Harry disembarked from the train at Hogsmeade Station, at least Tonks said that was what the station was called, and followed the instructions Hagrid gave. He got into a boat with two girls and another boy. He didn't even really notice much about the other three soon-to-be students, far too excited to see Hogwarts for the first time. Hagrid had said in their letters that the first sight of Hogwarts was truly amazing. The gentle giant hadn't been exaggerating, the magnificent first sight of Hogwarts truly lived up to the expectations Hagrid had given it. After getting off the boats and being led to an antechamber by a witch called Professor McGonagall they'd had a scare with actual ghosts, which Harry had felt was an interesting experience. It also made him a bit curious about how ghosts 'worked' for lack of a better term. Only at Hogwarts for a few minutes and already new curiosities were appearing. They were led into the Great Hall by Professor McGonagall to the looks and stares of the rest of the school. Professor McGonagall began calling off names and one by one the new students went up to the small stool with the odd singing hat to be sorted. A handful of minutes later and he had the ratty old hat on his head and was about to be sorted.
"Hmmm, how interesting." The voice of the hat murmured into his mind, startling him a little. "You have courage, but it's a more cautious sort, more for experimenting rather than bravery. Not particularly suited for Gryffindor."
Harry didn't really have an opinion on that, sure both of his parents had been Gryffindors, but if the magical talking hat said Gryffindor wasn't for him then that was as good a reason for not being sorted there as any he supposed. Besides, he'd been observing the Sorting so far, he had a feeling a lot of the headstrong and brash types went to Gryffindor. Intelligence didn't seem to be held in high regard in that house and stupidity could easily be mistaken for bravery. He'd seen 'tests of courage' done by some of the 'rougher' children in Primary School. Usually it ended up with the child in question getting caught trying to shoplift. Not brave, just stupid, in Harry's opinion.
"You have ambition, and are rather cunning. You could do well in Slytherin." The hat stated in his mind. Harry grimaced in distaste. Malfoy had gone to Slytherin and he didn't really want to interact with the blond prat.
He knew what the hat was talking about in terms of ambition though. Harry wanted to secure his future by fixing his Family's financial situation and by becoming stronger and more knowledgeable in Magic. With financial security came stability and with magical knowledge and power he could, theoretically, go out into the world and study all sorts of Magic. Perhaps even unravel ancient secrets or create wondrous Artifacts the world had never seen. In the meantime, there was no need to put up with people like Malfoy when there were other options available.
"Not Slytherin then." The hat agreed, feeling Harry's displeasure at the offer. "You're not afraid of hard work either. Hufflepuff would be good for you. You could make friends there."
'I already have a friend there.' Harry thought back. 'But she graduates this year so there isn't much point in going to Hufflepuff based on that.' Harry reasoned. Other than Tonks it seemed as if most of the people of the Magical World were going to be more interested in befriending his fame rather than him.
The hat almost seemed to sigh. "I see that holds little appeal for you, very well then. You do have a good mind and want to learn, so it better be...Ravenclaw!"
Harry took the hat off his head and walked over to the table of blue and bronze, trying to ignore the loud cheering that had started after a moment of stunned silence. The other students around him went to introduce themselves with far too much enthusiasm to even pretend at being casual, but were fortunately not nearly as annoying as Malfoy had been. The last few students were sorted without incident and the Headmaster stood up to speak.
"Welcome!" Dumbledore greeted. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"
'Why?' Harry thought to himself, before examining the food that had suddenly appeared. That was another interesting bit of magic he'd eventually look into. A lot of it seemed to be several varieties of meat, with various vegetable dishes between the platters of meat. Harry picked out some vegetables, potatoes and a bit of steak for himself. The goblets were filled with some kind of orange liquid, but it certainly didn't smell like orange juice. A tentative sip sent an unexpected rush of sweetness onto his tongue. Was this made from pumpkin? Who added so much sugar to pumpkin? Who decided to juice pumpkins? What was wrong with normal fruit juices? Were they not 'magical' enough? Thankfully there was a pitcher of water within arm's reach and Harry was able to switch drinks. He spent the rest of the feast filling his stomach and politely declining conversation with anyone that looked at his forehead before speaking to him. The feast eventually ended and Dumbledore stood up to speak again.
"Ahem, just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you." Dumbledore started once he had everyone's attention. "First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."
That sounded reasonable to Harry. Even a regular forest wasn't something you should be wandering into haphazardly. If the Forbidden Forest stayed true to form for the Magical World, it was probably filled with monsters like feral werewolves, red caps, trolls, and giant spiders.