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Harry was used to having his mother or father come into his room in the morning to wake him, and he'd left his alarm clock at home. So, on the bright and early Monday morning (though down in the dungeons none of the sunlight streamed through), Harry overslept. He was woken by Frogabook licking his face, and quickly jerked upright to check the time.

He had less than an hour before his first class.

'Damn!' Harry hissed, as he threw open the curtains and snatched up pieces of clothing.

He hurried to the bathroom, and emerged a few minutes later in his uniform. Even in his rush, he had paused to smile at his appearance in the mirror and still felt proud to be in Slytherin - just like his dad had been.

Hopping, as he tried to put a sock on and do up his tie at once, Harry paused in the middle of the room and looked around. Ian's bed was vacant and neatly made, Lionel's curly hair could be seen from under the covers, and Casey was in the process of rolling over. Logan, however, was sitting on the floor by his trunk where he searched for something within it.

'Casey! Lionel!' Harry called to them. 'We're gonna to be late!'

'For what?' Lionel's groan carried through the room, while Casey was startled awake.

'Class, you idiot.' Logan said. 'I woke up when someone knocked on our door a minute ago. They said our Head of House is running late.'

'I forgot about that!' Casey winced, as he pulled off his pajama shirt to exchanged it for his white uniform shirt.

'Me too.' Harry admitted quietly. 'Lionel!' He added again when he heard snores from the other bed.

'Go away!' Lionel complained and pulled the sheets over his head.

'Fine.' Harry grumbled and busied himself with getting ready for the day.

He didn't know if he would have time to come back for any of the books he would need for his first classes, so he piled in as many textbooks as he could carry. Other than his Potions one, since his father told him there was almost always a lesson for the end of the week in first year. He hoped they hadn't changed the classes around too much, as Harry would hate to show up for his dad's best subject without his necessary textbook.

Dressed in a way his mother would only barely approve of, Harry hurried out of the room with his school bag draped over his shoulder. Casey and Logan were right behind him, and Ian was seen sitting in an armchair nearby to wait for their Head of House.

'You could have woken us!' Logan scolded Ian, who only shrugged and looked away.

'Ah, there you all are!' Said a beaming wizard as he walked into the common room.

The Slytherin first years were all gathered there looking tired and a bit anxious, watching the wizard as he made his way towards them.

'I am Professor Horace Slughorn.' He introduced himself.

Harry now understood why this particular professor would be called if there was fighting within Slytherin, just like the prefect said last night. This was the Head of Slytherin house? Harry looked around and noticed he wasn't the only one who was rather surprised and had been expecting something else from the professor.

'Congratulations on being sorted into Slytherin.' Slughorn told them.

He gave some general advice, then told them a bit more about their house's united front and what others thought of their dark reputation. This was the first time Harry heard that Slytherin house was often said to produce more or all of the darkest witches and wizards out there. He shuddered at the idea and hoped Slughorn was right when he said it was not entirely true because other houses have had their fair share of villains as well.

-- 

When the Head of House was done talking, Harry and Casey hurried to the Great Hall in hope of grabbing a bit of breakfast before their first class. A prefect spotted the pair and gave them their timetables. Not bothering to look at his at first, Harry snatched some fruit and toast from the Slytherin table in a rush.

Once he had chewed his breakfast and sipped all of his pumpkin juice, he realised he had ten minutes to find his first class. Casey discovered the same about his own lesson and quickly left the hall. Looking down at his timetable, Harry's heart sank. It was Herbology. His first lesson was outside in the greenhouses and he knew no matter how fast he ran, Harry wasn't going to make it in time. He didn't know what to do, and looked around warily for some sort of solution to his doomed predicament.

Spotting Professor McGonagall, Harry ran over to her.

'Oh, my goodness!' McGonagall gasped, being startled when Harry suddenly ran to her and nearly bumped into her. 'Do watch where you are going, Mr Summers.'

'Sorry, Professor.' Harry gasped. 'I overslept and Professor Slughorn was a bit late with his meeting. I have Herbology now, but I won't make it. I really don't want to get into trouble, can you maybe write me a note or something?' He thought it was a long shot, but he had no other choice.

