Disclaimer:HP does not belong to me, just the idea I used on the characters… all recognizable things are Rowlings

Information:AU-Sorting, takes place in HP1. Reincarnation-fic!

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sSs

WHY TO SORT A STUDENT IS A HORRIBLE JOB

A PHILOSOPHER'S CASE– THE FULMINATION

sSs

Sometimes, Fred and George had to admit that they wondered about the Founders.

Sometimes, they even had to admit that they wondered about Slytherin.

But then – who wouldn't?

Nevertheless, normally, the Founders and Slytherin were the only ones they wondered about.

Normally; this time around… not so much.

"Neville, what by Merlin's beard are you doing?"

"Er… I was asked by Salazar to watch the stairs?"

Fred stared at George.

George returned the gaze.

"Why?" they finally asked unison.

The younger boy shrugged.

"Something about Malfoys and idiocy and Flamels and Dumbledore," Neville replied. "Nevertheless, I'll stay here until I can dutifully report to Salazar that a stranger went up towards the Headmaster's tower – or until the day is over."

Fred scratched his head.

"And the reason why you wear an armour?" He asked a bit confused.

Neville shrugged.

"Peeves idea," he said. "She said like that I'd blend in straight in my surroundings."

"Ah… alright?" George said and scratched his head as well. "And you don't think that your armour actually has a face considering that you're in it… isn't that noticeable compared to the other armours surrounding you?"

Neville frowned.

"Well, it might," he agreed reluctantly. "But I don't know an invisible spell – do you?"

When both pranksters shook their head, Neville nodded.

"See," he said. "So the best I could do was a face-paint."

The older boys looked a bit closer at Neville's grey-painted face.

"Not really believeable, you know?" Fred said.

"A bit too light compared to the other armours," George agreed.

"But I think it could be worse," Fred added.

"It's at leased a good first attempt," George agreed.

But before they could say anything further, Snape came around the corner, his eyes immediately narrowing on the two third-years.

"Mr and Mr Weasley," he said, looking at them suspiciously. "Tell me, what do you two plan with the armours right now?"

"Plan, Professor? We don't plan to do anything with the armours!" both boys immediately denied.

Snape looked at the twins and their current position pointedly.

"I can hardly believe that, Messers Weasley," he said coolly. "And now, move along – and if I find the armours in any way changed when I pass by later then I will come looking for you and you won't get away without a detention."

The twins exchanged a look, then the nodded both at the same time.

"Yessir, sorry, sir," they said and then with a last glance at the armour next to them hurried around the corner.

They only dared to return a few minutes later, finding a smug looking Neville still in the same place.

"See," he said. "I blend in. You actually can't deny that!"

The twins pouted, but before they could say anything else, the meassured steps of an adult could be heard.

The twins exchanged a look and then one of them hid behind the armoured Neville while the other hid behind another armour right next to them.

Not a second later, a man with white-blond hair came walking down the hall, his regal steps leading him towards the staircase.

The twins as well as Neville watched in silence while the man passed and only after they were sure he was gone, the twins actually returned to the open hallway.

"So," one of them said slowly. "Was that one of the people you're on the look-out for?"

Neville frowned.

"I actually don't know," he said. "But he looks a bit like Malfoy – only a lot more stuck-up, so I guess, yes?"

"Oh," Fred said. "That makes sense. So – how are you going to tell Salazar that he's here?"

Neville frowned.

"I… actually didn't think about that," he confessed.

Fred and George looked at each other in confusion.

"Didn't Salazar ask you to watch the stairs?" Fred asked.

"Er… yes?"

"So… shouldn't he have provided a way to contact him?" George added.

"Er… no?"

The twins looked at each other and then at Neville in confusion.

"Why not?" They asked. "Normally, Salazar thinks of things like that."

Neville reddened.

"Er… maybe my task is a bit less official than I stated?" He finally confessed, looking a bit nervous.

The twins stared at him and watched Neville darken through his paint when he reddened further.

"Salazar… might have said something about having to watch the staircase in case Flamel or Malfoy show up," he said clearly embarrassed. "But he might or might not have said it not directly to me so… I simply went ahead and did it?"

At that, the twins nodded unison, clearly now understanding where Neville was coming from.

"Well," Fred said.

"If that's so," George said.

"Don't worry," Fred added.

"We'll find Salazar."

"And tell him."

"For you."

"You."

"Just continue to watch."

"The staircase for Flamel."

"Er..." Neville said. "But I have no idea how Flamel looks like–"

"You'll figure it out," Fred immediatley assured him.

