Harry sat in an empty compartment on the train, absently stroking Hedwig, who was perched on his lap. Zaccai was sprawled comfortably over his shoulders, and was vaguely looking through the window onto the platform, full of parents hugging children goodbye.
Harry was also watching one such family, a large group of redheads, all covered in freckles and, soot? Why were they covered in soot? Totally bizarre.
He had spent the past fifteen minutes since arriving at platform 9¾ watching every child, assessing them with his cold, acidic eyes. That girl was arrogant, that boy was nervous, that boy was weak. It was really quite entertaining, which was good because Harry had already gone through his textbooks, obsessively learning the information in advance.
When he had arrived, he saw Malfoy climb daintily onto the train with some friends, undoubtedly childhood friends. Harry had decided not to follow after him, he was sending a very clear message, he would not be the one to chase Malfoy, and he was certainly not going to be the only one in the compartment that wasn't already acquainted with everyone. By cutting in on a tight-knit group of friends, he would be perceived as a natural outsider. He was not joining their group, they would be joining his.
The Red-headed family finally started saying goodbye to one another, with barely five minutes to spare. Just as four of the five children departed towards the train, he noticed the young girl, who previously appeared to be complaining about something to her parents, was staring at him.
Time seemed to slow for a moment as their eyes met, her piercing brown eyes fixed on his face, mouth slightly agape, and, for a second, they both seemed to have eyes only for each other.
Then the moment broke, and she tugged on her mother's hand, pointing towards him. The woman turned away from her disappearing sons for a moment to look at the center of her daughter's attention, her eyes also widening as she spotted him.
Too late to pretend to not have seen her, he waved awkwardly at her, which caused her to send him a kind smile, and a little wave back, before saying something to her daughter and turning back to her sons.
As the train began to move, the reduced family started running along with it, waving the whole time until the train finally turned a corner. With this, the sound of many children finally sitting down thundered across the carriages. After just a few moments of peace, Harry heard a small knock on the door, and turned to see the smallest ginger boy from before, sheepishly entering the compartment.
"Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." He glanced around the compartment, not really looking at Harry.
"Of course." Harry gestured to the seat opposite him.
As he practically collapsed on the seat, the boy finally looked at Harry, and his eyes widened slightly as they focused on the huge scar covering his face.
"Wait, you're… are you?" The boy trailed off half way through his sentence, seemingly embarrassed by his small outburst.
"Harry Potter, and you?" Harry reached out to the boy.
"Ron, Ron Weasley. Sorry, I didn't mean to be weird, it's just, it's you, you know?" Ron shook the outstretched hand. Then he noticed the snake.
"Oh my god!" Ron ripped his hand away, backing into the seat.
"This is Zaccai, and I assure you, he is perfectly friendly." Harry stroked the reptile's head while he preened in parseltoungue.
"Really? Isn't he slimy?" Ron seemed unsure, leaning forward again slightly, not taking his eyes from Zaccai.
"I promise, I mean, I wouldn't have him on my shoulders if he was dangerous would I?" Ron appeared to accept this, relaxing once again, but still not moving his eyes.
"You can stroke him if you like, he really isn't slimy, he's quite soft." This was met with very wide, disbelieving eyes from the freckled boy, who, very, very, slowly, stretched his arm out, which Harry took. Harry guided the hand to a section of the lower body, well away from Zaccai's head.
The moment Ron's hand touched Zaccai, he calmed, slumping in the seat, and stroking Zaccai.
"Hey, you're right, he actually is soft, somehow." After a few minutes of Ron gently petting the snake, who was purring in parseltoungue by this point, Harry and Ron's conversation ventured into quidditch, which Harry was finding rather an interesting concept.
They continued on this this for hours, before a small looking woman appeared, trolley in tow, offering them sweets. Harry had not really had many sweets before, as he wasn't allowed any at the Dursley's, and never had the money for them at the orphanage, but damn if he wasn't going to buy all the sweets he could ever want right now. Especially after watching Ron produce a sad-looking corned-beef sandwich from his raggy hand-me-downs. This boy could be bought, and not with money, and not technically with sweets. This boy was lonely, and Harry was going to use it.
Which is why, as they covered the opposite seat with sweets, Ron's wide-eyed stare and grin towards him ignited something in Harry.
Power.
