Chapter 4 - Boring or exciting?
September 2, 1991
Slytherin Dormitories
Harry coughed and jerked awake in surprise as something cold splashed upon his head.
"What?!"
Sitting up, he looked up to see Nott holding an empty goblet in his hand.
"Wake up, Potter!" he said with a sneer, "We're getting late because of you!"
Standing up from his comfortable four-poster bed which had been half-drenched in water, Harry threw him a disgusted look.
"Why the hell would you do that?"
Nott smirked. "It was funny."
"You could've just left without me!" Harry protested.
"I don't know if you were listening, Potter," Nott sneered. "But Professor Snape told us to be at breakfast by eight-thirty. Malfoy and others are already downstairs. You'd better hurry up."
A quick glance at the watch told him that it was almost eight. Harry grumbled under his breath. "I'll see you in the Great Hall then."
Nott stalked away from his bed but not without another parting smirk at Harry's dripping hair.
Wishing that he knew the drying charm, Harry walked away from his bed and threw open his trunk to get ready for the day.
Twenty minutes later, he walked into the common room with his satchel to find it milling with upper year students. He couldn't find a single one of his classmates in the crowd though.
Shrugging to himself, he simply began to retrace his steps back to the Great Hall, knowing that he had plenty of time to be there by the time Professor Snape had instructed them to be.
Harry had been awed by the brilliance of the stone castle last night, and even on the morning after, its beauty hadn't in the least dimmed. The sunlight filtered brilliantly through the windows and bathed the walls in a bright yellow warm hue, although it did nothing to reduce the coolness of the breeze that blew from one corridor to another.
He remembered arriving at the Slytherin common room which was located in the dungeons, and had instantly become wonderfully glad that he'd been put in his house.
The common room was a large, oval shaped room with a multitude of small desks and chairs spread all across the expanse and occasional sofas distributed near the four fireplaces spread around the four walls. Everywhere he looked, the furnishings were a warm shade of green with highlights of silver and Harry loved it. One of the larger windows even showed the inside of the Black Lake and he could see some strange fish-like creatures wandering around in the water.
But what made Harry really glad to be in Slytherin was the fact that Slytherin was the only house which practised even a modicum of privacy, with their two-to-a-room system for the dormitories. From the prefects' speech, he'd come to know that all other houses had something much worse going on. Gryffindor expected all of its boys and girls to reside in single gender-based dormitories with no privacy and Hufflepuff was the same. Ravenclaw had a four-to-a-room system which was again not exactly suitable for Harry's comfort.
Arriving at the Great Hall, he was greeted by the sights of nearly full Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables while the other two were mostly empty. He frowned thoughtfully before walking in the direction of his House table.
Harry slid into an empty seat to the right of Daphne Greengrass.
"Good morning," he greeted before picking up an empty plate for himself. His mouth was already watering looking at the fantastic spread on the table.
"Potter," Daphne said, not even looking at him.
"Sorry we couldn't wait for you, Potter," Malfoy spoke from the other side, not looking sorry at all, "You didn't have much difficulty in finding the Hall, did you?"
Harry shook his head. "No, I remembered the directions from last night well enough."
Malfoy scowled and didn't address him again for the remainder of the meal.
"Why aren't the others here?" Harry indicated towards the empty Gryffindor table.
"They don't get up until nine at least," Zabini answered. "the prefects mentioned it last night."
"I must've forgotten," Harry said, pouring himself some juice.
"You were out pretty early last night," Zabini observed with a raised eyebrow.
Harry chewed and swallowed his mouthful before asking, "How did you know that?"
Zabini gave him a funny look. "Did you forget that I'm your roommate?"
Harry threw him a sheepish grin. "Right." He cleared his throat. "So what's our first class?"
"We haven't received our timetables yet, Potter," Parkinson sneered from beside Malfoy, "or did you forget that too?"
Harry focused on his food, although the open hostility from his housemates did bother him.
