The Revenge of House Black

By: Mymumisgay

Chapter 5

Legal Notice: I don't own Harry Potter. Everything except OCs isn't mine, and credit goes to J.K. Rowling.

The hall went very quiet as soon as Antares' name was called, and then whispers broke out rapidly. "Black did she say?" he heard someone say, "That's not possible, the Black line is extinct!" was the reply. Ignoring them, Antares tried to center himself; first impressions were everything. It was a bit unnerving having the eyes of hundreds of people all focused on him, but he was prepared for this. His aunt had let him know that the sorting process would be a very public affair. He wasn't going to get stage fright in front of all these people, soiling his name even before he had even officially been inducted to the school.

So with newfound confidence, he stepped forward. He could see the fear in many peoples eyes. Antares thought being feared was a mixed bag. It was good as one of the first steps on the path to power, but this wasn't fear based on his reputation; instead, it was off his name. That raised the bar in their expectations, making succeeding all the more difficult. Never one to back down from a challenge, he approached the stool and sat down. He briefly saw many people with pale faces who were anxiously whispering and pointing towards his position before his face was engulfed in darkness.

For a moment Antares became disoriented and wondered whether this was all a big joke. But then he heard a whispered voice in his mind say "I assure you Antares Orion Black, this is quite a serious matter." Stopping himself from jumping in surprise, he thought "You can read my mind?" The hat answered "I had almost thought I would never see another of your bloodline... But yes, I can see everything that goes on in this big head of yours. Now enough chat, let's get down to business." Antares continued to sit patiently. "hmm... very interesting, interesting indeed. You've a fine mind, oh yes... but you are more outspoken than Rowena would have liked... Yet, still much too reserved for the likes of Godric..." Antares was starting to sweat. Was it normal for this to take so long? "I see it now... You have of a lust for power, endless ambition and perhaps even a desire for revenge?" The hat got that right, Antares couldn't count the number the people who would feel his wrath when the time came. "Yes... I know just where to put you... I only hope I don't come to regret it... better be SLYTHERIN!"

The last part was shouted out loud and the second from right table starting applauding in a measured manner like you imagine a princess would. The hat was pulled off of Antares' head, he glanced at Professor McGonagall, and she looked like she had seen a ghost, but he put that from his mind as he walked over to the table he would be sitting at for the next seven years. "Blimey! You were up there for almost a solid two minutes!" he heard one of older students say. After receiving a few pats on the back and shaking a few hands everyone returned their attention to the sorting.

"Bones, Susan!" A girl with braided red hair and shining green eyes skipped forward. "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah. "Boot, Terry!" "RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them. "Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; "Bulstrode, Millicent" A very tall girl, then became a Slytherin and sat down a couple of seats to the left from Antares. "Finch-Fletchley, Justin!""HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Antares noticed, the hat took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," for example, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. "Granger, Hermione!" The mudblood from the train bounded forward, and Antares could hear some snickering down the table. The filth almost ran past the stool but just managed to stop her sprint in time, and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. "RAVENCLAW" shouted the hat. Antares sighed a breath of relief. He almost felt sorry for the students in blue. "Greengrass, Daphne!" Daphne looked over at Antares and winked, Antares signed v for victory. Daphne glided over to the stool and elegantly sat down. She was there for almost as long as Antares. "SLYTHERIN!" Antares clapped very enthusiastically this time and made room so Daphne could sit next to him.

When Neville Longbottom, the famous boy-who-lived, was called, Antares could have sworn he heard some squealing coming from the other tables, but all he heard from Slytherin was moaning and angry muttering. That could prove to be valuable information. The chubby boy strutted up to the stool and sat down. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville, longer than even Antares. At one point, Antares could see Neville's face turn a bit red, and he seemed to grip the stool very tightly. Blackmail material perhaps? "GRYFFINDOR," The boy-who-lived gave an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief before getting up and handing the hat to "MacDougal, Morag." Antares didn't hear what house MacDougal got into because of the explosion of cheers Longbottom got, and Antares saw two redheads shouting "WE GOT LONGBOTTOM!" It gave Antares the distinct impression of two drunks cheering when a keeper saved a goal for their team.

