Jarno




Letters and trains

Mayhem at Diagon Alley

Yesterday a large group of deatheaters attacked Diagon Alley.
Eye witnesses estimate their numbers to have been about twenty.
Luckily and surprisingly no-one got hurt! An unknown vigilante
fought back and took the majority of the deatheaters down until
the rest of them apparated away.

“He was increndible. Such power, I have only seen one wizard 
produce those spells and that was Albus Dumbledore himself. He
 weaved through the deatheaters like it was nothing. It seemed to be 
childplay for him. The sheer magical strength was unbelievable”
Says Eye Witness Lauren McDouggal.  

Is this a new hope for the wizarding world? Or is it just
Another ploy by Voldemort? And who exactly is this new
Fighter and where did he come from? Only time will tell
Your reporter Rita Skeeter

Harry threw the newspaper away in disgust. He would have least liked not to be noticed until he got to Hogwarts. But noooo, the deatheaters just had to attack the exact moment he was there and he just had to play the hero again. “Stupid aurors.” He muttered under his breath. “Couldn’t show up on time. Let a civilian do their work, why don’t they.” 

A  piercing cry from aegis interrupted his mutterings. “What do you want, Aegis?” Harry half snapped being rather annoyed. Aegis turned her head towards him and seemed to give him a glare. If birds could glare that is and pointed with her wing towards a piece of parchment. 

“Do you want to write me a letter?” A nod from aegis answered his question.  “Okay but to whom?” He asked feeling rather confused. Aegis flew up to him and cuffed him on the side of the head with her wing telling him he was stupid and pointed to Hogwarts a History. 

“Hermione!” Harry loudly exclaimed in glee. Perhaps Aegis was right, he did need to send her a letter. After all they did have a fun day before the deatheaters showed up. And she sure was nice to him and he just ran away without telling him. She probably was worried about him. Last time she saw him was when he was fighting deatheaters and then he just disappeared.

Hermione

First of all I want to say that I’m fine and 
apologize for running off after the battle. I 
just didn’t want to meet with the press. 
Secondly I want to thank you. You gave me 
a nice day. We had fun together. At least I did. 
If there is something I can do tell me. 
The thunderbird is called Aegis. If you need to
contact me, just say her name. 
Hope to see you on the Hogwarts Express
                                                     Harry

Aegis flew over the desk and with a flash both her and the letter were gone. Harry was about to go to his study to read a bit when a tapping at his window made him turn around. A rather pompous looking owl wanted to come in. Not seeing any harm in it Harry opened the window. 

Harry who saw that the owl was looking rather tired conjured a bowl of water before opening the letter. The owl gave a low hoot that seemed to be one of thanks. 

Dear Mister Potter

This afternoon we received notice of your use of spells.
Because you enlisted in Hogwarts you are now again
listed as a British citizen and as so are to follow the laws
of underage wizardry. However due to the nature of your spells,
your age and your clean record you will only receive a warning. 
Mrs Mafalda Hopkirk 

PS keep up the good work Sonny. Enclosed is your sorcerer’s permit. 

Harry shook his head mirthfully. Politicians always follow the rules officially yet when no-one is watching, appeltaart the rules. 

Another crack filled the air and Aegis was back with a short letter from Hermione. Aegis dropped the letter on the table and looked at the owl with distrust. The owl not wanting to get into a scuffle with a thunderbolt quickly hopped off the table and flew away through the still open window. 

Dear Harry
Thank you for the letter. I must say
I was indeed worried until I saw the newspaper.
I too had a good time and hope you see you 
on the Hogwarts express as well. 
Your friend (hopefully)
                                    Hermione

Harry broke out into a smile yet he felt rather nervous as well. He never had a friend. The closest person to him was his mentor yet his mentor was more of a parental figure then a friend. 


The days went by rather fast with Harry practicing his skills with wands and sword and reading his school books. It seemed that Harry was far ahead of the class in most parts yet lacking in others. He had only the barest of knowledge in History, House hold charms, Divination and ancient runes. He decided that for classes he would take:
Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Defence against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Duelling and Archimancy. 

It was indeed a lot but he was ahead in most of the classes so he saw no problems with it. 

Soon it was time to head for Hogwarts. After making sure he had packed everything he put a conserving charm on his house so it wouldn’t decay because of months of not being used and apparated towards Kings Cross with Aegis on his shoulder. 

When Harry arrived at Kings Cross he felt, well he didn’t really know how he felt. A bit nervous scared and perhaps attacked as well. It was just such chaos. Children were running around, parents were yelling for their children, mothers were crying, siblings were fighting and worse people were looking at him with awe. He knew he should have sent Aegis ahead. 

All things Harry wasn’t used to. Perhaps going to school wouldn’t be as easy as he first thought. At least classes would be easy he thought with a nervous grin. 

A poking on his shoulder broke him from his musings. “Hey Harry!” Hermione greeted him with a big smile showing off perfect teeth. “ Hey Hermione” Harry replied with a small smile of his own. “Come you got to meet some of my friends.” Hermione said before grabbing Harry’s hand and pulling him along nearly taking his shoulder out of his socket.

Damn, this girl could be bubbly Harry thought. 

