A few weeks later, Harry Potter found himself packing his things into his trunk and loading everything into the back of Vernon's van. The day was September 1, 1991, and Harry was about to leave behind everything he knew and attend a school known as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.
But he wasn't going there alone, as his cousin Dudley Dursley and two orphans named Jonathan Cavanaugh and Agnes Parker were going to Hogwarts along with him. But that meant that Agnes had to give up the life she planned for herself.
Yet, how this story continued is different than what was previously written.
When the children reached the Hogwarts Express, Agnes boarded the first train car she saw. Harry was about to follow her when Dudley said, "Hey Harry, let's get in this car."
Harry followed Dudley and Nicholas and they went to sit in the next car. Jonathan was already there, and he was talking to a boy and a girl who were in the car. Jonathan said, "Harry, Dudley, I was beginning to wonder if I should get out of the car and find you. Anyway, this is Philip Dennison and Nina Barlow; they're going to Hogwarts just like we are."
"I see," said Harry as his eyes strayed outside the window. Philip looked at him and said, "Aren't you Harry Potter?" He was tall, with brown skin, brown eyes and brown hair. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, as most of the kids Harry saw at the train station were wearing.
"Well of course I am," said Harry. "Who else would I be?"
"Forgive me, as I never heard of you until now," said Nina. She was short, had china-white skin, brown eyes, and long red hair. She wore a gray loose top with medium-length sleeves, a pair of green trousers, and a pair of magenta shoes. "I hear that you were attending Hogwarts this year."
"I am," said Harry. "And you?"
"Well," said Nina, "I'm the youngest in my family, and we moved here from America."
"What part of America did you come from?" said Jonathan.
"St. Francisville, Florida," said Nina.
"You're from Florida?" said Harry.
"Why'd you leave?" asked Dudley.
"My family left mainly because of my brother, Nickolas," said Nina. "He was mentally disabled and my parents refused to put him in an institution, as required by the city law. So they came here." To Philip, she said, "What's your story?"
Philip said, "Well, I too was born in America, but my parents moved here because they got new jobs in London."
"What part?" said Dudley.
"Montgomery, Alabama," said Philip.
"I feel sorry for you," said Harry, but Dudley gripped his arm. "Don't mind Harry," said Dudley. "Sometimes he thinks off the top of his head and says things without thinking."
“Yeah right,” Harry shot back.
"Well, my parents are dead, so it's just me and my brother Adrian," said Jonathan. "Do either of you have any siblings?"
Dudley said, "Well, there's Mikey and Jasmin. And my cousins."
"Well," said Harry. "Besides me, anyway."
"Not the Mobleys," said Dudley, "but the Evans. You know, Robbie, Louise, Felix, David, and Molly."
Philip said, "I don't have any brothers or sisters. My parents both came from large families; they refused to have a second child after me."
Nina sighed, saying, "Besides my brother Nickolas, I have Nathan, Nelson, Nigel, Nolan, Nanette, Nadine, the twins Nader and Norwood, the triplets Natalie, Noel, and Noemi, Noah, and then of course, me."
"How does your mother manage to keep up with you all?" asked Jonathan. "Especially since all your names start with the letter N?"
"Don't ask," said Nina. "You don't want to know."
"Indeed," said Harry.
At the same time that the Hogwarts Express was taking off towards the school, McGonagall and Dumbledore were in the Great Hall with the other teachers preparing for the students to arrive. She said to him, "Now remember, Albus, Sam Ulrich is coming to Hogwarts, and he's going to have questions about his grandparents' deaths."
"Him, and several others," said Dumbledore.
"And is it any concern to you that a large number of the incoming students are 10 years old?" said McGonagall.
"I wouldn't know, unless they were asked to come here for a good reason," said Dumbledore. "We already have Stacey and Gabriel Snape, plus Juliana, Joanna, and Jamielynn Black are already here, and Amber and Will have attended Hogwarts when they were seven and eight years old. What will a few 10-year-olds do to our school that they won't do when they're 11 years old?"
"I'm not sure," said McGonagall, "but the Ministry and the school governors will hear of this. There's no way Lucius Malfoy will allow this to go unnoticed, especially where his son Draco is concerned."
Dumbledore frowned, saying, "And I recall a letter addressed to you concerning an Agnes Parker."
