Trapped in a Serpent's Coils
Disclaimer: Own HP?* pouts* Wants please!
" Avada Kedavra"- English
$ Avada Kedavra$- Parseltongue
-Avada Kedavra- Thought Speech
A Scholarly Sixteenth (Classes part 1):
The Slytherin first years strolled into the Great Hall, pureblood mannerism in full effect, chins tilted up and gait strong. Even if you looked very closely, you couldn't tell that they were nervous about their first day. After giving the room a snobbish, bratty look, the boys went over to their table and bent their heads together to whisper about the new classes.
Harry listened to his dorm mates speaking about the professors with some apprehension. He already knew each one pretty well, considering his stay over the summer, but they sounded so much worse as teachers! Harry stabbed his sausage and began munching on it morosely.
Unluckily for Harry, the first class he had was with a certain overgrown bat, err, Potions Professor. The animosity between the two had only worsened over the long summer and open dislike had turned into a bit of loathing on Harry's part. It wasn't his fault, though! The Professor heckled him at all times, and was just a general nuisance. In fact, it had gotten to the point that Harry was seriously wondering if his mother would like the taste of bat.
He winced at the thought of being under the man's thumb for an entire class period. Oh Salazar, this morning was going to be awful. And even worse? The class was with Gryffindors! Ajatar, protect us all! Harry began to grumble internally at the unjustness of the situation.
Ignoring the chatter of his friends, though it really was more boasting on Draco's part, Harry took out his frustration on his food. Bad professor? Grr, stab, stab, stab. His eggs became a paste. Awful classmates? Rip, rip, rip. His bread was shred to tiny bits. Draco tugging his arm? His orange bled for that.
Wait, Draco was tugging his arm? Harry looked up at an annoyed blond whining about classes beginning soon. Before Harry could really react, the blond had hauled him up and was yanking him along. As he was being dragged off to class, Harry couldn't help the expression of someone being taken to the executioner from stealing across his face.
Once inside the potions classroom, Harry was inconspicuously tugged to the other side of the class. Slytherin on one half, Gryffindor on the other. Soon enough, Professor Snape swooped in and, after roll call, gave a very inspirational speech on the art of potions making.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate 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 stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." *
The grouchy professor snarled out these last words and glared angrily at the class. Harry couldn't help the tiny giggle that escaped his mouth. The Professor said dunderhead! Snape's eyes visibly twitched as he glared at Harry, but with great effort, he turned towards the Gryffindors.
"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"*
At the pale, blank looks he was getting, Snape sneered.
"Weasley."
The red head gaped stupidly for a while, then looked around for help. When none was offered, he turned back to the Professor and looked blank again.
"I dunno, ask someone else."
"Ten points from Gryffindor for insolence!" roared Snape.
He then looked around the Snake's side. Harry felt distinctly uncomfortable as the Professor's eye lit up with malice.
"Potter, answer the question."
Harry grumbled internally, but was thankful he had a potions fanatic as a father.
"Asphodel and wormwood create a sleeping draught called the Draught of Living Death, sir."
Snape actually looked a bit disappointed at the answer, but he pressed on. In fact, he asked another two questions, one about bezoars and the other about monkshood or aconite. First the questions were aimed at the ignorant Gryffindors, then, when it wasn't answered, he allowed a smirking snake to do so.
Finally, the inquisition, err… lesson, shifted to actually potions brewing. Only, it was disappointing they were only making a draught to cure boils... Harry was paired with Malfoy and he began to get the ingredients. A little while after they began to work, Draco started to whisper at him.
"Potter, there is a long standing tradition in Sytherin to mess up the potions of the Gryffindors."
Perking up, Harry listened more closely.
"Ten points for putting something in a potion, with no reaction; twenty for ruining it; and forty for making it explode."
By now, Harry was quivering with excitement. But Draco wasn't finished yet.
"At the end of a week, the winner gets treated candy or butter beer, or something by everyone else."
This was the best part… Free food! Harry quickly got started ruining potions. By the end of it, he'd blown up Weasel's potion, and ruined some mudblood's. It was quite amusing how few Gryffindors had decent potions versus those of Slyherin.
Laughing at the angry expressions on his classmate's faces, Harry sauntered off to his next class. Herbology with Hufflepuff. Fun.
When they arrived at Herbology, the Snakes found Hufflepuff already there. They had clustered around their dumpy Head of House and kept glancing nervously at the Slytherins. What would they give not to share a class with those monsters!
The Snakes sneered a bit at the other children, Harry included, but they soon settled into a… riveting lesson on the wonders of andrographis. Yes Scandinavian plant with medicinal properties. Harry fidgeted in his seat in boredom. He was quite disappointed, as he was expecting some of the more exotic, magical, and deadly plants.
Really, the only entertainment he had was watching some of the other snakes trip Hufflepuffs as they were given a tour of the greenhouse. Sad.
