Night at the Commons
The Slytherins stared at Harry, confusion filling their whispers as he proceeded to grab some food, not saying a word. “So Harry,” Pansy slid over to him, “welcome to Slytherin. What brings you to our table?” Harry looked up at her, one eyebrow raised in a look that stated ‘really? Are you seriously asking me that?’. Pansy laughed at the look, “No offense Potter, but we didn’t really expect to see you over here.” He sighed, putting down his fork, and properly turned to her, noticing the others at the table also staring at him. Draco leaned in from his seat across from Harry. “Why are you here Potter? Last I knew you’ve always been just a reckless Gryffindor.” Harry glances over at Draco with a scoff, “Yeah, right.”
“Look, I just got here. I know you guys are all excited because you didn’t really lose anyone, but can I eat in peace?” Harry was staring longingly at his dinner; it had been so long since he’s had anything more than just bread to eat. The Slytherin table glanced around, collectively agreeing to hound him in the common’s that evening. All of them went back to their own dinner and quiet chatter they normally fill the hall with. Harry breathed out a sigh of relief, also turning to continue eating his meal surrounded by sounds of the hall.
The other houses were all in their own state of chaos, trying to adapt to all the students that had swapped around. The most notable swaps, beyond Harry, were the other two of the Golden Trio. Hufflepuff was just enjoying welcoming the new students, including Ron, to their house whilst missing the few they had lost. Ravenclaw was having a good time discussing the logistics of the swap, and pulling Hermione into all of the talks. Gryffindor was struggling the most, with quiet welcomes for the new students, but pure confusion and anxiety sweeping through the original members of the house. Whispers about the trio filled the hall from all four tables, but was overall not too negative, allowing the trio to not be inundated with others while they ate.
Eventually, the time for the meal came to an end with one final announcement from Headmaster Dumbledore. “Attention students, before you all head out, just to let you know, you are to go straight to your new dormitory in order to settle in. All of your belongings have been sent to your new dorms, so there is no need to return to your previous dorm should you have been moved. That is all.” With that, the students began making their way to their new homes.
The Slytherin’s grouped together to make their way to their commons in the dungeons, each year banding together as they made their way down. Once there, they were taught the password to enter, and in they all went. Before anyone made their way to their rooms, they stayed in the commons, confusing those who were swapped into the dorm. They soon realized why as Professor Snape waltzed into the room, his cape billowing behind him.
“Welcome to Slytherin house, while you are here, you will learn what it means to be a Slytherin and you will grow in more ways than you could imagine,” Snape spoke with authority instead of his usual drone, surprising the transfers. “While you are here, you will not, for any reason, fight with others in this house when you are outside of this dorm.” Snape paused here, his gaze passing over the first years and ending on Harry. “If you need to fight, you can either come to my office, or wait until you get back to the commons. We will be showing a united front outside of this dorm, and you will not be happy with your punishment should I find out you are not following this,” Snape informed the house. “That will be all for now, settle in, discuss whatever, and just remember you have classes tomorrow.” With that, he spun on his heel, exiting the dorm.
The first years were sent to their dorms to settle in without the chaos of the upperclassmen since the entire school was new to them. Harry, however, was stuck in the commons, held onto by Pansy and Millicent the entire walk down to the dorm and not released even after Snape’s entire speech. As the only fourth year swapped into Slytherin with no one transferred out, he became the center of attention for everyone.
All the fourth year Slytherins gathered at a set of couches in the commons, having Harry sit in the middle of the couch between Pansy and Millicent. “Well, something new every year huh.” Harry looked over to the Blaise who was smirking, “I mean really, not one year goes by without you becoming the center of something Harry,” Blaise chuckled. The others laughed lightly at that, nodding in agreement. Harry let a small smile show before looking down slightly, a blank look slowly coming over his face. The shift in Harry’s mood caused a serious atmosphere to surround them.
“Are we going to have any problems Potter?” Draco looked at Harry, his eyebrows pinched together in slight worry and anger. “You heard Professor Snape, you’re one of us now. How you are, I can’t bloody well figure out, but you are.” He sighed, then glanced up at the ceiling deep in thought. “He’s right you know,” a new voice droned, “any issues we’ve had in the past will have to be gotten over with here in the commons, we can’t show any weaknesses outside.” Daphne stated. “Besides, we can’t expect anyone to treat you the same anymore.”
Harry looked up at that, a frown marring his face. “What could you mean by that? It’s not like they all aren’t my friends anymore.” The other Slytherins glanced at each other, grimaces being traded off. “Harry,” Theodore started, “no one likes Slytherins. People may not treat you the same anymore, we just want you to be careful, you’re one of us now.”
He rolled his eyes at that statement, “Oh please, you all act like you weren’t some of the worst instigators to me or anyone else.” “We only did what we needed to to protect ourselves Harry,” Draco cut in, a serious look on his face.
Harry look incredulously at him, “Protect yourselves? What in the bloody hell would you need to protect yourselves from? Besides, I never did anything to you and you all have hated me from day one. What could I have possibly done to make you bully me to “protect yourselves”?!” Harry was yelling by the end of his statement, rage filling him after three years of mistreatment from Slytherin. He had risen to his feet, looking down at all of the fourth years. “I don’t think I can handle this tonight, is it not enough for you that I can’t even be with my friends now, you have to blatantly lie too?” Huffing, he made his way towards the stairs. He stopped at the base before he turn and spoke over his shoulder, “I don’t appreciate being lied to. If we’re going to have a civil conversation, we can have it later, I just can’t deal with you all right now.”
With that, Harry turned his head back and made his way up the stairs into his new dorm. Dread filled him as he glanced around at the silver and green filling the space, before he located his new bed and walked quickly over to it. He got everything he needed to get ready for bed, then proceeded to the bathroom to get ready, quickly bathing and then going to bed.
Due to Harry’s abrupt departure, however, he missed the conversation the continued in the commons without him.
“Does anyone know Harry’s schedule?” The question raised by Blaise brought a round of panic, everyone realizing that they, in fact, did not know Harry’s schedule. “He’s going to be in all of the core classes with us, so we can all go with him then, we’ll just need a couple of people to follow him and pick him up from his electives for now until we can grow closer to him.” Blaise sighed.
“He doesn’t understand yet, but he will soon. I don’t think he realizes the level of hate people have for us,” Pansy stated, “we can stay with him for now, from a distance. He may get hurt, but let’s do our best to protect him from the worst of it until he gets back on his feet.”
“Agreed, for now we can set up a schedule, keep him safe as best we can, and as soon as he’s willing to talk to us all again, we’ll set up a permanent schedule.” Draco looked around at the others, everyone agreeing with this. “Well then, let’s get started.”