Chapter 9: A colourful day
Next day for breakfast Harry Potter was strangely punctual. Albus Dumbledore was surprised. The boy – Harry was 37 years old, so he was rather an old boy – was normally one of the last teachers to arrive. He even just ignored the funny stares and all those rumours people were already spreading because of the serpent that was currently lying on his shoulders, wound around his neck and what seemed to be watching the Great Hall with interest. What had been its name again? Sandy, was it? Or Sammy? Well, something like that.
And Harry was smiling brightly. What was that he had planned yesterday evening? Just what was going on?
"Why so cheerful, my dear friend?" Albus finally asked.
"Oh, I'm just looking forward to the students to arrive." Harry said happily.
"You're up early today. Why, if I may ask?" Albus said sceptically.
"I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything today. Luckily I haven't."
"Just what don't you want to miss, boy? Come on, what's going on here? You obviously know something I don't." Albus pushed.
"Yes, obviously. But I won't tell you anything, so please let me enjoy these moments of glee, will you, Albus?"
Albus did. Instead of questioning Harry, he searched the Great Hall with his eyes, looking for something that didn't fit. And he found something.
"There's no single Gryffindors here yet." Albus stated. He looked around the staff table. Minerva was there, so were about half the students by now. But not a single Gryffindor.
"What have you done to them, Henry?" Albus asked, false anger in his voice.
Now Harry laughed out loud. The whole staff and some students sitting near stared at him – that git with that snake - again. He really acted odd today. Evans was known for a lot, but not for his humour. What was so funny?
"You'll see. And soon, I hope." Harry said, still grinning widely.
And they would.
***
+++++++++
About two minutes later the large door to the Great Hall opened slightly. Harry Potter was the only one to notice, for he had been watching the door all time. Through a little slit he could see a lot of pink, some blue and even a bit of green. It had worked, he thought. It was hard not to laugh out loud, and they were not even in yet.
The door opened further and the Gryffindors slowly walked into the Great Hall. First people only pointed at them and stared. What the hell was that? The Gryffindors had blue skin, pink clothes and green hair. Some had tried to hide their hair with some cloths, but the result was only less green and more pink. Most people preferred green to pink, though.
It was Zabini who was the first one to laugh, the other Slytherins joined in at once. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs found this rather funny as well. Professor Draco Malfoy tried to hide the amusement behind his usual grim expression – Harry Potter had problems staying on his chair.
Albus Dumbledore stared at Harry Potter, half amused, half shocked. Harry was a teacher! A teacher, doing stuff like this! Unbelievable. Funny, yeah, but unbelievable.
Harry met Albus' gaze.
"Succeeded!" the younger man whispered cheerfully.
"You're a teacher, Henry!" Albus exclaimed.
"Don't make it too obvious to those who don't know that was me, please, Albus." Harry whispered.
Then the daily storm of owls flew into the Great Hall.
+++++++++
The Gryffindor Head-boy was a bit startled when a school-owl landed on the table in front of him. There was a note tied to its leg, his name written on it with orange ink. Who would send him a letter by school-owl? It didn't make any sense – people at school could simply give him the letter or talk to him any time. Perhaps the person wanted to stay anonymous. Who could that be and what did he want?
The Head-boy took the note off the owl. It read:
This was my revenge!
I will take the curse off you this night. Do not try to undo it yourselves, you will not manage. I hope you will remember this the next time you plan some 'prank' on me. Wish you a nice, colourful day furthermore.
Yours sincerely:
The Slimy Slytherin
The Head-boy stood up. He looked at Evans, noticing some green creature with him there… the snake? That snake? Their prank snake? But the teacher didn't meet his gaze. He walked over to Ronny, Leon and Martin. "What exactly did you write on that note you left in Evans' place?" he spat.
"We told him a Slimy Slytherin should not mess with Gryffindors. Why?" Leon asked annoyed. The boy didn't like his new colours.
"That's why!" the Head-boy half-screamed. The whole Great Hall stared at him as he crumpled up the note and threw it straight at Leon's head. Then he turned and went out of the Great Hall angrily, leaving breakfast hardly touched. What did they think they were doing? He didn't want to have anything to do with those children's stupid pranks, but now Evans had punished them all.
Leon got pale when he read the note. Evans. Why hadn't he guessed? Who but an adult could have done that?
"What's written there?" Martin asked.
