Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally.

Chapter three

Harry lay awake in new room. The Dursleys were furious when they learned that Harry had found out about his family’s past. They were scared when they realised that Harry now knew he was a wizard.

He was enjoying his newfound advantage over the Dursleys. He would never forget the look of terror on uncle Vernon’s face the day after Diagon Alley.

 

While in the Alley, Harry had taken the chance to buy a few books in Flourish and Blott’s. He had found one on a game called ‘Quidditch’, as well as one on Hogwarts itself and several others on basic charms and transfiguration. He was reading all his first year books in an attempt to gain what little knowledge he could without instruction. Most of the people in Hogwarts grew up in the wizarding world, so Harry knew that he was already at a major disadvantage.

He had also stashed all his supplies in his cupboard, he didn’t want the Dursleys to find out just yet. Joe hadn’t been too happy, but he was a smart Owl and he kept quiet enough throughout the night.

The day of the ‘incident’ the Dursleys had gone into town for some shopping. Dudley had demanded to go, as a trip to the shops most often ended with him receiving several pounds of sweets. Harry had heard the Dursleys leave, picked up his charms book from the cupboard and headed for the kitchen. He had spent several hours reading up on basic charms when he found that he couldn’t stand it anymore. He retrieved his now precious wand and a pen lid that was lying discarded on the table. Placing it on the table before him he aimed his wand and intoned, “Wingardium Leviosa.”

The lid vibrated and started to glow. Curious, Harry leaned in closer to inspect, when it suddenly sprang from the table and embedded itself into a nearby wall.

“Shit!” swore Harry, before running to the wall to inspect the damage. He pulled the lid from the wall and deftly manoeuvred a nearby picture to cover the indent.

His sensible half was telling him that he should quit while he was behind, and not do anything to further increase the Dursley’s ire.

The half that he currently wanted to listen to, was telling him to try again. Harry grinned and placed the lid back on the table.

Reading the instructions again, he quickly deduced that he had flicked too hard. The book said that it wasn’t power that determined the effectiveness of charms or other more ‘polished’ forms of magic, but rather the skill in which the caster performed them with.

Harry aimed his wand and focused solely on the lid. Blocking everything else out, he intoned the incantation while producing a solid swish with a minute flick at the end. The lid shuddered and slowly lifted itself from the table, after rising several inches, the spell broke and it fell back to earth.

‘Strange,’ Harry had thought, ‘A dropping lid shouldn’t sound like a dropped grocery…oh bugger.’

Harry turned around expecting to see a furious Uncle and a terrified Aunt. He was surprised when he realised that his Aunt was the furious one. His uncle looked like he had walked into an axe murderers convention. Dudley just looked confused.

“Big surprise there,” Harry thought.

“Where did you get that?” spat his Aunt, pointing at his wand.

“Well, a midget took me through an old lady’s fireplace into a magical pub where apparently, I’m a superstar. I had a big adventure that included goblins, giants and a roller coaster underneath the streets of London. I found out that my whole family were wizards and witches and that they were murdered.” As an afterthought, Harry said, “Oh, and I bought this in a shop.”

Petunia grew paler with each passing second.

“So, you know then?” She asked uncertainly.

“Know what? That the reason you treated me like a dog for years is because you were jealous of my mother?” Harry fingered his wand, “You know, I can do a lot more magic than this. I can make your lives a living hell. What would your neighbours think if they saw your car floating onto the roof?” Harry was now unashamedly bluffing and by the look of sudden apprehension on Vernon and Petunia’s faces, it was working. He took a risk and pushed the advantage while he had it. “All I ask, is that you let me use the spare bedroom and give me a lift to Kings Cross. Do that and I’ll be gone until the summer.”

If Vernon realised that Harry was bluffing, well…that could turn out bad.

Harry could almost see the gears turning in his Uncle’s head. Give up a barely used room and get rid of the boy for a year or keep him in the cupboard and risk him ruining his reputation by getting expelled from Stonewall.

“Fine, fine but you put…that…that thing away and you clean the room yourself.” His Uncle grunted.

Harry nodded and with one last frigid stare from his Aunt, left to tidy his new room. The last thing he heard that evening was Dudley whining about how he needed the storage space.

 

 

Now, almost a month later, Harry lay in his bed awake. Tomorrow, he would be departing for Hogwarts. ‘Hogwarts a History’ was an enlightening book, but he found that if he read too much of it at any one time he tended to doze. Idly wondering what house he would be in, he didn’t even notice as sleep took him.