He'd heard of teachers writing notes for students who were or might be late, from his former school. He only hoped he would be more successful than Jack, who was usually given a detention rather than a note. Any other moment and he would have just started running outside to try his best even if he probably wouldn't make it, but Harry was too scared of his parents hearing he was late on his very first day.

And to the class he was most looking forward to.

'Then perhaps you should ask your parents for a functional alarm clock, Mr Summers.' McGonagall said in a disproving tone. 'However, as Professor Slughorn was late...' She sighed and wrote a note for him, handing it to a grinning and relieved Harry.

'Do not let this happen again, Mr Summers.' McGonagall said firmly.

'Yes, Professor.' Harry nodded. 'Thank you so much!' He held the note close as though it was written on fine gold.

Without another word, he turned to hurry out of the Great Hall. Even if he had his note to keep him out of trouble for being late, Harry did not want to miss more of his first Herbology lesson than he had to.

-- 

On the way to the greenhouses, Harry wondered who he would be sharing the class with and what interesting things he was going to learn. He loved gardening, though more so when it was with his parents. Harry was very keen on the subject and hoped it would be like he imagined it, but of course it would be more fun if he at least had someone he knew there.

As he reached the assigned greenhouse, he hoped Jack would be inside and he could work with him. He hadn't seen his Hufflepuff best friend since just before they were sorted, and he wondered how Jack was doing or if he missed him too. Stepping inside, however, Harry could tell Jack wouldn't be sharing this lesson with him. Neither was Casey, who had run off for another class just before Harry had approached McGonagall.

'You're late, Mr Summers.' Professor Sprout said with a disappointed sigh.

He blushed and wasn't sure what to say with all of his classmates staring at him, some chuckling. He offered her the note and looked around for a place at the table.

'Oh, I see.' Sprout sounded a bit relieved when she read his note. 'Very well, pick a spot and I'll update you on what you missed.'

She actually told him first what their task was for the lesson, while Harry looked around shyly for an empty space. His gaze fell on Ginny and her red hair, though she looked a bit hesitant. Next to her was Conner, the Ravenclaw boy who had shoved Harry when he'd been trying to get into the boat. Harry, though he hadn't spoken to Conner since, had forgiven the incident once he saw how scared the boy had been during the sorting.

'Cody.' Ginny finally decided to wave him over. 'You can join us.' She said.

Whispers spread through the greenhouse at once. Harry didn't see what the big deal was, until he gladly stood between Ginny and Conner, and made a rather displeasing discovery. Ginny and Conner were not the only ones in this class who he recognised.

'Hey, what are you doing, Summers?' Logan frowned from where he stood across from him. 'She's a Gryffindor!' He said, unaware his voice had carried to Sprout nearby.

Though the professor listened intently, she did not show she had heard their little exchange until a smile spread over her lips at Harry's reply.

'So?' Harry shrugged. 'She's also my friend.' He glanced at his right to Ginny, who looked surprised at first, but smiled with relief.

Maybe she had hesitated because Ginny thought he would pay attention to the whole “Slytherins don't like Gryffindor and vice versa” thing?

'But she's also a Weasley.' Logan continued, convinced as he was that Harry was somehow doing something very wrong and frowned upon.

Harry took quick notice that they were the only Slytherin boys in the class, though there were three girls at the far end of the table gossiping to themselves about something.

'Everyone knows the Weasleys are blood-traitors.'

Harry had heard of this phrase before, when his dad explained it to him after Harry overheard someone saying it in Diagon Alley. He'd said it was a name given to those who had pure blood, but did not hate muggles or think anyone who didn't have pure blood were lesser witches or wizards. Harry had agreed with his mother when she said it was a nasty name to call someone.

'There's nothing wrong with giving everyone a chance.' Harry retaliated and tried to keep his tone low. 'Ginny is my friend, unlike you. I don't care about her blood status or what house she is in. And what's so great about all that, anyway? You're a pureblood Slytherin and yet you're such a git.'

While Conner gasped and Ginny snorted, Logan flushed pink and grabbed a handful of dirt he clearly intended to throw at Harry.

