~`5`~

Tom wondered many a time how different his Harry was from the one he had fought in his last iteration of life. It was their very first day and there were whispers following them around the entire time, from the moment they entered the Great Hall. They ranged from 'He's not as tall as I expected' all the way to 'Traitor bastard'.

Harry responded to none of them. He acted like he didn't hear a word of what the lot said and showed no reaction, a true Slytherin and Tom couldn't imagine the Gryffindor he had fought so many times his past life to be so blase to the attention he was earning.

When he asked Harry if he was okay, the boy simply shrugged, "It's not that bad. If the adults get in on it it'll be more difficult."

And Tom thought back to the thin wrist and frowned, but there was nothing he could do. He would have liked to tell his parents who might have some friends in high places to look into it but between the Obliviator's squad, not to mention Severus being in Dumbledore's pocket, the man well known for his prowess with mind based spells, he was sure it wouldn't go anywhere. Not yet, not until he managed to get wards and protections for his parents.

For now, he would make sure to lay the groundwork to invite Harry over for Christmas. A few letters mentioning his new friend should do the trick.

For now they simply went about their day, dealing with the bouts of intense whispering and pointing in the hallways to waving their wands and casting spells in classes. Tom obviously shone in class, earning the ire of Drogo on more than one occasion as he managed the spell before him. Accusations of him stealing their magic flew around in quiet whispers but Tom had dealt with that an age ago and knew the right words to say to make the child all but cry.

Not that he had to, of course. The minute Harry said something all of Drake's attention went to him instead. Tom was a 'swot', while 'Potter' was Dirk's true enemy.

Pity then, that Harry didn't think so.

"Your obsession with me is grating, Malfoy. Are you so desperate for my attention? Following me around like a pathetic little puppy." Harry drawled and tutted. "You should work on managing to do your spells instead. What would your father say if he saw your abysmal performance?!"

Slytherin Potter was a wee bit of a shithead. It was a lot of fun.

"He reminds me of my cousin," Harry confided in him in the sanctity of their dorm.

"The muggle? Daley something?"

"Dudley. Dinky Duddums and Draco have a lot in common, only Dudders didn't quite understand when I insulted him." Harry looked lost for a while, staring at the walls unseeing, "Sometimes I'm glad they don't love me. If it meant turning out like him…" He shuddered and turned to Tom with a big, fake grin that turned into something soft and real, as his gaze flitted over their room, with its organised chaos of parchments and quills and the pictures of his parents that Tom had put up, the pictures of his Mum and Dad Harry had carefully torn out of a book about Dark Lords and put up next to them. "I like where my life is going." He said and Tom felt a ball of warmth begin to exist inside of him.

The day was friday and it was important in more ways than one. Harry had gotten a note asking him to meet Hagrid for tea and accepted but more importantly, it was their first Potions lesson and Harry was beyond excited.

Tom was getting tired of it, he could tell but until he outright told him to shut up about it, Harry would continue floating on cloud nine. Eventually he would, his friend was a rather blunt sort but he hadn't yet so Harry wouldn't stop. He'd been looking forward to this since Professor Snape had disciplined Malfoy all those days ago and the more he looked into potions, looked into Professor Snape, the more fascinated he became. While Tom had spent most of his time divided up between different subjects while they were in the library, Harry had focused all his attention upon Potions. He had read through several beginner's guides, ingredient lists, anything he could lay his hand on. Once the texts he found started seeming a bit dry, he found potion's journals in which Professor Snape had published articles and Harry fell in love with potions.

The way Professor Snape wrote about them made them seem like the most beautiful thing in the world. The patience required for potions, the precision, the artistry of it all, moved him. Harry begged and pleaded Tom to teach him how to duplicate things so that he could carry a copy of that article with him. It was inspiring.

Needless to say, Harry had a lot of high expectations of his first Potions class.

It was a bright and sunny day, Harry had even managed to get down a good bit of their breakfast usually too rich for him, their class was in the dungeons so that meant they could get there far ahead of time given the lack of shifting staircases. All in all, it looked to be a good day.

And then Malfoy opened his mouth.

Harry didn't care much about Malfoy. It was fun to rile him up, fun to place bets with Tom about how many times the boy would mention his father but honestly, he never felt insulted by the boy. He might as well have been in another house for all that Harry really cared.

But then he dropped a shocking piece of information.

"Of course, Sev has been teaching me since I was little, he is my godfather after all." Malfoy bragged and Harry was shaken.

How could someone as asinine as Malfoy be gifted as talented and amazing a godfather as Professor Snape?! It just didn't make sense!

But Harry would prove he was better than Malfoy. He would excel at potions like none before (barring Professor Snape of course) and earn Professor Snape's praise instead of buying it the way Malfoy did.

Severus Snape paused on the staircase down to the dungeons as a tickling sensation started in his nose. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket just in time and put a teeny drop of pepper-up potion on his tongue, Madame Pomfrey having informed him not to take more than that to curb the sudden sneezing fits he'd been having since the sorting.

And to top it all off, he'd be teaching the Potter brat with Lily's eyes today.

Typical. He had the worst of luck.