- - -
Harry James Potter had finally arrived at Platform 9 ¾!
After the longest time with his parents, he was going back to school. Not that it was all that bad, of course. There was his birthday, when Draco, Blaise, and Teddy all came over to play Quidditch with him - his parents got him a Firebolt! His father had gotten Sirius and Professor Lupin to join in the game. They had lost, of course, but only because there was no snitch. As much as his dad hated to admit it, Harry was now a better seeker than he was.
Harry looked up and down the platform to find his Slytherin mates. Immediately, he spotted Theo, who had drown prodigiously over the summer. Now well over six feet tall, he towered over the bustling first and second years and their parents.
"Oi, Theo!" Harry called out. The tall boy jogged over, smiling. "You've seen Draco or Blaise?"
"Hey, Harry." He replied, a little out of breath from lugging a bag nearly as large as he was. "Dunno. I think Blaise is on the train, saving us a seat. Draco's probably at the prefect meeting."
"Told you!" Harry said triumphantly "Draco's always kissing up to the teachers. There's no way he would have picked someone else."
"But I heard you got Quidditch Captain" Theo replied. "Congrats, mate! You deserve it."
"It's nothing." Harry waved off dismissively, but inside he was glowing with pride. He wasn't entirely sure that he would get the position. Draco was as good if not even better as a leader.
"He's my son, Theodore, there was no way that he couldn't be the best player in his house!" James Potter injected himself into the conversation. "I just wish you were heading up Gryffindor like your old man, Harry. Ow!" Lilly Potter took that exact moment to stomp, quite hard, upon her husband's foot. After whispering something in James' ear, she turned back to Harry, smiling.
"We've got to go, honey. Ministry business and all." She explained, apologetically smiling for her husband's comment. "Don't forget to write!" After making some quick goodbyes, Harry's parents left the way they came in.
"You'd think after five years, they'd get off your case for being in Slytherin." Theo commented smoothly.
"Tell me about it." Harry replied, his tone suggesting that Theo's comment was a massive understatement. "I had to deal with that all summer." It was true. His parents did love him, they were just a bit disappointed that he had been sorted into Slytherin rather than Gryffindor. Boy, was that a surprise when they found out.
- - -
"Potter, Harry" McGonagall called from her list of names. Immediately, the hall went silent. Everyone knew who James Potter was, and if possible they expected even more from his son. Gulping, Harry stepped out of the line and walked as steadily as he could towards the hat. Every step was measured perfectly, as the boy was terrified of tripping and making a fool of himself.
Stepping up, he sat on the stool, and McGonagall dropped the hat upon his head, which quickly dropped down past his eyes, and almost to his chin.
"Hm…" The hat whispered in his ear. "Bright… so very bright… you have such a thirst for knowledge. You would do well in Ravenclaw. Or maybe Hufflepuff, your kindness would fit you in well there."
"But!" The hat stopped. Harry knew that he would be sorted, but still he couldn't shake the irrational fear that the hat would flat out refuse to place him in a house. "Still, you have ambition beyond compare! And such bravery too! You're willing to do what it takes to be strong."
"My choice is clear, then."
"Slytherin" The hat yelled out. An even more stunned silence fell upon the hall for a couple of seconds before the Slytherin table erupted in raucous applause.
As Harry walked towards the Slytherin table, he couldn't help but feel the piercing gaze from all the professors at the head table. Did they expect him to be in Gryffindor like his parents?
"We got Potter!" They yelled, jeering victoriously at the other tables in the great hall. Sitting down with his fellow Slytherin, Harry smiled. He felt at home with the snake.
- - -
"Harry! Teddy!" Zabini popped his head out of a compartment as the boys made their way down the train car. "In here! I saved you guys spots."
"Thanks." Harry muttered as he tried to jam his bag into the alcove above the seats. With a bit of effort, it uneasily fit in the spot.
"So, Teddy told me you were made Quidditch Team Captain." Blaise remarked to Harry. "Congrats, man!"
"I know!" Harry beamed. Professor Slughorn was the best Head of House at Hogwarts. He was great with all the Slytherin students, and on top of that, the Slug Club meant great food. "With Pucey and Montague gone, I need to host Chaser tryouts. Either of you interested?"
"Nah." Blaise replied, shaking his head vehemently. "I don't want to jinx our team's chances of winning. I do fine when we're playing for fun, but I don't think I could handle being on the school team."
