30 Altered Fate

"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one...".

Just like out of the books and movies, Hermione seemed to be helping Neville track down his toad. Oz looked at the three other boys in the carriage before replying.

"Nope no toad here".

Hermione sighed as she looked around the compartment once more.

"Are you sure? I've checked most of the train now and there's no sign of that toad..."

Neville then appeared behind Hermione, looking very sheepish and shy. As Oz saw him he sighed to himself before standing up and walking over towards him.

"You must be Neville right? What's your toads name?"

Neville looked bewildered by Oz's sudden questions. After collecting himself for a second he responded:

"H-his name I-is T-Trevor"

Oz looked down at Neville deeply.

'Its hard to picture this boy as one of the driving forces in the final film and book...'

"Trevor is it? Okay ill have him here in a second".

As Oz slowly unveiled his wand from his wand holster Hermione responded:

"What are yo-"

Cutting her off Oz chanted:

"Accio Trevor".

With that, A toad could be seen suddenly flying through the hall of the train. Such a scene made Oz almost laugh as the fat toad was flying rapidly through the air. When it finally arrived to Oz however the toad slowed down and gently landed on his palm.

"Here you go Neville, Make sure you don't lose him again. All it takes is one wrong leap of the train and he'd have killed himself or something".

Neville shakily thanked Oz for finding his toad before running off back to his seat on the train. As Oz turned his head however he saw Hermione looking up at him with her eyes glistening with curiosity.

"What spell was that?!"

Oz looked down at the expectant Hermione with a slight grin on his face.

'Such a thirst for knowledge this girl has. I wonder if in the original story, being friends with Harry and Ro-... especially Ron actually stopped her from reaching her fullest potential...'

"Its a spell you'll learn soon girl, do not worry"

Hermione looked a bit hurt at Oz's comment seeing as though he wouldn't answer her question fully.

"Humph thats fine then... By the way I have a name, Its Hermione, Hermione Granger".

Oz smiled as she introduced herself with gusto.

"Well its nice to meet you Hermione. Now, it'd be best for you to get back to your compartment, the train journey doesn't have long left..."

Hermione let out a little gasp as she realised that fact and immediately thanked Oz for helping before running off. As Oz went back down into the compartment to sit, Craig was looking at Oz was a confused look on his face.

"What's the matter Craig? Nargle got your tongue?"

"Wha-? No, I've never even heard of a Nargle... I was just curious as to why you helped those two. I've seen your personality, usually you keep to yourself and don't bother but in that moment you decided to step in... why?"

Oz smiled as he thought.

"There was no reason really, I just felt like it".

Craig didn't believe that answer for a second but he decided to accept it. The four in the compartment then started talking again for the last leg of their journey to Hogwarts.

.

Craig and Oz split off from both Ron and Harry eventually as they needed to be in the great hall while those two went through the Sorting Ceremony. While walking up towards the castle and into the great hall, Oz felt that the synergy between him and Craig was becoming much closer and he felt it was becoming easier and easier to talk to him. It probably helped that the boy was such a social butterfly who could always keep a conversation going.

As soon as they entered the main hall, Oz walked over to the Slytherin table taking a seat near the very end by himself. Just like last year, A lot of the Slytherins didn't want to be near Oz at all so it was a stark ostracization with him being obviously alone at the end of the table. Oz didn't mind though, all of last year taught him just to accept and move on.

After a while of waiting the doors swung open. Mcgonagall walked in with the first years in tow, much like what happened to Oz last year. Her expression was what confused Oz as instead of her usual strict face with a tinge of happiness, Oz sensed she felt slightly ashamed and sad. As a matter of fact, when Oz looked up at the teachers table he could barely see that most of the teachers didn't have happy faces on. It took a second for Oz to realise what had happened.

'I see... So the school must have already caught news of what happened in the Leaky Cauldron now. When I told Hagrid to tell Dumbledore, I half expected him to cast a spell on Hagrid to make him forget what he saw, but seeing as though the Wizard public is making moves I guess Dumbledore has been backed into a corner'.

With someone like Dumbledore who was powerful and held an incredibly high position within the wizarding community, the only way to get to him was through the public nowadays. Oz was no way near strong enough to sway him personally but having the public involved means he will face constant pressure in the form of howlers and complaints.

As Oz stared up at the headmaster he felt their eyes lock together. At that moment, he also felt that his occlumency defences for a moment were being touched upon. Thankfully for Oz, the Ambrosius ring strengthened his mind defences a lot so Dumbledore couldn't get a proper read on him or his core. Oz could see in the distance that the headmaster furrowed his eyebrows slightly before putting back on his grandfatherly face as he stared at the first years.

'That man means well... I know that for sure... but to just suddenly try to read my mind like that? what sort of twisted saint is he...'

After Oz's thought the sorting ceremony begun. A number of characters went up to get sorted, some of which Oz recognised and some of which Oz didn't at all.

After some time, one of the golden trio finally made their appearance and the first to be sorted between them was Ron. Oz secretly held hope deep down that he'd be put somewhere else due to his interference, however, deep down he realised that Ron's placement was one that was set in stone.

{GRYFFINDOR}

Ron's face was plastered with a huge smile as he ran off to join the table that had his brothers on it. Oz sighed a bit to himself, sad that Ron got off lightly. Then again the sorting hat listens to the decision of the person wearing it so its not a huge surprise.

'Thinking back when I got sorted... I probably could have forced the hat to put me in another house but I just didn't. I wonder why?'

Oz brushed aside his stray thoughts as he saw Hermione now walking up to get sorted. Oz thought to himself that Hermione was a perfect fit for Ravenclaw and it was weird that she was placed in Gryffindor in the original canon. Maybe the train ride influenced her? or maybe deep down she held out hope that she would be put into Gryffindor? Oz didn't know, but the answer to his questions came quickly:

{GRYFFINDOR}

Oz sat slightly surprised for a while seeing Hermione still end up in Gryffindor. Oz truly believed that there was a chance she'd end up in Ravenclaw this time around however maybe deep down the girl prayed to be in Gryffindor? Oz didn't truly know. Such a situation wasn't exactly mind-boggling to Oz though and he could accept it.

Finally it was time for Harry Potter to go up and get sorted. He sat with the hat on his head as the sorting hat seemed to take its time sorting him. Oz looked at Harrys face realising this time around he wasn't chanting "Not Slytherin, Not Slytherin". A myriad of thoughts flooded Oz's mind as the realisation of what was about to happen came to him. Finally after what felt like minutes the sorting hat finally spoke:

{SLYTHERIN}.

.

.

'Fate has been altered'.