"Yes," said McGonagall as they watched Severus Snape staring at them with a raised eyebrow. "I have my reasons to believe that the girl could be magic as well. How else should I explain the death of Shane Blackwell in that car fire and the outing of Julian Olsen's parents as child abusers?"
"If you ask me, I say that Agnes Parker is magic for a reason," said Snape. "There's no other excuse for why she decided to come to Hogwarts. As the Olsen family was the foster family of Patrick Harvey and the boy was removed from them, I'm quite sure that she might want answers about that."
"And why her parents are dead," said Dumbledore. "For the last 10 years, the ministry refused to investigate the deaths of Adeline and Toby Parker, which has angered many people. That alone has made them look bad in the people's eyes. Plus, with the sudden influx of muggleborn children and the declining population of pureblood children, I'm sure that the ministry will put out an order for the pureblood families to start having more children."
"Is that even legal?" said Snape.
"I'm sure that very few pureblood women would be happy to hear that," said McGonagall.
"It matters not what they want," said Dumbledore. "It seems that these days, the Ministry cares about keeping the population of the wizarding community in line."
"And I'm sure that someone is going to raise a stink about that and possibly go rogue," said Snape. "And if that happens, Muggles will be aware of the magical world, just as our world became aware of the Ainysians living in Eirebul."
"And your late wife and her family were considered Ainysian royalty," said McGonagall.
"Indeed," said Severus. "But I hear that Harry Potter will be among those who are coming to Hogwarts, and from the looks of it, he won't go down the path that you marked for him."
"And why not?" said Dumbledore.
"You heard me," said Snape. "Harry is living with Lily's sister Petunia, and you and I both know that she shares Lily's opinions about magic. I'm sure that Petunia has taught the boy that magic is something you should use only for educational purposes."
"Are you still angry with Lily for refusing to be your friend?" said Amber as she and Will came into the room. "When last I remembered, she blamed you for everything that happened to Irene Ulrich when Remus Lupin got her pregnant with Jesse. You sided with Irene and tried to get Remus expelled."
"And I'm sure Lily didn't want anything to do with you anymore because she was going out with James when that happened," said Will. "And her sister by proxy wouldn't want you near her precious nephew."
"I see," said Snape as he stormed away from the Hall. He knew that for better or worse, Harry Potter was coming to Hogwarts. As far as he knew, Harry could be as troublesome as James or superficial as Lily. He could use his status as "The Boy Who Lived" to cause trouble and break school rules.
There was no way he was about to let that happen.
He said to Filius Flitwick, "Harry Potter is on his way here, and it's up to you and me to make sure that he doesn't go into Gryffindor."
"Isn't that what Albus wants?" said Flitwick.
"Yes," said Severus. "Either he goes into Slytherin or Ravenclaw. And if that doesn't work, we could ask Pomona Sprout if she's willing to let him into Hufflepuff."
"Are you sure she would allow that?" said Flitwick.
"She must, if we can't get to him," said Snape. "I'm not going to sit there and allow another James Potter to roam through the halls of this distinguished school getting into trouble and yet receiving praise from Dumbledore. We have to get Harry into a house where his talents can be put to good use instead of being ignored and squandered."
"Are you suggesting that you and I break rank and keep Harry away from Albus?" said Flitwick.
"Does it look like we have a choice?" said Snape. "Harry Potter cannot be used to defeat the Dark Lord, not even if he's the world's only hope. This is why I must do this."
"But can you defeat him?" said Flitwick. "You're his best spy."
"And it's always the best spies who do the backstabbing," said Snape. "Like it or not, we don't have any other choice. Either we stop Dumbledore for forcing Harry into this senseless fighting or we do nothing. And I know we can't afford to do nothing..."
Little did they know that Hagrid was standing in the hallway listening to them. He grew worried, knowing that Harry could potentially be in serious danger and he couldn't help but wonder if it was wise to bring Harry Potter to Hogwarts.
When the train reached the school, Harry couldn't help but notice there were 350 people standing at the train station. He saw Agnes talking to one of the girls and Dudley and Jonathan were off to one side talking to several other students. It had to be his luck that one of them almost knocked Harry over.
Harry turned to the boy and said, "Uh, do you mind?"
"Sorry," said the boy. "I'm Duncan Snyder," he said.
"Harry Potter," said Harry.
"Harry Potter? As in THE Harry Potter?" Duncan cried out.
