Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I do, however, own the random species of reptiles that I create, as well as Parseltongue name translations.
Chapter 9: Classes
The Prefect led them down to the dungeons, and up to a wall. He said, "Wiggenweld," and the wall split open and retreated, revealing a passageway. They followed it further downwards to the Common Room.
The prefect had all the first years find a seat before saying, "Our head of house will be here shortly to inform you of a few things you will need to know." And with that, he left the room.
That was when everyone started talking. Solaris turned to Draco and said, "Well, the only one we're missing is a Hufflepuff." at the confused look he got, he explained, "There's us, who're Snakes, Granger the Raven, And Longbottom the Lion. The only one we're missing is a Badger."
"What are you talking about?" Blaise asked.
Draco turned to him and said, "Solaris had the great idea to disregard house and blood status in favor of creating an information network throughout the school."
Blaise blinked. "That actually makes sense."
"I know. I was actually surprised that no one's thought of it before. I'm just not sure what my father would think."
"Yeah, I could see that. I don't know how my mother would react either. I guess the only way to find out is to actually go through with it."
They paused for a moment, seemingly remembering that Solaris was there and probably didn't understand anything. "No, go ahead," he told them, "This is very informational."
"What do mean by that?" Malfoy asked.
"It's surprising how much you can learn from just sitting still and listening to others." He thought for a minute. "You can also learn a lot just from watching people too. Although in my case, it's more like using my magic to 'see' them."
"Give us an example." Blaise demanded.
"Okay." They saw Solaris think, get up, walk over to a group of girls, say something, and bring one of them back over.
Draco recognised her. "You're Daphne Greengrass, right?" he asked. She nodded.
Solaris turned to her and said, "My friends want me to demonstrate how I can 'see'. Do you mind if I use you to demonstrate?"
She nodded, and he said, "Good." He seemed to concentrate for a moment, before saying, "You're very pretty. You have brown hair, and green eyes." He seemed to pause again, as if thinking about something. "You have a sister, don't you?"
She looked surprised, but nodded. "Going by your heartbeat when I mentioned her," Solaris continued, "I'm guessing she's got some sort of curse on her? Probably discovered relatively recently."
Daphne looked straight at him. "A blood curse." she spoke for the first time that evening. "Inherited from an ancestor. How'd you know?"
Solaris gave her a reassuring smile before saying, "Given that I was raised by a gorgon, and met a few basilisks, I know a thing or two about genetic curses."
She seemed about to say something, but changed her mind. Solaris continued, "I mean, why else would I be wearing a blindfold?"
"Good point." she replied.
That was when Snape entered. "Good evening, students. It seems that the headmaster forgot to mention a few things. First, the forbidden forest is forbidden. You'll know which forest it is because it's the only one on school grounds. Second, the third-floor corridor on the left hand side is only for people who want to die horribly."
"I want to die horribly!" one of the first years shouted.
Snape looked over in the direction the voice came from. "Regardless of whether or not that was a joke, I still have to report that to the headmaster. Now, where was I, oh yes. Slytherin house will show a united front before the other houses. If you have any disputes with each other, use an out-of-the-way room or the common room. I will not tolerate otherwise.
"I will be calling each of you into my office over the next few weeks, so prepare yourselves." with this being said, he left. The prefect came back into room, and directed them to their rooms.
Solaris was roommates with Draco, Blaise, and another guy named Theodore Nott.
Before they went to sleep, Blaise asked, "How'd you know about her sister?"
He replied, "A guess based on how she was acting."
Theodore was actually a pretty nice guy. He sometimes joined in the conversation with them. He wasn't like most purebloods, but that could've been due to his short time in close proximity to Solaris.
Draco was thinking about what had happened over the past week. Nott had sort-of joined them, but not quite. Using the limited observational skills he'd learned from his strange friend, Draco had noticed that said friend tended to latch on to certain people. Mostly those he felt needed his help.
It varied from person to person. He'd even noticed the effects on the people he'd latched on to. Going by what the twins had told him, he'd gotten Percy to come out of his shell and interact more with other people. He'd gotten Blaise to stop caring about what his mother thought of him. His effect on Draco was… interesting. Draco had noticed that, as well as not caring what his father'd thought, he'd started to actually plan ahead. Something he hadn't done much of before.
The first interesting class they'd had that week was Charms. The class had started out learning how to perform the levitation spell, but Solaris's wand had decided to try to be funny. It had apparently chosen to give life to the feathers when Solaris had jokingly said, "Wingardium Automata."
When his feather had actually sprouted small wings and eyes, and started flying around, everyone just stared. Then it had started dive-bombing the students with the sharp end.
Transfiguration was just as disastrous and just as entertaining. Turning matchsticks into needles didn't seem like something they'd ever need.
When Granger had gotten it right, everyone got frustrated. Solaris had apparently put too much force into his transfiguration. He'd turned the match into a needle all right, he'd also shot the needle across the room, where it embedded itself in Professor McGonagall's glasses frame.
Yeah, they'd gotten ten points removed, but the look on her face was priceless.
In potions, Professor Snape decided to give a small oral quiz at the beginning of class.
"What would I get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"
"Draught of the living Death." Nott answered.
"Correct. Ten points. Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"The potions cupboard?" a Gryffindor guessed.
"Not the answer I was looking for, Finnegan. Ten points from Gryffindor."
"Oh, I know this one!" Solaris said suddenly, "It's found in the stomachs of goats."
"Correct. Ten points. What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"
Neville stuttered, but managed to get out, "There is no difference, Professor."
"Correct, Longbottom. Ten points." he pulled out a board and said, "This is a simple potion to cure boils. Get to work."
He seemed to think for a moment before saying, "Longbottom, state another fact about Wolfsbane."
"It also goes by Aconite, professor."
"Correct. Ten points, and see me after class."
Defence Against the Dark Arts was a little more normal, even though halfway through class, Solaris had winced.
"What was that about?" Draco asked him after class.
"My scar hurt."
Draco looked at him. "What scar?"
Solaris said, "Oh, right," pulled back some of his hair, and retreated some of his scales that had covered a lightning bolt shaped scar.
Draco looked at him suspiciously. "I need to talk to you in our room tonight."
"You're Harry Potter, Aren't you?"
"Is the scar really that famous?"
"Yeah."
"Oh. well, I'm not Harry anymore. I haven't been for years now."
"I'm guessing you want us to keep it a secret?" Blaise interrupted.
"Please. I don't want any misunderstandings or nosy questions."
"We understand." Nott stated what they'd been thinking.
