A/N: That was kinda fast wasn't it? Okay, not quite fast enough. I'm soo happy with all the reviews that I got, you guys are great.
Harry: YAY YOU REVIEWED!
Draco: He may love you guys more than me now...
Harry: Oh, never! I love you far too much, Draco.
Me: Not yet, you guys! You're supposed to resent each others' existence!
Harry and Draco: Hurry up then!
Me: Anywho, a BIG HUGE thanks to those of you who reviewed:BOLD THIS PART: abbie, AmethystxX (yes, it is Harry/Draco), Arys (I love your idea and I'm definitely taking your advice), Ashes of Stars, chiligurl, DanishGirl, fudgebaby (I hope all my chapters will be acceptable lengths), lita-2003, LUCKYSTAR14 (10 house points to you for being such a doll, thanx!), melanie2180/9 (FINALLY!), Neolina (double thanks to you!), Nyoka Li, RabbidChicken (Ha, you have to earn plushies m'luv, but you can have house points for now!), TysonFoxflame, and to those of you who just put me on your AA list.
Disclaimer: I can not take responsibility for the wonderful world of Harry Potter. JK Rowling owns all of these characters.
Harry was on his bed tossing a lacrosse ball up at his ceiling when he heard a knock at his door.
"C'min."
Remus opened the door and poked his head into the room. There were still a couple boxes that Harry had not yet unpacked but other than that, it was relatively clean, though a bit bare. "Dinner's ready," said Remus softly.
"Not hungry," grumbled Harry, continuing to throw the ball up and then catching it.
Remus walked into the room and closed the door behind him. "I heard your day wasn't too great. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly, but if you must know, I was in a perfectly okay mood until my last class."
"I certainly don't mind listening if you do want to discuss it," Remus said sitting down on Harry's bed next to him. "I know that starting at a new school isn't easy Harry, and you aren't going to like all of your classes."
"I know. I'm not stupid," Harry said quietly. He wasn't trying to be rude, he simply wasn't in the mood for hearing what he already knew.
"I don't know what happened in your last class but laying on your bed sulking is not going to improve things at all. But you might feel a little better if you came downstairs to eat with Sirius and me," Remus tried.
Harry sat up and put the lacrosse ball on his dresser. "Okay, you win," he said, but he wasn't being playful. The two walked out of his room and down the stairs to the dining room. Harry was greeted by the smell of Remus's great cooking: Roasted chicken, homemade stuffing, peaches, and marmalade. He silently sat at the table with his two guardians, not touching his food. The table was quiet and still until Harry finally said, "Professor Snape is an asshole."
"Snape?" Sirius asked sharply, looking at Harry with confusion and an expression like he wanted Harry to elaborate.
"Yesss..." said Harry slowly, a bit confused himself with Sirius's interest, "He's my Chemistry teacher..."
"What the hell is he teaching-" he stopped mid-sentence and Harry had the distinct impression that it was not only Remus's scowling stare that stopped him. Sure enough, Remus had put a hand on Sirius's leg to quiet him.
"Do you know him?" Harry questioned.
Remus spoke up, "Well, it may have been a different 'Snape' but we do know of a rather unfriendly person with the same name."
"Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same guy." Harry said, starting to eat, "This one's got a problem with me for some reason. Pisses me off..."
Sirius looked angry, "I can talk to him if you want, Harry. I can go in and set him straight..."
"Nah, he'd just hate me even more. It just bugs me that he hates me just 'cause I'm new."
"Just 'cause you're new..." Sirius echoed.
Harry looked up at him, "What, you think he knows that I know you? Were you a jerk to him or something Sirius?" Harry smiled.
"No, I mean, no... no," Sirius said quickly "I mean, it's probably a different 'Snape', like Remy said."
Harry continued eating, staring at Sirius and Remus in turn, feeling that something wasn't being said. "I made some friends..." he said through a mouthful of food.
"Oh, and do you like them?" Remus asked.
"Well, they're nice and all, a real cheerful bunch. But you see, they're kinda... odd. I dunno, they're just really different. Very influential though. Just being around them, I feel myself changing. But I guess they're pretty cool."
