Some quick things:

1. I changed some minor things in the past chapters like what class they're taking, and the time Leo arrives at Hogwarts. I mistakenly put October 30, 1994 on a Friday when it should be a Monday. See the end for the whole timeline.

2. I removed some things in Pomfrey's diagnostic spell cos it seems too meta. Like instead of saying Leo has god blood and mortal blood, I simply wrote Hephaestus and mortal, so it's like just showing him as another species, specifically a Hephaestus kid. I also removed the titles, batch, and house from the diagnostic spell because they're irrelevant to diagnostics.

—oOo—

"SLYTHERIN!"

Leo winces at the booming sound of the weird old hat on his head. He assumes that's how one gets sorted, so he removes the hat away from his head and gives it back to Professor McDonald's.

"So, I'll just, uhh—" Leo starts. He looks towards the twins who are the only ones clapping in the whole room. "Is there like a…?" he asks, looking towards Professor Big Mac for help.

He's not an idiot. He knows there is some sort of segregation in this room—like the seating per cabin at Camp Half-Blood. He's not too sure where he would sit since everyone in the room is politely clapping… which is why he's panicking on which one is the Slytherin table.

"Go to the Slytherin table, Mister Valdez," Professor Quarter Pounder with Cheese answers.

"And where is—" He nods when Professor McChicken gestures towards the far right table from where the staff table is [1].

He's not going to lie to himself and say he isn't disappointed with his house. He would have preferred to be with the twins and the three other students he met whose names he had already forgotten. He's surprised, however, that it seems that the people on his table seem to be a more subdued group of people—and seems too proper for him. He has no idea why he was a part of this group.

As he slowly makes his way towards the Slytherin table, the twins give out hoots and whistles, which he immediately responds with a flying kiss and a wave as if he's a famous popstar about to perform. He twirls on his way to his table and bows when the twins stand on their seats and yell a loud, "Encore!"

He was going to shout back but he heard a loud clearing of the throat and he turned around to see the stern glare of Professor Double Cheeseburger—Damn, I'm starting to crave some McDonald's meal right now—with eyes that say, "Don't you dare." And no, he did not dare, indeed.

Sheepishly, he goes to the table without another word and sits at the very edge of the far right of the whole room since it's the only available seat—which is near the staff table as well. Not really wanting to be seen too much by the professors but seeing that he's too much in their view, he sighs and tries to look around the room to find Fred and George again. But to his dismay, there is too big a gap between them, not to mention the many heads of the students between them.

Dumbledore then starts his welcoming speech.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and—most particularly—guests and our newest Hogwarts student," he says, beaming around at the foreign students and giving a warm smile at Leo. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast." Leo perks up at this, knowing that there will be dragons in this tournament. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" [2]

Dumbledore sits down and the plates in front of them fill with food in an instant. Leo's eyes widen at the amount of unhealthy and fatty food—which is so unlike from Camp Half Blood—and he quickly puts some on his plate.

Since he is, technically, the first in line in the whole building when facing the staff, and since he is also at the edge by the wall, Leo picks up his plate without another word.

Without really noticing the fact that the whole Slytherin table got quiet and is now watching him, and thereafter the other tables following suit, Leo looks around the room without looking at the students and staff.

In the middle of the whole hall, he sees a large goblet with blue flames bursting out beautifully. It reminds him of the bonfire at Camp Half-Blood.

With that, he goes to the goblet, and he is so mesmerized by the color, and is still wondering if he can control magic fire, that he didn't hear the shouts of the professors that it's not the tournament yet nor their shouts of "What are you doing?!"

And with that, he scrapes off a portion of his food on the goblet of fire.

He turns back to see everyone staring at him like he was crazy. He wants to ask what's wrong.

In Camp Half-Blood, it is only right to give a portion of your food as an offering to the gods. Knowing that these wizards are all under Hecate, they probably have the same tradition, especially since they have this goblet thingy.

Which is why he is so surprised when he feels food smack him at the back of his head—the goblet of fire has thrown his own food back to him, throwing him off balance and on the floor.

He hears the whole hall laughing.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing, Valdez?" he hears a male professor, who's wearing robes that make him look like a bat, yell at him as he goes closer.

