Hey everyone! Thank you for reviewing the last chapter. I'm sorry the whole comments section threw some of you off. If there is a suggestion for how I can show my appreciation I hope you can give it to me. Sorry also for being so late. I actually finished the chapter on the same night as the last one was posted, but I was really tired and unsure if it was finished. I had not had time to review it until now. Hopefully you like it. I am slightly worried this story is a little cliched at some points, but hopefully it is not. I am worried about how you guys will like the additions to the story. Thank you so much for reading! BTW I love love all of your comments and love you guys for following and such. Thank you.
Oh and extra long chapter because I felt it wouldn't fit to end it earlier than I did. Also to apologize for the wait.
I do not own Harry Potter.
But I do own an Olivander's wand and some Goldfish crackers. Oh and Goobers.
Xxxx
Slowly, while the time past from night to morning, soft foggy light filled the room from the window. Harry drifted on the cloud of almost consciousness, dreaming of castles and friends with talking hats. Harry remained asleep for a little while longer.
Then a loud noise similar to a fog horn sounded from his bedside table.
Stumbling awake, Harry scrambled for his wand. As soon as his fingertips touched the Holly wood, the noise cut off. Those twins! They should have warned me! Thought Harry as he dragged himself out of bed to his bathroom. Once done with his morning routine, Harry came out of the bathroom looking refreshed and almost ready for the day. He walked to his wardrobe and pulled out his uniform to get dressed. Reaching up to try and flatten his hair down, Harry went to grab his wand and the potions text from the night before to read before class. He then turned and started for the door. Looking back almost in habit to say goodbye to Hedwig Harry came to an abrupt stop. What's happened? Was it like this last night? I really don't think so. Harry thought rapidly, trying to come to some sort of conclusion as to why one of the most gorgeous sights was before him.
Harry was looking at the previously-a-wall window.
Stepping closer, Harry could not take his eyes away from the wonderful sight. It was now that he realized his room was basked in rippling blue light. Outside his window, Harry could see blue forever. Not so black is it? Harry surmised, believing the window showed the Black Lake. Little fish dotted the expansive blue. Looking down, from right beside the window, Harry could see rolling hills of what looked like seaweed or some other type of water plant. Harry could almost see what looked like a giant tentacle off to the side of his window, but it disappeared quickly if it was ever there.
"Wicked!" Harry stated excitedly while he slowly backed away from the wondrous sight, having difficulty removing his eyes from it. Taking one last look, Harry finally tore his eyes from the gorgeous window and left his room. That was pretty amazing! So magic can do all this then too! Harry thought excitedly. Hogwarts is great! He thought while patting the wall in awe.
"You're pretty amazing aren't you!" muttered Harry softly. "Thank you for welcoming me here. I didn't know buildings could change like that so suddenly. Magic is pretty great."
Soon Harry entered the common room. Once he stepped into the room, all of the quite conversations going on ceased and people turned to look at him. Harry feeling uncomfortable blushed and muttered a soft hello before swiftly exiting the room through the entrance wall that opened upon knocking. Making it out of the opening, Harry hurried off toward where he could remember the Great Hall to be. I hope they don't do that for much longer. Maybe they will realize I'm nobody important and carry on. Hopefully… Harry's thoughts where interrupted by someone speaking.
"Ah, a new snakeling," whispered someone near the wall. Harry turned and found himself looking at a portrait on the wall. In the portrait was a man with long dark hair and green eyes a shade or two darker than Harry's. Around the man's neck and wound down his arm, the man who was also dressed in very, very, old fashioned style of clothes, was a small snake about as thick as his thumb.
"Excuse me, but am I the snakeling you mentioned?" asked Harry curiously.
The man's face morphed into one of surprise.
"I'm not the one who called you a snakeling, child," replied the man, glancing down to his snake.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just recently learned that it was possible to speak to snakes. My question is why I can't speak to other animals as well. Maybe I can and they just don't have anything to say," Harry responded to the man's statement, voice shy, but strong. "Hello," Harry continued looking at the snake now, "Am I the snakeling you were referring to? I've never been called a snakeling before," Harry said speaking to the snake.
"A snakeling speaker!" replied the snake sounding a little excited. "Oh it has been so long since I have had someone else to speak to besides this person holding me."
"Are you implying I'm not interesting enough to keep you company?" asked the man indignantly.
"Oh hush now. I simply meant that after a few centuries, having the same conversation over and over can become a bit tiresome," replied the snake, nudging into the man's palm.
Harry giggled, drawing the attention of the man and snake in the portrait.