"Malfoy, Draco!" The boy with yellowish blonde hair who was on the boat with him came forward. The hat took a long time to decide with him as well. "SLYTHERIN" Malfoy walked over to the Slytherin table, but he stopped to glare at Antares before sitting at the opposite end with his two henchmen, Crabbe and Goyle. Antares sighed. It looked like he already had a rival. There weren't many people left now. "Moon" A girl with hair a very exotic shade of blue got into Slytherin and sat down to the right of Bulstrode. "Nott" A small boy who looked like he would rather have been anywhere else, became a Slytherin as well and sat down to the left of Antares. "Parkinson" A very posh looking girl became the third Slytherin in a row and sat next to Moon. Then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, "Potter, Harry!" A skinny boy, with wire-frame glasses, came forward. Antares thought this was strange. He remembered when he was wand shopping with his aunt, they ran into Lord Potter... but he didn't remember this boy being there. Perhaps they shared a name, but there was no relation? Potter is such a common name after all. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat, putting an end to his speculation.

Looking up at the staff table for a moment, Antares noticed a man wearing a large purple turban. How someone could get a job wearing that hideous thing was beyond him. He didn't look like he was of middle eastern descent strangely, but looks could be deceiving especially when magic got involved. Perhaps it was enchanted, that would explain the strange color. Now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a very tall black boy, joined Potter at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and "Zabini, Blaise, "A brown boy was made a Slytherin, he walked over and sat opposite Antares. Zabini seemed to be studying him, Antares pretended not to notice.

Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students; his arms opened wide as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. "Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogw-" Before the Headmaster could continue, the doors to the Great Hall banged open. A lanky and soaking wet redhead ran forward and shouted "Sorry I'm late! I fell off the boat in the lake!" The headmaster did a good job keeping his composure, but Antares thought he saw a flicker of anger slip out. If he hadn't been looking for it, he wouldn't have seen it all. It could have been a trick of the light – with all the floating and flickering candles – it was hard to tell. "Not to worry, Mr. Weasley, please come. I'm sure many people are hungry; let's not keep them waiting any longer." Weasley fell flat on his face over on his way to the stool, to gales of laughter. The hat barely touched his head when it screamed, "HUFFLEPUFF!" Weasley's face turned the same violent shade of red as his hair, and he hobbled over to the far right table.

Dumbledore got back to his feet once more, and he smiled widely again, though he wasn't quite beaming like before. "Now if we are truly done with the sorting, let the feast begin!" "Nitwit Blubber Oddment Tweak!" and with that genuinely bizarre proclamation, food of every kind appeared onto their tables. Just as Antares was reaching for a drumstick, somebody tapped him on the shoulder.

Antares looked up, and he saw one of the older students was peering down at him. "Is it true what they're saying, that you're heir to house black?" Antares stealthily looked around, and he could see many people were listening. This was his shot at making an impression. He raised a challenging eyebrow and said "That's right, I am. By right of blood and magic. Why? Do you have a problem with that?" Antares didn't think he could actually take this guy in a fight, but he wasn't about to say that, he was going to fake it 'till he made it. The older student seemed mightily amused by this and laughed, slapping Antares on the shoulder. "Relax, I've no problems whatsoever, just curious is all, it's not every day that someone of your noble heritage joins our house. I'm Marcus Flint, the fifth year prefect, if you need anything while your getting adjusted, you can speak to me about it." Suddenly Flint leaned in and whispered in Antares's ear "Watch out for Malfoy, his father sits on the board of governors and has the ear of the majority of the other seats. If you get on his bad side, life could get difficult, don't forget you'll be in the same house for the next seven years. Something to keep in mind." With a wink, the prefect walked away.

Resisting the temptation to look over at Malfoy, he instead went back to eating and glanced over at Daphne. "What do you make of that?" he asked her quietly. Daphne didn't reply immediately. After chewing her food very slowly she swallowed and seemed to ponder it. "I think what he said was probably a mix of truly helpful advice and maybe a power play by Malfoy." Antares stole a look to Malfoy and caught his eye, Antares saw anger there, but only briefly before Malfoy broke contact. "What do you mean? Do you think Flint is in Malfoy Seniors pocket?" Again, Daphne didn't answer immediately. "Well... the prefects have to be approved by the board of governors... and what Flint said about Malfoy Senior having a lot of influence there is true. So it's possible that Flint is serving as his messenger of sorts. But it's also possible that Flint genuinely decided to give you a heads up, independent of any ulterior motive. You forget Ares." Here she smiled playfully. "Being the last of the line to a noble and ancient pure-blood house, many people will want to ingratiate themselves to you for when you take over as head of the house." Even though her playful tone suggested that it wasn't a big deal, Antares thought her words might prove to be prophetic.