"You figured out Malfoy as well, after all," George added.

"Oh," Neville said. "Alright."

And with a wave over their shoulders, the twins were off in search for the Slytherin Founder.

sSsSsSs

"Oh, Master-Of-All-Pranks!"

"Oh, Jokester-God!"

"We have a message for you-"

"-from your ever faithful servant Longbottom!"

Hermione stared at the Weasley twins after their weird approach of her and Harry in the library.

"What-?" she started to ask, but was interrupted by Harry who had turned to look at the two third-years.

"A message from the young Heir Longbottom?" He asked. "Tell me, Messers Weasley, what did he want?"

"He's been watching the staircase for you, Jokester-God!" One of the twins replied and bowed deeply.

"And he watched Mr. Malfoy arrive about ten minutes ago," the other one added.

For a moment, Harry looked thoughtfully at the twins.

"Did he, now?" he asked finally, his gaze contemplating. "Where was Master Malfoy heading?"

"The Headmaster's office, oh, Master-Of-All-Pranks!" the twins chorused.

"Ah, is he, now?" Harry said calmly and quietly. "And there I thought his father was a Slytherin. I wonder where cunning went when it comes to those two…"

"Probably on extended vacation out of sheer self-preservation," the Hat on Harry's head quipped.

Harry threw the Hat an amused look.

"Probably," he agreed, his lips twitching. "How unfortunate for them!"

The twins snickered.

Hermione frowned.

"Harry-"

She was interrupted by a short touch on her hand thanks to Harry.

His calm eyes found her and she swallowed her objection.

Harry smiled.

"Well," he said. "If he's headed to the Headmaster - let's hear what he has to say."

The air around them seemed to shift for a second, but Hermione had no idea what could have changed.

Before she had the chance to think about it further, Harry sat down the Hat on the table in front of him.

"Well, gúþwine, let's hear what Master Malfoy has to say for himself…"

And when Hermione wanted to ask what her best friend meant, the Hat opened its mouth but instead of his own voice, first the Headmaster's and then the voice of a stranger could be heard.

And while those voices discussed onwards, Harry's mien darkened and darkened, until, when the stranger finally said his good-byes to the Headmaster, he stood up and grabbed the Hat, his face like thunder.

"Belādiaþ mé, mīn hlǣfdīġe, mīn hearran, but I have to go," he said and with a slight bow towards Hermione and the twins, he left.

There was the feeling of something shattering in the air and the next moment, Madam Pince came around the corner just to frown at the twins.

"If you prank the library, I will ensure that you wished you had never been born," she threatened them and Hermione wondered why the woman had only come now when she normally turned up to keep an eye on the twins barely five minutes after they entered the library…

sSsSsSs

"Sa'zu! Wait! What are you doing?!"

The boy stopped at that for a moment.

"Forgief mē, gúþwine," he said. "But it has to be done."

"Has to be done," the Hat echoed. "What do you plan? Spill his blood all over the entrance hall?"

"I won't meet him in the entrance hall," the boy replied calmly. "There won't be any blood found there."

"One of the hallways then," Godric corrected and he sounded a bit concerned at that.

The boy shrugged half-heartedly.

"Maybe," he replied.

Godric sighed.

"Don't," he said and the boy actually turned to look at him at that.

For a moment, the Hat hesitated, then he sighed.

"Don't do something you have to regret," he said. "Don't do something you can't forgive yourself for."

For a moment, the boy looked at the Hat silently.

"There's a lot I can do, which I won't ever regret," he pointed out. "And at least half of it might end with a dead body nevertheless."

The Hat sighed.

"I'm aware," it agreed. "I've always known. But I also know you - and I know, there are things you're not ready for. At least, things, you're not ready for right now."

'Dryhtenweard' was the unspoken word between them.

It was a silent reminder from Godric to Salazar.

For a moment, the boy just looked at Godric in contemplation, then his lips twitched in the semblance of a smile.

"If that's your only request, gúþwine, then I'm willing to fulfil it."

"Good," the Hat said and with that, the first time since the Sorting Hat had been stolen from the Headmaster's office, the boy left his dorm with the Hat still sitting on his bed.

"Just don't make me hate myself for letting you take this step alone," Godric said to the silent room after the boy had left. "Don't let me regret that I watched you walk away this time around, Sa'zu."

Sadly, the boy didn't hear those words anymore. He had long since left the Slytherin common room and was on the way to his prey.

sSsSsSs

Lucius Malfoy felt quite smug when he finally left the Headmaster's office.

