The Great Hall was silent.

Harry slowly removed the hat and handed it to a shocked Professor McGonagall. She stood there, her mouth gaping, but quickly came to her senses. She accepted the hat with a slight frown and gestured towards the Slytherin table. Harry walked towards the table, his footsteps echoing in the silent hall.

Over at the Gryffindor table, the Weasley twins started clapping for the boy. Susan, over at the Hufflepuff table, began clapping as well. It wasn’t long before many were clapping politely as the Boy-Who-Lived sat down. Harry slid onto the bench and met the curious stares of his new housemates. The blond boy from the train, Draco, stared at Harry with wide, disbelieving eyes.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat before calling out the next name. There were only a few more students left and the boy Harry met earlier on the train, Blaise Zabini, was last to be sorted. He was sorted into Slytherin and chose to slide into the empty seat next to Harry.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, rose to his feet. “Welcome!” he began. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin out banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!” The beaming Headmaster resumed his seat as the students clapped.

“Seems the Headmaster is a bit barmy,” Blaise stated enthusiastically. “But I like him!”

Harry shook his head in amusement. He then paused, blinked twice, and closed his mouth, which had dropped open. Food had appeared—just like that! Seeing magic like this would take a bit of getting used to.

The aroma of the food caused him to place a bit of everything onto his plate. He dug in and nearly groaned in pleasure. The food was absolutely delicious! Some of the dishes he’d never even seen before, but they looked tasty. They tasted as wonderful as they looked and Harry longed to get the recipe to share with his mum. A sudden pang of sadness crept upon him. It seemed like a long time to go without seeing his mum, but he was grateful that he at least had Professor Snape to talk to.

As if sensing thoughts directed towards him, the Potions Professor turned towards the Slytherin table and met the stare of his newest addition. Harry Potter in Slytherin house was quite a shock, but it had always been a possibility. Severus had seen the Slytherin tendencies in Harry, but he figured the boy would follow in his parents’ steps anyway.

Harry smiled at the man he’d gotten to know so well over the past year. The Professor gave him a sharp nod in return. As Harry gazed across the staff table, he suddenly felt and odd sharp sting in his forehead. He winced and raised his hand up to his scar and rubbed it lightly. Harry looked around and tried to figure out what had caused the sharp pain but came up empty handed. No one had their wand out so it couldn’t have been a stinging hex or something similar.

Harry glanced up at the Head Table and winced again as he met the stare of one of the professor’s. This man wore a purple turban and frowned at him before turning back to his food. Harry didn’t have time to ponder the teacher any further once the desserts arrived.

The dark-haired boy grinned as he surveyed the variety of dessert items in front of him. They all looked so wonderful that he couldn’t help but take a little of this and that. Before long, he was completely stuffed and feeling sleepy.

The jovial Headmaster got to his feet again and the hall silenced as they waited for him to speak.

“Just a few more words to add before we retire to out dormitories for the evening,” he began. “First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.”

Harry laughed softly as the Headmaster’s twinkling eyes glanced over at the Weasley twins. He knew from the moment he met them that they were into all types of mischief.

“I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in between classes in the corridors. Also, Quidditch trials will be help in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house team should contact Madam Hooch.

“And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side if out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death.”

Harry wasn’t sure if the man was serious. He spared a quick glance at Professor Snape and knew the Headmaster was not joking around. A few other students had laughed but this certainly wasn’t a laughing matter.

“And now, before we go to bed, let us since the school song!” cried Dumbledore. Harry grinned as he recognised the scowl of Professor Snape’s face. It was the expression the man usually wore when he was quite displeased about something. The other professors’ expressions were rather forced as well as they began singing along.

As the song came to an end, the two Weasley boys continued singing along to a very slow funeral tune. Harry clapped and gave a tired grin once they finally finished.

“And now, bedtime,” the Headmaster said. “Off you trot!”

