Emerald Anarchy

Chapter I

Harry Potter's Secret

POTTER'S SECRET SNAKE!

By Rita Skeeter

Notorious Harry Potter, famed Boy-Who-Lived and Triwizard Tournament Champion, has been making headlines for his outlandish claims that You-Know-Who is back in a desperate attempt to keep the attention that has lived in for the past fifteen years. Haunted by the loss of his parents, Harry seems to have substituted parental love with worldwide fame. A toxic and harmful trait that has left The-Boy-Who-Lived to develop into The-Boy-Who-Craved-Attention. Strategically breaking rules and laws to get himself into a dangerous tournament, using the poor death of Cedrick Doggery for his own means, along with the many different attention-seeking behaviors Harry Potter has shown throughout the years reflects poorly not only on his family but his Hogwarts House as well. Potter is known as the school's "Golden Boy" being a proud lion of Gryffindor, however, he acts like everything but a lion.

Gryffindor, to refresh some memories, is supposedly the House that honors bravery and chivalry above all, along with the greatest and bravest of all traits a person can have. While they might like the intelligence that my fellow Ravenclaws have, Gryffindor students are looked up to as natural leaders and generally get far in life. Both of Harry's parents were Gryffindors, and in life, it is said that they were both successful Aurors in their time. There is also the Head of our Auror Department, Rufus Scrimgeour, and our last Head of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch. All of these people have shown what Godric Gryffindor, the founder of Gryffindor House, valued most: bravery, loyalty, and the humble drive for justice. Traits that seem to be missing from Harry Potter.

Throughout his four years at Hogwarts, Harry Potter has consistently shown his drive for fame and recognition by becoming the center of attention, even from his first year around the scandal of the disappearance of Professor Quirrell, something that discredited and Ex-Member of the Order of Merlin Albus Dumbledore claims to be related to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Harry Potter was involved in this scandal, resulting in an extended stay in the hospital wing, although details of his involvement are kept secret under lock and key.

However, it was not until his second year that something truly scandalous comes out into the light, and something that I have brought to everyone's attention in my last issue, Harry Potter can talk with snakes! Yes, it seems that Potter possesses the very rare ability of Parseltongue, something so rare that the last person to have the ability is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! Could the two figures be related? It would make sense, as the ability to speak to snakes is an exclusively Slytherin trait being passed down the line of Salazar Slytherin's descendants. Parseltongue is considered a Dark Art. To bring back my anonymous member of the Dark Force Defense League, he regards any wizard who can talk with snakes "as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kind of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evil-doers." Similarly, "anyone who seeks out such company of such vicious creatures such as werewolves and giants would appear to have a fondness for violence."

Well, I do not need to be convinced twice.

Harry Potter certainly has shown violent tendencies throughout the years in order to keep our attention, but if we need more information on his attention-seeking behavior, then we should turn to Harry Potter himself.

As I said before, Potter is a Parseltongue, making him a relative of Who-Know-Who in some fashion. Parseltongue is a rather Slytherin skill, so it would be odd then if his distant descendant were to be sorted into Gryffindor, the House of the Nobel and Brave. It is a strange occurrence, but perhaps it was an orchestrated one. If not by Potter then by someone else.

As we all know, students at Hogwarts are sorted into their Houses on the first day of their educational career. On his first day, Harry Potter was sorted into Gryffindor, but that was not the Hat's first choice. No, the Sorting Hat wanted to place Harry Potter into Slytherin! Through magic or manipulation, however, that did not happen and thus Gryffindor was left with an attention-seeking boy who substituted familial love with fame and power. Who is to blame for all of this? Why is it that Potter was sorted into the wrong House? Who else then was missorted? We tried to reach out to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, but he was not available to make a comment.

However, Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, was available to comment on the situation, stating that it is "a shame to think that they've allowed such a dangerous individual to influence children he would normally be away from for so long. The Minister and I are personally looking into it and are happy to declare an emergency Re-Sorting for all in Mr. Potter's year so as to correct both his and any other potential mistakes."