"Yeah, show us!" Ronny said.
Wordlessly, Leon handed the note to his two best friends.
"Evans!" Ronny spat after he had read the note. "He'll get that back!"
"So we'll be all pink and blue again?" Martin said. "And don't forget the green hair… God, I feel like a Slytherin with that. No, I won't do anything to Evans. Look what he did this time! And if we do something again, it will be worse, I'm sure."
"So we'll just ignore this?" Ronny asked. "But we must do something. Something!"
"I agree with Martin. God knows what he'll do to us!" Leon said.
"Fine then." Ronny spat.
"What lesson is next?" Martin asked, trying to change the subject. Ronny didn't seem to like the idea of not taking revenge on Evans that git.
"Hmm… Oh no. Double Potions!" Leon said. Malfoy was their second last favourite teacher. Bad day, it really was.
+++++++++++++++++++++
After breakfast a blue, pink and green Thomas Weasley made his way to Evans' place. He didn't know what to think about the teacher. First he behaved like a git, then he offered to help him, now he cursed them all…
"Good morning, Thomas. You look good today!" Harry said grinning as Thomas arrived.
"Thanks, sir!" Thomas said sarcastically. He was surprised when Evans laughed.
"Now, let's come to business. When I found that spell I realised I didn't know what you wanted the object to be. So I haven't performed it yet, but I don't think that would be a problem. So what do you want it to be?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. A sickle perhaps? That's small and it won't attract any attention at all I'm sure." Thomas said, blushing slightly. He didn't want others to know he was accepting this kind of help from a teacher… especially this teacher.
"Yeah, fine. Come in, I'll try right now. If it lasts too long I'll give it to you in class today. Or after classes. Okay?" Harry asked.
"Sure." Thomas said. He was surprised at how friendly the teacher could be. Could. He wasn't even nervous anymore.
Thomas followed Professor Evans into the living-room with that shabby sofa. He sat down on the sofa, while Evans went over to an empty wall. What was he doing?
Harry muttered some words Thomas didn't understand and suddenly the wall vanished. There was a room behind it. Thomas couldn't see much of the room since it was so dark in there. There were no windows in there.
"Come here." Harry said. Thomas slowly stood up and walked over to Evans.
"Ignem!" Harry said and several torches on the walls. Thomas saw several large bookshelves in the room. It was nothing compared to the library of Hogwarts, but these books all seemed to belong to Evans, Thomas guessed, for the entrance to that room was in Evans' place.
"Wow…" Thomas breathed. "Are these all yours?"
"Yes, I think so, however I'd let Albus borrow some anytime."
Harry walked a few steps forward and turned around, his green eyes staring into Thomas' blue.
"You will not tell anyone of this, understand, boy? Not anyone!" Harry whispered.
"Y… yes, of course, sir." Thomas stuttered, a little intimidated.
Harry grinned. "I didn't mean this as a threat, boy, I just don't want people to know, that would only cause stupid questions. And don't call me 'sir', please. 'Professor' is okay, isn't it?"
Thomas smiled weakly. "It is, Professor."
"Fine. Let's go on then." Harry said and walked through the room. Thomas hesitantly followed, amazed. On most of the books there weren't any titles to be seen, Thomas noticed, just like in the registered section in the Hogwarts library. Thomas wondered how Evans could find any particular books he was searching for.
Harry stopped in the far corner of the room. A table and two – red, not shabby green - armchairs were standing there, a book was lying on the table. There was a bookmark was in there.
"Here we go." Harry said and clapped the book open where the bookmark was. "The 'res concunctionis' charm." Harry read aloud. "It doesn't look that easy to perform, but I'll see what I can do." He muttered, more to himself than to Thomas.
Evans took two sickles out of a pocket of his cloak. Then laid a forefinger on each sickle. For about a minute he stood there, quietly muttering some Latin words Thomas didn't understand. It really seemed hard, for Evans' eyes were narrowed and he was all sweaty. Thomas had never sweat when a curse was hard to perform, but he knew exhaustion like this was normal when one performed some very difficult curses. Was that curse really so strong or was Evans just weak? He didn't think Evans was weak anymore. Interesting.
Harry stopped after a while. He picked the sickles up from the table where they were lying. "Whoa!" the teacher exclaimed and dropped into the nearest armchair. Thomas smiled. Teachers rarely said things like that. They always seemed to be in top condition.
