Bravely into the unknown (Gryffindor)

"...GRYFFINDOR!"

As the last word left the Hat's mouth, the table that was now to his left burst into cheering, two identical-looking girls even chanting "We got Potter!". Harry stood up and handed the hat back to professor McGonagall before walking over and taking a seat at the table with the rest of his new housemates. The cheering died down for the most part by the time that he took a seat near the other first-year gryffindors. He didn't remember all of their names, but there were a few that had stuck out for one reason or another. Lavender, a blonde girl who had been sorted immediately after Susan; Hermione, the nervous girl whose sorting had taken about as long as his had; and Parvati, one of a pair of twins who had been sorted just before him.

Introductions, however, would have to wait until the rest of the students had been sorted. There weren't too many left now, which made sense considering how hardly anyone that he knew had a last name beginning with a Q or a Y. At the edges of the group of first-year Gryffindors, a few of the upper-year students were now much more focused on him than he would have liked.

Thankfully, Silver was still on his shoulder to distract Harry and help him calm down. Harry busied himself with his pet while keeping an ear out for the names of anyone being sorted into Gryffindor. Two more girls ended up in Gryffindor - Daisy Thomas and Connie Weasley. Once the last girl was sorted and had taken her seat at the Slytherin table, professor McGonagall placed the hat back down on the stool where it had originally been and walked back around the staff table to return to her seat. As she did, the woman seated at the center of the teacher's table stood up from her seat and began to speak.

"Welcome, all of you, to another fine year at Hogwarts. My name is Alba Pernelle Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and I am the headmistress of Hogwarts School of Magic." The white-haired woman spoke evenly, much less so than someone who looked twenty years older than Harry's grandmother should have. "I am sure that you are all eager to have your dinner, but I do have a few quick announcements for everyone. I'll do my best to be quick about it without leaving anything important out."

She paused for a moment, and Harry's eyes widened as a goblet floated up from the table into her waiting hand for her to take a sip of it. The headmistress let go of it and it floated back to its original position without a sound.

Her speech continued. "In no particular order, our caretaker Mrs. Filch has asked for me to remind you all of the forbidden items list that can be found on the door of her office. Fourteen new additions have been made since our older students went home for the summer last year, so I would recommend that everyone finds a moment in the coming weeks to take a look at it, especially our more... incident-prone students."

The last two words were followed with a knowing look at the Gryffindor table, though not near enough to Harry for him to see who she was looking at while seated.

"On a similar note, Madame Pomfrey would like me to remind you that anyone with any injuries or illnesses is encouraged to come to the hospital wing before attempting your own remedies. It is easier for everyone involved and will be much faster for anyone in need of medical care."

"We do have a few staff changes this year. Professor Quirrell has changed her subject to Defense Against the Dark Arts, following the departure of professor Malva. Muggle Studies will now be taught by a recent graduate of ours, Charity Burbage. Please give them a warm welcome and try to be accommodating as they adjust to their new positions."

There was a smattering of applause before she continued. "Now, as you all have noticed and were quite verbal about earlier, Hogwarts is now host to the first male magic user in recorded history. As my deputy said, we expect you all to treat him as you would any other student. It is certain that challenges will arise, but we will deal with them as they come. If I discover that anything untoward has happened on account of his gender..."

In an instant, the room changed. All sources of light and sound seemed to vanish, leaving the room dark with the exception of a single new source of light. At the center of the head table, illuminated from within by a crackling flame that almost hurt to look at, Alba Dumbledore stood unbothered. Magic was pouring off of her body, applying pressure even at the distance Harry was seated.

"...then I, Alba Dumbledore, Inheritor of the Promethean Flame, shall make things right."

The flame burning within her vanished along with the pressure, and it took everyone a few moments to readjust to the lower level of light that the still-burning torches and fireplace provided. Nearly everyone in the room was staring at the elderly woman even after their vision returned to normal, each holding an expression somewhere between shock and terror. Even the teachers were in similar states, one woman in a turban clutching her chest and breathing heavily. Only two teachers seemed mostly unaffected - Professor McGonagall and Hagard.

"Finally, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out-of-bounds to all who do not wish to die a very painful death. With that said, I believe it's past time for all of you to begin eating. A few words: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" Having finished, the headmistress sat back down and the empty tables were suddenly heavy with more dishes than Harry had ever seen in his life. Even so, it took him a few moments to stop staring in awe and return his focus to the table around him.

He was one of the first to do so, giving him first choice of all of the dishes within arm's reach. At first careful not to let his eyes get bigger than his stomach, he ended up taking a small amount of everything that he could as well as a turkey leg for the main course. The rest of the hall started returning to normal one by one while he was getting food, and he had almost finished filling his plate before the first of his fellow Gryffindor first-years broke out of it.

"W- what the hell was that?" The question that came out of Hermione's mouth in a panicked whisper probably echoed the one that most students were asking themselves. Harry privately agreed with her question, but didn't want to voice that seeing as it had been done in defense of him. Thankfully, an older Hufflepuff with purple hair at the table behind her heard the question and leaned backwards to answer it.

"You're a muggleborn, right? In the magical world, if you develop a unique magical ability or become strong enough you earn a Title. Headmistress Dumbledore earned her title back in the thirties or forties, and we might be some of the lucky few people to see why. It's actually one of the main selling points of Hogwarts, that all of our core subject teachers and most of the elective ones are Titled. I'm actually one of the few Titled students here - Lady of a Thousand Forms, Nymphadora Tonks at your service."

Harry and Hermione took the information that she had just shared in stride as the Hufflepuff returned to a normal sitting position and began eating her own dinner. Her answer had only halfway answered the question, leaving out the part of 'why would the headmistress feel the need to threaten the entire student body', but it was enough for them to stew over as dinner ramped up.

Between bites of food, Harry got to know his fellow first-years a little better. They were all fairly skittish when first talking with him, but soon calmed down. As they ate and talked, Harry got to know more about Hermione's dentist parents and her love of books, Daisy's florist background and her mother's unfortunate naming sense, Connie's many siblings, Lavender's love of fashion and architecture, and Parvati's upbringing in magical India. The other two girls were too far away to hold normal conversation while the room was as loud as it was, but he caught that their names were Sara Finnegan and Noelle Longbottom.

Dinner and dessert eventually came to an end, and after a very strange school song that seemed to have a different tune for everyone who was singing it, professor McGonagall announced that it was time for them to go to their dormitories for bed.

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Hey guys, author here. At the request of about 20% of readers, I have added customizable names for the formerly male characters (and the dragon) in this story. If you have any ideas for 'canon' names of people who haven't been given new ones yet or better ideas for existing ones, let me know in the chapter comments. I haven't yet figured out how to remove the polls yet, so they will remain until I do.

Also, shoutout to the two people who selected the "No, and I will suffer quietly" option on the poll. Now you can suffer through coming up with new names, should you so desire.