Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. No money is being made off this fanfiction.

Naginator: Nobody bound his magic, it's just the side-effect of the ritual. Thanks for reviewing.

Hoffindor: Haha, I admit I initially planned on doing an O-make like that. Thanks for reviewing.

1Aszrael1: Nope, you'll find out at the bottom of the chapter. Thanks for reviewing.

Vukk: I have explained it at the bottom of the chapter. Thanks for reviewing.

Thanks for all the amazing reviews, I hope you all like this chapter. Now, the mystery of the ritual is somewhat explained in this chapter and I will be added a note at the bottom to detail it a bit. For now, on with the story.

Harry Potter and the Path of Chaos,

By DarkLordRising

Chapter 10: The First Year

Part I: The Sorting

"You won't get anything out of me..."

"Crucio!" A scream.

"Y-you're wasting your time..."

"Crucio!" More screaming.

"I-I-Y...you're wasting yo-"

"CRUCIO!" A bloodcurdling screaming.

"P-Please...It's gone..."

"CRUCIO!"

"I-I-I don't know...a-anything..."

"CRUCIO! CRUCIO!"

"Y-yes, I had the book...s-someone stole it f-from m-me..."

"CRUCIO!"

"P-please you have got to believe me..."

A feeling of disgust. The tortured man was lying on the ground, fumbling in his own filth. Like he aptly deserved.

"I-I don't have it..." A feeling of disappointment. The man was telling the truth. There was no more use for him.

"Avada Kedavra..." It was time to move on.

Harry jerked awake. He had just had a nightmare. He had just imagined that he was torturing someone about a book. Not a good dream to have when you were leaving your home for a few months.

Harry washed his face after brushing his teeth as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He was leaving for Beauxbatons today. His first year.

Shaking his head, Harry reached for the towel and dried himself before approaching the side-table from where he grabbed his wand. He stared at it. A feeling of warmth shot into his body as sparks flew from the tip of the wand in assurance.

Assured, Harry walked down the stairs for a spot of breakfast. His magic had thankfully returned a few months ago and he was able to cast spells with more efficiency and accuracy then before. As it turned out, he had just needed to do a simple spell in the Caligo section and his magic returned the following day. The spell was the only one he had attempted from the book. It was quite simple. It sliced something cleanly. Harry believed it was used in place of scissors or butter knives although he had yet to see someone use this spell.

Deciding that it was no longer common as the book appeared to be centuries old, Harry only used the spell on his bed. The spell had no effect on large items as the book had stated and thus did absolutely no damage.

Harry tilted his head, trying to remember the day he had used that spell. It had been an accident, a fortunate one it turned out as he found that his magic had returned the next day.

Harry had been shopping with Apolline for some items when Draco Malfoy had spotted him. Anxious to get away, Harry had silently cast that spell on Malfoy when he had annoyed him so. The spell had left a dark tear in Malfoy's robes but done no damage.

Malfoy had then rushed off after finding that particular rip and going to get it fixed so as to look prim and proper like he was. He had never once suspected Harry to be the one who had ripped his shirt.

At first Harry had thought it was because of Malfoy annoying him that the magic had returned but it went back again even when he had talked with Malfoy again a few days later. So, deciding to try the spell again, Harry had cut his own robes accidentally but found his ability to do magic had returned.

Since that day, Harry had always used the spell whenever he got up to ensure that he would have magic the next day. The book had failed to mention that in order to get stronger, the ritual needed this spell to be cast everyday. Harry didn't dare attempt anything else on it for fear of losing more magic.

He didn't tell the rest about the book or the particular spell. He could feel it was wrong. He had made a stupid mistake and because of it, his whole magic was in jeopardy if he didn't do the spell everyday. Thankfully it had not been anything nasty.

"'Rry!" A voice made him snap out of his thoughts. He smiled as he looked down. A small infant was clutching his jeans and pulling it to gain his attention.

"Yes, Belle?" Harry asked, in french. Gabrielle Delacour was a small albeit healthy baby of twelve months and thirteen days. She could walk and talk but she preferred to crawl or be carried. The most of her speech was filled with bubbling noises and laughter. Majority of which were caused by Harry who was very attached to her.

"Are thou rly goin?" she asked.

"Oui." Harry replied, sadly, crouching down so that they were seeing eye to eye.

"Thou don't lke moin," Gabrielle sputtered, pouting as tears appeared in her eyes. Harry smiled in assurance.

"I will always," Harry replied. "You are my little Belle."

"Then why?" she asked.

"I have to..." Harry said. "You'll understand when you get older."

"B-but-"

"Now, Gabrielle, don't trouble Harry early in the morning," Apolline appeared, picking Gabrielle up. "You get dressed now. Jean's just downstairs having breakfast."