"Not so loud," Harry cried out. "I don't like it when people get all weird whenever I tell them who I am."
Just then, the girl Agnes was talking to slid to where Harry and Duncan were. She said, "I can't believe you're actually here at Hogwarts, Harry Potter!"
"And your name is?" Harry said.
"Her name's Candice Thorpe," said Duncan. "Her family is among the richest in the wizarding world."
Candice was about to say something when a voice rang out, "FIRS' YEARS THIS WAY!" It was Hagrid and he was calling everyone to the boats. Harry barely caught a glimpse of Agnes as he boarded the boat that would take him across the lake and to Hogwarts.
Harry, Dudley, Philip, Nina, Jonathan, Duncan, and Candice all piled into a huge boat, along with a group of other students. As Hagrid led the boats across the lake, Harry said to Duncan, "So it's your first year at Hogwarts?"
"It is," said Duncan. "But I never imagined that you'd be coming to Hogwarts, Harry."
"Not when there's about five other magical schools that would gladly take you in," said Candice.
Harry nodded, wondering if he had picked the wrong day to come to Hogwarts. All day long, he had to face a barrage of students fawning over him, as if he was a celebrity and not just another Hogwarts student. Harry was particularly sensitive about that, if nothing else.
When they reached the school, Professor McGonagall came out and greeted them. “Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry,” she said. “I am Professor McGonagall and your deputy headmistress as well as your transfiguration teacher. When we get to the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. Now follow me.”
McGonagall led the kids into the Great Hall. There were many wizards there, all teachers, students, and staff. They all cheered as they saw the kids. Harry saw that many of them were staring at him. He assumed that everyone knew that he was indeed Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. But he left it alone; he would deal with that later. Right now, there were other things to take care of. Such as which house he was going to be placed into.
McGonagall picked up the Sorting Hat and said, "When I call your name, please take the Sorting Hat and go to the house where you are assigned." Agnes was called first; she was placed in Gryffindor. Dudley was placed in Hufflepuff. Jonathan was also placed in Hufflepuff.
As each child was sent to a house (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin), Harry wondered if any of the kids would accept him for who he really was. He knew that some of them would be his true friends, and some of them would only like him for his fame. He watched as Duncan, Candice, Nina, and Philip were sent to Ravenclaw and a shy boy named Connor Matheson was placed in Hufflepuff.
"Harry Potter!" Just then, the sound of his name sent Harry hurtling back to reality. Everyone was looking at him. Harry approached the stool warily, just as he approached Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia when they had to tell him the truth about his family when he was 10 years old. He sat down and the hat was placed on his head. The hat said, "You're the famous son of James and Lily Potter. Wonderful thing you did defeating that Dark Lord. Alas for you, you have lived with your relatives, one who is a muggle, and the other who did an unwise thing by leaving Hogwarts."
Harry frowned. The hat said, "However, I believe that you'll do fine in Slytherin."
Harry shook his head. "No, thank you; I won't go into Slytherin." Everyone in Slytherin was shocked.
"No?" said the hat. "What about Gryffindor?"
"I don't think I can go into Gryffindor," said Harry. The Gryffindors were also shocked; Dumbledore frowned and stared at the hat in anger.
"You don't want to go into Slytherin, and you don't want to go into Gryffindor," said the hat, "but there is a third choice, you say?"
"There's always a third choice," said Harry.
"Very well," said the hat. "RAVENCLAW!"
Harry stood up and walked over to the Ravenclaw table amid cheers from the school, save for Gryffindor and Slytherin. They weren't too happy about this; Harry had chosen Ravenclaw over them. But Harry didn't care, as he was busy shaking hands with Professor Dumbledore, who was the Headmaster of Hogwarts and Professor Flitwick, who was the head of Ravenclaw House and sitting with his new friends.
Draco Malfoy sighed and said, "So Harry Potter would rather be a Ravenclaw? A Ravenclaw?"
"God help us all," muttered Professor Snape.
"Maybe it's for the best, Severus," said Amber as she sat beside him. "I believe Ravenclaws can do great things."
"So can Hufflepuffs," said Will. "Remember, I was one."
Dumbledore sighed and let Harry have his moment. But he did have plans to make sure that Harry would be in Gryffindor one way or another. He wasn't about to let his Golden Boy be a Ravenclaw.627Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRbmSvS85K
