Disclaimer: Nothing in the Harry Potter universe is mine. I simply love to play with it.

AN: Ah and another chapter for one of my fics finished and edited. Took us a while, RL was distracting for me and my two wonderful betas vichan and Cameron Lindsey, too. Many hugs and kisses to these two!

Thanks to all of you. To everyone who followed, favoured and reviewed. subscribed, bookmarked and commented. And for all the kudos!

I have one little thing to mention. Yes, I love your reviews and comments, but if the only thing someone is writing is 'please update', especially directly after I uploaded the last chapter, that's not motivating at all. It puts unnecessary pressure on me. I have a real life, I have a very demanding and time-consuming job, I have family, friends and hobbies. So, as much as I love writing fanfiction, there are days I simply don't have the time to write.

Have fun reading.

On with the story.

Chapter 7: Gryffindor trouble

Harry walked through the hallways of Hogwarts castle after a few rather relaxing hours spent sitting in the sun by the shore of the lake. It had been a frightening and surreal experience for him, as it had been so similar to other days he had spent throughout the years before but so different because of the company he had kept.

Not that his new housemates had been bad company; it was quite the contrary, actually

Davis held true to her promise and read over his Potions essay. Harry had been rather proud of his essay until then, because for once he had actually found the time to do his homework. He actually had put some effort into it and had a library to crosscheck information; even Sirius, who, by his own words, hadn't been half bad in potions had helped.

But Davis had completely and mercilessly torn it apart. It seemed he hadn't been entirely wrong with the actual content, but the structure of his essay and his explanations were, as Davis phrased it, clumsy and laughable. She then began to scribble rather helpful corrections and notes all over his parchment.

In the middle of showing him how he should construct his essay and what extra information he had to put in, she started explaining which part of an ingredient reacted with what part of another and why they reacted in that way, along with what the innate magic of an ingredient actually did and what happened while brewing said ingredients. She even began expounding on how temperature and the way you stirred could influence how the ingredients would react with one another.

Harry felt dizzy after only a few minutes.

When Davis started using Arithmancy, scribbling a few complicated calculations on a spare parchment, to explain the reason why some ingredients had to be harvested at a specific time of the day or year and how it changed the inner composition and the innate magic, it went way over Harry's ability to even follow.

Zabini had only laughed at his horrified face and assured him that nobody could follow her when Davis went on one of her explaining rants. They left her to monologue and scribble madly. Zabini, with some helpful comments from Malfoy, helped him finish his essay. After all the help, he only needed to re-write it cleanly on a fresh parchment.

At least he could finally understand why Hermione had always been so horrified with the way he wrote his essays. He mentally swore to put more effort in his schoolwork during the year.

Afterwards, they spent the next few hours laying around, playing cards, and trying to get more information out of Harry. It seemed after what he had told them at breakfast, they didn't seem to believe that the rumours they had heard over the years were only rumours.

Harry just lay there on his back, watching the clouds drift by and answered with non-affirmative sounds. He had to hide a snicker when he saw how much this annoyed the others around him.

Eventually they woke up Crabbe and Goyle and wandered back to the castle, arguing about some article in a political magazine Harry had never heard of. In the entrance hall he let himself fall to the back of the group, and when they stepped through the doorway leading to the dungeons, he slipped away.

He wanted to see if he could find Hermione again.

Before he followed the others out of the Great Hall after lunch, he had caught the gaze of Hermione who had indicated with her head to Ron, who was shovelling food into his mouth beside her and ignoring everyone around him. Harry had nodded and signalled that he would find her later to talk again.

He hoped Hermione had the chance to talk with Ron, but he knew his ginger friend and how he stubborn he could be. Now he was walking to the library for the second time that day, hoping that Hermione would be there and had a chance to talk with Ron. He didn't allow himself to hope that Ron would be there, as well.

Lost in thought, he walked through the seemingly empty hallway, his feet automatically finding his way to the library when he saw a flash of colour out of the corner of his eye. He ducked as a hex flew over his head. He spun around, wand in hand, and snarled when he saw his attackers.

Five boys in Gryffindor colours stood a few feet away from him. Cormac McLaggen and two other sixth years, a seventh year - Harry already knew that if he told Fred and George, they would make their fellow yearmate's life a living hell - and Seamus. The Irish boy looked rather uncomfortable, but he was there nonetheless, wand in hand. It wasn't raised, but he still had it out.

Hurt and betrayal turned Harry's insides. He had shared a room with this boy for four years. They had shared evenings full of games and laughter in their dorm and teased each other in the mornings. His friendship with Seamus never had been the same as what he had Ron or even Neville, but he had counted him as a friend.