"Right," Harry replied, turning to Gabrielle. "I'll see you in a few months, Belle." He kissed her cheek softly and left for the dining hall.

"Ready?" Jean asked. Harry nodded, grasping his hand.

"Ready." He replied, turning around to the assembled party to see him off. Frank, Lionel, Apolline and Gabrielle stood waving to him. Gabrielle, who was being carried by Apolline, was in tears and trying to prevent Harry from leaving.

"Bye..." He murmured, awkwardly.

Not for the first time, Harry wondered how Fleur coped with the fact of leaving every few months. He would not be seeing any of them for a few months.

"Rry, ddonth goo," Gabrielle protested. Harry smiled softly which didn't reach his eyes as he raised his hand in farewell.

"I'll see you in a few months, Belle..."

Without further ado, the duo twisted on the spot and apparated into the misty morning.

Harry gazed wide-eyed and slack jawed at the castle. Beauxbatons, School of Magic was a sight to behold even though most of it was shrouded in mist. Set atop a desolate hill, the school had little forest cover to protect from muggles. The school's founders instead utilized an ingenious mechanism to make sure the castle wasn't spotted from afar.

A heavy mist surrounded the entire hill to shroud the castle in chilly air and cold. It made for great cover as the only way to discover the school would be by accident and even then the muggle repelling wards prevented that from happening.

Harry shivered as he and Jean approached the gigantic gates of the castle. Though built at the very top, the school's ground spread till the bottom of the hill so as to give an open environment in contrast to being huddled up in the classes.

Jean deftly tapped his wand on the gates of the school. Harry's eyes widened at the simple feat as ripples of magic, clearly visible, coursed through the air and sped towards the school. The school's wards at work.

Harry's eyes perked up as he spotted a figure approaching the gates. It was a small, middle-aged man with a wild mustache and balding hair that approached them. Harry stared. He was nearly the same height as the little man.

"Ah! Monsieur Delacour, we weren't expecting you till three," The man said in perfect french. He spoke without an accent as he was without a doubt, a frenchman.

"It doesn't hurt to be early, Monsieur Moreau," Jean replied. Moreau nodded and turned to Harry.

"Adrien, Monsieur Moreau here would be your Transfiguration teacher," Jean said. "He is also the Deputy Headmaster of the school."

"A pleasure to meet you, sir." Harry said. They had decided on keeping Harry's identity a secret and Apolline had even discovered an ingenious way to hide his scar; by applying muggle make-up. Nowadays, Harry would have to apply make-up on his face the minute he got up. He just hoped nobody say him doing that.

"Likewise," Moreau replied. "Clemence speaks very highly of you." Harry's ears grew red. He didn't know Clemence talked about him in a good way given the way she seemed to continuously scold him for simple things.

"Come along then."

Harry nodded and along with Jean followed the little Transfiguration Professor up towards the shrouded school. Harry wondered what lessons awaited him in this little castle.

It was nearly four hours later that Harry found himself seated alongside several other First years. There were about twenty in all; a low number given the french parents preferred to home-school their children until they turned eleven.

Jean had left a while ago once he was sure Harry was feeling okay. Happy to be left alone, Harry had been revising the spells he knew in his mind when an interruption had come.

To his infamous bad luck, he was immediately accosted by Draco Malfoy who it seemed was also attending this school. For some reason, Harry wondered if Malfoy was stalking him. Deciding the matter to be extremely creepy, He turned the other way.

His luck struck again when another familiar face marched up to him.

"Adrien Benoit, why am I not surprised?" Olivia Hudgens remarked haughtily, staring at him. Harry turned towards her with a bored face.

"What did you expect? We are the same age and I am a French citizen, it is only natural." Harry replied.

"Who is this?" Draco whispered, leaning towards him. Harry leaned a bit away.

"Allow me to make the introductions, Hudgens, this is Draco Malfoy. Malfoy, this is Olivia Hudgens" Harry murmured. Hoping that they would bore each other off, Harry silently edged away from them.

He sighed when they immediately turned towards him and started debating on which house they would be in. Harry wondered why he was stuck in this room with them of all people.

At that moment, as if in an answer to his prayers, the door burst open and a gigantic women entered the room. Draco covered his mouth in shock, almost slipping to the floor. Olivia sniffed and pointed out that it was rude. Immediately Draco stood up and calmed himself, personally affronted by the fact that someone had called him ill-mannered.

Harry grinned. He had been forewarned by Jean about Olympe, the other Deputy Headmistress who was a giantess although nobody would be stupid enough to make that accusation at her face. Besides, Fleur had gone on and on about Olympe and how nice she was, so Harry reserved his judgement for the time being. She couldn't be that bad, could she?

