Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related content. All rights reserved to J.K. Rowling.

William awoke in the dorm. There was a quiet snoring from someone in the dark. He hadn't really been able to sleep for very long last night. As soft as the beds were, it was uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as so many strangers. A pair of yellow eyes at the foot of his bed meowed softly at him. William sat up and reached out, and Rígnacait butted his head against William's palm, softly purring. The first day had been a whirlwind of excitement, and Hogwarts was like no school William had ever attended. William leaned over to pick up his schedule. 'Let's see,' he thought. 'Herbology again, then Defence Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor!'. It was his first class with Harry. Hopefully, he'd be able to speak to him. Harry had managed to evade him yesterday, but William was determined to talk with him.

William retrieved his wand and schoolbooks from his desk, then padded quietly out to the common room. He was surprised to see Malfoy sat by the fire, with a troubled look on his face. He was writing a letter, and from what William remembered, likely wouldn't enjoy an interruption. William sneaked around to another couch, trying not to be noticed. Malfoy's head snapped around when William scuffed a couch with his leg, and then relaxed.

"It's only you. Why didn't you greet me when you entered?" He demanded.

William sighed. Their first real conversation, and Malfoy was already proving to be a snotty brat.

"I didn't want to interrupt." He sat down on the couch facing Malfoy. William hesitated. Perhaps, if Malfoy had someone to confide in, he wouldn't be as aggressive to others with the first week, let alone the rest of his schooling.

"Couldn't sleep? He asked.

Malfoy flinched. "No." He said haughtily. "I always get up this early"

"Really?" William asked skeptically.

"Yes. That way I'm wide awake for my first classes."

"Wait, you've had schooling before? Did you get a tutor?"

"The best money can buy." Claimed Malfoy boastfully. "I have even been flying on my own for years!"

William looked unsure. "I've never flown on a broom before. I'm a bit nervous."

"Are you scared of heights?" Scoffed Malfoy.

"It's not the height that bothers me, it's the hitting the ground bit I don't like." Replied William.

Malfoy laughed.

William pulled up his Transfiguration book, determined to get some of the homework done before next class. Professor McGonagall was ruthless, assigning homework for the first lesson. It was only a few hundred words, but the material was mind boggling. Changing molecules from one form to another with the flock of a wand and a few muttered words? Anyone would say you'd be insane.

Herbology proved to be as much the same as the first lesson. Potting plants and learning the various things that each magical plant needed to survive. They learnt what Moly was, and planted Wiggentree and Alihotsy saplings. Moly, when eaten, gives protection from enchantments and Wiggentree is a tree related to the Rowan tree. Upon touching the trunk of a grown tree, it gives protection from dark creatures for as long as they maintain contact. Professor Sprout mentioned that both were ingredients for the Wiggenweld potion, something Professor Snape would be "happy" to show students. For some odd reason, William didn't really believe her.

A quick wash up later and they were lined up outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. William tried to catch Harry's eye, but the boy still avoided him. Draco however, didn't hesitate.

"So you're this Potter I've been hearing about." he said in a drawl. He eyed up Ron, who was never far from Harry's side. "I see you've gotten close with the Weasleys. Watch out you don't catch their stink."

Ron's face darkened and he made to draw his wand, but Harry stopped him.

Draco raised an eyebrow. William noticed that Crabbe and Goyle, who were attempting to loom threateningly again.

"See now?" said Draco. "The wrong sort of people are always foolhardy. I can show you the right sort of people to know."

William sidled up to Neville, who was looking at the confrontation with fear and hesitation on his face. He decided not to interfere unless Harry had a sudden and random change of heart. After all, this conversation was one of the pivotal moments in Harry's life.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "No thanks." he said cooly. "I can tell who's the wrong sort just fine."

William cheered on the inside. Harry's goodwill and strong moral backbone will triumph once more!

Draco looked furious for a moment, then went to draw his wand. All of a sudden, Professor Quirrell opened the door and a waft of garlic smelling air drifted over the students.

"C-c-c-come i-i-inside, if you p-p-p-please." he stuttered in a soft voice.

They filed into the classroom and sat down at their desks. To William's frustration, Defence Against the Dark Arts was that in name only. They were taught about various spells and dark creatures, but in theory only. William awaited Remus Lupin's arrival with bated breath.

