"Nice," Blaise said admiringly. Harry could barely hear him, it was as if his ears were stuffed with cotton batting. Had that really been him? Why had he said something so...cold? Was Ron right?

Before he could panic more, Tom slipped fully out. This was not a time to appear weak or confused. He answered Blaise calmly, buttered his toast and ate it, accepted their class schedule from one of the prefects, a haughty-looking girl with the last name of Monteroy.

Lovely, he thought, staring down at the plain parchment. Their first class was Double Potions with the Gryffindors. He directed a glare up at the Head Table, where Dumbledore sat, serenely enjoying his breakfast. The Gryffindors and the Slytherins had a rivalry that went back decades. Would there ever be a Headmaster who didn't seem to enjoy provoking that at every turn?

Apparently not, Tom sighed and stabbed his scrambled eggs with a force they did not deserve. He had planned to slip back inside and merely observe after breakfast had concluded, but now he was not so sure. Harry was still near the breaking point, he could not face the Weasley boy again. That much was clear, the ass had greatly shaken Harry's self-confidence with his ill-thought-out tirade. As if Harry had somehow become the next Dark Lord in between arriving at Hogwarts and trying on the Sorting Hat. It was ridiculous.

You could let me out, Jay suggested inside, with an entirely feigned aura of innocence.

Right, Tom snorted back. As if you wouldn't cause more chaos than any of us can afford. Normally, they would have one of the more scholarly alters front for classes, like Raven. She was always absorbed in one book or another, and could scarcely be persuaded to come out of her head and into the real world. But for a brand-new class like Potions, Tom wasn't sure that was the best of ideas. They'd read all the books, of course, they couldn't afford not to. It had made for a month of very little sleep, and a brisk trade in stealing batteries for the perpetually flickery flashlight they kept hidden under the floorboards, but it had been well worth it to attempt to understand the new world they'd been thrust into.

Still, Raven didn't tend to do as well with the practical side of things, and considering Professor Snape's disposition, they were sure to end up actually attempting potions before the end of class. Lily would want to skip class altogether and play with her dolls or play outside, neither of which was an option. They would have to find an outlet for her soon, but the student population could not see the Boy Who Lived skipping about like a little girl.

Freak was entirely out. He'd spend the entire class period curled up under the table, babbling apologies to anyone who looked even halfway adult. And to a frightened child, that was most anybody. Same with Blue. She may be older, and more brash, but her role as the one who took on the most physical abuse meant that she'd be constantly flinching and ducking from blows, real or imagined.

If Kitten could be persuaded to focus, that would be one thing, but she'd be more inclined to try and seduce the Professor, and Tom couldn't see that working out very well. For one, if what he recalled about Severus was true, the man preferred women. For another, he didn't prefer women in the bodies of eleven-year-old, barely pubescent boys. That was likely to end up with a trip to the Hospital Wing and the Headmaster's Office, both places they'd prefer to avoid for the time being.

And as for the others...well, there were even more reasons why they were unlikely to be decent choices for Harry's first class.

Tom sighed, slightly unhappily, and finished his orange juice. No. If Harry was incapable of fronting right now, it looked like he would have to go through Potions himself. Jay was far too unstable to be trusted on his own. Angry and impulsive, Jay was also Harry's premier persecutor, and more of a bully than most of them wanted to admit. He could rival Dudley on his bad days, of which there were many. As his twin, Blue tried to steady him, but she was too shy and insecure herself to manage it most of the time.

He looked up and caught Professor Snape staring right at him, a glare incipient in those dark eyes. Hmm. Potions could be more interesting than he'd thought.