I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION. ALL RIGHT GO TO J.K. ROWLING

Toby was trying to appreciate the Gryffindor common room, but he was too angry, how dare his brother betray him by getting sorted into that evil den of snakes. Potters were always Gryffindors, Toby would have accepted Ravenclaw or maybe even Hufflepuff; but Slytherin? That was something Toby could not accept.

He was happy that Susan got into Hufflepuff like her aunt did, she was her idol after all, but that happiness was drowned out ten-fold by the sheer fury he felt towards his brother for besmirching the name Potter.

"You okay mate?" Ron asked, he had been there when Harry had been sorted into Slytherin and seemed to be in the same boat as Toby.

"No." Toby said curtly. "It's just that… how could he… how can he be a Slytherin, he's a Potter? It must be those dirty death eaters that corrupted him on the train"

"I don't know mate, the 2 times I met him he seemed a bit off, and you did say something about his scar not being good news. Maybe that's why he went to Slytherin." Ron tried to be supportive.

"Hmm, I don't know, you are right though, that scar is not good news, but I'm not allowed to discuss that, father said so." Toby paused as if thinking, "AHA! I need to write to father, I will be back," and with that Toby rushed off to his dorm where he knew his owl would be.

Harry woke up and tried to pull his curtains apart, they wouldn't budge, Crabbe and Goyle still couldn't be holding them shut so there must be some sort of spell holding them. Harry guessed it was the basic sticking charm he had read about, but he didn't know the counter spell to it. He had another idea though. If it were the sticking charm, then it would only be applied to the parts of the curtains that overlapped, so if he were to burn those bits, he could open the curtains.

Harry moved his hand and focused on the need to burn the fabric, he scrunched up his eyes trying to home in on his intent. He waited for a second or two before he felt the heat in his hand and carefully moved it along the edges of the curtains. Harry managed to keep the fire in check and the edges were charred, he tried to move them apart and much to his satisfaction they came apart. He could see that only one other person had left their bed, but they weren't in the dorm.

Opening the dormitory door quietly, he walked down the corridor and into the main area of the common room, Harry was very thankful that the lights seemed to be a bit brighter today and the whole place looked a lot more inviting with some good lighting. He could see multiple upper years shooting him glares but he ignored them and walked towards the one familiar face, Theo. He wanted to have serious words with him after last night.

"Oi! Nott, what the hell was that last night, why didn't you do anything?" Harry asked; he felt betrayed, he had thought they were friends but evidently not. He had also seen that whilst Malfoy called Theo his first name, Theo referred to Malfoy by his surname so he guessed calling Theo his surname would get his attention.

Theo could obviously tell that Harry was not very happy with him at the moment, "Harry, calm down." He reached out and grabbed Harry and pulled him towards the exit of the common room. Harry shrugged his hand off and walked alongside him instead.

Theo led him to an abandoned corridor of the dungeons, "Now that we are somewhere that no one will see you emotional; I did what I did because I can't go against Malfoy." Theo explained.

"Well why in Merlin's name not?" Harry interrupted.

Theo took a deep breath, "As Malfoy said, Slytherin has a hierarchy but it's not exactly how he said it is. You are a halfblood in Slytherin, you were always going to be at the bottom of the hierarchy, you are just lucky that Bulstrode and Davis are also halfbloods, otherwise everyone would be purely focused on you. At least Davis has protection from Greengrass, so she won't be in too bad a situation, you and Bulstrode though need to be careful."

Harry took a deep breath as he tried to process everything Theo had told him. "So why did that mean you couldn't do anything, if Davis has Greengrass for protection why can't I have you for protection?"

"Well, Greengrass isn't from a disgraced family like I am, nor is Malfoy, I don't have as much political weight to throw around, Malfoy also has the other two as attack dogs doesn't he, if you can start giving as good as you are getting then I will be able to help you, but for now I'm afraid you are on your own."

"What do you mean give as good as I'm getting?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Get your revenge, I doubt you will be able to do much now so just try to be a model student and don't give people a reason to attack you, especially Malfoy or Parkinson. You being the twin of The-Boy-Who-Lived is not helping your case but still try to keep quiet until you are ready to get revenge." Theo instructed.