 

__________________________________

The next morning Harry awoke early. Too early. Fearful that his Uncle would try everything he could to make Harry late, he double-checked everything before taking a shower and dragging his trunk downstairs. An hour later, he was in the car with three grumbling Dursleys, at least they were grumbling until Harry told them what platform the train was located on. He didn’t miss his Uncle’s smile of glee when he heard ‘Platform nine and three quarters’. Professor Flitwick had told him how to find his way onto the platform so he wasn’t too worried.

 

When they reached Kings Cross, his uncle, in an uncharacteristic display of kindness, loaded a trolley with Harry’s stuff and walked it to the platform with him. When they reached the barrier separating platforms nine and ten, his uncle stopped the trolley and with a maniacal grin on his face said, “Well, Harry, here’s your stop.” before turning to walk off.

Harry smirked and cheerily replied, “Thanks for the help uncle Vernon, see you next summer!” Before leaving the speechless man behind as he ran straight through the wall.

Harry emerged on the other side of the wall at platform nine and three quarters. Momentarily shocked at the site of an ancient looking scarlet steam engine, he recovered quickly and walked towards the train. The station was packed with families, all saying goodbye to their children. It was a cacophony of screeching Owls and mewling cats, Harry even heard the harsh croak of the odd toad. Joe woke up in his cage and looked around blearily before deciding that it wasn’t worth it and promptly tucked his head back underneath his wing.

Harry laughed quietly and boarded the train, looking for an empty compartment, many were full already, but Harry pressed on until he found one near the back of the train. He put Joe in first before trying - and failing - to stow away his trunk. It landed hard on his foot.

Uttering a mild curse, he turned around to see a smirking Padma Patil in the doorway.

“You know, pride will get you nowhere Harry, would you like a hand?” she asked.

Harry smiled, “Thanks Padma.” Between the two of them they got his trunk up. “Where’s Parvati?” he asked.

“Still saying goodbye to mum and dad. Mind if we sit with you?” she replied.

“Not at all, it’s good to see a friendly face,” he replied. Harry helped her stow away their stuff and sat down, “So, what house do you want to be in?” he asked.

“Ravenclaw. Dad told me that they have their own little library, that would be so cool!” seeing Harry’s smile, and realising that she was gushing, she deftly changed the subject. “You know, Parvati hasn’t shut up about you since the alley. One would almost think that she liked you.”

This time it was Padma’s turn to smile as Harry suddenly started to look very uncomfortable. Her smile widened when Parvati burst into the compartment, talking about how good it was to see him again. Harry seemed to shrink into the seat as he tried to escape her attentions. In a rare act of mercy and compassion, Padma said, “Parvati, tell me about the new dress you bought.” Parvati turned around and stared at Padma for a second confusedly, before flashing a triumphant smile.

“I just knew that one day you would see the light, dear sister,” she said in an overly dramatical voice, before launching into a discussion about fabric of some sort.

Padma shot Harry a long-suffering look mixed with a dash of 'you owe me one'.

Harry mouthed a thank you before retrieving a book from his trunk and settling in.

Almost an ten minutes later, Parvati was finally winding down, just in time for the door to slide open revealing a slightly chubby lady wheeling a cart.

“Anything off the trolley dears?”

Harry reached into his pocket and brought out a few galleons. He chose a selection of odd looking sweets and a wizarding newspaper. Padma and Parvati bought some sweets of their own and sat back down.

Harry took a look at the paper. ‘The daily prophet’ was an assortment of strangely arranged articles, some would loop in and out of others while some just disappeared. On the papers front page was a very angry looking Goblin arguing with a wizarding journalist. This brought back a question he had meant to ask the twins when he saw them again.

“Remember when we were in the alley? What happened at Gringotts? I mean, I know it was robbed but isn’t that supposed to be impossible?” he asked.

Padma shared a look with Parvati, “It’s supposed to be yes, but someone managed it. The country’s been in uproar over it. People have started to withdraw their savings in search of a ‘safer’ option. They’re completely forgetting that in the hundreds of years that Gringotts has been in existence, there has never once been a successful robbery until now. Dad says it’s getting quite heated between the ministry and the Goblins. He’s concerned that another war could start over this.”

‘War? What type of world have I gotten myself into?’ Harry thought.

Seeing his concerned look Padma tried to reassure him, “Don’t worry, there have been hundreds of Goblin wars, if it does happen it wont last long.”

If anything, this made Harry warier and it showed.

“My sister, brilliant with books, but socially retarded.” Parvati said, only to end up wincing as Padma’s elbow jabbed itself into her ribs.

Harry smiled at their antics, Parvati could be a bit…airy, but they were nice enough.

