Chapter 1
A/N: Chapter 1 is mainly just introducing the Male MC. It plays out similar to the beginning of the game. Please note that throughout the story most in-game events will be skipped over with time jumps. I have also had to time-shuffle some in-game events that get mentioned to make my story fit the way I want. So, no need to let me know that it’s in the wrong order. I did it on purpose. Thank you and enjoy!
Ominis
“Did you hear that Ominis? A new student starting as a fifth year! I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Sebastian Sallow hissed to Ominis Gaunt, his best friend who was sat beside him in the Great Hall.
“A fifth year? Are you sure you heard that right? That’s never happened before... has it?” Ominis leaned in, his brow furrowed. A curiosity settled within him as he listened for Sebastian’s reply. But before he could, there was a subtle shift in air. And a sharp, acrid smell of smoke?
“Is that them now?” Ominis asked, though the answer was clear the way the once bustling Great Hall fell silent. Even the scrape of cutlery against ceramic plates halted. Ominis tracked the rhythm of the new, unfamiliar footsteps—hesitant, uneven—following the heavy, self-important stride of the headmaster.
The sorting ceremony where students are sorted into their new houses had ended, but this new student would need to be sorted into a house, and Ominis was curious to know which house they would fit into.
Would they be courageous as a Gryffindor? Or perhaps they belonged with the loyal Hufflepuffs. Maybe they were wise like the Ravenclaws—or better yet, a resourceful Slytherin, much like himself and Sebastian. Only time would tell, and Ominis found himself wishing time would hurry its pace.
“Well? What do they look like?” Ominis turned to face Sebastians general direction.
“Nervous” Sebastian huffed, “And a little worse for wear I might add. He’s been in a fight already! A dragon attack I heard someone say. Terrible start for his first night at Hogwarts”
He? Ominis tucked that detail away. A dragon? That explained the scent of singed hair that seemed to trail behind the newcomer.
Ominis would be nervous too if it were him. Learning that you belong to this strange new world that you had no idea existed, it would be baffling to say the least.
He listened carefully, hoping to hear the new students name or even a description from another student since Sebastian had no clue how to answer a simple question.
5th Year Student
The room fell silent as Kaelen Blackwood followed the headmaster into the Great Hall. It was huge. Kaelen was amazed to see floating candles that cast a warm flickering glow against the walls. There were at least a hundred students and teachers, all with their eyes on him. All... but one. A young man, about the same age as Kaelen, was staring, but not at him. Rather... his gaze seemed to pass right through him.
Kaelen’s stomach flipped, and he quickly looked ahead, keen to avoid the weight of a hundred stares. Even the one that seemed to miss him entirely felt heavy in its own way.
“Professor Weasley! We have one more to be sorted.” The headmaster called. Professor Fig had mentioned a ceremony, but the details had been lost in the adrenaline of their arrival. Whatever a ‘sorting’ was, it couldn’t be any worse than the dragon that had nearly ended his life mere hours ago.
“Welcome! You’re just in time” Professor Weasley said softly, a warm smile tugging at the corners of her lips. He thought that a hug from this woman would probably make him feel much better. She was holding an old pointy hat in her hand for some reason. “Have a seat.” She gestured to the wooden stool before her. Kaelen sucked in a breath and sat.
Kaelen faced all the students now, and he could see that they were all wearing coloured robes, depending which table they were sitting at. Red, blue, green and yellow. He noticed that the boy who was staring through his very soul was sitting at the green table, still not meeting his eyes, unlike all the others in the room.
A nervous frown crept over him as he wondered what would happen to him. Would he be sorted? Was he about to be embarrassed in front of the entire school? Kaelen just wanted it to be over. He wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep for two days straight.
Professor Weasley walked over to Kaelen and plopped the old hat on his head! It smelled of dust and leather and was covered in patchwork, suggesting it had been mended many times over the years.
“Ah yes... a bit older than the others, aren’t you?” a dry, husky voice spoke. Kaelen nearly bolted from the stool, his heart slamming against his ribs. He gripped the wooden edges of the seat so hard his knuckles turned white, realizing with a jolt of embarrassment that no one else in the room looked even remotely surprised.
“You come here with preferences and preconceptions. Certain expectations.” Well, yes, Kaelen had expected to arrive here at Hogwarts without becoming a dragon’s lunch!
“Hmm, I wonder. I detect something in you. A certain sense of bravery at heart. Exceptionally daring. Undaunted by the unknown. Willing to forge ahead alone when you must.”