"They can't be serious!" Hermione Granger gasped as she finished reading the article. "Resorted!?"

"Sounds like a waste of time," Ron shrugged from his seat in the basement kitchen of Number12 Grimmauld Place. He was wearing his new shiny Prefects Badge, though he was trying to look casual about it. "I mean, ain't no way we would go to any other house, right?" He looked towards harry who shrugged.

"And besides, you've chosen Gryffindor Harry," Hermione said. "That's all that matters."

"Yeah!" Ron laughed, "and honestly I don't see you with the slimy snakes, you can't hide anything, Harry!"

"Gee, thanks Ron," Harry said dryly. He thought for a long moment before giving a long sigh. They would leave for Hogwarts tomorrow, and Harry could already feel that it would be a challenging year. He didn't want any pressure from hidden secrets. "Actually, there is one secret I've hidden from you two," he said.

"WHAT!?" Ron yelled, looking flabbergasted. "What do you mean!?"

Harry decided to just come out with it. "I'm gay." Harry flinched at the silence that followed. Ron and Hermione stared at him, their mouths hung open and Harry immediately regretted his decision. "You're joking," Hermione whispered. "But last year with Pavati?"

"She spent most of the night with someone else honestly," Harry said. "But there's uh one more thing…" he licked his lips nervously and suddenly felt his hands get rather clammy. "Cedric and I…" he started.

Ron gasped. "NO!"

Harry gave him a sharp look and nodded. "Yes," he said. "Cho knew and she actually helped us. His parents didn't know, his dad really hates people like us. Cedric was planning on using the reward money to move out actually, but, you know," Harry was unable to finish. He left the sentence hanging, hovering over the three like a dark cloud that looked as if it was about to burst in rain.

"Right," Hermione said, sounding awkward. "Well then, I suppose you don't want us to tell anyone."

"Yeah, please," Harry said. "Even Sirius doesn't know. I don't know how to tell him."

"Who knows?" Ron asked, sounding as if they were discussing a serious disease.

"Just you two and Cho," Harry said.

"Ok good—I mean, yeah we'll keep it secret," Ron said. He cleared his throat and tried to smile, "Like I said, can't keep a secret, eh Harry? No way you're a filthy snake."

"Yeah," Harry said, although he didn't feel relieved. He felt as if he just dropped an awkward bit of news with his friends and instead of hugging him or going on as normal, the two were acting weird. It felt like a strange itch that he couldn't reach.

The others soon came in and Harry was quickly lost in the mad scramble of last-minute packing and cleaning. Sirius had a laugh about the newspaper, calling Harry his "scary snaky godson" before slapping his back. Harry did his best to return the smile, knowing that Sirius would miss him extremely when he had to go back the next day. A part of Harry wished he could have stayed here at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, if not just to keep Sirius company.

Sirius was good company to keep his terrible thoughts away, Harry felt. Both his anxiety from being in the closet to this strange sense of anger and jealousy of Ron of all people being made Prefect. So, since he was feeling very emotional and sharing that day, Harry asked Sirius if they could talk alone.

They were in Sirius' room after lunch, hiding from Mrs. Weasley and her cleaning crew. "You wanted to tell me something pup?" Sirius asked as Harry looked around Sirius' room, examining all of the old posters he had hung up. "You got love troubles?" Sirius grinned.

"Uh yeah… something like that," Harry said awkwardly.

"Not to worry Harry, who's the lucky girl?" Sirius asked. "Hermione? Can't be Tonks is it? She's pretty, I'll give you that, but she is rather old for you."

"Actually, Sirius, it's not a girl," Harry said, turning to face him. "I uh… I don't rather care for girls in that way."

Sirius stood up immediately and before Harry knew it, he was pulled into a tight hug. Harry didn't know how to act. He felt frozen in Sirius's hug before awkwardly moving his arms around Sirius. They didn't speak, and Harry was happy about that. The two men stood there for a moment before Sirius pulled away, holding Harry's shoulders, and smiled, "So who's the lucky boy?"

