WARNING: Language.

REMINDER:

With languages, if the POV-person understands it, we use "[ ]" for the translation. If the POV-person doesn't, "« »" will be used.

—oOo—

"Where have you been?" someone asks behind Leo just before he says the password to the Slytherin Common Room.

He turns around to see Professor Bat looking down at him with his arms crossed.

"I… uh… I was in the forest wit—"

"THE FOREST?!" the Nose Man booms, which Leo immediately responds to with his two legs shaking. "Going there is forbidden , Mr Valdez. That is why it's called the Forbidden Forest!"

"Oh," he replies, thankful that he wasn't able to say Fred's and George's names before he was scolded. "I didn't know that. Back in the US, we just… go to forests there," he says, remembering the nymphs he befriended in the woods at Camp Half-Blood.

"You are not in the US now, Mr. Valdez, and you should do well to remember that. There are several rules here in Hogwarts, and you will abide by them."

"Yes, sir!" he replies, saluting with his back painfully straight.

The professor raises a brow at that but shakes his head. "I will be briefing you about the rules tomorrow morning when I give you your timetable before breakfast. I do not wish to see one of my Slytherins showing… inappropriate behavior."

"Yes, sir!" he says again, still with his back painfully straight. "But… uh… what's a timetable?" he asks, thinking of a clock as a table.

The professor sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "It's what you call a… class schedule, I believe, in America."

"Ah, I see," he thinks, suddenly distraught at the idea of having to go to classes. Then again, this is a magic school. It's not like they're teaching English, right?

"Tomorrow, we'll be talking about what electives you might want to fit in your timetable as well. So I suggest you take a good night's sleep, Valdez. So you can see me before breakfast tomorrow at 5:30."

"Yes, sir!" he says again with his back as straight as a metal ruler.

Shaking his head, the bat professor turns with a huff and leaves.

Leo watches him leave before turning back to the wall (which he hopes is the right wall). "Power Above All," Leo whispers to the wall with a little anticipation and a little distaste, but to his delight, the wall moves once more to reveal the common room.

The room falls quiet the moment he sets foot in it and all eyes are on him.

He loves being the center of attention sure, but not this kind of attention. Still, he isn't Leo Valdez for nothing.

"HELLO, MY DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS," he yells, spreading his arms and raising one foot to show his enthusiasm, remembering the time he met his actual brothers and sisters when he was claimed as Hephaestus's son and went to Cabin Nine.

To his horror, no one laughs.

"Geez, tough crowd, huh?"

"Valdez, don't be a Gryffindor," a nearby Slytherin says. Before he asks for his name, everyone starts talking over everyone.

"Yeah, isn't he too Gryffindor to be here?"

"Why is he even in Slytherin?"

"You're not fit to be Slytherin!"

"Go back where you came from!"

The last part hitting home, suddenly being flashed with the memories of all the racism he experienced back in the US as a homeless little Latino child living in the streets and living as a gang's favorite little jokester, it hurts.

"Okay, settle! Settle!" Farley, to his rescue, shouts. "Yes, Valdez is new here. He's not used to the traditions we have here in Europe. But he will learn. He's already sorted into Slytherin, so everyone, you must do well in helping him be one if you don't want the other houses knowing how hostile you are to him. What's our number one rule?"

"Slytherins are one!" a kid yells, making Leo's brows rise.

"Yes, and since unfortunately—" Ouch, that hurts —"Valdez is sorted into Slytherin, we must help him since he is one of us now. The hat sorts us where we belong, and if it says Valdez belongs in Slytherin, then he belongs in Slytherin. Unfortunately." Geez, Farley, thanks. "If you have a problem with this, talk it out with the teachers in private, or if you want to confront Valdez, do it here in the common room. Never outside. Remember our first rule."

And with that, like magic, the Slytherin common room goes back to its usual activities before he came into the room. Leo thanks Farley who dismisses him with a wave of her hand, and leaves him to do whatever it is she's doing.

Leo decides to go to the dorm immediately, since the crowded room is not his style at the moment. He's still a little tired from having to fight Shrimpzilla and almost dying without the Archimedes Sphere saving his fall this morning. Schist, was it really just this morning?

When he reaches the room, he's happy to see that the room is currently empty.

But that is a short-lived victory when three people enter the room as soon as he sits on his bed.

