Chapter Two

The platform was full of happy families wishing their kids goodbye, jealous younger siblings, and a few aloof parents wishing there children a good year. If he was being honest with himself, he was quite jealous. Why were other people allowed to have their parents, but he wasn't? He crushed those thoughts as soon as they appeared, though. It wouldn't benefit to wallow in his own self-pity. He shuffled through all of the people and onto the train itself. As soon as he got on the train he started looking for a compartment. When he found one he entered immediately, the compartment was empty, so he set Hedwig's cage on the seat and let her out. The snowy owl flew out of her cage and landed on his shoulder. He started petting her on the feathers and she hooted in contentment. After he was done he pulled out a book and started reading it.

The compartment door slid open and a dark skinned boy walked in. The boy had short dark hair and brown. He looked down at Harry and raised an eyebrow. Then shrugged and sat down across from his.

"I'm Blaise Zabini. What's your name?" he asked.

"Harry Potter." he answered shortly before going back to his book.

Because he looked down he noticed the mixture of curiosity and disgust. But the disgust disappeared when Harry didn't react to his last name, in fact that made him slightly more curious so he decided to start a conversation with the legendary Boy-Who-Lived.

"So Harry, what Hogwarts house do you want you be in?"

Harry looked up on him with a quizzical expression, but realised he was in fact genuinely curious, "Well if I'm being honest I want to stay as far away from Gryffindor as possible. I have some self-preservation after all." he said with a scoff.

Blaise looked extremely surprised at that.

"But don't you want to be in the same house as your parents?"

"Not particularly, I mean I never even met my parents, my first and only memory of them is them dying. Do you know why?" Blaise shook his head, "Because they had to be foolishly brave and have no self-preservation. It's ridiculous, also the fact that they decided to listen to an old man about where to hide doesn't help their case with me. Potter Manor is probably a hell of a lot safer than Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow."

Blaise couldn't help it. He laughed. Everybody thought Harry Potter was going to be the Gryffindor golden boy and be a hero, but here he is saying he doesnt even want to be near the house of the idiots. It was quite amusing. Harry eventually loosened up and started talking with Blaise, at least until the compartment door slammed open.

A tall and lanky redhead walked into the compartment and sat next to Harry. He stiffened almost imperceptibly. Almost. The boy had smudged dirt on his nose. Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust and went back to reading.

"Sorry everywhere else is full." the redhead said, but anyone with common sense could tell he was lying, "My name's Ron, Ron Weasley. Who are you two?"

"Blaise Zabini." he said with a scowl.

"Dudley Dursley." Harry said smirking.

The redhead, Jon Weasel he said his name was, looked almost disappointed and Harry could guess why. It was his first year at Hogwarts, it was likely to be a big deal. People are probably going to try and get on his good side and all that stuff, it honestly won't work, it's to difficult for him to trust people. Jon started talking about how he was going in Gryffindor and talking about how he was going to be 'best mates' with Harry Potter. Harry snorted. Bloody unlikely, he thought.

A bushy haired girl named Hermione Granger stopped by looking for Neville Longbottom's toad. Before she left she told the three of them they were almost at the castle and they should get dressed. So, that's what they did. When the train finally stopped, Blaise and Harry ran as fast as they could away from Jon. The two of them made it to the boats and got in them with two others, Theodore Nott and Leonidas Canus. Who go by Theo and Leo, respectively. There was something off about Leo though Harry couldn't put his finger on it. The boy looked tired and haggard. He had messy shoulder length brown hair, tired looking sky blue eyes, and a few scars on his face. Theo on the other hand had neatly combed red hair, golden coloured eyes, and what seemed to be a constant smirk on his face.

The boat floated across the lake and Harry got into a conversation with the three other occupants of the boat.

"So Harry, why you lie to the Weasel about who you are?" Blaise asked.

The other two in the boats were listening with rapt attention. Their eyebrows raised when they heard Blaise address him as Harry.

"Oh, he seemed annoying and I want to enjoy not having to have a conversation with Jon Weasel for as long as possible." Harry admitted.

The other three chuckled when they heard him say the other boys name. Harry was about to reply when the turned around the corner and saw the castle of Hogwarts for the first time. Their eyes all widened comically, it was a gorgeous sight. Although Harry couldn't help but think the headmaster was showing off. When they stopped the big man named Hagrid let them in and left when a strict looking woman named Professor McGonnagall started informing of the history of the castle and the houses, which Harry found slightly interesting, she finally walked out for a few minutes before coming back and beckoning them all in. The group of 11 year old kids walked into the Great Hall. The ceiling wasn't there, but he heard Hermione mumble something about Hogwarts: A History. In front of the professors and the headmaster, who sat in a chair that was the equivalent to a throne, was a stool and on that stool was an old ratty wizards hat. It opened up at the brim and started singing about the Hogwarts houses. Of course, Harry thought. The strict looking woman cam back to the front only this time she had a clipboard. She looked around the hall, cleared her throat, and started calling names.

"Abbot, Hannah."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bones, Susan."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brocklehurst, Mandy."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown, Lavender."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Bullstrode, Millicent."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Canus, Leonidas."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Carrow, Flora."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Carrow, Hestia."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Corner, Michael."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Crabbe, Vincent."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Davis, Tracey."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Dunbar, Fay."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Entwhistle, Annabel."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Seamus, Finnegan."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Goldstein, Anthony."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Goyle, Gregory."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Granger, Hermione."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Greengrass, Daphne."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Hopkins, Wayne."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Jones, Megan."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Kershaw, Daniel."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Li, Sue."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Longbottom, Neville."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"MacDougal, Isobel."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Macmillan, Ernest."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Malfoy, Draco."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Malone, Roger."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Oakham, Hecate."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Parkinson, Pansy."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Patil, Padma."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Patil, Parvati."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, Harry."

The whole hall went silent and Harry took a deep breath and went up to the stool. The professor lifted the hat up like she did with all the others and he sat down then she dropped the hat on his head. He felt like a presence entered his mind. Suddenly there was a quiet and musical voice whispering in his ear.

Hmm, what an interesting mind. You've been on a lot of minds tonight Harry Potter, I must say it's good to finally meet you, but not the way others would say that. the hat said.

What do you mean? Harry thought to the hat.

Oh, beware of the meddling old codger of a headmaster. He's not a bad person, he's just going senile and doesn't know it. Now to sort you. Ouch. You've had a difficult life. You're brave enough for Gryffindor, but that's not the place for you, you don't even want to be there anyway. Wise, yes, yes, you're wise, but Ravenclaw isn't for you. You're also loyal, but only to those that earn it, which is good because the Wizarding World is fickle. The best place for you is this one. Yes, yes. It better be...

"SLYTHERIN!"

The hall didn't clap until someone from the Slytherin table started clapping and then everyone but the Gryffindors were clapping. The entire Gryffindor table was either pouting, scowling, or gaping. He walked over to the Slytherin table and sat next to Leo, and across from Theo and Draco. Draco was studying him intently. Harry ignored him in favor of watching the rest of the sorting. There was three more Hufflepuffs, three more Gryffindors, two more Ravenclaws, and one more Slytherin. The last Slytherin was Blaise and he came over and sat next to him. Nobody noticed the worried looking headmaster thinking Harry Potter had gone dark or the scowling Professor Snape.