Welcome back, dear readers, to "Infinity Keeps Me Alive"

Snakes... Why'd it have to be snakes?


Into The Pit


The Sorting Hat – or Nathaniel Hatfield, for it appeared that it was his name – had manifestly decided that fifty minutes for the Sorting of a single wizard wasn't shocking enough. No, it had to be accompanied by the revelation that said wizard, one firmly believed to be a saviour and a paragon of the Light, was in fact a parselmouth, that strange gift being considered by most to be the mark of dark sorcerers.

The Great Hall was in an uproar from the revelation, right until the subtle intervention of a still unsorted first-year.

The dark-skinned Blaise Zabini calmly made his way to the head-table and managed to worm his way into the professors' discussion – if that shouting match could be described as such – merely by standing silently in front of them. As weirdly as it may seem, it got their attention. The stoic boy kindly reminded them then, that some students were still waiting, no matter what may or may not be wrong with Harry Freaking Potter and the Sorting Hat.

It worked like a charm and, regaining their composures, the Professors got into action, Flitwick immediately casting a Sonorus upon himself and demanding silence. Dumbledore would have gladly done it himself, but the recent events had effectively stunned him – and Snape glaring daggers his way definitely wasn't helping, the Potion Master apparently blaming the Headmaster for the entire thing.

McGonagall then retrieved her huge parchment and returned to stand near the hat's stool, resuming the Sorting normally by calling the next pupil forward.

It went unnoticed by most though, for despite the silence requested earlier, the older students kept on having hushed and rushed discussions. Finally, it is the appearance of food on the tables that managed to get them out of their frenzy, even if barely.

Or it would have, if the Sorting Hat hadn't suddenly shouted like a maniac.

"NO WAY IN HELL!"

McGonagall took a step back from the talking headgear, eyes wide open.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, uncertain.

"You think?" it asked back, sarcasm plain to see on his leathery old face. "You were about to shelf me, right? Sorting's done, so why bother with the Sorting Hat anymore, right?"

The deputy headmistress proved unable to formulate an answer fast enough and Nathaniel carried on with his rant.

"I'm only useful for a couple of minutes – hours this time, I suppose – and then it's back to gathering dust in Albus' office. Well, no more! I'm not a fancy souvenir, The Founder themselves asked me to be this school's representativeand that what I'll bloody do. I'm not going back to the shelf, end of story." he grumbled, glaring daggers at the witch.

The teachers and students alike didn't know how to react to this new outburst. What was wrong with the hat this year?

"Well then, where do you want to go?" asked Dumbledore with a grandfatherly smile.

"Mmmh… I'm not that mobile myself, so I should probably stay with a teacher or, better yet, a student."

"Of course."

The headmaster sounded amused and his legendary eye-twinkle had reappeared. It didn't seem all that unusual, now that they'd seen Flitwick do the same.

"Anyone would do, really… but a Slytherin would be best, those kids sure could use some wisdom."

"I suppose you're right." chuckled the old wizard.

Severus Snape and most of his House glared.

"You know what, I think I'll just stay with Potter." finally decided the hat, not surprising anyone. "Someone needs to keep him in check, else he'll do something utterly stupid like face a Basilisk with a sword or outfly a dragon… probably a Hungarian Horntail… a mother hen."

Those examples seemed… oddly specific.

"Well then, by all means, you may join your charge."

"Thank you, Headmaster." said Nathaniel, before turning to the snakes. "Potter, get your scaled ass over here!"


At the Slytherin table, Harry had been thinking.

Nathaniel had been fun to talk to and had answered many questions he still felt himself unsure about. Having the opinion of a third-person on his past-actions and very thoughts had helped him tremendously, since he now had a plan to deal with Tom's horcruxes and the war. Okay, maybe not so much a plan as the rough draft of one. But still, things were in motion and better that than nothing, right?

Daphne and Tracey, after their initial greeting, had acted like his sorting was nothing out of the ordinary. No comments, no weird glances, no questions asked, nothing besides some innocent chatter on the upcoming school year.