Putting it out from his mind for the moment, Antares served himself some souffle that tasted not quite as good as what his aunt made back at home in France, but was scrumptious nonetheless. After everyone had finished eating and was starting to quiet down, the food disappeared leaving their golden plates shiny clean, and Dumbledore got to his feet once more.

"Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the redheaded twins Antares had seen making fools of themselves earlier. Antares made a mental note of that to himself. It was always a good idea to have scapegoats prepared. He had learned that early on after he accidentally smashed one of his aunt's priceless vases running in the halls of her mansion. It was so easy to get bored when he was always cooped up inside that old place. It was a good thing Viola couldn't do anything but caw angrily at him it when she was blamed. She wouldn't play with him for weeks after he pulled that. Where was that raven anyway? He hoped she didn't have too much of a lousy time inside her cage on the ride here. He would have to give her some extra sweet treats to make up for it, that much was certain.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." Antares laughed, but he was one of the few who did. Dumbledore really was mad. That or he was a sadist. Wouldn't it have been better just to seal off the corridor and not announce it? Most people probably wouldn't have even noticed. Announcing it was just asking for trouble. Then again, Dumbledore famously was sorted into Gryffindor. Only someone who actually thought about their actions, instead of following their every impulse – a Slytherin – would have the foresight to avoid the problem all together rather than face it head on, or in this case, make it worse.

Perhaps it was a riddle of some sort? Antares didn't think that was likely though, as there weren't many ways to interpret "very painful death." Listening in to other hushed conversations, he caught the sense that nobody knew about this beforehand, even the prefects. That meant the only people who could have had preexisting knowledge of this was Dumbledore himself, and maybe the staff. Why the secrecy? Antares was intrigued despite himself, and if Antares who wasn't easily fascinated was interested, you could guarantee the other students were as well. And that was dangerous. What was Dumbledore playing at?

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Oh Merlin no! There was no way, short of torture, that Antares would be caught dead singing something so inane. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" Everyone in Slytherin seemed to agree on that at least. He tried to tune it out, but it was too loud.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot.

Did a toddler write that? Antares would have thought the official song of a school as ancient as Hogwarts – the premier magical academy in Europe no less – would have a song featuring amazing magical triumphs and bloody wizarding duels, not "dead flies" or "interesting stuff." Apparently, his thoughts were painted on his face, because Daphne leaned over and whispered in his ear "The song didn't use to be such a silly children's limerick. The real Hogwarts Anthem is an amazing melody which sings of the glory of the founders and the honor of their bloody battles against the muggle swine. It stayed the same for thousands of years, and even muggle apologists didn't touch it. It wasn't until Dumbledore got appointed to the position of Headmaster that he changed it to what you just heard. He had just taken down Dark Lord Grindelwald, so people were thankful and they overlooked his abominable betrayal of tradition. My gran still hasn't forgiven him for it." Antares looked over to the staff table with an angry expression. Dumbledore didn't see him, but the man with the hooked nose next to him did. The man raised a questioning eyebrow, and Antares quickly looked away. "Careful, that's our head of house, Professor Snape. You don't want to get on his bad side. He can be nasty, that's what my nana told me at least. If you want, this Christmas break you can come over and I'll perform the real Anthem for you." Antares looked back over to Daphne and smiled a genuine smile. "I'd like that," he said. Daphne smiled back.

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Redheads over in Gryffindor were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Just as Antares was considering throwing his spoon at them to break up the monotony, Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand, and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest. "Ah, music," Dumbledore said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff table promptly formed a stampede for the doors. "First year Slytherins over here!" he heard Flint and another female prefect call. He and Daphne got up and walked over to huddle with the other first years in a corner, to avoid the rush out of the hall. After the hall had mostly emptied the female prefect spoke up again "Alright follow us, our common rooms are down in the dungeons." so, like loyal sheep following their shepherd, the first years followed them out of the great hall.

They went down one staircase after another, rounded twisty bends in the corridors and walked for almost a quarter of an hour before they reached what looked like a dead end. Flint spoke this time and said "war by deception five" and the previously nondescript dead end opened up, and they all walked through into the common room. The Slytherin common room was a long, low apparently underground room if the windows with dark green water outside were anything to go on. There were smooth stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on silver chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several older Slytherins were silhouetted around it in carved black leather chairs. Flint turned around and addressed them.

"The way we just took you on is the longest and most complicated path to our common room. We will not show you a quicker or more direct path for two major reasons. First, you are all firsties. And firsties are easy to follow and therefore a security threat to the rest of us who aren't incompetent. Second, this is Slytherin, the house of cunning. If you can't find the other better ways to get here, you probably belong in Hufflepuff. Anyone want a resorting?" Nobody made a sound. "That's what I thought. Now Matilda here will tell you about our password system." Here everyone looked at the female prefect, who was apparently named Matilda.

