"Oh good, you two actually came out on time," Gemma Farley commented when she spotted them emerging from the left hallway that morning.
It seemed that Greengrass and Moon were there already, but Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Bulstrode, and Parkinson were still absent. Looking around, Harry noticed that most of Slytherin House was already awake and present in the Common room; most of them looked tired and bleary-eyed.
"Good morning to you too, Farley," Zabini replied shortly after he and Harry had walked up to them.
"Oh don't be like that, Zabini," Farley teased. "You saved me the pleasure of waking you up."
"Why is everyone awake so early, though?" Harry asked curiously.
"Professor Snape prefers to handout class schedules in the common room," Farley explained, before smirking. "Don't worry, he usually does the firsties last."
Harry gulped nervously. He hadn't realized that he would have to come face to face with the Professor who seemed to dislike him so soon.
"Why don't you two go sit next to the girls while you wait?" Farley suggested.
Harry and Zabini eyed each other, before Zabini shrugged and started walking towards them, with Harry following. As they walked towards them, Harry noticed that Moon was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, while Greengrass appeared to be applying makeup to her face with the aid of a handheld mirror. Harry wondered why Greengrass would do that out in the common room instead of back in her personal bathroom, but who knows with girls.
"How are you two ladies doing this fine morning?" Zabini asked courteously.
"If by 'fine' you mean 'early', 'annoying', and 'exasperating', I'd say we're doing terrific," Moon replied caustically, brushing back her brown hair behind her ears.
"Why, what happened?" Harry asked with interest.
"Greengrass snores," Moon grumbled. "It kept me up all night, I hardly got a wink of sleep."
"Excuse me but I do not snore," Greengrass interjected with a sharp tone and a flick of her blond hair. "A lady doesn't snore."
"Well it must have been the Bloody Baron or something because someone's snoring kept me awake all night last night," Moon bit back.
"Perhaps the Prefects could help with that," Zabini suggested. "They could use a Silencing Charm on Greengrass's bed so you don't have to hear her snoring."
"Alright, I'll ask Farley when she has time," Moon replied, brightening at the suggestion.
Greengrass glowered at her. "Hmmp. Perhaps I should have chosen Bulstrode to share a room with. She doesn't seem like the type to complain…"
"And leave me with Parkinson?" Moon replied with mock surprise. "Even you aren't that cruel, Daphne."
Greengrass rolled her eyes. "No, but you are testing my patience, Lily."
"You'll get over it," Moon huffed.
"Well, I am a lady," Greengrass replied haughtily.
Harry raised an eyebrow. He didn't know a kid could sound so old fashioned, but Daphne sounded like she had been raised in the previous century or something.
"Anyway, what kind of sleeping arrangements did you boys make?" Moon asked, addressing the question towards Harry and Zabini.
Zabini smiled. "Well, Malfoy tried to get Potter to share a room with him if you can believe it, but Potter shut that down real quick."
"You don't say," Moon said with surprise, looking at Harry. "I thought he hated you?"
Harry just shrugged self-consciously.
"In the end, Malfoy ended up snatching up the only remaining lakeside dorm with Goyle," Zabini continued. "And Nott is sharing with Crabbe."
"I see," Moon said simply, looking between the two of them with a calculating look in her eye.
Zabini sighed. "Moon, you know I'm not into blokes."
Moon smirked. "I didn't say you were."
Zabini gave her a flat look. "No, but you were thinking it."
Moon raised an eyebrow. "Oh, did your mother teach you how to read minds now, Zabini?"
"I didn't have have to; it was written all over your face."
Greengrass looked up from her makeup work, looking between the two of them. "What are you two gossiping about now?"
Moon rolled her eyes. "Don't worry your pretty sheltered head about it, Daphne. We're just two old friends catching up."
"You two know each other?" Harry asked with surprise.
"My father has business interests in Italy," Moon explained wryly. "He usually drags me along when he attends political functions there. That's where I met Blaise. I imagine if my father hadn't been married, we would have gotten to know each other a bit more… intimately."
Harry frowned in confusion. What did her father being married have to do with Moon getting to know Zabini?
"I think you know me well enough by now to know that I wouldn't do something like that to you, Lily," Zabini pointed out.
Harry felt like he was missing some layer of context. His confusion must have shown on his face, because Moon gave an exasperated huff. "Don't tell me your new friend hasn't told you all about what his mother gets up to, right?"
"He knows, Malfoy made sure of that," Zabini pointed out with gritted teeth. "And I thought we agreed that you wouldn't bring it up at Hogwarts, Moon."
"I never agreed to anything of the sort," Moon huffed.
