Hello again, my lovely readers! So, for this chapter, I feel like a lot of it would be better discussed after reading, so the actual AN will be down at the bottom.
Also, I apologize for the broken nature of the first part, but it's actually a dream, and that will sorta be explained in the text.
Read, Review, and Relax. Enjoy!
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The cold metal of a blade pressing into flesh, the sensation of a knife's grip.
"Who are you? Why did you follow me?" The voice, angry and suspicious. An unexpected smile.
"I've never seen you around before. You looked interesting." The blade presses closer, breaking skin. A red stream flows downwards.
"I don't do people. They all hate me. They think I'm cursed." A cocked head, the pain ignored. Curious golden eyes burning into green.
"Because your hair is silver? That's stupid." A clenched hand, the grip digging in.
"People are stupid. What's your name?" Another grin, a spark of mischief.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." Hesitation.
"Fine. You first."
"Godric Gryffindor. You." A moment passing. A relaxed grip.
"Slytherin. Salazar Slytherin."
XXX
"Harry, are you alright?" The black haired boy looked up from his plate of food to see Susan staring at him, a worried look on her face. The expression was understandable, considering Harry had been staring at his plate blankly, his mind caught up in thoughts about the broken dreams that had plagued him since his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and subsequent rescue by Draco and the others. As such, Harry offered her a shrug in response.
"I'm fine. Just haven't been able to get a good night's sleep recently." He tried to give a reassuring smile, but was too tired to manage it. He'd only been up for about half an hour, and ever since the dreams started, he had been getting even less sleep than before. Granted, it wasn't nearly as detrimental to him as it would be to others, considering the brimming energy he had been filled with since day one at Hogwarts, but it did result in his brain taking a while to fully wake up in the morning. Susan didn't seem to mind it, however, which wasn't all that surprising since she too seemed to be plagued by similar problems, although Harry wasn't aware what was causing hers. It was strange, really, how so many different things seemed to affect both of them at the same time. Harry had even learned at one point that Susan had also suffered a change in eye color, her now black orbs having once been brown. The young girl hadn't even been aware of the change until he mentioned it, claiming that she didn't spend much time in front of mirrors, 'unlike all the other foolish girls her age.'
The Brunette seemed to take his answer as enough, turning back to idly listen to Ron droning on about how awesome flying classes were going to be that day. Harry listened as well, his curiosity piqued now that his thoughts were drifting into a more active state. In fact, as he glanced around the great hall, it seemed to be all anybody was talking about. The entirety of the first years were going to be sharing a class, if Harry remembered correctly, despite the fact that normally they were split up into two groups. As such, everyone he knew was either jittery with nerves and doing last minute preparations, such as Hermione with-were those flash cards!?- or r ridiculously excited, gloating and gossiping about past achievements with broomsticks. Harry, himself, likely would have shared their sentiments if he weren't still distracted by the memory of his dream. It was the clearest one since he had started having them, most slipping away after Harry woke up. Even then, they were more fragments of thoughts, just a word, phrase, or impression that was short lived before changing into something else. This one was different however. Sure, it was broken and nigh impossible to understand, but most if not all the thoughts were connected, as if he was getting flashes of a complete scene. Even the words themselves formed into almost coherent sentences, although their meaning and context escaped him. What was even more disturbing, however, were the names, spoken so vividly that Harry doubted he would ever forget them, or the weight they had seemed to carry.
Deciding that he had had enough reminiscing for the time being, Harry shoved the memories aside to be dealt with later. He was just in time to see a Slytherin, Theodore Nott if he remembered correctly, saunter over to the Gryffindor table and scoop something out of Neville's hands, Crabbe and Goyle behind him. Well, Harry as he rose deliberately from his seat. At least they're no longer following Draco around like lost puppy dogs. Seems they've found a new master. Smirking internally, Harry walked slowly up behind the boy who was now taunting Neville, not wanting to alert the teachers and get them involved. Knowing his luck, Nott would get off without even a warning. Carefully, he clamped down on Nott's shoulder with a hand, speaking in a low tone.
"That's not yours, Nott." The boy in question jumped in surprise, before turning slowly to face Harry. The two boy's instantaneously had the attention of the entire table, everyone around them falling quiet.