Harry sleepily got to his feet and followed his other housemates. Blaise walked along side of him, quiet and sleepy like the rest of the first years. They students stopped as they reached a blank stone wall. Harry watched as an older student said the password, Serpent, and the wall shifted. Similar to the entrance to Diagon Alley, the wall formed an archway that permitted the students to enter.

Sofas were scattered about the darkened room along with several bookshelves lined against the walls. Primary colours in the room were their house colours, green and silver. There were no windows since the common room itself was located under the lake.

Harry looked around the common room and spotted Professor Snape in the corner. The boy was surprised to see that the man was already in there waiting for them. The Potions Master stepped out of the shadows.

“Take a seat,” he ordered.

“Welcome to Slytherin,” Professor Snape said as he surveyed his newest students. “Pride. Cunning. Unity. Survival. Power,” he said pausing dramatically with each word. “These are all factors of the Slytherin house, the house which you have been sorted into and will remain a member of until you complete your schooling here. As a Slytherin, you shall face suspicion and fear by other students and professors. In order to survive, the Slytherin house must remain united at all times. I cannot stress that point enough times. A lone Slytherin is an easier target than a group.

“Tomorrow morning during breakfast I will hand out your class schedules. I expect all of my students, new and returning, to abide by the rules at all times. You are to arrive promptly and fully prepared for your classes. If any of you need my assistance, you will find me in my office on the designated hours, which are listed on the notice board. Should you require assistance navigating the school, the older students will aid you for the first week only. After that, you are expected to know the basic routes to and from your classes. I have nothing further to add. You are dismissed.”

Harry and the rest of the first years headed to their designated dorm. Inside there were six beds spread about with trunks at the foot of each bed. Harry located his bed rather quickly since it was stationed right by the door.

After rummaging through his trunk, Harry pulled out a pair of pyjamas and headed towards the bathroom to wash up before bed. A pale, dark-haired boy was exiting the bathroom as Harry entered.

“Watch it Potter,” the pale boy snapped as he shoved by Harry.

The green-eyed boy frowned slightly, but shrugged it off and went to the sink to wash up. He changed while in a stall, not comfortable enough to change in front of the others.

Harry exited the bathroom and met the curious stares of his new housemates. The blond boy from the train was staring particularly hard, in a manner which made Harry feel as if the boy were judging him.

“What?” Harry asked irritably. He had expected some staring, but it was getting on his nerves now.

“Did you really live with muggles?” Draco spat the last word out like it was pure filth.

He shrugged. “So what?” Harry drew himself upright and tried to imitate one of Professor Snape’s glares. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Draco didn’t seem too bothered by the stare, but he did look away. “But-muggles? You should’ve grown up with a proper wizarding family! Not some filthy muggles!”

Harry whipped out his wand quickly and pointed it directly at Draco. The blonds’ own wand was just out of reach and he made no move to grab it; instead he watched Harry.

“Don’t ever call my mum- adoptive mum-” he corrected, seeing as everyone knew his real mother was dead, “a filthy muggle again. Is that clear?”

Draco stared, wide-eyed, at the dark-haired boy before him. The green eyes were blazing with anger, causing Draco to swallow nervously. He didn’t want to get on Harry Potter’s bad side any time soon.

“I- I apologize,” Draco ground out. Malfoy’s never apologized but he’d make an exception this once.

Harry lowered his wand and nodded his head sharply. He finished walking to his bed, ignoring the silence in the room.

A low whistle startled the first year boys. They turned towards Blaise Zabini, who was smirking.

“Hm, I think I’ll give you a 4.3 out of 5. You were pretty frightening back there,” Blaise commented as he leaned back on his bed post. “But there’s still room for improvement.”

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes.

“I think hanging around you will prove to be very interesting,” the boy added with a mischievous grin.

“Stuff it Zabini,” Harry snapped half-heartedly.

He closed his curtain before anyone else could bother him and pulled his legs up to his chest. In attempt to calm his racing heart, he concentrated on the breathing techniques Professor Snape taught him. He, a boy with no practical experience with casting spells, had pulled a wand on a pureblood boy, who more than likely knew and had used spells before.

