6 A fishy first night at Hogwarts

The train stopped and everybody got out of the train with their stuff. Cross left Carl on his shoulder, the badger was snarling and growling at everyone, putting up a tough front as he jumped around Cross' shoulder and head, threatening every man, woman, child, and animal he saw.

The girl he gave the books to, walked over and said "My name's Hermione. Thank you for the books." Cross looked at her and patted her head saying "No problem." while whispering in Elven "Nature's Protection." a green and golden aura flashed for a split second, but nobody saw it.

Hermione blushed and touched her head saying "I am not a child." Cross smiled and poked her nose saying "Actually, you are." before returning back to normal as he said "Anyway, don't forget you owe me a favor." Hermione nodded and left with her things and a big pile of books.

Cross followed the crowd and got on a boat, travelling to the giant Castle like school. Coincidentally, Nymphadora had told him about a tracking veil under the bridge going to Hogwarts. Cross looked around and saw that nobody was paying attention to him and jumped into the air, disappearing into the darkness.

He jumped over the bridge and veil by jumping on strings that were connected horizontally under his feet. He practiced this hundreds of times, his strings could connect to anything and even tunnel into the ground.

He landed back on the boat and nobody even knew he was gone. Cross smirked to himself, while Carl was holding on to Cross' hair for dear life. Cross sat on the boat and crossed his legs as he leaned his elbow on the edge of the boat, resting his head in his palm.

Cross looked at the rest and saw a few kids going under the bridge, he felt a magic fluctuation and confirmed his thoughts. Seems like there was something fishy going on around here.

They got off the boats and Cross followed behind a massive crowd up the stairs into the giant Castle. He looked around with interest, Carl sat on Cross' head and similarly looked around in awe. Never in his Badger life did he think he would see something like this.

Daphne slowed down and waited for Cross to catch up with her, her friends also waited. Cross bumped into Daphne and came back to his senses as he said "Did you see the ghosts flying around?" Daphne giggled and said "Come on, we need to catch up with the rest."

Cross nodded and followed her group up another flight up stairs. They were suddenly stopped and heard a female voice "Welcome to Hogwarts! Before you step through these doors, you must be sorted to your houses. Which are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you're here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will be rewarded will points and breaking rules will be deducted points."

She looked at everyone and said "At the end of the year, the house with the most points will win the house cup." Cross looked at the woman, who added "The sorting ceremony will start soon." before walking away.

As soon as she left, Cross heard a voice say "It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." Pansy gushed and said, completely enamored "It's Draco~" Daphne gave Pansy a glance before dragging Cross through the crowd towards the front.

Cross was helpless as Daphne dragged him to the front, towards the threatening spotlight.

Slowly they made their way to the front and Cross heard Draco speak again "You'll soon learn that some Wizarding families are better then the others, Potter. You don't want to be making friends with the wrong sort, I can help you there." as he stuck his hand out towards Harry.

Cross' ears twitched and he said "He sure has a strange way of showing his sincerity." Daphne replied "He's just like that, some people think he's being an asshole." to prove her words, Harry said "I think I can figure it out for myself, thanks."

The old woman came back and said "We're ready for you now, follow me." The students started moving again and Draco looked angry as he walked over to Daphne and Cross. Daphne said with neutral face "Hello." Draco gave her a nod, completely used to her cold attitude.

Draco looked at Cross and said "Who's this?" Daphne said "My brother." Cross' ears twitched and he said "Nice to meet you, I'm Cross." Draco looked at him and said "What's with your ears." Cross chuckled and said "I'm a house elf do you believe it?" Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes as he said with a smirk "If you don't want to tell me just say so."

Cross chuckled and shook his head saying "Metamorphmagus." Draco nodded and they stood in the middle of the cafeteria. The old woman announced "Before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words."

Cross ignored her and looked around curiously, mumbling "Another thing that flies... I knew I should've started a book.." Daphne felt her lips twitch and curl up as she giggled a little.

An extremely old man stood up and said "I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first year please note, the dark forest is strictly forbidden for all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Flitch has asked me to remind you that the 3rd floor corridor, on the right hand side, is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you."

Cross was stunned and whispered "Just like that?" Daphne was startled and said "I guess so..."

The old woman held up a hat and a scroll as she said "Now when I call your name, you will come up and I will place the hat on your head. You will be sorted into your houses. Hermione Granger!"