"I was offering my portion to the gods... Do... Do you not do that here?" he asks meekly.

He pauses. "No, Mister Valdez, we do not. The Goblet of Fire is here for the tournament which will be held after the feast."

He feels his face turn warm, and he is sure that he is as red as the tomatoes dripping from the back of his head. "Oh, sorry about that."

"Now, I could easily put a cleaning charm on you seeing as you look inappropriate to continue on the dinner with food all over your person, but I suggest you go to the Slytherin Dormitory and have yourself cleaned up and come back here to continue eating."

I can't believe I'm being punished on the first day. "Right, and where is—"

He sees the professor gesture to someone behind him and before he turns to see who he is calling, the professor interrupts his question. "Miss Farley will be guiding you to the direction of the dormitory. I expect you to change into more… appropriate clothes underneath as well, Mister Valdez."

"But I—"

"Follow me, Valdez," someone behind him says. He turns to see a girl older than him walk towards the doors.

He turns to the professor once more to thank him but he is already walking back to the staff table and has started a conversation with Professor McNuggets.

"Ooookay," he whispers to himself before running up to the girl to follow her. "So… er… Farming?" he asks.

"It's Gemma Farley." [3]

"Right. Thanks, Gemma… Who was that professor I talked to anyway?"

She sighs but continues on politely. "We're not close enough to be on a first-name basis, Valdez. Call me Farley. As for the professor, that's Professor Snape. He's the head of Slytherin house and the Potions professor here at Hogwarts."

"Right, Farley. Right," he says, correcting himself. "Professor Snape, huh? Great. He seems a little, um…"

Farley stops walking at that and places a hand in front of him to stop him from walking as well. She turns to look at him. "Look, you're new, I get it. But we have a special rule in the Slytherin house. It's that we stick together, and never put another Slytherin down. Yes, Professor Snape seems to be that way, but you can't say the same thing when in front of other houses."

He hums. "Is it because of all the hate?" he asks out loud. Fred and George didn't particularly say anything hateful about the house but he gets it from context clues.

"Precisely. So, we gotta stick together and be a collective because it's one against three. It's our only way to survive. Another rule: keep fights between Slytherin within Slytherin. Never show weakness in our house outside of our dormitory. We'll be even greater targets to hostility in Hogwarts."

"Schist, that's heavy," he whistles.

"It is. So, you better be aware of this unspoken rule if you want to survive as a Slytherin," she advises as she starts to walk again.

"Yeah, got it. By the way, I have a tiny problem."

"What?"

"I don't have any other clothes with me, and I had a bit of trouble earlier hence the ruined shirt inside."

She looks at him briefly and he sees her scrunch her nose. "I'll bring you to the dormitory and find another Slytherin who can help with extra clothes."

"I just need a shirt. It's fine."

She sighs. "Okay, you have more to learn."

"What do you mean?"

"You have to look presentable. Always. It's one of the images for Slytherin house."

"And why exactly?"

"We always have to be above everyone."

His nose scrunches in distaste. "That… sounds…"

"Again, another way to survive."

I'm not gonna conform to that rule, sorry, he thinks. This school is crazy for being biased against one of their own. That's dumb. Then again, I've been in schools in America. I shouldn't be surprised the same thing can happen in Europe.

"We're here," she announces.

He looks up, shaking his head from his rapid thoughts to see… nothing. A wall.

"Uhh—"

"Power Above All," Farley suddenly declares as she stares at a damp stone wall.

To Leo's surprise, a concealed stone door slides aside, creating a rectangular opening, showing some room.

Farley turns to him. "Remember that. That's currently the password to the dormitory. It changes every fortnight. Power Above All will be changed on the ninth of November, which is Wednesday next week." [5]

"I see," he replies stupidly, still staring at the created rectangle hole in the wall. "Gods, magic is something else," he whispers to himself as he follows Farley in what seems to be a common room.

"I'll show you to your room. The castle probably added your bed already—" Leo didn't get to ask what that meant. "—so I'll leave you there for you to get used to it. I'll get one of the fifth years to get you some clothes. I know a Fourth Year who brings a bunch of extra clothes with him. You seem to be his size so I'll bring him here. Follow me."