Harry passed one sickle over to Thomas. "Have a try." He said and pocketed his own sickle.
Now what had that word been? Ah, yeah. "Coniungo!" Thomas whispered. Evans' sickle flew up in the air in front of the man. Harry toughed his sickle. "Cool!" he said. Another word teachers didn't use. "This is funny!"
Harry pocketed his sickle again. "You must try this, it feels strange. You stay here, I'll go somewhere... in about a minute I'll say that word and you'll go to find me, okay?"
"Okay." Thomas agreed, smiling. Then he realised he was having fun in company of Evans and the smile vanished from his face. Evans had already left the room, so he didn't see.
***
++++++++++++++++
Harry Potter had reached the door to the third floor in less time than a minute. That would have been impossible if he hadn't known that many secret passages. He grabbed his sickle and said "Coniungo!", wondering how long it would take Thomas to go there.
After about five minutes he heard running footsteps and loud gasps growing louder. Soon Thomas appeared. "How did you… manage… to get here… in a minute?" The boy gasped.
"That's my secret. Now, funny feeling, isn't it?" Harry asked.
"Yeah."
And it had been. Thomas had grabbed his sickle as it had been flying in mid- air and then he had just known. He didn't know where this knowledge had come from, but he had known. Then he had ran there as quickly as possible.
Thomas wondered why he had not met anyone on his way here. Suddenly it struck him.
"Oh bloody hell" he whispered.
"Something wrong?" Harry asked.
"I'm supposed to be in class…"
"Oh… " Harry muttered. Harry had a free period and he had all forgotten about the boy's duties. How stupid of him.
"What class do you have now?" Harry asked.
"Potions with Professor Malfoy." Thomas said anxiously.
"Bad luck. Well, I'll come with you then. Malfoy surely would give you some punishment, would he?"
"Surely…" Thomas muttered.
"We won't let that happen of course, don't worry." Harry said.
So Thomas Weasley and Harry Potter made their way to the dungeons. Thomas wanted to run, but Harry said that he was late anyway and that it would be better if he was calm when he arrived there. On their way to the dungeons Thomas and his teacher didn't say anything. When they arrived, Harry knocked.
"Enter!" Malfoy's cold voice came from inside the room.
"You go first." Harry whispered. Thomas hesitantly walked into the room.
"Mr Weasley, how nice of you to honour us with your presence."
The Slytherins in the room chuckled. 'He's coping his oh so very smart side- remarks from good old Snape. How very creative!" Harry thought.
"Now would you please tell us what occupation was more important to you than this lesson?" Malfoy sneered.
"He was with me." Harry said, stepping into the room.
"What are you doing here, Evans?" Malfoy spat.
"I'm surprised to see you here, too, Malfoy." Harry said, not showing any expressions. "Well, I expected you to be a little angry with Mr Weasley here, to tell the truth, so I thought I'd better accompany him here and explain his absence to you. I had important things to talk about to the boy that could not wait."
"Yes, okay. Now sit, Weasley!" Malfoy spat. "Would you please let me teach this class in peace now, Professor Evans?"
Harry Potter grinned. "Yeah, sure. I'm sorry I disturbed." Harry turned to the students, Malfoy couldn't see his face anymore. "Have fun with you potions, guys!" he said, grinning, and rolled his eyes. A few Gryffindors smiled – they didn't dislike the Professor that much anymore. That didn't mean they had completely forgiven him the colours he had given them at night, though.
With a final "See you, then! And Gryffies, don't forget this afternoon at three!", Harry Potter left the room.
***
+++++++++++++
"And how did you like the first day here?" Harry hissed, once again alone with Sammy in his room. He was lying in his bed listening to some quiet Blues music that didn't come from some recorder, but out of his fingers. Anyway, it was far more practical than the Muggle way, and it sounded much better as well. Wow, this song was cool…
"Interesting, Henry." Sammy answered. "I must say I liked most of the humans around you, though there are some characters… well, not my taste exactly. You certainly know those as well as I do."
Harry pictured what the inside of Malfoys head would look like and grinned. "Yes, I think I know what you are talking about."
"That man at your left at breakfast seemed nice to me. He was wise and thought very much about many things. Not many do that. Still he was nice."
"That was Albus. Albus Dumbledore."
"The man that rules over you?"
Harry was half hurt, half annoyed, which amused the snake.
