A/N: Thank you for the reviews and follows and faves after just one little chapter! It means a lot. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. Much Love! :)
Disclaimer: Characters and world belong to J.K Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.
Welcome to the Dungeons
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Chapter Two
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The group of Slytherin first year students were ushered into the Slytherin common room by a handful of prefect students, Sebastian included. Harry and Hermione stood close together taking in the large room. Harry noted that the room had a green tinge to it, the large window bringing in very little light as it was the evening. He wondered where it looked into. Curious about what he would be able to see during the daylight hours. He knew they were deep down in the castle and had assumed there would've been no windows at all, much like his cupboard.
There was a massive fireplace off to one side of the room which was surrounded by huge bookcases and dark, squishy couches and chairs. Leather, he thought. Although he knew he was no expert in the matter. Aunt Petunia had said that leather furniture was high end. It was what the posh people had. Harry had a feeling he was here with posh people. They all held themselves in a way that told Harry they were better than everyone else. It made him slightly nervous. He had money in his Gringotts vault he knew, but he did grow up in a cupboard under the stairs. He knew he would make a mistake somewhere. Harry looked off to the side of the room and spotted numerous dark wood tables and chairs. Good for studying magic, he thought.
Harry looked to Hermione who was also carefully taking in the room. They met each other's eyes and gave each other a slight nod of the head and a smile. This was their new home. This was their new family.
"Alright, little ones." An older girl with auburn coloured hair said. "I am Stacy Burke, a seventh year prefect. Sebastian here is the other seventh year prefect with me." She pointed to a black girl. "That there is Camille Parker, and the boy beside her is Bartholomew Bastille - he prefers Barty. They are your sixth year prefects, both Half-Bloods." Barty and Camille gave the young students a wave but no smile. "Over to my right are the new fifth year prefects, Dani Avery and Marcus Bulstrode." The two also gave the room a wave of acknowledgement. Again, no smile. "If you have any issues you come to us, or you go to our head of house, Professor Severus Snape. I expect he will be here shortly. It appears as though he got tied up, probably due to a few of our new members of Slytherin House." She gave the room a sly grin.
"Welcome, Harry Potter to Slytherin. I can admit, it came as a surprise for me, and for all of us that you were sorted into the snakes. Your family, from what I know of it, has always been with the lions." Stacy looked pointedly at little Harry.
He gulped. He didn't know what to expect, he had just gone with what the sorting hat had recommended to him. "Hello," He said quietly but clearly.
The prefects all gave him a smile. "Hello Harry." Stacy replied with a grin. "It's nice to have you with us. Any story you heard of Slytherin House is probably not true. Well...not entirely true at least." The room gave a collective chuckle. "Next to him is Hermione Granger. I know none of us recognise her from any of our family...get-togethers...but Sebastian has informed me that she is of the Dagworth-Granger Family. She is from a small, isolated off-branch of the family whose parents sheltered her from the other, old Pureblood families. Including her own. Don't feel insulted if she doesn't understand who you are. It is through no fault of her own." She looked around the room pointedly. "Although, I do expect you, Hermione, to be exceptional at potions. It does run in your family after all." She gave Hermione a wink. Hermione gave Stacy a small nod of her head and a small smile.
Harry looked to Hermione. He thought it was interesting that she had thought she were a Muggleborn up until her sorting. Having confessed to him about what the sorting hat had told her over their treacle tart. Who had hidden the girl? And why? Harry was curious.
"I will give the first years a heads up in regard to their magical education here at Hogwarts." Sebastian took over from Stacy. "Slytherin students are viewed suspiciously because of the history of our house. We are viewed as dark, as dangerous and as detrimental to the good of Magic. Nowhere in our House characteristics does it say we are dark, that we practise Dark Magic. Nowhere does it say that we are dangerous. Merlin himself was a Slytherin. Was he detrimental to the good of Magic?" Sebastian looked around the room at the students looking up at him. He gave everyone a grin. "Resourceful, intelligent, ambitious, self-preservation: those characteristics to me sound like students who work hard at what they do. To me it sounds like students who know what they want and will work hard to get it." He shook his head. "There is nothing dark about having ambition. Nothing dark about being resourceful or intelligent, or looking out for yourself."
The common room door opened and in walked Professor Snape. The students all collectively turned their attention to their head of house. He stopped next to the seventh year prefects and took in the new students in Slytherin.
