Dumbledore was not happy with that decision. "I am the Hogwarts Headmaster..."
"...Only as long as the castle allows!" The hat's declaration was followed by a loud clang of a bell being struck, a bell that hadn't been heard inside the castle in living memory. Hogwarts had clearly spoken. "Headmasters come and go but Hogwarts prevails. This school was devised and built by the four founders to teach magic to all those able to perform it, not so some supposed elite fraternity could lord it over everyone else. Hogwarts needs to unite in the face of the coming darkness less all will be lost. Come and sit Harry Crow, let me sort you."
Harry knew his father thought his future was tied to Hogwarts, the hat's actions had just confirmed that. He looked to Hermione for her opinion. "What do you think?"
"Well, we're already here, and you'll still be able to take us home if we change our minds? I'll go and keep you a seat at the Ravenclaw table." Her gaze for that last comment was aimed at the old hat, clearly indicating that any other result was unacceptable.
Harry smiled at her before sitting on the stool and placing the hat on his head.
Dumbledore was livid, he was left standing there looking like the court jester while the main action happens elsewhere. The sorting hat was correct though, one could only be headmaster if the castle allowed. Without Hogwarts cooperation, he wouldn't even be able to access his office. Albus would just have to console himself with the fact that Harry would be here, available to be influenced by his headmaster. The sorting hat was busily scanning the young boy whose head it was now sitting on. "Oh I am glad to see you easily qualify for membership to Rowena's House. I feel you'll need the friendship of Miss Granger and leadership of Master Flitwick during your stay with us. Therefore it has to be RAVENCLAW!"
Hermione was on her feet, leading the cheering from a surprised Ravenclaw house, they all had thought the-boy-who-lived couldn't go anywhere but Gryffindor. The applause from the house of the lions was at best muted. This boy had just stridden over to the Slytherin table and decked a snake; he then even forced Snape to take points from his own house. How the hell could he be sorted anywhere else but Gryffindor? A pair of red headed twins summed up the feelings of the entire house by continually asking the question, "We didn't get Potter?"
As Harry stood to cheering from his new house mates, he felt a thud on top of his head just before he removed the hat. Reaching into the tattered ancient relic, he removed a bejewelled but definitely deadly goblin-forged sword. The blade was engraved with the name of Godric Gryffindor.
The hat had more to say. "Your heritage allows you to draw that sword, and your training prepared you to wield it. That sword acknowledges you as Hogwarts champion." A scabbard appeared on the stool that Harry soon had expertly fastened around him, the shoulder sash proclaimed 'Ravenclaw' across his chest. He then sheathed his new blade before handed the sorting hat back to an astonished McGonagall.
"Mr Crow, I shall expect you in my office directly after the feast."
"I will have to disappoint you headmaster, the law won't allow that. Since you are barred from Gringotts, you can't be alone with any goblin minor. My father must be present in any discussions we have." Harry respectfully bowed once more to Flitwick before handing over a scroll to his new head of house. "Here is a copy of the instructions the headmaster intended to ignore. Can I ask who Professor Snape is?"
All eyes then turned toward the greasy-haired teacher he'd previously dealt with, Harry again gave the short version of his bow. "No offence to your person or your professionalism sir but you fall under the same laws of distrust as the headmaster. Since it was only his word that prevented you being sent to Azkaban as a death eater, and the goblins certainly have no faith in Dumbledore's word, I shall not be attending any of your classes. I, and any of my friends I ask to join me, will be receiving private potions tuition."
Filius intended to study the scroll at his leisure but simply had to speak to the boy, if only to end the unbelievably strained silence his last remark had caused in the hall. No one was quite sure how to react to how things were developing here. The tension in the air was so thick, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. "You seem well acquainted with a blade Mr Crow, can I assume you've had the proper training?"
Harry's eyes twinkled as he answered his head of house. "Master Sharpshard asked me to pass on his regards, he spoke highly of you sir."
The diminutive professor thought there must be something wrong with his hearing. "You trained under Master Sharpshard?"
Harry nodded, "I was honoured to have him as one of my mentors."
Harry strolled over to where Hermione was keeping him a seat, leaving a now totally bewildered staff table behind. Dumbledore was so shocked at the previous revelations, he forgot all about his pre-feast announcements and just waved his hand for the food to appear. Secrets that he'd kept hidden for years had just been broadcast to the entire school.
Minerva eventually sat beside the headmaster and her expression was thunderous. "I'm calling a full staff meeting for tonight, and you better have some answers for me Albus. I don't like being made a fool of in front of the entire school, especially by a first year. That acceptance letter should have come to me and I'll be wanting to know why it didn't. It must also have conveniently slipped your mind that Harry was no longer at Privet Drive when I frequently asked after his welfare over the last decade."
Any appetite Albus had left disappeared with that. After the evening he'd just had, the last thing he needed was Minerva on the warpath. When he looked down the other side of the table, Severus appeared ready to render young Harry down into potion ingredients. This was not how he foresaw tonight's sorting proceeding.
Filius had also noted his fellow head of house's vicious demeanour, and where his poisoned glare was directed. He decided some intervention was in order. "That was a smart move tonight Severus, young Malfoy's mouth invited trouble he was ill equipped to handle. Knowing at least one of Mr Crow's trainers, I can safely say he would have made mincemeat of Mr Malfoy."
Severus' answer was dripping with barely contained anger. "I intend to confiscate those weapons of Potter's as soon as this feast is over. First years with knives and swords, this place is certainly going downhill."
Filius couldn't let that pass. "I'm afraid you can't do that Severus. Hogwarts has accepted Mr Crow as a goblin student, with all the circumstances that acceptance entails. Mr Crow is not allowed a wand, but does have permission to carry a blade. Asking a goblin to surrender his blade is an even worse faux pas than demanding a wizard hand over his wand." "The boy is an arrogant little toerag, just like his father. Not even sorted and already making demands, he should have been allowed to leave the castle."