Disclaimer: I don't any of the characters, except for whichever I come up with at the time. Everything else is owned by J. , not me.

Chapter Two

The first day of classes was interesting, as far as Harry was concerned, though the potions class was quite unpleasant and he figured out why Malfoy mentioned Professor Snape in the manner that he did – it was because Snape seemed to have a vendetta against anyone called Harry Potter, or apparently a Neville Longbottom. Harry was still vividly remembering it, even now.

'Ah, Potter. Our new... celebrity. I certainly hope that you have a brain to match. You wouldn't want to become the laughing stock of the Slytherin house, would you, Potter?!'

Harry was stunned. 'Ah, no, sir.'

'Good. Then perhaps you can tell me what a bezoar is.'

Harry struggled to recall what little he had learned from Astoria and Daphne, but finally remembered what it was. 'If I remember correctly, it is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it can act as an antidote to most poisons.'

Snape smirked nastily. 'Rudimentary, at best, but at least you can take some credit for actually knowing something, Potter. Take 5 points for Slytherin.'

Then Snape rounded on another boy from Gryffindor, whom the Slytherins were sharing potions class with. 'Longbottom, explain to me the effects of wormwood.'

'I-I don't know, sir.'

'Pathetic. I suppose you Gryffindors think you're too good to study? Well?' Snape said dangerously.

Neville gulped visibly. 'No, sir.'

'20 points from Gryffindor for being a dunce.'

Ickle Ronniekins seemed on the verge of a violent outburst, but wasn't quite stupid enough to actually say anything, while the rest of the Gryffindors looked shocked at the way Snape was treating their house. However, the Slytherins were sniggering and even Harry had to see the amusing side of it, barring the fact that he'd been almost in the same situation as Longbottom.

'That Longbottom is a bit of an idiot. He won't have a very fun year with Professor Snape' Daphne grinned evilly. Harry had to admit that she had a point. 'But, the professor doesn't seem to like you very much, Potter. I wonder why.'

At this very moment, coincidentally, Harry was trying to work out why that damned Snape didn't like him. Harry first thought that perhaps Snape just didn't like famous people, thinking they were pretentious, or something along those lines; however, on second thought, perhaps he had known Harry's parents. Maybe something had happened between them. Of course, Harry had absolutely no idea about much involving his parents and he didn't feel like there was any point in asking Astoria, or Daphne about it, so he resolved to figure it out later.

Currently, he was sitting in the library with the two Greengrasses, after the first day of lessons and was reading, while also attempting to start the homework that they had been given. It wasn't so bad, though – they had three days to complete a two inch essay on antidotes for deadly poisons, excluding the bezoar and to practice trying to turn a needle into a nail. Surprisingly, they had not gotten any homework from charms, which suited Harry just fine.

'Why do you reckon we didn't get any homework from charms?' Harry asked his two friends.

'I have no idea, Potter. Who cares? The main thing is that we didn't get any, right? Daphne replied.

Astoria smiled, having already become used to seeing the two bickering and obviously amused at how quickly Daphne and Harry had also fallen into that habit. It was quite refreshing, considering that most of Slytherin house had not made any secrets that they did not like Harry Potter. It wasn't surprising, though, and Harry had seemed to accept it as though he had already expected it, nor was particularly bothered by it. Astoria thought that maybe he already knew what it was like to have no one to be beside him, or help him when he needed it; as she recalled, the night before, he had said that her and Daphne were his only two friends in the world. And what about his relatives? By what Harry had said, it sounded as though they hadn't told him about magic, or his parents. The question was, what kind of relatives would leave him in the dark over such important details like that? No, there was something going there, but she would give Harry time to talk about it, before attempting to find out for herself.

'Flitwick is pretty nice, though. I like him.'

Harry and Daphne grinned at Astoria. It was exactly the kind of thing she'd say, something Harry had already learned; she was very exuberant and trusting of others, liking most people almost instantly, once she got past her 'shy first minute'.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the library, William Robb and his new friends were currently studying, after having first classes today and a lot of homework to go with them. As it turned out, while Hermione was very bossy, as William had suspected, she was a highly intelligent girl and the library seemed to be her favorite place in the world. Beside her bushy-brown hair, Hermione was quite pretty. His other new friends were Neville Longbottom, who was in Gryffindor and Luna Lovegood, who was a blonde girl, with odd views of the magical world and many of the creatures that inhabited it. Because of her strange views, airy-fairy personality and the look that made her seem like she was always off in a different world, Luna had been ridiculed by some students already, even though she was really a very nice girl. However, one day she would undoubtedly become the pride of the Ravenclaw house, at least, as far as what William was concerned.

William peered peripherally around the library, noting that there weren't actually many people in there and was somewhat concerned about the lack of attention for the place. To him, the library was a silent sanctuary, a place where you could learn or read anything, with no-one in the world to bother you. However, that was only his secondary, non-primal concern. Underneath it all, William was concerned about any students feeling his aura, or otherwise feeling uncomfortable around him and hoped, sincerely, that was not the reason why the library was so quiet. Of course, on the other hand, everyone had only just started school again, so one could assume that they were unequipped for utilising the library at this current point.

'William. Are you okay?" Neville asked with concern. To someone like Neville, it shouldn't seem so concerning, yet William was obviously spacing out far more than what he usually would around groups of people. Friends. Apparently. He had never enjoyed the privilege of friends before. Could he possibly understand them?

'Yeah, Neville, I'm fine. Sorry, I'm just spacing out over the lack of students in the library. To be perfectly honest, I feel like it should be the most important place in Hogwarts. And yet, there's really no-one here at all. Quite strange, isn't it?'