"Sorry, excuse me, I'm being rude. It's just your conversation is very amusing. My name is Harry Potter. It's nice to meet you."
"It's no trouble at all. It has been awhile since we have seen anyone down this corridor. Undoubtable a few centuries. You may call me Sly, this is my familiar Seph. It is nice to meet you as well young snake. To answer your question, we were referring to you being a young student from the House of Snakes. I wonder how you came to be down this corridor. Are you perhaps lost?" asked Sly.
Looking around the corridor, he noticed it was very dusty.
"I could have sworn I was on the way to the Great Hall," responded Harry, turning to look back to the portrait. The man and snake seemed to look at each other for a second and then back to Harry.
"Harry, we believe our lovely castle may have led you here. We can tell you how to get to the Great Hall, but you may want to come back here once you are done with your lessons. Maybe on the weekend if you have to wait that long. I believe Seph and I have some times to catch up on. Can you come back?" Asked the man, looking hopefully towards Harry.
"Of course I can, we've just become friends haven't we?" asked Harry timidly. The man's anxious look morphed into a face filled with a gentle smile.
"Of course we can be friends Harry. It has been a long while since I have seen a friend," answered the man.
"Harry, do you know how you can speak to snakes?" asked Seph from the man's arm.
"Well, I thought all wizards could. Can they not?" asked Harry.
"Small one, your abilities are rarer than you think. As far as we knew, only those descended from the Slytherin Family blood-line could access the ability. However, since we have not heard from the world in many years, this fact may have changed. We shall see in time. Now run along, if you continue down this corridor, you will surely end up wherever you so desire," said the snake shaking her head towards the end of the corridor, the man making a shooing motion with his free hand while smiling softly. "Make sure to come back and talk with us. Off you go."
"Thank you sir, madam. I will remember." Harry replied with a smile, moving away from the painting. He didn't notice the odd glance the portrait occupants shot him and then seemingly the ceiling.
Xxxx
Harry continued down the corridor and made a turn when it was presented before him. Once the turn was made, he realized he was directly in front of the doors to the Great Hall. Turning around, Harry noticed the corridor he had once came from had disappeared. That's odd. I wonder if the castle changes that often with the corridors like the stairs. Harry wondered, having been told about both the stairs and portraits the night before. Shrugging, Harry came to the conclusion he would just have to get used to it. It has been very useful so far anyways, what's the harm. Let Hogwarts have its fun.
Turning away from the opening-less wall, back towards the Great Hall, Harry started forward and slipped into the opening already left in between the doors. Glancing around, Harry saw that there was no-one in the Great Hall yet. It must be too early. Thought the boy as he made his way to the Slytherin table where he sat down. As soon as he sat down, randomly at the end of the table near the door, food enough for one male Dursley appeared on the table. Harry smiled and reached for the utensils to get his food from the bowls on his plate. His goblet filled soon with Pumpkin juice, as an upper year explained the night before, and Harry grabbed it and drank it down slowly, just for it to refill. Blinking, Harry shrugged once again and continued to eat. He soon finished and as soon as he placed his utensils down, the leftover food disappeared from sight. Having remained alone for his entire breakfast, Harry began to read the potions textbook that he had brought along with him. It was the last of the textbooks for him to read through, having decided to study before school and to leave it for last so he could remember it better. He was on the second to last chapter by the time students and faculty began to enter the hall, at first he looked up each time the doors opened, but after a while began to ignore it.
He was on the last chapter when someone slammed down into the seat next to him.
"Ugh, mornings," mumbled an older boy into his arms where his face rested. Harry jumped when another older boy sat down lightly across from the first boy.
"Good Morning Marcus," stated the second boy looking at the first.
"Oh shut it. There's nothing good about mornings," grumbled the boy named Marcus reaching across without looking to thump the second boy in the face with his hand. The second boy laughed and grabbed a piece of toast. As he was reaching for it, he seemed to notice Harry's presence and pause for a second before continuing.
"Well if it isn't a firstie sitting here," said the boy with a small smirk like smile.
"Um, hi, my name is Harry. It's nice to meet you," Harry said with a hesitant smile, holding out his hand for a handshake. While he did this, he noticed the boy named Marcus lift his head a little as if to peek at him from underneath his fringe.
"I'm Adrian, and as you have heard, this is Marcus. Congratulations on getting into Slytherin house. Usually only Quidditch players sit here, but you can stay here. Might as well since it looks like you want to read." Adrian said smiling slightly, smirk gone from his face. "Right Marcus?" asked Adrian.
