Chapter Text
No one had given much thought to how students were sorted into school houses before the Sorting Hat was acquired by Hogwarts’ Founders. To be precise, no one assumed that there was anything else before that worn-out hat that sings a unique song every year.
No one knew who created the artefact, either. Information about this hasn’t left its mark in any documents from that time. That is why, it was a great surprise—maybe not only because, but who can be sure—that during the sorting of students, or more precisely, a moment after the Sorting Hat touched the top of the head of almost twelve-year-old Hermione Granger, the old hat transformed into a rather frustrated teenager.
It turned out later that this was only the beginning of the surprises.
xxx
Considering how events had unfolded since she boarded the Hogwarts Express, Hermione Granger had concluded that being sorted into one of the four Hogwarts houses would be the least of her worries. Her search for Neville Longbottom’s toad had led her to the compartment of a certain Malfoy, whose entire demeanour seemed to be trying to embarrass Hermione because of her origins. She then came across a compartment in which—as she later learned—Ronald Weasley was trying to show Harry Potter a spell to turn a rat’s grey-brown fur yellow. She wanted to help, but her nervousness made her come off as—as always—a pompous freak. Then, in other compartment, she found the red-head twins, who convinced her to try their product. Intrigued, she took the plunge, and was ‘rewarded’ with the temporary possession of cat ears.
With each passing minute, she grew more and more tired. She mustered a little enthusiasm when, upon entering the Great Hall, she saw the vault she had read about in Hogwarts: A History. The ceiling looked as if it were non-existent, allowing them to look up at the sky and the candles which seemed to float in mid-air.
Hermione looked forward to the Sorting. She didn’t care which house she ended up in, because, after all, it was just the school sorting. After school, it would—or at least it should—be irrelevant. She just wanted to get to her dormitory and rest.
That was why she was happy when Professor McGonagall called her name. She rushed over, practically running to the stool, and put the hat on her head. But instead of what she had expected, what she had hoped for, something completely different happened.
The hat slid off her head and onto the floor, only to disappear into dim smoke. When the smoke cleared, they saw a teenager not much older than her. He might have been fifteen, maybe sixteen—she would be surprised if he would be older. He was dressed in a linen shirt, dark trousers and leather shoes. His hair was the same brown as hers. He also had freckles like hers.
“What happened?” he asked, clearly confused. He didn’t even look at her. He did it a moment later, and then joy appeared in his eyes and his lips curved into a sincere smile. “The spell finally broke!” He looked his hand in front of him and looked at his moving fingers. “Merlin, I can finally leave this castle.” Then he looked at her and stated, “Miss, I think you should go to the hospital wing. Salazar and Godric sealed me in the hat with blood magic. With my own blood, so I couldn’t break the seal until one of my descendants showed up. My name’s Marcus Aurelius Granger, and yours?”
She was stunned by what had just happened, but also furious that under the current circumstances, she couldn’t count on a quiet evening. “Me?” she cleared her throat and without waiting for an answer, said, “Hermione Jean Granger.”
The smile on the teenager’s face widened, lighting up his face even more. Hermione couldn’t stop wondering about one thing. Was this reality or just a dream? She leaned towards the second option. She was so concerned that she didn’t even notice that she wasn’t the only one shaken by the unexpected events.
MrFortunately, someone had kept common sense, because a moment later she heard the wizard dressed all in black say in his low voice. “I’m sure many would like to hear your explanations now, Mr. Granger, but... We should focus on something else. Are you able to conduct the Sorting Ceremony in its current... form? I’m sure we’ll manage next year, but it’s too late to look for a replacement now.”
“Severus Snape, right?” at the professor’s nod, Marcus added, “I can do it even without being a hat. That’s what I was doing when the Founders realised I had a talent for Legilimency.
Hermione ran her fingers through her hair. Thanks to that, she understood that she really must have had a wound on her head. It was strange, because wounds of this type usually come in abundance. Could it be... Could it be a wound from the spell that hit her in Malfoy’s compartment? She considered. She probably would have thought about it longer if Professor Snape’s irritated growl hadn’t reached her consciousness.
“Miss Granger, I have no intention of asking you to sit on the stool for the third time.”
Hermione didn’t even notice that she had stood up. Sitting down, she looked at Professor McGonagall standing next to her. The older witch seemed to be frozen in shock. This was incredibly interesting.
“Hermione...” Mr Granger—she didn’t know what she should call him yet—began, “This won’t be much different from what other students have experienced so far... I have no problem entering other people’s thoughts, so don’t be afraid that something will hurt you...”
When the wizard finished speaking, Hermione suddenly felt blissful and various memories appeared before her eyes. From the seemingly insignificant, like painting pictures on leaves instead of paper, to the more serious, like the time she hit a school bully so hard that she broke his nose. There were also memories of her outbursts of magic and how her parents reacted to them… The memories changed faster and faster until everything become to blurry to see anything. Suddenly everything stopped, and she heard first a roar, “SLYTHERIN!!!” and then a whisper in her head, “This was the house Salazar chose me for. I was the first Muggle-born in his house.”
