p class="MsoNormal"strongA/N- This chapter is slightly shorter because ya girl is dying of flu right now. I'm pretty sure I had a fever while writing this part so if it doesn't make perfect sense, I'm sorry, I know it's not my best. /strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongAnyways, enjoy, and please leave a comment- I love hearing feedback! /strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry had found himself quite comfortable at Hogwarts, and surprisingly, as a Slytherin too./p
p class="MsoNormal"Sure, it wasn't what he'd expected. And the people were sometimes rough and crude, and made jokes at the expense of muggles and muggle-borns. He walways felt uncomfortable, and excused himself whenever that came up./p
p class="MsoNormal"But other than that, he liked the common room. It was under the lake, and all the light coming in was tinged with a light greenish-blue. His bed was larger than anything he'd ever slept in, and much more comfortable. No-one yelled at him for forgetting to clean the inside of the bath drain or anything dumb like that. And he was fed regularly, and even though aunt Petunia never starved him, he was never allowed to eat whatever he wanted. At the feast, when the food had appeared, he realised how hungry he really was./p
p class="MsoNormal"And, for the first time, he had a friend at school./p
p class="MsoNormal"He and Pansy had become friends at the first-night feast, when they were both sorted into Slytherin. She was a Pureblood Princess, she had joked. From one of the old 28 pureblood bloodlines that had yet to be tainted with muggle blood. Harry felt a twinge in his stomach, being halfblood himself, and had turned back to his treacle tart without much of a reaction./p
p class="MsoNormal"She must have sensed his discomfort, because she dialled back the blood purity talk when he was around. He knew she still joked about it with other purebloods, like Blaise Zabini, but he figured that was none of his business. They were childhood friends, and probably had been raised to think like that./p
p class="MsoNormal"About a week in, on the first Saturday of term, he was sat in the library trying to get through the Trasfiguration essay McGonagall had set them (this school's obsession with homework was nothing like his old primary school) when he looked up and caught Malfoy's eye. Malfoy always seemed to be brooding now- even when he was sat with the other boys, or at dinner, or walking to and from class. His air of arrogance had been replaced with a permanent, bad mood. He glared at Harry, and turned back to the bookcase he was perusing, pulling out a thick emerald covered book and opening it to the contents page, turning his back on the table of Slytherins./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zabini, to Harry's left, was passing notes with Pansy, sat opposite him. They were in silent fits of laughter. Harry tried to put his head down and work again, but it was useless. His focus was gone. He grabbed his stuff, whispered to the other two he was going back to the Slytherin common room, and left quickly./p
p class="MsoNormal"He turned down a quiet corridor and heard two voices whispering from a slightly cracked door. He edged closer to listen to the lowered voices./p
p class="MsoNormal""They need to know!" the first whispered./p
p class="MsoNormal""Dumbledore said no!" the other replied and harry instantly recognised the voice as McGonagall's. "They need time to adjust- it's too soon."/p
p class="MsoNormal""The later we leave it, the more betrayed they'll feel, Minerva!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I understand that, Alastor, but Dumbledore was very clear with this- not until they've proven they can handle it!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Longbottom I understand- he's sensitive- but Potter! His parents would be furious if we didn't tell him."/p
p class="MsoNormal""We will tell him," she replied, "Both of them. But we have to be careful. If we do this wrong, we risk losing both of them. Imagine if it were you- would you like to be told a piece of You-Know-Who's soul lives in you at eleven years old?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry felt bile rise from his stomach. Him, Potter? And Longbottom?/p
p class="MsoNormal""How many people know about that night in Godric's Hollow?" growled the one names Alastor. "Too few. If we had been able to let people know how the Dark Lord was defeated, it would have been easier to tell the boys!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Minerva mumbled something that Harry didn't catch as he inched closer to the door. "- in the past now, no point in bringing that up."/p
p class="MsoNormal""There is a point,"Alastor said. Harry saw movement on the shadows on the wall. "Potter's standing right outside the door."/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongAnyways, enjoy, and please leave a comment- I love hearing feedback! /strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry had found himself quite comfortable at Hogwarts, and surprisingly, as a Slytherin too./p
p class="MsoNormal"Sure, it wasn't what he'd expected. And the people were sometimes rough and crude, and made jokes at the expense of muggles and muggle-borns. He walways felt uncomfortable, and excused himself whenever that came up./p
p class="MsoNormal"But other than that, he liked the common room. It was under the lake, and all the light coming in was tinged with a light greenish-blue. His bed was larger than anything he'd ever slept in, and much more comfortable. No-one yelled at him for forgetting to clean the inside of the bath drain or anything dumb like that. And he was fed regularly, and even though aunt Petunia never starved him, he was never allowed to eat whatever he wanted. At the feast, when the food had appeared, he realised how hungry he really was./p
p class="MsoNormal"And, for the first time, he had a friend at school./p
p class="MsoNormal"He and Pansy had become friends at the first-night feast, when they were both sorted into Slytherin. She was a Pureblood Princess, she had joked. From one of the old 28 pureblood bloodlines that had yet to be tainted with muggle blood. Harry felt a twinge in his stomach, being halfblood himself, and had turned back to his treacle tart without much of a reaction./p
p class="MsoNormal"She must have sensed his discomfort, because she dialled back the blood purity talk when he was around. He knew she still joked about it with other purebloods, like Blaise Zabini, but he figured that was none of his business. They were childhood friends, and probably had been raised to think like that./p
p class="MsoNormal"About a week in, on the first Saturday of term, he was sat in the library trying to get through the Trasfiguration essay McGonagall had set them (this school's obsession with homework was nothing like his old primary school) when he looked up and caught Malfoy's eye. Malfoy always seemed to be brooding now- even when he was sat with the other boys, or at dinner, or walking to and from class. His air of arrogance had been replaced with a permanent, bad mood. He glared at Harry, and turned back to the bookcase he was perusing, pulling out a thick emerald covered book and opening it to the contents page, turning his back on the table of Slytherins./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zabini, to Harry's left, was passing notes with Pansy, sat opposite him. They were in silent fits of laughter. Harry tried to put his head down and work again, but it was useless. His focus was gone. He grabbed his stuff, whispered to the other two he was going back to the Slytherin common room, and left quickly./p
p class="MsoNormal"He turned down a quiet corridor and heard two voices whispering from a slightly cracked door. He edged closer to listen to the lowered voices./p
p class="MsoNormal""They need to know!" the first whispered./p
p class="MsoNormal""Dumbledore said no!" the other replied and harry instantly recognised the voice as McGonagall's. "They need time to adjust- it's too soon."/p
p class="MsoNormal""The later we leave it, the more betrayed they'll feel, Minerva!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I understand that, Alastor, but Dumbledore was very clear with this- not until they've proven they can handle it!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Longbottom I understand- he's sensitive- but Potter! His parents would be furious if we didn't tell him."/p
p class="MsoNormal""We will tell him," she replied, "Both of them. But we have to be careful. If we do this wrong, we risk losing both of them. Imagine if it were you- would you like to be told a piece of You-Know-Who's soul lives in you at eleven years old?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Harry felt bile rise from his stomach. Him, Potter? And Longbottom?/p
p class="MsoNormal""How many people know about that night in Godric's Hollow?" growled the one names Alastor. "Too few. If we had been able to let people know how the Dark Lord was defeated, it would have been easier to tell the boys!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Minerva mumbled something that Harry didn't catch as he inched closer to the door. "- in the past now, no point in bringing that up."/p
p class="MsoNormal""There is a point,"Alastor said. Harry saw movement on the shadows on the wall. "Potter's standing right outside the door."/p