"He does not rule over me, he's just a friend!" Harry hissed.
Sammy didn't want to upset his new master, who he liked a lot, so the snake chose to change the subject. Something that would please Henry…
"Do you know that some students here really adore you?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "They do?" Now this was surprising. Harry had expected them to hate him, if something. But adore? This didn't fit into the picture he had made of the kids the least.
"But most hate you."
There it was, he had expected this. Things like that just couldn't be true, life wasn't that fair. Life never was.
"I know they do."
Sammy knew he had disappointed his master again, he knew he shouldn't do that. God, what kind of snake was he, having a master like that, fine character, great power, a master every snake would dream of, and Sammy only disappointed him and made him sad. The snake suddenly felt… bad.
"I'm sorry, master." Sammy hissed quietly.
Harry looked up at his new companion. "You shouldn't be sorry, Sammy, you've got nothing to do with this… situation." He sighed. "It's just… well, those kids think I'm a git, they don't know me and they must not learn to know me too well, that's my problem… one of my problems at least. They don't like it much, but it's the only way for them to get taught properly, and the only way for me to keep near, in case… something happens hear and I'm needed. I guess we'll all just have to get used to it, no matter what it's like. Life isn't always funny after all. But you know what?"
Harry paused and smiled. A real smile. Sammy felt his mood lighten up a lot.
"I think it's slowly getting better day by day. In fact, I'm actually beginning to really enjoy it again."
'That should go without saying, shouldn't it?' Sammy thought, didn't say anything, though.
Author's Note:
Took me pretty long as well, didn't it? And it's not that good also, I think… but acceptable. There will be better ones, that's a promise. And thanks for reviewing! You're cool, do you know that? It's really encouraging. Every time my mum finds me at the computer now she asks: "Got new reviews?" and then we check on them and I have to translate it all so mum knows what you nice guys are writing… it's funny. Sorry you had to wait so long, by the way, but I'm just a bit lazy in these days. Bad habit, it is… but there are worse ones… like smoking or drinking or taking drugs… I'm glad I got away only with being lazy sometimes. Hmm… I feel like talking now, but you don't want to listen, do you? Not to this anyway. I'll just shut up now and go read something before going to bed I think. See you then.
Ottilchen
Next day for breakfast Harry Potter was strangely punctual. Albus Dumbledore was surprised. The boy – Harry was 37 years old, so he was rather an old boy – was normally one of the last teachers to arrive. He even just ignored the funny stares and all those rumours people were already spreading because of the serpent that was currently lying on his shoulders, wound around his neck and what seemed to be watching the Great Hall with interest. What had been its name again? Sandy, was it? Or Sammy? Well, something like that.
And Harry was smiling brightly. What was that he had planned yesterday evening? Just what was going on?
"Why so cheerful, my dear friend?" Albus finally asked.
"Oh, I'm just looking forward to the students to arrive." Harry said happily.
"You're up early today. Why, if I may ask?" Albus said sceptically.
"I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything today. Luckily I haven't."
"Just what don't you want to miss, boy? Come on, what's going on here? You obviously know something I don't." Albus pushed.
"Yes, obviously. But I won't tell you anything, so please let me enjoy these moments of glee, will you, Albus?"
Albus did. Instead of questioning Harry, he searched the Great Hall with his eyes, looking for something that didn't fit. And he found something.
"There's no single Gryffindors here yet." Albus stated. He looked around the staff table. Minerva was there, so were about half the students by now. But not a single Gryffindor.
"What have you done to them, Henry?" Albus asked, false anger in his voice.
Now Harry laughed out loud. The whole staff and some students sitting near stared at him – that git with that snake - again. He really acted odd today. Evans was known for a lot, but not for his humour. What was so funny?
"You'll see. And soon, I hope." Harry said, still grinning widely.
And they would.
***
+++++++++
About two minutes later the large door to the Great Hall opened slightly. Harry Potter was the only one to notice, for he had been watching the door all time. Through a little slit he could see a lot of pink, some blue and even a bit of green. It had worked, he thought. It was hard not to laugh out loud, and they were not even in yet.
The door opened further and the Gryffindors slowly walked into the Great Hall. First people only pointed at them and stared. What the hell was that? The Gryffindors had blue skin, pink clothes and green hair. Some had tried to hide their hair with some cloths, but the result was only less green and more pink. Most people preferred green to pink, though.