Harry took another deep breath, "Okay, I think I can do that." Harry paused as a question came back to him, "Theo, what does mudblood mean?"

Now it was Theo's turn to take a breath, "It is a very rude and demeaning term for a witch or wizard of muggle birth, it means dirty blood and your mother was muggleborn correct?" Theo was asking a rhetorical question, everyone knew that Lily Potter was muggleborn, she was perhaps the most famous muggleborn in recent history.

"So he was insulting my mother, who died to save me," Harry said trying to remain calm, his fingernails were digging into his palm as his fists balled tighter than he would have thought possible.

"Yes, he did but don't do anything stupid. Blood purity is a big thing in most of Slytherin so you can't just go denouncing it otherwise you will bring the whole weight of the house on you, and trust me, you don't want that."

"Okay," Harry looked up and locked eyes with Theo, "Thank you for helping me."

"No problem, now just keep your head low and avoid Malfoy and you will be fine." With that they both turned back and headed back to the common room.

Timetables were given out at breakfast and Harry had Charms first, he was excited to learn some charms and was hoping he would learn the counter charm after what happened this morning.

He followed the prefect who was showing them the way to the class and was surprised to see that the man was so small he had to stand on top of some books in order to see over his desk.

When he called out the name Susan Bones, he looked over to the girl who had just called "Here," and saw her giving him a look that could only be rivalled by Toby.

Great, not only did most his own house hate him but so did others in the school; and Hufflepuffs at that! They were supposed to be the kind ones.

Once the Professor had finished the register, he started his lecture, "Welcome to Charms, here you will learn, as the name suggests, charms. Now who can tell me the definition of a charm?"

He pointed towards Davis who answered, "A charm is a spell that adds or changes a property of an object or individual."

"Correct, three points to Slytherin, now, who can give me a charm that one of you know?"

This time he pointed at blonde haired boy who had answered to Wayne Hopkins, "Um… the time charm?"

"Yes, and would you be filling to demonstrate that for me?"

Wayne put his hand into his robe pocked and tried to fish out his wand, Harry was glad his father had given him the holster, Harry wasn't going to deny it was a good gift.

"Tempus," Hopkins said and the numbers 09:04 appeared in white lines in front of him.

"Very well-done Mr. Hopkins, take five points for Hufflepuff. Now, we are going to be working on the flame charm today, can anyone tell me the incantation?" He looked over the room before Greengrass raised her hand, "Yes Miss. Greengrass?"

"Incendio sir."

"Well done, take three points. The incantation is 'Incendio', and the wand motion is as such," he slowly moved his wand up then down in an upwards arrow shape before doing a small arc in the direction of the starting point. "I will also draw it on the blackboard for anyone who did not see." He flicked his wand, and the path was now clear on the blackboard.

"Now then, I will hand out these candles, try to light them," he waved his wand across the room and the candles all darted towards a student. "You need to focus hard on trying to light your candle or nothing will happen, your intent is what guides your magic after all."

Harry flicked his wrist slowly and his wand shot out of it, it was easy enough to grab a hold of. He pointed his wand at the candle, "Incendio," he said as he did the wand motion.

Nothing happened.

Harry frowned, wasn't a wand supposed to make magic easier? Why couldn't he do this with a wand if he could do it without?

Harry refocused on his intent to light the candle, "Incendio." This time the bottom of his wand became hot instantly, so hot in fact he had to drop it as it felt like it was burning.

That got the attention of Professor Flitwick who looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He could hear the laughing at the back of the class as the Professor made his way over to Harry.

"Mr. Potter, this is your wand, correct?" He asked as he picked it up before frowning at it. Harry nodded, "Did you buy this from Ollivanders?"

"Yes sir, I even had to replace the wood, so I know this is chose me sir."

"Hmm, well I would like to speak to you after class, for now I would like you to read ahead in The Standard Book of Spells," the Professor then handed Harry back his wand.

Harry thought that was rather boring but just nodded his understanding.

It had been a very dull time sitting there reading but revision was always good. Everyone was now packing up, "Mr. Potter, a word if you please."

