2-03
Hagrid shifted from foot to foot as he looked down at me. I could see it in his eyes that he was a little uncomfortable but I also saw the moment when he took a breath and pushed forward.
"I'm starting to reconsider it now," the man said. "Maybe I should have gotten you a snake or something—"
"I don't like snakes, Hagrid," I said with a smile on my face. "Can I see him? Her?"
"Her," said Hagrid, pulling out the cage from under his cloak. I grinned wider as my sights set upon hers, white and wide-eyed looking at me as though I'd just surprised her.
"Hedwig," I said. The memories were there, fighting for the fore but I pushed them back. "Thank you, Hagrid," I said accepting the cage. "I'll make sure to take good care of her."
"Be sure to," said Hagrid. I gave him a hug, extending it until the point that he stopped hesitating and returned it. I hadn't thought of him while considering my decision, but he would get over it. True Hagrid wasn't one of the smartest adults I knew, but he was a good friend with an amazing capacity to love. Something like this was something he would no doubt get over.
"Now I'd better be off. Still got to talk to your cousin," he said.
"Be seeing you. Maybe I'll visit when I have free time," I said.
"I'd like that, Harry," he returned before walking off. He cleared the hall in quick strides before turning a corner, when he had done so I turned and faced my housemates who had different expressions.
Our prefect, though, had a look of contempt about him as he looked my way. "Well then, we should be moving," he said. "I'm already tired of this…" he paused, "display."
I walked closer to the group, making sure to keep at least one person between me and Su. It was strange how pronounced the aura separating the two of us was. I had the strange feeling that if we touched it might mean calamity.
"That was sweet," said Daphne as we walked, turning a corner before descending a spiral staircase.
"Disgustingly so," said Pansy. "But then, the oaf needs all the friends he can get." Vincent snorted at that, a smile spread over his face and eyes shining with a malignant glint—it was possible I was imagining that.
"Hagrid is a friend of mine," I said, taking a breath to push down the heat in my voice. "I'd thank you all not to insult him in my presence."
"Or you'll do what?" asked Su, mirth in her voice. I didn't answer. I didn't even look at her. "No, really, Harry, I'm curious. Me, I'd…do things."
Our prefect gave a snort, turning back to look at us before he kept his forwards stride. Su reached to her side and I was immediately mirroring the motion, pulling out my wand; a quick glance and everyone else except the prefect had done the same.
"Oh, calm down," said Su. She waved the wand and a spell shot out, hitting the prefect who continued walking without any notice. "It's not like I can exactly kill all of you," she continued. "Dumbledore would be on me in a millisecond. Something both of us wouldn't enjoy because I mean eww how old is he, and I'm the wrong gender for the big guy."
"Quieting spell?" Ron asked, ignoring the last comment. I chose to do the same.
"My own variant," said Su. "It's selective. He can hear things just not us. It has a mental component to it. I could teach you if you wanted."
"I have a feeling you'd get a lot out of that than I'm willing to give," said Ron. "This is my first time in Slytherin but I've heard the way we're supposed to operate. That would be giving you too much power over me."
"A Weasley," said Daphne. "Smart. Clearly the world is near its end times."
Ron's hand tightened around his wand before he took a large breath and loosened it.
"Or it means his timeline taught him the importance of social graces," said Su. A quick silence followed. "Oh, right. I mentioned the Nundu in the room. So I'm curious, which of you was it that murdered Malfoy's parents? And let's not kid ourselves, it was one of us. Harry? You're a Slytherin now. Maybe you're something some of a hidden badass and we don't even know."
"From what I remember in my timeline," I said. "You weren't much except a Ravenclaw. I'd say, if anything, this personality shift is odd."
Su shrugged without a care. "Different circumstances groom different people," she said. "Like each of you, I'm assuming." She grinned, skipping forward and turning to walk backward facing all of us. "This year will be interesting that's for sure."
"More interesting once we consider why everyone's here in the first place," said Vincent. "I mean, there's really no reason why we would all return to Hogwarts."
"Except we didn't all, did we?" said Tracy. "I remember my year being larger than thirty-nine students."
Su hummed and I noticed that I was mentally doing the same. "Grander plans than us, no doubt," she said. "Wonder how they're dealing with restrictions. Wonder what they've been doing all this time? But then again I'm wondering what you lot have been doing all the time since you first got here. I'm guessing none is going to volunteer that, will they?"
"Well we know what Weasley's been up to," said Theodore. "He released Black. At least we can say that we have a rough idea which side he leans."
There was silence at that, every set of eyes on Ron whose shoulders squared a little.
"And yet he still chose to be here," said Blaise, speaking for the first time. I couldn't help but feel that there was a presence to his voice. I looked at him and the way he walked and talked reminded me a little of this timeline's Neville, a dignitary of sorts hidden in a child's body.
"Fuck this is great," said Su. "Adversaries that might actually give me a run for my money," she said with excitement and glee. I had to stop and really look at her. Could she really have a piece of Voldemort's soul when she was that emotive? Voldemort didn't strike me as a man that would grin as much as Su was.
But then again, I'd only known him through his psychopathic phase.
"There's also one thing I think we're not considering," said Daphne. When she spoke she garnered attention. I even saw our prefect glance behind to us for a moment before he led us into the dungeons proper.
"The other houses," Daphne continued. "They'll obviously be plotting against us. We are Slytherin, after all. They'll think they know us better than ourselves."
"Do you want us to ally?" asked Pansy.
"Is there another choice?" Daphne asked. "We're smart, true, but we don't have the genius of the Ravenclaws, and we won't have the comradery that will no doubt develop between all the students in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Being allies is the only sensible choice."
"All well and good until our goals don't align," said Blaise.
"Then we'll stab each other in the back when it comes to it," said Su. "It's the Slytherin thing to do."
