A/n: I couldn't get Hagrid's accent right, so I turned it into regular speech. I hope you don't mind… You can flame me for it though.
Malleability
Chapter Eight
Harry leaned his trunk against the wall and sat on it. The platform was absolutely bustling with activity. Parents saying their goodbyes to children. Children greeting their friends. Luggage being loaded. All the usual chaotic things one would expect to see on a train platform.
But something occurred to him as he sat there on his trunk. The youngest children getting on the train… the ones the same age as he was looked so much smaller. He was easily a foot taller than the largest first year. He sighed. 'I should look like them… not like this.' He thought.
Then it occurred to him. 'Duh! I'm a metamorphmagus!' he thought, resisting the urge to slap himself in the forehead. He raised his wand (or rather his shrunken staff) and cast a weak notice-me-not charm on himself.
He wrinkled his nose and concentrated on looking like he had a few years earlier (before he'd traveled with Unspeakables so much using a time turner). He felt a brief pain in his bones as he shrank about thirteen inches. He kept his muscle tone though. He liked his physical strength and the appearance it gave him.
He magically adjusted his clothes to fit his size and removed the notice-me-not charm. He plastered a childish smile on his face and boarded the train. He briefly considered levitating his trunk but decided against it. He was still getting used to the feel of his magic while wearing his power suppression bracelet. It was like there was a dam inside him, holding an important part of himself back.
He found his way to the first empty compartment and lifted his trunk onto the rack. He hadn't been sitting there long when another boy, around his age opened the door.
"Do you mind if I join you?" The red headed boy asked. Freckles practically covered his pale face. "Everywhere else is full."
"Feel free." Harry replied.
"Thanks." The boy replied, hoisting his trunk onto the rack. "I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley."
"Harry Potter." He responded. The boy looked like he'd been by a jumper cable hex. (Invented by a half-blood mechanic about a decade ago. He'd gotten tired of hooking up batteries to fix his car and invented a spell to do it himself. Pretty wicked in combat, actually).
"Is it really you? Do you have the...?" Ron asked.
"The what?" Harry inquired.
"Scar." The Ron answered in a wistful voice.
Harry rolled his eyes and lifted his bangs for Ron to stare at his forehead.
"Not really something I like to think about." Harry said. "My parents died that night."
"Yeah…" Ron said, looking like he was sorry he'd asked.
Conversation reached a lull. Ron broke the silence. "Do you know any magic?" he asked.
"A little." Harry responded. "I was more interested in special abilities than looking at spells. Have you looked abilities up?"
"Not really, no. One of my uncles an ummm… what's it called when you can change into an animal?" he asked.
"An Animagus. No, I can't do that one. I'm a bit of a metamorphmagus though."
"A what?" Ron asked.
"It's easier to show you." Harry scrunched up his face and let his ears grow out until they were roughly the size of an elephant's.
"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed.
Harry was about to shrink the ears back when the compartment door opened.
"Have any of you-" a brown haired witch started. "Were you trying to do magic?" she asked.
"Sort of." Harry replied, shrinking his ears. "What were you asking?"
"Oh. A toad." The witch said, looking a bit perplexed. "A boy named Neville's lost one."
Harry sighed. "Can nobody on this train do a proper summoning charm?" he asked rhetorically. Just to keep up the façade that he was only a little gifted, he looked like he was straining himself with the spell, and made it so the toad was summoned to him slowly. "Accio Toad! He called. About fifteen seconds later, Trevor the toad floated slowly down the hall to him.
"There you go." Harry said, handing the girl the toad as if she'd just won a carnival prize. "I need to sit down now." Harry took a seat across from Ron.
The brown haired girl strode out of the compartment without even as much as a goodbye and they were alone again.
Harry was about to restart conversation with Ron when an owl flew up and started pecking at the train window. Harry let it in. The regal looking brown owl landed beside him and extended its foot for Harry to take the envelope. It was from Gringotts. He opened it.
"Dear Mr. Potter,
I am responding to an inquiry you made on the 31st of August concerning the existence of your second account."
'That's odd. ' Harry thought. 'I didn't actually make an inquiry, I just mentioned that I hadn't known of the account's existence… The goblin must not have understood me. Maybe I should practice my gobbledegook more.'
