September 1st, 1992
The Hogwarts Express looked much more beautiful than it did when Harry and his friends first approached Platform 9¾. Its gleaming coats of paint gave a sharp contrast to the billowing, foggy smoke it emitted from its sleek black chimney. Hedwig rode in her cage, perfectly content, eying everyone besides Harry shrewdly, even Harry's parents. Richmond glared at the bird as it did him, but said nothing. Harry's other pet, though secret as his parents do not know of her existence, lay nestled in his coat pocket, waiting for the proper time to come out of her hiding spot. Harry carefully and casually lifted the lid of said pocket just a tiny crack.
"You doing alright, Emmie?" Harry's whisper was no louder than a mute mouse, however, the snake's hearing picked it up clearly.
"I'm fine, perfectly comfortable. But don't call me Emmie! You promised not to call me a stupid name!" Harry silently chuckled, seemingly to himself, earning him a strange glance from Phoebus.
"I'll tell you later," Harry quietly explained, giving a small gesture to the adults chaperoning the group of students.
Once the students gave the same conductor their luggages, the small group of Harry, Phoebus, Adam, Selene, and Melanie grabbed the first empty compartment they could find and sat down comfortably. Somewhat excitable, Melanie stood and opened the window, giving her mum Ashley Blake a big wave.
"Have fun at Hogwarts, dear!"
"I will, Mum!" Soon, the other children followed suit, and the train began to chug away towards their next year at Hogwarts, coming up with multiple plans of what to do while at school.
"Of course we have to go back home during the Easter break. That's when Gemma and Conrad have their wedding, and we can't miss that," Melanie enunciated with a dreamy eye for the romance of the aforementioned couple.
"It's interesting how we celebrate a Muggle religious time, and a Christian one at that," Harry noted curiously.
"That's only because the time of Easter falls under the time of the year that is a magical period of rebirth and renewal," Selene explained casually.
"So that's how everyone suddenly gets the energy to study for those last finals," Phoebus realized, though it was more mocking than an actual realization. This joke did not go unnoticed, and the whole compartment soon rewarded their fellow pack member with a small laugh. Adam was the first to stop laughing, and turned to Melanie.
"Which house do you want to be in, Mel?"
"Isn't it obvious?" The group watched Melanie closely before she finally gave up her little game with them. "Gryffindor." If it weren't for the special charms on the train to keep it together for however many years, then the yelling and swearing of the second years probably would have caused the compartment to fall off the moving locomotive.
"That is the worst idea you could have possibly come up with Melanie," Harry warned after everyone calmed down. As usual, Melanie's stubbornness won out.
"Oh come on. It can't be that bad."
"Oh no, it's not bad at all." All heads turned to see Ron Weasley at the door, his usual scowl replaced with a proud smirk. "In fact, you should get into Gryffindor as soon as possible to get away from these Death Eaters."
"Death Eaters?" Melanie asked, a little dubious. Weasley nodded, almost sage-like.
"Oh, yes. Evil little things they are. One day you're a perfectly sane human being. The next, you're a psychotic idiot." Melanie paled a bit while Harry immediately stood, his wand at Weasley's throat.
"Care to say that again, Weasley?" Harry's growl intensified with each word. "I didn't quite hear you." Weasley's eyes grew larger than soup bowls at this obvious threat. He loudly gulped in fright before trying to push the wand away.
"Y-you can't do anything to m-m-me. I'm H-Harry Potter's best mate."
"Oh really?" Both Harry and Weasley turned to see Draco, his smug smirk plastered on his pale face as he held up the most recent edition of the Daily Prophet. Its light parchment color stood quite plainly against his Slytherin school robes, but what really grabbed both boys' attention was the title: "BOY WHO LIVED NOW BOY WHO DIED". "You were saying?" Draco queried in a victorious manner. Weasley looked back between Harry and Draco before finally giving up.
"You'll see, you'll all see!" With that, Weasley stormed down the hall to Merlin knows where. As if greeting an old friend, Harry held out his hand for Draco to shake. The Malfoy boy shook it happily.
"Good timing, Draco. Care to join us?"