"Well that's great! You should invite some of them over for dinner." Remus suggested.
"Or you could throw a party!" Sirius's face lit up.
"That'd be cool. But I should probably get to know a few more people first..." A party, great idea.
Remus didn't contribute to their brief conversation about the party.
As dinner was nearing it's end, Sirius started a whole new conversation, "Somewhere in that rant earlier," Sirius figured that the table was far less tense and Harry was in a much better mood so it was safe to bring it up "I heard something about a certain person you might have a thing for at your school, right?" Sirius had a wicked smile on his face.
"You did, but it's stupid. I don't have a thing for anyone..."
Sirius ignored this, "Maybe you could invite her to the party, y'know, take her up to your bedroom..."
"Sirius!" Remus scolded.
"I only meant for a good snog, of course. Please, Harry wouldn't do anything more, especially if she's pissed..."
"And why would she be intoxicated at a high school party?" Remus asked sternly.
Sirius chose to ignore the question and directed his next statement to Harry, "You should invite her."
Harry paused, taking a last bite. "Actually, I don't think I would invite them considering they're more than a bit blinkered and a blooming pain in the arse from what I can see!"
Remus and Sirius stared at him for a moment.
"I'd just rather not talk about it..." The truth was that Harry didn't like to talk about it when they thought it was a girl he was speaking of. He retreated to his room and went to bed early.
Meanwhile, after finishing up the dishes, Remus and Sirius went into Sirius's bedroom to talk about Harry and their discussion over dinner.
"So do you think it's him, Remus? I mean, how many other Snape's could be teaching there?"
"Of course it is, just look at the subject he's teaching... Think of all those things he made back in school... the explosives he was rumored to be experimenting with in his room..."
"We should have Harry switch schools... This was a bad idea..."
"Do have any idea how suspicious that would look to Harry? I'm sure he's plenty suspicious already."
"Remus, we sent Harry to the school that was ground zero to numerous murders, including those of his parents. How long do you think it will be before he finds out on his own?"
Remus stared quietly at the ground. "The school has tried and succeeded to cover that up for years. If Harry finds out... then I suppose it will be the right time."
An awkward silence followed these words, finally broken when Sirius characteristically changed the subject. "Harry was acting weird tonight."
"It's not the first time he's been like this..."
"What do you mean?"
Remus sighed, "I simply mean that I've noticed whenever he talks about someone that he has an attraction to, he gets more... testy than usual."
"So, you think he feels weird talking about girls with us?" Sirius was somewhat offended, "We're supposed to be open about that stuff! We've talked about it before! We're cool-"
"Sirius, didn't you hear him?" Remus raised his voice to be heard over Sirius's ramblings"I've been thinking about it for some time now. Did you hear the pronouns he was using? It's so obvious because I did the same thing..."
Sirius was silent, confusion spread across his face.
"Them, they, they're! Do you see it now?"
"There's more than one? Is that it?"
Remus breathed heavily, "He's gay! He's gay, Sirius! That's why he hasn't been with any girls or even talked about them and why he doesn't like to discuss little 'crushes'. That's why he was totally checking out that guy in the mall the other day... Oh, my gosh..."
Another awkward silence.
"Nah! He would have told us... He's just not used to having these kinds of feelings for anyone! But it's not a guy... Harry is not gay... he would have told us..."
"Sirius," Remus said as he walked out of Sirius's bedroom, "You watch and see. I just wish Harry knew that we have absolutely no problem with it."
Harry's second day at school was much like the first. He still had four more classes to attend and he was filled with more than a little trepidation going to them considering how his other classes had been. His classes, however, were not nearly as bad as his Chemistry class was. First, he had Home Ec. with Professor Sprout. They were going to be learning about herbal cooking for the first quarter. Besides himself and Neville, there were nearly no guys in that class, but Lavender and Parvati were in it. After that, he and Neville went to English with Professor McGonagall and he was happy to see that Ron and Hermione were in his class as well. Harry's impression of Professor McGonagall did not waver after her class and it seemed that none of his friends had either a negative or positive opinion of her.
