“Hmm… let me have a look at you.” The Sorting Hat dropped low enough to cover David’s eyes.
Then it immediately began muttering in his ear.
“Oh!
Quite talented.” “My goodness… Dark Magic too.” “You’ve certainly had an eventful education.” David’s ears were already starting to hurt.
More importantly, he had no desire to let an enchanted hat rummage around inside his head for too long.
“Just put me in the Slytherin gang and we can—” “House!” The Sorting Hat gave an indignant twitch.
“It’s a House!” Then it bounced angrily on his head.
“And don’t tell me how to do my job!
I’m the Sorting Hat!” “Slytherin.” David didn’t care about the feelings of a battered old hat.
“Put me in Slytherin.” At the staff table, Professor Snape had been watching Harry Potter with unusual concentration.
At David’s words, his head slowly turned.
His expression darkened.
So this is your revenge, boy?
The Sorting Hat grumbled.
“Children are becoming more difficult every year.” “One refuses to go to Slytherin…” “And another one insists on it.” “All right, all right!” David had already raised a hand to pull the hat off when it suddenly shouted across the Great Hall— “SLYTHERIN!” Then, much more quietly in his ear: “You troublesome little brat.” A murmur swept through the hall.
Normally, when a student was Sorted, their new House welcomed them with applause and cheers.
David received a slightly different response.
It wasn’t that no one applauded.
Quite the opposite.
Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff erupted as though Christmas had arrived early.
Slytherin remained almost completely silent.
David rose with great dignity.
Then, instead of heading towards the green-and-silver table, he smiled and took two steps towards the other three Houses.
The applause died instantly.
David nodded graciously.
Only then did Slytherin react.
Laughter broke out along the table.
Several older students even applauded his little performance.
David finally turned towards his actual House.
His gaze settled immediately on a familiar blond head.
“Hello, Draco.” Draco stiffened.
David walked over wearing a smile that promised absolutely nothing good and stopped directly opposite him.
Blaise Zabini was already sitting there.
Technically, the seat belonged to him.
Blaise briefly looked as though he might object.
Then David glanced at him.
Blaise stood up.
Immediately.
Perhaps losing a seat wasn’t worth making an international incident out of.
Draco gripped his fork.
“This is Hogwarts.” His voice was considerably braver than his expression.
“You can’t do anything to me here.” David sat down comfortably.
Then he pointed towards the two boys beside Draco.
“You’re expecting them to protect you?” Draco glanced at Crabbe and Goyle.
“I’ll tell my father!” He hadn’t heard a word of Dumbledore’s speech.
A round of applause rose through the hall, and moments later the empty plates filled themselves with food.
Pansy appeared almost immediately.
“Cousin, they have the beef you like.” She squeezed into the seat beside David.
Another first-year reluctantly shifted away to make room.
Pansy eagerly placed a large slice of roast beef onto David’s plate.
Then sausages.
Then lamb chops.
“Thank you, Pansy.” David smiled at her.
“You look lovely tonight.” Pansy brightened instantly.
David didn’t blame her for avoiding him on the train.
Given the rumours spreading through the compartments, keeping her distance had been a perfectly reasonable decision.
Then David looked across the table again.
“Oh, right.” His smile returned.
“Your father is on the Hogwarts Board of Governors, isn’t he, Draco?” Pansy had mentioned it before.
“Of course he is!” Draco straightened.
“My father—” Then he noticed David’s expression.
His confidence faltered.
“What are you planning?” “Nothing.” David cut into his roast beef with impeccable table manners.
“Eat your dinner.” Draco stared at him suspiciously.
David continued between bites.
“Later, I’m going to ask what punishment I’d receive for beating up the son of a school governor.” Draco nearly dropped his fork.
“You’ll be expelled!” David calmly ate another piece of beef.
Draco spent the rest of dinner barely touching his food.
Apparently, he was terribly concerned that David might ruin his own future by attacking him.
He was so distracted that he barely noticed the Bloody Baron and the other ghosts drifting through the Great Hall.
Nor did he pay much attention to Dumbledore’s announcements.
David, on the other hand, ate extremely well.
Pansy kept his plate full, and Hogwarts food was perfectly acceptable.
