shrugged. "we'll be who we are and if they don't like it then they can fuck off."
"You've been spending too much time with Logan." Jean said, frowning at his language.
"Harry's being quite crude, but he's not wrong." Emma said.
"Yeah, well I..." Laura trailed off and sneezed loudly.
"Oh fuck." Harry groaned after sniffing the air. "He's here."
"Who is here?" Emma asked.
"Hair gel." Harry growled out, as if the very words offended him beyond comprehension, just before the door opened. Standing in the door was the boy that they had seen when they went clothes shopping in Diagon Alley. The boy, AKA Hair Gel, was standing with two other boys that quite frankly were rather on the large side, both looked like shaved gorillas in their opinion.
"I heard that Harry Potter was in this compartment." Hair gel said before his eyes widened as he spotted Harry. "You!" He blurted out, having recognised Harry from their last meeting.
"Me." Harry nodded.
"You're Harry Potter?!" Hair Gel blurted out.
"That I am, Hair Gel. What can I help you with?" Harry asked, having gotten his senses under control.
"My name is not 'Hair Gel', it's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." He said in a proud voice. "These two are Crabbe and Goyle." He said as he gestured to the two boys behind him.
"Right, and...?" Harry trailed off questioningly.
"I know you were raised by muggles, Potter." Malfoy sneered, the four mutants could not help but notice the disgust in his voice when he said 'muggles'. "You're new to the wizarding world, you don't want to go and make friends with the wrong sort. I can help you with that." He said, extending his hand out towards Harry. Looking like he expected nothing less than Harry quickly accepting.
"Yeah...no. Just….no." Harry said as he shook his head.
"W...what?!" Draco blinked, looking at him with confusion.
"I don't need your help, the nose guides me." Harry said as he tapped his nose. "And it's telling me to stay away from you until you start wearing less hair gel."
"You'll regret spurning me, Potter." Draco glared at him with a red face. "If you don't wise up then soon you'll meet the same fate as your parents." He said before quickly turning to Laura. "You're his sister, aren't you? I'd recommend you wise up as well, hopefully that'll teach your brother a few things. If you're smart you'll get started with trying to find a nice husband, and..." Draco let out a choking sound as Harry's left hand wrapped around his throat, the emerald eyed boy was now standing in front of Draco.
Before Draco or any of his two pet gorillas could do anything, Harry effortlessly lifted him up with one hand, causing Draco's eyes to widen, along with this two body guards. Their wide eyes only got wider when three metal claws shot out of Harry's right hand.
"Harry, Ororo said you can't stab people." Laura reminded him.
"What she won't know won't bother her." Harry calmly replied as he glared at Malfoy.
"Harry, you can't stab him." Jean sighed.
"Why not? He's practically asking for it." Harry growled.
"Harry..."
"Fine, fine, no stab-stab, how about I just cut off his tongue instead?" Harry asked.
"As tempting as it is, and as much as he might deserve it, that would get a lot of blood everywhere, and these clothes are expensive, you know." Emma said, gesturing her clothes. Either forgetting or choosing to ignore the fact that she and her family were very, very rich.
"Fine." Harry said through gritted teeth before he brought Draco's face closer, Harry growled at him, letting Draco have a very close look at Harry's particularly sharp canine teeth. "Let me make one thing clear, Hair Gel, if you bother me then I will be annoyed. Bother my friends or my sister, then I will be angry. And an angry Harry is a stabby Harry, now get lost before I decide to give you a preview." Harry said before he tossed Draco at his two goons, they both caught him but ended up falling back, the end result was them landing on the floor with Draco on top of them. They were all staring at Harry with fearful expression. "Go!" Harry snapped, his claws popping out of his other hand. That was a good enough cue for the three boys as they all tripped over each other in their attempt to run away. Once they were gone Harry rolled his eyes and closed the door. "Can I be honest?" Harry said to the girls. "I don't think I am going to last the whole week without stabbing someone." Harry admitted.
"Oh well, at least you're trying." Emma said as Harry sat down, hoping to cheer him up a little.
"Thanks." Harry grinned at her.
After what felt like a really long trip, they had arrived in Hogsmeade station, all of the students walked out of the train, all now wearing their school uniform. Those students that were second year or older had black robes that were mixed with either green, red, yellow or blue. Those in first year, who had still not been sorted, simply wore black.
"Hey, which colour do you think would look best on me?" Emma asked the other three. "Personally I think blue or green would be the easiest to work with."
"I think you'd look nice in any of them." Laura answered honestly.
"Aw, aren't you just the best?" Emma cooed, causing Laura to blush slightly.
"She is the best." Harry agreed, ruffling Laura's hair just as all the other first years stopped.
"Gather around." A large man said, Harry and the girls estimated his height to be around eight foot six or seven, he was big - not just vertically, he had a bit of a belly - and had long black hair and a big beard that covered most of his face. "First years, follow me to the boats." He said before he gestured them to follow, he turned and walked around. The first years followed him down to a lake where a bunch of boats were waiting for them. "Four to a boat." The man said before he sat down in boat of his own, it was clear why he had his own boat, the man took up a lot of space.
"So, what houses do you think you'll be in?" Jean asked excitedly once they were in the boats, the boats seemed to move by themselves and had begun moving forwards shortly after everyone was in.
"I haven't really thought about it." Harry admitted. "I'll just go in whatever one you guys are going in." He shrugged.
"But what if we go in different ones?" Laura asked.
"Then I'll go in whatever one you're in." Harry shrugged once more.
