In what seemed to be no time at all Professor Dumbledore was giving the blank wall that served as the Slytherin common room entrance the password, (Saturn, something Harry found rather ironic.) and steering the time traveler inside.

Once inside Harry was subjected to stares from what must have been almost the entirety of Slytherin house. Must have been a house meeting or something, Harry thought.

The Headmaster excused himself and rustled over to Horace Slughorn, who was standing at the front of room, looking mildly amused. As the two of them spoke about something, Harry took the opportunity to look around.

Other than the stares, the common room didn't seem much different now than it did in his time. One of the differences was that the windows were highly reflective. Snape must have made them transparent when he took over, Harry mused. It made sense in a way; Horace Slughorn was a vain man, whereas Snape was not. At least not where physical appearance was concerned, at any rate.

He stepped forward to examine one and stopped dead as he took in his reflection. What in Merlin's name? No wonder they were staring! The robes looked like something out of the nineteen hundreds. Harry plucked at one of the lacy sleeves distastefully.

Fortunately, one of the few things he could do wandlessly and nonverbally was minor alterations of clothing. It had been very useful for disguises while he had been on the run. Aloud he said, "If this is his idea of current, I'd hate to see what he thinks archaic is." Then he snapped his fingers and made a pulling motion, rather like someone undoing a zipper.

There was a sharp crackle and a blinding flash of magenta that started at his chest and traveled outward. When it cleared, he was dressed in a much more current uniform; one that was thankfully devoid of lace and ruffles.

Ignoring the astonished stares he was getting, Harry tugged the sleeves down over his wrists and headed back towards the headmaster.

Seeing him approach, Dumbledore curtailed his conversation with Professor Slughorn and turned to him. He smiled briefly as he took in Harry's new uniform. "Well now, feeling more in touch?"

Harry grimaced. "Yes." He said shortly. "I didn't realize your fashion sense was stuck in the early nineteen hundreds."

Several students gasped and winced, but the headmaster just chuckled. "You remember best what you grew up with."

"That explains a lot." This time both the headmaster and Professor Slughorn chuckled.

"At any rate, allow me to show you to your dormitory." The headmaster said. As he led Harry down a hall, he placed a hand on his shoulder. In a low voice he said, "I feel I should warn you about Professor Slughorn. You see he likes to-"

"Collect things." Harry finished. "I know. I met him in my sixth year. I can't say I was really all that impressed. I mean, I know he's a potion master, but he…" Harry trailed off, a little lost for words.

"Professor Slughorn covets his connections." The headmaster said simply. As Harry nodded emphatically, Dumbledore continued. "By the same token however, those connections have helped many deserving students get a leg up into a place they are happy and well suited for. I would suggest that you don't dismiss them, or indeed Professor Slughorn, out of turn."

Harry nodded. "Yes sir."

Dumbledore smiled. "Good lad." He stopped in front of a door that was all the way at the end of the hall. "This will be your dormitory. I trust I need not go over the castle rules?"

Harry grinned. "Is there a list of banned joke items?"

The headmaster chuckled. "Indeed there is. It's rather long too I'm afraid." He paused. "By the way I don't believe I caught your name."

Harry blinked, caught off guard. "Oh it's Harry sir, Harry um, Hilfiger."

Professor Dumbledore raised one eyebrow. "Interesting name."

"This coming from Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

The headmaster burst out laughing. "Well, I suppose you have me there. Did you have any other questions?"

Harry frowned. "Yes, actually. What am I going to do about supplies and money?"

Professor Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Ah. Well, not to worry. We can set up a special visit to Hogsmeade for the robes and various supplies, until then you'll just have to use the spares the classrooms have. I think Horace has a few spare Slytherin robes lying around, though I have no idea what condition they're in. As for money, the school has a fund set aside to provide pocket money for those who have no way of obtaining any. I'll stop by later. For now I'll let you get settled in."

He gestured at the door. Harry eyed it with some trepidation before he finally opened it.

Harry leaped back as a wave of items cascaded into the hall. "What in Merlin's name?" He whipped around, only to find that the headmaster had vanished. "Crafty little coward." Harry muttered.

Eyeing the mess that was spilling into the hall, he sighed and shrugged. "Well, I've seen worse from Dudley. At least I don't have to do this by hand." He drew his wand and gave it a sharp jab. A jet of magic shot out and hit the trash on the floor, causing it to fly up into the air and hover there. Holding his wand so that it emitted a continuous stream, Harry advanced into the room.

