True Purpose

TRUE PURPOSE

Chapter 2
The New Arrival

As the students arrived at the castle Harry suddenly stopped before entering the Great Hall. The last time he had been there...no, he thought. There's no use thinking about it anymore. Sirius is gone. He is gone. And it's all my fault. If I would have fought him... If only Sirius would have told me. Ron had turned around to find Harry standing by the entrance looking like he had looked the day they had left Hogwarts for the summer. "Come on Harry." said Ron in a desperate attempt to snap Harry out of his trance. Harry slowly walked through the entrance and made his way to the Gryffindor table where Hermione and Ginny were saving them two seats.

The regular procedure of sorting the first year students took place with all the students anticipating the great feast that lay ahead of them. After the sorting was done Dumbledore rose to give his usual speech, however there was a surprise in his announcement. "Dear students. Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. As you may know school of Durmstrang was attacked this past summer." He stopped for a brief moment. "One of the very few students to survive the Death Eater attack will be joining us for his two final years to complete his education." He leaned over to Professor McGonagall exchanging a whisper then rose as the doors opened. In walked the young boy from the train.

All eyes focused on the young boy who seemed to exhibit danger. His black robe almost magically swerved with his movement and in what seemed an eternity the boy arrived at the front table. Dumbledore once again spoke. "It is my pleasure to introduce our newest student Mr. Alexander Derhoff." Professor McGonagall stepped up as Alexander gently put the sorting hat on his head. The Great Hall had fallen into stunned silence as the hat seemed to have a lengthy discussion with the boy. After several minutes the hat shouted out "GRYFFINDOR" and there was a rapture of applause as the boy made his way to the Gryffindor table seating himself next to Hermione. Ron was obviously not pleased with this but made no attempt to start another fight with Hermione. As Dumbledore finished his speech about the forbidden forest and curfew the Great Hall lit up in a roar of noise as the food appeared on the plates. Eagerly eating Harry looked up to see Alexander slowly and methodically cutting a piece of meat into what looked like a dagger. Ginny who was sitting opposite to him curiously looked up at him and as if sensing the staring eyes he slowly looked up to see Ginny's dark brown eyes looking steadfast on him. As soon as he made eye contact with Ginny his eyes widened and he suddenly stood up and made to leave the Great Hall. "I wonder what his problem is?" said Ron. Harry and Hermione shrugged their shoulders. Ginny sat still and thought to herself. "I saw...fear."

The evening was perfect for stargazing. Alexander had made his way out into the courtyard. He turned around to look at the entrance to the Great Hall. No one had followed him. He made his way down to the lake where he took out a small leather pouch with an inscription on it. It seemed like he was looking for something when he finally came to a stop by a large willow tree where he sat down with his back against the tree. He begun to dig a small hole in the ground and gently opened the pouch dropping what seemed to be a seed into the hole. While covering it up he thought, "I will not forget."