10/22/03: Here's the next bit. Enjoy!
5. Potions and Confrontations
Harry walked into the potions classroom and sat beside Draco, with Pansy and Tracey Davis sharing the cauldron behind them. Harry chatted with Draco, mostly about Quidditch, while watching the other students file into the room. Admittance to Advanced Potions was dependent on the OWL score; since less than half of the sixth years qualified for the class, the class was a mixture of all houses. Harry spotted Hermione walk into the room, where she took a seat alongside Pavarti. Apparently, none of the Gryffindor boys had qualified, or chose to take, the class. A good number of Ravenclaws showed up, but only one Hufflepuff.
As was his custom, Snape made his usual dramatic entrance into the classroom, banging the door loudly and sweeping grandly to the front of the classroom. As usual, he fixed each and every student with a penetrating stare, which Harry now recognized as a cursory scan of legilimency. Finally, he spoke.
"Welcome to Advanced Potions," he began. "This class will be very difficult, will move very fast, and will cover a large amount of material. If you thought last year was difficult, I suggest that you leave immediately, as this year will be even tougher." Snape paused, letting his words sink in. Hannah Abbot, the lone Hufflepuff, squirmed slightly. Harry sensed that Snape would be particularly hard on her, especially since she had no housemates for support; he felt a little sorry for her. "Now then," Snape said, "let's see how much you've managed to forget over the summer."
Snape began a ruthless review session over the first period, calling on students at random to answer difficult questions. He took away points from the other houses with glee, and begrudgingly granted them points for correct answers. Of course, as Harry expected, he was inordinately kind and generous to the Slytherins, and it was quite a different feeling being on Snape's good side. To his surprise, Harry was able to answer all the questions correctly, the answers seeming to spring forth from his mind unbidden. For the second half of class, Snape had them prepare a difficult potion.
Harry was in the middle of dicing the daisy roots when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. "Wait, Tracey," he said, turning around. "Don't forget to add the mixture before the roots."
Tracey and Pansy looked at him with gratitude, Tracey's hand frozen over the cauldron as she was about to add the diced roots to the bubbling potion. "Thanks Harry," she said, quickly putting down the bowl of roots.
"No problem." Harry smiled and turned back to his work, before wondering how he managed to notice their mistake out of the corner of his eye. As his mind wandered, he became aware that his hands were automatically chopping the roots to the correct length and adding the powdered horn of a Graphorn to the cauldron without thinking. Harry remembered back to Pansy's comment in the corridor, realizing not without a measure of smugness that he was actually good, great even, at Potions. The class passed quickly, Harry actually enjoying himself as his hands moved deftly about the cauldron. Snape complimented their work, and soon the bell rang signifying the start of lunch.
Harry left the classroom feeling happy. It was quite a change, as usually he was seething after leaving a potions class, upset over Snape's unfairness. He had only taken a few steps down the dungeon corridor when Malfoy nudged him with his elbow.
"Look who's coming," he whispered, pointing back to the doorway of the potions classroom.
"Ah, bucktooth!" Pansy said happily as Hermione walked out of the classroom with Pavarti and Padma. Harry noticed with surprise that Hermione still had her large front teeth. Hadn't Madam Pomfrey shrunken her teeth back in fourth year? Before Harry could react, Malfoy, Pansy, and Tracey quickly moved to surround Hermione. Harry followed quickly.
"Still can't do a thing with that hair, eh Granger?" Tracey asked derisively. Hermione looked angry, and slightly afraid, as Harry walked up. He noticed that some of the other students passing through had stopped to watch. Crabbe and Goyle appeared, apparently meeting Malfoy before going to lunch.
"By Merlin, and those teeth! Still chewing wood I see?" Pansy was saying.
"What do you expect from a mudblood?" Malfoy added.
"Leave her alone! Don't call her that!" Harry growled.
Malfoy turned around in surprise. "What?"
"I said, leave her alone. And don't use the word 'mudblood' around me ever again," Harry said menacingly. "Or else," he added. Looking around, Harry noticed not only did Malfoy look bewildered at Harry's words, but the entire hallway was silent; everyone, regardless of house, had a look of surprise on their face. Harry was a little confused himself, not by his support of Hermione, but by the two words he added at the end. "Or else." Those words just slipped out, as if saying them was the most natural thing in the world. What was he thinking? Not only was he was surrounded by Slytherins, but Crabbe and Goyle must each outweigh Harry by a good 20 kilograms. Harry looked at Malfoy threateningly and made a show of reaching for his wand, but inwardly he was prepared to receive a nasty beating. To his surprise (Harry was beginning to lose count of the number of times he's been surprised that day), he saw a flicker of fear pass over Malfoy's face. Crabbe and Goyle each took a step backwards when they saw Harry reach for his wand.
"Easy Harry, easy. I'm sorry," Malfoy said softly.
