10/23/03: Here's the next bit. Thanks for the reviews, I was overwhelmed.
6. Unexpected Reactions
It became clear that news of what happened in front of the potions classroom circulated quickly during lunch. Harry caught sight of many whispered conversations occurring at the other house tables, with an inordinate number of looks his way. Hermione seemed more popular than usual, with even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs going up to her to find out more details. The Slytherins were a little better; even though Harry could see the curiosity written on their faces, they didn't ask him or any of the other sixth-years about the incident.
After lunch, all the sixth-years except for Crabbe, Goyle, and Ted Nott got up to head for Advanced Charms. Crabbe and Goyle were too stupid to get into the class, and Ted chose not to take it; Ted's father owned a chain of wizarding stores, and Ted was going to join the family business after graduation. As Harry left the Great Hall, he looked back and saw a crowd of Slytherins forming around Ted, obviously trying to get the details they couldn't ask for when Harry was around.
Double Advanced Charms was a full class. Professor Flitwick always managed to get a high percentage of students to pass the Charms OWL, so there were three classes instead of just one like Potions. The classes were mixed, with an equal number of all four houses were spread among the three classes, apparently to encourage inter-house relations. Though Hermione wasn't in his Charms class, Harry noticed that the various Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs were looking at him curiously. They also occasionally glanced at the other Slytherins, wondering if the incident had caused any discord within the House. Knowing this, the other Slytherins acted as if nothing had happened, and Malfoy especially made a point of treating Harry normally. Harry ignored the stares (he was becoming quite good at it) and focused instead on the lesson, which he found easier then expected. Although he was still distressed and confused to find himself in Slytherin, Harry found that a side benefit was that he seemed to be doing much better in all his classes.
After class, Millicent appeared at his side and took his arm. "Just ignore them, Harry," she said. Under normal circumstances, Harry would have been appalled to be in physical contact with Millicent Bulstrode; but this wasn't a normal day by any measure of the word, and Harry felt oddly comforted by the words – it reminded him of the many times Hermione had grabbed his arm in a similar fashion and whispered the same words.
"Millie's right," Malfoy offered. "The others are looking for any excuse to find trouble in Slytherin house."
Pansy nodded her agreement. "C'mon, let's go drop our stuff before dinner," she said, taking Harry's hand and dragging them towards the dungeons.
*********************************
Harry sat in the Slytherin common room, watching a game of Exploding Snap between Ted and Blaise, while the girls pored over a fashion magazine that Pansy brought from home. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but Harry always assumed that the Slytherins did more…diabolical things than play Exploding Snap and wizard's chess. He envisioned more devious plotting going on, perhaps a Dark Arts book open in the corner as seventh years practiced summoning demons or the like. But instead, everything was just so normal, just like the Gryffindor common room except for the colors.
As Harry watched, he couldn't help but feel comfortable and uneasy at the same time. Everything in the Slytherin common room seemed so familiar, yet part of him was screaming at him to get out of there. During the day, Harry had found himself falling into lapses where he felt perfectly at ease with his fellow Slytherins, actually trading jokes with Draco Malfoy where normally he would prefer to strangle him senseless. Even Millicent Bulstrode was pleasant to be around, and Crabbe and Goyle were a lot more good-natured then he believed. But at other times, Harry desperately wanted to flee from the group of Slytherins and find safety among his fellow Gryffindors. Except, they weren't his housemates anymore, were they?. Harry found that he was constantly at odds with himself over who he was and where he belonged.
By dinnertime, Harry had a plan; or at least, a plan that was up to typical Potter-standards, which mostly meant having a general idea and then winging it. During dinner, Harry watched the Gryffindor table carefully, Hermione Granger in particular. She ate quickly and then left the table with her book bag over her shoulder. Harry got up a second later, feigning tiredness, but feeling happy that his "plan" was going better than expected – less people would notice them now that Hermione left dinner early. He followed her, easily predicting her path to the library – at least somethings stayed the same. Harry looked around quickly before moving quickly behind her. He grabbed a hold of her arm and propelled her into an empty classroom. Hermione only had time to emit a squeak of surprise before she was pulled into the classroom.
Harry turned and placed a locking charm on the door. Happy that his plan worked to perfection, Harry turned to face Hermione, a smile of his face. That smile faded abruptly when he saw the look of panic on her face as she backed away into the corner furthest away from him, her wand pointing unsteadily in his general direction.
"Hermione, what are you doing? Put that wand down," Harry said, walking towards her.
"D-Don't come a-any closer!" she practically shrieked.
"Hermione, stop being silly. I'm not going to hurt you," Harry said as soothingly as possible. He took a step forward.
"Stupify!" Hermione cried, a red light springing forth from her wand. Harry instinctively ducked, then stared at Hermione in shock. Hermione sent another blast his way, and Harry dove to the side. This wouldn't do at all. Harry drew his own wand.
"Expelliarmus" he said quietly, gently, and Harry reached up to catch Hermione's wand as it flew towards him.
Hermione's eyes widened, and she started to cry, hugging herself as she sank to the ground in the corner. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry!" she cried in-between sobs. "P-please don't h-hurt me!" she pleaded.
