A/N: Hi again, here is the next installment. In this chapter, Harry and James begin to understand the complex nature of magic. Also note, the quotes before the chapters generally just have to do with the story itself, not the chapter in particular.

- Alex


Harry Potter and the Splinters in Time

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." – Terry Pratchett

Chapter 3: Knowledge is Power

September 1st was quickly approaching as Harry and James attempted to read through some of the books they had picked up from Bane's. They had agreed to eschew the books that they would be required to read for school, believing that they would likely have to read them at school anyways. Like they had agreed, James had spent the last few weeks reading about the nature of magic and spell crafting while Harry had read several books on Wizarding Britain's history and culture. They had both taken extensive notes and had bookmarked multiple pages in books, and were finally ready to discuss their findings about week from when school started…

Harry and James were sitting in the library sipping the tea the Doffy had provided as they organized their notes, "Okay, let's talk. You want to go first, James?"

"Sure," James said as he grabbed his first bit of paper, "So I have come up with several strong theories on how spell casting is connected to our will power and focus by using these three books. Each author had a slightly different opinion, however if we combine them, we find several interesting themes…"

"First, it seems that wands are a mere focal point for your magic to travel through. Wandless magic, like we do, is extremely difficult to use in a combat situation or battle. It requires up to fifteen times the magical output needed when that same spell is used with a wand. Thus, using a wand is the better option for prolonged battles. However, this doesn't negate the fact that we should still practice wandless magic as we could be disarmed and unable to use our wand. Through my reading, it seems that most wizards become utterly useless without a wand, so that would be an element of surprise in our favor." James said as he continued his almost lecture to an intently listening Harry.

"Second, every magical spell is attached to imagination, willpower, and magical power itself. Intent of the spell is very important in spell crafting. Virtually any spell can exist if a wizard is able to accurately imagine the spells effects. For example, say I don't know the incantation for a curse that causes a person's organs to explode from their body, yet I know that I want the organs to explode from their body. I can use that to create a spell on the fly that will achieve that goal. The problem with Hogwarts and most schooling is that students are led to believe that you must know the incantation in order to use a spell. My research shows otherwise… Willpower is equally important to imagination in the spell crafting process. If one lacks the will power to achieve their imagined spell, then that spell is useless. You must force your magic to bend to do your bidding… Lastly, magical power is also very important. If you do not put enough power into a spell, that spell may not achieve your desired goal."

"Third, incantations and wand movements are a way to teach children by assigning spell actions to words so that when someone says a spell, they automatically think of the effects they want to achieve. For example, the spell 'depulso' is the banishing charm. It essentially sends the target of the spell away from the caster. However, like I spoke of earlier, if a wizard is able to envision the effects of sending the target away and uses their magic to force it away, then the wand movement and incantation is not needed. However, by using incantations, most wizards are able to bypass the willpower stipulation that I mentioned previously. This would allow someone who wasn't entirely able to bring themselves to imagine gruesome spells to use those type of spells if they knew the incantation."

"Lastly, there seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to magical power, however they both believe in something called a 'magical core'… The idea is that each person is born with a 'magical core' and that magical core contains a finite amount of magic that can be expended in a certain time period. Now, some believe that one you reach magical maturity, then your magical core will no longer expand and that is how much magic you have. Others believe that if you train hard enough or preform weird rituals, you can expand your core to even larger levels. Allowing you to cast even more powerful spells… But I found a really really old book in the Lestrange library that talked about something completely different…" James gently grabbed an absolutely ancient looking book and slowly flipped to the correct page. He passed the book to Harry, who began to read the passage.

On magical power: In my studies across the known world, I have come to the conclusion that there while there must be something inside a wizard that controls how much magic they can use by themselves alone, I believe that the real and visceral nature of magic is all around us. Life creates magic, makes it grow. Magic surrounds us and binds us to the earth. You must feel the magic around you and tap into that to power yourself. I have studied this for many years and have used it to perform amazing feats of magic, however I am just beginning to feel the magic in the air and in the trees.

It is said that the most powerful wizards to have walked the earth could tap into nature itself to power their spells. Zeus, Poseidon, Odin… Those figures of old who are now dead and gone had learned how to achieve incredible feats of magic. Many wizards have been powerful in their own right, but if a wizard was able to tap into the power of the earth itself, they would be nigh unstoppable.

