The Potions Master
"Hold on, hold on. Wait just a moment." He shouted, but the applause continued "SILENCE!"
The entire hall went silent. "Harry… You can't join Slytherin?" Dumbledore continued "You stopped the Dark Lord!"
Harry looked up at the professor in disgust. Lucius was right; Dumbledore was trouble. "You put me in a home full of muggles. They tortured me and you knew it. The letter you sent to me was addressed to 'cupboard under the stairs' how dare you talk about where my loyalties lie"
The hall gasped.
Although Severus didn't quite understand why Harry was in his house, the potion master stood up and questioned "Surely Dumbledore you cannot, overrule the decision of the Sorting Hat". Professor Quirrell also stood up and stammered "Heaa –aa –dmaster sssss-surelyyy y-ouu ca-nnn-ot s-say suucch thhingss aa-abouttt P-P-otter?" Headmaster surely you cannot say such things about Mr Potter.
Dumbledore thought hard. How could this be? Great, Harry thought, the dim-witted Dumble-dork has really done it this time. Harry walked smiling in self-praise, the entire Slytherin house cheered on their feet. They stamped their feet on the ground, roaring and shouting. "Mr Potter!" Dumbledore called but he ignored and sat beside Draco, the only person he knew, and they continued to laugh and ignored Dumbledore's calling. The teacher to the direct right of Dumbledore, who acted like the Headmistress, whispered something to Dumbledore and forced him to sit. "Continue with the sorting then"
A few more students were sorted but Harry was more interested in who was in his own house. A boy stood up, Head of the Quidditch team, stood up and gestured his hand to Harry "Flint, Marcus Flint". Harry openly accepted the handshake and smiled. He really loved Quidditch and hoped he was picked for it. However it was very unlikely due to the fact that first years couldn't have a broomstick. Blaise Zabini was sitting opposite him and also said "Hello". Pansy Parkinson decided to sit beside Harry; after all he was the boy-who-lived she couldn't think of a better person to talk to. Harry quite liked her and had fallen for her need of attention. They talked and ate with each for what seemed like hours and when they were finally called to go back to their dormitory's they stopped talking to catch up with the rest of the group.
"First year Slytherins follow me!" One of the prefects called "I am Gemma Farley and I will be your guide for this evening." There was about eight to ten Slytherins following her "First year Slytherins in the Dungeons… come on!" When they finally reached the door to the dormitory's Gemma said "Ok, to get into our common room you have to use the password Salazar Seal… Never tell this password to anyone!"
They all nodded in appreciation and entered. It was an amazing sight. There was a hot stoked fire place on the left, a couple of tables in the corner for studying and a few black sofas mainly aligned in the direction of the fireplace. There were stairs at the back leading down to a few rooms, obviously their living quarters, and then the guide stopped at the fireplace.
"If you would all take a seat" She said and tapped her foot impatiently "I am Gemma Farley, as mentioned earlier, and I am one of your senior prefects. Down there" she pointed "is the dormitories, boys on the left girls on the right, this is the common room where you can do work, talk and generally hang out. Currently the other prefect is sick due to a Quidditch match at home where a bludger almost knocked out his hand so Professor Snape has decided to talk to you today"
Professor Snape gave them an exasperated lecture; "It is of paramount importance that everyone in this room succeeds. As a Slytherin we were born to be great, to be ambitious and cunning. I recommend that everyone reads up before what they do in class so that they are ahead of everyone and to study at the end of the year so no filthy mudbloods do better than you. We have a reputation to hold, people will try and dissuade and weaken us but as a team, together we can stand strong. There is to be no rule breaking and never show any weakness or show a broken bond in public, fighting between one-another is for the common room and no-where else!"
After a final speech by him regarding sleeping times and the tight schedule, he finally finished with "Potter I would like to talk to you in private"
Harry made a groaning sound and followed the Potions Master to the side.
"Harry" he said "Don't let what Dumbledore say to you discourage you. I don't know why you were picked for this house but it is definitely for a reason, the Sorting Hat is never wrong."
Harry just smiled "You can't discourage someone who hadn't any respect for you in the first place now can you?" and he walked off following his friends to their dormitories. When he reached his bed, evident by his luggage on top, he stayed immediately got to sleep due to their really busy day.
They all got up very early in the morning at half seven. Classes started at nine and breakfast started at eight. When Harry woke up Blaze, Crabbe and Goyle had already gotten up and were changed, which gave time for him to converse with Theorde Nott.
"Hey" they boy said "I am Theorde Nott. I have heard a lot of things about you Harry, stunned me why you were chosen to be in Slytherin" He made it sound grand and honourable "But it's good to have you in the same house as me. " He sneered "I can't really blame you for the death of You-Know-Who, you were a baby"
"Pleased to meet you" Harry got up to get changed "So what is our first class?"
"Potions" He smiled "At least not something like Herbology or something, right?"
"Yeah" He laughed.