"I don't know what the Sorting Hat was thinking," Malfoy said to his friends, "sending a half-blood into Slytherin."
"Maybe it was confused about where to put the unwanted Potter child," Nott added, making almost everyone snicker.
"His parents might have begged Dumbledore to keep their precious Boy-Who-Lived away from him," said another dark-haired boy whose name Harry didn't know, making almost everyone around him burst into laughter.
Feeling a strange, unfamiliar weight of anger and helplessness, Harry kept his head down and focused on finishing his food. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Greengrass observing him.
As he stood, Greengrass spoke up. "Where are you going?"
"I'll take my schedule from Professor Snape," Harry answered before donning his satchel and being on his way.
"Wait, Potter!" Greengrass called after him, "Professor Snape may not be in his office right now."
"Where else will he be?" Harry asked.
Her mouth turned downwards. "I don't know."
Harry sat back down, pouring himself a goblet of water. Trying his best to ignore the others, he pulled out a book from his satchel to pass the time.
Soon, Professor Snape was walking to the Slytherin table, handing out schedules for every year. He started from the seventh year and slowly trickled down to the first.
By the time he came around, Harry had finished another chapter from his mum's third year Charms book. Taking his first year schedule, he felt Professor Snape giving him a scrutinizing look as he passed.
As soon as he saw that the first class was double Transfiguration, followed by Charms after lunch, Harry's mood brightened.
~~ .
September 6, 1991
Slytherin Common Room
Taking full advantage of Friday's extended curfew to read in the library, Harry finally entered his common room at barely five minutes to ten. Tired to the bone, he had no desire to do anything but burrow into his comfortable bed and be lost to the world.
But before he could enter his room, his path was blocked by the troll duo of Crabbe and Goyle.
Harry sighed. If these two were here, Malfoy probably wasn't that far behind. He never was.
"Malfoy, what do you want?"
The blonde git fumed at Harry's back. "Potter, I've had enough of your nonsense!"
Harry turned to see fuming Malfoy sporting a bright red welt across his left cheek. Amused, he adopted a curt expression. "What are you talking about?"
Malfoy stalked up to him, his steps heavy and purposeful. "You will remove this curse this instant!"
Harry folded his arms across his chest. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Malfoy."
"This curse!" Malfoy bellowed, causing many others in the common room to look at him, "You will remove it or else!"
"Or else what?" Harry asked, a little worried by the presence of the muscular duo at his back but not by this blonde ponce. He was basically harmless.
"I'll tell Professor Snape!" Malfoy yelled, his voice loud and girly, causing an upper year to laugh. Glancing at the older witch, Malfoy gave her a murderous glare and turned back to Harry. "Do the counter-curse, you half-blood bastard!"
Harry had had enough. "Let's go to Professor Snape right now, Malfoy," he offered, "I'm sure you'll love telling him exactly how it is that you were hexed."
"Think you're so smart, Potter? You will cast the counter this instant or—"
"Or what?" Harry cut in bravely.
"My father will hear about this!" Malfoy promised murderously, "I'll make sure you're expelled!"
"Go ahead, Malfoy." Harry said, "And now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do."
He didn't give the two gorillas any time to react and just pushed past them to enter his room and lock the door.
Harry felt like he'd had enough of the blonde git to last the entire year, and it'd only been one week.
Taking a deep breath, he walked over to his trunk and carefully unlocked it to find his belongings undisturbed and his spells intact.
Whooping in joy, he hopped on to his bed.
Two days ago, after four hours of researching locking and security charms, he'd come across something relatively simple and yet dangerous. He'd read close to a hundred charms and curses but had to discard almost everything because he didn't understand most of them. After moving from one tome to another, he'd finally landed upon a few hexes that looked relatively simple and easy to cast and applied them to his trunk.
When on the first day itself, he'd been forcefully risen by Nott who'd freely entered his and Zabini's room, Harry had decided that he'd need some kind of security for his belongings. He knew that he couldn't stop the other boys from entering his room as those spells were too complex and beyond his abilities. So he'd decided to do something to make sure that anyone getting any ideas to touch his belongings will get a nasty shock in return.