He watches as the three boys stare at him from the doorway—one staring at him curiously, and two staring at him with hidden animosity. Leo starts to think that the boy at the very front could be a child of Athena since he's blond. Schist, he's sooo blond. Even Annabeth's hair isn't that blonde. Her hair is honey blonde. This guy's hair is platinum .

"Can I… help you?" he asks them.

"You're Valdez, the American," the boy at the front says.

That's not how people in the US would normally describe me as, Leo thinks, still haunted by the memories of his experience with racism in the US.

"Er… yeah…" he says instead since this guy would probably not get the same treatment as him if this guy was in the US, considering his appearance.

"This is Crabbe—" Malfoy points at the bigger of the two—"and Goyle," he says, pointing at the smaller albeit still a big guy. "I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," he says proudly, moving towards Leo to shake his hand.

Immediately, Leo already sees that Malfoy seems to be snooty, but he doesn't want to be right. He's still a Slytherin and their roommate, so he'd rather they get along. He's been with many gang leaders—and from how the two look like Malfoy's bodyguards, Leo thinks he can deal with this snooty leader. Dealing with actual gang leaders is so much worse.

"Valdez, as you said. But I'm more flexible. You can call me Leo," he answers, shaking Malfoy's hand.

"You're not my friend," Malfoy says with a shrug.

"Yeah, that seems to be the tradition here," Leo replies, taking some stuff from his toolbelt and immediately creating contraptions on his bed since he's a little bored and anxious from having to talk to a new person. He can act like the biggest extrovert ever, but Leo prefers machines to people.

"Are you doing wandless Transfiguration?" Crabbe says in a surprisingly soft voice, staring at the big pile of mechanical parts on his bed.

"Transfig—? What's that?" Leo asks.

"You don't know what Transfiguration is?" Malfoy asks, looking at Leo as if he's the most suspicious person to ever walk the earth.

Schist, I need to lie. Thank the gods Professor Rumble-Roar told me Hogwarts had never been in contact with Ilvermorny. I can make some schist up.

"It's probably under a different name in my school," Leo says.

"Ah, I see," Malfoy replies with a nod of his head.

"If my vocabulary is right, it's about change, right? A change of something to make it better?" Leo asks.

"Not entirely, transfiguration is the magic that changes one object to another. It's not necessarily something better. What's it called in your school?" Malfoy asks, still rather suspicious.

Schist. Schist. Schist.

"Metamorphosis," he says from the top of his head. That sounds about right.

"Oh," Malfoy says quietly, and seems to be less suspicious of him. "Interesting," Malfoy adds. "Anyway, if you want to stay being a Slytherin, get away from the Gryffindors. I think I saw you with the Weasley twins this morning."

"Ah, that," Leo says. What can he say? "The twins were one of the first people who saw me when I arrived. They helped me go meet Professor umm… the one who put the hat on my head. Professor Mc… Mc…" Schist, she isn't named McDonald's.

"Ah, Professor McGonagall. I'm not surprised they'll bring you there instead of Professor Snape. She's the head of Gryffindor house. They were probably attempting to lure you in the lion's den. It's better luck that you were sorted here in Slytherin."

"So, the mutual bigotry between houses really is big here, huh?" Leo asks him.

"I don't see why people are blind to the fact that Slytherin is obviously superior," Malfoy replies.

Leo hums, hiding his distaste. "It's just a school boarding house name. What's the big deal about it?" he asks in confusion.

For a while, Malfoy doesn't talk. "I keep forgetting it's different in America. Do you really not have houses there?"

Schist. Let's just use some truth to twist a lie.

"We have some sorting system, yes." Based on who your god parent is. "In ours, we don't have a choice on where we're supposed to go. I heard from the twins that the hat thingy—the hat that sorted us—takes your choice into consideration. In C—Ilvermorny, we know nothing before getting there, so we don't have a preference, nor do we even have a choice. There's no particular trait for each, er, houses—" Lies. It's all in our blood. "—so we don't really care much for titles. It's just a name to group you in case of competitions."

"Well, here it's different. And you should make sure you learn that quickly, or else you will put Slytherin to shame if you do some acts unbecoming of a Slytherin."

"I'm trying, but it's a little bit uptight here, don't you think? Why are the Gryffindors the only ones who can be loud?" Leo asks, remembering his entrance earlier.