"Good evening everyone." He drawled. His voice quiet but carrying throughout the room. He turned to the prefects. "You've introduced yourselves, I assume." The prefects all gave him an affirmative nod of their heads. "Good." He turned back to face the first years. "I am Professor Severus Snape, your head of house, also the potions professor here at Hogwarts. I welcome you to Slytherin House, it is an honour to have each of your here with us. I look forward to teaching you all. I must warn you though, I do have high expectations in regards to your schoolwork. The other houses assume that I give Slytherin students better marks than them, due to the fact they are from my house. This couldn't be further from the truth. You will earn your marks from me, nothing here is given for free." He looked at Harry and Hermione standing close together.
Harry swallowed. Professor Snape made him nervous. He couldn't get a good read on him. He didn't know what to expect. He appeared to be strict, sure, but that was only a minor thing in Harry's opinion. You could be strict and still be kind, or you could be strict like his uncle and be terrifying. Harry didn't know which one Professor Snape was. Memories of his uncle shoving him in his cupboard came rushing through his head. His aunt denying him food was next. Harry starving and determined sneaking out of his cupboard in the dead of the night to steal food. To survive. He frowned and broke eye contact with his head of house. He had suppressed those memories deep into the recesses of his mind. He wanted to forget the Dursley's altogether. They weren't here with him. He was free from them finally after far too long. He shook his head, trying to forget.
Professor Snape looked around the room again. "I'm sure you've already been told by your prefects. But if any of you have any issue with anything, you are welcome to come to myself or them with whatever is a problem for you. This is your home now. We are your family. We look out for our own. Always." He paused. "Breakfast begins tomorrow at seven thirty in the morning until nine o'clock. You will be getting your class schedules then. Classes begin at nine o'clock. You will need time to get the proper books for your classes. Don't be late." He looked to Harry again. "First years, I recommend finding your dorm rooms. Boys to the right." He gestured for everyone. "Girls to the left." He pointed to the staircase to the side of the room heading even further down in the castle. "Potter and Granger, if I could speak with each of you for a moment. A prefect will show you where to go afterwards. Follow me please."
He turned and headed towards the door. Harry and Hermione following in his wake. He quickly walked into an office just down the hallway from their common room. Harry and Hermione following him inside. The door shut softly behind them. Snape withdrew his wand and waved it at the door as he muttered a spell under his breath.
"I've muffled to door so no one can hear us speak." He told the pair. "Miss Granger, you are a Muggleborn I've heard from Professor McGonagall. Have you had any issues yet with the students here?" He asked the curly haired girl.
Harry looked over to Hermione, watching her hesitate before answering.
"Actually," She said quietly. "The sorting hat told me I had magical parents. That they've hidden me with who I thought were my mum and dad." Snape was looking at her with large eyes. "The hat couldn't figure out who my biological parents are. Just that they wiped my memory when I was a few months old and changed my appearance."
Snape gave her a slow nod of his head. He was frowning at the girl. Wondering who she was.
"The seventh year prefects have told everyone in Slytherin that I am from the Dagworth-Granger Family. A reclusive part of the family." She finished quietly.
Professor Snape chuckled. "That's smart thinking on their part. The first years you are with care deeply about magical bloodlines. Their families are some of the oldest around." He paused, thinking. "I will keep what you've told me to myself. The headmaster will not be any wiser. Nor will any of the other professors. To them you will be Muggleborn. I suggest you use it to your advantage. It'd be the Slytherin thing to do. The other Slytherin students will understand and applaud your cunningness."
Hermione gave him a curt nod or her head.
Professor Snape walked over to a cabinet on the side of his office and pulled open the glass doors. He took out a vial and turned to face Harry and Hermione.
Professor Snape handed Harry the vial. "I suggest you take it, Mr. Potter. It is a nutrient potion. You are small for your age."
Harry pulled the stopper out and drank the potion down without hesitation. He handed the empty vial to the professor.
"Can we talk with Miss Granger in the room?" The professor asked him carefully.
Harry gave him a nod. "Of course. She told me her secret. She's a friend." He looked to Hermione and gave her a small grin that Hermione returned with one of her own.
Professor Snape hesitated, unsure about what he was about to say. Harry frowned. "Just say it professor. I don't mind."
"I know about the cupboard under the stairs." Professor Snape said quietly to him.
Harry swallowed. "How?" He said tightly. The Dursley's made sure no one knew about the cupboard under the stairs. No one.
"I saw it in your head, Harry." The professor admitted.
Hermione gasped. "You're a legilimens, aren't you professor?"
