Garnet

Severus sat in the great hall watching Potter getting sorted.

Severus didn't know whether Potter was telling the truth about him going to Slytherin or not but the hat was taking more time than expected to sort Potter, so maybe he was telling the truth after all.

He could see whispers starting to break out across the hall and Dumbledore's eyes starting to dim as more and more time passed by. Even though it had only been probably one minute Potter had been on the stool.

The hat suddenly opened its mouth and screamed SLYTHERIN.

Holly shit, Potter was telling the truth and he was really going to be one of Severus's Snakes.

Severus couldn't help but feel excited, he knew he had hated Potter for the last four years. But he never really hated Potter. He hated how Potter looked so much like his father and always seemed to be hiding something but never the boy himself.

Potter now only had his father's brown skin and dark curls. The rest of him was Lily, her face, her eye color, even her height. But there was something distinctly his own with how Potter looked. The scar which went all the way down and across his face looked like lightning from the night sky, and his left eye which was bright silver which made his green eye pop even more than it already did.

His personality was nothing like either of his parents or even like himself, Potter seemed like two different people half the time but Severus knew that wasn't it.

Maybe now he could get to know Potter and figure out more of what he learned during their meeting over the summer, and what was going on with Potter in general.

The boy was one big mystery that Severus was determined to figure out.

Unlike Severus's joy about Potter going to Slytherin, the rest of the hall didn't share his opinion.

The students were shouting, Dumbledore looked furious, McGonagall looked disappointed, and the rest of the teachers just looked shocked.

Potter looked indifferent like he couldn't see the hall so clearly hating him. Well, Severus guessed the boy had experience in this because two out of Potter's four years at Hogwarts had been spent with the whole school hating him.

Then Draco stood up and started clapping for Potter, and the rest of his house quickly joined in. Ṕotter quickly stood up from the stool, smirked at Weasley and Granger in a way that only could be described as frightening, and walked over to Slytherin.

He wanted to be shocked Draco acted in support of the boy first but he was Draco's godfather meaning he had spent more time around him than most, and he knew Draco had always been obsessed with Potter so it made sense.

Potter sat between Draco and Daphne which was good, they were both good students who seemed to already be welcoming Potter. the whole house seemed to be welcoming him which slightly shocked Severus.

However, Severus wasn't shocked about his fifth year being kind to Potter since during meals he often saw them staring at Potter for whatever reason, in the halls, in classes, really wherever Potter was at least one of the group was looking at him.

The hall took far too long in Severusvs opinion to quiet down and no one seemed to be paying attention to the rest of the sorting.

When the food came Severus couldn't help but watch his Snakes where the fifth years were in the middle of a discussion with Potter with half of the rest of the house listening in.

Everyone was eating beside Potter who didn't seem to have even touched his plate. Potter never seemed to eat during any of his time at Hogwarts, but Severus bet his Snakes would take care of that. Maybe he should bring it up with the boy but he didn't want to scare Potter away so soon. Besides he doesn't look awfully thin so it was probably just his nerves about his resort.

He was probably fine.

The feast soon came to an end and everyone was going toward their dorms except for Potter who made his way toward the Gryffindors who looked furious.

Weasly suddenly pushed Potter against a wall and was yelling in his face. Potter was shaking and seemed to not be able to breathe. He was having some sort of panic attack and Weasley didn't seem to care. No one in the hall seemed to care besides the Weasley twins who pried their brother off of Potter. Severus always did secretly like the twins, not that he could ever let anyone know.

Potter ran out of the hall through a door that seemed to just appear for him which promptly disappeared after he went through it so no one could follow.

Severus needed to go make a speech to his Slytherins so he couldn't look for Potter but when the speech was over if Potter was still out he would go look for him.

When Severus made it to the Common Room Potter surprisingly was there but with wet hair. Severus didn't know what was going on with that or why Potter was staring at the floor with a blank look in his eye but at least he was there.