Eventually the group had gotten to Hogwarts, the big man - who was apparently the schools game keeper and was called Rubeus Hagrid - had handed them over to Professor McGonagall, she guided them to the outside of a large hall, the doors were closed so none of the students had managed to see the hall yet.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said as she stopped in front of the students. "in a few moments we will enter into the hall where the sorting ceremony will commence, you will then be sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Once you are sorted your house will become your family, during the year if you behave you can earn house points, any misbehaviour will cause you to lose points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will win the house cup. Now, follow me." She said before she walked towards the doors, she flicked her wand, causing the doors to open.
The students followed Professor McGonagall into the hall, it was lit by hundreds of candles that were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were all sitting, there was a throne-like chair in the centre of the table where Professor Dumbledore was sitting with his fingers crossed, looking to all the world like a happy grandfather. Above them there was not a normal ceiling, not just because of the hundreds of floating candles, but also because it looked like it was enchanted show the sky above.
"It's not real, it's an enchanted ceiling. I've read about them in 'Hogwarts: A History'." Harry heard a girl talk to another girl.
The students and Professor McGonagall stopped in front of the head table, she stepped onto the stage in front of her and stood next to a stool which had a scroll and an old looking wizards hat on it. She turned and faced the students as she picked up the hat and scroll.
"When I call your names, you will come forth and sit down on the stool." She said, loudly so that everyone could hear. She unrolled the scroll before continuing. "After which you will be sorted, you will then move and sit at your house table. First is Abbot, Hannah." She said.
A few moments later a girl nervously walked away from the group and walked up to the stool, she turned so that she was facing the other students, she then sat down and a second later Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head. The hat shifted and now appeared to have a mouth and eyes.
"Hmm, Hufflepuff." The hat said loudly, Harry and the others blinked at the fact that a hat could actually talk.
"Well...that isn't exactly what I was expecting." Jean admitted.
"I do hope that hat's clean." Emma frowned, it most definitely did not look clean at all.
"It smells fine." Harry told her before he paused and sniffed the air again. "Well...fine-ish." He added. The students were all called up in alphabetical order of their last names, which is why the group was surprised when Jean got called up before Emma. Jean gave Emma an odd look, but the blonde telepath just smiled innocently. "You did something with your powers, didn't you?" Harry asked as Jean walked towards the stage.
"Maybe I want to see where you guys go first." Emma shrugged.
"Hufflepuff!" The hat shouted after spending a few moments on Jean's head. Jean took it off and handed it to Professor McGonagall before she moved over to the Hufflepuff table with a happy smile. After a few more students it was then Harry's turn. When Harry began walking to the stage he couldn't help but hear all the whispers that were going around the hall.
"That's Harry Potter?"
"He looks nothing like the books say."
"I thought he was supposed to have glasses."
"Where's his scar?"
When Harry sat down on the stool the hat was placed on his head, nothing happened for a few moments, but eventually Harry was able to hear a voice speaking from inside of his head, and he knew it was inside of his head.
'Difficult, very difficult.' The voice - the one that belonged to the sorting hat - spoke. Harry reacted instinctively and his skeleton changed. "Mr Potter," The hat spoke out loud. "please stop blocking me." He said. At this simple statement the whole hall began whispering to each other, wondering how the eleven year old boy was able to block the sorting hat.
"Why should I let you in my head?" Harry asked the hat.
"Because if you don't then I can't sort you." The hat calmly replied. "You need not fear, Mr Potter, I am incapable of revealing secrets that I learn from students. I would be destroyed before I would be able to reveal your secrets."
"If you're lying then I'll slice you to pieces." Harry warned before his skeleton shifted back to normal.
"Of that, I have no doubt." The hat said as he began searching through Harry's head. 'Hmm, plenty of courage, and a good deal of brains.' He said, once again speaking in Harry's mind. 'But wow, such loyalty to your friends and family. Oh, there's only one house that would work best for you. Where better to put the grandson of the Wolverine than in the house of badgers, it had better be..." The hat paused. "...Hufflepuff!" It yelled out loud.
The badgers began cheering loudly, screams of 'we got Potter' were heard. The Ravenclaws looked curious at the fact that Harry Potter hadn't gone into Gryffindor as many had predicted, the Slytherin's looked like they were unsure, as if they didn't know how to react to a Hufflepuff Potter, and the Gryffindors looked like someone had killed their pet puppy, they clearly had been expecting Harry to come into their house.
"We...didn't get Potter?" Two red headed twins whispered with disbelief as Harry sat down at the badgers table, he sat down opposite Jean who gave him a grin, Harry grinned back before he turned his focus back to the sorting since Laura was next.
"Potter, Laura." Professor McGonagall called. Laura nervously walked up to the stage, she sat down and the hat was placed on her head.
"Hufflepuff!" The hat yelled a few moments later, once the hat was taken off Laura rushed towards the Hufflepuff table with a bright smile, she sat down next to Harry and pulled him into a hug. Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her head, causing a few girls to coo at the sight.
Eventually all of the other students were sorted, except one.
"Excuse me, Professor, but I think you may have missed my name." Emma said in an innocent voice. "I am Emma Frost."
"Oh," Professor McGonagall looked slightly embarrassed as she looked back through the list. "I do appear to have missed it, my apologies, Miss Frost."
"That's quite alright, Professor." Emma said as she walked over and sat down on the stool. The hat was placed on her head, it was a full minute later before the hat had decided.
"Hufflepuff!" It yelled out.
Once the hat was taken off Emma walked to the Hufflepuff table with a pleased smile, she sat down next to Jean who was shaking her head. The red head had easily been able to work out exactly what Emma had done.
"You're incorrigible." Jean said in a half-amused and half-exasperated voice.
"Thank you." Emma smirked.