"Where have you been, Potter?" Zabini asked when Harry returned to the dorm that night. "You missed Herbology and dinner."
"I don't want to talk about it," Harry bit out as he made to sit in his armchair.
Zabini raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else, instead turning his attention back to a book he was reading.
Harry, for his part, found himself turning over what he had learned from Snape: according to Snape, his father had been a bully that tormented him during his time at Hogwarts as a student.
Harry wasn't sure if he believed Snape, but if what Snape said was true… it would explain Snape's odd reaction to him during that first morning, as well as the look of dislike Snape had sent his way during the start-of-term banquet.
Harry shivered; had Snape been subjected to some thing like the Harry Hunting that Harry had endured during his childhood? He tried to imagine it: Snape running through the dungeons of Hogwarts will his father chased him with a group of faceless friends, only to corner him in some dark corner, then punch and kick Snape until he was black and blue.
The idea seemed ludicrous to Harry: he doubted that the teachers would have allowed that kind of thing to happen for very long… but then again the adults in the muggle neighborhood hadn't seemed to have a problem with Harry getting punched and kicked black and blue. Were the teachers at Hogwarts the same?
Harry didn't know… but he doubted it. After all, Hogwarts was a school, and he remembered the teachers at his old muggle school putting a stop to it whenever they caught Dudley and his friends kicking and punching Harry. It had happened only rarely, but it had happened, and Dudley had served detention every time he was caught doing it.
If something similar had happened to Snape, and the teachers caught them at it, his father would likely have served detention…
Harry suddenly realized that if his father had served detention, then perhaps there were records of it… if so, he could verify whether Snape had told the truth…
Harry nodded to himself. He would check to see if there were any detention records somewhere the next time he had some free time to himself.
That decided, Harry stood up and made to get ready for bed, when he discovered the stack of catalogs and his bank statement on his bed, where he had placed them earlier this day.
Frowning, Harry picked up the statement, before sitting back down in his armchair and opening it up to read:
To Mr. Harry James Potter,
Please find enclosed a list of all the monies and items that Gringotts Bank found in your vault.
We have withdrawn 37 Galleons from your vault as a fee for this service.
Sincerely,
Baggorok, Chief Shareholder of Gringotts and King of the Goblin Nation.
The list in question was on a separate page of parchment:
260,056 Galleons, 6 Sickles, 21 Knuts.
One portrait, magical, which depicts one Fleamont Potter, Valued at 2600 Galleons
One dagger, made of Goblin-made Silver. According to our records this Dagger was made by Alkoff the Lesser, in 1399. We would like to arrange a meeting with you regarding the return of this Dagger to the Goblin Nation, per Ministry Decree 8 for Goblin-made Artifacts. Please send us a letter at your earliest convenience. This dagger is considered priceless by the Goblin Nation.
One large stone chest, full of assorted gold coins of an unfamiliar design, believed to be cursed. Estimated value of half a million Galleons.
One small, unopenable box. Value: Unknown.
One glass case, containing two stone goblets, believed to be cursed. Value: Unknown.
One book, with the cover made of the hide of a Re'em, and pages made of human skin, believed to be cursed. Nothing is written on the pages. Value: Unknown.
One small, black, stone sculpture made in the shape of a four-sided pyramid, believed to be cursed. There are unusual runes and lines carved into the sides of the sculpture. Value: Unknown
Harry stared at the list of items his vault contained; he hadn't realized that there were so many different items in his vault. When he had visited it with Hagrid, they mostly had just stayed at the door, collecting some money for Harry to use to buy his school supplies. They hadn't really gone very deep inside of it, though.
Harry wasn't certain what to think of all the cursed objects, especially the book that apparently had pages made of human skin… but the portrait seemed interesting at the very least.
At least it seemed that he didn't have to worry too much about running out of money; over two hundred thousand Galleons seemed like more than enough money to last him through his school years, and then some.
As it was getting late, Harry just paged through one of the catalogs for a bit, before going to bed.
The next few days were uneventful, for the most part. Zabini and Moon followed behind Harry wherever he went, and Zabini continued to advise him whenever necessary. Moon, on the other hand, seemed content to just follow along, for now, at least.
On Wednesday they had Charms and History of Magic.
Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class, he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.
The only thing they really did in charms was make sparks with their wands to start with, as Professor Flitwick wanted them to get a feel for using magic. After a short period of sparks flying around the classroom, they took a long series of notes and then Professor Flitwick bowed them out of his class.
History of Magic was easily the most boring class Harry had ever attended in his life, as it was taught by a ghost, Professor Binns. The Professor had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff-room fire, then got up the next morning to teach, only for the class to find that he had left his body behind. Binns's voice had a rather droning quality, which could very easily send most students into sleep if they weren't careful.
On Thursday they had another Herbology class, this time with the Hufflepuffs, and Professor Sprout gave Harry a make up essay to turn in with the other essay on Monday.
In the afternoon they finally had Defense Against the Dark Arts, which the Slytherins shared with the Ravenclaws. Harry had been looking forward to it a great deal, ever since Farley told him that he would actually be learning the Dark Arts in that class.
Unfortunately, the subject turned out to be something of a joke, as Professor Quirrell didn't seem to know much about his own subject. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off some vampire he had met in Romania, and that he was afraid it would be coming back to get him one of these days.
