A/N: My interest in this fandom may have waned, but seeing your interest and continued support keeps me and the muse working on this story. I'm sorry for the long breaks between chapters, but know that hearing from you and reading your reviews is a tremendous gift and a source of motivation to keep writing this story. I'm only sorry that I cannot reward your patience and support with a better and faster updating system.
The Slytherin Reformation
By Spectre4hire
4: The Perceptions of Courtship
"You call that Parseltongue?"
"No one asked you, Nott."
"They didn't have to. Their pained faces were loud enough."
"Enough," Tracey interrupted the bickering of her fellow Slytherins. "You're ruining the story," she reprimanded, Theodore looked away from Tracey's frown while Daphne sighed and mumbled.
They were gathered in the library at their usual secluded table where Daphne and Theo had been taking turns retelling what had happened in the Slytherin common room the previous night to Hermione and Neville. Harry had been trying to focus on his Transfiguration story. He didn't want to turn into Draco with an inflated ego, who enjoyed bragging about his exploits. It had been a difficult challenge, not because he was interested in hearing it, but because of the bickering that Daphne and Theodore would descend into if one of them told their part in a way the other didn't like or approve of.
"Thank you," Tracey said dramatically, "But before you further ruin this amazing story, I will finish telling it." She looked to her friends as if waiting them to challenge her, neither did. Satisfied, Tracey turned her attention back to the two Gryffindors who had been patient and silent throughout the retelling.
Harry tried to concentrate on his textbook, but found himself rereading the same sentence as Tracey's reiteration captured his attention.
"And then he said," Tracey paused, grinning, "That means-Good night," she laughed as she said it, eyes gleaming triumphantly. "And left with us trying to keep up," she turned to Harry, ducking her head in reverence, "It was truly a remarkable feat!"
Harry rolled his eyes at Tracey's over-the-top dramatics.
"Wow, Harry," Neville said in awe, "You spoke it in front of them?" He shook his head in dismay, "All of them?"
"I did," Harry confirmed, feeling his lips twitch instinctively as he remembered the reactions his parseltongue had gotten from his housemates.
"Alexius nearly pissed himself," Daphne giggled, "It was amazing!"
Theodore nodded along, "and this morning, a student bowed to him!" He clapped Harry on the back, laughing as he spoke, "Actually bowed to him."
"That isn't what happened, Theo," Harry tried to correct his friend.
His friend dismissed the attempt of correction with a waved hand. "You can't tell me otherwise, Harry."
"He's right, Harry," Tracey added, "This morning the older students told us we could sit by the fireplace if we wanted." She revealed excitedly, "Those are the best seats in the common room. You usually have to be a fifth year or older but they're our seats now."
"They're probably afraid, Harry, will bring those stone snakes to life and attack anyone who looks at him funny," Daphne pointed out, her comment earning laughs from Tracey and Theo, who nodded along.
"It's not like we encouraged that particular rumor," Theodore noted.
"I don't understand," Hermione spoke up for the first time, "I thought you know," she paused, not wanting to mention a particular forbidden word in the library, "Was the reason you could speak to them."
"It was only a theory," Harry reminded his friend, "Dumbledore thought it was possible I'd lose the ability after it was removed." He remembered the conversations he had had with the Headmaster leading up and in the aftermath of the removal of the horcrux. "He also thought since I used the ability, that it could be… etched in my mind, like some sort of imprint that could remain even if it was cleansed." Harry shrugged, realizing he failed at properly explaining it or even making it sound as logical as Dumbledore had.
Hermione frowned, "That doesn't bother you?"
"I don't know," Harry answered honestly. He hadn't tried to speak it again until last night in the Slytherin common room. He was pleased and relieved when he had been able to speak it, realizing how foolish he would've been if he failed. However, his fellow Slytherins didn't need to know that detail.
"This is Harry's chance to do something positive with this skill," Daphne spoke in Harry's defense. "We can shed some unenlightened stigmas not just about our house, but Parseltongue too."
"Like cowing his housemates?" Hermione challenged, a hint of disapproval in her tone.
