That night, the very first night of term, was the first annual educate Harry session. You couldn't fault the Slytherins, they weren't ones to put things off. They seemed to positively thrive when they were faced with challenges, a fact that all the other houses took note of.
Harry made his way down to his dormitory, with the nature of their meeting they didn't want the rest of the house overhearing them, and after all it was a disadvantage, a weakness, that Harry didn't know anything of the magical world.
Walking into the room he couldn't help but smirk, his first sight was Pansy and Blaise arguing by the bed. His bed. It seemed no one else had picked up on the two's behavior yet, Harry was sure they would be a couple by third year. Even if it took time for them to realize it. Gathered around the room was their closest friends, all pure-blooded or half-blooded. They were all trained in magic from a young age, they knew almost everything apart from practical. For practical they needed a wand, you had to be eleven for a wand. Draco was the most skilled by far, Malfoys had a pride issue, he had worked that out. Draco was also the most knowledgeable in politics, due to his father's position at the ministry. Yet Draco, Pansy and Blaise had all got parents on the school governor's panel, so they knew the inner workings of the school.
"I'm here." Harry announced himself stepping from the shadows, it was a good thing no one had noticed him. That meant that he could lurk in the shadows, getting information on the brain-dead Gryffindor's that were too stupid to check if they were alone before they started talking. Harry had walked into a conversation earlier, one of Ronnikins' actually. One about him.
"I'm NOT lying! They're planning something you know. Why would Harry even be IN Slytherin?! He defeated he-who-must-not-be-named when he was one! What if HE'S a dark wizard?" Ron had been in mid-rant to a smaller boy. Looking closer harry recognized the boy as Longbottom, Gryffindor. Harry scowled. What had he done?
"Don't you think you're over-reacting? The Slytherins aren't all evil… they're just another house." Harry felt his opinion of the boy rise, although it couldn't hurt to pretend could it? Dark lord in their mist and all that… yes this would be fun. A fun, FUN year.
"Fine, just don't come running to me when he hexes your bits off mate." Yeah like Harry would go for such a common curse, it was almost boring. No something much more exciting…
"About time Potty. We thought you were lost." Pansy.
"Who would get lost in this place? It's barely a maze now is it?" Harry smirked when he saw Crabbe's and Goyle's face heat up, obviously they were only good for body guards. "Tell me they didn't?!" harry trailed off hoping they would get his meaning.
Blaise caught it. "Oh yes. Half an hour till we found them." He threw his own smirk into the mix now.
"Alright, enough we've got to teach Potty here the magical world. Wouldn't go amiss to learn the practical spells too." Draco. Right, it was time to learn. Thanking Draco wordlessly he sat down.
"Well Harry, firstly any questions?" Nott. Surprisingly the boy was usually quiet, most times he would be forgotten. Harry thought for a minute before nodding his head.
"Who's you-know-who?" by the looks on their faces they weren't expecting that. Harry thought it was a perfectly normal question.
"Well," Draco, the first to recover and probably the bravest. "You-know-who was an evil wizard. He wanted to rid the world of the muggles, and muggle-borns. The wizarding world was at war for quite some time with him Harry, came to get you personally as a child. Tried a killing curse, it backfired."
"Why me?" Harry. This could be important he needed to know.
"A prophecy, his demise would come from a boy born in July," check. "Whose parents had defied him thrice," possible check, he didn't know his parents. "The dark lord would mark his as his equal… something like that anyway. Only two boys fit the criteria though. You and Longbottom. Don't laugh."
Well that had gone a bit different than expected. He must have looked puzzled as Pansy added her bit. "Powerful wizard he was, he only feared Dumbledore. Yet almost everyone feared him. People called him you-know-who out of fear."
"So it wouldn't do for us to call him that. It would show weakness, fear." Blaise.
"Why did you ask anyway?" bloody Draco, always picking up on the small things.
"I heard Weasel talking about it, he thinks we're dark wizards now. Planning to out us, he's forming a Gryfindork army. We should probably put them in their place, that or piss them off." Harry already had ideas forming about this, maybe he should let Ron fester, do nothing? Pretend to be a dark wizard? Pretend to follow the dark wizard? Tough one. "We could leave him for a while, let him make the first move?"
Draco smiled, so fast no one saw apart from Harry, "I like your style; that would get him into trouble too. We can be the poor defenseless Slytherins." Well that's that then.
"Sorry but you-know-who? Bit of a mouthful." Harry.
"Voldemort." Nott cut in, ignoring the glare Draco sent his way, probably thinking he was implying Draco didn't know. The rest of the group ignored him.
The evening went on much the same, by the end of it Harry had learnt quite a lot of the wizarding world. Draco was also quite pleased about the number of spells both he and Harry had learnt, there wasn't one they couldn't do. Not yet anyway. The others had struggled with some, Crabbe and Goyle hadn't managed one yet, still good shields though. Draco had also worked something out, he and Harry bath had photographic memories. His from hours of training as a child, you had to have a good memory or be subject to his father's wrath. Harry could be a natural though Draco suspected the abuse of his muggle careers had something to do with it. The others hadn't noticed but Harry had a lot of bruises, even if most were faded. The one thing left to figure out was if Harry knew about his ability to memorize anything or not.
After the study group rounded to a close the Slytherins left the dormitory and headed out through the common room. They were going to have a poke around, the castle must have a few secrets. The group particularly wanted to poke around the third floor, to see what Dumbledore was hiding. Anything dangerous and they could probably get it publicized, he had already shown a great deal of favoritism towards the house of red. That just wouldn't do.
So they made their way up several flights of stairs past tapestry's and paintings, all of which moved by the way. Harry was quite a bit unnerved. They would have gotten further had it not been for gang of Hufflepuffs that were undoubtedly blocking their way. The group turned as one, it wouldn't do to get caught, first night after all.
Their expedition would have to wait, they would rest now. Harry couldn't wait for breakfast, Draco had promised it would be interesting. How interesting was yet to be seen.
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