A/N Okay, I've been telling myself for ages now that I'll write another fanfic, but the plot bunnies have been mad at me, and I can't even bring myself to look at those crappy twilight parodies. But, as Jooji's b-day is coming up, and, okay, I got mauled by the plot bunnies the other night, here it is.
[EDIT] Gotten rid of the bold bits, so here's my warning: Canon excerpts are canon excerpts.
Disclaimer: This is mine! All mine! Oh-wha? Damn, it was all a dream! Harry Potter still belongs to JK, not me.
Chapter One - Sorted!
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the Hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.
"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting … So where shall I put you?"
Harry gripped the edges of the stool, praying desperately that the voice wouldn't say he didn't belong anywhere, that there was a mistake; that he should go back, back to the Dursley's. Squeezing his eyes shut, he thought, "Any house, any at all."
"Are you sure?" said the small voice. "Well, if you're sure – better be SLYTHERIN!"
Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. Bitter disappointment swept through him as he removed the hat, barely listening to the clapping erupt from the table second from the right. He shot a look at Ron as he walked past, and his gloomy look was returned from the first friend he'd made at Hogwarts.
The Slytherin table were still clapping as he walked past, several of them clapping him on the back as he went by. Beyond them, he could see Malfoy smirking at him, but Harry stopped and immediately sat down, not wanting to be anywhere near the smug blonde. He had sat down next to a burly boy with a mop of blonde hair and Hermione Granger**.
"Guess we're in the same house" Harry said to her with a nervous smile. She nodded curtly before returning to watching the rest of the sorting. Ron had just stumbled up to the sorting hat looking slightly green, then a second later the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" Harry's stomach plummeted with the last small hope that Ron might also be in the same house as him as the final boy 'Zabini, Blaise' was made a Slytherin.
Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. "Welcome!" he said. "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!"
"Is he – a bit mad?" he asked the older boy next to him uncertainly, nodding to Dumbledore.
The boy shrugged. "Dumbledore's one of the greatest wizards of our time, or so they say. With great power comes great insanity. Mmm, Yorkshire pudding."
Harry's mouth fell open as the golden dishes suddenly filled with food. He immediately helped himself to a bit of everything and moaned at the delicious tastes. A squat boy across the table was busy wolfing down as much as he could eat, shovelling food into his mouth so fast he didn't seem to be chewing. The sallow girl beside Hermione looked sick as gravy spattered the table.
Harry's neighbour finally paused in his meal to scowl at the other boy angrily. "For Merlin's sake Bole, slow down, you're embarrassing yourself."
With a giant effort, Bole swallowed his mouthful and shook his drumstick at the older boy. "I've got to eat more, build up my strength. I'm trying out for the team this year."
The blonde boy blinked slowly. "Blimey, I didn't know you knew how to ride a broom, Bole!" he said with mock surprise. "That'll be a sight; I've never seen a shaven gorilla on a broomstick before."
A hard-faced girl sitting on Bole's right burst into laughter as Bole frowned, evidently confused. Smirking, the other boy turned to Harry. "Terrence Higgs" he said with a wink. "Seventh year. I play Seeker for Slytherin. And you're Harry Potter."
"Er, yeah" said Harry, feeling embarrassed at the way Higgs' eyes stared at his forehead. "So, you play Seeker?" he said, cursing his feeble attempt at conversation.
But Higgs didn't seem to care, because he immediately went into talking about Quidditch with an enthusiasm that rivalled Ron's. Immediately Harry regretted thinking of Ron, unable to help himself glancing longingly across at the Gryffindor table at the smallest redhead who was chatting happily with the other first years.
Harry was halfway through his second slice of treacle tart when a familiar drawling voice spoke. "Well well, Potter's brand new friend has abandoned him huh?" Malfoy said as he sat down across from Harry. Crabbe and Goyle both squeezed in next to him, squashing their neighbours until they forced a dark-skinned girl to get up and move with a few choice words at the two.
Harry was busy scowling at Malfoy. "Just because we're in different houses now doesn't mean me and Ron can't be friends" he spat at the blonde. At once both Bole and Higgs laughed, Bole spraying food across the table and onto Nott, a fellow first year.
"Ah bless him, first years are so naïve" Higgs chortled, patting Harry shoulder fondly. Harry blushed at the condescending tone. "Listen Potter, Slytherins and Gryffindors hate one another on principle. We never associate with riff-raff like them" explained Higgs with a patient smile.
"Ah, but Potter can tell the wrong sort for himself, can't he" said Malfoy, throwing Harry's earlier words back at him. "He just loves paling around with blood traitors and mudbloods."
Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I don't even know what a mudblood is Malfoy, so how am I supposed to know not to hang out with one?"
This time Daphne Greengrass, the sallow girl beside Hermione answered, "Mudblood, Potter, you know, a muggleborn." Her face twisted in disdain as she spat the word like some horrible swear.
Hermione immediately drew herself up and threw a contemptuous look at Daphne. "For your information, I happen to be muggleborn" she snapped angrily, instantly causing Daphne to shoot backwards in her seat and lean as far away from Hermione as possible, as though she was diseased.
"A mudblood?" chimed in Pansy Parkinson, the girl beside Bole, staring at Hermione opened mouthed. "In Slytherin?"
