Kurt first starts to show signs of magic at the age of three – rather a late bloomer in the Harper family, and his mother's relatives worry a little that his magic won't be as strong as theirs is. His mother doesn't worry about a thing, and starts teaching him all about Hogwarts. When Kurt is five, he knows all the words to the school song and sings it every day until he is enrolled in primary school. He fascinates his teachers: he has such a firm grip on the more complicated matters of day to day life, yet whenever they pull out the old video player he is enthralled (they later learn that he doesn't have one at home and are told it is because of economic reasons when actually it's because Elizabeth gets scared when she can't figure out how the Muggles stole a wizard idea and made it better). Kurt Hummel, his teachers all decide once he's moved up from the Infant building to the Junior one, is one to watch.

When Kurt turns eight, his mother is driving him home from Diagon Alley, where he had been admiring the latest robes Madame Malkin's is producing, when, out of nowhere, another car appears and Elizabeth can't brake in time so the cars meet head on and then the other driver is getting out of the car and he's saying words Kurt has been told never to say and Kurt's crying and straining against the seatbelt and trying to get his mother to wake up and she isn't and why isn't she using her magic? Why isn't she waking up?

Hours later, his father comes running into hospital and takes Kurt home, because the doctors say he's fine, but they don't stay long because then his father is taking him back to London and they go to St. Mungo's to make sure Kurt is OK.

His father is a Muggle, so he knows nothing about Hogwarts other than what his wife told him, and Kurt begins to learn about what will be his new school on his own by reading the books his mother left for him and by travelling to Diagon Alley as much as possible. Hannah Abbott, the landlady of the Leaky Cauldron, was a friend of his mother's and tells him everything he needs to know. From the ages of eight to eleven, Kurt spends his summers unofficially working there and listening to tales of Hogwarts before and after the Second Wizarding War. He learns about Harry Potter from someone who actually knew him; he listens to people talk about how much better a Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt is than Cornelius Fudge.

Kurt doesn't know much about the Houses at Hogwarts, because his mother never lived anywhere but the Slytherin common room and dormitory and Hannah refuses to tell him about the Hufflepuff common room because, apparently, nobody but a Hufflepuff had been inside for more than a thousand years and if he wanted to know about the common room he would have to be put in Hufflepuff, but he knows one thing for certain: he is definitely a Slytherin.

It comes as a bit of a shock when the Sorting Hat is placed on his head and stays there for a second only before announcing, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Kurt follows the rest of the Gryffindor students up to the tower dejectedly. Everybody else seems to be ecstatic – and why wouldn't they be? They had just been placed in the same House as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger – but Kurt only feels depression. A Gryffindor? He always thought he would be a Slytherin, like his mother. He takes only a second to look down as he climbs up the many, many flights of stairs that he hates so much. He should be in the dungeons.

"Aren't you excited?" asks a girl next to him. He looks at her for a second before shaking his head. The girl frowns. "Why not?"

"I didn't want to be a Gryffindor," he sighs, hoping she'll leave him alone.

"My cousin didn't want to be a Ravenclaw," says the girl, who is clearly determined to make a new friend. "But he loves it now. Says he can't imagine being in another House." Kurt makes a vague sound to signify he heard. The whole group has come to a stop while they wait for the staircase to move so they can continue. The girl sticks out her hand. "Mercedes Jones."

Kurt surveys her hand for just a moment before smiling slightly and shaking it. "Kurt Hummel."

Kurt spends the rest of his first year getting used to his new House. In the second week, he sends a letter to his dad and asks him to remove every Slytherin thing in his room because he got sorted in Gryffindor. He receives a reply the next day saying that it was done, and he knew Kurt was in Gryffindor because he had been told by Hannah, who had been told by her husband, Professor Longbottom, Head of Gryffindor House. He watches the Quidditch games with Mercedes, who quickly became his best friend, and wears his House colours with pride (and a little annoyance because red and gold do not match his skin tone at all). When he returns home for Christmas, he redecorates his room so the walls are red and the carpet is gold as opposed to the green and silver colours they had previously been. He puts up pictures he's taken around Hogwarts of him and Mercedes, and it makes him feel slightly homesick to look at the castle. By the time he returns to Hogwarts after the holidays, he has all ready had enough of his boring old home town and he barely ventured out of his house.

