Chapter Text
Chapter One:
"Stop shaking the boat!" Ron hissed, clinging to the side.
"Sorry!" Harry desperately tried to stop his leg from shaking and started tapping his fingers instead. The beehive of nervous energy in his chest needed a release, he had been waiting for this moment since receiving his Hogwarts letter a month earlier. Harry could finally be with - as his Uncle Vernon had said - 'his own kind'. He let out a small smile at the thought of belonging somewhere, and at moving from a cupboard to a castle.
"Woah, look at that!" Ron exclaimed.
Harry followed the arm of the boy he'd shared a compartment on the train with. As the boats rounded a forested corner of the lake, up ahead the castle loomed into view. It stood imposing on a tall, dark cliff at the end of the lake. A chorus of murmurs started as students in other boats rounded the small peninsula.
"Wow," Harry whispered reverently.
"I know, it's even better seeing it in person than my brothers made it sound." Ron said, his gaze fixed to the collection of tall pointed spires, illuminated by hundreds of glowing windows. The castle shone in the darkness, a beacon to guide young witches and wizards to their future. Harry thought with the darkness of the cliff it almost looked as though the castle was floating in the sky.
"It looks massive! How will we ever find our way around?"
Ron shrugged his shoulders, "Guess we'll figure it out soon enough, maybe they'll give us a map."
"Did any of your brothers mention a map?" Harry asked.
"Nope, but Charlie did say he got lost twice a week for his first two years." Ron looked at Harry's expression. "Oh, probably won't give us a map then, right."
"Keep your heads down everyone, we're almost at the end." Hagrid called.
Harry looked forward, a curtain of dangling vines obscured an opening at the bottom of the cliff. As the boats passed underneath the vines Harry gazed over the crowd, the only person who needed to duck to avoid the vines was Hagrid himself. Hagrid stepped out of his boat onto a stone dock and held his lantern high.
"Everyone avoid the vines? Good, jump out your boats and I'll take you all up to the castle."
Harry gripped tightly to the boat as Ron clambered out the boat as gracefully as a toddler ice-skating. Harry took Ron's outstretched arm and stepped out of the boat. The two rushed to join the flow of black cloaks to the stair.
"Do we have to climb stairs all the way up to the castle? We'll never make it up that far!" Ron moaned.
"Maybe there will be a lift." Harry suggested.
Four flights of stairs later Harry decided there was definitely no lift. After another flight the stairs changed from rough-hewn rock to an intricately carved arched tunnel. Harry traced his fingers along dozens of the small characters carved into the walls. They seemed to be from different languages, some were carved with sharp, straight lines, some were curved and flowing.
"Hey Ron, what are these things?" Harry asked.
"They look like runes, my brother Bill is the expert." Ron frowned. "Those look Scandinavian, I've seen similar ones in Bills books before." He pointed at a cluster of sharp lines. "I don't recognise any of the others though, Runes is a 3rd-year class here so we could ask the professor."
Harry shrugged, "I was just curious, it's not a big deal."
The procession reached the top of the stairs and crossed a small hall, exiting into a courtyard and underneath a raised portcullis and open doors into a much larger hall. The hall was lit with flaming torches in wall brackets. Boots pounded on the flagstones as the group traipsed in and gathered in front of the large double doors where Hagrid was standing. Harry drew his cloak around himself and shivered.
"That didn't seem as many stairs as I would've thought from the size of the cliff." Harry mused.
Ron shrugged, "It's magic probably, Charlie told me all sorts about Hogwarts. He said you can enter a classroom on the third floor and come out on the sixth. There's apparently a set of stairs you can go down from the second floor and end up on the fourth."
"How are we ever meant to figure out our way around then?" Harry asked.
"I dunno, we'll figure it out at some point I guess."
"It seems a bit weird. I hope they let us in soon."
"Yeah I know, I'm starving!" Ron said, craning his neck to look around the students in front of him.
Hagrid thumped his large fist against the wooden door three times and stepped back. The door cracked open and Harry could immediately hear the drone of hundreds of voices. The rest of the school must already be waiting for them, Harry thought. A tall, stern-looking woman in dark green robes and a pointed hat stepped out, her eyes immediately roamed across the crowd of students. Harry thought they seemed to settle on him momentarily before moving on.
"The first years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid announced.
"Thank you Hagrid, you may head inside." The tall woman spoke with a soft Edinburgh brogue. Hagrid ducked inside and the door boomed shut behind him. McGonagall turned to face the crowd of eleven year-olds and clasped her hands in front of her.