'I do hope that is going into the pot, Mr Makarney.' Came Sprout's warning tone.

'Of course, Professor.' Logan frowned and threw the dirt back into its pot. He returned his attention to his task and bluntly ignored those across from him.

'You didn't have to do that.' Ginny whispered to Harry.

'I didn't mean to.' Harry confessed. 'It's just, you are my friend and I couldn't stand hearing him talk about you like that. I really don't care about what your family thinks of muggles, and I don't care you're in Gryffindor.' He looked away.

'Then me neither.' Ginny decided firmly. 'My brothers warned me about Slytherins, but I don't think every person in any of the houses are all the same. You're nothing like him.' She glared at Logan. 'Friends?' She held out her dirt-covered hand.

Harry looked at it and tried not to laugh.

'Sure.' He nodded and clasped her hand to shake it. 'Friends.' He nodded.

Harry could now say he had made a friend at Hogwarts. He liked several of his classmates, such as Oscar and Haylee from the train, but Ginny was the first one he had officially befriended.

'Are you really the son of Snape?' Someone nearby hissed to him when Sprout diverted her attention again.

The Professor was still keeping her ears focused and was glad her back was turned to hide her surprise.

'Why don't you have his name, then?'

Harry looked at Logan, who was suddenly very interested in a leaf he was staring at. Narrowing his eyes (a habit he had picked up from his dad when he was suspicious and not happy about it), Harry wondered just how much Logan had blabbed to everyone. He was very glad he hadn't said much over dinner.

'You don't have to answer.' Ginny reminded him and gave the asker a glare. 'How it is any of your nosy business?'

'I'm just asking!' The boy growled back.

'He is my dad.' Harry said. 'But Ginny's right; it's none of your business.'

He looked down and set to work, feeling pleased to have Ginny as his friend and therefore back-up as well. He glanced once at Conner, who was frowning at his own plant, and wanted to say something, but Harry couldn't.

With a sigh, he spent the rest of the Herbology lesson listening to Professor Sprout and realising the subject was more interesting than he'd thought it would be. It was only his first ever class at Hogwarts, and already Harry felt confident it was his favourite.

-- 

When the lesson was over, Harry went to follow Ginny out of the greenhouse when Professor Sprout called him back.

'I'll wait outside.' Ginny nodded and left the greenhouse.

Sprout watched the last student leave before she turned to the Slytherin boy, who looked a bit nervous as though he expected to be in trouble.

'It was a very honourable thing you did, Cody.' Sprout smiled at him. 'For years I have seen Slytherins and Gryffindors part ways only because of the patch they wear on their robes. It always made me sad, and everyone was too set in their ways.' She added.

'Because the only other time I remember seeing something like I did today, with yourself and Miss Weasley, was when your father and another girl with red hair who was in Gryffindor also remained friends despite their houses. I never had them together in my class, but I saw it from time to time.' She said.

'Her name was Lily, wasn't it?' Harry asked quietly. 'They didn't stay friends forever.'

'Yes, it was Lily.' Sprout was surprised the boy knew so much. 'And what matters is that for nearly five years they did try. Maybe things changed, as people often do, but they were friends regardless of their houses. I think your father would be very proud of you today.'

'You think so?' Harry looked at her with a hopeful smile. 'Thank you, Professor. And I really enjoyed your lesson. I do a lot of gardening with mum and dad, so I'm used to the dirt.' He remembered Conner complaining about it, whereas Harry and Ginny hardly noticed how dirty it was. 'Dad even let me grow ingredients with him.' He added with pride and importance.

'Then you've had excellent practise.' Sprout smiled back. 'I look forward to future lessons then. And seeing your father again. It's been so long.' She commented and looked away.

After a moment of quiet passed over them, they bid farewell and Harry hurried outside to where Ginny was standing alone to wait for him.

'What was that about?' Ginny wondered. 'Were you in trouble for something?'

'Nah.' Harry shook his head and led the way back to the castle, where they headed for a nearby courtyard. They had free time until their next lesson and intended to compare their timetables to see which other classes they might share.

'She gave me five points, though.' Harry said with glee. 'For being such a loyal friend, I think. She didn't really say, but she talked about how my dad had a Gryffindor friend too.'

