From red to green
Harry found his friends waiting for him next to a carriage nearby. To his surprise, he saw a black creature attached where there was previously nothing. When he told his friends, they looked at him as if he was crazy. Maybe he was.
“I see them too you know you are not crazy: you simply know more than the majority of us.” Told Luna when she passed by.
Harry didn’t know if he needed to be less worried after the blonde’s comment, she made no sense at all, but he dropped the subject. The ride was awfully quiet. Harry’s reclusion during their stay at Grimmauld place seemed to have put a cold in their relationship.
Once inside the Great Hall, the raven experienced a moment of panic. Nobody had told him where to sit before his re-sorting. One thing was sure: he was not standing with the first years. After some consideration, he chose to sit with his friends at the Gryffindor’s table for what might be the last time.
The hat sang his annual song, this time it was about house unity. Then, the new students began to be sorted. This year’s sorting was certainly the fastest Harry ever witnessed while he wanted it to take as long as possible. After the last student joined Ravenclaw, Dumbledore stood up.
“Now, as most of you know already, due to a mishap, Harry Potter is ought to be sorted for a second time. Come here my boy.”
Hermione gave him a nod of encouragement and while Harry made his way to the hat, he felt like fourth year all over again with everyone watching him. He sat on the stool and McGonagall put the hat on his head. It was slightly smaller now that he was older and didn’t fall over his head like last time.
“Harry Potter, what a pleasure to be within your company again. It is so rare for me to be able to sort a student twice. Were you not happy with the previous outcome?”
“I am more than happy in Gryffindor, and I want to return there!” panicked Harry
“Are you sure that you really fit in Gryffindor young man? I can see that you still have a big thirst to prove yourself. You will become a strong wizard Harry Potter, but only if you change houses. The lions already taught you everything they could, it is time to find a new source of income to achieve to your true potential.”
“What can they teach me? How to be the worst person on the planet?”
“You have a lot of prejudices Potter, a house does not define an individual, just like blood is not the level of your greatness at magic. Besides, they do have a lot of material that you lack of.”
“Like what? Darks arts?”
“It is a possibility. There is also a lot more that you will learn about in the next three years since I’m sorting you in SLYTHERIN!” The hat yelled the last word.
Harry felt his face crumble. He couldn’t go there. The place was full of children of death eaters. He would be spied on and served to Voldemort by them! Even more, he would have to sleep in the same room as Malfoy out of all people! During his mental breakdown, professor McGonagall removed the hat from his head.
“It was an honor to have you in my house. My door will always be open to you if you want to talk.” His old head house told him. Harry could see that she was in shock but was trying to remain professional.
Harry peeked around the room: students were staring at him with shock. Some of them had their mouth wide open which looked quite ridiculous. The boy peeked at Ron and Hermione. Ron was redder than his hair while Hermione seemed to be lost in thought. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Snape, looking beyond furious. Just great, Harry thought, he now had Snape as head house, the one professor who detested him more than anything.
“Why don’t you join your new classmates?” said McGonagall.
Harry gulped, stood up from his stool and slowly made his way to the snake’s table. He could see the stares he received while making his way to the table at the opposite side of his old one. He slowly arrived where the 5th year were seated and received a hostile glare from Malfoy. Harry was about to go at the end of the table, alone, when he was stopped by a dark-skin wizard.
“Sit with us.” He said with an encouraging smile.
He scooted over to make Harry some space between him and a dark hair boy. He looked around him. If he remembered correctly, the boys were Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini while the girls were constituted of Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bullstrode and Tracey Davis.
“I’m Blaise Zabini and he is Theodore Nott.” The boy said gesturing to the teen on the other side of Harry.”
Harry was stopped from responding since Dumbledore stood up, making his usual speech.
Just when he was presenting the new teachers, he was interrupted by the new defence against the dark arts’ teacher. Harry was horrified, it was the same lady with the toad face and wearing pink from head to toes that the one who wanted him expelled earlier this year. The lady named Dolores Umbridge went on for what felt like hours. Telling again and again that the education was long corrupted and that she was here to restore it. Harry knew from this point forwards that this new teacher was going to be like hell.