The Professor set out a candle on his desk, "Now Mr. Potter, please put your wand on the desk," Harry did so, "Now light the candle." Flitwick instructed.

Harry reached for his wand, but the Professor stopped him, "How am I to light it without my wand sir?" Harry asked, internally he was panicking, did he know about his wandless abilities, if so, how did he know about them, he hadn't told anyone. Not even Dumbledore or McGonagall.

A smirk made its way onto Professor Flitwick's face, "I'm sure you will manage just fine Mr. Potter."

Harry knew he had been found out so there was no point in denying, he pointed a single finger towards the wick before focusing on his intent, a small flame flickered to life at the end of his fingertip and lit the candle.

"Very well-done Mr. Potter, I am most impressed. I can't say I have ever seen a child so young have such control over their magic."

"How did you know sir?" Harry asked, he didn't want to people knowing about this so if he could find how the Professor knew he would correct that.

"Your wand was hot was it not? Where do you think you were trying to produce the fire, because it was not at the end of your wand." The Professor explained.

"Oh."

"Yes, you are not viewing your wand as an extension of yourself. Now, you can do conscious wandless magic so I'm guessing you can somewhat sense your own internal magic, correct?"

"Yes sir." Harry nodded.

"Very good, what I want you to do is pick up your wand, build your magic up at your hand like you would trying to light the candle but without the want to do it." Flitwick waited until Harry nodded, "Now, try and move it down your wand and try to light the tip of your wand on fire." Harry did so.

Nothing happened. He frowned and lowered his wand. "Why didn't that work?"

Flitwick chuckled, "You are forgetting you are using a wand Mr. Potter; you need the incantation and the wand movement."

"Oh, sorry sir."

"Don't apologise, try again," Professor Flitwick encouraged.

Building up his magic and letting it flow into his wand, Harry started moving his wand, "Incendio."

A small flicker of flame lit up the end of his wand like a match. The Professor clapped, "Well done Mr. Potter," Flitwick looked up at him to see Harry frowning, "You are frowning Mr. Potter, why is that?"

"Well, I can make a bigger flame without my wand, what's the point in having a wand?"

"How long have you been doing wandless magic Mr. Potter?"

"About two years sir."

Flitwick did a double take of Harry, "Two years, you say, and how long have you been doing magic with a wand?"

"Um, my first spell was about a month ago."

Flitwick smiled, "And what do you think that means?"

Harry's face lit up as realisation dawned on him, "I need to practice more with my wand." Harry said excitedly.

"Exactly Mr. Potter, now I believe you have Herbology next so I would get going," He waved his wand and a note appeared in the air, "Give this to Professor Sprout when you get there."

The Professor walked him to the door where an older class was lining up, they didn't look that much older so maybe second or third year, "Miss Bell, would you be kind enough to show Mr. Potter here to the greenhouses."

A girl who was in Gryffindor robes spoke up, "Of course sir."

"Excellent, take ten points."

Harry was following the girl who had stayed mostly silent, just looking at him as if he had three heads, the stares were already getting on Harry's nerves and he thought people would have more interesting things to do than gawk at him, "Why do you keep staring at me?"

That seemed to take the Gryffindor aback, "Well, it's just that no Potter in recent times has ever been sorted anywhere other than Gryffindor, it's a bit of a shock that's all."

"And so why are you staring at me then? As you can see, I'm a Potter and in Slytherin, or has Toby decided to disown me?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, and no, why would Toby disown you?" She asked, clearly curious about anything to do with the new Potter.

"Oh, he hates me, I have no idea why, but he does."

"Hmm, you seem okay to me," she tried to reassure him.

"Thank you," she sounded genuine, and Harry did appreciate that he was deemed normal by at least one person.

"Right, that's us here, make sure you give Sprout that note," she reminded.

"Thank you again," Harry said, before entering the greenhouse ready for Herbology.

Harry got into the common room after History of Magic, the only interesting thing about that class was that the Professor was a ghost, the actual classroom had been plain and had no details at all, the walls were blank, and the teacher seemed to just ignore the actual class and just lecture.

