Everyone's thoughts were centred on one Hadrian Potter. All were thinking about how different he turned out to be from their expectations.
Severus Snape was conflicted. The child of the love of his life and the most hated enemy had come to Hogwarts. All these years, he had been thinking that the brat would be a copy of his father. When six years ago, Dumbledore had asked him to find the boy, Severus was sure that the brat was arrogant, just like his father. But today when looked at the boy, something welled up inside him. The boy was completely different from what he expected. He was not a copy of his father, but inherited a fair share of looks from his mother. And biggest shock was that he was sorted into Slytherin. He decided that he would not let his hate for everything Potter get in the way, but rather observe the boy's actions and then decide how to deal with this.
Albus Dumbledore was pacing in his office. He was worried. No he was more than worried . He remembered about one boy, charismatic and powerful being sorted into Slytherin and then becoming one of Britain's most feared Dark Lord. Today, his Saviour, the hope for future wizarding citizens was also sorted into Slytherin. He knew that not all students in Slytherin were dark, but the resemblance between Harry Potter and Tom Riddle were too much to ignore. The boy had a powerful aura around him. He held himself in a grace that reminded Dumbledore of Tom.
He finally decided that he will wait and see where this goes. The boy couldn't be allowed to go dark.
"Welcome to Slytherin Common Room. I am Severus Tobias Snape, your head of house and potions master of Hogwarts. You should all know the rules of Slytherin, if not you will make sure you learn them quickly, as you will find that I am not too forgiving for such failure. We are the greatest and house amongst the four… however… the other three houses will disagree. You will be against plenty of prejudice in the school. They may call you Dark just for being sorted into the house of Snakes. Any disagreements and rivalries in Slytherin shall stay IN Slytherin. You are to show a united front at all times when outside, no exceptions… failure to do so would result in punishment. I will not force you to follow the rules, but if you do break one, do NOT get caught. We are Slytherins and I expect you to show a little amount of cunning. If you do lose house points, then I will ensure to make your life Hell." He stared at all the first years in the eye. Harry felt as if he lingered for a little longer in his eyes. "You will all be awake and ready by 8am. Prefects will escort you to the Great Hall and classes, for the first 2 days".
Thankfully everyone in Slytherin gets their own rooms. Hadrian had put up some wards on his door so that no one intrudes in his place. When Professor Snape had been giving his speech, he had seen more than one older students giving him filthy looks. 'Probably sad that I killed their master'. Harry had honestly expected Snape to hate him, but he appeared civil. 'Well one less problem'. Harry went to sleep.
Next morning, Hadrian and Blaise were talking to each other at the Slytherin table. They both had woken up early and met each other at the common room. Talking to eachother, they found that they had many things in common, hating Malfoy for example. They all had been escorted to the great hall by a prefect. Their class schedule had been given by Professor Snape.
Monday and Thursday
9:00 am to 11:00 am - Double Herbology with Ravenclaw
11:15 am to 12:15 pm - Charms with Ravenclaw
1:15 pm to 2:15 pm - History of Magic with Hufflepuff
2:30 pm to 4:30 pm - Double Defence Against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff
Tuesday and Wednesday
9:00 am to 11:00 am - Double History of Magic with Hufflepuff
11:15 am to 12:15 pm - Charms with Ravenclaw
1:15 pm to 2:15 pm - Transfiguration with Gryffindor
2:30 pm to 4:30 pm - Potions with Gryffindor
Friday
9:00 am to 11:00 am - Double Potions with Gryffindor
11:15 am to 12:15 pm - Defence Against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff
1:15 pm to 2:15 pm - Charms with Ravenclaw
2:30 pm to 4:30 pm - Double Transfiguration with Gryffindor
11:00 pm to 12:00 am - Astronomy with Ravenclaw
Breakfast - 7:00 am to 9:00 am
Lunch - 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Dinner - 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
After breakfast, they were led to the Potions Classroom.Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons, just a floor above the common room. The Slytherins had reached the classroom earlier than the Gryffindors. When they came and settled in he noticed that many of the lions looked at him with wariness. After they had settled in, the door to the Potions class room slammed open and came in Professor Snape, his cloak billowing behind him.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. "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, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunder heads as I usually have to teach."
"Weasley" said Snape suddenly "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Weasley had not been paying attention during Professor Snape's speech. He stood up with red face and said,"I don't know, sir." Granger's hands had shot up into the air so fast that Harry was surprised it didn't fall off.