“Thank you for your speech professor. Now, let the feast begin!” Declared the headmaster.
“This new lady is so ugly.” Scowled Parkinson. “She looks like a pink frog.”
“Haha, she can’t be worse than Potter with his horrendous glasses and his hair looking like a nest.” Mocked Malfoy.
Harry rolled his eyes. Why couldn’t he give him some peace for once.
“Or you, you are so charming, aren’t you?” Said Harry.
Malfoy was about to speak when he was interrupted, to Harry’s surprise, by Zabini.
“Yes, we get it Malfoy, you hate Potter more than you hate having a bad hair day. I’m not his fan either, but we are going to live with him for the next three year, so if you could try to be somewhat polite, it’d be great.”
Malfoy huffed with a disdain look, not liking being told off.
“Thank you Zabini.” said Harry, grateful of him.
“Don’t thank me yet Potter. What I said goes for you too. I know you have prejudices about us, but all Slytherins are not bad. Must of us are decent people. You wouldn’t know of course since all your precious time was accorded to hating Malfoy and his little groupies.”
“Look, we are willing to make an effort with you since we’ll have to sleep nest to each other, but you have to do it too.” Continued Nott.
It’s true, only Malfoy, well, both the blonde’s gang and his were rivals. The other five Slytherin never did anything to him. Even more, he hardly saw any of them together. Harry flinched behind the glare from Malfoy. The boy was beyond furious, that was obvious. It mustn’t be frequent for him to be reprimanded. Surprisingly, he kept quiet.
“I guess we could get to know each other’s. You do seem nice enough. In addition, I do enjoy the fact that Malfoy was just put in his place thanks to you.”
The boys chuckled and the three went on to discuss. At first, it was awkward, none of them knew what to say, but as time flew, the discussion became a lot easier. They talked about everything and nothing. Harry found out that he quite liked their company. They weren’t friends yet, but Harry had a feeling that it wouldn’t take long. He was glad, he previously feared to spend the rest of his days alone. The remaining of the snakes were quiet. Harry was sure that they were listening closely to their conversation, but he didn’t mind. He was having a great time.
The feast finished a lot sooner than Harry had anticipated. He had wished to be able to talk to his friends, but he discovered that they had already left, Prefect duty was Harry’s guess. Malloy and Parkinson, Slytherin’s 5th year Prefect, had also left without Harry noticing.
“Let’s go Potter, we’ll show you the way to our dormitory.”
Harry almost told them that he already knew where it was from his escapade in second year, although he guessed that it would probably be too early for that. He followed them silently while the boys explained him some “rules” he had to follow.
“First of all, what happens in Slytherin stays in Slytherin. We don’t want you running around and telling everybody our secrets. Second, we are not supposed to fight in front of the other houses. Professor Snape wants us to make the impression that we are a united house. Also, try to not loose many house points, or we will despise you within all our hearts.”
They reached the entrance and Zabini gave the password “Cobra” to the door before entering the room.
“The password is so original Zabini, a type of snake for the snake’s house” mocked the raven.
“Stop with the sarcasm Potter, it is the best one we’ve got so far. The four others were far worst.”
Harry was about to respond but was made speechless from how the room looked. Back in second year, he hadn’t taken a good look at it since he was so absorbed in his task, but now nothing was restraining him.
The room had three enormous windows. The upper parts were displaying the sky while the lower side was under the lakes. Harry could see some tentacles moving from time to time. The room was filled with various fireplaces. It was logic that there was far more than in Gryffindor tower since it was always colder in the dungeons. Various couches were all around the fireplaces. Few round tables with chairs were displayed all around the room. A few paintings were decorating the walls. Everything furniture possessed dark colour. Even with the dark painting, the place seemed welcoming.
“The stairs in the middle lead to the dormitories. The left side is for the girls and the right is for the boys. Follow me.” Informed Nott.
They went up the stairs and Harry was able to discover the place where he was going to sleep for the upcoming year. The dorm was rectangular instead of circular. Six sets of bed were displayed all around the room, they were fairly like the Gryffindor’s but were black and green instead of brown and red. In the middle of the room, a small chiminea was placed.