"Potter. What's it to you?" Nott responded cooly, a look of disdain on his smiled slightly and dropped his hand from Nott's shoulder, glancing at Neville before returning his gaze to the Slytherin.
"You're messing with my house. I can't let that happen."Nott looked like he was about to say something, but then he looked past Harry and suddenly turned pale. He quickly turned around and dropped the clear orb he had been holding back in front of Neville before retreating back to the Slytherin table, his new cronies following close behind. Shocked by the sudden turn of events, Harry turned around to see what it was behind him that would scare the other boy off. He was met with the frowning face of Professor McGonagall, who did not look very happy.
"Mr. Potter, is there a problem over here?" Harry glanced back to the Gryffindor table where everyone was still watching him, most with confused looks on their faces, before turning to the Professor.
"None, Professor. I was merely helping my housemates out with a small property dispute. Nothing for you to worry yourself with."McGonagall narrowed her eyes in suspicion, looking unconvinced, but after a few brief moments of scrutinizing the boy, only gave a brief nod before departing, her cloak swirling imperiously around her as she returned to the head table. Harry watched her go with a small grin on his face, glad he had been able to avoid a fuss. He gave a shocked Neville a small clap on the shoulders before returning to his own seat, where Ron was looking at him with an awestruck expression.
"You might want to close your mouth Ron. A fly might get in." The ginger quickly heeded the advice, but his face remained frozen, as if he couldn't completely comprehend what had just happened. It took a few minutes for him to finally shake his head, clearing his face as he looked at where Harry was still eating his eggs as if nothing happened.
"How do you do it, mate?" Harry gave him a confused look, unsure of what the ginger meant.
"Do what?"
"McGonagall mate! You just smile at her and she believes everything you say. Even Snape. I could've sworn he would take at least twenty points off Gryffindor when you talked back in class, He's supposed to be really vicious towards our house. Instead, he only takes five! What's with that?"Harry shrugged, having no idea what the taller boy was getting so worked up about.
"I guess I'm just that good? I don't know, all I do is tell the truth."Harry was starting to think Ron had some sort of fixation with staring at him, because he was doing it again. Slowly, the ginger turned towards Susan, barely taking his eyes off Harry.
"You know what I'm talking about right, Susan?" The girl smiled softly
"He is right, Harry. You have a way of getting out of trouble." Harry just shook his head at both of them in exasperation. His friends could be really weird sometimes.
"Whatever. Let's just finish breakfast. We've got to get to the flying lessons soon." he didn't wait for their response, digging into his meal with gusto in an attempt to avoid their weirdness. After they all finished their meal, Harry and Susan taking the longest as usual, the trio rushed off to the front lawn of the castle, Luna trailing behind as usual. When they got there, several students were already gathered around, including Nott and his new cronies, who were glaring at the quartet. All four ignored the Slytherins, opting instead to chat as they waited for the rest of the students and the teacher. After a while, all the first years were gathered around dozens of brooms laid out on the ground, with a silver haired woman called Madame Hooch telling them to order their brooms up. Harry's came instantly, but most of the other students were struggling, with a several who's brooms didn't respond. It was almost amusing, actually, especially when he saw the look on Madame Hooch's face as she watched her students fail miserably.
Finally, after a few minutes of this, the woman seemed to realize it wasn't going to get better, and instead told everyone to just pick up their brooms. She then went around correcting everyone's hold, which was nearly as amusing. So many people had it wrong, even those who had been boasting about doing it for years, that Harry couldn't help but wonder how many of their stories were true. Obviously not as many as everyone had thought. Eventually, Madame Hooch was satisfied. Well that or she couldn't be bothered to care anymore. Harry was voting for the latter, but either way she informed that they were finally going to get to actually attempt to fly, and he finally started to feel excited. They were really about to be soaring through the sky on nothing more than a stick just a few inches wide. Sure, that may sound dangerous and insane to most people, but not Harry. It was a challenge, and even more of the amazingness that made up the magical world.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, kick off from the ground, your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle-three-two-" Just as Harry was starting to be disappointed that they were only going to fly a few feet, Neville, who had been rather jumpy the entire time they had been out with the brooms, jumped unexpectedly. The rotund boy's broom shot up, carrying him with it, and Hooch started calling for him to come down. Harry could easily tell that her words were having no effect. Neville was far too frightened to focus on anything except the fact that he was now rising uncontrollably into the air. Harry saw the fall coming miles away, but could do nothing except watch helplessly as Neville's grip slipped, and he fell to the ground with a sickening crunch. The entire class froze. Only Hooch moved, kneeling down beside Neville, checking his wrist as she spoke soothing words to him. After a few moments she stood, pulling the boy with her as she looked back to the class.
