26 The-New-Chapter-Begins (III)

Harry breathed out a sigh of relief when Mount Greylock finally came into his view. He released a yawn and stretched himself to get off the dizziness. The bus ride wasn't bad, in fact, it was really nice… It could have been much better if his seatmate wasn't such a stuck-up bitch. The girl was way more interested in reading fashion magazines, instead in having a chat with him.

Well, he will admit his mistake, he never bothered to give her his name, but he was kind of famous and he didn't want to be hounded by everyone on the bus… When he tried to start a conversation, the girl simply scoffed at him and told him to mind his own business. Not that Harry was overly bothered by her bitchiness, but he still had some questions in his mind.

|The bus ride wasn't so bad| Harry grinned internally as he stared outside the window. The bus was approaching Ingress and he couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of getting his Wand and all that.

|True… I think they have only used Magic to increase the comfort as high as possible and to improve the speed by a small margin| Lily wondered aloud inside Harry's mind and Harry simply hummed with a thoughtful look on his face. He wasn't an expert when it came to Enchanting, so he decided to ask his Charms professor to confirm his mom's theory.

|Or maybe you could ask Jacklyn| Lily suggested and this time, Harry simply inclined his head in acknowledgment.

|Jacklyn is in the House of Wampus, I wonder how she is going to react if I am not sorted in her house| Harry mused as his mind started to wander about random stuff.

|If she really cares about you then she wouldn't mind… In fact, I think she will be happy| Lily tried to comfort Harry even though she wasn't a big fan of Jacklyn, but she knew that Harry needed companionship. She would never ask her son not to make any friends.

|You are probably right…| Harry muttered internally as the bus finally came to stop right in front of the dirt road leading to Ilvermorny.

"Students, we are here!! First years, fifth year prefects are already waiting for you. They will lead you to the school!" The conductor exclaimed cheerfully as he pointed outside the window. Harry followed where the man was pointing with his gaze and found four bigger silhouettes standing at the side of the dirt road along with a lot of smaller-sized silhouettes.

The girl sitting beside him stood up with a huff and after grabbing her trunk from the luggage rack, she left the bus. The girl was probably thirteen or fourteen, so it would probably make her a second year or a third year. Harry gave her a last look before he also stood up to grab his trunk from the luggage rack…

Using Magic would have made his task much easier, but he wanted to keep the existence of his secondary Wand a secret from everyone. Carlson probably already knew about his Wand, and Jacklyn had seen him using his Wand, but he wasn't planning to make his secondary Wand public knowledge.

Harry grabbed his trunk and with a strong yank, he pulled down his trunk. If he was still small and scrawny then the task would have been almost impossible for him, but he was no longer malnourished and scrawny. It took him a lot of gold to fix his body and he was quite satisfied with the results. Harry turned toward the door to leave, but before he could leave the bus, someone called him out.

"Are you a first year?" Someone asked from behind. Harry turned around to find a boy of his age.

"Yes, are you also a first year? I am Harry" Harry said as he extended his hand toward the boy. For the time being, Harry decided to keep his last name to himself.

"Hello, I am Danny Birch, nice to meet you and I am a first year too" The boy cheerfully introduced himself as he accepted Harry's offered hand and shook it.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but another bus arrived right beside their bus. "Make it quick guys, we don't want to crowd this place" The conductor reminded everyone who was still on the bus.

"Let's go down and wait with the others" Harry suggested and the boy nodded his head with a grin.

"Are you the first Magical in your family?" Danny asked curiously as the two of them climbed down the bus. The conductor noticed the lack of an emblem on both of their uniforms so he wished them luck and pointed toward the prefects before Harry could answer Danny.

Mumbling thanks under their breaths, the two of the climbed down from the bus and made their way toward the gathered crowd. "No, I am half-blood" Harry answered, not willing to elaborate anymore.

"Cool! It must have been really amazing, right? I mean growing up around Magic… I am first Magical from my family" Danny gushed out excitedly and harry couldn't help but smile at the boy. Discovering Magic was one of the best things that ever happened to Harry.