To his relieve, Harry found his trunk next to the bed closer to the door. He could easily exit the room if Malfoy decided to attack him in the middle of the night. He also discovered that they had two bathrooms for six boys, each one was assigned to three boys. He shared his with Zabini and sadly, Malfoy who were also the ones with their beds next and in front of his.
“What do you think of our dorm? Which one is better, this one or your old?” asked Zabnini.
“They are different: I could say that they are the complete opposite. They can’t be compared. Although, I do like the chiminea here. ”
“Hum, alright. Come downstairs, Professor Snape has to address us.”
“You mean he will be making a speech? McGonagall never did one.”
“Yes, a speech to welcome new students in our house. It is always very short though. And that’s another reason as to why our house is the best. I guess you did not accompany first years to the Great Hall for their first day at Hogwarts either?”
Harry shook his head.
“Well, every 5th year are required to do so. It is us because the older sometimes frightens the young kids and the younger, well are too young.”
“That’s actually genius, I still remember my first day when I got lost in the castle.”
They reached downstairs and joined the other 5th years on a couch. They were the last ones to arrive, so Zabini grabbed chairs from a nearby table and brought them over.
“Welcome” started the potion professor. “I am pleased to welcome you in my house for another or first year. I am Professor Severus Snape, your head house and if any problems occur to you, you can always come to me or any of the Prefects who are the ones standing all around you. As always, I will hold a quick reunion with each of you to look over your grades and assign you to a tutor if needed. I’ve put the schedule of them on the bulletin board next to the staircase. Also, first years must report for a checkup at the infirmary by the end of next week.”
“At last, I want you to treat Potter like one of us, since he is in Slytherin now. That means, no unnecessary fight will be tolerated, or you will be severely punished. Have I made myself clear? That goes for you too Potter. Thank you all and have a great year!”
“WAIT” screamed a student. “Is it true that the Dark Lord is back?”
Snape slowly nodded and quickly exited the room while some students were trying to process the new information. Zabini got up and went to the bulletin board. He came back with a copy of the schedule for the reunion. Harry groaned, his was the following Monday, just before school began. What a great way to start a week! 30 long minutes with one of the most likable people who ever existed, joy.
“So, what do you all think of the new DADA professor? I wanted to ask earlier but didn’t have to opportunity.” Started Nott, right after Snape had left.
“The woman will be a nightmare, that’s for sure. It looked like she wanted to take control of the school and reform it.” Responded Malfoy who did not seem as angry as before. “Where does she come from anyway?”
“She is the Senior Undersecretary to the minister of magic, and she really is a nightmare.” Said Harry after seeing that no others wanted to answer the last question.
“Well, if she works with the ministry, it means that he wants to keep close eyes on Hogwarts.” said Greengrass.
“How do you know her: I don’t believe that she is one of your numerous contacts considering the people you usually hang out with.” Said Malfoy harshly, which earned a glare from both Zabini and Nott.
“First, there is nothing wrong with the Weasleys and second, she was at my hearing during summer. She was all in for me being expelled. She already detests me, maybe even more than Snape does.”
“If she hates you, then maybe she isn’t as bad as I originally thought.” Mocked Malfoy, which earned him a nudge on the elbow.
“What did you do anyway? Can’t control accidental magic at your age?” sneered Parkinson, also earning two glares from her classmates.
Harry took a deep breath: he did not want to start an argument just yet. “I was attacked by dementors with my cousin and had to perform the Patronus charm.”
“You can do the Patronus charm? That’s impressive, it is 7th material. Is it corporal? I’m Greengrass by the way.”
“Yeah, it’s a stag. I learnt the charm back in 3rd year when the dementors were surrounding the school.”
“Are you bragging to us Potter?” said Malfoy.
“What? No!” flushed Harry.
“He’s only mocking you, Potter.” said Greengrass.
“I knew it!” Defended Harry. “Now what did you mean when you said that the ministry wants to keep close eyes on the school?”
“It meant that he wants to make sure that no one spreads the “rumor” that the Dark Lord is back.” Stated Greengrass.
