Chapter 1

Harry watched silently as the scores of children appeared on the platform with their families, either crying together or laughing and enjoying their last moments. He watched as the rich looking snobs clumped together and left the muggleborns to wander around confused, unsure as to how exactly they were supposed to act in this strange, new world. He watched as half bloods struggled to find somewhere to fit in, not good enough for the elite but unwilling to put up with the muggleborns.

Harry watched, and he was disgusted.

He looked around and silently took in every kid there. Who looked lost or confused, which of the elites were helping or not, and everyone inbetween. Quickly he memorised faces and linked them to keywords, sorting them all in his memories.

'Blonde hair, sisters, pureblood, seemingly neutral.'

'Redheads, pureblood, seemingly light.'

'Blond hair, pureblood, dark.'

'Red hair, halfblood[?], light.'

'Brown hair, muggleborn.'...

And so he continued, mentally sorting every student as he analyzed them. Some were harder to read than others, so he sub-categorized them for further inspection, and he decided to start with the red haired girl he had spotted, who was having trouble on her own.

''Need a hand?'' He asked, picking up her trunk and lifting it on to the train when she grinned and nodded.

''Thanks for the help, I may have packed too much. And yet, nowhere near enough...''

Harry laughed and grunted as he swung his own trunk onto the train. ''It's no problem at all, I noticed you didn't have anyone here with you, so I thought I'd lend a hand. Harry, by the way. Harry Potter.''

She looked at him in surprise for a second, but then to his surprise shrugged it off and answered the unasked question. ''My guardian, aunty Amelia is working at the DMLE office right now, so I just came on my own. Susan Bones, at your service.''

Harry raised his eyebrows, probably more surprised than she was at his own name. Amelia had often mentioned her niece Susan, he had no idea how he'd missed who she was.

They arrived at a compartment containing a blonde haired girl, and by the way she was situated he knew she was at least not muggleborn.

''Well, this is me.'' Susan said, ''If you'd like to join us…?''

Harry thought about it for a second, but it probably wasn't the greatest idea. The journey to school would be the only time every student was easily accessible, and he had recon to do.

''Nah, not just now, I don't think. I want to go around and meet some of our year mates first, as lame as that might sound. I may pop in later though, if you don't mind?''

''Sure.'' She smiled at him again, then went into the compartment to sit with her friend.

Sighing, he set off to the last carriage and started upon his quest. In cases where the students inside were fourth year or above, he ignored and passed them. The purebloods he ignored for the most part, and the big groups he took note of and decided to tackle later individually.

He did, however visit the smaller groups or individuals, in an attempt to establish communications with as many people as he could. He covered the majority of the muggleborn students, learning their names and stories.

Arriving at the final compartment, he looked inside to see a single girl with dark, bushy hair. After knocking and getting an ok, he walked into the compartment.

''Hello there.'' He greeted, giving her a grin. Holding out his hand then, he introduced himself. ''Harry. Harry Potter.''

Cautiously, she took his hand and said ''I'm Hermione, Hermione Gra… wait. The Harry Potter?''

''Last time I checked, yeah.'' He said, then looked at her askance. ''Odd, I had you pegged for muggleborn.''

''What? I am muggleborn. Why would you think differently?''

He looked at her in surprise for a second, then smiled brightly at her. ''It's just unusual for muggleborns to know who I am. Glad to see that you've at least done your research. The differences between muggle and wizarding Britain are huge, and it does no good to compare them as if they were the same country, because for all intents and purposes they are different. Just something to keep in mind - when talking to purebloods, comparing their world to the muggle one is a great offence.''

''Oh… I see.'' She said smally, before she pulled out a bunch of notes from her trunk and, sighing, tossed them into a bin. ''They were ideas on how I could start to converge the muggle and wizarding worlds.''

He stared at her for a second. Then another another second. He started to open his mouth, then snapped it shut as he looked at her in befuddlement. As she raised her eyebrow at him, he gave her a huge grin.

''I reckon you're going to be an extremely interesting student this year, Ms Gra.''

''Oh! Sorry about that, I forgot!'' She said sheepishly. ''It's Granger. Hermione Granger.''

''Well then Ms. Granger, I'm pleased to have met you. I need to head now back to a friend - I did tell her I'd return. Perhaps you'd like to join me? That is of course depending on whether they're nice enough to let you stay, but I'm sure they will.''

