What We Require

Ch4: The Welcome Home

"But if he'd been put in Slytherin, he'd have ended up being a Death Eater sympathiser, thinking that purebloods were better than Muggleborns!" Ron argued, his ears growing red enough to match his hair.

"That's not necessarily true, Ron," Hermione said quietly as the carriage started to slow down – they were approaching the castle. "Zabini's proof that not all Slytherins are pureblood elitists; their head of house was a Half Blood, after all. Maybe, if Percy had been in Slytherin, less of the Slytherins in his year would have been fighting against us in the war, and more with us."

"Hermione's right," Harry found himself saying, the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach abating as he spoke. "Don't underestimate the influence one person can have on others. I'd never even heard of Slytherin or Gryffindor before I met you on the train," (and Malfoy, in Diagon Alley, Harry's brain supplied helpfully) "But one conversation with you about the Houses and I asked to be put in Gryffindor, even when- when the hat wanted to put me in Slytherin."

The carriage had come to a stop but his friends didn't move to get out, and instead stared at Harry, their mouths agape.

"The hat wanted to put you in Slytherin?" Ron asked disbelievingly, and Harry nodded.

Ginny sat back in her seat smugly.

"There, you see? Obviously Slytherin isn't made up of evil berks, if Harry was nearly one!"

"But maybe that was-" and here Ron lowered his voice as the four of them jumped down from the carriage and joined the throng of students making their way up the castle drive to the Entrance Hall doors, which Harry could see were swung wide open, the golden candlelight flickering and guiding them towards the castle. "Maybe Harry was nearly put in Slytherin because he was one of You-Know-Who's... you know. Horcruxes."

Harry was shaking his head even before Ron had finished.

"The Hat said-" and he blushed, remembering Hermione's description of his 'hero complex'. "It said that I wanted to... I don't know, prove myself, or something."

Hermione snorted and grinned.

"Well, I think we can safely say you can tick that box, Harry. No, don't look embarrassed, it's okay – I know exactly what you mean. I think Muggleborns, or in your case, Muggle raised, often think that all this," she gestured to the castle looming up in front of them, "is too good to be true. Remember what I was like the first few months here? Always answering every question? I was trying to prove myself as well."

"What do you mean, 'first few months'?" Ron snickered, and Hermione elbowed him in the side, smirking as the gangly redhead yelped in mock pain.

Harry and Ginny laughed as the two sniped at each other, Ron putting on a ridiculously high-pitched voice and jumping up and down with his hand in the air as he squeaked 'Professor, Professor!' in a genuinely terrible imitation of Hermione. The bookworm was rolling her eyes, though Harry could see the twitch in her cheek that meant she was doing her best not to smile at Ron's antics, the evening around them darkening as they walked under the shadow of Hogwarts.

Harry looked away from his friends teasing and gazed up at the castle he had considered home for so many years, and sighed. Though there had been plenty of reconstruction in the months since the final battle back in May, Hogwarts still bore signs of the conflict. Here and there a turret was missing, a wall crumbled, a scorch mark from a wayward curse marred the ancient stone. There was still so much to do – Harry could only hope that the inside of the castle had fared better, though he had his doubts.

His spirits rose slightly as they ambled into the Entrance Hall – clearly a lot of work had been focussed on the main halls of the school, as there was hardly any sign of destruction here. All the students were making their way towards the Great Hall, the murmur of conversation following the children as they strode through the castle. As they entered the Great Hall, Harry paused alongside Ron and Hermione, surprised. Instead of the usual four long tables running length ways up the room, there were instead eight smaller (though still fairly long) tables running along the Hall, four at the front and four at the back. In the centre of each table, was a number – one through to eight.