00000 Petunia Dursley, Visitation Area 00000
Today was the first day that Petunia Dursley was going to be meeting her lawyer. Hopefully she would be able to get her and Vernon out of this mess. Then they could get Dudley from Marge and be a happy family again. And this time they weren't going to let that 'freak' into their lives, no matter what anyone else said. They would have to move to a new neighborhood of course, but that wasn't too bad. They were good, normal people that can once again be the pillars of any community. Vernon could get another high paying job and her Dudley would go to a top school and be popular again.
Petunia was brought out of her thoughts by the door in the visitor section opening. She could see many families visiting their wives, mothers, daughters, or sisters, and Petunia was glad that Dudley and Vernon didn't see her like this. The prison didn't have the beauty products that she was used to. The chair across from Petunia was pulled out and a tall, fit man sat across from her. He had chiseled features that somehow seemed soft at the same time. He had sandy hair that was cut close to his head, but you could tell that it had a little wave to it. Petunia's breath hitched. No one would blame her for thinking that he was a model in any other situation instead of a lawyer.
"Mrs. Dursley I presume. I am Mr. Sandwood and I will be representing you in these proceedings. We will be going over everything concerning your trial happening in November. My associate will also be representing your husband whose trial will be starting at the same time as yours. Your trials were separated to insure fairness. Is there anything you want to ask me before moving onto your defense?"
"Yes. Do you know how my son is doing? Marge said that she won't allow him to even write to us."
Mr. Sandwood arched his eyebrow because of her shrill voice rising and Petunia seemed to realize this when some of the other people in the room turned their focus on her.
Petunia blushed before lowering her voice to a more manageable level. "I just worry about him as well as my husband."
Mr. Sandwood nodded at this. No matter what his personal feelings about her and her husband, he still had a job to do. That included reassuring her so they could move towards the defense they would be using.
"I haven't been able to look into how your son is doing, but I can do that and inform you the next time that I see you. Your husband on the other hand isn't helping himself at the moment. He's already in solitary confinement for starting fights with the other prisoners and guards alike. If he keeps this up, he might not make it to the trial with the amount of enemies he's making with the inmates."
Petunia blanched at this. She knew that Vernon was a hothead at moments, but she thought that he would behave until they got out. Then they could move on and maybe sue the police for this mess. Mr. Sandwood's voice brought Petunia out of her thoughts.
"Now, onto your defense. You are charged with child abuse, child neglect, endangerment of a minor, and bribing of officials."
"Bribing of officials? We've never bribed anyone let alone the other charges. Harry was a troubled child that needed a heavy hand to keep in line."
"Keep in line, or stop his magic from coming out?" Mr. Sandwood said and the shocked look on Petunia's face almost made him laugh, but he was a professional. "Don't look so surprised Mrs. Dursley. You are charged with abusing a magical child. Thankfully for you, you are not going to a wizarding courtroom, but a special court system that has non-magicals that know about magic presiding over your trial. That way The Statue of Secrecy isn't put into danger. There will be a judge and a jury of six that will determine if you are guilty or innocent. If you are found guilty, then it will be determined the amount of time you will spend in jail. Also there would be a spell placed on you to insure that you don't reveal anything about the magical world while you are in there. If you are found innocent, then you will go free, but the spell will be placed on you still. Either way, your nephew will no longer be in the care of you or your husband. Any questions?" Mr. Sandwood waited for Petunia to absorb everything just revealed to her. He was just happy that he didn't have to deal with the husband. From what he heard about him, a saint would commit murder against him.
Petunia Dursleys sat there in shock. She never thought that this was going to happen, but the more she thought about it, the safer she felt. The judge and jury were like her. Normal people sucked into this world against their will. It didn't matter to her that when she first found about the wizarding world she wanted to be a part of it. All she could remember now were her parents fussing over Lily like she was better. Even when she was away, Petunia felt like she was invisible the moment Lily was mentioned. Then to find out that she died and the only thing given to her was an orphaned child and a letter from a man she hadn't talked to since Lily's first year. Not even a letter from Lily saying how sorry she was for ruining her life or turning their parents against her and Vernon. Then her son gets dumped on her without her permission. It didn't matter that they got money for taking care of him. In Petunia's mind, that was what Lily owed her for all the pain she caused during their childhood, not the actual care of her brat. Now Petunia was going to present her case to people who probably had similar stories to hers. They were going to see that what she and Vernon did was for Harry's own good as well as protecting her own son from the same pain she felt.
Never did it cross her mind that not everyone in the court would have the same outlook as her.
00000 Hogwarts - Great Hall – Breakfast 00000
Harry was thankful that Blaise, Theo, and Neville were his friends this past week. Most of the student body decided to either:
Pity him because of his childhood,
Distrust him because he was Sorted into Slytherin,
Hate him for defeating Voldemort,
Or idealize him for defeating Voldemort.