"Yes everyone open your ears and pay attention because I will only say this once. If you have a problem or something is too complicated well that's your problem, I don't really care." She began. It was almost like she would rather not be a prefect. Matilda continued "Many of the other Hogwarts Houses have a password system as well, they come up with a passcode, and that allows anyone who knows the code, regardless of if they should be there or not, access to their commons." here she paused and gave all of them a speculative eye, she paused at Antares for especially long before resuming. "I'll go on a small tangent here for those of you who may be predisposed or feel inclined to "sabotage" or "infiltrate" she used air quotes here and eyed Antares again. "Know that if you're caught, the Slytherin top brass has a policy of three Ds. Deny, Disassociate and Discipline." Now she looked straight at Antares and seemed to be speaking straight to him. "First, because we are gracious and we know how to work the system, we will attempt to deny any wrongdoing on your behalf. That should be enough if you had enough Slytherin in you and had the forethought of having an alibi before breaking the rules. Second, if you are for some retarded reason, caught red-handed, and you leave us no choice, we will attempt to disassociate you from your peers and isolate you. Third, and finally, if you still cannot be stopped from making trouble and being caught blatantly in the act, we will discipline you, usually in the form of a duel. So unless you firsties think you have what it takes to knock one of us out, I suggest you tread lightly." she looked away and like nothing had happened, she switched back to her rehearsed speech.

"Our password system is different in that our pass-codes are not only relevant phrases or a clever randomized combination. We have a Number System as well. Anyone who paid attention may have noticed our password currently is "war by deception five" the "war by deception" part is the passcode. The five refers to the condition or level of alertness required of Slytherin House. The Number System goes from level five to level one. Five being a completely relaxed and unsecured level, which most people go their entire Hogwarts career without seeing changed, all the way to down level one which is a full on attack on Slytherin House, which has only happened a few time historically. The most recent being the mudblood riots of 1941, during the height of which, because we didn't have the numbering system, the password leaked. The result was seven Slytherin students were massacred. Professor Binns, our magical history professor, won't teach you that, but it's true. In the event, the Number System level ever goes below a five, restrictions on who can enter the common room and at what times will be instated. The pass-code will also get progressively more complex with each level descended." Here Flint took over again.

"Yes, but you firsties don't need to worry about that, we've been here for five years, and it's never changed, but were obligated to tell you anyway, don't soil your cloaks though, I'll keep you safe." Here he winked somewhat roguishly, and a few girls giggled. "Just wait here for Professor Snape, and he'll go over room assignments and the schedule with you." Without another word both Flint and Matilda walked away, leaving them all to themselves.

Antares sat down on one of the black leather couches, and Daphne joined him. Checking to make sure there was nobody else listening in, he leaned over to Daphne and whispered: "Don't you think it's a little bizarre how Matilda kept looking at me when she was going on about infiltrating other house's common rooms." Daphne also had a puzzled look on her face. "Yes it is strange, but I can't think of any reasons why she would think you would be likely to do something like that unless..." she trailed off for a moment "How much do you know about the time your parents spent at Hogwarts? It's possible that one of them got into some trouble when they were here, and Matilda's parents caught them, who let her know to watch you." Antares thought hard about all he knew about his mother and father. As far as he knew both his mother and father had been star students and never had any disciplinary issues. He shook his head "No, there's nothing I can think of, they both graduated top of their class." Now, Daphne seemed a little pensive, and she looked around before replying in an even more hushed tone "there is one way to find out, I overheard my Nana saying once that the caretaker keeps records of all the punishments handed out going back decades, the only problem is access is probably forbidden to students." Now Antares smiled and said, "Well we'll just have to gain access won't we?"

A voice from behind him suddenly spoke up "Been here not even a full day and already thinking of breaking the rules are we Black?" and a feeling of dread filled the pit of his stomach.

A/N: My spring break at school ends tomorrow, so I thought I'd update the story a bit early in case I don't have time for a while. I thought about putting Malfoy in Gryffindor because he is rather rash you have to admit, but in the end, I decided to keep him Slytherin to help my plot along. I also thought about making this chapter longer, but I decided to be consistent with prior chapter lengths. Readability also played a part in that decision, if it's too long I'm afraid people might not want to read this. If you disagree leave a review and lemme know. Please Fav as well.