Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and can't get money for this, but I can make him into a Mafia Prince.
Warning: Some chapters (the ones including pranks) might not be appropriate to read at work. Laughter may ensue leading your co-workers to see you as even more insane than they previously thought.
Chapter 15: A Serpent's Heart
Even after Trevor's detailed and sometimes nostalgic description of Hogwarts Harry and Blaise weren't expecting, and couldn't have ever hoped to imagine, such a strange and splendid place. The only source of light came from the thousands upon thousands of candles that hovered and floated in midair over four long wooden tables where the older years of students were already sitting. And if Harry and Blaise thought the fancy china they used on rare occasions in the Darkov household were fancy and expensive it was nothing compared to the sight of the gleaming and glittering golden tableware that lay in perfect rows down each side of the tables. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting, the only difference between that table and the four house tables being that only one side of the high table was set so that the professors could lord over the hall without distractions or turning their backs on the students.
It was the high table that Professor McGonagall led them to with the teachers behind them and hundreds of adolescent faces staring at the nervous first years, adding to the tension they felt. Staring defiantly back Harry blanked his face and gazed around, taking in the sight of the occasional ghost before he directed his attention to the enchanted ceiling above him. The ceiling was high above them and the soft glow of the candles did not quite reach the velvety blackness in which the occasional hints of midnight blue could be seen blending in around the stars that seemed to be watching over them. Nearby he heard Hermione whisper how the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside and vaguely remembered reading it in Hogwarts: A History. But the dry words of a book did not do justice to the real thing and Harry found it hard to believe that there was a ceiling at all. It seemed as if the Great Hall was really in fact opening up to the very heavens. His father would love to see this Harry knew for oddly enough for a Mafia King Manuel loved ancient castles, wide open and natural spaces, and the night sky. Harry remembered some of the summer nights that they had lain outside in the softly scented grass and gazed at the stars. Such things were their escape from the real life they lived.
A movement to his left had Harry looking down again and he nudged Blaise so that she would do the same when McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of them. On top of the stool she placed a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Harry wondered if Blaise's brief episodes in going girly on him would cause her to refuse to put the aged hat on her head but turned his thoughts back to the hat as complete silence over took the hall. The hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth—and then the hat began to recite its rhyme:
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 Hogwarts 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 at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet n wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real 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 of the hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song, except for the nervous first years that just stood there staring at the hat. Then the hat bowed to each of the four tables became relatively still again though it had not appeared to fall into dormancy. Some of the first years relaxed a bit as their fears were put to rest while it seemed that a few stiffened. Harry had to wonder if they were just nervous or if they had something to hide. Harry had spent odd moments ever since Trevor had told him and Blaise about the Sorting Hat trying to figure out what house he would belong in but was unable to decide, not that it would matter as long as Blaise was there with him. Harry didn't know what he would do to the hat if it separated them, they had always been together, but he knew it wouldn't be pretty. He and Blaise were partners in crime. Professor McGonagall began to call names off a long roll of parchment she had just unrolled.
"Abbot, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause—
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Fred and George cat-calling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin and Harry looked over at the Slytherin table.
He had heard a lot about that house and how it was mostly shed in a bad light, but he had also heard the truth about Slytherin house from Trevor who had been a Snake himself. So what if they looked like an unpleasant lot, sometimes certain masks needed to be cultivated for protection against outside forces and stereotypes often forced people to act in certain manners that weren't their own.
Harry watched "Finnigan, Seamus" sit on the stool for nearly a minute before becoming a Gryffindor.
It seemed some people were harder to place than others.
"Granger, Hermione" also became a Gryffindor and from his place in the line Ron Weasley gave a loud groan for some reason or another.
"Longbottom, Neville" took a while to place before being shunted into Gryffindor.
Then the hat barely touched Draco Malfoy's head before "SLYTHERIN" rang out through the hall and the aristocratic blonde swaggered to the Slytherin table with a pleased smirk plastered across his pale face.
Perhaps some of the stereotypes about Slytherin were true. There weren't many people left now.
"Moon"…, "Nott"…, "Parkinson"…, then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil".., then "Perks, Sally-Anne"…,
McGonagall seemed to pause and draw a breath as if praying for something and Harry knew what was coming, the list had been written alphabetically and based upon her reaction as well as his celebrity status he knew his name was next. Harry gave Blaise a pointed look and she nodded ever so slightly back before…,
"Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning their necks to get a good look at him and he could feel the eyes of the teaching staff pounding into his back. He resisted the urge to flick them all off and was resigned to doing it in his head as he found himself looking at the black inside of the slightly smelly hat. He waited.