"Welcome to Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall began, "You are about to begin your journey into the study of magic as students of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, the oldest and finest school of magic in the British isles. Before you can assume your seats in the great hall as Hogwarts students you must first be sorted into your houses. While at Hogwarts your house will be like your family. You will share classes with your housemates, sleep in a dormitory with your housemates, and spend your free time in your House common room. The four Houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Each House has produced outstanding wizards and witches throughout its millennium of existence. I hope that you may be considered among them. Each House is led by one of four Senior Professors at Hogwarts. I am the head of the theoretical magic department and of Gryffindor House. Ravenclaw is led by our head of practical magic, former European duelling champion Professor Fillius Flitwick. Professor Pomona Sprout is the head of Hufflepuff House and natural magic. Lastly Slytherin House is led by our head of occult magics and senior potions master, Professor Horace Slughorn. Now form a line and follow me into the great hall, it is time for the sorting ceremony."
Professor McGonagall turned and opened her arms. The large doors into the great hall swung open and displayed the great hall to them for the first time. Or displayed us to the great hall, thought Harry, as every pair of eyes in the hall seemed to be locked on the crowd of first-years as they ambled up the main aisle behind Professor McGonagall.
The great hall was easily the biggest room Harry had ever stepped foot in - much bigger than his primary school gymnasium - and much more grand. There were stained glass windows high on the side walls and behind the raised table at the end of the hall that was full of adults, teachers, Harry supposed. Eight large fireplaces, each burning brightly, lined the walls along the great hall on each side. A sea of candles burned above the crowd, no wax seemed to drip from them, and above those the walls seemed to extend directly into the night sky.
"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History Harry heard Hermione whisper, although he found it hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all.
Professor McGonagall stopped next to a three-legged wooden stool with a tatty old brown pointed hat upon it. The room fell silent.
"The sorting ceremony will now begin. Please step up to the stool when I call your name. Abbott, Hannah!"
A small blonde girl squeaked and rushed forward. She sat on the stool where McGonagall placed the old hat on her head.
Harry gasped as what he thought was a tear near the brim opened up and the Hat shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!"
Professor McGonagall took the Hat from the small girl's head and pointed her towards a table to the right of Harry where everyone was in yellow-edged black robes and applauding loudly.
'Albright, Roderick' was the second sorting, and the first to join Ravenclaw. The large blond boy smiled as if expecting that result all along and joined the table to the left of Harry, waving at someone in the crowd yet to be sorted.
Harry's eyes wandered over the hall as the sorting progressed. At the left of the hall was a table populated by students in green-edged robes. A couple of large mean-looking boys sneered as 'Brown, Lavender' became the first student sorted into Gryffindor, then cheered as 'Bulstrode, Millicent' was announced as a Slytherin.
His attention swerved to the opposite side of the hall as a great cheer went up from the middle of the red Gryffindor table and a brown-haired boy grinned as a similar-looking girl leapt from the stool and raced to join the ranks of the Gryffindors.
Harry's head snapped back to Professor McGonagall as he heard a familiar name being called and the bushy-haired girl from the train approached the stool. The Hat remained silent for what seemed like ages as the anticipatory silence stretched. Hermione's eyes were flickering between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables as the Hat remained still. The silence lasted so long that even Professor McGonagall began nervously looking back at the teachers table until the Hat suddenly erupted.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
A raucous cheer started at the rightmost table, complete with fists pounding the wood.
"We won the hatstall!" one of Ron's brothers shouted, Fred, or maybe George.
"Hatstall?" Harry asked Ron.
"I dunno," Ron shrugged, "My Brothers didn't tell me about the Sorting Hat. Fred and George kept trying to tell me we had to wrestle a Mountain Troll."
Harry snickered, "Wrestle a troll? How would that prove anything?"
"Exactly! Fred and George are always trying to get one over on me, because none of my older brothers would fall for their pranks, and they'd feel the wrath of Merlin if mum found out they'd pranked Ginny. I knew they were lying about the troll though, because if we did have to wrestle a troll Percy would never have made it." Ron grinned and nodded at his eldest brother remaining at Hogwarts. Harry looked over at Percy and suppressed a laugh. The prefect was sitting so stiffly, as if a rather sharp stick was poking him in the rear.
"Potter, Harry." McGonagall called out.
The hall fell silent as students craned to look at Harry, reminding him of the crowds at the zoo he had visited for his cousin Dudley's birthday during the summer. Harry nervously cleared his throat and stepped forward, emerging from the crowd of first-years. He carefully ascended the few steps to the raised dais where the stool sat in front of the teachers table. He could hear murmurs starting up again.