Some of the other fellow Slytherins did try to catch his attention, but he ignored them entirely. Those ones, he knew from experience, where Death-Eaters in the making. There simply was no point in being nice to them, as they would never be nice to him. House camaraderie was a beautiful concept, but one he would be excluded of from now on, since Nathaniel had made it clear that he was a stranger in the snake pit, a weird chimera. Even in a castle filled to the brim with hundreds of students, he would be virtually alone.

But with the world and his eternal sanity at stake – working with Tom for all eternity, the horror! – he could bear with a few years of semi-solitude. Not real solitude still, as he would have the company of Daphne and Tracey. Maybe even, he hoped, Hermione and Neville. Then would come Luna Lovegood and the little gang would be back on tracks again.

As for including Ron… well, it wasn't impossible per say, but it would be one heck of a challenge. The redhead had been a good friend, but his distrust of anything Slytherin was legendary.

"...er..."

Anyway, even with an incomplete gang, he should still be able to do much this year.

"...otter..."

It was only a matter of time and he would have that in profusion between and after class.

"Davis to Potter..."

Now, if only he could...

The time-traveller was dragged out of his day-dream by a punch to the head. Not quite strong, but right on top of it and fast enough to send his chin to the table and into his food.

"OWW!" he yelled, sauce dripping from his bangs. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"Your friend's asking for you." replied the smirking brunette, dropping back in her seat and gesturing to the impatient Sorting Hat.

"Oh, yeah... sure. Thanks, Tracey."

"It was a pleasure."

He wasn't sure how, but he knew that she wasn't talking about waking him up, rather referring to the punch. Between her cloying sweetness and contented smile – not to forget Greengrass' poorly dissimulated smirk – he was torn between smiling back and sulking.

Reluctantly, the time traveller left the table and went back to Nathaniel, wondering why he was smirking like that. He didn't know what sort of twisted plan his friend had concocted, but it didn't bode well for his sanity.


Harry wanted to bang his head on the table, but it would damage his new hat. Strangely enough, it made the idea that much more appealing.

Nathaniel hitching a ride for the entire year hadn't been part of their plan… well, Harry's plan. Nat had probably been thinking about it from the start, keeping it to himself just to annoy him.

It was working.

Dinner had turned into a real ordeal, with a whole new round of questions/glances/pointed fingers. It was worse than his initial first year, by a large margin, but wasn't rivalling with the Triwizard Tournament just yet… it was getting there though.

The wizard sighed, earning a snicker from the hat and an amused smile from Daphne and Tracey.

It was going to be a tough year.


The feast eventually came to an end and the students were invited to retreat to their common rooms.

One of the current Slytherin prefect, a blonde girl with a side ponytail, took the first-years – and one hat – aside and led them through the maze that was Hogwarts. It appeared quickly that she was voluntarily taking wrongs turns every now and then.

Harry supposed it was merely a manoeuvre so that every other student had enough time to reclaim their old rooms. He decided to play along, following in silence while he was truly exchanging trivia about the castle with Nat.

Zabini, once again making himself the voice of reason after several minutes of wandering around the halls, finally asked why they had just passed the same door for the third time.

"Because we're waiting for the others to settle in." smirked the girl, some Gemma Farley.

That surprised them quite nicely, except for Harry who just opted for a knowing smile.

"Excuse me?"

"Upon reaching the common room, we'll have to give you a little speech. As we don't want the other students in the middle of it, they needed time to reach the dormitories first. I'm merely providing it."

Her smirk grew bigger, if it was even possible.

"That's stupid." growled Draco.

Coming from Draco, it really meant something. Oh, wait...no, it didn't.

"Why can't you give us that speech in the Great Hall?" asked Theodore Nott.

"'Cause some rules are for Slytherin ears only."

"Then what about the lost lion?" spatted Pansy Parkinson, moving her head toward Harry.

Silence fell as everyone turned to him.

He shrugged, not bothered as much as Pansy was probably hoping he'd be. It surely was a slightly uncomfortable position to be in, but he had seen worse that very night… like Snape smiling.

Nathaniel chuckled at his thoughts and decided to answer for him.

"Mister Potter isn't a lion, miss Parkinson. If anything, he's a chimera."

"And I won't babble anything to anybody, if that's what you're concerned about. Even if through an unusual mean, I've been sorted in Slytherin and I fully intent to be as perfect a Slytherin as I would have been a Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw."

"That would require you to be cunning Potter, which you're not." sneered Draco.

