Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling. The Slytherin Code of Conduct belongs to Vmorticia.
"…" Speech
Bold parseltongue
italics thoughts
Chapter 6
"Everyone here? Good," said their guide and knocked three times on the castle door. The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross. His second thought was that she must have actually been standing next to the door waiting to open it for her to have done it so quickly.
"The firs' years, professor McGonagall," said Hagrid, gesturing to the nervous eleven-year olds behind him.
"Thank you, Hagrid; I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide and the first years filed in. They followed McGonagall across the flagged stone floor and crowded into a small empty chamber off the great hall.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the Professor. "The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but first you will be sorted into your houses. While you are here your houses will be 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." Harry had read about the four houses so he just tuned out and started looking around him. Almost everyone seemed absolutely petrified. Either that or looking confident and smug like Draco. After McGonagall left the chamber everyone started talking about how they were going to be sorted. Harry cracked up laughing when he heard Ron Weasley say that they would have to wrestle a troll.
"Weasley, they would never make us do that. First of all, pretty much everyone would end up dead; second, it would hardly tell them which house you should be in; and thirdly, I doubt they would go to the trouble of capturing a troll just for your benefit," sneered Draco.
"If you're so clever, why don't you tell us what the sorting ceremony is then," replied Weasley, reddening.
"We have to try on a hat," said Harry in a bored voice.
"Yeah right Potter. I would never fall for that!"
Before Harry could answer Professor McGonagall returned and lead them into the great hall. Once they were at the top, facing the other students, she placed a ragged hat on a stool in front of them. The hall was staring at it in complete silence. The hat twitched and near the brim a rip opened – and the hat began to sing.
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwart's sorting hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The sorting hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave of heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindor apart.
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,
And unafraid of toil.
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a steady mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind.
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your true friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a thinking cap!
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. Harry and Draco both smirked at Ron Weasley who turned red and glared at them. Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long role of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah."
A pink-faced girl stumbled out of line, put on the hat, and sat down. A moment's pause -
"Hufflepuff!" shouted the hat. It continued like that for quite a while with "Feral, Louisa" getting into Slytherin, along with "Bulstrode Millicent", "Crabbe, Vincent" and "Goyle, Gregory." When Draco's name was called out he swaggered forward and got his wish at once. The hat had barely touched his head before it screamed "Slytherin!" Malfoy went to sit with Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. He mouthed, "I'll save you a seat," to Harry who smirked back.
When McGonagall finally called out "Potter, Harry" whispers broke out in the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
"You'd think he'd be a bit taller, wouldn't you?"
Rolling his eyes Harry stepped forward and strolled up to the stool. The last thing Harry saw was the Hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the Hat. He waited.
"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Intelligent to. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting…So where shall I put you? Hmm, you're cunning. And quite ruthless. Oh, you have the potential to become great, very great. And there's only one place that will help you on the way. Yes, better be Slytherin!"
Taking off the hat, Harry saw the whole hall staring at him, shell-shocked. Then Draco stood up and started clapping and soon the whole Slytherin table was giving him the loudest cheer yet. Several of the Slytherins got up and shook his hand, welcoming him to their house. The rest of the hall just muttered darkly to themselves while Dumbledore looked worried. The older Slytherins were positively delighted. ("Yet another way to annoy the Gryffindors,"), though Snape's reaction was the most amusing. He just sat there clutching the arms of his chair and staring wide-eyed at Harry, obviously suffering from shock and disbelief. Once everybody was sorted Dumbledore stood up and said a few random words and then the feast began. Draco and Harry began chatting to a ghost sitting next to them who called himself the Bloody Baron.
"If you need any help with Peeves, our resident Poltergeist, just come to me. I'm the only one he listens to. We don't want to lose Slytherin points. We've won the house cup six years in a row now," said the Baron in a silky, dangerous voice.
"Yeah," drawled an older student. "The Gryffs are so jealous, and when they're jealous they lose their tempers even more easily, which makes them lose even more house points. You'd think the idiots would have figured that out by now; seems like they're stupider than I thought."
"Why does Peeves only listen to you?" Harry asked the Bloody Baron while helping himself to some mashed potatoes.