Zabini frowned. "Didn't we have a whole discussion about it the summer before last?"
"Oh, that?" Moon shrugged. "I thought you were joking! It's hard to tell with you, sometimes. You're always so serious."
Zabini set his jaw. "Well, in this case, I was being serious. I'd thank you not to do it again."
"Sorry," Moon replied unapologetically, and Harry got the distinct impression that she was definitely going to bring it up again at some point.
As for Harry's part, Harry could hardly believe that he had already forgotten about Zabini's mother. It definitely explained the missing context.
Harry gave Zabini a side eye; now that he remembered what he had learned last night, he wondered if he should call off the alliance he had formed with Zabini… before deciding against it. After all, Zabini had promised to help him fit in with Slytherin… and it appeared that he seemed to know what he was doing.
The group lapsed into silence after that, and a minute later Farley arrived with the other First Years in tow. It appeared that she had had to wake them up, for they were all looking like they had gotten dressed rather hastily, and Malfoy looked particularly put out.
"I don't see why we have to wake up at the bloody crack of dawn," he was muttering irately. "Classes don't even start until nine."
"Normally you wouldn't have to," Farley pointed out testily. "But as this is the day Professor Snape hands out class schedules, so you have to be up and ready for him by seven."
"Can I at least go back to bed when he's done?" Malfoy asked irritably.
"Probably not," Farley replied wryly. "It's usually almost eight by the time he gets to the First Years."
"Then why couldn't you wake me up then?" Malfoy whined.
"Because if we have to get up at the crack of dawn, then so do you," Farley pointed out with annoyance. "I'm not here to baby you, Malfoy. Your parents might spoil you rotten, but I couldn't care less about you. Now sit down with the other first years and wait your turn."
Malfoy glared at her mutinously, but did as she told him to. With that, Farley turned around and walked over to a crowd of fifth years.
"Let me guess, she had to use the hammer to wake you up," Moon suggested shyly.
"I don't want to talk about it," Malfoy bit out.
"Hammer?" Harry asked with confusion. "What hammer?"
"Well, normally people can't enter your dorm without the permission of both occupants," Moon explained. "but sometimes Prefects have to get people out somehow, so they invented the Hammer. What they do when normal knocking doesn't work is they get the Hammer and bang on your door with it. On the other side it's super loud, bound to wake anyone up."
"That sound… dangerous," Harry pointed out cautiously. "What's the stop the Prefects from using it all the time? And what happens if a student can't come to the door?"
"Well, the Hammer can only be used once per day, and the Prefects have to get Professor Snape's permission before they use it," Moon replied. "If the student still doesn't come out, the Head of House can enter."
Harry frowned. "Why do they have all of these… security measures in place anyway? Wouldn't it make more sense for the prefects to be able to enter the dorms?"
That gave most of the first years pause, and it seemed that even Moon didn't have an answer to that question.
In the end, it was Nott who answered. "Hogwarts, a History says that the… 'security measures', as you call it, were put in place after an inner house conflict erupted in Slytherin House all the way back in 1554, which caused seven deaths and 11 injuries. Apparently, there have always been tensions in Slytherin house between different… ah, 'political' groups, and the Head of Slytherin House at the time made the decision to modify the dorms so that only two people could occupy each one at a time.
"As time went on and tensions grew, the security measures were tightened, and the Heads of House have slowly steered the inner house tensions away from open conflict through wands and towards games of politics, to keep the house from erupting in violence like it did back then."
"That makes sense," Zabini nodded. "Truthfully, I was actually somewhat concerned that I'd have to share a dorm with the rest of our year mates, but I think this system is much better. I certainly feel more secure just sharing a room with Potter."
Harry frowned. The more he learned about his chosen house, the more he was starting to regret choosing it. If he had chosen Gryffindor, he's probably still be asleep right now in the Gryffindor dorms, in a bed next to Ron's.
In Slytherin, however, he was wide awake, and had just learned that he had probably keep an eye out for the potential of open violence, just to keep himself safe.
"Surely there isn't open conflict in Slytherin anymore, is there?" Greengrass asked with concern.
Nott frowned. "The last recorded incident was in 1976, but there were no deaths, thankfully."
"My Father said that he was involved in that incident," Malfoy spoke up suddenly. "Apparently, there was a group of Mudblood sympathizers that tried to take control of the Hammer, as the Prefects were using it every day on their dorms. They grabbed it and barricaded themselves in one of the dorms, and refused to come out until they spoke to the Head of House. After that, the Hammer was changed so that the Prefects could only use it with the Head of House's permission."
"What happened to the sympathizers?" Moon asked curiously.
