Harry Potter, a Slytherin in Gryffindor

Chapter I: Who are you?

Uncle Vernon had driven them into the middle of a forest. For a little over a week now Harry had received letters, written with bright green ink on old fashioned, heavy parchment. His Aunt and Uncle still believed that he had yet to read the letter but they were wrong. Sure enough he had made the mistake of bringing the letter into the kitchen on the first day but when thirty came out of the kitchen chimney on Sunday, he had managed to snatch one and hide it under the overly large cast offs that he wore. He had read it the night before when the stayed in a gloomy, run down hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Harry and Dudley had been made to share a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley had snored while he said wide awake on the windowsill, starring down at the lights of the passing cars and wondering...

Now they were on a large rock way out in the sea that had the most miserable looking shack you could imagine perched on top of it. If that was not bad enough, an icy wind had picked up during their transition in an old rowboat. It had grown in to a full blown storm that howled around the rock, seemingly wanting to throw the shack into the sea and whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls. There were only two rooms. Dudley, currently snoring on one of the few pieces of furniture, and Harry were in the first one, with the chimney, where they also had the meager rations that Vernon had bought. After a banana and a bag of chips, each, he had tried to lit the chimney with a gleeful expression burning the monstrous amount of letters that had arrived this morning. After that they had went to bed, well Harry laid wide awake and shivering on the softest bit of floor, curled up under the thinnest and most ragged blanket they had found here.

The lighted dial on Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in a few minutes. But as the Dursley's always tended to forget his birthdays anyway, he had long come to terms with being ignored or either belittled. No, the letter and its implication were at the forefront of this mind. At first he had not dared to believe it, of course. But than he thought back to all the strange things that had happened around him while growing up, and the panic that always shone in his Aunt's eyes if magic was so much as mentioned. No, it had to be true and the letter had stated that they awaited his reply no later than the 31st. How was he to acomplish that? An owl was not an easy thing to just come by.

One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty... ten... nine — maybe everything would turn back to normal, once midnight passed, as normal as it could be with the Dursley's anyway — three... two... one...

BOOM

The whole shack shivered and Harry sat upright in a flash, starring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in. With the second deafening knock his cousin, Aunt and Uncle woke up. Uncle Vernon came out of the second room, rifle in his hands.

"Who's there", he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed."

There was a pause. Then...

SMASH

The door was hit with such a force that it swung clean of its hinges. A lightning outside flashed and illuminated, for seconds only, the profile of a giant man who stept through the whole that once held the door. When his face became visible in the flickering light of the candle Aunt Petunia carried, it was almost completely hidden behind a long shaggy mane of dark hair and a wild tangled beard, but you could still make out his black beetle-like eyes glinting back under all that hair that brushed along the ceiling. A moment later he had bowed lifted the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. He turned around to look at them all.

"Couldn't make a cup o' tea, could yeah? It's not been an easy journey..."

He strode over to the sofa were Dudley sat frozen with fear.

"Budge up, yeh great lump", said the stranger.

Dudley squeaked in fear and ran to hide behind his mother who was by know crouching, terrified behind Uncle Vernon.

The conversation that now followed was be something that Harry would never forget in his life. The giant who introduced himself as Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds, told him what he had speculated to be true. His explanations about Hogwarts and how his parents really died were accompanied by several, rather impolite remarks to the Dursley's and something warm to eat and drink, along with the very first birthday cake he remembered. Watching Hagrid putting the Dursley's into their place, while sitting at a warming fire with hot tea, finally feeling comfortable and being rid of the hunger cramps, was not only very amusing but also immensely gratifying. For the first time tables were reversed and his so called family got what they deserved, in Harry's opinion. He had a hard time holding back a very big grin and hid it behind his cup or a contemplating frown. He had so many questions he had wanted to ask right away, despite having puzzled out some of it and playing dump as he used to do in the presence of the Dursley's, but it was late and both were tired.

This night he dreamed again of a tall, thin, black dressed man with no hair, white skin and glowing red eyes. A woman with auburn hair cried out as a green light hit her and than that man shot the green light at him, too, from a thin stick. In this dream he also remembered hearing a motorcycle, though this one was curiously enough, flying through the air and he remembered an old man with a very long white beard calling him Harry Potter. He had this dream numerous times before but never had he been able to see an elderly, stiff looking woman transforming into a cat and a weeping giant with wild hair and beard. And even though this was a dream, the cry of Aunt Petunia woke him up. Only, this time he saw the door of Privet Drive standing open and two bottles of milk right next to him.

