5 5

Before leaving I set some ground rules: 'Don't look Dumbeldore or Snape in the eyes, if you don't have to. They most likely won't pay me any mind if I don't attract too much attention. I also highly doubt that either one of them will use Legilimency on any student, but you can never be too careful. I won't use legilimency on Quirrel, don't know what Tom's soul can and can't do. I might restrict my use of legilimency on the golden trio and maybe my house too. That should cover the first year. Oh yeah the stone and the mirror. Mirror yes, stone no. Question is how much should I help Hermione if she asks me, because that would theoretically make Dumbeldore pay more attention towards me than if I did nothing. Hard to say. I will decide when the time comes.'

I also went over what happened in Diagon Ally after getting my wand. For that I entered the library in my mindscape and searched for the book that represented yesterday, I had a whole shelf filled with books that each documented one day of my live. After finding it I stuck my head into it, returning back to Diagon Ally, shortly before the incident. I rewatched it a few times until I finally spotted what was different to my normal intrusions. I could not feel the mans emotions like I normally could.

In my every day live that would be no problem, because I usually don't sense everyones feelings around me all the time, but I automatically get a grasp on someone's emotions when I use legilimency. 'That means I can find out if someone is proficient in Occlumency by sensing whether I can feel their emotions or not.' I thought excitedly.

Rewatching the scene again with my new revelation and solely concentrating on the man's feelings I noticed that I still could feel some emotions from him albeit very weak.

----

Inevitably, the 1st of September arrived and my mother drove me to King's Cross. We were a little early as it was only 10 am, but we still had to find platform 9¾.

I did not know, whether every pillar between platform 9 and 10 was an entry or only that one specific one and I did not want to find out the hard way.

So first of all I had to convince my mother that we were on the right path and that platform 9¾ was behind an apparently solid barrier conceiled by magic, which was easy. I just told her that Hagrid explained it sometime on our shopping trip and she just happened to not listen at that moment. We waited approximately 5 minutes until I saw someone disappear into a wall in the corner of my eye. Mom as a muggle could not see anything out of the ordinary even when I pointed at another person walking through the same wall. Apparently she saw the same person instead walking next to the wall, on platform 10.

Trusting me nonetheless I led her towards that one wall I saw the others disappearing into. Speeding up a little we both closed our eyes until we were hit by a warm breeze and could hear the sound of an old locomotive. Opening our eyes again we could see a beautiful steam powered train.

Not knowing where to put away my luggage we looked for a staff member. After finding one she even helped me stowing my baggage away. Now with only a suitcase left I bid my mother goodbye. She of course wished for me only the best and gave me a long and loving hug.

With half an hour left I searched for an empty compartment. After finding one I closed the door behind me, sat down and opened one of the first year books.

A little bit later I heard a knock on the door followed by a girly voice, "Excuse me, do you mind if we join you?"

"Not at all." I answered.

Two girls entered. The first one wore her blond hair in pig tails and had brown eyes. The second one was chubby, had a freckled face with brown eyes and her long red-brownish hair was plaited down her back.

"My name is Hannah Abbott and my shy friend behind me is Susan Bones." Hannah said while sticking her hand towards me.

Susan just said a quiet "Hi."

I shook Hannah's hand and replied with my own name "Lucas Foster, nice meeting you two."

Hannah then looked down towards the book that I had on my lap. "I bet you'll get sorted into Ravenclaw." she opined.

"That's one of the houses right? I heard a few people talking about them. Are they that important?" I asked knowing full well what their answer would be.

"Ahh you must be a muggle-born then, and to answer your question, yes they are, right Susi." Susan just nodded as a response to Hannah. "Basically there are four houses you can get sorted into, Ravenclaw for the bookworms, Hufflepuff for the friendly, Gryffindor for the courageous and Slytherin for the bad guys."

"You are right. Ravenclaw does sound like I would fit there." I said.

"If you are already spending your time reading books, then you will 100% be sorted into Ravenclaw." said Hannah.

"Yeah maybe I will. Where do you two think you will be sorted?" I responded. Both thought they would get sorted into Hufflepuff, which was the case in the movies I think, not too sure about Hannah.

We spent the next few minutes talking about all kinds of topics, about me being a muggle-born and them being half bloods, Hannah being from one of the sacred 28 and Susan having a influential aunt, about Diagon Ally, about our school life, ... . Gradually Susan became more active and they started to talk more with eachother than with me, so I turned my attention away from the conversation and towards Legilimency.

I wanted to know if they were trained in Occlumency and how strong I was for my age.

So without further ado I started sensing their emotions. They were there but faint. Susan was better than Hannah, which might be because she is more introverted. Unfortunately with both knowing Occlumency I could not easily invade their minds, at least not until I read more about mind magic in the library. I left it at that, didn't want to arouse suspicions before I even arrived at Hogwarts.

Instead I focused back on my book.

