Italics - Parseltongue
Bold - Sign Language
Chapter One
A smile broke across Harry Potter's face as he saw his roommate from the previous year, Blaise Zabini, on Platform 9 ¾. The two boys hurried onto the train and grabbed a compartment, then hung themselves out the window (as 12-year-olds will do) to wave goodbye to Blaise's mom and little sister. Once they were out of sight of the station, Harry and Blaise set about the very important business of catching up.
Blaise told Harry a story of travelling to visit various cousins all around England and Italy, littered with stories of how his siblings annoyed him and kept taking his things. Hedwig, who had been perched on Harry's shoulder, picked her head up and gave him an "I told you so" sort of look. Harry just sort of waved his hand towards her so Blaise could continue with his story. Laughter echoed out of their compartment as Blaise mimicked all the different members of his family, complete with facial expressions and body posture. Harry assumed Blaise was doing voices as well, but he couldn't be sure, because Hedwig wasn't able to convey that level of information.
After the snack trolley came around and Harry bought himself a bottle of pumpkin juice, he started telling Blaise about his summer. He talked about how he spent a lot of time in his room, trying to avoid being the victim of the strength that came along with his cousin Dudley's growth spurt. Hedwig reminded Harry about the weekend he spent with the neighbor, Mrs. Thompson, while Petunia and Dudley went to visit some family. Blaise followed along, nodding in all the right places, and occasionally rolling his eyes at Dudley's antics.
It wasn't long before the train slowed and the castle finally came into view. Harry and Blaise threw their robes on and followed the horde of other students toward the self-pulling carriages. They were quickly ushered into a carriage with the shiny boy - Draco, Harry reminded himself - and the two that were always following him around the year before. While the boys were comparing their summers, Harry kind of zoned out, looking out toward the lake. He couldn't wait to get back to the Slytherin dorm and catch up with his mermaid friends. Suddenly struck with the feeling that he was being stared at, Harry turned back to the other boys in the carriage. Sure enough, all four of them were staring at him.
"Sorry, what?" Harry wasn't entirely sure what he had missed. Blaise laughed and shook his head, and the shiny b- Draco's minions just looked confused. Draco, however, looked suspicious. Harry didn't pay attention to them and simply asked Blaise to repeat the question.
"I said, aren't you excited to be back? Good food, no parents, pretty girls," Blaise wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Harry smiled and shook his head. "I'm not really interested in anyone yet," Harry started, but he was cut off by his roommate.
"Come on, mate, you spent all that time by the big window last year, talking to girls who could barely be bothered to put shirts on, and you're telling me you're not interested?" Blaise and the other boys looked at Harry with a mixture of pity and shock. "How can you not be interested? There are so many cute girls here, and most of them aren't even that smart! Honestly, mate, it couldn't be easier!" One of Draco's minions finally found his voice.
"Maybe I think there's more to a girl than what they look like, and maybe I'd like to have a conversation with her about something more than just myself. Did you think of that?" Harry raised an eyebrow at his companions in a way that almost reminded them of Professor McGonagall. "And another thing. I don't need a girl to be happy. I have my friends, and if I were to date anyone, they would all need to get along. So I'm not holding my breath." Harry turned back to the lake.
Soon enough, whispers of "Maybe he's right," and "I never thought of it that way," made their way to Hedwig's ears, which she happily translated for her hatchling. When the small group finally made their way off of the carriage, everyone except Draco apologized for how they spoke about the girls they were interested in. "We learned stuff like that from our brothers, you know? But you're right, that's really disrespectful. We'll tell the other guys to knock it off, too." Harry was proud of his friends for being willing to admit that they were wrong.
Harry felt a *thump* against his shoulder, and turned to see Hermione, the cloud girl, next to him. "Thanks," was all she said before hurrying to catch up to a couple people that Harry wasn't sure he knew. He hadn't done it for that reason, but it felt good to have someone recognize when he did something right. Harry grinned and followed his classmates to the Great Hall.