"Harry Potter and the Shadows of Merlin"

Professor McGonagall didn't lead the new students straight into the Great Hall. Instead, she brought them into a small room.

She explained the Sorting Ceremony and the House Cup—topics Dana had heard countless times before, from the original books, movies, and all sorts of fanfiction.

"In a few minutes, the Sorting Ceremony will be held in the Great Hall. I suggest you..." She paused, focusing on Neville and Ron—one had his cloak clasped incorrectly, and the other still had dirt smudged on his nose.

"Tidy yourselves up so you look a bit more presentable."

With that, she turned and walked toward a small wooden door.

"When everything is ready outside, I will come and call you. Please remain quiet."

Then she left.

Of course, the room didn't stay quiet, just as she feared. The new students immediately started chatting about the Sorting Ceremony.

It seemed to be an unwritten rule in wizarding families to terrify children before their first year at Hogwarts, spreading all sorts of absurd rumors about the Sorting.

What Fred Weasley told Ron—that the Sorting was dangerous to young wizards—was actually mild compared to some of the things Dana had heard. Tales of dueling trolls or surviving dragon attacks for three minutes had turned Hogwarts into something more terrifying than Azkaban itself.

Even Azkaban wouldn't make its prisoners duel Dementors!

"Ah—!"

A sharp scream echoed through the room. Dana turned and saw more than twenty pearly-white ghosts floating in, clearly startling the young witches and wizards.

Dana once again felt like he was still in Azkaban. After all, both ghosts and Dementors gave off that same cold, soul-chilling presence.

Fortunately, the kind and cheerful Fat Friar of Hufflepuff greeted the first-years warmly.

"New students! Are you all waiting for the Sorting Test?"

His wide smile was incredibly infectious.

"I hope you'll be sorted into Hufflepuff. That was my house when I was a student!"

There it was again—the old tradition of scaring newcomers. Even the Fat Friar referred to it as a "Sorting Test" rather than a "Ceremony." Just hearing the word "test" made many students panic even more.

As he spoke, Professor McGonagall returned.

"Now, form a single line and follow me!"

As they walked into the Great Hall, Dana felt the movie adaptations had actually been too conservative.

The Great Hall described in the original book—"magical, wonderful, magnificent"—was still an understatement. The hall before him finally gave real meaning to those words. Even so, it still didn't compare to Merlin's treasure vault.

There was the iconic three-legged stool, the ancient Sorting Hat, four long tables where older students were seated and waiting for the feast to begin, and a group of professors looking on with interest.

The Sorting Hat's song, which contained no fewer than three hundred and eighty-three words (go count them yourself if you don't believe it), wasn't something Dana cared much for. After all, that kind of thing could be easily found on Baidu. No need to waste everyone's time here.

"Hannah Abbott!"

As expected.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

No surprises there. It wasn't like Hannah would end up in Slytherin just because of Dana's presence—even though, strictly by bloodline, she could have. The Abbott family was one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, after all.

…

"Dana Emrys!"

Emrys—spelled E-M-R-Y-S—put him fairly early in the order.

Dana walked forward calmly and placed the Sorting Hat on his head.

He didn't particularly care which house he was sorted into. As long as the hat didn't shout "Azkaban," it didn't matter. He wasn't here to experience school life anyway.

He just wanted to grow stronger—quickly. Hogwarts was full of secrets, and its library held almost every magical book publicly available in the entire wizarding world.

He glanced toward the Slytherin table. Dunat Avery was staring at him coldly. Oh, right—him.

Through Avery, Dana might be able to dig into the past and learn more about what had happened. After all, Dunat Avery was a child of one of the main families.

The Sorting Hat's voice echoed in his mind.

"Oh! I can't read your thoughts, child. And I don't sense any Occlumency either… are you a natural Occlumens?"

There was no such thing, really. The Sorting Hat was just being witty.

Dana wasn't amused.

"Well," the Hat continued, "regardless of personality, your bloodline is ancient, powerful, and noble. You belong in Slytherin."

