“Good work, Mr Potter!” Professor Sprout beamed. “5 points to Slytherin.”
Harry tried to hide his grin as Professor Sprout awarded him points for correctly answering why Dragon Dung compost was effective in retaining the magical properties of plants.

He heard groans behind him from a few Slytherins.

“Figures, ol’ Potty would know all about different types of shit.” Draco sneered at Harry. Of course they would still be annoyed even if he just earned them points for their shared house.

He tried to ignore the laughter that followed Draco’s comment and focused on his list of to positives again. Since yesterday he had added a fourth one to the mental list.

1. He got to sleep in a bed
2. He got 3 amazing meals a day
3. No Dursleys
4. Hagrid was at Hogwarts.

The day had already started better than the previous because he had woken before all the other boys, so they couldn’t get a hold of his belongings and met Hagrid at the great hall so he could help him tie his tie. He tied it slowly and Harry finally think he may be able to tie it himself now.

Then he had breakfast in a peaceful solitude before the other Slytherins arrived, which was when he quickly disappeared to avoid them. But not before a letter landed in front of him from his head of head detailing his detention from the day before for his tie. Nevertheless, Harry still felt was quite proud of his plan to avoid them, and even the knowledge that he had to serve a horrible detention tonight didn’t change that.

Since this was their second lesson of Herbology, Sprout had started to give them homework now, for them to complete for their next lesson. Everyone groaned but Harry felt quite excited, in that it gave him something to do, outside of classes.

It was breaktime next and Harry decided to check out the library, to see if he could find a quiet place to read the next few chapters of his Herbology book. The library was also a good location as not only would the Slytherin's most likely not be there, but also once break was over he could easily walk up to the astronomy tower for his next lesson.

Content with his decision he headed to the library and once he got over the initial awe of the mass of books from floor to ceiling, he found a table at the back and went to put his bag down and pull out his Herbology book so he could start on the Homework and read ahead.

He barely got a few sentences into it before he was interrupted.

“Mind if I sit with you?” Harry looked up to see a Gryffindor girl with big bushy hair, right in front of him plonking a large book on the table next to him making him jump.

It took a few seconds for Harry to process that she was talking to him. After a further look he recognised the girl to be the one who had her hand up while Snape was grilling him the day before. After Harry’s better start to the day, he had almost accepted that his time at Hogwarts would be a lonely one as it had always been. He never thought someone would actually want to interact with him now.

But he scolded himself, quickly. He can’t get his hopes up again. The girl only asked to sit with him, she’ll probably leave when she realises how freaky and bad Harry really is.

“Erm, yeah, of course.” Harry stuttered, once he realised that he had just been staring blankly at her. “If you want to.”

“Of course I want to, otherwise I wouldn’t have asked.” The girl chattered happily and sat on a chair beside Harry. “I’m Hermione Granger. By the way.”

She stuck her hand out and Harry shyly returned it, hoping his hands weren’t too clammy. “I’m Harry. Harry Potter.”

“Oh! I’ve read about you!” Hermione’s eyes lit up with excitement. “You defeated you-know-who when you were just a baby! That is so interesting! You need to tell me all about it!”

Harry looked down, a little embarrassed. “I don’t really remember, if I’m honest…”

“Oh… that’s ok Harry.” Hermione reassured him. “I guess you were only a baby when it happened. It’s only I’m trying to learn as much about the wizarding world as possible. I’m a muggleborn, you see. Still trying to make sense of this world but these books are certainly helping me!”

Harry soon realised that it didn’t matter that he didn’t speak much as Hermione was all too happy to fill in all the silence. But Harry liked listening to her. Something about the excitement and passion that Hermione radiated made Harry feel the same.

“But isn’t Hogwarts amazing? Gryffindor’s fantastic, I’m so happy I was sorted there. Of course some of the others don’t really understand me much but I’m used to that. How’s Slytherin? What’s it like? Do you love it?”

So many questions, Harry didn’t know which one to answer first or what to answer at all. “Um, Slytherin is ok-”

“Just ok?” Hermione butt in, her head tilted in confusion. “You don’t like it?”

“Well, I guess I’d just rather be in Gryffindor. But… it’s fine.” He replied, his voice dropping to a whisper by the end of the sentence. He wanted to be honest, but he also didn’t want to dwell too much on Slytherin, especially because there was nothing he could do about it. He also didn’t want to complain too much to Hermione. He really wanted to be her friend.

Hermione frowned at Harry’s words and opened her mouth to reply just as someone shouted from across the room.

