Greg was reading in a secluded corner of the Common Room's study area, and had pulled a few potted plants around him, surrounding himself on all sides.
Greg liked Harry. Harry didn't judge him for being a slow reader. He thought Greg's comics were cool – not stupid and babyish, as Crabbe had said.
Crabbe's family had been friends with Greg's for years, so they grew up together, but they weren't actually very close. Crabbe always said reading was boring and hated how long it took Greg to finish his homework. "Why do you take so long on it if you're rubbish at it anyway?" "Who cares how you spell that?" "Quit studying and come race brooms!"
Draco didn't make fun of him, but he also didn't really seem to pay much attention to anything but his own life. Blaise was nice because he didn't say anything when he saw Greg taking a long time, but he didn't say much of anything anyway.
Coming to Hogwarts was quite scary in a way because the whole point was studying. Greg was good at practical work, and actually quite good at theory if he had it explained to him, but reading about it was tough. Other people had started to notice, which made him feel extremely self-conscious and kind of angry. He didn't really know why he was angry, but it was unfair that everyone else found it so easy.
The other day, Greg had asked Harry why he didn't feel stupid for not knowing the right way to do things. "Erm… Well, there's not a right way to do things. Some snakes have venom and some constrict. You wouldn't think a constrictor was stupid for not having a lethal bite. It can eat just fine in its own way." That was nice in a very Harry way, but Greg still felt like he needed help.
Maybe it was a good thing that people started to notice, because a Hufflepuff called Jeremy pulled him aside after class yesterday and told him about his brother who couldn't read fast. "He gets extra time for exams and things, and he has a spell that makes the letters look different. I dunno how it works, but you can talk to him if you want."
This morning, Greg had met up with Jeremy's brother – a Third Year called Neil – and learned the spell to help him read. It worked really well. He could tell he was still a bit slower than the other students, but it helped a lot. He showed it to Harry, who thought it was really cool.
"Maybe you and Bob can make things to help people as well as poison."
"Hmm, sometimes the poison can be helpful, but I know what you mean. I'll think about what I can do!"
Greg didn't want to know how poison could be helpful.
Blaise was lounging on a sofa in the Common Room, staring out at the Great Lake and thinking about things. He thought Harry was interesting, albeit very weird. He hadn't batted an eye at the rumours about his mum poisoning his stepfathers but had mentioned that poison was a nice choice – "like a way for humans to make venom". He also didn't expect Blaise to make conversation, which was appreciated.
Growing up, Blaise had always been very quiet. He still was, preferring not to speak unless the topic was something he was really interested in. There were a few Slytherins he had been around before Hogwarts, having seen them at dinners and galas, and they had all gotten used to his taciturn nature. He wasn't overly fond of many of them, but he appreciated that they didn't often try to make small talk. Blaise found the majority of them incredibly boring. They were so insular, with most never having explored anything but magical Britain.
Draco had some continental influence, with occasional trips to France, and he had very stylish taste in clothing, but he also talked incessantly which was annoying as ever. Greg was quiet, but his interests didn't align with Blaise's, which was a pity. Crabbe was an arsehole, and his parents were absolute troglodytes – Blaise liked to pretend Crabbe didn't exist.
The Slytherin girls were alright, but they all fawned over Blaise's looks. Although proud of his appearance, he didn't care much for the constant gushing over how nice he looked. After a certain point, there's no reason to keep going on about it. He's handsome, yes – get over it. Going on about it isn't going to get you anything.
When it came to half-bloods and Muggleborns, Blaise didn't hate them, but as most of them hadn't attended the same events he had as a child, the majority of them weren't aware of his quiet nature and would try to make idle chitchat between classes. Some of them would try to suck up to him – whether it was due to his mother's money, his good looks, or the air of mystery that they felt they needed to crack. It was often the most boring people who did that – people who felt they deserved to know him. No! Why on earth would he bare his soul to someone with nothing to offer? Annoying.
Harry, though – Blaise enjoyed being 'alone together' with Harry. He wouldn't ever try to ingratiate himself. Blaise would read quietly while Harry did… whatever he wanted really. Even Harry talking wouldn't bother him, as it was often the quiet susurrus of Parseltongue whispered to his snakes. What's more, Harry seemed to have the multicultural perspective that Blaise had, though while Blaise's other culture was Italian, Harry's was the culture of serpents. While the rest of his housemates didn't seem to have an interest in Blaise's culture, Harry would occasionally ask unobtrusive questions about things, sharing his own experiences with the way snakes go about stuff. He seemed to have an unnaturally good gauge for when Blaise was in a mood receptive to talking.