His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African Prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but no one was sure they believed this story. For one, when Crabbe had eagerly asked to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather. For another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and some within the Slytherin Common room had speculated that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.
Finally, Friday, the day that Harry had been most dreading, came, with the expectation that they would be attending Potions with the Gryffindors, the only subject Slytherin shared with that house.
Harry wasn't sure if he was ready to face Snape again, not after what he had learned last Tuesday. He was also worried that Snape would find some way to single him out somehow in his class. After the way Snape had confronted him on Monday, he seemed like the type to do that sort of thing, as far as Harry could tell.
With that in mind, Harry had decided to Owl-order a vial of Wit Sharpening Solution on Thursday, which he planned to take before the class. Hopefully it would give him enough of an edge to not make a complete fool of himself in front of the Gryffindors.
Friday morning dawned bright and early as usual, and Harry made his way to the Great Hall, with Zabini and Moon following closely at his side. It was still pretty strange to have two people following him around all the time; sometimes Harry wondered if this was how Dudley had felt with all of his friends following at his side.
Then he had to remind himself that Zabini and Moon weren't really his 'friends', they were his allies, which caused a bitter feeling to well up in Harry's heart.
"What have we got today?" Harry asked Zabini after they had sat down and filled their plates with breakfast. He already knew the answer, but it had become something of a routine for him to ask Zabini about their schedule, as Zabini usually had some wry comment to go along with it.
"Double Potions with the Gryffindors," Zabini replied shortly. "It'll be our first lesson with them. I wonder if they're as rowdy as older years say they are?"
"Snape won't let them get out of hand," Moon said as she pour sugar in her tea. "Besides, he's said to favor us in his class, so we won't have to worry too much about them."
"What do you plan to say to Weasley when you see him, Potter?" Zabini asked curiously.
Harry frowned; it hadn't occurred to him that he'd see Ron again face to face in this class. Their ride together on the Hogwarts Express seemed like a distant dream now, and they hadn't spoken again since the night of the Sorting. Part of Harry felt bitter that Ron wasn't speaking to him; they had shared something of a friendship on that train-ride, and for Ron to just brush it off like it had never happened… well, Harry couldn't say that he'd be happy to see him.
"I don't know," Harry replied quietly.
"Perhaps it'd be best if you don't say anything to him," Moon pointed out. "You don't owe anything to Weasley, Potter, so don't worry about what he thinks."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
Thankfully, the mail arrived before they could say anything else: Harry had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.
This morning, Harry got the vial of Wit-Sharpening Solution that he had ordered, but he also got a letter that Hedwig had delivered, which Harry had torn open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:
Dear Harry,
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your time since last we spoke. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.
Hagrid.
"You're on speaking terms with the groundskeeper?" Zabini asked with surprise after he had read the letter over his shoulder.
Harry rolled his eyes again, before he took out a quill, scribbled Yes, please, see you later on the back of the note, and sent it off with Hedwig.
"How did you manage to worm your way into the groundskeeper's good graces, Harry?" Zabini asked curiously.
Something in Harry snapped at that comment. The very idea that he'd somehow have to worm his way into a friendship with anyone made his insides clinch. At this point, Hagrid was pretty much the only friend that Harry had, so for Zabini to insinuate that he'd have to manipulate him into being friends with him again… really rubbed Harry the wrong way.
"For your information, Zabini, Hagrid and I are friends," Harry bit out coldly. "I didn't have to 'worm my way' into anything, because we never stopped being friends. But I guess you have no idea what friendship is like, because you don't have any."
After that last biting comment, Harry got up and made to walk away, but he turned around to make one last point.
"And it's Potter, Zabini," Harry bit out. "I never gave you permission to use my given name, so don't!"
His point made, Harry turned around and stormed out of the Great Hall.
Review Replies:
Cassandra30: Snape just proved he isn't a good head of house. Inability to deal with loneliness is unacceptable.
Author: It's just his animosity towards Harry that's causing him to act like that.
Slytherin Potter: That was funny ass comeback Harry did to Malfoy. Love how even though Harry had decided on Greatness it still doesn't stop his determination to not back down from anyone.
Author: I know! A lot of HP fanfiction authors seem to forget that Harry can be savage as fuck… I just wanted to portray that.
Slytherin Potter: Screw Snape! I would've been righteously furious just as much as Harry and yea Zabini is correct Harry DOES adapt to his situations/ surroundings makes sense though with the circumstance of his growth being with the freaking Dursleys.
Author: yeah, I wanted to write him a bit more diplomatically here, but my gut said no, that's not what Snape would do. Snape would be furious.
Guest: I like this story. I like that Harry chose greatness and that he's working towards that goal. I even rather like that he felt overwhelmed and that Hagrid came to his rescue and helped him out. What little Hagrid did for Harry gave Harry an adult in his corner that he desperately needed in the series, so I am glad you are continuing that here. Looking forward to more.
Author: Thanks. A lot of Slytherin Harry stories portray Hagrid as a buffoon who's doggishly loyal to Dumbledore and incapable of thinking for himself. Here I just wanted to portray him as Himself, who I think would do that kind of thing if he found Harry crying on the grounds, even if Harry is in Slytherin.
