A/N: Hellooo, thanks for your reviews guys, it really means a lot! Hope you enjoy
Chapter 4:
Harrison woke with a start. Another nightmare. It was still dark in the room and he could hear the soft snoring of several boys. Sighing, and knowing he would never get back to sleep, he got up and dressed into his new uniform, noting that the crest had changed to the Slytherin one overnight. He silently packed his bag for the day, and not knowing what classes he would have, he packed all his books, the feather-light charm meant it didn't make a difference how much he carried anyway.
He made his way down to the common room, the fire lit as he entered and he cast a quick tempus charm, it was only 5am. He had 2 hours to kill before the meeting, and so he got comfortable on one of the armchairs near the fire and decided to continue reading his potions book.
'You're up early' Flint said as he walked in around 6.30. There were a couple of people in the room now, friends catching up on their summer's and people scrambling to finish reading lists before classes begun.
'I'm an early-riser' he gave an easy grin, hoping it was convincing
He seemed to accept the answer and went over to the First-year boys' room to make sure the others were getting up.
Come 7 O'clock, everyone was in the room and in came Snape.
He was tall, his dark hair lay limply on his head, his skin was pale and he had a hooked nose. His appearance was slightly imposing and the only thing Harrison took a liking to was the way his cloak billowed around him as he walked.
'Good-morning Slytherin' he drawled.
He had a slow voice, but not in a boring way, it was the kind of voice that had you hooked onto every word he said, demanding attention, all in all Harrison was quite impressed by the man.
'Right then, first-years, and for those of you who have forgotten.' he said, looking specifically at a few of the older students 'We have several rules in Slytherin that you will abide by. The first: We remain a united front. You will soon realise that the students and most of the staff in this school are biased, they believe all Slytherin's to be the root of evil, and for this reason, no matter what your differences, no matter what arguments go on inside this common room, to the rest of the school, we are one. We protect our own, and there are no exceptions, and you all are included in this now' His eyes rested on Harrison for a few seconds before sweeping over the rest of the room.
'Rule two' he continued 'if you absolutely must pick fights, play pranks and otherwise break the rules, then you do not get caught. . . You are Slytherin's, you are supposed to be cunning, these are the most important rules we have. Do not break them. If you do, you will answer to me. If you get a detention from another Professor or more than 10 points taken in a week, you will answer to me.' he let that settle for a few moments.
Harrison thought the rules were reasonable, and he quite liked the first one, it made them feel more like a family unit.
'The full list of rules is on the notice board, I expect you all to read and remember them. Now, on another note, my door is always open to you, no matter the time or day, I am here to help and guide you with whatever you may need. I don't care who your parents are or what they may or may not have done. I will help you, and so will the prefects, so don't be afraid to come to us for assistance. First-years' he addressed them 'you will each have a meeting with me at some point this month, I will meet with each of you again before Christmas to ensure you are settling in well. The prefects will escort you to breakfast now and I shall give out timetables whilst you eat.' And with that, he left.
'What were you doing up so early today? Too excited?' Draco asked, turning towards him as they followed the crowd to breakfast.
'Yes, that, and I'm an early riser anyway. I wanted to make sure I was prepared for classes' Harrison replied 'I've also written a letter to send to my parents later today'
They settled down to eat, Draco to Harrison's right-hand side, and the Zabini boy to his left, the rest of the first years scattered around them. Harrison glanced around the hall, noting that the Gryffindor table was mostly empty, and those that had started to eat, looked very tired and scruffy. He couldn't imagine going to classes looking the way they did, but they didn't appear to care.
The timetables were being passed around and he took the one with his name at the top. He would have 7 classes this year, and they were split over a two-week timetable beginning at 9am and ending at 5pm, with breaks in between.
'So, we've got Transfiguration first, followed by charms, then lunch, a study period and double potions' Zabini read out
'Tough first day' Draco noted, not seeming too bothered
'Who are the classes with?' Daphne asked, looking down at her own sheet
'Transfiguration and Potions with Gryffindor's, and charms with Ravenclaw's' Harrison added
'Why do they insist on pairing us with Gryffindor?' he asked with slight disgust 'We're with them for Transfiguration, Potion, flying and DADA. Surely they know it won't end well?' he added
'They do it every year' Flint shot in, overhearing the conversation 'Personally I think Dumbledore enjoys the chaos.'
And speaking of chaos, Nick walked into the hall, followed by a long line of first and second-year girls begging for autographs. He scowled at Harrison as they walked past and he merely rolled his eyes in response. He fit in quite well with the Gryffindor's, Harrison thought watching him sit down next to the Weasley boy. They both had a rather dishevelled appearance, shirts untucked and ties not done up properly, and the way Nick was shoving food down his throat as if he'd never eat again, their mother must be so proud, he thought sarcastically.
