First day/ Letters
The next morning Harry woke to a knock at the door a different prefect calling for them to get up. Harry stretched languidly not used to sleeping so hard. The bed was the nicest he had ever slept in. He looked over at his other pillow and smiled Noctus was curled into a circle looking very comfortable.
“Good morning Noctus. Im sorry I forgot to set up your heating rock and things.” He says sheepishly, running a hand over her scales. She lifts her head and turns to him.
“It’s alright darling, yesterday was a lot for you at your age. You were so tired last night I expect you forgot I was with you. I took some time after you slept to look around the common room. I ate some very fat mice. I think I can eat those while we are here and save on those ones you get in from the shop.” She says fondly.
“Did you like the common room?” Harry asks curious.
“Yes, I spoke to the stone snakes on the walls and they have much to say. I think they will be very useful for our duration here. I ate very much last night though so I think I would like to rest here for a while before exploring the castle. I will join you for classes tomorrow.” She says before curling back up. Harry chuckles quietly before giving her one last pet. He draws the curtains back and looks over to Draco’s bed. Still closed off, harry pads over and peeks in to see Draco still snoring. He smiles to himself and shakes his shoulder.
“Huh? Oh good morning harry. Is it time to wake already?” He mumbles sitting up.
“Yea, someone knocked. Come on let’s get to breakfast I’m starved. Remind me to tell you about my pet snake tonight as well. I don’t want her to spook you” Harry says with a yawn.
“Im sorry what? You have a snake?” Draco say shocked. Harry nods and tips his head towards his bed. Draco takes a peak and looks back at harry in awe.
“If we didn’t have to go I would be asking so many questions.” Draco grumbles before going over to his side to get ready. Harry smiles and turns to get ready himself. As he walks over to his trunk to grab robes he looks around the room. It’s spacious, with two windows into the lake with seats built into the sill. There are also two large wardrobes on the other side of each bed and across the room on either side of the door are two desks. It’s all very nice and harry wonders what the other houses look like. After a quick shower he and Draco head back to the common room. They are soon joined by Blaise, Theo, and pansy. The other boys are still bleary eyed but pansy looks awake and well rested.
“Good morning boys, are you ready for our first breakfast at Hogwarts?” She asks cheerily.
“Good morning pansy. I am, not sure about this lot though.” Harry says with a chuckle motioning to the other boys. She lets out a soft laugh and leads them out and up to the great hall. Once they’re all seated harry takes pity and pours the boys tea to help them wake up. They finish them quickly and perk up.
“I don’t remember getting up let alone how I managed to get here.” Theo says filling a plate with eggs and toast.
“I dragged you out of bed, the rest I assume was muscle memory.” Blaise says with a smirk.
“I miss my own bed already, the one here is okay but the one I have at home feels like sleeping on a cloud.” Draco says spooning some egg onto a piece of toast. Harry looks at him astonished.
“I feel like a pauper guys, that was the nicest bed I have ever slept in.” Harry says after a mouthful of kippers.
“We need to get you a new bed then.” Draco says seriously. Harry just snorts. Near the end of breakfast Snape comes around and hands them their schedules.
“Today is just a short day, you will have twenty minutes in each class for a small introduction and then going forward you will see you have your schedule split up into A or B days. Astronomy is only on Fridays. On Fridays you will have a full day where you have all of your classes but on a shorter period. Not as short as today though.” He repeats as he moves along the table. Pansy demands to see all of them to make sure they are in the same class slots.
“Harry and Draco have the same slots, as do I. It looks like Blaise and Theo are the odd ones out. Thats okay, that just means we help each other with the subjects we have first and you can give us any necessary heads up.” She says handing their schedules back.
“Well we will also see each other all day today and every Friday. Friday all of the Slytherins are together for the day. I wonder who each block is paired off with. Or if it’s random.” Blaise says tucking his schedule in his bag.
