Chapter 1
What if Harry Potter was sorted into Slytherin?
Wohooo =) Chapter one is finished =)
I might still make some changes, but I think so far I like it. I didn't want to get into too much detail regarding Harry's life befor Hogwarts, so I only briefly described that, pointing out the important parts like Harry receiving the letters, that he only learnt about his family from Hagrid and his train ride. As a Harry Potter fan I understand, and I'm fully aware of the fact that nothing will ever compare to the actual Harry Potter books as they are a part of my childhood, of how I grew up, so thank you J.K. Rowling for giving Harry Potter to us. I'm sure most of us learnt so much (besides spells and potions and Quidditch rules) from Harry and for most of us Harry will always be a part of our lives.
I hope you'll enjoy this, and if you find any spelling mistakes or stuff like that, please let me know so that I can correct that. I don't always find typo's and such before I update my chapters. :)
Chapter 1
It had been awful years, growing up with the Dursleys, he had been mentally tortured and hurt and had been forced to wear old, damaged and used clothes and broken toys, all of them previously worn and used by his over weight cousin Dudley and were therefore all way too big for him. Nonetheless, he was never afraid of waking up the next day, facing his so called family day after day.
Harry Potter, the orphan raised by his aunt and uncle after his parents had died in a car accident, was not a coward. No, day in and day out he faced his aunt and uncle who never wanted to have him, to take care of him or even see his face as he was the constant reminder of his mother. Lily Evans had always been different to her family, to her sister Petunia especially and when she had left their home to get married to James Potter, a rouge from her school, the family had lost all contact to her and her new family.
Once Petunia and Lily had been very close, sisters, and best friends, when Lily had found out that she was a witch, and Petunia hadn’t been allowed, or able, to join her in Hogwarts, a place that had kept Petunia fascinated in the beginning.
For arguments sake Petunia and Vernon had attended the wedding, but were more than happy to leave early. They hadn’t shown up for Harry’s christening and hadn’t been too happy when Harry was entrusted to them after their deaths. And they let him feel that every single day. Still, Harry wouldn’t give up, some day he’d find someone who cared about him, a reason worth living for.
A few weeks before Harry’s birthday something odd happened though, something even more odd than the occasional odd things Harry had seen happening. When he picked up the mail for Vernon Dursley, his uncle, there was a letter for him amongst them. A letter for Harry! That had never happened before! However, before he was able to open it, his cousin Dudley tore it from his hands, gave it to his father and they ripped it apart and burnt the remains in the fireplace.
Yes, Harry was frustrated, but he didn’t know anyone who would send him letters, so he didn’t bother much, didn’t waste his energy on moaning after something he never knew he had. The next day came another two letters for him, then three and four. On Saturday Harry wasn’t even allowed out of the cupboard under the stairs, his bedroom, when the mail was delivered.
On Sunday, at the breakfast table, his uncle was awfully cheerful, until the entire house started to shake, started to rumble and a million letters came flying through the chimney, Harry jumped to catch a single letter, while his screaming family tried to protect themselves from the letters, still flying in through every opening they could find. Once he had caught a single letter, he ran back towards his room, but was quickly stopped by his uncle, who ripped the letter from his hands once again and locked him up in his cupboard.
The next day they went on a trip, far away, on a lonely island. In the middle of the sea! The whole island would be shut off once the storm hit the shore and according to the weather forecast, the storm was about to arrive. It was strange for his uncle to take him on a holiday. Usually when they went for a trip, they would drop him off at a neighbours’ house and leave without him.
Not this time though, this time they had taken Harry along with them and he saw it, Vernon, Petunia and Dudley were all afraid. They were not really on a holiday, they were hiding from something. Possibly from those letters Harry was receiving. But who would send them? And so many of them! Who cared about letters Harry would never receive. It was almost midnight and midnight meant it was Harry’s birthday, his eleventh birthday.
He wouldn’t expect anything from Vernon, Petunia and Dudley, they never even bothered to congratulate him. When ever they hadn’t forgotten, he would get an old sock or things Dudley didn’t want anymore. Lonely he looked around himself, looked up the stairs where his aunt and uncle were sleeping, and over to the couch where his cousin was fast asleep. Just before midnight, he drew a birthday cake with eleven candles on the dusty floor and whispered, “Happy Birthday, Harry!”
In that moment, in the moment the clock struck twelve, the door bust open and a huge man with a pink umbrella entered the house in the middle of the ocean, on a small island, in the middle of a storm. The huge man dropped quite a bomb on Harry, after a bit of a fight with his uncle Vernon. “You’re a wizard, Harry!” he had said. With that huge man, Harry’s adventure began, his way to finding a place where he belonged.