The rest of his classes had been incredibly boring, most were just lectures about what they would cover, that sounded interesting but learning what you were going to learn in the future, was very tedious.

He set down at one of the tables in a corner next to the girl he sat next to on the boat, Bulstrode if he remembered correctly.

She looked up and nodded her head, "Potter," and went back to her homework. Harry took out his own Astronomy homework, and started work on it, it was easy enough.

They worked in silence for a few minutes before Bulstrode spoke up, "So where'd Nott take you this morning?" She had a thick London accent and spoke slowly.

Harry put his quill down, "He… explained some things to me." Harry said simply.

"Hmm, what happened with Malfoy last night?"

A look of shock adorned Harry's face, "How do you know that?"

"You were very angry at Theo for not stepping in, Malfoy looked very smug this morning. Don't worry, Parkinson tried something similar on me but I'm too big for her to do anything." It was like she was trying to make a joke but she herself didn't find the joke funny.

"Huh, Greengrass or Davis not step in?" Harry questioned, he wanted to try and topple Malfoy from his self-perceived throne he viewed himself on, and he knew he wouldn't be able to do it alone, not yet at least.

"No, I'm a halfblood like you, Greengrass would actually help one of us," she paused for a second, "Unless it's Davis."

"Huh, looks like neither of us are in a good situation then," Harry said dryly.

"Sounds about right," she replied just as dryly.

More time passed before Bulstrode spoke up, "Potter, what did you put for this question?" She moved her astronomy homework so he could see the question.

"Um, I think that the different moon phases can have an effect on potions ingredients."

"Thank you Potter."

"Harry," he replied.

Bulstrode looked up at him, as if analysing himself, he had just offered her friendship, and he doubted anyone other than Bulstrode might take him up on it, he was too much of a controversial figure to do so.

"Millie then."

Harry reached out with his right hand, "Millie it is then." Millie reached out and they shook hands, signifying the start of their friendship, he had a friend in Slytherin now, someone who was also at the bottom of the barrel like himself.

That was when he heard a laugh from the side and saw Malfoy standing there with his bodyguards and Parkinson, "My, my, Potter and Bulstrode, made friends with each other, well, no one else has the self-respect to befriend either of them do they?"

At end of the question, most of the common room was either quiet or laughing, Harry could clearly hear the laughing of Crabbe and Goyle, which sounded more like grunting but that most be the most expressive they get.

"At least I don't need to pay my friends Malfoy, why else would those two hang around with you."

"They are of proper blood though, it's a disgrace that a daughter of a filthy muggle and a mudblood are in the noble house of Slytherin," Malfoy was smirking, and it was lighting a fire deep within Harry.

He stood and flicked his wand into his hand, nearly missing it, that was something he needed to practice, "Take that back Malfoy," Harry demanded as he pointed his wand at Malfoy.

Malfoy laughed and Harry soon had four wands in his face, "I doubt you could take on one of us Potter, you can forget about four of us," Malfoy was right, Harry was too inexperienced with a wand to stand a chance here. Millie stood up and also levelled her wand at the four, "Ha, what are you going to do with that Bulstrode, maybe you should learn some beauty charms first."

That was clearly the wrong thing to say, "Flipendo," she said as she shot a purple spell towards Malfoy, who avoided it and the spell soared towards a group of what Harry guessed were 6th years, one of them just waved their wand and the spell hit some sort of shield and fizzled out.

"Flipendo." All four of the said and all four spells hit Millie at once, knocking her back into the wall, knocking her out.

Harry watched as she sored through the air and hit the wall, he was not in a good situation, and he needed a distraction. He didn't want to expose his wandless magic so he was limited in what he could do.

Crabbe and Goyle started lumbering over to Harry, he knew if they got close then he would not have a good time. "Incendio," he said as he pointed his wand at the floor, trying to create a gap between himself and the other four.

Instead of a blast of fire he was hoping for, the same small flame that he had produced previously lit up the end of his wand. "HA! Potter can't even produce a half decent spell; I don't know what else we expected from a son of an up jumped Mudblood. I'll show you how it's done, Incendio." A burst of fire shot out of Parkinson's wand and created the division that Harry wanted to create. Only he realised that the flames were not that high and could easily be jumped over. He hadn't thought of that, he was going to need to learn some more offensive magic.