They sat for several hours more, stuffing their faces, Zaccai and Hedwig having been put away for some peace. The boys were discussing many things about magic and sports and other such topics, Tom helpfully adding things for Harry to use in the conversation, until there was another interruption, in the form of a bushy-haired girl with buck-teeth who, apparently, didn't know how to knock.
"Have either of you seen a toad? A boy called Neville Longbottom has lost one." She glanced between the boys, noticing the many sweets piled up around them. Noticing her gaze, Harry smiled at her.
"Would you like some?" Ha asked politely, gesturing at his pile of goodies. Unfortunately this did not receive the reaction he was expecting.
"No, and you really shouldn't eat all of those anyway, they'll rot your teeth, I should know, my parents are dentists. I'm Hermione Granger by the way." She wrinkled her nose at them, speaking in a condescending tone.
Harry immediately began to break down what she was saying. Her parents were dentists, which mean she was a muggleborn, there being no dentists in the wizarding world. She was, despite this, very arrogant. That meant she felt confident in this new world, and for that she must surely be very talented. This girl, despite her nature was someone that Harry could tell he wanted on his side.
"Well if you took some, we would eat less, wouldn't we?" He grinned at her again, showcasing his white, straight, pointy teeth. Then an idea stuck him.
"You could take some for Neville Longbottom, I'm sure that would cheer him up while he looks for his toad." He suggested.
Hermione seemed to think this over for a moment, before begrudgingly picking out a few chocolate frogs.
"That's very thoughtful of you, what's your name?" She turned to Harry first.
"Harry Potter." He shook her outstretched hand. She perked up at the mention of his name, but before she could go into a spiel about him, he directed her attention to Ron, who looked rather frustrated at being ignored.
"And this is my friend, Ron Weasley." Ron's face lit up at being called Harry's friend. Hermione turned to him briefly, smiling politely, before turning back to Harry, undoubtedly to talk about him, but, again, he halted her.
"What house do you think you'll be in?" Harry asked her, also looking at Ron, trying to make the discussion a group one. This successfully distracted her, as he watched gears start turning in her eyes.
"Probably Ravenclaw, but I might also go into Gryffindor, like Dumbledore." Luckily for him, neither of his companions noticed the dark look that flickered over Harry's face when she said that name. "What about you?" She turned to Ron, finally including him in the conversation.
"Definitely Gryffindor, my whole family has been in Gryffindor; my parents, all of my brothers, even my cousins and grandparents. It would be a real shock for me to be in anything else, especially Slytherin."
"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Harry was very glad Hermione asked that so that he didn't have to.
"I know a bunch of dark wizards have come from there, even You-Know-Who, but from what I can tell, it's more of a family thing, like how all of yours has been in Gryffindor. It just so happened that most of the evil families were in Slytherin at some point, and now most of them are, but that doesn't mean that all Slytherins are evil, does it?"
Ron seemed genuinely stumped by this, before responding carefully.
"I suppose not all Slytherins are evil, but you said yourself, there are loads of dark families in there, and I was just saying it would be bad for me especially, because the Slytherins would hate me for being a blood-traitor, and everyone else would hate me because they think I'm going dark. Either way, it's not for me." He crossed his arms, seemingly very proud to reasoned out his view of the world. Harry couldn't help but be slightly impressed himself. There was nothing more certain than an 11 year-old.
With that, Hermione seemed to remember why she was there.
"So you haven't seen a toad?"
"No, sorry, but we'll keep an eye out." Harry smiled at her, finally achieving a small smile back from her, before she turned around and left.
The rest of the journey went peacefully, as they changed into their robes and the sky darkened. Harry also pulled out a hat, hoping to cover his hair and some of his scar. It was a dark red beanie-like hat, the type that doesn't stretch; it was slightly too big for him, and it smelled like old people, but years of wearing donated clothes had taught him not to be picky, he just wished he had thought of buying a new one with all the money his parents left him.
The train finally came to a halt, and they exited, leaving their possessions behind, heeding the yelled instructions from outside. When they stepped onto the platform, Harry saw the tallest man he had ever seen. He was at least 7-foot, and had long, curly, dark hair, his face most mostly covered in a thick, equally long beard. The man held a lantern, and was the one bellowing out instructions to the first years, who all scuttled along towards him happily.
"That's Hagrid." Ron informed him, also staring at the man. "He's the Hogwarts groundskeeper."
