Chapter Seven

I waited for my name to be called on as I watched kids walking up to a chair, putting on an old, dusty hat, and getting sorted into the correct houses.

Humming slightly, I glanced at Harry, who was waiting impatiently, wanting to be sorted quicker.

You know, the last thing I expected when I came here was eleven-year-olds trying to pull off political moves... Like, what the fuck? You are a kid, live life for a little, man.

"Malfoy! Draco!"

McGonagall called out and the same blonde kid that introduced himself walked up, sitting on the chair. Before the old woman could even put on the hat, it called out.

"Slytherin!"

The kid smirked and walked off triumphantly to the said table.

Weird flex but okay.

I hummed slightly, crossing my arms for a moment, the pit of snakes, the home of badgers, the nest of the eagles, or the den of the lions...

Well, I can just ask the hat, probably, most likely.

I ignored a few names that were called out as most of them were passed into the Griffindor, and finally, they reached the important ones.

"Potter! Harry!"

My brother perked up and walked forward, sitting on the chair, and letting the professor put the hat on his head.

Seconds passed, and it turned into a minute... This was taking an awful lot of time, wasn't it? I spotted his lips moving and deduced that the hat could talk telepathically, but Harry was too inexperienced to respond in the same way.

Finally, the hat decided.

"Gryffindor!"

Geez, dramatic much?

Finally, Harry ran over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to the Weasly kid. Okay, he would make friends there, I just needed to leave him to his own devices. This was a school, and the most I had to worry about was bullying, which I could deal with personally.

I would still watch over him, but I didn't need to get in the way.

"Potter! Ares!"

The hall quietened down like the celebrations were nothing but the pretense that was ready to be dropped. I silently walked forward and sat down on the chair... Would my gamer's mind even allow the hat in?

"...Well, this is problematic."

The hat whispered and I resisted the urge to groan out, being the gamer wasn't all fun with no problems and occasional intense fights.

I remained silent, not wanting to tip off the hat that I had something to do with this predicament. I wasn't really sure what to do either.

"... Want to be with your brother, brat?"

I shook my head minutely so that nobody would notice, at least I hoped that nobody would.

"Which house has separate rooms and is most likely to leave me alone?"

The hat hummed for a second and finally, nodded, which felt weird considering that it was a hat that was on my head.

"Slytherin!"

Well, I guess that answers that.

"None, but you can work around that if you are smart, in this house in particular."

I hummed in thought and finally stood up to walk over to the Slytherin table, ignoring the silent hall.

As I neared the table, I noticed that the spot next to Malfoy was cleared up and gave a mental sigh of resignation as I walked over to sit down.

When I did, the inside of my robes turned green, but only temporarily, rolling my eyes, I transfigured it to green with thought and got comfortable.

"It's good to see that at least one potter is not in that obnoxious house."

Malfoy remarked and I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. He is a child, Ares, restrain yourself. Don't stoop down to his level.

I just nodded and sat down, listening as the others were assigned to their new houses with half a mind, and looked over my status sheet.

My mana control was at fifteen, which was supposed to be max, but I knew that it was false. Lightning strike required 3/20... and I only had fifteen. There has to be a way for me to raise the limit higher than this.

I heard a resounding clap, and the food that was invisible in front of us appeared and I absently grabbed the cup that was filled with some kind of juice.

Transfiguring it into wine, I took a sip and hummed slightly. The system provided me with hints about the progress that I could make, even if it was unintentional.

I reached out to my mana, allowing it to seep out of my skin and harden around my body.

[Spell created: Mana Armor. 5 Skill points awarded.]

Leveling things up is going to be so easy.

"What do you think, Potter? About the professors?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and gave a glance at the said professors observing them for a second. I knew most of them, mostly because they were famous.

"Most of them are very powerful, McGonagall has valuable experience with transfiguration, Flitwick is a dueling champion, Hooch is said to have learned flying on her own, and Snape is a renowned potions master-"

I paused for a second, narrowing my eyes at one of the professors, the tag on top of their head was weird. There were two names, with one overlaying the other. The one below was almost completely faded, so I couldn't really make out what it was. Maybe he changed the name?

"I don't know anything about Quirrell, but he was picked for the DaDa, so he should be knowledgeable in the subject, at least."

Malfoy hummed in agreement and looked at what I was drinking.

"That's not pumpkin juice, how did you do that, Potter?"

Ah, shit, I wasn't about to give alcohol to a kid, was I?

This huge castle must have a few house elves right? I could just blame them, probably.

"It's either the house elves or the magic of the cup, I'm not really sure, but I wanted a different kind of juice."

I shrugged and Malfoy looked thoughtful for a moment before grabbing his cup and concentrating, a second later, he sighed and talked.

"I want apple juice."

Thankfully, the contents of his cup changed, or rather, the cup changed as it disappeared and re-appeared in his hand.

Draco looked down at it for a moment and sipped it, nodding appreciatively.

I sent a glance at Harry and raised an eyebrow when I spotted him looking at me worriedly.

What was that about?