Hermione quickly opened her eyes and looked behind her. Thanks to this, she was able to see Marcus Aurelius Granger snatching the list of new students from Professor McGonagall’s hands and reading out the next name. She went to the house table, which would be her house for the next seven years, and quietly sat down a little distance from the students already sitting there.
She saw that they were looking at her. They did this for almost the entire Sorting Ceremony and it didn’t change even when Harry Potter was called out and sorted into Hufflepuff, much to the obvious displeasure of the Hogwarts Headmaster. They were both sorted into a house located in the dungeons.
Hermione suspected that today she had said goodbye to both peace and anonymity forever. “You can do it.” She whispered to herself and pulled out the book she had been reading on the train.
xxx
He had ended up at Hogwarts by accident. Back then, there was no system that would send letters to every magical child. The professors and founders followed every rumour about strange events and people suspected of dabbling in magic. That’s how they had ended up in the village where he was born and lived until he met Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin.
Both wizards, dressed as King Malcolm’s guards, appeared in their village shortly after his sister burned down a nearby mill. Anna did so in defence against an attack by a man who intended to steal her virtue despite the fact that she didn’t even reach her tenth spring.
They came for her, but it quickly turned out that she was not the only one they were interested in. At that time, the gift of innate unlimited Legilimency was almost unheard of.
When they took them with them, Marcus thought they were lucky. And indeed, they were for the first few years. Later, everything went to ruin. Anna fell in love—and the feeling was mutual—with Armand Malfoy’s younger son, with whom she quickly gave birth to a son, who was to bear the surname Granger and not Malfoy, because he was born non-magical. They quickly moved to Bulgaria, where Anna was to take up the position of Professor of Charms at Durmstrang under Nerida Vulchanova.
He wanted to follow them but.. Neither Salazar Slytherin nor Godric Gryffindor wanted to agree to his departure. The dispute in this matter lasted for a really long time. And unfortunately—mainly for him—it ended with him being turned into an object that had no way of leaving Hogwarts and the grounds surrounding the castle in which the school was located.
Year after year, decade after decade, century after century, he stood on a shelf among other artifacts, trying hard not to lose his consciousness.
Over all these years, he witnessed what happened in the office of the successive headmasters of Hogwarts, he was in the heads of countless students and thanks to this, he was convinced of one thing. The magical society was falling apart along with the increase in the number of forbidden spells, potions, and books. Now no one remembered that every magical line begins with a Muggleborn. This oblivion led to many wars over blood purity.
Marcus had witnessed the stupidity of those who were so full of themselves that they thought they could put themselves above the heads of the houses. When he had started at Hogwarts, there was no such thing as a separate position of Hogwarts Headmaster. The founders periodically gave each other an additional vote that could have the final say in solving problems.
However, none of the Headmasters were as bad as Albus Dumbledore. This wizard regularly covered up cases of bullying when the perpetrators were members of Gryffindor. He persuaded the young werewolf’s parents that registering him with the Ministry of Magic would only harm him. He covered up an unintentional
murder attempt, and repeatedly forced victims to take silence oaths.
Marcus Aurelius Granger didn’t think he would ever break out of this torpor. That is why he was surprised when, after touching the head of his sister’s offspring—he himself had no offspring, he was still a virgin—he felt his body start to form again. He had dreamed of this for so many years that he took it as a figment of his imagination at first.
He had no doubts about their kinship when he saw the witch staring at him. She had the same eyes, hair, complexion and even freckles as he and his sister.
At first, he wanted to take her with him and leave Hogwarts immediately. However, his curiosity won out, and he agreed to complete the sorting ceremony. He briefly reviewed her memories and although he knew he should have sorted her into Gryffindor, he sorted her into Slytherin. It was not only the house where he himself studied, but also the house where her father was the Head.
“I’ll somehow survive these next years in this place.” He muttered to himself. He whispered so quietly that he was sure that no one would hear him. “But I’ll manage. After all, what’s seven years compared to a thousand spent in this castle?”
xxx
The sorting ceremony in 1991 went down in history forever. It couldn’t have happened otherwise, because it doesn’t often turn out that something that everyone thought was an artifact of unknown origin was actually a wizard enchanted by two of the four founders of Hogwarts.
Marcus Aurelius Granger stayed on the castle grounds, much to Dumbledore’s dismay—the headmaster was not too pleased that someone had witnessed all of his conversations behind the closed doors of his office—the curiosity of Severus Snape, the intrigue of Tom Riddle hiding under Quirell’s turban, and… the joy of Hermione Granger.
The young witch quickly learned that the presence of her distant ancestor effectively deterred anyone who would want to harm her, thanks to which she had something she had dreamed of. Peace of mind.