At 8.45, the first-year Slytherin's stood up and followed the prefects to their first class of the day, Transfiguration. It was a rather easy route despite the changing staircases, and Harrison thought he would find his way around the castle alone soon enough. They all sat on one side of the classroom, Harrison sharing a desk with Draco, at the front of the room, a cat sat upon the desk; it was a tabby, with markings like glasses around its eyes. Harrison, of course, knew that Professor McGonagall was an Animagus, and so the cat must be her.
His parents had told him that she was a strict, no-nonsense, and yet fair Professor, and also a brilliant teacher, however being Gryffindor's themselves, he thought they may be rather biased. He would have to wait and see.
At 9.05, his brother and the ginger, the only people yet to arrive, ran into the room. They were out of breath and looked even more scruffy than before.
'Phew' Weasley sighed in relief looking around the classroom
'Can you imagine the look on...'
He didn't get to finish his sentence though, as the cat suddenly pounced off the desk, smoothly transforming into McGonagall as she went. He thought it was an incredible feat of magic, a true testimony to the power she must hold. His father and Sirius had promised to teach him and Nick how to do it themselves as soon as they were old enough.
Deep in thought, he'd clearly missed the conversation that had gone on between the professor and his brother, as they were now taking their seats, looking rather red in the face as they did.
'Right then' she began, walking back to the front of the room and facing them
'Today we are going to be attempting to transfigure matchsticks into needles'
She demonstrated the task and wrote the incantation on the board. For the first 10 minutes, she had them simply practising the pronunciation and wand movements, which Harrison found rather boring seeing as he'd already practised this one at home.
Once satisfied that they weren't going to blow themselves up, she passed around matchsticks and told them to get on with it.
Harrison twirled his wand around in his hands, looking at his matchstick. He then closed his eyes for a moment, imagining the stick was in fact a needle all along, and muttered the incantation, feeling the magic with every fibre in his being. He opened his eyes to the sight of a perfect needle. He smiled as the usual euphoric feeling disappeared. He loved magic.
'How did you do that?' Draco asked next to him, a look of disbelief in his eyes
Harrison looked down at Draco's matchstick, which was now silver but other than that it hadn't changed, looking around the room he noted that most people hadn't even managed that.
'Well' he started, trying to think of a way to explain 'what are you thinking of when you cast the spell?'
Draco looked confused for a moment before replying
'What do you mean? I'm thinking of the incantation, and about changing the matchstick to a needle'
Harrison shook his head slightly
'That's not enough' he began 'You have to mean it, you have to want it with everything you have, try imagining the matchstick as a needle already, and you're simply trying to turn it back into its original shape. It's all about intention' he finished.
'Very well said Mr. Potter' a voice sounded behind him, he turned to see McGonagall smiling down at him.
'5 points to Slytherin for a perfect transfiguration, and take another 5 for a perfect understanding of the theory'
He spent the rest of the class assisting the Slytherin's and trying to get his needle to look a little nicer. By the end of the class, half of the Slytherin's had perfect needle's, Harrison's however had the Slytherin crest etched into it, it was surprisingly easy to change the appearance once you had the basic form down. The Gryffindor's on the other hand hadn't done so well, most of them still had matchsticks, a couple had changed either the colour or the shape slightly; only his brother and the Granger girl had managed a full needle. He thought his first class had gone very well, and he only hoped the classes would get more interesting the further into the year they got.
'Oi, Harry' Nick shouted behind him as they left the classroom, he turned and waited for him to approach. He walked over with Weasley following closely behind.
'So' he began with a smirk 'turns out you are a slimy snake after all'
'How could you betray your brother like that' the Weasley boy questioned
'What on Earth are you talking about?' Harrison asked
'Well' the Weasley began 'your brother is the-boy-who-lived, so why are you associating with people like him?' he gestured towards Draco 'There's not a witch or wizard that went bad who wasn't in Slytherin.' He stated with certainty
Harrison shook his head slightly at Draco, who had pulled out his wand, and stepped forward himself.
'Peter Pettigrew' he stated, looking Nick directly in the eye
He began to shift uncomfortably
'Yeah, well, that's one person, everyone in Slytherin goes bad!' Nick was angry now
'Merlin was a Slytherin, he didn't go bad' he didn't know why Nick was egging for a fight on the first day of school, but Harrison wasn't going to rise to it, no matter how much he wanted to use him to practice some rather interesting hexes he'd found in one of his books.