''I uh… alright. Are you sure I wouldn't be imposing?''

''Not at all, I can't have you sitting here by yourself the entire trip.'' He reached up and grabbed her trunk from the rack, then smiled as she stood up and followed him out of the compartment, clutching her books.

Knocking on the door, Harry stepped inside the compartment after he heard Susan tell him to come on in. Looking around, he saw Susan, the girl who was here originally, and a small blond kid.

''Would you mind terribly if I brought in a friend, too? I found her in the last compartment.''

''Of course!'' Susan replied. ''Plenty of room.''

''Great, thanks. Come on in.''

She smiled slightly at him as she slipped in and sat down, then he turned to the two blonde's. ''I'm Harry, and this here is Hermione. Good to meet you.''

The boy nodded and introduced himself as Ernie, while Susan introduced herself to Hermione, then introduced Hannah to them.

''So,'' Susan began as the pair sat down, ''How did it go meeting our yearmates? How were they?''

''Good, for the most part. A lot of the pureblood elitists refused to let me in or talk to me until I introduced myself. Completely despicable, I think. Judging people based purely on their status and popularity, so I told them where they could place themselves and walked off. Outside of that, a fair few muggleborns who were sitting alone since no prefects or students bothered to help them out, so I told them that they were always welcome to join me in the library to study or ask questions. All in all, I got what I wanted.''

Susan had been looking at him more and more strangely throughout his little spiel, but said nothing. Instead she asked ''And what was it that you wanted?''

''I simply wanted to scope out exactly who in our year I wanted to befriend and talk to, and who were the ones I wanted to avoid. For example, this blond haired kid. Started insulting me with every name under the earth when I originally walked in but when he heard my name? Help out his hand as if I should be honored to be in his presence. Prick.''

''But… why go out of your way to start so many relationships when you don't even know what house you'll be in yet?'' Ernie asked.

Definitely a pureblood, concluded Harry. He didn't seem too bad though. ''Well, the way I see we'll be stuck with everyone in our year group for the next 7 years. I figure forging relationships now regardless of house is a good way to show that I don't really care for house rivalries - which I don't - and will help me get through my time here at Hogwarts much happier than if I limited myself to just those in my house. Easier to befriend someone before rather than after the sorting.''

''So you spend 3 hours trekking through compartments because you wanted to make some friends?'' Hannah inquired.

''Yup. Kind of my main reason for coming here to be honest. My goals are to try and ease the house rivalries if not stop them, make as many friends and contacts as I can and a couple of more private reasons. I'm the last of the Potters, for god's sakes. If I wanted to I could simply hire private tutors who would probably do me better than the professors here, but I felt my previous points were more important. Magic and education come second to me right now, though that doesn't mean I won't be striving to be the best there too.''

''Interesting. I suppose that makes sense, actually. Most of the pureblood aristocrats could afford private tutors, but send their children here anyway to forge relationships and contacts. Auntie Amelia calls it the ''political game'', though I suppose your end goals are a little more innocent.''

''Well, that's not exactly true. Once I graduate I want to move into the ministry. The bigotry against muggleborns and 'half-breeds' that runs rampant in our world today disgusts me, frankly and I've long decided that I want to see that changed. Muggles too, though that'll be harder and on a much longer timescale. While that is my end goal, be under no illusions that my primary point still stands - I'm simply here to make friends and have a good time. If those friends happen to be able to help me in later life I guess I'll accept it, though I imagine it'll mostly be half bloods and muggleborns that I befriend anyway.''

He'd revealed a little more than he maybe would have wanted to, but these guys definitely seemed decent, and he had to start somewhere. As the niece of Amelia, Susan would definitely make a strong ally and a good friend. Hermione was obviously extremely intelligent, and Ernie as a pureblood would be into the political game. Hannah was surprisingly the one who would probably be the most useful. She seemed friendly like Susan, but quieter. The type that would be great at 'accidently' hearing secrets.

''It's unimportant now anyway. Time to get changed into our robes!'' He grinned, then turned and stepped out the door with Ernie hurrying behind.

