Chapter Five: The Start of Term
Whispers broke throughout the Great Hall again and Severus suddenly realized that his son was having a rather difficult time and glanced over at Albus Dumbledore who seemed to understand what he wanted to do and just silently nodded at him.
That's when suddenly Severus slowly started walking over towards Harry and then squatted down in front of him and realized that tears were coming out of his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.
"Hey, what's the matter buddy?" Severus questioned him anxiously out of concern
"I don't know what to do. I just don't want to upset or disappoint you or Mum." Harry told him with a sniff while Severus gently started wiping away his tears with his thumb.
"Oh Harry, your mother and I will still love you very much no matter which house you choose." Severus reassured him soothingly. "Whichever house you choose, I will stand by you no matter what you decide." He explained while smiling rather warmly and lovingly before taking his place back in the corner.
"Have you made up your mind then young Snape?" The sorting hat questioned him as Harry just simply grinned.
"I do believe I have. I think I really want to be in Gryffindor." He told it.
"Very well Gryffindor it is then congratulations." The hat told him as Harry beamed and all of the other Gryffindors started cheering and clapping for him and Severus just simply smiled as his son took his place at the same table as Hermione and Neville. He was also really glad not to be in the same house as Malfoy.
A few other names were called and then a young girl with peach skin, rather long and straight brown hair, and blue eyes came to join Harry at the Gryffindor table and announced herself as Casey Valentine. Finally, it was Ron's turn and the sorting hat also placed him in Gryffindor along with the rest of his brothers.
As soon as the sorting ceremony was over Albus Dumbledore took the stage. "Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now before we begin this year's feast, I have a few start of term announcements." He began. "First of all our caretaker Argus Filch has asked me to tell you and remind you that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. And the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to all of those who do not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you." He said before he started the feast.
"Well that was a rather cheery way to start the school year." Ron said sarcastically and Harry silently nodded in agreement before they started eating their supper with everyone else and Harry snuck Patches a few scraps underneath the table. After supper was over Ron's older brother Percy started leading them back to the Gryffindor common room and they were warned about the staircase that liked to unexpectedly change directions.
Once Harry knew where the boy's dormitory was he found that Hedwig was already in his room with the rest of his things and he sat Patches down at the foot of his bed before he got into pajamas, said his prayers, and went to sleep. (Since he had already used the bathroom and brushed his teeth.) The next morning Harry had breakfast with the rest of the Gryffindors and then discovered that he had transfiguration class first.
Although truthfully Harry found it rather boring since he only learned about the transfiguration alphabet and didn't get to learn any new spells yet. He was looking forward more to his second class which would be potions and taught by his father while they had it with the Slytherins. (Although Harry wasn't actually looking forward to that part since that meant he would be sharing the classroom with Malfoy.)
That's when all of a sudden, his father entered the room wearing his all too familiar black wizard robes. "There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class." He said before he turned around to face the room and folded his arms. This wasn't the Severus Snape that Harry knew, but Harry supposed that's because now he was his professor and not his father.
"As such I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion making." He continued. "However, for the select few that possess the predisposition, I can tell you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, glory, and even put a stopper in death.
However today, we're going to be learning something much simpler than that. So if you will take out your Magical Drafts and Potions book and turn to page twelve I will be writing on the board the pairs that I want you to break up into while you brew this potion along with your homework. As Harry turned to the proper page he saw that they would be learning all about the cure for boils potion.
He also saw that he would be working with Casey and Ron would be working with Hermione. Harry was really rather pleased with his partner, but poor Ron looked like he could snap at any given moment. For it seemed to Ron like everything he did was wrong or at least according to Hermione. He didn't crush the snake fangs enough, he forgot to take the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills, (which he had to get a new cauldron since this melted it and caused a fowl stench in the room and it also cost their house ten points) and he didn't stir the shrake spines gently enough.
In the end Harry's and Casey's potion turned out perfectly and they wound up earning the ten points that Ron lost. "I'm telling you Harry, Hermione's a nightmare. Not only is she a know-it-all, but she kept shaming and scolding me and rubbing it in on how stupid she thought I was and really laying it on thick. She also said that working with me was as nearly as bad as when one of the kids in her nursery school blew up a bunch of ants and they started attacking her classroom." He told him.
"That's it!" Harry exclaimed. "I knew I heard that name Hermione Granger before. She got me expelled from the muggle school that I attended when I was only three." He told him.
"Really? Sorry mate. Sounds like you had it worse than I did." Ron told him before they continued walking to defense against the dark arts class to learn all about the cure for werewolf bites. It wasn't until that they reached charms class that Harry was able to test out his new wand for the first time in learning the levitation charm.
Afterwards it was finally time for lunch and study hall. Harry didn't have an extreme amount of homework his first day at Hogwarts so far, but he still had his father's essay to do, Professor Quirrell's essay on the cure for werewolf bites, and practicing his swish and flick movement for the levitation spell because at the end of the week he was supposed to try and be able to levitate a feather.
However it was after study hall that Harry was looking forward to the most since it would be their first flying lesson and Harry had been looking forward to learning how to fly a real broomstick ever since his godfather gave him his toy one back when he was only a year old.