The huge man was called Hagrid and he was a half giant, he had come to take Harry to a boarding school, a place that he could call home in the future. Hagrid took him to London and to a place called Diagon Alley, a magical place where witches and wizards and all kinds of other creatures walked around openly. During their little trip Harry learnt a bit about his parents, about the fact that both of them had been magical as well, Lily had been a witch, and James, his father, a wizard. They had lived in a town called Godricks Hollow and they had had a cat. Harry also met lots of wizards and witches, many of them greeted him with glee, others sent excited glances in his direction.
Harry also learnt that his parents hadn’t died in a car accident, but were murdered while protecting him. They had died to save his life. Even though the thought of loosing his parents still made him sad, the thought that they had been standing there to protect him, and that they had cared enough to want to save him, made Harry unbelievably happy. It gave him hope.
Shortly after that Harry had all of his new possessions wrapped up, the new and strange books and nick knacks packed in an old suitcase. He had also packed some of the money that his parents had left him in a strange vault in a gigantic bank on Diagon Alley. Who knew what awaited him in that new school, in that new place where he would go and live and spend time in.
Harry was sent to a train in Kings Cross Station about two month later where he met lots of children in his age or older, all dressed in black cloaks and scarves, hanging to their suitcases in two colours, some were gold and red, others blue and gold, or green and silver or blue and silver. The older students had ties in the same colours as their scarves and a crest at the end of their ties. Harry was looking forward to finding out which of those crests would represent his house, his new home.
Quietly he sat down on an empty seat in the train and looked out of the window. He hadn’t been in a train before, and an entrance that lead through a wall was something new to him as well. Harry was sure though, that this was not a normal state. He was sure it had something to do with the magical world he was about to enter with the boarding of this train.
Soon the entire train filled up and even the seat next to Harry was filled by a young boy with reddish brown hair. Just like everyone else in the magical world, the boy that introduced himself as Ron Weasley, seemed to know everything about him. They chatted for a while and Harry had Ron explain a bit more about the magical school he was about to enter. He had heard a bit about it from Hagrid, but not as much as he would have liked to ask.
So he listened to his stories about the school, about the magical world and about the teachers he would soon meet. As Ron was also eleven and this would also be his first year in Hogwarts, his stories were mostly handed down from his older brothers, his parents and other members of the magical community Ron had met before. His entire family was magical, witches and wizards through and through.
Towards the end of their journey, a young girl with wild brown hair, came in, looking for a toad. As she discovered who he was, she stayed for a quick chat and to fix his glasses. She also announced that they were almost at their destination, the train station that would lead them to their new home, their new boarding school.
After a few hours they arrived at their destination, Harry stepped out of the train and looked up into the night sky, up towards a castle, illuminated by brightly shining, glowing windows. And Harry was looking forward to seeing all of this close up, to explore the castle and its surroundings. He was about to follow the rest of the students, when a huge figure called for all of the first years to follow him in the other direction.
In the distance he saw coaches, slightly illuminated by streetlights and quickly disappearing with the masses of students walking in both directions. Harry was led to small boats, and those boats shipped them over a dark lake and closer to the castle. Once they were on the other side of the lake, they marched all the way up to the front gates; the gate was huge and opened when they got closer. They were greeted by an elder lady, and lead into a huge hall. “It’s not real, the ceiling, it’s bewitched to look like the night sky, I read about it in Hogwarts – A History!” he heard a girl in front of him explain and looked at the floating candles that brightened the amazingly realistic night sky above them. They walked along four rows of tables, filled with students, all sorted in the same colour combinations and towards a table with grown ups, most likely the teachers he would get to know soon. Hagrid sat amongst them and smiled when he saw Harry.
There was a stool in the front, with a strange wizard’s hat on it; it seemed to be where the Professor led them to. Everyone stopped and formed a line in the front. “Could you wait along here, please? Now. Before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words,” Professor McGonagall said and folded her arms in front of her, the green robe she wore over the black dress covering the rolled up list she held in her hands.
“I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mister Filch,” the headmaster said and pointed towards the back of the hall, where an elderly man in brown clothes with long, oily hair stood, glaring at the students, and continued, “has asked me to remind you, that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you!”
Professor McGonagall, the lady that had led them into the hall, then proceeded with the welcoming procedure and the sorting of the new students after explaining what they had to do. Simple enough, really, when a name was called out, the student would sit down on the stool, she would place the hat on their head and then the hat would announce which house the student would go to. Of course this place had a talking hat…
Still, Harry still felt slightly irritated about the headmaster’s words about the third floor corridor and about dying a most painful death… What kind of school had he gotten into now!
