Chapter 29 - 29. Cunning Magnus
Magnus was confused and so many people had suddenly started speaking that the great hall seemed more like a crowded market. Even worse actually.
He walked up to the stool and sat down. The hat was placed on his head, but the hat immediately jolted up as if woken up from a slumber.
"Oh, this is going to be a tough one to decide. Hmm, I remember that boy... Merlin. I placed him in Slytherin, one of my proudest choices. Never thought I\'d meet his descendant." The hat loudly talked. This pretty much told everyone there that what they were thinking was true.
The talking hat then took a low tone. "Hmm, you have bravery, I\'m sure it\'s coming from the other guy. You have the talent and eagerness to learn, as Merlin had. You are loyal to your friends and family and you are cunning. Young man, It\'s rare that people like you are born. You fit in all four houses."
"What now?" Magnus asked. McGonagall, who heard everything, also nodded her head, wanting to know the answer.
"But I need to make a choice. Hmm... I know where to put you. A place where you can shine. A place that needs someone who can clean it. Someone to lead it to greatness. Just like he did. SLYTHERIN..." The hat shouted.
Immediately, the loudest cheers till now came from the Slytherin table. They had just got the descendant of the greatest wizard, Merlin, to join them in their house. Even Lucius Malfoy, who had an incident with Magnus on the train, was silently cheering.
On the other hand, Sirius and James were in shock on the Gryffindor table.
"He\'s related to Merlin? Why didn\'t he tell me that earlier?" Sirius wondered.
"I bet even he didn\'t know. Look at his face, he seems as shocked as everyone else here." James pointed out.
Sirius did notice it, "Man, I hope those snakes don\'t turn him bad."
"He won\'t. After what he said on the train, I don\'t think he will do anything bad." Lily added. Although she was not much knowledgable, she did read the history of Hogwarts and knew how big of a figure Merlin was.
"I hope you are right." Sirius sighed.
...
"Are you sure? Or is it just because of the blood in my body about which I just found out?" Magnus asked in whispers.
"Of course not, I saw your abilities. Honestly, I think Slytherin needs someone like you. Their image has hit the rock bottom." The Hat said, showing more concern than even the Headmaster.
"Isn\'t that all your fault? Why do you sort all kids coming from racist families into one single house? It just creates a big pile of racists." Magnus argued.
"They would have burned me if I had tried to mess up with that. They are crazy." The hat defended itself.
"Fine, also, you should ask for a bath. You stink." Magnus got up after saying that.
He looked at the noisiest table and went in the direction. But then his eyes fell on the same blonde boy he had sneezed on. A frown appeared on his face.
He went ahead and sat down beside Severus. There were about 150 new students this year and out of them, only 27 got sorted into Slytherin.
"Mr Pendragon, house Head boy wants you to sit with him. He wants to talk to you." A 2nd-year student came and told Mangus.
*Sigh*
~Me and my loud mouth.~ he cursed himself and went to the Headboy. He sat alongside a girl with blonde hair. From the intimacy she was showing to the blonde boy, they were surely more than friends.
But, to Magnus\' surprise, the blonde boy stood up to greet him and with a gentleman bow, he said, "Welcome to Hogwarts, especially Slytherin. I am Lucius Malfoy of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy and the Head boy of Slytherin. This is Narcissa Black of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Sit with us."
Magnus agreed as it would be rude otherwise. Though he did not like how much emphasis he put on \'Noble and Most Ancient House\'. It was obvious that he was a supporter of the Blood purity theory.
He took a seat between Lucius and Narcissa as that was where they let him sit.
By now, Magnus had realised that he must be careful in this situation. He was new to this place and he was not going to make any promises to anyone or join anyone before understanding the whole ecosystem.
"Mr Pendragon, how do you like this place?" Lucius asked, trying to make small talk.
"This is a very beautiful school. Much better than I had imagined. I\'ve been to Buckingham Palace before but it holds no ground to what Hogwarts is. What do muggles see if they mistakenly come near it?" He asked with genuine curiosity.
"They see a broken-down castle, not as majestic as this and a very serious sign telling them to keep out and warning of danger to life," Lucius explained.
"Hmm, and if someone still moves forward?" Magnus asked further.
"Then I\'m sure someone from Hogwarts staff deals with them. By obliviating their memory and dropping them away from here." He said.
