Note 1: This is going to take place in relatively modern times (2006-2013 and maybe a bit beyond depending on if I do post-Hogwarts chapters)
Note 2: I am an American so just to cover my butt I'm going to say that ion this universe, Hogwarts is in America so some of the places we see outside of Hogwarts will be in the us though Hogwarts itself may be in an area within the US that may be UK influenced. So there may be a mix of American and british slang. I don't know. I apologize if it's weird, I'd just rather handle it that way than butcher UK culture with my own bias.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Just one of her many fans.
"Harry Potter." Professor McGonagall called out. The Great Hall suddenly fell completely silent. Everyone was anxious to hear where "The Boy who Lived." would be sorted. Harry himself was also nervous what if he was sorted into the wrong house. The whispers certainly didn't help things. Everything died down however when the hat was placed on his head.
"Difficult," The hat mumbled. "Plenty of courage," not a bad mind, and a nice thirst to prove yourself."
Harry feelt a lump in his throat. "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin." These are the words he wanted to say, but whether due to nerves, fear or even uncertainty the only sound that came out of his throat was a slight moan. The sorting hat fell silent for a moment and then suddenly perks up.
"AH-HA! I know just where to put you. Slytherin!"
The room suddenly filled with a mix of cheers and whispers. Most of the cheering was coming from the Slytherin table. Harry's face dropped slightly on the outside, but on the inside he was crushed. He had only been exposed to the wizarding world for a short amount of time, and already the less the desirable reputation of Slytherin had made itself known. It also didn't help that a certain Draco Malfoy was also going to be in Slytherin. Harry could already tell this was going to be a long seven years.
Not saying a word, he sulked towards the Slytherin table only for to feel himself hit what felt like a brick wall.
"Hey watch it!" A thick but still girlish voice barked.
"I'm sorry." Harry quickly said.
The boy's eyes suddenly widened as he got a better look at whom he ran into. She was a tall girl with a thick jutting jaw and broad shoulders and wavy hair that went midway down her back. In truth she bared a similar resemblance to his cousin Dudley, except she was a girl and she managed to make Dudley look like a skinny pipsqueak by comparison, and while he was essentially a butterball, there was clear muscle hidden by whatever amount of fat this girl had.
Harry gulped nervously. "Oh boy am I sorry."
The girl gave out a small sigh. "Whatever, just be careful...idiot."
Harry sat down and gave a smile to the girl as he sat down. "My name is Harry." the young boy said quietly.
"Everyone knows who you are Potter. No need to announce it."
"Well, then may I ask what your name is?"
"Millicent Bulstrode." she said quietly.
Harry cocked his head to the side. Something about that last named seemed familiar but he couldn't quite put a finger on as to why. He was also suprised about how surprisingly smooth Bulstorde's voice was. He was almost expect her to be grumbling or growling. She also had a noticeable cajin accent.
"Are you from Louisiana?" Harry asked.
Millicent nodded. "South Central, Mom's a muggle. Dad's a wizard, but we lived mostly in the muggle world. He was a professional wrestler for the IWA."
Harry's eyes widened. "Wait...Bulstrode, As in Eli Bulstrode AKA The Swampfather?"
Millicent nodded.
"I used to watch him all the time when I was little. in my the cu...in my room was this small tube tv and there were these old tapes for the IWAs apparently they belonged to the previous owners of the house. I used to watch his matches all the time. All the tricks he used to do in his promos seemed so real.
"They were real." Millicent said. "The International Confederation of Wizards let him get away with it because he disguised his magic as well done stage magic and special effects. I've heard some wizards take up careers as stage magicians to slowly introduce the muggle world to wizard kind. Honestly I don't get why muggles aren't already aware of our existence or why the powers that be are so determined to keep the wizarding world a secret. it must be the worst kept secret in the world considering that most of us here have at least one muggle family member, unless your last name's Malfoy of course.
"What's the big deal about the Malfoy family?
"Aside from the fact they are one of the most wealthy families in the wizarding world? They are one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. In short one of Twenty-Eight families whom are still of "pure blood." They only have witches and wizards in their family."
"Is that supposed to mean anything?" Harry asked.
"Slytherins as a whole seem to be obsessed with it. My family never understood it. You're essentially bragging that your family is a bunch of inbreeds."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Wait did you say inbreeds?
"Oh yeah, they marry their family members. They have to remember? Again, Sacred Twenty-Eight meaning there are only Twenty-Eight families left that are not "tainted" by muggle blood. When the gene pool is limited like that…well you know..."
Harry turned pale. "How inbred are we talking about?"
"Distant Cousins most of the time, but straight up incest isn't unheard of."
Now he felt himself start to gag. "Why would you want to brag about something like that?"
