Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Fated Dragon ❯ Beginning at Hogwarts ( Chapter 8 )

 

The Fated Dragon: Chapter 8

 

`I'm bored…' Harry's glazed eyes took in the passing scenery from his seat beside the Express's window.

 

The rest of the trip at Diagon Alley, from the moment he and Snape stepped out of the bank, was a complete and total disaster; a disaster, that Jason took utter delight in hearing from Harry.

 

` `I'll have to remember to come along to watch the show the next time the two of you go out on a trip together,' he says. As if there's even going to be a next time.'

 

It had seemed that the moment they had stepped out of Gringotts, the entire trip was doomed to failure. Harry's avid fascination with the new world he was introduced to and Snape's non-existent patience was not a good combination. Dumped into a group of Harry Potter admirers and shopkeepers that were practically tripping over their own two feet to serve him, well, you get the general picture. By the end of the trip, Harry could feel the waves of contempt and hatred emitted from our resident Potion's Master; the happenings that occurred a few days before long forgotten.

 

Luckily for Harry, Jason had taken upon himself to educate Harry in the customs and long preserved traditions of the wizarding world. Unfortunately, in the process of teaching Harry, Jason had also touched on the subject of his supposed `fame and reputation'. If there was one thing that Harry had deduced from those lessons, it would be that that the people of the wizarding world are nothing more than sheep or better yet, puppets; waiting for their strings to be pulled and for someone to dictate their every action for them, example: Dumbledore and Voldemort.

 

`And let's not even start on the Ministry of Magic. I swear that entire place is corrupted beyond words.'

 

Looking down at his copy of `The Wondrous Deeds and Actions of the Ministry: Book I' in his hands, Harry felt a sneer worthy of Snape appearing on his face. That book is utter crap. In it, they stated that almost all of the Death Eaters were rounded up and captured pending the fall of `You-Know-Who' and yet, the number of Death Eaters captured to date is only 9.

 

`Are they really expecting the readers to believe that Voldemort almost managed to bring the Wizarding World down to its knees with only nine people?! Some of the trials written in the book cannot even be considered as trials! A few of them are thrown into Azkaban without a trial while others are freaking obvious that the accused had somehow managed to bribe the Jury; seeing as how they were let off the hook after they had given just one statement; even without any witnesses to back them up.

 

Scowling fiercely, Harry threw the book onto the ground in frustration just in time for someone to open the compartment door.

 

“Hi, hev - That's no way to treat your books!” Quickly entering the compartment, the bushy, brown headed girl quickly picked up the book and dusted whatever dirt it had off it, at the same time checking for any `injuries' inflicted on the `poor' book.

 

“Huh? Oh. Who are you anyway?” Harry questioned the newcomer. Under normal circumstances, he never would have been so rude as to question a lady without first introducing himself. This time, he was simply far too annoyed about his current train of thought that he couldn't care less.

 

“Humph! Didn't anyone teach you manners? Anyway, my name is Hermione Granger. Well, I really can't say that it's a pleasure to meet you. Honestly, you're just too rude.” Hermione looked at the cover of the book before passing it back to Harry.

 

“This book isn't really what I think is good reading material, just so you know. I prefer this book myself. By the way, what's your name?” Hermione asked as she showed him a book she was holding in her hands: Modern Magical History.

 

Raising an eyebrow, Harry gave his own opinion, “And I don't think that book is good reading material either. It has far too many false truths and bias opinions in it to be any use for one who wants a proper introduction to the Wizarding World.”

 

“False truths? I may agree on the part of the bias opinion, but false truth? This is one of the few books that have proper interviews with the famous wizards of both the past and present. People like Dumbledore, Agrippa and even Harry Potter! So, based on what facts can you prove that it's filled with lies?”

 

“Other than the fact that I've never once accepted an interview with them?” Harry then lifted his fringe and showed the lightning scar that had been etched on his skin since that fateful day.

 

“Yo-you are Harry Potter!” Hermione stared at him in shock, “I think I need to sit down.”

 

Taking a few deep breaths, Hermione finally calmed down enough to start her ramble. “Are you really? I know all about you- I got a few extra books for extra reading, and you're in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century and Modern Ma-” Hermione's eyes then widened for a spilt second, “Oh.”

 

Grinning, Harry looked at Hermione, “Yes, so do you get my point?”

