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 17: Suspicious Happenings
They only stopped talking when they joined the silently nervous group of first year Gryffindors outside the closed door of the potions classroom…
Then a few minutes before class was to start the door of the classroom slowly swung open on silent hinges that reminded Harry very much of a scene out of a bad horror film. The mood seemed to have affected the other students as well for what little conversation there had been ceased instantaneously as they filed into the classroom and took their seats. Standing just beyond the light cast by the torches their professor waited and once they were all seated the door closed with a soft thud of finality making a few of the more nervous Gryffindors jump. Snape began class by taking roll, his silky voice holding a threat of danger in it as his eyes flicked calculatingly over each student. Harry wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not but he could have sworn a sneer entered the potion masters voice as he called out his name and the calculating eyes seemed to pause especially long on him, studying him.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," professor Snape began.
His voice was low and soft but no one in the room would dare not to listen, even those in the back of the classroom caught every word.
"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper on death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
Harry had to smirk at the stress the professor had put on the word dunderheads, he was willing to bet that his head of house had much more powerful words that he would rather substitute for that one but could not do so without stirring up trouble. It had also been noted by many that the last sentence had been directed mainly towards the Gryffindors though a few Slytherins shifted nervously as well. Without warning Snape started rapidly firing questions off at some unsuspecting Gryffindors, sneering at every wrong answer and ignoring the stretching hand of Hermione Granger. Much to the pleasure of many Slytherin's Ron Weasley had just lost Gryffindor twenty points and was being lectured on not thinking to open his book before class when Snape caught sight of Harry's slight smirk.
"Mr. Potter," the dark eyes were now trained on him, "perhaps you could tell us what would happen if you add the stinging nettles to a burn salve before taking the cauldron off the fire."
It wasn't a statement, but a challenge and Harry suddenly found himself glad that he had made such a mistake that summer, however painful the resulting explosion had been; he had started taking Trevor's potion lessons more seriously after that, not keen on repeating the mistake.
"The potion would be ruined, sir," Harry began, lifting his eyes from the notes he had been dutifully taking, "and except in a rare case the potion would also explode as the extreme heat required for the potion's successful brewing reacted with the volatile nature of the stinging nettles. Any skin contact with the potion would cause sever burns and itching."
Snape's nodded almost reluctantly and sneered "correct" before turning to the board.
With a wave of his wand instructions were thrown onto the board on how to make a simple potion to cure boils.
"Begin," it was an order that every student followed.
Quickly setting their cauldrons to boil Harry and Blaise ran through the recipe for the potion and began preparing the ingredient they would need first. Carefully they shredded, cut, and powdered according to the directions knowing that the better prepared the ingredients were the better the potion would turn out. As they were brewing Professor Snape stalked around the room and leered over student's shoulders trying to unnerve them into making mistakes. It was best to be calm when brewing potions and outside distractions often needed to be ignored at crucial moments. Harry and Blaise understood why their professor was acting the way he was, wanting to teach them control while they were still working with relatively harmless potions and under a trained eye, but they disagreed with this happening on the first lesson when he wasn't even explaining the potion or any brewing techniques that should be used. Many students in the class hadn't even seen a potion before and were now being expected to work in such a tense environment. It took a firm discipline for both Harry and Blaise to ignore their professor and keep blank faces when he loomed over them, both felt uncomfortable allowing an unknown entity so close against their defenses.
By the end of class Harry was glad that at least a few of the Slytherins seemed to know how to make potions. He and Blaise had just finished bottling their salves and Snape was currently sneering at their finished product.
"I expect better of my Slytherins," he had said the words softly so that only Harry and Blaise could hear before turning to yell at some other hapless first year.
Blaise and Harry could only stare at each other in disbelief; the salve had only been a slight shade darker than it should have been and was better brewed than most of the salves that had already been handed in by other Slytherins. And Harry knew that the other Slytherins hadn't earned such remarks as he and Blaise had. The Gryffindors on the other hand were having an even worse time of it. A few had already melted cauldrons, not that the Slytherin's hadn't, and Neville's cauldron was beginning to spark wildly. Even after having discussed the effects of adding the nettles to the cauldron before removing it from the fire before they began brewing the clumsy boy had committed the fatal error. The overheated cauldron exploded in a shower of sickly green liquid just as Snape finished lecturing Weasley on how abysmal his potion was. Without thinking Harry threw up a wandless barrier with his mind only to drop it just as quickly when he realized what he had done, but the shield had done its job and no one seemed injured.