Harry's brain was thinking over time, going over all the spells he could think of, "Diffindo," he said and did the wand motion as well as he could remember. Thank Merlin that he had reread the book during charms otherwise he didn't think he would remember it. What looked to be a white arc curved towards Malfoy and hit his shoulder, it slightly ripped his robe, not by much though. "HA!" Malfoy laughed again, "That has got to be the worst cutting charm I have ever seen, you truly are a pathetic wizard Potter." He pointed his wand at Harry, "Incendio," he said again, this time a burst of fire came towards Harry.

Harry ducked down but the flames stopped in front of him. A new voice spoke, "That is quite enough of this farce," Harry looked up to see the prefect that introduced them to Slytherin standing with her wand raised, "Well, off you go Malfoy."

The boy in question frowned but left along with his entourage, "Thank you," Harry said to the girl.

"It wasn't for you, Bulstrode has been knocked out for too long for my liking, rennervate," she said pointed her wand at Millies chest, her wand lit up red and Millies eyes opened. Farley turned to face Harry, "Potter, that was a pathetic duel, I'm concerned that that was the best diffindo you could produce."

"I'll sort it," Harry reassured her.

"Make sure that you do," She waved her wand over Millie a few times before standing up. "Now Miss Bulstrode, you seem to be in fine health, you may have a headache, but you will be fine."

"Thanks," she whispered back.

Farley just nodded and left the two of them to themselves, "Sorry about that," Harry said.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"Well, I offered my friendship and so they targeted us," Harry explained.

"They would target us either way, I think we would both like someone to help."

"Works for me," Harry said, remembering he had homework he tried to focus and finish it but that was a struggle, casting a quick tempus, he had about an hour before dinner, so he decided to go and explore the castle.

Harry was lined up outside the Potions classroom, he had been told by Millie that Professor Snape expected a lot from the Slytherins, and he would not tolerate anyone being late, so he was here within plenty of time.

The door swung open and out stepped Professor Snape who indicated for them to enter. Harry took a seat near the back and was quickly joined by Millie, Davis and Greengrass.

They shared this class with the Gryffindors and he looked over and saw Toby staring daggers into him. He just looked away, he didn't trust himself to not get angry at him, Toby seemed to be ignoring him and so Harry would just do the same.

The Professor started taking the register but paused at Toby's name, "Ah yes, Our new… celebrity"

Snape finished the register, "You are all here to learn the subtle science of potion making," From just that single sentence, Snape had everyone's undivided attention. It was very impressive, "As there is little foolish wand-waving here many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death, if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

"Potter!" He shouted and both himself and Toby looked at the Professor, "Gryffindor Potter," the Professor corrected himself.

"Yes?" Toby asked, being a bit rude not addressing the Professor with any form of respect.

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" The girl who interrupted his train journey shot her hand up into the air.

"I don't know," Toby replied flippantly.

"Disappointing, clearly fame isn't everything, let's try again, where would I find a bezoar?" The same girl reshot her hand into the air

"I don't know, perhaps Hermione does though," Toby said with a grin on his face.

Snape turned his attention to the girl in question, "Put your hand down you silly girl and 2 points from Gryffindor for your cheek, now Mr. Potter, one final question, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"You know, father said you would be just like this," Toby raged, "Arrogant, mean and just a big bully." Toby continued, "Like, who even knows the answer to any of those questions?"

"Oh the irony of James Potter calling me those names, now let us ask someone else, Slytherin Potter, can you answer my questions?"

"Most of them sir, a bezoar is a stone from the stomach of a goat that can stop most poisons and monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, they are just found in different places, for example monkshood is found in Europe whereas wolfsbane is found in America. I don't know the answer to first question however."

"Correct on both counts Mr. Potter, for future reference you would get a sleeping potion knowing as The Draught of Living Death." Snape paused, "Well, why aren't you writing this down," he barked at the class.

Harry looked over to see Toby starting at him red in the face, "Oh, and 20 points from Gryffindor for that outburst Mr. Potter, I will also be speaking to your head of house about this."