Hermione sniggered, rather quietly. 'Oh, William, it seems that we must be the same breed. No, you're quite right, though – there are certainly a lack of students in this library. I don't quite understand it. Libraries are most fun, after all.'

Neville looked at her with a queer look on his face. 'But, Hermione, people generally don't like coming here because of...' then his voice changed to a whisper 'of Madam Pince...'

'Are you sure, Neville?'

Neville struggled to answer, but then he suddenly spoke louder. 'That's just what I heard the older students talking about. I guess the new ones are just unwilling to come here. Honestly, I don't know. But, I don't think it's strange, maybe just normal, considering how students are.'

'You know, Neville, you're actually quite intelligent. I thought you were a bit more stupid than what you really are, given the whole toad incident, but, Trevor aside, you actually have brains. I'm glad we met. I really am.'

Neville gawked at William. 'Really?!'

'Yeah, now let's continue reading. This book is interesting.'

Meanwhile, Astoria and Harry decided to go check out the library. Daphne had gone off to meet some friends, but the other were bored and unwilling to part company just yet. The library was up a few flights of stairs, at least, but Astoria seemed to know where she was going, so she led the way, until they almost ran into a bunch of Gryffindor first-years.

'Oh, look, it's Harry Potter and Miss Slytherin... I guess they're going off for their first snog somewhere.' This came from the red-haired Ron Weasley, who Harry had already suspected for lack-of-brains.

'Sorry, Weasley, I just couldn't stand all that red hair. I guess some people just have color, and, people intolerances, huh?' Harry fired back, already becoming annoyed.

'What was that, Potter?! You wanna fight?' Weasley snarled back at him.

'Please. If I wanted to fight a Neanderthal, I would have requested it from someone a bit more respectable and with brains larger than that of a platypus.'

Weasley roared in displeasure and pulled out his wand. 'You better watch it, you dirty Slytherin! I'll cast the bat-bogey curse on you, I will!'

Before the spell could even register, Professor Snape had appeared. '30 points from Gryffindor. If I ever see that wand pulled out again, Weasley, I will have you doing detentions for a whole month, understand?!'

Weasley swallowed and glared at Snape. 'I was just doing a demonstration for the Slytherins, sir.'

'And what would they need your instruction for, Weasley? I wasn't aware that instruction was required from a dunce. Or maybe you just wanted to show off the skills you don't actually possess... pathetic boy, run along, or it will become more than 30 points' Snape's tone was dangerous, yet dripping with sarcasm.

Weasley's face twisted in rage, but he turned around and stalked off, his posse following closely behind. Professor Snape pulled Harry away from Astoria and looked at him with that typical sneer on his face.

'Potter' Snape spoke with no emotion.

'Yes, sir?' Harry replied, unsure of what was to come.

'I'm surprised at how well you handled yourself. Considering the answer you gave me at Potions, I certainly expected less of you. However, don't get arrogant... I have no time for arrogance. You may have become a Slytherin, but I expect to see the traits that you were chosen for. Don't disappoint me.'

'I won't, sir.'

Snape paused, then started off on a different tirade. 'I expect you to follow Slytherins' rules. I expect you to not dishonour this house. If you manage that, by some miracle, then we may see eye-to-eye. Otherwise, I will make your life a living hell. Are we clear?'

'Yes, sir.'

Harry walked away, leaving Snape thinking to himself about the exchange he just witnessed from Potter. The boy was clearly a lot more intelligent than what he would have ever thought, especially considering half of the genes he had inherited, or rather, the person he had inherited the genes from. But Potter would become quite the prodigy if he headed in the right direction, especially avoiding fights with Gryffindors, most definitely that Weasley blood-traitor.

'What did professor Snape say, Harry?' Astoria asked him curiously.

'Oh, nothing of importance. He just mentioned about showing my Slytherin traits and blah-blah-blah. I wouldn't worry about it.'

'Oh, okay. Shall we go and eat lunch now, or do you want to go to the library, or something?'

Harry shrugged, he had no idea whether he wanted to eat, go read a book, or simply go outside. He decided on going outside. 'I kind of feel like going outside and maybe looking at the lake, perhaps. I haven't been there yet. Could be interesting.'

'Sure, lets go!'

They headed down several flights of stairs, until they were in the Great Hall, then Astoria went to grabbed some sandwiches from the table, all the while yanking Daphne by the arm and pulling her along with them. They ended up eating sandwiches by the lake, as Astoria had ended up bringing more than enough for herself and enough for Harry and Daphne, too. All in all, it was well worthwhile – despite being relatively cold, it was mostly sunny, with a few puffy, white clouds drifting overhead.

'Did you see what Weasley did, Daph?' Astoria asked her sister, a smirk on her face.

'No, you guys disappeared right after potions. I had to stay back and talk to Snape. What happened?'

'Well, he tried picking a fight with Harry and, as he was about to pull out his wand, Professor Snape showed up and was absolutely livid. They lost Gryffindor 30 points.' Astoria giggled with hilarity at the end.

'Serves that imbecile right. That's what you get when you're a stupid Gryffindor, with no brains and all mouth. I can imagine Snape will pick on him as much as Longbottom.'

Note: Hey, guys, I apologise for such a massive wait from the first chapter. I started it, posted it, then realised that work was going to be busy to the point of needing to wait this one out for a while. Chapter isn't particularly interesting, nor is it very long, but I'm currently writing several things at the moment and wanted to at least update. The next chapter will be more interesting. Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed or favorited this story. I appreciate it. Any more reviews will be welcomed. Thanks!