Malfoy shrugged. "They got detention, as far as I know."
"How was your father involved?" Zabini asked curiously.
"He was the Head Prefect at the time," Malfoy said smugly. "They managed to get an ally of theirs to get permission to get into Father's dorm, where they snatched the Hammer off of his nightstand."
He paused after that, looking reluctant to continue.
"If I recall correctly, they also strung him up to the ceiling and charmed his hair pink," An authoritative voice said from outside their group, and they looked up to find Professor Snape standing there, holding his wand in one hand and a stack of papers in the other. "Isn't that correct, Mr. Malfoy?"
"Er, yes sir," Malfoy nodded.
"Professor…" Zabini said with surprise. "We didn't realize that you had arrived. Farley said that you would give us our schedules last…"
Professor Snape gave Zabini a rather dour look. "Normally I would, but Mr. Malfoy's Father 'requested' that I cover the First Years first this year so that Mr. Malfoy here can get some more 'sleep' on his first day…"
Zabini blinked. "I see."
Professor Snape turned his attention to Malfoy. "Let me be clear, Mr. Malfoy. This is the only time that I will oblige you. Next year I expect you to be awake and ready on time. Am I perfectly clear?"
"Yes, sir." Malfoy nodded glumly.
"Very well," Professor Snape nodded.
He then took the time to eye each of the First Years one by one, as if to challenge them to complain about early time they had to wake up.
Finally his eyes fell upon Harry, and they lingered there the longest. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they lacked Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made one think of holes or shallow pools in the dark. Professor Snape eyed Harry up and down, occasionally focusing on his hair or the bridge of his nose, and sometimes he peered directly into Harry's eyes.
Harry tried his best not to let the staring get to him, and blinked several times, as he didn't want to ruin his newly repaired eyes with a staring contest.
Eventually, Professor Snape lifted the stack of papers and with a wave of his wand caused individual sheets to fly to each of the First Years. It was their first year schedule.
"Potter, a word, please," Professor Snape whispered.
Harry was startled at being addressed, but he muttered a quick "yes, sir" and got up, before following Professor Snape to a more isolated part of the common room. When they got there, Professor Snape waved his wand, which Harry assumed meant he had cast a privacy ward.
"So, Potter, what have you got to say for yourself?" Professor Snape whispered dangerously.
Harry blinked, surprised. "Sir?"
"Don't 'sir' me," Snape snapped. "We both know you have no business being in Slytherin! Do you think you're having a laugh at my expense, joining my house?!"
Harry floundered, the strange and hostile questions leaving him completely flummoxed. "Sir… I don't even know you! How on earth could I be having a laugh at your expense?"
"Don't play the fool, Potter! I know the truth," Snape hissed. "Someone put you up to this, and I will find out who, I can promise you that, and when I do, I'll do everything I can to make sure you don't remain at this school!"
Anger flooded Harry's veins: What right did Snape have to judge him like this?! Who did Snape think he was, to accuse him of playing a joke on him?!
"Well, Sir, if you must know, it was the Hat who put me up to this!" Harry said mutinously. "Before I even stepped foot in this school, everyone told me that Slytherin was the house of Dark Wizards, and you know what? They were right! If I had known then what I know now, I never would have agreed to go into Slytherin! So if you really think I don't deserve to be here, fine! I'll leave, and find some other place to learn magic! I'll pack my bags right now, and walk right out that door, Slytherin be damned!"
Snape glared at him inscrutably for a long time, and Harry glared right back, refusing to back down.
"Very well, Potter," Snape said eventually. "I believe you. You may return to your year-mates now."
Snape's sudden change in mood left Harry flat-footed; he had all this righteous anger flooding his veins and now he didn't know what to do with it.
"Can you at least tell me why you hate me so much?" he asked challengingly.
Snape stared at him with an inscrutable expression for a long moment. "I don't hate you, Potter.
"It's your father I hate."
Review Answers:
Travis99: I like it
Author: Thanks, man.
Scarlett Woman: A good start, just the right touch of realism!
Author: Thanks, that's what I was striving for.
llpi: Not very smart or Slytherin of Harry to snub Malloy a second time. He doesn't have to trust him, but he's missed an opportunity to neutralize a potential antagonist, an opportunity he couldn't even have expected to have when he walked over to the table. *facepalms*
Author: dude, Malfoy literally insulted Harry's Friend to his face? What else was he supposed to do?
nighthawk-95: Interesting start. I wonder how will Harry's relationship with Snape go.
Author: Not well at first, but it'll get better over time.
JettShay: This is looking very promising, I can't wait for the next chapter!
Author: here it is!