A few metres away from Blaise, Harry and Bob were playing chess.
"You should ask Blaise if there are Italian games like this."
"Sure."
Harry looked over at where Blaise was sitting and opened his mouth slightly. "Ah, no. He's warm. Agitated. Doesn't want to talk."
Bob looked up from where he was studying the chess board. "Mmmmm, yes. A bite is likely. Good use of heat sensing."
Harry's messiness was getting on Draco's nerves. As an only child – a Malfoy child, at that – he was used to impeccable tidiness. Malfoy Manor was reminiscent of a museum or art gallery. Its beautiful, clean marble floors were never obstructed by dirty clothes or clumps of mud. It was filled with quiet rooms and hallways where echoing footsteps were dampened only slightly by full length tapestries. The sharpest noise one might hear in Malfoy Manor is the popping of the house-elves.
Before arriving at Hogwarts, Draco had never been around such mess. It made him feel messy. Blaise's corner of the dorm was orderly, Greg's was somewhat untidy but still manageable, and Harry's… Well, Harry's area was chaotic.
Every morning, Draco braced himself before pulling his bed hangings open. He never knew what he would see across from him – Harry was entirely unpredictable. The other day, he woke to coloured threads all over floor, as Harry and Bob were trying their hand at weaving a rug. It didn't even look good. The Manor's Aubussons were much nicer.
This morning, he had woken up to what sounded like the tearing of very thick paper. When he poked his head out of the bed curtains, he was met with Harry and his snakes splattered with blood, skinning rabbits. Draco's gasp of horror alerted Harry to his presence, but all he could say for himself was, "Sorry, we wanted to peel them. Sometimes the fur is a bit much." Not knowing what to say to that, Draco had just pulled his head back into his safe, blood-splatter-free bed.
Harry was famous, rich, and knew a lot of interesting things. He was a good asset, as Draco's father would say… But he needed some work. Perhaps Draco could write to his father for advice.
Hogwarts was pretty cool. At school in Surrey, Harry would often get bored of non-snake things, but magic had so much stuff that there was always something new. New things felt shiny and interesting, even if they weren't related to snakes. That said, everything was better with snakes.
Harry was making a lot of human friends, which he knew Aunt Petunia would like. Besides his dorm mates, Harry found himself chatting to Hermione, Ron, and Neville when in a class with Gryffindor.
Outside of class, Harry would bump into Hermione in the library sometimes. Bob said she was like a horse girl even though she didn't like horses. She was obsessive in the same way, though she was obsessive about books and learning. Harry and Bob were both surprised she wasn't in Ravenclaw.
"Maybe she asked for Gryffindor because she liked lions. She could be a lion girl instead."
Sometimes she would try to get him to do homework instead of learning about snakes. That part was a bit annoying. She seemed very offended that Harry wasn't really fussed about grades.
"Do you love lions?"
"…Well, they're quite interesting, but I don't love them."
"Right. She must have said no to Ravenclaw because she hates birds."
"Ahhh, yes. She is good for that."
Every now and then, Harry would go to the Gryffindor Common Room to nap. Depending on how long the nap was, Harry would sometimes play chess with Ron afterwards.
He started playing chess when Ron told him there was an opening move called the great snake variation. Harry liked that, so he had tried to play it every time, even though it didn't always work.
After a while, he had gotten bored of chess, but Ron had told him he could change all of his chess pieces to look like snakes and pretend they were trying to eat Ron's set. That had been interesting.
Now, the rules had evolved so that for each piece of Ron's that Harry captured, he could turn it into a real, tiny snake. Because of Harry's magic, it wouldn't turn back. Harry was determined to give Ron a full set of snake chess pieces by the end of the year.
Occasionally, Fred and George would come chat while they were playing chess. They liked asking him about the products he made for Friends of Bob. They seemed very interested in the things Harry made. Perhaps they would be good business partners for a magical branch of Friends of Bob…
Harry liked most classes but wasn't super impressed with Astronomy. The most interesting bit was when Draco pointed out Ophiuchus, the snake constellation. Draco was very knowledgeable about stars. Padma and Parvati also seemed to be knowledgeable about the stars and planets, but more so about things like Mercury being in retrograde, whatever that meant.