"As such, I have taken an inventory of your vault and remotely destroyed the alternate key to your account. The current monetary value of all contents contained in your two vaults (which have since been combined) is 13,785,420 galleons. Your new key is enclosed inside this envelope. Should you have any other questions or concerns, don't hesitate to send them to me.
Financially yours,
Shattertooth, Head Vault Inventory Specialist"
Harry pocketed the key.
"What was that about?" Ron asked.
"Gringotts stuff." Harry replied. "Apparently my parents had some money when they died and left it to me."
Ron again looked sorry he asked. Harry tapped his wand and a tiny flame popped out of the end (the spell was commonly known as the cigarette lighter charm) and he burned the letter and envelope.
"I think I see the castle up ahead." Ron said, looking out the window.
"Yeah." Harry agreed. "We should get changed."
The two of them changed into their Hogwarts robes, and gathered their trunks. The train came to a stop and the boys followed the rest of the students out of the train.
"First Years! First Years, this way!" A giant of a man called, his voice carrying over the crowd. Harry made his way over to him. He lost sight of Ron in the crowd but found his way
Harry joined the other first years crowded around the giant and watched Ron and the bossy, brown haired witch make her way out of the crowd.
"Four to a boat, please! Leave your bags here, they'll be taken up to the castle shortly." The Giant boomed.
Harry took a seat in the first empty boat. He was quickly joined by two girls of Indian decent and a blonde girl. The three girls kept casting odd looks and giggling. He turned and had brief eye contact with the blonde. She quickly looked down, blushing. He rolled his eyes at them.
Ron was in a boat with the bossy brunette from the train, a burly girl who looked like she needed to shave and a boy with a toad whom he assumed was Neville. He gestured to him for some kind of help. Harry mouthed the words "You'll live." To him and turned away, abandoning Ron to his fate.
"And, we're off!" The giant said as the boats started gliding across the lake. Harry looked down at the water as they passed. He wondered idly if there were rules at the school that would keep him from visiting the Merfolk during the school year.
"Ummmmm…" Said one of the Indian girls, attempting to get his attention. She must have been the bravest of the three of them because the other two were only looking away and giggling. "We were wondering…"
Harry turned. "You were wondering what?" Harry asked. Somehow, he kept sarcasm out of his voice.
"Well, we heard that you are a Metamorphmagus." The Indian girl said, her confidence rising a bit as she continued to speak.
"I am." Harry replied. "Why?"
"Well we were wondering if ummm… you could ummm… extend your ummmm…" she said hopefully.
"My what?" Harry asked, playing dumb. "My eyelashes? My nose? My chin?" Harry extended all three of the things he mentioned in turn before returning them to normal.
"No, no, no." The Indian girl responded. "Your thing."
"My fingers?" Harry inquired, his index finger extending to be about a foot long and three inches around. "My tongue?" His tongue extended to be roughly the same length as his enlarged finger. He did some experimental flicking motions in the air with his tongue, like a snake… only not.
"That would work!" The blonde piped in as Harry transformed back. The three girls lapsed into giggles again. Harry joined them, but with regular laughter instead of giggles.
"Seriously though." One of the Indian girls interjected between giggles. "You didn't answer our question."
"What can I say?" Harry smirked. "Use your imagination."
Just as the girl's mouth had changed into a perfect 'O' of shock, the boat touched ground on the opposite shore. Harry stepped off, and waited for the giant to lead the way.
Harry followed the Giant up the stairs to a large wooden door. A stern faced witch in green robes awaited them.
"I'll take them from here, Hagrid." She said. Hagrid nodded and made his way down the hall. "I am Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonnagall. I am also the Head of Gryffindor House and the Transfiguration Professor. There are four houses here at Hogwarts. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. You will be sorted into one of these four houses ..."
Harry zoned out for a moment as she explained everything from the point system on down to the basic rules. He'd learned all from Bill awhile ago and there wasn't anything new for him to learn.
"…the Ceremony will begin shortly." She finished, walking through the door behind her. "I will call you when it is time."
They all stood there awkwardly in the hall waiting for her to return.
"So it's true then!" a blonde boy exclaimed from the middle of the group. "Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts."
Whispers of awe greeted his words. It gave Harry time to think up a suitably biting comeback. Legillimency helped, as it allowed Harry to subtly pick up on the blonde boy's greatest fears.
