Magic And Mystery (English)

Chapter 7: Snakes

Dazai's eyes shot open. The... the hat hadn't even touched him! It was still held a foot above him in McGonagall's hand! Blinking owlishly, Dazai turns to face the professor, however, she wore a look equally as surprised as him. And the hat—was it moving? Fighting against McGonagall's grip? It almost looked like the Sorting Hat was straining to get away from him.

Not great, he thought, feeling his spine tense up as McGonagall continued to stare straight into him.

Clearing the expression from his face, Dazai turned emptily back to the tables lined out before him and stood. Almost unconsciously, Dazai sought out Ron in the crowd of other first years, but couldn't seem to meet the boy's eyes.

He was nearly sitting down before someone thought to clap.

Was it really so odd, the hat not touching his head? It was pretty far away when it determined his house fate... and could the others see how hard the hat had fought to stay away from touching him? Oh well. It's not like Dazai cared, so that made it... a problem for Mori?

That sounded good.

It felt even better to be sitting down at the tables and out of everyone's attention.

He was distantly aware of Hermione, Ron, and Neville all being sorted into Gryffindor, and felt a slight sting at the thought of his three potential subordinates being sorted differently to him. He'd have to make more allies in Slytherin, although having some connections to the other houses couldn't hurt. He had a feeling those Weasley twins wouldn't be hard to train, either. Ah... he didn't seem to be lacking in Gryffindor support, then.

The only other thing that vaguely captured his interest was the sorting of some kid named Draco Malfoy. Just like with Dazai, although to a much weaker extent, the sorting hat had declared, "SLYTHERIN" before ever really touching the boy's head.

"Let the feast begin!"

Dazai let the announcement shake him from his thoughts. He was further startled from his musings when the table—just empty seconds before—became flooded with various dinner foods. A basket a bread, a full chicken, corn-on-the-cob... Dazai's head was spinning with all the options. The sudden overwhelming smell of cooked meats was noxious. Dazai had never been able to handle the smell of food and it was putting his stomach off before he'd even began.

"Aren't you going to eat... uh, Dazai?"

Blinking to attention, Dazai smiled aimlessly at the tight-faced girl beside him. Looking at her plate, Dazai concluded she must have been building a tower of ham with how tall the plate was stacked.

"Don't bother him, Pansy. He's probably used to much classier foods than whatever garbage the Hogwarts house elves can come up with. Did you see how quickly the hat sorted him? Just like me—a true Slytherin."

Draco Malfoy grinned sharply at him over the table. The boy's hair was so pale, Dazai juggled between calling it white or blonde before eventually settling on that he didn't really care. After a moment, Draco seemed to have made some sort of silent judgment on Dazai and he stuck his hand out open-palmed in greeting.

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Dazai regarded the hand for a second before sighing and shaking the hand. "Dazai... you some sort of rich brat then?"

You can't make allies by insulting people, part of Dazai's brain hissed in a voice disturbingly like Mori's, please don't just say whatever it is you're thinking in that misguided little brain of yours.

Then come here and do it yourself, stupid doctor.

Immediately, Draco's grin slipped into a sneer. "Don't you know who I am? The Malfoy family is far more powerful than whatever wizarding family you come from."