Harry stayed towards the back to the group, not wanting to be recognised by everyone else there.
Although his hat covered the majority of his scar, the bottom of it peaked out, the small bolt reaching over his eyelid and cutting through his eyebrow being the most prominent part still visable. He looked weird, no one else wearing a hat, and certainly not this beanie-like hat, making him look very muggle. Fortunately, no one really noticed except for Hagrid, who only gave him a passing glance.
"Firs' years this way!" He yelled once more, walking off, all the students following after him like lost ducklings. They walked for a few minutes, before reaching a lake with several boats.
"Four to a boat!" Hagrid yelled again, the children all scrambling to get into groups, Harry finally being placed in a boat with two other boys and Ron. They all began to sail across the lake. As they turned a corner, the castle came into view.
Harry's heart skipped a beat. It was beautiful. It was home.
He stared at it, dumbfounded, for minutes, until they came close to shore. Everyone exited the boats excitedly and began the trek towards the castle, Harry still at the back with Ron.
After being guided through the castle by Hagrid, they reached the entrance hall, and were met by a very stern looking woman in emerald green robes. Her dark gray hair was pulled into a tight bun, and she bore a distinct resemblance to Mrs. Barnas, the woman that brought new children to the orphanage. After looking at all of them, she began to speak.
"My name is Professor McGonagall. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up, and remove any hats," She looked at Harry's hat pointedly "while you are waiting." She glanced at several students, before turning and leaving through the the huge doors. After she left, chatter broke out among the students as they all smartened themselves up.
Harry wiped the soot away from Ron's cheeks, before looking himself over, and, only when McGonagall returned did he remove his hat, stuffing it in his huge robe pocket. After glancing at them, she motioned for them to follow her, which they did.
Harry stared in wonder at the great hall, watching the candles floating in the air, silently wondering how they dealt with dripping wax, before turning his attention to the ceiling, and almost gasping. The night sky loomed over him, the stars shining down through the darkness. Finally Harry reached the back of the grouped first years, all bunched up at the front of the hall.
He looked over the other kids, seeing a stool, on which was an old-looking hat, slumped over.
"The sorting hat…" Tom reminded him. Yes, he knew that thank you very much.
McGonagall stood next to the stool, holding a scroll, and after a moment, she read from it.
"Abbot Hannah." A small, slightly chubby girl walked nervously to the hat. Her fringe hanging dangerously close to her eyes as she sat down, and the hat was lowered to her head, falling down to her nose, covering her eyes.
After a few seconds, a mouth appeared in the hat's folds, and it yelled out.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" McGonagall lifted the hat, and the now labeled girl skipped happily towards the cheering, clapping table. The sorting continued in alphabetical order until reaching "Granger, Hermione." Who took rather a long time, almost a minute in real time, before deciding finally on "GRYFFINDOR!". Conversely, the hat bearly touched the head of "Malfoy, Draco." Before screeching "SLYTHERIN!".
Finally it reached him.
"Potter, Harry." The hall was full of whispers, as Harry emerged from the crowd of first years, and he could feel every eye on him. Even the teachers watched with baited breaths and he ascended the steps, and as he sat down, the hall went silent, and the hat was placed on him, wrapping him in darkness.
"Potter eh? Oh wow, this is certainly interesting…" Harry heard a voice around him, as he violently twitched, visable to the great hall, unhappy at the intrusion of yet another voice in his head.
"This is a brilliant mind, Mr Potter, truly, a thirst for knowledge, power, loyalty. And so brave, you really could fit in anywhere you choose, but there is only one place tha-" The voice stopped.
"Oh. Oh my goodness. This isn't… That shouldn't be!" The hat sounded horrified as it spoke, Harry felt flashes of memories being rifled through, and a burst of violent green light being replayed over, and over again. He felt the hat shudder on his head, unbeknownst to him, eliciting several whispers.
"You're not alone in here." It whispered now, completely horror-struck. "I can't- It's-" It sounded as though it was struggling, and he could feel the hat violently twisted and shaking on his head, whispers emanating from the hall breaching the all-encompassing darkness of the hat.
The hat, still jerking, whispered again, "Mr Potter, I- Good luck." Before it bellowed out the word.
