It was a difficult adjustment period, they were able to accept their nephew as a wizard but did the school really had to be located hell and gone like this? Alister did warn the family that Harry wouldn't be able to phone home and say he made it to the school safely due to the school not having muggle tech there. That just made them worried, maybe if on the offhand chance Dudley could go to that school next year was a bad idea, they kept looking at the phone for most of the day depending where they were, should they call Eloise and get more information from her? Should they just wait for Harry to send an owl? No, they could wait a few days before Harry did send on, he was probably getting settled and starting classes as they speak. If they didn't hear anything from him in a week then they would call Eloise about it.

They didn't have to wait long, a familiar black SUV pulled into their driveway with the license plate reading "Orchid" the couple sighed in relief as Eloise came out of the car and bounded up the walkway, Petunia was quick to open the door and invite her into their home with a smile and a relieved sigh. Someone up there must've heard their prayers and sent this angel of a woman to their rescue.

"We were talking about you." Petunia said, guiding her to the living room. "About the owl delivery I mean."

"What a coincidence." Eloise held up two envelopes. "I was here to deliver Harry's letter to you, they just sent these out yesterday." She set them on the table. "Well, go on, you can open Harry's letter, it's not going to blow up."

She was hesitant, "Let's read Chrys' letter first." She said almost immediately. "I mean, I'm certain you're dying to know if he's anything like his father."

Eloise raised an eyebrow before shrugging, she picked up Chrys' letter and opened it, she took out some polaroid photos from the envelope and laid them on the table. "I snuck a camera in Chrys' bag, told him to take some pictures and to let Harry take a few as well. Wasn't certain if a digital camera would work there or not so, had to get my mother's camera out to be safe."

Dear Mom,

Greetings from Hogwarts! Settling in just fine, the castle is just beautiful I wish I could've taken a picture of it when I was arriving at night. I guess I have a lot to update you on before I head off to bed for another day of classes huh?

First off, the sorting ceremony was…what one would expect, we had to wear an enchanted hat that would put us in one of four houses. I was expecting to be in Gryffindor like dad but the hat found me a better fit for Slytherin, despite the underwater ambiance, it's actually pretty intimidating because of our head of house Professor Snape (I'm pretty certain he's the Grim Reaper in person). Speaking of Slytherin, I got a room upgrade, we had to take a test to see who's a parselmouth and…I guess I got the luck of the draw, the snake understood me and now I'm in a hidden suite. The good news is that I can place an enchantment to let friends visit me in my room, the bad news is Harry still can't come in since it's against the rules to go into other houses other than your own…Harry's in Gryffindor so he can't come into Slytherin.

Classes, so…we've had our first herbology class and let me tell you going over the healing properties of various plants had been insightful! We're growing and harvesting dittany leaves for health potions! Maybe once I get the hang of potions I can send some home for dad and his team! I should wrap this up, we have Transfiguration, and honestly I'm not too thrilled about it; it's a joined class with Gryffindors and there's this girl that's…I'm not trying to be mean but she's kind of a know it all and kind of draining. I'll write to you soon!

-Chrys

"Class drama already?" Petunia asked incredulously, she carefully took the letter and looked it over to see if Eloise left some things out. Nope, it was the entirety of the letter. "Didn't think he'd have girl trouble this early on."

Eloise shook her head. "I'm going to safely assume this girl is a muggle born, they have more on their plate than others. I'll be sure to let him know to give her a break."

Vernon was picking up the pictures and looking them over. "He wasn't kidding about his dorm having an underwater ambiance. Slytherin looks pretty elegant, I feel like I'd have to wear a suit and carry a champagne flute to fit in."

"Oh come now, it's not." Eloise looked at the pictures of the dorm and paused. "Okay, no, you're right." She picked up a few of the other pictures of the school itself; the Great Hall, Herbology greenhouse, the courtyard, and a distant shot of the forbidden forest. "The school is beautiful like he said."

Petunia nodded and set a picture down. "He mentioned Professor Snape, maybe it's just me but…could he be talking about Severus Snape?"

