บท 3: 3
3: Re-Sorting (May 30, 2003)
{alternate dimension}
For all of you, I have a story
Having nothing better to do than a man sitting on a lory
I have had all this time to think of this and that
What better thing to do than worry all you prats?
Those that have no knowledge of Hogwarts pay close attention
There are many differences and distinctions Four houses there are: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw
Be wary to catch my every word as I divulge the good points and flaws
Those in Gryffindor know no lack of courage and certainly are brave
But that virtue can easily turn them into utter knaves
In Hufflepuff they are loyal and faithful
Yet they never take a risk and are often too careful
With Slytherins, they know what they want and get it with their cunning
For all their slyness and underhand methods, they often go running
Oh those Ravenclaws are studious and clever
But that makes them bigheaded and arrogantly superior
So why don't you put me on and try your luck?
I've never been wrong yet so where will you get stuck!
It had taken them the rest of the summer after he'd awoken up from his rather awful injuries to find out what had gone wrong with the spell. He would have preferred to have simply done the spell wrong, but no he had done it right. The problem was that the Mirror that he'd used to get to this dimension had to be opened for him to be able to go back. That took the control of when he wanted to come back out of his hands as his friends had to find a way to open the gateway before he could get back.
It was obvious they hadn't found a way and it was going to be practically impossible for him to be able to synchronize his attempts with theirs. While their spell to open the gateway would work up to a few hours, his spell worked only when he wanted to go. And he certainly wasn't about to attempt it after how long it had taken him to heal the first time.
He was sure they were going to have a tougher time figuring out how to unlock the mirror to open the portal because when he had hit the barrier, it hadn't felt like the normal barriers that surrounded protected portals- he had felt dark magic behind it. If everything had been normal, he would have been bruised and nothing more, but he'd been burned so badly that he'd needed bed rest for an entire week even with Madame Pomprey's intensive care. He was certain that Lord Voldemort was behind the reason and that only made things progressively harder.
Which was the reason why he was here at the Welcoming and Sorting Ceremony. The sorting hat had just finished his song, and all he had to wait was for the first years to get sorted before he'd be sorted for the second time in his life. As Dumbledore had said, there was nothing better for him to do while he was here so he might as well attend Hogwarts as a 6th year student, which he was going to be. Unfortunately since he was a transfer student, he couldn't be the prefect that he was in his world.
As disappointed as he was, he wasn't too devastated when he'd heard that his best friend, Ron Weasley was the 6th year Gryffindor prefect. He couldn't wait to see his old friends again; it had really been too long since he'd laid eyes on them. But Dumbledore had insisted that he remain in the corridor outside until he introduced the new transfer student. It wouldn't come as a surprise to some of the staff like Madame Pomprey and Minerva McGonagall, but for some of the others it would be.
For Dumbledore had done a magnificent job hiding him from the rest of the staff to make it look like he was really a transfer student from the Americas. The less people that knew the better, since it was strange to have a transfer student as it was; it was much more reasonable in the Americas as students tried to get away from Lord Voldemort's ironfisted rule over Europe.
So Harry waited patiently as the sorting hat yelled and shouted the new houses for the first years. When it was over, Dumbledore stood up from his seat and announced, "There is one more student that needs to be sorted. As he is transfer student and not a first year, he has been waiting behind until the first years have been sorted. His name is Sebastian Ethan Biggerstaff and he will be joining those in 6th year at Hogwarts. Why don't we give a warm welcoming to Mr. Biggerstaff?"
There was polite clapping from all the houses, but mostly from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff who were the most friendly of all the houses. A hush fell over the room when they saw a boy of medium height dressed in impeccable black robes with dark and unruly black locks enter into the room. The most distinguishing feature about the newcomer were his brilliant green eyes that sparkled like emeralds without the glasses that usually blocked their beauty since he'd requested contacts as one of the necessities purchased for him. That and the curious lightning scar that marred the otherwise quite handsome face.
While the older boys were talking about how the newcomer had come by that peculiar scar, the girls were chatting about how good looking the transfer student was. Meanwhile Harry's eyes swept through the crowd and his eyes paused for a moment at where a certain Hermione Granger was sitting at the Ravenclaw table next to Cho Chang. Of course, Hermione was wrapped up in book that was situated in front of her and didn't even notice that he was looking at her until Cho elbowed her in the side.
When she looked up and caught his intent look, she blushed and quickly looked away from him. That definitely caught his attention, and yet he was relieved to find that she seemed no different from the Hermione that he knew. His gaze drifted over the rest of the crowd, resting briefly on Ron Weasley, who gave him a curious look but nothing more. What caught him as unusual was that there was no condescending smirk on Draco's face when he glanced at him, then again this Draco didn't know of the animosity between them. That was definitely a change.
A deliberate cough from Professor McGonagall interrupted his survey of the students and when she spoke she had his full attention, "Please come to the stool while I place the sorting hat on you, Mr. Biggerstaff."