'He did?' Ginny stared. 'Are they still friends?'

'No.' Harry didn't want to worry if he and Ginny would last. 'She died.' He said, making it sound like that was the reason his dad and Lily were no longer friends. 'I never even got to meet her.'

'Oh.' Ginny looked away, as they sat under a shady oak tree in the courtyard. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's okay.' Harry sighed and got out his timetable. Ginny did the same, and the two friends leaned over it to work out which ones they had in common.

'That's not fair.' Ginny frowned, as she sat back on the grass. 'We have Herbology together every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Nothing on Thursday, and then all we'd got is double Potions Friday morning!' She complained.

'Yeah.' Harry sighed. 'But we have free time after every Herbology lesson. Maybe we can see each other then? Like we are now. And we'll be in the same class at least once almost every school day.'

'You're very optimistic.' Ginny chuckled. 'And yeah, I suppose you're right. Too bad we have to put up with Makarney three times a week, though.'

'I don't get what his problem is.' Harry growled. 'Is it really because I bumped into him on the train station?'

'Too bad you didn't bump him in front of the train.' Ginny muttered. 'I mean, no, I doubt it's that. Some people are just rotten that way. My brother Ron said he has to put up with the same thing from a Slytherin in his class, Draco Malfoy.'

'Malfoy?' Harry frowned and tried to work out when he'd heard his dad talk about that family. Maybe his dad had gone to school with one of them?

What was the name of his dad's godson again?

'So your parents are coming next week?' Ginny changed the topic. 'Why not now?'

'I don't really know.' Harry tried to remember. 'I think dad has to pass some sort of exams or whatever for each class, to prove he can tutor those subjects or something like that. Mum said the Ministry aren't too happy to have dad coming here. I don't know why, though.' He shrugged. 'What are your family like?'

And so as the two friends from rival houses lay back on the grass under the tree, Harry heard all about the Weasleys.

He then told Ginny about how his mum wasn't too good at cooking anything other than cakes, and that his dad loved to brew potions all the time. He didn't talk about anything before he was eight, as Harry wasn't too comfortable sharing it for some reason, though he did add a bit of background to his and Jack's friendship.

As an hour and a half passed by, Ginny knew more about Harry than anyone else his age, apart from Jack. They'd just officially become friends that day, but Harry had a strong feeling he could trust her.

Unfortunately, though, Harry and Ginny did not share their next lesson, so the pair had to part.

Waving goodbye, Harry sighed and headed for his next class. It was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, which he was also looking forward to. He knew this Professor, since she had visited their house several days ago, and she'd been rather impressed when she heard he'd transfigured his book into a frog. McGonagall made Transfiguration sound quite hard, so Harry was hoping he would do okay if she'd praised him so much for his bout of accidental magic.

Arriving at the classroom with a lot of difficulty, Harry hurried inside and was glad he wasn't late.

By about a minute.

He looked around and saw someone waving enthusiastically to him near the right side of the room, second from the front. It wasn't Jack, as Harry had hoped. It was Oscar, the Ravenclaw he had shared the train compartment with even though the blonde, freckled boy had spent more time talking to Jack than Harry.

Glad he had someone he knew in the class, Harry sat at Oscar's left and glanced diagonally in front of him to where Ian sat with a Slytherin girl Harry didn't know the name of. She had Black hair, and he couldn't see her face. Ian didn't look as though he was friends with her, and Harry wondered what was with Ian. He was always so quiet and didn't seem to give others much attention, and yet his hair was always neatly combed, his shirt tucked in, and had excellent posture.

'I'm so glad you're here.' Oscar said with relief, looking a bit up at Harry as he was quite shorter than the rest of the first years. 'I was hoping I'd have a class with Conner, at least, since he seems nice, but so far you're the first one I know.'

He did seem rather glad, and a bit nervous by the silent form of Ian.

'Conner was in Herbology with me.' Harry told him, looking towards the tabby cat sitting on the teacher's desk and wondered where Professor McGonagall was. 'I haven't seen Haylee or Jack all day either.'