All together, Harry was an okay student, but he had a natural talent for math. Following English he headed over to Professor Vector's Math Excel with Hermione. The class was the hardest that the school offered in the Math department, so naturally he was in a room full of smart students. In fact, the only students that Ron had not labeled as 'Smart-asses' the previous day were Hermione, himself, and two of the rich kids. One of them was someone that Harry had very much intended to avoid as much as possible: Draco Malfoy.
Hermione sighed loudly and said exasperatedly, "Of, course..."
Harry avoided the corner of the room where Malfoy and a boy with black hair were sitting and quietly sat next to a pretty Asian girl with black hair. She turned to him smiling, and then smiling even more when she saw who he was."Hi! I'm Cho Chang. You're new here aren't you?"
"Yeah, I am," Harry said, tired of answering the question, "I'm Harry Potter."
"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you," she responded, batting her eye-lashes, "If there's anything that you need-"
"Then he'll tell me," Hermione said in a surprisingly mean voice.
Cho Chang threw Hermione a typical girl look that clearly stated that she disliked her and then turned to her friend who had strawberry-blonde hair to continue a conversation.
"You should probably try to avoid her," Hermione was saying, "She likes to play with guys for a little bit, and then let them go when she's done with them."
Harry nodded, sure that he wouldn't get caught in her trap.
Throughout the whole class Harry found himself looking at Draco Malfoy, not paying attention at all, so he was genuinely surprised when Professor Vector walked to his desk to ask that he stop day-dreaming. The class snickered at him, especially those damned rich kids. Draco sneered at Harry, whispering something to his friend with the black hair.
As soon as the class had ended Harry picked up his books and stormed out of the classroom. He was so upset with himself for not paying attention in class. He went out to the lunch area and sat down with Ron, who was already there.
"Sumfin rawn?" Ron asked through his mouthful of peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Ugh… just that Malfoy."
Ron swallowed, eager to talk about his hate for Malfoy, "Wha'd he do?"
"Just laughed at me."
"That's it?" Harry nodded. "Well, you'll have to get used to it. He laughs at pretty much everyone. Sadistic, he is…"
Harry wanted to say, "Well, it's different because I think he's dead sexy," but wisely decided against it. Instead he shifted the conversation to something else. "My godfather reckons I should throw a party."
Ron's eyes lit up, "Oh, you have to! You have t' understand Harry, that by being friends with me, you'll be going to parties all the time. This is great, it's gotta be big…"
Harry left Ron to his fantasies about the party as Hermione sat down with her lunch. "You left so quickly, Harry. I couldn't even walk with you to lunch." She smiled.
"Sorry… just I was kinda upset."
"I understand," she said, then looked at Ron's lunch, sniffed disapprovingly, and muttered to herself, "Torturing chickens and supporting the veal industry…"
Ron stopped talking and immediately snapped, "I'm sorry, but I'm hungry and I've already become vegetarian. What do you expect from me Hermione?"
Hermione just glared and then began eating her vegetables and fruit that were in tupperware bowls.
Harry turned to Ron, quite confused. Ron understood and answered his unasked question, "She's vegan. It's why she comes with me to all the straightedge concerts, she likes to promote veganism. Though, half the people at those concerts are already vegan."
Harry nodded, though not knowing what 'straightedge' meant.
"So about this party, how many people are you planning on inviting?" Ron asked him.
"I dunno… as many as will come." Harry responded.
Ron smiled widely.
"But I want to get to know people first, I mean, more people…" Harry said quickly.
Ron stood up and yanked Harry up with him, "Okay, then that's what we'll do right now!" He introduced Harry to a few more of the people by their table: Denis Creevey (a miniature of his gothic older brother, wearing a black 'Bauhaus' t-shirt), Eloise Midgen (a quiet girl with a lot of pimples), and a few others. Then Ron brought Harry over to where some of the students sat on the ground and Seamus tagged along, singing "…'cause we find ourselves in the same old mess, Singin' drunken lullabies," under his breath, which Harry guessed was a Flogging Molly song, as Ron said, "He's obsessed with Flogging Molly…"
The students on the ground all looked completely normal, but Harry had to admit that only about half of them were. The other half looked stoned out of their minds. Harry introduced him to some of the more sober-looking ones: Ernie MacMillan, Hanna Abbott, Susane Bones, and a few others. They were all a happy bunch, and very friendly to Harry.
