New company
Malfoy was the first of the lot to stir in his bed. Soon after, he got up and noticed Harry watching him. The boy was expecting a snarky comment, but Malfoy seemed to be too sleepy to think properly. He slowly dragged his feet to their shared bathroom. There was a big contrast between this Malfoy and the one always proper and haughty. The boy locked the door and Harry had a feeling that it would be long before it opened again.
The next one to wake up was Zabini, he seemed to want to stay in bed for a while longer, turning to one side and another until he jumped up out of bed suddenly. He ran to the bathroom door and knocked on it several times before giving up. The wizard then made his way to the second bathroom.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to go into that one.” Commented Harry.
“Yeah, well I’m not waiting for him to finish, he takes an hour just to shower and comb his hair. I wanted to wake up earlier to shower before, but as always, he beats me into it. Anyway, the others don’t mind. They are usually the lasts to wake up, long after I’m done, and they understand the struggle. You look pretty handsome in green by the way.” Shrugged Zabini.
Soon, all the boys had woken up. None of them seemed conscious enough to talk, well except maybe Zabini, which was pretty funny, since Harry was energized most mornings from always waking up early to do Petunia’s chores.
“Come on Potter, we are all ready. And a little tip; don’t try to talk to any of them for the next 30 minutes or you’ll end up dead.”
They made their way downstairs and joined the girls. They seemed more coherent than the boys and were entertaining the 1st years while waiting for the rest of them.
“Finally, we were waiting for hours!” exclaimed a little kid.
They slowly walked behind the kids and instructed them when they seemed lost in their way to the Great Hall and once they reached the entrance, Harry chose to hide between his classmates. He did not want to endure the stares so soon in the morning. He also made a point to never look towards the other tables, and especially not the Gryffindor’s.
“So much for a Gryffindor, you are just delaying the inevitable you know.” Remarked Malfoy.
“Shut up!” retorqued Harry.
They made their way down the table and Harry sat down next to Zabini and Nott again. Unfortunately, Malfoy was the one just across from him, just like yesterday.
“What electives are you taking? Mine are Arithmancy and Runes.” Started Zabini.
“Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. I’ve regretted my choices after the first week. Each class with Hagrid is a class where I’m sure to not come back alive and Divination is a joke. So far, I’ve completely made up every ‘prediction’ about tragedies that are supposed to happen to me and still managed to get an E in every lesson.”
“That’s what you get when you choose the easiest ones Potter, it’s on you.”
“Actually, the easiest one would have been Muggle Studies since I already know everything, but I actually wished to change my electives, but McGonagall advised me not too since I would be too far behind.”
Harry suddenly stopped talking, when he saw that Snape was heading towards them. Harry was worried about his motivations but was relieved when he understood that Snape was only handling them their schedules.
“Potter, why are you in my house? You are the most Gryffindor person here in perhaps the entire school.” He asked the boy when he reached Harry.
“Perhaps you do not know me well enough.”
“Don’t be so sarcastic Potter, I want to understand why you are here.”
“The hat wanted to sort me here back in first year. I succeeded to make it change its mind, but this time I was not that lucky.” Harry half lied.
Snape didn’t seem particularly satisfied with this answer, regardless he continued his task and stopped bothering Harry.
The boy looked over his schedule. He groaned; his first subject was double Potion with the Gryffindors. Harry had wished to talk to his friends before having a class together to see where they were at, however fate seemed against him. In the afternoon, he had charms followed by history, both with only the Slytherin. The following day, he started with Herbology with the Ravenclaws. The afternoon was constituted by double DADA before going on weekend since the year started on a Thursday. Harry had only two subjects with the Gryffindors, not that it was a surprise though.
“I think that Crabbe and Goyle chose Divination as well, so you’ll be with them as well as the Ravenclaws. As for Care of Magical Creatures, only Millicent, Tracey and I do not take it.” Zabini commented.
The gang finished breakfast and made their way to their first subject. The Gryffindors were already there and had chosen to occupy the entire back side. Harry made his way to his friends while his roommates took seat at the front. Harry quickly realized that Snape had rearranged the desks and that there was none left for him with his old roommates, so he turned back and to his despair, saw that the only seat available was next to Malfoy.
Snape started his lecture with the importance of the upcoming year with the Owls leading to the Newts. The professor was only accepting students who got an Outstanding for pursuing the Newts. In other words, none of the Gryffindors except maybe Hermione and all of the Slytherins except maybe Harry himself. The professor then went on about his lesson and once he was done, instructed the class to make the Draught of Peace.
Harry grabbed all the necessary ingredients and proceeded to make his potion. It was a great challenge, it had to be stirred an exact amount of time, sometimes clockwise and others counterclockwise. The temperature had to be adjusted countless times and the timing at to be perfect. Furthermore, the ingredients needed to be sliced, diced, crushed or in julienne strip.
To his surprised, Harry found out that he quite enjoyed working at the front; for once, no smoke or heads were blocking his view to the board where the instructions were written. Not the mention the fact that the Slytherins were quiet helped Harry concentrate.