"A bit crude don't you think," said a small voice in his ear in reference to his mental gesture.
"Difficult. Very difficult. You've faced danger and death before and have courage, yet there is a sharp mind filled with knowledge here as well. Ambition and talent as well and a healthy streak of mischief. And secrets, oh yes, secrets. Now that's an interesting ability you have here Mr. Potter. You are loyal and hardworking as well but cautious about those loyalties. Certainly you also possess a twisted sense of morals as well…So where shall I put you?"
Harry rolled his eyes inside the hat thinking, "aren't you supposed to be the one to decide?"
The hat chuckled, "cheeky as well. You would be great in any house you went to but you would also wreak changes in each. Best put you where you won't cause as much damage to house morals and beliefs though perhaps you can wreak some change for the better. I fear you will shake this very school to its foundations. Enjoy yourself Mr. Potter; I'll be seeing you around—better be 'SLYTHERIN!'"
The last word was shouted out by the hat for the whole hall to hear and Harry was glad it wasn't shouted inside the hat as well and thought, "I will enjoy myself," before slipping off the hat and gazing out upon the stunned hall. Serene and confident Harry made his way to the Slytherin table and took his seat amongst his housemates as a deadly silence reigned. It was suddenly broken as the Weasley twins started clapping from over at the Gryffindor table only to be picked up by the Slytherins who couldn't believe that the Savior of the Light was in their house. By the time Harry had made his way to the Slytherin table none of the teachers showed any extreme reaction to his Sorting though quite a few teachers seemed flustered. The Sorting went on quickly after that though McGonagall's voice seemed a bit forced.
Finally McGonagall called out "Zabini, Blaise" and rolled up the scroll as the girl sat on the stool.
The hat chuckled lightly into Blaise's ear as she sat upon the stool, "you are quite like him aren't you? Smart, cunning, brave, and loyal yet your morals are also very different from those most hold. You, like him, do what you must do and while you might regret it you don't look back. I wonder if I dare put both of you together but who am I to separate two partners in crime. You two are going to give the Old Coot hell. Good luck in—SLYTHERIN!"
With her head held high Blaise made her way to the Slytherin table and sat in the seat Harry had kept open for her, not daring to think his friend would end up in another house. Up at the high table Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He beamed around at the students, his armed opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. No one could tell by his outward appearance that he was inwardly damning the Sorting Hat and had lost all train of the carefully prepared speech he had made. So he did the only thing that came to mind.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"
The Headmaster sat back down, ignoring the puzzled looks of his professors and began to fill his plate with the food that had suddenly appeared, trying to gather his scattered thoughts.
Severus Snape calmly sat eating his dinner while keeping a sharp eye on his Slytherins, especially one Harry Potter whose head was bent close to that of Blaise Zabini. He had been fairly surprised to hear the Sorting Hat place a Potter, and the son of James Potter at that, in Slytherin. Already it seemed that his conceptions of the boy were being shattered. It would be hard to treat Potter as he deserved after all James had done now that the boy was one of his treasured Slytherins; James Potter had never been anything but the epitome of Gryffindor. Minerva was likely having a heart attack over Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world being placed in the house reputed to be a breeding ground for dark lords and dark followers. How would Dumbledore deal with this development, he knew the Headmaster had wanted the boy in Gryffindor where tabs could more easily be kept on him. Severus saw Draco Malfoy lean towards Harry Potter and engage the raven-haired boy in conversation, drawing him into introductions of the other first years, and the potions professor turned his mind to the speech he would be giving the new first years after the feast. He almost felt sorry for the new Slytherins, just by the decision of the Hat they were in for some rough years full of hatred and suspicion.
… … … … …
Harry and Blaise had started eating and were discussing the reactions Blaise had observed from the teachers and students as Harry had been sorted. Blaise quietly told Harry that McGonagall had actually dropped her scroll and a very short teacher had fallen from his chair with a squeak. Dumbledore had leaned forward slightly when Harry's name had been called and when Slytherin had been shouted out his eyes had quickly shuttered, closing off all emotion as he seemed to rear back. The man, Severus, they had met in Diagon Alley had been surprised but hid his reaction well. Another teacher in a turban had almost seemed in pain when Harry had been sorted into Slytherin though there was no visible cause for it. The student's reactions had been obvious enough to Harry after he had removed the hat but Blaise pointed out that the Gryffindors almost seemed betrayed, a thing which Harry could easily understand since according to Trevor every Potter to ever pass through Hogwarts had been sorted into Gryffindor.
They were about to continue analyzing the reactions following Harry's sorting when Draco Malfoy decided to intrude upon their conversation.