Harry felt a part of himself die. It broke his heart to see Hermione cry, and seeing her fear of him, knowing that he was the cause of her tears, made it infinitely worse. He knew approaching her would only cause her to panic even more, so he simply sat down where he stood, putting the two wands in his pocket. "Hermione," he said gently. "I'm not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you. I…I just need to talk to you. I need your help."
"You…you need my help?" she asked through her tears.
Harry nodded. "That's right. I have a little mystery to solve, and it probably involves long hours in the library researching arcane subjects. You're the only one for it," he said with an encouraging smile.
Hermione looked at him a moment before letting a small smile grace her lips, though her eyes still revealed her suspicion. Harry breathed in relief – although it was small, a smile was still a smile. Harry knew not to expect her to act the same way his Hermione would, but he never expected her to be terrified of him.
"What's…what's the mystery?" she asked, wiping at her nose.
"Well, you're not going to believe this, but just give me a minute to explain," Harry started. He was silent a moment, all of a sudden realizing how difficult it would be to explain his situation. He knew it would be a fantastic story, but he had been confident that Hermione would believe him no matter what. But after seeing her reaction to him, he knew that this Hermione wouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt like his own Hermione. "Actually," he said, somewhat embarrassed, "I really have no idea where to begin."
Hermione gave him another smile. "Well, try starting at the beginning," she suggested helpfully, sniffling slightly.
Harry chuckled. "Which beginning?" he asked rhetorically, unconsciously rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe this was a mistake," Harry said, mostly to himself.
"What's a mistake?" Hermione asked, her curiosity evident on her face. "Tell me, maybe I can help."
Harry shook his head, coming to a decision. "No, I don't think you'd believe me. Maybe it'd be best if we just leave," he said, walking towards the door and removing the locking charm.
"Now wait just a second, Harry Potter!" Harry turned in surprise. Hermione had stood and fixed him with a glare, her hands on her hip, poised exactly like the Hermione he knew. The sudden switch from terrified Hermione to curious Hermione to indignant Hermione astounded him. "You think you can just grab me in the hallway and scare me to death, then just leave without any explanation?"
Harry looked at her, momentarily at a loss for words; it was always very hard to resist her when she got angry like this. "I'm sorry that I put you through this Hermione. I really want to tell you, but like I said, you wouldn't believe me. I'll just ask Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore?" Hermione said, looking confused. "But…but Harry, Dumbledore's dead. You-Know-Who killed him five years ago."
A/N: Mwhahaha! I was actually going to write more and finish up their conversation, but as soon as I wrote that last sentence, an evil laugh emerged from my mouth, and Foul-Ball Steve told me to end the chapter here. Don't worry, I'll finish it up soon.
keebler-elmo: Good question. A combination of reasons:
1) although everyone knows about what happened when Harry was one (it's in all the books), one would have to go and specifically look for a detailed biography on him. Unless you get a specialty book that focuses on Harry (and there really wouldn't be one since Harry was hidden away for 10 years, there's not any information on him past age one, not enough info for a book), the most you would read is that his mother and father were wizards;
2) I'm sure some adults know that Harry's maternal grandparents were Muggles, but most kids at the age of eleven either don't care about purebloods or don't want to take the time to learn such a fact. And the Harry in the Slytherin world didn't really know himself, and by the time he found out, he was too embarrassed, having bought into the whole pure-blood idea. Besides, I'm sure most Slytherins who cared about such things assumed that a great wizard like Harry had to be a pureblood; and
3) I'm thinking Dumbledore did something. After all, it wouldn't take a great leap of intelligence to figure out that baby Harry would be with his only living relative, so maybe DD did something to keep it secret.
Ariana Dumbledore: Questions are good :) Hopefully I haven't dropped the ball along the way.
Harry didn't try to talk to any of the professors also for two reasons: 1) he was way to shocked to think clearly, and his first reaction has always been in the past to go to Ron and Hermione first, not to a teacher; and 2) He's mistrustful of DD for keeping things from him over the years, and he's still leery of Snape (one good class can't make up for 5 years of abuse and hatred).
Ron's in this world as well, but the Slytherins rarely ever talk about him (and when they do, he's generally referred by his last name). Besides, Pansy's thinking of Slytherin prefects, and she couldn't think of any Slytherins named Ron.
Hermione's fear of Harry is still to be revealed. Part of what he's been up to as a Slytherin.
Harry's still famous, but my reasoning for no one knowing his mother is muggleborn is in my response to keebler-elmo. But it basically boils down to the fact that a bunch of eleven year old kids either don't care or wouldn't take the time to learn it, and as they grew up, they just assumed since Harry never mentioned anything about it.
Ankalagon: Your theories very close, except for Voldie. He's still alive and kicking somewhere. But as you can see, this Harry's taken a slightly different path, magic-wise, then our beloved version.
Ears91: hehe, you were right. Hermione definitely freaked.
Sorry to naughty little munchkin, Night Owl, and everyone else who wants to know why Harry's in Slytherin now…you'll have to wait a while before that's revealed
Starre: I'll have to check out your recommendations. Unfortunately, Harry will still be Gryffindor!Harry even in Slytherin robes, but the other Slytherins will still be portrayed much nicer then in canon.
Wow! Not only did I receive my first death threat, but two no less ;) Thanks to naughty little munchkin and Funkie Star for keeping me motivated in a…less conventional way