"SLYTHERIN!" The moment it spoke, the hat was violently ripped from Harry's head, as it went limp in McGonagall's hand, she stared at it, and then again at him, eyes wide. Was that fear? Turning around, he saw the rest of the hall was in a similar state of shock and fear. Harry, for all intents and purposes, looked like a nervous 11 year-old boy, as he should, no one should suspect him of anything, and yet, everything was silent.
After a few moments of crushing stares and silence, the table on the far end of the hall began to clap, slowly and unsure, before Malfoy turned to the other members, clapping victoriously, and the rest of the table finally joined in.
Harry walked over to the table, sitting next to Malfoy, who moved up to make space for him. After a few moments of silence once the house stopped cheering, McGonagall seemed to recover, calling out the next name. The rest of the sorting was uneventful, Ron being sorted, as he expected, into Gryffindor, along with a miserable looking boy clutching a toad that was revealed to be Neville Longbottom. Harry could see a chocolate frog sticking out his robe pocket.
Meanwhile, Harry was interrogating Tom about what had happened with the hat.
"It tried to remove me Harry… It tried to hurt me… I fought back…I'm sorry, I didn't…expect that to…happen…" Harry got the feeling that Tom was hiding something from him, but quickly shook the feeling off immediately; Tom had never hidden anything from him before in his entire life.
"Will the hat tell Dumbledore?" Harry asked, thinking the question to Tom quite worriedly.
"No… the hat is charmed… to secrecy… otherwise the hat would be a very… dangerous weapon…" Tom assured Harry, sounding as though he was panting, as much as a disembodied voice can.
Harry calmed slightly. This could have been very bad, he could have been exposed, his plans ruined, but he was lucky. The hat was charmed to not tell anyone about the incident that had just occurred. Tom was still with him. People already seemed to be moving past the slightly weird sorting, and Harry was in Slytherin. He should really count this as a win.
As the sorting ceremony ended, an old man stood, his long white beard falling past his elbows, and the hall was silenced. This was him, Dumbledore. This was the man Harry hated with a passion, the man he would undoubtedly someday kill.
He began to speak.
"I would like to first welcome first years, to this school…" Harry tuned him out, only vaguely listening as he imagined the ways he could kill this man. He rambled on about the forest and the third-floor corridor. Wait? What? A 'painful and most horrible death?' That was certainly interesting. He would store that information away. The man finally started to wrap up his speech, finishing by saying some random words, to several confused faces.
"Has the codger lost his mind?" A scrawny-looking boy, Theodore Knott, to his left asked. This was met with some snickers by the older years sitting near them, as everyone started piling their plates with the freshly materialized food in front of them.
Harry ate a small amount compared to everyone around him, not used to eating so much food. He made himself aquainted with the faces of his peers, who all not-so-subtly stole glances at him throughout the whole meal. Suddenly, Malfoy seemed to realise he hadn't sucked up to Harry in almost twenty minutes.
"Harry, I didn't see you on the train, I thought you were going to join us?" Malfoy politely asked Harry, oozing passive-aggression.
"I was sitting with some other friends." Harry bit his carrot. Let Malfoy realise there was competition, and his friendship was not a sure thing. It took all but a few seconds for Malfoy to catch up and make a another, more useful, move.
"Well, allow me to introduce you to some acquaintances of mine; This is Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Theodore Knott," each child was pointed to in turn, as they nodded at Harry in greeting. "and this is Crabbe," Malfoy pointed to the gargoyle-like boy beside him, "And Goyle." The ogre-like boy in front of him gave a little wave.
After it appeared that Malfoy was finished introducing his closest friends, Pansy cut in; " And this is Milicent, Daphne, and Tracy" She pointed to three more girls, who were each glaring at Malfoy.
"Harry Potter." Harry nodded to the circle, before continuing to eat noncommittally. This was apparently not received very well, as Pansy immediately took advantage of her seat next to Harry by asking him the questions that clearly burned on everyone's minds.
"So, what happened with the hat?" A bad attempt at subtlety that the snake-adoring house would surely nurture. Harry acted totally unphased.
"What do you mean?" He asked, not looking up.
"You took so long!" Theodore exclaimed, sounding rather exasperated. "Well over a minute!"
"That isn't too long, Granger took nearly a minute."
"Yeah, but the hat was acting so weird, like it was screaming." Milicent butted in. Harry put down his cutlery, having finished eating, and looked up, staring her dead in the eyes.