"You know his teacher?" Vernon asked with a surprise look.

"I think this is the same Snape." She said. "But yes, Severus and Lily were good friends growing up."

Eloise took out a compact mirror and tapped it three times. "Alister Lindsay." She waited before an image of her husband appeared, originally asleep from jetlag, but waking up as his wife called. "Sorry for waking you dear, could you tell me something about your classmate?"

Alister smiled at her. "Of course, which one?"

"Severus Snape, do you know what he's doing now?"

"Sev?" Alister's smile fell a bit. "Yeah, he's teaching potions at Hogwarts, why?"

"Well, our son wrote to us and described his teacher and name dropped him, and Petunia was wondering if this was the same Severus Snape she knew." Eloise explained.

"Petunia…Right! Her name used to be Evans." Alister yawned again and nod. "Yeah, it's the same Severus she knows, I'm pretty sure if we asked Chrys to call his teacher 'Sevvy' he'd know in a heartbeat that Chrys had encounters with the Evans."

"Well we're not going to do that and risk him getting detention." Petunia chided lightly. "We'll let you get some rest, Alister."

Eloise ended the 'call' and put her mirror away before motioning to the unopened letter. "Well, now that we got that out of the way, perhaps it's time for you to open Harry's letter?"

There was that hesitation again, Petunia just cleared her throat before opening the letter with shaking hands, she took the pictures out first before assuring Eloise that she would get to the letter, she just wanted to see Hogwarts from the pictures that Harry had took.

The Gryffindor house that had the cozy atmosphere with the fire place and the room decked out in gold and burgundy giving it the welcome home feeling, a completely different feeling than the Slytherin's underwater elegance. A picture of the transfiguration classroom and the teacher Professor McGonagall giving a small smile to the camera, she was in her emerald robes and thin framed glasses. One of Sir Nicholas (Or Nearly Headless Nick as Harry would mention in his letter) sitting on the rails with The Grey Lady, and finally a picture of the Quidditch pitch.

"Now see this?" Vernon picked up the one of the Gryffindor dorm. "This feels welcoming, this is the kind of dorm you could dress casually in versus the one in Slytherin."

Eloise nodded in slight agreement. "And that was Alister's dorm when he was a student there." She smiled lightly before turning serious. "Alright, enough dancing around are you going to read Harry's letter or am I going to have to be the one to do it?"

Petunia held up her hand in surrender before she picked up the letter. Her heart was beating a million miles per second, she had to remind herself it was the first week of school and that nothing exciting was going to happen, it was just a simple 'classes are fine' letter. Why was she nervous? It wasn't like Harry was going to mention about nearly dying in classes!

Dear Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon,

The journey here went without a problem, Chrys and I made some friends (At least, I'm hoping Malfoy was trying to be friends…there's something about him…) their names are Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, we've spent the train ride talking and having a small sweets feast. Ron and I are in Gryffindor, the dorm is cozy and I have a nice window view with Ron.

Classes are completely alien…actually the whole school is. I've gotten turned around at least five times with Ron trying to find our classes. The end result was us trying to open a locked door into a forbidden corridor with a Hufflepuff girl and her showing a hand drawn map to a cantankerous caretaker who had to point us in the right direction. Starting to wish technology would work here, we're probably going to need a GPS to find our way around!

On the topic of classes; History was…actually, I couldn't tell you anything about History class. I think everyone except this girl in my dorm, Hermione, fell asleep during the lecture. Charms was just us going over what we're going to be learning, Transfiguration…I think my head almost exploded from taking notes. We had to turn a match into a needle and I doubt any of us had any luck with it. I'm going to have to wrap this up, I have potions coming up and according to Chrys, Professor Snape is not one who appreciates tardiness. Afterwards, we're going to visit the grounds keeper, Hagrid, he invited Ron and I for tea and to see how classes are.

Harry

"El," Petunia looked at her with a hint of concern in her eyes. "He's exaggerating about falling asleep in class, right?"