"Oh, come on!" Theo cajoled his buddy, slapping him heartily on the back. "It'll be fun! And even if you don't make it on the team, at least you'll pick up some hot chicks." Theo's eyes glazed over slightly at the though of some pretty arm candy he'd earn by being on the house team.
"Yeah" Harry sniggered "I hear Davis has a thing for chasers!"
Both Harry and Theo burst into laughter as Blaise just frowned. "That's not funny, you guys."
"Ooh!" Theo called out. "Blaise has a thing for somebody!"
"I bet he wishes they were a pair of 'star cross'd lovers'" Harry laughed.
"Romeo and Juliet end up killing themselves." Blaise deadpanned. "Did you even read the book for Muggle Studies?"
"Not taking the class." Harry replied, smirking at his friend. Blaise always complained about the workload as if it was going to kill him. "Dropped end of last year. It's a boring class. But sometimes we watch stuff on the telly at home. I think it's boring, but my mum insisted we had one."
"So, Harry." Theo asked, trying to change the subject. Muggle stuff bored him. When they had signed up for muggle studies in third year, he showed up for one class, then promptly dropped it in favor of Arithmancy. "Who's your special someone? I heard you broke it off with little Ravenclaw Turpin."
"Yeah," Harry fidgeted in the seat. It was still a bit of an uncomfortable subject for him. "She thought I wasn't taking my classes too seriously, and we got in a big fight. We didn't write each other over summer, so I think it's over. But that's not important."
"You said you dropped Muggle Studies." Blaise said. "You change any other classes?"
"Nah." Harry replied. "I was only taking Runes and Arithmancy with Muggle Studies. Divination's a joke and as for Care of Magical Creatures…"
"Hagrid's an oaf who doesn't know the proper side of a blast-ended skrewt?" Theo filled in.
"No…" Harry trailed off, searching for the right thing to say. "Well, yeah, he's an oaf, but he's a nice oaf. I kinda feel bad for him, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah." Theo dismissed the thought. He wasn't against non-purebloods, but the groundskeeper had given them a lot of grief first year when they tried throwing his pumpkins into the lake to lure out the Giant Squid. "Like I always say, you're too nice for your own good, Harry. One day, someone is going to take advantage of you and leave you on your ass."
"If they do, I'll kick their arse." Harry replied, soliciting a hearty laugh from the three boys.
The door slid open to reveal one Draco Malfoy, prefect badge and all.
"Hello, boys," Draco smirked, making sure to push out his chest and draw attention to said article. "Fare well without me?"
"Hey, Draco." Harry smiled. "You know, I made Team Captain."
"Good." Draco smiled honestly. Even though Draco was a glory-seeker, he genuinely enjoyed it when his friends succeeded as well. "That means you can use the prefect bathrooms, unlike the commoners." He glanced pointedly at Blaise and Theo.
"Hey!" Theo rose his hands defensively. "We get it! Just don't lord it over us all year."
"Nah, it'll be great!" Blaise rubbed his hands together mischievously "We can confiscate prank stuff from the students, then use it on the Weasel twins. I'm sick of them out-pranking us each year!" All of the boys nodded in agreement to this. Ever since they picked on the Weaslette second year, the entire brood had been on them.
In a lull in the conversation, they heard a large thump, then a familiar voice yell "Bloody hell!" Smirking, the boys all moved to the door and stepped out into the corridor, where a one Ronald Weasley was picking himself off of the ground.
"Don't be so angry, Weasel." Draco drawled "I'm surprised you're even able to walk with those huge feet."
"Shut up, Malfoy" Ron growled.
"What's the matter, Weasley?" Harry smirked at the Gryffindor "Can't think of anything clever without your precious Granger around?"
It was at this point that the very girl Harry had been speaking about stepped out into the corridor. "Leave him alone, or I'll give you all detention. Your parents would love to hear about that, wouldn't they?"
Deciding that it wasn't worth their effort to continue, the boys just smirked and turned back to their compartment, feeling confident in their victory. That was, until Weasley had the gall to mutter "Bet your parents hate you for being in Slytherin, eh, Potter? Such a let down?"
In the blink of an eye, Harry had his wand out, pointed directly at the redheaded boy. "What did you say, Weasel?"
"I said," Ron said, pulling out his wand as well "that you must be a pretty piss poor son. Do your parents even-"
But Ron wasn't allowed to finish the sentence as Harry bellowed "Confundo!", a jet of light flashing past the Gryffindor who jumped to the side as soon as he saw Harry open his mouth. He fired back with a loud "Furnunculo!", and Harry threw himself to the side to avoid the attack. Luckily, no one was caught by the spell as it bounced around the cabin.