This is not an easy feat, however. It requires many years of meditation and communing with nature and the world around you. It is not a quick way to power and those who wish to use it in that way should be aware, this is a lifelong process of focus, determination, and will. If you continue on this path, you will most assuredly become the most powerful wizard in history, but it will take time…

I believe I am the first to discover this connection beyond the gods themselves and I discovered it too late, I fear. Many in my time already believe me to be a god in my own right and I shamefully encouraged it. I was foolish. And I am now being hunted for my hubris and betrayed by my followers for a sack of silver. In the following pages, I have written down my teachings and understandings of 'Living Magic' as I call it. Please, use it, I beg you.

Harry slowly closed the book and read the front: Teachings of Jesus Christ. He smiled at the information they now possessed. They would become the most powerful wizards ever, that Harry was sure of.

"So, overall, I have a feeling most magical theory we learn at Hogwarts can be thrown right out. I believe that by using the information I have gathered, practicing our imaginations of spells, honing our will power, and tapping into 'Living Magic' should allow us to advance ourselves well beyond our peers or even teachers. However, this is only in the realm of spellcasting. Using other types of magic like potion brewing, runic symbols, and other such theory might require more in-depth study. I figure runes are similar to spells as you might be able to use a random rune and then push the desired effect onto it. I will need to do more research there." James finished and slowly took the ancient book back from Harry. He had already copied the books process into his notes so it would no longer be needed by them.

"Wow, James. You really went in depth on this. I'm impressed." Harry said as James beamed at him.

"I want us to accomplish our goals. I know we don't have much planned yet, but perhaps we can discuss it after you give me a rundown of how the wizarding world works…" James said as Harry readied his own notes.

"Yeah, lets do that." Harry replied as he took a large breath before starting his pseudo-lecture, "I'll start with the government of Wizarding Britain. In its current iteration, it is known as the Ministry of Magic. It is technically a branch of Her Majesty's government; however, it views itself as autonomous. There is a legislative branch that holds most of the power in my opinion, but they do have an executive called the 'Minister of Magic'. Now, the legislative branch is called the Wizengamot. It serves a dual purpose of the legislative and judicial branch. The Wizengamot is made up of hereditary seats or seats that have been purchased by others. This is the wizard council that the goblin mentioned. Now, the Minister of Magic is elected by the Wizengamot and serves at their pleasure. He can be removed by a vote of no confidence. He is also beholden to every law that the Wizengamot passes. He does not appear to have any sort of veto power."

"Like I said, the Wizengamot is technically the judicial branch as well. However, it doesn't adjudicate every crime that happens in Magical Britain. Only members of the Wizengamot or their families have the right to have a Wizengamot trial. Those trials are believed to be highly political and justice is rarely served. Minor crimes are handled via codified punishments. Major crimes are tried before a small panel of Wizengamot members who rotate monthly." Harry took a sip of tea before continuing.

"Now, the executive branch is made up of many different departments that make up the Ministry of Magic. The most important ones are the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Department of Mysteries, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, and the Department of Magical Transportation. Each one of these will be important to us in the short and long term. I have created a summary of each department for you to view at your leisure," Harry handed James a piece of paper with those summaries written on it, "Additionally, there are several laws that we technically have already broken. First, unlicensed apparition. I have been apparating and I do not have a license to do so… I'm unsure how they track this, as I have never been confronted so I would surmise they cannot enforce this law effectively. Second, illegal use of magic by an underage wizard outside of school. By my research, this only applies to children who have the Trace placed on their wands by Ollivander. That is why Ollivander's is the preferred shop in Diagon Alley. The Trace allows the Ministry to see that a spell has been cast by the wand of an underaged wizard. This would be more worrying if we indeed purchased our wands from Ollivander, however with our custom wands, I believe that point is moot. We will have to do some digging. It is also stated that locations with heavy magic or warding will disrupt the Trace, so we should be fine here. Third, use of an unforgivable curse on muggles. This would technically have been broken when we forced the gang at the orphanage to fight one another or when we made Jack hang himself. There is a spell known as the Imperious that can control the mind of the target. Use of this spell is a lifetime sentence to Azkaban prison where both your parents are. Finally, murder of muggles. But we already knew that was illegal."

"Wow. We are so bad." James said as he laughed.

