Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Sorting part 2
Beta read by Shigiya, Darklord331 and DOOMRAIDER.
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-Hogwarts-
"SLYTHERIN!"
You know… one could assume that life was indeed strange. It could never be straightforward and always mysteries lurking around each corner of our lives. But that was a false assumption, there is no secret to life, everything is as clear to our eyes—like looking through a clean pane of glass.
Nothing happened without reason, there was always a driving factor behind each action happening in existence, randomness was just a concept created to try and comprehend the complexity of existence.
Some would look at it like a butterfly effect, everything that happened at this moment was due to the domino effect of a past action, decision and object who themselves were influenced by an even further behind the event. A butterfly that I let loose in my hand could have caused a tornado on the other side of the world, as to whether a certain man chose the blue pill or red pill could have changed the course of the entire human civilization.
"..."
Just where was I going with this?
Oh right!
Why was Hermione Granger, the girl who turned out to be literally the main reason why Harry and Ron survived for so long in the movies, sorted in Slytherin!?
Was my speech on the train that strong? Did I accidentally perform the legendary talk-no-jutsu without realizing it?
It sounded so very ridiculous and idiotic that I refused to acknowledge it. But I also couldn't deny the reality in front of me, she truly chose Slytherin of all houses.
Well yeah, now that I thought about it, she did embody the Slytherin train of cleverness to some extent, ambitiousness, resourcefulness and even determination — but so a majority of the students here! The concept of blood purity was still a major aspect for the members of the house, it governed how people treated each other and even established a sort of hidden hierarchy from what I learned from Lucius. You could be the dumbest, stupidest, most wasteful kid in existence, but as long as your parents were pure bloods and you actually believed the concept — then you'd have a place within the house of Slytherin.
I was not sure if it was Salazar Slytherin's fault for having the aspect of blood purity become more important than the four other traits, or if it was the fault of the future generations — but it would definitely become a major hurdle for the girl. She was just asking for trouble with her background.
Given how she grew in the second movie alone both in confidence and reliability, it was logical to assume that Hermione became a powerful and competent wizard by the end of the story in the latter movies. That was just how she was painted to become in my opinion, this one was still an eleven years old girl who wanted to blend in. I remembered the scene of her crying in the girls bathroom when Ron made fun of her not having friends.
"I'm going to Slytherin in the end as well."
'And why am I freaking out? It's not like the kids in the Slytherin House are bloody murderers and criminals. Most are just mean, snobby, arrogant kids who need a good spank or two—Hermione will be fine.'
With some planning support and encouragement, I was certain to aid the girl in her time as a Slytherin. I was not planning on becoming her babysitter by any means, just a friend who would teach her the ropes in the beginning and watch her from afar. With enough guidance I was sure she would be able to adapt at one point.
"Longbottom Neville." Before he could go up, I quickly came to his side and offered a side hug to the confused and terrified kid.
"Hey man, good luck out there! I wager you'll become a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff." It wasn't anything much, but it seemed to be enough for him to become a bit calmer and more confident with his steps.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Honestly, I always judged him more as a Hufflepuff.
"Malfoy Draco," called Professor McGonagall in the front. He strained his robe and gave me a nod. I returned the nod while patting his back as encouragement, not that he needed it in the first place with how he confidently walked in the front as if he owned the place.
And of course, "SLYTHERIN!" At least things were back to normal.
Considering we both had the same family name, I didn't even need to guess who would be the next one called forward.
"Malfoy Jarius," I strutted forward, giving a sideways look at the teachers and headmaster sitting behind the hat. Severus Snape, potion teacher, looked uninterested by the whole sorting thing and had his gaze locked onto someone behind me. Turning back, I saw Harry have the same reaction of his scar hurting. But I knew it was not Snape's fault — the turban teacher also carefully observed the main protagonist.
Albus Percival Dumbledore was not focused on the boy who lived, but rather focused on the sorting ceremony, just like the rest of the teachers. A gentle, grandfatherly smile present on his face, he really made everyone feel safe and comfortable with his presence alone. The title of strongest wizard alive wasn't just for show.
"Hn…" The man noticed my gaze and gave me a nod, which I also returned. I found it unnerving how he made his eyes twinkle like that, felt like he was scheming something against me. Which was absurd, I know, he was most likely more concentrated on Harry than anyone else — but you could never be too sure.