"You disagree?" It was Daphne's turn to frown. She didn't bother to hide her disapproval of Hermione's opinion, "Harry won us Slytherin house last night with that trick," She sent him a warm smile before her cold veneer fell back into place when she turned back to Hermione. "He didn't do it to hurt anyone, but to help those like us," She continued, "Who want to make Slytherin a house for everyone and not just the bigoted and pureblooded elite."
"What about the Rod of Asclepius?" Tracey pointed out, "it's considered a symbol of healing, which has led some historians to believe that was a parselmouth. The snake wasn't always a mark for darkness or deception. We're changing perceptions, and we shouldn't shy away from the challenge."
"You're right," Hermione admitted after a brief pause, mulling over their arguments. She took her defeat in stride, "I don't mean to criticize, Harry," Sending him a sheepish look, "I'm just worried for you," She admitted, "all of you," she added, looking around at Harry and the others, he noticed her gaze lingered a bit longer on Theo before ducking her head.
"We appreciate it, Hermione," Harry said sincerely, smiling when their eyes met.
"We do," Daphne said in a resigned tone, the quirk of her lips belaying her words.
That got Hermione to smile, looking relieved that they weren't too cross with her. "I am trying to nag less."
"You could've fooled us," Tracey deadpanned.
Harry laughed, and he wasn't the only one. The others joining in, even Hermione couldn't resist despite it being at her expense.
That was how Hufflepuff third year, Zacharias Smith found them. He cleared his throat to get their attention over their laughter. "Excuse me," There was a bit of a tremor in his voice. "I hope I'm not interrupting."
"No, you're fine," Tracey assured him, "Better you than Madam Pince."
"Good," he sounded relieved, "I erh was wondering if I could speak with you," His eyes widened after a heartbeat or two of silence, "Tracey, that is," he let out a weak chuckle. "Alone," he looked around the table, "If that's okay."
"That would be great," Tracey smiled brightly, slipping out of her seat.
He looked relieved, a more confident smile settling over him as he gestured for her to follow him out of sight.
"About time," Daphne watched them leave.
Hermione nodded in agreement, "Tracey's lucky," she added, "He's rather handsome."
Theodore frowned. "I don't know about that," he mumbled, hiding his annoyance by putting his History of Magic textbook over his face, "He looks like he was smelling something foul."
"Well, he was standing close to you, Nott," Daphne observed innocently.
He glared over his textbook but offered no reply. His eyes then flicked over to Hermione who's attention was on where Zacharias and Tracey had gone off, before he shifted back to his book.
Harry was about to say something to his friend, but Tracey's return stole the moment. He noticed her cheeks were a bit red, her eyes were bright, and she looked like she was lost in thought.
"Well?" Daphne demanded before Tracey took her seat.
"What?" Tracey was trying and failing to cover her obvious infatuation.
Daphne snorted, "Don't what me," sounding annoyed at the audacity of the response, "Not after I had to hear you talk about him these last few—"
"Alright," Tracey interrupted before her friend could reveal just how long her apparent crush on the Hufflepuff had been. "We're going to Hogsmeade together," she sounded breathless, looking dazed about her upcoming date with Zacharias.
"Oh, that's wonderful, Tracey!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I told you he'd ask you," Daphne sounded more pleased that she was proven right then at her friend's date.
Tracey rolled her eyes, "Thanks for the support, Daph."
Daphne smiled, "Of course I'm happy for you, Trace," she hugged her friend, her tone dropping to a whisper when she added, "We'll have to plan what you need to wear for this date."
Harry looked up at his friends to see Neville's pained look and Theo's repulsed look as their friends were blissfully unaware as they began talking about Tracey's pending date as well as trying to make plans for their Hogsmeade weekend too. Before Harry could stop his friends from derailing their study session further someone else beat him to it.
Madam Pince made her presence known, by clearing her throat. "This is a library not a common room," she hissed. Standing rigid, her shriveled face made her looked like an irritated vulture.
The three girls took the librarian's scolding differently, Hermione was mortified, shrinking into her seat, Tracey was sheepish, while Daphne was annoyed. It was the latter who spoke, "What a wonderful suggestion," she said, her tone sweeter then a treacle tart. Daphne gathered her things, sending Hermione and Tracey imploring looks to follow. "The air here has become a bit," She wrinkled her nose, "stale."