The day before Kurt begins his second year, he receives an owl from Mercedes, informing him that she will arrive a day late because she's got the flu. He wanders the Hogwarts Express before finally sitting with two Ravenclaws: an Asian girl named Tina and a wheelchair bound boy named Artie and by the time the train ride is over they have become good friends.

Kurt doesn't really pay attention to many of the notices Headmistress McGonagall gives them, but his ears perk up when he hears that Professor Schuester is resurrecting the old Frog Choir, something that died out years ago when Professor Flitwick finally retired. He spares a glance at Artie and Tina over at the Ravenclaw table and they both nod enthusiastically back at him. He can see a tall Hufflepuff boy look interested, but one look at his friends wipes the expression off his face until all that is left is distain. Kurt is disappointed – the tall boy was quite attractive – but he still wants to join and it's the first thing he tells Mercedes about when she gets back to school.

They both join the Frog Choir, along with Artie, Tina and another girl: a Slytherin named Rachel Berry who began her audition with, "My name is Rachel Berry and I will be the next Celestina Warbeck." He enjoys the Frog Choir, other than Rachel's presence, but what Kurt does not enjoy is the frozen Butterbeers that are tossed in his face the minute he steps out of the practise room. Two Slytherin boys high five each other as they walk past, holding now empty cups and everybody else is frozen behind them. Nobody knows quite how to react.

The bullying increases over his second year, especially once Kurt comes out as gay although every member of the Frog Choir gets it, but it eases up ever so slightly when Finn Hudson, the tall Hufflepuff Kurt had seen at the beginning of the year who is now the Hufflepuff keeper, joins and is quickly followed by his girlfriend, Quinn Fabray, Quidditch match commentator, and her two friends, Santana Lopez and Britney Pierce, a Slytherin and Hufflepuff respectively. Santana plays Chaser on the Slytherin team, and everyone knows Britney Pierce. She's the girl who blew up a cauldron in Potions and was the only person to come out of the classroom completely fine. Soon more people are joining: another few Ravenclaw boys, Matt and Mike, and a Slytherin Chaser named Puck. Artie and Tina look a bit overwhelmed when Matt and Mike walk in the room and Tina hastily explains, "They're the youngest Ravenclaws to ever make the team. Mike's a Seeker and Matt's a Chaser. They're like royalty in the tower."

Kurt thanks the Sorting Hat for not putting him in Ravenclaw.

Kurt's in his third year when the bullying gets the worst it's ever been. Azimio Adams and David Karofsky, the two Slytherin Beaters and the burliest boys to ever be admitted to Hogwarts, seem to have a personal vendetta against Kurt. They trap him in a suit of armour once, and get detention for a week when McGonagall finds him, meaning they miss their Quidditch game and Slytherin loses out on the chance to compete for the Quidditch Cup. This makes everything worse.

Kurt's third year does have one significant upside though, and it comes in the shape of Blaine Anderson, a Hufflepuff. They first meet over a cauldron when they're paired together in Potions and over the year become closer and closer. Blaine even debates joining the Frog Choir, but eventually chooses not to and instead reveals that the elite Hufflepuff a capella group, the Warblers (Kurt jests that they should be the Badgers and is only slightly shocked when Blaine replies that they nearly were) have offered him the lead soloist spot.

"Will you hate me if I take it?" he asks Kurt one day as they're lazing around by the lake. "Because if you will, I'll leave the spot to someone else. Nick was a contender, too."