Parkinson snickered, along with Crabbe, Goyle and surprisingly, Daphne.

"See? Even your little girlfriend knows it's true."

"Who're you calling his girlfriend?" growled the witch, taking the icy tone usually reserved for official Greengrass family business matters. "Besides, I was laughing at you."

"What?"

"You're either stupid, blind or both, Malfoy." she told him, eliciting a snarl from the blonde pounce. "You say that he lacks guile, but Potter hinted that his sorting would go awry before we even walked into the castle and predicted most of the sorting's results."

Nathaniel nodded, pleased with the girl.

Harry silently cursed, only know realising that his 'predictions' had been overheard.

"Trust me on that, Malfoy, he's more cunning that you'll ever be. The sooner you accept it, the better you'll feel about it."

Malfoy went beet-red. He was about to retort something (probably involving his father hearing about this) but was cut off by the prefect.

"Enough. Your little quarrel is already breaking the rules." she scolded them. "The others had way enough time to gather their things and the common room should be available now. Let's go, and in silence, unless you want to get an earful by Professor Snape."

The students may be new, thus knowing nothing of Snape, but what they had seen of him earlier at dinner and the way she had said his name were enough to send shivers down their spine. Harry and Draco were the only exceptions, since the first one knew how to handle the bat from experience and the second had the greasy man for a godfather. As for Nathaniel, he couldn't care less about the greasy Potion Master.

In a rather grim ambiance, the students decided to obediently follow Ms. Farley. The group went straight to the dungeons and stopped by the common room entrance, a plain-looking wall. One small password – 'Morgana', despite being considered evil by most, had still been Merlin's wife and an undeniably potent sorceress explained the hat – and they entered.


Harry had been here before, back in his second year, but under polyjuice and under pressure. Not a good way to appreciate architecture. With that in mind, the time-traveller took a few seconds to look around.

The Slytherin common room was nothing like the Gryffindor tower. Sure, there was a fireplace, but it was casting unholy shadows everywhere, outlining every column and piece of furniture. Since there wasn't a single way for natural sunlight to reach the room – it was an underground dungeon, duh – and to make the general picture even more malicious-looking, the whole place was bathed in a gloomy green light by magical chandeliers. The walls were made of pitch-black stones and the furnitures of a wood dark enough not to allow any light reflections – though the fact that it wasn't polished may have a say in that.

The room known throughout Hogwarts as 'The Pit' was creepy, gloomy, grim, depressing, frightening, dreadful, suffocating... it was home.

"I like what you did with the place. Who's your designer?"

"Don't be a smartass, Potter." warned the prefect. "That would do you no good."

She walked to the fireplace and invited the group to seat on the nearby couches. The scene was fear-inducing and she had certainly staged it on purpose. Frightening the kids was a sure way to make them obedient.

"Now, Professor Snape is having a meeting so I'm to extend the welcome of the entire Slytherin house to you. From this moment, you're not alone anymore. Now, you belong to a family and you're expected to act with fellow Slytherins as you would with your own relatives."

Harry thought about the Dursleys. He was totally okay with that.

"Listen to your elders, respect your brothers and sisters, never shame the house and if you have a problem with someone, keep it to the common room. The school is biased already, this house has to stand united, even if it's merely an act."

Acting he could do. He already was, to be frank.

"Aside from that, the rules are fairly simple. Firstly, house meetings are mandatory. They are to be attended no matter what and nothing short of an obliviation shall allow you to avoid them."

"Oh, you'll have to warn them about Lockhart then." mentally projected the Sorting Hat.

Harry almost snickered.

"Secondly, study time is mandatory and shall be done in silence." continued the prefect. "Schedules are handed on a weekly basis."

Great, he was here for less than a day and the snakes' rules were already cutting down his free time. How was he supposed to save the world in those conditions?

"Thirdly and finally, you're expected to keep the common room and your dorms in an appropriate state. Bribing or threatening Hogwarts' house elves into cleaning for you isn't an option here."

Buying or manhandling them was out of the question? Well, he had an idea that might just work then.

It was so simple yet so devious that Nathaniel had to smirk.