"It is true." Harry said. "But who cares about that. What must be truly celebrated is the arrival of the son of the Great Lucius Malfoy! Old, what's-his face. Will he ever exceed his father's fame and notoriety? Or will his father keep him in line, only giving him power one tidbit at a time? So which is it, young Malfoy, are you your father's pet, or are you his future replacement?" Draco looked absolutely horrified as his fears of having no personality or power that wasn't handfed to him by his father were announced before the entire crowd of first years. And they laughed. Not because they understood all the cracks being made but because they knew it was supposed to be funny.
Draco had almost recovered enough to retort when the door opened in front of them.
"It is time." McGonnagall said simply, and they followed her into the hall.
The students all made their comments of awe as they were lined up before a grubby looking hat on a stool. Slowly, the hall quieted down and the hat began to sing an obnoxious, rhyming song about the four houses and the school itself. Harry tuned it out.
One by one, students were called up to the hat. He remembered names, and watched as people he'd seen during the train ride and in the hall were shuffled into their various houses. Draco Malfoy went to Slytherin. The blonde from the boat (Lavender) and one of the Indian girls (Parvati) went to Gryffindor. The other Indian Girl went to Ravenclaw.
The names counted down one by one until "Potter, Harry" was called. The whispers started up again as Harry took a seat on the stool. The hat was placed gently upon his head, and it spoke into his brain.
"An Occulmens… Very impressive. Kindly lower your shields, please. I am incapable of sharing your thoughts or memories with anyone else. All your secrets are safe." The hat said.
Harry reluctantly lowered them and the hat shuffled through his brain like playing cards.
"Brave, loyal, ambitious and intelligent. Very powerful too. You could do well in any of the houses… but the best choice for you would be SLYTHERIN!"
The last word was yelled aloud and the hat was lifted from his head.
The hall sat in stunned silence. 1…2…3 seconds went by and then came the first clapping, coming from the headmaster himself. Other clapping joined in but nowhere near as loud as any of the other students. Harry wandered over to the Slytherin table and took a seat.
He smirked, and waited for the last of the students to finish sorting.
'Slytherin, huh?' he thought. 'I wouldn't have bet on that for anything…'
A/n: I had a major dilemma when it came to picking which house Harry went to. There were major pros and cons to each of them which I will explain here so you understand my decision.
Gryffindor: I almost immediately ruled out Gryffindor for several reasons. #1 I would run the risk of writing the stories the same way, or almost the same way JK Rowling did, which seems like a major cop out after all the work I went through to make this different. #2 With the addition to a demon into his body, Harry won't be able to be as good as he was in the books, and won't fit in as well. #3 Reviewer input. Everyone who made a comment along these lines just about insisted that Harry not be placed in the Lion's den. There was one positive aspect, and that would be for him to have at least some good influence on his life. It would highlight his internal struggle a bit. Either way, the cons win here. No Gryffindor.
Hufflepuff: While quite interesting, I already have a fic with Harry as a Hufflepuff ((Too Much Time On My Hands, if you want to check it out)) and didn't really want to go over the same general things multiple times. Hufflepuff is out.
Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin: Ravenclaw and Slytherin were my two main choices and it took a lot of pondering to choose one over the other. Both houses value brains. Both houses can fit those with ambition. Slytherin is cliché but more interesting to write. Ravenclaw had reviewer support But I didn't feel that Harry had enough desire to learn things simply for the sake of learning them. I flipped a coin (it ruled in favor of Slytherin) and then decided that a coin was too random to determine something like this and it needed real serious thought. It was finally a small series of ideas that came to me that pushed the decision the way it did. It sounded like a real writing challenge to write a Harry in Slytherin story that didn't fall into one of the two common choices. ((Harry and Draco Malfoy competing for dominance over the house while Harry looks to the other houses(or Blaise Zambini/Daphne Greengrass) for friendship, or Harry and Draco (and sometimes Daphne/Blaise) versus asshole!Ron and his newly recruited Gryffindor cronies. The latter option commonly turns into H/D slash but occasionally has Draco paired up with one of the two girls and Harry with the other.)) I would have to walk the middle path between those two ideas. I want Harry to only have two real enemies: Voldemort and Himself. Fighting for his own sanity in a place where he can truly feel the pull towards the dark. I don't want Harry to be the undisputed King of Slytherin, but I don't want him to be alienated from his own house either. There must be a balance somewhere.
This will be difficult for me, but I hope I can live up to your standards. Thanks for all the input and support!
Neopyro