"Potter, Zabini," Draco began as if presuming himself a leader among the new first years as he introduced them all, "this is Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, and Theodore Nott. The resident ghost is the Bloody Baron."
Harry and Blaise nodded politely to each of them and looked to the ghost sitting on the other side of Draco, the blond did not look too happy at the seating arrangement as he mentioned the name of the ghost. It was the most horrible looking of the ghosts Harry had seen so far with its blankly staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood.
The ghost's attention snapped to them as its name was mentioned and Harry couldn't stop himself from asking, "how did you get covered in blood?"
The soulless eyes gazed long upon Harry and the mafia prince resisted the urge to shrink away from them and show weakness.
The Bloody Baron's mouth opened in a grim parody of a grin and his raspy voice issued forth, "brave for a Slytherin, you are. Not even the other ghosts dare ask."
Without another word the ghost floated away leaving behind a very relieved Draco Malfoy and the feast came to an end.
Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and began to give the start-of-term announcements such as magic not being allowed in the corridors between classes and when Quidditch trials would begin. The mention of the Forbidden Forest intrigued Harry and Blaise as well as the out of bounds third-floor corridor on the right-hand side. Anything that was forbidden was worth exploring though they did frown at each other after hearing that the corridor was off limits to everyone who did not wish to die a very horrible and painful death. What would they keep in a school full of students that could possibly cause a painful death and why? The rest of the Slytherin table was trading similar glances and a few frowned as scattered laughter came from other tables, who would be stupid enough to laugh at a death threat?
Harry glanced back up at the head table in time to see the emotions on the teachers faces become forced, though Dumbledore's next words explained everything perfectly.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song! Everyone pick their favorite tune and off we go!"
Dumbledore flicked his wand and a golden ribbon flew out, hovering in the air for a moment before gracefully writhing into words.
It was just enough time for Blaise, who loved to sing, to nudge Harry and whisper, "May It Be, Enya."
Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.
It was a cacophony of noise that filled the hall as melodies clashed and voices split on notes too high. Harry and Blaise continued to sing their chosen tune through it all, drawing out each word and line to fit the set parameters of the song. The two finally drew to a close by drawing out the word rot before fading away, allowing the Weasley twins to go solo as they finished their very slow and overtly solemn funeral march.
The first year Slytherins left the great hall and followed a prefect, Melantha Jacoson, towards the dungeons only pausing long enough to smirk at the Gryffindors who were being harassed by Peeves the poltergeist. Continuing on to the dungeons the Slytherins had almost made it to the entrance to the common room when Peeves struck at them only to have his attack stopped by the raspy voice of the Bloody Baron as the bloodied ghost floated menacingly after the wayward poltergeist. The Baron may not be nice or sociable but he wasn't about to allow Peeves to harm any student of Slytherin house. Melantha stopped at a blank stretch of wall and spoke the password so all could hear, "astucieux," causing the stone wall to open and admit them into the safe haven of their common room with its green, silver, and black decorations. A fire blazed cheerfully in the fireplace and standing before the leaping flames waited their head of house.
"Congratulations on being Sorted into the noble house of Salazar Slytherin," their head of house spoke softly, drawing them in with his commanding voice as he glanced at each of them, "I am Professor Severus Snape. I teach potions and am also your head of house. Despite what you may have heard Slytherins are not dark lords or dark followers in the making just because they have been sorted into this house, you are a blank slate and each of you may make your own choices as you wish. You will be looked down upon and perhaps shunned by the other houses for being placed in Slytherin. No matter what happens here in the dungeons I expect you to present a united face to the school and stand by each other. Your biggest rival and problem will be the Gryffindors. If you need help do not be afraid to ask your older house mates and my office is always open to a Slytherin in need."
Concluding his speech to the new Slytherins, Severus Snape swept from the common room and headed for his own chambers situated further into the dungeons while the Slytherin first years sleepily followed their older housemates towards their dorms. In the first year boy's dorm sat five curtained four-poster beds. The green and silver bed curtains were of expensive silk and heavily embroidered velvet that flickered in the dancing flames from the fireplace set into one wall. At the foot of each bed was a trunk and Harry was pleased to find his bed was in a corner and closest to the door. Next to him was Draco Malfoy, then Theodore Nott, leaving Crabbe and Goyle at the far end of the room. Noticing a door at the far end of the room Harry discovered a grandly appointed bathroom and changed into his pajamas and got ready for bed. Resolving to check out the desk and wardrobe set next to his bed the next day Harry climbed under the black coverlet bearing the Slytherin crest that was on his bed. Taking comfort in the familiar feel of his hand wrapped around the knife he had tucked beneath his pillow Harry James Potter-Darkov fell asleep, feeling in a way that he had come home.