"Those rules are absolute, follow them to the letter. Now, a few advices. The dorms are inspected every few weeks, without previous warning. Should any unauthorised item be found, they will be seized by Professor Snape. Keep that in mind when taking things out of your trunk."

Okay, was he the only one seeing the problem here?

"Nope, I see it too." answered Nat to his silent question. "A prefect hinting that unauthorised items, which probably included dark artefacts, are fine as long as left undetected…"

"Right? I mean, come on, where's common sense when you need it?"

The other Slytherins were just as oblivious of this exchange as they'd been to the others.

"Regarding your studies, should you ever need help, don't hesitate to contact professor Snape or an older student."

Harry was considering asking some upper years about spells and magical theory. It would provide him an alibi, even if a really frail one, should he ever slip and cast something he wasn't even supposed to know by sheer reflex.

"And I can always give a hand if you want to know something about the school." interrupted the hat, earning himself a glare from miss Farley.

"Thank you." she replied, her teeth grinding at having been disturbed by a piece of leather. "And now, off to bed, firsties. Girls on the right, boys on the left. Your luggages have been brought and await you by your beds."

The children began to move toward the dorms. Harry didn't, going to Gemma Farley instead.


So, the small lion was feeling courageous? Or maybe was he suicidal? Either way, that move was just stupid.

"You want something, Potter?"

"Simply to thank you for your welcoming speech, Ms. Farley. Rules like advices were greatly appreciated."

"Indeed." confirmed the Sorting Hat, smiling at her.

A hand was moved, fully opened. A handshake? Seriously? And how come a first year could be so calm and composed in a dungeon, in the middle of the night? She had created the perfect scene to make them fear her, but Potter didn't seem to mind it. And that voice... it wasn't anything like the one he had, back when making his buffoonish comment about the common room, the kid sounded like a completely different person. Worst, the prefect couldn't detect the smallest trace of sarcasm in his voice, he was sincerely thanking her.

What was wrong with him?

Something in the back of her mind was telling her that she wouldn't like the answer, but would soon get it anyway. This boy was bad news.

Recomposing herself – she was in sixth year, dammit – she took the offered hand.

"You're welcome."

"I know, that's precisely why I'm thanking you."

Oh Merlin, he was back to being dumb again.

The boy retracted his hand and started to follow his new classmates. Reaching the door, he seemed to think twice and turned back to her. His face was a mask of calm and confidence.

"You would do well to avoid Professor Snape tomorrow, Ms. Farley. He's sure to be most unhappy with my presence in his House and I believe that his talk with the headmaster will only add fuel to the fire. I wouldn't want him to pass his anger on you. Have a good night."

And he was gone.

She just knew it, bad news.


Harry quickly found the room that would be his for the seven years to come. Unlike the Gryffindor one, he would share it with two students instead of three.

Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott eyed him dangerously as he walked to his bed. Okay, so they were just eyeing him, big deal. He was only adding the 'dangerously' to cope with the conflicting feelings he was getting from them. He knew them to be cunning serpents with announced pureblood ideals for one, namely Blaise, and a Death Eater of a father for the other, Theodore. But the two boys didn't appear that menacing and that rubbed him the wrong way.

"You're paranoiac." commented Nathaniel.

"I'm a war veteran, sue me." whispered back the wizard.

Harry opened his trunk and sorted his few earthly possessions. He then proceeded to release Hedwig from her cage. Without windows to escape through, the owl made a few turns around the room, finally perching on his bed's headboard. It would have to do until he could take her to the Owlery.

He was contemplating his bird when a cough made him turned around, wand in hand. His room-mates had their hands in the air in less than a second.

"See? Paranoia."

"Pax, Potter." said Zabini, using his unusually soothing voice.

Could it be a form of hypnosis?

"Sorry if we startled you." added Nott.

Harry lowered his wand, they lowered their arms.

"What do you want?"

"Merely to introduce ourselves." answered the dark-skinned boy.

The time traveller eyed them closely.

What was going on? They couldn't possibly be looking for a friendship. Not with the outsider that they were seeing in him and definitely not with Voldemort's vanquisher. Were they expecting a truce of sort, or just making use of their good manners?

"And why exactly would you want to do that?"

Hey, no one would get to say that he hadn't asked politely. Well, not politely per say, his tone may even have been slightly harsh, but he hadn't franticly waved his wand before torturing them for answers, he was considering it to be polite enough.