Snape of course ignored her and asked again,
"where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" Weasley just went more red in the face and said that he didn't know. Granger stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat.
"What is the difference, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"I don't know okay? Why don't you ask Hermione, I'm sure she knows" Weasley said rudely. Harry was surprised.
"That will be 5 points for being disrespectful to a teacher. Potter, answer them."
Harry stood up gracefully and said," Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite, sir."
"5 points to Slytherin, sit down" said Snape.
The class went smoothly after that until Longbottom had somehow managed to melt Finnigan's cauldron into a twisted blob. Harry was sure that he had managed to gain Snape's respect. Although he hated Snape for revealing the prophecy and getting his parents killed, even he would agree that Snape was a brilliant Potions Master.
Defence against the Dark Arts turned out to be a joke by the stuttering professor Quirrel. Harry had understood that Quirrel was faking it and that there was something darker about the man. Charms lesson consisted of them learning theory about basic charms, while in Transfiguration, they tried to change the match into a needle. Harry had managed it in the first try while he saw Granger give him jealous looks. It was Saturday and Harry was walking towards seventh floor. He walked towards the left corridor and stopped when he saw the Barnabas the Barmy tapestry. He began pacing the hallway 3 times thinking that he needed a room to hide things. When the room appeared, he went in and found the diadem he was searching for. It was another horcrux. He carefully levitated it into a bag and called one of his elves to take it and store it in Potter Castle. He was planning to remove the soul piece and use the diadem using a ritual he found in a book detailing soul magic.
He checked the time and realised that he had taken a lot of time in finding the horcrux. He, Blaise, Daphne and Tracey were going to study DADA (Defence Against the Dark Arts) in the library. He had formed friendship with the four and had come to learn a lot about them. Daphne was cute but quiet. She has a sister who is two years younger. Blaise was born in Italy and his mother was Belladonna Zabini, the famous Black Widow. All of her husbands had mysteriously ended up dead after their marriage leaving all their wealth to her. Blaise had secretly hinted that his mother was very cunning. Tracey, meanwhile, was a half-blood like him. Her father owned a antiques shop near Knockturn Alley and she was a childhood friend of Daphne. Of them all Blaise had become his best friend as they both loved to pull pranks.
It was two weeks after the sorting that he had a confrontation with Malfoy. Harry, Blaise, Daphne and Tracey were at the Common room reading books when Malfoy walked over. "It's good to see you in the noble house of Slytherin, Potter. But you may wanna loose the half-blood." He said with a look of disdain towards Tracey. She immediately looked downcast. "You'll find out that some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." Blaise had a murderous look in his eye while Daphne had put on an emotionless mask, but you could clearly see the anger through her eyes.
Deciding to play on the offense Harry said,"I think I can clearly keep myself away from the wrong sort, thank you very much. Why else did you think I stayed away from you?"
Blaise let out a snort meanwhile Malfoy looked like a shocked peacock. After a second he was red not unlike Weasley and said scornfully "You think that you're so great do you? Just because you got some house points and became teacher's favourite doesn't mean you have any power. I can beat you anytime Potter. Tonight if you want. Wizards Duel - Wands only. What's the matter? Scared?"
Harry just raised an eyebrow. "If you're sure. Blaise you can be my second can't you?" Blaise nodded and he looked over to Malfoy.
"Crabbe will be mine" said Malfoy and walked away.
After he went Harry looked over to his friends and saw concern in both Daphne's and Tracey's faces. " You did that for me?" Tracey asked.
"Ofcourse I did. You're my friend and I'm not going to let anyone insult you" She jumped into his arms and hugged him. "Thank you" she whispered.
"Dammit, Potter, this is stupid!" Blaise whined. His eyes scanned the corridor nervously. "We're going to get caught!"
"No we're not," Harry replied calmly.
"Yes we are!"
"What makes you say that?"
"Are you daft? You have to know that Malfoy's not going to show. He's setting you up!"
Harry chuckled. "Of course I know that. He tipped off Filch where to find us."
"If you know that, then why are we walking right into his trap?"
"We're not. The trap is in the Trophy Room. We're going to the kitchens."
Blaise stopped for a second and blinked. "Oh... well that's okay then. Wait, why are we going to the kitchens?"
Harry had continued walking. Blaise hurried to catch him. "Because I'm hungry and that's where they keep the food."
"What about Malfoy?"
