Chp5:Hogwarts

"...Could you repeat that please?" Severus asked, poking his wand in his ear and casting a quick cleaning charm.

'PoorSeverus,' Dumbledore thought. The young Potions Master had never been the same since Harry had "died" and the last living piece of Lilly Potter along with him. "Harry Potter, is coming to Hogwarts," he repeated.

"Pomona..." the young professor started.

"No, I didn't spike your breakfast... this time," she replied, muttering the chaser under her breath.

Severus nodded slowly. "Ok... I'll believe you for now... How long have you known this?" he asked the Merlin look-alike.

"About two weeks or so ago I received a letter. It was Mr. Potter's acceptance of the invitation wesent him, and before you ask, no, I didn't know about the invitation pen writing one out for him. The enchantments used in its detection net are very old and drastically different from the ones we used in the search. If we checked the outgoing letters like we used to before the ministry cut our funds and forced me to fire mine and Minerva's secretaries I'd have told you then." Dumbledore informed the, for once, lively potions master.

No one would ever accuse Severus Tobias Snape of being "soft," "weak hearted," or any other such things. In fact, most would say that he was one of the most hardened, gutsy, and dangerous men they had ever had the pleasure, or displeasure, of meeting. But after the murder of Lilly Potter and the disappearance of Harry Potter the man had acted as if he had nothing to live for. Ever since his horrible mistakes in joining Tom then reporting the prophecy which led to James, who contrary to public knowledge had in fact grown to tolerate Snape after the Slytherin Alumni crawled to Lily's ankles and begged forgiveness, and Lily's death as well as the
presumed death of little Harry the once nai unshackable man had been a shell of his former self.

Now however...

"Leave it to a Potter to convince the entire world he was dead then make a grand entrance," Snape sneered with the barest hint of... was that approval?

"...Are you smiling Severus?" Minerva asked. She could have sworn... YES! There it was again! The edges of his lips were twitching!

All signs of mirth vanished from Snape's face as one of his brows arched toward his hairline. "No, perhaps you are feeling your age Minerva?"

"Nope. You smiled, I saw it. You can't lie to me," The transfiguration professor replied looking like the cat that caught the canary, which considering her animagus form was entirely possible.

"Perhaps I should brew that Dementia Draught that Poppy has been asking for," Snape mused as though he hadn't heard her.

Minerva however simply ignored him continuing to grin like... well, like the Cheshire Cat.

"Yes, well, anyway, we are going to have to organize security for Harry. It's evident by the man who found his house in the first place that he isn't safe as anticipated at the Dursleys." Dumbledore spoke.

"And whatever hole he crawled into isn't?" Septima snorted. "Honestly Albus, the boy has been impossible to find for years. Evading all manner of scrying, tracking charm, location ritual, and every other obscure method you used in your crusade to find him."

"Everyone assumed him dead. That gave him protection by the simple fact that no one knew for a fact he WAS out in the world. I'm not saying we force him into a gilded cage and hide him, simply that we offer the protection in addition to letting him stay wherever it is he has been living all these years. That is, of course, assuming that it's still safe for him now that the rest of the world will be aware of his continued existence," the old Headmaster explained. Honestly, what did they take him for? Some overbearing control freak with a deep seated need to play Puppet Master with the rest of the world?

Suddenly, all across the multi-verse, many alternate forms of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sneeze as they watch their carefully laid plans fall apart.

"I think we are going about this the entirely wrong way," Imrial Borehink, the new muggle studies teacher, interjected.

"How do you mean my dear?" Albus asked, genuinely curious. What could possibly be wrong with offering the boy additional protections?

"Shouldn't we meet him first?"

She was met by a deafening silence, as crickets chirped off in the distance.

Why hadn't they thought of that?

Meanwhile,ontheplatformatHogsmeadeStation...

"Firs' Years, this way!"

Harry, who had been stealthily resting his hand on Hermione's hip moved it to avoid direct suspicion. He didn't really feel like letting go of her but he'd rather avoid as many awkward questions as he could as long has he could. After-all, he was dead, right?

Nodding at the twins as they walked past and up the path for the other years, he followed the large groundskeeper away from the platform. After a short walk they found themselves at the lakeside where a small fleet of boats sat waiting.

"No more'n four to a boat!"

"Hope you packed your sea legs," Harry teased as he and Hermione got into one of the boats further down the line.

"You sure you won't dissolve if you fall in?" she shot back.

"Everyone in?" Hagrid called, making sure that the last of the students had made it to one of the boats before calling, "Foreward!"

The ride to the castle was fairly uneventful. Harry saved one boy, a Neville Longbottom, from falling in when he stood up in shock after a giant squid bumped their boat.

"Ok, now thatis an impressive castle," Harry said, giving a low whistle as the towering form of Hogwarts Castle came into view on the cliffs above the lake.

"Wow..." Hermione whispered, her eyes raking the many towers reaching up into the sky above thick walls of heavy stone as they drew closer.

Reaching the far bank the group disembarked from their boats and headed inside following Hagrid to an entrance chamber which, if the noise coming from the other side was anything to go by, lead to the main hall.

"Ye lot wait here, I'll go tell the Deputy Headmistress yer here and she'll be along shortly," Hagrid informed the group leaving through the large door.

"I like him," Harry mused, staring after the verylarge man.

"You know, for someone who was afraid of facing a lynch mob, you're making a lot of friends today," Hermione mused. After what he'd told her, she hadn't expected him to be so... social.

Harry shurgged. "Can't really explain it. He just feels like a kindred spirit, y'know."

Hermione raised her right eyebrow in an expression stereotypically found on urban black women in America.

"Not right now, tell you later, the Deputy Headmistress is here," Harry responded to the unvoiced question and not five seconds later the doors swung open.

"How'd he do that?" a boy near them asked his friend as a severe looking woman walked up to them.

"Great ears," Harry whispered after leaning over next to the kid's head knowing full well that most people couldn't have heard the boy.

For some reason the severe woman cracked a small grin before she straightened her face back out and announced herself as one Professor McGonagall. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of you house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

"Sounds like a bribe for good behaviour if you ask me," Harry whispered in Hermione's ear.

McGonagall's lip twitched. "Now, the Sorting will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting," she finished, her eyes lingering on several of the new students whose robes where out of sorts.

"How exactly do they sort the houses?" one of the children asked.

"That, my dear children, is a surprise," Mcgonagall replied before slipping back into the Great Hall.

"I heard they make you fight a troll," a boy told Neville.

"...You wouldn't happen to have a twin brothers would you?" Harry asked as he eyed the boy's flaming red hair.

"You know Fred and George?" the boy asked, surprised.

"Yep. They wouldn't happen to be the ones that mentioned the troll would they?"

"Yeah, they told me..." Suddenly the boy's eyes went wide with understanding, "Those wankers were probably having me on!"

"Language Mr. Weasley!" the Professor McGonagall called as returned. "We're ready for you, follow me please."

"It really is a silly thought. A troll in Hogwarts? Honestly!" Hermione ranted under her breath.

Harry had the sudden urge to smack his new friend but couldn't explain why...