Here's some more of my story:
Harry Potter and the Founders of Hogwarts Chapts4-6
4. Lessons
Harry and Ron went down to the common room, where they met Hannah, who had obviously been waiting for them. Hannah sidled up to Ron, and the two began chatting.
"I've decided that the best way for me to settle in quickly is to stick with someone who knows all about magic," she began, smiling at Ron.
"And who would that be?" Ron asked innocently.
"Oh, someone from a wizarding family, of course, not someone from Slytherin, someone with red hair."
"Red hair?"
"Definitely."
"Well, I'll see if I can find anyone who fits that description."
"You won't have to look very hard."
"But I can't see anyone who looks like that."
"Funny, I can, and he's standing right in front of me."
"What are the benefits of taking on such a job?"
"To start with you'd have to spend lots of time with me, well, that must be enough to convince anyone."
"It's certainly convinced me."
Harry frowned, surely things were complicated enough already. "We can both help you out a bit," he said.
"I thought you were brought up by muggles?" Hannah said staring at him confused. "That's what Helga told me," she said seeing his surprised look. "She said your parents had died when you were one, no-one knows why, and that you'd been living with some relatives ever since."
Ron looked at Harry in concern; it occurred to him that in a world without Voldemort, Harry must have been expecting to see his parents.
"That's quite right," said Harry. "I meant that Ron has already explained heaps of stuff about the wizarding world to me, and I feel quite at home here. Did Helga say anything else about my parents?" he asked cautiously.
"Well, I don't really remember. I was nervous about starting Hogwarts without knowing anything about magic, so she told me heaps of people were in the same position, and then she mentioned Mandy and Terry, and then she said that even though you were a pure-blood you wouldn't know much about wizards, having been living with muggles. Of course I asked why, and she said your parents had been murdered when you were one, but nothing else was known. I didn't mean to be nosy, I was just worried, Helga told me no kind of wizarding organisation had been attempted before, and usually pure-blooded wizards kept apart from muggles, and muggleborn wizards coped as well as they could living with muggles."
At that moment Helga herself appeared. "Oh good, you're up now," she said smiling at Harry and Ron. "Did you sleep well?" When they'd both answered in the affirmative. She told them to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast. "Professor Gryffindor wants to make a speech about the school. Everyone else is already down there." She caught sight of Ron's startled expression. "Don't worry they haven't been waiting long, we wanted to let you sleep, you must be tired coming to a new place like this. You'll be given out timetables this morning, and from tomorrow you'll start lessons. That'll give you time to find your way around the school, well, at least where your lessons are, and you can get to meet the other students too. I'm sure Professor Gryffindor will explain all this though." They followed her into the hall.
Harry pushed thoughts about his parents to the back of his mind, as he saw the other founders again. When they had sat down. Gryffindor stood up and the hall became silent.
"I'd like to welcome you all to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he began. "As you will know this is the first time a school of witchcraft and wizardry has been set up, we felt that there were too many young witches and wizards growing up now for the apprenticeship system to work anymore. We feel that every witch and wizard should be educated as such," he glanced at Slytherin, whose face remained inscrutable, and smiled around at them.
"Obviously as this is such a new idea we have no idea how it will work out. That's why there are so few students in our first year as a school, and why you all are slightly older than the age we would normally wish to take students on at. There are twelve students in total, one assigned to each one of us, three students each. If you have any problems or want to ask any questions, whoever you are assigned to will be keen to help you, although, of course, you are free to talk to any of us. If you are injured or unwell, go to Helga, who will be the nurse.
"We know that you all have slightly different levels of knowledge of the wizarding world and magic, but we're all keen to accommodate all of you, and I'm sure all of you will settle in soon. Professor Huffle- er, Helga, Professor Ravenclaw, Professor Slytherin and myself will be your teachers. We will give you timetables detailing your lesson times, where they'll be, and which teachers they'll be with. Lessons will start tomorrow. Today you can start to find your way around the school and look through your books, if you want." He then began handing out the timetables.