The bruising hex that he'd placed on his trunk's handle had done its job remarkably and Harry felt proud of himself.
Take that, Malfoy, Harry thought gleefully to himself. That'll teach you not to touch others' stuff!
To be honest, Harry was a bit surprised that Malfoy had come to his room and tried to get into his trunk all by himself. Normally, he'd ask Nott or his other henchmen to do his bidding.
Honestly, Harry still didn't know why the blonde ponce had so many friends. He didn't seem like a pleasant person, and yet he had almost every first year —with the exception of Greengrass, Davis and Harry—latching on to him like flies. He even hung out with some of the second and third years and Harry just couldn't understand how they all tolerated him.
It was a mystery he'd yet to solve.
~~ .
The Morning After
Humming a tune as he slid into his usual breakfast seat, a familiar voice interrupted him.
"Normally, we like to sleep in on Saturdays, Potter," drawled Greengrass.
Munching on his toast, Harry grinned. "I could say the same of you."
Greengrass shook her head. "Have a date with the library?"
Harry nodded quickly, knowing what he had on his todo list for the weekend and excited by the prospect of burying himself in books for an inordinate amount of time, without worrying about classes.
He'd already been late once to a Transfiguration lesson and somehow, Professor McGonagall had not given him any punishment, much to the fury of the Gryffindors. Now, he always made sure to look at his watch every few minutes or so while reading in the library. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.
"You should've been in Ravenclaw," she commented, sounding amused.
"Why, because I like knowledge?" he said sarcastically, "I was given the choice, but I chose Slytherin."
Harry was quite proud to have made Greengrass shocked speechless for a full thirty-seconds.
"What?" she said, her voice incredulous, "Why would you do that?"
Harry tried to figure out why she was taking such an interest in him but failed. "That's none of your business."
Greengrass opened her mouth to ask another question but paused. Then she smiled thinly. "Whatever your reasons were, you weren't worried that it would create distance between you and your brother?"
Harry frowned at the mention of his brother, feeling a little dejected. There had been at most three occasions in which he'd seen his brother outside of classes so far, and those too had been miserable. Somehow, Oliver had become chums with Ron Weasley who always behaved weirdly when Harry was around them. Meeting his brother without Ron had also become a right chore and sometimes, Harry even wondered if Oliver missed him as much as he did him.
"Merlin, Potter!" A hand waving in front of his face broke him out of his reverie. "You didn't need to go into a trance to avoid my question."
Harry looked confused. "What question?"
"Anyway," Greengrass chuckled, rolling her eyes and then looked surprised as he stood up, taking one last big sip of his tea. "Leaving so soon?"
Harry nodded. "Lots to do."
"I'm sure," she said dryly, "Be careful of Malfoy."
Harry looked at her strangely, making her avert her eyes. A sarcastic retort rose up to his tongue but he resisted and settled for a more neutral answer. "I think I'm safe from him in the library," he said lightly, "and even if he does show up, I know how to handle him."
Greengrass smiled behind her teacup. "You do, don't you? You were great last night. What was that curse, by the way?"
Harry snorted. "I'll tell you later," he said as he walked away, leaving behind an amused Greengrass.
~~ .
Hogwarts Library
Harry growled as he put the copy of the third year Transfiguration book back into the shelf.
Walking back to his table at the back, he picked up his mum's old third year Potions textbook and sighed. It had only been a week and he'd started becoming bored in all three of his favourite classes.
Professor Flitwick, who was his unannounced favourite, was a great teacher who exhibited a tremendous amount of knowledge and patience with the students in his class. But that same patience had begun to grate on Harry.
Why should he not be allowed to practise a new spell in class? Why should he be forced to wait for dumb wizards like loudmouth Weasley and fire-hazard Finnegan to finish casting the spell properly in order to move ahead in class?
It just didn't make sense!