"Did she say Potter?"
"The Harry Potter?"
His face flushed as he thought of how embarrassing it would be to trip up the steps in front of the entire school on his first night. Thankfully he reached the top without any incidents and saw the old man sitting in the middle of the teachers table - Professor Dumbledore Harry thought, recalling the picture on the chocolate frog card he had opened on the train - lean forward as though this were the first interesting sorting all night. Harry sat on the stool, taking in the hundreds of faces silently staring up at him as McGonagall placed the Hat upon his head and suddenly he could only see the darkness inside the Hat.
"Ah what have we got here, a difficult one indeed. You've got courage I see, and not a bad mind either. There's talent to be sure, and a thirst to escape those muggles and claim your place amongst your own kind. Now where to put you?" The voice seemed to ring directly inside his head.
'Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.' Harry thought.
"Not Slytherin eh? Are you sure about that? Slytherin could make you great, I can tell." Said the voice, probing.
A thought entered Harry's mind as he gripped the stool.
"Well if that's how you feel then it better be…" The voice in his mind trailed off, and Harry would swear he could almost hear the Hat take a deep breath.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hat announced to the hall.
A stunned silence fell for a few seconds as Harry stood. Then the yellow table erupted in cheers.
"We've got Potter!" A boy halfway down the table shouted.
The cheers continued as Harry handed Professor McGonagall the Sorting Hat and walked towards the Hufflepuff table.
Professor McGonagall shushed the crowd as Harry sat down and called the next student.
"I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley, pleasure to meet you Potter."
Harry turned to see the slightly taller boy next to him had extended a hand. Harry shook it.
"Likewise, please just call me Harry."
"Justin then." The boy nodded, smiling, and ran his hand through his gelled black hair.
Both boys cheered as Sarah Tomkins joined the Hufflepuff table and before long Ron was the last student standing in front of the Hat. The Hat barely touched his head before shouting out the final sorting of the night.
"Gryffindor!"
Harry smiled wryly and applauded as Ron walked past, giving him a sly thumbs up before joining his brothers at the Gryffindor table.
Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on the stool and carried it around behind the staff table, reappearing in the seat to the right of Dumbledore.
Dumbledore stood, clasping his hands at the bottom of his beard. His robes were deep purple with shimmering silver stars, every so often an orange comet zoomed across his robes, disappearing under his silver beard to emerge a few seconds later from the other side.
"Welcome all of you to another year at Hogwarts! I believe this year may be quite special indeed." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as they passed over the room. "I have just a few short notices before the feast begins. Firstly the Forbidden Forest is as the name suggests, strictly out of bounds to all students without a staff member present." He seemed to look pointedly at the Gryffindor table. "Secondly the third floor corridor in the eastern bailey is strictly out of bounds to all who do not wish to die a most painful death."
Harry looked around as an alarmed murmur rose among the seated student body of Hogwarts. Dumbledore motioned for silence and continued as the whispers died off.
"Lastly, I have just a few more words. Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak! Enjoy your meal!"
The second Dumbledore finished speaking, the bare tables shimmered and were suddenly laden with plates and cutlery in front of every person. The yellow runner along the table in front of Harry disappeared under platters of beef and whole cooked chickens, bowls of potatoes cooked every way imaginable. Harry could see boiled, mashed, and potatoes in some sort of stew. There were at least half a dozen bowls of different soups, piles of sausages, large dishes of various pastas, warm bread rolls and platters of fish.
"Wow, they sure know how to put on a spread!" Justin said, sounding impressed as he reached for some sausages and a large scoop of mashed potato before pouring out half a gravy boat onto his plate.
"I've never seen so much food on one table before!" Harry agreed, taking a large serving of pasta in tomato sauce, a slice of roast chicken, and a serving of steak pie.
"There was quite a stir when your name was called. Are you from some famous family or something?" Justin asked as he cut up his sausages.
"Something like that," Harry shifted in his seat. "There was some sort of war going on when we were born. A dark wizard attacked my family and disappeared. He killed my parents but somehow I survived, and some people seem to think that means I must have done something when I was a baby to defeat the dark wizard."
"Oh, right, sorry. Wait, people think you defeated a dark wizard as a baby?" Justin sounded a little incredulous.
Harry shrugged, "Apparently. I don't remember anything about it. It was a little weird when Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley and all these people kept trying to shake my hand."
