Good evening, everyone." Professor Dumbledore said as he stood up once the sorting had finished. "And welcome, 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! Thank you!" He said before he sat back down.
"Great, our Headmaster is insane." Emma said under her breath.
"We already knew that, try and keep up." Jean responded, having heard her. Emma's reply was cut off as a large amount of food and drinks appeared in front of them.
"Wow!" Laura breathed.
"That's fast service." Harry said, not totally able to keep the surprise out of his voice. The four exchanged looks before they shrugged and started eating.
Partway through into their admittedly delicious food, Harry saw Laura reach for the last chicken leg piece on a tray, she had just picked it up when it was snatched out of her hands by a boy who had reached over the second he had saw it. He was skinny with blond hair and he also had an upturned nose.
"Hey!" Laura quickly protested. "That's mine!" She all but growled as she glared at him.
"Yeah, well now it's mine." The boy said with an infuriating smirk.
"Hey, she had it first." Jean said, glaring at him.
"Well, tough luck, I have it now." The boy continued smirking, he was about to take a bite but quickly stopped when he suddenly found a pair of vivid emerald eyes staring at him, he also could not help but notice the three metal claws that were pressed against his chin.
The boy was frozen in fear, his eyes wide and his skin much paler than before. Everyone nearby was looking between Harry and the blonde boy, though luckily so far the other teachers and students from other houses hadn't yet noticed what was going on, many of the Hufflepuffs were openly staring at Harry's claws. The blonde boy let out an audible gulp.
Harry continued to glare at him as his other hand reached over and plucked the chicken leg piece out of the blonde boy's shaking hand, Harry had continued to glare at the boy and only stopped once he had safely placed the chicken leg out of the boy's reach and into his sister's hand. Harry looked over at Laura who was smiling brightly at him, Harry's claws retracted back into his arm and he raised a hand and patted Laura on the head before he went back to eating his food as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Jean and Emma exchanged amused looks as many of the Hufflepuffs were now openly gaping at Harry and Laura, both of whom seemed to be completely unaware of the looks that they were receiving.
Eventually everyone had finished eating and the food had disappeared along with the plates and cups - or rather goblets since that is what they actually were - which earned a few quiet groans and complaints from a select few students who had not yet finished eating.
"Now, I shan't take up too much time, I don't want to distract us any longer from the comforts of our magnificently soft and lovely beds." Dumbledore said as he stood up to address the students, he paused briefly when the two red headed twins from Gryffindor let out a cheer. "I just want to go over a few announcements. First of all, for students new and old, the forbidden forest is exactly as the name suggests, forbidden. Quidditch try outs will of course be held by..."
As Dumbledore continued to speak Harry half-paid attention, he was sure that if he missed anything important then one of the girls would tell him. Harry silently sniffed the air, wondering what exactly the great hall smelled like. There was obviously the smell of people, Harry could still smell some of the food and drinks that had previously been on the tables. But there was one smell that stood out to Harry.
"Laura," Harry whispered to his sister. "smell that professor next to the asshole."
"Which asshole?" Laura blinked.
"The ugly one who doesn't wash." Harry promptly replied.
"Ok." Laura gave him an odd look before she began sniffing, she needed a few moments but eventually she was able to get past the other smells in order to focus on the man next to Professor Snape. The man had on purple robes with an even darker purple cloak, his hands were shaking and there was a nervous smile on his face. He admittedly looked quite odd when placed next to Professor Snape who was dressed all in black. The oddest thing about the physical appearance of the purple clothed man was the fact that he was wearing a purple turban on his head.
Though for Laura and Harry the oddest thing about the man was not how he looked, but more how he smelt. He, for the most part, smelt like a regular man. Just like a regular man, except for the horrible smell that was coming from around his head. It smelt like rotting flesh and shit...like rotting shit. It was a small smell, one that seemed to be masked amongst other smells which likely hid it from regular people but Harry and Laura could easily pick it out.
"Harry, listen!" Laura quietly hissed. Harry tilted his ear towards the purple clothed man.
"Pay close attention to the boy." A voice rasped, this voice came from the same area as the turban man. "And the younger girl as well."
"Jean," Harry whispered to Jean as he leaned over the table slightly. "lift that purple guy's turban."
"What? Why?" She whispered back.
"Just trust me and do it, I want to check something." Harry whispered back. Jean, for a moment, wanted to argue but stopped when she saw the serious expression on Harry's face. She gave him a short nod before she looked towards the purple clothed professor, she discreetly raised one of her hands and a second later the turban shot off of the man's head.
"What?!" The purple clothed man gasped as he jumped to his feet with a shocked expression on his face.
"Professor Quirrell?" Dumbledore blinked as he turned to the man just before a scream was heard. A girl had screamed when she saw a face on the back of the man's head, the man - whose real name was apparently 'Professor Quirrell' - was about to try and hide it but stopped when he realised it was too late. Many students and a few teachers had already seen the face on the back of his head, he tried to flee, only to trip as he turned which caused more people to see the back of his head when he got up.
"You fool!" The face on the back of his head hissed angrily when several Professor's blocked his host's paths, the face exemplified angry and had a pair of very noticeable scarlet red eyes.
"He-who-must-not-be-named!" Professor McGonagall gasped, this in turn caused a fresh wave of horror to shoot through the hall as many students gasped loudly, scared beyond words that they were in a room with the most feared wizard of all time.
"You useless imbecile!" The now identified Voldemort shouted angrily at Professor Quirrell.
"Master! Please! This was not my fault!" Professor Quirrell cried, actual tears dripping down his face.
"Give up, Voldemort!" Dumbledore said as he pointed his wand at him.