"I don't know why you're asking me about Hogwarts' classes." Eloise shook her head and thought back trying to remember if Alister said anything about the courses he took at the school. "I think Alister did mentioned that History was also code for naptime due to the professor being a ghost and has the tendency to put people to sleep without trying."

"Well, the boys sound like they're doing fine." Vernon assured everyone. "After all, there's always going to be that one class students in general hate. Why, I remember my time at Smelting, everyone hated art class then because the teacher always smelled like cheap cigars and booze. Perhaps having a ghost boring students to sleep is just their version of Smetling's art class."

Eloise just stared at Vernon incredulously. "Okay, as that one comedian says; now we don't have time to unpack all of that." She turned to the pictures the boys took and sighed with a light nod. "Yeah…our boys will be fine, after all it's only the first week, I'm sure the next time we hear from them they'll have more to talk about."

Right, the boys will be fine. Petunia looked at the pictures again, she still felt that nervous sweat forming. It's as Mrs. Lindsay had said, they're only in their first week of school, so why was she feeling like this? It's just a school, they're safe at the school, so why was that nagging feeling of dread bothering her so much?

*
"Give me the Gryffindor password, I'm moving in." Chrys said, sharply.

"Calm down now." Percy laid a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me what's wrong, Chrys, is it something the teachers should be aware of?"

"I really don't want to be in the same space as Professor Snape or Draco Malfoy; both of them are going to cause me to die of cardiomyopathy!"

"While I agree with the notion, I'm afraid I can't really give you our password." Percy sighed. "It's strictly against the rules, even if I could let you in, that's not really stopping Professor McGonagall from giving you detention at best. I'm sorry Chrys, but you're just going to have to tough it out." He watched the boy give a displeased groan and shook his head. "In any case, you need to get to class; you have potions coming up soon, don't you?" he watched Chrys nod. "Then you should get going, I'm sorry Chrys, be strong you'll be fine."

Be strong he said; that was a laugh! But, Percy had some form of a point about it all. Suppose it wouldn't really look if he tried hiding away instead of facing everything head on. Today was a dual potion class, he would be taking the class with the Gryffindors and that had to be the silver lining as he would be with Harry and Ron again! He just had to make sure to sit near them for this class and everything was going to be alright!

Back into the dismal dungeons yet again. A feeling as if he were walking on death row as he descended down those stone stairs and kept getting the feeling of eternal with every step taken. Down and down, deeper into what one could affectionately call the pits of hell until finally he made his way through the halls and into the room that held potions. Chrys was doing everything he could to remind himself that Percy had a point about being strong and everything would be fine; as much as he wanted to hide away from the professor and his fellow Slytherins, he knew that wouldn't really solve his problems.

The good news; the desks were arranged so that a group of five could sit at them! This meant that Chrys would have little to no problems sitting next to Ron and Harry! He actually felt himself getting excited at the notion that upon sitting next to them, his joy was immediately dashed when the bad news came; Draco would have a reason to slide over with the three. To add salt to the wound, Crabbe and Goyle were at the table next to them and were at the ready for whatever Draco would have them do like the loyal minions that they were.

Chrys shook his head lightly when he saw Ron roll his eyes as Hermione showed up and sat beside them. Right, the little miss know-it-all. He didn't really have a problem with her like Ron might have, but she could be a bit draining at times. He watched her get everything out and sitting upright with prim and perfection, honestly, Chrys couldn't tell if she was trying to be impressive with the teachers or not. Well, at least with the arrival of Hermione next to the two aforementioned Gryffindors did things get a little better.

Like with the arrival of Draco sitting next to them, any good feeling was dashed when a tall, lanky man with long black hair that framed his face, piercing black eyes, robes that would've gave him the appearance of a giant bat and skin so pale one would assume they were looking upon the personification of death himself! Chrys felt the weight of dread returning to him as he saw his head of house walk in, the Grim Reaper had appeared in class yet again.

Roll call went as one would expect until the man paused at two of the names. And deep in the hearts of many, everyone knew who those two names belonged to.

