Harry Potter and the Spirits Within
Chapter 8: Castle Curiosities
Summary: The night Lily and James Potter died is well known. What no one suspected, or even imagined, was that their spirits remained with their son.
Disclaimer: As much as I would love to own (or live in, magic rocks) the 'Potterverse' … I do not.
A/N: I'm so sorry to those readers who have been waiting for this chapter. My baby started taking up a lot more of my time, especially when she got sick. She's fine now but has stopped sleeping through the night, fun fun ( note the sarcasm). So the drive to type in the little free time I get now has waned a bit. Hopefully this chapters' completion marks a new period of inspiration.
Harry slowly followed the Hufflepuff prefect, heading to the dormitories and Badger territory. For once his parents were just as excited; this was a completely new experience for all of them. Both James and Lily had been sorted into Gryffindor, and while they had had friends in the other houses (Lily had even had a friend in Slytherin; Severus Snape), they had never been in the other dormitories. The Prefect led the First Years through the doors of the great hall and towards the grand staircase. However, instead of going up the stairs they ware lead to a door off to the right. After descending a flight of stairs they came to a still life painting. The Prefect, whose name Harry still didn't know, beckoned them forward, "This is the entrance to our common room, and the password will be changed roughly once every other week. Right now it is Loyalty."
The portrait door swung open. Through the circular opening behind it Harry could see a sunny room full of golden yellow furnishings offset with accents of sable black. Following the others into the room Harry noticed that the room was arranged rather oddly. Rather than having separate sections for studding, playing games, and socializing, everything was rather haphazardly placed around the open room. He turned toward the prefect again as he started speaking again, "Now I know our set up seems a bit slap dash, but we firmly believe in unity and devotion. Everyone works and cooperates with each other. We act as a family unit." His voice grew slightly cold, "We are looked on as the weakest of the four houses, the leftovers, the rejects, the ones who weren't good enough to get into the other houses. For this we must band together within our house to prevent the others from taking advantage of us. I won't sugar coat it for you; even with the famed Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry Hufflepuffs are the ones most often jinxed, cursed, tricked, been the butt of cruel jokes, and even attacked ... both physically and sexually." There were shocked gasps around the group. "Yes, this is why we must stick together as a house. They may treat us as the underdogs, but this also means they underestimate us. They think we are all pushovers and if we are open and honest with each other when one of us is attacked the attacker will have the entire houses retaliation to deal with. Now, the boys rooms are down the hall on the right and the girls are down the hall to the left; a brief warning to the boys, the girls hall is spelled to trap any boy stepping foot within it, so don't try. Alright, have a good night and we'll see you in the morning."
Harry followed the other First Year boys down the right-hand hall and to their door. All of the dormitory doors were, black, perfectly round, like a barrel top, with the shiny gilded knob set in the centre. Lily remarked that they were like the hobbit holes in Tolkien's 'The Hobbit'; one of her favourite books. In the First Year dorm room there were three beds; one for him and one each for Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie MacMillan. They were interspersed around a circular room; the four-poster beds were hung with golden yellow drapes and laid with black bedding. Beside each bed was a small desk and chair; for homework and studying. At the foot of two of the beds was a standard black trunk, Harry immediately knew which bed was his as his trunk was still securely tucked into his pocket. The other two boys were exploring the room as well, Ernie was at the other side where he opened an identical door, revealing a full bathroom; complete with shower and tub. Justin was reading the names on the identical trunks, announcing that the bed to the left of Harry's bed was his and the one to the right was Ernie's.
Justin looked up at Harry in confusion, "Did you not bring a trunk Harry?"
Harry grinned and nodded, "Oh, I did. When I went to Diagon Alley I was alone, so I went a bit overboard with my purchases. Of course seeing as I didn't have any wizarding possessions before then, I could have done even worse and only gotten the barest essentials. Anyway, when I got to the trunk shop I found the multi-compartment trunks and saw the usefulness in them, so I got one." He pulled his trunk from his pocket, set it in front of his bed, and enlarged it. The other two boys stared and moved in closer. Harry ran his hand across the seven locks on his trunk and opened the first one, revealing his 'library' compartment. Justin a muggleborn, who was not as accustomed to magic gaped, and Ernie; a pure-blood, whistled appreciatively. "I have quite an extensive collection of books now, although I've yet to read many of them." He closed the lid and opened the second lock, inside this one is his sitting room and the boys admire it briefly before moving on through each lock viewing the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and study. Harry paused before the final, seventh lock. "There is something you need to know and accept before I will show you this compartment. I have heard that I possess a unique gift, even for a wizard. Before I tell you what it is, I want to make it known that Merlin himself had this ability, and that only recently has it been viewed as 'dark'." Harry paused and took a breath, "I am a Parselmouth."