“Hey Hermione! What are you doing with that snake?” A voice hollered and Harry and Hermione both turned to see the Gryffindor first year boys entering the library. Harry noticed Ron amongst them and cast his eyes down.

“You probably should go and study with them instead. You don’t have to sit with me.” Harry said quietly to Hermione. And he meant it. He didn’t want anyone to sit with him or be with him if they didn’t want to. He also didn’t want Hermione to start being the butt of the joke alongside Harry. She didn’t deserve that.

“Nonsense Harry.” Hermione huffed, casting a glare to the Gryffindor boys. “Ignore them, they’re just idiots. They all take this house rivalry way too seriously, don’t you think?”

“Yes.” Harry smiled softly. “I reckon so.”

-----

Harry bid farewell to Hermione and headed off up to the Astronomy tower for his next class with a spring in his step. Hermione had promised to meet him back at the library after dinner so they could work some more on homework together and Harry was so excited he could barely concentrate in Astronomy and Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Harry waved shyly at Hermione at lunch time when she spotted him, and she immediately enthusiastically waved back making Harry’s heart warm. Not even the mean comments from the other Slytherin boys couldn’t ruin the moment for Harry. He didn’t even understand the insult they used for Hermione but assumed it was mean from their tone and ignored them.

Harry met Hermione at the entrance to the Great Hall and they walked to Transfiguration together and chatting happily all the way. Harry discreetly pinched himself again, like he did on the train, to check he wasn’t dreaming. It felt too good to be true to have Hermione by his side, especially after his rough day yesterday.

Transfiguration passed quickly, as did Charms, and Harry hurried to the library with his textbooks. Hermione was already there when he arrived and waved him over.

They studied and worked on their homework, but they also chatted about Hogwarts and classes and magic. Hermione also helped Harry by explaining clearly the 2nd law of Transfiguration again for him, which he didn’t quite understand in class.

Hermione didn’t seem to want to spend much time with the other Gryffindors. She said she liked studying in the library with Harry more and Harry wasn’t about to complain about that. She said that some of the Gryffindor boys had been a little rude to her too, calling her a know-it-all, so she decided she'd rather spend him with him. Harry felt like pinching himself again.

Soon it was time to go to dinner and Harry and Hermione went their separate ways at dinner as Harry went to take a seat at the Slytherin table. Harry ate his dinner quickly and silently, it was becoming a routine now, and then stood up to make his way to the dungeons for his detention.

Snape clearly had a distaste for Harry and Harry was dreading the detention but with his day with Hermione fresh in his mind he was able to focus on the positives and face his detention. But his hands did shake a tad as he knocked on Snape's classroom door.

"Enter." Snape's voice drawled and Harry entered the classroom, his hands bawled as fists at his sides. He didn't know what to expect from the strict Professor.

A small stack of dirty cauldrons were the first thing Harry noticed when he entered and then saw his Professor's narrowed eyes staring from his desk as he closed the door behind him. It looked as if he was grading homework, with lots of red-ink corrections.

"You'll be cleaning those Cauldrons for your detention this evening, Mr Potter." Snape drawled, his hand gesturing to the stack and then to a small sink at the back of the room. He continued to stare at Harry as if he were analysing an potions ingredient.

Harry squirmed under the attention and hurried to lift the cauldrons from the pile and over to the sink. "Yes, sir." He replied.

"Only water and scrubbing, Mr Potter." His professor informed him. "I thought some practise of hard-work wouldn't go amis for you, as you should know there is no more lazing around now you are at Hogwarts, understand? Especially under my house."

"Yes sir." Harry replied, reaching for the scrubbing sponge perched on the sink, ready to get his detention done as soon as possible.

"No cleaning chemicals or spells. They'll only react with the potion residue and it would perchance burn your fingers to a crisp." Snape all but spat his words at Harry. "Although maybe I should've let you find that out for yourself..perhaps loss of limb would've helped you learn to how to show some respect."

Harry's breath hitched at Snape's words. He didn't know if he was just trying to scare Harry but it worked as Harry quickly set to work scrubbing, he didn't want to give Snape anymore reason to berate him. His fingers started shaking a little again.

He told himself that it could be worse. He dealt with much worse at the Dursleys alone.

He was certainly expecting a harsher punishment from his head of house and not just cleaning cauldron. He'd looked like he took great joy in giving Harry this detention. But maybe the Professor took pity on him?

He shook his head quickly when the thought passed his mind. From the glares Snape had been sending him since he walked in and the awful remarks he makes every second he's in Harry's presence, he decided that wasn’t very likely.