“No matter, we will find out tomorrow. let’s go I don’t want to be late.” Theo says standing. They follow him to the first classroom, history of magic. Once they settle in harry pulls out his schedule. On A days, Mondays and Wednesdays, he has history of magic, charms, and potions. On B days he has transfiguration, DADA, and Herbology. Harry is interrupted from his thoughts by a ghost floating through the blackboard.
“Hello, I am professor Binns. Since today is just a short introduction I am going to give out our syllabus and run over it with you all quickly. Harry follows along diligently notating at the top that they have this class with the Hufflepuffs. He is glad they only have the full block on Fridays as the class is quite crowded. He follows this pattern throughout the day notating on each syllabus which house shares the class. In charms they’re with the Ravenclaws, potions the gryffindors. Harry hopes Weasley ends up in Blaise and Theo’s block. Transfiguration has them with Hufflepuffs again. DADA is with Ravenclaws and stuck with the red and gold house again for Herbology. The whole grade does astronomy together so harry doesn’t worry about that one. All in all they finish with about an hour before lunch. Their astronomy professor Sinistra, tells them to explore the castle, become familiarized with its halls. She also reminds them away from the closed wing of the third floor. Harry and his friends decide to go back to their common room to write letters to their families. Once they’re back in the common room harry pulls Draco to the side.
“Hey, I was wondering if I could write a letter for you to stick in to your mum?” Harry asks Draco quietly.
“Yea of course. Im sending a joint letter to my parents so if you want you can address to just her or them both.” He says giving harry an encouraging smile. Harry nods before they join the others at the table pulling out their supplies. Harry decides to write his letter to Dudley and his aunt first.
Hello aunt petunia and Dudley,
My first night at Hogwarts was lovely! The beds are so comfortable! I was sorted into Slytherin just like I had hoped. The whole house is posh to be honest. I have made several friends already! One of them is the son of my godmother. His name is Draco. We share a room together. Im going to write to his mum about being her godson. She might reach out to you aunt petunia. I really hope she didn’t know about me. Draco doesn’t think so. Im hoping she can help with the adult things, or at the very least help you with wizarding world stuff. We had a short introduction day for classes today. Just going on the syllabus and stuff. Im excited for tomorrow, first real classes and all. I will write again soon with an update on classes or with news about my godmother, whichever happens first!
From,
Harry
He sets that letter aside before pulling out another blank sheet. He is unsure of how to start this letter. He decides that a blunt approach is best, he is not skilled enough to ease into this kind of news.
Hello Mrs Malfoy,
You may be wondering who I am and why I am writing. My name is Harry Potter and over the summer I went to gringotts and did a line test. It showed that you were listed as my Godmother. I can understand why I didn’t get sent to my godfather as he went to prison, but I am unsure as to why I didn’t end up with you. If you knew about me and decided not to take me in then disregard this letter. If you didn’t know, I want to ask for help finding out why you weren’t told. If you would like a copy of this test my aunt petunia has the copy if you contact her. She is a muggle but she has an owl and can send and receive post. She can also explain to you why I just found out about the wizarding world this summer. I just want to say please don’t be too hard on her. She made mistakes but has been doing her best to make up for it. I am rather fond of her now. She can also let you in on some other things if you wish to know them.
From,
Harry Potter
Harry sighs at the letter. He isn’t sure if it says too much. Or not enough, he decides thats as good as it will get though. They gather their letters and head off to find the owlery. Once they have sent them off they head down for lunch.
—
Narcissa is just about to call for afternoon tea when she hears an owl tapping at her window. With a smile she gets up letting the owl in and grabbing the letter from the birds leg. She opens the envelope and is surprised to see two letters inside. She pulls the first one out and see’s her son’s handwriting. The other is not familiar to her. She decides to read her son’s letter first.