But Snape was already looking around suspiciously. Exploding potions just didn't stop suddenly in the air as if hitting something before falling harmlessly to the classroom floor. Someone in his class had thrown up a shield of some sort but it hadn't been him and no first year was supposed to know such advanced magics as that much less have the ability to cast them. His gaze swept through the nervous group of Gryffindors, it didn't seem to be one of them and Gryffindors couldn't hide their emotions to save their lives. It was the complete opposite with his Slytherins. Except for a few here or there that needed a bit more practice the Slytherins all hid the emotions behind carefully cultivated masks. Yet they shouldn't have the magical reserves to cast such a spell yet and no wands were in sight anywhere in the classroom. Another pass with his eyes and Snape felt frustration build inside him.
"Get out," he demanded with a fierce growl as they scurried to comply, "class dismissed."
Damn incompetent first years, they had managed to get out of the essay he had ready to assign them and left him in an even fouler mood than he had started the day with. Snape smirked, the next class would not get off so light.
At the top of the stairs leading from the dungeons the Slytherin and Gryffindor first years separated and went their separate ways to their next class. The Gryffindors were talking loudly and trying to figure out what had just happened in the dungeons. The only one that seemed to have any idea was Hermione who was going on about shields but no one was really listening to her except Neville who was still trembling like a leaf. The Slytherins though were talking quietly and analyzing everything they had seen. In the end only one thing could be concluded and that was that Snape hadn't cast the shield, he hadn't even had a chance to go for his wand since he hadn't realized what was happening while he had been berating Weasley. Throughout all this Harry and Blaise listened in but did not contribute to the conversation, why should they when they already knew what had happened when the cauldron exploded. Breaking up into smaller groups the Slytherins made their way towards the charms class room, Theo tagging along with Harry and Blaise who were quite content to let the boy do all the talking.
By the end of the week Harry and Blaise were fed up with classes and ready for a break. Charms hadn't been all that bad and both friends found Professor Flitwick likeable enough but Trevor had already made them study the theory lessons and they soon grew bored with the practical. It was true what the professors said, if you understood the theory behind the spell the spell was easier to cast. The same proved to be true of their Transfiguration class except Harry wasn't too sure about McGonagall. Every time the strict woman looked at him there seemed to be disappointment in her eyes and it unnerved him slightly for some reason.
Then there was Herbology with the motherly Professor Sprout where all the work was hands on though sometimes tedious as they planted and replanted the same type of plants for the whole lesson, they weren't working with anything overly dangerous yet. Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Quirrell turned out to be a joke as the timid man stuttered through his lectures and Harry constantly found himself with a headache during the class that hampered his concentration, not that Quirrell ever noticed if the class was paying attention or not. In fact Professor Quirrell seemed so incompetent at times that Manuel wouldn't have even hired the man as a janitor at the amusement park.
History of Magic was equally the worst and the best. It was the worst because the ghostly Professor Binns easily put the most attentive students to sleep, and the best because they could sleep without being caught or work on other things they had to do. Once just to see what would happen Harry and Blaise ducked out of the class part way through and when Binns just kept droning on with his lessons they used the time to work on some Charms work they had been assigned for homework.
It was much more productive than falling asleep but they did almost get caught by Filch who was stalking the halls with his cat, Mrs. Norris, looking for "nosy, troublesome students doing what they aren't supposed to be doing."
Also during all this Harry and Blaise were cautiously trying to integrate themselves in with their Slytherin housemates as well as a few other students in the school from different houses. It didn't help that Harry and Blaise's cautious nature clashed with the wary feeling most of the students had for them and Harry had taken to sending mafia-style death glares at anyone who stared at him or his scar. A few times he had been tempted to punch some idiot classmates for talking openly about him right in front of his face but with Blaise there to remind him not to act out he had to be content with some mild and discreet hexes.
It was no secret that everyone had thought Harry would be in Gryffindor so the Slytherins were suspicious on the how's and why's that had Harry placed in with the Slytherin's and the rest of the school seemed afraid that the-boy-who-lived was going dark. Naturally the Gryffindors felt betrayed but that never stopped Fred and George from talking with Harry and Blaise and soon even Lee Jordan was relaxing around them enough to be friendly. So besides the Gryffindor trouble trio Harry and Blaise didn't show any overt friendship or trust to anyone, yet despite this they weren't treated as outcasts in their own house, their preference for holding themselves aloof were merely thought of as a part of their Slytherin nature.
Of course everything was made easier by Manuel and Trevor's acceptance of their Sorting. Both had agreed that Slytherin suited Harry and Blaise and they didn't hold with the notion that all Slytherins were evil, it would be rather hypocritical for Trevor to think of Slytherin's as evil after all. In Harry and Blaise's minds as long as their fathers accepted things then everyone else could go to hell, the opinions of the masses hadn't mattered to them in the muggle world and they weren't about to start letting such a thing affect them in the magical world. Besides they were too busy thinking of the pranks they could play that weekend now that they had a better idea of the way this new world they had entered worked.