Tracey who had her back to Pince was grinning at her friend while Hermione looked scandalized, but she too had gathered up her books and put them in her bag and followed Daphne and Tracey out of the library hastily as if afraid the librarian would curse them.
Glowering in their direction until their forms disappeared, Pince turned her annoyed gaze towards Harry and them as if daring them to say something. None of them did, satisfied, Pince left the three of them alone, no doubt on the hunt for more unruly students.
Neville dispelled a breath when he thought the close was clear. "That was something," he observed delicately, earning chuckles from Harry and Theodore. "I hate to say it, but I'm sorta glad they had to leave." His eyes darting around the library in fear of a possible reappearance from their friends.
"Yeah, and to think we have the vulture to thank for that," Theodore looked surprised by the notion. "Don't get me wrong I can talk about scarfs and lip gloss all day," he added sarcastically, "But not when I'm trying to finish my History of Magic homework," he tapped his textbook to make his point, smirking.
Harry laughed, rolling his eyes at his friend's sense of humor, "That's good to know, Nott. I'm sure the girls would be delighted to include you next time."
"Don't even joke about that, Harry," Theo's smirk had disappeared in an instant at Harry's proposed suggestion.
Neville was grinning. "Don't sell yourself short, Theo," he told his friend, "Your opinion is just as important as theirs." He snickered at the flicker of fear that passed across Theodore's face.
"What do you think they mean by that?" Theodore frowned when the mirth subsided between the three of them.
"About what?" Neville looked over at him.
"About finding dates," He clarified, a hue of conflict in his brown eyes when he spoke.
"Ah," A look of understanding went over Neville's face, nodding sympathetically, "Probably nothing," he tried to assure him.
"Didn't sound like nothing," Theodore grumbled, "And did you hear them talk about Zacharias?" He shook his head, "like he was some sort of catch." He rolled his eyes. "I mean if you like pompous, tall people."
"We shouldn't be criticizing Tracey's choice of dates," Harry reminded him, knowing his friend was mostly sore at the subject because of what a certain Gryffindor had said about him. "If he treats Tracey well then we shouldn't get involved," He sent his friend a warning look, "or gossip about him, because you don't want that going back to Tracey."
"Fair enough," Theodore muttered, holding up his hands, "I won't say much."
"Makes you wonder though," There was was a serious look in Neville's eyes.
"Wonder about what?" Harry asked.
"Well," He snapped out of his look, now appearing flummoxed. "I-It's just that if," his voice was strained, "If Zacharias is asking Tracey doesn't that mean other blokes are starting to look and ask around for dates for the Hogsmeade Weekend."
"That's true," Harry tried to keep his tone casual, but his mind betrayed him with images of other guys asking Daphne out which was bad enough to picture, but her agreeing made it so much worse. His stomach rumbled at that and he found his hand instinctively clenching at the thought. He struggled silently for a few heartbeats to wrest those conjured ideas out of his head and to try to regain control over his gut and his head.
"What are you saying?"
"Don't be thick, Theo," Neville chided his friend, who glowered at him, but before he could respond to Neville in kind, the Gryffindor quickly apologized, "I didn't mean anything by it, but come on," stressing the last two words.
"Fair enough," Theodore begrudged him.
"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking," Harry asked Neville, "You plan on asking someone to Hogsmeade."
Neville's face turned an interesting shade of red, nearly matching his Gryffindor scarf. "I might be," his voice hitched, before he coughed in an attempt to try to regain his normal speaking tone, "I'm thinking about it."
This admission got Theodore and Harry to exchange grins knowing very well which girl their friend had his eye on. "Way to go, Neville," Theodore was the first to offer his congratulations, "Way to show that Gryffindor courage."
Neville squirmed in his seat. "I haven't done anything yet." He reminded them.
"True," Harry relented, "But it sounds to me that you've already made up your mind about it."
Neville didn't meet Harry's gaze. "I may have," he said noncommittally.
"So," Theodore's tone was drenched in innocent curiosity, "when are you going to ask her?"
"T-that hasn't been figured out yet," Neville deflected, scratching just below his chin, "hopefully soon," he gave a weak chuckle, before turning to them, "Do you think I should ask her before that?" His eyes wide in fear.
