To say that Zacharias was displeased with the results of his sorting would be an understatement.
He didn't have any issues with Slytherin House, per se. He would have definitely preferred to be in Hufflepuff, as his family was one of its founder's direct descendants. Slytherin was a fine house in its own right, but he still resented being there.
Not because he belonged elsewhere, but because that… Hat… said he didn't belong anywhere. It just shoved him in the house with the least number of people! Used him to fill some quota of students going to Slytherin! Sure, he may not have publicly embarrassed himself the way Weasley did, but Zacharias still felt he had every right to be indignant.
Well fine! If the Hat wanted him in Slytherin, then he would gladly take the opportunity! He could play politics if he needed to!
It was no secret that everyone expected Draco Malfoy to be sorted into Slytherin, and with Lucius backing him, he would have unquestionable control of Slytherin house. No one would have dared to publicly oppose Lucius Malfoy.
With Draco in Gryffindor, though, Slytherin lacked a unifying ruler, and the power base was fractured. Theodore Nott was clearly trying to claim control, but Octavius Nott wasn't feared the way Lucius Malfoy was. Mostly because, despite also being a death eater, Octavius didn't throw money and influence around like there was no tomorrow. The Notts were a minor family, after all.
(Technically, so were the Malfoys, but no one dared to say that out loud.)
Zacharias had overheard Nott scheming with that Turpin bitch, and the two were obviously aiming for a power grab soon. Nott also failed to hide most of the letters from his father, which made it easy for Zacharias to figure out the boy's plans. One would think that the son of a death eater would know better than to leave their correspondence sitting around, especially when he shared a dorm with a political rival…
The Smith family may not elicit the same fear that a family of death eaters would, but they still had influence to throw around. Sure, the Smiths were a light family, while almost everyone in Slytherin was dark or neutral, but the Smith family was a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, held a Wizengamot seat, and ran a powerful business. Octavius Nott couldn't match that level of influence in his dreams.
So while Zacharias couldn't win allies from the upper years, most of them would at least be too scared to publicly oppose him. Really, Theodore could use some competition for control of Slytherin, and Zacharias was more than willing to provide it.
Harry was looking forward to the flying lesson. He was pretty sure his desire to fly had to do with one of his many escape fantasies he had at the Dursleys. Escape fantasies aside, though, the idea of flight did sound fun, even if it was done through something as outlandish as broomsticks.
Unfortunately, Hermione was cripplingly acrophobic, and was not looking forward to the lesson. It was kind of putting a damper on his enthusiasm.
Even more unfortunately, they shared their flying class with the Gryffindors. They only shared two classes each with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, but they shared three classes plus flying lessons with the Gryffindors. He wasn't clear on why exactly the two houses with a history of heated rivalry shared most of their classes together. From what he'd overheard from the upper years, it was either a misguided attempt to encourage house unity, or Dumbledore attempting to spite them. Either way, it meant spending more classes with Malfoy, something Harry was not keen on.
Not that the other Gryffindors were that much keener on him. Apparently, Harry was considered most likely to go to their house, and they took him going to the house of their biggest rival as some personal affront.
If that was the kind of attitude they had, maybe he was better off away from them.
As he walked onto the grounds, his eyes wandered to the girl walking next to him. Ever since he befriended Hermione yesterday, she had refused to leave his side whenever possible. Unfortunately, this meant that his days of (relative) anonymity were over. He was now subject to the same scowls and whispers that followed Hermione around, though neither had yet been subjected to the same overt bullying that Harry rescued Hermione from last night.
Harry withdrew from his thoughts as they entered the flying pitch. Most of the Slytherins had already arrived, but only a few Gryffindors were there. Much to Harry's dismay, Malfoy was one of those present, and he was regaling his fellow Lions with stories of his supposedly legendary flying talent. None of the them present seemed to be interested, and Harry wondered if the rest were late solely to avoid Malfoy. It was definitely something Harry would do in their position.
