Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Rewritten - A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter 9: Orientation

Harry woke to the sound of a cuckoo cooing in his ear. For a moment it seemed to him that a cuckoo had somehow gotten into his cupboard. Then he realized where he was. Simply that realization put him in a good mood. Happy to be free of the Dursleys, he hummed to himself as he brushed his teeth and threw on fresh clothes for orientation.

It was 5:10 according to Ron's watch when everyone had assembled in the Gryffindor common room. Like yesterday, Livvy, whose proper name was Olivia, and Oliver, took turns explaining things. Harry had expected the tour to start at some part of the castle but Oliver led them out onto the grounds. They headed north-west towards a large stadium on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Oliver had a broomstick clutched in under his arm. "It's far better to begin with an aerial tour of the castle" he told them. "So, we'll use broomsticks. You lot will need to borrow the school's brooms."

From a shed next to the stadium, Oliver retrieved a number of Shooting Star broomsticks. Harry noticed the words: 'Cleansweep Nine' on Oliver's broom. He supposed there were many models of broomsticks. "Shooting Stars are among the oldest models" Ron whispered in Harry's ear though these are Series 7 Shooting Stars, they were probably purchased about five years back." Seeing the look of confusion on Harry's face, he added, "That means that they're neither too old nor among the best."

"What about Oliver's?" asked Harry.

"The Nine series of Cleansweep came out only a couple of years back. I suppose Wood got it when he joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

Harry nodded his thanks to Ron. Oliver brought the group to a halt in front of the castle. "How many of you can fly?" he demanded

Everyone except for Harry and Dean put up their hands. Oliver didn't take their word for it. He made each person do a demonstration. Harry observed carefully. It seemed fairly simple to him. A short command, ("up") caused the broom to jump into a person's hand. After that you mounted the broom and kicked off the ground to rise up into the air. You could change direction by turning the broom and alter height by yanking the broom up or down. Leaning forward increased speed.

"Want to have a try, Harry?" asked Oliver. Nodding eagerly, Harry stepped up to the broom lying on the ground next to Oliver.

"Up" he said firmly. The broom leapt into his hand. Eagerly, he swung one leg over it and kicked off. The wind whistled in his ears as he rose higher and higher. He made a series of smooth turns, covering all directions. Appreciative claps came from below him. Wood blew his whistle and pointed to the ground. Understanding, Harry came down for a landing.

"Nice. Very smooth." Wood's eyes were gleaming. He seemed extremely pleased for some reason.

Wood did not deem Seamus, Lisa and Lavender to be good enough fliers to be trusted on a broom alone. Dean, who'd only managed one single turn before landing hurriedly and clumsily, joined Oliver on his broom. Seamus paired with Ron and Lisa and Lavender went with the Patil twins who were surprisingly good.

"Alright, let's go" called Livvy.

Eager to fly again, Harry kicked off the ground. Wood and Livvy led them high up into the air, higher even than the castle, before coming to a halt in mid-air, hovering in between the four sections of the castle.

The bird's eye view stole Harry's breath.

The castle was spread out below him on all directions, gleaming softly in the semi-light of dawn. To the north and east, stretched a massive and scary looking forest, the thick clusters of trees growing on the hilly terrain interrupted here and there by valleys and glades. To the south was the Great Lake which they'd sailed across last night. Harry saw a gigantic squid floating in the lake, close to the northern shore. A few older students out for an early morning walk were tossing the ends of toast for the Giant Squid to catch. Harry remembered Oliver saying that breakfast began at five. His stomach gave a rumble in spite of his large meal the previous night.