Needless to say, he was going crazy with all the different opinions of himself. Harry felt it even more within his own house, especially those who supported said madman aka The Dark Lord Voldemort. They hadn't tried anything yet, but Harry was waiting for it. Harry decided to focus on the other groups in his house at the moment though.
The second group in his house were those who didn't follow Voldemort either because their families didn't believe in his message or how he went about it. Harry decided to aim for the former in this group if he wanted any chance of not having an accident before second year. He was no fool in thinking that the little tricks Tombs taught him and his Head of House could protect him all the time in the dorms. But having a good portion of his housemates in his corner would definitely help until Harry learned enough to make anyone think twice about going after him.
The third group was the easiest to work with in Harry's opinion. They were the ones that were grateful for Voldemort's fall, but didn't have the creepy, stalker vibe that he was getting from most. Tracy Boot, Milicent Bullstrode, and about fifteen Slytherin upper-years were a part of this group. Harry made fast friends, or acquaintances, with them along with others from different houses.
Outside of his house, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, and Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff were the easiest of the bunch since they didn't judge him for being a Slytherin. Also his newly found cousin Tonks, aka don't call me by my first name, introduced herself. She seemed pretty cool and her being a metamorphmagus was even cooler. Neville introduced him to Seamus Finnigan as well as Dean Thomas from Gryffindor. They were both from muggleborn families, so they didn't have the same mistrust of Slytherins as many of the upper-years and wizard raised children at Hogwarts. Dean also lived in a rough neighborhood, so he was used to the idea of dealing with abused kids. The only house that Harry hadn't made any progress with was the Ravenclaw House. They seemed to want to wait before making new contacts with people, not to mention a good portion of them seemed to be hostile to anyone interrupting their morning study time. Harry decided to wait until he could find an avenue into the house of the smart.
Now if only he could deal with those who decided to verbally assault him. The main ones were Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. Ron Weasley seemed to think that it was a personal insult to him that Harry wasn't his best friend, not to mention being Sorted with "the slimy snakes" as Weasley liked to call his house. Draco was on a similar line when Harry refused his friendship and embarrassed him within the house. Harry could already tell that Draco was like a peacock. If everyone wasn't 'oohing' and 'awing' at the plumage, or family name and money, then they were insulted. Draco also didn't like it the Harry talked back to him as well. In Draco's mind he was the head snake *cough peacock cough* and anyone who thought differently was even more beneath him than normal. It didn't help that most of the time Draco was the one looking the fool. If it wasn't for the Slytherin rule to stick together, Harry was sure their interactions would be worse.
"Thinking about escaping again?" Blaise said while smirking at Harry.
"Would it look bad if I said yes?" Harry asked slyly. Theo snorted at that.
"Only if you don't take me with you. If Ron Weasley calls me Death Eater one more time I might oblige him for a moment."
Harry had to laugh at this. For the past week Ron Weasley has been calling Theo a Death Eater in training, Blaise an assassin like his mother, and Harry under some spell for wanting to hang out with either of them. Not to mention what else he was saying about the rest of their Slytherin housemates in general.
"You would think that he would stop by the amount of points taken because of him. Even his brothers don't agree with him concerning me and the rest of the Slytherins." Theo and Blaise nodded at that while Harry was thinking about how he could get close to Fred and George like the hat suggested.
"True, but you boys can bemoan the littlest Weasley's bigotry another time. It's almost time for our first Potions class." Tracy said while finishing the rest of her breakfast.
"Yeah, yeah then, Theo, finish your coffee and, Harry, grab your snack for today. The Prefects are about to take us to class and we don't want to keep them waiting." Blaise said while gathering his bookbag.
"True, Professor Snape isn't one you want to get on the wrong foot with. It's the only thing he has in common with the Gryffindor Head of House." One of the upper years said.
"That and betting on which of their houses is going to win the House and Quidditch Cups, firsties. Now let's get going. I have to go from the dungeons to the Astronomy tower." The Slytherin first years followed after the Prefect, chattering amongst themselves. Harry resumed the conversation they were having while Neville met them at the door.
"I've been looking forward to this class to see how similar it is to cooking."
"Don't you need to tell Professor Snape if he's going to be brewing your potions or not?" Neville asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to tell him after class. I'm going to ask him to brew them. I didn't know he was such an accomplished Potions Master."
"The youngest to get his Mastery. I can't wait to see what he teaches us."
"I can't wait to see who blows up a cauldron first."
"Then you might not want to sit next to me. I'm still pretty nervous about the class even with the extra reading I've done." You could clearly see Neville's nerves and Harry didn't like seeing his friend like this.
"Don't worry, Neville, I'll sit with you."
"You sure, Harry?"
"Yeah. That's what friends are for. We'll help you not blow up anything in Potions and you help us not be eaten by plants in Herbology."
"Professor Sprout said that we don't have to worry about that until forth year." The guys couldn't help laughing when Theo blanched at that.
