AN Hello! I'm back with chapter nine! Can't think of anything else to put here, so to the story!
Oh my, hello Mr. Potter, the hat exclaimed as it roamed his mind.
Sort me Gryffindor, seeing as you can mind read, I think you won't have any trouble knowing what will happen if you didn't Harry thought.
Seeing as I really do need to be able to sort others in the future, I believe I agree. Gryffindor was my second choice for you anyways, and I'm bound to respect requests. The hat told him.
What! I'm not normally a Gryffindor piece of filth! Harry exclaimed in his mind, But please do sort me in that disgusting house.
Very well, I will put you in "GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted the last word aloud.
Harry took the patched hat off of his head and walked down to Gryffindor table. He sat next to Griffith, who gave him a grin, Harry was surprised to see that the mudblood girl with dead bush hair was at the end of the table studying a book. Ron soon joined them. Then Dumbledore stood up and made a very short and pointless speech of random words. Ron practically inhaling food, Harry watched as the boy shoved food in his face. Harry gave himself a scoop of mashed potato, a large piece of chicken, and a buttered roll. The Weasley hadn't even bothered to use the plate, instead having eaten directly off the plate. Harry took note of the fact the boy ate mainly the meat. Harry also noticed as one of the smaller plates refilled after being emptied. Looking up at the staff table, Harry took note of each teacher, Lily Potter was a Muggle Studies professor, while James Potter was the flying instructor. His eyes settled on Severus for a moment, before moving on to the Defense professor. The man was extremely jumpy, when Severus handed him a goblet of wine, the man swat it away like it was poison, getting it all over Severus. The Professor also was glancing all around the room like any moment a flock of dragons might burst in.
Dumbledore motioned the professor to him,"I'm happy to announce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, this is Professor Quirrel. On another note, Filch has informed me that there have been additions to the banned items lists, being in possession of any of these items will cost you a week of detention. The complete list is posted outside of his door, ignorance of this list is not an excuse," he informed them.
After a while, they all left their tables and the prefects led them to the common room through a portrait. Harry noted that the password was Honor, and looked around at the glittering room. As soon as he stepped in, he noticed the two Weasley twins walk up to him. The one on the left had a blank piece of parchment in his pocket. The two of them stood in front of him with judging looks on their faces.
"Um, hi?" Harry said after a minute of silence.
"Hello! We're Gred"
"And Forge."
"We'd like to ask"
"You a question."
"You see"
"We have this artifact,"
"That is supposed to"
"Show people's names,"
"But you show up,"
"As Tom Riddle,"
"Junior instead!" The two exclaimed.
Harry looked at them, "Tom Riddle you say? That was my father's name?" Harry asked.
"Apparently it is"
"Your father's"
"Name."
"What did you mean"
"By was your father's name?" They asked.
"Well," Harry looked contemplative for a moment, "Guess it's better you find out who he is from me."
"Is Tom Riddle"
"Someone important?"
"Does he happen"
"To go by a different name?" Fred and George asked.
"Y-yeah. You see, my father happens to be one of the, uh, most powerful wizards of the time," Harry started, he opened his mouth but they spoke again.
"You're dad"
"Is Albus Dumbledore?"
"That's just wro-" They started.
"No! I mean, ugh, my father is You-Know-Who," Harry whispered.
Their eyes widened, they stumbled back for a second, got a puzzled, then amused expression on their faces, "You-Know-Who"
"Went by the name of Tom Riddle"
"And Riddle definitely isn't"
"A Pureblood surname"
"Which means,"
"That the Dark Lord famous for killing"
"Those with muggle blood"
"Is a half blood"
"Or a muggleborn!" They exclaimed, luckily no one noticed their loud exclamations.
Harry chuckled, "I never thought about that," he told them.
After saying goodbye to the Weasley twins, Harry turned to go up the stairs to the hall that held the boy dorms. He noticed a small door, and upon noticing it, he opened it up. Inside there was a small room with only a single bed. He grinned, with his own room, it would be so much easier to apparate to and from Riddle Manor without getting noticed, all he needed to do was put up a silencing charm and movement ward in so that no one could enter without him getting warned. He looked around the room, it was extremely dusty, apparently most Gryffindor's preferred space over privacy. He snorted. Harry grabbed his quill and wrote a quick note and lodged it so that it was partially poking out of two of the planks making the door. It was just a note saying the Praet Riddle had claimed the room.
Harry trotted down the hall and found the room that Griffith, Ron, a boy named Seamus, and another boy named Dean all were agreeing to share. Harry rolled his eyes at the thought of that many people sharing the same room. The room was around five times the size Harry's was, although Harry intended to cast a few enlarging charms on it. Griffith and Ron were on beds almost right next to eachother. Griffith turned towards Harry when he entered. Griffith had a guilty look on his face, and it took Harry a second to realize the boy felt bad for not saving him a bed.