Dear Mum,
Hogwarts is amazing. I also made a new friend, Harry Potter! He was sorted into Slytherin with my friends and I. We are even rooming together. I was shocked to find out on the train that he follows the paths of the stars! Well, sort of. He spent his summer learning as much as he could but he only had access to a handful of books smuggled from his Goblin friend. He needs a lot of help if he is going to learn everything properly. I want to have him over for Christmas and the summer! We can help him better than anyone. He even made me feel better when this first year Weasley was rude to us on the train! We are going to be best friends forever I tell you. There isn’t much else to say for now, we just finished our introduction day. He also included a letter.
Love,
Draco
Narcissa smiled at his letter, she was happy he made a friend. She was surprised that it was Harry Potter. Not to mention him being a dark wizard and Slytherin to boot. She opens Harrys letter and reads quickly. She gasps at the information in it and quickly runs from the room to find her husband. He is sitting in his study as usual with a tea platter floating next to him. He looks up in surprise as she rushes in.
“What is the rush dear? Is something wrong with Draco?” He asks worriedly standing to meet her in front of his desk.
“No, He is doing fine. He made Slytherin. I just received a letter from his new friend. Apparently Harry Potter is also in the house with him. But according to his letter, I am his godmother. He was supposed to come to us after his parents died. How could this have happened? His letter also worried me because he asks that I do not ‘go too hard’ on his Muggle Aunt. He says she made mistakes but is trying to make up for them.” She says in a rush, her motherly instincts screaming at her.
“You don’t think…” Lucious says worriedly.
“I do, abuse of magical children is so common when they are placed with muggles.” She says quietly her heart breaking.
“We shall contact her and get the full story. If she is still unsuitable to raise him we shall take him in. Light child or not we will not stand for harm coming to him.” He says pulling her into a hug.
“Oh, darling. thats another issue, he is not a light child. He is a dark one, he has only learned what he could from banned books his goblin contact gave to him. I know they have quite the stash but it’s not nearly enough. I know he will learn some from older students while at school but they will focus on easier things such as holiday rites and basic healing practices. It’s the most they can do there. They might give him some knowledge but with him being unable to do any practical work it would takes a lifetime to come up to speed.” She says fretting.
“My darling narcissa, to see you open your heart so quickly warms my soul. We will do what we can. The black ancestral home is our neighbor, we can help his aunt adjust it as needed to live there if she is deemed acceptable. That way we can give him the most lessons we can over the summer. If we meet her soon enough we could even have it finished by yule. Then we could have them over for the joint holiday.” Lucius says giving her forehead a kiss.
“You’re right. I need to go write her a letter then. And one to harry.” She says before leaving him. He walks over to his desk and pulls out a parchment of his own. He had recently been contacted by his lord and was ecstatic to find he was more sane than he once was. He was out traveling looking for ways to heal himself fully, he would need to know.
My lord,
I have news. The potter child has just entered his first year of Hogwarts. My wife has just received a letter that she was made godmother but he wasn’t placed with us. In fact we had no idea any of this had been done. I suspect it was a plan between you and your husband. He is a child of the dark, we plan to reach out to his muggle aunt and see if she is fit to care for him. If she is, we are going to renovate the black ancestral home next to us to house them. We will also be teaching him as much as possible. This could be the child of the true prophecy. I suspect his placement was forced by the usual crowd. This is one step too far though, we can get him for this legally. he won’t be able to fight it either with the goblins being involved. I know that won’t fully stop their side but it does give us much more leeway to get into position than we have ever had. I can start the proceedings whenever you wish just send the word. I will also contact the old crowd whenever you are ready.
Yours loyally,
Lunis Mallory
He signs his code name with the usual flourish before sending it off. he then prepares to write to the goblins to get the case ready to file as soon as he gets word. He is sure there is more to this than simple will tampering. He feels hope stirring in him once again. Maybe one day they will be able to practice openly again. He hopes so more for the children’s sake than his. They deserve to be treated as people again and not evil incarnate.