In the past month Harry had discovered a whole new world, one that he himself was part of. He had already made friends, and now he was on a steam engine speeding through the countryside on his way to a magic school. It was surreal, relieving, exciting and nerve-racking. He tried to appear calm about it, but inwardly Harry was terrified. The prospect that he wouldn’t be picked for a house and sent home terrified him. Could he really return to live with the Dursleys after all this? Professor Flitwick had helped him and eased most of his fears, but Harry still felt as though he had something to prove.

He was broken out of his thought’s when the compartment door slid open to reveal a small blonde haired boy, with a haughty air, flanked by two not entirely human looking friends.

“Are you him then? Father says that Harry Potter is starting this year and I’ve searched through every other compartment. You look enough like a Potter.” he said in a slightly supercilious tone.

“Yeah, I’m Harry, and you would be who exactly?”

The blonde boy seemed to pale slightly, which was an accomplishment in itself, before replying, “Draco Malfoy,” he waved carelessly behind him, “these two are Crabbe and Goyle. So, do you know what house you’ll be in?” He asked.

Harry glanced over at the twins. Parvati was frowning in Draco’s direction while Padma was looking at him with open distaste.

“I don’t really know, they all seem to be okay,” he replied.

Malfoy smirked, “Even Hufflepuff? Wouldn’t you leave if you were sorted there?” he asked, as if telling a well known joke. “I’m going to be a Slytherin, it runs in the family.” He said proudly.

Malfoy extended his hand, “Nice to meet you, Harry.”

He looked at Malfoy’s extended hand and took it, “It’s always good to meet new people Draco, I’ll see you around school.”

Malfoy nodded to the girls and left the compartment.

Harry turned to the girls, “What was with the evil eye? He seems a bit pompous, but he wasn’t that bad.”

“I got a bad vibe off him,” Parvati retorted defensively.

“Dad says bad things about the Malfoys,” Padma said, “He said that they were a disgrace to the name of pureblood.”

During the summer, Harry had read up on the blood separation in the magical world. He had found out that he was classed as a ‘half-blood’. Apparently Voldemort’s main policy was keeping the pure bloods pure and enslaving the muggle world. Harry agreed that the close knit world of magic needed to be widened a little, but muggles were just too different.

Harry was broken out of his thoughts when Parvati started talking to him.

“So…do you remember it at all? You know…that night?” she asked nervously.

Harry swore he heard Padma whisper something about ‘social retards’ .

“I remember a lot of green light, but that’s about it.” he replied in a quiet voice.

Sensing the mood taking a swing for the worse, Parvati wisely let it be. The conversation eventually wound down and Harry found himself starting to drift off.

 

Harry awoke a good while later, it was growing dark outside. He looked around the compartment, Padma was asleep with her head against the window and a book lying on the floor at her feet. Parvati wasn’t in the compartment. He picked up the book and placed it on the seat as the door opened and Parvati walked in.

“Hogwarts is coming up soon, we need to change into our robes.” she said.

Harry nodded and pulled his robes out of his trunk and over his head, Parvati woke Padma who looked vaguely embarrassed at being caught sleeping, and they soon changed.

After a few minutes, the train started to slow and eventually it came to a shuddering halt. Stepping onto the small platform, Harry looked around. A large horde of older students were already walking to the front of the platform, just then he heard an oddly familiar voice that he couldn’t place.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!”

A giant head that Harry recognised was illuminated by a hanging lamp. It was the man Professor Flitwick had known in the alley, Harry remembered that his name was ‘Hagrid’.

He led the group of shivering first years down to a small dock with a number of boats tethered to it. Parvati was mumbling something unintelligible about her hair. Nobody else spoke much. They chose a small boat and sat down with a small mousy haired boy that was gripping onto a toad for dear life.

As one, all the boats started to move, drifting silently into the blackness of the lake. Once or twice, Harry was sure he saw a tentacle skimming the waters surface.

After a few minutes, the boats rounded a small outcrop, and just like that, everything clicked. Harry was home. Hogwarts sat majestically perched atop a cliff overlooking the lake, its spires rising into the night sky while its windows twinkled with a ghostly light.

The boats headed straight for the cliff, and in a matter of minutes, they were sailing into a small cavern underneath the castle.

Harry, the mousy boy and the girls disembarked and joined the crowd gathered at the stairs. At a signal from Hagrid they moved together up the endless flights of stairs and into the bowels of Hogwarts.

 

__________________________________

“Another Potter eh, where should I put you?”

Harry remained silent.

“Plenty of courage, loyalty, intelligence and ambition. Yes plenty of ambition, enough to have any normal student on their way to the Slytherin table. But you’re not a normal student, are you Harry? It has been over fifty years since I have seen such a thirst for knowledge. He requested a house, one that I admit suited him well.