Millicent shrugged. "Doesn't sound brag worthy to me, but what do I know? I'm just a half-blood."
"Ronald Weasley." Professor McGonagall called out.
Harry watched as his friend nervously walked to the sorting hat.
"What house do you think he will be sorted into?" Harry asked.
"Probably Gryffindor. I heard those two obnoxious older twin brother sof his brag about how every Weasely gets into that house. "
"Gryffindor!" The sorting hat shouted.
"Called it."
Harry gritted his teeth In truth he had hoped that maybe Ron would be In Slytherin too, maybe it would have made Slytherin a bit more bearable. Then again, Millicent hadn't been so bad even with how gruff she was.
"Excuse me?"
Harry and Bulstrode looked up to see a slender pretty blonde girl with icy blue eyes standing adjacent to them. She spoke in a soft spoken and elegant manner "is this seat reserved?"
"If the seat was reserved, I'm pretty sure they would have already taken it." Millicent said sarcastically.
The blonde girl sat down. my name is Daphne, Daphne Greengrass."
"Harry Potter." Harry said courteously.
"Millicent Bulstrode." Bulstrode was a bit more deadpan in her delivery.
Daphne smiled and shook both of her new housemates' hands. She then looked to Harry.
"I don't know if it will mean anything. But I'm sorry about my cousin's uncivil behavior. Draco can be a bit of an arrogant twat."
"Draco is your cousin?" Harry asked.
"Through marriage, the Greengrass family are part of the the Sacred Twenty-Eight."
"You have my pity," Harry said before adding "About being related to Draco I mean."
Millicent grinned as she stifled a snort. "Nice save Potter." she whispered sarcastically
Daphne smiled, either not understanding the not so hidden meaning of his comment, or possibly even agreeing with it.
"Thank you. Just know not all Slytherins or Pure-Bloods are like him or those thick-headed goons of his. The Weasley family is pure blooded, and they don't believe in pure blood supremacy at all. some of the Greengrasses still spout that nonsense but my parents don't. In fact, they blame the obsession with blood purity for our blood malediction. That means we have a blood curse. It's not manifested itself in several generations, but there is always that fear that one of our family members will be affected by it. Anyone affected by it would become frail, have almost an impossible time delivering children, and would almost certainly be doomed to die young."
"Like royals of old." Harry thought.
Everyone looked up as Professor McGonagall tapped a glass and Headmaster Dumbledore stood up once again. "Let the feast begin." he declared.
Suddenly the tables filled with foods and morsels of all types. The children looked in awe at worlds all you could eat buffet that laid before them. Millicent wasted no time in digging in and to the surprise of no one she ate more than either of her new friends combined.
Harry was enjoying himself until a shadow stood over him or more accurately three shadows. Harry let out a sigh as he immediately knew who was behind him.
"Look who found himself in the graces of our great house."
"Don't you have somewhere else to be stupid Draco?"
"It wouldn't be wise to make an enemy of me potter. My family name carries a lot of weight in Slytherin house, and I can make your time in Hogwarts wonderful or miserable. It's your choice."
"No one cares how full of it you are Draco." Dalphine snapped.
Malfoy eyes darkened as he tried to tower over his cousin. "You think I'm going to give any credence to you. You filthy Blood traitor."
Harry stood up. While he didn't know what the term blood traitor meant, the fact that the wizarding world's obsession with blood purity bore a startling resemblance to a few certain well known Muggle concepts, he sadly had a pretty good idea of what blood traitor meant and what it implied. "Shut up Malfoy!" He barked.
Crabbe quickly shoved him back into his seat everyone looked on wanting to see if a fight would occur.
"Leave them alone Malfoy." Millicent growled.
Malfoy then turned to her. "What are you going to do Bulstrode? Sit on me; turn me to stone with that ugly mug of yours? Go back to your bayou little swamp troll."
Bulstrode growled as she stood up from her chair. A look of fear formed on the face of Malfoy and his gang as she held Crabbe by the collar of his robe and pulled him towards her till he was merely an inch or two from her face. "I said leave them alone." she repeated slowly. Crabbe and Goyle were big, but Bulstrode was bigger than either of them.
Harry in the meantime felt his mouth fall agape upon seeing Milicent's show of power. He had never seen that much strength from anyone before let alone a girl. He felt something he had never felt before but all he could do was give do was utter a small wow.
Crabbe yelped and fell backwards into Malfoy as he felt himself get shoved backwards by Milicent's brutish raw strength. Malfoy let out a squeal as he felt himself get pinned down by Crabbe's extensive bulk. The whole Slytherin house erupted in soft giggles.
"Get off of me you fat twit!"