He looks around gobsmacked at the dungeon. He looks around at the greenish lamps and chairs; the black and dark green leather sofas seem both comfortable and uncomfortable to see; and all of the furniture matching the lighting of the room and— NO WAY?!

He runs up to the windows. " Schist, we're under the sea?!"

"Valdez," he hears Farley warn him as his head starts to sing Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid. [4]

Sadly, he wants to look at whatever body of water they are under more, but he follows the girl to a room.

He enters and sees the stone walls and stone floors covered by a green carpet. There are six four-poster beds covered in green silk hangings. He looks up to see silver lanterns hung up from the ceilings. The walls seem to be decorated with crests with a snake on each of them.

"That's your bed," Farley points at one of the beds.

Five of the beds have luggage at the end of them, and Farley is pointing at the one that doesn't have any luggage. Does this mean what he thinks it means?

"Am I staying with five other people?"

"Yes. Now I'm gonna go get Nott."

"Right," he replies calmly, which is the opposite of what he is feeling right now because—Schist for all the gods! I do not fit well with other people and from what I've already gathered, Slytherins can be uptight. I'm gonna be a massive pain on these people's butts! Good luck to me! Schist! Schist! Schist!

Shaking his head, he goes to the room which he assumes to be a bathroom—and thankfully he's right!—and washes himself up as much as he can. He's eternally grateful that his pants were spared from the goblet's fury since most of the food went to the back of his head, the old robes Professor Dumb Door gave him for the meantime, and a bit of mess at the front of his shirt from where the food on his shoulders and head started dripping.

He leaves the bathroom wearing only his pants, to see Farley and another guy with her. "AHHH!" he yelps, hiding his skinny body with his arms.

He sees Farley herself close her eyes—the only thing that showed that she was just as shocked as him—but she is as calm as he met her. "Right, Valdez, this is Nott. He agreed to lend you some clothes."

"Right, thanks, Nott," he says, still embarrassed and he knows he is as red as a dragon's coldest fire.

"The only reason I'm lending it to you is that they are the smaller ones our elves placed in my trunk. I don't need them, though it doesn't hurt to be prepared for anything, but in this case, I've always wanted to throw these but the elves just keep finding a way and a reason to keep them," he replies nonchalantly, already heading to his bed which is conveniently beside Leo's. Leo wanted to ask more what he meant by elves but since Nott said it so casually, it might be weird for him to ask anything so he kept quiet.

"Thanks, still," Leo says instead, getting four shirts Nott offered.

"You don't think you have some trousers for him either, do you?" Farley asks Nott with her eyes still closed even though Leo is already buttoning up his new, oddly nice-fitting shirt. "Valdez, needs to change his."

Leo looks down at his large brown pants. "What's wrong with my—" he stops at the judging stare of Nott and the pursed lips of Farley. "Right."

Nott sighs. "Why must I be so nice?" he asks.

"Don't forget, Nott, Slytherin's stick together, and Valdez needs all the support Slytherin can give. Even if it's just to keep our reputation intact," she replies, talking to the wall.

"I'm dressed now, by the way," Leo quietly says, his ears hot. Farley still doesn't open her eyes.

Nott rolls his eyes. "Fine. You're in luck because the elves brought in some of my old trousers, too."

"Thanks, man," Leo says, getting the three trousers.

He wanted to ask if he has some underwear for him but Leo thinks he might get murdered if he asks that. He'll just settle with cleaning his one underwear everyday.

"I'll be in the common room. I'll walk you both back to the Feast so you can finish your meals," Farley replies.

"No thanks, I'll go there now," Nott replies, closing his luggage and leaving the room with Farley following him.

Leo stands there for a moment before letting out a huff. "Damn, it's gonna be hard staying here, isn't it?" he asks himself before changing his trousers. He wants to fold them up to his knees as well, like how he does it to his brown pants, but decides against it. Instead, he looks like a well-dressed normal teenager with worn-out boots and crazy wet hair.

He places the dirty clothes on the bed and decides to do something about them later after the feast before going back to the common room where Farley waits.

"Where's your robes?" Farley asks as soon as he is in view of her.