Both the boys mouths dropped open before Ernie composed himself and nodded, "One of my several times great uncle was one as well, he was ridiculed for it because of Slytherin's reputation. Many people tend to want to forget that the greatest wizard of our past was a Snake Speaker, they only want to acknowledge those who were dark with the ability."
By the end of this revealing piece of information Justin was nodding, already accepting Harry's ability. He paused, "Why are you telling us this, do you have a snake in that last compartment?"
Harry laughed and nodded, "As a matter of fact," he unlocked the final lock and opened the lid. Arc slid out, having been resting on a branch near the opening, "I do! Gentlemen, meet Arc-en-ciel, Arc for short. I'm going to introduce you to her, so I'll be speaking in hisses; it's a bit unnerving at first so brace yourselves." He turns back to Arc, "These are Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan, and they are to be our roommates."
Turning back to the boys Harry noted that they both looked a bit peaky. Ernie was the first to speak, "Well that was disturbing, I can almost see how it can be thought of as dark. It sounds menacing no matter what you say, and you were just introducing us, right?"
Harry nodded, "The funny thing is; I don't hear it, when she talks or I speak to her, I hear it as English. There is no hissing."
"Well that's bizarre, I wonder if it was that way with your great uncle, Ernie." Justin mused.
Ernie shrugged, "I don't know, he never really spoke of it, considering how ostracized he was because of it."
Harry nodded, pulling out his pyjamas before shrinking his trunk again, "I can understand that, I had a rather unpleasant encounter with a narrow-minded boy on the train. Ron Weasley, now a Gryffindor, was adamant that it was evil and he wouldn't hear anything to the contrary. Now, you may be wondering why I chose to show you all of this instead of just keeping it to myself, including Arc and my abilities. I figure that were going to be living together for the next seven years minus the summers. We need to be able to trust each other, but I do have a bit of security. Two of the features on the trunk are that no one but me can open it, and that no one can move it when I am in it. So, should I actually leave it somewhere, it and its contents will be protected." Harry began changing for bed.
Ernie and Justin nodded, following suit, "Good thinking, wish I could afford one." Ernie said, "Those things are outrageously expensive."
Harry smiled, a little embarrassed at his extravagant purchases, "Yes, well ... in strictest confidence, my 'relatives' are not the greatest people alive. They have this idea of normal and anything that doesn't fall into that mould is hidden away. When I arrived I was the personification of anything and everything they hated and feared, so I was not treated as a member of their perfect family. In keeping with that they gave me only the barest essentials to stay relatively healthy and prevent any outside suspicion. I never had toys, new clothing, adequate food, the list goes on. So when I finally came to the wizarding world and found myself the heir to my parents' fortune, I splurged a bit."
Ernie and Justin were shocked and appalled by this revelation. They had never imagined that the famous Harry Potter could be treated this way by his own family.
Harry frowned, "Keep in mind, I did not tell you this trying to garner your sympathy. I have severed ties with my relations and don't intend on ever going back. I just didn't want you to think I was full of myself, or thought I deserved this stuff because of my fame. I actually don't like being famous for something I had no control over, in all actuality, the only thing I'm famous for is surviving something no one else has. That's nothing to be proud of or to flaunt about; I see that as a slap in the face to the friends and relatives of those that didn't survive."
The boys were beaming and nodding by the end of this, "You are just a normal guy, aren't you? That's all you want to be seen as." Justin commented while climbing into his four-poster.
Harry nodded emphatically, "More than anything." He said, pulling his hangings closed and settling into bed. Thinking about the odd warning Dumbledore had given them 'the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side was out of bounds to everyone who did not want to die a very painful death'. It was a real test of trust for him to expect a school full of children not to satisfy their curiosity.