—
At lunch harry is quiet and a bit pensive. He is glad for Draco though who keeps up steady conversation with their friends and sits close to harry so their arms and legs brush. It brings him more comfort than he can express. Nobody had ever given him physical comfort. Even after Vernon died it was just not something their house did. Harry wonders if it would feel uncomfortable with anyone else, he would hate if Dudley or his aunt did anything like that. He ignores that and focuses on eating and trying not to worry about his letter. Draco had told him their owls would get to his mother quickly as owl magic made their trips faster. He could get a response as soon as dinner, or not at all. After lunch they broke off to do their own things. Theo dragged pansy to the library while Blaise went to find a friend in Ravenclaw. Draco however, dragged them back to their dorm room to meet Noctus. Once inside harry peaked into his bed to see if she was back. Thankfully she was. He wrapped her around his neck to show her to Draco.
“This is the lovely Noctus, I got her in diagon alley. She’s amazing! She can turn invisible if she wants and is so pretty and smart.” He says looking at her. He didn’t realize he said the last bit in parceltongue so when Draco gasps he is confused.
“What? I thought you like snakes?” He says confused.
“You. You, spoke parceltongue! Harry that’s a really rare gift in England!” He whispers astonished.
“Oh crap! I wasn’t supposed to show anyone that. Can you not tell anyone?” Harry asks quickly panic flooding his system.
“It’s ok harry. I won’t tell anyone. I wouldn’t share with anyone else though. They would think you’re evil immediately. The last person known to speak it in England was the dark lord. While it’s a dark magic gift obviously it’s not evil. People are sort of okay when people from other countries speak it because it’s different in their society. Still they don’t really like it.” Draco says before approaching Noctus.
“Okay. This sucks. I don’t understand why having a dark core is so shunned. It’s not anymore evil than any other magic. Any magic can do harm if you try hard enough. Also, I read that nature has been suffering in England and the places in Europe where they don’t celebrate their proper holidays. You can pet her by the way.” Harry says slumping onto the edge of his bed. Draco strokes her scales and then lets out a small giggle when noctus slithers up his arm and around his neck before licking his cheek.
“I like this one, his magic goes well with yours.” Noctus says softly.
“I’m not certain where the prosecution of dark wizards started. It didn’t happen overnight, I do know it got worse with grindelwald though. I wish we didn’t need to keep it secret either. We’re just people. Not to mention the needless setbacks our warding and medical practitioners have to deal with. My father has told me what the dark lord wanted to do before he went insane. It honestly, well it wasn’t really that bad at all. Of course once he went insane those ideals got pushed to the wayside and he started trying to take over the country by force. I don’t agree with that at all.” Draco says looking at the floor, still petting Noctus.
“I haven’t been able to find anything about that. How much do you know? My aunt want’s me to focus on just being an 11 year old but if you know anything I think it still counts enough for me to learn.” Harry said looking over at Draco. The sunlight filtering through the lake into their window cast a slightly green light onto them. Harry smiled slightly at the sight. Draco looked like an ethereal creature, especially with Noctus’ scales shining almost pearlesant over the black. It was a stunning sight.