"Ah yes…Mr. Harry Potter, and Mr. Chrysanthos Lindsay, our new celebrities."

Hearing his full name from a teacher like Professor Severus Snape, did not bring any ease to him. "It's Chrys." The boy said softly. At least, he had assumed he said it softly until all eyes were on him and the teacher made his way over.

"Pardon?" Snape asked, his voice cold as ice.

Be brave. Be brave. Chrys looked up at him, trying to steel his nerves. "I…tend to go by Chrys, sir, figured it would be easier than saying my full name every time."

The hard stare didn't leave him. "Don't think for one second that just because you're in the house of Slytherin I will overlook this." He turned and took his place at the head of the classroom, his voice now loud enough for the rest of the class to hear. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making, unlike any other classes you will take there is little foolish wand-waving here, I have my doubts the majority of you will truly classify this as magic." Everyone was still frozen and quiet at this. "While you're with me, I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even place a stopper on death – assuming you're nowhere the brainless ones I usually have to teach."

Right, Percy was wrong. Chrys was going to die from a heart failure. While going on his mantra, Chrys just clutched his pencil in a death grip as he wrote his notes; he knew there were rules about this, he knew he was supposed to use a quill and inkpot, but honestly? Those were an inconvenience, he'd rather bring the muggle tools like his mechanical pencil and get scolded for it rather than playing with the inkpot and inevitably make a mess. Harry noticed in a heartbeat and asked Chrys for one, of course he obliged and the two continued their notes.

Draco looked over and leaned to whisper to them, making sure Professor Snape wasn't listening in. "What are you two using?" he quietly demanded.

"Listen, I'll happily buy an owl and other things for class." Chrys said in the same hushed whisper. "But it will be a cold day in hell before I give up the convenience of a mechanical pencil."

A small hum and nod of the head. "Lindsay, I respect your muggle heritage but I'm not above letting the entire room know you've brought muggle tools to class with you."

Chrys narrowed his eyes at him. "You wouldn't dare, there's nothing to gain from that."

"And there's nothing to lose from it either." Draco smirked. "Of course, I could turn a blind eye if you and Potter reconsider being allied with me."

"Give me a solid reason and not the standard pureblood words and I'll consider it, until that day, I'd sooner burn in the pits of hell."

"Enjoy hell then, Lindsay." Draco nodded to Crabbe and Goyle. "Do it."

"Sir!" Crabbe spoke up. "The celebrities, Lindsay and Potter, are using muggle tools instead of the standard inkpot and quill!"

That got both Harry and Chrys turn a new pale shade as the room went dead silent with the only sound being Snape's footsteps approaching their table. The temperature of the room dropped as death himself stood beside their table setup and the dark eyes pierced into their souls, he held his hand out in a silent command to hand the tools over. Once in his hand, he placed one in the pocket of his robes as he twirled the other between his fingers and looked it over with a slightly amused expression before turning his hardened gaze on the two boys before him. Now, Snape wasn't going to lie, he was impressed by their notetaking. He'd dare say they were model students in keeping up with everything that was being said, of course, rules were rules after all and he had to enforce them.

"And…who provided these?"

Chrys lifted his hand up. "I did, sir…they're more convenient than fighting with the quill and inkpot."

"Is that right?" He turned and continued to play with the pencil as if it were a teacher's pointer. "I suppose, I can give these back to you two…if you can tell me what I would get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of wormwood." He turned and looked at the table again. "That question extends to you too, Potter."

Asphodel? Wasn't that the red stuff in the Silent Hill games? No, wait, that didn't sound right. Chrys looked at Harry and shrugged, he knew wormwood was pretty poisonous but also…

"I can tell you the wormwood's meaning is absence, sir." Chrys offered.

"Did I ask what wormwood's meaning was, Mr. Lindsay?" Snape snapped. "I've asked you what I would get mixing asphodel and wormwood would make." He shook his head with a sneer. "Typical for the son of a Quidditch player, let's try again; where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

This was definitely a reason to humiliate them. Hermione was at the table as well and had her hand up for Snape to call upon her. It was taking every ounce of nerves to tell her to not try answering Snape's questions. Stay out of this, you and Ron are the safe ones from this mess! Chrys just shook his head, and Harry gave a light shrug.