He stared at Seamus, who averted his gaze but lifted his chin stubbornly. But then Harry's attention was caught by McLaggen, who started to speak.

"Well, well... what do we have here? A slimy snake, all alone. And oh, look, it's the traitor," the blond boy drawled with a nasty smirk, twirling his wand.

For a moment Harry only blinked at him and tried not to laugh. The guy practically sounded like Malfoy, or at least how Harry remembered Malfoy from the last four years - haughty, arrogant and self-important.

Harry sighed instead and answered as calmly as he could. "What do you want, McLaggen?" He shifted his weight onto his right leg and let his wand fall out of his sleeve slightly. He hated that he felt he needed it to defend himself against these people who had once been his housemates.

They were Gryffindors, for Merlin's sake!

Despite that, the look in McLaggen's eyes promised that he wouldn't be satisfied with just a few insults.

The boy took a step towards Harry and sneered. "What I want is to teach you a lesson, Potter. Nobody - not even the bloody boy-who-lived - gets away with betraying Gryffindor house."

Harry narrowed his eyes at him. "How is getting sorted into another house a betrayal of Gryffindor?"

"You are the boy-who-lived. Your parents were both Gryffindors. You shouldn't be even considered for another house." McLaggen's face went slightly red as his voice rose, losing the haughty tones. Harry thought he sounded like a whining child.

In fact, he strongly reminded Harry of Dudley when he didn't get a second bowl of ice cream.

"But we shouldn't have expected anything else, what with you getting the Lions in trouble all the time and being a Parselmouth. You were never a true Gryffindor, right from the beginning!" His voice got even louder.

"You thought we wouldn't find out that you snuck your way into our house? A snake through and through, you sneaky lying coward. We were right a few years ago - you are Slytherin's heir." He took another step in Harry's direction and the three boys behind him followed, although out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Seamus take a step back instead of forward. The Irish boy looked troubled.

Harry couldn't pay any mind to Seamus, though, because McLaggen had stepped into his personal space.

"I bet you used Dark Arts to confound the hat to put you in Gryffindor back in first year, just like you cheated to get into the Tournament last year. Did you think anybody believed you when you said you didn't do it?" McLaggen snarled. "But now everyone knows what a filthy liar you are - that you are deranged and dangerous. Did you vanquish You-Know-Who just because you didn't want the competition?"

Harry was dumbfounded. He knew McLaggen was immensely stupid, but here he was exceeding every expectation.

"You do realize that I was a baby," Harry answered, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "Oh, yes - a one-year-old saw Voldemort as competition. I can't believe you saw through my evil plan."

McLaggen's face got even more red from anger and he started to raise his wand, and Harry suddenly wasn't sure if sarcasm and mockery had been the right choice.

"You filth! I'll put you in your place. Nobody makes a mockery out of Gryffindor," McLaggen growled. "You are nothing! I will stop you!"

"From doing what?" He was already tired of this bullshit, but he still hoped to get out of the situation with a few bruises, at most. The longer McLaggen talked, the more likely it was that someone would come and interrupt them.

He didn't see the fist coming, but he certainly felt it as it slammed into his cheek. The momentum threw him against the wall and his left shoulder connected painfully with the hard stone. However idiotic he thought McLaggen was, he certainly had a mean punch.

Harry steadied himself and snarled at McLaggen, who was standing before him with his hands clenched into fists.

"Don't try to hide it! We can see right through you, you evil snake." The moron sounded so sure of himself and the boys behind him nodded in agreement. Seamus, who looked horrified and embarrassed, had drifted away from the group.

"Why else would you have let yourself be sorted into Slytherin, if not to share the secrets you gathered about all of us in the past few years?"

Harry hadn't meant to laugh at that, but he couldn't help it.

"Oh, that's really good." He clutched his stomach and laughed even harder. "How in Merlin's name, did you manage to come to that conclusion? You really think I could prevent the sorting hat from doing what it wanted, especially as an eleven-year-old?"

He knew from experience with his uncle that riling up a person who was already furious was like poking a tiger with a stick, but he couldn't help it. All the frustration, anger, and resentment over a situation he had no control over came out in a long and bitter laugh. Harry was sure he sounded slightly unhinged, but he wasn't entirely sure if he cared. The wizarding world already believed that he was.

"And what secrets are you talking about?" He asked with a sneer. "That Ron snores, Dean sings in the shower, and you tend to pick your nose? Or that Seamus leaves his socks everywhere? Yeah, sure - the Slytherins would be delighted to learn about those secrets." He rolled his eyes at the blond boy and found himself fascinated at the fact that someone aside from Vernon could take on that particular shade of red.