He reacted without thinking, like a foolish Gryffindor as Professor Snape would’ve said. He couldn’t let Draco get away with calling his mum a filthy muggle though. The threat seemed to have worked, which Harry was relieved to know.

After his heart rate went back to normal, he crawled into his bed fully. He could hear the other boys shuffling around as they prepared for bed. It wasn’t long before the other boy’s snores filled the room. Harry stayed awake for some time, unable to fall asleep. He missed his mum already and his mind was too busy worrying about tomorrow’s classes to allow him the comfort of sleep. Finally, after much tossing and turning, Harry fell into a deep sleep.

Harry sat at the Slytherin table the next morning, pushing food around on his plate. He’d eaten some, but with so many students staring blatantly at him, he couldn’t bring himself to eat much. He only managed a couple bites before he started pushing it around more than eating it.

Professor Snape spotted the boy’s discomfort immediately and began glaring at any student that stared at the young boy. Many got the picture and turned their focus away from Harry. Severus studied the boy and noted the dark circles which likely meant the boy had a restless night sleep. According to the boy’s adoptive mother, Harry hadn’t been away from her for a long stretch of time. She had mentioned how the boy had been rather clingy to her since she’d adopted him. Perhaps being away from her would do the boy some good, and Severus could only hope it wouldn’t cause the boy to break down at some point either.

After a glance at the clock, Severus gathered his bundle of timetables and stood. He strode towards the Slytherin table, cloak billowing behind him, and began passing out timetables to his students. Harry received his and looked it over. First class was Transfiguration. He gathered his belongings and went in search of the classroom, Blaise trailing behind him.

The two boys found the classroom rather quickly and were the first to arrive. Harry wanted to sit up front and Blaise grudgingly followed. It wasn’t long before the rest of the students arrived and their professor was nowhere in sight. There was, however, a grey tabby sitting on her desk.

Harry stared curiously at the cat. It had odd markings, circles around the eyes and the cat was sitting stiffly, too stiffly for a normal cat. Before he could say anything to Blaise about it, the cat leapt off the table and transformed into Professor McGonagall.

After calling roll, the professor began a lecture on Transfiguration.

“Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts,” she said, surveying the new first years. “Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.”

She then demonstrated a few transfiguration spells before assigning them the process of changing a matchstick into a needle. Harry remembered reading about this spell and was ready to practice it. It took a few attempts before his match turned silver, but it wasn’t fully a needle yet.

“That’s more progress that I can get,” Blaise commented as he looked at his own match, which had a pointy edge but nothing more.

Harry, determined to do well, continued practicing until he finally got it right. He smiled happily before turning to Blaise, and helping him with the spell.

“Yes!” Blaise exclaimed when his match turned into a needle. Class was almost over, but with Harry’s help, he managed to change his match too.

“Congratulations Mr. Zabini,” Professor McGonagall said as she caught site of the boy’s silver needle.

“Harry got it first then he helped me,” Blaise pointed out.

The older woman looked at Harry for a moment before turning away, her eyes held a pained expression. “Yes, well five points to Slytherin for your work.”

The bell rang only moments after that and the two boys gathered their belongings before walking to their next class, Herbology.

“I wonder why she was like that,” Blaise commented.

“Like what?” Harry asked.

“Well, she sorta looked at you funnily. Like she couldn’t stand seeing you or something,” the dark-haired boy replied.

“I think I know why she was like that,” Harry said. “My parents were Gryffindors and Professor Snape told me how much McGonagall would’ve wanted me in her house.”

“Oh, so she’s probably not too happy you’re in Slytherin,” Blaise surmised.

Harry nodded. “Yeah and apparently she’s not the only one.”

The other boy looked confused. “What do you mean?”

The green-eyed boy shrugged. “Haven’t you seen the way people are always looking at me, some glaring? People aren’t happy their ‘saviour’ is in Slytherin.”