"I have no idea." Harry smiled, with the air of someone who was making a terrible threat. Everyone turned back to their food, Milicent staring at her plate for the rest of dinner. No one bothered him with any more questions throughout the evening.
As bedtime was announced, the prefects began to herd the first years along the corridors, pointing out particular classrooms and areas along the way. They finally reached a large circular door, decorated with a large metal snake.
The prefect turned to the first years and informed them that the current password was "Serpentine" and that the password would change every fortnight.
The moment Harry stepped foot into the Slytherin common room, he felt comfortable. It felt right. As though he had been there for all his life already. The dim green-tinted light illuminated marble walls and flooring. The centre showed several uncomfortable looking sofas and coffee tables, and there were several bookshelves lining the opposite wall.
To both the left and the right of the entrance door, in the corners of the room, there were two circular raised areas. These areas sported a pale green carpet, and several more, slightly more comfortable-looking sofas and armchairs, and the whole wall section lined with many more books.
While the first years admired room, Harry noticed a tall, shadowy figure lurking behind one of the many marble pillars. He was dressed in all black robes, and had long, dark, greasy hair. After a moment, the man noticed Harry was looking at him, and began walking out of the shadows towards the group of children. For a second, Harry's immediate instincts kicked in, and he prepared to shoot the man down, hand at the ready, before Tom practically screeched at him.
"He is a teacher! Do not reveal yourself!"
Harry quickly lowered his hand, hopefully before the man noticed, and stood to attention. After a moment, the other children turned to see the man as well, with much less trepidation than Harry had shown. Clearly some of the others had seen this man before. Of course! He must have been at dinner, Harry cursed himself for not paying attention.
Finally, the man spoke, looking over them with black eyes over a long, hooked nose.
"I am Professor Snape. I teach Potions class, and I am your head of house. This means that if you have any issues, you will take them up with me. I will not tolerate nonsense in this house, and any troublemakers will be greatly punished." He stopped, looking at Harry again, before continuing to speak in the same slow, deliberate tone.
"If you experience any personal disagreements with other members of this house, I expect you to solve them, if you experience any problems with schoolwork, I expect you to get help from the older years. There will be no fighting with members of other houses, and I do not care 'who started it' because all students will be punished. Rise above it, you are part of a noble house, act like it."
"The dorms are down those stairs, boys to the left, girls to the right. Password changes are posted on the announcement board a day before the change, so there is no excuse to forget it. My office is beside the potions classroom, just two corridors away. If there is an issue that requires adult intervention that is where you will find me." With this, he turned to leave, robes billowing after him, rather like a giant bat.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, the group dispersed, chattering among each other as they filed down their separate staircases.
Entering the first years boys' dorm room, Harry realised with dread that he would have to share a room. Not just with one other boy, or even two, but all five. Harry's possessions stood by the door along with, presumably, the other boys' things. Thinking quickly, Harry grabbed his case and strode toward the furthermost bed, tucked into one corner, nearest the bathroom. He pulled out Hedwig's cage from his case, placing it on the windowsill. The window gave a rather lovely view of below the lake, much like an aquarium. After only a second more, Harry pulled out Zaccai.
"Master! It has been long! Fresh, but cold." Harry silently charmed the floor around his bed to be warm with the flick of his wrist, placing Zaccai on the grey carpet. The sound of an inhale alerted Harry to the fact that the other boys were watching him.
"This is Zaccai. He's perfectly safe." Harry started unpacking his things.
"The letter said…" Blaise started, but Harry was getting rather tired now, and he just wanted to go to bed.
"The letter said that students may bring owls, cats, or toads, and did not anywhere say that one cannot bring a snake." After a second, this logic seemed to click with the others, who were obviously torn between being impressed and being angry that they hadn't thought of it first.
Harry went into the bathroom to change, as he still liked his privacy, Tthank you very much'. It was actually a rather good set-up, four showers, four toilet stalls, and a row of three sinks totally assured Harry that sharing a room with five other people would not ruin his personal hygiene.
Padding out again, he was too tired to deal with the glances from the others, and clambered into bed, pulling the silk blankets up, and, with another wrist flick, closing the curtains.
Thanks to the curtains of course, Harry did not see the terrified looks of the occupants of the room, who all shared glances with each other.
Because just like that, with the flick of a wrist, Harry had established something very important.
Once again; Power.