Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Jujutsu Kaisen. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Four - House Relations

Soon after that the prefects gathered everybody up and escorted them down numerous halls and levels of stairs to reach the dungeons where their common room awaited. Strangely enough, the twin doors to enter were covered by what looked like a criss-cross collage of metal thorns. They writhed and slithered away however when the female prefect said the word, "Majesty." It was apparently the password to enter and if any of them told someone from another house they were assured a punishment would follow, as getting an entire house to learn a new password midway through the year was a huge hassle.

Once they were all settled in the common room, Harry and Draco sharing a couch, some others on the various chairs, and a few on the floor, their head of house swept into the room, his cloak swinging dramatically behind him.

'Huh,' Harry thought, 'I did it better.'

Stalking up to stand before them all he stopped and glared down his nose at the students. His gaze lingered a bit longer on Harry, but it moved on eventually. "I'm not one for long-winded speeches so I'll keep this simple. Our house has a negative reputation amongst the students and faculty, so each and every one of you must work harder than any other student to excel. I expect nothing but the best from all of you, and if you have any issues I want you to look to your housemates, then your prefects, and if all else fails me. Finally, if you find yourself getting into trouble and I have to leave my research and brewing to attend a meeting with you and another teacher just know that the punishment they give you will pale to what I do once we get back here. Your schedules will be handed out in the morning. So get to bed!"

Another flurry of his oversized cloak and Snape disappeared back out the door. The students all exchanged wary looks and some of them started heading off to their rooms. So that was of course when a group of four much older students, two boys and two girls, arrived with frowns on their faces and eyes locked on the boy who lived.

"Potter! The boy in the lead said when they stopped a few feet away from him. "The fuck do you think you're doing in Slytherin?"

Hardly paying attention to the idiots in front of him, Harry looked at the Malfoy beside him. "Draco, did you hear anything just now? It sounded like a braying mule invaded the common room."

The entire crowd gasped at his words, and Draco did his best to laugh convincingly. To be honest, he was a little worried. He knew his friend had unique abilities, but he was actively pissing off four students that had years of magical education on them.

"Oh, we got a wise guy do we?" The leader snarled before drawing his wand, an act followed by his three compatriots as well. "You know, we all were thinking you might have tricked the sorting hat. Maybe convinced it to send you here as an insult. Imagine a Gryffindor in green and silver. Well we can't have that." A crimson light began to build at the tip of the boy's wand to punctuate his next point, "So we're gonna do what everyone else in this house wishes they could and stain those fancy robes of yours red. So that way you'll never be able to hide what you really are. "Reduct-"

The teenager's words were interrupted as he suddenly found the wand knocked from his hands and his body hoisted three feet into the air with his arms painfully outstretched to either side. The others quickly raised their own weapons and aimed them at their target, rightly believing him to be the source of such strangeness even though he had no wand in his hand. They were right. Too bad they didn't cast when they had the chance.

Harry stood and proclaimed, "Red menagerie." with a giant smirk on his face.

The common room broke in shrieks of terror as six fully viewable, red skinned, monstrosities shot out of his shadow and tackled the other aggressors to the floor, biting arms and legs and pulling them in all directions until the older Slytherins were all immobilized.

As the gathered crowd bunched as far as they could into the wall to gain space from the conflict, only Draco and Hermione remained by his side. "I thought you said most people couldn't see those things?" Draco noted.

Hermione blinked at the blonde's words. "You've seen one before?"

"At Madam Malkins. Harry showed me one."

"And I told you later," Harry broke in, "That there are varying levels of cursed spirits. These are some of my stronger spirits and thus they can be seen. Now if you will excuse me, I need to deal with this."

Mr. Smile was still perched in his usual place on his shoulder, so when Harry reached his hand over to his mouth the creature was ready, opening his jaw wide, and allowing the boy who lived to pull from its throat his favorite birthday gift ever from Yuki. A long handled ax that stood a little shorter than his body. Gripping the large single bladed weapon in both hands he let out a hoot of delight and swung twice at the first attacker, only turning the haft around at the last second so the blunt end impacted his elbows, shattering both beneath the weight of his swings. As the older boy screamed bloody murder at the ruin of his limbs, he was dropped unceremoniously to the floor, and the invisible spirits swept over to the floor to his next victims to help hold their legs as he reversed his ax to point handle down, and one by one smashed all of their kneecaps into the hard stone beneath.