William looked across the classroom - in a now common occurrence of trying to think of how to word his essay without sounding too old - and saw Harry, who was sat with Ron. Harry looked up, then upon seeing William, quickly looked down again. Ron followed his gaze and sneered at William before pretending that he didn't exist. It appeared that their distrust of Slytherins was enough to make them forget the conversations on the train. William despaired of ever gaining Harry's trust enough to help him.

Hermione frowned when she saw the boys were distracted from their schoolwork, and saw where they were specifically not looking at. She gave William a sympathetic smile before turning back to the work at hand.

The lesson was spent learning about Gnome's and Doxies, Imps and Bowtruckles. William learned more about Gytrashes than he had ever wished to know. The beasts looked like large, white dogs with a forked tail. They hunted in packs of two to six of the vicious brutes, but they fear the light. They were taught about the Full Body-Bind curse, but weren't actually taught how to cast it. The spell paralyzes the target, causing their limbs to snap together and freeze in place. The target can still think, see - admittedly only in a straight line - feel and hear, distancing the spell from Petrification, which fully turned the target to stone and caused either unconsciousness or death. The incantation of the Full Body-Bind curse was 'Petrificus Totalus', which seemed odd, considering the fact that the spell didn't petrify.

Lunch found William hunched over his Transfiguration book in the library, desperately trying to absorb some knowledge before class. His makeshift study with Hermione yesterday had helped, but he couldn't always rely on another like Harry seemed to do. If he was to stick with his impromptu role as a snake, he might as well be good at it. After all, it might just be fate telling William not to directly get involved, but to work from the shadows. Harry need not know his back was covered, by a Slytherin no less.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Hermione was sat at a table on the other end of the aisle. She was far more ingrained in her book than he was, her nose practically touching the pages. William thought it best to leave her to her own study. While Harry and Ron were no slouches with a wand, Hermione was half the reason that they managed to survive their misadventures. Her problem was that she spent so much time remembering the strengths and weaknesses of others to remember her own strengths.

William shook his head at the thought. With a sigh, he turned back to the study of 'How-to-ignore-the-laws-of-physics'.

William was so glad he had taken the time to read up on Transfiguration during lunch. It meant that he understood more than one word in five, a far sight better than yesterday. He could see why Hermione spent so much time in the library, apart from her love of books. Coming from the muggle world, Transfiguration was about as alien as you can get.

Professor McGonagall touched up on everything they did yesterday, and somehow managed to fit more theory in. At the end of the lesson, she warned them that the first week was going to be all theory until they were fully aware of the dangers of Transfiguration. As the most complex form of magic, it was also where the most can go wrong, and they had to be very careful to get the wand movements right, as well as the incantation to be perfect. Rumours started by older students told of students who were turned into chairs by mistake, and even now were used in the classrooms, silently screaming with every use.

When they when they walked into Charms, they got surprised by a small rope across the doorway. William tripped over it, falling, and bounced off the floor. He looked up in surprise as Professor Flitwick chuckled.

"I thought I might give you a demonstration of the first charm you shall be learning in my class: the Softening Charm," said the tiny professor. "Now now everyone, take your seats and draw your wands. This will be a practical lesson."

William watched as Professor Flitwick drew a curved line, similar to a snake, on the blackboard.

"This is the wand movement required for this charm. Remember to keep clean wand movements; the neater your wand work, the more powerful spell it will produce."

The diminutive professor guided them in the wand movements for several minutes until most of the class were correct.

"The incantation for this charm is 'Spongify'" he declared.

They were to practice the incantation without our wands until Professor Flitwick was satisfied. Finally the students practiced the spell in full. An out of sync chorus of 'Spongify' sounded through the room. There were exclamations of joy and groans of disappointment as students succeeded in casting and failed in equal measure. William was somewhat successful, his target turned squishy, but his finger failed to bounce off when he poked it.

