His eyes snapped open as a soft pop echoed in the previously dead quiet of the dorm room. The curtains on the bed had a built in silencing ward which he had purposely left inactive. It was important to him to continue following the instincts instilled in him since he began training as a shinobi. He slept lightly so he could wake up quickly if even the slightest change occurred in the environment around him. If anyone was going to attack him, he would make sure he could hear them coming so he could be ready to defend himself.
He really wanted to believe the best of the untrained eleven year olds he now lived with, but he knew better than to underestimate them due to their age. After all, shinobi were trained beginning at age seven and ending at age ten. He was more deadly at age eleven than any civilian adult. Given the cycle of war between light and dark magic practitioners in the wizarding world, there was no reason to assume that none of the others were capable of murder. He didn't know their belief systems beyond what had been written in books. He was missing the knowedge passed down verbally through the generations. Therefore, he would give them benefit of the doubt but not let his guard down.
He heard the sound of Draco's trunk being opened across the room. His first thought was that it was one of the other boys even though he hadn't hear the curtains being opened. He felt fully justified in his decision to sleep with his trunk in his pocket now that he knew there was such dishonesty present at Hogwarts. The thief wasn't looking in his trunk but that didn't mean anything. If anyone came to suspect he had the stone then they could look in his trunk all they wanted and never find it. He had the stone protected in a password protected compartment. The thief would need to be able to speak parsletongue as well as guess the password.
At some point during the night he had rolled onto his back. Carefully, he took the chance to roll over onto his stomach making sure the pocket that held his trunk was safely underneath him. His skin stung where it was pinched by the trunk. He was more than willing to ignore the slight discomfort in favour of security. His hand wrapped around one of the kunai hidden under his pillow just in case whoever had broken into their room was hostile toward him.
After a few minutes the sound of Draco's trunk being closed echoed in the silenced room. Soft footsteps that seemed to belong to someone the size of a toddler, or a house elf, approached his bed. He heard his wardrobe being opened, the bedside table being searched, and his curtains shifting. He opened his eyes just enough to see through his eyelashes so he could see what was happening even as his hand tightened further around his weapon. What he assumed to be a Hogwarts house elf bent down to look under his bed before closing his curtains completely. He isn't able to hear the soft pop when it leaves because the silencing wards engaged when the curtains fully closed. He can't risk leaving his bed now until morning.
He rolled onto his back, relieved that his trunk was no longer digging into the skin of his chest. The school wanted to search his belongings. He had a sinking feeling that the beginning of his school year would be terrible because there was no way that he was letting anyone inside his trunk. It was a matter of principle. His privacy was something that should be respected. He was sure there were wards of some kind that prevented dangerous magical items from being brought into the school. They were mentioned in Hogwarts: A History and he can't imagine any headmaster being so stupid as to disable them.
Unable to fall back asleep he nudged the curtains open a crack so that he could hear anything else that may happen in the room. With nothing better to do he opens his trunk. He gets out his school books. He also takes out his expanded featherlight bag that has most of his school supplies inside it already so he doesn't need to come back to the dorm between classes. He shrinks the trunk again before putting it back in his pocket. Even though he's read the book before he settles in to read it again until morning casting a lumos so he will be able to properly see.
With a yawn he closed his book as the sound of curtains being drawn reached him. He glanced to the left noticing that it was Theodore. He hadn't fully decided what he thought about the boy. He was serious enough that it was likely he knew more than he should at his age. Whether that meant he was a threat or not was an issue for later after he had gathered more information.
He climbed out of bed heading to the bathroom with the clothes he had taken out of his trunk the night before. He nodded to Theo on his way to their shared bathroom. There was no reason not to be friendly until he made his decision on the boy's threat level. He even threw in a small smile in an effort to appear more personable.
Inside the bathroom there was a large shared bathtub taking up the entire back corner of the room made of dark green marble with silver faucets. The shower stalls lined the back wall next to the bath. Two toilet stalls next to urinals were on the right side of the room. On the wall next to the door was a row of counters with mirrors above them and then two full length mirrors at the end right beside the door so the students could make sure they were presentable from head to toe before leaving the bathroom. In the centre of the room was a circle of sinks with a towel warming rack facing the showers. Even with the five of them the bathroom was large enough that no one would have to worry about being in each other's way.
