Draco Malfoy was tired.
He had not slept a wink.
He was fairly sure he was not the only one.
Around him were tired eyes, tired faces, and wary postures as the (relatively small) group of Slytherin boys and girls who had been in the Slytherin Common Room during the midnight now gathered for a breakfast in the dining hall, and poked at their foods with various degrees of apprehension and dread in their eyes and postures.
Many looked to Draco for help, as the Heir had decided to speak to Draco more than he had spoken to the others. And after the Heir had withdrawn to the sleeping quarters, no-one had found him anymore.
Literally. He had just disappeared.
Moreover, the group had initially planned to ambush and beat Harry Potter to a pulp to show him his place… And no-one was certain whether or not Potter had deduced that before he had flipped the tables around on them.
Moreover, if the whole 'Harry Potter being a Parselmouth' hadn't already freaked the Slytherin group over, the fact that Harry was 'loose' in the Slytherin quarters with no-one able to find him was the final nail in the coffin.
And that was without also knowing what Draco knew about the 'true' Harry Potter.
Draco was fairly certain that if he told the other Slytherin that Harry Potter was, in reality, Lord Voldemort in disguise, then he was fairly certain that something dramatic would happen. He didn't know what exactly would happen, but he knew that whatever it was, it would be dramatic.
And would likely also involve Draco, the word 'Crucio', and likely words 'Avada Kedavra'.
In other words, Draco did his best to pretend that he wasn't aware of what was going on with Harry Potter outside the very surface level.
Draco reached for a jug of poison-green apple juice and poured himself a mugful, feeling as if his throat still burned from whatever foul liquid Harry had forced Draco to drink during the night, and then sipped the sweet liquid slowly.
A flight of owls flew down from the open window in the dining hall, and proceeded to drop letters, newspapers and packets for the students who were eating their breakfast, and Draco lifted his arm so that the newspaper-owl could drop its paper to his hand- The boors would insert coins to the owl's lockbox, but Malfoys always had a subscription going. Paid for by the Ministry of Magic, as a tribute to the Ancient and Noble Houses under the guise of ensuring that the Noble Houses kept up with the times, of course.
There was no letter with the owl, nor did Draco spot the eagle owl that he owned and which would deliver letters from him to his family and vice versa. '...In other words, father is keeping a low profile… Or thinks that 'Other interested groups' might intercept his letters if he sent one to me via Owl. Or perhaps he expects my reply after meeting Potter? The Paired Mirrors should only be used every few days in order to not stress their enchantment and cause them to lose potency, so that's probably not it either… Hm…'
Draco nonetheless opened the newspaper to distract his racing mind, and took a swig of the apple juice to alleviate the feeling in his throat.
"Is HARRY POTTER going to be the Next DARK LORD? Find here on Daily Prophet!" The headline practically screamed its contents.
Below it was an image of a shadowy figure holding a wand in one hand and a severed unicorn head on its other.
"Pffrth!"
"Ey!"
"Ew!"
Draco didn't even register the protesting squeaks from the Slytherin students who were sitting opposite to him on the long table and thus had gotten a direct hit from a spray of apple juice that had come from Draco's mouth, as Draco was too busy staring at the headline to bother about other people's little worries or the fact that he was dripping juice to his lap from his slack mouth.
He quickly scanned the rest of the headlines, noted that the Triwizard Tournament was mentioned in a small column, and then opened the page that the headline indicated.
"Shocking event has taken place in Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry as Harry Potter has returned to Magical Britain after defeating You-Know-Who fourteen years ago! Indeed, as you have no doubt heard if you subscribed to Daily Prophet, Harry Potter's name came out of the Tri-Wizard Tournament's Goblet of Fire a few days ago- To shock of some, and to just ridicule of most.
However, as soon as it looked like the Weighing of the Wands (which is used to determine the capability of each contestant) would take place without Mr. Potter, the writer, Rita Skeeter, yours truly, witnessed a shocking scene!
Indeed, lightning cracked and the midnight darkened (as the event was taking place at Midnight due to circumstances unknown), and the Halls of Hogwarts slammed open to let in a man of darkness, cloaked in mystery and fashionably late.