"You're a scary kid."

"Shut up." hissed Harry.

"The three of us will share this room for the years to come. We might as well be on cordial terms, don't you think?" explained Blaise.

The time traveler thought about it... and shrugged.

"True enough. I'm Harry James Potter and that's Nathaniel Hatfield." he gestured to the hat. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Theodore Nott. Equally pleased."

"Blaise Zabini. Likewise."

Harry shook their hands, exchanging polite nods with Blaise and finding an out of place goofy grin on Theodore's face.

Seemingly friendly Slytherins that were not Tracey, it felt weird.

"You made quite an impression tonight, Potter." continued Blaise.

"Not my fault that Nathaniel was feeling chatty."

The hat snorted.

"Okay, it kinda was."

"I wasn't merely referring to your sorting. I rather meant all those other oddities adding up, like the Sorting Hat responding to a proper name for instance."

"I didn't even know he… huh, you had one." interfered Theodore, still smiling like a loon and looking at Nathaniel.

"From their looks, even the professors weren't aware of it. So tell me Potter, how did you come to know it?"

"I asked."

"And I answered."

Blaise's eyes widened. That wasn't the sort of reply he'd expected.

"What did you two talked about?" asked Theodore, apparently too curious for his own good.

"Aside from when he was reviewing my entire life you mean?"

Receiving a nod, Harry began to list various topics they had supposedly discussed.

"Mostly current fashion..."

Time travel, life beyond death.

"Cooking recipes…"

Illegal potion brewing.

"Vacation plans…"

Artefact hunting and grave robbing.

"Quidditch betting…"

Lordship and politics, financial investments.

"Favourites musics…"

Phoenix bribing.

"Dusting and leather waterproofing."

Secret training rooms.

"You know, the usual."

Blaise's eyebrow shot up. That list sounded way too innocent, there had to be more to it.

"Is there truth in those words?"

Harry and Nathaniel smirked.

"That's for us to know…"

"And for you to find out."

"I see."

Those answers, Potter's previous actions, the Sorting Hat's comments, Greengrass' words to Malfoy… The Zabini heir was slowly starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, Potter could actually be in his place in Slytherin.

As for the Nott heir, he was being curious again.

"Are you really a parselmouth?"

[Dunno, you tell me.]

"Wow, creepy." beamed Theodore.

"… thanks, I guess."

"That could easily make you a Prince of Slytherin, you realise that? You would have the house at your feet." earnestly said Blaise, seeing the full potential of this gift. Once that bit of information would be confirmed among the House, Harry Potter would be capable of directing every single Slytherin with merely a few words.

Sadly for the young wizard, he had no idea of the kind of personality he was facing. Harry Potter wanted nothing to do with the current Slytherin mindset.

"I know, but I really don't care." snapped Harry, "I'm here to study magic, not to dominate anyone nor drag my classmates through the mud. Now if you excuse me, we all had a tiring evening and I'd like to go to bed. Goodnight to you both."

Harry placed Nathaniel on the headboard, facing an intrigued Hedwig and wished them both a good night. Leaving his housemates staring, the young wizard closed the curtains around him and clenched his jaw, trying his hardest not to yell in frustration. The time traveller hadn't wanted to be so abrupt, but in between Tom and Dumbledore's interference in his life, the mere idea of controlling someone else was revolting him. Was Blaise really this power-hungry? If that was the mentality around here, his years in Slytherin would be more challenging that he had originally thought.

Harry didn't know it, but his two room-mates went to bed thinking about the lone wizard.

Theodore Nott may be overly enthusiastic on a daily basis, but excessively joyful and curious or not, he'd been raised as an heir and could think things through with surprising accuracy. Hence why Theodore was now wondering what other marvels would await him, should he hang out with Harry Potter. It was true that they hadn't talked much, but he liked what he'd seen in his room-mate. And the hat had said it, the years to come would be interesting with him around.

Blaise was rather contemplating his last answer, it had struck a chord in him. The boy-who-lived had so much potential, but wasn't willing to use it at someone else's expense. But his manners, his earlier words… it had been so Slytherin. What a curiosity…

Throughout their musings, a certain old hat watched in silence.