I didn't see him as a bad person in the least. Growing with a father like Lucius did give me a good idea on who had an evil agenda against me or not. Aside from some plan he might have had for me, I could see that he looked back at me like he does for any other student.
Simply put I wasn't in his radar, that honor belonged to Harry. So in the meantime, I was just Lucius's kid… nothing more nothing less.
Sitting down, I waited for the teacher to place the hat on my head. Due to its large size, it covered my eyes and I saw nothing but the inside of the hat which happened to be completely dark.
"Confusing," said the raspy voice of the hat. "I see courage, a fair amount of courage, paranoia and a hint of boldness. But I also see love, the desire to protect your family and the love of your close ones that is embedded deeply within you. But just like the one before, you hide more than what you show on the outside."
It felt weird to be read so easily and have my traits presented to my face like this. I couldn't argue against his words as they were the truth, so I focused on something else.
'Sort me in Slytherin.'
"Another one, I see," it chuckled. "Are you sure? You certainly are more compatible with the other one, your heart says it all. With the potential to tie yourself with powerful allies and forge unbreakable bonds."
'But I'm also suited for Slytherin.' A statement more than a question. 'Besides, there is so much I want to accomplish as a Gryffindor and I have people that I genuinely care about in that house.'
"I see, a valid reason; SLYTHERIN!!!"
Just like for Draco, far less people applauded for my sorting; especially the Gryffindor people. They weren't outright showing their dislike for the Slytherin and the Malfoys, but I could tell they didn't appreciate us that much. I caught the Weasley twins laughing in the background, probably plotting something already. 'I will have to look out for them and their pranks… maybe I can strike them first.'
Though the Slytherin table on the other hand, the cheers were quite strong from their side. Draco looked unsurprised and kept displaying that rather haughty attitude. Crabbe and Goyle who still had yet to be sorted avoided any sort of eye contact with me. While Hermione genuinely looked happy and clapped the most enthusiastically of the rest.
Now to deal with her…
"You have a lot of explaining to do, bushy hair."
She didn't look particularly pleased with the name calling.
"That's a rather rude thing for you to say."
"I just stated a fact, don't change the subject. What did you just do there? More importantly, why did you convince the hat to sort you here? Are you aware that blood purity runs deeply within the ideology of the Slytherins? I remember telling you about this during our ride on the train. And don't even try to deny about you asking the hat to change his judgment, I just did that so I know you did it too."
She crossed her arms, "I did nothing wrong. I also remember you claiming the Slytherin to house the aspect of cleverness, ambitiousness, resourcefulness and so on. With further observation, I find these traits to suit me quite well." Hermione said confidently, making it hard for me to hold myself back saying how the gang needed her help to survive in the story.
"You just happened to meet my brother, well imagine everyone being just like him or even worse."
"Well I'll just mind my own business, thank you very much." She remained stubborn. "And besides, I didn't come to Hogwarts to make friends. I came to become a successful witch, pass my OWLS and NEWTS in the future."
Wasn't that a convenient lie? But those reasons were valid enough for me to drop this matter. Even if she decided to change houses, I didn't think she would be able to do so… may as well have her get familiar with the rest and help her from time to time.
I sighed.
"Alright, it's your life and your choice. I gave you enough information to sort it out yourself and you've made your decision."
Too much unnecessary information in my opinion.
We returned our attention back to the sorting ceremony where few others had been already sorted as we were talking.
Now it was time for the famous Harry Potter to have his sorting done.
"Harry Potter!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall. More so on the Slytherin side, everyone was talking about 'He who must not be named' and how could have defeated the dark lord. Hermione herself grew interested in the topic and kept eavesdropping on the people nearby.
The same thing happened, Harry gripping the chair tightly as if he was about to faint from stress. The hat talked about how the boy had a lot of courage, talent and the thirst to prove himself. The boy then proceeded to whisper—quite loudly I might add—not Slytherin repeatedly.
"Well someone really doesn't want to join us it seems."
Draco scoffed, "He turned down my offer, and decided to spend more time with those crumbling in poverty Weasleys. He will bring nothing but shame to the Potter and Black house."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Draco's frown deepened further more.
"Pathetic really…"
The Gryffindors were quite ecstatic with his presence. Everyone from the Weasley family came forward to shake his hand, the twins kept boasting about how they got Potter and even some of the ghosts came towards him to offer their congratulations.
A true celebrity that kid was.