The day before yesterday, he had gotten a letter from his son with a complain that the Headmaster had allowed the Boy-Who-Lived to play teacher at the school.

Of course, Slytherin that he was, Lucius had decided to use the Headmaster's bias for his own good and had coerced the other members of the Board of Governors to take a closer look at the Headmaster and the school - something, that Lucius had wanted for years.

He hated the fact that the Headmaster had been given basically free reign until now when it came to teaching and everything else concerning the school. In Lucius's opinion, it was high-time that somebody else - somebody with a bit more concern for the wizarding world than the current Headmaster - took a closer look at the school and its curriculum.

Now, with the letter of his son containing the fact that a boy who had no understanding of potions, had been allowed to 'teach' his yearmates just because he was famous, Lucius finally had the leverage he needed to gain access to the school…

And Lucius had used it.

He had gone to the Headmaster and given him an ultimatum - and if the Headmaster wanted to keep his post, he would ensure that not only was the Potter boy punished but also Lucius's own son made amends to before the ultimatum ended. The Headmaster, according to what Lucius had managed to get the Board to sign, would also be forced to change his school in certain points that the Ministry had wanted to change for years now.

No more Muggle studies.

No more practical defence with the exception of exams.

No more-

"It's odd," a voice suddenly mused, coming from slightly above him. "I'd have sworn that the only people in this school are either its teachers, its students or its caretakers. You, on the other hand, my good sir, seem to be neither."

Lucius turned and looked upwards.

Slightly behind him and about two meters above him, a boy was sitting on a spur, his feet dangling down to its left and right and his hands on its edge between the boy's legs.

The boy had black hair, but his eyes shone in an eerie silvery light.

The last time Lucius Malfoy had seen eyes like the boy's it had been Ollivander he had been looking at - and even then the old wand-maker's eyes had been less silver than the boy's in front of him.

"What are you doing up there, boy?" Lucius asked cooly, not inclined to comment on the boy's first comment at all.

Instead, he contemplated how deep the school must have fallen when a child was allowed to sit on a small projection on the wall without a teacher there to pull him down and punish him for his reckless behaviour.

"Sitting," the boy replied and Lucius's frown deepened when he mentally had to add 'cheeky' to the boy's unbecoming demeanour. "What else did you expect me to do, hearre?"

The way the boy said the last word, it sounded like an address, but Lucius wasn't too sure if it was a genuine one or something the boy made-up to insult people behind their backs.

Of course, it was then that Lucius noticed the Slytherin colours of the boy's tie.

Lucius immediately felt insulted.

"Come down there, boy," he said, coolly. "Such behaviour is unbecoming of a Slytherin."

The boy just raised an eyebrow at him.

"How'd you know?" He countered, his lips twitching. "For all we know, the House's Founder might have done the same on occasion."

Lucius's lips pressed tightly together and he wondered what kind of pureblood family had raised this boy with all his lack of manners.

"Come down there, boy," Lucius repeated, his mien darkening. "And tell me your name."

The boy instead just raised an eyebrow at him, clearly unimpressed before leaning backwards against the wall.

"It's comfortable up here," he countered. "So why should I?"

Lucius gritted his teeth.

"Your. Name. Boy!" He demanded, now deeply insulted by the Slytherin child who sullied his house with such disregard.

The boy smirked, his mouth full of teeth.

"Isn't it just polite to introduce yourself first, before demanding the name of someone else, Lucius Malfoy?" He countered with a sharpness in his eyes that made Lucius slightly uncomfortable.

Lucius opened his mouth to reprimand the boy - just to stop before he uttered the first word when the boy's words finally caught up to him.

Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius Malfoy, the boy had said.

The boy knew who he was, must know what Lucius was capable off - and yet, there was the boy, disregarding Lucius's power like he disregarded the noble House of Slytherin by behaving like a cave-troll.

The boy's smirk got even more pronounced; clearly, he had read Lucius's thought process straight from his face.

"Do you think it's wise to agitate me, boy?" Lucius asked coolly after seeing that smirk. "If you know my name than you know that I can make your life a living hell when you're old enough to leave Hogwarts - or that of your family way before that."

The boy just shrugged.

"My family lives in hell already," he replied, absolutely unconcerned. "And I can't think of any way or form you can touch me even if I'd go and leave the school tomorrow."

"Arrogant boy!" Lucius said icily. "I am part of the Board of Governors. They listen to me! They will rule for your expulsion if I give them reason and they will break your wand and throw you out of the wiz-"

The boy's eyes began to glow.