Dana tilted his head slightly, glancing at Professor McGonagall. He muttered softly,

"It would be nice if I could go to Gryffindor."

The Sorting Hat perked up.

"Ah! Suddenly, I can read your thoughts! That's rare… which means you have a very strong will—"

"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted.

Dana removed the hat and placed it back on the stool. But in his heart, he was skeptical.

You read my thoughts? Or did you just hear them?

He walked toward the Gryffindor table. Applause erupted—but was abruptly cut off when Dunat Avery stood from the Slytherin table and shouted:

"He's a criminal! He's from Azkaban! Gryffindor actually accepted a criminal!"

The clapping faltered.

Professor McGonagall's voice rang out, sharp and stern.

"Mr. Avery! Watch your words! Mr. Emrys is a Hogwarts student, just like you!"

But her words didn't seem to help much. Dana could see the awkwardness spreading through the Gryffindor table.

Well, almost everyone.

"Wow! Azkaban? That's so cool!"

That was Fred.

"Yeah, Mum always said if we misbehaved, we'd be sent to Azkaban. Now we've got Dana—he can tell us if it's really that bad!"

That was George.

The Weasley twins were clapping more enthusiastically than before.

Dana smiled at them and walked to an emptier end of the table. No need to sit next to anyone who'd just get uncomfortable and move away. That would only cause trouble.

He was slightly lost in thought and missed a few of the most iconic moments—the Sorting Hat barely brushing Malfoy's head before declaring "Slytherin," the "We have Potter" moment, Harry trying to come sit next to him before Percy Weasley pulled him aside.

He also didn't notice Hermione Granger watching him curiously, or the concerned glances from Hannah Abbott and Professor McGonagall.

All Dana could think of at that moment was his mother, who had always hoped he'd have a good life at Hogwarts.

Was this what she meant?

He only snapped out of his thoughts when two people sat on either side of him.

"Hey, Dana! We met on the train. Let me introduce myself again, I'm—"

"You're Fred Weasley," Dana said instantly. Then he turned left. "And you're George Weasley. Am I right?"

"Oh, you're so cool! Tell us, how'd you do that? Even our mum gets us mixed up sometimes!"

Dana smiled.

"To avoid being targeted by Dementors in Azkaban, my perception might've gotten a little sharper than most people's."

He didn't hide his Azkaban past, and the twins appreciated that. Openness—that's how you make friends.

After all, if Dana was already at Hogwarts, then either he'd been wrongfully imprisoned, or he'd paid for whatever he did. And really—what could a seven-year-old wizard have done?

Steal someone's wand? Accidentally blow up a toilet?

If that was the bar, then the twins were far worse.

They once turned Ron's teddy bear into a spider when he was three—traumatizing him for life.

They also nearly tricked him into making an Unbreakable Vow at five. If their father, Arthur Weasley, hadn't caught them in time, little Ron might've died just from being his impulsive self.

"Amazing!" George said.

"It'd be awesome to visit Azkaban sometime!"

Dana shook his head. "No, you wouldn't want to go."

Fred grinned. "We won't believe it until you tell us what it's like!"

Just then, Dumbledore announced the start of the feast, and a "sumptuous" meal appeared on the long table.

Dana looked at the bread—lots of bread. He raised an eyebrow.

"Honestly, I think Azkaban and Hogwarts aren't all that different."

Both were full of magic. Both had that cold, oppressive feeling. Both were places of judgment and prejudice.

Even the bread was similar—though to be fair, Hogwarts' bread was much better. Still, after four years of eating moldy bread, Dana now felt nauseous just looking at it.

"Hahaha! Is that so?" Fred laughed.

George clapped. "Then you're right—we don't want to go to Azkaban!"

"And we don't really want to be at Hogwarts either!" Fred added.

Dana blinked. "Why not?"

The twins replied in unison:

"Because there's no freedom here!"

For more chapters

patreon.com/Liamlivingstone