"I bet," Justin said, taking a forkful of mashed potato.
Once the plates were emptied and bellies full the tables shimmered again slightly. The now mostly empty dishes vanished but were quickly replaced with large bowls of ice cream, cheesecakes, tarts, and dishes of jelly.
"Oh if I'd known they were going to have treacle tart I would have left those last two roast potatoes," Justin moaned, one hand on his stomach.
"You like treacle tart? It's my favourite!" Harry said, "It's pretty much the only sweet thing I get to eat, my cousin hates treacle."
"Well then," Justin started reaching for the tart. "Perhaps we could split a bit between us then?" He took a slice onto his plate, split it in half with the cake slice and served part to Harry.
Harry's eyes widened as he took his first bite. "This is the best one I've ever had!"
Justin's face matched Harry's "I hope they have more tomorrow, I shan't have a main course to make room for more of this."
Harry desperately covered his mouth as he laughed, trying not to spray crumbs across the table.
After everyone had eaten their fill the dessert dishes disappeared as well and attention returned to the front of the hall as Dumbledore stood.
"I hope you all enjoyed the welcoming feast, and that your minds will be as full at the end of term as your bellies are now. I look forward to seeing all of you here again bright and early tomorrow morning for your first day of classes, timetables will be handed out by eight thirty sharp. First years please remain seated, your house prefects will escort you to your houses after the rest of the school has left the hall. Goodnight!" Dumbledore bowed to them all before turning around and leaving through a small door in the wall behind the teachers table.
Harry, Justin and the rest of the first years sat at the empty table as a flood of students converged on the large doors they had entered the hall through.
After a few minutes a group of older students arrived in front of the first years.
"Hi guys, I'm Isabella Edgley and this is Angela Lake. We're the 6th year Hufflepuff prefects alongside the boys over there. As 6th year prefects we look after the younger years most closely, the fifth and seventh years all have exams this year." The tall cheery blonde girl spoke very fast, the small brunette next to her waved as she was introduced.
One of the boys stepped forward, he was tall and broad, with shoulder-length black hair, "I'm Eoin Kelly and this handsome gentleman next to me is Simon Fitzgerald. We'll stick to the back of the pack and make sure there's no stragglers if you guys follow Izzy and Angie."
The even taller, though not as broad boy walked to the end of the table and gestured for everyone to rise. "Izzy and Angela will lead us all to the Hufflepuff common room entrance, follow them, it's not too far from here."
The girls turned around and started walking toward the doors. Harry quickly rose with Justin and followed the growing swarm of Hufflepuffs and the blonde head bobbing above the crowd at the front.
The group walked out of the great hall and through the entrance hall to the left. A murmur of admiration rippled over the crowd of new Hufflepuffs as they walked into the main tower of the castle for the first time.
Harry looked up, and kept looking up. The tower seemed to just keep going. He saw staircases pivoting from one wall to another, sometimes with rather irritated groups of students clinging to the bannisters. He could see the Ravenclaw first years heading up a staircase on the second floor and what he thought were the Gryffindor first years a few floors higher. The walls seemed to be covered in portraits of old witches and wizards, some of which were excitedly dashing from frame to frame following groups of first years on their first journey to their common rooms.
"This is the Grand Staircase. You can get to every wing on every floor of the castle from here, as you can see the staircases move from time to time so sometimes you will have to wait or take an alternative route to avoid being late for class. We, however, don't need to use the stairs like Ravenclaw or Gryffindor to get to our common room, it's just along here."
Isabella led them along a wide corridor that Harry thought must run along the side of the great hall. They went down a short flight of stairs and turned into a corridor that was, for some reason, decorated solely with paintings of various fruits. After turning another corridor Isabella stopped next to a pile of old-looking wooden barrels surrounding a large barrel, the sort Harry had seen once before when Uncle Vernon had been watching a documentary about a whisky distillery.
"Gather around everyone, make sure you can all see me. I'm going to show you how to enter the Hufflepuff common room. Each house has a method of protecting its common room, Gryffindor and Slytherin use passwords, Ravenclaw has riddles, and in Hufflepuff we use this."
The older girl slapped the side of the second barrel from the floor on the left of the large barrel.
"If any of you have entered Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron before, this is similar to the way the wall works there, except instead of hitting different bricks you have to knock on this barrel in the right pattern. The pattern we use is our founder's name - Helga Hufflepuff."
She knocked on the barrel twice, then three times in short succession. The large barrel swung open into the corridor.