"None of you are to move while I take him to the hospital wing. If you even think of picking up those brooms, I'll have you out the school before you can say Quidditch." Harry raised an eyebrow at the woman's retreating form. Expulsion did seem like a rather harsh punishment… then again, one student had already nearly died, and that was while the teacher was actually there. Before Harry could reason with himself more either way, he was distracted by a shout to the side.
"Hey, look, it's that thing Longbottom's grandmother sent him!" Harry looked over at where the disturbance was to find Nott holding up Neville's new Rememberall, the little glass orb shining in the sunlight. Realizing that the Slytherin wasn't likely to do the good thing and return Neville's missing property, Harry took a step forward.
"Nott, I believe I already told you. That there doesn't belong to you. Give it here." Nott just sneered at him, tossing the ball up and down.
"And what are you going to do to make me, Potter. No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find it." The boy climbed onto his broom and started to rise, the sneer turning into a confident smirk. "How about up a tree?" Harry didn't even hesitate, immediately jumping onto his own broom. He ignored Susan's cry of "Harry, no!" instead kicking off and rising steadily into the air to match Nott. The sudden feeling was exhilarating. He couldn't understand what Neville and the others were afraid of, this was amazing. He felt the slight tug on his magic as it powered the broom, but it was so slight he almost missed it. Matching Nott's level, he gave the other boy a feral grin.
"Come on Nott. Give it over and I won't have to knock you off your broom. Unless you want to end up like Neville as well. There's no minions up here to protect you." Nott seemed to pale as he realized Harry was right. Crabbe and Goyle were still sitting on the ground, looking up dumbly at them. He must have noticed that Harry had far better control of his broom-Nott wasn't a very sturdy flier it seemed- and that Harry could likely make good on his around frantically, the boy searched for an exit. It didn't take long for him to decide on one, and Harry frowned when he saw the sudden grin appear on Nott's face.
"Alright then Potter. Take it." With only that as warning, Nott threw the Rememberall at Harry, putting as much force his eleven year old frame could into the throw without unbalancing himself. Immediately after he dived for the ground, but Harry didn't care as he was too busy worrying about the Rememberall. Sheer reflexes saved him from getting beamed in the face, his hand snapping up to catch the ball a mere inch before it slammed into his nose. Bringing it down, he inspected the item curiously. It didn't seem all that important, just a small glass ball, but it was important to Neville, who was, if not a friend, a good acquaintance. Looking down at the ground, Harry grinned at the shocked expression on Nott's face. The other boy had likely planned on knocking him out so that he fell from his broom, but that plan obviously didn't work. Harry would just land, but he didn't exactly want to stop flying yet, and he felt like screwing with Nott some more. If he was so shocked by a simple catch, Harry wondered, what would happen if he did something more… drastic? Tossing the ball from hand to hand, Harry shouted down to the ground.
"Come on, what are you scared of? It's not that hard… oops!" On the last toss, Harry allowed the ball to 'slip' through his grasp, and it started to fall to the earth. Harry's hand followed, sending his whole body lurching over the side of his broom. There were several cries from below, but Harry ignored them, instead concentrating on his planned manoeuver. He cut the flow of magic from himself to the broom, suddenly allowing himself to drop, even though he kept one hand on it. Being a full eleven year old boy rather than a hollow glass ball, his weight allowed him to quickly catch up to the falling Rememberall, the air rushing past him as he unconsciously let out a whoop. Timing it just right, he used his hand still on the broom to swing himself back up,scooping the ball into the other as he reengaged the magical flight, bringing himself to a stoop just a few feet above the ground. It was amazing, just how much control Harry had over his broom. He felt like he could do anything on it. Right then wasn't necessarily the time, however, as the entire first year of Hogwarts was running at him and cheering, except the Slytherin's of course.