Severus said the same thing he did every year in his speech. How as Slytherins they would be treated unfairly, and how problems in Slytherin stay in Slytherin. That he was holding their yearly health checks when term started, and meeting with him to discuss the year and any problems they may have. Also how no matter what they could come to him with any issues, especially since some in his house had awful home lives and had no adult to turn to. This often led them to the Dark Lord when they had no one else to turn to, so Severus made sure they could always go to him instead. Even if Severus couldn't help all of them he could save some of them from the same fate as him and that had to be enough.

As Severus was walking out he saw his fifth year leading Potter to their dorms, Potter would be in good hands.

__________________________________________

Draco was sitting with the rest of the fifth-year Slytherins waiting for the sorting to begin while they all discussed their summers.

He looked towards the Gryffindor table for Potter but all he saw were Weasley and Granger.

¨Pans do you see Potter anywhere?¨ Maybe Draco just wasn't looking hard enough, or maybe Potter was sitting with someone else, he never has before but maybe this time he is.

¨No Draco I dont think he's at the table.¨

¨Wait, guys, he's standing over by the door, it looks like he's waiting for something.¨ Blaise said as he half stood up so he could see the hall better since their table was in the back of the hall.

Holy shit Potter looks stunning. He looked like a completely different person, before this he looked great but now there were no words to describe exactly how good he looked.

Potter looked to be about Draco's height whereas before he was a couple of inches shorter, he now had light brown skin instead of a pale complexion similar to Draco's. He had even darker curly hair. But eyes. His eyes were unforgettable. Draco wanted to stare at them forever, he wanted to never look away.

¨Draco we know you are obsessed with Potter but stop staring it is rude.¨

¨Fuck you, Millie, you stare at Davis just as much and I don't say shit.¨

¨At least I had the guts to ask her out, you have fancied Potter for years and haven't done anything but insult him.¨

Draco couldn't say anything to that because yeah, he was too scared to ask Potter out, and anyway who was to say he even liked Blookes?

McGonagall suddenly spoke ¨Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts, now before we begin with our normal sorting we have a situation to deal with first. We will be holding a resort because of a technicality for one of our fifth-year students, so will Harry Potter please come up?¨

Well, that explains why Potter is standing at the front of the hall, but why was he getting a resort?

There hadn't been a resort at Hogwarts in hundreds of years so why now?

Why Potter?

Draco desperately hoped Potter would go to Slytherin, and he thought there was a pretty good chance he would since Potter had all the characteristics of a good Slytherin that only seemed to increase as the years went by.

The hat sat on Potter's head for what felt like forever but was in reality less than a minute until it yelled SLYTHERIN.

Merlin, Potter was coming to Slytherin, he was really coming to Slytherin.

Potter didn't look upset about it, he looked indifferent. He was putting on a mask, especially since the whole hall was yelling and was getting madder and madder by the second.

He wanted to show Potter that not everyone hated him so he did the first thing he could think of and stood up and started clapping.

The rest of his friends and house quickly followed suit and started clapping for Potter.

Potter started walking towards their table so he and Daphny quickly made space in between them so he could sit with them.

Potter slid between them and Draco made sure Potter had space in between both him and Daphny since Potter always seemed to hate being touched no matter how quickly it was, and it looked like Daphny was doing the same.

Maybe all the time they had spent watching Potter would pay off now and they wouldn't scare him away too quickly.

Daphne broke the silence and they started a conversation with Potter, trying to figure out what was going on and why Potter even got a resort.

Potter's mask never broke once while he was talking with them but he seemed different. Like he wasn't hiding the same way he previously was. He seemed normal which was good since whenever Potter was in his other moods he always seemed like he was a second away from making a decision that could kill him.

No one seemed to notice this about Potter besides the Weasley twins who seemed to have taken Potter in as their own. They didn't seem to be going with their family and Dumbledore's bullshit so they were already good in most of the Slytherins eyes.

When the food came Potter didn't even look at the food instead listening to their conversation.

Draco and Pansy both grimaced as they noticed he wasn't eating.

Draco had hoped he would have started eating over the summer even though he knew it was extremely unlikely since the only year Potter had in any way eaten normally was his first year and it had just gotten worse year by year.