He could still hear the snap of wood and the roar of flames. Brave? He’d been paralyzed. He’d watched a man die while he could do nothing but cling to a piece of floating debris. Kaelen didn’t feel brave or daring after the events of the day. He was so unprepared for this world, and he wondered if he really belonged here. Was this place really his home now? Would he be welcome?
“Better be.. Gryffindor!” The hat announced.
The room erupted into applause, mostly coming from the red table which Kaelen now understood to the Gryffindor table.
A sigh of relief escaped him, now feeling like he had a place to be. Not that he felt he belonged just yet. He would likely have to earn his place in Gryffindor.
“Oh, and one more thing..” The headmaster announced. “Due to the unfortunate injury on the quidditch pitch in last spring’s final, this year’s Quidditch season has been cancelled.” The students grumbled and booed at the headmaster’s words. He had no idea what Quidditch was, but it sounded popular judging by that reaction.
“It’s not as if I’ve banned flying all together. But - Don’t tempt me” he threatened. “You are here to focus on your academic futures. I’m sure you all have plenty to do before classes begin tomorrow.”
The headmaster stared at the students who stared back blankly.
“I said, I’m sure you all have plenty to do before classes begin tomorrow!”
As the students began piling out of the exit, Kaelen’s eyes instinctively drifted back toward the green table, searching for the boy who hadn’t looked at him. But the crowd was too thick, a chaotic blur of robes and voices.
Ominis
“What a pity,” Sebastian chuckled, his voice rising above the shuffling feet and moving benches. “We could have used another good-looking chap in our year. The scarlet robes will suit him, I suppose, but it’s a waste of potential.”
“Don’t tell me you count yourself among the good-looking ones, Sebastian” Ominis countered, his tone dry as bone. He fell into step beside Sebastian, his hand instinctively hovering near his friend’s elbow for guidance through the surging crowd.
“Hey! I happen to be the only good-looking fifth year in Slytherin, thank you very much,” Sebastian declared with a mock-offended gasp.
Ominis felt a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Says you.”
“And how would you know, Ominis? You can’t see my devilish good looks, can you?” Sebastian gave him a playful jab in the arm.
Ominis just huffed a laugh, the sound lost in the echo of the stone hallway as they turned toward the dungeons. He didn’t need eyes to know Sebastian was grinning like a fool—but for a split second, he found himself wondering what kind of look that new Gryffindor had been wearing when the Hat shouted his new house.
Kaelen
As the other students’ voices faded into the hallway, Kaelen found himself swept in the opposite direction.
The walk to the Gryffindor tower was a dizzying blur of moving staircases that seemed to shift under his feet and corridors lined with portraits that whispered as he passed. Every shadow cast by the flickering torches made his heart hammer against his ribs, a lingering remnant of the dragon’s fire. By the time Professor Weasley came to a halt on the third floor, Kaelen was certain he could sleep for a week.
They stopped in front of a large painting... an imposing woman dressed in a beautiful frilly pink gown. Her hair was curled around her plump face.
“You were a Gryffindor?”
“I am a Gryffindor” She replied. “Never could remember the password when I was a girl, however.”
“Password?” Kaelen asked.
“Password?” The woman in the painting peered down at them. Kaelen should have been shocked, but with everything else he witnessed today, dragon, goblins, death... A talking painting was the least of his worries.
Professor Weasley leaned closer “The password is ‘Grata Domum’” she whispered quietly. Grata Domum? He made a mental note to look up the meaning at some point.
Kaelen glanced back at the painting and repeated the words. After a pause, the woman in the painting narrowed her eyes. “You may enter” she said and the painting began to creak and groan.
Kaelen stepped back as the heavy frame swung inward, his mouth hanging open as he stared into the warm, flickering gold of the room beyond. It looked like a dream—and he was more than ready to fall into it.
“Well done.” Professor Weasley smiled. “Now, go on in and get some sleep - you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Professor Weasley.” Kaelen sighed.
“You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy your first night at Hogwarts. Sleep well” Professor Weasley turned and started down the long dark hallway.
Kaelen, exhausted by the events of the day, was driven entirely by adrenaline to find his bed instead of falling into a couch in the common room.
His mind was a flurry of thoughts as he replayed the events of the day in his head. With the dragon attack, their visit to Gringotts Bank, being sorted into Gryffindor House. He was more than overwhelmed.
He laid back on his four-poster bed, the crimson velvet curtains blurring in his vision. The mattress was softer than anything he’d ever felt, and for the first time since he’d left London, the roar of the dragon was replaced by the gentle crackle of the dormitory fire. His eyes fluttered shut as his mind blackened with sleep.