“Guys, meet Harry. Harry meet My friend. “That’s Neville” Hermione said pointing to a brown haired boy with a dark tan. Harry would later learn that came from working in his garden all the time. “That’s Ginny” Hermione told Harry indicating to a rather small girl. Harry gauged her to be about 5 feet 3 with long red hair and a cute face with some freckles around her nose. 

Then she pointed to a girl called Luna. Luna was well weird but in a good way. Luna had dark brown hair and was actually fairly attractive if she had a normal sense of clothing. Somehow Harry thought, radish earrings and a butterbeercap necklace would never be fashion. 

Last in the row was Ron. Ron was a gangly guy with red hair and a long nose. What Harry noticed most was his clothes, they were so bright orange that his eyes hurt. Harry could see that this guy was a joker. 

“Say Harry, fancy a game of chess?” Ron asked with a grin that didn’t fore spell anything good. 

Five minutes later Harry was contemplating that he might have some divination abilities as his prediction came true in him being soundly defeated by Ron. He only managed to take a few pawns and a rook while Ron took away all his pieces. 

Apparently Ron wasn’t just a joker, if his skills at chess were anything to go by he was also a genius at strategy. 

The small chuckles of the rest of the group told him that it was not the first time Ron had trashed someone at chess. Apparently only his brother Bill stood any chance against him. 

“So Harry do you play any quidditch?” Ginny asked Harry while looking up from teen witch weekly. Harry was about to reply when they were interrupted by an unpleasant drawl. 

"My my, what do we have here? The riff raff of Hogwarts. Mudblood, Weasels, Fatbottom and Loony. And they have a new member! Draco Malfoy is the name.” A pale blond haired boy with a pointy face said in a rather unpleasant tone of voice. Didn’t anyone teach him not to speak through his nose? 

“Harry Potter” Harry replied with a sharp edge.

“A Potter you say and the boy who lived to boot. You’d do well to make the right friends at Hogwarts. I can help you with that.”

“I believe I can choose my own friends” Harry replied coldly before summoning a bit of raw magic and thrusting it towards Malfoy making him stumble backwards and trip over his ropes. 

“Filthy Half-Blood” Malfoy spat while trying to scramble up and almost run away with a red face. “I’ll tell my father about this.”

They spent the rest of the train ride in pleasant chattering until they had to break up when they reached Hogwarts. Hermione and Ron had to supervise that everyone went of the train and into the carriages while Harry was summoned by someone who just had to be a half giant. 
There was no way someone could be that tall. The man introduced him as Hagrid and told Harry he was the groundskeeper of Hogwarts as well as the professor for Care of Magical Creatures.

Harry and Hagrid had a boat for themselves as they were far bigger then first years. “Jus’ wait when we turn thi’ corne’ ‘Arry.” Hagrid told Harry with a broad grin. Harry could only look on in awe. “Flies, ‘Arry, Flies.” Hagrid laughed out seeing Harry’s open mouth. 

Hogwarts was with one word beautiful. Harry now understood why Hermione couldn’t explain how she felt about Hogwarts, there were simply no words for it. 

“I’ll take it from here, Hagrid.” A rather stern with told Hagrid once they’ve reached the shore. 

“I am professor Mcgonnal, transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor. Within a few minutes you will be sorted into your respective house. These houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflpuff and Slytherin. Each house has his own noble history and has produced powerfull wizards. The people who will be sorted in the same house will be your house mates in the next seven years. Or one year….” Mcgonnal finished drawing attention to Harry. 

Now Harry really felt nervous. Being sorted was already rather nervous but when you stood literally with head and shoulders above all the other ones. Let’s just say Harry would rather fight a dragon or a dark lord then do this. 

In times of old when I was new
And Hogwarts barely started
The Founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted:
nited by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning
To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning.
"Together we will build and teach!"
The Four good friends decided
And never did they dream that they
Might someday be divided,
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there and so can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry is purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose
Intelligence is surest."
Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name,"
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,
And treat them just the same."
These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light,
For each of the four founders had
A House in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so,
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor,
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,
And taught them all she knew,
Thus the Houses and their founders
Retained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
For several happy years,
But the discord crept among us
Feeding on our faults and fears.
The Houses that, like pillars four,
Had once held up our school,
Now turned upon each other and,
Divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
Must meet an early end,
What with dueling and with fighting
And the clash of friend on friend
And at last there came a morning
When old Slytherin departed
And though the fighting then died out
He left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
Were whittled down to three
Have the Houses been united
And they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
And you all know the score:
I sort you into Houses
Because that is what I'm for,
But this year I'll go further,
Listen closely to my song:
Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it's wrong,
Though I must fulfill my duty
And must quarter every year
Still I wonder whether sorting
May not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you..
Let the sorting now begin
 (copyright at Rowling)

“Jake Abbot” the hat cried out. “Hufflepuff. “John Andrew…Ravenclaw”
“Maria Bulstrode… Slytherin.” …“Sara Koenraad…Ravenclaw.” And so the sorting went on until after every first year was sorted it was Harry’s time. Loud mutterings broke out at every table. 

“Hmm, a bit late are we not Mister Potter. Hmm let’s see. There’s talent, oh my goodness yes. A sharp brain and hardworking as well. You’re quite cunning through and brave to a fault. Difficult choice, difficult indeed. Perhaps…yes that would be the best choice.” The hat muttered inside Harry’s head.  “GRYFFINDOR” it cried out for everyone to hear. 
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