"Of course I won't hate you!" Kurt replies indignantly, one eye on Blaine and one on Azimio and Karofsky who are mucking around on the opposite shore. Blaine notices and follows his gaze before sighing.

"I hope they get dragged in by the Giant Squid," he mutters.

"Dylan?" replies Kurt. "No, he would never do that!"

"You know the Giant Squid," Blaine mutters. "Of course you do." But Kurt isn't really paying attention, because Azimio and Karofsky have moved a little bit closer to the shore line and therefore a little bit closer to him. Blaine sighs. "Are they really that bad?" he asks.

"Sometimes," Kurt begins, "I wish I had been placed in Slytherin. My mum was a Slytherin, so it used to be that which made me want to be one. Now I wish I was a Slytherin because maybe if I was a Slytherin they wouldn't bully me as much."

"Or they would bully you as much and more because you'd be sharing a dorm," suggests Blaine unhelpfully. "Look, Kurt." He shifts so that they're facing each other and his expression is serious. "You can call them out on their bullying. Especially Karofsky, because he's the worst, I know it. You can do it, Kurt. You just need to have courage."

It takes Kurt a second to realise the irony that he, a Gryffindor, is getting told to have courage by a Hufflepuff. Still, he appreciates the thought and lays back on the grass. Blaine reclines next to him.

"I'll do it next time I see them," he promises. "Thanks, Blaine."

"No problem."

Kurt manages to chase Karofsky down a few days later. An owl arrives from Blaine seconds before, bearing only the message 'Courage' but it's enough to make Kurt smile until Karofsky comes along and grabs the parchment. He tears it up and throws it on the floor and then disappears down the staircase, headed towards the Quidditch pitch. It takes Kurt a second but he follows him.

When Karofsky reaches the changing room, it's just him and Kurt and Kurt lets loose.

"What is your problem?" he yells.

"You're not meant to be in here!" Karofsky argues pathetically. Kurt stares him down. Karofsky growls. "Fine. You go everywhere, infecting everyone with your fairy dust and it makes me sick; acting like you're better than everyone else. You aren't Dumbledore, you know. You aren't superior just 'cos you're a homo. And you aren't superior because you're a Gryffindor either."

"You think I chose to be either of those things?" Kurt spits. "God, Karofsky, you're an idiot! I can't choose to be a Gryffindor any more than you can choose to be a Slytherin!"

"Don't push me, Hummel! Don't push me!"

"Or you'll do what?" laughs Kurt without a trace of humour in his voice and then freezes in shock as Karofsky ducks his head and kisses him. Karofsky pulls away and both boys look horrified. Then Karofsky kicks the bench over and storms out. Kurt sinks to the floor.

Courage backfired.

The day goes from bad to worse. Mercedes is annoyed at him for blowing her off – they had a study session in the library planned and he missed it to confront Karofsky – and Rachel Berry corners him on his ways back to Gryffindor tower to tell him that she's noticed he's been spending a lot of time with the lead singer of the Warblers and is that a good thing for Frog Choir? Kurt wants to jinx her, just a little bit. When he finally gets up to Gryffindor tower he finds the password has been changed and has to wait until someone else comes to let him in (his saving Grace is Albus Potter and his friends, coming out of the tower with an old bit of parchment while cackling madly). He rinses out his mouth and brushes his teeth, but he can still taste Karofsky on his lips. Finally, he gives up and goes down to the kitchens, making sure to stop off on the way and get the new password. He tickles the pear (a trick he learnt from Puck) and grabs a cake from the house elves before heading to the Hufflepuff common room's entrance. Then he pauses, because he has no idea what to do. Eventually, he knocks on one of the barrels.

Immediately he is doused in vinegar and it's stinging his eyes. A boy opens the door and surveys him.

"What're you doing?" he asks.

"Trying to find Blaine Anderson," Kurt replies, spitting out a bit of vinegar. "May I come in?"

