A/N: Welcome to my first foray into the Harry Potter fandom. And may I just say, "If/When I screw up, please don't kill me." Some ideas are adapted from other fanfictions I've read. Full credit to the people who originally thought of them. Quick note, this story takes place during Harry's third year, and will be AU from after he got his Firebolt back from McGonagall. I don't own the canon!Harry, and I wouldn't want to, since he seems like a goddamn pussy, who's only real moment of glory was the DA. Also, no Hallows, and only two Horcruxes (Horcruxi?); the diary and Harry. Also, this is not for fans of the following characters; Dumbledore, McGonagall, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, or Molly. To a lesser extent, Moody shall be bashed, but in a kind way. If that makes any sense at all. I own nothing but the plot(and even then, I don't own all of it).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FREEDOM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I still say this is a bad idea, Harry."

Ah, Neville, ever the Devil's advocate. Or at least when Hermione wasn't poking holes in all his ideas, and generally being irritating with her superiority complex. Goddess, she annoyed most of Gryffindor with her banshee-esque wailing. If Harry hadn't known better, he'd swear she was learning from Molly Weasley.

"Ah, come on, kid. Let him have his fun. Pomfrey'll fix him up in an instant if he does break something."

Cedric. Now that was an oddity in this little group. He had only met the older boy twice now-once when he was playing Quidditch against him, and again when he had come to the hospital wing to apologize for (in his twisted, Hufflepuff logical way) landing Harry in there. And then there was Zacharias-'just call me Zack'-Smith. A secret friend since first year, and the one person who no one knew he was still more than a casual acquaintance of. Zack had earned the nickname of Puppy from the fact that he could never sit still- even in class, he would fidget every couple of minutes. Ron's insane jealousy of Harry supposedly having everything, while Ron had nothing, had prevented the raven haired youth from even talking to someone for more than a few minutes- 'You know, now that I think about it, my two best friends are an arsehole and a bitch.' Harry thought to himself.

Harry had recently discovered the wonders of swearing, and put it to good use- he had already earned seven detentions(and the subsequent lecture from Hermione) for cursing in front of a teacher. The one time he had pointed out to Professor McGonagall that since her back was turned, he had actually sworn behind her, and there wasn't a rule against that, he had been given double detention with Filch, polishing the medals in the Trophy Room.

But none of that mattered, as Zack and Neville went to sit in the stands, Cedric released a Snitch, and the two Seekers mounted their respective brooms- Cedric, a Cleansweep, and Harry, a new, safety-cleared Firebolt, gifted from an unknown source. The two of them had decided to replay their last match- not officially, of course- mainly to satisfy Harry's insatiable need to fly. Cedric had jokingly suggested that his Animagus form must be some kind of bird-the sixth years were currently studying the Animagus transformation in Transfiguration- not intending for Harry to take it seriously, but the idea had taken hold of his mind, and he was now desperate to find out what his form would be.

'Although,' he mused, 'knowing my luck, I'll probably be a basilisk.'

********************TIME SKIP****************

Two hours later, having caught and released the Snitch several times, the four boys went back inside. At some point while Cedric and Harry were flying rings around the Quidditch hoops, Neville and Zack had been joined by Susan Bones, Luna Lovegood, and, oddly enough, Draco Malfoy. Harry had seen Susan a couple times in class, and the rivalry between him and Malfoy was well established. Luna, however, was an unknown- all he knew for sure was she was a Ravenclaw in Ginny's year.

"So why are you here, Malfoy?"

"Maybe I'm spying on your tactics, Potter. Or maybe, you have an awesome broom, and I wanted to see it in action before flying against it?" It was phrased as a question, but Harry could somehow tell it wasn't meant as such.

"Huh. So you love my broom, but hate me?"

"I don't hate you, Scarhead. I hate Weasley, but only cause he's an arse. I just don't like the fact that you do everything he tells you to."

"What?! I don't do everything Ron tells me to! What on Earth gave you that idea?"

"Oh, please, Potter. I try to be your friend, Weasley walks up out of the blue, and says that you'll never be my friend. You take one look at him, and automatically decide to hate me as well."

"Well...but...you called Hermione a mudblood!"

"Bitch deserved it. Too damn uppity, that one. Besides, you are conveniently ignoring the fact that she repeatedly insulted me, my flying skills, and my family."

"Well...I...suppose. But it was still rude!"

"Fine. I'm sorry I called your friend a mudblood. Happy now?"

"Slightly more than before."

At this point Cedric yelled at the two to hurry up, as he had Potions next period. Draco leaned over and muttered to Harry, "Ten sickles says a Gryffindor blows up their potion right as we get in the castle."

"You're on. Twenty sickles says it releases some sort of toxic gas cloud that spreads throughout the entire school."

"Deal. Not even a Gryffindor could screw up that badly."

"Will you two hurry up! We're brewing the Animagus Revealer potion today! Harry, if you don't shake a leg, I'll cast a Permanent Sticking Charm on your ass, shove you on that Firebolt, and fling you in that school!"

"You'll have to catch me first, Ced!"

Harry bolted for the doors, followed by Cedric, who was already casting the charm- it would be a fun prank, and besides, think of the destruction Harry would cause. The others were all running as well, slightly ahead of Cedric, but behind Harry. The group ran into the school, and promptly crashed into Fred and George Weasley, and Theodore Nott. An explosion rocked the school, and a thick cloud of vapour belched out of the dungeons. It was at this point that Cedric completed the spell, crashed into the group, fell over, and yelled "Oh fuck!" loud enough to wake the dead themselves. In fact, Professor Binns jolted awake from his nap in the staff room, looked around, then went back to sleep again. This was followed by a second, even bigger explosion, before Hogwarts went deathly silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DOOM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Well, we have the set up, now for the story. The plot will kick in next chapter, and things will get kicked into high gear for the new crew. To all of you who don't like Draco, or Slytherin's in general, well, in the words of Matron Mama Morton; "Don't shoot your fatass mouth off to me, 'cause I don't give a damn. Now move out!" Please review, and goodbye for now!