He went over to her and sat down as the sorting hat was dropped onto his head. Like the time prior, he felt the sorting hat almost massage against his head as it tried to figure out which house to put him in. "You are loyal and yet appreciate rule breaking, definitely not a Hufflepuff. Perhaps, Ravenclaw? You have a good mind, but you aren't the overly studious type, no not Ravenclaw for you. Maybe Slytherin? You are cunning and certainly know what you want. And yet Gryffindor would suit you well with your rule breaking and brave heart..."
The sorting hat continued to mutter to itself, seemingly unable to decide between two distinctively different houses that it was almost comical. The problem was that to Harry, it had started becoming a problem to reconcile himself to which House stood dominant in him. In his other life he'd been a Gryffindor outwardly but inside he'd felt like a Slytherin. He wasn't about to sway the sorting hat though, he wanted for once to know where it would place him and this was a chance with a sorting hat that had never met him before.
"Sly, but you don't go for betrayal. You want to prove yourself, yet you know the value of companionship. Hmmm... it is hard to make a choice for you. Both houses suit you so well, you have almost equal attributes of each; however, you are most definitely a... SLYTHERIN!"
The clapping from the Slytherins became much more pronounced than they had been earlier as they gained quite an intriguing housemate. While Harry was not stunned since the sorting hat in this world had wanted to place him in Slytherin, he was not sure if he was pleased by the change either. And yet for some reason as he walked over to his new House, he didn't feel like it was wrong.
Instinctively, he moved toward where Draco was sitting, flanked as per usual by Goyle and Crabbe. Since he didn't have to act like the friendly and warm Gryffindor like he'd had to before, he raised his eyebrow at Goyle and said in soft but commanding voice, "Move." Before Draco had a chance to protest, Harry held out his hand since a part of him had always wondered what his life would have been like if he'd become friends with Draco. He'd never thought Draco was evil, dark yes, but evil no. And he had a feeling Draco would understand him better than Ron ever would if he gave Draco the chance. "I hope you don't mind."
Draco shook his head and glared at Goyle that distinctively told the dumb brute to move over as Harry had commanded, Goyle slid down without protest. "No," he answered, "I don't mind. I'm Draco Malfoy." He reached and took the hand that was offered and shook it. "Nice to meet your acquaintance, Sebastian."
Harry felt the eyes of the entire school peering at him, but he shrugged it off. Their curiosity would die soon enough; after all, he wasn't the Boy Who Lived anymore. He was just Sebastian Ethan Biggerstaff, a 6th year transfer student from some boarding school in the Americas. It was nothing unusual or inspirational. He was finally going to get a chance to be a normal wizard boy for once and he fully intended to enjoy it while it lasted.
As Harry had thought, Draco wasn't a bad person. The animosity between Draco and Harry in his world had been because of the underlying hatred that the Malfoy family had with the Weasley family. Both families despised each other and since Ron had been Harry's first friend his age, he'd stuck to Ron and hadn't even considered Draco. The pity was that if Ron and Draco could get over their differences then they had an excellent chance to be friends, though probably never good friends.
It was from Draco that Harry learned that some things didn't change no matter what dimension he came from. Their Head of House, Professor Snape most assuredly favored them and it didn't hurt to study a bit harder for Potions since that only got them further entrenched on Snape's good side. It was definitely going to be interesting interacting with the greasy Potions Master when he wasn't Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. It was going to be even more intriguing if this Severus Snape ended up liking him especially since Harry had never disliked Snape. Actually, he'd had this intriguing curiosity for the Professor since he'd saved him in the first year.
Throughout the Welcoming Feast, Draco and Harry talked about various aspects of Hogwarts as Harry tried to familiarize himself with the school from a student's perspective and he'd found that not too many things had changed. It was with pleasant surprise that he found he enjoyed conversing with Draco as casual friends, and he was disappointed when the feast was over which effectively ended their conversation. It was then that he found out like his world, Draco was a prefect here.
While they made their way to the Slytherin dorms, Draco divulged to him the password and pointed out several points of interest. When all the Slytherins had gathered into the common room, they sat down and waited for their Head of House to make an appearance. They hadn't been waiting long when Snape made his grand billowing cloak entrance. Whatever chatting had been going on was instantly silenced by his commanding presence.
"As you well know," Snape began in a sharp voice, "as your Head of House I will tolerate no foolishness or disrespect from any of you. But you also need to know that if any of you have problems you may come to me for help. You also know that our House is not as well liked by the other Houses but we are tolerated by them, and I will not stand House prejudice even from my own House, understand?"
All those in the room nodded and it seemed that Snape had finished giving his speech when his gaze shifted abruptly to where Harry was standing next to Draco. "Mr. Biggerstaff," Snape called out with an edge, "you will come with me, I need to evaluate your potion making skills to make sure that you are sufficiently skilled for the 6th year. It would be a huge embarrassment to me if you were to blow your cauldron on the first day."