"I thought you'd never ask." With that, Harry made the entrance clear, and once Draco entered the room, he shut the compartment door with a solid thud.
"No minions today, Drake?" Phoebus inquired, his gray eyes portaying a hint of curiosity. Draco shrugged and sat down next to Adam.
"You mean Crabbe and Goyle? They're nice to have around if you like pieces of meat, but I prefer real friends. Father thinks so too," Draco seemed proud of himself as he made this proclamation, making Harry figure out the real story.
"How much begging did it take to lay off the bodyguards?" Harry's joking earned him a slight shove, but he nonchalantly shook it off.
"Malfoys don't beg, at least those who have any dignity don't. It just took some persuasion that's all."
"Right, 'persuasion'," Adam quoted the word with his fingers, prompting Draco to smack the Hufflepuff across the arm.
"Ah, relax, Draco. We're just messing with you." Harry sat down in his original spot next to Phoebus and made himself comfortable, as did the others.
"You can't blame us, though. There's hardly anything to do." Harry slyly glanced at his best friend's declaration.
"Oh, really, Feeb?" Harry inquired. "Not even a good secret or two?" At this, everyone else in the cabin began prompting, or more so begging, their classmate and leader to tell them what's going on, what kind of secret, the like. "Of course, maybe you guys shouldn't hear. You know, it's rather hard to trust someone these days." The kids started going crazy.
"You're being cruel, Harry," Phoebus jested, "Come on, spill. Spill."
"All right, all right, since you guys are dying to know," Harry began, "But once I show you, you can't tell anyone what happened, under any circumstances and under no conditions. Not even life threatening ones. Do you understand me?" At everyone's enthusiastic nod of agreement (even Draco's) Harry opened the lid of a certain coat pocket and began to speak: "Okay, Esmeralda. You can come out now."
Everyone was astonished at Harry's speaking, but nobody was prepared for what happened next.
"AAAHH! A SNAKE! KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!" Melanie's screeching was something akin to a Banshee, and before Harry could say anything, his little familiar was already prepared for a fight.
"Alright, girly, come at me with your screeching! I'll scare you to death!"
"SHUT UP!" Even though Harry spoke in perfect English, Esmeralda understood him perfectly well. Melanie shut up too, though she is now as far away from the garden snake as she could possibly be. Harry gently lifted his familiar with both hands so that everyone could see her perfectly. "Everyone, if you will please calm down, I'd like for you to meet my familiar. This is Esmeralda."
"Great Merlin, Harry," Phoebus muttered as he stared at his best friend with fascination. Draco's stare was a mixture of awe and envy.
"You didn't say anything about being a Parseltongue. You're full of surprises, aren't you Stidolph?" Harry recognized the small bit of jealousy in Draco's tone but decided to ignore it as he went introducing everyone to Esmeralda in parseltongue. Thankfully, the group was patient as the duo went to them one by one.
"This is Phoebus. He's been my best friend since I joined the Tribe. Loyal but cunning, he's good for pranks and such."
"I like pranks."
"I know you do. Then there's Melanie-"
"Oh, the screaming Banshee." Harry chuckled.
"She uses that voice of hers for a lot of things."
"Nothing too pleasant, I'm sure." Harry smirked, causing Melanie's fear to ebb away just a little.
"What are you saying to her?" Her inquiry was not lacking of suspicion.
"Nothing, she just doesn't like you." Melanie scoffed, but at Esmeralda's hiss, she immediately cowered again.
"This is Draco. He's about as Slytherin as you can get, but at least his heart is in the right place."
"He hides secrets."
"Doesn't everyone?"
"Well, yeah, but his secrets are bad. They reek of evil." Duly noting this, Harry continued.
"This is Selene, Phoebus' twin sister. She's a little crazy, but like Draco, her heart's in the right place."
"She's pretty. I like her." Harry smiled at this.
"She said you're pretty, Selene." Selene perked up a bit at this and smiled at Esmeralda in thanks. Melanie once again came out of her cowardice.
"Oh, so the snake likes her and not me?"
"Well, you did scream when you first saw her, Melanie," Adam exclaimed gently, "If I was the snake, I wouldn't like the girl who screamed at me either." The first year blushed but said no more.