Not soon enough, the lesson was finally over and they were free to run off to the next class. Harry eagerly dug through his bag to find his time table. Next up… Oh. Darn it. History of Magic. Sigh.
Slytherin was first to arrive at the classroom this time, and Draco wasted no time in flaunting his knowledge by telling Harry that they would be having a spectral professor. Harry was very excited by this prospect. A real liv-, um dead, ghost! He wondered if the professor had been one of the fallen in a magical war.
You could imagine the let down Harry experienced when he found out that the ghost was the history teacher in life, too, and had managed to become more boring in death. Fortunately, unlike the Ravenclaws that prepared only to take notes, the Snakes had a system of self study so they didn't fail at the class.
In fact, the Snakes were so bored in the class that Harry was eagerly considering pranking the mudblood to relieve boredom. Suddenly, Harry smirked and inconspicuously conjured a mouse under his table. No need to broadcast his advantage yet, right? He used a few magic shocks to guide the mouse closer to Mudblood, then…
"OHMYGODTHERE'SARAT!"
Harry couldn't stop laughing as the girl jump up and began shrieking. It just got better as the mouse, scared by the commotion, scurried right up on top of Beaver's head. This just caused a chain effect amongst the Ravenclaws as the girl ran around trying to get others to brush the rodent off.
The Snakes, seeing the girl's terror, showed great Slytherin Pride as they laughed at her in a collective unit. It escalated to the point where some Ravens were quivering in terror and perched on top of their desks. Harry had to admit, though. There was something extremely funny about the fact that throughout all this chaos, the ghostly Professor Binns didn't even look up from his lecture.
It took quite a while, but eventually, the class calm down after the mouse ran off, and Harry was reduced to a stupor again. Finally, the class let out and the cycle would go on until the next day. Harry groaned as he realized he had Transfiguration with McGonagall the tomorrow. Before Harry could sink into brooding, he was dragged off by a very persistent Malfoy. Finally, food and then bed!
Supper was a bit loud as the Snakes shared the events of their day and reminisced about the good parts. Harry was particularly proud of the wildfire like pace at which the story of his conjured mouse was spreading.
Listening to the praise heaped upon his prank, Harry decided that, perhaps, pranking and causing chaos was fun! He definitely would do this again, and soon! Harry glanced furtively at his dorm mates. They would get theirs in good time…
It wasn't long after supper that Harry found himself back in his dorm, sitting on his bed. He was entertaining his parents with little anecdotes about his day, and all three was laughing together. When he got to the part about the mouse, his mother was very sad she was unable to be there… Although whether it was to eat Ravenclaws or chase the mouse was never quite disclosed…
$I wouldsss hunt down the ickle snacky and eatsss it all up… after a bit of play time of courssse!$
Käärme smirked a bit as he listened to Harry's excited ramblings.
$So it seems that you quite like this school, huh, hatchling? Aren't you glad we forced you to come here?$
At this, Harry realized how enthusiastic he sounded and started to pout. This didn't count! Who wouldn't have been excited if they were in his place? Hogwarts was a really awesome magical castle full of really cool things like moving paintings and creepy suits of armor! Not to mention the ghosts that inhabited the castle.
$That's beside the point!$
Harry grumbled a bit at the audacity of his father to point out his previous assessment of life at Hogwarts wrong. He flipped over to face away from his parents, still grumbling, and tried to sleep. Mean parents or otherwise, he still had a long day tomorrow.
His parents curled up around him, snuggled in close to him, and the little family settled in for another night…
* is a quote from the book.
A/n: Hello beloved Hatchlings! So… Please don't be mad at me for not updating for so long! I, um, fell asleep? Heh… So I hope you like the chappie, and please review! If anyone really wants Harry to play a certain prank on his dorm mates, tell me in a review or PM me! Also… IMPORTANT: Do you guys actually like me writing responses to reviews? If no one cares, then I might just stop and do a general thank you in the author's note… I personally love replying, but…
BelieverofManyThings- Thank you! Hope you liked this one!
Adenoide- Thanks, I hope this next one is good too!
Charm13insomnia- *hugs you* I really hope you like this chapter!
Albionia- Thank you, and I hope you liked this one, too! I'm sure Käärme and Snape will have quite the run in soon!
Geetac- Thanks! Did you like this one?
SakuraKoi- Thanks, I try to be funny!
Demongirl808- Is this one good? *hugs you* I hope enjoyed it!
Kitty2013- Thanks, I hope you like this one, too!
Dragonsrule18- Thank you so much! I'm really excited to see that, too!
Cherrie-san- I'm glad you enjoyed the dorm response! I'm hoping to do the meeting the family soon! *cackles* Oh, poor Draco!
Jay- He does have a hard time with that doesn't he?
Guest- Aww, thank you, you're so sweet!
Raven1493- Well I was all set to do a cliffie… and then the plot bunny was eaten by Mommy Snake… So, I'll surprise you with one soon! I hope this chapter was good, even if it wasn't a cliffie!
Notsofrilly- I agree, it's really fun to mess with him!