Griffith confirmed his suspicion a moment later, "Sorry I didn't save a bed for you Praet," he said.
Harry waved him off, "It's okay, I found a cute little room that's for a single person, it's a little dirty, but I think it'd be perfect to practice a few cleaning charms and such on," he explained.
"Oh cool," Griffith responded lamely, then he looked at the clock, "Well it's getting late, I'm pretty sure we'll get our schedules in the morning, I think I'll be getting to bed," he told everyone.
Harry nodded, he wasn't tired yet, but he went to his room and locked the door behind him. Looking around, Harry found a torch that might have been charmed to stay alight once, but had since gone out. Harry quickly cast a light charm on it, and watched as the room brightened up. It really was quite small, but Harry had no doubt he could at least double the size with a few enlarging charms. Harry looked at the floor, quickly cleaning the dust off the floor to reveal a few scattered items and a few webs. Another wave of his wand and the room looked relatively okay, although the bed had a few tears on the sheets, the preservation charms on the wood had been suitable. After repairing the bed, Harry pushed his trunk to the base of his bed and plopped down onto it. Harry noticed that his magic reserves hadn't been majorly depleted, and put as much power as he could into making the room larger. To his surprise, the room at least tripled in size, making it into a respectfully sized room. Feeling the deplete in his magic, Harry lay down on his bed and immediately fell asleep.
The next morning, Harry bounced up, magic reserves refreshed and ready for his first day of Hogwarts education. Although he was certain it would be easy, he was still excited to see how the teachers taught. Walking towards the door, Harry grabbed a note that had been pushed through, reading his schedule. About half of his classes were with Slytherin, not that it made him unhappy but it seemed irrational to put the rival houses in the same classes. Today, he had Potions with the Slytherins in the morning, then he had History of Magic after lunch. He would be done for the school day at three-thirty pm. Classes started at nine o' clock, and he would have to endure three hours of Severus not recognizing him. Then he had a thirty minute lunch and History of Magic.
After eating a quick breakfast with Griffith and Ron, they headed to potions Harry sat to the right of Griffith, and to the left of the annoying bushhead. Severus had not entered the room yet, and Harry saw Draco smirking at him. Harry honestly didn't understand why the boy disliked him so much, but he bet it had something to do with him being in a rival house. Suddenly, the door of the room opened, and Severus practically swooped in, looking at the students.
Crossing his arms, he started to speak in a soft voice, yet everyone was able to hear it,"You are here to learn the subtle science and the art of potion-making. There will be no foolish wand-waving here, so put your wands away. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the extreme power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death," Severus informed them, "if you all aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach," he added as an afterthought.
Harry held back a chuckle, at least now he knew that Severus was normally like this around children, not just Harry. Although Severus seemed a bit more confident and ready to insult others in the classroom. It was likely because in Riddle Manor, Severus was babysitting a boy who likely had more power than he. Harry also noted the obvious passion of which Severus had for potions. He wondered why the man had continually tried to get the Defense position, as he seemed to enjoy potion making more. Severus quickly went through attendance, pausing for a fraction of a second when he came upon Harry's name. Only Harry and the other Slytherins noticed though, and looking at them he realized that Draco hadn't kept his information to himself.
Severus's attention snapped onto Griffith, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Griffith's eyes widened, then he scowled at Severus, "I don't know," he responded after having looked to Ron for help. Harry looked at deadbush, whom had shot her hand in the air immediately, a pathetic eager look on her face.
"Fame clearly isn't everything Mr. Potter," Severus spoke softly.
Harry watched as Severus prepared to ask another question, although he had to admit that question was a bit hard, but it wasn't something Griffith wouldn't know if he'd read the entire book even once over.
"Well then Mr. Potter, can you tell me where I could find a bezoar?" Severus asked.
Harry winced as Griffith had a puzzled look on his face, it was such an obvious answer. Deadbush's hand was stretched so high into the air that she was leaning with it. Harry looked at her disgustedly and noticed Draco and his two bodyguards looked shocked at Griffith's ignorance as well. Harry silently and wandlessly sent a stinging spell at Deadbush, watching as she lowered her hand to rub her side for a moment, before sending her hand back up again. Severus had a nasty sneer on his face.
"I don't know, sir" Griffith responded, Draco was chuckling quietly to himself.
"So you thought you could get away without reading the book before class hm Potter? I thought with all your special training you'd know the basics of potion making," Severus sneered at the boy.
Griffith had a mad look on his face, Harry held back a smile and leaned back, this was going to be entertaining. Harry was correct, an instant later, Griffith stood up quite suddenly, causing the water-filled and boiling water to splash over both Severus and Griffith. The latter let out a high-pitched squeak as the hot water came in contact with his skin. Severus quickly banished the water.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for your clumsiness Mr. Potter, now one last try, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Severus asked. Harry smiled a tad, hiding it behind his hand oh how he loved a trick question.
