"Your secrets are safe and will not be shared, Mr. Potter. My question was broader. What are you hoping to gain here?" The sorting hat replied, its tone truly curious.
Harry shrugged a bit, well aware of all the eyes that remained on him. "Well, I need to stop what happened on my world from happening here. In order to do that, I need to prepare myself for war as fast as possible, and do anything I can to weaken the other side's grip before it becomes a stranglehold. In order to stop Voldemort's rise to power here and crush the bastard before he lays waste to this world. That's why I'm here. The events on my world during this year lead directly to his resurrection and the destruction of absolutely everything."
"And if the Dark Lord from your world should show up, or if he is already present on this world?" The hat asked curiously.
"To utterly destroy him too, and any who take up his cause. And do it with a minimum loss of life from those who don't deserve to die." Harry replied more harshly but no less firmly than he'd intended.
"Those who deserve to die. Such an interesting statement. Anything else?" The hat's voice was neither accusing or upset by Harry's statement. In fact it seemed altogether neutral to Harry's comment and filled with curiosity. Harry knew that the hat hadn't missed his statement of qualification about those who don't deserve to die.
"Isn't that enough?" Harry countered.
"Well, it seems like something has also been requested from you by Nicholas Flamel." The hat replied.
Harry was puzzled for several seconds before he replied. "Well...after talking to the Flamels, Nicholas made me promise that I was not going to hold back the chaos I was going to cause, especially if it served a purpose." Harry replied somewhat sheepishly.
It was a request Nicholas had made of Harry, and Harry hadn't really understood why. Nicholas had flat out encouraged him to cause as much chaos as possible. Harry had thought that perhaps it was just Nicholas urging to prank showing through. One week with him and Harry knew that he was a kindred spirit to the Weasley twins.
But Perenelle had agreed with him, and while she tolerated Nicholas' playful side. she wasn't one for pranking. She had merely told Harry that "A society as repressed and stagnant as the Wizarding world, needs a little bit of chaos and confusion. It might just do society some good."
"And if you accomplish all that? What then?" The hat asked, ignoring whatever Harry's thoughts were regarding being encouraged to cause chaos.
Harry shrugged mentally. He hadn't really given that much thought. "Then I'll have done my job and completed my purpose. In the very unlikely event I'm still alive. I think I'll have earned a rest. Maybe I'll go live in some fidelius charmed cave away from everyone. Or… if what the Flamels said is the truth and I'm not going to expire of old age... Maybe I'll just step through the Veil here. See what's on the other side. And if it truly is the Veil of Death, then I'll see my friends again."
The sorting hat was silent at that. It was a nearly mournful voice that spoke up. "Never a life for yourself. How very sad."
Harry frowned at that, but the hat wasn't finished. "You have no plans to meet your family and get to know them here." It wasn't so much a question as a statement wanting explanation.
Harry inwardly recoiled. "Hell no. I'm the kiss of death. Anyone who has ever been close to me has died. I will not show up here and disrupt their life like that. I'm going to stay as far away from them as humanly possible. I've already caused the deaths of James and Lily Potter once. I won't be the cause of it happening a second time."
"And Iris? You won't even connect with her? Perhaps out of anyone she could understand and share your burden. The burden you carry like a yoke around your neck, could be understood and even shared by her." The hat argued.
"Again, hell no. She's not me. It's not the same situation. She's got family and support. And If I do my job right, then hopefully the burden I carry will never be one that she has to carry. Maybe that's what I hope to achieve most of all. I plan to keep her, and my… her family as far away from me as possible. I am going to do this alone. That is my plan." Harry said fervently. He hadn't even laid eyes on Iris, but was defensive of the idea all the same.
"The best laid plans of mice and men." The hat snorted, and once more continued without allowing Harry to interrogate it. "To succeed in your goals you will need allies. You seem to have already picked up one in young Mr. Malfoy."
"That wasn't by choice. It's not like I wanted him to swear a loyalty oath or anything. He works with me, and I might as well be signing his death warrant… again. However if I don't work with him, then I'm signing his death warrant anyway. Damned if I do, damned if I don't." Harry was defensive, he hadn't planned for Malfoy. Harry still hadn't completely convinced himself that the smartest thing to do wouldn't be to kill Draco, transfigure him into a rock and throw him into the lake.
"All the same. You will need some allies. And we don't mean just among those here. Whether you like it or not, you are incredibly powerful. And incredibly skilled for someone without any advanced training, most of your skills have been developed on the fly. You must seek out the knowledge you need. The Room of Requirement can't provide you someone with that instruction. While it is a powerful enchantment, it was never meant to teach or instruct. You must look elsewhere." The hat told him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you enjoy reading? Visit my site on Tiendup! There you will find the advanced chapter in PDF format, ready for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/