Malfoy and Harry did not see eye to eye on things. Apparently, the blonde boy had taken great insult to the fact that he was sorted into Gryffindor, while Harry was put in Slytherin. Malfoy had since decided to antagonise Harry at every opportunity, though Harry had years of experience ignoring insults thanks to his relatives. That Harry didn't react to any of Malfoy's insults only seemed to encourage the boy further.
He turned to Hermione to see her hyperventilating, her eyes locked at some point off in the distance.
"Breathe, Hermione." he whispered to her. Her breathing steadied as she nodded in reply, but still she stared off.
Just how bad was her acrophobia, anyways?
Unfortunately for Harry's long-lived fantasies of flight, the lesson was postponed after Longbottom took off early and managed to break his wrist.
"Hey, look at this!" Malfoy's unwelcome voice spoke out. He was holding a small glass ball that he picked up from where Longbottom fell.
"Poor fool must have dropped it when he fell!" Malfoy continued, a malicious grin plastered on his face. "Perhaps I'll leave it somewhere for him to find."
Harry was about to speak up, but someone beat him to it.
"Looking to start a blood feud, are you Malfoy?"
Malfoy sneered at the girl. "What's it to you Greengrass?"
"Me? Oh, I'm just wondering what advantage could possibly be worth offending an Ancient and Noble house. Especially one whose scion sleeps in the same room as you. I'm sure you have a reason besides simple pettiness. Perhaps a Gryffindor like yourself isn't used to navigating the realms of politics."
Most of the Slytherins began laughing at Malfoy after that, Harry included. Greengrass had simultaneously stopped Malfoy from being a prick and needled him for being in Gryffindor. Harry wondered what could possibly have made Draco think he belonged in Slytherin.
Malfoy's lip curled in disgust as he processed Greengrass's words.
"For your information, I merely planned on… delivering it to his bed. We do share a dorm, after all."
Greengrass gave Malfoy a condescending grin. "I'm sure that was your plan the whole time." She said, voice dripping with sarcasm. The Slytherins began chuckling again, and Harry noticed that even Hermione was failing to contain a smile.
Malfoy gave a huff and stormed off in a vain attempt to avoid further embarrassment.
Harry's eyes wandered back to Greengrass. The sarcasm and condescension on her face had been replaced with her usual stoic expression. Harry idly wondered just how natural her stoicism was. As he pondered that, Davis, Greengrass's friend, stared at Harry for a second and…
Harry's brain paused for a moment.
Did Davis just wink at him?
Harry made a note to keep an eye on Davis and Greengrass. Unlike Malfoy, they were true Slytherins, and it wouldn't do to be caught with his pants down.
...Metaphorical pants! Harry's prepubescent brain reeled from the image it he had just inadvertently conjured.
Harry felt Hermione nudging his side. Right, he'd promised to hang out in the library today after their flying lesson. It almost slipped his mind in the drama of the day.
Harry wondered if his entire schooling experience was destined to be as hectic as his first two weeks were. He certainly hoped not.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WE CAN'T REPLACE THE HAT'!?" Lucius Malfoy screamed.
"Well, you see, the Hat is part of the central focus of the Hogwarts wards. Removing it would mean that no incoming students would be keyed into the Hogwarts wards, and thus, unable to access any of the dormitories. What's more, any student who left the grounds for any reason, such as the sanctioned Hogsmeade visits, would be unable to re-enter the grounds unless escorted by a faculty member."
Albus should have known that Lucius wouldn't stand for yesterday's embarrassment. Of course, he showed up bright and early this morning with a new mandate requiring the Sorting Hat to allow any student to be resorted at any time. The Hat responded by calmly informing him that, since it wasn't alive, it was not bound by any such mandates. Lucius then began making a series of increasingly petty requests, and had to be informed why each one was not possible.
Albus felt like he was talking to a petulant two-year-old. Frankly, with the way Lucius was behaving, he was finding it increasingly hard not to believe that a toddler hadn't polyjuiced into Lucius Malfoy. The only proof he had against that was that Lucius had been here for over two hours without needing a fresh dose of polyjuice.