It was Zabini who was the first one to laugh, the other Slytherins joined in at once. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs found this rather funny as well. Professor Draco Malfoy tried to hide the amusement behind his usual grim expression – Harry Potter had problems staying on his chair.
Albus Dumbledore stared at Harry Potter, half amused, half shocked. Harry was a teacher! A teacher, doing stuff like this! Unbelievable. Funny, yeah, but unbelievable.
Harry met Albus' gaze.
"Succeeded!" the younger man whispered cheerfully.
"You're a teacher, Henry!" Albus exclaimed.
"Don't make it too obvious to those who don't know that was me, please, Albus." Harry whispered.
Then the daily storm of owls flew into the Great Hall.
+++++++++
The Gryffindor Head-boy was a bit startled when a school-owl landed on the table in front of him. There was a note tied to its leg, his name written on it with orange ink. Who would send him a letter by school-owl? It didn't make any sense – people at school could simply give him the letter or talk to him any time. Perhaps the person wanted to stay anonymous. Who could that be and what did he want?
The Head-boy took the note off the owl. It read:
This was my revenge!
I will take the curse off you this night. Do not try to undo it yourselves, you will not manage. I hope you will remember this the next time you plan some 'prank' on me. Wish you a nice, colourful day furthermore.
Yours sincerely:
The Slimy Slytherin
The Head-boy stood up. He looked at Evans, noticing some green creature with him there… the snake? That snake? Their prank snake? But the teacher didn't meet his gaze. He walked over to Ronny, Leon and Martin. "What exactly did you write on that note you left in Evans' place?" he spat.
"We told him a Slimy Slytherin should not mess with Gryffindors. Why?" Leon asked annoyed. The boy didn't like his new colours.
"That's why!" the Head-boy half-screamed. The whole Great Hall stared at him as he crumpled up the note and threw it straight at Leon's head. Then he turned and went out of the Great Hall angrily, leaving breakfast hardly touched. What did they think they were doing? He didn't want to have anything to do with those children's stupid pranks, but now Evans had punished them all.
Leon got pale when he read the note. Evans. Why hadn't he guessed? Who but an adult could have done that?
"What's written there?" Martin asked.
"Yeah, show us!" Ronny said.
Wordlessly, Leon handed the note to his two best friends.
"Evans!" Ronny spat after he had read the note. "He'll get that back!"
"So we'll be all pink and blue again?" Martin said. "And don't forget the green hair… God, I feel like a Slytherin with that. No, I won't do anything to Evans. Look what he did this time! And if we do something again, it will be worse, I'm sure."
"So we'll just ignore this?" Ronny asked. "But we must do something. Something!"
"I agree with Martin. God knows what he'll do to us!" Leon said.
"Fine then." Ronny spat.
"What lesson is next?" Martin asked, trying to change the subject. Ronny didn't seem to like the idea of not taking revenge on Evans that git.
"Hmm… Oh no. Double Potions!" Leon said. Malfoy was their second last favourite teacher. Bad day, it really was.
+++++++++++++++++++++
After breakfast a blue, pink and green Thomas Weasley made his way to Evans' place. He didn't know what to think about the teacher. First he behaved like a git, then he offered to help him, now he cursed them all…
"Good morning, Thomas. You look good today!" Harry said grinning as Thomas arrived.
"Thanks, sir!" Thomas said sarcastically. He was surprised when Evans laughed.
"Now, let's come to business. When I found that spell I realised I didn't know what you wanted the object to be. So I haven't performed it yet, but I don't think that would be a problem. So what do you want it to be?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. A sickle perhaps? That's small and it won't attract any attention at all I'm sure." Thomas said, blushing slightly. He didn't want others to know he was accepting this kind of help from a teacher… especially this teacher.
"Yeah, fine. Come in, I'll try right now. If it lasts too long I'll give it to you in class today. Or after classes. Okay?" Harry asked.
"Sure." Thomas said. He was surprised at how friendly the teacher could be. Could. He wasn't even nervous anymore.
Thomas followed Professor Evans into the living-room with that shabby sofa. He sat down on the sofa, while Evans went over to an empty wall. What was he doing?
Harry muttered some words Thomas didn't understand and suddenly the wall vanished. There was a room behind it. Thomas couldn't see much of the room since it was so dark in there. There were no windows in there.
"Come here." Harry said. Thomas slowly stood up and walked over to Evans.