“I also believe that they want to watch Dumbledore closely. People are starting to reconsider his ability to run a school. Which IS true. The obvious fact is that he literally hired a ghost as a history teacher.” Continued Malfoy. “You must not be happy about this Potter, aren’t you?”
Harry did not respond. In fact, he kind of was happy. Harry was malcontent with Dumbledore’s recent behavior. Additionally, some teachers he hired here were just too horrible at their job and Harry was still bitter from how Dumbledore treated him this summer. His harsh and cold treatment towards him had made Harry realize that he had been favoured before. He had always gotten away from the worst punishments, not that he did not enjoy it. Also, the headmaster made his best to make Gryffindor win the house cup every year by giving ridiculous number of points to them. He was not the best and fair Headmaster.
“I will not answer this Malfoy, it is none of your business. Now, if you will excuse me, I had a long day so I will head to bed.”
Harry got up and made his way to his dorm. There, he started to rummage in his trunk before finding what he was looking for. He got his parchment and started reading the instructions written on it. Harry had previously copied a charm that prevented anyone to enter his bed and drawers without his permission, either way the person would be thrown a few feet further with great force. Better be safe than sorry. He proceeded to quote the incantation, and Harry could feel the magic making itself present. His ward had worked.
After, he took one book out of the ten he had brought with him from the library and made himself comfortable on his bed. The room was dark, so he casted Lumos to be able to read. A soon as he heard the others entering the room, Harry went to bed, it was still early, but he wanted to be well rested before confronting the following day. Harry already knew that he wasn’t supposed to encounter any problems with the snakes, but there was no guarantee about the other houses.
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The following morning, Harry woke up from a nightmare again. He bolted out of bed with a scream that made his roommates steer in their sleep. Only then did he realize that he was now at Hogwarts which meant he was finally allowed to put a silencing charm, which could have been way useful back at his relative’s house. He checked the time, it was currently 5:30, too late to go back to sleep. The fact that his internal clock was programmed to wake up early anyway from having to start his chores from Petunia so early was not helping either.
Harry took advantage of the fact that he was the only one awake to take a long hot shower for the first time in months. At Grimmauld place, there was simply too many people wanting to shower at the same time to be able to enjoy one and we couldn’t even think about one at 4 Privet Drive.
Once he got out of the shower, Harry noted that his robes were now a silver and green colour. He put them on and took a moment to admire himself.
He would never admit it out loud, but these fitted him way better than the Gryffindor’s ones. The green of the tie was bringing out his eyes and was matching his slightly darker skin tone. He really looked like a real Slytherin.
He then went to sit on his bed and continued the book from the previous night. There were not many purposes in going in the common room alone and he remembered that he had to wait for the others to make his way to the Great Hall with the 1st years.
He also took the opportunity to think about the situation he had found himself into. Harry was now in the one house that held children of his worst enemy. He would have to be very careful with what he was saying and not tell anything compromising. The boys did tell him that everything would be kept quiet, but Harry wasn’t sure if they respected that or were more loyal to their families.
Zabini and Nott seemed nice enough, Greengrass was not bad either. It was also true that not every Slytherins were necessarily bad, just like Gryffindors weren’t always the heroes, take the literal rat for example. The major problem was most definitely Malfoy and following closely, Parkinson. The two teens had insulted him a few times, but after his two companions and Snape’s warning, they had kept mostly quiet apart from a little insult from time to time. Harry sure hoped it would go on this way.
The good side to his house change was certainly the fact that there was at one least one of them practising the dark arts. If Harry could find who that person was, the boy could learn a lot more than what his books ever could. He only had to wait for the person to sell himself since Harry couldn’t just ask then out of nowhere. In Gryffindor, no one would have been happy with his new interest, but here might be a different game.
How would his friends react? Even if he had been distant, Harry still loved them. The raven was worried about Ron’s reaction. He had made a tantrum when Harry was picked for the tournament. The house change would be more than a treason for him. Harry hoped that he had matured enough to take the news. As for Hermione, it was far more complicated to predict her reaction. She sometimes had the weirdest logic ever. Harry was frightened at the idea to lose his best friends over a simple house.