Harry dropped the last few feet to touch down just as the crowd surrounded him, patting and congratulating him on pulling off such an amazing feat. Harry grinned back-until he heard a very angry brunette stomping towards him.
"Harry, what on earth were you thinking? You could have been killed!" Susan had a terrifying look on her face as she marched up to Harry to glare him directly in the eye. He almost took a step back in fear, especially when he saw her hair starting to float around her. The girl's magic was starting to swirl around them, she was so angry. He didn't, however. Instead, Harry stared her back, reaching into his own magic. He honestly had no idea how to summon a shield, and he doubted that Susan would actually attack him, but she did have a lot of magic. If she lost control, he doubted even a teacher would be capable of stopping the fallout. He, Luna, Draco, and possibly Dumbledore were the only ones in the school with enough sheer magical power .Harry wasn't entirely sure what could happen, but he had read that the destructive capabilities of accidental magic could be bad even for a normal wizard if they were angry enough, and they were right in the middle of a bunch of other students. So he prepared his own magic, hoping that his reflexes would be able to kick in if needed and direct it, and looked her in the eye calmly.
"Yes, but I didn't. I'm perfectly fine." That probably wasn't the right thing to say. Susan's glare only turned harder, and it definitely wasn't helped by Ron's addition of, "Yeah, leave him alone Susan." Harry could have sworn she really was going to blow up, and was using what little control he had managed to learn from his lessons to surround the two, hoping that he would somehow be able to block her wrathful magic. It ended up not being needed, however, as Susan just continued glaring.
"You- you- gah! boys!" With one last cry, the brunette turned away and marched off, her magic still roiling around her but Harry could tell it wasn't about to blow up anymore now that she wasn't still faced with the object of her anger-namely, him. It was the only reason he didn't chase her down. Not that he had much of a chance to, because a few seconds after she left, another voice, far older and sterner, called out to him. Right after he turned around, he regretted the action. Professor McGonagall was not happy, but at least she wasn't a potential walking time bomb. Even if she wasn't both far out of the age range for accidental magic as well as in far better control of her own, the woman's core wasn't anywhere near as vast as Susan's. This, however, did not give Harry any comfort. The woman did have the power to expel him, and that nearly frightened him as much as Susan blowing up the entire first year class. He really didn't want to go back to the Dursley's. After being ordered to follow her into the school rather angrily, Harry came to the conclusion that he was most definitely going to be expelled, and that he would likely have to come up with some plan, since there was no way he was going back to the Dursley's.
It was as they walked briskly through the halls that Harry realized something, nearly stopping in his tracks as the thought brought a sudden hope to his mind. McGonagall hadn't actually been there when Hooch gave the order to stay on the ground or be expelled. She couldn't possibly have heard her from inside the castle, so while the golden eyed wizard didn't doubt that he was going to be punished for doing something incredibly dangerous and reckless, but maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be expelled. Unless Hooch had somehow spread the knowledge of what her punishment would be. That would still mean he was expelled.
Wrestling with his thoughts and fears, Harry paid little attention to where they were going until something suddenly tugged at his senses, a dark aura he had become very familiar with. Harry had hesitantly returned to DADA only after Ron practically dragged him there, the ginger not understanding Harry's reluctance. Even Susan, who also wished Harry didn't go back, couldn't stop Ron. Luckily, nothing had happened, and Harry was then forced to sit through an incredibly boring class where Quirrell attempted to stutter through more than three sentences in an hour. The Professor had thrown him a few strange glances, but otherwise there had been no further attack. The creature remained, but it was almost docile, as if it had gone to sleep in a way. Whatever the case was, Harry had fully familiarized himself with the feeling, just in case Quirrell attempted to sneak up on him and attack when Harry wasn't looking.