Harry felt a hand on his arm. "We're sorry Harry. Just calm down, please." Harry turned and saw Tracey looking at him, a mixture of concern, confusion, and fear on her face. Harry relented and dropped his hand from his wand. The relief of those around him was evident, as several breaths that were being held were released. Harry looked around and saw several people looking at him, some with fear, some with bewilderment. Harry looked at Hermione, and instead of gratitude, he only saw that same fear that everyone else seemed to feel. He had a sudden urge to flee; Harry turned and, using every gram of self-control, forced himself to walk calmly down the corridor and into the Great Hall, leaving the crowd behind him.
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Harry sat down miserably at the house table, laying his head on his arms. Harry could understand the confusion. After all, he was, apparently, in Slytherin, and no self-respecting Slytherin would pass an opportunity to insult a Gryffindor, much less defend one. But what bothered him was that all those people seemed afraid of him. Especially Malfoy. The Malfoy Harry knew wouldn't back down from a threat by Harry Potter and would draw his own wand, not apologize. After a moment to collect himself, Harry looked up. The Great Hall was filling up, but no one was sitting by Harry. In fact, people were actively avoiding him, giving him a wide berth and shooting him dirty looks.
"Harry, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he heard. Harry looked up and saw Blaise standing over him. "Why are you sitting at the Gryffindor table?"
Harry looked around, momentarily confused as to why he shouldn't be sitting at the Gryffindor table. But one look around at all the hostile faces brought him back to his present reality. "Er, lost my head there a moment," he said, standing and following Blaise to the Slytherin table. He sat down across from a number of very nervous-looking Slytherins.
Blaise noticed the tension. He put down his fork and looked around. "Alright, what's going on? First Harry sits at the wrong table, then the rest of you look like scared kittens!"
Malfoy, Pansy, and Tracey shared a look. "Well, Harry sorta got…dark…after potions," Tracey said.
Blaise looked excited. "Really? On who? Details!" he demanded.
"Well…" Pansy started. "Actually, Harry threatened Draco."
"What?!" Millicent Bulstrode exclaimed, flabbergasted. She looked at Harry. "What happened?"
Harry looked at the faces around him. "Malfoy called Hermione a mudblood. I don't appreciate the word," he said.
"Why not?"
Harry looked at Blaise. "What? You mean you don't know?" he asked. Looking around, he saw equally blank looks from the other Slytherins. "None of you know?" After a round of shaking heads, Harry mumbled softly, "No, I suppose I wouldn't have told you."
"Told us what, Harry?" Daphne said softly.
"My mother is Muggle-born," Harry said simply. It was as if Harry had just predicted that Hufflepuff House would win the Quidditch cup this year. His revelation was met with stunned silence.
Finally, Blaise gathered his wits. "Huh?"
"That's right," Harry said. "My mother is not a pureblood witch. The word mudblood is offensive to me."
Pansy recovered. "Oh Harry! Why didn't you tell us earlier?"
"I'm not sure. I guess I was embarrassed to tell you before."
Malfoy cleared his throat. "Listen Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I promise I won't use the word again."
Harry looked at him a moment, then faced all the Slytherins. They all looked so…contrite that Harry's anger softened. "I'm sorry too," he said, "I should have said something years ago, and I shouldn't have over-reacted like that."
"It's ok, Harry," Daphne said. The others nodded in agreement.
"Just one more thing?" Harry asked. The other waited. "Please leave Hermione alone. We've tortured her enough over the years…she's got it tough enough without us on her back all day," he added, looking pointedly at Pansy and Tracey. They nodded nervously. "Good!" Harry said. "Now, let's eat!"
The rest of the Slytherins tentatively filled their plates, and conversation gradually returned to normal.
A/N: Ok, so why is everyone nice, especially Malfoy and Pansy? Shouldn't they be meaner and not so quick to agree to leave poor Hermione alone? Well, true, in canon the Slytherins are awful, but that's from the viewpoint of Harry. I imagine that the Slytherins are much nicer, and normal, to each other. After all, every other house dislikes them, and they have a bad reputation for being dark wizards, so they have to stick together. Plus, everyone's a little afraid of Harry, so he generally gets his way. So, why is everyone afraid of Harry? We'll have to wait and see.
onkel & Facade1: nice to see ya! I was hoping you'd show up. I hope you both like this story.
HM: I'm glad you gave it a chance. Hopefully you'll like the direction I'm taking it
ears91: I'm with you. I just can't picture Ron and Hr being friends with Harry there to mediate their fights. Next chapter you can see how Hermione reacts to Harry trying to be friendly.
leothelion3: Don't worry, he won't be like Malfoy. Actually, Malfoy won't be like Malfoy either. Harry's still good ol' Harry, but he might lapse into some uncharacteristic moments.
Romm: more to be revealed next chapter, and the chapter after, and the chapter after that…
Just Being Me: not sure if I should respond since you're probably not reading anymore, but just in case. Thanks for the compliment, and sorry this isn't your cup of tea. I just noticed that this story (and my other one) start out like it's going to be a Dark Harry story, but really, it's not (neither story is). Harry's still the same Harry we know, just a bit conflicted right now. It's more about Harry solving the mystery of what caused the switch, what's different in this timeline, and how does he get things back to normal, with a little Voldemort thrown in. I hope you'll stick around, but of course understand if you won't or haven't.