Hermione walked up and mumbled something to herself before sitting on the stool. The woman place the hat on her head and the hat said "Gryffindor!" Hermione smiled and went to the Gryffindor table.

The old woman continued "Draco Malfoy." Draco walked up and sat down, the hat didn't even touch his head as it said immediately "Slytherin!"

Cross frowned and he heard the ginger kid say "There's not a witch or wizard that went bad, who wasn't in Slytherin." Cross looked over at Harry, who nodded along.

Cross watched everyone go and finally after everyone was sorted, he was the last one left. The old woman said "Cross Greengrass!" Cross looked around and chuckled as he walked up and sat down. His eyes scanned the room and everyone was paying attention to him.

He closed his eyes and the woman put the hat on his head, he felt something attack his mind and he ripped the hat off his head immediately, frowning extremely hard. The woman said "Is there something wrong, Mr. Greengrass?"

Cross looked at the woman and said "No. Just nervous." the woman smiled kindly and said "That's natural. Let's try again." Cross put the hat back and didn't feel anything as it said "Slytherin!" right away.

Cross took the hat off and went to the Slytherin table with a straight face. Some of the students were laughing at him but he couldn't care less, gotta remain lowkey.

Cross sat next to Daphne and Dumbledore stood up saying "Let the feast, begin!" Food appeared on all the tables.

Daphne looked at Cross in confusion and Draco teased "Nervous are we?" Cross was not amused and said quietly "Sure." Daphne said "What's wrong?" Cross said seriously "The hat tried to pierce into my mind." Daphne frowned and Draco narrowed his eyes and said "What?"

Cross nodded and looked around to see nobody looking at them, he whispered "You both are proficient in Occlumency, correct?" Draco and Daphne nodded, Cross continued "Occlumency has more uses then just setting up barriers. You have to hide everything about yourself and dip into Ligilimency to display all the effects. Traps, detection, security, etc. They are all extremely useful."

Cross turned to the hat and added "The sorting hat is a Ligilimens magical artifact and can break into the mind of unguarded wizards. If it can break in, it can change it." he got serious and continued as he turned back to the other two "Never trust anyone other than yourself. Ligilimens are extremely dangerous, think about it. Your mind is the most fragile part of your body, you could unknowingly end up as a brainwashed slave if you're not careful."

Daphne and Draco got serious and Cross leaned back as he said "Just remember to be careful, anyone who is not yourself, is an enemy. No matter who they are." before biting a bite of the food and immediately spitting it out, his eyes narrowed at the food and he refused to eat.

Daphne looked at the food and Draco asked "Something wrong?" Cross said "The food has aggression potions in it." he looked over to the other tables and saw that they gradually started glaring at the Slytherin table.

Cross' expression was grave and he turned back saying "All the food is drugged." Daphne looked at the food and frowned saying "For what purpose. We're just first years, why would we be targeted?" Draco thought Cross was thinking too much nd ate his food as he said "You need to relax."

Cross shook his head and said "Maybe the target isn't us, but someone else." Daphne looked around and suddenly felt that Hogwarts might not be that safe after all. Cross whispered in her ear "Find me later." Daphne nodded and they both sat still, not eating.

A while later

The Prefect of Slytherin brought them to the staircases as he said "The stairs change every now and then, you have to pay attention and memorize all their patterns. This way." before leading the ground of First years through several changing staircases to a door with a snake pattern on it.

The Prefect said "Serpentes ad vitam" the snake hissed and the door opened. He brought them all into the common room and said "Up these stairs to the left is the boys rooms and the right is the girls'. This is the common room..." he started tell the history but Cross ignored him.

Currently he was looking around the room, he tapped the ground with his foot and invisible strings shot out in a spider web pattern, scanning everything in the room. Even going into the floor and checking for anything hidden from sight.

By the time the prefect guy stopped speaking, Cross had already scanned the entire common room and focused his attention on the green fire place. It felt like it was trying to push him away. This made him feel strange, he suddenly asked "Where is the library?"

The prefect said "On the second floor, past the dining hall." Cross nodded and turned around, leaving the common room to the library by himself. Daphne watched him go before going up the stairs to the dormitory rooms with the rest of the group.

Cross was walking the halls looking for the library. He had already memorized the staircase patterns as soon as he got here, but would much rather a map. Nevertheless, he was fine on his own, for now.