Harry did his best to hide himself behind the door when McGonagall opened it into Quirrell's classroom and asked to borrow 'Wood' whatever that was. It almost sounded like something you would call a beating cane, but Harry doubted the Professor's here were so obtuse, or cruel. Although, given that it was coming from Quirrell, anything was possible.
Wood ended up being a person, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, actually. Apparently, instead of punishing him, McGonagall had decided that he would be good for the team. A chaser, whatever that was. Harry remembered the term from somewhere, likely one of the many Quidditch rants Ron tended to go on, but otherwise he wasn't sure. Wood seemed a little unsure of McGonagall's claim, stating that Harry looked more like a seeker, which he assumed was another position on the team, but McGonagall insisted. When Harry asked why, McGonagall gave him a mysterious smile.
"It's in the blood. Your father would be proud." With that, She turned and walked away, leaving both Wood and Harry to find their way back to class. Wood gave harry a warm goodbye, and then turned back into the classroom. Harry, on the other hand, was completely lost. The boy was still trying to figure out what exactly had happened. A few minutes before, he had been making plans to live on the streets of London, and now he was a player on a team for a sport he had no idea how to play? Maybe Harry did have a way of getting out of trouble. Ron would be ecstatic to here about this. First though, he had to find Susan. Harry was sure she had probably calmed down by now, and he didn't want to risk this whole thing breaking their friendship. Susan was a really nice girl, and one of his only friends, just as he was one of hers, but Harry had never had much experience with friends, and wasn't sure how this could affect those facts. He hoped they wouldn't at all.
With his plan in mind, Harry strode down the hall, intent on hunting down his wayward friend.
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Alright, so I hope you all enjoyed that one, and now it's time for me to explain a few things that may have popped up.
First, I apologize for the whole Nott thing, I personally hate it when people just replace Draco with another random Slytherin if he's off taking another role, but I literally needed there to be someone to antagonize Harry into several of the situations while I'm still stuck so close to canon. I did my best to make it different, since both he and Harry are very different from canon-Harry and Draco. Still, it happened, and I know I might have pissed off a few people with it. To those who actually stayed to see my explanation, I will say that it will only last until about Fourth Year, at most. After that, we will be so far off canon that I won't need it, and until then I will do my best to limit the problem.
Now, for those of you who think I may have been overstating or exaggerating Harry's reaction to Susan getting pissed. First, accidental magic is a thing. I refuse to believe it stops just because you get to Hogwarts, and anger would probably cause rather destructive manifestations. Also, Susan, who may not have a lot of control but does have an extreme amount of magic to spare, likely could leave at least a sizable crater in Hogwarts grounds, as could the rest of the circle(Harry, Draco, and Luna). Now remember, while they may have sheer magical power that already compares to Dumbledore if not surpasses, they have nowhere near enough control or knowledge to be able to utilize that power at will. Also, they're actually not done growing yet. By the time they are, they will far outstrip Dumbledore in both power and skill, but I'll leave that for later. And yes, Dumbledore could probably have stopped any sort of outburst on the level Susan could have had, but Harry doesn't know what Dumbledore's skills are, only his power level.
Now, for those of you who caught the whole thing about Harry being a chaser, not a seeker. I actually was not planning that, and it literally just wrote itself when I got to that part, but I decided to keep it since it made sense. First of all, the move Harry pulled off in this AU was far more like a chaser than a seeker, as opposed to canon. Not to mention the fact that James was actually a chaser, who happened to have some seeker skills. He may have been seeker in his seventh year, but I can't quite remember. Either way, he was mainly a chaser. Also, while Harry is a seeker build now, within a year or two he will have grown to a chaser build do to the various other things going on. Actually, he may be closer to beater than chaser, but both his temperament and skills will still be chaser, so he'll just be a bit burly for the role.
Also, since someone probably noticed and is yelling at their screen that Wood was in Flitwick's class in the books, and Quirrell's was the movies, I know that. However, it was a good way to explain what happened after the first DADA class and whether Harry ever went back. He did, and Voldemort is leaving him alone for now, but it won't necessarily remain that way.
Anyways, that should be all for now. Don't forget to leave a review, and I will be seeing you all later. If you're lucky, it might even be in just a day or two, since that's sort of the plan. See ya!