"This is Adam. He's the most loyal friend I've ever known. He's a bit shy, but he's coming out of his shell." Esmeralda hissed, but Harry deduced it was more like a giggle.
"He's cute." Harry smirked.
"Don't think I'll tell him that." Esmeralda pretended not to hear, and began cooing at Adam before Harry took her away. He set her gently on his shoulder and prepared himself for the bombardment of questions. Sure enough, they came barreling at him, rolling off his friends' tongues, most of which came from Selene and Draco.
"How did you meet her?"
"How long have you had her?"
"What kind of snake is she?"
"Is she poisonous?"
"How old is she?"
And so on and so on. Finally, after a good few minutes and everyone changed into their school robes, Harry began his story:
"I met Esmeralda over the summer. I was taking a jog when I accidentally stepped on her tail. She's seven, and she's a garden snake, so I don't think she's poisonous."
"That doesn't explain why you're a Parseltongue, or how," Selene accused suspiciously. Harry shrugged.
"Esmeralda promised me her mother knows more about Parseltongue."
"Where is she? She might be hard to find, being another garden snake," Adam reasoned, but Harry's only response is a shrug.
"We'll find her when we find her," was all he said. Melanie suddenly shivered.
"Okay, I can take spiders, and rats, and even dragons. But a snake? Forget about it." Phoebus started snickering.
"You're really afraid of snakes?"
"Don't get any ideas, Feeb," the emphasis on the nickname was extraordinarily harsh, "I know where to find muggle CD's of Redman." The Slytherin in question paled to a white ghost-like complexion.
"You wouldn't dare." Draco only looked at both of them, a little faddled at the mention of muggle items, but decided it wasn't worth his time and, therefore, didn't ask.
At last, the Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogwarts Station, and once it did, the students old and new burst out of the doors, eager for a chance to step onto the magically enchanting grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Just by stepping onto the platform, Harry felt the surge of magic rush into his body and through his system, as did the other werewolves. Harry looked around and smirked. Knowing everyone's ignorance, sometimes, it's good to be a werewolf. At least he has the chance to appreciate what he has.
As Melanie separated off from the others into the traditional first years' boats, the second years, including Draco, boarded a carriage to drive them to the school. However, Harry was a bit confused.
He heard that the carriages weren't drawn by anyone, no horse, no nothing. However, there is very clearly something there, in the form of what looked like a starved hippogriff and dragon hybrid. Its hide drabbed in all black, the beast looked at Harry once, shook its head a bit, and continued waiting for its passengers.
"You okay, Harry?" Phoebus looked between the empty space before the carriage and his best friend, wondering if the younger boy obtained some sort of illness. Indeed it seemed so, for Harry looked at Phoebus with a sort of curiosity in his eyes.
"You don't see them? The things driving the carriages?"
"You're seeing things, Stidolph. There's nothing there," Draco proclaimed as he helped Selene board the carriage and himself after her. Eventually, Harry decided to drop it and was the last one to climb on before the dark beast began pulling the carriage towards the castle.
When the students arrived at the castle, everyone except the first years were escorted inside the Great Hall by other professors. Once seated, Harry began talking with other Slytherins, including Daphne and (regretfully) Pansy. Once the girls began batting their eyes at him, however, Harry ended their conversation right then and there and began talking to Marcus Flint, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team.
"You should have been there, Flint," Draco bragged, "I almost pulled off a Wronski Feint at our mock Quidditch game, remember that, Harry?" Harry shrugged.
"I didn't see anything about a Feint; more likely a Sloth Grip – even though we didn't use Bludgers." Flint chuckled at Harry's joke while Draco glowered at him, but said nothing.
"What about you, Stidolph?" Flint asked, curious. "How did you do?" Harry shrugged.
"I'd say average; just some flying here, some flying there, and what do you know? I got the Snitch." Flint appraised Harry for a little bit.
"How long did it take you?"
"You lot talking about the mock Quidditch game at Malfoy's?" Phoebus' butting in on the conversation made Harry give a small breath of relief. Sure, Quidditch is nice, but he isn't that ecstatic like his friends. There's more important things in life than flying around on a broomstick; living in a werewolf tribe for five years has taught him that.