"Sure, whatever," muttered the first boy, finally giving up the attempt for more sleep to eat breakfast.
"Word of caution firstie," said Adrian. "Most of the school hates Slytherins, so be careful. If anyone picks on you tell an upper year Slytherin like Marcus or me. I'm a third year so I don't have a lot of influence, but Marcus is a fifth year, and even some of the seventh year students are afraid of him." Marcus mumbled something under his breath that sounded, to Harry, like he said "Just because of my size".
"Ok, I will, but I have a question. Why does everyone hate Slytherins so much?" Harry asked the two older boys. Marcus and Adrian looked at each other for a moment and then looked back at Harry.
"People believe Slytherin house is full of dark wizards and Death Eaters only. They wouldn't even give an innocent or new Slytherin the chance to prove themselves different. It has always been like this. Ever since Slytherin decided he didn't want muggle-born or half-blood children in his house. It doesn't change the fact that there are equal if not more of them in our house than the rest. They think we all believe in pureblood superiority and hate anyone else. And if a school full of people think you act a certain way, that's all they will see when they look at you," Adrian told Harry.
"Did Slytherin really hate people from non-pureblood families?" asked Harry, slightly worried about what he was hearing from the two older boys in comparison to the nice way the portrait from before had explained his ability to talk to snakes.
"We can't really be sure. Most information about the founders of Hogwarts is vague at best, and there isn't a lot of it either. Everyone seems to think so however, so there is probably a little truth to it," replied Adrian. Marcus grunted in agreement.
At that moment Harry caught a sight of two heads of flaming red hair in his peripheral vision. Harry looked over and saw the twins enter the Great Hall heading towards the Gryffindor table. The briefly looked over towards the Slytherin table and scanned it until they saw Harry at the end. Pausing a second when they saw who he was speaking with they looked at each other and then looked back at Harry to raise an eyebrow each in question. Harry smiled at them, and they relaxed and winked at him and beckoned to their table with a questioning look. Harry nodded with a grin and held up a finger. Nodding, they turned towards their table to sit down.
No one except Marcus and Adrian seemed to notice the exchange. Harry turned back to them.
"You already know the Weasley twins then?" Asked Marcus quietly. It was the most Harry had heard him speak so he just nodded for a second overcome by a beautiful smile. The smile seemed to stun the two older boys, having never had a smile so bright and sweet directed to them.
"I do! I met them and their friend Lee on the train ride here. They are really nice and we became friends," replied Harry with a grin.
"Well if you were to be friends with anyone from Gryffindor it should be them. Outside of Quidditch they're good blokes. Not that we would ever say that of course," said Adrian with a grin of his own shaking his head. He nodded to the Gryffindor table, telling Harry it was ok to go. Marcus grunted quietly when Harry looked at him to be excused from their conversation, but didn't protest. He actually looked a little pleased it was them out of everyone.
"They could be good Slytherins," he said in reply to my confused look.
"Thanks guys, I guess I will see you around," said Harry as he stood up and grabbed his book from the table. After he left the Slytherin table, he made his way to the Gryffindor table, barely noticing the slight hush that fell over the students he passed. Harry finally came up behind the twins and lightly touched their shoulders.
"Harry!" they both cried. "Morning, Harry, sleep well?" the twins asked in perfect sync.
"I did actually. The dungeons are lovely really. I would have thought they were cold and damp, but they are actually quite warm and cozy," Harry replied warmly if softly and took the seat they offered between them by Fred moving to the side. "This morning would have been even better if I wasn't woken by a fog horn, Fred," Harry said looking to the left, "George," he continued by looking to the right.
"Oh I knew I forgot something!" responded Fred hitting his face with the palm of his hand.
"I can't believe I forgot as well," replied George looking at Harry apologetically.
"It's ok, just warn me next time warning is necessary," forgave Harry, not truly angry with his first friends.
"We can show you how to change the default alarm sound later ok Harry?" asked the twins together.
"That would be great guys."
"Um, excuse me," asked a boy about the twins' age down the table a little. "How can you tell the twins apart? If you don't mind me asking."
"Oh it is easy really. They act different from each other and their voices are different too. George's voice is a little deeper than Fred's, and Fred has a certain glimmer in his eyes, almost like he's going to play a prank I would imagine. Kind of impish I would say. Also George is a little more reserved when speaking. It's simple," answered Harry easily, a little quieter than he was when speaking to the twins and Lee.