“Yeah, I guess I’ve seen some glares. Come on, we’d better hurry if we want to get to the greenhouses on time.”

The two boys made it just before the bell rang. Harry realized they shared this class with the Hufflepuffs and smiled at Susan. She waved them over and the two boys joined her for their first Herbology lesson.

Harry and Blaise left their last class for that day, Charms, and headed towards the Great Hall. Their Charms lesson was rather interesting with the short, excited Professor Flitwick teaching. He had squeaked when he called Harry’s name during roll call, which caused Harry to blush as snickers rang throughout the classroom.

The green-eyed boy ignored the stares as they sat down for dinner that evening. It was getting easier for him to dismiss all the curious faces, but it still made him uncomfortable when he tried to eat. Harry set down his fork, stood up and left. He ignored Blaise, who was calling after him, and exited the room.

Harry began walking down the hall, towards the common room, when another boy ran into him as he turned the corner. Harry slowly got to his feet and looked at the other boy.

“I told you to watch it, Potter,” the boy snapped. It was his pale roommate, Nott, he believed.

“Look, it’s not like I did it on purpose,” Harry replied angrily.

“Whatever,” Nott said. “I wasn’t impressed by your performance last night and I assure you that I won’t hesitate to hex you if you point your wand at me.” The boy said threateningly.

Harry rolled his eyes and began picking up his books. He saw Nott glare at him before stomping off in a huff. Harry reached for his last book, when someone else picked it up and handed it to him.

“Harry, Harry, Harry,” two voices said in unison.

“What have you been up to lately?”

“Trying to conquer the school as Prince of Slytherin?”

“That won’t do-”

“-nope, that won’t do at all.”

Harry rolled his eyes at the two Weasley twins. “What? Is that some rumour going around?”

“Yep,” they replied.

“We heard you threatened Draco Malfoy-” one said.

“-The Draco Malfoy-” the other replied with a fake incredulous expression on his face.

“-And you two are fighting for to be top snake-”

“-No offence there-”

“-By duelling last night in the common room-”

“-So is it true?” they finished together.

“No, it’s not true,” Harry said, shaking his head. It was hard to follow a conversation with them when the constantly completed each other’s sentences.

“He made a comment about my adoptive mum and I didn’t like it. Err, well I reacted without thinking and pulled out my wand. I pretty much told him not to talk bad about my mum and he apologized.”

“Malfoy apologized?” they exclaimed in shock.

“That was something I wouldn’t-”

“-have expected in this lifetime.”

Harry shrugged and leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially. “Good thing I didn’t try and hex him.”

“Why’s that?” they asked.

“Because I don’t know any spells, except what I’ve read,” Harry replied.

They shared a look with each other before stepping on either side of him and tossing their arms around him. They led him down the hall.

“First thing to do is get you some food-” one began.

“-You are a bit scrawny-” the other twin pointed out.

“Am not,” Harry denied.

“-It’s not like you ate in the Great Hall anyway-”

“-How could you with all those people watching?”

“-After food, we will show you a few tricks to have up your sleeve-”

“-To show people that they shouldn’t mess with a Weasley-”

“What do you mean Weasleys? I’m a Potter,” Harry pointed out.

“Ah, but your mum-”

“She was a red head-”

“Wasn’t she?”

Harry looked down. “I don’t know,” he whispered sadly. “I’ve never seen a picture of her.”

The twins were at a loss for words for a moment. “Either way, you’re one of us,” they said.

Harry smiled gratefully. “Thanks guys.” It was nice having these two as older brothers. “So have you guys been tormenting students with that hand buzzer yet?”

The twins smiled gleefully and began describing the fun that they had already had with the muggle device as they walked towards the kitchens.

Professor Snape stepped out of the shadows after the students were far enough away. He should have known the boy never saw his parents before. After all, he himself was the first one to tell Harry their names. With a determined expression on his face, the Potions Master went to find a picture of Lily Potter for her only son to have.