"Yeah, were you there, Grint?"
"Yeah, I saw it. Harry caught the Snitch five minutes into the game." Harry would have groaned right then and there if he didn't care about his reputation. Flint only raised an eyebrow, but in Slytherin terms, that would mean he's astonished to say the least.
"Five minutes? Perhaps you could consider trying out for the Quidditch team, Harry. Our current seeker, Terrence Higgs, is okay, but if you can catch the Snitch five minutes into a game, then we just might keep our Championship Title this year. We almost lost it last year, remember?" Oh, Harry remembered. He never had time to go to a Quidditch game, however, he remembered the talk of the whole school, and how such a bad team as Gryffindor somehow got lucky enough to make it to the finals before eventually losing to Slytherin in that final match of the year. Harry said nothing, so Flint just shrugged at the lack of response. "Just think about it," and with that nonchalant ending, the conversation came to a close.
A few more minutes later, the first years came bustling into the Great Hall, among them Melanie. Harry also spotted bright red hair and inwardly winced. He'd forgotten all about the youngest Weasley, and remembering her behavior in the bookshop not too long ago, he'd rather keep forgetting.
"When I call your name, step up and sit on this stool, and the Sorting Hat shall place you in your house." With that, the Sorting began. Her last name being 'Blake', it didn't take long for Melanie to come up. To everyone's surprise, Melanie ended up in Ravenclaw, and sat down next to Selene who greeted her warmly. After that, it seemed to take forever before they finally reached the end.
When the Weasley girl (Ginny or something) was sorted into Gryffindor (surprise), Dumbledore stood and began reciting his usual speech:
"Welcome to Hogwarts, those of you with bright new minds and those of you with bright wiser minds. Before we begin our feasting, I would merely like to touch up on the school rules, for the sake of a reminder and for those who have recently joined our Halls. Should you perform well in your classes, and behave like a good student, you will be awarded points. Any rule breaking or any sort of misconduct will result in a deduction of points and the proper punishment. The house at the end of the year with the most points will receive the House Cup. Mr. Filch," Dumbledore paused here to nod respectfully at the respectless man, "has kindly reminded me that the Forbidden Forest is completely out of bounds for those who do not wish to die a most painful death. Now then, I would like to introduce to you your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart." At this, Lockhart stood from his spot at the Head Table and, with a swoosh of his cape, dissappeared as if by magic. The girls swooned and the boys groaned. Dumbledore smiled at Lockhart's antics before finishing, "Now then, let us feast!"
With those words proclaimed, all of the tables in the Great Hall seemed to erupt with food and merriment. Lockhart came back through a side door to the table and flashed a dazzling smile at Professor McGonagall before sitting down. Harry rolled his eyes.
"That's not magic, that's trickery," he mumbled before chowing down on a roast beef. The other Slytherin boys nodded in agreement before continuing with their meals. "Two different things: one is real, the other is a total fake."
As soon as the Slytherins reached their Common Room, it became time to choose who was going to be the roommates of the year. Surprisingly, a lot of boys (and girls) wished to sleep in the same room as Harry, as well as Draco, but once Harry, Draco, and Phoebus made it known they didn't want anyone else, their classmates immediately took the hint and settled for each other. The three boys stepped up into their three bed dorm and immediately made themselves comfortable. As they were getting ready for bed and put their things away in their respective places, Draco turned to Harry.
"Harry, can I ask you a question?" Harry raised his eyebrows at Draco's feigned innocence, and it was quite feigned because Harry could see right through his demeanor, but didn't object to it by gesturing for him to ask away. "How did you become a Stidolph?"
"...I'm sorry?" Harry tried to hide his panic, but his mask was quickly deteriorating. Phoebus, off to the side, also donned a face of panic, wondering if he'll need to step in any second now.