 

Biting her lips hesitantly, Hermione replied, “But just because one interview is fabricated, doesn't mean that the rest are all made up! You can't just judge entire book from just one interview.”

 

“Maybe.”

 

Seeing that Harry was clearly not inclined to continue this line of conversation, Hermione decided to turn this conversation in a different direction, “Which house do you think you'll be in? As for me, I would of course prefer Gryffindor but I suppose that Ravenclaw isn't too bad a choice…”

 

“Hmm? I don't really know. I suppose any one of them would be fine,” Harry answered nonchalantly, unsure about why people fussed about being sorted into the different houses. They're just houses, right?

 

“You can't be serious! Don't you know that the different houses represent different traits?! And… from what I heard from some of our seniors earlier, the Slytherins are a really bad lot. Not to mention that most of the dark lords in the past century came from the Slytherin house. And also students from the house Hufflepuff were said to be…inept in most subjects.”

 

Harry gave a rude snort at her comment, “Inept? Well, I suppose that it's much better than useless. But who filled your head with such trash? The traits for the house Slytherin is not dark or evil, but cunning and ambition. It's not their fault that those are the very traits that Dark wizards have.”

 

Nibbling her bottom lip, Hermione still looked unconvinced, “Yeah, I know but… most of them were very rude when I went into their compartment earlier.”

 

Raising an eyebrow, “What did you expect? People hear rumors about their house even before they step into Hogwarts. Don't tell me you are unaware about the Dark families? People from the Light families usually discriminate against them as well, that's the main reason for the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. But what you don't know is that the other two houses usually side with Gryffindor. So it's basically one house against the whole school. If you ask me, their rudeness may be their kind of self-defense mechanism, but if it isn't, then…” Harry just shrugs.

 

He then continued before Hermione could say anything else, “But if you really want me to choose a house, then my choice would most probably be Hufflepuff.”

 

“What?! Why?” Hermione was shocked, she thought that Harry would say Gryffindor, or at least Ravenclaw, heck even Slytherin would do after hearing his argument for them. So why did he choose, of all the houses, Hufflepuff?

 

“Why not?” Harry looked at Hermione with a smile, seemingly amused with her reaction.

 

“But…that…” She bit her lip, seemingly unable to find anything to say that didn't sound vaguely insulting.

 

Smiling, Harry decided to take pity on her and elaborate the reasons for his choice.

 

0o0o0o0o0

 

The rest of the train ride wasn't particularity eventful; with the exception of the arrival of Draco Malfoy.

 

When his eyes first laid on Draco Malfoy, Harry was annoyed. He had first heard of Malfoy from Jason after that fiasco of a trip to Diagon Alley with Severus.

 

From the way Jason described him, you would get the distinct impression that Malfoy was a guy to be sympathized with; pitied even. But with him sauntering into the compartment with all the regal grace of a spoiled rich brat, the two buffoons of his tumbling in soon after, you would find your opinion drastically changed in just a matter of seconds soon after meeting him.

 

And that was what happened to poor Harry or should I say poor Malfoy? The moment he stepped into the compartment, he set his target on Hermione, insulting both her and her family with the most colourful usage of degrading words and phrases possible.

 

Unluckily for him, even with the stimulating conversation he had with Hermione was not enough to alleviate his foul mood. Thus, the person who became the unfortunate victim of Harry's anger and fury at the ineffective actions of the Ministry was none other that Malfoy and his goons.

 

The way Draco held himself, eerily reminiscent with those of Dilandau; who was one of Van's so-called `arch-nemesis', made him the prime meat of Harry's `blade of fury'.

 

In retaliation to the humiliation Hermione suffered at the hands of Draco's cruel and harsh words, Harry literally tore Malfoy another one. Tearing through the shields Malfoy had painstakingly built around his already fractured heart, hitting into him deep and hard, with all the finesse of using a butcher knife in a delicate surgery, driving the point of never messing with his friends deep into his heart.

 

Needless to say, Malfoy backed out of his compartment quickly with a look of utter fear plastered on his face.

 

0o0o0o0o0

 

Walking towards the boy's bathroom at the back of the train to change since he had chivalrously offered his compartment for Hermione's usage, Harry took note of all the little details of the décor within the train and what seemed to look like a castle off in the distance outside the window.

