By dinnertime everyone knew what had happened that morning. Both boys had lost their House's fifty points and neither the Gryffindors nor the Slytherins were happy about it. Although Longbottom joined the Gryffindors at dinner, Malfoy and Weasley weren't seen until the following morning at Breakfast. While Weasley looked positively dejected isolated at the end of the table, Malfoy seemed to take everyone's annoyed looks and hate-filled glares as a personal offense.

He strutted to the Slytherin table with his usual bookends on either side of him and sat in his usual spot with the other first years. Parkinson only nodded in greeting and it was a shallow one at that. Not that that stopped everyone at the table noticing she had done so.

When Harry and Nott had finished their breakfast they both got up to make there way to Potions. Moments after Zabini and Greengrass followed them out. No one spoke until the four had left the Great Hall and were almost at the entrance to the dungeons.

"Malfoy really doesn't know when to keep his head down, does he?" Zabini asked in an almost exasperated manner.

"It doesn't seem so, no." Answered Nott.

He had a relaxed manner in his shoulders and voice but Harry could detect an overall cautiousness. The most obvious was the fact that he hadn't let the pair walk behind them and had instead spread further from Harry so they could walk almost next to each other. Harry didn't like people behind him either but Nott wasn't usually as paranoid as Harry.

"How long do you think it will take to earn the points back?" Zabini glanced at Greengrass as he asked but the ice princess only pursed her lips.

"Probably not too long if Professor Snape has anything to say about it." Harry had seen the hourglasses that morning and Slytherin was behind the other two house by quite a lot and only marginally ahead of Gryffindor.

The three boys spoke briefly about their up coming lesson while Greengrass looked on with only the occasional clipped remark. Before long the other students had joined them to wait outside the classroom. Harry didn't hear the beginnings of the conversation but he did hear Weasley's exclamation.

"It's all your fault anyway!" He shouted.

Harry turned to see that Weasley, with Finnigan, Thomas and Granger at his back, had strayed into the vicinity of Malfoy and his goons.

"My fault? I didn't tell you to get on one of the school's rickety old brooms. Or to launch yourself at me mid-air." Malfoy sneered at the red-head. "It was just like a Gryffindor though, barely half a brain between the lot of you."

"Better a Gryffindor than a slimy snake!" Weasley shouted.

Harry sighed and took a step forwards. "Why don't we all calm down before we lose even more points and someone ends up in the infirmary again."

He'd tried to say it neutrally and he thought he succeeded except that Weasley's face grew a bright red colour that clashed horribly with his hair.

"No body asked what you think, Traitor!" He spat, his fists clenched at his sides.

Harry frowned. The word had hit his chest as though it were a physical thing.

"And whom, pray tell, am I supposed to have betrayed?" There was an edge of ice to his voice that he hadn't meant to put there.

Weasley spluttered as though it was obvious. "You're the Boy-Who-Lived! You were supposed to be a Gryffindor and now you've gone and joined the other side."

There was a silence that followed that statement. While Finnigan was nodding in agreement and Thomas and Granger were looking dubious, everyone else seemed to watch on with bated breath to see his reaction.

"Joined the other side?" He repeated coldly. "Are you suggesting I would follow the man who killed my parents? Because if you are, you are clearly an imbecile."

It was then that Weasley went for his wand. Like most of their year mates, Weasley kept his wand in his pocket. Harry had wondered at the seeming lack of wand safety. A wizard's wand was as much a weapon as it was a tool and Harry thought it foolish and dangerous to keep a wand in your pocket. It also made the other boy much slower on the draw. By the time Weasley even had his wand in hand, Harry had shifted his step, ready to move at a moments notice and his own wand was pointed at Weasley's chest.

"You don't want to duel me, Weasley. Especially not here." His voice was calm and even.

Finnigan had pulled his wand and from the slight flare of magic at his shoulder, Nott was armed and ready as well. It was a good feeling to have someone stand up with him. Granger was murmuring to herself about them getting into trouble.

"If not here, how about a Wizards duel? Midnight in the trophy room." Suggested Malfoy in an almost relaxed drawl.