"Do you all understand?" After seeing a sea of faces nodding back at her in the corridor Isabella stood at the door and said smiling, "Then welcome to Hufflepuff!"
A rather pompous looking blond boy was the first to step through the barrel door. The rest of the first years quickly followed. Harry stepped through behind Justin at the back of the pack of first years, followed by the prefects as the door swung shut behind them.
Harry instinctively flinched back as a loud cheer erupted and the dark room flooded with light. His eyes adjusted in a few seconds to see a large crowd - the rest of Hufflepuff Harry supposed - gathered in the common room. A short squat witch who had already changed out of the formal black robe she was wearing at the feast stepped forward.
"I am Professor Sprout, head of Hufflepuff. I wanted to take this time to welcome you all to your home within Hogwarts, and tell you a bit about how we do things in Hufflepuff. We don't put on any airs or graces here, we don't care about blood status or background. It doesn't matter whether you're the son of a Wizengamot lord or the daughter of a Knockturn Alley barmaid, if you want to do well in Hufflepuff you'll do it through hard work and helping those around you. Hufflepuff tends to be one of the largest houses in terms of student numbers because our founder disagreed with the other's selective policies so we do things slightly differently from the other houses. We operate a mentor system here, each first year dormitory is assigned a volunteer third-year mentor, your mentors will help you with adjusting to life at Hogwarts and with any help you need with schoolwork for your first year. Your mentors will escort you to your dorms shortly, if you have any problems with a mentor please speak to either myself or a prefect. Now the rest of you clear off to your dormitories!" She turned and addressed the crowd of older students, who began to disperse.
Harry took this time to take in the common room. The room itself Harry estimated was about half the size of the great hall. It was a large, open, airy room with oak panelling and exposed wooden beams crossing the double height whitewashed ceiling. Two large fires burned in stone fireplaces in the corners of the room behind Harry, and clusters of couches dotted the floor of the room. Two staircases climbed the side walls halfway along the room to reach a mezzanine floor, and Harry could see staircases behind going down to a room underneath as well. At the end of the room large windows stretched from floor to ceiling giving what Harry imagined must be an excellent view over the grounds in daylight.
Professor Sprout gestured at a remaining group of a dozen older students, all with yellow shield-shaped badges stuck to their robes. "These are our Hufflepuff prefects. We have two boys and two girls as prefects for fifth, sixth, and seventh year. They are responsible for maintaining order within the House and the wider school. Prefects have limited powers to assign detentions in-House and deduct House points from misbehaving students. I hope I don't have to hear about any of you from them."
The prefects each gave the first years a smile or wave before disappearing up to the mezzanine floor.
Sprout turned now to a group of four students, "These four students will be your mentors. We have fifteen of you First years. Eight boys and seven girls, so we will be splitting you into dormitories of four, and a three obviously for you girls. The girls' dorms are on the left, boys are on the right. In a moment your mentors will introduce themselves and call out your names, follow them to your dormitory. I hope you all have a pleasant first night and I will see you all at breakfast in the great hall tomorrow. Goodnight Hufflepuffs!" Professor Sprout began to turn away.
"Excuse me Professor," The pompous blond boy began.
"Yes young man, what's your name?" Professor Sprout turned back.
"Zacharias Smith, Professor." The boy said, "As I am sure you're aware, my family are direct descendants of Helga Hufflepuff. My Father assured me that as an heir of our founder I would have a private room."
"Well Mr Smith." Professor Sprout's lips tightened, "As I am sure you recall from my speech less than fifteen minutes ago, blood status and background do not matter in my House. Given that fact, and the fact that the only private suites in Hufflepuff are my own, I don't feel the need to move out of my rooms for an eleven year old boy who may be descended from a witch who lived a thousand years ago. Don't forget there have been no proven descendents of the Founders in over six hundred years. You will be sharing a dormitory with your fellow first years Mr Smith."
The boy began to turn red and splutter.
"I don't want to hear any further protests Mr Smith, feel free to write a letter home if you feel I have been unfair." Sprout finished and started climbing the stairs to the mezzanine.
The third year students looked a little dumbfounded before one of the girls stepped forward.
"Uh, hi. I'm Annette Sands. Would Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Megan Jones, and Leanne Wood please follow me?"
The girl waited until four first years were in front of her before leading them down a corridor to the left.
A boy with carefully styled brown hair stepped forward, an easy smile on his face. "Hi guys, welcome to Hufflepuff. I'm Cedric Diggory. Step out if I call your name. Justin Finch-Fletchley, Wayne Hopkins, Ernie McMillan, and Harry Potter."