'Oh.' Oscar looked disappointed. 'Well, at least we have each other in Transfiguration then.' He exhaled. 'I wish I had time to compare my timetable with Conner this morning, but Professor Flitwick was late for the first-year meeting thing.'

'So was professor Slughorn.' Harry frowned, wondering what that was about.

As it reached the time for the class to begin, Harry and all the others gasped with shock and awe when the tabby cat jumped forward and transfigured into Professor McGonagall. Even Ian was startled and wide-eyed. Oscar had nearly fallen off his seat in shock, and he wasn't the only one.

Harry did his best in Transfiguration, though not quite as keenly as Herbology, and discovered there was a lot more to turning something into something else than he'd realised. And it was not at all looking to be as almost-easy as he had expected.

He still liked Professor McGonagall, though, even if she was rather strict. She'd even given him a house point when he'd put his hand up to answer a question and turned out to be correct. Harry decided not to let anyone know he had taken a completely random guess based on something his dad had once said about not being able to conjure food.

Oscar was usually quiet unless he had something to say or ask, as Harry had already guessed about him from the train ride, but the Ravenclaw seemed rather nervous about Transfiguration so he didn't say much until the bell rang. As they got up from their seats, the pair paused to watch Ian stride passed as though he was in a hurry to get somewhere. Shrugging, Harry and Oscar headed for the door and stood outside in the corridor.

Deciding he was going to go look for Conner at lunch, Oscar headed for the Great Hall and Harry, who was hungry, followed. 

Entering the hall, the two boys separated for their own houses and Harry was pleased to not see Logan anywhere at the Slytherin table. Sitting in the same spot he had the night before, which was closer to the staff table, with his back facing the rest of the hall, Harry was soon joined by Casey.

'Hey.' The blonde boy greeted him with a sigh and sat down. 'Did you have Herbology with Logan?'

'Yeah.' Harry frowned at the memory, forgetting to return the greeting.

'I thought so.' Casey nodded. 'He doesn't seem to like you much, and he came to class complaining about you.'

'I'm not surprised.' Harry said darkly and returned to his meal, not wanting to talk about the git.

Casey got the message and fell silent as well. Harry wanted to compare timetables, as all the first years seemed to be doing to see if they were sharing any lessons with friends from their house or others, but didn't. He still wasn't sure about Casey because he'd been so odd on the train and now they're in the same house the other boy was a lot more friendly. Perhaps it reminded Harry of Logan's dislike of Gryffindor house, and therefore Harry wasn't sure if Casey would be like this if they'd been in different houses.

Comparing timetables was a friendly thing to do, and Harry didn't want to give the other boy the wrong idea.

'I better go.' Harry told Casey out of politeness when he had twenty minutes before his last lesson of the day. 'I have to find the History of Magic classroom.' He sighed.

Harry almost thought Casey was going to give him some directions or say he shared the class with him, but the other boy only shrugged and returned to his meal.

--

With five minutes to go, Harry hurried along the corridor and was relieved to see the assigned classroom. With a heartfelt leap of delight, he spotted Jack standing outside with his History of Magic textbook clutched to his chest. Harry wished he'd stopped by the Slytherin common room and dumped the rest of his books on his bed, because his bag was heavy, but had forgotten.

'Jack!' Harry grinned. 'Finally. We have this lesson together. That's good, since we have it three times a week.'

'Yeah.' Jack didn't sound enthusiastic, as he peered into the classroom again and stepped back, suppressing a shudder.

'What is it?' Harry looked inside, from what he could see, and only noticed some of his classmates chatting as they waited for the lesson to start.

'Can you see him?' Jack gasped with shock.

'Who?' Harry looked again, noticing Conner seated with two empty seats to his right. 'Conner?'

'No!' Jack frowned. 'The professor. He's a ghost!'

'Don't be silly.' Harry rolled his eyes. 'Ghosts can't teach classes. It's a muggle thing, from the movies.'

'No, there's ghosts.' Jack said in a panicky voice. 'I sort-of saw two of them this morning. I heard one of my prefects wondering where the house ghosts were because none showed up during the feast. Ghosts are REAL, Cody!'

'Maybe they're friendly?' Harry winced.