It was near the end of the day on Wednesday and Harry was heading towards Transfiguration. This was going to be his first Transfiguration class and he wanted to see how he found it compared to the other wand subjects. His magic from his wand still wasn't powerful and he seemed to keep tripping and dropping whatever was in his arms in the common room. His hair also kept turning pink, but a prefect would always fix it before he left to make sure he didn't embarrass Slytherin house.

He knew it was some of the older students, but he couldn't exactly do anything about that currently, but he would make sure he could soon. He wasn't sorted into the ambitious house for nothing.

He walked into the class and saw a cat sitting on the desk, that was a bit strange, but Harry didn't really care much. He sat down in the middle row and took out some parchment. The board had some notes on it, so Harry started to copy them out.

About three minutes later, the final two Ravenclaws entered, they looked around and took an empty seat each. It seemed that Harry was disliked all over the school as no one sat next to him, Millie sat at the back like she did in most classes trying to not get noticed. Harry sat next to her in most of these, but he was interested in Transfiguration so wanted to be a bit closer to the front.

The doors to the room swung closed and the cat leaped off the desk and in mid-air it turned into Professor McGonagall. That was seriously cool, and Harry couldn't wait until he was taught how to do that.

"Welcome to your first class of Transfiguration," she started, "Now, Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Therefore, anyone messing around in my class will be removed and unable to come back. Am I clear?"

A chorus of "Yes ma'ams" and "Yes Professor" called back to her.

"Good, then let us get started, I will each hand you a match, I want you to try and change it into a needle for me please, the incantation is on the board as well as the wand movement. I believe that Professor Flitwick has already taught you the importance of intent, the same thing applies to Transfiguration, you need to want the change, otherwise nothing will happen."

The Professor waved her hand across the room and a match appeared on Harry's desk. He looked at the board to double check what it said on it as well as the wand motion. He practised it a few times until he felt like he had gotten the hang of it.

He imagined the needle that he wanted and focused on the want for it to be a needle. He cast the spell, and nothing happened. Why couldn't he get any spell on the first try, at least no one else seemed to be able to do the spell. That made him feel a bit better about himself.

Harry kept trying, eventually managing to get the entire match to be a silver colour after about 15 minutes of trying, he was used to waiting a while to learn new magic, he just hoped that using a wand would make it easier, 'Now I just need to get it into the shape of a match.'

He imagined the shape of the match and how it was going to morph into that of a needle and cast the spell once more. Harry had to blink as he was looking at a needle. Professor McGonagall saw this and came over, "Well done Mr. Potter, 5 points to Slytherin. Here's another one, try again."

This time she stayed and watched over him, this time Harry imagined how the match would morph into a needle, the change in colour, the rounding of the edges and the tip becoming pointed. He had his eyes closed, imagined this image for about ten seconds before he opened his eyes and cast the spell.

It worked!

She picked up the needle, "Very well-done Mr. Potter, 10 points to Slytherin, it has been a while since someone managed to do the entire transfiguration within 1 try, you should be proud of yourself." She looked at the needle closely, "I want you to try again, this time however, try and make the needle have an eye."

"Yes Professor, thank you." The Professor smiled at him and went back to walking around the class.

At the end of the class, he was the only one who had managed a complete transfiguration, Greengrass had managed to make the matchstick silver and the other girl he shared the rowboat with, Sue Li, had managed to make her match needle shaped.

Harry ignored all the jealous looked he got, and he wore a smile on his face the rest of the day. He had found something he was good at.

Authors Note

So, Harry has had most of his first classes, Harry is a powerful wizard but due to the way he has been using his magic it is hindering him, Harry standing up to Malfoy and his goons is the first step in him being more confident and taking his place within Slytherin.

Harry is also going to be very, very good at transfiguration with Professor McGonagall being a sort of idol to him, mainly because McGonagall is one of the most underrated characters in my opinion.

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and it took a bit longer to upload, I'm trying to maintain a high quality so I wanted more organised notes so was fixing those.

Next chapter we have James' reaction, flying lesson and more!

Remember that any reviews are welcome and thank you for reading.