Ok READ THIS!

near the bottom of the page i have added (!) this symbol. that is because i have changed the ending of the chapter and for anyone who has already read it, i suggest you re-read that part because otherwise the next chapter will look a bit dodge. i apologise for being a royal pain but it just didn't fit with Harry's character. for people who haven't read it yet (i'm optimistic more people will read it!) just ignore it cos it doesn't really affect you :P thanks for not killing me and i can almost guarantee the next chapter will be out within the next week (like 98 percent sure)

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: not mine!

Meeting the Students

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Severus sat at the head table, watching as the final student got sorted. Looking back at the last month, he was amazed that he had the ability to endure teaching for another year. After Harry had made his rather heart-felt plea to stay with him, Severus had been unable to say no. The month that followed was the hardest month in Severus' rather eventful life.

With the help of most of the staff, Severus had been able to teach Harry how to, once again, understand English and to a certain extent, speak it. Harry still struggles to speak in a way that most people can understand, often switching from English to Parseltongue mid-sentence, but he has a good grasp on the basics needed in order to survive living with nearly three hundred teenagers. Nevertheless, his interaction with his fellow students should be interesting.

There is also the fact that Harry is petrified of the dark. His first night at Hogwarts, Harry had cried for nearly two hours when Severus turned the lights off. Severus didn't know what the problem was until Albus had come down and translated it to him. It had still taken nearly forty-five minutes for Severus to coax Harry out of the corner he had crawled into, and another hour before Harry finally calmed down and went to sleep. From then on Harry had slept with a special candle that never burnt out. It was times like this that made Severus really appreciate magic.

Because of Harry's rather unusual magical abilities, they had decided that he would not be following the regular coursework. His charms skills were above the average fourth years and his self-healing skills needed to be perfected, so they didn't exhaust him so much. Most of the staff knew that in years to come, Harry would need to be able to heal himself as well as he could.

Severus was pulled from his thought as Albus stood and got the attention of everyone in the room. Severus knew that Albus' announcement would go down in Hogwarts history, and he was glad to be a part of it.

"Welcome students to another year of learning. Now as some of you older students may have realised, Harry Potter was meant to join us this year."

Whispers broke out among the older students, most not having noticed that he wasn't there.

Albus waited several minutes for the students to calm down before spoke up.

"Due to extenuating circumstances, Mr. Potter will not be following the regular coursework during his time at Hogwarts. He will be doing some classes with the other first years, but will also be taking advanced charms with the fourth years and will be having private lessons with some of the professors."

Once again a murmur broke out across the hall. While the students were gossiping amongst themselves, Severus slipped out of the hall into one of the small side chambers where Harry had been since the arrival of the students nearly an hour before.

It was pre-arranged that Severus would go and retrieve Harry while Albus told the students a watered-down version of what happened to the Boy-Who-Lived.

Upon opening the door, Severus was nearly knocked over from the force of Harry's hug. The boy started hissing excitedly, the only words Severus was able to understand were "Sev'rus and Poppy."

The professors had noticed that whenever Harry felt extreme emotions, he forgot his English lessons and started speaking in rapid parseltongue. Luckily Albus had discovered a spell a few days ago that allowed someone to understand other languages.

Flashback-

All the staff were meeting in Albus' office to discuss whether or not they thought Harry would be able to handle life at Hogwarts.

Severus was sitting away from the others with Harry next to him. Harry, while being a lot more outgoing now then he was when he first arrived, was still an incredibly shy boy around the other adults. Whenever he was in a room with more than five adults, he would cling to either Severus or Poppy. He also refused to be left alone with Argus Filch and for reasons none of the adults could fathom, Professor Quirrell.

When Albus asked Harry why this was, Harry told the old headmaster "Cissy says he tastes wrong." Not understanding what this meant, the adults made sure that Harry was never left alone with the defence professor.

Albus arrived several minutes later, and everyone stopped talking. Harry included as he had, unfortunately, learnt at a young age to not speak when around his "superiors".

"Now as I'm sure you're all aware, we are here to discuss whether Harry will be able to join the student body this year or not." Albus began. "Minerva, you and Filius have been teaching Harry to read and write. In your opinion do you believe he will be able to keep up with the other students?"

Minerva looked over at Harry. The boy looked back at her with wide, hopeful eyes. She felt her heart melt, and just knew what she was about to say would crush the child.

"Well, thanks to Severus, he is able to understand anything you say to him, so any practical lessons shouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, his writing skills are rather poor-" Seeing the hurt look on Harry's face, she was quick to reassure the child. "Not that it's your fault Harry, I promise you." Seeing that her words weren't helping the situation, Minerva got up and came over to Harry. Kneeling in front of the trembling child, she whispered words of praise to Harry, telling him how far he'd come in such a short time.

Filius spoke up then, realising Minerva had completely forgotten about the others in the room.