Harry and Ron spent most of the day chatting with the other students, and wondering what the next day's lessons would be like. They were both confident about their wizarding ability, and already knew their way around the school.
A bell rang through the castle. Harry sighed and got out of bed, he'd already been awake for the last hour or so, and had been reading through his Potions' book. Their first lesson would be Potions with Slytherin. He had just got dressed when someone banged loudly on his door.
"Come in," he said.
Ron rushed into the room. "We've got breakfast in twenty minutes," he groaned. "Have you seen our Potions' book? We don't know any of the spells or potions. Slytherin's going to kill us!"
"We know some of them," Harry protested. "I suppose they're just not as advanced in their knowledge of magic, probably because they don't have an organised education system. Anyway it doesn't matter. Heaps of the muggleborns won't know anything about potions."
"But they will!" Ron said despairingly. "Hannah told me yesterday how she'd been studying with Helga."
"Well there's not much we can do now. Slytherin can't expect too much from his first lesson."
"He already hates us," Ron moaned, not listening.
Harry packed his bag, and dragged Ron to breakfast. He was still moaning about potions. After breakfast they made their way to the dungeon where the Potions' lesson would be. The rest of the class were waiting there, but Slytherin hadn't arrived yet. Ron led Harry to a seat next to Hannah. The students waited a few more minutes, most were nervous and rather quiet, but Malfoy was looking smug.
"I've already been taught all about potions," he boasted loudly to Crabbe.
This news did not make Ron feel any better.
"Great," he muttered. "Just what we need, for Malfoy to be an expert on potions."
At that moment Slytherin strode into the dungeon, his robes swirled around him as he positioned himself at the front of the room.
"Stand up!" he barked at the class, making them jump. They hastily scrambled on to their feet. "You will always stand up immediately when I enter the room." Everyone was silent. "You, boy," he said suddenly, pointing at Neville. "Where are your robes?"
Neville went pink and stammered fearfully; "I spilt food on them, sir. They'll be clean by lunch."
"What's your name?"
"Neville Longbottom, sir."
"What a surprise," said Slytherin sarcastically. "Another of Gryffindor's students." He looked around the rest of the room. "Sit down," he ordered tersely. "Why aren't your books out yet?" he then snapped. "You will not be allowed to waste my time, even if you want to waste yours." There was a frantic scrambling to get out books, parchment and quills.
"He's the one who was late," Ron muttered to Harry.
"Potter! Stand up!" Slytherin barked. Harry, very nervously, got to his feet. "There's to be no talking unless I give you permission to speak," he whipped out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "Is that clear, Potter?"
Ron jumped to his feet. "I was speaking to him, sir, he didn't say anything," he stammered. Slytherin looked at Ron for a minute.
"Sit down, both of you," he said finally. "Anyone else I catch talking out of turn shall not get let off so lightly. He turned to the rest of the class, "I've written a test so I can assess your different levels of knowledge." He gave his wand a light flick, and the students found themselves staring at a series of papers. "You have one hour," he said. "Begin."
Harry flipped through the papers. In the test were mentioned potions he had not even heard of, and, even when he felt he could answer questions, he dreaded mentioning potions Slytherin would not have heard of. He glanced at Ron, and saw him frantically turning over pages, scribbling things down now and then. The rest of the class were calmly answering the questions, and Malfoy was looking even smugger than ever, if that were possible. Soon Harry was remembering Snape's Potions classes with fond regret.
At the end of the hour Slytherin shot green firecrackers out of the end of his wand. The class jumped. "Time's up!" he announced, and collected in the papers with another flick of his wand. He began looking through them. Harry and Ron nervously watched him.
"Malfoy!" he barked suddenly. "Stand up!" Malfoy, looking rather worried, got to his feet. Ron smiled. "Draco Malfoy, as far as I can see, has done a perfect test paper. Excellent, Draco," Slytherin said smiling at his student. "You can sit down now."
Ron's smile was replaced by a scowl as Malfoy turned and smirked at him and Harry.