But he wasn't done yet. A message needed to be sent here for the entire house about who now stood at the top of the food chain. So as everyone continued to watch the fallen upperclassmen in horror he lifted the ringleader up by his neck, smiling as his eyes opened back up with fear at the act. He wasn't tall enough to lift him entirely from the ground, but the way the other boy squirmed to try to get free was just plain amusing. So Harry began to laugh as he pummeled his opponent's body with a cursed energy enhanced fist. He felt bones break, cartilage snap, and screams halted by the pressure he exerted on the other boy's larynx. It was only when he felt a calming hand on his shoulder that he stopped, turning to find the blond visage of Daphne Greengrass looking down at him. She seemed remarkably tall for her age.

"That's enough." She said, "You've made your point." So saying she gestured to the room at large now full to bursting with upperclassman as well as the newbies. Apparently the noise of his response had drawn them out. Perfect.

Dropping the now limp body back to the dirt it belonged on, Harry turned around, folded his arms confidently over his chest, and addressed everyone present as Daphne fell back to Draco's side. "They said they wanted to show us all what I really am, well I'd say they succeeded, because what I am is the new top dog of this house. Look at them," he pointed to bleeding and groaning bodies beneath his feet, "now back to me. Now back to them, and back to me." He repeated this correspondence a few more times to drive the point home.

"These idiots outnumbered me and no doubt knew way more about magical combat and defense than I do yet they were still nothing before my might. I want you all to remember this sight, and think about what happens should you cross me. As of this moment, Slytherin house is mine. Get used to it."

Allowing a few moments for his words to gestate in everyone's minds he snapped his fingers at what appeared to be a grouping of fifth years. "You, you, you, and the rest of you too, pick these fucks up and take them to the hospital wing. If anyone asks, one of them tripped on the top of the stairs and took the others down with them. Should I find you've told anyone otherwise I'll be very displeased." He willed some of his red spirits over to loom behind him at the end and took pleasure at how quickly the terrified fifth years moved to follow his orders.

Deciding he'd had enough fun for one night he approached Draco and Hermione. "Should we choose our rooms then?"

Hermione wasn't having it yet though. "Harry, y-y-you just-"

"Eliminated a threat before it could fester and get worse?" He offered. "Hermione, they came after me first because I'm famous for killing the old dark lord that championed blood purity. After they were done with me how long do you think it would have been before they came for you?"

"I'm sure the teachers would have helped-"

"The teachers weren't here." Draco couldn't listen to the girl try to justify anything at the moment. "In Slytherin you need to create a reputation, a persona, a reason to be left alone. Professor Snape wouldn't have stopped anything here. And even if he would have, by the time you ran to get him and brought him back then everything that happened would have still concluded in the same way."

That shut the bookworm up, and her worried eyes moved to track the upper years dragging the sobbing victims out of the portal hole. It looked like the leader had been in a bloody car crash. "Did I make the right choice coming here?"

Harry wrapped an arm around her and led her toward the branching hall for the dorms. "Of course you did Hermione. You chose to be with friends, and friends look after each other. I promise I'll look after you."

"Thank you." In spite of what she'd just seen, and the misgivings that had temporarily seized her heart, Hermione found herself once more reassured now that Harry had called her a friend again. Oh she couldn't wait to write to her parents and tell them all about it.

As it turned out, one of the benefits of being in Slytherin was that students got to have their own rooms. In every other house they had to share. They weren't large by any means, but after they each selected their rooms, (right next door to each other of course) and he set up and entered his trunk, it didn't really matter. After all, you put a house in a cupboard and you still have a house. He didn't even bother to make up a bed because his regular one was already made and ready for him in the magically expanded space.

The next morning was interesting. Snape was handing out course schedules and maps of where the classrooms were while asking about the injured students that had been taken to the hospital wing the night prior. Apparently he wasn't completely buying the 'falling down the stairs' story. It didn't really matter though as the entire house was still too scared of him to say anything.