Deadbush stood up, arm stretching towards the ceiling, she was also was waving it a bit. Neville looked like he wanted to help Griffith, but didn't know how to get the message across. All the Slytherins were staring at Griffith expectantly, but all Griffith could do was give a hopeless shrug.
"I don't know," Griffith growled, his face starting to redden with anger, "Unlike some people, I don't find potions an important enough subject to waste my precious time on, Snivellus," Griffith added.
Neville let out a small gasp in the back, fearing for Griffith's life. However, Severus seemed to take it without a care. Instead, Severus locked his cold almost black eyes with Griffith's. Then, he turned away.
"Twenty points for neglecting to learn the basics of the subject and insulting a teacher, to you I am Professor Snape, you will also serve detention with me tonight, I expect to see you after dinner," Severus told Griffith. Turning back towards the class, "The answer is to the first question is that it is used to make a potion called the Draught of Living Dead, a powerful sleeping potion. You could expect to find a bezoar in the stomach of a goat. Lastly, monkshood and wolfsbane are different names for the same plant," Severus informed them, looking expectant, "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
Everyone rushed for their quills and scrolls. Then with a wave of his wand, a set of instructions to brew a cure for boils appeared on the blackboard, "Get brewing, at the end of class I will judge your potions," Severus instructed.
Harry immediately grabbed all the ingredients needed, six snake fangs, four horned slugs, and two porcupine quills, he was partnered with Deadbush, he handed her the snake fangs to crush while he observed the rest of the instructions. After a minute, he turned, she had crushed them decently well, but seemed aware it wasn't good enough yet. Harry took the pestle away from her and proceeded to viciously smash the fangs into an extremely fine powder. He then had Deadbush pour four measures into the cauldron. As she did that, he cast a tempus that only he could see, and it ticked down to the millisecond. He heated it up to 250 degrees for exactly 10.013 seconds. Then Deadbush waved her wand over it and Harry set up a timer for 33 minutes. Then he got to work on the homework, in which he had to do a foot about the potion and the specifics about the ingredients.
After 33 minutes, Harry checked on the potion, it was supposed to have a yellowish tint to it when it was ready to add the four horned slugs, then it would turn a light orange color. Harry quickly compared that color of the potion to the example in the book, it was still a little too light. About four minutes later, it was the perfect shade of yellow and Harry quickly added the horned slugs. Then he took it off the fire and added the two porcupine quills. He watched as it turned a light reddish-brown color, reminding him of strawberry-chocolate milk. Then he let Deadbush carefully stir it five times clockwise. Suddenly, he heard a yelp and looked up to see that Neville's cauldron had melted and green smoke was emitting from it as the bright orange potion creeped across the floor. Harry quickly lifted his feet off the floor and onto the foot spot on the chair. Severus vanished the potion and cauldron, turning to glare at Neville.
"Idiotic brat! You added the porcupine quills without turning off the fire," Severus exclaimed, "Ten points from Gryffindor for ruining a perfectly good cauldron."
Severus seemed completely ignorant to the huge boils on Neville's face and the obvious pain he was in. Looking around, Harry raised his hand to signal he and Deadbush were done. Severus scowled and walked over to the cauldron, after inspecting it for a moment, he bottled it and set it on the shelf.
"Congratulations, you actually managed to correctly brew this basic potion," Severus drawled, Harry could tell the man had wanted to insult them or find a fault, but could not.
Harry smirked privately then continued his homework. The rest of class went fairly quick, with Severus taking another fifty or so points from Gryffindor and awarding Slytherins for mediocre potions. Neville succeeded in making a potion that after a minute of looking at it someone could probably figure out it was an attempt at a boil remover, which was likely a success in his eyes. The boy was certain to get a D or T in potions. Eventually class ended, and Harry headed to the Great Hall with Griffith.
-=After Potions=-
Severus was frightened at how much Praet Riddle reminded him of the Dark Prince. All the other teachers seemed to think the two boys couldn't be more different, but Severus had seen the nicer (if that was possible) side of the Dark Prince. The fact was, that as twins they reacted to emotions in the almost exact same way. The two both got bored easily and were perfectionists, also, they had trust issues sometimes. Severus had no doubt that Praet was a powerful wizard, although not as much so as his brother. It didn't help that the two looked the exact same, and when Severus first saw the boy he had trouble resisting shivering. Lastly, if they had been raised together, they would likely have been the same, the differences were likely based on how they grew up. Praet had no mask whatsoever and was extremely honest to an annoying extreme, while his brother was opposite.
AN So Severus is scared by Harry! Hehehe! Next chapter is going to be a brief description of History of Magic ('cause no one really likes that class!) and the time after that. Then we'll go into the next day. Cya!
-Ariana Flynn Riddle