"I bet you are in league with You-Know-Who. Slytherins are evil. Are you happy with your little Death Eater friends?" McLaggen's voice had risen to a bellow and he took another step towards Harry.

This time he saw the punch coming and stepped to the side. The force of McLaggen's empty swing threw him forward and Harry used the momentum to sweep the other boy's leg away from under him. McLaggen crashed onto the floor with a loud thunk. Several voices cried out and the other three boys leapt at Harry, who found himself needing to defend against all three of them at once. He couldn't avoid their punches completely and one caught him hard in his right side.

Having spent so much of his life running from Dudley and his friend, Harry knew that he had no chance against three bigger opponents. He only had two options: curl into a ball to protect his head, or run. He didn't like either option.

Anger – hot, sharp anger – filled him, and he felt a familiar pressure rising inside his body.

It wasn't the first time his magic had reacted strongly to his emotions, and Harry found that he was furious.

He always loved coming back to Hogwarts. Despite all of his adventures he felt safe at the school, and it was more of a home than anything he could truly remember. It was his refuge from the Dursleys. It was where he wasn't the freak and the punching bag.

But with three oversized idiots pummelling him, it felt exactly the same as Privet Drive.

Something rammed into his left knee and sent him to the floor, and his head connected with the stone.

Harry tasted blood in his mouth and the back of his head throbbed.

His fury skyrocketed.

Snarling, he managed to get to his feet just as a vicious kick from McLaggen connected with his stomach.

He could feel his magic thrum and vibrate under his skin, fuelled by his rage and the adrenaline coursing through his veins. His magic had never reacted with that much force to his emotions - not even when he blew up his Aunt Marge.

He wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but he was terrified of seriously hurting someone. Even so, he found he couldn't stop.

He just wanted them to leave him the bloody hell alone.

He thrust his arms out, one hand open and the other still holding his wand, and his magic swirled around him with such force that his ears popped. He could practically taste his magic in the air as it sizzled around them before it rushed forward like a lightning bolt.

Silence fell. The only sound he heard was his own heavy breathing.

He felt dizzy and his vision was blurred, while various parts of his body throbbed with pain. His arms shook from exhaustion as they slowly dropped back down to his sides. He blinked a few times to try and regain focus, and the shapes of the four boys slowly came into view. He wasn't quite sure what he was seeing at first.

McLaggen and his lackeys were standing before him, and each one of them seemed to be frozen in mid-motion. McLaggen was in the middle of throwing another punch, his expression vicious.

Harry blinked again, but the scene before him remained the same.

His four tormentors still stood completely frozen in the hallway. Seamus, who still stood to the side, looked as dumbfounded as Harry felt.

Harry knew magic could do that. There were several jinxes and curses that could incapacitate or freeze people. But he hadn't said the incantation of any of those curses, or used the correct wand movement or even his wand. Yes, he had his wand in hand, but he felt his magic leaving through his hands in an uncontrolled tide; it was completely different from any spell he had learned at school.

Had he really done that? Accidental magic at fifteen?

Apparently.

Could it even be called accidental? He had wanted them to stop and he made them stop.

Harry, confused, stared at the frozen bodies, hoping a professor could undo what he had done. But in order to find that out he would have to find a professor. Now that he thought about it, it seemed unusual that they hadn't been interrupted by one already.

Still staring at the frozen students before him, he realised with a slight detachment that he didn't even see them breathe; instead he registered the rising panic in their eyes.

His stomach churned. Perhaps he could fix it himself?

He lifted his wand.

"Finite Incantatem." His voice sounded hoarse and his magic felt sluggish, but it flowed through him and out of his wand obediently. For a moment he thought nothing would happen - that his magic was too depleted - but then McLaggen took in a shaky breath and stumbled forward, nearly landing face-first on the ground.

Harry wasn't sure what he should do so he simply just stood there, his wand still raised. Should he say anything or just leave? Then the Gryffindors turned toward him, and McLaggen's face twisted into an ugly snarl and he raised his own wand. "You… evil slimy snake! How dare you! Wait till my…"

Harry wasn't sure what the boy wanted to say, but he was so reminiscent of Malfoy that Harry nearly laughed again.

Before either one of them could do anything, a familiar voice behind him called out.

"Flipendo."

The four boys before him were blown back and crumbled to the floor a few feet away.

Harry turned around and came face to face with a rather furious looking Hermione.

"How dare they…" She huffed, her wand still pointing at the older Gryffindors. "Spineless, disgusting little cockroaches."