"Yeah, so that's the government. Now onto recent history. This is where this gets really interesting. Apparently, I am very famous in the wizarding world. I'm the Boy-Who-Lived because I survived a killing curse to the head when I was one and a half years old. It gave me this scar. There has also been a lot of hogwash written about my life now with some books saying I am out fighting dragons and defeating more dark wizards which is obviously wrong."

"Backstory, before we were born, there was a war being fought called the 'Blood War'. There were essentially three factions: The Death Eaters, the Order of the Phoenix, and the Ministry. The Order and the Ministry were nominally on the same side both fighting the Death Eaters who were commanded by a dark lord who called himself, 'Lord Voldemort'. But it seems that he placed some sort of spell on his name which forced people to call him, 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'. This group was winning the war decisively as for most of the war, the Ministry and the Order refused to kill them in combat. It wasn't until the end when the Ministry took the kid gloves off and actually began to fight. My parents were a part of the Order of the Phoenix while yours were Death Eaters." James nodded intently, listening to the story.

"For some reason, my parents went into hiding with me. They used a spell called the Fidelius charm to hide their home. Now, the only way for someone to find their home was to know the secret, and in order to get the secret, the secret keeper had to tell them. It seems my parents selected Sirius Black as their secret keeper who turned out to be a Death Eater and betrayed them to Voldemort. Thus, Voldemort came to our house, killed my parents, and tried to kill me. Failing obviously. And I somehow defeated him… Your parent's story is interesting because four days after I defeated Voldemort, your mum, dad, uncle, and another man named Barty Crouch Jr. attacked another family with a child the same age as me. The Longbottom family. The Death Eater party tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity and were sent to prison for it."

"So, people probably won't like me too well, eh Harry?" James said as he chuckled to himself, "It's okay. You can be the good cop and I'll be the bad cop."

"Yeah, if that Longbottom boy comes to Hogwarts, I doubt you two will be fast friends." Harry replied as he passed all of his notes over to James to study more in depth and James did the same for him.

"Now, onto Hogwarts. I perused Hogwarts, A History a little bit and discovered some useful information for us before we arrive there. Once we get to Hogwarts, we will get sorted into one of four houses. Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor. They place a hat onto your head which looks into your thoughts and memories to find out your personality, then you are sorted based on that. Slytherin is known as the house of ambition and cunning. They also have a bad reputation for producing dark wizards. Ravenclaw is the house of intelligence and knowledge. It seems that this is the nerd house. Hufflepuff is the house of hard work loyalty and friendship. Finally, Gryffindor is the house of bravery and courage. The administration of Hogwarts is also fairly straight forward. The current Headmaster is Albus Dumbledore and the Deputy is Minerva McGonagall. Each House has its own Head of House. There are also two prefects per year per house, as well as a head boy and girl." Harry continued, giving James a helpful understand of what they are getting themselves into.

"First year, there are seven core subjects that we will have to take: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Herbology. We also have to take a class on flying… Like with a broom. After second year, there are additional electives that we can take. We have to take a minimum of two from the following list: Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Muggle Studies, and Study of Ancient Runes. At the end of our fifth year, we will have to take Ordinary Wizarding Level exams. After that, depending on our scores in those classes, we can advance in those courses. We take those classes until we graduate and take Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests that are said to be very hard. It is said that you need to get certain grades on these exams to be considered for certain careers. It doesn't seem like there is any sort of additional schooling after Hogwarts in an official capacity."

"Okay, so I guess we are going to have to study pretty hard during a couple years, but I'm not sure about what I would really want to do as a job. I feel like magic negates the need for a job if we were to leave the magical world and go into the regular world. We could really just apparate into a bank vault, steal all the money, and apparate out…" James chuckled, imagining that situation.

"Right, well we can put that on our to do list." Harry laughed, "But anyway, I think we should just play first year by ear. See where we end up regarding Houses and try to make some allies. I have a feeling we should end up in Slytherin, but the hat might throw us for a loop."

"Okay, I agree. Let's get to work…"


Harry and James made it to King's Cross Station with plenty of time to spare. They had to take a cab from Lestrange Manor due to Harry having never been there before and thus not able to apparate to the station. The cab fare was going to be several hundred quid due to the distance involved, however James just gave to man monopoly money and forced the man to believe it was real. That would be an interesting story later. They made their way through the station with their trunk and two owls, getting interesting looks from the muggles around them.

"I bet we look fecking ridiculous. Two kids with owls in cages walking around in the middle of King's Cross…" Harry whispered as they neared platforms 9 and 10.