Justin gave Harry a quick smile when he realised they'd be sticking together. They quickly followed Cedric along the corridor to the right. Cedric went through the first door on the left, which opened into a small lounge. Three sofas were clustered around a small fireplace on the left of the room and on the right was a large table, clearly meant for the boys to use for working on homework together. The back wall of the room held two doors with brass plates nailed to them. Cedric led the boys to the door on the left and opened it. As Harry passed through the door he noticed the plate was inscribed with each of the boys' names.
The dormitory was a long rectangular room with four yellow four-poster beds along the left wall. Each bed had a small bedside table on one side and a wardrobe on the other. The opposite wall was taken up by two pairs of desks, with a door in the middle. A large arched window ended the room opposite the door. Harry could see each bed had a trunk at its foot and hurried along to find his trunk. He found his trunk by the last bed, next to the window, no sooner than Harry sat down Justin appeared at the bed next to his, dragging his trunk.
"McMillan wanted to be by the door, so we switched." Justin explained grinning.
"Right, that door there leads to your bathroom." Cedric pointed at the door between the desks. "I'll leave you to get settled in and we'll have a proper meeting in a couple of days. Goodnight guys!"
"Goodnight!" The boys chorused.
As the door swung shut behind Cedric the freckled boy at the other end of the room, McMillan, turned to the dorm.
"I don't know about you guys but I'm glad I'm not sharing a dorm with Zacharias Smith, he seems like a right pain!"
Harry laughed with his roommates at McMillans words.
"Alright. I'm Ernest McMillan the third, but please just call me Ernie. My father is a lord of the Wizengamot and I'm expected to succeed him. I know you, obviously." He nodded at Harry, "But I haven't heard of either of your families before. Are you both muggleborn?"
"I am," Justin said, "My grandfather is a lord in the muggle parliament, and my father will take his place. I'm the youngest of six though, I've got three older brothers and two older sisters. None of them are magic so it's nice to have something different. My parents had me registered for Eton, so it was such a shock when Professor McGonagall showed up and turned our coffee table into a pig!"
Ernie guffawed at that, "I imagine it must be a shock seeing magic for the first time."
"You should have seen how red my father turned!" Justin put on a deeper voice, "Madam that is an antique! Please restore it at once!"
Ernie gripped his bedpost for support as he doubled over. "I can almost picture it! What about you?" He asked the quiet boy in between himself and Justin.
"I'm half-and-half, we moved over from Pennsylvania two years ago, I was originally supposed to go to Ilvermorny but my dad got a transfer over here with his work. My mom's the magical one, she works for the cleansweep broom company. I've a little brother as well, my mom thinks he might be magical too but we'll have to wait two more years to find out," Wayne said in a slight american accent.
"Oh nice. I have a cousin that goes to Ilvermorny." Ernie leaned over in interest.
Justin spoke to Harry. "I don't know about you but I'm beat." He yawned loudly, "I'm going to get ready for bed."
Justin grabbed a small bag from his trunk and headed to the bathroom. Harry thought that was a wise idea and opened his own trunk. He hastily dashed to the wardrobe and breathed a sigh of relief when he realised his clothes had been put away and had not simply disappeared. 'Who puts all of our clothes away anyway?' Harry wondered as he grabbed his own bag of toiletries.
"Night guys!" Ernie half-shouted from the other end of the room after the prefect left, having warned them about making too much noise and staying up late on the first night.
"G'night." Harry replied and lay down, his eyes feeling heavy.
Harry woke when the moon was high in the sky with a strange wriggling serpent in his chest. He stood and walked over to the large window overlooking the grounds. The shock of the cold stone floor on his bare feet jolted him wider awake. The moonlight glinted off the greenhouses to the left. The forbidden forest seemed to absorb the light, and was a large dark mass in the distance. Harry heard creaking behind him and looked back to see Ernie stood at the bathroom door.
"Are you alright Harry?" The boy asked.
"Yeah." Harry frowned, "It's just a strange feeling. A few weeks ago I didn't know magic existed and now I'm living in a magical castle and starting magic lessons tomorrow."
"I can't imagine what it's like to grow up without magic, but you're here now with your own kind. You'll fit in soon enough. Get back to bed soon, goodnight." Ernie said, walking back to his bed.
"Yeah thanks Ernie, goodnight." Harry stood looking out the window a while longer before sliding back into his bed. One thought echoed in his head as he drifted off to sleep - you're here now with your own kind.