As they made their through their dormitories down into the Great Hall they were stared at by everyone that they passed. People were whispering; can't believe Potter is in Slytherin and Yay, the one that destroyed him, has come to bring him back as well as Ughh, another Mini-Deatheater
It felt odd to Harry having everyone stare at him. In his old school if someone even mentioned Harry they were beaten up by Dudley's gang of hooligans… the unwanted attention felt good to Harry, he has never been this well known in his life. He took a seat beside one of the girls in his year he forgot and started talking.
"Oh hey Harry, how are you?" she asked
"I'm good thanks!" He replied
"Forgotten my name have you?"
"Yep – sorry"
"It's alright, not everyone can be as well-known as you are" She held out her hand "Daphne, Daphne Greengrass. Let's start again"
He shook her hand and replied "Harry, Harry Potter. It's a pleasure"
It was extremely awkward for Harry as he saw both Pansy and Daphne stare down each other to talk to Harry. It looked like Pansy was winning, her family roots go further and he is more controlling. Used to getting what she wants. A white owl then flew into the room holding a letter in its beak, it was Hedwig. It carried a note saying
Dear Harry,
I just want to clear things up with the business in Diagon Alley. I don't trust the Malfoys and they aren't very nice people, trust me, they used to work for You-Know-Who. How about you come down to my hut on Friday afternoon for tea, I know you have it off.
Hagrid
Harry showed the letter to his friends, they all laughed, just as Draco was walking into the Great Hall, writing a reply was going to be easy
Dear Hagrid
Dumbledore set you up to this, didn't he? You have failed to tell me many, many things including the reason you were not allowed to use magic. I trust the Malfoys, they help me when I am in need and are very nice people. There is a difference between being under the imperious curse and purposefully killing a mudblood. Myrtle was her name wasn't it?
Harry didn't bother to write his name because of the commotion that was happening, Gringotts was broken into. It was the same day, and the same vault, that Hagrid had emptied with a little tiny package. Harry didn't know what to think of what was just said; he had to find out what was in that package. He continued on the letter
If you want to redeem yourself you better start coughing up the truth, what is inside the package that we took out of Gringotts? Also, that is my owl… I didn't give you permission to use it.
Whenever he sent Hedwig away he realised that was going to have to rush down to the dungeons to get to potions. He got in just in-time and took a seat beside Malfoy who was sitting with him. Harry didn't like the fact that he had to have his class with the Gryffindor's. When Harry sat down Snape barged into the room from the back, very dramatically, and stood at the top.
"Would you look at this" He said "Harry Potter, our new celebrity. The Gryffindor half of the class started to laugh. "Tell me what will I get if I add Powdered Root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"
Harry easily recalling what he read in the potions book "It would make a sleeping potion so powerfully that it is called Draught of the Living Dead"
The laughter from the other end of the classroom immediately silenced. Snape smiled, a little shocked, and said "Very good, ten points to Slytherin. Tell me… Where would you look if I asked you to get me Bezoar"
Harry again recalling the facts simply said "It's what cures most poisons; it is taken from the stomach of a goat and is a stone"
"Correct, ten points to Slytherin" He wondered "Weasley… What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"
Weasley looked puzzled as he didn't have a clue what any of this meant "-I-I … I don'ttt k-know Ss-irr" He stammered; I don't know sir
"Mr Potter?"
"It's taken from the same plant; it goes by the name Aconite"
"Excellent, another ten points to Slytherin and twenty points to be deducted from Gryffindor for your lack of knowledge when your classmates can rhyme it off… What aren't you writing this down WEASLEY?"
The Slytherins just laughed at the Gryffindor student. Those questions where simple. Malfoy simply put "I doubt his hand-me-downs actually include those pages sir." They all couldn't control their laughter.
"Another time boys" Snape said and they became quiet. Snape had this charm for keeping a class quiet. They rambled on about what they just discussed, a lot of which Harry already knew, and were told they were going to be brewing next week and to read-up on chapter one if they haven't already.
They made their way back to the Great Hall for lunch before having to head to Defence against the Dark Arts, a subject that Harry knew he would like. An old tawny owl swooped into the room carrying a letter which was dropped onto Harry's table.
Dear Harry,
Sorry I can't tell you anything about that, it's between Professor Dumbledore and Mr Nicholas Flamel. Also, Dumbledore wants to speak with you in private in his office tonight at seven o'clock. The password is Acid Pops.
Harry could have sworn he heard that name before. He tried to recall it on his way to his next class. When they arrived at the door Professor Quirrell was awaiting their arrival. It was an incredibly boring class because all he did was stutter throughout it, what kind of dim-wit would hire this guy to teach. He set homework, and promised there would be a practical lesson next week on Jinx's and that they should all read up on it.
He went straight to the library when class was over to read up on Nicholas Flamel… Who was this man?
A/N Thanks a lot for all the feedback. Don't forget to follow and favourite the story so that you can get an update when the next chapter comes out :). You will hear from me very soon. Have a nice day! Reviews are very much appreciated with any suggestions you can give me! xD Don't forget to share with friends :D