I didn't forget to check out the teachers and staff's reactions. Hagrid, who sat at the very end gave him the thumbs up. Even Dumbledore had a brighter smile on his face, small detail, but something to notice anyways.
After the sorting was done, the new kids had some time to get familiar with their new peers.
On our side, Draco was already getting comfortable with some of the other first years. Crabbe and Goyle avoided both of us like the plague, only offering simple greetings. The boy my brother was conversing with was someone I recognised not due to his family's name, but rather his infamous mother; Blaise Zabini. Narcissa gossiped about how the father mysteriously died and that the mother immediately got married months after. Now there were rumors about how the second father had suddenly fallen victim to a deadly Illness and was bedridden.
Even Lucius added his own thoughts on the matter, like how the woman was extremely beautiful and was planning to lure blind rich men to her trap.
I don't remember seeing him in the first three movies, maybe he became more prominent in the latter ones. So I couldn't really make an accurate judgment of his character, but I trusted Draco's ability to be a good judge of character… partially.
Hermione on the other hand looked lost and kept staring around her awkwardly. No one was even trying to talk to her. So I decided to amuse her till our food came to the table.
"Hungry?" I asked.
"Not even a little," her face scrunched as she patted her stomach. "I think I ate too many sweets and pastries you so half-hazard bought on the train. I still taste the chocolate in my mouth… uggh, even thinking about it makes me want to vomit."
"Oh? Now you're accusing me of being the main cause of your problem? You could have just not eaten the candies and left them on the cart or something."
"And let them go to waste? I would never resort to such a thing, my parents taught me never to waste food of any kind. And I doubt anyone would have taken those after they all melted at the end of the journey."
"Nope," I brought out some hard candies and chocolate boxes from my pockets and showed them to her. "I brought almost all of it with me and now have roughly a few kilograms worth of sugary sweets with me." Immediately, the girl's face turned green at the sight and pushed my hand away from her.
"Would you kindly put those things away from me."
"Hahahaha! Don't worry, you'll get over your nausea after eating something savory. Have some greens and drink a lot of water."
"Well I hope for that to be soon, I haven't seen a single servant or cook to serve us anything." She looked at her plate and touched the edge. "Is this real gold? Quite extravagant don't you think?"
We continued to have these small back and forth conversations for the next few minutes, Hermione was less tense and more relaxed. Some of the girls even took the time to talk with her, though I did explicitly remind her not to bring up the fact about her coming from a Muggle family—at least not yet. They talked about lessons and other academic related subjects
"I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult."
"We'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing."
She and Daphne were getting along surprisingly well, whether the latter was doing this out of politeness or if she was actually being interested was yet to be known. Even the prefect—Gemma Farley—was conversing with them on academics.
While for me, I conversed with some of the Ghosts. Kinda weird to think that I once used to be like them, basically a soul floating around. The Bloody Baron in particular had a rather tragic and tear jerking story to tell. This guy was a wizard who attended Hogwarts in the 11th century and was sorted into Slytherin House.
After Hogwarts, he fell in love with Helena Ravenclaw, but she did not love him in return. He was sent by Rowena Ravenclaw to find Helena in Albania, but Helena refused to return with him and so he killed her in a rage. When he realised what he had done, the Baron stabbed himself with the same knife and died by suicide.
When he returned to the school as a ghost, still covered in blood, he earned the title of Bloody Baron.
Hermione and Daphne, who were talking prior, both looked disturbed by the story and so did the other first years.
"How I miss my dear Helena… if only… IF ONLY!!" He moaned loudly while flying away to the ceiling.
"Was that, Helena's blood?" asked Hermione.
"I… maybe?"
Clap!
Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet.
He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome!" he said. "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 sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Hermione meanwhile looked confused.
"Is he alright in the head?" She asked.
"Probably not," I answered. "But don't let his joyful and kind attitude fool you that he is THE strongest wizard alive. There may be others who come extremely close to him, but none can best him." I remembered Lucius admitting that Dumbledore was a force to be reckoned with. He always stayed vigilant even if he acted all mighty in front of the old man.
Whoosh!
The table in front of us suddenly turned into a feast as plates filled with roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs; spread all over the table. A variety of cuisine from different countries. I immediately went for the medium rare steak, draped with a heavy peppercorn and mushroom sauce.
Hermione was still shell shocked over the display of magic.