Hmmm... Snape helping him? What a miraculous reversal, Harry thought with amusement. While Potions had never been his best class, it hadn't been his worst class either. Harry had always thought that if Snape hadn't been snappy and critical of him all the time he would have done very well in Potions and here was his chance to prove that he wasn't the dunderhead that his Snape thought that he was.
When he got to the Potions classroom, he found out that Snape's evaluation was an impromptu test where he was expected to make the Polyjuice Potion, a very advanced potion that was usually covered in 7th year. Harry barely managed to hide his smile since he knew precisely how to make this, if only Snape knew he'd made this in his 2nd year! His amused thoughts were shelved as he got down to work at making the tedious potion.
How was he suppose to finish this tonight? It had taken weeks to prepare the potion when he'd made it 4 years ago. Then again, it'd probably taken that long because they'd had to gather the materials, including stealing some from Snape's personal stores but still! "Professor Snape?" he queried while he was stirring the potion clockwise steadily like he knew it was suppose to be stirred until the next ingredient was suppose to be added. When Snape looked up, Harry continued, "How am I suppose to finish this tonight? Polyjuice takes at least a few weeks, two actually to be properly brewed even with all the ingredients on hand."
Snape's eyebrows raised up as if to say: 'What are you doing questioning me?' But shocking Harry entirely was when the eyebrow lowered and Snape let out a tiny smile that transformed the sullen face into a more pleasing expression. "I could tell from the way you prepared the herbs," Snape began, "that you have had a more than acceptable Potions Professor. When you started making the potion, I saw that you were precise and careful yet not too slow nor impatient. What is even more pleasing to discover is that you have background knowledge on Polyjuice, your teacher in the Americas has taught you very well, Mr. Biggerstaff."
Of course he did, Harry thought with bemusement, his Potions Professor had been none other than Snape himself! "So is my evaluation is over?" Harry queried softly, not wanting to appear like he wanted nothing more than to go to bed, which he did.
Snape nodded, noticing the weariness in the boy's movements despite how he tried to hide it. It'd been inconsiderate of him to test the boy when the boy had probably flooed from the Americas this afternoon to Dumbledore's fireplace as that was the fastest way to get the boy here. But he'd had to admit he'd been curious about this boy when the sorting hat had taken so very long to place him.
He'd been certain that the boy would be placed in Gryffindor because the boy distinctively reminded him of a boy he'd hated in his youth, James Potter. And yet to his utter astonishment, the boy had been sorted into Slytherin. Their similar appearance was probably only coincidence, simply a twist of fate. Nothing more, but the nagging resemblance was there though the boy wore his hair much longer than that Potter brat had ever done.
As Harry felt Snape stare at him intently, he was afraid that the keenly observant and intelligent Potions Master would guess who he was. There seem to be a warring expression in Snape that was torn between recognition and the fact that the boy simply could not be anyway related to James Potter. Harry was even more glad that he'd decided to grow his hair out and it wouldn't be long before his hair would be long enough that the aching similar haircut he'd shared with his father would be gone. Then he wouldn't be James Potter's twin anymore.
"Sir?" Harry questioned, hoping to get Snape out of whatever he'd been thinking.
It worked as it jostled Snape from his train of thought. It reminded Snape that he still hadn't answered the young man's question of whether the evaluation was over or not. The problem was that Snape didn't want it to be over. He'd concluded that the shared appearance between James Potter and Sebastian Biggerstaff was nothing more than a joke of the universe. Besides, the boy's talent in potions was undeniable and he certainly needed someone capable of helping him when he went into his more complicated projects. This boy seemed to have enough talent to train him.
"Yes, your evaluation is over," Snape answered gruffly. "However," he remarked when the boy had turned to leave, "your aptitude in potions has caught my attention and I would like for you to consider helping me in my more difficult endeavors as an assistant if you would not mind, Mr. Biggerstaff."
It was very difficult for Harry not to let his jaw drop open and become unhinged. Snape thought that he had aptitude? Good Merlin, what was this world coming to? While a part of him wanted to refuse, another part of him wanted to accept the offer. The fact was, Snape being nice and civil to him was an unexpected allure to him. There was something almost seductive about the Potions Master when he wasn't been snarky and snappy. "I would be honored sir," he responded carefully. "I hope I meet up to your expectations."
"Not many can," Snape replied with an underlining sharpness. "But you are young enough to be trained to help me, and there are certain potions were I require an assistant. Do not think that this will earn you anything from me, the benefits you will learn as my assistant will more than make up for your time, Mr. Biggerstaff."
Harry almost broke out into a grin, now this was more like the Professor Snape that he knew. It was a relief to know that this Professor Snape was still as bitter and as unpleasant as the other one was, but he knew that Snape was only like that because he couldn't suffer fools. Harry had to admit he'd been a fool in his world because it was expected of him to be the brave and the foolish Gryffindor golden boy. But he was here now, and it seemed he was diverging far from his other life as Snape's assistant and as Draco's friend. Different dimension definitely!
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