Everything was going smoothly until his potion started to turn into a mud like texture instead of being liquid. Harry scrunched his eyes and saw that he had added way too much syrup of hellebore. Harry sighed; how could he be so good at following food recipes but could not make a simple potion to save his life!
“Use some syrup of arnica, it will cancel out the hellebore one.” Whispered Malfoy.
Harry considered it. He didn’t know if he could trust Malfoy or not. In the past, he would have done everything he could to make Harry fail. Now that they were in the same house, Harry deduced that if he failed, he would most likely lose point to Slytherin. Malfoy would not like that at all, hence Harry chose to follow the boy’s advice and grabbed the syrup.
It did, in fact help his potion. It was still not perfect but was decent enough. Harry could not believe it! Malfoy, out of all people had helped him.
Happy with himself, Harry poured the potion in a flacon and labelled it before bringing it at the front desk where his professor inspected them. The man took Harry’s potion, examined it a moment before saying;
“It must be the first time you managed not to make a disaster Potter. You are still atrocious at potions obviously.” He then executed a smirk. “5 points to Slytherin for improving your skills at potion.”
At that last comment, Ron sprang up and before Harry could open his mouth, Ron started yelling. “That’s not fair! You never gave him or any of us points before! Hermione always makes perfect potions and you never did anything! It’s not like he accomplished an exploit, Harry did not even make the potion properly.”
“Enough mister Weasley.” Retorqued Snape. “Detention for interrupting the class and questioning my authority.”
Ron huffed and fell back on his chair. He was definitely not happy. Harry understood his malcontent, Snape was hardly fair with them.
“Don’t forget, I want an essay, two feet long, about the properties of the syrup of hellebore for next class.”
After class, Harry quickly grabbed his stuff and made his way to his friends.
“Hey guys, could we talk later?”
“Sure Harry, what about after dinner in the library? We don’t have time for now, Prefect duties.” replied Hermione.
The boy nodded and made his way to the exit. To his surprised, Harry saw that the Slytherin were waiting for him.
“Don’t look so surprised Potter, we are all going to the Great Hall anyway, so it makes sense that we head out together.” Commented Malfoy.
“I haven’t told you yet but thanks for the potion Malfoy, you saved it.”
“I didn’t want to end up dead, it would have been a stupid death, being blown up by Potter’s lack at potions.”
Harry rolled his eyes and then proceeded to follow the gang to the Great Hall. The raven did his best to ignore the stares he still received on the way. Harry was seated, once again next to Nott and Zabini and across Malfoy. Just then did he notice that the students were all seated fairly at the same place as the previous day.
“Is it me or you all have the same place as yesterday?” he asked.
This time, Nott answered him. “Yes, on the feast, wherever you’re sat is usually the place you will own for the year. That’s why we are generally the first ones to embark on the carriages after leaving the train, we want to have first choice.”
“Gryffindor should do it as well; it would save so much trouble.”
“And that, my dear was another reason to make our house the best of all times.” Smirked Zabini.
The comment made Harry laugh and then, he proceeded to talk with his peers. Soon, Malfoy joined the conversation and Harry found out that he didn’t mind it. The blonde had good points and was nice to talk to when he was not being a brat. Feeling left out, Parkinson tried to participate as well but wasn’t quite comfortable. She was slowly adjusting to Harry’s company and the boy knew that she would drop all her facades with him by the end of the week.
After lunch, Harry headed for charms. Professor Flitwick started the class with a fairly similar speech than Snape’s and gave them their first assignment. It was an easy one, they only had to review the charms learned in 4th year. The teacher even made them pair up. Zabini, Harry’s partner was really good. Just then, did his new roommate noticed his wand change.
“Am I crazy or is your wand different from last year?”
“You’re not, I had to buy a new one, since mine was broken at some point during summer.”
“Wands are not supposed to break that easily Potter.” Commented Malfoy.
“Why are you listening to us?”
“You are loud Potter, even if I didn’t want to, I still can’t help but hear.”
“Well, mine did and I prefer the new one far more.”
“New house, new wand, maybe fate wants you to change Potter. It must not like the person you currently are.” Parkinson told to Harry’s despair. He hadn’t thought he had been that loud.
As for history, the class was boring as usual, and Harry found out that the Gryffindors were not the only ones to not listen to the ghost as they should. However, instead of sleeping, his classmates were reading or drawing. Harry was sure that they would bring homework or study in this class later in the year. It was genius, Harry promised himself to do so from this point forward.
-------
Harry joined Hermione and Ron in the library. His friends had chosen a spot at the back of the room, hidden behind bookshelves, the perfect spot.
As soon has Hermione spotted his friend, she got up and hugged him strongly.
“Harry, you have no idea how much I’ve missed you. The tower is not the same without you in it. The atmosphere there is just atrocious, Seamus was ranting non-stop about how you were just a dirty little liar. I tried to defend you, but it seemed that the majority didn’t appreciate your house change. They take it as a treason.” Sobbed Hermione,
Harry felt his stomach twist. Seamus was his friend! How could he believe such things?