"I think not!" Voldemort responded before Quirrell suddenly began crying out in pain, a black mist rose from his head and Quirrell fell down like a puppet that had its strings cut, dead before he even hit the floor. The mist flew up into the air. "You will pay, Dumbledore!" Voldemort's voice shouted from the mist before it flew through the window behind it.
"Professors," Dumbledore quickly spoke, his mind going in overdrive as he tried to think of a way to salvage this situation. "please take the students back to their common rooms." He said in a quiet voice that was heard by everyone in the hall.
Later that night Harry and his friends along with the other Hufflepuffs in his year were now sat in the Hufflepuff common room which was located in what seemed like a basement. The actual basement itself is round, earthy, low-ceilinged, welcoming, warm, and sunny or at least Harry assumed that it would be sunny during the day time, as of right now they only got a bit of moon light. There were lots of yellow hangings, burnished copper, and overstuffed sofas and armchairs upholstered in yellow and black and small circular windows that provide a vista of rippling grass and dandelions. There was also a large, honey coloured, wooden mantelpiece with carvings of badgers on it, located underneath a portrait of the house's founder, Helga Hufflepuff. The room also had various different magical and non-magical plants located all around it.
Emma had a slightly pained look on her face when she entered, it was clear to Harry and the other girls that she wasn't exactly a big fan of the design which was understandable really when you consider the fact that she had pretty much been living in a mansion all of her life. Jean and Laura didn't seem too bothered by it, both looked around when they had entered and had a small smile on their faces. Harry personally quite liked it, it had a sort of natural feeling to it which his animalistic side could appreciate it.
Once everyone had gotten inside it was clear that at least most of the students were still terrified from their experience in the hall and were in no mood to sleep, so one prefect - a pretty seventh year prefect with pink hair called Tonks, though Harry had mentally dubbed her as the 'pretty prefect'. - had suggested that the first years spend some time trying to get to know each other by saying their names and one thing about themselves. Most of the first years agreed to try it out, so naturally the rest joined thanks to the naturally overwhelming power of peer pressure.
The other students - for lack of a better thing to do - decided to pay attention to the new first years, partly to learn about the new first years and partly to distract themselves from this evening's disturbance.
"I'm Susan Bones," A red headed girl said with a warm smile. "my aunt is the head of the DMLE." She added in a proud voice, the DMLE of course being the 'Department of Magical Law Enforcement' AKA the magical police.
"I'm Hannah Abbot," A blonde girl with pig tail styled hair spoke next. "I'm Susan's best friend."
"I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley," A boy with neat and combed black hair spoke after her. "and I'm a muggleborn."
"I'm Megan Jones," A girl with golden brown hair said. "I'm a big quidditch fan."
"I'm Wayne Hopkins," A brown haired boy with blue eyes spoke next. "my dad was a wizard and my mum was a witch."
"Ernie Macmillan," Another brown haired boy spoke, his eyes were brown unlike the last one. "I'm a pureblood."
"Zacharias Smith," The blonde boy who had tried to take Laura's chicken spoke next. "I'm planning to try out for the quidditch team next year."
"I'm Jean Grey," Jean said. "and I'm a mutant who lives with Harry and Laura."
"Wait, you live together?" One older Hufflepuff asked.
"What's a mutant?" Another one asked.
"The three of us live in a special school for mutants, and mutants for a simple explanation are any person - magical or otherwise - who is born with an extra ability." Jean began explaining. "Some mutants just look differently while some have extra abilities such as increased strength. As you saw from Harry he has claws."
"I'm Emma Frost," Emma spoke up before more questions could be asked. "I'm also a mutant." She finished, not really wanting to say more.
"I'm Laura Potter and I live with Jean, Harry, a few other kids and my grandpa at 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters'." Laura said with a small smile.
"I'm Harry Potter," Harry spoke and everyone turned to him, wanting to see what the boy-who-lived would say. "and if any of you even so much as dare to try to mess with my sister then I'm going to stab you, possibly more than once. Likely more than once." Harry said in a calm voice, causing everyone to blink at him.
"Harry's rather protective." Jean shrugged.
"Potter," Smith spoke up. "why didn't you tell anyone that you-know-who was alive?" He asked, everyone once again became quiet so they could hear his response.
"Because I didn't know," Harry rolled his eyes. "I was raised in the muggle world and didn't even know who he was until I got my letter."
"Really?" One older Hufflepuff asked. "You didn't know about magic?"
"Nope." Harry said, popping the 'P'. "Quick question, someone coming out of somebody else's head, that's not normal right?" Harry asked.
"No, it most certainly is not." Tonks responded, sounding somewhat amused.
"Albus," Professor McGonagall spoke up when she entered Professor Dumbledore's office the next day. "we have a bit of a problem." She said, though she had to admit to herself at least that that was a bit of an understatement.
"What is it?" Dumbledore asked, several worst case scenarios already going through his mind. "What has happened, Minerva?" He asked as he stood up, the horrible business with Professor Quirrell and Voldemort was bad enough, couldn't he just have at least a day to recover?
"Well..." Professor McGonagall coughed. "it...it's...well...um...it's kind of hard to say..." She admitted.
"What? Minerva, please, if something important happens in the school that could affect the staff or the students then I have to know." He said, leaning forward and staring at her. "What has happened, Minerva? Is someone injured?" He frowned.
"I...guess you could say that." She slowly nodded.
"What happened?" He asked, frowning even worse.
"Well...um..."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, just spit it out." Dumbledore said in an impatient voice.
"Well," Professor McGonagall took a deep breath before she started speaking again. "Professor Sprout had started handing out the morning timetables when Professor Snape had approached the Hufflepuff table. He exchanged a few words with Mr Potter and his friends, I'm not entirely sure what was said but it for some reason ended with Mr Potter picking up a knife and stabbing Professor Snape in his left butt cheek."
"I...wait..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What?!" Professor Dumbledore blurted out.