Hermione was beginning to look a little less sure of herself. "Well, the sorting hat did place me here," she said as defiantly as possible with everyone in the vicinity goggling at her.
Harry, despite his dislike for her bossy attitude, bristled in her defence. "So she's muggleborn, so what? There's nothing that can be done now, is there?" he said crossly, and Hermione smiled at him in gratitude.
Higgs stared at her for a long moment, before shaking his head. "Well, blimey. I think you'll be the first mudblood in Slytherin. You'd better know some damn good jinxes if you want any peace," he said with a grin, "Otherwise you'll be waking up with tentacles. Or green. Or in the Lake with the Giant Squid."
Hermione looked horrified, "B-but surely that's against the rules!" she gasped, eyes wide. "I mean, no one will try and… attack me, will they?"
Higgs didn't answer, turning back to his dessert, but the Malfoy instantly took up the question with glee. "Oh you don't have to worry about a thing," he said cheerily, and Harry instantly became suspicious, narrowing his eyes at him. Malfoy continued unperturbed, "Slytherins are nothing if not subtle. If you do get jinxed, well, more correctly, when you get jinxed, you won't even know what hit you. And no one will ever be able to prove anything, that is, if you go to the teachers. Of course, tattling to them just means you're weak."
Malfoy grinned slyly and looked Harry in the eye as he continued, "And weak doesn't belong in Slytherin. Weak doesn't survive long in Slytherin."
Harry had never really thought he could hate someone more than he did any of the Dursleys, but looking into Malfoy's pale grey eyes, he decided perhaps he'd been wrong.
Tearing his eyes away from the arrogant face, he let his eyes wander up to the High Table. At the far end sat Hagrid, who lowered his goblet and grinned at him, giving him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. Another face he recognised was the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, who looked slightly ridiculous in a large purple turban. He was talking to his neighbour, a hooked nosed teacher with greasy black hair.
"Who's that teacher speaking with Professor Quirrell?" he asked Higgs, who looked faintly annoyed with the constant interruptions to his meal.
"That's Professor Snape, our head of house" said Higgs dismissively. But now he'd caught the interest of the others.
"What does he teach?" asked the dark-skinned boy, Blaise Zabini, peering curiously around Hermione.
Glaring at them all, Higgs spat through gritted teeth, "Potions. Now stop talking to me or you lot will most definitely find yourselves jinxed tonight." Turning back to his éclair, he stabbed at it furiously, but just as he brought it to his mouth, all the remaining food vanished. Cursing angrily, Higgs turned away as the others all roared with laughter.
The hall fell silent as Dumbledore stood once more. "Just a few start-of-term announcements before we all go off to bed. First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students. Our caretaker Mr Filch asks me to remind you all that there is no magic allowed in the corridors in-between classes. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term-" ("Excellent!" Bole barked) "-and anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, this year the third-floor corridor on the right hand side is off limits to everyone not wishing to suffer a painful death. And now, before we go to bed, let's all sing the school song!"
Harry was exhausted when they finally were dismissed, almost dragging his feet as he followed Hermione blindly through the castle. He was only half aware that they were heading down, until at last they stopped before a blank patch of stone wall.
Pucey, the prefect leading the first years stepped forward and said in an authoritative voice, "Aurum potestas est.**"
A stone door concealed in the wall slid open, revealing the Slytherin common room, a long underground room with stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. Ornate wooden armchairs with velvet cushions sat around an elaborately carved mantelpiece, where a fire crackled, its warmth radiating throughout the room.
Harry felt like he was underwater in a very warm pool, which only served to make him sleepier than before. The girls filed off to their dormitories and Harry reluctantly moved away with Malfoy to their room. At the end of a low hall he at last found his bed: five*** four-posters hung with emerald-green velvet curtains, their trunks lining the walls. Harry quickly changed into his pyjamas, too tired to be irritated that Malfoy had chosen the bed next to him.
"You can hate me if you want," Malfoy murmured to Harry as he yanked the curtains across, but the soft voice slithered through the fabric regardless. "But we'll be spending the next seven years together. Can you keep up this grudge for that long?"
"Only if you keep making it so easy, Malfoy" he whispered back, his head hitting the pillow and sleep already halfway to claiming him.
The last thing he heard was a drawling voice sigh, "Just for you, Potter, just for you."
*In my world, Hermione is Slytherin. Why? Despite being muggleborn, she's brilliant. Why put her in Gryffindor when she so clearly belongs to Ravenclaw? Well, if Harry doesn't get to be, neither does she. And I need someone to be Harry's friend.
**First one to get where this is from gets a request! Anything you want in the story shall appear!
***I've cut Theodore Nott from the story, because a) there's not enough space, and b) damn it, he's not important enough to warrant a place in this story! He's not even good looking, or gets any dialogue. So he's been shipped off to Durmstrang or home-schooled or something, if anyone cares.
A/N Well there you have it, my first chapter to what I pray will be a multi-chapter that I actually complete this time around. Reviews will give me the strength to carry on! Oh, and if anyone's wondering, I am considering making Harry dark, or gay for Draco, captured by Voldemort, or any and all of the above, but the second one is probably a given… maybe. Flames are not welcome, but suggestions are. And remember my Duckies! Rabbit loves you!