----

Sometime later there was another knock on the door. This time it was Hermione, who was looking for Neville's toad, but upon unexpectantly seeing me she decided to catch up with me. She still got a spike of joy from seeing me, which I appreciated. 'Nothing changed over the summer, good'

This time it was Susan and Hannah, who were excluded from the conversation. Hermione asked me about the letter, the shopping trip and some more general things. I got to ask her my question, as it turns out she got her letter before me, but instead of Hagrid, McGonagall went with her. She also bragged about having already read all the 1st year books upon seeing the one on my lap. Finished with our chatter I told her that I have not seen any toad. She then turned to Hannah and Susan, who gave her the same answer.

Shortly thereafter she left the compartment, leaving me with a curious Hanna, who wanted to know more, to my annoyance.

Not being in the mood to answer her myriads of questions I tried to turn her curiosity with my ability down, which to my pleasant surprise was possible, although I could neither freely control her emotions nor do so effortlessly. But I had time, so after just a few questions she let me off the hook. 'Good to know that it still works, but will it work if Hannah actively controlls her emotions with Occlumency? I can't really ask her.'

Fortunately the rest of the trip was uninterrupted. I even finished one of the 8 1st year books, all thanks to Occlumency.

Before arriving at the Hogsmead station, we changed into our robes. I went outside of the compartment while the girls were changing and they did the same for me.

Afterwards all the 1st years gathered around Hagrid. We were one of the last ones to leave the train, so our trio could only look and not hear Hagrid in the rain from the distance, which was not hard as 11 year olds reached only up to his knees. Once the train departed and no new 1 year student turned up Hagrid led us to the boats. Hannah, Susan and I sat together in a boat, when a familiar voice asked to join us. It was Hermoine.

We had nothing against it. Spending the time on the boat trip admiring the breathtaking beauty that was the Hogwarts castle. Once we reached the shore Hagrid gathered everyone again. We somehow got shoved to the back again. Not that I was actively fighting for a spot at the front. 'I bet Draco instructed his 2 bodyguards to get him a spot at the front and Harry ahh, just lucky I guess.' I guessed not knowing what actually happened at the front.

We made our way into the entrance hall with half of the 1st years going up the stairs to the giant closed doors of the great hall. McGonagall was already waiting there and stopped the newcomers from advancing any farther. She thanked Hagrid for bringing everyone here and asked him if he could look into the Great Hall if everyone is ready.

Finally turned to the students she began "Welcome to Hogwarts. In a few moments you will be able to sit next to your fellow schoolmates, but first you will be sorted into one of the four houses. There is Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. As long as you are studying here you can consider your house to be your family. Through extraordinary deeds you will be awarded points, through violations you will loose points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup."

"TREVOR" Neville yelled, rudely interrupting McGonagall in the process. She judgingly stared down at him as he retrieved his toad "Sorry."

Continuing were she was so impolitely cut off she said "The ceromony will begin shortly" Just as she finished her speech Hagrid returned through a side door. Seeing him giving her a sign she turned back to the students "It seems everything is ready. Follow me."

She walked towards the doors of the Great Hall, which opened automatically once she was close enough and led the 11 year olds between the long tables towards a stool with a hat on top.

Stopping a few meters before the hat she retrieved a scroll out of her robe and walked next to the chair, now facing the students again.

"When you hear your name please come up to the stool in order to be sorted. Now shall we start: Hannah Abbott!" McGonagall explained.

Hannah squeezed through all the other kids and walked up to the chair hat combo. McGonagall lifted the hat, Hannah sat down and got the hat placed on her head. The hat murmured something and eventually proclamed "Hufflepuff"

The Hufflepuff table broke out into cheers. After Hannah sat down Mcgonagall continued "Susan Bones" Susan squeezed through as well and too got sorted into Hufflepuff. Again cheers.

"Lucas Foster" McGonagall eventually called my name. I walked up to the hat, feeling a little funny in my stomach. I sat down on the stool. Mcgonagall put the hat on my head.

"Who do we have here, mhhh... . A new one, interesting. Where do I put you"

"Ravenclaw" I whispered. "Ravenclaw" It repeated questioningly, "Yes, I can see it. I could put you in there, but you would by an outcast." I frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You see the Ravenclaws are no longer the researchers they used to be and instead, they turned into bookworms that don't actually perform any new reseach. Maybe Gryffindor? No I don't think so. Slytherin? I could see you there. It is a great place to hone your other, more unconventional abilities. Or Hufflepuff, there your hard work would be appreciated."

It sounded reasonable and honestly I did not really care in which house I got put in, because the house cup didn't interest me.

"Put me where you would think I could grow the most", I said finally. It murmured a little to itself, after finally saying, "Alright."

"HUFFELPUFF", the hat yelled loudly. The Hufflepuff table broke out into cheers and claps. I got off the stool and walked over to the table, sitting down opposite of Susan and Hannah. A senior next to me patted me on my shoulder and said, "Welcome to Huffelpuff, we might not be the best, but you can always count on us if you need anything."

"Thanks.", I responded with a smile. Through Legilimency I could feel the excitement of the Huffelpuffs around me easily distinguishing between those that knew Occlumency and those that didn't, which lucky for me weren't that many. After turning it back off, I focused back on the sorting ceremony.