It was something in his tone that tipped Harry off. He let his eyes shift momentarily to take the Malfoy heir in. While before he had been posturing as much as Weasley, now his demeanour was subtly confident, almost cocky. He looked like a much slimmer Dudley when he thought he had a plan to get Harry in trouble.

"Fine! Seamus will be my second. We'll show you, you filthy snake." Weasley agreed, puffing out his chest.

Harry snorted. "I'm not sneaking out after curfew for this."

He hadn't relaxed his wand arm, but Weasley's arm had drooped slightly. He brought it up again quickly but Harry didn't flinch, he couldn't feel or see an uptake in the boy's magic even if it did whirl around in reaction to his turbulent emotion.

"Coward." The other boy pushed through clenched teeth.

Harry sneered at him. "I am no coward. I just have nothing to gain by breaking curfew and beating the snot out of you... Except maybe detention."

"You're-" Weasley went to carry on but was interrupted by the classroom door swinging open and the intimidating Professor Snape peered down at them all.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Weasley. No duelling in the corridors." He snapped as he took a step towards them.

Harry's wand had disappeared back up his sleeve but he hadn't relaxed his stance or took his eyes of off the red-head until he had put his wand away as well.

"They started it!" He pointed at Harry and Malfoy.

"No they didn't." Granger huffed, hands on her hips as she glared at her house mate.

After sneering at them all, their Professor turned on his heel and strode back into his classroom with a dramatic flare of his robes.

"In!" He barked over his shoulder and everyone was quick to file in behind him.

Harry and Nott took their usual seats at the back of the classroom and soon the lesson was underway. Slytherin had earned back twenty five points by the end of the lesson but none of them were by Malfoy. He thought Snape was trying to teach Malfoy a subtle lesson but was sure that he would be back to being the star pupil by their next lesson. Harry and Nott's potion was perfect as far as Harry could tell; it was obvious Nott had read the basic potions book he had lent him.

Weasley kept giving him sour looks but Harry brushed them off for now. There was little the Gryffindor could do to him at the moment but he vowed to keep an eye on the boy and what he was saying about Harry. Harry had been keeping as much of an ear out as he could, listening to conversations in the common room, Great Hall and the library. Most seemed to still be somewhat in awe of him but others had definitely become more hostile, fearful or suspicious since his sorting. If general opinion began to shift because of bullshit spouted by Weasley, Harry wanted to know.

Harry and Nott enjoyed lunch before heading back to the common room to finish their homework so they could use the entire weekend to dedicate to Arithmancy. After retrieving the appropriate texts and writing implements, they settled down at one of the small tables in the smallish library section. They had been told that first and second years weren't allowed to read anything above the third shelf. The higher the books went the more magic that clung to them, although not all of it was as insidious as people outside Slytherin would have others believe. And nothing, as far as Harry's senses could tell, was truly evil.

Harry was about three quarters through his potions essay when Malfoy sauntered into the room. There wasn't a door between the library section and the main common room, just a wide archway. Through it Harry could see some of the older student's eyes follow the Malfoy Heir.

Nott had mentioned that the first years of Slytherin were sort of off limits. The idea being that by the time you were in second year with a full year of magical education under your belt, you should be good enough to look out for yourself. The older years wouldn't challenge a firstie to a duel or hit them with high powered or particularly complex spell work. That didn't stop sneaky low level hexes and jinxes, like the tripping jinx he had narrowly avoided walking across the common room two days before.

Malfoy had the added security of a rich, pureblood and very much alive father. Lord Malfoy was a powerful man many families were hesitant to cross. It was probably the only reason he wasn't covered in boils after his loss of points so early in the year.

Harry sensed the subtle change in the near silence of the room when Malfoy stopped next to his table, Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

"So, are you a coward like Weasley says?" He goaded, speaking in a minutely elevated tone, preforming for his audience.

Harry didn't look up from his essay right away. He finished his sentence at a measured pace before turning his gaze to the blonde standing above him. He leaned back in his chair slightly, shifting it so he could stand if he had to, adopting a relaxed pose without actually relaxing.