However, instead of a pretend-Death Eater (like the ones that performed a joke in poor-taste at the Quiddich World Cup a few months ago, subscribe to Daily Prophet to be kept on tab for events such as that), the stranger was revealed to be none other than Harry Potter who claimed to be late due to, and I quote, 'losing his way'.
Is this a confession? Has Harry Potter turned from the Light? At this point, yours truly, Rita Skeeter, was on the brink of terror but kept recording- For future generations, and investigative Aurors, if for no-one else…"
Draco had to prop the paper against the table as his hands had started to shake so hard that it was getting hard to read the words on the paper.
"...And as the Weighing of the Wands took place, after some other people had their wands weighed, Harry Potter took the center-stage… And shared a drink with Igor Karkaroff in plain sight of Albus Dumbledore and myself, Rita Skeeter! Dear viewers, if you have not heard (subscribe to Daily Prophet to be kept track on important details such as these) Igor Karkaroff, the Headmaster of Durmstrang Magical School, was rumored to be a Ex-Death Eater who managed to escape being sent to Azkaban due to ratting out some of his fellow Death Eaters, and then fleeing the country. For someone such as him to share a cup with Harry Potter, is a worrying sign indeed! After that, Harry Potter declared himself to be Thirty-Two years old- Dear listeners, if you have not heard, it was rumored (but not verified) that You-Know-Who was aged Thirty-Two when he was finally 'slain' by Harry Potter."
Draco's vision blurred a bit, but he kept himself cool with near visible effort as his worst fears and outlandish deductions were all but confirmed.
"Is this a confession? A roundabout way of declaring that 'I am a Dark Lord!'? Or perhaps delusions of a teenager? At that point I, Rita Skeeter, was unsure. However! What followed was quite shocking indeed-!"
'There's more?' Malfoy was starting to feel quite ill.
"When asked to draw his wand for the Weighing, Harry Potter produced a fake wand and somehow managed to pass it as a real one for Ollivander, who at this age might as well be both senile and blind.
As you all know (Again, subscribe to Daily Prophet, you know how this goes by now), You-Know-Who's wand was never recovered from the scene of his death- Could it be that Harry Potter now possesses You-Know-Who's wand?"
Pansy Parkinson who was reading the paper over Malfoy's shoulder scoffed, then glanced at Malfoy's expression, and let out a strange sound that resembled a frog being stepped on. "What- Draco? Surely you don't believe rubbish like that?"
"He…" Malfoy opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking.
However, that looked to be enough for Pansy, as she too had witnessed Potter speaking in Parseltongue.
Pansy paled to the complexity of a sheet of paper. "W-w-w-what should we do?"
"Shh! We'll… We'll think of something, do not make a scene." Draco hissed at the girl and she sat down while visibly shaken.
Draco turned his attention back to the paper.
"...Indeed, it could be said that Potter gave us, the Magical Community, a warning- A fake wand, followed by an item of unknown purpose, but what looked like a tubular torture device, followed by a pack of Tarot cards, and finally a weapon of war, concealed as a muggle device!
The message is clear, fellow readers- Harry Potter says through his actions 'You do not know who I am, and for this you will suffer, and you WILL know- And if you determine your fates to me against mine, you will die in the flames of war! This is the declaration of a Dark Lord, not a Hero of Light!
Perhaps some may say 'this is unprecedented' or 'this surely cannot be'- but listen for the last, and final, clue in the puzzle that is Harry Potter:
When he arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the Sorting Hat was placed on his head, the Hat sorted Harry Potter for no shorter than fifteen minutes! The earliest sign of a Dark Wizard (allegedly) is that the Sorting Hat cannot sort them instantly, for he tries to convince them away from their evil ways- And after all that, Harry Potter was sorted to no other house than SLYTHERIN!
Yes, that is right, the Boy-Who-Lived is now calling Slytherin his house and calls Slytherins his brothers and sisters! Dear readers, if you recall, it was rumored that You-Know-Who also attended Hogwarts under a different name, and was sorted to Slytherin and later claimed to be the Heir of Slytherin!
Is this a coincidence, or past repeating itself?