"Stop it!" Hermione yelled, "Or I will give both of you detention!"
"Leave it, Granger." Draco drawled. "Harry's dueling for his honor here. It'd be disrespectful for you to intervene, Mudblood."
Hermione gasped in indignation at the insult. Even though Voldemort was long gone, and most wizards focused less on blood purity, the vulgar term was slung about enough around her to be offended. Pulling out her wand, she stepped between the two combatants. "You two, I'm serious! Stop it this-"
However, Harry was unable to stop in time, his "Stupefy!" punctuating the red beam of light that hit Hermione square in the chest. The witch crumpled to the floor as both Ron and Harry stopped, at a loss of words for the turn of events.
"That's enough!" Professor Lupin stormed down the corridor. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Ronald Weasley! I know that you must uphold Gryffindor honor at all times, but that does not permit you to duel in the corridors of the Hogwarts Express. Detention for a week once we begin school, and fifty points from Gryffindor! Same goes to you, Potter, and I'll send a letter to your parents about this. They won't be pleased."
"But Professor!" Ron exclaimed. "He stunned Hermione!", pointing to the unconscious girl on the floor.
Lupin turned, looking at Harry questioningly. Harry shrugged, knowing that it couldn't get much worse. Of course he felt bad about hitting Granger, but it wasn't like it was his fault. He didn't know it was going to happen. "I didn't mean to hit her, she tried to step in between us and stop the fight."
"How noble of her…" The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher murmured "Ten points to Gryffindor for her bravery in trying to stop a fight. And this is why we don't duel in the corridors, Potter. Ennervate" Lupin helped up a groggy Hermione, and handed her to Ron. The two hobbled back to their compartment, glaring daggers at the Slytherin. Professor Lupin turned back to Harry, giving him look. Harry turned and nodded, and the three other Slytherin boys retreated to their own compartment.
"Harry, you really need to stop this kind of stuff" Remus told Harry. He was Remus now, because it was just them, and he was talking to Harry as a family friend "I know, it's fun to fight at school when you're young, but eventually, you're going to look back on this and realize what a huge mistake it was. You're just like your father -"
"I get it!" Harry yelled. "I hate it when you compare me to my dad. We're not the same person!"
- - -
It had been a week since Harry had been sorted into Slytherin. He had, of course, sent a letter to his parents telling them where he had been sorted. Not that it really mattered now, he had already been sorted into the house. But still, he dreaded the letter that was bound to return. His father was most definitely going to be pleased.
From what he saw from his week at Hogwarts, he wasn't so sure why his father thought that Slytherin was a bad house. Harry had already made lots of friends within the house, and Professor Slughorn, their head of house, was really nice. He had even already been invited to the Slytherin professor's Slug Club.
In fact, the real jerks were the Gryffindors. Especially the Weasleys. They were easy to pick out - red hair, freckles, second-hand robes. Percy, the oldest, didn't seem too bad. Maybe he was a bit unnecessarily terse with Slytherin students, but always strictly within the rules.
The twins, however, were a nightmare for Slytherin students. Harry learned very quickly not to open any mail he wasn't expecting, after a package arrived courtesy of Fred and George packed with dungbombs exploded unceremoniously in his face.
Ron wasn't nearly as clever or polite as his other brothers, and just seemed to pick fights with Slytherin whenever and wherever he could. Which lead to the Slytherin boys goading the Weasel whenever they could.
This breakfast, Harry looked up and saw his parent's owl swooping down, dropping a letter from his parents in his lap. Gulping, Harry opened it quickly.
Dear Harry,
Thank you for telling us what house you were sorted into. Honesty is very important in our family, so we're very grateful that you had the courage to tell us.
Harry laughed humorlessly. That part was definitely from his mother.
I must admit, I was quite disappointed when I heard the news. I even talked to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, but they wouldn't even consider transferring you to Gryffindor. Apparently, the Sorting Hat doesn't take too well to them disregarding his sorting. Anyways, I guess I'll just have to give up on it. You're still my son, whichever house you're in.
Harry began to seethe. They went to Dumbledore!? Did they even consider that he might have been happy where he was? All the Gryffindors seemed like prats anyways. He almost didn't continue the letter, but saw that the next section was written by his mother.
Harry, please know I didn't support your father in that, but it's hard to change his mind once he's set on something. Anyways, we hope that you're enjoying Slytherin, and will see you for Christmas break!
Love,
Mom and Dad
Harry crumpled up the note and left it under the table. Let the House Elves deal with it, he rationalized. He was going to go hang out with his new friends. His Slytherin friends.