“I’m sad to admit it, but I had guessed that the others were not going to take to news too well. They seem to take every opportunity to hate me ever since first year.” He replied while taking a seat next to Hermione.
“Please, don’t say that Harry. How are you holding up in Slytherin? I’m relieved that they did not killed you in your sleep.” Continued Hermione.
“Malfoy was being a brat, as usual when Zabini and Nott put him back in his place! Can you believe it? They defended me. These two are really nice, furthermore they never did anything to us before. I believe we could become great friends with no problem. Then, professor Snape told everyone to treat me with respect and since then, Malfoy and Parkinson started to actually be civil with me.”
“That’s great Harry, I’m happy you made some friends back there.”
“I hope you won’t be friend with Malfoy and Parkinson though. They are the worst! I saw you talking to them earlier, did you forget what they did to us?” continued Ron.
“I remember, thank you very much. We are not friends, only being polite since we are in the same house and have friends in common. I do not intend to forgive them that easily, don’t worry.”
“I just don’t understand; why are you in Slytherin? If someone would have asked me the one house that I did not see you into, it would have been this one.” Exploded Ron. “I’m your best friend, I’m supposed to know you by heart, but here I am, not sure of anything right now.”
“I am the same person as before, and you do know me Ron. Furthermore, the hat did want to put me in Slytherin before.”
“You never told me that. Do you have other secrets I’m not aware of? I’m starting to believe Seamus… Look, I’m sorry Harry, I don’t know what I’m saying right now. I just need a little moment to think. It is a lot to take in, the snake’s house is the worst, and people in there are evils.”
“You don’t believe I’m evil Ron, do you?”
Ron unsurely shook his head, got up and exited the library under the gazes of his friends.
“Don’t mind him Harry.” Hermione said. “Ron is only being a brat. He just needs time, in a few days, he will apologize, and everything will be back to normal, just like last year.”
“I guess so. It does hurt though.”
“Let’s talk about something else. Did you have DADA yet?
Harry shook his head.
“Well, I did, and it was atrocious. Professor Umbridge is not going to make us do practical magic! Can you believe it? She says that reading about it will be enough for us to easily pass the year.”
“What? That’s crazy!”
“I know, we tried to talk her out of this atrocious idea, but it did not work. I’m pleading you, keep it low with her.”
“We’ll see about it; I can’t promise anything. God, I already hate that woman.”
“I’m just sad that they did not allow you to change electives. We could have had more than only two classes together. As much as I hated the flying class in first year, I now hoped we still had it. It would have given us more time to hang out.”
“The professors were right though; it would have been too much work to catch up and flying was only keeping us from some extra time. But we can still hang up Mione.”
“Yes, but it is going to be difficult. I heard that we will have to do tons of essays every week, and my Prefect duty takes a lot of time. There is also the fact that we have different friend groups now, we will have plans with them too.”
“I’m not friends with the Slytherins Hermione.”
“Yet, you seem to enjoy their company, I saw you while you were avoiding looking in my direction. By the way, I don’t think we will be able to hang out this weekend, I already have tons of homework and it’s only the first day! I’ve only had three subjects so far. I also promised the girls to spend the day with them.”
The two friends then went from one topic to another. It was great to speak with her after all this time. It was also reassuring to know that he still had a least one friend back in Gryffindor.
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“Where were you?” asked Greengrass as soon as Harry entered the common room later in the evening.
“I was only at the library with Hermione.”
“How did it go? Should we hold you while you cry your eyes out or celebrate with you?” asked Zabini.
“It was amazing, I had a great time.”
“You should tell us next time you leave, we thought you were attacked when you did not return here. And do not give me that look Potter, you and I both know that it could’ve happen. You read the articles this summer, you know that most people are not happy with you right now.”
“I’m sure that Malfoy would have been happy if it had happened.”
“You are not as bad as I originally thought you were, I wouldn’t want you dead before knowing for sure if you are a decent person or not.”
Harry gave Malfoy a little smile, the boy was not horrible either when he was not being a brat. Just then, he was interrupted by Marcus Flint, the Quidditch captain.
“I thought about your suggestion Malfoy, and I think you had a great idea, it is a good strategy.” He started before turning to Harry. “Potter, we want you as seeker, the tryouts are next Thursday.”
“But Malfoy is already seeker I don’t want to steal his place.”
“I’ve been told that I could make a good chaser if I tried. After some consideration, I decided that it was worth a shot. Besides, you are way better than me.”
Harry could not believe his eyes; Malfoy just gave him a compliment!
“I’ll think about it, I’m not sure if I want to compete against my old team.”
“Don’t take too long Potter. And remember, you being seeker would be the best strategy, you should know that.”
Harry got up and made his way to his dorm. He had given up on the opportunity to play again and was grieving about it the moment he had been sorted into Slytherin. But now, he was offered the opportunity to play again! It was true that it was a smart move, but Harry did not want to upset his old friends more than he already had.