 

On one hand, Harry was glad that the entire place so far seemed so…medieval, but on the other hand, the part of him who still thinks like Van couldn't help but wonder, what happened to all the wonderful stories of the amazing technological advances the people on earth had made?

 

During the war, he had dreamt of the `bullet train' he heard from the stories Hitomi told about her home on the mystic moon, not to mention the `skyscrapers' and fact that humans managed to travel to the moon. But all of these was never once seen since he stepped into the Wizarding World, and some part of him felt that it was a great pity as he finally had a chance to live on the mystic moon; earth.

 

Stepping into the bathroom, Harry shook those thoughts away from his mind, determined to be happy that there weren't too many technological advances he had to adapt to, and that the only thing he had to learn was about the different traditions and cultures in this isolated community.

 

Glancing at the two dubious characters insane cackles and hushed whispers from his place by the door, curiosity got the better of him. Creeping as stealthily as he could, Harry quickly made his way towards the two of them and sneaked a peak at whatever they were so excited about.

 

What he saw amazed him; apparently the `thing' they were getting so excited over was a piece of parchment. What had amazed him was the words and shapes on it. It seemed that what they had in their hands was a very detailed map of some place, most likely Hogwarts if the names of the dots were anything to go by. For one, he was pretty sure that Albus Dumbledore was the name of the current headmaster at Hogwarts.

 

Judging by what his ears had picked up from their conversation, they were planning a prank; an elaborate one at that. In his amazement, Harry forgot about being quiet and that the people he was `spying' on was only mere feet in front of him.

 

Startled, the two of them who turned out to be twins spun around with surprising speed, pinning him down with their twin glare, looking quite pissed. Be it at him for sneaking up on them, or at themselves for neglecting to take note of their surroundings he'd never know.

 

“Sooo…What is- ” The twin on the left started.

 

The other one on the right then continued, “An ickle firstie- ”

 

“Doing sneaking around the bathroom?”

 

“Doing anything but spying on upright, righteous citizens such as yourself?” Harry replied, mirth sparkling in his eyes. Somehow his earlier bad mood was alleviated by the way the twins talked, even if they had only spoken one sentence to him.

 

“Fred?”

 

“Yes, George?”

 

“Is that ickle firstie mouthing us?”

 

“I think he is.” Fred's eyes then held an unholy gleam within them. Smirking, the both of them then started circling around Harry, as if looking for something.

 

“What is it?” Harry was getting unnerved at the stars those two were leveling on him.

 

“Oh -”

 

“Nothing much-”

 

“We were just-”

 

“Thinking about something.”

 

“Oh yes, I'm sure your thinking of something that will eventually benefit our society and revolutionize the world. But pardon me if I excuse myself from your enlightening conversation right now. As you see, I need to change into my school robes before I get singled out by any authority figures for not abiding to their fashion sense.”

 

With that, Harry excused himself and made his way to one of the available stalls. In no time, he quickly changed and hurriedly walked out of the bathroom, not wanting to be stared down by them again, leaving the twins to stare at this back as he made his way to his compartment.

 

“Gred?”

 

“Yes, Forge.”

 

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“It seems that we have-”

 

“A new playmate.”

 

The two of them then shared a grin that sent shivers down their Professors' spines; a sense of foreboding was then felt by the entire Hogwarts faculty.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Rushing back to his compartment, Harry almost collided with Hermione since he was too occupied thinking about his encounter with those weirdoes in the bathroom.

 

“Watch where you're going, Harry! If you aren't careful, you might hurt someone.” Hermione cried out after narrowly evading the oncoming collision.

 

“Oh…Sorry, I wasn't looking at where I was going.” Harry sheepishly apologized to Hermione.

 

“Boys… never mind that, we're supposed to go and join the rest of the first years by the lake outside right now. If we don't hurry, we'll be late! So come on!” Without waiting for a reply, Hermione then accosted Harry by the arm and dragged him outside towards where the rest of their year was gathered at.

 

In the end, the two of them then sat in a small boat with two others: Neville Longbottom and Susan Bones.

 

Gazing upwards once they passed beneath the bridge Harry's breath got caught in his throat, stunned by the magnificent sight before him. A castle, whose lifespan spanned centuries, with lights lighting up the windows from within, and with these wondrous views coupled with the full moon highlighted the beauty of Hogwarts in the darkness of the night.

 

Welcome to Hogwarts.

 

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