With this he woke up for real and stretched extensively a little to get all the kinks out of his body from sleeping on the wooden floor. Luckily Hagrid had given him his monstrous cloak, so at least he had been warm. It was still dawn and the giant of a man was snoring loudly on the sofa that had broken under his weight. An other look over to the window made sure that it was unlikely that anyone would be up soon and so he started exploring. Hagrid's cloak had many pockets and after peaking into it first he carefully emptied one at time and then put everything back after inspecting it first. Besides moldy old dog biscuits, slug pellets, pepermint humbugs, teabags and a package of other animal treats, he could not identify, he found different types of keys, binoculars, gloves, parchment, quills, ink, several parts and bits of plants, a bag with strange coins and an unsealed letter. And while Harry knew very well, that it went against all morals he opened and read it.

What he found surprised him. Never, not even in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the Philosopher's Stone could actually exist. If this famed stone, that was a legend amongst non-magical people, was the same thing, that he believed it to be...

Harry carefully put the letter back into its former place. The only reason he had even dared to red this was because he wanted to make sure, that it was not something concerning him and the headmaster. Hagrid had shown just how loyal he was to that man when the Dursley's insulted him, by giving Dudley a pig tail. That, Harry did not mid very much but Dumbledore was also responsible for placing him with that family. The headmaster had placed him with a family that hated him from the moment he arrived and treated him like cheap labor. Their son took great pleasure in beating him up and, as if that was not enough, they told he whole neighborhood that he was the son of an unemployed drunk and that had let Petunia's little sister astray. According to them his mum was little better than a common whore and had married 'that useless Potter boy' because she was already pregnant. Vernon and Petunia span that story further claiming Harry was on his best way to end up the same way despite their best efforts.

With the new knowledge that he had obtained from last night's discussion Harry began to think things over. He needed to know more about the workings of the wizarding world. What happened to his home? Where were his parents buried? He had actually asked that question when he was little and had gotten a sound slap for it, which is why he never bothered to do it again. How would he pay for his school things? Who exactly was the murderer of his parents and who was Dumbledore? Of course he was the headmaster of Hogwarts, the acceptance letter said as much, but why would he involve himself with the live of one single student? Did he do the same things for others?

Tap. Tap.

The newly acknowledged wizard was brought from his musings. He looked around the cabin for the source of that noise. Finally the young man's eyes caught the Owl outside of the window. So, Harry stood up and let it in. It dropped, what seemed to be a newspaper on Hagrid and then flew to his coat and began hacking on it.

"Hey, stop it." Harry tried to shoo the bird away. But the owl did not budge.

"Hagrid, there is an owl."

The man that had started to to wake up when the paper role hit him mumbled something into his beard.

"Pardon?"

"Pay him."

"Pay? The bird?"

"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."

Harry looked back to the brown owl. It indeed held the pouch with he odd bronze, silver and golden coins, that he had found earlier among the other things, in it's talons while hacking on it. Therefore he went over and knelt down, carefully extending a hand towards the bird. The owl did indeed stop in its actions and instead stared at him expectantly.

"Give him five Knuts", said Hagrid sleepily.

"Which ones are those?"

"The little bronze ones."

After finishing his task by putting the required amount into the small pouch tied to the owl's leg and bringing it over to the window he turned towards Hagrid. The giant of a man was sitting on the sofa, yawning and stretching.

"Best we hurry, Harry, gotta lot's to do today."

"Hagrid?" Paying the owl had brought the question of money again to the forefront of his mind.

"Mm?"

"I haven't got any money and you heard Uncle Vernon last night..."

Hagrid stopped for a moment in tying his shoe laces. Then he shock his head.

"Don't worry about that. D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"

"I wouln't know. I haven't seen so much as a picture of them and my relatives only told me lies. They could have taken it away for all I know."

"Nah, impossible. Kept their gold in Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have some brakefast 'ts goin' ter be a long day."

As they sad down for their breakfast Harry made sure to extract some more information out of the older man. After all, how was he to survive in a completely different society, where he was most likely famous and everyone knew more about his family than he did himself. He did not want to start with a new chance by committing a faux pas.

"Wizards have banks?"

"Only one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."

"What are goblins?"