"I'd rather not," I said. "It's easier to know that we're enemies so I can constantly watch my back than waste energy trying to act as though I've been lulled into a false sense of security. I'll manage on my own."
"Or you'll manage with the other houses," said Mandy. "Your mudblood cousin's in Hufflepuff. He can work them for you so they believe that this is what it really is, an act."
"Dudley is my family," I said. "And I'll thank you not to ever call him a mudblood again."
"Or you'll what?" asked Su. "I'm really interested."
I looked at her and then looked at Mandy before looking back at Su. "I'll do stuff," I said and it earned the appropriate reaction because a majority of my year mates stopped in their tracks.
Su only continued to grin wider. "You've played your hand," she said.
"I have other hands to play and they all knew most likely."
"True, true," she returned. "But you've forced my hand too."
"Consider that thank you for revealing everyone. It worked against my own plans for the future."
"Then consider us even," she said.
"Okay," said our prefect and he started to turn. In the small space of a second that it took him to do so, Su moved her wand and hit him with a counter curse while the rest of us stowed our wands back in our robes.
"First thing's first. Slytherin isn't like the other houses," he said. "Here we reward families that have achieved something of their lives further than just lucking out in being born with the right blood. The criteria to this extends both within Hogwarts and out, looking at every family in depth so they are treated with the proper respect.
"What does that mean to you lot?" he said. "Well, if you're a legacy then you'll know that there are two private rooms per gender and these rooms will be swapped around per quarter to those deserving. But right now a selection has already made to the people who'll get their private rooms and those who'll be sharing.
"For the boys, Harry Potter and Blaise Zabini," the prefect said. "And for the girl, Daphne Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson. The rest of you will be sharing rooms. But if you work hard enough, earn good grades throughout the year and earn a high number of house points, you might displace some of the more lacking in that regard.
"Now," he said. "For the password." He turned to a doorway set in stone and said, "Purebloods."
"Which none of us are except Weasley," I muttered under my breath.
The prefect turned to look at me at that, an affronted expression on him but my statement was true. It took at least three generations of 'pure' breeding before one could be called pureblood. I doubted he was pureblood.
"Follow me," he said instead as the bricks disappeared and he led un into the Slytherin Common Room. It was as I remembered it, fancier than any of the other houses and with a comfortable yet expensive feel to it. The aesthetic was of dark colours with a low green glow permeating everything.
Further back and I could see the lake and I could hear the sound of the water rushing over us. All in all the sound was pretty soothing.
There were student out and about, chatting amongst themselves in low voices and other sitting quietly writing or reading. They didn't have any of the exuberance that I'd seen in Gryffindor, but as an adult the calm of it all I could appreciate.
"This is the Common Room," he said. "Where you'll spend the majority of your time after curfew is in effect. As a Slytherin you're to show respect to your betters, and in this setting you show that by not being a child and being unruly."
"Betters," Su whispered and then she snorted.
"Follow me to your rooms," he said. He walked through the common room and chose a door at the furthest end, under the lake. We continued down, dark walls surrounding us on either side until there was a fork in the halls. The prefect pulled out his wand and pointed it, muttering a spell under his breath which shot out a bright red light into one hall.
A moment later a girl stepped through. "Follow me, girls," the girl said.
"You lot follow me," said the prefect as he led us into the other hall. We didn't walk far before the hall grew into a large chamber with seven doorways lined up in front of us, numbers drone at the top of each.
The prefect lead us into the doorway with the number one and down that hall it opened in another chamber that had three doors.
"Zabini, yours is to the right," the Prefect said gesturing, "and Potter yours is to the left. You'll find your belongings have already arrived. The rest of you, the middle room is yours. I'll leave you then."
I looked at the others before going to my room. I touched the door handle and felt a sharp pinch that quickly made me take my hand off the door, on my hand there was a short cut that was already closing up. The door opened.
The room was larger than I expected, keeping to the muted black and green aesthetic of the rest of the house. The room was divided too, a small section with the bed and my trunk, another section that had a small table and chair along with a short bookcase in its side. At the back of the room there was another door and on investigation it turned out to be the bathroom.
"We'll have to find you an opening girl," I said to Hedwig as I opened her cage. She didn't move, but then there were only limited places for her to move in the first place.
I got to work created a section for her, turning thin air into stretches of wood branches the climbed up the world giving hold for Hedwig to stay on. The moment I was done, she exited the cage, flying to a thick branch and just sitting there.
I searched the room until I found a large grate that no doubt let in air. The first thing I did was put up wards around the room, making sure that none would be able to see me with a Human Revealment Charm and that no sound would pass through the room.
I stepped just to the side and fired a Reductor at the thick, denting the grate, another Reductor and the thing broke apart. I tapped my face and after a moment all my seat senses peaked. I had to take a moment to get the under control but when I did I could see another grate up the small air hole.
Three Reductors and the grate on the other side fell to the ground.
"I've got to check out where this leads," I said. "Be back in a few minutes."
I took a breath and focused. I hadn't tried it since getting to this world but this was a good as any a time to try it out. I took another breath and pictured my form, letting my body shift: bones shrinking and new bones forming while others disappeared. Feathers grew and the acuteness of my senses shifted.
As quickly as the process started it was done and I was flapping my wings, hovering in the air before I shot up. It was jerking at first, pushing myself to ascend without flying forward or back, but my form was small enough that there was a little room to manoeuvre.
Five minutes and I was out on the other side, the Black Lake to my left and Hogwarts to my right. This would be how I exited, moving to and from school. There were enough towers with open windows in Hogwarts that there would definitely be a way in, but first I needed for there to be less activity.
My route, clear, a plan was already coming to mind: Near midnight I would be making for the Room of Requirements.