Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

"…" Speech

Bold parseltongue

italics thoughts

Chapter 8

The rest of the week passed in pretty much the same way as the first day. Harry, Draco and Blaise, who they were friends with, spent their time getting used to Hogwarts. What with all the trick staircases, trap doors and maze-like corridors it was quite dangerous to walk around the castle and getting to the classrooms on time took ages. Spending time in the Slytherin common room was also quite a risky business. In Slytherin it was a rare thing for someone to tell the truth (Code of Conduct number 95: The truth should always be guarded by a bodyguard of lies) and no Slytherin could ever let his or her guard down. To show your real feelings was a sign of weakness, (Code number 40: Your real feelings are a precious thing indeed. And they should be better guarded than Gringotts) and the first years had to quickly adjust.

Each Slytherin had one or two friends whom they could trust with anything (for Harry this was Draco and Blaise), but other than that you were on your own. No one did anything for free; they would always expect to be repaid. Allegiances between Slytherins were constantly changing and fights broke out regularly. Almost everyday Harry saw students duelling in the middle of the common room with other Slytherins placing bets on who would win. Harry had already won 32 galleons in this way.

Slytherin hierarchy was very confusing. Non-Slytherins thought it was based purely on money and family connections. This, while it influenced people's attitudes, was not all. Even the poorest Slytherin could rise to the top. It just took a lot of hard work. You needed to be cunning, devious and a hell of a good dueller. Knowing this, Harry, Draco and Blaise had decided to learn how to duel. Blaise's mother was an Auror so Blaise was already quite good and so began teaching the other two. All of them knew a fair amount of hexes and curses but that wasn't enough. Harry soon found that practising spells on your own was very different from trying to cast a spell while aiming properly, dodging curses and trying to get your opponent to let their guard down.

Harry was set on improving and insisted on practising every spare moment and spent hours in the library researching spells. Draco, who wouldn't be seen dead in the library and only liked using dangerous and bordering on illegal spells which were only found in the restricted section, spent his time terrorizing other first years especially Hufflepuffs, though he preferred Weasley to any other victim. Harry was now very good friends with both Draco and Blaise, and all three of them baited Ronald Weasley as soon as they saw him. Weasley had lost around fifty-three points from Gryffindor since the beginning of term and his housemates were not very happy with him. Out of all the first years he was the easiest to annoy. The Ravenclaws were too bookish to care and the Hufflepuffs tended to run away from any Slytherin they saw. Draco found this extremely funny and made a point of tripping up any Hufflepuff he met. Harry and Blaise also found it rather amusing, but they only annoyed people who annoyed the hell out of them, such as Weasley. Every day Ronniekins would have pranks played on him. Like when Harry charmed some cupcakes to make Weasley dress up as a girl for a whole day. The whole school was laughing about it for ages. It had been Blaise's idea but Harry carried it out, as he was the best at charms. Draco sulked for a while because he wanted to make it more malicious but cheered up after he saw how humiliated Ronald was. The three of them had now pretty much started a full-scale war with the Gryffindors, especially Weasley, Finnegan and Granger. Those three seemed to be good friends though Harry suspected they only put up with Granger to improve their marks. So far the Slytherins were winning, as they had managed to disable any pranks the Gryffindors set for them. Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be) they only had one lesson with the Gryffindors. That is until they saw a notice saying that flying lessons would begin that Friday and they would be having it with the Gryffs.

On Friday morning all the Slyths traipsed into the Great Hall for breakfast. They arrived as the post came. The first time it happened, Harry had got quite a shock. After all, in the muggle world it is highly unusual for thousands of owls to appear all at once. Harry never got any post, but Hedwig came regularly to steal some toast and say hello. On their way past the Gryffindor table Harry and Draco saw Longbottom get a package form his family. Harry, not knowing what it was, sauntered over to look at it.

"It's a Remembrall!" Longbottom was saying excitedly. "It tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red it means you've forgotten-oh…" His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet. While Longbottom was busy trying to remember what he had forgotten, Ronald Weasley snatched it out of his hands.

"How idiotic, who wants a ball like that," he said cruelly while the Remembrall turned red. "It doesn't even tell you what you've forgotten."

"Hey! That's mine, give it here!" said Longbottom attempting to get it back. Weasley just laughed and held it out of his reach.

Harry felt a little sorry for Longbottom who looked crestfallen at this. All the other first year Gryffindors were doing nothing to help him. Never needing an excuse to annoy Weasley, Harry stepped up and grabbed the ball out of his hands, drawling,

"Jealous Weasley? This thing probably cost more than your whole house, sorry, hovel put together."

"Stay out of this Potter!" said Weasley angrily.

"What an original comeback, Ronniekins," smirked Harry, watching in amusement while Weasley flushed bright red form embarrassment. He'd picked up the name from Fred and George. Seeing McGonagall coming towards them Harry decided to gracefully retreat and tossed the ball back to Longbottom while turning round towards his own table. Walking away Harry couldn't resist throwing one last comment at the redhead.