"They run the bank. Yeh'd be mad ter try and rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Ther down right nasty. Had a couple o' wars with'em. But 'tis good, too. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe – 'cept maybe Hogwars. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly at saying this. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you – getting stuff from Gringotts – knows he can trust me, see."

Scraping together his meager belongings he followed Hagrid out of the door as the giant left. The small path down to were the boat lay was wet and slippery. His old, worn out trainers had no profile left and holes. The trousers, as always, were fare to large and got caught under his shoes at time. That and the splashes that ensured when Hagrid stepped carelessly through the puddles on the ground ensured that he was half drenched by the time they set down in the boat, which, too, had a lot of water on the ground.

"How did you get here last night?" Harry asked when he noticed that there was no other boat around besides the one which Uncle Vernon rented yesterday, the one they were currently sitting in.

"Flew."

"How?"

Hagrid blushed under his beard. Apparently he was not supposed to do what he did in order to come to the lonely house on top of the rock out in the sea.

"A motorcycle. T'was charmed ter fly. 'S not really allow'd 'cause the Muggles could stumble over those things. Ministry's controlling all that and has a whole department for misuse o' Muggle artifacts. Imagin' what would happen if a Muggle bought a carpet that suddenly starts ter fly."

"I'll be keeping that to myself then", Harry assured.

"I'm not s'posed ter use magic now that I've got yer. Seem's a shame ter row, thought. If I was ter – er – speed things up a bit..." Hagrid started carefully eying Harry who interrupted him then.

"I wouldn't mention to anyone that you did magic even if you are forbidden from doing it. But you couldn't do it anyway." He pointed his finger towards the land. "The fisher boots are leaving the harbor. They are probably Muggles, and this is a row boat. If anyone sees it moving without the rows being used it means trouble with the Ministry, doesn't it?"

"But somme look the same as this an' they're moving without rows, too."

"Well, yes, but they also have a small motor at the back. It's the box that seems to be hanging into the water. Not only that but a motor makes a specific sound. We saw and heard them yesterday and they all were different", Harry explained patiently like he was talking to a five-year-old. He got the distinctive impression that wizards didn't know anything about Muggles, or at least not a lot.

Hagrid looked into the same direction and frowned. Grumbling he lifted the rows and put them to use. Shure, Harry would have loved to see more magic at work but he reasoned that it would not be worth it. He offered to row part of the way but as expected Hagrid just waved him of.

"So, I guess students are not able to practice magic out of the magical world."

"Nah, can't practice magic outside o' school 'till yer o' age. That's sev'nteen."

"You said there was a Ministry. What does it do?"

"Mostly messin' things up. Their main job is to keep things from the Muggles. But if yer askin' me, the Minister is the biggest bungler there is. They wanted Dumbledore fer the job but he'd never leave Hogwarts. So old Cornelius Fudge got it and he's peltin' Dubledore with owls every mornin' askin' fer advice."

"What does this mean?", Harry asked pulling out his letter and started reading. "'Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards'. The last one sounds pretty self explanatory but what is that all about? I thought he was the headmaster."

"Well, yer see. Dumbledore is the greatest wizard alive. He defeated Grindelwald, a very dark wizard about fifty years ago. That's why he got the Order of Merlin, First Class. It's fer great achievement. An' the Chief Warlock is the wizard that presides the Wizengamot. Our highest court. An' the Surpreme Mugwump is the head of the International Confederation of Wizards. But yer goin' to learn all about that in History o' Magic."

"And where do we get to buy all of that." Harry waved the second sheet of parchment that he had taken from the letter. "I've never even heard of a shop selling cauldrons."

"Diagon Ally. It's a shopin' district for wizards. Gringotts's also there. Actually Gringotts goes hundreds of miles under London. That's why its the safest place, besides Hogwarts, I say. Gotta be mad an' tryin' ter rob it."

"Why?"

"Huh, oh, I told yer about the goblins and then there's spells – enchantments. They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. And then yer gotta find yer way in the labyrinth o' the tunnels. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."

For the next several minutes Harry thought in silence about what he had heard so far. There was a lot of new information and it kept coming. If this went on he would never get a grasp on this whole new society. How was he to make up for ten years. The headmaster had to be a nutcase to have him grow up not knowing anything. What if he accidentally insulted someone just because the wizards had some strange custom that he did not know about. They were apparently completely separate from the normal, no, from the Muggle world. There were laws, and a different currency, and who new what else.