"Ignem!" Harry said and several torches on the walls. Thomas saw several large bookshelves in the room. It was nothing compared to the library of Hogwarts, but these books all seemed to belong to Evans, Thomas guessed, for the entrance to that room was in Evans' place.
"Wow…" Thomas breathed. "Are these all yours?"
"Yes, I think so, however I'd let Albus borrow some anytime."
Harry walked a few steps forward and turned around, his green eyes staring into Thomas' blue.
"You will not tell anyone of this, understand, boy? Not anyone!" Harry whispered.
"Y… yes, of course, sir." Thomas stuttered, a little intimidated.
Harry grinned. "I didn't mean this as a threat, boy, I just don't want people to know, that would only cause stupid questions. And don't call me 'sir', please. 'Professor' is okay, isn't it?"
Thomas smiled weakly. "It is, Professor."
"Fine. Let's go on then." Harry said and walked through the room. Thomas hesitantly followed, amazed. On most of the books there weren't any titles to be seen, Thomas noticed, just like in the registered section in the Hogwarts library. Thomas wondered how Evans could find any particular books he was searching for.
Harry stopped in the far corner of the room. A table and two – red, not shabby green - armchairs were standing there, a book was lying on the table. There was a bookmark was in there.
"Here we go." Harry said and clapped the book open where the bookmark was. "The 'res concunctionis' charm." Harry read aloud. "It doesn't look that easy to perform, but I'll see what I can do." He muttered, more to himself than to Thomas.
Evans took two sickles out of a pocket of his cloak. Then laid a forefinger on each sickle. For about a minute he stood there, quietly muttering some Latin words Thomas didn't understand. It really seemed hard, for Evans' eyes were narrowed and he was all sweaty. Thomas had never sweat when a curse was hard to perform, but he knew exhaustion like this was normal when one performed some very difficult curses. Was that curse really so strong or was Evans just weak? He didn't think Evans was weak anymore. Interesting.
Harry stopped after a while. He picked the sickles up from the table where they were lying. "Whoa!" the teacher exclaimed and dropped into the nearest armchair. Thomas smiled. Teachers rarely said things like that. They always seemed to be in top condition.
Harry passed one sickle over to Thomas. "Have a try." He said and pocketed his own sickle.
Now what had that word been? Ah, yeah. "Coniungo!" Thomas whispered. Evans' sickle flew up in the air in front of the man. Harry toughed his sickle. "Cool!" he said. Another word teachers didn't use. "This is funny!"
Harry pocketed his sickle again. "You must try this, it feels strange. You stay here, I'll go somewhere... in about a minute I'll say that word and you'll go to find me, okay?"
"Okay." Thomas agreed, smiling. Then he realised he was having fun in company of Evans and the smile vanished from his face. Evans had already left the room, so he didn't see.
***
++++++++++++++++
Harry Potter had reached the door to the third floor in less time than a minute. That would have been impossible if he hadn't known that many secret passages. He grabbed his sickle and said "Coniungo!", wondering how long it would take Thomas to go there.
After about five minutes he heard running footsteps and loud gasps growing louder. Soon Thomas appeared. "How did you… manage… to get here… in a minute?" The boy gasped.
"That's my secret. Now, funny feeling, isn't it?" Harry asked.
"Yeah."
And it had been. Thomas had grabbed his sickle as it had been flying in mid- air and then he had just known. He didn't know where this knowledge had come from, but he had known. Then he had ran there as quickly as possible.
Thomas wondered why he had not met anyone on his way here. Suddenly it struck him.
"Oh bloody hell" he whispered.
"Something wrong?" Harry asked.
"I'm supposed to be in class…"
"Oh… " Harry muttered. Harry had a free period and he had all forgotten about the boy's duties. How stupid of him.
"What class do you have now?" Harry asked.
"Potions with Professor Malfoy." Thomas said anxiously.
"Bad luck. Well, I'll come with you then. Malfoy surely would give you some punishment, would he?"
"Surely…" Thomas muttered.
"We won't let that happen of course, don't worry." Harry said.
So Thomas Weasley and Harry Potter made their way to the dungeons. Thomas wanted to run, but Harry said that he was late anyway and that it would be better if he was calm when he arrived there. On their way to the dungeons Thomas and his teacher didn't say anything. When they arrived, Harry knocked.
"Enter!" Malfoy's cold voice came from inside the room.
