Link of Hogwarts

Five

Link yawned, happy that the day after their arrival happened to be the weekend and thus he will have enough time to rest and later explore the castle. He's a bit sad that Gryffindor's colors have no hues of blues or greens in it. They happened to be Link's favorite colors. Red reminds him of...bad memories. He just dislikes the color.

Ron and the others that shared his compartment also ended up in the famous House of Lions. Hermione had been ecstatic, Neville had been so nervous he had run off with the Sorting Hat and Ron looked relieved as he joined his siblings at the table. When it was Link's turn, people stared at his ears and whispered about his other name. Harry Potter was his written name on everything that requires naming, but it never really felt like his. But he had gotten used to being introduced as Harry that he react to it as easily as Link, though he will correct them soon after.

The Sorting Hat had been surprised and confused by him. It almost agreed to send Link to Hufflepuff before backtracking and muttered something about Slytherin being perfect for him. But Link insisted that he does not seek power nor does he have grand ambition, so being a Slytherin will be redundant to him. The Hat then prodded about his passion being a beacon to all Ravenclaw and Link had hesitated before saying that knowledge is a requirement, not a passion to him. His passions are the wilderness of the world; the bubbling of the brooks, the roaring of the waves, the rustle of the forest and the song of the wind. His passion does not lie in books, they were merely requirements that he must endure so he will not be taken by surprise yet nothing will replace experience. Truly he will be misplaced in Ravenclaw.

Indeed the Hat would have placed him in Hufflepuff for his unrelenting hard work and unbending loyalty but then something else ensnared him. Link's courage and nobility in dealing with all things, be it friends or foes, outshone all other values regarding him. So before Link could argue about being placed in Hufflepuff again, the Hat made up its mind and declared "Gryffindor!" to all ears. Link had then taken off the Hat and mumbled about hating red and gold not suiting him.

But what's done is done and now he sat in the Lion's Common Room, waiting for the others to wake up so he can go get breakfast. Once the Prefects in charge of them gathered all of the First Years, they herded the group towards familiarizing with the route toward the Great Hall. Link studied the route taken, keeping in mind about moving pictures and armors as well as the trick doors. Magic can make navigating tricky but there's always something that cannot move since its part of the magic's foundation.

Link does not know why he knows but just like all things that he knows, he simply rolls with it. This especially helped when class started the next day and he barely made it with Ron and Neville. McGonagall, their Head of House and subsequently their Transfiguration Professor, was far from impressed. As they left the class, Hermione hissed, "Where were you guys?! I was waiting for you but you didn't appear so I looked at the Great Hall but you guys weren't there either!"

The two boys turned to Link, Ron grumbled, "Blame Link. And here I thought I'm hard to wake up,"

Link blushed, "Sorry,"

He had gotten so comfortable that he completely slept like he never slept before. At the Dursley he always made sure to beat their clock so Petunia and Vernon won't have reasons to punish him more. It was an instinctual survival move. But here Link felt so safe and comfortable that he melted into his bed completely. Not to mention he had his stomach filled with good hearty food that he never felt fuller in his life worked in favor of making him drowsy.

Neville sighed, "I think we are going to need a plan to make sure Link wake up early enough so the rest of us can get breakfast," His empty stomach grumbled unhappily in agreement. Link's flustered apology barely soothes the boys' ruffled feathers. Hermione rolled her eyes, "So how did you wake him up?"

Neville and Ron shared a disturbed look before both of them answered Hermione in sync, "You have no idea, it's tiring just trying to wake him up!" "We ended up dragging this sorry log into the shower!"

Link continued to apologize for the rest of the morning. However, just as Neville predicted, the boys of their Year had to make a sort of shift to wake Link up after McGonagall overheard the reason why the trio of boys always late to class on their first week at Hogwarts. It has become a chore for every boys of his Year of Gryffindor to wake him up first thing in the morning. In the end everyone ended up working together to just carry him into the shower and let the water do the rest as the best strategy to wake him up by the end of their second week at Hogwarts.

Hermione rolled her eyes when she heard Ron grumbling about Link being heavy, "Well, when we finally learn Charms you can just conjure water to splash Link,"

Seamus and Dean shook their head sluggishly. Dean answering the reason behind their rejection of her method, "We tried the splashing. It doesn't work,"

Seamus nodded, "He needs the full shower to wake up," The two then return to slumping on the table. Ron added with tired grumble, "And he's bloody heavy!" He glared at Link who's eating his lunch, "You're thin as a stick, why are you even that heavy?! I bet Neville's lighter than you!"

Dean answered that bet with a muffle, "He is," When they stared at him, he sheepishly said, "Remembered when he broke his ankle on that trick step? I was the one who carried him to the Hospital Wing to get Madam Pomfrey to fix him,"

Ron groaned louder, "We need a better solution! At this rate I'll break my back just carrying him!"

Hermione frowned, "Oh, don't be dramatic Ron! You're not the only one carrying him," At her words everyone fell silent but in a gloomy way. At her confused look, Neville enlightened her, "He's very heavy even with all of us carrying him, Hermione,"

Hermione looked at Link with wide eyes full of shock, "You're stick thin, how can you be so heavy?!"

Link don't feel like explaining the difference in weight between fat and muscle mass. Also, he had always made sure no one saw him when he's changing. The reason for that was because of the strange marks he's born with covering his body. He learned while gardening once how one of the neighbor's niece were born with something called port wine birthmark and how it looked like burn mark on the poor child's back. Similar mark covered Link, mostly on his left side. There's also odd white lines crisscrossing his whole body especially his forearms, the lines even have slight indentation almost like a scar from a deep knife cut like the one he had on his fingers when he first learn how to handle knifes from Petunia forceful education on prepping food for cooking. The only reason no one really noticed the port wine mark around his left ear was because of the way Link grow out his hair.

Petunia had trained him to never show his freaky body to anyone. She didn't want police to come knocking on the door to accuse her for his lies. She always reminded him that people will vomit looking at his bare skin. So Link always made sure to be well covered with Dudley's baggy clothes, even in the height of blistering summer. Even now, he's wearing a turtleneck undershirt beneath his uniform so no one will notice the marks near the neck and left shoulder.

Though he's comfortable enough that he can sleep like a log surrounded by his roommates, Link never felt comfortable enough that he let down his guard when it comes to his strange body. The lightning scar on his forehead was perhaps the only mark on his person that he don't mind them seeing. After all, they all know the story behind that one. But what about his strange body?

No matter how little he eat, how hungry he get whenever food was withheld from him as punishment due to 'unsatisfactory' work, Link can go on with his usual routine. He's seldom become so weakened that he can't do his work properly. It was only when the hunger really hit him hard that he scavenge for anything edible in the forest his tree grow. Link knew well that other kids can't handle his life style, not after he realized how hungry they can get just forgetting breakfast. And he heard kids will stop growing if they eat too little but yet Link continue to be just fine.

Link will never let his new found friends discover just how weird and freaky he was compared to them. That there're weirder things to him than just his ears and his coloring...