{O.o}
The next morning at the Hufflepuff table, Harry received his class schedule from Professor Sprout. After briefly scanning it he looked to the three other house tables and his first friends. Neville seemed to be getting on well with two of his Gryffindor house mates; he nodded to Harry and sent a glance down the table to Ronald Weasley, who was scowling into his porridge, seated between his twin brothers, who were studiously ignoring him. Raising an eyebrow at this Harry looked to Hermione at the Ravenclaw table, finding her chatting avidly with one of the twin girls that was sorted last night, a Padma Patil. After a few attempts, he caught her eye and she nodded as well. Finally looking to the Slytherins he found Draco seated next to a dark-skinned boy whose name Harry only remembered because he was sorted last, Blaze Zabini and he were having a polite conversation over their breakfast; Harry could see that the other Slytherins were a bit taken aback by Draco's sudden change in attitude. Two hulking boys and a pug-faced girl seemed at a bit of a loss and were watching the conversation between the two with confused expressions on their faces. Harry caught the eye of his final friend and received his nod as well.
After finishing their breakfasts, the four friends met up in the entrance hall and compared schedules. The Slytherins and Gryffindors had most classes together while the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs shared the most, though there were a few exceptions. That mornings' class was Charms for Harry and Hermione and Potions for Draco and Neville. Talk then turned to their new roommates and Neville started off with the Gryffindors.
"Well, the Weasley boy is just as much a bigoted jerk as his first impression on the train implied. He immediately snitched on you to the other Gryffs about being a Parselmouth. Half of them were about as horrified as he was, until I told them you were my friend and a nice guy, and about Merlin and so forth. Also that I'd held your snake and she was very friendly as well. Well, after a few odd looks they all seemed to calm down and his brothers, the twins, got on to him for telling someone else's business. They asked him if he would like it if someone told all his secrets to people, like the reason he was afraid of spiders. He got all red-faced and left after that. Their names are Fred and George by the way, but don't ask me to tell you which one is which, I can't differentiate between them. The other two in my room are Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, a muggle born and half-blood respectively, so far they're pretty cool."
Hermione picked up from there, "The Ravens are all pretty nice, although there are a few who are kind of stuck up. One of the girls in my room and I really hit it off, her name is Padma Patil and her twin sister, Parvarti, is in Gryffindor with Neville, apparently she's a bit of a gossip girl, not at all like Padma. There wasn't any drama like Neville had," She grinned at him, "as no one spilled the beans about your abilities, but it was lovely meeting all the other Ravens." Harry had told her about being a Parselmouth when they were waiting to be sorted. She had treated it about like Neville had, and was looking forward to meeting Arc.
Draco stepped up for his turn, "The Slytherins are an 'interesting' group," he started, making the air quotes Harry had liberally use the previous day, "Half of them are what I use to be, death eaters in training, the others are on the fence. Although I caused quite a stir when I sided with the non-death eaters," he looked pleased at having caused confusion in the ranks. After the long talk he'd had with Harry and Neville on the train about their parents and what had happened to them and others by the death eaters, he had come to realize that his father was very wrong in some of his thinking and that he would no longer blindly follow him, or anyone whose views he did not believe in. "Blaze Zabini is one of the 'on the fence' first years I met. He's smart, and once he found out I was not following my father he and I talked a lot."
Harry finished off, "The Puffs are a great group, they really stress inner-house co-operation. Apparently all the other houses harass them all the time, thinking they're weak. The two guys I'm rooming with are nice, Ernie MacMillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, I told them about Arc and my abilities right off the bat because I'll be rooming with them for seven years and something like that would be hard to keep a secret. They were really cool about it. Ernie's got a great, great, so on, uncle who's one, so he can relate." The bell rang just as Harry finished and the group split in two to go to their respective classes, Charms for the Puffs and Ravens and Potions for the Gryffs and Snakes.
{O.o}
Harry and Hermione headed to Professor Flitwick and Charms. As they took their seats in the front the wee Professor climbed up a staircase of books and took his place behind a podium. He began the class by taking attendance. When he reached Harry's name he looked up at him and crooked an eyebrow, a silent acknowledgement of their previous conversation. Hermione looked from one to the other for a moment in confusion before shrugging and preparing to take notes. Class proceeded normally, with copious note taking before attempting to make the ends of their wands light up with a spell called Lumos, which Harry and Hermione nailed almost simultaneously.
After class they met up with Draco and Neville in the Entrance Hall. They all shared their views on their first classes and the teachers of those subjects. Professor Snape was apparently very conflicted during the Gryffindor/Slytherin class, hating the Gryffs while favouring the Snakes. Harry explained about the look Professor Flitwick had given him, and what it meant, before they all had to head to their next classes, Transfiguration for Harry and Draco and Defence against the Dark Arts for Neville and Hermione. They would soon discover that all the classes involved bountiful note taking for the next month, with all the really interesting spells not to be learned until much later in the year.