3. Slytherins

Harry wakes up and for a moment he is disoriented. In his dream, he was back at Kings Cross, and Dumbledore was telling him he had a choice: to live and fight, or to die. He didn't have a choice, really. How could he choose to die, when he was so close to winning? Somehow, although he had little to live for, suicide never occurred to him, and not only because of his parents' sacrifice, but because dying would be the same as losing, because it would hurt others like Sirius's death hurt him.

The Slytherin common room is dark, the stone harsh and cold to the touch. Harry is the first to wake up and he takes his books and parchment and goes to the table in front of the fireplace. The fire isn't burning and the room is chilly. Harry sits down and starts writing a letter to his parents. He's never written to them before and the novelty of it strikes him. He wonders what he should say, how he should explain his sorting. He decides to be short and to the point, and takes up the quill.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm writing to tell you that I've been sorted into Slytherin. I hope you won't disown me!

Harry pauses. He does not think there is any danger of that, but the memory of the Black family tree comes, unbidden, into his head. In his mind's eye he sees, once again, Sirius, tracing with his finger the lines to where his name used to be and where, now, there was only a burned spot.

The Sorting Hat said Slytherin will help me on my way to greatness. I never thought I'd be great in the first place, isn't it awesome? The common room here's a bit boring, not at all like the Griffindor common room you told me about, but the Head of House seems cool.

Harry wonders what his Mom will make of that. He hopes she'll be pleased, and that his Dad won't be too angry. Or jealous.

Please don't hate me, and tell Sirius I won't be like his family.

Your loving son,

Harry

"There", Harry thinks, "that should do the trick, and it sounds like I'm eleven". He stands up and is in the doorway when Malfoy calls out to him:

"Hey Potter, you sure you can live up to Professor Snape's expectations, your mother being a mudblood and all?" His voice is taunting and Harry is inclined to curse the bastard into next week.

"Well I have a better chance then you, I hear incest ruins all chance of intelligence."

Harry leaves before Malfoy can reply, fearing that another word might make him do something he will regret, and goes to the owlery to mail his letter.

He passes many portraits, saying hello to the ones he remembers as nice, and because they like to chat it takes him half an hour to get to the tower. He calls Godric, and the brown owl swoops down and lands on his extended arm, its beak open and ready for treats.

"Not today old boy, I forgot to bring you anything." Harry confesses, and the owl looks affronted, snapping its beak shut and lifting its wings as though about to take off.

"Take this to mom and dad, will you?"

...

Tom Marvolo Riddle has not always been evil. In fact, when he was five, he distinctly remembers hitting another boy because that boy had stolen Rosie Grant's toy train. He also remembers talking to snakes, and finding that they were his only true friends. He remembers the orphanage, the odd glances he got from other children, the times he got hit with a ruler for things he hadn't meant to do. He learned, then, that the people around him cared nothing for him, that his life was worthless, that he might as well kill them all because they would do the same to him if only they could get away with it. By the time Dumbledore came, there was no going back. Tom learned that the people who hurt him were called muggles, and when he came to Hogwarts he learned that the opposite of being a muggle was being a pure blood, which is what he became. He came to despise those who liked muggles, those who were related to them, those who became them. He came to the conclusion that such people were lower than him, that they were fit only to serve, or to die.

That, in truth, is why he had chosen the Longbottom boy. He had found out about the prophecy and he had thought to kill Harry Potter. "His mother is a Mudblood. By killing him, I will spill less pure blood", he remembers thinking. But in the end, he could not mark a muggle's grandson as his equal. So he targeted Neville Longbottom, and he was so sure he would kill him, and his life fell apart. Now, he must live a half-life, on the back of Quirrell's head, and every hour is a constant reminder that he failed. But never again. Lord Voldemort would rise, and he would kill Longbottom, and no one will say he is weak.

The first years trail into the classroom for their first ever Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson and he hears Quirrell's stuttering: "G-good m-m-morn-ning, everyon-n-ne. W-w-won't you s-sit d-d-d-down an-n-nd op-pen your b-book-ks." And he curses himself for deciding to make Quirrell stutter. He does not think he can bear a year of this. The class is opening their books, turning to page 9 and starting in on the first paragraph. He contemplated teaching them something mildly dark, but decided against it. He is not fooled by Dumbledore's easy manner and twinkling eyes. The old man suspects every newcomer and Quirrell will not be the exception.

