Finally, the pudding disappeared as well, and Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet again.
Silence returned to the Great Hall.
“Well, now that everyone has eaten and drunk their fill, I’d like to say a few more words.
At the start of term, there are a few things I must remind you about.”
“First-years, please note that the forest on the school grounds is strictly off-limits to all students.
Some of our older students would do well to remember that too.”
Dumbledore’s sparkling gaze swept briefly toward the Weasley twins.
“Also, Mr.
Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind everyone not to use magic in the corridors between classes.”
“Quidditch tryouts will be held in the second week of term.
Anyone interested in joining their House team should speak to Madam Hooch.”
“Finally, I must tell you that anyone who does not wish to suffer an accident or die a painful, horrible death should stay away from the corridor on the right-hand side of the fourth floor.”
“Strange,” Percy said, frowning.
“What’s wrong?”
“Usually, whenever he forbids us from going somewhere, he explains why,” Percy said.
“For example, everyone knows there are plenty of Dangerous Beasts in the Forbidden Forest.
Even if he can’t tell all the students, he should at least explain it clearly to us Prefects.”
“Now, before everyone goes to bed, let us all sing the school song!” Dumbledore waved a hand, signaling for everyone to quiet down.
The smiles on the other professors’ faces froze at once.
Dumbledore gave his wand a light flick, and a long golden ribbon drifted out of it, twisting and coiling like a snake above the high table until it formed rows of words.
“Choose whichever tune you like,” Dumbledore said.
“Ready, sing!”
The entire school launched into the anthem in a completely chaotic chorus.
Ethan heard the Weasley twins singing it to the tune of the “Funeral March,” so he opened his mouth and bellowed the whole song in a Peking Opera style.
Dumbledore conducted the final few bars for the three of them with his wand, and when they finished, he clapped the loudest.
“Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes.
“More enchanting than anything else we do here!
Now it is time for bed.
Off to your dormitories, everyone.”
…
“Gryffindors, follow me.
Keep up, please.”
The Gryffindor first-years followed Percy through the noisy crowd, out of the Great Hall, and up the Marble Staircase.
“This is the quickest way to the dormitories, but be careful of the stairs.
They can change at any time,” Percy explained as he led the new students upward.
The portraits hanging on the marble walls began moving and greeting the students.
“Welcome to Hogwarts.”
They climbed the stairs, passed through a door hidden behind a curtain, and arrived in a windowed corridor.
Then Percy, at the very front of the group, suddenly stopped.
Ahead of them, a bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair.
Percy was only one step ahead of the people behind him, so everyone stumbled forward and nearly crashed into him.
“It’s Peeves,” Percy whispered.
“A poltergeist who loves pranks.”
Then Percy raised his voice.
“Peeves, come out!”
The answer was a loud, shrill noise like air escaping from a balloon.
“Do you want me to go and fetch Bloody Baron?”
“Pfft.”
A translucent little Dwarf suddenly appeared, floating cross-legged in midair, both hands gripping the bundle of walking sticks.
Unlike the pale ghosts they had seen earlier, he was brightly colored.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the nasty little first-years!
And a big dumb lump too.
How fun!” he cackled, looking at Ethan as he said the last part.
Ethan: ?
Staring at Peeves as he hovered above them with that smug grin, Ethan silently marked down the grudge.
“I’m not joking!” Percy roared.
Peeves stuck out his tongue, pulled a face, and vanished.
The walking sticks came crashing down toward Neville’s head.
Ethan quietly slid the wand out of his sleeve, pinched the tip, and gave it a flick.
The walking sticks brushed past Neville and clattered to the floor.
“You’ll all need to watch out for Peeves,” Percy said, leading everyone onward.
“Bloody Baron is the only one who can control him.
He doesn’t even listen to us Prefects.”
As Ethan listened to Percy, he quietly began planning how he would deal with that unlucky brat someday.
“We’re here.”
At the end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very plump woman in pink.
“Password?” the woman in the portrait asked.
“Dragon-dregs,” Percy replied.
The portrait swung open, revealing a round hole in the wall behind it.
After crawling through, they entered a cozy circular room filled with soft armchairs, with a fireplace crackling away.
“Welcome to the Gryffindor Common Room.
The boys’ dormitories are upstairs on the left, and the girls’ are on the right,” Percy said, directing the first-years toward their rooms.
“Find your dormitory by the names on the door.
Your luggage has already been sent up.”
…
“Harry Potter… Neville Longbottom… Ethan?
Ethan, over here.
You’re in our dorm!” Harry and Ron called, reading the names on the dormitory door and waving Ethan over.
Ethan answered and followed them inside.
The dormitory was a semicircular room, with five four-poster beds lined against the wall, each hung with deep red curtains.
Their trunks had already been brought up and placed at the foot of their beds.
“So it’s true, then?
You really took part in that cup war thing?” Ron changed into his pajamas in no time, sat cross-legged on the bed farthest to the left, and asked Ethan over Harry’s bed.
“I was dragged into it, that’s all.
If that Dark Wizard hadn’t been such a walking disaster, I’d probably be gone too,” Ethan said as he pulled his pajama top over his head.
“Besides, I was half-conscious the whole time.
I can’t remember exactly what happened.
Professor Fig was the one who told me about it.”
“What on earth are you two talking about?” Harry, stuck between them, looked utterly baffled.
“Well, I’ll tell you all about it another day.
It’s too late tonight, so let’s get some sleep.
Look, Neville and Seamus are already exhausted.” Ethan sat on his bed after changing and jerked his chin toward them.
Neville, who was hugging his pillow nearby and waiting for a story, and Seamus, who was rolling around on his bed: ??
That wasn’t us.
We didn’t say that.
Don’t make things up.
Still, they really were worn out.
One by one, they collapsed onto their beds and fell asleep before long.
Perhaps he had drunk too much grape juice that day, because in the middle of the night, Ethan woke up needing to pee and decided to go open the floodgates.
When he turned his head, he saw Harry sitting curled up on the windowsill, staring blankly out the window.
“What’s wrong, Harry?” Ethan sat down lightly across from him and asked in a low voice.
“Can’t sleep?”
“I… I’m scared…” Harry whispered.
“Scared?”
“I’m scared to sleep.
I’m scared this is all a dream.
Magic, Hagrid, Hogwarts, Ron, and you, all of it,” Harry said, tucking his head even deeper against himself, his voice barely louder than a mosquito.
“I’m scared that when I wake up, all of this will disappear, and I’ll be back in the cupboard at my aunt and uncle’s house.”
Ethan sighed.
For the first ten years of Harry’s life, he had practically been abused by the Dursleys.
How much security could a child who had spent years being mistreated possibly have?
Now that he had suddenly left that family and come alone into this unknown wizarding world, it was only natural for him to doubt a life that seemed far too good to be true.
“Don’t worry, Harry.
I understand how you feel.
But this isn’t a dream.
I’m real, Ron is real, Hogwarts is real, and everything you’ve experienced is real.” Ethan patted Harry on the shoulder.
“You’re just too tired.
Go to bed and get some sleep.
When you wake up tomorrow morning, you’ll still be lying in the Gryffindor dormitory.”
With a mixture of coaxing and gentle pushing, Ethan got Harry into bed and tucked him in.
Ethan patted Harry’s blanket, then stood and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To the bathroom.
Want to come?”