As he and Draco exited the dorms and met up with Hermione making her way to the common room they found themselves joined by a pair of girls, Daphne Greengrass and a halfblood that introduced herself as Tracy Davis. When asked about why they were tagging along with them, Daphne had looked Harry in the eye and said, "You're interesting and powerful. I think you might go far and I'd like to see it first hand."

Harry had just told her to do as she liked. He appreciated people being upfront like that. When they got to the great hall they took seats at the head of the table, and though the staff gave them some strange looks, the students were too damn nervous to say anything about it. There were many questions for Harry once he sat down of course. People wanting to know if he could fly or just float, how he'd done it, where he'd been since disappearing from the wizarding world, and even what his thoughts on modern politics were. That last was particularly strange because Harry found most of his questioners knew next to nothing about 'actual' modern politics. They wanted to know his opinions on the recent Ministry alterations to the standard sizes of potion pots and quill nub ratios. Seriously, who gave a shit?

It was as they were about to dig into their meals that Harry suddenly noticed a darker skinned girl of clear Indian descent sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table. Leaning over to Draco he asked, "Who is that?"

The blonde looked where his friend was pointing and huffed. "Padma Patil, her twin sister Parvati was sorted into Gryffindor if you can believe it."

"You don't seem thrilled to be talking about her." Hermione noted. Honestly the girl was a bit worried one of her new friends was racist; after some of the comments she'd heard others in the common room making the night before it wouldn't have been too far fetched to believe.

Luckily, Draco waved that possibility away and said, "Oh I have nothing against her personally. Her father owns Patil Trading, a massive shipping conglomerate for inter-magical community exports. He's outbid my dad for 'special' deals three times in the last year and I've had to listen to him rave about the man at the dinner table extensively."

Not really caring about that, Harry asked, "Is she Indian?"

"Yes, from what I understand her father moved their family over here when she and her sister were eight and they still maintain strong family ties to New Delhi."

"Excellent. I think I'll go introduce myself." He made to stand.

"Harry?" Hermione was curious what he intended.

"I speak three languages, Hermione, but Hindi is not one of them. I'm curious if I can convince her to teach me." Telling Draco to hold an extra seat he 'floated' across the expanse of the room and tapped the Ravenclaw girl on the shoulder. She jumped with surprise before turning to face him. "Do you levitate yourself all the time?" Her keen eyes tracked the space between his feet and the ground.

"Wouldn't you if you could? I'm Harry Potter."

"Padma Patil."

"I know." He responded easily as he jerked a thumb back at his seat, "Wanna come sit with us?"

"Why?"

"I'm curious about you and Indian culture. I've been to New Delhi several times and it might be nice to have someone to talk to about it."

The girl lit up at those words. She was too used to wizards looking down on her and her family for being foreigners, but here was one of the most famous ones in the country offering a place at his table, and a chance to talk about the place she still considered her true home. Padma thought about it for a moment before nodding and hopping off her bench to follow him. She'd never been invited to sit with people before, She hadn't really made any friends in Ravenclaw to sit with yet, and there were no rules against spending time at other House tables as far as she was aware.

It became a strange experience for her, sharing a meal with others. Sure there was a bit of tension with Draco at first, but Harry had told her in confidence that the blond boy was dealing with years of pureblood indoctrination and he was making an effort to change. So she decided to cut him some slack.

Daphne too was great conversation. Hermione, she found, was quite knowledgeable, poised, and full of useful information about the school's history. In return she provided the muggleborn some examples of how best to interact with the vast number of purebloods around her. It was enough apparently to get the bushy haired girl ranting about how there wasn't an introduction class to the wizarding world customs for students like her.

The only problem Padma faced during the meal was the constant feeling of her housemate's cold glares upon her back. Was sitting at another table really such a big deal to them?

This set a trend for the new foursome of Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Padma. Every day, early in the morning, Harry would train his body and meditate. Yuki had given him plenty of exercises to further his jujutsu training and he didn't want to be found lacking when he went back to her over the Christmas break. He wasn't sure if any of the others could use cursed energy, but the fact they couldn't see Mr. Smile from his usual place on his shoulder meant they wouldn't likely benefit from any of his lessons. That being said, they did sometimes join him for early meditations, and each commented that they felt a stronger connection to their magic as a result after every session. Draco and Hermione begged off his workouts, but Padma apparently liked to run, so on his cardio days she could often be found at his side doing laps around the Black Lake.