The boy frowns. "No outsider has been inside the Hufflepuff common room for—"

"For God's sake, Wes, look at him!" comes another voice and Kurt jumps before noticing a head that has popped up by Wes's shoulder. "And besides, he's Blaine's friend." Before Wes can say anything else, the second boy has grabbed Kurt by the wet robes and pulled him through the portrait hole. He stumbles a little because he can't see very well with all the vinegar in his eyes but the boy points a wand at his face and mutters, "Scourgify!" With his vision cleared, Kurt can see.

The Hufflepuff common room is just like a badger's den, with tunnels leading off in every direction. Flowers decorated the windowsills – a homage to the late Professor Sprout. Kurt spots Blaine on one of the yellow sofas just as Blaine notices him. The Hufflepuff boy who had been leading Kurt in cries, "We have a visitor."

The general cry is, "What?" and Blaine hastens to explain.

"This is my friend, Kurt," he says before turning back to Kurt. "Did you talk to Karofsky." Kurt nods. "How'd it go?" Kurt shakes his head and the room falls into an awkward silence.

"I'm sorry," says the boy who brought Kurt in, speaking in an effort to break the silence. "I never introduced myself. I'm Jeff Sterling." At this, everyone else rushes to identify themselves.

"Trent Nixon."

"Wes Montgomery."

"Nick Duval."

"Thad Harwood."

"David Thompson."

"It's nice to meet you," they all chorus in harmony and Kurt is a little taken aback.

"Kurt Hummel," he replies.

"So, Kurt," Nick says, once everyone has settled down again and Kurt is sitting with the Hufflepuffs, seated next to Blaine on the sofa and sipping at a Butterbeer that Jeff had brought back from the last Hogsmeade trip. "How long have you been being bullied." Kurt nearly chokes on the Butterbeer at the bluntness of the statement.

"It's OK," Blaine assures him. "There's no judging here. It's a no-bullying House." Kurt loves being a Gryffindor, but as Blaine says it he can imagine himself as a Hufflepuff, living without enduring teasing like he does in Gryffindor.

Kurt spends the rest of the day with the Hufflepuff boys and even gets to hear them perform – they're all part of the Warblers – but promises not to give away any secrets to the Frog Choir. Blaine walks him down the tunnel to the portrait hole and they pause just inside the entrance, far enough away from the other boys to talk safely but still within the boundaries of the common room where Kurt can be sure he is safe.

"Thank you for letting me stay here today," he tells Blaine. "I know it's a big deal."

"Hey, we're friends." Blaine nudges him. "It's what we do. I care about you, you know."

"Still," Kurt says, blushing slightly, "you didn't have to. I don't know how to make it up to you."

"Well," Blaine says, looking like he's considering something. "You can go with me to Hogsmeade next weekend."

"I was going to anyway," Kurt says, confused. "We always go together."

"With your friends," Blaine corrects him. "This time I was thinking we could go on a date." Kurt blushes even more. "You don't have to," Blaine rushes to assure him. "I mean, it's fine if you don't want—"

"I would love to," Kurt says, effectively cutting Blaine off.

"Great!" Blaine beams. "See you in Potions!" He opens the door and gives Kurt a kiss on the cheek before vanishing off back down the tunnel. Kurt leaves, a smile on his face, and makes his way up to Gryffindor tower.

"You look happy," Tina comments as he breezes past her and Mike who are on their way back from the library.

"I am," Kurt replies. "I have a date next weekend."

There comes a cry of, "Homo," and Kurt's face is full of frozen Butterbeer and he blinks for a second before wiping it off and licking his hand.

"I'll have to tell Blaine not to get us one of these."

A note about Kurt's Sorting: Yes, I believe he would be a Slytherin, but for the purposes of this story I needed him as a Gryffindor. He does have courage and he can be quite brave, so he isn't completely lacking in Gryffindor traits, but he's very ambitious which puts him as more of a Slytherin. He is a Gryffindor in this story purely because him being in another House wouldn't have worked very well.