After that, Harry was taken over to where all the smart students sat in their circle. Ron walked him around the circle, talking to some people and introducing him to a few of them: Padma Patil (Parvati's identical twin, though they were very different), Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Su Li, Cho Chang (who batted her eye-lashes at him again).
They headed back to their table, Ron saying that he suspected Harry didn't want to be introduced to any slimy gits that were on the hill. He was right.
As soon as the bell sounded, Harry headed to his locker to put away his things. He had just finished the combo and opened it when somebody slammed it shut it his face. He turned to his right to see the boy with black hair from his math class leaning against the other lockers. Around him were about six of his friends.
The boy looked at Harry smugly, smirking slightly. Then he said in a falsely friendly voice, "Ah, yes, Harry Potter: the new kid on campus… What a pleasure it is to meet you… I'm Blaise Zabini and this is Vincent Crabbe and Greggory Goyle," he pointed to two large boys who looked like gorillas, "Hopefully you wont have to get to know them too well," he sneered and Harry knew precisely what he meant. Harry was now determined to stay out of their way. The rest of the group circled around him and his stomach dropped when he saw Malfoy among them. What was even worse was that he had the pug-face girl from his French class wrapped around his arm. Harry's mood went from bad to worse. She wasn't even pretty.
She obviously saw him glaring at her because she spoke up, "I'm Pansy Parkenson and don't even think about talking to me… I assure you that I have no time for small talk with people like you." Harry hated her already. Her voice was like a screech (though not so loud) and her face grew long when she talked.
Blaise spoke next, and his words were directed to Draco, "You've been quiet Draco…" The way he said it wiped away the original idea he had that Blaise was the 'leader'. He talked to Draco with respect and so Harry got the distinct impression that he was the one in charge, not Blaise.
"I've already met him, under unfortunate circumstance if I do say so myself," he say snottily. He flung Parkenson's arm off him with something close to disgust, Harry noted with happiness, but then rounded on Harry, moving in closer so that they were face to face. "You see, he clumsily bumped into me yesterday in the hall. But it won't be happening again, will it Potter?"
Harry was nervous enough to just say 'no' but he was pissed off. "I bumped into you? Me? Well let me tell you something, Mr. I'm-So-High-and-Mighty: I don't care how other people view you, I just see you as some rich brat who thinks he can push everyone around. It was you who bumped into me yesterday, so don't try to pin the blame for that 'unfortunate' experience on me!"
Draco paused, eyebrows raised but smirk set in place. He calmly stated, "I think you'll soon have to find your place with an attitude like that. Otherwise you may be put in it by force."
"Whatever…" Harry pushed through them, forgetting about putting his books in his locker, knuckles cracking behind him. He would just take them to his PE class.
In that class, some people purchased new gym clothes but Harry chose not to. He was thinking about going out for a sport instead of taking the class. He hung out with Ron and Dean. When he presented the question about the sports try-outs at the school Ron shuddered, "I hate sports, mate. Ask Dean, he does soccer."
"What sport do you wanna go out for?" Dean asked him.
"Lacrosse, for sure," Harry answered.
The other two boys looked at each other in a way that Harry was getting tired of seeing. Everyone knew stuff that he didn't.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Nothin'," replied Dean, "The try-outs are on Friday."
"Good, then I have plans for Friday."
Ron recovered from a moment of silence he had experienced, "Well you haven't got plans today. We're going shopping!"
Yay! It was still kinda long! I'm so happy it's done. I'll try and get the next chapter up sooner. Time to clear more stuff up. Su Li is a real character, she just hasn't been mentioned in any of the books. JK Rowling (bless her soul) did create her though. Another thing, I'm really sorry about all the mistakes in the last chapter but I didn't have a spell-check. Ummm… I guess just leave me a review.
Draco: No the review would be for us.
Me: Okay. Leave a review for Draco and Harry.