"Because Slytherins have manners and etiquette. Gryffindors have none."

Schist, I'll have a really hard time fitting in in Slytherin, huh?

"So, are you a pureblood?" Malfoy asks when Leo keeps quiet.

"A pure—? Ah, no, I'm half."

He sees Malfoy scrunch up his nose. "And let me guess, your wizard parent is a Mudblood?"

"What's a Mudblood?" Leo asks, not hearing that word before.

"Only the wizards whose blood is dirty. They should never be among those who are true wizards—the purebloods."

"Why are they dirty?" he asks in surprise.

Malfoy's brows shut up. "You've never heard of Mudbloods? Or muggleborns ," Malfoy spits the last word with sarcasm.

"Oh, muggleborns!" Leo exclaims. "Yeah, I know muggleborns." And I think Mudblood is literally a slur, Leo thinks after, already looking at Malfoy with a new disgusting light for being racist. "It doesn't matter to me, but no, my father is a… a pureblood, I guess."

"So your mother is a mudblood?"

Leo takes his anger down for hearing his own mother be linked to a racial slur in the same sentence. This is his roommate, he will have to lessen his anger at him if he wants to survive staying here for long.

"Don't say that. Also, My mother is a nomaj."

"A nomaj?" Malfoy asks.

"Oh, oops, that's the American term. She's a… a muggle, I think that's the term?"

"Americans call muggles nomajs?"

Leo nods. "Yeah…" According to the ones in the sanctuary, at least.

Malfoy hums then frowns. "A pureblood coming together with a muggle. How horrid of him to stoop so low. Well, I guess it's a little bit better than going with a mudblood."

"Don't talk about my mother like that. Trust me, you don't want me saying bad things about your mother." Because the way the old gangs I was in, insulting anyone's mothers will make your blood boil so hard you burst into flames—which had happened to me once. And you're so high and mighty, I bet you never fought dirty. Just with words. What a freaking racist.

"Why? Did I say something so wrong? It's the truth, isn't it?" Malfoy says, rolling his eyes.

"Is this really how you talk to people you just met?" Leo asks with a huff.

"Not to people worthy. Can't imagine what your father might be thinking, lowering himself to be with that . He dirtied himself for someone like that ?" Malfoy spits.

You asked for it. "That's what your mom told me about your dad last night."

"I beg your pardon?" Malfoy exclaims, eyes wide.

"You heard me. I bet your mom regrets birthing a little mierda like you," Leo angrily says.
[shit]

"How dare you!" Malfoy yells at him.

"Oh don't start yelling at me! Me cago en tu madre, gandalla!" Leo spits angrily.
[I shit on your mother, jerk.]

"Is that Spanish? What did you tell me?" Malfoy demands.

"I'm not gonna bother translating for you, gandalla. I believe we can't have this fight outside this dorm. So I'll tell you this, right here, right now: Come mierda y déjame en paz, cabrón."
[Jerk][Eat shit and leave me alone, asshole.]

"Translate!" Malfoy exclaims.

"Whatever," Leo says in an even tone, standing up and leaving the room.

"I'm not done with you!" Malfoy yells back at him, grabbing him by the arm.

In surprise at the sudden touch and movement, Leo yelps as flames shoot up from his hands, making a curved flame in the air between him and Malfoy.

Malfoy screams in surprise, stepping back along with Crabbe and Goyle.

As the flames die down as they all watch it fall between them, they are left to look at each other. Leo pants as the surprise and the anger takes a toll on him, while the trio are panting from fear.

"Don't touch me," Leo growls. "Look, I'm all for unity, but there's a line you can't cross when it comes to me. Never insult my mother, or I will burn your soul down."

After his warning, he notices that the room seems to be lightened. It takes him a while to realize that his hair, shoulders and arms are burning in his anger. Judging from the terrified looks on his roommates' faces, he must have been a sight to see.

He also notices that some of the walls are scorched, and that the curtain of the nearest bed is on fire. He quickly shakes his head and shoulder to dissipate the flames on his head and arms, and uses his hand to pat the fire on the curtains to quickly take it out.

He lets out a heavy sigh when the fire goes out, feeling all the tiredness he has not felt since leaving New York, before looking at the still terrified trio in the room and smiling. "So, I'll be downstairs, roomies, adios!" [Goodbye!]

But before he could leave, he hears people quickly running up near their dormitory before some male Slytherins open the door.