After class, William retreated to the library again, and was mildly surprised to see Hermione had beaten him there again. He joined her at the table and she looked up with a frown. Seeing William, the frown abated slightly, but didn't quite go away. William, noting the lack of complaint, pulled out his books on Defence Against the Dark Arts. The first spell he wanted to properly go over was called the Smokescreen charm, 'Fumos'. Apparently, it created a smokescreen from the wand of the user, hopefully to throw off the aim of an opponent during a duel. It would be useful, and if he could be discreet with it he might help Harry in the years to come. The wand movement was a clockwise swirl, from the center moving outwards, but William decided that perhaps it wouldn't be the best idea to practice it in the library.

It was a surprise to William when a bell rang throughout the library. He had been so caught up in the DADA book that he completely forgot about supper. He glanced around, seeing Hermione reluctantly slotting a bookmark between pages, then storing the book in a bag she hung from her shoulder.

William walked over as they made their way out of the library. "What were you reading?" he asked.

"Oh, just 'Hogwarts: A History'. It's a rather light read." Hermione responded offhand. She still looked a little nervous, which William attributed to the emerald colours. It was not popular to be green, except by other Slytherin's, and only if you were rich.

William eyed up the large bulge the book made in her bag. "Rather light? I struggled with 'The Fellowship of the Ring, and that at least had some excitement."

"The Fellowship of the Ring? I haven't read that yet, although my parents have promised that I'll be allowed when I turn 15 they'll let me." Hermione sounded a bit jealous.

William mentally kicked himself. 'How am I meant to keep this a secret if i keep blabbing about it?'

"I pinched it off my dad's bookshelf in June. The longest book i've ever read." Neither was the truth, but sounded plausible for an 11 year old.

Hermione looked horrified. William imagined a cat with it's fur on end. "You stole a book? How could you?"

William raised his hands to placate her. "I put it back of course. It was a…a poor choice of words. Sorry."

Hermione calmed down, and William imagined the fur settling down again. It was both amusing and worrying.

Supper was a quiet affair, most students talking softly between themselves. William ate in silence, finding nothing alike in his fellow housemates, and the others seemed happy to let him. He watched the other students in his year, Neville sat next to Parvati Patil who was eagerly engaged in gossip with Lavender Brown. Dean Thomas sat close to Seamus Finnigan, and they were talking quietly between them. Draco Malfoy sat in between Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who were doing their level best to ensure no-one bothered Draco. Ernie MacMillan sat with Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hannah Abbott. Susan Bones sat next to Hannah, but wasn't talking. Padma Patil, Parvati's twin, was sat with Terry Boot and the other Ravenclaws, seemingly deep in conversation. William heard furious whispering coming from their corner of the room, but couldn't make out any words.

William finished supper before retreating to the common room to study. Rígnacait found him and through pure force of will and adorableness, William had to dedicate time studying the cat instead of his books. Finally, he was freed from his slavery, and grabbed his bag. Tomorrow had DADA then potions. DADA, William was sure he could handle without any studying. Professor Quirrell didn't give them much homework, and didn't seem all that inclined to teach them anything of any value. Perhaps it was the dark wizard directing him from his turban, or maybe he was unqualified to teach students. Why not both?

Instead, William brought out his Potions book. Potions was straight up after DADA, and William had little to no idea of what actually went on in a Potions class, apart from Professor Snape giving Harry and the other Gryffindor's a hard time. He looked at the table of contents, and was surprised by what he saw. He'd assumed that the Potions book would teach all the Potions available to the First Years, but didn't realise that it also listed every single ingredient that went into those potions. Most of the book seemed dedicated to explaining where the ingredient came from and how it could be used. Ground up for this potion, chopped for that one, thinly sliced, diced and crushed. What the amount of times you stirred the cauldron and in which direction meant, and what various ingredients did when they came in contact with each other. It was kind of like cooking. Flour and butter, with a smatter of other ingredients, would make cake, but flour and water, with a smatter of other ingredients, would make bread. Cake and bread, while similar, were made in different conditions, felt and tasted so much different. Just by changing one of the main ingredients, water to flour or vise versa, you could have an entirely different result.

William's eyes drooped, and he put away his books. Perhaps he hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, but surely now he'd be able to drift off without too much trouble. Rígnacait followed him happily to the bed, where William collapsed after changing into his pajamas. Rígnacait sat and watched his master breath in and out for a few minutes, before curling up to sleep upon his legs.