Settling In
After the welcome home feast ended, the prefects escorted their houses to their dormitories. Slytherin House was in the dungeon. Ryujin found it distasteful but shrugged it off.
There was a door on the right side of the Entrance Hall (if coming down the Marble Staircase facing the front doors of the castle) that was most frequently used by Slytherin students to get to their common room. Behind the door were stone steps that descended deep into the dungeons.
Note that this door was different from the entrance to the narrow staircase that led down to Snape's office.
The entrance to the common room was located behind a bare stretch of stone wall in the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle.
The common room was a dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs. This dungeon extended partway under the lake, giving the light in the room a green tinge. The common room had many low-backed black and dark green button-tufted leather sofas, skulls, and dark wood cupboards. One of the wooden tables had a Wizard's Chess set on it. It was decorated with tapestries featuring the adventures of famous Medieval Slytherins. It has quite an elegant atmosphere, but also quite a cold one.
“The password to the common room changed every fortnight, and it was posted on the noticeboard. Slytherin students were warned never to bring students from other houses into the common room or to reveal the password. Supposedly, no outsider had entered the common room for more than seven centuries,” The Prefects explained.
“Boys' Dormitory was a room off of the Slytherin Common Room, while the girls are off to the left of the Common Room. Your things have already been placed in your rooms. It will be four to a room. Our Head of House would like to welcome you to Slytherin.”
Professor Snape swept into the Common Room and looked at his first-year students. His eyes landed on Ryujin. After Ryujin's performance in the Great Hall and the revelation that he was not James Potter's son and that the boy, a prince at that, was put in his Slytherin House, Severus rethought his position on the boy. The young man wasn't at all what he expected. Ryujin was arrogant, but he had the power to back it up, and Severus found it amusing that Professor Dumbledore tried to control Ryujin, but the boy didn't fall for it. His eyes passed over Ryujin, and looked at Hermione Granger, a muggleborn. She stood close to Ryujin, and Snape knew the girl was under his protection. Severus did not doubt that Ryujin would be the new Prince of Slytherin.
Severus looked at the rest of the first-years and began his speech, “Good evening, I am Potions Master Severus Snape, your new Head of House. For those that don’t know me yet, you will soon find that I expect precision and hard work in my classes. The same can be said for my expectations of this house. I will not run this house as Professor Slughorn ran this house nor as Professor Dawlish ran this house. From now on, this is my house.
“The first rule of Slytherin House under me is that your actions represent me and the rest of this house. If you are found dishonoring this house, your punishment here will be tenfold what your punishment is out there. The second rule is that we are all Slytherins. There are no purebloods or half-bloods or muggle-borns in this house once the sorting hat calls out Slytherin! You become a child of this house. The rest of the school reviles us for our ambitions and the missteps of Slytherins in the past, so we must band together. Never forget that this is the house of Merlin. There is no shame in being a Slytherin. But while the rest of the world scorns us for the actions of Voldemort, we must stand united. Therefore, I expect disagreements in the house to end outside these rooms. Your fights may reign here, but in public, we have each other’s backs. There were too many attacks against us last year, so the Headmaster has told the professors to crack down on fighting in the halls. Things should get better, but do not expect that to happen overnight. Also, though the teachers have been ordered to stop bullying, know that most fights will still be blamed on us no matter who starts it. From now on I want all of you to travel in groups. If I catch you out on your own, it will be detention with me.”
Ryujin bristled at that; he had no intention of traveling in a pack with other pathetic humans. If anything, he would associate only with Hermione.
Professor Snape continued, “The next rule is that you must maintain an E standard in all your core classes. If you do not, house privileges will be revoked. I will be marking assignments here on Sunday and Wednesday nights. You may ask me questions on any assignment, no matter the class, on those evenings. Each year will divide up into no more than four study groups. Each study group will select mentors from the year above and the next year up, and your groups and mentors will all be responsible for ensuring every student passes their classes. Your selected groups, along with your mentors, are due to me by the end of the week. Mentors will get extra house privileges as long as their mentees are passing.”
Severus scowled at them. “We will meet here at a house on the first of every month. Between now and October's meeting, I expect all first-years to meet with me individually to discuss house expectations. I will meet with the seventh and fifth years over the next two months to discuss NEWT and OWL studies, but if anyone wants to meet individually, they can see the house notice board for my availability and sign up for a time slot.”
“That is all for now, goodnight.” Severus strode from the room with a broad sweep of his robes.
Once Professor Snape left, the prefects informed the first years that they each had a room to themselves and were allowed to decorate it as they saw fit, “As long as it is tasteful,” They added.
Each Prefect led their charges to their rooms. Draco immediately chose the first room in the hall, the Grabbe, followed by Goyle. Theodore Nott picked the next room and Blaise the second to the last. Ryujin purposefully took the previous room for strategic reasons. This way, only an enemy could come at him from the front; his back was protected.
Ryujin walked into his dorm room and looked around. The four posters were covered in green silk hangings. During the night, it was possible to listen to the lake water lapping against the windows. Also, silver lanterns hung from the ceilings. The walls were decorated with Slytherin crests. Medieval tapestries depicting the adventures of famous Slytherins covered the walls.