"You go first." Harry whispered. Thomas hesitantly walked into the room.
"Mr Weasley, how nice of you to honour us with your presence."
The Slytherins in the room chuckled. 'He's coping his oh so very smart side- remarks from good old Snape. How very creative!" Harry thought.
"Now would you please tell us what occupation was more important to you than this lesson?" Malfoy sneered.
"He was with me." Harry said, stepping into the room.
"What are you doing here, Evans?" Malfoy spat.
"I'm surprised to see you here, too, Malfoy." Harry said, not showing any expressions. "Well, I expected you to be a little angry with Mr Weasley here, to tell the truth, so I thought I'd better accompany him here and explain his absence to you. I had important things to talk about to the boy that could not wait."
"Yes, okay. Now sit, Weasley!" Malfoy spat. "Would you please let me teach this class in peace now, Professor Evans?"
Harry Potter grinned. "Yeah, sure. I'm sorry I disturbed." Harry turned to the students, Malfoy couldn't see his face anymore. "Have fun with you potions, guys!" he said, grinning, and rolled his eyes. A few Gryffindors smiled – they didn't dislike the Professor that much anymore. That didn't mean they had completely forgiven him the colours he had given them at night, though.
With a final "See you, then! And Gryffies, don't forget this afternoon at three!", Harry Potter left the room.
***
+++++++++++++
"And how did you like the first day here?" Harry hissed, once again alone with Sammy in his room. He was lying in his bed listening to some quiet Blues music that didn't come from some recorder, but out of his fingers. Anyway, it was far more practical than the Muggle way, and it sounded much better as well. Wow, this song was cool…
"Interesting, Henry." Sammy answered. "I must say I liked most of the humans around you, though there are some characters… well, not my taste exactly. You certainly know those as well as I do."
Harry pictured what the inside of Malfoys head would look like and grinned. "Yes, I think I know what you are talking about."
"That man at your left at breakfast seemed nice to me. He was wise and thought very much about many things. Not many do that. Still he was nice."
"That was Albus. Albus Dumbledore."
"The man that rules over you?"
Harry was half hurt, half annoyed, which amused the snake.
"He does not rule over me, he's just a friend!" Harry hissed.
Sammy didn't want to upset his new master, who he liked a lot, so the snake chose to change the subject. Something that would please Henry…
"Do you know that some students here really adore you?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "They do?" Now this was surprising. Harry had expected them to hate him, if something. But adore? This didn't fit into the picture he had made of the kids the least.
"But most hate you."
There it was, he had expected this. Things like that just couldn't be true, life wasn't that fair. Life never was.
"I know they do."
Sammy knew he had disappointed his master again, he knew he shouldn't do that. God, what kind of snake was he, having a master like that, fine character, great power, a master every snake would dream of, and Sammy only disappointed him and made him sad. The snake suddenly felt… bad.
"I'm sorry, master." Sammy hissed quietly.
Harry looked up at his new companion. "You shouldn't be sorry, Sammy, you've got nothing to do with this… situation." He sighed. "It's just… well, those kids think I'm a git, they don't know me and they must not learn to know me too well, that's my problem… one of my problems at least. They don't like it much, but it's the only way for them to get taught properly, and the only way for me to keep near, in case… something happens hear and I'm needed. I guess we'll all just have to get used to it, no matter what it's like. Life isn't always funny after all. But you know what?"
Harry paused and smiled. A real smile. Sammy felt his mood lighten up a lot.
"I think it's slowly getting better day by day. In fact, I'm actually beginning to really enjoy it again."
'That should go without saying, shouldn't it?' Sammy thought, didn't say anything, though.
Author's Note:
Took me pretty long as well, didn't it? And it's not that good also, I think… but acceptable. There will be better ones, that's a promise. And thanks for reviewing! You're cool, do you know that? It's really encouraging. Every time my mum finds me at the computer now she asks: "Got new reviews?" and then we check on them and I have to translate it all so mum knows what you nice guys are writing… it's funny. Sorry you had to wait so long, by the way, but I'm just a bit lazy in these days. Bad habit, it is… but there are worse ones… like smoking or drinking or taking drugs… I'm glad I got away only with being lazy sometimes. Hmm… I feel like talking now, but you don't want to listen, do you? Not to this anyway. I'll just shut up now and go read something before going to bed I think. See you then.
Ottilchen