"Yeah… I know. It was amazing" Harry nodded his head in agreement.

"First years!" One of the prefects noticed Harry and Danny and called out of them. Harry looked behind and noticed that the two of them weren't the only first years on their bus. Harry had noticed them before too, but with that girl sitting beside him, he couldn't start a conversation with the others, especially when he was sitting at the window seat.

"All of you stand with the others. We will be waiting for the last bus to arrive and when the last bus arrives, we will start heading to the school" One of the female prefects explained with a gentle smile on her face. Harry along with the rest of the first years from his bus joined the first year group.

"Which house do you think you will be in?" Danny asked in a low tone. The other first years were also chatting in low tones if they weren't looking around warily.

"I will be either in Horned Serpent or Wampus and what about you?" Harry asked as he provided his answer with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Cool" Danny whispered, looking really excited. "But I don't know where I will be going… I have read about the houses, but I have no idea what I am good at…" Danny shrugged as he explained.

"I see… I think all the houses are good and they have their own pros and their own cons" Harry explained, looking somewhat contemplative.

"Then let's be friends no matter which house we are in" Danny offered and Harry simply smiled and nodded his head in agreement. To be honest, Harry was feeling somewhat out of the place… He never had a childhood, so unlike the other children around him, he was forced to grow up. Though Harry was quite happy to have someone to talk with or he would have been bored out of his mind.

After a couple of minutes, two more buses finally arrived and after collecting the first years from those two buses, the prefects declared that they were done and without waiting any more time, they started to lead everyone toward the school. Harry continued to chat with Danny and nobody else decided to join the two of them in their conversation.

Harry looked around to see how many first years were there and to be honest, both Harry and Lily were surprised by the number. According to his mom, in their batch, there were somewhere around 60 students and according to Lily, the numbers were decreasing with each year, and after the war, the numbers were bound to drop drastically. So, it was obvious that both Harry and Lily were surprised to see 153 students.

Apparently, Ilvermorny was doing quite well. Though Lily immediately started to suspect that the British Ministry of Magic was up to something…

The two entourage finally arrived at the school and the prefects led the group of first years to the entrance hall where all of them were going to be sorted. All the prefects were standing in front of the Statues representing their houses along with their respective Head of the House. Harry stared toward the Wampus prefects to see if Jacklyn was there, but surprisingly, Jacklyn wasn't present there. Harry started to wonder why she wasn't present…

All of the House Heads stepped forward at the same time and gathered right outside the Gordian Knot. "Welcome to Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My name is Thomas Grant and I am the Head of the House of Thunderbird, but before we can proceed, all of you are going to be sorted into either of the four houses" Thomas explained. From the man's age, he was the oldest among the Head of the Houses.

"We are going to call your name one by one in order to their last name and they will step into this Gordian Knot" Thomas said as he pointed at the Gordian Knot right in front of him. All of a sudden, Harry heard some shuffling from above and he immediately raised his head to see what was happening. Apparently, the older students were going to watch the sorting from the circular balcony a floor above them.

"One of the statues will react to you and you will be sorted into that particular house. Now, let's begin!" Thomas exclaimed as he clapped his hands in a dramatic fashion. After that, they started to call the students one by one… Danny was the sixth student they called. Danny nervously made his way toward the Gordian Knot and stepped on it. After a few seconds, the statue of the Thunderbird started to react and the emblem of the Thunderbird House appeared on his robe.

Some cheers were heard from the circular balcony above them as Danny was the first student who was sorted into the Thunderbird House. They continued to call names and the students continued to step forward, and after almost fifteen minutes, they finally called Harry's name.

Silence ensued throughout the hall and everyone seemed to be holding onto their breaths… The professors didn't look surprised, so Carlson probably told them. Only Harry's footsteps could be heard throughout the hall as he stepped into the Gordian Knot. Murmurs finally broke out among the older students who were watching the sorting from the circular balcony.

|It seems that I am going to have a celebrity life| Harry mused in displeasure within the confines of his mind…