After he was sure all the garbage was off the floor, he gave the wand a flick, creating a miniature cyclone in the middle of the room that sucked all the floating offal into it. After it was finished, Harry vanished the garbage and sent the cyclone to clean off the obviously unused bed.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Harry glanced up and found himself deciding that fate must clearly dislike him. He was face to face with the young Severus Snape. He eyed him for a moment, then said, "Liberating my bed. I have no intention of sleeping in a trash heap."

"I- your bed?"

Harry frowned at the tone. "yes. My bed. Congratulations, you now have a roommate."

"Roommate?"

Harry grimaced. "My, you are articulate aren't you? I hope all our conversations aren't as monosyllabic."

Snape flushed. "Since when are you my roommate?"

"Since about five minutes ago. You can thank Headmaster Dumbledore for that one."

Snape said nothing, which was probably just as well. Harry was in no mood for arguments.

"Great Merlin, this place is a disgrace!" He jabbed his wand at a pile of clothes, sending them rocketing off the beds and into a nearby hamper. "How do you expect to find anything in here? I mean, I know there are house elves, but really!"

Snape gave a haughty sounding sniff. "I know perfectly well where everything I need is." Then he frowned. "And I don't let the house elves in here, they might upset my potions."

Harry frowned at him. "You brew in here?' He paused. "Well, I suppose I can't say as much about that one, my friends and I once brewed a Polyjuice in a girl's bathroom." Upon seeing the look on Snape's face he said, "It was haunted. It seemed like the safest place, since no one really cared to go in there if they could help it." He gestured around him. "But still, if you won't let the house elves help, then you really need to clean up after yourself." He waved his wand, sending a pair of trainers hurrying across the room.

Snape let out a snort. "And why should I do that?"

Harry paused and turned to face him, wand aloft. "General cleanliness for a start. I don't care what potions you come up with, it's still no replacement for keeping things clean." He waved his wand again and levitated to allow the tornado, which was now much smaller, pass along underneath him as it vacuumed up dirt and debris. "Secondly, imagine if your friends saw this mess. I'd certainly be embarrassed."

"My friends never come to my dormitory."

Harry shrugged. "I can see why."

Snape shook his head. "It's not that. Most of them are in other houses."

Harry blinked. "Oh."

"What, you find that hard to believe?"

Harry stared at him, well aware that he looked like some sort of demented fairy godparent floating in midair. "Well…yes. I was under the impression that Slytherin didn't get along too well with the other houses."

Snape's sour expression cleared somewhat. "Ah. Well it is true for the most part. But there are exceptions."

"I see. I'll bear that in mind."

Snape smirked, a strange expression to see when it wasn't sardonic or dark. "What about you? Where are you from?"

Thinking fast, Harry said, "I'm a transfer from Beuxbatons. I moved to their area when I was little, and we just moved back now in something of a hurry. I still have to get robes and supplies."

"Why in Merlin's name would you come back here? There's a war going on in case you haven't noticed."

Harry grinned as he drifted down to settle on his bed. "Well, yeah. But Voldemort isn't personally recruiting near you right now."

Snape, to Harry's interest, didn't flinch. Though a noticeable shudder did pass over him. "You-know-who doesn't exactly go recruiting people himself on a whim. What could be over there to interest him?"

Harry shrugged and watched the miniature cyclone start dusting the windows. "Search me." He said distantly. "The man's a power hungry megalomaniac. I think very few people can possibly guess exactly what goes on in what passes for his mind."

Snape eyed him. "You say that as if you've encountered him yourself."

Harry shrugged. "He was near my home just before I left." Then he grinned. "Besides, everyone knows Dumbledore's the only one he's actually afraid of." He watched as the cyclone dissipated. "Merlin, there's still a lot of clutter!"

Snape watched mulishly as Harry cast a glance over the piles of clothing, parchment, and vials that littered the room. "It's is not clutter!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine. Disorganized chaos then. He leveled a glare that would have done the adult Snape proud. "Call it what you like, I refuse to allow any room I stay in to look like this."

"Then switch rooms!"

Harry grimaced. "The Headmaster decided this arrangement, for whatever reason. I doubt he'd change it just because I asked."

Snape just grunted.

In an effort to placate him Harry said, "Besides, I'm sure everything would be a lot easier to find if it was all in the same place. Especially if you needed it in a hurry."

Very slowly, The other teenager nodded. "I suppose so." Rather grudgingly, he pointed his wand at various piles, which floated up and began shuffling together.

Feeling rather pleased with himself, Harry turned and opened the wardrobe next to his bed. Then he took an involuntary step back as the glare of hundreds of vials shone into his face. "I don't suppose you'd let me have the wardrobe back? Or some of it at least?" When Snape gave another grunting reply Harry flicked his wand, causing the multitude of vials to levitate and stream out. "Merlin! You've got all kinds of potions here!" He watched several bottles file by before adding, "And ingredients."