While he was still deep in thought they reached the small habor and left the boat. In a moment of clear thoughts Harry remembered to inform the man who had rented them the hut and row boat that his Aunt, Uncle and cousin where sill out there and then went on with Hagrid. He had little doubt that he had to return by the end of the day and there was no reason to make his relatives more angry than they were undoubtedly, already going to be.

On their way through the small harbor to the train station people were staring. Harry, by now used to Hagrid's size, was reminded that the other was twice the high of an average human. Not that Harry could blame the passerbys who stopped to gaff. The giant of a man kept pointing out perfectly ordinary things. More than once Harry wanted to hide behind his hands and it took quite a bit of effort not to say anything, though his face reddened with shame.

As a least effort to keep Hagrid from making an even bigger spectacle out of himself he tried to restart their conversation.

"Hagrid, did you say they have dragons at Gringotts", he asked, making sure to keep his voice low. That did the trick.

"Well, yeah", Hagrid responded in kind. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."

"You'd like one?"

"Wanted one ever since I was a kid." Hagrid beamed at that thought. "Told yeh, I'm the Games Keeper. It's my job ter look after all kinds o' magical creatures. Hogwarts' got its own heard of thestrales. Trained them – here we go."

They reached the station. Hagrid who had no idea how to work the Muggle currency gave the bills to Harry. The eleven-year-old bought the tickets and within five minutes they were off on the first train to London. The downside was that people in the train started to star even more as Hagrid stet down, occupying two seats, and pulling out a giant set of knitting needles. His attempt of what Harry guessed was supposed to be a pullover of some sort looked like a huge canary-yellow circus tent. As it drew a lot of attention to the two of them Harry did not dare to ask if he could read the newspaper even if he was dying to know more about this whole new world. He had briefly seen the moving title picture when he got the paper from the owl this morning. So he pulled out the letter again an reread the items that they would be buying in London.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robe (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' cloths should carry name tags.

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

At this Harry looked up from his letter.

"Hagrid, why's all of the wardrobe black. Don't you wear any other colors."

"'Course we do. It's just yer uniform. Yeh can wear anythin' yeh want. An' some of the old families have their own colors for formal wear. An' than yer gettin' the house colors. There red an' gold, blue an' bronze, yellow an' black or green an' silver. But yer only get that after the sortin'."

"Sorting? Hose colors?"

"Yer goin' to be sorted into a house at Hogwarts. There's four of them. Gryffindore – that's red an' gold–, Ravenclaw – blue an' bronze –, Hufflepuff – yellow an' black –, an' Slytherin – green an' silver."

"How are we sorted?"

Hagrid smiled secretly at this, his black, beetle-like twinkled.

"That's a secret fer anyone who comes to Hogwarts for the first time. No one's telling anyone who's not sorted yet, see." Harry frowned. He did not like being thrust unprepared into a situation. It made him anxious. "Don't worry too much. There's lots of Muggle-born students coming to Hogwarts who no nothing about being a wizard or witch. Your parents were in Gryffindor. Both o' them. It's the house of the brave." Hagrid tried to assure him.

"What of the others", Harry asked cautiously. He did not consider himself a brave person.

"Yeh see, Ravenclaw is a bit on the bookish side an' has it's fair share of snobs an' rulestickers. Everyone says that the Hufflepuffs are a buch o' duffers but I think they're hard working, loyal an' make some pretty good friends, but also a bit on the boring side."

"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff", said Harry gloomily.

"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin", said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-know-who was one."

"He was?"

"Years an' years ago", Hagrid confirmed.

"What's his real name anyway? I mean, Lord Voldemort", here Hagrid shuddered and shot a nasty, dark glare at Harry who ignored it and continued, "does not sound like a real name. It sounds a bit French, I think. We started French in school."

"Dun'no. Never thought about it. Doubt anyone knows anyway", Hagrid said in a way that made it clear that he did not want to discuss this topic further. So Harry continued with his list.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffing

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass and crystal phials

1 telescope set

1 brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Do they have the same books every year?"

Hagrid looked over the list and brummed.

"Some o' them. Why?"

"Did someone look if some of my parents stuff was salvageable? You said they left me some money but it has to last all through. I suppose I could use their old books instead of wasting money to buy new ones."

"Don't worry yeh have enough. The Potters are an old family. They weren't the richest but they were well of. You've got a trust fund 'till yer o' age an' they paid fer Hogwarts."