A little while after the hat was placed on a child’s head, it started to move by itself and announced a name, one of the houses as Ron, the red haired boy he had spoken with on the train, had explained earlier. There was Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Apparently they had been named after the four founders of Hogwarts and the students were sorted after the hat’s judgement. In most cases it only took a few seconds before it announced a house, some kids took a bit longer, but every boy and every girl found their way to one of the tables and every child was welcomed by applause.
The girl with the wild hair was one of the first to be sorted into Gryffindor and was welcomed with cheers and applause, the blond boy that had introduced himself as Draco Malfoy, was sorted into Slytherin and was welcomed in the same manner, just from the tables on the other side of the hall.
He was just looking at the teacher he had seen in the pub that led to the secret gate towards Diagon Alley and the man sitting beside him. Professor Quirrell was wearing a turban again, smiling nervously and looking over his shoulder. The man besides Quirinus Quirrell was staring at Harry as well. He had long, oily, dark hair and a very gloomy expression. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his forehead, right where his scar was and Harry flinched. “Harry, what is it?” Ron, who was standing beside him, asked worried as Harry pressed his hand to his scar. “Nothing,” mumbled Harry and the teacher looked away again, “Nothing, I’m fine.” Shortly after that, Ron was sorted into Gryffindor as well, and Harry hoped to be there as well, just so that he would know someone on his first day.
When Harry’s name was called out the entire hall went silent and followed his every step. Even the headmaster sat up curiously and observed Harry through his half moon shaped glasses. Nervously he sat down and closed his eyes for a moment when the hat was lowered on his head.
“Hmm. Difficult, very difficult,” mumbled the hat, “Plenty of courage, I see, not a bad mind either, there is talent, oh yes! And a thirst to proof yourself! But where to put you?” “Not Slytherin,” Harry mumbled a few times, worried about the bad things Ron had told him about the house of Salazar Slytherin, about every wizard of that house joining the dark side, becoming an evil wizard.
“Not Slytherin, ay? Are you sure? You could be great, you know? It’s all here, in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness. There is no doubt about that,” the hat explained, and moved Harry’s head from the left of the hall where the Gryffindors sat, over to the very right, where the Slytherins were seated, but Harry kept mumbling, “Anything but Slytherin.”
Harry thought he heard a little frown and a sigh in the hats next words, “Don’t believe everything you hear straight away, Harry, some things are not as they seem, you know. Well, from all I can see, I think the best place for you would be…” A pause in his words almost had Harry’s heart stop, then the hat spoke louder, to the entire hall and announced Harry’s house: “Slytherin!”
“Well,” Harry mumbled and looked at the table with green and silver decorations, green like his eyes and the eyes of his mother as he had been told, “I guess I’ll give it a go, it can’t be worse than the Dursleys..” “That’s the spirit,” the hat chuckled just before Professor McGonagall took the hat off his head. So shortly after that, Harry was welcomed by the loudly cheering Slytherins, the students made space for him and loudly introduced themselves to Harry. Maybe he was wrong, but Harry had the feeling that they had cheered the loudest for him so far. Lots of them stared at his forehead, at the lightning shaped scar that seemed to be very important to everyone in the wizarding world, as it was the mark a dark and evil wizard had left as he had tried to kill Harry as an infant.
Harry felt proud to have it now, felt that he had finally found a place where people were happy to see him, where they wanted to spend time with him, where they were happy to speak with him and that felt very good! He had seen a few worried looks from other people, but now that he was surrounded by all those people that welcomed him into their house, he didn’t care anymore. His own aunt, uncle and cousin had always treated him more like a pest than a child, so this was a very welcome change.
Nonetheless, Ron gave him an encouraging smile from the other end of the room where he was stuck between his brothers. Again.
There was one boy in specific that approached him with a big smile. His white-blond hair was combed back with wax, which had Harry think of a puppy that had just been cleaned by its mother.
“So,” he said and held out his hand in a greeting, “Harry Potter is now in Slytherin! Welcome to the best house in the entire school!” Quickly he took the boy’s hand and smiled happily, “Thanks, Draco. I’m glad to hear that, I was a bit worried at the beginning to be honest. Is it you’re first year as well, right?” “It is indeed, but obviously I knew I would be here, my entire family has been in Slytherin also. It’s probably a good thing that you’re one of us now, Harry, you’ll always be welcome and we stick together, isn’t that right?” Draco explained and the boys and girls around him nodded in agreement.