Slytherin continued looking through the papers. "Potter!" he snapped suddenly. "Get up!" Harry got up slowly. He was hardly expecting Slytherin to praise his test paper. "I would have expected more from a two-year old," Slytherin sneered. Malfoy's smirk grew broader. "Did you think that you wouldn't need to do any work, that you were born with such outstanding magical abilities that work was beneath you? Did you even look at the work you were sent?" He marched over to Harry's desk.
"I, I didn't have much time," Harry stuttered. "I'm prepared to work very hard now to catch up."
"Now?" Slytherin was shouting by now. "Now is too late. The work should have been done in the holidays. Instead the whole class is going to be slowed down because Harry Potter couldn't be bothered to do his work," he brought his wand down with a sharp crack on Harry's desk. Harry only just managed to get his fingers out of the way in time. "The other students from non-wizarding families managed it," he stopped shouting and stared hard at Harry, who was trembling, but trying to appeared calm as he faced his furious teacher. "Come and see me at six o'clock this evening," he said softly. "For now, sit down."
He went through the rest of the papers quickly. "Longbottom, this is very poor indeed"
"That's Weasley," Malfoy whispered audibly, with a snicker.
" . . . excellent Arabella . . . reasonable Crabbe . . . Weasley," his eyes glinted. "Come and see me with Potter." Eventually, to the relief of the class he reached the end of the papers. He then spent the remainder of the lesson going through the paper; asking Malfoy and Arabella to give the answers to various questions; and picking out the errors in Harry, Ron and Neville's work.
After what felt like a year, at least to Harry and Ron, the bell rang and Slytherin dismissed his class.
On their way to Herbology, once they were safely out of earshot of Slytherin, Ron began complaining about the Potions class.
"Can you believe him? He has no right to treat us like that. He really seems to have something against us."
"Against us? He flipped out completely went he went through my paper and he hardly said two words about yours."
"Well, he was pretty bad about Neville's, he probably just hates Gryffindor's students, its going to be really hard keeping them from fighting."
"We don't have much choice but to try it."
Helga's friendliness and kindness in Herbology did much to soothe the shaken feelings of the class, and Harry wondered if the timetable hadn't been designed with that very purpose in mind.
After Herbology they made their way to lunch, Harry and Ron walking slightly ahead of the others. The first thing Harry noticed was Slytherin who appeared to be saying something rather angrily to Gryffindor. Harry caught a few words.
"Hopeless, completely hopeless."
"Give the boy a chance Salazar, he's only been here a day. I don't know what the muggles he's living with are like, but they probably don't encourage his magical abilities."
"All the same he couldn't even have opened his books. I've a good mind to -"
"I'll help him catch up, if you want."
"No. I said I'd give him and Weasley extra lessons. I'll see to it that they both learn as much as they can from them."
"Salazar, you know how I feel about . . . well, don't hit them unless you have to. They haven't been here very long and I'm sure they'll both try very hard."
"We'll see, but I'll be taking the lesson, not you Godric. We can each have our different methods of teaching, and you'll just have to learn to accept mine. I make sure I get results."
"I think there are better ways of getting results than having half your class to terrified to breathe out of turn!"
Slytherin seemed about to give an angry response, but fell silent as Helga and her class entered the hall. He shot Harry a venomous glare.
The lesson after lunch was one both Harry and Ron had been looking forward to - Transfiguration, taught by Gryffindor. Much to their surprise, and pleasure, they found that three years at Hogwarts had made them best in the class at Transfiguration. Ron laughed out loud as he watched Malfoy struggling to turn a teapot into a tortoise, he and Harry had managed it in a matter of minutes. Gryffindor seemed pleased with them too, although he was anxious to praise the rest of the class as well.
Their extra lesson with Slytherin also went better than they had been expecting. They knew more potions then they had thought, and did not give Slytherin the chance to get impatient with them.
5. Quidditch
The next afternoon, after Arithmancy and Charms, Ron looked at Harry excitedly. "Quidditch!" he exclaimed.