The boys' seemed hesitant now, and clearly angry, Weasley pulled out his own wand and raised it towards Harrison
'I wouldn't if I were you' he stated before the boy could utter a single word
'You do that, and you will start something you won't be able to finish. So, tell me Weasley, what would you rather? You can walk away right now and I'll forget this ever happened, alternatively, you could attempt a spell, and by the looks of your work in transfiguration, I don't think you'll manage it. And then, it will be my turn, and I assure you that I won't miss, I will also stop holding back Draco here, I'm sure he'd love a chance to defend himself from what you implied earlier' he paused for a moment before continuing.
'That second option will end with you and probably Nick in the hospital wing, I'll also inform Professor Snape that you started a fight in which I was forced to defend myself, and you'll also gain several detentions and probably a large loss of house points on the first day of school.'
They seemed shocked, and Weasley looked towards Nick, clearly unsure of what to do. Nick looked at Harrison in disbelief for a moment, before grabbing Weasley's arm and walking off.
'Again, that was brilliant' Draco said next to him
He smirked slightly and they rushed to find Charms class, not wanting to be late.
Charms was rather boring, they didn't actually do any magic, only theory and a bit of practice of wand movement for the levitation charm. He had already practised this charm at home and therefore spent most of the lesson reading ahead.
After charms, he headed up to the Owlery to send his letter. As he walked in the room, Hedwig flew over to him, landing on his shoulder and rubbed her head against his affectionately, he spent several moments petting her before reviewing his letter, adding a few lines as he did.
Mum and Dad,
As expected, I have been sorted into Slytherin, I hope that you meant what you said to me and my house doesn't matter.
Nick, as I'm sure he's told you, was sorted into Gryffindor.
Classes today have been okay, we changed a matchstick to a needle in Transfiguration – I was the first to complete it, and charms was rather boring being only theory today. We have Potions later, which I'm looking forward to.
Hope you are all well,
Love, Harrison
He debated putting his near fight with Nick in the letter, but decided against it not knowing how his parents will feel about Draco, and preferring to have things to hold against Nick in the future. He folded the letter and gave it to Hedwig, who with one last nip of his fingers, flew off and Harrison made his way down to lunch.
He sat next to Draco again, joining in their conversation about the classes so far
'How did you manage the needle as quickly as you did Harrison?' Daphne asked him in wonder
'I'd practised most of the spells at home already' he confessed
'So did I, but I can't make a needle with the Slytherin crest etched into it!' Draco exclaimed, grabbing the attention of several older students
'You did that in your first lesson?' A boy further down the table asked him, looking shocked
Harrison felt a little uncomfortable now
'Well, it's all about intention isn't it? So, once you have the basic shape it's quite easy to change the appearance' He tried to explain
'Hmm, I never thought of it like that, I'll have to try it next time' he seemed to be lost in thought
They all finished their lunch quickly after that and the first-years headed back to the common room. The list of meetings with Professor Snape had been pinned to the notice board, Harrison was meeting with him on Friday evening, at 6pm. He wondered what the meeting would be about, and the group sat down to complete the homework they'd already been given. It wasn't too long, but Harrison wanted to find out more about changing the appearance of transfigured objects, he couldn't find anything in his books and so suggested they head and check out the library.
It was a large room, with hundreds of bookshelves reaching the ceiling, and a roped off section at the back of the room he assumed was the restricted section, he could only imagine the kind of knowledge held within those books.
He found the transfiguration section and started flicking through the books, trying to find what he wanted.
'Hi' a small voice came from behind him, he turned to see a young Hufflepuff girl stood shifting from foot to foot, clearly nervous
'Yes?' he asked
'You're Nick Potter's brother, right?' he sighed
'I am' her smile widened
'Could you get his autograph for me please? My name's Emily, I'm a second-year' she explained
He hated this sort of thing, why couldn't people see that he was his own person, he didn't want to be constantly associated with his brother.
'If you want an autograph from him, I suggest you ask him yourself. I'm not Nick's PA, and if you haven't noticed, I'm actually quite busy right now so please leave.' He left her, mouth open in shock and took his books back to the table they'd settled on.
'What did she want?' Zabini asked, noting his angry expression
'Nick' he explained simply, clearly not wanting to talk about it and so they dropped the subject, turning back to their homework instead.
'Hey Potter, what have you put for the uses of the levitation charm?' Zabini asked
In response, Harrison merely passed him one of the books from his pile
'Chapter 4' he paused before continuing 'and call me Harrison'
Zabini grinned in response, taking the book 'And I, Blaise' he nodded.
Once the study period was over the group of Slytherin's had completed their homework and set off for Potions.
A/N: Well, once again please review, favourite etc etc, hope you're enjoying the story so far and the next chapter will be posted soon!