As he walked, he left countless strings behind him, covering every square inch of the hallway and walls. There was nothing out of the ordinary so far, Cross got suspicious. Perhaps directly setting wards everywhere in the school was the bottom line. Then again, he didn't think whoever was drugging the food would care about bottom lines.

If anything, they would be too confident to even put up surveillance, firmly believing the potions would work.

Cross couldn't care less what plans were being unraveled, as long as he wasn't in them. Daphne too of course. As for the others, meh, it wasn't his problem. He helped Nymphadora and Hermoine on a whim, they were barely acquaintances. He wasn't going to risk his neck, stretching it out for someone else. That would be retarded.

If he was dragged into the plans unavoidably, then it was a different story. Cross was confident in himself to take care of most problems, but it was always better to know your enemy first. Even if he wasn't part of the plans, knowing what they were could help keep him out of them. He decided he was going to start ramping up his magic studies by himself and perform averagely during the day.

If everything went well, he would be using wordless magic proficiently by his 4th year. The stronger he was, the safer.

Coming out of his thoughts, he was standing in front of the library. He walked inside and saw a massive room full of bookshelves, stocked with hundreds of books. There was also a woman sitting at a desk by the door, Cross walked over and said "Excuse me, are there any books on languages and a book of general spells?"

The woman looked up and said "Accio, World languages and General Spells for Wizards and Witches Volume 1-5." 6 books flew over and landed on the desk. Cross took them and said "Thank you." the woman smiled and went back to her work as Cross walked to a table with the books.

Cross opened the first general book and placed Carl on the table telling him to be quiet before reading the spell books.

The 'General Spells' series was packed with simple and easy to use spells. It had only taken a few hours to finish the entire series. Most of the spells were already known by him but the rest were new.

Cross increased his knowledge of spells and memorized them in his mind. They were only the simplest kind of spells so it was relatively easy. He moved on from the spell books and focused on the Language book.

He opened the book and started reading through it. To his surprise, the book not only had a series of languages but their descriptions, an example, the race that uses it as their main language, and the history behind the language as well as famous users.

To Cross' confusion, Elven wasn't in the book at all. As if it didn't exist. This puzzled him as he could clearly speak Elven, how was it that the language disappeared? This did, however, confirm his suspicions that something did happen to the Elves, causing them to be forgotten about by almost everyone except a few Humans and some old races.

Cross kept reading and found 'Parseltongue'. The reason it attracted his attention was because the founder of Slytherin was a proficient Parseltongue speaker. He suddenly remember the green fireplace in the Slytherin common room, there was a secret behind the fire. He could feel it with his strings, he decided to learn Parseltongue and see if anything changed.

Seeing the connection between Parseltongue and the Founder of Slytherin house, maybe it would be worthwhile to learn Parseltongue regardless. He picked out a few more languages to learn, most of them were common European languages like French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, then he chose Gobbledegook, and Draconian.

Cross didn't know if there were any Dragons still left alive but he still chose Draconian regardless. It was more of a cover up for Parseltongue and Gobbledegook. What business did a first year student have learning Parseltongue and Gobbledegook? He could just say he was curious about the language and if he targeted Parseltongue and Gobbledegook specifically he would appear suspicious.

Cross brought the books back and asked with a smile "Can I borrow books on French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Parseltongue, Gobbledegook, and Draconian please?" the librarian looked at him and said "What use do you have for these?" Cross pretended to be shy and scratched his head sheepishly as he said "I like to study languages. I find they are very interesting."

The librarian sighed with a smile as she said "Very well. Don't spend too much time studying these languages. It's better to study on your magic directly." before calling the books over. Cross nodded in appreciation and took the books with him back to his table.

Cross started with Parseltongue and read the book until the sun came up. The librarian knocked on the table and Cross looked up, he looked perfectly fine and the librarian smiled softly as she said "It's time for breakfast young man."

Cross nodded and said "Big sister, could I borrow these books?" the librarian gushed and said gently "Just remember to bring them back." Cross smiled cutely and said excitedly "Thank you so much, big sister! You're my favorite!" the librarian blushed at his flattery and shoo'd him out of the library with a warm smile.

Cross put Carl on his head and scooped up the books, heading out of the library.

When he was alone, his smile straightened out to a line and he scanned around him with his strings. Finding no one and nothing, he pulled out his storage bag and dumped all the books, except Parseltongue, into it before putting his bag away and walking towards the kitchen while reading.