"Remember," I spoke while munching at the same time. "Try to eat more veggies and water if you don't want an upset stomach tomorrow morning after eating all that sugar."
"I was planning to do so."
These elves were truly the best chef's one could ask for in the wizarding world. Even Dobby—despite his odd quirks—could cook up the finest Chinese dishes in a matter of minutes. He even became my errand boy? Elf? Anyways, he was the one who bought me snacks and beverages from the Muggle world. We didn't have a fridge so storing most of the things I had was impossible.
"Are you familiar with some of the teachers, Jarius?" She asked.
I pointed at Snape first. "You see the guy with greasy hair and all dark robes? That's Professor Snape, he teaches Potions. The quivering guy next to him with the turban is Professor Quirinus Quirrell, who teaches dark arts… be very careful of him."
She wanted to ask me why but I continued with my speech and continued deceiving the other staff members including Hagrid and McGonagall.
Dumbledore got to his feet again.
The hall fell silent.
"Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. 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 the Weasley twins.
"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.
"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.
"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."
"That's weird," exclaimed our prefect, Gemma. "Normally he gives us a reason why not go somewhere. The forest is easy to guess due to the many monsters lurking in the darkness. But he never mentioned anything about a room."
Cause that is where the philosopher's stone was hidden… or was it the sorcerer's stone? I was curious about that stone and its properties… so I planned to get it before Quirrel and Harry with his new gang get to it.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" exclaimed the Headmaster jovially.
He 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 your favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
And the school bellowed:
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
.
.
.
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."
Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped the loudest.
"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
We followed Gemma back to our dorms, which were in the dungeons. Through the grand hallways covered in many paintings of people moving around and greeting us first years. We headed further down the stairs into a dark corridor when we reached the painting guardian.
"Password?"
"Pure-Blood."
"..."
Of course it was.
The portrait swung open, leading the students to arrive into a massive common room with exotic green armchairs and sofas all around the room. I noticed that despite us going beneath the castle, there were still windows all around us showing the outside world with the full moon shining brightly in the sky.
'Even after all these years, I still marvel at what magic can accomplish.'
Gemma first guided the girls to their dorms, while the boys were escorted to theirs later. I wished Hermione and Daphne goodnight before joining Draco by the fire. He was among the few who decided to hang out in the commons for a little longer. "You're contemplating something." I asked, trying to start a conversation with him.
"I still can't get over the fact that a mudblood managed to be sorted into Slytherin, let alone your actions of befriending her is setting up a bad image for us." He snarled in anger, "She should have just gone on with the Gryffindors and become their problem. At least she won't last long here, probably will be gone before the year ends."
"..."
"Her kind are parasites, father was correct that their lives are nothing but a waste."
Swish!
Crack!
Immediately, the flames of the fireplace dimmed down considerably while several cups and glasses in the common room cracked under the bone chilling presence that engulfed everything around. Those very few present, felt an incredibly dreadful feeling creep up their spine.
"Draco…"
The flames continued to grow weaker by the second that the remaining fire wasn't even bigger than that of a lighter.
"... don't…"
He was still young, that I knew perfectly. I watched him grow up, and tried to teach him the ways of life. But it seemed that I failed at some point…
"...push it."
Draco was sweating, his hands kept shaking while he tried to look up to me but kept failing miserably. There was no physical pressure holding him down, but rather the fear he was feeling from the sudden change of my tone. Normally, getting angry was very hard for me, but hearing Draco speak like this really made me sad.
Guess he still had a lot to learn.
"Sorry Jarius… it won't happen again."
"I know it won't, you're smarter than that."
I talked to him for a little while longer before we retreated to our bedroom. Five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Our trunks had already been brought up. "Oh? Nice, so they got you here in time, Whiteley." A grin stretched on my face, I came over to the snowy owl and scratched his head. Aside from Draco and I, the other two people sleeping in this room were Blaise Zabini and another kid named Theodore Nott. We exchanged our greetings and everyone aside me went to sleep.
Once again, I marveled at our room having a window, despite our dorms being technically underground. Maybe it was the castle playing a trick on the students. 'Magic really makes no sense.' I thought to myself.
Whitley was out of his cage, resting on my lap while I sat on the window's edge, looking up at the moon. I felt my conscience leave me as I began feeling increasingly sleepy. Going back to my bed, I closed my eyes and dreamed of blue fire.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.
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