"Oh and by the way Ronnie, the Remembrall probably turned red to remind you to take your head out of your arse." At this Draco, who lived for making trouble and had come up to see what the fuss was about, burst out laughing, along with the rest of the Slytherins that had heard.

After breakfast all the first year Slytherins headed down to the Quidditch pitch. They made a point of being early so as to get the best brooms. Harry had heard Fred and George complain about them saying that they started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left. Muttering in disgust they stood by their chosen brooms.

"My Great-Great-Grandfather had a better broom than this," complained Pansy Parkinson, stepping round Gregory and Vincent who were rolling on the ground fighting over who got which broom.

"You mean cave men or Weasleys have better brooms than these," corrected Draco, sneering at the things in contempt.

"Cut it out, you two," drawled Louisa to the two fighting boys. "The Gryffs will be coming soon and we can't let them see you fighting. They'd probably tell a teacher."

As it turned out, the only Gryffindor who came on time was Longbottom, looking decidedly nervous at being surrounded by Slytherins. The rest of the Gryffindors turned up ten minutes after the teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. Much to the Slytherins delight she promptly took off five points from everyone who turned up late. She seemed to have a slight grudge against the Gryffindors, especially Ronald Weasley. After telling him that his grip was completely wrong and lecturing the Gryffindors in general for being "restless and inattentive," Harry decided that Hooch was his new favourite teacher.

"Hold your hand over your brooms and say 'up!' in a firm voice," she said, still scowling in irritation.

Harry's broom came to him immediately, as did Draco's. Blaise was having some difficulty so she pulled out her wand and said in a threatening voice,

"Now listen here! If you don't jump into my hand I will curse you into next year and I'll make sure you die a slow and horrible death. Got it? Now UP!" Surprisingly, it seemed to work and Blaise climbed on smirking in satisfaction. Most students managed it on around their 4th try, although Grangers just rolled over while Longbottom's didn't move at all. Ron Weasley, Harry was pleased to notice, didn't manage until the 5th try. In fact, his broom shot up so fast it hit Weasley smack it the face. Maybe brooms, like horses, can tell if you are afraid, thought Harry, watching Longbottom quaver out "Up." in a terrified voice.

"On my whistle you will kick off from the ground, hover a bit and then lean forward to come back down," shouted Hooch. "Three-, two-,"

But Longbottom, nervous and jumpy, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips. Surely a school broom shouldn't go so out of control, thought Harry while the teacher screamed up at the unfortunate boy. Finally, around fifty metres up in the air, Longbottom's broom bucked him off and he plummeted to the ground. Without really thinking Harry grabbed his broom and pushed off. He shot into the air with exhilaration, intent on catching the falling boy.

"Come on, Come on," he muttered, pushing his broom to its limits. Five metres from the ground he caught Longbottom and managed to break his fall and bring them both safely to the ground, where Longbottom promptly fainted. Immediately Madam Hooch ran over to them shouting,

"Wonderful flying! Simply brilliant! I will talk to Professor Snape about this. Amazing!"

"How come it reacted like that?" wondered Louisa Feral with a look of interest on her face. Harry had to agree with her.

"Professor. Can you please check the brooms for tampering? Surely they don't normally behave so erratically?" asked Harry, wanting to make sure that his broom wouldn't react like that.

"Normal brooms don't," she agreed, "but these brooms are about as reliable as an ordinary branch and a bunch of twigs. Now, this boy needs medical attention. No one move while I'm gone." With that she hurried off towards the castle, supporting Longbottom beside her. A soon as she was out of earshot Draco said,

"What the hell did you do that for?" The other Slytherins nodded in agreement.

"Come on, he could of died! And it's not like he deserves it. Unlike Weasley or someone," retorted Harry, annoyed.

"Still! He's a Gryffindor Harry!" exclaimed Draco. "All Gryffindors are worthless."

This was definitely the wrong thing to say. Harry immediately froze and began reaching for his wand while glaring at Draco.

"Are you insulting my father?" asked Harry in a deceptively calm voice. "He was Gryffindor, too. He died trying to save me."

Draco and Harry glared at each other until finally Draco broke eye contact.

"No, of course not. That's not what I meant," he said nervously. "I'm sorry Harry." At this everyone watching was struck dumb from shock. A Malfoy apologising? They were willing to bet that had never happened in at least a century.

"It's okay, I guess," said Harry relaxing. "I'm just a bit touchy where my parents are concerned. Sorry."

The two students continued talking and gradually everyone else did, too. At last Hooch came back with a recovered Neville and continued the lesson, but no one was allowed on a broom. Instead she lectured them on safety regulations. Harry was not sorry when the bell rang for the beginning of lunch. He, Blaise and Draco strolled off towards the lake. As he passed, Harry nodded and offered a small smile to Neville, who was still looking extremely shaken. Neville looked surprised then smiled tentatively back and hurried after the disappearing Gryffindors. Turning back to his friends Harry continued discussing various ways of turning Ronald Weasley into a toad so that the only way to break the spell was for someone to kiss him. Which was very unlikely to happen, in Harry's opinion.

A/N Finally! Sorry it took me so long. It's one of my longest chapters though. Anyway, please review. No flamers please, though constructive criticisms are welcome.