At eight-years-old, he and Jack rented a scary movie involving ghosts who attacked people and had both been frightened of ghosts ever since. The idea of their school being filled with them and one even teaching their class was a very frightening concept to the eleven-year-old boys.

'Didn't your dad say anything about them?' Jack whispered.

'No.' Harry shook his head. 'I think he forgot.'

'Or he did this on purpose.' Jack frowned. 'He told us we have to overcome our fears, remember?'

'Yeah, but dad wouldn't do that if he knew we were scared...' Harry thought for a minute and sighed. 'Well, not intentionally anyway.'

'What can we do?' Jack asked. He fidgeted with his Hufflepuff tie nervously, as though he was worried it would be used to strangle him.

'We have three of these lessons a week for the whole year.' Harry reasoned. 'We're going to have to go in there.'

'I was afraid you'd say that.' Jack said bitterly. 'Fine. I don't really want to be late.'

'We'll sit with Conner, okay?' Harry pointed, as they stood in the doorway and he tried not to look anywhere else. 'He's got two spare seats. He's the Ravenclaw with brown hair.'

'The one who pushed you by the boats?' Jack glared at the Ravenclaw. 'Are you sure?'

'Come on!' Harry rolled his eyes and dragged Jack's sleeve towards the seats.

Too fearful of the ghost he had just spotted floating at the front of the room, Harry didn't even ask Conner if they could join him. With Conner beside him and Jack to his right, Harry tried to feel brave as he got out his book.

'Hey.' Conner said politely, looking a bit unsure when he saw Jack as well. 'Look, I'm sorry about pushing you yesterday.' He looked away. 'I was just a bit nervous about the sorting. I took it out on you.'

'It's okay.' Harry smiled. 'I've already forgiven you. I was nervous too.'

'Yeah, but...' Conner looked like he wanted to share something important, but the starting of the lesson stopped him. He ducked his head and busied himself with listening to the ghostly professor.

'I don't forgive him yet.' Jack said quietly to Harry. 'We were all nervous, but you didn't see me shoving anyone.'

'Shhh!' Harry hissed, his face paling when the ghost started to talk.

Both boys were alert for half of the lesson, until slowly they realised the only danger they could suffer from the ghostly teacher was falling asleep and drooling on their open books. While Jack struggled to stay awake, Harry managed to write down some dates and names, while wondering how Conner was able to pay enough attention to write three times the amount Harry had. It wasn't until Conner noticed how minimal Harry's note-taking was that his attentiveness faded a little.

When the lesson was over, Jack and Harry had two hours before dinner to do what they wanted. Waving goodbye to Conner, Harry let Jack drag him outside for some fresh air. Harry passed several of his other classmates along the way, though no one he strongly recognised, and overheard them talking about writing home.

Halting as they reached the doors, Harry remembered promising his parents he would write to them. He felt he had a lot to say, but didn't want to bore them, so Harry decided to wait a few more days.

Tuesday went by almost exactly as Monday, since Harry had all the same classes with all the same classmates. They even picked the same seats and areas at the tables. Wednesday they had Herbology again in the morning, which he happily spent with Ginny. Logan was still ignoring him and Conner had gone quiet once more.

Afterwards, he and Ginny told stories about getting their letters and their wands, as they lay together under the oak tree during their free period before Harry had Charms.

He finally saw Haylee again, as she warmly waved him over to the seat on her left. Casey was in the lesson too, as he took the last seat to Harry's own left. Flitwick was an amusing small wizard and Haylee was often asking him questions, though not all of them applied to the subject matter of the class. She wasn't being too rude, though, so Flitwick didn't seem to mind the occasional question. Casey, however, didn't appear to be too interested in the professor at all and preferred to just take notes and listen like the rest of their classmates.

With another History of Magic lesson shared with Conner and Jack, Harry was feeling he had finally started to learn his way to his classes and was adapting to Hogwarts well. During his free time before dinner, he and Jack were lounging by the lake and talked about random things that happened during some of their lessons. Harry told him how much he wasn't looking forward to his midnight Astronomy class later that night, which he found out he shared with Casey.

