A/N:

It's been a while but hopefully we will be updating more as the holidays are coming up (no promises though).

Please don't forget to review and tell us any ideas for pairings, future chapters of mistakes we could fix.

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns anything recognisable.

xXxDoubleKxXx

DavidoDaVinci

Chapter 7: First Day

Harry woke poorly that morning. He looked around at his four poster bed. He could see much better this morning than the night before. He got up, groggily and changed into his Slytherin Robes. He looked around the room. He could see Draco's bed, deserted, along with the covered curtains of the other three.

He winced as thoughts of home rushed into his mind. Every morning, Bella would wake him up, running into his private chambers and screeching at him to get to the training room. Harry raised his occlumency shields quickly to prevent him being caught in nostalgia.

He took a deep breath and looked up.

Ebony slithered up to him from her place on his pillow and wrapped herself around his shoulders beneath his robes.

"Stay quiet and stay hidden," He whispered to her, closing the clasp of his outer robes.

She nodded and slipped her head into the folds of his clothes.

He walked down to the common room and left quickly without noticing anyone.

xxx

Harry chose to ignore everyone while he was having Breakfast. Ron and Hermione were at their own tables, and being friends with Draco would not suit his cover. The only thing notable about the morning at all in Harry's eyes was the mail. Firstly, there was the timetable.

"Hmm… Defence Against the Dark Arts first…" he said to himself. Snape had recently become the teacher for it, being Voldemort's insider, and Voldemort wanted it kept that way. Then, after Break, there was Charms and herbology, which Harry could not think of anything notable about. Then lunch, then History Of Magic and…

…Double Potions. Taught by Lily Potter.

Harry dreaded that. His mood did not improve after receiving the reply from Voldemort.

'Dear Harry,

I'll keep it brief:

Firstly, well done on being put in Slytherin. It was not ideal for the plan, but I think that as long as you are friends with a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw, there is no harm.

Keep going on the girl, if she is as useful as you say, you need to continue trying to persuade her.

Finally, destroy this letter as soon as you can. We would not want Dumbledore finding this.

Mr Brown of Wool's Orphanage'

However, he received one more letter. From Dumbledore. The headmaster wanted to speak to Harry in his office as soon as possible.

Harry's cover was going to be put to the test.

xxx

On his way to Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry ran into Ron and Hermione.

"Hello," He said, falling into stride with them.

"Hey, mate," Ron replied. "Pity you're not in Gryffindor with me."

Harry hummed quietly, not wanting to disagree openly. Then a flash of something silver hit his eyes. He looked up, startled, and noticed an expensive looking chain around Hermione's neck that he hadn't seen before.

"That's a pretty necklace," He told her.

"Oh, this?" She pulled the necklace out from her robes. A heart-shaped locket hung on the chain. "My parents told me a few months ago that I was adopted by them as a baby and that this was from my biological parents. I've worn it every day since then. It won't open though."

"I'm sorry," The redhead said to her, sincerely.

"It's alright. After all, I never knew them."

Harry thought about this. So she was adopted… that meant she might not be a mudblood at all. But it could also make it harder to persuade her that she would be better off with him. It occurred to Harry that the way she had said it felt distinctly practised, as though the moment was planned. Hermione said goodbye to them along the way to head off to her class but Harry only gave her a muttered farewell. He was still lost in thought when he walked into Defence Against the Dark Arts, which he had with the Gryffindors.

Though as he looked around, Harry took in his surroundings. It was a decently sized classroom, and was covered in potions and dark artefacts, befitting, Harry thought sarcastically, of someone very trustworthy. Harry gave no sign of noticing. Ron, on the other hand, gaped around.

"WOOAH!"

Everyone turned to look at him. The redhead blushed. Clearly, he had not meant to be so loud. He hurried to his chair.

At that moment, in walked a tall, greasy haired man that Harry instantly recognized as the spy for the dark, Severus Snape. Immediately, he turned to look at Ron.

"You were excited by my room, Mr Weasley? I have redecorated, you know."

If Ron had been blushing before, it was nothing compared to what he was doing now. Harry thought he looked remarkably like a tomato.

Snape then walked up to the front.

"I am Professor Snape and I will be your Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher this year."

He then went on to the register.

Harry personally thought that this must have taken at least half the lesson to get through the register. He made no pauses, except when a girl from Gryffindor called Parvati Patil walked into the classroom ten minutes later. He promptly gave her detention.

Harry thought this was not unfair, but more so tactless. The lesson itself was pretty enjoyable in the end. They learnt about the theory behind stunning spells. This was incredibly basic, but Harry pretended to struggle. Ron wasn't pretending.

By the end of the lesson, Ron walked out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom looking incredibly flustered and grumbling to himself.

"A two page long essay. And our first lesson too!"

While they were walking, they came upon Draco, who looked up at Ron, opened his mouth, saw Harry, closed it again and walked off.

"I don't know where he thinks he's going, the grounds are the other way."

Harry did not like Ron. He reminded himself of this firmly as he walked. No. He was a blood traitor. And he smelled really bad too. Yeah.

For all his angst, he didn't have any friendships to make up for it.

Xxx

Slytherins had Charms with the Hufflepuffs. This was not an inherently bad or unpleasant fact, until you took into consideration the fact that Harry only wanted to surround himself with Hermione and Ron. And she would have been such a good Slytherin too. The teacher was Professor Flitwick, and he was a small man with glasses and a neat moustache. His voice was high and rather obnoxious. They spent a chaotic lesson doing the floating charm. Without thinking, Harry got it on the first try.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Everyone gawped and Flitwick praised Harry as a natural.

"It's all in the movement, everyone. Swish and Flick."

Xxx

Herbology dragged on. The one good thing was that he got to talk to Hermione again. As he had expected, Hermione was incredibly talented, and Professor Sprout, the plump Herbology Professor, commented that she and Harry were the two brightest children she had taught in 15 years. Draco teased him about this afterwards. Harry commented that he knew he had a crush on her. He shut up.

Xxx

After a hurried lunch, he arrived in the History of Magic classroom, which was incredibly boring, but it gave him a lot of time to organise his thoughts. He kept thinking of random things.

'I wonder if Draco knows Hermione isn't a mudblood.'

'How long until Potions?'

'What about the meeting with Dumbledore?'

'Why do I keep thinking about Smith?'

'I'm NOT friends with Ron, I'm NOT.'

'Will he ever shut up?'

However, after a long time, he walked out, which meant…

"Potions next." Draco said happily.

"Yep." Harry said grimly.

Xxx

As Lily waved goodbye to a group of fifth-year Ravenclaws, she realised what was about to happen. After ten years, she was finally going to meet him again.

As the class sidled in, she kept looking around, she did her best not to give the Malfoy boy an ugly look.

The class filled up slowly, slowly, until finally, there he was…

…Harry.

And suddenly, she was scared. There was something about him, the curt way he moved, the glint in his eyes. It was her son, no doubt, but something had happened, or he had done something.

The lesson might have been a daydream. The register, the potion, she barely noticed anything about it. However, she realised Harry was doing extremely well, and when she called for the potions to be collected, he had done even better than Hermione earlier, who she got on with well. As the raven-haired boy walked out of the classroom with a smug smirk on his face, Lily wondered idly if he was even her son at all.

Xxx

Harry slumped down in a chair in the library and chatted with Hermione for half an hour.

"Well, in any case, Dumble-"

Harry punched the arm of the chair and swore. Madam Pince gave him an ugly look as he ran out as fast as his legs could carry him.

He was late.