Following those events they ate breakfast with Padma, attended classes, and in the evening they sat together again for meals, talked about things and bonded as children were wont to do. They also met in the library later in the evening to study together and prepare for the next day's lessons. Slytherins might not put academic learning on as high a pedestal as the Ravenclaws, but they still had standards to maintain. For her part, Hermione had found the lack of academic interest in her own house more than a bit disconcerting. Slytherin was supposed to be the house of the ambitious and cunning, but not many seemed interested in sharpening their minds to a hewn edge.

Speaking of classes, there were two particular ones that stood out in the weeks leading up to October. Both on the first day in fact. The first had been transfiguration with Professor McGonagoll, and it had been amazing. They'd walked in, taken their seats, and been more than a bit confused by the tabby cat sitting alone on the teacher's desk. At least until Damien had hissed {Masssster, that feline sssssmellsss like the woman that took you to buy me.}

{Really?}

{Yessssss.}

Harry had smiled widely and said nothing to his friends' questions about what Damien had to say, hoping not to ruin the surprise. He was not disappointed. Ron Weasley, the idiot that he was, arrived to class late, tried to pass it off, and was immediately berated by a suddenly transforming professor. The act earned gasps, laughs, and exclamations of amazement all around, and served as a truly worthy introduction to just what the art of transfiguration was capable of. They'd spent the next hour discussing the syllabus, theory, and what they could expect to learn over the course of the year. Harry left the room thinking he may have just found his favorite subject. Especially because Minerva had explained to him that his father had been a near prodigy at it. She'd done this hoping to spark a fire in him and had immediately known she'd succeeded by the eager grin her words created on his face.

The second however was his first potions experience. Now Harry had gone into it rather excited. He'd read the first three years textbooks cover to cover because the very idea of it fascinated him. Creating all kinds of effects and distillations from a fluid that you yourself brewed was astonishing. (Though the idea of creating his own version of Senzu Beans might have had something to do with it too. He liked Dragon Ball Z, sue him) Hermione was equally as excited because the class reminded her of chemistry, and she wanted to know if there were actual similarities.

So they were both justifiably disappointed when Severus Snape swept in, insulted everyone in his opening speech, and set his anger filled sights right on him.

"Mr. Potter. Our new… celebrity. And a supposed Slytherin to boot. Well we shall see about that." His voice had morphed into a growl by the end. "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"The drought of living death, Professor Snape."

The adult's face scrunched up in distaste before asking, "Where would I find a bezoar?"

Harry answered instantly. "I would imagine you keep a fresh supply in your ingredients room, but in the wilds a bezoar could be found in the stomach of a goat."

Now clearly pissed off Snape inquired, "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

For this one Harry had to think for a moment. Mainly because it was something he'd read about in the third year textbook and he'd primarily focused on the first year to prep for this class. "I don't really believe there is one, Professor. In general terms they are the same plant, otherwise known as aconite."

Snape's hands smashed on the boy's desk, "How do you know all that!?"

Ever since learning of the existence of Legilimancy, Harry had avoided looking people in the eye, and he continued that trend now, staring at his teacher's forehead as he replied, "I thought this subject sounded interesting so I read ahead."

Snape seemed genuinely surprised for a moment, and dare he say fascinated, before the usual scowl returned to his face and he barked to the class at large, "Well! Why aren't you all writing this down!"

The rest of the period went by much as Transfiguration had. They went over the syllabus, course goals, and the dangers and need for safe handling of ingredients was stressed like crazy. When the bell signaled the end of the period they were instructed to bring their brewing tools to the next class and released, until a firm hand landed on the young Potter's shoulder.

"Potter, stay behind for a moment."

It was only by a sheer force of will, and the small amount of respect Minerva had drilled in him for his professors, that Harry kept himself from blasting his greasy haired head of house across the room. Instead he turned around to face him as the last student left, sealing them alone in the classroom.