Harry had only ever been to London once and that visit ended in a disaster and earned him his longest punishment of staying in the cupboard under the stairs up until now. That was during Duddley's eleventh birthday. Mrs. Figg, a rather strange old lady with an incredible amount of cats who always took him when the Dursleys went out without him, had broken a leg, and so he got to visit the zoo for the first time ever. He had sat through a car ride next to his overly fat cousin and his friend, Piers Polkiss, trying is best to keep his mouth shut, looking out of the window and generally trying not to be noticed. Somehow he managed. Once inside the zoo he always kept a little distance between himself and the Dursleys. Of course Uncle Vernon had taken him aside, shortly before they had left and reminded him that he would not like if anything strange, anything at all, were to happen druing that trip. It did indeed go quite well. He managed tho save his Aunt and Uncle from spending more money on him than absolutely needed by convincing the nice lady who sold ice cream that he couldn't eat cold things because they made his teeth hurt. He even managed to get a dessert at lunch because Dudley threw a tantrum when his knickerbocker glory did not have enough ice cream on top. Uncle Vernon bought him a new one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. Unfortunately after lunch things got down hill. While Dudley and Piers were once again too captured by the animals to start their favorite past time, hitting Harry, they visited the reptile house. While at first they were fascinated by all of the different types of creatures Dudley and Piers became increasingly whiny once they recognized that the lizards and snakes that slithered and crawled behind the glass did not care for the visitors. And after stopping to hammer on the window behind which a python was sleeping Harry could not stop himself from stepping in front of the glass and murmur an apology. That turned out to be a big mistake for the snake somehow seemed to understand him. Just as he got over the shock and started striking up a conversation with the deadly animal his cousin came running, pushed him rudely aside and made him land on the stone floor. The next things happened to fast and Harry had little recollection of them. At first Dudley was in front of the now moving Boa Constrictor than he suddenly fell into the tank. The next moment the giant snake slithered past him, thanking him and went on about going to Brazil. When he turned back towards his cousin the window that had vanished, was once again in place.

He was pulled out of his musings, when Hagrid suddenly moved. They had reached London and even though Harry was overwhelmed by the underground network Hagrid did not seem to have any trouble navigating them. He did not even hit his head once in one of the trains. They changed tubes several times and finally climbed a broken-down escalator, while Hagrid grumbled about Muggles and not knowing how they managed without magic.

As they reached the crowded street somewhere in the middle of the city Hagrids size finally turned out to be more of a blessing than a curse. He easily parted the crowds; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops, restaurants, boutiques, cinemas but not one looked as if they would sell magical items. Harry already started doubting when the suddenly stopped at a nondescript shop. It looked tiny and grubby; and the people hurrying by did not even glance at it. If Hagrid had not pointed it out Harry, too, would have missed it. In fact he got the feeling that only the two of them were actually able to see it.

"This is it. The Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

When they walked in everyone seemed to know Hagrid. The chatter had stopped when they entered. They waved and smiled at him and the bartender went as far as to reach for a glass asking if he would like the usual.

"Can't Tom. Hogwarts business." Hagrid clamped his big beefy hand on Harry's shoulder, making his knees buckle.

"Good Lord", exclaimed the bartender peering at Harry. "Could it be.." He did not finish his sentence but his shock alerted all of the other costumers towards Harry's presence. The whole pub was now completely silent.

"Bless my soul", he continued as he hurried from behind the bar. "Harry Potter... what an honor." He rushed towards the preteen and sized his hand tears in his eyes. "Welcome back Mr. Potter, welcome back."

Harry just stood there for a moment not knowing what to say or do. From the way Hagrid had told his story he had deducted that his name might be known amongst wizards but he had not expected a reaction like this. Everyone was looking at him. They were probably just as surprised as him, if the old witch who continued puffing on her pipe that had long gone out was anything to go by.

"Er, Mr." Harry started through the great scraping of chairs that started the next moment.

"Oh, it's just Tom, Mr. Potter."

"I don't know what happened and if anything it probably should be my parents that should be remembered. Hagrid told me the real story about my parents only yesterday. He said that I was only fifteen months old. So it is impossible for me to have done anything."

That stopped all the others in their tracks.

"If you don't mind me asking, Mr. Potter", a white haired witch found her voice first.