Professor Snape gave her a slight, almost imperturbable nod of his head. His eyes not leaving Harry.
"What's a legilimens?" Harry asked the both of them.
"He's a mind reader." Hermione answered him instantly.
"It's a bit more complicated than that, Miss Granger, but yes I can see into people's minds." He paused. "I can see their memories."
"I'd prefer if I could keep my memories to myself, with all due respect professor." Harry stated bluntly to the room. "They are private. Personal. They are none of your business."
Snape gave him a nod. "I understand, Mr. Potter. It won't happen again." He paused. "I do recommend you coming to me for nutrient potions everyday though. You are far too small for your age. Madam Pomfrey has some as well if you are more comfortable with going to her instead. She is the healer of the school here. The matron if you will." He added on in response to the confused faces he was getting.
Harry thought that it was a good plan as any. He knew he was small, malnourished. "Alright. I'll agree to that, professor. When did you want me to come get them from you?"
"How about this time every night? Just after your dinner."
"Alright." Harry said. "Was there anything else?"
Snape shook his head. "I'll walk you both back go the common room door." He let them out of his office and walked with them to the blank wall hiding the entrance into the Slytherin common room. "Salazar." He said quietly. A door appeared in the wall. "Goodnight you two." He turned and returned to his office.
Harry pushed open the door for Hermione, allowing her to enter before himself.
The common room was still relatively full. Although it was just the older students who were present. The younger students appeared to have gone to their dormitories.
Sebastian and Stacy walked over to the two first years.
"Everything's alright, I take it." Sebastian said to them. They both gave him a nod in affirmation.
"Come Hermione, I'll show you to your dormitory." Stacey said to her. The two of them walked off together leaving Sebastian alone with Harry.
Sebastian gave Harry a grin. "I said we would talk once we got here, Harry. Are you still wanting to do that? It won't take long. Then I can show you to your dormitories as well."
"Sure. It's no problem."
The pair of them walked over toward the stairs to the boys dormitories but stopped before they began their descent. Sebastian turned to face Harry. Standing relatively close to him. Careful that no one was around them. That no one could hear them. "I just want to give you the heads up right now. The students you are sharing a dormitory with come from families who, in the past, have openly supported the Dark Lord, Harry."
Harry frowned. "The Dark Lord?"
"You-Know-Who, Harry. Lord Voldemort." Sebastian told him quietly.
Harry swallowed, understanding. He gave Sebastian a slight nod of his head to show he understood.
"That's not to say that they do. I honestly don't know. I just assume they follow their families. Their family's beliefs. They are young, like you, they don't know anything else." Sebastian told him quietly. "I recommend you keep that in mind. Be aware of who you're surrounded by. Maybe you and them can become good friends. Who knows?"
Harry gave him a nod. "Thank you for telling me, Sebastian. I'll be careful, but keep an open mind."
Sebastian grinned. "I'll show you your dorm room now."
The pair of them began their descent down the stairs coming to a stop on the first landing they reached. "This is the floor with the first year dorms." Sebastian said quietly to Harry. "The further down you go, the higher the year." He knocked on the only door on the small landing before he opened it without waiting for a response.
He and Harry walked into a large room where six four-poster beds lined the walls. Three on each side of the room. Off in the distance was another door, Harry assumed it was where the lavatory was located. He spotted his trunk at the end of one of the beds and began to walk over to it.
"Good evening again, everyone." Sebastian said to the boys sitting on their beds. "Treat Harry well, please. I'll see you lot tomorrow to walk you to the Great Hall. Be ready for seven thirty if you can." He turned and left the room, closing the door as he left.
Harry sat down on his bed. The room of boys watching him closely. Harry frowned. "Hi. I don't think I got everyone's name earlier with everything that was going on." He scratched his head self-consciously, ruffling up his already messy hair.
Draco slid off of his bed, next to Harry's and sat down on Harry's bed. "Draco Malfoy." He grinned at Harry. "But I don't think you've forgotten me yet."
Harry chuckled. "No. I remember you, Draco."
"I'm Vincent Crabbe." The shorter of the stocky boys said as he gave Harry a wave of his hand in greeting.
"Gregory Goyle." The larger boy in the bed next to Crabbe said from across the room.
"Blaise Zabini." The third boy on the opposite wall from Harry said with a grin and a wave.
"Theo. Theodore Nott." The boy on the other side of Harry said to him. "Just call me Theo, Harry."
Harry nodded to the occupants of the room. "It's nice to meet you all."