He went into one of the shower stalls making sure that he locked the door. It was unfortunate that he wouldn't be able to use the bath but with the tattooed seal on his stomach visible he couldn't risk one of the other boys walking in. He sighed as he went about getting ready for his day. Most of the scars littering his body could be explained away as being a particularly rambunctious scamp of a child. The tattoo had no explanation he could think of.
As he went finished his morning routine, Draco and his goons shuffled into the room to begin their day as well. He debated waiting for Draco but he was already done so their really wasn't much point. He left the dorm to see if anyone was in the common room yet. He was surprised to see the hook-nosed teacher who had spent the feast sneering at him waiting in the common room. He sighed as the teacher's eyes fixated on him.
The man's face was completely blank as he waited in the common room. As he approached the Professor moved to intercept him making sure he had no chance to escape had he been planning on doing so. He kept a polite smile on his face as he stopped in front of the Professor. The Professor sneered at him.
"Mr. Potter, you will come with me," the teacher said walking out of the common room without looking back.
The man's robes floated behind him dramatically as he led the way to an unknown destination. He paid attention to the route they were taking and realized it was the same path they had followed from the Great Hall the night before. They stopped at a door he remembered as one of only three doors down that hallway. On the door was a silver plaque with the words:
Office of Professor S. Snape
(Potions Master)
Head of Slytherin House
He followed Professor Snape into his office keeping his nerves from showing on his face. The room held plush chairs in front of a large fireplace along the wall. A comforting fire was already burning within the hearth as the only source of light in the room. At the far end was a desk carved with lifelike snakes along the edges and legs of the desk. The desk was a dark wood that in the dimly lit room looked black. In front of it was a trio of uncomfortable looking wooden chairs.
Professor Snape took a seat behind the desk looking at him like he was something he had scraped off the bottom of his shoe. He felt his face blank as he was strongly reminded that through no fault of his own this person had already decided that they disliked him. Much like the villagers in the hidden leaf he doubted he would be able to change his mind. No matter how good he behaved once hatred had taken root it was very difficult to change.
He took a seat in one of the uncomfortable looking chairs set up in front of the desk for students. He was surprised that they were more comfortable than they looked. They were probably charmed to be at least decently comfortable. He sat quietly waiting for the Professor to speak first. He was pretty sure Snape was also expecting him to ask what he wanted because they sat quietly staring at each other for almost five minutes before the man's face shifted into an obvious look of disdain.
"You are required to present your trunk for inspection," Snape told him cutting right to the point.
"I am afraid I cannot do that," he meant it too.
"Mr. Potter this is not a request. I require you to bring me your trunk," the Professor said, sneer deepening.
He folded his hands politely in his lap while keeping his tone of voice as even as possible, "I have read Hogwarts: A History, I have read the Hogwarts Charter as well as the rules and regulations of Hogwarts as set by the board of governors. I am under no obligation to give you my trunk so that you can go through my private property. If I had anything dangerous inside my trunk the wards would have prevented my trunk from entering the school. Apart from that, was there anything else you needed?"
"What are you hiding?" Professor Snape snapped.
"Nothing, I simply value my privacy," he said with a polite smile.
He stood from the chair turning to leave the room. He was stopped by the sound of the Professor standing as well. He glanced back over his shoulder to see the blank face of his Professor.
"You are just like your Father. A spoiled, insolent, brat," the Professor sneered, "You are dismissed."
He clenched his hands into fists the only reaction he was willing to show. He had broken no rules. He had done his homework, used the rules to his advantage to gain what he wanted, he behaved in an admirably Slytherin way. He didn't expect someone who hated him to praise him but to call him names was not appropriate behaviour toward a student. Refusing to acknowledge the man further he left the room heading back to the common room. He figured Draco was probably ready to go to breakfast by then.