Harry's cheeks turned rosy and he smiled sadly. "Cedric," he said. "Cedric Diggory. The one who—"

Sirius hugged him again and whispered, "It's okay, everything is going to be okay. If you need to cry, you can."

"Thank you," Harry whispered. He was going to miss Sirius. He wished that he didn't have to go. "The others didn't know. We've hidden it for so long." His voice broke as he talked, surprising himself as he realized how long he held onto it.

"How long?" Sirius asked.

Harry needed time to collect himself, wetting Sirius's shirt with his tears. "We started in October before the tournament began. He was my first."

"Oh Harry," Sirius said, rubbing Harry's back in soothing circles. Harry held onto him tighter and he continued to cry. "It's hard when you lose someone you're close to," Sirius said. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about James and Lily. They would be so proud of you Harry, you know that?"

"They would?"

"Yes! Of course, they would," Sirius said. "If they would here right now, James would be threatening all the boys you know and all the boys in a ten-mile radius about hurting your feelings while Lily would chase after him to stop embarrassing you." He gave a chuckle and Harry gave a sad chuckle too, smiling softly. He liked the idea.

"That sounds nice," he whispered. "Thank you."

"Any time pup, any time. And if you need to, I can go warn the boys about hurting you. It'll be fun chasing them around and barking at them," Sirius said, giving Harry a mischievous grin. Harry gave a full laugh and shook his head.

"I don't think Mrs. Weasley would like that very much, or Dumbledore," he said.

"Then it will be extra fun!" Sirius said. Harry laughed, smiling brightly at the sight of Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore chasing after Sirius as he barked and growled at random muggle boys. It made him smile so much that it might just be worth it.

Later on, the household had a celebratory dinner for Ron and Hermione, who were both chosen to be Prefects. Harry did his best to be happy for them but he couldn't help but feel jealous that Dumbledore picked Ron and not him. The only comfort he had was that his father wasn't a Prefect either, and it was fun watching the Weasley twins prank Ron over his new shiny badge. The whole night had a downer ending, however, as Mrs. Weasley broke into tears when she tried to banish a boggart that kept turning into her children, Harry, and Hermione, all dead.

The next morning Harry still felt off. He didn't have a good night's sleep and he remembered how when he got to Hogwarts, he and everyone else in his year were going to be resorted all because of Umbridge and Skeeter. There was a lot of commotion in the house. From what he heard as he dressed, Harry gathered that Fred and George had bewitched their trunks to fly downstairs to save the bother of carrying them, with the result that they hurtled straight into Ginny and knocked her down two flights of stairs into the hall; the portrait of Mrs. Black and Mrs. Weasley were both screaming at the top of their voices.

"—COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS—"

"—FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHER—"

Harry suddenly wondered if knives would do anything to the portrait. When he finished dressing, he didn't bother waiting for Ron, who woke up with Mrs. Weasley's screaming and walked out of the room. He passed by Hermione, who looked just as breathless and muttered a good morning, and went down the stairs where he saw Mrs. Weasley still screaming at Fred and George. He walked past them and into the kitchen where Lupin and Sirius were taking refuge along with Tonks and Mr. Weasley. They all muttered their "good mornings" as Harry went to the knife block and pulled out the first one he could grab.

"What are you thinking, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing," Harry said, "just getting rid of a headache." He turned and walked out of the kitchen and back into the entrance room where there was still screaming going on about. Mrs. Weasley was done yelling at Fred and George and was standing at the foot of the staircase, "WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!" She turned to see Harry with the knife and said, "Harry! What do you think you're doing?"

"Nothing bad," Harry said. He stepped up to the portrait of Mrs. Black and examined the knife he picked, smiling a little when he noticed that he grabbed a butcher's knife. Mrs. Black stopped screaming and looked down. "YOU HALF-BREED WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Without answering, Harry took the knife in his hand, lifted it up, and stabbed the painting right on Mrs. Black's chest. A tear appeared and Mrs. Black howled, unharmed but infuriated. "YOU HALF-BREED WHORESON! STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING IMMEDIATELY!"