As the last student was sorted into their house, Professor McGonagall pulled everyone’s attention to the headmaster and said, “Your attention please!” Professor Dumbledore stood up and his white beard was almost long enough to reach the table in front of him. “Let the feast… begin!” he said and food appeared in front of Harry, filling the previously empty bowls and plates and trays with all kinds of food. Quickly the children to started to eat and after the long journey, everyone was very hungry. The whispers and cheers faded a bit, as everyone was busy eating and trying all the different styles of food, before the chattering started again.
Harry had never seen so much food and surely hadn’t been allowed to eat that much that he was a bit worried he might get sick from eating too much, but that thought didn’t stop him from trying everything within his reach. After his first plate he looked around himself, and saw that some of the other students stared at him, so he did his best to eat a bit more mannerly as he continued to fill his plate with all of the delicious food around him. Like everyone else.
Quickly the conversation around Harry turned towards their families, about whether they were wizards and witches, or muggles, their linage and wealth. Then they turned to Harry, “I heard you were raised by muggles!” Harry swallowed hard and looked at the expectant gazes of his new house mates. “From the looks of it, they didn’t feed you at all,” one of them joked as Harry’s plate was already completely full again.
“Oh, they did, don’t worry,” Harry said nervously, “This is just too delicious to not try everything. My aunt and uncle and my cousin really aren’t so bad.” While everyone else already continued their conversation, Draco looked at him a bit worried, “What’s wrong with your scar? It’s redder than earlier when we first met.” “Nothing… It was a bit sore earlier, but it’s already fine again,” he said quickly and smiled reassuringly while Draco didn’t seem to be too convinced. “If you say so…” he said and changed the topic, “Do you know spells already?” Harry shook his head and immediately Draco’s eyes started to gleam and he went on and on about all different types of spells and incantations and potions, which left Harry speechless and excited to start with classes soon. So far all he had learnt was normal muggle stuff and all the wizard things were entirely new to him.
When everyone was finished, the food disappeared and the plates were clean and sparkling once more. “Now as we are all well fed and probably tired, everyone will find their way to your common rooms, from where you will move into your new rooms,” the head master finally said and smiled towards every table, “Your prefects will lead the way and inform you about the new passwords and also help our new students get settled. Remember, if you have any questions and you can’t find an answer yourself, your fellow students and prefects will most likely be able to help. Also, we do have some teachers here in Hogwarts and they are usually very wise and well able to help you with most of your questions. Don’t be afraid to ask.”
“Okay, first years, please form two lines, girls on the right, boys on the left,” a boy with a green and silver tie and the Slytherin symbol on his robe said, and stood straight, waiting for them to follow his command. On his left chest, there was also a big “P”, and Harry was curious about its meaning. Maybe he was one of the mentioned prefects and that’s how you recognized them.
“As all of you have seen, each house has their own emblem and their own colours,” he explained when everyone stood in line, “On your robes you can see a plain black one. Now that you have been sorted into your house that will change! Once you show your house colours, you will represent your house, meaning that each individuals actions will influence your house. For us in Slytherin that is very important and we do take it serious. Some of you might know already, that our house has been able to win the house cup repeatedly in the last years and we’re planning to aim for that this year as well. What we expect of you, as first years, is to respect the rules and be on your best behaviour!”
Two students appeared behind him, a boy and a girl, and pulled out their wands. The girl moved along the line of girls, the boy along the boys, tapping each black emblem. As the others were in front of him, he didn’t see how it changed, but he noticed, that the hood of their robes turned green on the inside. Also, the black tie’s they had been wearing were now green and silver striped, like everyone else’s.
“As you might have noticed, there are four hourglasses, representing each house,” the prefect explained as the other two changed the colour of the robes, “With your actions you will earn, or loose points for your house and at the end of each year, the house cup will be rewarded to the house with the most points. Each point is represented by gemstones, for us it is emeralds, for Ravenclaw it is sapphires, for Hufflepuff it is topazes and for Gryffindor it is rubies.”
As the boy reached Harry, he tapped on Harry’s robe and the black turned into a silver and green serpent emblem on his left chest, his black tie turned silver and green with a Slytherin emblem at the end, just like on the huge banners above the Slytherin tables and as Harry looked around, he realized that the other houses were going through similar procedures, before the first years followed their prefects towards their common rooms and their new bedrooms.
“Now, before we go into our own house rules, we will move on towards our common room, so please remember the way so that you won’t get lost, stick together and off we go,” the boy said and Malfoy turned to him with an excited smile before they headed off. Besides the three prefects, there were four boys besides Harry, and five girls.