'Don't you like him?' Jack asked. 'I mean, he wasn't very nice on the train...'

'Exactly.' Harry said, and told his friend what he thought of Casey's sudden friendliness that he was starting to think was rather forced. 'It's like he has to be my friend because he knows me from the train and we're both in Slytherin. I don't think he really wants to, though.'

'Hm, sounds fishy.' Jack agreed. 'I'd stay away from him, at least until I knew his motives.' He shrugged. 'And if you think you know him a bit better, then maybe make an attempt? I mean, he could just be shy. He didn't talk much on the train.' He reasoned.

'Yeah, but Ian's really quiet too and believe me, he's not shy.' Harry frowned. 'I don't know, I just wish dad was here to tell me what to do.'

'Do you miss them?' Jack wondered.

'Yes.' Harry sighed and looked down at the grass they were sitting on. 'Not so much at first, because I had so much to think about and get used to. But now, yes. I really miss them!' He sniffed and felt embarrassed for getting upset, but Jack was his best friend and understood without judging him for his tears.

'Don't you miss yours?'

'No.' Jack frowned. 'But I was never really close to them, like you are with yours. I mean, after what they did...'

'Yeah.' Harry remembered Jack's parents just leaving their son without a proper goodbye or any parting words. He felt sad for his friend, and tried to change the topic, but his mind remained with the absence of his parents.

Were they missing him too?

'Maybe you should write them a letter?' Jack suggested. 'We can deliver it at the Owlery, before we go to dinner.'

'Yeah, okay.' Harry decided and got out a piece of parchment, using his History of Magic book to lean on.

Jack played with a fallen owl feather he'd found nearby to keep himself occupied and patiently waited for his friend to write the letter, adding a word or two for Harry to include. When Harry was finished, there wasn't much time left to head to the Owlery so the boys went there right away. Jack patiently listened to Harry talk about the things he missed and how he was really hoping they'd come to the school earlier.

Jack didn't think of his own parents, but mostly because Harry's talking was a good distraction.

--

As Harry lay awake on his bed an hour before midnight, dreading the class he was due to attend when he'd much rather be sleeping, he thought of his parents again. Most of the time he had his meals, went to classes, and was too tired to do much else. It was Wednesday night and Harry knew he still had Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions classes left. The first was with Jack, and the second with Ginny. He was looking forward to them, yet this was the first day/night he didn't particularly care what class was next.

He really missed his mum and dad.

Harry rolled onto his stomach and pressed his face to his pillow, not wanting to wake Lionel with his sniffles. Logan had his curtains drawn closed, and Casey was reading a book on his bed. No one gave Harry any notice, though Harry wouldn't have realised if they had.

It was really hard.

At first he was so busy trying to find his classrooms and keep track of everything, but it had begun to wear off as he'd adapted and become more familiar with it all. Now Harry was terribly sad, longing for his dad's advice and mum's reassurance. He wanted to cuddle them both for hours while listening to them say how much they loved him and how proud they were of how well he was doing in his first week at Hogwarts.

'Are you alright?' Casey looked over at him.

'I'm fine.' Harry mumbled from his pillow. 'Leave me alone.'

'You're upset.' Casey slid to the end of his own bed and stared at Harry's back.

There was an abrupt sound, which startled Lionel awake, as Logan's curtains were torn open.

'What's all the noise?' Logan looked around and saw Harry, who was too embarrassed to turn around. 'Stop being such a crybaby. What is it?'

'I'm not being a crybaby!' Harry growled and turned to stare at Logan, surprising the other boys to the glare on his face, which was dry.

'Then what?' Logan rolled his eyes.

'I miss my parents, okay?' Harry told him. 'Don't you?'

'No.' Logan rolled his eyes, though he didn't look entirely truthful. 'You?' He asked Casey.

'A little.' Casey shrugged and glanced away from Logan. 'There's nothing wrong with it, Logan.'

Harry relaxed a little bit when Casey defended him against Logan, who was someone the blonde boy usually tried to avoid talking to in worry if being called names like Harry sometimes was.

'Whatever.' Logan rolled his eyes. 'It's only been three days.'