"Nah," Harry answered, and he took another swing, creating a long tear from the middle of the portrait to the bottom. Mrs. Black continued to scream as Harry ripped her portrait to shreds, trapping her in main different pieces which he gathered from the floor, crumpled up, and held in one hand, the knife in the other. He turned to see the Weasleys and others staring at him. "What?"

Sirius gave a loud laugh, "If I had known a knife was all I needed I would have gotten rid of her months ago!"

"Harry! That was extremely dangerous," Mrs. Weasley said. "What if the knife slipped or worse?"

"Then we would have known that she was smart enough to do that," Harry said, shrugging. He went back to the kitchen to return the knife and throw out the garbage. He returned to see a haggard Mrs. Weasley. "Fine then," she said. "Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage. ...Oh, for heaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!" A bearlike black dog had appeared at Harry's side. "Oh honestly…" Mrs. Weasley said despairingly, "well, on your own head be it!"

She wrenched open the front door and stepped out into the weak September sunlight. Harry and the dog followed her. The door slammed behind them. An old woman greeted them on the corner. She had tightly curled gray hair and wore a purple hat shaped like a porkpie. "Wotcher, Harry," Tonks said, winking. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?" she added, checking her watch.

"I know, I know" moaned Mrs. Weasley, lengthening her stride, "but Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis. … If only Arthur could have got us cars from the Ministry again … but Fudge wouldn't let him borrow so much as an empty ink bottle these days. … How muggles can stand traveling without magic…"

But the great black dog gave a joyful bark and gamboled around them, snapping at pigeons, and chasing its own tail. Harry couldn't help laughing. Sirius had been trapped inside for a very long time, Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips in an almost Aunt Petunia-ish way.

It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross by foot and nothing more eventful happened during that time than Sirius scaring a couple of cats for Harry's entertainment. Once inside the station they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through onto platform nine and three quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam over a platform packed with departing students and their families.

They waited by for the others to follow in, Moody and other Order members escorting them. They all said their goodbyes and piled onto the train. For a brief moment, the great black dog reared onto its hind legs and placed its front paws on Harry's shoulders, but Mrs. Weasley shoved Harry away toward the train door hissing, "For heaven's sake act more like a dog, Sirius!"

"See you!" Harry called out of the open window as the train began to move, while Ron, Hermione, and Ginny waved beside him. The figures of Tonks, Lupin, Moody, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley shrank rapidly but the black dog was bounding alongside the windows, wagging its tail; blurred people on the platform were laughing to see it chasing the train, and they turned the corner, and Sirius was gone.

"He shouldn't have come with us," Hermione said in a worried voice.

"Oh lighten up," Ron said, "he hasn't seen daylight for months, poor bloke." Fred and George left them to find Lee and Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. "Shall we go find a compartment, then?" he asked them.

Ron and Hermione exchanged looks.

"Er," Ron said.

"We—well Ron and I—are supposed to go into the prefect carriage," Hermione said awkwardly.

Ron wasn't looking at Harry; he seemed to have become intensely interested in the fingernails on his left hand.

"Oh. Right. Fine," Harry said.

"I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," Hermione said quickly. "Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."

"Fine," Harry said again. "Well, I-I might see you later, then." The two left and Harry was left alone with Ginny, who dragged him to sit in a compartment with her.

"Honestly, it's a miracle they're Prefects with this last-minute resorting," Ginny commented. "Then again it's not like anyone will be changing Houses. Some things are just inevitable, right Harry?" She said, winking at him.

"Er, right," Harry said awkwardly.

They ended up in a compartment with Neville and a strange girl named Luna Lovegood. Harry did not know what to honestly think of her. She seemed nice enough, but she came on a bit too strongly. She always talked in this dreamy voice that put Harry on edge. Harry settled down in his seat and hoped for an uneventful train ride. He only half-listened to what the others were saying and jumped when there was a knock on the compartment door. It slid open and a nervous voice said, "Oh… hello Harry, um… bad time?"

Harry looked up to see Cho Chang smiling at him.

"Oh… hi," Harry said blankly.

"Um…" Cho said, "Well … just thought I'd say hello … 'bye then."

