Chapter 5: OF MAGIC STONES AND DRAGONS

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! If I did Harry would be a little darker and have god like powers!

OOO

LAST IN HARRY POTTER AND THE GANG OF FREAKS!:

"Harry Potter" the old stern witch called. It was his cue. His turn, he just hoped he will be over with it as soon as he could.

The crowed opened a path for him and he seat in the small chair waiting for the hat to be put on his head. The green robed witch didn't smile; she just slowly laid the hat on his head…

OOO

At first Harry didn't feel any different. The hat sat comfortably on his head. It was cool and felt silky on his head. There was not a sound in the entire great hall, not even a single whisper from the talkative twins, not a word from bookworm Hermione, absolutely nothing.

The gang leader could feel all the eyes in the huge room resting upon him. He could feel all sorts of emotions on surrounding him. At first nothing that was supposed to be happening regarding his sorting did. No voice appeared in his head. No whisper or shout from the hat referring to the Harry's house.

But then…

The hat just started burning, black – shadow like - flames, not red. The hat shouted, it begged it to be put off of the boy's head, it said in the young leader head that something within Harry was hurting it, and it didn't like it. It begged harry to help it. Feeling the flames but not the heat Harry did the only rational thing he could think about. He took the hat off of his head as fast as he could. The hat fell on the floor twisting and shouting for mercy, it didn't want to die.

Thinking fast Harry used one of the spells he read and practiced over the summer to conjure water, and without waiting another second, spilling it on the burning hat.

The black fire was put out, to the hat's relief. Minerva McGonagall took the affair with her mouth open gaping. She went to the hat and picked it up. It still felt hot in her hand.

"Sorting hat, are you fine?" she asked with a worried look, and after a positive answer gave another to the raven haired boy that still stood near her.

He didn't look ashamed, and it didn't look like he was feeling anything but curiosity, it seemed that he was just dandy.

"Minerva, it seems that everything is fine, please proceed with the sorting" Albus Dumbledore said with an amused smile and a twinkle in his eyes. The old wizard already knew that the boy was extraordinary.

"NO WAY" this scream didn't come from the young boy, his gang members or any other living being in the dining hall. It was the sorting hat.

"But the sorting…" Albus said perplexed

"I don't care about the sorting, it can continue like any other year. My problem, headmaster, is with this lad here. I do not like being burned Albus" the sorting hat said, his voice clear and loud for everyone to hear.

There were a soft murmur from the tables, and two mischievous grins from two identical redheads.

Fred and gorge looked at one another "the best sorting ever" they both nodded and waved their approval to the young leader. He just gained two more followers.

The old and now half burnt hat didn't agree to be put on the young boy's head again, no matter what the cost and how much begging he was presented, the hat had insisted that under no chance it will reconsider its choice.

The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, looked at the hat and asked it "why you wouldn't sort the boy?" the headmaster's voice was grandfatherly and sounded way over his years. Harry wanted to know the reason too.

The hat replayed "my magic doesn't react well with his magic, they're too different, Albus, and since I have to use my magic to sort, trying to do so with him makes the reaction too unpredictable. I cannot sort him, I'm just happy to be alive right now" and didn't even want to look at the boy.

The hall started to fill with students whispering again, rumors started to form, a few looked him and sneered, while others looked at him with interest in their eyes.

The Wesley twins' grins just grew bigger and one of them started whispering with his brother about studying Harry's form of magic for future pranks.

"should have known you will be trouble, Potter" a man with black greasy hair and black eyes with very pale skin, black robes and a sneer stuck to his face said with his whispery voice, looking at the boy as if his eyes can burn the other if he only wanted to.

All eyes were suddenly on him. He could see his gang members gathering around him, to protect him if the need aroused. They didn't know how much good they'll be without magic, having to face wizards, but at least they could buy their Harry some time to somehow save himself and them.

"Well, this is most unfortunate my boy" the old headmaster looked with twinkling blue eyes on the black haired boy, the boy, he noticed, looked ready to fleet at any moment with his friends in toe "I guess we will just have to sort you later, after the feast with more primitive means, if that's alright with you" the old man said smiling.

Harry looked at the old headmaster. The man looked like this whole fit amused him more than anything else.

For a moment Harry had to wonder if the grim reaper that had appeared when he bought his wand had anything to do with what happened today. It could be a possible outcome… not knowing was annoying, he will have to search it later.