"Mr. Potter's reading, however, is rather amazing. I'm not sure he does it, but he simply passes his hands over the words, almost like braille… well I'm assuming that's what he's doing. When he reads out loud, he more often than not reads in Parseltongue, but with the books he's been able to read out loud in English, he's read them all correctly, so I'm assuming he reads them correctly in Parseltongue also. His fingers must be amazingly sensitive, to pick up on the printed text. When I asked him how he learnt, he just told me that he was bored one day and he found some books in a box.

The adults looked over at Harry. Harry in turn was currently making a point of ignoring Minerva, while Severus tried not to laugh at the indignant expression on the old witch's face.

Albus pulled all three back into the real world by letting off a loud bang from the end of his wand. Severus and Minerva both jumped and looked sheepishly at Albus. Harry on the other hand let out a scream and all but jumped into Severus' lap, hiding his face from the others.

"Oh well done Albus, that was an intelligent thing to do. Lets' scare the mentally traumatized child by letting off a loud bang." Severus glared at the headmaster, while at the same time tried to calm the small child in his arms.

Harry looked up at Severus and glared at him.

"I am not mental!"

Albus chuckled at the resentful look on the small boy's face.

"Not mental Harry, mentally traumatized. It means you still have some… issues, due to your upbringing. Nothing to be ashamed of, and I apologize for scaring you."

Harry still looked put out.

"…not scared, just don't understand everything yet. And adults not understanding me doesn't help much." The only thing the staff understood were "not scared" and "doesn't help much."

"Ah Harry, I do believe you have just given me the perfect opening for my next line of conversation. Now as Harry has so wonderfully put it, he has been having trouble understanding everything, due to the fact that none of you have been able to understand him.

It just so happens that I discovered a spell the other day that allows a person to understand other languages. I feel this will help us in future, especially if Harry is going to be joining his fellow classmates next week.

The incantation is insolitus lingua. To cast it, you just point your wand at your throat. You must also say the language you wish to understand, in this case Parseltongue. It's as simple as that. Now it won't enable you to speak the language, but I'm sure it will make classes run a lot smoother."

Everyone looked sceptical, but Albus just smiled that infuriating smile of his and popped a lemon drop into his mouth.

"Come on Sev'rus! Try it out!" Harry was looking up at Severus with his big, green eyes. Severus let out a sigh and pulled his wand from his pocket. Pointing it at himself (and well aware of the fact that if this went wrong the entire staff would hold it against him for a VERY long time) Severus muttered "insolitus lingua Parseltongue."

He didn't feel anything happen, so assuming it didn't work, he sent a glare at his employer.

"Severus? Did it work?"

"No, I don't believe it-" Sharply looking down to the boy sitting on his lap, Severus realised it was the first time he had ever heard Harry say his name correctly.

"H-Harry, say something in Parseltongue."

"…Minerva wears too much green for someone who is meant to be Gryffindor's Head of House."

It took Severus a few seconds to realise Harry had just had the courage to say something like that, and another few seconds before he realised that while Albus had clearly understood what Harry said (judging by the amount of laughter coming from the man), no one else had understood a word.

Letting out a small chuckle of his own (much to the other's alarm) Severus announced that the spell does, without a doubt, work.

The teachers talked for another forty minutes, before finally agreeing that Harry would indeed join the students at Hogwarts this year.

End flashback

"Insolitus lingua Parseltongue. Now Harry you know you must speak as much English as you can while you're around the other students, and you can't call Poppy and I by our first names. You must call me Professor Snape and Poppy, Madame Pomfrey. Do you understand Harry? Now, could you please repeat all that?"

Harry repeated everything he had just said, and Severus felt his heart break. The boy still didn't believe the staff would never abandon him.

Severus assured the boy that he would never be forgotten or abandoned, and asked him if he was ready to meet the other students.

"Ok Pro-professor Snape."

Severus gave Harry a small smile, showing him he had done well. Taking Harry's hand in his, Severus barely even noticed the rather large snake that wound it's way around Harry's shoulders as he led the small boy into the Great Hall.

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Harry looked up when the door opened, Cissy had just been telling him about a new tunnel she had discovered that day, that lead her from the dungeons all the way to the top of the highest tower. She said it was good because it was so small that not many people would be able to fit in it, but Harry would because he's been damaged by his time with…the bad people.

She planned on showing it to him as soon as they could go exploring again.

Harry was ecstatic to see Severus. Despite all the time he had spent with the strange adults over the last month, and all the promises they had made to never send him away, he was still worried they would get sick of him and dump him back with…

Turning his thoughts to less upsetting things, Harry dropped the book he had been looking through and ran up to Severus.

"Sev'rus! I was worried you would forget about me! I didn't know when you or Poppy would come and get me. Cissy told me not to worry because I'm starting school tonight, but I thought maybe you decided you didn't want me anymore and you were going to leave me here forever!"

Harry frowned when Severus told him he has to speak English when around the other students, and remembered Severus telling him a few times to call him Professor Snape (which in Harry's mind was a stupid name and the word professor was too hard to say!)

He carefully repeated what he had just said.