"Bonjour, everyone!" Olympe's booming voice greeted the twenty first years. They immediately snapped to attention. "Now that you have all had a chance to know each other, please form a line and follow me to the dining hall. You are to be sorted."

The group formed a line behind her with Harry in the forefront. He gave Olympe a small smile which she returned as she led them towards the dining hall.

"As some of you might know, here at Beauxbatons we are divided into four houses. They are Puissance, Charme, Divine and Soleil after our Ancestors and Royal families. Here at Beauxbatons, your house is your family. Good deeds will be rewarded with House points and any mishaps will take away a few house points. At the end of the year, the House with the most house points will win the Point Cup." Olympe explained, as they reached two large doors.

"Be courteous, polite and hard-working and you shall conquer all." Olympe said, as she thrust open the doors. Immediately a crowded hall came into view. The hall was divided into small tables of four and five with an elongated table for teacher's at the other end of the room.

It was empty however as he had been told by Fleur that the teacher's never appeared for the sorting as they had a teacher's meeting at the time to make sure everyone had prepared their lessons. At least three hundred students were seated before the empty tables. Upon their arrival, the entire hall grew silent as every eye turned to them. Without hesitation, Olympe marched in.

Swallowing, Harry followed suit.

Harry and the other first-years stopped before Olympe. Beside her stood a giant of a man not unlike Olympe herself. He had a gruff red beard and had nearly balding hair which were poorly covered with a tilted cap. However, his face had entirely different look to it.

For the first time since coming to Beauxbatons, Harry felt welcomed. The man was easy-going as appeared from his smile but Harry could feel that the man could be strict when he wanted to be.

"That's Alexis Perrot, the school Headmaster...He's supposed to be a hundred and thirty years old," Olivia whispered in his ear. Harry nodded, not taking his eyes off the intimidating figure, wondering how the giant could be a hundred years old when his hair had still not turned grey. Maybe giants lived longer then wizards.

"Welcome, my students, to another year at Beauxbatons..." Alexis said with a mighty clap that echoed around the hall. "To all old students, welcome back. To the new ones, I hope you all will feel welcomed here..."

"Now, let us begin with the sorting process," Alexis said. "As your name is called out, the new students please come forward and take a badge." He snapped his fingers. With a mighty bang, a table filled with an assortment of four badges appeared out of thin air. Beside him, Olympe took out a scroll.

"Benoit, Adrien."

Surprised at being called first, Harry stumbled forward as he approached the table. From what he could make out, they were just ordinary badges of different colors with no special symbol on any of them. However, the minute he reached the table he felt it. At first, it was a small compulsion bubbling under the surface. Before he knew what was happening, his hand had reached for a particular badge and picked it up.

He held it up. It was blue colored.

"Puissance!" Alexis declared instantly. The whole hall burst into applause as a bewildered Harry was ushered to an empty seat beside a group of fourth to fifth years. Behind him, another badge materialized in the empty place.

"Bonjour, I am Kevin Riley," An older boy said. Harry shook his hand.

"Adrien. Adrien Benoit," Harry said, blinking rapidly. "Umm...What just happened?" Kevin chuckled.

"That was my first reaction as well," Kevin said. "Hmm, how do I explain this without going into too much theory...Do you know what a compulsion charm is?" Harry nodded.

"That makes it easier then," Kevin said. "Each of the badges have a compulsion charm on it along with a presence ward around the table. The ward sort of detects the house you would be best suited for and the compulsion charm on that particular badge is then amplified until you pick it up."

"So this ward sorts us?" Harry asked.

"It is not a ward per say, it is actually ancient magic created by the school's founders," Kevin said. "You'll learn how the sorting works in your second year. You will understand it better then. Right now, just think of it as if you have gone through a personality test conducted by the 'ward'."

"Personality test?" Harry repeated. "So there are different personalities suited for different houses?"

"Of course," Kevin said. "There are different personalities in different houses. That is a sure way to make sure you interact with friends with similar personalities. Although there is no harm in inter-house friendships."

"Which house are you in?" Harry asked.

"Soleil," Kevin replied, pointing at the yellow trimmings on his black robes. "Each house has an identifying color. For Puissance it is blue." Harry nodded and the talk seized as they focused on the rest of the sorting.

"Hudgens, Olivia" Olympe called. Instantly the hall grew quiet before murmurs sprang up from the students. The Hudgens family name was one of the most celebrated in France. Harry watched silently as Olivia approached the table in a daze and like him snapped the blue badge. Harry immediately sighed as the hall burst into applause.

"I take it you don't like the Hudgens princess?" Kevin commented on his sulky expression. Harry shook his head.