While eating, he listened to conversations around him, talked with Pansy about the summer, and caught fragments of Dumbledore’s speech.
Something about the Forbidden Forest.
Something about a forbidden corridor.
David frowned slightly.
Forbidden forest?
Forbidden corridor?
What sort of school needed this many things explicitly labelled dangerous?
Then came the Hogwarts school song.
David listened in silence.
It was… an experience.
After the chaotic performance finally ended, the prefects began leading students towards their common rooms.
David followed along.
He was, technically speaking, a new student.
Slytherin House was underground.
Once they left the Great Hall, their route separated from the other Houses.
They descended beside the marble staircase on the ground floor, then followed a succession of dim stone corridors until the prefect stopped in front of an apparently blank wall.
“Pure-blood.” David’s eyebrow moved slightly.
Subtle.
At the password, carved serpents shifted across the stone.
A hidden entrance opened.
David stepped into the Slytherin common room.
Green dominated nearly everything.
The walls were made of massive blocks of dark stone.
There was no moonlight beyond the windows.
Only black water.
They were beneath the lake.
Even with a fire burning in the hearth, the common room retained a cold, damp chill.
The prefect gave the new students a quick list of rules before gesturing towards two passages.
“Boys to the left, girls to the right.” “Boys are not permitted in the girls’ dormitories.” “That’s all.” “Your names are on the doors.
Find your rooms.” Pansy grinned at David.
“I can come visit yours.” Then she hurried away towards the girls’ dormitories with Daphne, whom she had apparently met on the train.
David watched her go.
He made a mental note.
Write to Mum tomorrow.
Ask her to send a lock.
Under Draco’s wary stare, David entered the boys’ corridor.
It didn’t take long to find his room.
He stopped.
Only one name was written on the door.
DAVID ROWLE David opened it.
A private room?
Apparently so.
Placing a third-year transfer student with the first-years would have been awkward, while the existing third-year dormitory had no spare bed.
So David had somehow ended up with accommodation normally reserved for a professor.
He stepped inside.
The room was enormous for one person.
A fire already burned in the hearth, making it considerably warmer than the common room.
There was a bed.
A bench at its foot.
Desk.
Bookshelves.
Wardrobe.
Shoe cabinet.
Washroom.
Equipment rack.
Everything he could reasonably need.
The traditional four-poster bed was hung with green silk curtains, and silver embroidery decorated the bedspread.
Silver lamps hung from the ceiling.
They weren’t especially bright, but they provided enough light.
His luggage had already been placed at the foot of the bed.
Unfortunately, no one was going to unpack it for him.
David sighed.
He began with the Nimbus 2000, hanging it carefully on the equipment rack.
At that exact moment, a massive tentacle drifted lazily past the window.
David stared at it.
Then at the black lake beyond the glass.
A luxurious private suite beneath the lake.
Complete with permanent humidity.
Ideal conditions for developing arthritis before the age of twenty.
Wonderful.
He resumed unpacking.
Cloaks.
Gloves.
Wizarding hats.
School robes.
Suits.
Sports clothes.
Leather shoes.
Slippers.
Trainers.
Broomstick.
Walking stick.
Notebooks.
Brass scales.
Potion phials.
Telescope.
Textbooks.
Reference books.
Parchment.
Pestle.
Mortar.
Silver knife.
Cauldron.
Ink.
Quills.
If his trunk hadn’t been enormous—and if Barclay hadn’t helped carry everything—David would have been forced to reconsider his original educational plans.
Perhaps dropping out had its advantages.
He had no idea how much tuition James had paid, but judging by his private room alone, it couldn’t have been insignificant.
Fortunately, David’s family was still reasonably comfortable.
That much was obvious from his equipment.
His cauldron wasn’t pewter.
It was brass.
His potion bottles weren’t ordinary glass.
They were crystal.
He had an entire case of parchment.
And a complete set of enchanted quills capable of recording notes automatically.
Once everything was finally organised, David took a long hot bath.
Then he climbed into the four-poster bed.
Outside the window, soft underwater currents brushed quietly against the glass.
The castle settled into silence.
David closed his eyes.
His first night at Hogwarts had begun.
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