The students made their way onto the Quidditch pitch. Fifteen brooms were lying on the grass. Ron picked one up and began examining it.
"It looks pretty good," he whispered to Harry.
"I've been flying for years," came a familiar drawl. "I bet the only time you've ever used a broom, Potter, is for sweeping the floor." Crabbe, at Malfoy's side, snickered. "You know you might have been a muggleborn living with those muggles. I bet Slytherin chooses me for Seeker. Do you know what a Seeker does, Potter?"
"Of course he does," Ron snapped, and then began to grin. "And I bet you he can make it to the Snitch before you do."
Malfoy sneered. "How touching, I'll bet you twenty galleons he can't" he smirked.
"Done," said Ron grinning.
"What about you Weasley, did your father buy you a muggle-broom and enchant it to fly?"
Ron made a lunge for him.
"Watch out!" Harry hissed, as Gryffindor, Slytherin and Helga made their way onto the pitch.
Helga picked up a broom and began explaining the rules of Quidditch. "Of course I don't expect we'll be able to have a proper game of Quidditch yet, today some of you will be flying for the first time," she smiled at Neville, who had given a slight moan of protest. "Stay near the ground and nothing much can go wrong," she said encouragingly. "That goes for all of you," she said more loudly, "Stay within twenty feet of the ground, no higher than that tree." Neville smiled slightly.
"Wimp!" Harry heard Malfoy mutter, "I wouldn't trust that clumsy idiot anywhere near a broom."
Neville's ears went pink, but he took hold of a broom.
"Shut up!" Harry snarled at Malfoy.
"Make me," Malfoy sneered, as Crabbe began to clench his fists.
"OK" called Helga, "Has everyone got a broom? Good. Go!"
Thirteen brooms shot into the air. Helga was flying near Neville, who was looking pale but pleased.
"Excellent, Neville," Helga said encouragingly, "Move your hands slightly further apart . . . oops . . . good."
Harry and Ron had shot upwards with ease and were swooping around over the other students. Malfoy flew towards them.
"Hey, Potter," he shouted. "Want to test our bet now?"
Harry swung his broom towards him, as Malfoy pulled an apple out of his pocket. "I'll throw this into the air, and the winner will be the one who catches it."
"Sure," Harry said calmly.
"We have to start a bit higher," said Malfoy, trying to shake Harry's confidence.
"OK." Harry zoomed even higher feeling the wind rush passed his face. Malfoy, for the first time, was looking rather worried, but he held out the apple.
"Ready?" he said, sneering. He tossed it into the air directly above him, and calmly reached out a hand to catch it, but Harry was too fast for him. In a split second he had shot towards the apple, he zoomed directly over Malfoy's head, and taking one hand of his broom grabbed hold of it. Malfoy, shocked by the rush above his head, loosened his grip on the broom and began to plummet downwards. Harry worriedly shot down after him,
"Pull your broom up!" he shouted, desperately trying to grab Malfoy's broom.
Eventually seconds before he hit the ground Malfoy managed to slow his broom down, and shakily stumbled onto the grass. Slytherin and Gryffindor, who had rushed over, helped him onto his feet.
"Are you hurt?" Gryffindor began anxiously, as Harry dismounted.
"He, he . . ." Malfoy struggled to draw breath and pointed at Harry.
Slytherin roughly grabbed hold of Harry's arm. "Were you trying to kill him or something?" he shouted, shaking Harry hard. "Trying to knock him off his broom like that and then chasing him all the way down! What did you think you were doing? How dare you -?"
"Salazar!" Gryffindor yelled. "That's enough. Let go of him and he can explain exactly what he was doing."
Slytherin turned angrily to Gryffindor, throwing Harry onto the ground. "Are you insane?" he began. "You're yelling at me because one of your students tried to kill one of mine?"
"I feel we should hear the full story before judging him, it might be fairer, or is fairness too much to ask for from you Slytherin?"