"She annoys me a lot." Harry murmured. Kevin smirked.

"So, which personality suits which house?" Harry asked as the sorting continued, anxiously ignoring Olivia who had just taken the seat across from him.

"Hmm, let's see...The Soleil house prides itself for its hard-working and loyal students," Kevin said, puffing his chest out a bit.

"The Puissance house values power and leadership as its defining skills," Kevin explained. "And the Divine house takes a non-violence and scholastic approach to almost everything and believes in living life to the fullest with new experiences or things learned everyday."

"While the Charme house is mostly consisted of strong public speakers and future-politicians." Kevin replied.

"I see..." Harry replied, turning his attention back to the sorting. He wondered how Olivia was considered to have great leadership skills when she berated everyone after every single sentence if they didn't do it her way. That was bullying not leadership.

"Malfoy, Draco" Olympe called. Harry watched silently as Malfoy approached the table. He crossed his fingers in hope.

"Puissance!" Alexis declared merrily. Harry slumped in his chair and sulked for the rest of the dinner, cursing his rotten luck.

After a subdued dinner due to the presence of Hudgens and Malfoy who joined Harry on either side of the table and immediately began bickering, Harry turned his attention to the hall.

He could immediately spot Fleur seated a few tables away with her friends. Noticing him looking at her, Fleur grinned and waved at him. Harry waved back. Fleur was in Charme.

A few seats away, Draco also waved back at her, thinking she was waving at him.

"Who are you waving at?" Olivia snapped at Draco, annoyed at him being distracted from their argument. Harry turned back to them.

"Nobody," Draco snapped back. Hudgens was getting on his nerves. "Do you want to sit at another table, Benoit..."

"Why?" Harry asked, a bit confused.

"Never mind," Draco replied, turning a bit red. Shrugging, Harry turned back to surveying the hall.

"Now that we have all eaten to our hearts content, I would not delay you from your rest. Prefects if you would be so kind as to show the way to the respective Common Rooms," Alexis declared. "I hope you all have a great year ahead."

"First years, this way!" A boy with blue trimmings on his robes called. Harry immediately approached him.

"Are you from Puissance?" Harry asked. The boy grunted in affirmative as he led the rest of the students up a flight of stairs. Harry stared at his year-mates. There were about five of them in total counting Malfoy, Hudgens and himself.

"I am Antoine, Antoine French," A fair-skinned tall, gangly boy of his height greeted them. Harry shook his hand and introduced himself. The only other girl in Puissance introduced herself to Olivia with no small amount of admiration on her face.

The Prefect stopped before a certain corridor marked only with a tiny flower bouquet that hung on the wall beside it.

"You must remember this always and not tell it to any other non-house member. The passwords keep changing every two months...For good and life!" the Prefect said. Immediately the wall with the flower crept backwards and swung right. The six children entered through the small opening only to be greeted by a sight. The Puissance Common Room was covered in blue hangings and several sofa's scattered throughout the large room with the occasional armchair or two. There was even a fire-place where a long line of students stood, taking turns to contact their relatives.

The wall behind them swept back into place, closing the passage behind them as the Prefect stopped them before a flight of stairs.

"The boys dormitory is on the left. The girls are on the right." the Prefect said. "Since you are first-years, you have the very top floor all to yourselves." The three boys and two girls nodded and started to climb the stairs once the Prefect wished them a goodnight and warned them not to roam the castle in the night.

Harry pushed open the door marked first-years on the top only to be greeted with a small hallway which separated two rooms. On one hand was a door marked Antoine French while the other had Draco Malfoy and Adrien Benoit on it.

Harry cursed his luck. He was going to be Malfoy's room-mate.

The year ahead suddenly looked quite bleak.

A/N: So many of you may be wondering what the ritual actually did to Harry. As you can see a bit from this chapter, after Harry performs Dark Magic (which is anything from the entire Caligo section of the book), he is able to perform magic properly again. When he doesn't do this, his magic is fighting to even form shape, that is, to perform a spell.

Now, what the ritual did basically is open his core up to the ambient magic around him. Dark Arts are basically controlling the ambient magic in the atmosphere and manipulating it to his/her will. More on Dark Arts will be explained later.

So basically, if Harry doesn't do Dark Magic, his core will be fighting to fill the void created by the ritual where the vast amount of ambient magic is stored and manipulated in his core after being taken in from the surroundings. The reason he is failing to perform is the fact that ambient magic consistently leaks out if it's not performed and refilled by performing 'Dark Magic' so his core becomes unstable at that moment of time.

Phew, hope you all understand what I am trying to convey right now and hope you all liked this chapter. Read and Review!