"Umm, they're upstairs."

"Bring them here, I'll clean them. You can't go back robe-less."

"What you don't have to—"

Farley sighs. "Cleaning charms, Valdez. We have them."

"Ah, right," he replies before retreating back to the dorm and grabbing the robes.

With the flourish of her wand, the food on the robes disappear quickly.

"Magic is so cool," Leo whispers.

"Sounds like you don't witness much magic," Farley asks with a raised brow as she stands aside to let Leo pass through the common room wall.

Leo thinks of all he has witnessed in Camp Half-Blood, even before it. He even thinks of his control with fire. He is sure as Tartarus that that's not something a mortal gets to witness at all.

"It's not that I don't witness anything magnificent. It's just sometimes I realize I got so used to it that I don't appreciate it anymore," Leo replies wistfully, missing his cabin, missing his friends, missing his girlfriend, missing Festus, missing his home.

He slaps himself in the face.

"Valdez, what in the world—!"

"Sorry! I tend to do that when I need some waking up!" he apologizes immediately.

"Just… don't do that often, especially in front of the other houses."

"Right, appearances and schist."

They enter the hall and Farley leaves him to sit with some older looking students, so to his embarrassment, he walks further where he was seated near the teacher's table. He can feel all eyes on him and his ears start to redden.

So much for blending in, he thinks to himself as he sits down.

He looks at the food in front of him and he can feel his stomach grumble. He is hungry, he has to admit, but he'll be damned if he doesn't offer food to the gods. He doesn't want to upset them. Especially not after my dashing stunt of—I don't know—going back from the dead.

He sits there and watches as everyone eats, not really minding him. And so he just throws his face down on the table and waits for the feast to finish.

He doesn't notice two pairs of eyes looking at him then at each other.

—oOo—

Leo stands at the back of the crowd as the Slytherins walk together to go back to their dorms. He's tired from all the fights he endured today, overwhelmed from everything that happened—including a new prophecy about him, and he's hungry as schist.

Which is why he yelps in surprise when he feels two different arms circle around his, and turn him around from where he was.

"Hello, our dear friend," Fred says.

"What the—Fred! George!" he asks, looking at each of the twins on each of his arms, dragging him to who knows where.

"Blimey, you got our names right," George says in surprise.

"That was just by chance," Leo replies with a laugh even though he just doesn't want to reveal that he can just tell from their mannerisms.

"We've been watching you, young man," Fred starts.

"You haven't been eating and we want to know why," George says.

"It's not really a big deal—"

"Mate, we just saw you banged up this morning. You can't say it's not a big deal," George retorts.

"So, we've decided to interrogate you in the kitchens. Lucky for you, the kitchen is near your common room. Though, it's much closer to the Hufflepuffs, lucky bastards," Fred adds.

He doesn't question when George tickles a pear on a painting in front of them, and decides to just stare when said painting opens to reveal a kitchen with several creatures working.

"What in Hades' name is—"

"Oh, these are house elves, but they are working in the school for the kitchens," Fred explains. "Come on, let's bring you to one of them so we can have them cook your favorite meal."

"Look," he says, taking his arms away from the twins. "Thanks and all, but even if you bring me to the kitchens, I still don't want to eat."

And that's the exact moment when his stomach decided it wants to speak.

Freaking stomach ruining my lies, Leo thinks.

"Don't want to, or can't?" George asks.

"Look, we have this… kind of… tradition in Ca—Ilvermorny. We have to give a portion of our food to the gods as tribute before we eat," he says. "And it feels wrong to just eat without doing it."

"Is it by throwing it in the fire?" George asks, probably thinking of his stunt at the Feast.

"Sort of… Think of it as some sort of ceremonial fire," Leo says, thinking of the pavilion fire in Camp Half-Blood.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Gred?" Fred starts.

"You know what I'm thinking, Forge," George replies.

"A trip to the Forbidden Forest!" they say in unison.

"But before that, let's get you some food," George says, pulling Leo to the nearest elf to make him a quick meal, also telling that elf to give him twice as much as you would to one person.

Leo looks with wide eyes as the twins go around the room with ease.