Everyone around where they were sitting looked surprised, including the twins. No one had ever been able to tell them apart that easily and in such a short amount of time too. Lee even couldn't tell them apart very often. Even going so far as to cut a lock of Fred's hair a few centimeters shorter by the end of the first month to help.
Harry oblivious to the twins' wonder turned back to them and asked how they slept. Shaking themselves from their thoughts they both replied that it was good. They all soon few back into a conversation about Quidditch. Is that all people at Hogwarts find interesting? Thought Harry as he listened to the twins talk to the group of people. They sure are popular. Very outgoing. He thought with a soft look. Soon, the twins nudged Harry to send him off back to his table for a minute when the Heads of the four houses started to approach their respective houses.
"Go on, go get your schedule, you can come back afterwards. And in a few minutes we can show you where your class are," the twins said with equally bright grins to Harry. Harry smiled and started to walk towards his table.
Harry, seeing Professor Snape wasn't even a quarter of the way through the table went to sit next to Marcus again.
"The Lions didn't eat you I see," stated Adrian with a smirk.
"I don't think they would have a taste for snake," Harry replied, playing along with a puckish quirk to his lips. Soon Adrian and Marcus delved back into their conversation about Quidditch. It really is all anyone talks about here. Harry thought with amusement. Snape came steadily closer to their end of the table.
"Pucey," he called out, handing the schedule in his right hand to Adrian, picking up another from the stack of schedules in his left.
"Flint."
"Potter," he made a barely noticeable pause.
"Thank you sir," Harry said, already looking down at his schedule. He missed the brief look of surprise flash across Snape's face before he continued passing out schedules.
"What do you got for your schedule Harry?" asked Adrian, showing interest in the paper held in Harry's hands. Marcus perked up very subtly and looked over Harry's shoulder to read.
"It says today I have Potions with the Gryffindors first and then double Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws as well. There is nothing else scheduled for after lunch today. Here, take a look at the rest of it," Harry passed his schedule over.
"Tuesday you have Charms and History of Magic, both with Hufflepuff, good luck with Binns the History of Magic Professor, try to stay awake or bring something else to read," at my bewildered look Adrian continued," You'll see what I mean. Wednesday you have Potions then Herbology, followed by Flying lessons after lunch and Astronomy at Midnight."
"I knew I would have Astronomy, but I can't believe they have it at midnight," said Harry.
"They believe that the stars are most accurately read between midnight and one o'clock. As for curfew, the Astronomy professor will give you a pass to use throughout the year that clears you for that night and those hours only. If someone stops you, show them the pass and it is fine. Remember not to leave your pass in your room though, you will need to get to and back from Astronomy," Adrian continued," Thursday you have Charms and Double Transfiguration with Hufflepuff again and then Gryffindor. Friday you have Double Potions with the Gryffins and Defense with the Ravenclaws again. That's it," he finished handing the schedule back to Harry.
"Do you need help finding your classes?" Marcus asked, surprising everyone who overheard except Harry who hadn't heard anything bad about the slightly large boy.
"No, I'm fine for today thanks, the twins offered, but if you're still willing tomorrow, I would be happy to accept!" Harry said excitedly, happy that it seemed the three boys could be friends and not just meal buddies. Harry, unnoticed by him, but noticed by everyone else, seemed to have opened up even more to the two older Slytherins with Marcus's question.
"That's fine, I should still be able to," Marcus said, his lips curling up slightly when Harry smiled. "Now go firstie to find your classes."
"Ok! I will see you guys later hopefully. Have a good day!" Harry said happily with a radiant smile on his face while he went off back to his Gryffindor friends.
Once he was out of earshot, he was unable to hear the two older Slytherins speak to one another.
"He already has you virtually wrapped around his finger!" exclaimed Adrian, pointing an accusing finger at the older of the two.
"You're one to talk, Pucey. I think you have talked more to him than anybody else besides me in Slytherin, and it took you a year to get comfortable enough with what I looked like to actually start a conversation, let alone a conversation not about Quidditch," Marcus grumbled glancing back over to where Harry disappeared to.
"I think things are about to change in Hogwarts. He's an odd one, and you heard Snape, he's Harry Potter, people are going to be watching his every move," Adrian pointed out, the both of them having been ignoring the sorting the night before. "People are going to be after him."
"Well then we won't leave them any chance to get him if we can help it," responded Marcus gruffly, already feeling a little protective of the firstie.
"Obviously," replied the third year reading his schedule then looking up to watch Harry and the Weasley twins leave the Great Hall.
Harry was grinning between the two older boys and was about a half step in front of them.