"Of course not, Malfoy. I just saw right through your deception." He spoke in his natural register aware that everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing to listen.

"Deception?"

"Yes, you're plan was to have me go off to duel Weasley and then you would tip off a teacher, probably Filch, that there would be students in the trophy room after hours." He allowed himself to smirk. "I would have surely gotten caught and you would have deflected attention from you're own recent points loss."

"You think you're so clever." Malfoy spat, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, I told Weasley that you'd changed your mind."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well done. You successfully duped Weasley." He congratulated sarcastically.

"You would have lost anyway!" Colour rose in the pale boys cheeks and Harry began to realise that Malfoy was spoiling for a fight.

He paused for a moment as he considered what to do. He couldn't back down from Malfoy. That would imply submission to the spoilt pre-teen. While that had sometimes been necessary under Vernon and Dudley's superior physical strength, Malfoy was in no way stronger than Harry magically. Maybe the Malfoy heir knew spells Harry didn't know but Tom's memories would fill in for him.

He had to fight the oncoming battle now, and he had to win.

"I disarmed you, didn't I?" He said, referring to their first night there.

Malfoy's hand went for his wand, Crabbe and Goyle reached for theirs aswell. Harry stood, knocking his chair out of his way and helping it along with some subtle wandless magic, so as not to trip himself over. His own wand was in his hand and the familiar warm tingle of his magic seemed to run through his whole body in preparation and anticipation of the fight to come.

Harry fired first, throwing a boils hex at Goyle's face as the boy was about to cast. Malfoy fired a jelly-leg jinx followed closely by a stinging hex, both at Harry's chest. Nott had stood and fired his own spell, one Harry didn't recognise, at Crabbe that caused the boy to double over and drop his wand. Goyle cried out as boils began bursting forth across his face and down his neck. Harry used reflexus, a weak shield but the strongest he could manage, on the jelly-legs and let the stinging hex hit him in the chest to aim a Langlock at Malfoy's head. He hadn't tried the spell before but he had read about it only two days earlier.

With his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, Malfoy found himself unable to cast anything. His cheeks went bright red when he realised and made a hasty retreat. Harry sheathed his wand and ran a hand down his silver and green tie to make sure it was straight.

"I don't think anyone expected you to just take the stinging hex." Nott said beside him, straightening his own clothes.

Harry shrugged. "It doesn't really hurt and it was worth taking the opening it created."

Harry had known from the beginning that he would have to watch his back when it came to Malfoy. He had a half-way respectable, old, pureblood name and the expectation that he was going to rule their house. Rule Harry. But Malfoy hadn't done anything to gain Harry's respect or love and Harry most certainly didn't fear him. In a nutshell, he wasn't going to submit to the spoilt princeling.

The two of them sat back down and carried on with their homework but they were both aware of the eyes on them. Harry thought, if at all possible, there would be more eyes than usual.

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Professor Severus Snape, youngest Potions Master in a centuary, had a mild headache slowly growing in intensity behind his eyes. It had begun shortly after lunch but he hadn't thought it too bad until Mr Higgins, a third year Hufflepuff, had caused the explosion of not only his own cauldron but this neighbours cauldrons on either side. The little menace was lucky that the Potion they had been working on was not toxic.

He threw back a mild analgesic potion and felt the pain shrink down until it disappeared completely. While he would have liked to eat his dinner, shut himself in his rooms and have a stiff drink, he had a meeting to attend.

It wasn't the worst kind of meeting he had been forced to show his face at. Death Eater meetings when he had been a spy, and before that if he was honesty with himself, had been a combination of bone-deep fear and an almost hysterical certainty that any moment would be his last, feelings only barely supressed even with his world class occlumency. The meeting he would be attending that night was one of dull repetition, extraneous information and mind-numbing boredom. It was sure to bring his headache back.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts called the meeting every year, two weeks after class began, with one or two follow up meeting throughout the year. After greetings and chit-chat had finally quietened down, it would begin with a brief conversation about how all the returning students were settling in. Then each of the Heads of House went round discussing the first years; who needed watching, who struggled with the material, who was suffering from bouts of homesickness and other such drivel. The other staff would add what they had seen in there own lessons.