"Hmm, that\'s reasonable. Mr Malfoy, can you tell me more about the teachers? In my free time, I have already completed my theoretical studies till the 4th year but I still have no practical experience." He asked, like a normal curious kid. But he was hiding the fact that he could actually perform some simple charms, nothing destructive thought. The only destructive thing he had was his fire, that was a secret for now. Only Sirius knew, but Magnus had told him not to tell anyone.
Lucius was actually liking that Magnus was talking to him and not feeling reserved. He felt that Magnus was easily malleable. So, he also took a friendly and less formal tone, "There is professor McGonagall. She teaches Transfiguration, she\'s a competent witch but a very annoying one at times. Then there is Professor Slughorn, sitting on the left of Headmaster, he teaches Potions and he is one of the most competent teachers here. He runs a club comprised of the most well-liked and sometimes famous students at Hogwarts. It\'s is called the Slug club. I am a part of it.
"That short one is Professor Flitwick. He teaches Charms and is a Part-Goblin wizard. He\'s a normal teacher, doesn\'t favour anyone except the good students. Then there is professor Sprout who teaches Herbology and Professor Binns who teaches History of Magic, he\'s a ghost. Then there is Kettleburn, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures, but you won\'t learn this subject in 1st year.
"There is an Astronomy professor, Professor Silver and also Professor Trinity who teaches Divination, Hagrid who you probably know. Then last but not least, DADA, Defence against the dark arts professor. DADA professor changes every year because of a curse on that position. This year, it is some person from the United States, Professor Harrison." He concluded his explanation.
Magnus nodded all this while. Then Narcissa talked to him with a big smile on her face that seemed to be harmless on her pretty face but it was obviously not the case.
"Mr Pendragon, you can ask me if you feel confused about anything anytime. I am a prefect and a 6th-year student. If you find trouble in any subject you can come to me." She offered.
Magnus nodded, "Okay, actually, I am a very good friend of Sirius and also know Regulus."
Narcissa was shocked, "Oh, since when?"
"I met him 2 years ago. He helped me with some books." Magnus revealed. He was actually using the fact that he was seen as a hot commodity right now, to increase the importance of Sirius in his family as he is a friend of him. This would also make Narcissa ease up around him as she would think she could talk to him freely.
~Hmm, since when did I become so manipulative? I guess the talking hat was indeed right.~ He muttered to himself.
Narcissa was pleased hearing this, she even glanced at her cousin brother, who only shivered a little, cursing Magnus, guessing that Magnus must have said something about him to her.
She warmly smiled, "That is so nice, you could have come to our home. I\'m sure my uncle and aunt would have loved to have you over."
"I did come there, and saw Mrs Black, but she called me filthy and slapped Sirius. So I went back home." Magnus revealed, making Lucius choke up on the food he was gracefully eating and making the smile from Narcissa\'s face vanish.
It was awkward now, thankfully, it was time to go to the common rooms. He got up along with all the other students.
"Little Ma... I mean Mr Pendragon, Professor Dumbledore has invited you to talk to him in his office." Hagrid came to him.
Lucius frowned hearing that. He crouched a little and whispered something, "Be careful with Dumbledore, he has a habit of looking into other\'s minds."
Lucius was just trying to win points with him. Magnus actually appreciated this one warning. He just nodded and followed Hagrid, who seemed to be the personification of the word gentle giant.
"You can call me Magnus, Hagrid," Magnus said.
Hagrid chuckled loudly, "Haha, I knew you are not like those arrogant kids. Good meeting you, Magnus. It\'s a real shocker, you are the descendent of great Merlin. Ah... I just remembered, now we must ban the usage of coarse words related to him."
Magnus was interested, "What are those words? I promise I won\'t get mad. I don\'t even know what he looked like, he lived a thousand years ago."
"Well, there is Merlin\'s Beard, Merlin\'s Pants... Ummm... Merlin\'s saggy left, Merlin\'s arse, Merlin\'s tits and whatnot... Ah, I should not have said those" Hagrid awkwardly listed.
Magnus heartily laughed hearing that, "HAHAHA... oh, I know someone who would love to hear this."
[A/N: Remember, Voldemort has just started to rise at this point, so, Dumbledore and many other people don\'t yet hold that much contempt towards Slytherin. Though I think Dumbledore does seem to hold a little bit of bias against it.]
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