"A broken wand means my hands are free to bath in your blood," the boy countered, his face suddenly serious while he leaned forward to look down at Lucius with scorn. "Your blood on my hands means I'm free to draw runes. And runes-"

A creepy smile spread over the boy's face.

"-mean absolute control over the one I've immersed my hands in."

The smile vanished, the face suddenly cold and grave.

"No," he said. "I doubt you can do anything to me even if you wished it."

For a moment, Lucius felt frozen, then he gritted his teeth and glared at the boy.

"As if one of Dumbledore's little pets could ever do anything to me!" He countered. "And don't try to deny that you're anything but a pet. Only one of his pet students would be a allowed to endanger themselves or break school rules so blatantly like you do!"

The boy returned Lucius's glare with scorn in his eyes.

"Like you try to bend the school rules for your bearn?!" the boy said, his voice like ice. "Your bearn, whom you haven't raised with any regard to his standing in this world, whom you haven't raised with any sense for those in higher standing to him, whom you haven't raised with any sense or manners that are becoming of a scion of a House who claims nobility?!"

"I came here to correct the Headmaster's bias towards his Golden Boy," Lucius told the boy blatantly, not interested in censoring his words. "I might have been forced to use the Board to ensure that the Headmaster listens, but in the end, I came to correct a wrong-"

"No," the boy interrupted him, his silver eyes burning. "You came and decided my rule wasn't finite! YOU came with the thought to subvert my authority by trying to threaten the Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"Your authority?!" Lucius repeated, staring at the boy as if he had lost his mind. "You're a student here! You have no authority!"

Then, it finally clicked in Lucius mind.

"You're the Potter brat!" he said, his eyes trained on the boy who looked not at all like he had imagined… or at least, the boy's eyes didn't.

"Brat," Potter repeated, his voice deadly. "Brat."

With that, he jumped.

Lucius couldn't follow the boy's fall with his eyes.

It was quick.

Too quick.

The moment the boy's feet touched the ground and the boy's eyes found his own, it suddenly felt as if the world had shattered all around Lucius.

The boy stood up, but he wasn't a boy anymore.

Instead, in front of Lucius stood a man.

The man's hair was silvery white and long, his eyes were shining silver and his gaze made it impossible to look away.

The man wasn't tall - barely taller than the boy had been, but the air around him was charged with power that made him seem taller and more dangerous than his small and slim body ever could.

Then, the floor beneath Lucius's feet vanished.

Lucius screamed - something he would deny until his dying day.

He screamed, reached out and barely managed to grab the banister on his right which oddly enough stayed where it was.

His cane on the other end, ended up on the floor below.

For a moment, Lucius hung there, with both hands on the bottom of the handrail, then he turned his head to look at the boy.

Said boy - now man - was staring at him with unreadable eyes.

He was standing in the middle of nothing, obviously not bothered by the fact that there was no floor beneath his feet and not concerned that he was breaking all the laws of magic by simply standing there without a spell in mid-air.

When Potter - or not Potter? - noticed Lucius's gaze, he returned it with cold indifference.

"I am ward smith," he told Lucius with a certainty that made him shiver. "Hogwarts is mine to hold, to guard, to change and to destroy."

Lucius opened his mouth, not sure if he wanted to object the boy or to beg for help, but the boy didn't let him interrupt.

"Go to your Headmaster, go to your Board - as long as I'm ward smith, you will submit to my rule," the boy continued.

Lucius's growled.

"I…" He gasped, while trying to pull himself back up on the banister. "Am one of the most influential people in the wizarding world! I will go to the Minister and he will ensure that this school will follow the Ministry's guidelines like it should!"

Instead of feeling frightened, that seemed to enrage his silver-haired opponent even further. The man, former boy, actually stepped closer to Lucius and then leaned down, suddenly not only figuratively looking down upon Lucius but also literally.

"I," the silver-haired man said slowly, his hair spilling down from his shoulders like a silvery white, velvety waterfall. "Am dryhtenweard."

And the way he said the word, it seemed to gain power the moment it left his mouth. Like a gospel, it seemed to fill the air around the boy and sunk into the stones of the castle.

Lucius shuddered at the feeling of power those words invoked.

"Hogwarts," the boy said. "Is mine to watch, to judge, to rule, to banish and to destroy."

The words seemed to ring all around Lucius and no matter how much Lucius wanted to deny them, he could feel the absolute truthness in them in the deepest parts of his soul.