The four-poster bed was covered in green eiderdowns with green curtains, a wooden nightstand, and their school trunk at the foot of the bed. A wooden board was situated on either side of the bed. A wooden chair and dresser were located near the nightstand and the window. A book and a piece of parchment were found on the nightstand.
A wooden bookcase was located on the other side of the bed with books on top of it. The walls and floors were made of stone. The dorm had a green carpet with the house crest in the center and two spherical lamps on either side. Small alcoves were located on either side of the bed.
The four-poster bed was covered in the house colors with the house crest on them. The four-poster bed had two shelves at the back of the bed, an owl perch on one side, a small carpet next to the bed, and a wooden nightstand at the end of the bed on one side. There was a wooden table in the center of the dormitory with a stack of books with an hourglass on top of them, an open book with a Self-Writing Quill, parchments, and a plant in a flower pot on it. The dorm had a centrally located stove in the center of the dormitory next to the table.
Ryujin scoffed at the antiquated look of the room. He shook his head; perhaps it had been a mistake to attend such an outdated school. Until then, Ryujin and Trunks had the best education that Bulma could give her son and nephew. This was a huge step back. Shit, these people still relied on candles and lanterns. But he wanted to be close to his mother and learn more about her time in this ridiculous school.
Ryujin sighed and took the capsules that contained his belongings, and threw them on the floor. There was a loud bang, and the capsules opened. Ryujin began unpacking his clothes and putting them away. He placed all his books on the shelves, his magical and mundane books. Ryu had no intention of falling behind in his regular studies.
Bulma had packed tutoring holograms to help Ryu with his mundane courses. Once he was finished unpacking, Ryujin took out his communicator from his pocket and called home. Bulma answered and sighed when she saw her nephew.
“Ryu, we worried about you; how did everything go?”
Ryu gave his aunt a genuine smile, “Everything went well, Aunt Bulma, the train ride was slow, but it did give me a chance to read and listen to the children in other cars.”
Vegeta pushed Bulma out of the way, “Assessing any threat,” Vegeta stated.
Ryujin smirked, “Of course, Dad, and no one here can match my power level. Some teachers are stronger than normal humans, but they are still weaklings.”
Bulma pushed Vegeta, “Vegeta, move; I want to talk to my nephew.”
“He is my son!” Vegeta yelled.
“Stop being an ass, Vegeta, and wait your turn!” Bulma yelled back.
Ryujin laughed. It was typical for his aunt and father to get into screaming matches. He and the others would only watch and grin. Bulma finally wrestled the communicator from Vegeta and smiled at Ryu, “Did you make any friends, sweetheart?”
“Acquaintances, perhaps one friend. Her name is Hermione Granger. She is what they call a Muggleborn. A witch from non-magical parents.”
Bulma smirked, “So you met a girl, huh?”
Ryu rolled his eyes at his aunt, “Aunt Bulma, she came and sat in my car, and we began talking. The girl is pleasant enough for a human. That is all.”
Bulma narrowed her eyes, “Sure it was. Are you positive there was nothing else?”
Ryu blushed, “Alright. I defended her against a bigoted little boy and his goons. I could not allow them to make fun of the girl; she would cry.”
Bulma laughed, “That's what I thought. You're such a good boy,” Bulma cooed.
Ryu blushed, “Don't spread it around, Aunt Bulma. I have a reputation to protect.”
Bulma laughed and handed the communicator to Vegeta, “How are you settling, my son?” Vegeta asked.
“Fine, Dad. I was put in Slytherin House, known for cunning and ambition.”
Vegeta smirked, “That's perfect for you.”
Ryujin explained how the sorting ceremony was conducted, and he threatened the hat not to put him in Gryffindor, as the Headmaster wanted him to. He told his father everything, causing Vegeta to laugh, “I'm sure it was a great surprise to them how strong you are and that you will not be manipulated.”
Ryu smirked at his father, making him look more like Vegeta's mirror image, “Tomorrow, I will explore where I can set up the gravity chamber room and begin my training. It's Saturday, so that will give me enough time.”
Vegeta nodded. It was good that his son would continue to work on his Saiyan powers. Ryujin yawned and bid his family goodnight. They did the same, and Ryu settled down to sleep.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore was in his office, drinking tea, trying to calm his nerves. Minerva told him that Harry was not the way he expected, but he didn't believe her. But now that he saw the boy, Dumbledore realized there was no way he could control Harry, ‘Ryujin,’ Dumbledore corrected himself.
It troubled him that Ryujin was more than willing to kill someone without a second thought and that the boy ended up in Slytherin House when he told the hat to place him in Gryffindor. Albus had hoped that the child would become friends with Ronald Weasley, but from the look on Ryujin's face, he could tell that the Weasley boy got on Ryujin's nerves.
He was also surprised that Harry had denied James as his father. That was something that the Headmaster was not expecting.“There must be some way to control him and get him to sacrifice himself for the greater good.” Albus mumbled to himself.
“Perhaps it was time for Sirius to leave Hogwarts. Maybe Harry would remember him, and Sirius could treat him as a son.”
Albus made plans for Sirius to have a trial, then he would invite the man to teach at Hogwarts. There was no harm in trying.