Professor McGonagall was even stricter and the first week of his transfiguration lessons had been all about practising the same one spell over and over, something that he'd mastered a month after his ninth birthday!
Professor Snape, although not cruel to his own House as he was to Gryffindors, was still too strict to ever allow a student to make a different, more complex potion than what was being taught in the class. Even after Harry had already demonstrated repeatedly that he was the best potioneer in his year!
But what was the point?!
Harry shook his head and put down the book. He had to do something. Something to make sure that the teachers knew that he wanted to learn and practise ahead of his peers.
Perhaps, he just needed to show his professors that he was more profici—
"Harry?"
The soft voice of his brother interrupted his frustrated musings and Harry jumped.
"Ollie!" Harry greeted happily, giving him a one-armed hug. "How're you?"
Oliver grinned and took a seat next to him. "Great! I'm going flying. Will you come?"
Harry narrowed his eyes. "With whose broom? You don't have one."
Oliver looked sheepish. "Fred and George loaned us their brooms for a few hours."
"Us?" Harry asked.
Oliver nodded. "Me and Ron."
Harry struggled not to wince. "Of course."
"What's this?" Oliver looked at the cover of the book on the table. "This is mum's book. Third year?"
Harry shrugged. "Just wanted to read ahead."
"I was so surprised to see you land in Slytherin rather than Ravenclaw. You know that house has a bad reputation. Nobody in Gryffindor likes you guys."
Harry chuckled. This was the third time in one week his brother had brought up his sorting, almost once on every occasion they'd met so far. "Oliver, I'm not going to ask for a resorting."
His brother looked uncomfortable. "I don't like it, Harry. You don't belong there."
Harry put an arm around his shoulders. "Slytherin is not my identity, Ollie. I am my own master."
"You and your bloody quotes," Oliver complained, "it's like you read them in a book or something!"
Harry smirked. "They come from within me. It's a gift."
"I'm sure," Oliver said sarcastically and then brightened up, "So! Join us for a broom ride?"
Harry nodded, getting excited. "Let's go!"
Oliver began to get up and then paused to glance at him hesitantly. "Do you have a broom?"
"No, I thought you had a spare?" Harry asked, and then immediately sighed. Of course Oliver hadn't thought of that beforehand.
"Maybe someone else from your House can loan it to me?" Harry proposed.
Oliver frowned. "I don't know. But there's no harm in trying. I don't think there's any Quidditch tryouts scheduled for today."
"Perfect, lead the way!" Harry winked, "To the Gryffindor common room!"
Oliver elbowed him. "You know I'm not allowed to show you the entrance to our common room."
"Ollie, everyone knows where your common room is located. It's not a secret like mycommon room," Harry said dryly.
"Okay, okay," Oliver shook his head, "But the password is a secret so don't tell anyone."
Harry smirked. "Don't worry, I won't barge into your dorm in the middle of the night to prank Weasley."
Oliver chuckled. "That would be awesome. I can only imagine Ron's face if you did that."
Harry laughed. His brother and pranks were a dangerous combination.
Together, they climbed up to the fifth floor and Oliver stopped at the portrait of a Fat woman.
"Who's that?" Harry asked.
"The Fat Lady," Oliver answered.
"I can see that," Harry rolled his eyes, "What's her name?"
Oliver gave him a funny look. "Who knows?"
"So you just call her Fat Lady?" Harry asked incredulously.
Oliver sighed. "How are you not a Ravenclaw?" and then turned to the portrait, "The Red Lion."
The portrait swung open.
"So creative," Harry said dryly.
Oliver chuckled. "Get lost, Harry."
"Nah, your common room is too small for that," Harry retorted playfully, entering a large rectangular room that was practically draped from floor to ceiling in red and gold colours.
"So what do you think?" Oliver asked, looking expectant.
Harry smirked.
~~ .
AN: Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8 are already up for reading while Chapter 9 will be released later today, along with more of my work. The link is in my profile.
AN2: Tell me what you think so far! I love reading your thoughts!