'I've never been away from them before.' Harry said, trying to sound braver and not like a crybaby as Logan had said. 'I nearly lost mum a long time ago, and dad saved me from some bad stuff. My best friend is in another house, so is my only other friend, and I'm stuck sharing a room with you, who is always being mean for no reason!' He told Logan, his voice raising slightly.

'I have plenty of reason!' Logan argued back. 'I was trying to sleep when your snivelling woke me up. You're friends with a Gryffindor blood-traitor who makes us all look bad. And you're such a goody-goody, like all the time.'

'You're a git.' Harry told him angrily. 'I-' He said nothing else when he was surprised by Casey's voice interrupting.

'Cody's right, Logan.' Casey said a little nervously. 'You are a git. I'm not bothered by those things. Not all of us are pureblood ego-princes who think everyone should bow down to them, like you.' He rolled his eyes. 'Give Cody a break, would you? He misses his parents, so what? You got a detention first day, and he earned Slytherin points. Get over yourself, no one is perfect.'

A stunned silence followed, which was only broken by Lionel's snores.

And twenty awkwardly quiet minutes later, Harry prepared to go to Astronomy with Casey and Logan. As they walked to the door, Harry turned back to where Lionel was still sleeping, and noticed Ian's bed was neat and empty. His fifth dorm-mate was starting to worry him a little, even if he would soon realise Ian had Astronomy with them.

Either way, from that night onwards, Harry stopped being suspicious of Casey, and Logan had been declared his enemy.

'Finally!' Erin exclaimed, as she accepted the letter from the owl very early the next morning.

Severus looked over the book he had been reading in a large armchair and spotted the folded parchment with their son's handwriting on it.

The two parents walked to a desk, as Erin unfolded the parchment, and read the letter together. When they were finished, Severus growled in annoyance and marched out of the room. Erin remained behind to re-read the letter and try to work out what had Severus so irritated when it sounded as though Harry was doing rather well.

Dad and mum,

 

I've been really busy with my classes and trying not to get lost all the time. That's why I didn't write sooner, and I wanted to have something interesting to say. I don't know what I'm supposed to write, so I'll just tell you what's been going on.

I sat with a girl and two boys on the train. Haylee is in Hufflepuff, Oscar is in Ravenclaw, and Casey is in Slytherin. They're quite nice, though I don't really trust Casey because he's a bit hard to figure out. I've made a friend! You were right, mum, it's not too hard. Her name is Ginny Weasley and she's in Gryffindor. I met her in Diagon Alley, remember? Anyway, this git from Slytherin named Logan was giving her a hard time, but Professor Sprout said I would have made dad proud when I defended her.

Jack is in a different house, but we're both really happy with the sorting even if I thought I was going to be sick until it was my turn. Jack says hello, by the way. The Professors are okay, like McGonagall and Sprout, but Professor Binns is a GHOST! It was really scary. I'm glad I have History of Magic with Jack, seriously.

I've got Astronomy tonight, at MIDNIGHT! And I still have to have Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow, and then Potions on Friday. Dad was right, it's still a double on Fridays. Jack's really looking forward to it, but so far I like Herbology and Transfiguration the most. History of Magic is really boring, and Charms is okay though Professor Flitwick is kinda funny. You're right about Hogwarts, because it's a lot of fun and I'm really glad you made me come even with how many times I said I didn't want to.

I don't know what to do about Casey. He acts like he tries to be my friend, but that he doesn't really want to. I don't know what to do. I just don't trust him, and he wasn't really nice on the train when he actually said something. He didn't seem to like that Jack and Haylee are muggleborns, either. Logan is worse because hates Ginny and says all sorts of awful things.

I have dinner soon so I'm not sure what else to write. Except that I'm really, really missing you both soooo much! Please, can you come to Hogwarts soon? I don't want to wait until next week. It hurts to be without you when I need dad's advice, and mum I miss you tucking me in at night. I even have to rely on someone else's alarm cloak to not miss breakfast.

Frogabook is okay, though he sleeps under my bed all the time to hide. He's well-fed still and I'm going to take him outside for a run on the weekend.

If I miss you too much, can I come home?

Lots of love,

Your son Cody Harry S