Maybe Lucius had been replaced by a two-year-old metamorphmagus?
Albus was tuning the elder Malfoy out as much as possible. The man's volume was not making that an easy task.
Albus withdrew from his thoughts. Lucius appeared to be yelling at the Hat now. Again. That treacherous piece of headwear had done nothing to make the current predicament easier for anyone. He held in a sigh.
Lucius was aware that Albus had a job, right? Three of them? Hogwarts didn't run itself, and taking several hours to listen to a temper tantrum from the head of the board of governors wasn't on his itinerary for today.
"WHAT KIND OF INSULT IS 'MY FATHER SMELT OF ELDERBERRIES' SUPPOSED TO BE, YOU DELUSIONAL GARMENT!?" Lucius shouted.
Albus pulled out a quill and stack of parchment and began filling out paperwork. He may as well put this time to good use. Maybe if he was lucky, Lucius would realise he was being ignored and leave.
He could only hope.
Pansy really wished that Draco would stop moping. It made him less attractive, which was not good in her eyes.
But noooooo, Draco had to whine about how he was in Gryffindor. Rumours were circulating that the Hat had apparently stalled every attempt to get students resorted, and it was making Draco's moping continually more insufferable.
Frankly, Pansy didn't care about any of that. Sure, her parents were bound to be annoyed that she was in Gryffindor, but she could easily justify that as following Draco in an attempt to secure his betrothal.
Which was the truth, basically.
The Hat didn't technically give her a choice, but she didn't feel the need to inform her parents of that detail.
All Pansy cared about was making sure Draco stayed attractive, and making sure she looked attractive for him.
One of her roommates, Lavender Brown, had been a wellspring of information on fashion, making that easy. The girl was also a gossip, and that made it easy to keep tabs on people.
Just because she was a Gryffindor didn't mean she couldn't network, even if she couldn't do it the Slytherin way.
Now she just had to get Draco to snap out of his funk. Much as she was infatuated with him, even she could only tolerate so much whining, an activity Draco was frustratingly proficient at.
Hopefully, once he realised that he was stuck in Gryffindor, his attitude would improve.
If not, well, she'd have to find ways to improve him. Maybe she should pay a visit to the library and look up some ways to manipulate people…
Libraries were Hermione's favourite thing.
Oh, sure, learning was amazing, but classrooms could be so stifling. Hermione hated having the pace of her learning dictated by the slowest members of the class. In a library, information was at her fingertips, and she could absorb it all as quickly as she wanted.
And now! Now she had a friend to go to the library with her! And he actually wanted to go to the library!
It was everything Hermione could have dreamed of.
Hermione realised that her standards for social experiences were not very high.
Harry was nice, though. He was quiet and generally content to stay out of the way. Honestly, he was the exact opposite of what she would have expected from someone who had been famous since infancy. Hermione had tried to get him to talk about his past, but he was really hesitant to bring it up, and she didn't want to risk pushing her only friend away.
Hermione relaxed as the comfortable smell of parchment and bound leather filled her nose. She did love libraries.
The pair wandered deeper into the library's labyrinthine shelves until they reached an out-of-the-way table.
After they sat down, Hermione quickly discovered that Harry was no better at interacting with people than she was. As the silence drew on, Hermione grew increasingly uncomfortable. She wondered how most people started a conversation.
"So, um," Harry said, breaking the awkward pause, "What homework do you still have to do?"
Hermione stared at him in disbelief. "I already did all of the homework. You didn't do every assignment the day it was assigned?"
"Um… I don't think most people do that, Hermione."
That gave Hermione pause. Was that one of the reasons people called her an overachiever? She had always thought it was normal to do work right away. After all, it's easier to relax without deadlines hanging over one's head.
"They… don't? Why?"