He had never liked talking about his Slytherin's personal matters with the other teachers. Sinistra was the only other member of staff who had been in the House of snakes but with all of her lessons taking place at night, she tended to be nocturnal, eating dinner at breakfast, breakfast at dinner and presumably the House Elves made her a lunch that she took on her own as the rest of the castle slept. Everyone else, no matter how much they might deny it, were prejudiced against his little snakes.

And, of course, there would be one snake that everyone would be taking an interest in particular. He still wasn't entirely sure how the Boy-Who-Lived had ended up as one of his Slytherins. He hadn't investigated the issue and he wouldn't. The boy didn't need anymore attention than what he was receiving anyway. He refused to fuss and pander to the brat.

When he arrived, Snape slipped into the seat next to Quirrell. The Ex-Muggle studies Professor had returned from his sabbatical and it had become obvious that the man had befallen something foul; though he doubted it had been vampires. Quirrell was paler, thinner than he had been when he left and while that might be put down to a fright, the turban and the fake stutter and all the garlic, it was too much. He had been told to keep his distance and observe by the Headmaster when he had presented the problem.

So observe he did. The man fidgeted as the other staff filed into the room and shuffled about. Dumbledore eventually entered the room and took his place at the head of the table with McGonagall not far behind.

"Welcome, welcome." The Headmaster began. "Lets begin shall we. How is everyone settling back in to a new school year? Minerva?"

"The Weasley twins have been up to their usual nonsense. I'm sure it was them who supplied Peeves with those dungbombs he used in the charms corridor last week. But everyone seems to be settling back in nicely." She informed them.

Albus nodded along with a twinkle in his eye. He often enjoyed listening to the antics of the red-headed pair. He and Minerva often compared the present troublemakers to another set from his own youth. Severus was forced to disagree. While he wasn't a fan of juvenile pranks of any kind, he could admit it was very rarely that the Weasley twins crossed the line. The 'Marauders' had been bullies and it was only favouritism that allowed them to go as far as they did. Severus had kept an eye on the Weasley twins and if he got so much of a whiff of bullying he was going to have them in so much detention, the pair wouldn't know what hit them. No matter what the other staff might say.

Pomona then went on to talk about her Hufflepuffs in much greater detail than Minerva ever did with her Gryffindors. One of the fifth year's grandfathers had just died and a second had a new little brother he was finding quite distressing. There were other inanities as well but he decided that the others weren't worth remembering.

Filius mentioned a few of his house that had handed over to him some independent study projects they had conducted over the summer. When he finished, Dumbledore looked over to him.

"My House is settling in adequately." Which was the same laconic response he gave every year.

"We'll move on to the first years then."

Minerva talked about Longbottom's shyness, Granger's over-long essays and the youngest Weasley boys inability to even try to do his work. Filius went on about what an excellent batch he had this year, all sharp young minds. Pomona compared Susan Bones to her Mother and Aunt, who had both been Hufflepuffs themselves. The others nodded as each spoke having seen the same in their classes too.

Then they turned to Severus.

He sighed.

"The first years are also settling in." He, at least, had had no reports of homesickness; that kind of thing he usually left to the prefects.

Minerva pinched her lips at his laconic response and the others made general noises of disapproval, to which he rolled his eyes.

"I've had reports of Mr Malfoy and his friends calling other students names." She added as Pomona nodded along.

"We'll all keep an eye out for improper behaviour." Dumbledore cut through, obviously not wanting to hear about Mr Malfoy at that moment. "I have seen Mr Potter in the company of Mr Nott. How is he finding it, fitting into Slytherin House?"

The Headmaster looked over his half-moon spectacles at Severus making it clear who he wanted to respond. The others went silent and peered down the table to stare as well.

He had noticed this as well. The pair sat together at the back of his class and he had spotted them studying in the library together.

"I'm sure Mr Potter is fitting in just fine."

"He's found himself a friend at least." Pomona put in. "Those two always stand next to each other in my class. I was quite worried about Mr Potter after the sorting."

