章 8: A Train Ride of Surprises
Unfortunately, Ron Weasley was attempting to cast a spell on his rat, which prompted the girl to enter the compartment and sit inside without invitation. After she spoke in a condescending tone, she introduced herself after finishing a monologue about what all she had learnt. Harry noted that Daphne was barely able to conceal her annoyance at the Muggle-born girl's attitude.
"I'm Hermione Granger, and you are?"
" Ahem - Ron Weasley."
When she turned to the others, the girls introduced themselves.
"Daphne Greengrass."
"Tracy Davis, nice to meet you."
When she looked expectantly at Harry, he nodded respectfully at her and said, "Harry Potter."
As expected, there was a gasp of surprise. "Are you really?" she asked excitedly. "I know all about you of course. You're mentioned in -"
"You know all about me?" Harry cut in sharply, his voice as always, devoid of any emotion, eyes narrowed. "That is quite presumptuous of you, Miss Granger."
Hermione huffed. Some people were so rude as to interrupt her, without giving her a chance to complete her sentence. "I have read about you in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts -"
"Yes, you have read about me in books. But don't try to presume that you know all about me. All those books which you've read are fabrications or speculation and some of them are pure fiction. Even their physical description of me is wrong. So please tell me in what sense of the word can you say that you know all about me?"
Daphne and Tracy shared a look, looking quite surprised by Harry's defensive behaviour. This was not what they had expected from the Boy-Who-Lived at all.
Hermione couldn't, of course, take the insult to her books lying down, but she just huffed once more and left the compartment, thinking that Harry Potter was an arrogant boy whose fame had obviously gone to his head. Just when they were nearing Hogwarts several hours later, the compartment door opened again and a pale boy with a pointed face, grey eyes and white-blond hair stepped inside, flanked by two others.
"I heard that Harry Potter was in this compartment. Is that you?" he asked, looking at Harry critically.
Harry simply nodded and went back to his book. He really wished people would stop bothering him.
"This is Crabbe and this is Goyle," he said, pointing his thumb towards his bodyguards. "And I'm Malfoy; Draco Malfoy. I don't know what you're doing, sitting with the likes of Weasley. You'll soon learn that some wizarding families are better than others. I can help you there."
"Nice to meet you, Mr Malfoy," said Harry, nodding to the blonde boy who had just offered his hand in friendship, not noticing the angry look on the face of Ron Weasley. "But I'm not looking for friendship at the moment, but I will, no doubt, keep your offer in mind."
With that, he went back to his book. Draco looked confused for a second, but his face cleared up. He smirked at Ron condescendingly, nodded to Daphne and Tracy and left the compartment.
Harry took a deep breath as the train stopped. They had finally reached Hogsmeade. After placing his book back in his trunk, he followed the girls out of the train. A half-giant who introduced himself as Hagrid led them across the lake to Professor McGonagall, a strict looking woman, who introduced them to the four Houses. When they were led into the Great Hall a few minutes later, Harry was quite impressed with the roof which had been charmed by Rowena Ravenclaw. It was truly a spectacular piece of magic.
The Sorting Hat opened its mouth and sang a song which described the virtues of the four Houses. Once it was finished, Professor McGonagall began calling out names from a sheet of parchment.
"Hannah Abbott!"
A pink-faced girl with pigtails shakily walked up and sat on the stool which was placed on an elevated platform, facing the rest of the students. The Hat was lowered on her head and within a few seconds, the brim opened as it shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table below the yellow and black decorations cheered for their newest member as the girl hurried towards them.
"Susan Bones!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Similarly, several other students were sorted as well. Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass were both sorted into Slytherin. Hermione Granger was sent to Gryffindor. Draco Malfoy went to Slytherin and when it reached the letter P, Harry could feel his pulse racing.
"Harry Potter!"
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