Chapter 055
The right eyebrow joined the left in being raised. "Right again."
Harry smiled and nodded his head, pleased to see his assumptions were correct, then turned his attention to the blond girl. In turn, she looked at him for several long seconds, and when he held her gaze without flinching inclined her head.
"Daphne Greengrass," she introduced herself in a voice every bit as cold and aristocratic as her eyes.
"A pleasure." Harry gave her a slight bow of his head in return. He also took note of the fact that she hadn'tt offered her hand, which meant she had no intention of entering an alliance with him, or at least no desire to at this time.
"Isn't this exciting?" Tracey asked as she looked up at Hogwarts castle. "I can't believe we're finally going to get to learn magic!"
"I must confess to being quite jubilant myself," Harry admitted, his eyes flickering over to Daphne. He had seen her lips twitch upwards for a moment when Tracey spoke, as if she were going to make a remark, but had held herself back due to his presence. It suggested familiarity to the other two in the boat. Perhaps these three were friends? Or at least, Tracey and Daphne were friends.
"Jubila-what?" asked Tracey, blinking several times as her eyes were pried away from the castle and onto him.
"It means excited, Tracey," Daphne answered before Harry could. He cast his eyes over to her once again, but she studiously ignored his gaze. It seemed that mask of coldness had slipped, if only for a moment. How interesting.
"Ah." Tracey nodded. "Why didn't he just say excited?"
"I did," Harry said with a raised eyebrow. "I just used a another word to do it."
Tracey rolled her eyes at the answer, and her mouth opened to give a retort when she was interrupted.
"Heads down!" The giant of a man yelled out as the boats reached the cliff. Blaise, Daphne and Tracey bent their heads down as they passed through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face.
"Why are you three ducking?" asked Harry, amused. Tracey and the other two looked up to see him sitting straight. When he noticed their looks, he offered a wry grin. "That man is over ten feet tall..." he paused, then added, "and standing up. Naturally, he would need to hunch over to pass through."
"Oh..." Tracey murmured with another blush. She sat back up and tried to regain whatever composure she had left, the other two doing the same, though with much more success than the brunette.
Those two were definitely purebloods. Harry surmised they had likely been trained on how to keep themselves collected, as tradition dictated, according to Andromeda.
After taking them through a dark tunnel that Harry imagined brought them right underneath Hogwarts itself, they came upon an underground harbor.
As the ships began to stop, Harry stood up and stepped out, then turned to the closest person to him. Surprisingly, it was not Tracey, who had been sitting right next to him (she was already out of the boat); it was Daphne. Despite her stoic demeanor toward him, he offered his hand and, after another second of intense staring, the blond girl gently set hers in his palm and allowed him to help her out of the boat.
They made their way along the path, following the giant man as they and the others walked up a flight of stone steps, only to stop in front of a large, oak door. The giant, whose name Harry had yet to learn, knocked on the door exactly three times.
The door swung open and Harry saw Professor McGonagall standing just inside the entrance, looking as stern as ever.
"The firs' years, professor McGonagall," the giant announced in a happy voice.
"Thank you, Hagrid," Professor McGonagall said. Harry filed the giant of a man's name away for future reference. "I will take them from here."
She pulled the doors wide, and Harry would admit to being impressed with the size of the entrance hall. It was easily large enough to fit two or more houses of the Dursley's size and still have some room left over. The floor, walls, and Harry suspected the ceiling (it was too high up for him to see) were all made of large, gray stone. Off to the side, at the other end of the hall, was a magnificent marble staircase leading to other parts of the castle.
Professor McGonagall led the group across the flagged stone floor. As they walked, Harry could hear the droning of a hundred voices coming from a doorway to the right, and correctly guessed that the rest of the students must be in there. It was strange to him, then, when Professor McGonagall led them not into the room where the older students resided, but to a small empty chamber off the hall.
There was a moment of discomfort when everyone began crowding around each other. It reminded Harry briefly of his encounter in the Leaky Cauldron, which still brought chills down his spine. Thankfully, no one tried crushing him with their enthusiasm, allowing him to shove his discomfort away easily enough.
He turned his head when Tracey bumped into him as they were forced into close quarters. She stumbled, and Harry allowed her to steady herself by grabbing onto his arm.
"Sorry," she mumbled over the din of chattering voices.
"It's fine," Harry replied as he let the girl continue holding his arm for support. He was so used to Lisa holding onto him that physical contact with a female didn't bother him. Though he would admit it felt a little odd with this new girl grabbing him, but chalked it up to being more familiar with Lisa than Tracey.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall began, silencing any and all conversations. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.
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