Harry quickly got up and pulled the door open, "Cho!?" he called out as he stepped into the corridor. Cho Chang stopped and turned to him, both their faces pink. "I uh… how are—how are you?" Harry asked, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Good, um feeling better," Cho said. "Yourself?"

"Yeah… yeah, feeling better," Harry muttered. "Uh… see you?"

"Yes," Cho said awkwardly. She turned and walked away, leaving Harry to stand there for a moment. He cleared his throat and did his best to smooth his hair as he got back into the compartment. He sat down to see Ginny staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing," Ginny commented.

It took Ron and Hermione more than an hour to show up, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. Harry, Ginny, and Neville had finished their pumpkin pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog cards when the compartment door slid open and they walked in, accompanied by Crookshanks and a shrilly hooting Pigwidgeon in his cage.

"You will never believe who they made Slytherin's Prefects," Ron complained. "Malfoy and that dog-looking girl Parkinson!"

"Course Malfoy," Harry said bitterly, his worse fear confirmed.

"There is no way they will change Houses," Hermione said. "How they made her Prefect I'll never know. She's denser than a concussed troll!"

Harry grimaced at the reminder of the resorting. "It's just going to be a waste of time," he said. "Is there nothing Dumbledore can do?"

"Sadly no," Hermione sighed. "We'll just have to get it over with and then move on."

Ron immediately started doing an impression of Goyle and the lines he would make the Slytherin do. It was somewhat amusing in Harry's mind, but he couldn't help but laugh as he thought about the resorting. It was because of him that they all had to go through it. Somehow Skeeter overheard him when he was talking about how the hat wanted to put him in Slytherin, but it didn't make sense. He barely talked about it, if at all. How then did she overhear it, because she must have overheard it from someone? He knew he told Ron and Hermione, but they wouldn't have told anyone else. Why would they? Perhaps Dumbledore knew but then again why would he want to tell someone else? Or maybe, in the end, this was just something that Skeeter made up, as she usually does, and it is the rare occurrence of her getting it right for once. Harry hoped that it was that. He couldn't even begin to imagine Ron or Hermione telling someone else about his secret, it would hurt him too much.

The train ride went on, and Harry hoped that it would never end. He did not want to face the rest of the school. He would be content to just stay in this compartment forever as the train rode on, never reaching its destination. But he knew that it could not last forever, that eventually the train will reach Hogsmeade station, and he would have to face the hat again and hope that he can be placed in Gryffindor once more. The sun set, the lights turned on, and an announcement played saying that they were close to Hogwarts.

Harry changed into his Gryffindor uniform, doing his best to stay confident that he will still be wearing it during the opening feast. The train slowed to a stop and they heard the usual racket up and down the train as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, and ready for departure. Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this; they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Harry and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.

"You're worried, aren't you?" Neville asked Harry, making him jump.

"A little," Harry admitted. "Skeeter wasn't lying, the hat really did want me to be in Slytherin."

"Same with me, but with Hufflepuff," Neville admitted. "I had to beg it to put me in Gryffindor." He gave Harry an easy smile, "But either way, I know our friends won't leave us, right? I mean Dean and Seamus might tease me for being a badger now but we had four years as Gryffindors, that has to count for something."

"Yeah, you're right," Harry said, nodding. "Thanks, Nev, that actually helped." Neville smiled and patted Harry's back. "Well come on then," he said and grabbed Harry's arm. They were quickly lost in the mob of students all pushing towards the horseless carriages. Harry had to hold onto his own trunk and Hedwig's cage tightly so as not to get pushed over as before he knew it, he, Neville, Ginny, and Luna were in a carriage. Ron and Hermione joined afterward, and they were off.

Harry watched through the window as Hogwarts slowly grew as they got closer and closer, and though he did his best to be relaxed about it all, he couldn't help but have a small seed of doubt grow inside him as he thought What if?

A/N: If you were wondering where I was, I've moved to AO3 fully, however, I wanted to upload this story here too. Chapters 2 and 3 are already up on AO3 but will be caught up here shortly.