Sighing Harry nodded and singled his followers to relax.

"Good, that's good…" the headmaster murmured to himself and chuckled, then in a louder voice he continued "in the meantime you can eat here with me and the other teachers at the teacher's table" he smiled and patted a chair that wasn't there before.

Harry nodded and walked to the teachers table and sat down next to the headmaster and a man that looked like the only thing he wanted to do is to take his black robes and shove them… well, you know where… harry didn't mind. He could help him if he so wished.

Now that everything was fixed, the sorting could continue.

After some time, the old green wearing witch with the pointy hat that called out a name that clearly said "Moon Rose"

Moon was the second of Harry's gang to be sorted, him being the first. The small girl who was only nine years old looked nervously at all of the other kids sitting in the tables, and then looked at the old slightly burnt hat before she sat and let the old witch to put the hat on her head.

At first nothing happened. It took a lot of time, more time than all the other wizards and witches that was sorted before. The hat didn't burnt this time, but instead it calmly said "I can't sort her. Her mind is blocked. If you want to be sorted child please lower your defenses" the entire student's body, Harry and his gang looked at Moon surprised.

"But I'm not doing a thing" the small child said, making the teachers and one headmaster frown in confusion. If she were a witch an obvious solution to this problem would have been that her magic blocked her mind. Accidental magic, maybe.

She wasn't a witch, and she wasn't magical, she was Muggle. Like any Muggle she couldn't use magic, because she didn't have magic.

But for some reason she could use magic…?

or… was it something else?

Albus feeling like it could be a great opportunity to show Harry he was on his side called the small child to sit with them and to be sorted later like he was going to sort Harry.

The child-leader looked at the old wizard before nodding his thanks. It made Dumbledore smile. The sorting continued, but there were… complications. Some blamed it on the hat's burning, others blamed it on the teachers, and some had the nerve to suggest it was Harry that was responsible, but at the end of the day the truth remained. Forty one students couldn't be sorted by the sorting hat.

All of them part of the gang of freaks.

OOO

As the sorting ended Dumbledore frowned. It was a new record. Something like the sorting hat not being able to sort someone only happened once or twice before, and when it happened it was because it was blocked by very powerful magic.

Those children had no magic. Those children were Muggle and Muggle-born. All of them couldn't get sorted. All of them were members in Harry's gang.

Standing slowly he spoke in a quiet voice, reminding the students of the rules, where it is forbidden to go to (the forest, if you didn't get it from its name you were stupider then a troll) and little advices, like not to go to the third floor if you didn't want to suffer a gruesome death.

Smiling to himself he sat back next to Harry. The child looked at him with a concluded look.

Harry for the most part just felt even more curiosity; he wanted to know why the forbidden forest was forbidden, though that could wait, the other interesting fact was the gruesome death bit. Now that was news.

From the looks the old headmaster got harry knew that the third floor was a new rule, and as such it ruled out any things that were already there from the year before.

The way the headmaster kept giving strange looks to a man with a purple turban, harry thought that it was supposed to be some kind of strange way to catch a dangerous criminal, but this was a school, surly that was not it…

Or was it?

Only one way to know for sure

The moment Albus sat the child leader whispered "the third floor, you are hiding something important, something – dangerous - in there" the old wizard looked at the young leader impressed, he thought the young boy will find out, but he didn't think he'll find it this fast.

Things like this needed to be rewarded.

"It's not the object who's dangerous, it's the traps that guard it" Albus supplied, Harry nodded in understanding but the look in his eyes had a bad feeling attached to it.

So he was right, it was a trap. There was something big going on in Hogwarts this year.

Harry looked at Albus and smiled at him. Albus found himself fearing this smile, for some reason it reminded him of death.

"If you want I can test those… protections, just to see how good they really are in reality" the boy supplied "after all, no one wants a protection that a first year can pass, it will give you something to think about". The boy made it sound generous but in fact it was just the other way around. He wanted to check how good the teachers at Hogwarts were.

"It will be very dangerous" Albus said

"You will be there to protect us" Harry smiled, not laughing like he wanted to. we'll see

"Us?" the headmaster asked, looking surprised for once.

"Yes us, me and my family. They will kill me if they knew I went to this cool adventure and didn't take them with me. Though, some of them will probably prefer to stay out of it, the younger children too. So what do you say Albus?" the child leader looked at the aging man, but his expression did not change.