This has been Rita Skeeter, delivering dangerous and important news, straight from the field! Subscribe to Daily Prophet to be informed as soon as new developments happen! Only seventeen Sickles per month!"
Draco Malfoy folded the paper neatly and put it on the table.
He glanced at the Slytherin boys and girls who had been present when Potter had arrived in the common room.
There was one expression on each of their faces.
'We are so dead.'
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The group of Slytherin boys and girls were so absorbed in the visions of their own doom that they didn't even register what could only be called frothing rage or righteous anger (depending on one's viewpoint) that came from the Gryffindor table due to the day's newspaper and it's contents.
Igor Karkaroff, who was eating breakfast behind the Professor's end table, alongside his star pupil, Krum, scrunched his eyebrows with worry as he read the local newspaper.
There was a worrying amount of glittering that was going on around Albus Dumbledore as the old man glanced at the newspaper, which opened mid-air for him so that he could play an eerie tune on a harmonica while he read it. Moreover, the glitter around his beard looked to be resembling exploding beetles, for some reason.
McGongall heard the tune, glanced at the paper, and rolled her eyes so hard that they almost fell off their sockets.
Alastor Moody, or rather, Professor Moody, narrowed his eyes while his plate was empty in front of him, and his magical eye whirled in all directions, occasionally stopping to glare at Karkaroff. "Minerva. I don't see Potter. This is the seventy-sixth time I've told you and Albus this. I stopped being able to see him when he entered the bedrooms. If a Dark Wizard got to him, he has most likely been chopped up and his parts have likely been spread all over the world by now."
"I'm sure he's fine. If I'm honest I felt terrible worry for the longest time for failing to safeguard Mr. Potter, but what I saw at Diagon Alley reassured me that Harry would be fine wherever he landed." McGongall reached for pumpkin pie. "I feel as if I've been a bit too paranoid over Mr. Potter's safety- In fact, perhaps I should have been more concerned for the safety of the rest of the Magical World."
"An answer fitting of a Gryffindor, Minerva. But it hardly fits reality… Ah, there he is. In front of the Potions classroom. Nevermind." Moody nodded a bit. "Albus gave him the cloak, then?"
"Indeed. I'd appreciate it if…" Dumbledore leaned a bit to the side.
"Naturally. My lips are sealed." Moody's magical eye continued to spin as it had periodically locked onto Karkaroff for the duration of the conversation, checking that they weren't being listened to. "You're keeping an eye on Harry, though? Lad's a Slytherin, even if ninety percent of what the Skeeter wrote was pure rubbish. That can't be a good omen."
"Naturally." Albus glanced at Snape.
Severus Snape glanced at the students of Slytherin house, and narrowed his eyes.
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Harry Potter took off his invisibility cloak as soon as he made it to the still-locked door of the potions classroom, and drank a can of beer to help quell his headache.
He had, naturally, slept with the invisibility cloak as a blanket and under his actual bed in order to avoid waking up to 'nightly surprises' in the form of a surprise party which would involve rocks in socks and one unfortunate Harry-shaped dummy, mostly because he was having a bit of a substance rebound.
Luckily enough Harry had consumed so much and so many varieties of psychedelics in the past, relatively speaking, that at that point it would be hard for him to overdose, much less get crippled by the rebound, but it was nonetheless unpleasant and it would be hard to enjoy the adrenaline rush of a beatdown when he was struggling to keep himself awake in the first place.
He couldn't help but feel as if he'd missed an opportunity to experience something, though, and swore to sleep the next night without the cloak so that he could get ambushed properly.
Moreover, Snape's warning echoed in Harry's head so he eschewed a shared breakfast in order to go and try to find the Potions classroom.
A part of him wanted to check what the hot tongs and flesh-hooks were about, but he already had a close call with a certain Tzimisce in the past, and he was not exactly certain if he wanted to live the rest of his life as a very literal flesh chair. And until he found out just how extreme Hogwarts 'alternative' punishments were, Harry decided that sometimes anticipation was the better part of ecstasy.
It looked like the Tzimisce clan of Vampires specifically had taken the fact that some Magi had apparently turned vampires into very literal chairs in the past very personally, and felt competitive.