"Er, I'm sorry, but I did not get your name", Harry interrupted. It was getting really annoying that everyone seemed to know his name. How was he supposed to buy all his school supply if this continued or attend Hogwarts in peace.

"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter", she hurried. "How came that you didn't know about your parents."

Harry had half expected a question like this and made a show of frowning, like he thought it would be common knowledge as well. It gave him a split second to think up something. A lie wouldn't do. He did not know enough about how the wizarding world worked so he opted on staying as close to the truth as possible. It had worked with the teachers at primary school why not now.

"I grew up with my Muggle relatives. They might not have known how to explain it. And there's also the fact that they do not like anything connected to magic." Well, he just hoped that Hagrid had enough sense not to add his two cent to it. The man, as far as he got to know him, was as supple as an elephant in a china shop. However, he was lucky and he kept quiet only mumbling into his beard. He probably understood at least that Harry did not want anyone knowing about the Dursleys.

As the ice was broken once again everyone seemed to push forward again. Everyone was trying to shake his hand and if not for Hagrids hand that was still resting on his shoulder he would have fled from the pub. Left with the only option to shink against the huge figure next to him he pulled the large sleeve and turned away from everyone.

"Can we go on, please", he asked pale faced before anyone could really grab his hand as both of his held onto Hagrids coat. He instinctively started hating all of them. They only wanted some famous boy they did not know at all. They, the wizarding world, did not actually care anyway. Otherwise he would not have been forced to stay with the Dursleys. He did not believe that it was allowed or condoned to keep children inside a cupboard. He knew for fact that it was not the case in the normal, no Muggle world.

Hagrid, however, did not seem to get it this time around. He was to busy beaming at the crowd and, therefore, Harry was forced to endure the line of people introducing themselves. That was until a pale young man made his way forward. Harry noticed that one of his eyes was twitching and he was oddly enough wearing a turban.

"Professor Quirrell, didn't notice you at first", boomed Hagrid as a greeting. "Harry, this is Professor Quirrel. He'll be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-P-Potter", stammered the Professor, while grasping Harry's outstretched Hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine. What subject are you teaching, Professor Quirrell?"

"D-Defense Against D-D-Dark Arts", muttered his future teacher, as if he would rather not think about it and for a moment he looked like he wanted to add an afterthought but continued differently. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I s-suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a n-new b-bock on v-vampires, m-myself." Though, it appeared as if the very thought of them terrified him.

"Is their any additional reading you would recommend", Harry asked in order to keep the others away.

"Hogwarts has a v-very l-large and w-well equipped l-library. T-There is n-no n-need t-to b-buy extra b-books yet."

"Thank you, Professor", answered Harry recognizing that the other wanted to end their brief conversation. Luckily Hagrid, too, decided that this was a good moment to get going and ushered Harry forward. They left through the back door into a small walled courtyard. There was nothing there besides the trashcans and a few weeds.

"Told yeh, yer famous, didn't I", grinned Hagrid. "Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh – mind you, he usually does."

"Is he always this nervous?"

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke's got a brilliant mind and was good while he stayed ter his book. But then he took a year off ter get some experience. They say that he ran into a bit o' trouble with a hag and some vampires in the Black Forrest. He's been like that ever since. Scarred of the students, scarred of his own subject – now, where's me umbrella."

Harry almost snorted. How was he supposed to teach the subject if he was scarred of the students, let alone his own subject. He shock his head. The wizards seemed more and more crazy to him. First, the made him famous for something he probably didn't even do and now the got teachers like that.

Lost in his thoughts he almost missed Hagrid counting the stones tapping them with the pink umbrella three times. Moments after the bricks started quivering and wriggling. A hole appeared and it started getting wider and wider as more and more bricks moved until they formed an archway – large enough even for Hagrid – that lead to a cobbled street, twisting and turning out of sight.

"Welcome to Diagon Ally."

Well, I hope you liked the first chapter. As a small request I'd like to ask for reasonably voiced critique on linguistic mistakes. I don't care wether they are of lexical, grammatical, or syntactial origin. A am a second language speaker who has never been to an English speaking country and I'd very much like to improve my English.

Oh, while I'm at it. I know that quite a few parts of that chapter were either paraphrased or copied from the books and therefore do not belong to me. I did not specifically quote them because it would disrupt the image of the text and, therefore, the reading. It is inevitable that I shall stick very close to the books at the beginning. As I redevelope the characters, the story will derive more.

edited: August 18, 2014; 01:20