"We do. Everybody is staring at us…" James responded, "Now how do we get in?"

"I assume one of these walls. But which one?" Harry thought out loud, looking around for any indication where Platform 9 and 3/4s was located. After several minutes of just standing around, a family of five soon approached them. Definitely wizards… The parents are too suspicious… If this wasn't September 1st, Harry wouldn't have thought anything of them. However, it was and one of the girls was also pushing a cart with an owl on it. Two of the children were obviously going to Hogwarts, however the third looked too young.

The boys watched the parents look around quickly before all five entered a nearby wall. Harry smiled at James before beckoning him over to follow. They did as the previous family had and rushed at the wall. Right when they should have impacted, they passed through. Finding themselves on Platform 9 and 3/4s.

They passed the family who was now hugging and saying goodbye and made their way onto the train. There weren't very many people on board yet, so they quickly found an empty compartment and put all their stuff away. They had a bit of time before the train left, so James and Harry began reading their potions books. They hadn't looked at it since they bought it, so they wanted to review a tiny bit.

It was twenty minutes later when the door slid open and showed the two girls they had seen earlier. One had dark brown hair with green eyes while the other was a regal looking blonde with blue eyes. Most of their bodies were covered with their robes, but both looked to be normal sized as well. Harry thought they both looked very cute.

The blonde was the first to speak, "Good morning, we were kicked out of our compartment by some rude older kids, do you mind if we sit here?" She motioned to the compartment. Harry and James both shrugged and said sure, "Thanks. I'm Daphne Greengrass and this is Tracey Davis. We are first years."

"Hi, I'm Harry." Harry responded, smiling at the pair who had stowed away their belongings and had sat down.

"I'm James, nice to meet you both. We are first years too." James said, locking eyes with the Davis girl who smiled shyly.

"Harry and James…" Daphne prompted, obviously fishing for their last names.

"Yep, just Harry and James. What are you excited for at Hogwarts? Have you done magic before?" Harry responded, completely avoiding Daphne's question.

Tracey spoke up at this question, looking very excited, "I am just so interested in alchemy and spell creation. I even invented my own spell one time!" Daphne rolled her eyes at her friend.

"How do you two know each other?" Daphne asked the boys as she pulled out a small book. It wasn't a schoolbook, James noticed, but he couldn't read the title.

"We grew up together. Lived in the same area and were luckily both wizards. What about you two?" James replied, leaving out a lot of their backstories. No sense of spilling your secrets to strangers.

"Oh, Daphne is my cousin." Tracey said sadly, looking away.

Daphne leaned closer to the two boys and whispered, "Tracey's mum was my aunt. Her parents died when she was young and has been living with my family since then." Harry and James nodded in understanding.

They talked for a few more minutes before a buzz was heard from the train and a silky-smooth voice came over the 'intercom', which amazed the group of first years, "Welcome to the Hogwarts Express everyone! This is Jonathan, your friendly wizarding conductor up here in the engine room. Today, our trip is a nice ride from King's Cross Station to Hogsmeade Station in Scotland. We will be leaving the station in approximately 2 and three quarters minutes. Our cruising altitude will be 0 feet off the ground as this is a train. Our maximum speed today will be an astonishing, I don't know, we don't have a speed gauge up here because MAGIC! At least, that's what I'm being told… Our journey today is going to take around eight hours, give or take some based on our speed. The Hogwarts Prefects will be patrolling the train making sure you are all safe and having fun! If you have any questions, please direct them to the prefects. And as always, don't do anything that your parents would be ashamed of."

The kids just looked at each other before bursting out laughing at the antics of the conductor.


"Excuse me, do you know where Harry Potter is?" A red-haired boy said as he appeared in the doorway to the kids' compartment.

James was the first one to look up at the boy before responding, "Nope, no Harry potter here. Sorry friend."

"Bloody hell. He is nowhere on this train…" The boy slammed the door shut which cause the eleven-year-olds to look at each other in confusion.

"What is your last name, Harry?" Daphne asked, looking up from her small book. They had spent most of their train ride in silence, quietly reading their books.

"Oh, its Potter." Harry said, not even looking up from his book.

Daphne shook her head in confusion before looking at James, "Why did you lie to that boy?"

"Because, if he is looking for 'Harry Potter' then he is just looking for the famous boy-who-lived. We aren't interested in talking to them." James responded, to which Daphne made an O face and nodded.