As the children settle down, Voldemort can sense Longbottom's presence. He wonders if he can take points for idiocy. From what he hears, the boy is a moron. Severus said nothing but when the others were talking he could sence the Potions master's contempt. "Pity he confessed", Voldemort thinks, " He was amusing once, but now I shall have to kill him too".

...

Draco Malfoy stands in the common room for several minutes, long after Harry leaves. He does not know what to make of him. Draco's father would say that James and Lily Potter are prominent members of the Wizengamot and famous aurors, that their son is a valuable ally and has the potential to become a dangerous foe, but his father is not here and he did not hear what Potter just said. Professor Snape told them to stick up for one another but if Draco goes about it the right way, his Head of House might never find out about his revenge.

He goes to the Great Hall and tries to decide what to eat. Porridge is out of the question, so he takes some eggs and bacon and pours himself a glass of pumpkin juice. More people are sitting down around him, and he takes comfort in the looming presence of Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. Those two could beat Potter to a pulp.

Draco is talking to Blaize when Potter finally shows up. He sits opposite Draco as though nothing happened, and takes a huge chunk of apple pie. Blaize is saying something about classes and Potter remarks: "We have Defence first today. I don't expect much though, just look at Quirrell."

Blaize nods: "I hear he met some vampires and now he wears garlic under his robes".

Greengrass snorts and Draco frowns as his classmates talk to Potter as though he were the same as them. He joins in, pretending he forgot Potter's cutting words, but secretly planning to wipe that smile of his face.

...

During the lunch break Harry goes to the library in search of Hermione. He figures she'll be the easiest to talk to out of all his Griffindor friends, because she is still new to the wizarding world and not yet affected by its prejudices. He finds her at her usual table, surrounded by books and scrolls.

"How come you're studying already?" He asks, wondering if Hermione could ever change.

"Oh hi, Harry." She looks startled. "I'm studying because I want to get good grades and since there's 11 years of catching up to do I think every moment counts, don't you? Do you know how the tables work? I mean how come the food just sort of appears? Is it conjured? There must have been something in Hogwarts: A History, but I suppose I missed it."

Harry grins: "Hermione, I bet you are ages ahead of everyone else, nobody studies much before going to school". He ignores her affronted look and continues:" and as for the tables, my dad told me it was house elf magic. There's over a hundred house elves at Hogwarts, and most of them work in the kitchen. "

"House elves? What are those then?"

"They're servants. Old families often have them, they belong to the family and they do what their masters tell them.

"What like slaves? You have SLAVES?!"

"No, no, Hermione calm down! Merlin you're overreacting. They aren't slaves, usually they are very well treated and most of them love their work. They'd go mad without it. It makes them happy to serve their families." Harry does not need a repeat of SPEW. When Hermione looks unconvinced he offers:

"I could introduce you to one of our elves, if you like, so you can see for yourself that they're happy."

"You have one? How do I know you can't order it to lie to me?"

"Erm. Well maybe 'cause I wouldn't lie to you? We're friends, aren't we?"

She smiles, and Harry knows how much this must mean to her. He must be her first real friend.

"Yes. Show me that house elf. Does it have a name?"

Harry nods and calls: "Sally?"

"Yes master Harry, how can Sally be of assistance? Sally will not help master Harry with pranks, Mistress forbids it". Hermione stares, and Harry chuckles, because of course in this world, with the influence of three marauders, he is much more mischievous than he used to be.

"Hermione thinks you should be free."

"Free? No, no, young mistress, Sally must never be free, Sally wants to work for Master Potter and his family, like Sally's mother and Sally's grandmother." She looks at Harry, her large ears lifting a little. "The old master Jeremiah would be so proud that master Harry is in Slytherin house."

Harry is startled, and also very pleased. He remembers lessons in family history from his great aunt Melody. She died when he was eight, but not before he could recount the names of all his ancestors starting at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Jeremiah Potter was a broom maker who started the Nimbus model, and he had also been a Slytherin. As Hermione talks to Sally, Harry wonders, again, how much he had missed out on in his world, and how, in such a large family, the only people who could raise him were the Dursleys. After all, he doesn't think all of the Potters were killed in the first war.