"It's nice to meet you." They said collectively in response.
"Where have you been?" Draco asked him.
"I was just talking with Professor Snape." Harry frowned, not understanding what Draco was asking.
Draco shook his head. "Not then, Harry. Before you came here to Hogwarts."
"Oh," Harry grinned. "I live with my aunt and uncle."
"Where do they live?" Draco asked.
"Why do you want to know?" Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
Draco grinned sheepishly. "I'm just curious. That's all. Are they your father's relatives?"
Harry shook his head. "I've never met my father's family. Do I have relatives still with the Potter's?"
"No you're the last of the Potter's, Harry." Theo answered him. "There are no other Potter's left as well as I can remember."
"So what aunt and uncle do you live with then?" Draco asked him, confused.
"My mother's sister." Harry responded. "My mum's sister and her husband and their son. I live with them."
"You live with muggles?" Theo said loudly. Excited.
"Yes." Harry replied. "Will that be a problem here?" He frowned. Unsure.
"Of course not." Draco replied. "You had no say who your mother was."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked him.
"Well...it just means that you had no choice that your father chose a mudblood. That's his fault not yours." Draco replied.
"What does that mean? Mudblood?" Harry asked the room. "It doesn't sound nice."
"It isn't." Theo responded. "It's a derogatory term for someone who is Muggleborn. Draco is an idiot, Harry. He doesn't know any better."
"I am not!" Draco protested. "I was just saying that it's better to have purer blood that's all. We all know that. It's common knowledge." He looked to Harry. "I didn't mean it in a bad way, Harry. I swear."
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't refer to my dead mother that way, Draco. It isn't nice." Harry said quietly.
"Sorry," Draco said quietly. "It won't happen again."
Harry gave him a nod. "You didn't know any better. It's fine." He ignored his jab at the importance of having purer blood. He didn't know how to respond to that. Not yet.
"What's it like living with muggles?" Theo asked him quietly.
Harry turned in his bed to face him. He hesitated. "It's normal. For me at least. This is strange to me. This magic. The castle. The sorting hat. The robes. Everything is strange to me."
"Fair enough." Theo responded. "If I have any questions, can I ask you them?"
Harry nodded. "Sure. I don't know everything, but I'll try my best to give you an answer."
Theo gave him a grin which turned into a yawn. "I'm tired. I'm going to get ready for bed." He stood from his bed and opened his trunk.
The other boys doing the same.
Harry joined them in searching his trunk for his night clothes. Finding his old shirt and flannel bottoms, Harry pulled them out of his trunk and placed them on his bed. He took a quick look around the room and saw that the others were changing out in the open. He frowned to himself. Self-conscious. He sighed and pulled off his outer robe and took off his jumper, button up shirt, and Slytherin tie. He quickly pulled his t-shirt over his head. He started removing his shoes and socks. Sitting down on his bed as he pulled his trousers off. He quickly pulled his flannel bottoms up.
"You're very skinny." Draco said quietly to him as he buttoned up his silk nightshirt.
Harry sighed as he folded up his school uniform to put back into his trunk. "Professor Snape is helping me deal with it, Draco. I get a nutrient potion nightly from him, alright?"
"Of course." Draco said quickly. "Your nightclothes are very old. Huge too." He frowned. "Why don't you have clothes that fit? Diagon Alley was the same. Your clothing was far to big for you." He looked to Harry carefully. "Are your muggle relatives poor?"
Harry shook his head. "No they aren't." He didn't respond further. Self-conscious of the other boys in the room. Everyone was staring at him. Watching him closely.
"Not everyone wants to wear silk PJs Draco," Blaise said from the far side of the room. He too was wearing flannel bottoms and a t-shirt. "Not everyone wears clothing that an eighty year old wizard would wear."
Theo snickered on the bed beside Harry. His body shaking as he tried not to laugh out loud.
"Piss off, Zabini." Draco said with a grin. "My mother insisted."
Theo burst out laughing.
"Stop," Draco said with some difficulty, he was fighting a grin of his own. "Stop making fun of me." He hopped back into his bed, pulling the covers up to his chin. "I have to write my mother and father tomorrow. I'll ask my mum for something less old-man-looking, I'll tell her people were making fun of me."
"You do that, Draco." Theo said as he pulled his own covers up. "Goodnight everyone."
"Goodnight." The boys in the room said as one.
Harry pulled his own covers up to his chin after he placed his glasses on the nightstand beside his bed.
He was finally home.