"What about him?"
Blaise sighed. "I mean, what are you going to do about him? Are we just going to hang out in the kitchens for a while and say that he didn't show up for the duel? Make him look like a coward?"
Harry snorted. "He doesn't need our help with that. Besides, that would be pretty lame, seeing as we're not going to show up for it, either."
Blaise rolled his eyes. "How do you know where the kitchens are, anyway? I thought it was like some sort of state secret."
Harry had got to know where the Kitchen was from The Marauders Map, but he wasn't gonna say that. "You know Billings? That bloke who sells stuff from Hogsmeade?"
"The sixth year? Yeah, I know him. Bloody wanker charges a fortune."
"Depends on what you're buying. Besides, that's not all he sells. He sold me directions to the kitchens."
"Cool. Must have cost you an arm and a leg, though."
"Yeah, but it's worth it. I also picked up a couple of other things."
"Like what?"
"Some Dragon Ink and a whole bag of those time-delayed Dungbombs. You know, the really big ones."
"The Diarrhoea Detonators?"
"Yeah, them."
"What are you going to do with them?"
"Already used 'em."
"How?"
Harry grinned. "Well... you see Malfoy always locks his wand in his trunk before he goes to take a shower."
"How do you know that?"
Harry just smirked
"I can't believe that moron fell for it!" Draco laughed loudly. "I mean, he actually thought that I was going to meet him in the Trophy Room for some stupid duel! How dumb can you be? I just wish I could see the look on his face when Filch shows up! How did he even get into Slytherin?" Draco strolled over to his trunk, still laughing softly, opened it, and blinked.
"Hey... where's my wand?"
He reached in and pulled out a small piece of folded parchment that hadn't been there before.
--
Git,
It's not going to be quite that easy.
Your wand is laying on the floor of the Trophy Room. If you run fast, you might get there before Filch does. If you run really fast, you might even get there before the dungbombs go off. If you don't run at all, then you'll get caught in the morning once the teachers start looking for the student who doesn't have a wand.
Good luck.
- HJP
PS: This is your last warning. Don't fuck with me. And, by the way, you should really get a trunk with a better lock on it. I picked this one with a paper clip.
--
Draco's eyes widened. Suddenly, the ink on the parchment flashed red and the entire thing burst into flames.
"GAAAA!" he screamed shrilly, jumping back and letting go of the flaming letter, which crumbled into ashes before it even hit the floor.
Breaking into a dead run, he shoved Flint to the ground on his way out of the Viper's Den. He ran up the tunnel as fast as he could, cursing the Founders for placing the Slytherin dorms all the way out under the Black Lake. It seemed to take forever to reach the exit into the dungeons, then twice as long to navigate the still-unfamiliar twists and turns that led to the first floor. He staggered up the stairs to the third floor. It looked empty, and he couldn't smell any Dungbombs. Maybe Potter was bluffing.
He crept towards the door to the Trophy Room, glanced around carefully, and eased it open, only to see Argus Filch standing in the center of the room, holding his wand and looking at it curiously.
He blinked and peered at Draco. "Aren't you the little beast who told me that someone was going to be slinking around in here after hours?" he croaked.
Filch opened his mouth again, and at that very second there was a sound like a thousand fat men all breaking wind at the same time. From every corner of the room, foul, rancid, partially-liquified brown sludge exploded outwards, coating everything in a thick, dark, curdled mess.
All Draco could do was shut his eyes as he was hit by the shower of disgusting filth. When he opened them, it was to see Filch spitting out mouthfuls of brown goo and trying not to retch. Every inch of the man had been covered in dung, and it was only then Draco realized that Mrs. Norris was also there with him. The skinny, bad-tempered cat looked like a pile of runny elephant droppings with wide yellow eyes. Eyes which stared at him with a look that promised murder.
The next day, Slytherin was down by 50 points. They Lions, Puffs and Claws were wondering what caused this. But the Slytherin house knew how Potter had tricked Malfoy in his own game. It had earned his some respect in the house and everyone knew that Malfoy is never going to lead the Slytherin house. Even though some Older years hated him, they had agreed that he had true cunning. It turns out that after Filch had caught Malfoy, he was taken to Professor McGonagall and she had given him 4 weeks of detention. The news by lunch had spread to other houses as well. The teachers thought that Malfoy tried to prank Filch but had forgotten his wand and got caught. Malfoy decided to stay far from Harry, atleast for now.