Her eyes narrowed and she looked at the fallen boys with disdain. "If this is what Gryffindor - the house of the brave and chivalrous - stands for, I am seriously considering asking the hat to resort me, if it would be possible," she said, exasperated. "You can bet that Professor McGonagall will hear about what transpired here. Four against one!" Her disdain and anger seemed almost palpable in every one of her movements and expressions.

"Shame on you. I am embarrassed of being a lion right now. And you…" Hermione whirled around and pointed her wand straight at Seamus, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Harry took a step towards her and placed his hand over her fist that grasped her wand.

"It's fine, Hermione. Seamus didn't do anything." He tried to keep his voice soothing. Nobody wanted to experience a furious Hermione. He gulped when her attention shifted to him.

"No, it is not fine. He just stood there! He didn't help…" Her voice trembled.

"No, it really is fine, Hermione. I am fine. You helped me," he said "The situation is under control and after you inform Professor McGonagall these four will get what they deserve."

She gazed at him for several moments, then nodded and lowered her wand. Harry took several deep breaths before he relaxed.

A noise from behind made Harry turn around. All four boys groaned and tried to push up from the floor.

Harry ignored the hiss from Hermione at his side and slowly walked up to McLaggen, who had pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. The blond was looking up at him with dazed eyes. When he realised who was standing over him, confusion and apprehension overtook his expression.

Harry slowly slid his wand back into his sleeves, McLaggen following the movement with his eyes.

"First you accuse me of using Dark Arts powerful enough to confuse two very old and very powerful magical artefacts," he said, "and then you try to beat me into submission by Muggle means. That is a whole new level of idiocy." His voice was so quiet that only McLaggen could hear him.

"If I am really as powerful and evil as you think, what would stop me from hurting you? What would stop me from hurting the people dear to you?"

Sweat began to gather on the blond Gryffindor's forehead and Harry stifled the slightly guilty feeling rising in him as fear crept into McLaggen's expression.

"That is what Voldemort would do." He sneered slightly at the shudder McLaggen couldn't hide at the name. "He will go after the people you love, hurt them, kill them, and then he'll kill you in the most painful way possible," he said. "Never - ever - compare me to him again. He killed my parents and is solely responsible for ruining my life in every regard. Never suggest that I am in league with him again," he hissed, his speech a dangerous staccato as he emphasized each word. The colour drained from McLaggen's face.

Harry's knee painfully protested as he turned away from the idiot and surveyed the situation. Hermione still stood a few feet away, while Seamus leaned against the wall with a guilty expression and tried not to look at Harry. Down the hallway he saw several more people; apparently, they had a small audience.

Harry didn't know how long the students had been there, and he didn't want to think about it. If they had watched for more than a few minutes, it would only mean that nobody had stepped up for him - that nobody had bothered to help him.

He swallowed and avoided all eye contact but held his head high as he slowly made his way through the handful of people standing in the hallway. He heard footsteps behind him and knew that Hermione was following him.

Movement caught his eye before he reached the corner. Ron stood there, gawping, his eyes wide. Harry caught his gaze and saw guilt and embarrassment there, but also uncertainty and hesitation.

Harry turned around and continued down the hallway.

"He didn't just stand by and watch," Hermione said quietly.

Harry didn't answer, simply shrugged and held the handkerchief filled with ice that his friend had handed him up to his cheek. His whole body throbbed. He wasn't quite sure what hurt more, his knee, his head, or his side.

They sat in one of the many alcoves littering Hogwarts castle, where Hermione had drawn her wand and healed his split lip before conjuring ice for him.

"He found me in the library and wanted to talk," she said. "We heard the commotion and then someone came into the library and whispered to his friends that some Gryffindors were showing the new snake his place. I pushed through the crowd, Ron behind me, and the rest you know."

"And did you?"

"What?" She looked at him in question.

"Did you manage to talk to Ron?" Harry clarified.

"A bit. He is confused," she said, sighing. "He knows that, theoretically, being a Slytherin doesn't change who you are, but it could also mean that he didn't know you as well as he thought he did, and I think that frightens him. We didn't have the time to talk for very long. I don't know what he thinks of the attack on you."

Harry pulled his leg up and rested his chin on his knees. "That sounds far better than what I imagined. He didn't immediately start ranting about how Slytherins are evil?"

Hermione vehemently shook her head, her brown curls bouncing. "No. I got the impression he is still slightly shocked and terribly confused. He simply needs time to process. He just doesn't know what to think."

Harry left that without comment and simply sighed.