After almost a minute of silence from the hat, it finally said something. “Only one house will allow you to reach your full potential Harry…RAVENCLAW” the hat shouted.

The Ravenclaw table erupted in a deafening roar as Harry stepped off the stool and made his way towards his new house table.

He sat down beside a slightly sullen looking Padma. Parvati had been sorted into Gryffindor and she was still getting used to the fact that she would be seeing her twin much less from now on. She congratulated him as he sat down.

Weasley and Zabini were sorted into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively and the Headmaster stood. After a short speech proclaiming the harsh punishments for venturing into the forest and several other rules, he clapped his hands and food magically appeared on each plate in the hall.

Roast beef, stake, potatoes, gravy and every other possible food appeared on the plates in front of him. Padma looked on, clearly amused, as Harry piled food onto his plate. After a few minutes, the initial clamour had settled down, and Harry paused to take a look around him. Ravenclaw had received eleven new students including himself. Right across from him sat a small boy with brown hair. Flanked by two much older looking students, he looked slightly scared.

Harry was about to catch his eye when suddenly a spectral form rose from the centre of the table. Harry bolted back in his seat while Padma burst out laughing.

“For goodness sakes it’s just a ghost Harry” she said.

Harry glanced at the ghost in question who seemed to be smiling at him.

“Ghosts are real?” he asked incredulously.

“Honestly Harry, after all you have discovered, are you really that surprised?”

Feeling rather stupid, he muttered a hello to the ghost and went back to his food.

Full up and feeling sleepy, he scanned the staff table. Professor Flitwick was grinning broadly at him, while the raven haired professor McGonagall looked disappointed.

The biggest shock was the headmaster though. Instead of the bright jovial person that had been described to him, he looked weary and dejected.

He continued to scan the staff table, stopping to look at a hook nosed professor dressed in black, when his forehead burst open with pain. He barely kept from screaming out as he slumped into his seat. Padma was saying something to him, People were staring at him. Just as soon as it began, the pain receded and his vision cleared.

 

The people around him looked worried, Padma especially, but he straightened and assured them he was fine. Nobody else seemed to have noticed.

“Having a stroke in the middle of dinner is not fine Harry” Padma observed quietly.

“It was him” Harry replied quietly while pointing in the hooked-nosed man’s direction, “He did something.”

Padma looked up at the staff table. The professor seemed to be having a conversation with an odd looking man with a turban. She nudged an older student in the ribs, “Excuse me, who are the Professors at the end of the table?” she asked sweetly.

The older student seemed perturbed, “ The one with the turban is Professor Quirrell, and the greasy one with the sneer is Snape.”

Not missing the lack of an honorific, Padma shot Harry a meaningful look.

“Don’t worry about it, maybe it was just a headache or something.” he said. He knew Padma wasn’t fooled, but he was glad when she let it go.

All too soon, the food was gone and Harry and Padma were following a prefect to the Ravenclaw common room. Padma was talking quietly with a small Asian girl called Su. The group stopped in front of a plain stone wall. A dead end.

“First years” announced the tall girl at the front of the group. “I’m Penelope Clearwater and this is Thomas Hamilton. We are the fifth year Ravenclaw prefects.” She announced proudly. “This is the entrance to your new home, the password will be changed weekly, the password for this week is ‘Athena‘. Harry perked up at this, Athena was the name of Padma’s Owl, he idly wondered what happened to Joe.

The wall behind Penelope shifted and morphed into a grand marble staircase and the small group ascended. He emerged in his new favourite room. The Ravenclaw common room was a large circular room with around a dozen little alcoves built into the walls. Plush blue and bronze couches and armchairs were placed haphazardly around the floor. In the centre of the room was a massive circular cast iron stove, its chimney rising through the common room ceiling and extending to the roof of Ravenclaw tower. The walls were lined with bookcases of every shape and size.

Harry was stunned.

“This is the Ravenclaw common room. The bookshelves are linked to the library but you have to answer a question to withdraw the one you want. After a period of three hours the books are enchanted to return to the library themselves, so you will have to check them out again. The staircase to the boys dorms is on the right and the girls on the left. First year dorms on the first floor. Breakfast is at eight and classes start at nine. Tomorrow is a Sunday so you can sleep in. Goodnight.”

Completely exhausted and overawed, Harry said goodbye to Padma and Su, and headed to his dormitory where he found his trunk waiting for him. Ignoring the whispers of the boys that followed him up the stairs, Harry drifted off to sleep.