"Do you two care about that?" Harry asked, not sure if he could even trust the two girls. Daphne just shrugged and Tracey smiled at them.

"No, we met you as 'Just Harry' so you will be just Harry to us." Tracey responded, gaining a look of gratitude from Harry.

It was another hour of friendly chit chat before the door to the compartment opened again, revealing a blonde-haired boy with two large bodyguards, "Harry Potter in here?" All four kids shook their heads in the negative before the boy once again left. They talked about their lives before Hogwarts, but Harry and James kept it vague. No need to advertise the fact they grew up in an orphanage.

It was half-way through the train ride when the door opened once again, causing Harry to mutter under his breath, "For the love of God…"

A bushy-haired girl poked her head inside, "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." She smiled at the two boys before entering, uninvited.

"Uh, what are you doing?" James asked, eyeing the witch suspiciously, "We're full…"

"I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione said as she began rummaging through the compartment, "I'm just looking for the toad…"

"Hey, that's my owl!" Harry scowled as Hermione picked up his owls cage to look under it, "Why don't you try to summon it? Rather than move all of our stuff?"

"Oh, well do you know how to summon a toad?" Hermione mocked as she put her hands on her hips, "I practiced magic this summer after I got my wand, have you?" she said as she stood next to the exit, about to leave after she had perused their compartment. The Harry stuck out his tongue and gave he the two-finger salute, "I guess I'll see you all when we are sorted" she huffed.

"Mental, that one", James said as she closed to door to rejoin the hunt for Neville's toad, "Also, who would bring a toad to Hogwarts. A toad can't bring you mail…"

The rest of trip seemed to zoom by for the group of four as they talked at length about what awaited them at Hogwarts. Harry was mostly excited for DADA with Tracey agreeing. Daphne was interested in Potions and learning more about what her Dad does. James ranted about how Defense Against the Dark Arts should have been left as just the Dark Arts class. It basically taught the same information plus more curses that would be useful if a magical got into a fight.

As the train finished its journey and pulled into the station, the kids crowded around the window looking out onto the train platform and the lake beyond. As they watched, a large man with a lantern began yelling something they couldn't hear from inside. "Alright, let's get our stuff and get off this bloody train!" Harry proclaimed as he yanked his featherweight trunk from the luggage rack.

"Right, then! First years! This way, please! Come on, now, don't be shy! Come on now, hurry up!" The large man yelled as the group made their way off and onto the platform. A large group of first-years soon clustered around the man and he began to lead them away once he was satisfied that there were no stragglers, "Right then. This way to the boats! Come on, now, follow me."

As Harry made his way to the awaiting boats, he noticed that the boats were small, fitting no more than a few students. "Come on then! Only four to a boat! Get in!" Harry made his way over to a boat with James and the two girls decided to follow.

They pushed off from shore and the boats seemed to pilot themselves towards the large castle in the distance. Several students gasped as they neared, yet Harry noticed Daphne and Tracey look almost bored. James looked completely dumbstruck, "This is so much different from the pictures in the books!"

Soon they made their way into the castle and up the stairs, only to be stopped by Professor McGonagall, "Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup…" she paused as a boy jumped forward to grab a toad by her feet, Harry surmised that must be Neville and his toad. The Professor looked at the boy for a moment before finishing, "The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily".

She walked into the Hall before closing the doors behind her. As she left, several ghosts appeared, announcing which house they represented and giving the first year's support and saying they hope they end up in their respective houses. "I wonder what house I'll be sorted into", Harry heard a quiet voice behind him say. He turned to find Hermione, who had obviously been following Harry and his friends.

"I would say you'll be sorted into Hufflepuff since that's the house for idiots like you." The blonde kid that had entered their compartment earlier said, slightly snidely.

"Professor McGonagall said that all houses have their merits," she replied hotly, "What house do you think you will be sorted into, Draco?"

The blonde was about to speak as a red-haired boy glared at the exchange, "Slytherin, obviously. That's where all the best wizards go!" He declared proudly, earning him several snorts from first years who had older siblings.

"Slytherin is full of dark wizards and evil people," the red-headed boy declared, also earning a laugh from Harry and James.

A moment later, Professor McGonagall returned through the Great Halls doors, "We're ready for you now". She led them through the doors, into a giant room with four long tables filled with other students. Harry looked around the room in wonder, taking in the beautiful sight that was the night sky as well as the floating candles.