“Well he didn’t tell me everything of course but I can tell you what I know. He wanted to have the wizarding world as separated from the muggle world as possible. He wanted our society to be self sufficient for things such as crops, herbs, pretty much anything you can think of. We get a lot of our base products and produce through merchants who source them from the muggle world. He wanted to remove muggle influence, so things like Christmas, and certain views and prejudice brought in from the muggle world. He wanted muggleborn children to be taken from their families at the first sign of magic and be placed in highly regulated homes where they are put up for adoption. My father said the rules for adoption would be very strict and thorough. They would be blood adopted too which would bring a lot of good to pureblood families who couldn’t have children on their own so they wouldn’t risk their line dying out. It was also to protect the muggleborn children from rampant abuse. It’s not every child but enough of them that it’s a known issue the current ministry is ignoring. He of course wanted to reform the ministry, making all magic legal again, within reason. The unforgivables would still be illegal. He wanted to give magical creatures the rights they deserve, give them the resources they need to live their lives and integrate them into our society like they deserve. He wanted to bring back all of the classes that have been taken out of Hogwarts and create new ones on spell creation and others that would advance magic as we know it. He even wanted to create a system of wizarding primary schools so everyone had the chance to receive equal education coming into Hogwarts. But then something changed in him. My father said he kept doing some sort of ritual and after each time he got more unhinged and blood thirsty. He didn’t give me any specifics but I could only imagine. Then I guess a bit before we were born, one of his people overheard a bit of a prophecy. Someone was going to be born that had the power to defeat him. He freaked, I guess he thought it was your parents, especially after he heard they went into hiding. You know what happened next. My father did tell me they found out the full prophecy though. It’s completely different to what the one person overheard. They were pissed when they found out. Too little too late you know? The dark lord was already gone.” Draco says with a sigh. Harry sits quietly thinking everything over. Putting prophecies to the side, he was so not touching that right now, all of those goals didn’t even sound terrible. Maybe there was nuance he didn’t get coming in from the outside but he couldn’t understand why this was so terrible to the light side. Yes giving people equal rights was usually a sore spot for people who profit off of their subjugation but a public primary school system. Self sufficiency? Hell even focusing on advancing magic wasn’t bad. Why would they be so against it. Because someone with dark magic suggested it? They still profited off of dark magic all of the time! From their warding to healing. How could celebrating holidays and learning the dark spells be that bad. Harry was getting frustrated thinking about it before he took a deep breath.
“Thank y0u for telling me. I think I understand why my aunt didn’t want me to worry about all that. It’s infuriating to know what they rejected. That im not old enough to change anything. Not that I know a ton about politics or dark magic.” Harry sighed flopping backwards on his bed.
“Don’t worry about that, im sure my parents will help you with anything they can, not to mention we have meetings twice a week with the older students to learn about our holidays, and to celebrate the ones that fall during the school year. As well as some dark healing magic and skills. We can’t learn much more than that inside the castle but I’m sure they will have no problem telling you about other magic and spells. We are supposed to have a meeting in a few days. Most of the house will be there. There are of course a handful of students whose magic is light or too light grey to do much so they stay in their dorms. Well, the actual light students don’t know anything about the meetings. So best not to talk about them outside our room.” Draco says carefully laying back next to harry. Noctus slithers off Draco and down to the floor telling harry she is going exploring.
“You know, I’ve been doing a terrible job keeping any of this secret.” Harry sighs miserably.
“Not really, only I know anything. And I guess my parents know a little. We will keep it quiet though I promise. I only want to help and they will too. Besides what are friends for?” Draco says nudging harry with his elbow. Harry thinks this over and then nods.
“I suppose you’re right. You’re a good friend Draco. I think meeting you was fate.” Harry says quietly. They sit in silence for a bit before Draco sits up.
“So we have the rest of the day open, want to go find the others and play some card games?” He asks. Harry agrees and follows him out of the room. They eventually find the others and convene in the common room with the others teaching harry how to play wizards bluff and harry teaching them silly muggle games like go fish and 313. They stop for dinner but come back to it after. They also talk a lot about themselves and get to know each other. Theo is very interested in learning about anything he can and stops after a few games to read, he still answers questions though. Blaise is very fun and makes a lot of jokes. He has many stories about Italy as well. Pansy is wonderful and has a lot of fashion opinions. She tells harry that she can help him look his best all he has to do is ask. Once back in their dorm harry quietly chats with noctus about her adventures. She tells him about sneaking into the headmasters office while he wasn’t there and the cool things she saw inside. She also talked about many other things she found such as the kitchens and a secret room in the dungeons that looks like a hangout room. She said it was long abandoned though but she would show harry If he wanted her to. Harry drifted off to sleep with his thoughts spinning around his mind. He had so much ahead of him. He put it all away for later, he had nothing to do in the next several years about any of it. He just wanted to hangout with his friends and noctus.