Henry, Draco, and Pansy had met up with Hermione, Lavender, and the Parvati twins and explored the castle on Saturday. They met up with Harry and his friends, Ron, Seamus, Neville, and Dean, and they all walked around the Hogwarts castle as a big group. Henry was glad that Pansy and Draco didn't mind muggleborns, and he was internally relieved when Ron and Hermione avoided bickering. The group spent lunch and the rest of the afternoon outside. Harry and his friends volunteered to smuggle some food from the Great Hall while Henry and his friends set up a little picnic. It was fun while it lasted, everyone having entertaining funny to share.
"How's Slytherin House? What's it like there?" Parvati asked curiously.
Henry shrugged and turned to Draco and Pansy. Pansy finally sighed and decided to answer.
"It's not the most pleasant experience, to be honest. The rest of the first years in our House are downright arrogant and typical purebloods. They insulted Hermione when Henry invited her to sit at our table. They're sometimes very rude."
"Aw, it's ok, Hermione," said Padma as she rubbed her shoulder.
"I'm fine, really. I don't wish to associate with people like them."
"But you guys are different, though," said Dean.
Pansy and Draco looked at each other. Henry decided to step in.
"That's because their fathers are workaholics and their mothers raised them decently. They taught them differently, saying that blood of a witch or wizard isn't everything."
Henry caught Ron's glare, which softened after explaining Draco's and Pansy's parents. Did Ron judge Draco and Pansy because of their fathers? Maybe their fathers work at the same place Mr. Weasley does...
Henry's thoughts and the light conversation was interrupted by that same arrogant voice.
"You really should've been sorted into Hufflepuff. Look at you three, dirtying Slytherin's name even more by creating a whole group of mudbloods and half-bloods," said Nott coldly.
"Really, Nott, don't you have somewhere else to be?" said Pansy.
"Don't you have better people to be with, Parkinson? Don't think your father will be happy if he finds out who you consider decent acquaintances," Nott retorted nastily.
Harry stood up and pulled out his wand and pointed it at Nott, who merely looked at it as if it were a mere fly.
"You take that back," Harry said through gritted teeth.
"Theodore!" One of the girls called as she ran up to see what was going on. The girl's bright smile on her face immediately morphed into a sneer once she saw whom Nott was confronting. Henry side-noted that the girl's smile was very pretty, but he quickly shook that thought away.
"Well, well, well. It's the blood bunch. Full of all types of blood: half-bloods, purebloods, and even the worthless mudbloods. Disgusting," said the girl as she spat the last word.
"I agree, Daphne. At first, I thought the Potter twins would make good allies. Well," Nott eyed Harry, "maybe at least Henry would've. But no, he decided to associate himself with the poofs of our kind." Nott flickered his eyes to Pansy and Draco, whose glares hardened.
"Just leave us alone, Nott," said Harry, still pointing his wand.
Henry hated this. He hated being hated on. He came to Hogwarts to escape from being bullied in the muggle world. Yet, here it is, following him around everywhere.
"Why can't you just leave us alone, Nott?" said Henry angrily. He was having a good time with his friends and Nott and his Slytherin friends had to go and ruin it.
"Because you think you Potters are all that. Think that you can defeat the Dark Lord, can you? Well news flash: You can't. The only reason why you two defeated the Dark Lord is because of pure luck," said Nott.
Henry couldn't find anything to say. He'd just about had it with being antagonized and stormed back to the castle, leaving behind a smirking Nott and a delighted Greengrass.
As Henry walked through the entrance hall, he heard his friends call out.
"Henry! Wait!" called Pansy as she maneuvered through the crowd of students. Henry didn't wait for Pansy as he descended down to the dungeons. That was a bad idea, because he immediately got lost in the maze. Henry groaned in frustration as he looked around for the same two portraits that in between them held the entrance to the Slytherin common room.
Henry tried going through twists and turns, but he couldn't find it. Then he ran into someone.