Hermione noticed his wondrous expression, "It's not real, the ceiling. It's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History". That statement earned her two equally annoyed eye rolls from Daphne and Tracey. What a know-it-all… Harry thought as they finally stopped before the head table.

"All right, will you wait along here, please? Now, before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words." Professor McGonagall said to the assembled first years before making her way up to stand next to the sorting hat.

The Headmaster stood, "I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce: first years, please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that the 3rd floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you." The old man sat as Harry and James looked at each other in surprise. That 3rd floor corridor obviously must be searched.

"When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses. Hannah Abbot"

"Oh bugger," James said as he stared at the blonde who had just sat down on the stool, "This is going to take forever."

It was a few minutes before someone Harry partially cared about was called up to be sorted. "Tracey Davis". Harry perked up as the dark brown-haired witch made her way to the stool. As McGonagall placed the hat on Tracey's head, her face showed surprise. It took the hat about 30 seconds to make up his mind, but Harry smiled as it yelled out, "SLYTHERIN!" Harry clapped as she hopped off to the table where she was welcomed.

There were some more sortings that Harry really didn't care about before "Hermione Granger" was called. She walked up to the hat and sat down confidently. It took another 20 seconds before the hat confirmed what Harry had suspected, "GRYFFINDOR!" She looked happy and smiled at her new housemates.

"Daphne Greengrass" was called quickly after Hermione. As she approached, the hat seemed to sneer at her before screeching out 'SLYTHERIN' the moment it was over her head. She smiled smugly at Harry before bouncing off to join Tracey.

There were several other sortings, with some students Harry couldn't care less about. Not that he didn't pay attention to see where the students of his year ended up, he just didn't have any thoughts about why they went to certain houses.

"James Lestrange"! Professor McGonagall bellowed as she eyed the first years. Several of the Professor's eyes widened at the mention of the Lestrange last name. James just smirked evilly as he approached and sat on the stool. There were some whispers behind him, questioning who his parents were. Harry could barely make out Professor Sprout ask another if he was the spawn of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. Harry laughed as the hat once again shouted SLYTHERIN.

As James made his way over to the table, a non-descript Slytherin fifth year shouted, "Merlin, get on with it then! You're boring me!" Harry again chuckled as most of the Great Hall did.

"Ten points from Slytherin."

"Worth it."

"As I was saying, Neville Longbottom", Professor McGonagall continued while still glaring at the fifth year. The shy boy approached the stool with his toad clutched in his hands which got him several odd looks from the Head table as well as the students. McGonagall placed the sorting hat onto his hat and seemed to have a lively discussion with the boy before yelling, "GRYFFINDOR!" The boy jumped off the stood and rushed to join his new house.

"Draco Malfoy", she continued.

Draco smiled when his name was called, so that was the blonde's name, Harry thought. Draco strode confidently towards the professor and the hat. As he sat and the hat was hovered over his head, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN".

Harry heard a laugh from behind him as Draco was sent to Slytherin, "Of course he went to Slytherin, there isn't a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin". Harry turned to see the red-haired boy smirking. But before Harry could do anything, he was called up to be sorted. There were several gasps and wide eyes around the room, obviously from those who did not know Harry would be attending this year.

"Ah, Mr. Potter." The hat said inside Harry's mind as McGonagall placed it onto his head, "I see you have already made up your mind for Slytherin, yes? Your friend is there… Lestrange… My me. What a naughty duo you two are. Murderers before the age of 12? Don't worry Mister Potter, my hat is sealed! Anyway, I expect great things from you, Harry. At Hogwarts and beyond… SLYTHERIN"

Harry smiled as James and the two girls burst up from their seats and clapped enthusiastically for him. Several of the other Slytherins looked confused but slowly they all began clapping.

The rest of the feast passed quickly for Harry as he ignored the rest of the sortings. He did, however, boo Weasley after he was sorted. As they began to tuck in to eat, Harry looked up towards the head table to view his soon to be Professors. "Who is the guy greasy haired guy that's staring at me?"

"Oh, that's Professor Snape. He is the head of house for Slytherin…" Daphne said as she looked towards the greasy Professor. Harry continued to look at Daphne for more information however, "He teaches Potions, Harry." Daphne finished.