Snape actually smirked. "It behooves me to keep well stocked."

"Stocked is right." Harry eyed the ingredients as they went past. Then he froze. Grabbing one out of the precession, and therefore stopping the line cold, he whirled angrily. "Do you have any idea just how horrid this is?"

Snape eyed the silver liquid impassively. "It's only an ingredient."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "No. It's not. Unicorn blood is not something to take lightly! When it's taken by force like this has, there's no good potion or spell it can be used for!"

Snape actually blinked at this. "How can you even tell?

Harry felt his lip curl. "The great potions master doesn't know?" As Snape's expression turned a mix of angry and confused, Harry sighed. "When freely given, Unicorn blood is gold, not silver. It's also about ten times more powerful in potions and ritual work. Blood taken by force turns silver, and has no applications that can be used for anything other than the darkest magic. Freely given blood has all kinds of uses. This-" He shook the vial of silver liquid. "This is heinous! It's a horrid crime just to kill a unicorn, let alone take its blood. They're creatures of purity. What would your friends say about that?"

Snape blinked owlishly. "Considering one of them acquired it for me? Not much."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment. "I sincerely doubt that all your friends from other houses are completely unscrupulous. There must be some who would have a thought about this.

To his surprise, Snape actually blushed. "Well, I suppose so. She'd certainly be none too impressed." He said at length." Then he shuddered. "And he wouldn't either."

Harry blinked a bit at the reactions but nodded all the same. "There you are then." He held the vial out to the other teenager. "Sorry. I guess I overreacted a bit, but I've actually seen someone kill a unicorn and it's a horrible sight."

Snape took the vial a little gingerly. "And what am I supposed to do about this?"

"Return it to the forest." Harry said simply. "Possibly with an apology. Unicorns are understanding, you didn't take it yourself, so they'll likely forgive you." Ignoring the rather confused look Snape gave him, Harry rapped his wand sharply on an end table. "Alright you lot, get moving, please." Obligingly, the line of ingredients, which had been hovering silently, rattled into motion.

His roommate winced. "You are unnecessarily careless with your wand."

Harry frowned at him. "Wands are more resilient than you think. And I show plenty of care. I just know how forcible I can be. Do you honestly think witches and wizards would still be using wands after all these years if they weren't resilient? Mind, I have a theory that they get strengthened by their magical cores. I've never heard of one breaking except under duress."

Snape tapped his lips thoughtfully. "That actually makes a good deal of sense. It would certainly explain a few things about them."

Harry grinned and resumed watching the vials filter past him. "Sunflower seeds? Those are an interesting ingredient."

Snape coughed, face slightly red. "Those are roasted and salted; they aren't any good as ingredients. They're better for something else."

Harry laughed. "I suppose they make good study fuel. Mind you, I wouldn't keep them in the ingredients if I were you; goodness knows what they'd pick up."

Snape just grunted again. Harry rolled his eyes as he watched the flying trail of vials change over to actual potions. "Wow, quite an assortment you have here. " He leaned closer and read some of the labels aloud. "Good luck, good health, good reflexes-" He paused. "Good gravy and good heavens?"

Snape smirked. "Good gravy is a potion I sell to Zonko's Joke Shop. It's meant for practical jokes."

"And Good Heavens?"

Snape eyed him. "Do you need a map to the answer?"

Harry closed his eyes. "Never mind." He turned as the last of the vials left the wardrobe, finally revealing the back. He sighed as a smallish cauldron was revealed on the bottom, bubbling away merrily with bluebell flames crackling underneath. "Why am I not surprised? The bluebell flame is nice, but I'm amazed they don't catch."

"How-how did you know what they're called?" Snape demanded. "My friend hasn't even got it published yet!"

Thinking fast, Harry snapped, "Well look at them! What other color would you call them, periwinkle, heliotrope? Honestly."

Snape reddened slightly and grumbled, "Heliotrope is a pattern, not a color."

Harry shrugged. "And this is magic. The line tends to blur."

Though his face was still red, Snape's face twitched into the barest hint of a smile. "You sound like my friend, she says things like that all the time."

"Smart cookie, this friend. Is it safe to move the cauldron? I don't think it's really all that wise to have it in such a confined space."

Snape nodded. "Just use a levitation charm on the flames, they'll support the cauldron."

Harry did so. Watching it glide by, he said, "Your friend sounds like quite a person. What's her name?"

To his interest, Snape flushed the reddest he had seen yet. "Lily Evans."

Harry almost lost control of his levitation charm in his shock. As he set it down on the other teenager's bedside table he could only think, Mum was friends with Snape? He nearly groaned aloud. Fate really does have it out for me.