Hermione patted him on his knee and stood up. "I will go and inform Professor McGonagall before the idiots try to lie their way out of what they did. I would tell you to go to Madam Pomfrey, but I'm fairly sure you would ignore my advice. Tomorrow after breakfast?"

Harry only nodded and added. "In the library."

She disappeared down the corridor and Harry let his forehead fall down on his knees. He could only hope that his evening would be quieter. He had no illusions that McLaggen stood alone in his opinion and that this would be the last time he would have to defend himself against those who thought he needed to be taught a lesson.

He felt so tired - emotionally and physically.

He stayed in the alcove for a while before he made his way down to the dungeons. Nobody looked at him as he stepped into the common room and made his way to the back to sit in one of the comfortable armchairs by the windows. Even so, he had the feeling that despite the lack of eyes on him that a lot of attention was focused on him – again.

'Bloody snakes, won't even stare openly.' He had to chuckle at the thought, as it was certainly true, but somehow, he found it more amusing than annoying.

Everything he had discovered about his Slytherin schoolmates proved that he really didn't know them and that he only had a limited and very prejudiced impression of them. He had always thought Malfoy was the typical Slytherin and the leader of their year, at the least. However, the more he observed, the more he realised that Malfoy was far too loud and brash for a Slytherin. Zabini had pointed out that if Harry was a Gryffindor-Slytherin, Malfoy was a Slytherin-Gryffindor, which had made the blond in question splutter and complain loudly.

A movement to his side startled him. Zabini stood before him, with Bulstrode behind him.

"Mind if we sit here?" He gestured to the empty armchairs around the table.

Harry shook his head and the two settled down. Bulstrode immediately brought out a book about runes, while Zabini watched him with mild interest.

"You should eat this; they don't send it without a reason." The dark-skinned boy nodded towards the table and Harry realised that a plate with vegetable sticks and different dips in small bowls had appeared at some point.

He sighed, not really in the mood for food, and definitely not hungry. But considering Zabini wasn't even surprised that food was provided for Harry outside of the normal mealtimes, Harry had no illusions that the boy drew the correct conclusions. He just knew, that if he wouldn't at least try to eat, somehow the prefects and then the Head Girl would hear about it and ultimately, so would Snape and Madam Pomfrey. That was something Harry definitely wanted to avoid.

So, he picked up a carrot stick, dipped it into something what looked like yoghurt and nibbled on it while he stared out the window into the waters of the lake. They sat there in silence for a while, then Zabini's quiet voice brought him out of his musing.

"Need another ice pack for the cheek?"

Harry looked at him with wide eyes, but Zabini only returned the gaze calmly and shrugged.

"I heard what happened - not in any great detail - but enough to get the gist of it," Zabini said. "McLaggen has always been an idiot. Professor McGonagall took away two hundred house points, which puts Gryffindor into the negatives since the year hasn't even officially started yet. She also assigned them detention until Halloween."

Harry let out a tired breath. He was too exhausted to even consider how he should feel about them all knowing what had happened. It seemed his anger had rushed out of him with his magic, and now he only felt drained. "Yeah, well - it wasn't anything I hadn't thought would happen at some point."

"Now you understand the reason why Professor Snape doesn't want us to walk around alone," Zabini said "And you really should go to Madam Pomfrey, or at least to Professor Snape. I'm sure they've also heard what happened. If you don't appear on your own, Professor Snape will not be happy if he has to force you."

"Do people from other houses beat up Slytherins on regular basis?" Harry was horrified, completely ignoring the second part of what Zabini had said. He had thought it had only been that vicious because his situation was unique.

Zabini shrugged. "Not on such a big scale, but some people think they are justified in sending tripping jinxes and the like in our direction whenever they want. Normally they don't target the upper years, because they think that we've all learned dark curses and are afraid we'll use them, but the younger ones are fair game for idiots like McLaggen." He looked disgusted. "At least it's not the whole school, but every house has some of the special kind of idiots and besides, we normally give as good as we get."

Harry picked up another vegetable stick to nibble on and looked out of the window again. He felt a headache coming on, but he honestly didn't know if it was because of all the new information he still had yet to process, or if it was due to the stone wall his head had connected with earlier.

After a few more minutes he stood up. "I'm going to take a nap." He nodded to Zabini and Bulstrode and made his way down to the dorm.

A nap really did sound quite tempting. His whole body still throbbed. Perhaps he needed another hot shower before lying down? It sounded wonderful, and it felt wonderful.

When Harry lay down after the hot, relaxing shower in his soft and comfortable bed, the curtains closed and the shields up, he fell asleep before he could muster another thought.

AN: Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.

First published: 28th July 2019