"What's going on here? What in Merlin's beard happened here?" he quickly adds the last sentence after seeing the burnt curtains and scorched walls.

"He's trying to kill us!" Malfoy exclaims.

"Relax, I wasn't," Leo replies, rolling his eyes.

"He's trying to burn us alive!" Malfoy adds.

"It was an accident!" Leo exclaims.

"You're not allowed to attack a fellow student, and you're not allowed to use magic unrelated to studies. If you're going to duel, do it in a duelling stage," the older Slytherin reprimands Leo.

"I swear it was an accident! I didn't mean to use my, er, magic," Leo says.

"Accidental magic at this age?" the older student asks, suspicious of Leo.

Leo sighs. "It's more common to me than you think." Okay, rule of lies: Use the truth. "It's why I get in trouble a lot and get kicked out in places."

The older student clicks his tongue before sighing. "Fine, I'll just give you a warning for now. But you better control yourself, Valdez."

"He nearly killed us and you're letting him out with a warning?" Malfoy asks angrily.

"He said it was an accident," the older Slytherin says, shrugging. "I'll be reporting this to Professor Snape," he informs Leo.

"Great," Leo replies sarcastically, already hearing the man's scolding tomorrow morning when he meets him for his schedule.

With that, the older Slytherin leaves, and Malfoy glares at him. "You're not getting away with this that easily. My father will hear about this."

"You rely on your dad to fight your battles for you? Are you a chicken?" Leo asks, huffing. "You know what? We've had a long day. Can we just stop fighting now? I'm tired of this schist. I'll just chill here, then take a good old shower and then sleep."

Malfoy huffs. "This isn't over," he says, going to his own bed with Crabbe and Goyle also going to their respective beds.

Leo sighs as he continues to create more little machines on his bed, trying not to think of his friends in the US. He feels some sort of heaviness in his chest when he recalls his friends' laughter at his jokes. Even though he was the seventh wheel, and even though there were times he felt like he didn't belong with his fellow demigods, he still loves them and he knows they love him, too. And he misses them dearly.

As his heart grows heavy, he thanks for the distraction that comes when Nott enters the room with another Slytherin that seems to be their age.

As soon as the two enter the room, they look around and silently head to their respective beds.

They must feel the tension between me and the trio, Leo thinks. He gives a small nod of greeting to Nott who nods back. He looks at the other Slytherin who is looking at him rather curiously.

"Leo," he whispers in the quiet room to introduce himself.

"I know who you are, Valdez," the Slytherin replies with a small nod, before grabbing his clothes and heading to the bathroom.

"Zabini," Nott whispers to Leo in reply to Leo's confused look at Zabini's direction.

I'm really gonna have a hard time fitting in here, Leo thinks in distress.

Leo feels like he's gonna explode from the tension in the air. He shouldn't have lost control like that, but how can he keep his cool when he is faced with a racist and a snob?

The other four Slytherins do not dare speak and keep eyeing both Leo and Malfoy, sensing the animosity between the two. To Leo's luck, Malfoy only glares at him from time to time but doesn't add fuel to fire.

After a while, he grabs the clothes Nott gave him a few hours ago before heading to the bathroom. He stands in front of the shower and watches as the dirt and grime he still has on his legs from his fall in the Forbidden Forest leaves his body and goes down the drain. He let the hot water cascade down his body. Even though the water is hot, he feels himself cool down from everything that happened today.

He smiles as he thinks of his time with the twins, and gets sad that he wasn't sorted with the Gryffindors. He didn't think the fight between the school houses was this bad. Camp Half-Blood has some friendly fights between different demigods, but overall there was no hatred between them. He can understand if Camp Jupiter still hates him. After all, he still bombed their Camp.

Tears start to form in his eyes as he remembers his friends, his girlfriend, his home back in New York. Does he regret leaving? Not really. He still felt lonely in camp since all his friends had left the Camp itself. But living in Hogwarts is stressing him out and it's only the first day. He doesn't know how long he'll survive and keep up the charade that he's a freaking wizard. He guesses he's a little overwhelmed with how he got here.

Leo lets out a heavy sigh before lightly slapping his face.

"Keep yourself together, Leo," he tells himself. "You wanted this in the first place," he reminds himself.

He closes the shower and heads to his bed.

Tomorrow's another day.