He let out a grunt as he pushed Crabbe aside, got up and brushed himself off. Harry started to giggle as he saw Malfoy's face turned every shade of red conceivable. Whether it was out of embarrassment, rage, or both, Harry could not say. He could say however that if looks could kill. Draco would in fact be on trial for the murder of Harry Potter.
"You'll rue this day Potter. Sooner or later your little girl squad won't be around to protect you. When that happens just you wait."
"What in Merlin's beard is going on here?!"
The student body looked up to see Professor McGonagall. Her eyes sparked with fire and her lips were drawn to the point her gums were showing.
"Can someone please explain to me why we have suddenly decided to turn a perfectly normal and orderly feast into an absolute boondoggle?!"
"Oh thank you Professor." Malfoy said in an admittedly convincing performance. "I was offering Potter my hand of friendship when he had his brute friend Bulstrode attack me."
She then looked to Harry. "Do you have anything to say in your defense Mr. Potter?
Harry began to stutter. "Well, what happened was…"
"I'm afraid Professor McGonagall," A soft, contained voice spoke. "Mr. Malfoy's account isn't entirely accurate."
Everyone looked over to see a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose and yellow, uneven teeth walking forward.
"Severus?" McGonagall asked.
"I regret to say that it was in fact Mr. Malfoy who was attempting to intimidate Mr. Potter. When his cousin Ms. Greengrass told him firmly to leave Mr Potter alone, Mr. Malfoy insulted her, calling her…a Blood Traitor. Mr. Potter was simply defending Ms. Greengrass's honor. Mr. Crabbe over here proceeded to push Mr. Potter back into his chair threating to beat him, and Ms. Blustrode pushed Mr. Crabbe into Mr. Malfoy to defend Mr. Potter.
McGonagall looked to the trio again, rather impressed by what she had heard. "Is this true?"
All three of them nodded.
"Well then, While I do believe it is most admiral that you stood up for each other. I'm afraid I am not willing to give all three of you points for fear it would be rewarding Mr Malfoy seeing you are all of the house, but I am also unwilling to take away points for fear it would be punishing you, so whatever points that would have been lost you can consider restored leaving things at a net zero."
The trio thanked McGonagall for the understanding decision. The professor in question looked at Malfoy with Angry eyes. "As for you Mr. Malfoy, I cannot control your thoughts or whatever foul opinions your parents have taught you. Nevertheless, I will say this only once and I want to make sure I am heard loud and clear. We do not accept that sort of language at Hogwarts. If I here of another incident like this again and I find you are responsible, I will make sure any free time you have this year is spent entirely in detention. So I would suggest any thoughts you have you keep to yourself. Am I understood?!"
"Yes mam." Malfoy whimpered.
"Speaking of detention, I believe one is warranted.
"I agree." said Professor McGonagall.
Severus looked to a tall skeletal looking man with long thinning hair holding a cat.
"Mr. Filtch, see to it that Mr. Malfoy is sent to my office for detention."
Filtch quickly grabbed Malfoy and dragged him out of the hall. "Come on boy." he growled.
Harry looked up to this strange batlike man. "Uh, thanks."
"Do not thank me Mr Potter. I report things as I see them also know, that while you may be a celebrity to the greater wizarding world, here you are in the house of Slytherin I will hold you to the high expectations of said house. "Am I understood?"
"Y-yes sir."
As Severes walked away, Harry sat back down. "Who was that?"
"That was Professor Snape." Dalphine said. "He's the potions teacher, and the head of Slytherin house."
"I've heard some say he's a vampire." Millicent snorted.
"He seems cool to me." Harry said. "Just remind me to keep my potions studies.
the trio got back to eating. Harry and Dalphine looked to Bulstrode. "That was amazing what you did to Crabbe." Harry said. "Can I take you home with me during the summer?"
Milicent blushed a little. "Are you serious?"
Harry nodded. "I wish I was as physically strong as you are.
Milicent smiled just a little. "No one's ever complemented me on my size or strength before. Everyone seems to think that just because I'm so large I must be a dumb brute like Malfoy's goons.
"You're not a dumb brute." Harry defended. "And I don't think your ugly either. Sure, you are big and tall but you're not ugly. In fact, I think your kind of beautiful in your own way."
Milicent blushed even harder. "Shut up Potter." She spoke. She was more embarrassed and surprised than annoyed.
Dalphine was already taking the ball and running with it. "Potter loves Bulstrode. Potter loves Bulstrode" she sang.
"Shut up." Both of them pleaded.
Harry smiled lightly as he finished his meal. Had someone told him prior to being sorted that he'd be placed in Slytherin, he might have asked if he could just leave on the next train ride home, but now looking at his two new friends, maybe being in Slytherin wouldn't be so bad after all.