"We'll talk about it in my office after your sorting, with all the teachers and with your… family present, is that agreeable?" Harry nodded his agreement and smiled a cool smile at the headmaster

"Alright, shall we go then?" the child asked, and Albus nodded.

OOO

Walking to his office was never such an uncomfortable task. There were the teachers, the soon to be students -Harry, Snape-. Yes, very uncomfortable.

The old headmaster wanted to sigh and just go to bed. Harry Potter was, like always, a mystery. At first he was looking at the inside of the castle in mild interest, looking like this did not impress him, but the way he kept looking at every spot like that indicated otherwise.

Harry Potter while taking in the castle was more interested in whom the teachers were, and he was not afraid to ask them just that.

The first to answer was Minerva, who introduced herself as the transfigures professor, but Potter seemed more interested with Snape. It seemed to the headmaster that the boy liked the old bat, not that the headmaster knew why.

Snape for the most part looked like he wanted to kill the boy, and would probably proceed to enforce these thoughts if there weren't so many people around…

It will be too troublesome to clean too…

So the rest of the walk to his office Albus had to check every moment his potion's teacher temper, and Harry's pulse, to make sure that no curse was murmured without his knowledge. Harry for the most part just stared at Snape.

"WHAT?!" Snape finally snapped, the Potter boy only looked at him with cold green eyes that seemed to mock him every time he looked at them, the way he looked like his father, the unruly black hair, that way that he held himself.

This arrogance that was dripping out of him

He was a mini James.

And those eyes, it was as if lily was mocking him too. He couldn't stand it!

Harry didn't answer, just continued to stare.

"Are you going to answer, or is it that that you think that you are so above everyone else, that you don't even have to answer a simple question, Potter" Snape sneered in a low dangerous tone. Harry continued staring.

Surprisingly, one of the gang kids, Moon, the little nine years old girl was the one to answer instead.

"He doesn't like you"

"Excuse me? Did anyone ask you anything, you small stupid excuse for a Muggle chil…" Snape started, and would have probably continued if was not stopped by Harry.

"Shut up" the black haired youth said in a low but forceful voice

"Did you say something, Potter?" Snape sneered looking at the child with fury in his black eyes.

"I said you should shut up, or I will have to shut you up myself. I will not say it again, professor" the boy stopped walking, making everyone else stop, and looked into the older man's eyes.

Everyone could feel the magic freezing the air and making it harder to breath, anyone but the forty children, they felt a warm feeling in their hearts. Harry was protecting them again. Ho how they loved their leader.

"Hurt my family, physically or emotionally, and you will regret It." his voice was cold and deadly "I will make you feel that serving Voldemort was a butterfly kiss compered to the here and now, being here, hurting my family, will be your worst nightmare." Green eyes glowed bright gold for a moment and then went back to green

"Touch them, breath on them," the boy sneered "and you will learn what the word terror means."

Albus sighed, he knew that he should have spoken with Snape beforehand, now what is he going to do. It was hard enough to get the boy to trust him as it was, he didn't want to lose this small trust he had supposedly gained.

"I said it before and I shall say it again, since it seems like Albus here didn't tell you himself. I made a deal with him" he stopped and looked at every teacher present "I study here, live here and defeat Voldemort while fighting for the light" he stopped again noting the adults shudder after he said Voldemort's name, Dumbledore's memories told him nothing about the reason for the shudder

"You give my family protection, Muggle education and a place to live. Take one of those conditions away and you will stay with no savior" the child smiled and looked at the potion professor with his cold eyes.

"I was going to talk with the professors about it after your sorting, I wanted you to be the one to tell them yourself harry. I'm sorry. I didn't think it will come to something like this. I apologize" the aging headmaster bowed his head and locked his eyes with the cold green ones.

Harry held his gaze for a few seconds searching, Albus didn't know for what, since the boy wasn't Legitimace, but it seemed that he found what he was looking for.

"It is fine headmaster. But like I said, don't take one of the conditions away and everything shall be just fine" Albus nodded and they started walking again. Still this was even more uncomfortable now.

OOO

"This" the aging headmaster took out a small pen with a crystal in its middle "is called the Bermuda Pen" the headmaster let go of the pen but it stayed flouting in the air "something that I, myself, invented in my free time" the headmaster smiled to himself.

Harry couldn't help thinking the old man had too much free time.