For a moment the greasy haired man just looked at him before averting his gaze. "You really read ahead in the book?"

"Books." Harry bit out, incredibly annoyed to be held up like this. "I read the first three years textbooks cover to cover. As I said, this class sounded really interesting and I wanted to know more."

Upon hearing those words Snape walked back to his desk and nearly fell into his chair. "I knew your parents, you know."

That stopped Harry's sour mood cold. "You did?"

"Yes. I hated you, Potter. Before I even knew you I hated you. And do you know why? Because your father made my life a living hell. He was a stuck up, arrogant, bully that targeted anyone and everyone in Slytherin or that he found beneath him. But your mother, oh she was the best friend I ever had." His eyes found the boy again at that point, "She loved potions. Not as much as Charms, but she was a natural brewer. You reminded me of her today, and I'm going to hope that you have more of her in you than you do your father. Because I cannot simply hate you after this realization."

"Professor, I-"

"Get out, you'll be late for your next class."

Harry really wanted to hear more from this man about his parents, and even considered subjecting him to violent interrogation to do just that. Minerva had told him some about them when she learned Petunia had told him nothing but lies, and had promised to explain more, but she had never mentioned his father was a bully. Yet Snape's tone brooked no argument, and as annoying as the man was he hadn't done enough to warrant his power's use yet, so the boy left to attend his next class as instructed.

Things quieted again for a while until Halloween day, and one particular class. Charms.

Things were going well. The students were learning the levitation charm, an act that was remarkably easier for Harry than the other students. After all, while they were busy with wrist movements and tip flicking, all he had to do was focus on the object (compared to dealing with cursed energy magic was downright easy) in this case a feather, and will it to rise into the air. Needless to say, he was the first to get it right, followed immediately by Hermione and Daphne.

His respect for the blond girl was growing by the day, and he was starting to believe her intellect was on par with Hermione's own. Speaking of Hermione, she appeared to be using her remaining time to help the annoyed looking Gryffindors get the trick down.

It seemed a waste to him to sacrifice your time and knowledge for ungrateful people incapable of putting in the effort themselves, but to each their own. She was just helping the Weasley asshole when the bell rang to announce their departure.

So it was that the two troupes exited the room. Once in the hall the Slytherins were just in close enough proximity to the Gryffindors to hear Ron wining to one of his compatriots about someone that was 'mental' and 'didn't have any friends'. When Hermione shoved past them all with tears in her eyes it was all too clear who he was referring to.

The world slowed around the boy who lived and a second later to everyone else he was holding the redheaded boy by the neck of his shirt against the nearest wall… five feet off the ground as he 'hovered' in place.

"What. did. you. say?" He hissed.

Ron gasped and flailed for several seconds before staring at Harry with terrified eyes and stuttering, "I-I s-said the t-truth. G-Granger is a n-no good know-it-all, and s-she rubs her skill in our faces. W-Who would want to be friends w-with someone like that? S-She's just a-another dirty snake!" The entire time he was struggling to deal with the growing pain of his body pulling down from his head. So, getting tired of the near constant stutter, he was dropped in a tangle of limbs to the floor.

As he hovered over the the still cowering Weasley, Harry turned his furious gaze over the other red and gold clad students present. "Do you all feel as this rat does?" Upon seeing the nervous and guilty looks of more than a few of his fellow first years, a growl began to build in his throat. "So you would prefer that someone as brilliant and skilled as Hermione Granger dim herself and lower her standards just so you can feel better about your inadequacy? To be less than her potential would allow her to be? Fuck you!"

Having said his piece, the boy who lived floated back to his group and addressed Daphne. "Find Hermione, wherever she is, and let her know that that rat's words mean nothing. We are her friends, we do care about her, and we like her just the way she is."

In any other circumstance the young Greengrass heiress would have argued against anyone presuming to give her an order, but she liked Granger and hated seeing her in tears as she had been. "Very well." The blond took off with Tracy Davis, as always, on her heels, leaving him alone with Draco.

"What now, Harry?" The Malfoy heir asked.

"Now we go to our next class. If you think Hermione is upset now, imagine how much worse it would be if she didn't have notes to study with for tomorrow."