"Because most people can't finish an essay in a single night? Especially with the amount of material we need to cover for McGonagall's and Snape's assignments. Snape especially likes making us look through lots of different reference books…"
Hermione's brain was now reeling at the implications of what Harry was telling her.
"Why don't you just memorise the reference book all in one go so you don't need to go back to it later?"
Harry's expression was clearly bewildered at this point. "Because people can't- ...You know what, I'll just forget… all this. If you're done with all your work, could you give me some tips on the transfiguration essay? You're way better in that class than I am."
Hermione grinned. Transfiguration was her best subject.
One hour and several completed assignments later, an older Gryffindor student walked up to their table.
"Hey, why don't you snakes scram? I need a place to sit."
The Gryffindor's remark was met by Harry's wand being pointed in his face.
"Shove off." Harry said coldly.
The Gryffindor scowled, but left after deciding that their table wasn't worth the struggle. Once he was out of earshot, Hermione spoke up.
"Harry!" She hissed, "We're not supposed to cast spells in the library!"
"Good thing I didn't cast any, then." Harry said with a grin. "I just implied I would cast a spell. Totally different thing."
"But it's against the rules!"
Harry shrugged. "Again, technically, it's not. Besides, you'd be amazed how good bullies are at keeping their behaviour in the bounds of the rules. If you show resistance, though, then most bullies will leave you alone. They want easy targets, not difficult ones."
Hermione realised that was as close as Harry had gotten to talking about his past. It definitely shed a different light on things. She made a note to scour the books she had about Harry Potter (at least, the ones that marketed themselves as nonfiction) for inconsistencies.
Also, she learned how to deal with bullies. That was nice.
Being Harry's friend seemed like it would be an interesting experience.
Daphne really hated being Tracey's friend sometimes.
Daphne's definition of "sometimes" was "any time Tracey concocted some ridiculous scheme."
Much to Daphne's dismay, Tracey schemed quite a lot.
"For the last time, Tracey," Daphne said, exasperation creeping into her normally neutral tone, "I am not interested in stalking Potter and Granger. Honestly, just let them study or read or whatever in peace."
"But Daaaaaaph, we need to keep an eye on them. What if they're super powerful or super smart and we miss an opportunity to ally ourselves with them?'
Daphne used her rudimentary occlumency to clamp down on her emotions. Failing to show emotion kept most people away from her, much to her delight. It didn't keep Tracey away, but as she had discovered, nothing could keep Tracey away.
"If you somehow missed the fact that Granger is the smartest student in our year, I sincerely fear for your information gathering skills."
Tracey pouted. "Not like that! I mean, yeah, she's got book smarts, but what if she's uncovering the lost secrets of magic right now! We'd have no way of knowing!"
"She's a first-year, Tracey. We're all first-years. I suspect we'll have plenty of time before she starts unravelling the lost secrets of magic."
"You can't deny there's potential allies there, though. Granger is a certified genius, and Potter's performance in practical magic is always one of the best, transfiguration aside. For all of your iciness, you know the importance of making connections."
"I don't deny that they'd be useful allies, but I don't think stalking them in the library is a good way to go about it."
"Uuuuuuuuuuugh," Tracey groaned, "You're no fun."
"Feel free to leave. Please."
Tracey's signature cocky grin came back to her face. "You can't get rid of me that easily, my fair Ice Queen."
Daphne glared at Tracey. "Call me that again and I'll use you to test my proficiency with freezing charms."
Tracey's response to that was to start cackling. Daphne realised right away that this meant her protest fell on deaf ears.
Well, if Tracey's plan to befriend Potter and Granger bore fruit, she could see what it would be like to have normal friends, at least. That would be a novel experience.
A/N: This chapter took a lot longer to write than I would have liked. I blame Zacharias. He's tough to write.
I have decided to use social media. Follow me on Tumblr at tendrael, and on Twitter at umbrastorm. I plan to use the accounts to rant about my writing and answer any questions you may have.
Special thanks to my friends Felix and that dumbass Xgenje (his words, not mine) for helping me with editing.