"I would like you to keep an eye on him for us, Severus." Dumbledore ordered before moving the conversation along.

As if he wasn't doing so already, he thought to himself.

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At Breakfast the next morning, Nott received a package. Harry watched as the other boy put the box to one side as he finished his food without opening it. Once they were both finished, Nott grabbed his box and caught Harry's eye. They went back to the common room and up into the dorms.

"These are the books I asked father for." Nott told him over his shoulder as he put the box down on his bed.

Harry stood at his side, watching as Nott finite'd the box and it grew in size. It was only then that Nott opened the box. Inside was at least a dozen books.

"When you said 'a few', I thought you meant three or four." He commented as Nott began unpacking the books on to his bed.

"I thought you'd want the basics. And well," He paused and gave Harry a particularly piercing look. "you wouldn't be able to find all of these in Hogwarts."

Harry rose an eyebrow at that but Nott had turned back to his books. He picked up the book Nott had left closest to him. It had a similar feel to it as some of the books stored higher up in the Slytherin library. It began with some detection spells. Mostly they detected curses and the like but some had the ability to detect common poisons.

He flicked thought the pages, skim reading. It wasn't until about a quarter of the way through the book that he realised what Nott had been getting at. Because the content moved on from detecting curses and on to casting curses. Ones that you put on objects and waited for your victims to use them. Some of the first ones were things one might find in the NEWT level defence textbooks but most were not. They were things likely to maim and kill.

Harry paused to read through a description of a particularly nasty curse that slowly liquefied a persons bones. It's counter-curse was obscenely complicated and had to be cast on the victim within ten minutes.

There was no question. The spells, and therefore probably the book too, was illegal. Harry didn't know how much trouble him and Nott might be in for reading it but he knew it would likely be quite a bit. Nott was taking a risk showing them to him. Probably a very purposeful risk.

He put the book down and picked up another to skim through. It was a history book that seemed covered pieces of Wizarding history he hadn't come across in his own research such as the Rise and Reign of Light Lord Dimbbus Wimbley. He'd noticed how prejudice the Wizarding world was but he hadn't realised that they had re-written their own history.

He looked over the edge of the book to meet Nott's eyes. The other boy had been surreptitiously watching his reactions.

"Thank-you, Nott. I'm sure these will be very useful." Harry said before looking back at the book in his hands.

"Theo." Nott corrected.

Harry paused for a minute before nodding and inviting Theo to use his first name too. "Harry."

"I've been thinking, we should begin those meditation techniques this weekend and maybe set an hour or two aside every other day or so. What do you think?" Nott suggested after they had packed Nott's books away in his trunk leaving three out for Harry to read.

Harry knew he was speaking about the Occlumency lessons that they had spoke about earlier in term. He had wondered if Nott had forgotten about their deal. But it seemed he had just been waiting till he could test Harry. Make sure he wasn't rule following automaton.

Harry nodded.

"Good." Nott picked up a palm sized book that he hadn't put in his trunk. "This describes all the different secrecy oaths we could take."

They spent half an hour sitting on Nott's bed, reading through the yellowing pages, trying to find an oath that was strict enough without being too over the top. As much as he didn't want Nott telling anyone what he might see in the other's head, he thought an oath that resulted in death once broken was a bit too serious for two eleven year olds.

In the end they settled for one that caused a tongue-tying curse that could only be broken by the other party. It would also stop them relaying the information in another medium like the written word by making every thing come out as gibberish. It seemed the most fool proof of the lower-level oaths.

They were interrupted once by Zabini, who gave them a mildly interested look when he saw them both sitting on Nott's bed. The book they were reading didn't have a visible title so the other boy couldn't have known what they were reading about but, Harry supposed, it was a bit suspicious that the two of them were reading it in their dorm and not the common room or library. Still, they were Slytherins so Zabini didn't say anything.

Once they had agreed on the exact wording, the two boys pulled out their wands and began their oath. As they finished with a simultaneous 'so mote it be' Harry felt the magic run though him and settle into his core, making him shiver.

Looking into the face of the boy across from him, Harry wondered if he had made a friend instead of just an ally.