Harry helped the last of the four - Hannah - into the boat before turning to find another one that still had room. Waving off the apologies coming from the four of them, he found Neville sitting with Ron and a sandy haired fellow - Seamus, if he remembered correctly.

''Hey Harry.'' Neville said morosely as Harry climbed in.

''Heyo Neville, Ron. Err… Seamus?'' The boy nodded and Harry smiled before continuing. ''I found a little something you might appreciate.''

Neville looked up as he heard a croak, and Harry pulled Trevor out from his pocket. ''Found him hopping around the windows. It was like he wanted to be free, but was too scared to take the jump out. Either way, here.''

Neville sighed with relief as he took the toad of Harry. ''Thanks a bunch! Gran would have my ears if I lost him.''

''Don't worry about it, that's what friends are for right?''

Neville smiled and turned back to look at the magnificent castle that was looming up before him. Harry enjoyed the view too, until Ron asked him a question.

''So uh… do you really have it? The scar, I mean. Can I see it?''

At Harry's raised eyebrow he blushed and continued in a hurry. ''Sorry. It's just, I grew up on stories of you and the fall of You-Know-Who, so it's a bit weird actually meeting you.''

''Fair enough. Tell you what, say his real name and I'll show you.''

''What? But I can't say his name. It's… you can't.''

''Why not? Voldemort. Easy peasy. Now you try.''

''Because it's taboo, that's why. Not especially easy, mate.''

''Ron, it was made taboo BY him and his followers, with the idea that it would strike fear into the people. And obviously, they got it right. Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself, and the more people feared him the more power he had over them. So say his name and fight that fear. If he can't control us, then he can't do anything. He's just one man.''

Ron sat thoughtfully for a while before the boat hit the shore and knocked him out of his daze. ''I'll think about it then.'' He muttered and hurried off with Seamus who was looking much the same way.

Harry sighed. ''Suit yourself.''

''Abbott, Hannah.'' She cautiously made her way up to the seat that was stood beside the stern transfiguration professor. Sitting down, the hat was lowered down only to yell ''HUFFLEPUFF!'' before it even touched her head. Smiling, she made her way to the table.

''Bones, Susan.'' In a process identical to Hannah, she had barely sat down when the hat yelled ''HUFFLEPUFF!''

''Granger, Hermione.'' was sent off to Ravenclaw, where she was greeted enthusiastically.

''Longbottom, Neville.'' The hat seemed to be deliberating for a long while, and Neville glanced nervously between the tables before he jumped with fright as the hat screamed ''HUFFLEPUFF!''

''Malfoy, Draco.'' The blond haired boy swaggered up to the stool and sat down regally. One had to wonder if he imagined the stool to be some sort of throne. The hat was lowered onto his head and sat there for about a minute before yelling ''GRYFFINDOR!''

''WHAT?'' Malfoy slammed the hat back onto his head as McGonagall tried to pull it off. ''That can't be right. Try it again.''

''I was perfectly correct, Mr Malfoy.'' The hat spoke out loud for the first time, apparently offended that someone doubted his choice. ''As you have just proved you are headstrong and outspoken, certainly not Slytherin traits. You're not dumb, but you don't have the dedication or will to succeed in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, so I have decided you belong in Gryffindor. That is my final decision.

Angrily, Malfoy pulled the hat off his head and stormed towards the red table, who seemed equally unenthused to greet him.

''Potter, Harry.'' The hall went silent, even the Gryffindors who had started to voice their objections towards Malfoy as the school got its first good look at the boy who lived. He looked to be fairly in shape, with shoulders that were growing well and a body that seemed as if it would grow into one very well built. His Emerald green eyes seemed to shine as he smiled and sat down on the stool, gazing around the hall.

What followed was the longest sorting to have ever taken place within Hogwarts. It lasted about half an hour, with Harry occasionally getting an expression on his face that made it seem to those watching as if he was arguing with the hat. Occasionally he would get up and pace, or cross his arms and pout. But the mental argument seemed to come to and end.

''I have decided that Mr Potter is not to be placed in any of the houses. He perfectly embodies all four, and so shall simply swap between them weekly at his own request. And because I was sick of arguing with him.''

Harry grinned in obvious satisfaction as the entire great hall turned to stare at him. Had they not been so dumbfounded, some might have found it vaguely amusing that Dumbledore's mouth fell straight open.