He hoped they would be able to get Potter to eat and start to be comfortable with touch the longer he was here but it was his first day so he didn't want to even acknowledge it yet and make Potter uncomfortable.

When the feast was finally over he was about to tell Potter to follow him to the Common Room when Potter suddenly told them he had to go talk to Granger and Weasley.

He left before Draco or anyone else could object as he walked towards the Gryffindors.

¨Potter is going to get screamed at by Weasley and his temper, isn't he?¨ Blaise said exactly what Draco was thinking, and it seemed everyone was sharing the same thought.

¨Yup, he doesn't have the password for the dungeons so probably should wait for him.¨

One second Potter and Weasley were talking and the next Potter was being pinned to a wall. Draco saw red, did Weasley not see how having his body pressed against Potter was making him panic? Potter looked like he was a second away from collapsing from hyperventilating when Weasley was pushed off of him.

Potter then ran out of a door that seemed to have appeared for him out of the brick wall he was just pressed against.

No one was even able to follow him since the door closed once Potter passed through it.

¨What the fuck was that? Did Weasley just attack Potter and did Potter just create a door?¨

Davis looked shocked as she said this, since it shoudn't have been possible for Potter to just make a door.

¨Hogwarts a History states it is impossible to alter the castle or warp it to one's desires, but Potter just did.¨ Nott looked just as confused as Davis.

Greengrass and Nott were the smartest ones in the group who got O's on everything and could never be found without a book. They could each quote Hogwarts a history from the number of times they had read it, so if they didn't know how Potter had done that, and said it wasn't possible it really shouldn't have been possible.

Davis was just as smart as either of them but spent her time focusing on ruins for which she was a prodigy.

Draco was a good student and excelled in all of his studies but mainly focused on potions which he planned to get his Mastry in once he was out of Hogwarts.

Blaise, Millie, and Pansy didn't care about their studies as much as the rest of them but were good students nonetheless. They chose to spend their free time doing other things, unlike the rest of the group.

Greg and Vince however were not great students but they weren't stupid like the rest of the school assumed. English was one of their first languages so they have a hard time understanding some of what they were being taught. So the rest of them always made sure to help them both to make sure they did fine in their assignments and classes.

Draco didn't know what to say after Potter exited the hall so he just suggested they all go back to the Common Room and if Potter was not back at the end of Snape's speech, tell him so he can find Potter or let them look for him.

However, halfway through Gemma and Marcus's speech Potter came walking into the common room.

He looked fine except for his skin which looked slightly red and his damp hair.

Wait Potter didn't have the password for their Common Room so how had he gotten in?

Draco quickly looked at the rest of the group and saw they also realized this and were just as confused as him.

Potter stood at the edge of their group and refused to look at any of them, but at least he was standing with them instead of alone like Draco feared he might have.

Once Severus's speech was over he thought it would be best to just show Potter to their dorm and have an early night so they can all have a meeting in the morning.

Luckily Blaise was thinking the same thing and started to lead the group the the dorms and explain the dorm situation to Potter.

Draco made sure to offer Potter the bed closest to the door even though it was the one he always took since wherever Potter was in a room he always looked for the exits right when he walked in and he liked to be near the door even if he tried not to show it, so Draco though he would be more comfortable there.

When Potter accepted his offer and went to the bathroom to change and wash up for bed draco kicked Blaise in the shins and talked quietly so Potter wouldn't hear ¨What the fuck Blaise, are you trying to weird Potter out?¨

¨Merlin Draco it's not that big of a deal and Potter looked fine.¨

¨You can't really think he looks fine.¨ Theo added in.

¨Well no he is definitely not fine but about this, he looked fine.¨

¨Will all of you shut up before Potter comes out and then he will actually not be fine once he hears you all arguing about him?¨

¨Yeah, sorry Vince.¨

Potter soon came out of the bathroom and got into bed, quietly muttered a silencing charm on his bed.

The rest of them quickly got ready for bed and Draco fell asleep to thoughts of Potter and the sounds of his friend's breaths lulling him to sleep.