Slytherin moved a step closer to Gryffindor and began reaching into his pocket -
"That's quite enough," Helga said sharply, pushing Slytherin away and jumping in between the two men. She was looking rather flustered. "You should both be ashamed of yourselves," she lectured them. "I'll talk to Harry and Draco."
"It's going to need a lot more than talking," Slytherin snapped, glaring at Harry, who had got rather shakily to his feet.
"I'll tell you what happened," Ron interrupted. Helga nodded, and he continued, "Malfoy challenged Harry to see who could catch that apple first." He pointed at the apple which was lying at Harry's feet, and briefly explained the rest of the story.
"That's what it looked like to me," Hannah said stepping forward nervously. "I was watching Ron, erm, and the others I mean, you know, because they were flying so high," she blushed. "And that's what I thought happened."
Helga looked at Hannah and Ron, and then at Harry and at Malfoy. "Is that what happened?" she asked Harry and Malfoy. Harry nodded, and after a pause Malfoy did as well.
Helga looked at them. "Neither of you were supposed to be flying that high," she said crossly, "I specifically told you not to go any higher than that tree." She was looking upset now, "Didn't I?" she asked them.
Harry went red, ashamed that he'd made her so upset. "Yes, Helga," he said. "I'm sorry."
Malfoy muttered an apology as well, and her look softened slightly. "Draco I'm sure you've had enough of a fright already, and you too, Harry. And Harry well done for trying to help Draco."
She turned to Gryffindor and Slytherin, both of whom were looking shocked, and Slytherin rather ashamed. "There now that's dealt with them," she said, gently laying a hand on Slytherin's arm. He nodded slightly.
"I'm sorry too," he began. "Potter, I was wrong about you, and you were right this time Gryffindor." He said turning to Gryffindor and the two shook hands.
"I think I might have said certain things which were rather, well, unfair," Gryffindor said, smiling at Slytherin, who groaned.
Harry and Ron breathed a sigh of relief, although Ron was still looking slightly crossly at Slytherin.
6. More lessons
On the third morning after their arrival as Harry came down for breakfast he saw Ron eyeing his timetable in disgust.
"Duelling," he moaned as Harry came in and sat down next to him. "With Slytherin, in here."
After breakfast Slytherin rose and with a flick of his wand swept the table away to the side of the hall. The other teachers disappeared.
Slytherin faced his class coldly, everyone was absolutely silent and watched him expectantly. "Duelling," he began, "in this lesson I'll teach you how to defend yourself against other wizards or anything else. I do not expect you to use whatever I teach you to attack others, or even to fight with them.
"Starting with a simple disarming spell, Potter, stand opposite me, take out your wand. To disarm an opponent say 'Expelliarmus', and point your wand at him." Slytherin took out his own wand and pointed it at Harry. "Expelliarmus," he said very softly. Harry's wand flew out of his hand and Harry found himself being hurled across the room, landing with a smack against the wall. He blinked rather dizzily and Ron ran towards him.
"Are you alright?" he asked helping Harry onto his feet.
"Fine" Harry mumbled, glaring at Slytherin. "I wonder what would have happened if he'd yelled the word."
Slytherin walked over, "Are you alright Potter? I didn't calculate on your being so light." Malfoy snickered.
"Fine, sir," Harry snapped.
"Good, now I'll show you how to counter a disarming spell. Potter, if you're up to it, stand in front of me again."
Harry looking cross did so.
"To block a disarming spell, raise your wand and say 'Attraheremus'. OK, Potter, try and disarm me."
Harry raised his wand. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted. Slytherin staggered backwards, surprised by the force of the spell, but he managed to block it. Ron suppressed a smile.
Slytherin narrowed his eyes, and Harry forced back the urge to apologise for miscalculating Slytherin's weight.
"Practice in pairs for now," he called.
Soon Harry and Ron had settled in at Hogwarts, and had even stopped commenting on the differences between it and the other Hogwarts they had attended. Before they knew it, it was October 31, - Halloween.
This will be continued. Loads happens in the next few chapters so keep on reading.
Don't you just love Slytherin? Please review.