Chapter 2: Life at Hogwarts
Harry walked along, running the word through his head. It was truly a wondrous word, Slytherin. It was . . . it was . . . well there was no word that could entirely describe it. It was full of malice and hatred yet it was soft and delicate, gently it rolled off of the tip of your tongue. Wow, he thought to himself, Malfoy's right. It's truly a feeling that fills you with pride to be a Slytherin and not stuck in Gryffindor.
He strode to the far end of the table, sitting at the empty seat Malfoy had made for him. Sliding into it, he suddenly realized how incredibly hungry he was. He didn't care who got into what house, he would figure out who they were later. Luckily for him, he had been near the end of the list and only had to look up and clap when someone was put into Slytherin. As soon as the sorting ended the man Malfoy had said to be Dumbledore stood up.
"I have many things that could be said at an opening feast but for now I simply say, Tuck in." The old man gave the class an odd sort of wink and gave Harry an odd look of disappointment. Somehow, someway Harry knew he had failed the man without ever meeting him.
"Real twit, according to my father." The sound of Draco Malfoy's voice jerked him back to Earth.
"Huh?" Harry muttered towards him.
"Dumbledore, Harry. What's wrong with you? He's a real muggle-lover. Not the type of person you want to mix with. To get somewhere in life you hang out with purebloods. As a matter of fact I think that you're the first ever half-blood to make it into Slytherin House. Wait to go." He smiled, it was obviously the most friendly smile he could muster but it was sort of crooked and twisted from the mouth not knowing how to shape it on the face. It was too used to a sneer.
"Yeah," Harry agreed with him, "I can't believe he was actually made into the Headmaster." Harry scanned the Professor's table to see all the staff he had not yet met. "Draco," he paused a second as one teacher had attracted his attention. "Who's that?" he questioned, nodding toward a teacher clothed entirely in black, his hair dropped down oily to his shoulders and his nose had a sort of hook to it.
Draco lifted his head and peered at the staff table. It took him a moment but then he realized who Harry had been talking about. "Oh, him. That's Professor Snape. He's Head of House. Best Professor here." He paused a moment, lowering his voice to a whisper. "I heard from my father that once, he was even a … a Death Eater."
Harry smirked into his plate. Just the thing Draco would find an important value in someone. When dinner ended, the Headmaster sent them to their beds. Harry stood beside Draco, Crabbe and Goyle trailing behind them, clutching their stomachs. They just had to eat a whole turkey between the two of them. They all followed the Prefect down to the dungeons and climbed down a ladder into a large room. It was dark and mainly darkly green in color with silver sprinkled around on some banners and cushions. It was, all in all, a pretty cozy little common room.
Harry chose a bed next to the window, and sat for a few minutes. Quietly watching the grey clouds float up above. Due to the fact they were in the dungeons the windows were in the top of the room, you had to cock your head at an odd angle to see stuff outside. It didn't matter. At least they had windows; the girls didn't on their side of the dungeons. Harry lay in his bed and thought to himself, What a perfect place here. This is going to be the best years of my life. Somewhere I'll belong, be understood and something exciting may happen for the first time in my life. With thoughts of how Hogwarts would turn out to be and all the members of his new, makeshift family Harry fell quietly asleep.
The next morning he woke surprisingly early to feel so rested. He noticed Draco was already up and changing into his robes. Peering around the room he noticed Draco was the only other person up. He shared a room with Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and four other boys he didn't recognize in his year. Draco noticed he had roused and began to talk, just quietly enough not to wake the others. "Early riser, huh?"
"Yeah…" Harry muttered, wondering how it was possible Crabbe and Goyle actually looked like bigger goons sleeping than when they were clutching their stomachs. Two big idiots. It hadn't taken Harry long to realize he was the only one aloud to call Malfoy 'Draco.' Draco was on last name terms with everyone, only he and Harry were using first names. I guess Crabbe and Goyle would have been in and made a quadruplet of best friends, but they weren't really that intellectual. They probably couldn't spell their own first names.
They had considered waiting for Crabbe and Goyle (The clones may not know the way) but left deciding they would follow their stomachs to breakfast. They'd get there. The morning schedules were passed out and Harry was delighted to find that he had double potions first. Draco pointed out the bad side though; they were stuck with the Gryffindors the whole year. Just perfect.
Upon arrival Snape began to tell them what they could do if they paid attention. If they worked hard and excelled, he entranced them by promising "I can teach you how to brew glory, bottle fame and even put a stopper in death." He flashed a malicious smile and began questioning. He gave Slytherins the simplest of questions and awarded them points for every correct answer for the Gryffindors, however, he took points off for every wrong or 'unsatisfactory' answer. He took points off from Granger simply because she raised her hand too much. Harry could tell he would love this class.
Next morning, at breakfast, the owls all swooped in and dropped off all the letters. To Harry's surprise his own owl came and was helping Draco's lower a package to the table. It was clearly marked to him and Draco to share some of the package with Crabbe and Goyle. He quickly fed Eris, his eagle owl, some toast and watched her fly off. Not by chance, Draco's owl was named Aries. All of them had received an assortment of magical when they noticed something being dropped off at the Gryffindor table. Together they strode over, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.
The little trio of the muggle-born, the redhead and the stupid forgetful Neville were crowded around a little ball. The buck-toothed Granger said "It's a remberall."
"Well, lookie here. Longbottom's gotten a remberall. He'll probably forget how to use it." Harry snickered along with Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle laughed even though they didn't get it.
"Oh! You think you're so special just because you're pure-blood Malfoy!" the girl seemed to want to scream yet merely let out an angry whisper so as not to attract a teacher.
"It's true, Granger. I would rather be a snobby pure-blood than a buck-toothed muggle anyway." Malfoy flashed his famous sneer.
This angered Ron and he jumped up. "Malfoy you think you're so smart and so daring, just leave us the bloody hell alone!"
He touched a nerve. "Oh, yeah Weasley? You think you have more daring than me? Meet me for a duel at midnight on Friday. Or are you going to shrink back into your cowardice instead?" They might have been too shy, maybe they would have shrunk back and refused. Breaking rules wasn't a Gryffindors thing. However, Draco flashed his trademark sneer again and pushed them over the limit.
"We accept, Draco. In the trophy room. Friday at midnight." Ron met the challenge and fell, hook, line and sinker. What Harry thought was, What has Draco gotten us into now?
Eris is the Greek goddess of discord. Aries is the Greek god of war. They are twins (note similar names.)