They've definitely gone here a lot of times, seeing as the elves are also at ease with them, and wary of him. He watches as one of the elves makes him some meal that has mashed potatoes, vegetables and lamb mince. Another elf is making him some fresh juice which seems to be pumpkin juice. And another, making him a small cake.

Leo really doesn't want to stare at these creatures, because it's the first time he's seeing elves, which Nott has already mentioned earlier.

Still, he's fought some even weirder things, so he shouldn't still be surprised when meeting with new species. But he is still fifteen.

As quickly as they came, they left with Leo holding a tray with his food in some sort of hidden passage in the castle. Of course, the twins are also holding their own plates with some sweets.

George walks behind him and looks around behind all of them in case someone sees them. Fred walks in front of them with his wand lightened up as if it was a flashlight, and he tells them to stop when they see some teachers or prefects walking near the opening of the passage, before quickly telling them to move when it's okay.

They arrive at the edge of the Forbidden Forest near some sort of arena which the twins told Leo would be the Quidditch Pitch, a nice area far from Hagrid's hut so they wouldn't be seen. It was nearly endless before they finished their enthusiastic speech about Quidditch as they were walking towards their destination. Leo couldn't wait to witness the sport but he was also told that they're not having Quidditch this year to give way to the Tournament.

They sit down after the twins gather some stones and wood to make a small bonfire for them. Leo uses his own fire to ignite it and they wait until the fire is large enough before Leo scrapes off a portion of his food to the fire, thinking about his father.

I hope that's enough for you, he thinks to himself.

To his surprise, the twins do the same thing to their food and offer it to the fire.

They seem to notice his surprise. "We've read up on Hecate before for class. Since we now know they're still up there, it's only right we give tribute, too."

Leo smiles at the twins as they eat together around this small bonfire and talk more about what Camp Half-Blood is like and more about what Hogwarts is like.

Maybe being here isn't so bad after all.

—oOo—

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The order of the seats from the staff table goes like: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

[2] Taken from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire but tweaked to add in Leo.

[3] Gemma Farley was a Slytherin prefect in 1991 mentioned in Pottermore. So she probably started Hogwarts around 1985 to 1987. For the purposes of this story, she started in 1987, making her a seventh year prefect. She could even be Head Girl, who knows?

[4] September 1, 1994 is a Thursday and I counted every fortnight so the last time the password was changed was on the 26th of October.

[5] The Little Mermaid premiered in 1989. This fic is set in 1994.

—oOo—

LEO'S TIMELINE:

Chapter One.

October 30, 1994. MON. 9AM in Long Island.
- Leo leaves Long Island.

October 30, 1994. MON. 1.5 hour flight. 10:30AM in Long Island, 8AM where he is now.
- Leo fights Shrimpzilla.

October 30, 1994. MON. Another 1.5 hour flight. 12PM in Long Island, 7AM in France.
- Leo ends up in France.

Chapter Two.

October 30, 1994. MON. 30min flight. 1PM in Long Island. 7AM in Romania.
- Leo ends up in Romania.
- Leo stays for an hour.

October 30, 1994. MON. 9AM in Scotland.
- Professor Flitwick gives his students a small task to do and promises to let them leave early.

Chapter Three.

October 30, 1994. MON. 8AM at Romania.
- Leo leaves to Hogwarts

October 30, 1994. MON. 10AM at Scotland.
- The Charms class is dismissed early.
- The trio goes to Hagrid.
- The twins try out their Aging Potion.
- Leo falls.
- The trio immediately run to him and brings him to the Hospital Wing.

Chapter Four.

October 30, 1994. MON. 10:25AM
- Leo wakes up.

October 30, 1994. MON. 10:40AM
- Year Four Potions starts.
- Leo and the twins talk more.

Chapter Five.

October 30, 1994. MON. 11:15AM.
- Leo and the twins arrive at the Forbidden Forest.

Chapter Six.

October 30, 1994. MON. 3PM.
- They go to Dumbledore.

October 30, 1994. MON. 5PM.
- All classes are dismissed early.

October 30, 1994. MON. 6PM.
- Students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive to Hogwarts.
- Leo gets sorted into Slytherin.

October 30, 1994. MON. 6PM.
- The Feast begins.