Not to mention that Harry had heard that there were cabals in Hermetic Order who considered prolonged torture, to the point of insanity, and execution to be a 'mild punishment'- A group of Death Eaters, or something along those lines. Even if Harry was fairly certain that a group named so would be better suited to join the Death Mages or Euthanatoi.
Nonetheless, Harry had eaten some brownies from his pocket while waiting for the class to start, and thus felt quite ready for the day's challenges.
'The schedule and a map on my bed were a nice touch, thank you…' Harry looked over the map that had been left on his bed in the Slytherin Common Room, and noted that the map was only semi-static in a sense that occasionally hallways swapped places, and from time to time locations could change entirely.
Harry guessed that someone who had experience in the Hermetic Order could probably read the map and even eschew it entirely, but for someone like Harry, it was a small miracle by itself that he had managed to get to where he had intended to go even with the map as the 'Potions classroom' had seemingly moved along the hallway multiple times before coming to a stop.
Or perhaps it was due to the edibles that Harry had topped his morning with.
One could never tell.
"Aaaah! Pot- Hm… Mr. Potter. Greetings." A high-pitched voice came from somewhere and Harry glanced to the side.
"Mr. Malfoy. Greetings." Harry nodded at the silver-haired boy who looked like he had gotten jump-scared as soon as he rounded the corner, saw Harry, and instinctively said something.
"You- Ahem, do forgive my lack of focus, Mr. Potter, but I can't recall seeing you at breakfast today?" Malfoy opened with a slightly nervous look on his face while the girl next to him was sweating rivers and looked like she hoped very hard that Harry wouldn't look at her.
"I was… Exploring. This place has changed quite a bit." Harry put his metaphorical act on so that when the other shoe dropped, he'd be ready for it and could 'lower' himself to his normal state as a compromise. Moreover, the layout of the ever-changing castle gave him a good excuse to wander. "I'm certain you won't object."
It looked like Malfoy nearly suffered an aneurysm when he heard that, though, so Harry scrunched his eyebrows a bit. "Is everything alright, mr. Malfoy?"
"Y- yes, of course, please forgive me." Malfoy glanced around, saw that there was no-one else in the corridor except Harry, Malfoy, and the group of somewhat-familiar looking Slytherin students, and Malfoy promptly fell on one knee while bowing his head. "I dearly apologize for any transgressions or rudeness I may have shown to you last night. Please forgive me."
The rest of the Slytherin students in the small group glanced at Malfoy, and instantly followed suit.
"It's… fine." Harry had no idea what Malfoy was saying, so he went along with the flow as it'd be rude to interrupt in case the boy was doing some sort of Hermetic social ritual. "You did as you were expected to. I will not fault you for that. Stand up."
"Thank you my- ahem, Mr. Potter." Malfoy looked slightly less green, like he had escaped the gallows or something, and Harry scrunched his eyebrows internally while keeping the high-and-mighty act on the outside.
'That's weird. It's as if they believe that my high-and-mighty act is for real and not just a ploy… Hm. Or perhaps Draco and co are actually mocking me, and are doing the whole bowing bit in anticipation to make me feel like a leader of some sort, so that when I get comfortable in the role and they call the act, I'll get a pipe with barbed wire inside up my ass or something.' Harry thought while feeling a bit worried. 'I'll have to see how the situation evolves. This could get really dangerous- Snape warned that the Slytherin will see through my wit, so chances are that I'm just digging my grave here.'
Harry motioned for the students to follow as the door of the classroom let an audible click, and the group filed into the empty room. 'I planned to take a back seat and just observe, but since I've been tossed to the center-stage of the spotlight, I should keep the act up and just gradually start to wind it down…'
He sat on a chair and crossed his legs, and the students followed suit after an uncertain while. 'Yeah, chances are that when I acted all high and mighty the Slytherin made a counter-plan to play along and basically make me their court jester in a sort of 'Oh, glorious king, your clothes are not invisible- They are merely invisible for absolute morons! Look at how your people cheer for you and love your new clothes! They are even laughing with you!'-situation.'
Harry snuck a glance at the brunette who was beside Malfoy as she had been sneaking glances at him from the side, and the girl jumped visibly on her seat, causing it to let out a loud clang.