"Before what?" Theodore laughed, "Before soon? Or before the actual weekend?"
Neville sent him an annoyed look. "You know what I mean."
"Well, Nev, you said it yourself," Harry pointed out politely, "About other guys looking for dates too," he stopped when he saw understanding in his friend's eye as well as a look of resolve that hardened his pudgy face.
"Then next class we have together," he vowed seriously, "That's when I'll ask her," he then sagged in his seat as if comprehending what that actually involved finally dawning on him.
"Don't worry, Nev," Theodore was a good friend to know when it wasn't a time for jokes, "You can do this," he assured him, "And we'll be there for you," he gestured to himself and Harry.
"Really?" That put some hope in Neville's expression.
"Really," Harry quickly confirmed.
"Thanks," Neville looked relieved, "I appreciate it."
"Of course," Harry told him.
With his confidence back, Neville didn't hold back his next question. "What about you two?"
Harry noticed the sly growing smile on his friend's face. At the moment, he didn't really want to confront the feelings that were making themselves more well known about Daphne.
"I might stop by the Three Broomsticks," Theodore mentioned casually, shrugging when they turned to him, "Maybe alone, maybe not."
"Which is it, Theo?" Neville asked, not hiding his amusement at the fact that their roles were now reversed, "Alone or with someone?"
"Well," Theo mumbled, "that's a bit more difficult, I mean it's a town and other people will be there," he stuttered, his hands flailing as if trying to make sense of the incoherent sentences that kept pouring out of his mouth. "That is to say, that other people will be there while I'm there. So it's possible I'm there when someone else is there."
Harry's head hurt just trying to make sense of his friend's ramblings. "Please, Neville, no more questions," He held up his hand. "I'm not sure my brain can handle any more of Theo's insightfulness."
Neville laughed, and acquiesced, bowing his head in a dramatic show of deference, still grinning as he went back to his book. Theodore reacted to the friends' teasing with a smile, and an annoyed eye roll, but it seemed clear that he was also relieved that not only was the matter dropped, but the focus had shifted off of him.
No more on the subject was spoken between the friends, as they turned their attention away from the girls they fancied and the pending Hogsmeade weekend, and to their unfinished homework. A task Harry didn't often find too challenging, but as he tried to finish his essay, his thoughts betrayed him, with his head putting images of a certain Slytherin and him, each one more pleasing then the one before it. He half-heartedly tried to push the distracting ideas and conjured images out of his head so he could finish his homework, but each time, she returned.
Harry looked up from his essay when he realized that this study session was all but over for his concentration anyways. He smiled when he noticed Theodore and Neville too had abandoned their studies, looking equally flustered and distracted. They returned his smile, with the former shaking his head, and the latter laughing.
"I guess we're no different then the girls," Harry observed dryly.
"It would appear so," Theodore agreed, "But please can we not talk about scarfs and other accessories."
Neville snickered, "Don't be coy, Theo. You would look great with a nice green scarf."
"Oh yes, I can see that," he nodded, "Good call, Nev," Harry held up his hands as if framing Theodore who looked equal parts annoyed and amused, "But maybe we should also discuss hats."
"That's it, I'm leaving." Theo stood up abruptly, speaking over the laughter of Harry and Neville while his growing smile belayed the annoyed tone he tried to speak in. "I'd rather study with the Bloody Baron then you two, right now." He was packing up his things. "I doubt the Baron's ever brooded over a woman."
"I'm not sure I can court her," Theodore blurted out suddenly, looking alarmed at his own courage.
They were in the corridors of the dungeon, heading back to the Slytherin common room after the three friends realized they couldn't really study anymore. Neville had gone back to the Gryffindor common room while Harry and Theo were currently on their way to Slytherin's.
"Court her?" Harry repeated, surprised by not just the term, but his friend's sudden outburst after the two had walked in relative silence most of the way from the library.
"Yes," Theodore answered quickly, before looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was lingering or had heard his slip. "In following the pure blood traditions."