"We honestly don't know." Harry answered softly.

"You haven't even opened your book before even showing up." Snape shook his head. "Very well, let's make things easier for you both; what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"Honestly sir, I don't know." Harry gazed lightly at Hermione. "I think Hermione knows, you should ask her." There were a few snickers in class from that.

Snape glared at Hermione. "Sit down." He turned his gaze on Chrys. "I had hoped Mr. Chrysanthos Lindsay would be able to answer these." He sneered. "Did your parents put any thought into your name and its meaning or did they just pick the name because of how 'exotic' it sounded."

"Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the same plant just under different names." Chrys bit back. "And my family did know what my name translates to, Professor…"

"And yet, for someone with the name 'golden flower', he couldn't even tell me that asphodel and wormwood would make a powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of the Living Death as well as couldn't tell me that a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and will save you from most poison!" Snape slammed the pencil back on the desk, making the students – even the Slytherins flinch! "Since you've got one question correct, you can have this back…But I expect to see just you alone using this in my class." He turned to Potter. "Until some can impress me for that right."

Somewhere in the deepest pit of the human heart, was the thought that this wasn't so much of a classroom but rath an interrogation chamber. Unfortunately, it was not an interrogation chamber but instead a place where the professor's words were law, the classroom. And it was here was when people were paired into twos and having to brew a potion that would cure boils. To say that it went well was a massive understatement; some potions were either turning out wrong, a few select ones actually turning out right (Sadly, that would be Chrys and Draco's being one of the very few turning out right) and then you have the one case of a cauldron melting through and essentially spilling out onto the floor. The mix was so corrosive that students had found themselves standing on their stools or the desks themselves until the professor had to magic it away.

One scolding later and the student in question, Neville, had to be taken to the medical wing. One which Chrys was a little too eager to escort him to. It got him out of the dungeons at the very least and it would give him an excuse to get to know the other student a little better. Even if they were of different houses, Chrys was still friends with Harry and Ron, so maybe he could be friends with Neville as well?

The next class wasn't for another while anyway, so he was able to stay by the boy's side while the nurse was tending to Neville. Chrys couldn't entirely stop himself from frowning at the comments made about the professor; okay, the man was strict and was ready to bite someone's head off, but…potions was also pretty dangerous if done wrong, so…was Snape really in the wrong for scolding people for messing up? No, but he was in the wrong for scolding at Harry for 'letting Neville botch the potion up'; that alone brought a sour taste to his mouth.

"Hey…Neville?" Chrys looked at him, the boils were starting to heal. "How are you feeling?"

"Good? I think…Um…" he looked at the Slytherin badge a little nervously.

Chrys shook his head. "Your recovering at least…can I ask what happened?"

"I don't know…everything was going well, then Snape walked over to see how things were going and…"

"You let nerves get the best of you." Chrys finished. "So, it may not be much but…I can make a calming charm for you to take to the next potion class…"

Neville looked up a little surprised. "You make charms? Well, if you're certain they'll work, then I'll take one. How much do you want for it?"

"I'm pretty sure Harry and Ron would be upset with me if I charged a friend." Chrys' eyes lit up. "That reminds me…um I'm suppose to give these out to any friends I make, and I know we've only just talked but…" from his bag, he took out the box his mother gave him at the station before taking the pin that Harry and Ron also wore. "Cornflowers…um, I hope we can be friends at least."

Neville took It from Chrys, if Harry and Ron were wearing them with no side effects, they must be safe! Even he could see Chrys wearing on on his Slytherin tie. He smiled and put the cornflower pin on the Gryffindor tie and nodded at him. "Yeah…we can be friends!" he held his hand out. "I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom!"

Chrys shook his hand and smiled bright. "It's nice to meet you, Neville! My name is Chrys, Chrys Lindsay!"