"I'm sorry my lord!" The girl blurted and then sat on the seat again.
Harry waited as he was fairly certain that the class would start in ten or so minutes, and used the time to pull a potions book from his pocket and open it.
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Draco sweated as he looked at Harry Potter who was looking at the potions book while sitting on top of a upturned cauldron as if it was a seat, while the rest of the Slytherin students who had come with Draco from the breakfast had taken similar seats in order to not offend Potter.
All the while Draco's mind was spinning harder than he had probably thought in his entire life. Which wasn't easy since he had not slept a wink. 'What is he signaling? Is this a message? Is he just humiliating us? But he's sitting on the soot-covered cauldron bottom as well… What is going on?'
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'Oh my. I feel as if I've already decided what my favorite class is going to be.' Harry browsed through the pages of the potions tome, feeling both quite awed and privileged to be entrusted with the art that the Hermetics used to brew their potions- While he had quite a bit of experience on the 'field', so to speak, the way Hermetics worked their potions was quite exotic.
The measurements, the ingredients, the specifics of the cooking, the whole system seemed more like a ritual than cooking, just lacking the hallmark signs of Magic Words or Magic Spell.
It was all extremely fascinating.
The door to the classroom opened again, and this time a large group of students with red-and-yellow detailings in their robes entered the room.
"Harry!" One of the boys shouted and Harry glanced towards the sound to see Ron amongst the crowd. "What are you doing there!"
"Greetings, Mr. Weasley." Harry started to speak but nearly all of the Gryffindor boys charged in and grabbed hold of Harry, as if to pull him to their midst.
The Slytherin students in the group that had followed Malfoy glanced at each other, paled, and then pulled out their wands after Malfoy's example. "And what are you doing to Mr. Potter, blood-traitor?"
"You've done something to Harry's head! Malfoy! You'll pay for this!" Ron was practically frothing from the mouth as he and a couple of other boys grabbed and tossed Harry at the bigger group of Gryffindor boys, who caught him and put him on his feet. "That newspaper was your doing, wasn't it, Malfoy?! Yours and your father's! I bet you did something to the Sorting Hat too! Harry was going to Gryffindor and then you messed it all up!"
"I am certain that I have no idea what you are talking about, blood-traitor." Malfoy looked quite shaky and glanced minutely at Harry as if to look for orders.
Harry glanced at Ron, unsure what exactly was going on, and Malfoy's expression hardened as if the glance was a message of some sort.
"Slugulus Eructo!"
"Not again-! Huuurgh!"
Ron vomited a stream of slugs to the floor of the classroom.
The rest of the Gryffindors and the Slytherin joined the fight instantly.
"Stupefy!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Mimble Wimble!"
Harry took cover as the Hermetics began a minor civil war in the potions classroom.
Initially the battle was nearly one-sided for the benefit of Gryffindor, as the whole class of them had arrived as one group, but when the rest of the Slytherin students joined the class, the fight became considerably more balanced- Until eventually it died down to a trench warfare with cauldrons used as makeshift cover in the devastated classroom that was slick with various substances that had been in the jars that lined the walls, at least until they had been caught in the spell barrage and been spread all over the floors.
"Students. Today we- What in the name of Merlin are you doing you stupid children?!" A deep drawl turned to a near-disbelieving shriek that pretty much instantly caused the fight to come to an end.
"They started it- Bguuuuu!" Ron vomited a bucketful of slugs on Snape's shoes as the professor had practically burst through the door and stopped in shock as he saw the devastation in the classroom.
"Hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor! A month's detention to each and every single one of you!" Snape shrieked at the Gryffindor students. "Wait- this is the Fourth Year- POTTER!"
"Present, Professor Snape." Harry rose from behind a cauldron that he had used for cover, and bowed deeply to the professor.
The professor practically flew to loom over Harry. "POTTER!"
"Sir." Harry nodded- And then he found himself upside-down in the air, and flying towards what looked like a door on the opposite side of the room. 'Oh boy. Here we go.'