000000 Potions Classroom 000000
Severus Snape did last minute preparations for his class in his office. Thanks to a monitoring charm, he was also able to keep an eye on the students filling his class. Considering it consisted of the Gryffindors and Slytherins, it was a possibility that they would start to fight each other. Why they were put together before fifth year in his class, Severus couldn't understand it. Hopefully he could convince the Headmistress to redo the classes for next year. Maybe Minerva would like that as well. The both of them would talk *cough complain cough* to each other enough times to know that the only thing keeping the little terrors in line was that both of them had a no nonsense reputations. Letting out a sigh, Severus got the last of his lesson plans before stalking into the classroom. The fact that he did it at the exact time the class started was just a coincidence.
00000
The class jumped as Professor Severus Snape came into the classroom with his robes billowing. Everyone went quiet as they watched him stop at the front of the class. When he started to speak, his quiet and silky voice washed over them.
"You are going to learn the subtle art of potion brewing. Just because there is no silly wand waving doesn't mean that this isn't one of the most dangerous classes that you will be in. Something meant to heal you of pains, regrow your bones, save your lives, can cause you unimaginable pain and suffering and death because you forgot a simple step. So if I see even one of you messing around or not paying attention I will insure that the only time you step into this classroom is when you are scrubbing it clean. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir." Many of the students had slightly scared looks on their faces. Hopefully that would keep many of them from doing something stupid, or at least blowing up a cauldron today. Severus always hoped that it didn't happen, but every year at least three first years would blow up their cauldrons over a simple boil cure potion.
"Good. Now, let us see who opened their textbooks and who is the yearly dunderheads. Every correct answer is five points, but every wrong one will cost you ten. So I suggest you think carefully, for this won't be the first time I start a class off like this. Mr. Thomas, name three nightshade plants." Dean gulped. He had no idea since he hadn't opened any of the books for this class. He did spot Hermione Granger put her hand up to answer the question, but brought his attention back to Professor Snape. If the professor could ignore her, then so could he.
"I don't know, sir."
"Hmm, pity. Ten points from Gryffindor. Ms. Greengrass, do you know the answer?"
"Yes, sir. Three nightshade are the common tomatoes, the boxthorns and wolfberry plants."
"Correct. Five points to Slytherin. Weasley, where would one find a bezoar?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Really? Another unprepared Gryffindor. That will cost your house another ten points. Mr. Potter, do you know the answer?" By this time Hermione was waving her arm, while barely staying in her seat.
"Yes, sir. A bezoar can be found in the stomach of a goat as well as most potion kits."
"Very good, Mr. Potter. Five points to Slytherin again. Now, let's see if Gryffindor can earn some points back. Longbottom, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant and can go by the name aconite as well."
"Five points to Gryffindor. If you can answer me why they are called by three different names, you might save the rest of your housemates from embarrassment."
"W-well, the plant has three different names because they are harvested at different times, giving the plant three different properties for potions."
"It seems that at least one Gryffindor can open a book. Take another five points, Mr. Longbottom." Neville let a breath out and Harry smiled at him. Their attention was quickly brought back to Professor Snape when he turned his attention to Hermione Granger.
"Granger, do you need to go to the bathroom? No. Then put your arm down before you dislocate it. If you want to show off in this class then make an above average potion, not memorize your books." Hermione blushed in embarrassment while Snape turned back towards the class. "Take out your books. Read the introduction and the first chapter. Pay attention to the Boil Cure Potion because we will be making it today. This is to see where everyone is at skill wise. You will brew this potion individually, but unlike other times you will not be graded. The next class period I will give you back the possible grade you would have gotten as well as comments.
"For future reference, there will be group potions for you to complete. These will not count as a grades, but will count towards class participation for that day. On these days I will also assign an essay afterwards that will help prepare you for the individual potions you will be making. The individual potions on the other hand will count as a grade. All potion work will get a review that will be given to you along with any returned essays.
"Now, you should have enough time to complete the potion today, silently. Begin."
Everyone opened their books and started reading. Thankfully it was short reading material and after thirty minutes most were getting their stations and ingredients set. Harry kept an eye out for Neville and was glad he did. Harry managed to signal Neville when he was about to add the porcupine quills while the potion was still over the fire. Neville gave a grateful look to Harry before turning back to his potion. The class continued in silence before Professor Snape snapped at Ron and Seamus.
"What are you two doing? There is no way this potion should be orange or gray. Not to mention that you were about to add the porcupine quills while the potion was still on the flame." Snape banished the potion with a sneer. "You two can start on a two foot essay focused on what you did, why it was wrong and why it is important to follow directions. If I don't receive it by next glass period you will be doing it in detention until I am satisfied." Both boys were red in embarrassment and anger. "Everyone else, back to work. Unless you want to join them." Everyone quickly got back to work for the rest of the class period.
"You should be finishing with your potions soon. When you are done, bottle your potion and put a stopper on it. You will then write your name clearly or you will get a zero for class participation today. I am a teacher, not a code breaker. I will not accept anything that I can't clearly read. I will return essays to you and deduct five points from your grade for every day late. Once you are done, you are dismissed."