"I just met you over the summer last year. If our fathers had been friends for years, then surely we would have met before then. I don't remember you from my childhood, so tell me, how did you become a Stidolph?" Draco knew he was stepping on thin ice. Even if he wasn't adopted or the like, Harry would still be a halfblood thanks to his muggle born mother Penny. Obviously, nobody else knows of Harry's blood status, but to Slytherins, keeping your bloodline pure is vital. If Harry is an orphan (Merlin forbid), and he lied about it, then the consequences for him would be enormous.
Harry knows this too. If he tells Draco about his own childhood, then Draco would make sure that the whole of Slytherin knew of their budding leader. Therefore, Harry could only surmise the simple solution. He held out his hand and claimed,
"Unbreakable Vow. I tell you, and you don't tell anyone under any circumstances." Draco glanced at Harry's open hand skeptically and a little fearfully, but soon accepted it, and both boys turned to Phoebus to perform the ritual. Phoebus, looking very unsure, eventually grabbed his wand and stood between the two, ready to initiate the deadly treaty. As he performed it, Harry and Draco pronounced their promises.
"Do you, Draco Malfoy, swear to the Gods above, that you will not speak of what I'm about to tell you to anyone, living or dead?"
"I will. And will you, Harry Stidolph, swear to the Gods above, that you will tell me your secrets in full confidentiality and trust?"
"I will."
Soon, the deed was done, and after it was over, Harry took his own wand out and cast silencing and protective charms around the room, in case of any curious or malicious outsiders keen to listen in on their conversation.
"Pretty serious about this, aren't you Stidolph?" Draco joked, though the joke was weak, translating to how nervous he felt about this. Harry turned to Draco.
"That's not my name. My real name." Draco shrugged.
"I figured that, so what is it?" Harry and Phoebus looked at each other, as if to give each other support for the revelation to come, and Draco seemed surprised.
"You know about this too, Phoebus?" Phoebus nodded.
"Harry's pretty much a brother. He and I know everything about each other." The aforementioned boy smiled a little at this, since statements like that are rare coming from Phoebus, and took a deep breath.
"Do you know exactly what we are?" Draco shrugged.
"I've known you lot had some big secret; but I didn't bother to find out. That's what Slytherin is all about, isn't it?"
"We're werewolves." Draco appraised this declaration for a moment, before nodding in comprehension.
"My father's told me about Tribes, and he mentioned Richmond's contribution to his own Tribe, so it makes sense. But that doesn't answer my question."
"I know. But think about this, Draco, since we're werewolves, does this mean we have many rights?" Draco thought about this for a second, before shaking his head 'no'.
"Ridiculous laws," the platinum blonde muttered under his breath. Harry nodded in agreement before explaining,
"One of those laws claims that werewolves cannot adopt any children from any background or anywhere. Even if they're werewolf children, it's impossible." Draco's eyes widened as he understood what Harry was getting at.
"How'd you do it?" he demanded, yet he was more in awe than anger. Harry shook his head.
"I was eight, I don't remember. Anyway, before I met the Stidolphs, I was raised in a different home. The patrons of said household weren't very kind to me. They would..." Harry paused. Even if it was five years ago, the pain still stung. "They would abuse me at every chance they got." Thankfully, Draco didn't say anything at this. In fact, he looked completely calm. At this lack of response, Harry continued, "One day, I made things pretty bad. It was my magic, though. Accidental magic happens all the time for wizarding children. You know this." Draco nodded. "The head patron chased me out of the house but, thanks to his obesity, I was able to outrun him. I reached the far playground from the house where I found blood on the slide. The blood made a trail that led straight to the forest nearby. I didn't want to go back to the house, so I followed the trail. Finally, I found the source of the blood: a corpse of a dog. I also found the killer: a werewolf. Instead of eating me, he led me deeper into the forest, almost near our camp, where he bit me. Since I didn't have anyone to care for me, the Stidolphs illegally adopted me, and I've been living with them ever since."
Draco still didn't say anything. Instead he stood from his spot on the floor, and went into bed. Both the werewolves looked at each other nervously before going into their own beds. However, Harry couldn't help but think...did he just ruin his friendship with the Malfoy heir?
A/N:
Dun dun dun! Nothing else much to say, so please R&R! And I don't own anything that J.K. owns! Cheers!
~ Galatea Griffiths