"All of you- Clean up this mess! Gryffindor, if I so much think that one of you has touched your wands, I will have you in detention for the rest of your time in Hogwarts! Slytherin, you may use your wands but only for cleaning and repairing Charms! And after you've cleaned after yourselves- Gryffindor idiots, out of my classroom! Slytherin, stay!" Snape practically breathed fire as he addressed the Gryffindor students and then almost off-handedly mentioned the Slytherin students. "Potter."
"Scrubbing as instructed, sir." Harry noted while he was upside-down in the air, and his head was scraping the floor, and his hair was spreading the mess around the floor like a human mop.
"You and I will have a talk." Snape motioned with his wand and Harry floated to a side room of some sorts that, in closer inspection, was an office.
Snape gave a small wave behind himself and the door to the wider classroom slammed shut, and Snape lifted his eyebrow just minutely, his face now a perfect image of an angry yet calculating mask. "What was that just now, Potter?"
"'Looked like a civil war between two cabals of Hermetic Order, Professor." Harry did his best to bow while upside-down. "Mr. Weasley attempted to grab me and pull me to his cabal, and-"
"House, Potter. House. We do not use the word cabal here." Snake drawled and kept his wand on Harry. "And then what."
"Mr. Malfoy acted out to protect me, resulting in a minor conflict. I didn't observe any deaths or severe injuries, though. As far as I'm aware no Backslash or Paradox either." Harry finished.
"And you had nothing to do with it, I presume?" Snape flicked his wand just a bit, and since nothing happened, Harry took it as a threat that the motion was likely intended to be.
"I would ask you to perform your magic to verify my intentions via Mind, but I suspect that you wouldn't be able to trust the results, Professor." Harry told Snape, and got smashed back on the ground as the magic that kept his ankles up in the air dissipated. 'Ow. I hope that Hermetics have potions that protect against getting your neck snapped. It seems to be an occupational risk here…'
"What have I told you about your wit, Potter?"
"To not exercise it on people that can see through it, and that I am not nearly as charismatic as I believe that I am, Professor."
"And you don't seem to learn. Detention, Potter. For one week." Snape flicked his wand, causing the grease and whatever else stuff had accumulated into Harry's hair during his brief life as a mop to disappear harmlessly. "And do something to your unkempt appearance. Your hair specifically. It offends me. It reminds me too much of the untrained dog that some called James Potter."
"Yes, Professor." Harry didn't comment on Snape's own grease-hairdo, considering that he was fairly certain that the professor was baiting him.
Separating one's ego from the situation was a simple task- And in a roundabout way, Harry guessed that not biting to Snape's bait would trouble the man more than him going off on the professor.
Indeed, Snape's nose wrinkled as if he was uncertain, before he huffed and waved his hand towards the door. "Off with you. Thank the Sorting Hat and whatever trick you pulled on it that you are now in Slytherin, or I would have ejected you from Potions classes altogether."
"Yes, Professor." Harry bowed before moving back to the potions classroom, which by now was mostly restored, and the Gryffindors were gone- And judging by the trail of slugs, Harry guessed that they had left early to carry Ron into whatever counted as 'a hospital' for Hermetics.
"Now then." Snape came from the office after Harry and the professor flicked his wand, causing the rest of the grime to vanish, the cracked cauldrons to reassemble themselves, and the fallen jars of various substances to fly back to their cupboards, cabins and holders. "Despite your best efforts, the Potions class shall start now. As Dumbledore has placed you to fourth year, Potter, for reasons that elude me, Mr. Malfoy will be partnering up with you to ensure that you do not cause a disaster with your potion that would kill us all."
Snape's mouth curled into a small, sightly mocking smile. "After all, I heard from Potter that Mr. Malfoy decided to charge valorously to Potter's aid when he needed it most. After all, being surrounded by Gryffindors is truly a… horrific… fate."
Snape scrunched his eyebrows just minutely as Malfoy looked quite happy, if very nervous, after hearing the news.
Harry just shrugged and walked next to Malfoy. "I'll be in your care, Mr. Malfoy. I hope I won't be disappointed."
Malfoy gulped and nodded.
Snape scrunched his eyebrows harder.
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And at the end of the first Potions lesson, Harry decided that he loved potions, after he discovered that he could use the Hermetic way of brewing to create every sort of psychedelic he could think of, and more.