"Albus! You can't be serious!" it was professor Flitwick said "You know that it's not working like the sorting hat! What it does is completely different!" the small professor said patently.

"It is madness Albus! It works, I admit, but it isn't registered on the ministry of magic!" Minerva said hotly.

"But like you said, Minerva" Albus said "it works, and because it's not like the sorting hat it will be able to sort them" he looked at harry "while the sorting hat use its magic to see into the person memories this thing, the Bermuda Pen, take a look into the person's soul. It does not take preferences to account, only what the person is, and possibly will be" Harry nodded his understanding.

"What do I need to do?" he asked and locked his eyes with the aging headmaster.

"Not much my boy, not much" said the headmaster with a twinkle in his eyes "you just write your name on the paper while touching the crystal. It will do the rest from there" there was a soft smile on his lips now.

Harry sighed and took the pen, it was warm in his cold hands, and felt like it was alive under his hands.

"Is there a paper?"

The headmaster gave the child-leader a piece of paper and watched. Harry made sure he touched the crystal, and wrote his name

Harry James potter

A moment later the blank space next to the name filled itself on its own, a small Peruvian Vipertooth was now written next to a key that appeared out of nowhere. Everyone now looked at the headmaster questionably.

"Interesting, very interesting" Dumbledore said softly and chuckled to himself "and why not?" the old headmaster smiled "even if this house was closed near middle ages, after the first headmaster of Hogwarts closed it, the house could formed again - Peruvian Vipertooth"

"A fifth house, Albus?" Snape sneered "and all for Potter. How trilling" he looked down to the small eleven years old "an exclusive house for our exclusive celebrity" he spat.

"Thank you, professor" harry said with a knowing smirk. He was getting better with those, it made his gang proud. This man, even if he was stupid to cross their leader, was at least good for something. This whole magical world had helped him more than they had even hoped.

"Well, why won't we proceed? Who wants to go first?"

OOO

Somewhere else, in the forbidden forest:

"It is time, brothers and sisters, the one who is life and yet is death has come to the magic school" the small form, a dark shape said. it looked human enough, but no one could be sure with this darkness that surrounded the figure.

"The moon had spoken. It was happy" another figure said, it looked just like the first one, they were total of two hundred, all of them had settled into this forest – waiting for this very day – when the child of green eyes and shadows will come to learn his magic.

"So, is the master finally here?" the two who spoke first nodded, it seemed that they were the leaders in this group.

"We don't know who he looks, what he is called or even if he is male or female. The only thing we know is that his magic is death itself. Touched and blessed by the god of death, for being his successor"

There were cheers all around and cries of happiness.

"When will we go and tell the child?" a lone voice taken it upon itself to ask.

"He is not ready yet" the leaders said "or, more like – he isn't ready for us yet. The moon told me wait for the night when a dark will walk out of the castle. Do not approach before"

"A dark creature? Who will be stupid enough to enter the magic school and stay for long?"

"It doesn't matter, you will guard in turns. The moment something dark enters the castle you will come to us immediately. It means it's almost time for us to meet the death prince"

"All hail the death prince!"

OOO

At the great lake, approximately at the same time:

The mermaids were talking between themselves. Usually they wouldn't involve themselves in the matters of mortal man, but this time was different.

The death prince had come to the school. They were exited.

The last time the death prince was at Hogwarts, was around middle ages. And he still was death even now.

Maybe they will ask him to play with them, the last death was a nice lad, and he always played with them.

And maybe this time, the death prince will save their kind from the curse. If he will, they will forever serve him until the favor had been repaid.

OOO

A lone dragon sleeping at a small cave near the dark forest woke up suddenly and listened.

His scales were smooth and copper-colored. He also had black ridge-markings, short horns on his head and his fangs venomous. He knew that he is considered the smallest and fastest known breed of dragon. Though he wasn't that small, only about fifteen feet long! Ok so he was small, but he is more dangerous than most of the dragons he had met and he was proud of it!

A smile found its way on the small dragon's face. His familiar finally reached the big castle where was a lot of magic, and humans.

A lot of humans

Not that he cared, humans are delicious, but not his human, his human is unique! Such a beautiful human, and he was his familiar, and nobody else's!

He will go and meet him tonight, if Hogwarts will let him pass this time, she didn't really liked the fact that he really liked her children.

And by like he meant for breakfast lunch and dinner…

He just hoped his familiar will like him