Only A Boy

The Prejudice of a Father

The table on the far left burst into applause, but Merlin hardly heard it as he walked to an open seat near the end. His rampaging thoughts blurred the world around him. He did not have all his memories. The hat had seen them enveloped in pitch, some so tainted that even it could not access them.

Someone had cursed him.

"Welcome to Slytherin, young snake!" Someone was patting his back. Merlin smiled at the older student, but it felt forced. When had he been cursed? Why? It was troubling, the possibility that someone knew of his mission and was trying to sabotage it—or had someone tried to stop him back in Camelot?

Merlin swallowed and glanced toward Snape, wondering if his convoluted thoughts showed on his face. The spectral bat was clapping politely with the rest of the staff, and he gave a very minute nod when their eyes met. Merlin returned the gesture and turned to watch the other students being sorted into their houses. Some were only a few seconds but others were a minute or more.

"Granger, Hermione."

The girl that had talked about "Hogwarts, A History," walked forward. Merlin thought he saw her eyes flicker once to him before the hat went over her eyes.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

She hurried to her seat, her face slightly pink. As Merlin looked at the table, he caught sight of the Weasley twins, both of whom were clapping. They seemed to feel his gaze because they looked up. Merlin wasn't quite sure what he had expected. He waved to them, smiling and they looked startled – as though they hadn't expected that. They looked at each other and then waved back.

"You might not want to do that."

"Sorry?"

It was the older student that had congratulated him earlier. The boy's eyes flickered to the Gryffindor table before returning to Merlin. "Gryffindor and Slytherin aren't exactly on the best of terms," he explained in an undertone as Greengrass, Daphne put on the hat.

"What do you mean?" Merlin muttered back, clapping as Miss Greengrass was made a Slytherin and took a seat at their table. "Why not?"

The boy raised his eyebrows. "You're kidding, right?"

Merlin frowned. "I think I could make better jokes than that."

A smile twitched at the boy's mouth. "It goes all the way back to the founders," he explained. "Godric and Salazar used to be friends, but they cut ties over blood purity. Salazar only wanted purebloods admitted to Hogwarts, and the others didn't. Eventually, he left the school over it."

"What? Seriously?" Merlin shook his head. That couldn't be right! Maybe the history books had gotten wrong.

The boy shrugged. "I'm Terence Higgs, by the way."

"Oh, I'm—"

"Merlin Evans." Terence chuckled. "I did just watch your sorting."

Merlin smiled back, but before he could say anything else, another student shushed them both and he went back to watching the sorting. Draco Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin as soon as the hat touched his head and he swaggered over to the table. Merlin was relieved that he didn't take the empty seat by him, preferring one further down the row. The empty seat was taken by Theodore Nott, a boy built like Merlin, with rather pointed features.

"Hey," Merlin said by way of greeting. Nott glanced at him, smiling weakly.

"I don't much like being at the centre of attention." Nott held his hands together, as though worried that if he didn't they might shake.