"That is for me to know and you to find out," replied the Baron, smirking. Just then Harry looked past a teacher's turban straight into Snape's eyes and a searing pain went across his scar. It took all of Harry's self-control not to cry out.
"Who is that teacher with the turban?" Harry asked, slightly shakily. His scar had never done that before.
"Oh, I think that's Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," replied a rather pretty, dark-haired girl with purple eyes. "I'm Blaise Zabini by the way."
"Nice to meet you," said Harry politely. He chatted with Blaise for a while about the other teachers and ways to avoid being caught out by them. Blaise seemed to know quite a lot.
"Everyone says that Snape is the hardest teacher but only if you're not in Slytherin. He's very powerful and intelligent and deserves respect. He's the potions master but it's common knowledge that he wants Quirrell's position. He would probably be much better at it to," said Blaise, piling her plate high with mounds of food.
"Yeah, Quirrell seems to be afraid of his own shadow," agreed Harry. Beside them Draco and Louisa were discussing the break in at Gringotts and arguing about how the criminal had managed to get away.
"I'm telling you, the security system at Gringotts isn't that good, it's just exaggerated," said Draco arrogantly.
"Come on. You know that's not true. It must have been done by a powerful dark wizard. Everyone says so. They have the most elaborate charms and curses guarding the building. Hell, they even have dragons by the top security vaults," replied Louisa, waving her spoon around in agitation. Before they could continue Dumbledore stood up and gave one of the strangest speeches Harry had ever heard. He had absolutely no idea what Dumbledore meant by "Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak," and telling them to stay away from he third floor unless they had a death wish seemed a bit far fetched as well.
"Why the hell did he say that?" asked Harry, glancing at the older students.
"Because he's completely insane. Most people think he's a genius but all Slytherins know that's not true," replied one of the Prefects languidly. "Anyway, all first years please follow me, I'll show you the way to the common room." Pushing their way through the crowds they were lead down into the dungeons through winding corridors and twisting steps. Just when Harry was beginning to think it would never end they stopped outside a bare stone wall.
"The passwords 'pureblood', don't forget it," instructed their guide. A hidden door in the stone wall slid open and everyone stepped through it. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them. The rest of the room was quite a shock. The walls were covered in posters of famous singers and Quidditch players and someone had placed dozens of bean bags on the floor alongside the fancy chairs and sofas. It brightened up the room considerably. There was also a huge sound system in the corner and it was blaring out music by Celestina Warbeck.
"Welcome to Slytherin," said the Prefect. "I am Lucretia Parks. In Slytherin there are a certain set of rules you must follow. 1. Never get caught. 2. Never betray a fellow Slytherin to someone outside your house, and 3. Always annoy the hell out of the Gryffindors. If anyone breaks these there will be hell to pay.
Slytherins stick together, we have to. Everybody else hates us and thinks we're evil. No teacher except Snape will like you. No student outside our House will speak a civil word to you. The only way to survive is to fight back. On the wall here is the Slytherin code of conduct. One hundred and one rules in all. Follow these rules and you should fit right in. Now, being Slytherins we never leave things to chance. We older students have figured out a way to win the house cup. It is a very complicated plan but since you're new all you guys have to do is watch the students from other houses and see which are the most likely to respond physically when baited. That will make them lose house points. Preferably annoy them when you know Professor Snape is nearby, he always takes off loads of points. Got that? Okay. Girl dormitories that way, boys that way." With that Lucretia disappeared and the first years boys climbed down a staircase on the right and into the room with '1st years' written on it. Too tired to do anything but sleep the boys got into bed and were out like a light before their heads touched their pillows.
Deep down, far beneath the rest of the school, a sallow faced, hook nosed teacher was sitting by himself, clutching a glass of whisky, a impenetrable expression on his face and a manipulative gleam in his eyes. Lily's son, he thought. Defeater of the Dark Lord. Interesting, but what the hell am I supposed to do? He's powerful, no doubt about it, and he's not all light by any means. Yes, it is definitely interesting,
A/N Please review. I know that wasn't my best chapter but I'm in the middle of my exams so I'm a bit rushed. I will try to make the next one more interesting.
Oh, and by the way Merry Christmas!