"I know that," Harry remembered it from one of the lessons with Roxanne over the summer. It sounded rather archaic even by pure blood standards, and to Harry that was saying something. "You think that would bother Hermione? I mean she's not a pure blood." Harry reminded his friend, He was going to say he doubted Hermione would know of the traditions, but he stopped himself, realizing he didn't want to underestimate her thirst for knowledge and her ability of absorbing information.
"I mean you don't have to follow those traditions," he suggested, "Couldn't you do something simple or casual?" Not that he hadn't been recently thinking about something similar involving him and Daphne...
"Together?" Theodore sounded confused by the mere suggestion.
"Yes," Harry had sympathy for his friend, seeing him struggle with his feelings for Hermione and the expectations that were unfairly put on him from his father.
"No," he shook his head, his face displaying his dislike of the idea. He paced in front of Harry, hands behind his back, muttering incoherently, looking to be wrestling over something for a few seconds before he stopped. He snapped his fingers, eyes bright from a newly thought out idea.
"We go together with them," he revealed, "us four."
"Like a double date?" It wasn't the worse idea Harry had heard.
"Exactly," Theo grinned, but it didn't last, "Except we don't have to tell them that it's a date." He must have seen Harry's confused expression because he was quick in stuttering a response, "W-we can like it, see if they like it, ya know? Without making it awkward or complicated."
"And this idea doesn't seem like either of those things to you?"
Theodore wasn't given a chance to defend his idea as a new voice joined their conversation.
"Mister Potter, Mister Nott," Their Head of House seemed to appear out of thin air from behind Harry and Theodore, his soft voice puncturing the friends' conversation and startling the pair of Slytherins.
"Professor Snape," Harry recovered first.
"Mister Potter, a word?" It wasn't a request, and without waiting for a reply, Snape walked to a nearby classroom, opening the door and sent Harry a look that was very blunt.
"Of course, Professor," Harry would at least pretend he had a say in the matter, heading to the classroom.
"You can keep walking, Mister Nott," Snape told him, seeing as Theodore hadn't moved since their head of house appeared.
"Of course, sir," Theodore didn't even try to argue, sending Harry a sheepish look before turning around and continuing towards the Slytherin common room.
Harry had a very strong suspicion of what it was his head of house wanted to talk to him about, but that didn't make him any more confident since he found himself in an empty classroom with his aloof and daunting head of house.
"There was quite the stir within the common room I've been told."
"Was there?" Harry asked automatically, not sure why he was playing it this way, but his nerves got the best of him with him being pinned by the intimidating stare of Professor Snape. "I mean," he tried to amend, "That well I did have a conversation with Alexius."
"I hear it was quite the conversation," Snape said dryly.
Harry wanted to chuckle since he couldn't help but be reminded of Alexius' frightened face and the stunned silence from his house mates but any mirth he felt was instantly snuffed by Snape's glare.
"I-I," Harry stammered trying to form some sort of response to fill the stony silence between him and Snape.
"Enlightening," Snape remarked, "Tell me, Mister Potter is it with this same eloquent manner that you converse with snakes?" He hid his thoughts and emotions on the matter beneath eyes as black as night. "If it is, then I pity the snakes."
That was when Harry saw the crack. Was it a smile? He wasn't certain, as the flicker was brief, but if it was any indication then Snape was telling a joke, and that seemed to only frighten Harry further. Never knowing his head of house to do such a thing.
No, he wasn't, he reasoned silently, I'm just desperate. He just needed to see some sort of emotion from the stoic mask his potions professor wore and it was causing him to be delusional.
"Sadly, Professor, stone snakes aren't ones to speak," Harry observed casually, finding it easier to find the boldness at being sarcastic to his professor when he wasn't looking into those unrelenting eyes. "But that wasn't the point, sir." He added, still avoiding his professor's gaze, "It wasn't the snakes I was speaking to, but my house."
"Oh?" For the first time in their short, but scary conversation, the professor's tone didn't sound completely ice cold. "You were speaking parseltongue to your housemates?"
"I was," Harry knew there was no need to deny it. "It doesn't matter what was said, sir, just how it was said."
"Indeed," Snape replied, but didn't bother to add anything further instead letting the silence fall over the two of them.