After the feast had concluded, Harry, Daphne, Tracey, James, and the rest of the Slytherin first years followed the Slytherin fifth year prefects down the long winding hallways of Hogwarts to the Slytherin dormitories. As they descended the stairs, the atmosphere began to feel much heavier and almost suffocating before they reached the hallway directly in front of the Slytherin dormitory.

"Okay, welcome to the Slytherin Dormitories. As you can see, all of you made it past Slytherin's door defenses. If you were not truly Slytherins, you would have collapsed due to suffocation before you made it here," the fifth year smirked before motioning to the non-descript wall behind him and pulling his wand, "The door to the common room is visible only to those who wear Slytherin robes."

He waved his wand over the newly minted Slytherins and their Hogwarts sigils were changed to their House's sigil. Suddenly, their blindness seemed to be lifted as an ornate silver and green door revealed itself to them as the female Fifth year started, "The password is 'Semper Pura' or 'Always Pure' in English. Please use the Latin version as it makes us look cool, but English will work as well".

Harry and James looked at each other in utter disbelief, I didn't realize magic could do this stuff, thought Harry as they pushed forward into the common room. As they entered, Daphne could be heard gasping with a small, "Wow."

"Yeah, pretty amazing isn't it?", the prefect said as he lined up the first years to give them the annual Slytherin speech, "Some parents gave the school a hefty sum of money a few years ago after Lord Malfoy saw that the Common Room and Dormitories had not been updated in almost 75 years."

The Common Room was ornately decorated with gold, silver, and all types of different stone. Several black leather couches, chairs, and seats were spread out across the room with plenty of desks and tables to study on. A beautiful gold/silver chandelier was hung in the center of the room with floating candles surrounding it. Gone were the drab green wallpaper that Daphne had seen in her father's pictures, replaced with dark woods and stunning artwork. As she looked above, she noticed a shadowy figure move across the ceiling, making her realize they were under the Black Lake.

"Okay, listen up first years!" the female Prefect shouted from her perch on the stairs, "Boy's dormitories are up the stairs and girl's dorms are down. Each of you will have your own room with a bed, desk, and wardrobe thanks to the remodel a couple years ago and enlargement charms. Be aware that visiting hours are between 9am and 8pm. That means boys can be in the girl's dorms and vis versa during those times. You also will each have an attached bathroom to your rooms."

She looked to her male companion who continued, "House elves will take care of all laundry, cleaning, and pickup overnight. Even though we have house elves, that does not mean you can leave your room a mess all the time, please clean up after yourselves," He paused, looking at the notebook he was holding, which earned him an eye roll from the other Prefect, "Breakfast is served from 7:30am to 8:30am with first period beginning at 9:00am. Lunch is served at 12:00pm until 1:00pm. Dinner is served at 6:00pm. You will receive your class schedules tomorrow at breakfast. Do be there for that. Breakfast is optional the rest of the term. Now, I will be turning it over the Professor Snape…"

He motioned to the mysterious figure in the corner of the room, "Welcome to Slytherin. This is the first step in your journey to becoming POWERFUL witches and wizards." He drawled as he removed his hood and looked around the room, "Slytherin will be your family. From this day until your end of days. Take that to heart. Look around you, they will be your best friends. You may have friends in other years; however, these will be your core friends. Never let anything or anyone tear you apart, which I am sure the other Houses will attempt to do… Anything to put Slytherin down…" he snarled as he looked at Harry and James.

"I trust you all will succeed in Slytherin. Remember that Slytherins are loyal to other Slytherins. You will need each other when the other three houses decide you are evil. Also, the common room is confidential. Anything spoken in the room, stays in the room, right?"

The Prefects nodded in the affirmative as he continued his review of the first years, "Daphne Greengrass, I remember your father was an accomplished Potions Master during the War, yes?"

"My father doesn't like to talk about the Blood War, sir. So, I don't really know what he did." Daphne replied meekly, sort of scared by the older man.

"Of course not, he plead the Imperious. Much like Lord Malfoy, Lord Davis, and Lord Crabbe," he eyed the three students with a sly smile before turning to James, "I am surprised you were let in, young man. Your Surname is seen as the Plague in Wizarding England."

"Well, I didn't know my parents, sir." James replied, not breaking eye contact.

Professor Snape smiled at the group before nodding at James, "Goodnight. I will see you tomorrow." He sulked into the darkness and disappeared into his office.

"Once you pick a room, please tap your wand on the name plate on the door. See you all bright and early tomorrow."