As he entered the common room he lingered in the shadows of the entrance hallway. He had noticed that Draco and the other first years were speaking quietly together. He was curious about what they could be saying. If he was honest, he was worried that they were talking about him. They kept their heads close while glancing around every so often. Such suspicious behaviour required further investigation. He directed his chakra to his ears enhancing his hearing temporarily so that he could hear their conversation even from a distance.
"He'll ruin your position Draco," Pansy whispered earnestly to the blond, "He's a half-blood."
"You've barely spoken to him, he was the one who came up with the idea that allowed me to sneak my broom into the castle," Draco responded.
"One sneaky idea doesn't mean anything," she whispered back fiercely, "He survived the night the Dark Lord died through unknown means. Most of Slytherin is related to at least one Death Eater. He is our enemy, the upper year students will not look kindly on you allying yourself with him."
"Personally, I wouldn't want to be on the upper years' bad side. It would make our life much more difficult," Daphne concurred with Pansy.
"What would your father think?" Theodore added quietly, "It was because of Potter that your family was almost ruined. How do you think it looks if you decide to be friends with him?"
"Not to mention no one knows where he's been the last eleven years. In fact no one knows anything about him," Daphne confirmed.
"Fine," Draco conceded, "I accept your opinions. But, I do not believe being friendly with Potter is a disadvantage. It will make things a little more difficult true, but the Dark Lord is dead. Potter lived and is a Slytherin. What do you think that means?"
"You think he will be the next Dark Lord," Pansy snorted.
"Maybe not, but I think we should find out," Draco's voice remained firm.
"Fine, we'll follow your lead for now but one wrong move and Potter is out," Theodore said as the others nodded their agreement.
"We should start by finding out where he stands with regards to muggles," Daphne advised.
Draco looked around the common room but didn't see Hadrian anywhere, "Where is he anyway?"
"If you're looking for Potter, he was pulled aside by Professor Snape earlier," an older student sitting by the couches advised.
"Thanks," Draco said to the older student.
"He probably just went ahead to breakfast then," Pansy advised.
As a group the first years headed toward the entrance to the common room. He wasn't ready to be discovered by them yet. He pushed chakra into his legs and feet to hurry out of the common room before they could see him. He ran in the opposite direction of the Great Hall to avoid being caught using Shinobi skills by the other students. He ducked down the first hallway to branch off needing to consider his next move carefully. He sunk down into a crouch.
It seemed like the teachers had taken an unhealthy interest in his personal belongings. That worried him because he didn't know the motivation behind the interest. He highly doubted that it was just because he survived given that it was highly unlikely that information was sitting around in his trunk. He knew that the stone was safe in the password protected compartment and that not handing over his trunk to be searched made him more suspicious but he had a lot of shinobi weapons in the larger less secure compartments that he couldn't let them find. He was actually surprised that he hadn't set off any wards given how dangerous kunai and shuriken were in the hands of a trained shinobi. Luckily, the wards were specific to dangerous magic which he had checked before packing his weapons. He didn't just have his weapons either, he also had the weapons that Gaara had brought because his trunk was better protected.
Which reminded him, he needed to return Gaaras weapons to him at some point as well. Then there was the fact that apart from the interest in his belongings Snape seemed to hate him for no reason which would make life harder for him because Snape was both a Professor and his Head of House. It meant he would not be able to rely on any would also be difficult to make any moves of his own. With regards to the teachers he would simply need to respond to their moves as they made them and hope he wouldn't give anything too troublesome away.
Even Sirius was a big question mark now that he had been sorted Slytherin. He would need to get his opinion on his sorting sooner rather than later just in case it made his life more difficult.
Then to top it all off he now had to worry about the other Slytherin students. With a sigh he could admit to feeling hurt by Draco. He had let himself hope for a friend who would be on his side. Though Draco had argued in favour of befriending him, he did also agree to abandon their budding friendship at the first sign of trouble. When he had originally decided to come to the wizarding world he had simply wanted to secure his financial future, but once he discovered that was only possible through going to school again he had been determined to have an experience that was different to the one he had at the shinobi academy.
Standing up he decided to pretend that he hadn't heard their conversation when he was around the other first years. He would continue to be friendly toward them, but he wouldn't make the mistake of trusting them.