Harry found it very uncomfortable especially as he continued to try to avoid his professor's gaze. A challenge he was finding more difficult, as there was only so many places he could look in this room without meeting Snape's eyes. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, finding his throat beginning to dry as the silence between them only grew, becoming more smothering with each passing heartbeat.
And just when Harry didn't think he could take it anymore, his head of house broke it.
"Look at me, Harry."
It wasn't that he broke the silence. It wasn't that he used Harry's name. It was the tone in which Snape had spoken that caught Harry the most off-guard. It wasn't clipped or curt. Nor was it strained or kind, it was just normal, and Harry wasn't certain he had ever heard his head of house speak without a certain air to him whether to frighten or to intimidate. It was a tone that Harry was use to Cyrus or Remus or Dumbledore using when addressing him, but never Snape.
It was that which made Harry obey his professor's command, meeting his dark eyes, his mask remained in place, but it looked to be slipping to Harry's untrained mind, especially when he noticed Snape's lips curl up, but not for his usual sneer, no it more resembled a smile. It looked fragile and uncertain, but it softened the cold look of his eyes.
"I've underestimated you yet again, Harry," he admitted, that smile or not smile had slipped away almost as quickly as it appeared, but his expression remained relaxed. "I never thought you as a Slytherin or fit to wear those colors or to walk within these walls a representative of Salazar. In my eyes, you were a Gryffindor just like your father." His mouth pursing with the last two words. "Even when you began to show you were not him, and that you could thrive here, I didn't see it. I wouldn't see it." It was him who looked away first, away from Harry's green eyes.
"I didn't want to because it would be as if James Potter was wearing those colors, belonging to this house, and I couldn't stand that."
Harry wisely stayed quiet, but if he was being honest he wasn't sure what to say. Few words were forthcoming as he was more stunned by this conversation and his professor's openness that he had a hard time honestly trying to mull this all over. His relationship with Snape had thawed somewhat in the last year, but they weren't cordial. It was still mostly curt, with Snape speaking and Harry listening. It was nothing like it was with Moony, or Cyrus or Dumbledore. Nor was it like his other professors at least with Sprout or Flitwick, he wasn't scared to smile.
He thought about the memory of his parents of their words they wanted Snape to hear, and Harry trying to get his head of house to see it, to hear them, but he had refused, cold and blunt. And since Harry had made that known, Snape had treated him with cold indifference that Harry hadn't experienced since he was first sorted into Slytherin.
"After your incident last night with Alexius, I could no longer deny it," his soft voice pulled Harry out of his thoughts and back towards his potions professor, his expression marred by some internal conflict. "You are a Slytherin, Harry," he said finally. "You belong in this house."
"Thank you, sir," Harry had expected a scolding or maybe even a warning from his professor for what he had done to Alexius, certainly not praise, and definitely not an endorsement for his actions. "It was the hat, sir," Harry found himself saying, when silence threatened to fall between them once more. "The hat told me I could do great things in this house."
That and Daphne, he thought, but he wasn't going to say that to Snape. Thinking about his first school friend and wanting to be close to her that helped to sway him in following her into Slytherin house.
"And it appears you will," Snape observed, "Just remember, that great things have been done by wizards and witches from this house before, Mister Potter." He warned him, "What the Dark Lord was able to accomplish with magic was great." His face became stony at the mention of Voldemort. "They were sights to behold, feats unimaginable, but they were dreadful and catastrophic," he paused, "and yet amazing nonetheless."
"I won't be like him," Harry said flatly.
"No," Snape's eyes lingered on Harry's. "I don't think you will," he then turned away, "You may leave, Potter," he pointed to the door. His posture was dismissive.
Harry moved towards the exit, his footsteps the only noise in the classroom, as Snape had all but ignored him since being dismissed. When Harry's hand touched the doorknob, he looked back to see Snape's back was to him. He opened the door, and was about to walk out, but he hesitated, and then steeled himself when he had made his choice.
"He was sorry," Harry spoke up, "My dad," he didn't look to see what reaction his head of house would give, "For everything he did to you." Harry closed the door before Snape could respond fearing the wrath he may have just invoked.
A/N: In the book, I believe the first Hogsmeade weekend is in Late November/Early December, but here it'll be in mid-October before the start of Quidditch season.
Thanks,
-Spectre4hire