"Mr. Potter," said a silky yet cold voice.
Henry looked up to see a man in a black cloak. He had a familiar crooked nose, his greasy face bordered with greasy black hair. Professor Snape.
"P - Professor Snape. I - I couldn't find the way to the common room," Henry stuttered.
"Well, Mr. Potter, it would do for you to find a prefect instead of incessantly leading yourself even further into a lost maze. Follow me."
Henry silently trailed Professor Snape as he expertly swerved through corridors and hallways until they reached the two portraits.
"Now, Mr. Potter, do yourself a favor and bother a Slytherin prefect on your way back to the common room. Slytherin House does not contain idiots," Professor Snape said before swishing his cloak and marching down further into the darkness of the dungeons.
Henry Potter tilted his head before looking at the stone wall between the two portraits. Now what was the password? Henry groaned again as he slid down the stone wall and waited for someone to come and open the entrance for him.
After waiting a few minutes, Henry heard footsteps in the distance. He looked down the corridor to see Gemma Farley, who had her nose buried in a textbook whilst carrying at least two more in between her right arm and shoulder.
Gemma then looked up from her book and said, "Oh, Henry. Forgot the password, did you?"
Henry nodded a little shamefully. He felt a little idiotic now.
"Well that's quite all right. Here, I'll open it for you. Remember, it's 'victoriam sibi ambitiosis.'" Then the stone wall revealed the large room.
"Thanks," Henry muttered before he and Gemma filed into the Slytherin common room.
"You all right, Henry?" asked Gemma. "You seem quite down. Was it the Gryffindors? Did those Weasley twins play a ridiculous prank on you?"
"No, it's not any of those," said Henry. "It was, er, Nott and his lot. They decided to pick on my friends and my brother's friends. I guess I just got so fed up with it already that I just stormed back here."
"Why did you get fed up? Surely you could've just ignored Nott."
"I know, I know, but I guess I just expected to escape all of the bullying from the muggle world. Harry and I grew up with an abusive aunt and uncle and a fat bully of a brother. Maybe I just wanted to escape all that and thought that everything would be better here."
Gemma sighed and lead Henry to sit on the couch next to here. The friendly prefect set down her textbooks and looked at the Potter twin.
"Henry, I wish I could understand what you've gone through, but I haven't. So I won't say that I understand. But I can say this: Don't you dare let Theodore Nott or his nasty friends get to you. They're just being prats. No matter what they say, you just need to ignore them."
Henry sighed sadly.
"Now Henry," Gemma started a little more sternly, "Hogwarts is not an escape from the real world. Bear that in mind. I know a lot after being bullied here myself for being a 'Hufflepuff-Slytherin.'"
"What's a Hufflepuff-Slytherin?" asked Henry.
"It's a bad insult for Slytherins who are acutally nice to all people of all blood and houses. It was made up by people who stereotyped Slytherins as mean and nasty. Not all Slytherins are like that, mind you. And you, Henry, are friends with two pretty decent purebloods, I've observed. But back to the point, Hogwarts is not paradise. It's not a perfect world where you can escape rumors, gossips, bad grades, and yes, bullying. Those are things you just have to deal with. Now, I'm going to give you some true Slytherin advice: Every single situation has a solution. If you're smart enough to find it, of course."
"Thank you, Gemma."
"You're quite welcome, Henry. Now if Nott messes with you, you know what to do, all right?"
"All right."
Gemma gave Henry a warm smile before picking up her textbooks and heading upstairs to the girls' dormitories.
Henry didn't feel better like most people would assume after this type of talk. Henry didn't feel better knowing that bullying was something he would have to normally deal with, but the Potter twin did feel a lot wiser. If people maybe, just maybe, went into Slytherin House and placed themselves among Slytherins, they'd find at least one decent person among the arrogant and self-centered ones. And with this, Henry knew that Slytherins were stereotyped too much.