"No Tom, Dick or Harry has a say in my school if I don't want them to," the boy continued. "The wards are my own. I've held them for longer than you have been alive and I will still hold them when you're long since dust. No matter what your little Board says, this school will bow to my will!"

And with those words, the bansiter crumbled into dust between Lucius's hands.

He fell.

The fall was cushioned by earth, gras and the first snow of winter.

When Lucius looked up, he saw his cane lying next to him and the gates to the school of Hogwarts in front of his nose.

"Hogwarts is mine," the cool voice of a furious Founder repeated. "I don't take kindly to those who want to meddle in my rule. Next time, I won't be so lenient. Next time, I will come straight to the heart of your arrogance instead of just banishing from my lands. Go! You are not welcome here any longer!"

And with that, the heavy gates of Hogwarts clunk shut.

A silver haired man turned away from Lucius and with every step, the silver in his hair lost essence until it was a small, black haired eleven-year-old who vanished on the far-spread grounds of Hogwarts.

sSsSsSs

"Do I want to know why you left me here?" The Hat greeted the boy a bit warily. "The last time you didn't allow me to come with you, the neighbouring kingdom ended up with a blood bath instead of a ball…"

The boy just sighed and then sat down next to the hat on his bed in the Slytherin dorm.

With the exception of them, nobody was in the room.

"No blood bath," the boy said calmly. "At least not for now."

"Ah," the Hat concluded with a sigh. "Banishment then?"

The boy shrugged.

"Would you mind if I'd say 'yes'?"

For a moment, the Hat thought that over.

"I think," he finally said. "Banishment is a step up from a blood bath, Sa'zu. I don't think I should mind considering the alternative."

For a moment, the boy said nothing, his gaze glazing over.

"I changed today," he admitted in the end. "I changed - and I didn't mind it. I didn't even try and control it."

The boy reached up and touched his black and short hair cautiously.

"I changed, and I let it happen," he said with his voice bitter. "I was so furious, so absolutely furious at that man and I went and let it happen, gúþwine."

The Hat regarded the boy silently and gravely at that.

"You're dryhtenweard," he reminded the boy.

For a moment, the boy's hands clenched into fists.

"Am I?" He countered with barely restrained coolness. "Am I really?"

"Will you deny it, Sa'zu?" Godric countered. "Call it whatever you want: guardian, lord, king or master, it doesn't matter. You're the dryhtenweard and no matter how much you want to deny it, in the end, you will always be Hogwarts's dryhtenweard first."

The boy turned away from the Hat.

"I gave it up," he said and rubbed his eyes. "I left. No dryhtenweard leaves his lands while everything goes to shambles. No dryhtenweard destroys his lands like I did."

"You had no choice," Godric replied, his voice suddenly very quiet as well. "Rowena, Helga and I - we didn't give you the chance to have one. You saved us. You might have damned us as well, but no matter what, first and for all, you saved us. And saving us, saving this place was your duty. You fulfilled your duty as a guardian of Hogwarts - as the Protector of Hogwarts. You might deny it and I will let you, but no matter what, whenever you need it, the title of dryhtenweard is still yours to carry."

For a moment, the boy looked at nothing at all, his gaze thoughtful and introversive.

Then, he nodded slowly.

"I am ward smith," he agreed. "And you might be right with your words as well."

"But you won't say it," Godric concluded with a sigh.

His best friend just smiled crookedly.

"I said it today," he countered. "And I forced Hogwarts itself to bow to my will. I warped Hogwarts, took its structure in my hands and made it bow to my will. I took its existence in my hand and made it vanish."

The boy shook his head.

"No," he said. "I can't say it again. I can't do it again. I'm not…"

He took a deep breath.

"I'm not this person anymore."

But if people force me, I will be him again.

Godric knew that Salazar might not have said it, but no matter what, those words unspoken were still implied.

He nodded.

He could live with denial - as long as Salazar was willing to give up on it when it came to fighting for his home.

sSs

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sSs

Explanation:

Belādiaþ mé, mīn hlǣfdīġe, mīn hearran – Excuse me, my lady, my lords

Forgief mē - forgive me

gúþwine - old English for 'Comrade in war'

dyhtenweard – guardian, lord, king

bearn - child, son

sSs

So, that's it for today. Sorry it took so long. I had trouble with the chapter (I wanted to add a few more things that simply didn't fit... *frowns*) and finally decided that I'm giving up on it and post what I have. In other words: No, this story is not abandoned, just really, really late when it comes to an updated... *sweatdrops*

'Till next time.

Ebenbild