Harry felt his heart lift when Severus reassured him that he would never be forgotten. But soon his fears came back when Severus asked him if he was ready to meet the other students.

"Ok Pro-professor Snape." Harry felt his heart lighten when Sev- Professor Snape smiled at him. He took Sev- Professor Snape's hand and let himself be led out of the room into the large hall.

Harry stopped dead at the sight of the hundreds of students looking at him. His breathing started getting faster and he felt himself start to panic. Albus came around from behind the large table and knelt in front of him.

"Harry look at me. I want to you to just relax, no one is going to harm you in here. Concentrate on your breathing, in and out. Good just like that.

Now I would like you to let go of Severus' hand and walk over to that stool up the front, and yes Cissy can stay with you.

Now when you get to the stool sit down on it and Minerva will put a hat on your head. Do you remember me telling you about this?"

At Harry's small nod, Albus beamed.

"Good. Now I promise the hat won't hurt you, it's just deciding which house you're best suited for. Do you remember me telling you about the sorting and which house is which?"

Again Harry nodded, though this time he looked a bit more uncertain.

Albus explained what to do when the hat called out his new house and started to lead Harry over to the stool.

Knowing that Severus wasn't going to let him be hurt, he let himself get pulled over to the stool at the front of the room, after all Albus was trustworthy. He would never do anything to hurt Harry.

Harry sat down and felt the hat fall over his eyes. He started to panic at the darkness, but a voice then spoke to him. It reminded him of when he met Cissy, which helped calm him down a lot.

"Ah Harry Potter, I was wondering when I would be able to sort you. Hmm yes, you are a difficult one to place. You show great courage, and will protect those weaker than you, but you would never purposely put yourself in danger if you can help it. So that rules Gryffindor out.

You will give your loyalty to others, but only if they prove themselves worthy of it, and I can see that you don't trust easily. So you would never belong in Hufflepuff.

You are eager to learn a great deal, but you don't have the drive that others in Ravenclaw do, so that rules out Rowena's House.

It seems that there is only one option for you. Your entire mind is set on survival mode. You know when to back down from a fight and how to get yourself out of difficult situations. Your eagerness to prove yourself will come in handy when you join SLYTHERIN!"

Harry jumped when the hat shouted out Slytherin, but quickly pulled the hat off his head and joined Sev- Professor Snape's house.

He sat down next to a boy with platinum blond hair, and shook his hand.

"Hi I'm Draco Malfoy."

"H-Harry Potter."

"I suppose-" but Draco was cut off there when Albus stood up.

"Ah, now that Mr. Potter has been sorted, and I'm sure Slytherin House will make him feel very welcome, it is time for the best part of the evening, the food. So dig in!

The tables filled with food and there was a mad scramble, as everyone wanted first choice at the best foods.

The feast went well, Harry remembered to use his cutlery and didn't embarrass himself too much.

(!) He was asked a few questions about Cissy, but it quickly became apparent that he just didn't have the vocabulary to be able to converse properly with the other students. This was fine as far as the Slytherins were concerned, they were just happy they got "the Boy-Who-Lived" instead of the Grffindorks.

At first Draco and some of the other first years tried to get Harry to join their conversations, but after realising his vocabulary wasn't quite as… extensive as theirs, they just left him alone, occasionally asking him yes or no questions, so he still felt included.

Just as everyone was ready to fall asleep in their seats, Dumbledore stood up and made his announcements.

Harry was only half listening, already aware of the fact that the third floor corridor was out of bounds, the Forbidden Forest was still named that for a reason, and magic wasn't to be used in the halls between classes.

He got up with all the others and started to make his way to the Slytherin common room.

Just as he was leaving the hall, he turned and gave Professor Dumbledore a wave goodnight. Albus smiled and waved back.

Harry ran to catch up with the other first years, not wanting to be excluded.

"Where did you go?" Draco asked.

Harry thought about how to answer him.

"Um… wav-ed goo'nigh' to Al- ah Pro-professor Dumbledore."

Draco looked shocked.

"Really? You actually like that mudblood-loving old fool? That's really surprising after what he did to you."

Harry was confused. One, what's a mudblood? And two, what did Albus do to him?

"Huh? Ah, wha- wha' you mean?"

"Don't you know? He was the one who left you with those awful muggles! It was his faul- hey! Where're you going?"

But Harry was no longer listening to the Malfoy heir. Harry took off down into the dungeons, oblivious to the calls following him. Harry didn't even notice when Cissy fell off his shoulders onto the floor. Only one thought was going through Harry's mind at the moment.

It couldn't be true!

But deep in Harry's heart he knew it was true. Yet another adult had betrayed him, only this time it hurt so much more. Harry actually cared about this person.

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YAY finished!

Sorry about the cliffie and about the length of the chapter but it's a fairly insignificant chapter and I really want to get started on the good stuff!

Thanks to all those who reviewed!

And special thanks to Av, because man some of these paragraphs were dodge!

Reviews appreciated!! looks hopeful!