Defence was interesting, even if Professor Quirrell seemed very anxious around Harry. Bob was insistent that it was because he was impressed with his magnificence, as he would catch him staring sometimes when he and Harry were talking. Bob went so far as to ask Harry to give him eyelids so that he would be able to wink when he caught the Professor staring. Unfortunately for Bob, that seemed to have the opposite effect, and Bob didn't like the sensation of blinking, so the eyelids didn't stay very long.
Potions was one of Harry's favourites. After realising how proficient Blaise was, Harry would often partner up with him. He did still eat the ingredients, but Blaise would surreptitiously collect more than necessary so there was enough for him to snack on. Sometimes Professor Snape caught him mid-snack, which wasn't so good.
"Potter… Eating the ingredients again. Anything to say for yourself?"
Harry didn't have anything to say, but he did have something to ask which had been bugging him.
"Are you head of Slytherin because your surname sounds like snake?"
Unfortunately, the Professor didn't deign to answer that. Maybe he was shy…
"Bob... Do you think Professor Snape is shy?"
Bob appraised him.
"Yessss. He is shy because he has dull colouration. All black hair and clothes. Not even beautiful red eyes like me. We should bring him colourful things."
"Or turn his eyes red?"
"Ahhhh, yessss. Or that."
Severus was uneasy at the way Potter and his snake kept glancing at him. That did not bode well.
At Number Four, Dudley's letter had finally arrived.
"Muuuuum! I got a letter from Harry!"
Dudley burst into the kitchen holding Hedwig like a rugby ball. Hedwig, who had the letter tied to her leg, looked very cross.
"Oh Dudley, that's not how you hold birds."
Looking down at the very grumpy owl, Dudley apologised and put her in the fruit bowl, earning a baffled look from not only Hedwig, but his mum and Brownie as well.
"It's because it's shaped like a nest! I thought she would like it."
Hedwig ruffled her feathers and flew up to the top of the cabinets, obviously not impressed.
Dudley sat down to read, and his mum pulled up a chair next to him. Normally he didn't like when she read over his shoulder, but it was okay because this was very exciting.
"Whoaaa – plants that have weapons! Wicked… We should make something like that."
"Hmmm, be careful darling."
"Yes, mum."
Living in a castle sounded wicked. Dudley wondered if he would be able to come visit sometime. He was definitely going to ask.
"Can we try making some of the food Harry mentioned?"
"Well, we can certainly try, though I'm not sure how you juice a pumpkin."
"Maybe it's more like a smoothie?"
"You'll need to ask him if there's other ingredients, then."
He passed the letter to his mum as he started to write his reply.
Petunia sat holding the letter as Dudley wrote. Harry seemed to be in good spirits. He'd written a lot about dinner – probably for Dudley's benefit, as her boy definitely loved his food. He also mentioned having met some people on the train and said he had three dorm mates. Definitely a lot of room for socialising – that would do Harry good.
As this was his first letter, he had not yet started any classes. Petunia was slightly worried that he wouldn't find anything interesting…
Once Dudley had finished his reply, Petunia put her additions on the bottom of the page, asking for information about his classes, when he would be having holidays, and so on. After the letter was complete and the envelope sealed with wax on Dudley's request, Hedwig was persuaded down from the cabinet with promises of smoked salmon and no more holding her like a rugby ball. Dudley carefully walked Hedwig outside and told her to give the reply to Harry, though muscle memory really had him fighting the urge to throw her. He then wandered off to ride bicycles with Piers.
After triple checking to make sure Dudley was still outside, Petunia went up to the attic. From her wrist, Brownie flicked her tongue out, not liking the amount of dust. Petunia opened a small cardboard box that was simply labelled 'Important', then carefully smoothed out the creases in the paper and placed it on top of a large stack of letters which were all signed 'love, Lily'.
"…Your eyes are getting the paper wet."
Oh, goodness. So they were.
Though Severus' voice was very deep, he could apparently produce an astonishingly high-pitched scream, as he found out this morning. He had just woken up and wandered to the bathroom within his quarters. While absentmindedly looking up in the middle of using the loo, he had the split-second horrific impression that the Dark Lord was watching him piss. Jolting violently and unfortunately making a mess on the wall, he then realised he was staring at his own reflection, though with bright red eyes.
Somehow, he knew Potter was to blame.