- - -
Harry slammed the door shut to the cabin as he returned to his friends.
"That was rough, man." Blaise remarked. "A week of detention before school started? And points taken off? You should talk to Professor Slughorn. He might be able to talk down Professor Lupin for you."
"Nah." Harry waved it off, making it quite clear he wasn't comfortable with the subject. Whatever Lupin dished out, it was completely his fault. "I deserved it. If I hadn't hit Granger, I'd agree with you. But as annoying as she was, I shouldn't have hit her."
"Harry, you softie!" Theo punched him in the arm. "Feeling bad for a Gryffindor? You'll have to get rid of those feelings quick, before they beat you up for it."
"Just leave off it." Harry scowled. He really didn't like where this was going, and wanted to head them off as quickly as possible. The three other boys backed off immediately. They knew it was no point to push Harry when he was in that mood.
Quickly, the subject was changed, and the boys laughed the rest of the way to Hogwarts.
- - -
The train pulled into Hogwarts late that evening. As usual, Hagrid, the overly large groundskeeper ushered the first years to the boats. Harry, Theo, Blaise and Draco all took the horseless carriages up to the castle. They all knew that they were drawn by Thestrals, of course, but thankfully, they had never partaken in witnessing a death. From what they heard from the students that could see them, they really weren't something someone wanted to see anyways.
Joking all the way up to the castle, the boys hopped out of the carriage laughing heartily. Quickly hopping up the flight of stairs, they entered the grand hall and made their way to their usual spots at the Slytherin table. Draco made a show of saving a seat for his girlfriend, Pansy, who gave him a quick peck on the cheek. The rumble in the hall slowly crawled to a halt as Professor McGonagall opened the doors to the great hall, leading the new first years up to the front.
Harry, Draco, Blaise, and Theo looked at the group of first years appraisingly. Some of them were to become Slytherin. Harry just hoped that they would be worthy of the noble name, whomever was chosen.
- - -
Another year, another haul. None of the new Slytherin students really stood out; no legacy kids like it had been in their year. It'd take weeks, even months for them to sort out which ones were worth anything. On top of Quidditch and Homework, it would prove to be a near impossible task.
Later, after singing the Hogwarts song (somewhat reluctantly), the boys headed down to the dungeons to unpack before the firsties clogged up the common room.
- - -
By the second day of being back at Hogwarts, Harry's parents had found out about the duel on the train. Looking up during breakfast, he saw his parent's owl swooping down with presumably a howler. Harry gulped. He had received howlers from his parents before, and not a single time was it a pleasant experience.
Accepting the letter, he opened it quickly. It was better than waiting for it to explode. As soon as he broke the seal on the envelope, it came to life, folding into a mouth-like shape. His mother's voice, twisted by the howler charm began to screech at him.
Harry James Potter! How dare you fight on the train! Count your lucky stars that you only got one week of detention! You deserved a lot more for what you did!
Harry shrunk into his chair. At this point, the hall was silently observing the scene unfold.
And stunning that girl! Even if you didn't mean to, that's horrible! You had better apologize to her right this instant!
And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, his father's voice took over.
If something like this happens one more time, Harry, I will talk to Professor Slughorn about removing you from the team! I mean it, son, if you don't clean up your act, you're in for a whole lot of trouble.
Deflating like a balloon running out of air, the red envelope fell to the table, inert. Harry's parents' owl left once the howler concluded its message. There was a deafening silence in the great hall.
Then, the Gryffindor table erupted into sniggers and chortles. There was no lost love between Harry and Gryffindor. Every year that he had been seeker, Slytherin crushed them in Quidditch. Massaging his forehead, Harry realized what this meant. The Gryffindors would picking fights with him all year, just to get him off the team.
"Bummer, mate." Draco said to his friend, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder.
Thanks, Mom, Dad. He thought bitterly as he picked up his books and left the great hall. OWLs, Quidditch, and Gryffindors breathing down his neck? He'd be lucky if he made it to Christmas.
- - -
A.N.: This is a test chapter for my full fanfic, Bookwyrm. It's a HHr romance with Harry in Slytherin. Not sure how common these are, but I've never seen one. If I get enough reviews, I'll post the next chapter sometime after New Year's. The only reason I'm putting this up is because I feel that my writing has gotten to a level where it's readable (my other attempts were flat and boring. They didn't even make it to here). So, if you want this to continue, please review! Reviews mean that people are interested, which means that my writing is good, ergo I should write more.