Chapter 5
Hogwarts was... okay, Hades decided. The teachers were okay, and his head of house was pretty chill. Though, that may just be because of their half-goblin nature. Ravenclaw was an interesting house, but his housemates constantly asked him questions, all the time. Thank the heavens for the Room of Requirement! His mornings were filled with the others getting up just as early, and being able to grab a nice book to read before heading to breakfast, which was kinda nice. But at the same time, the redhead, Ronald Weasley, practically stalked him, which wasn’t nice. On top of that, he the dark arts teacher was downright pathetic most of the time. The only interesting thing to happen so far was getting called to the Headmaster’s office on his first night.
Flashback
Hades inwardly groaned as he was led up the stairs to wear Dumbledore was apparently waiting for him. He was hoping the conniving old man would wait to at least let him settle in before he tried to fish for information. But nope, he was being forced to go up, and, judging by his head of house’s expression, he was rather cross about it as well. Withholding a sigh, Hades entered the rather cluttered office. There was a bright red firebird in the corner, who trilled a greeting, and that was probably the cleanest place, save for the floor. Every space on the shelf was filled with knickknacks and books, with nary a space for a paper to fit through. “Ah! There you are, Harry, my boy!” Dumbledork’s eyes twinkled in what most would see merrily. Hades could pick out the annoyance and frustration behind the grandfatherly facade, a perk from living with killers. He pushed away his disgust and anger however, putting on a blank expression. The headmaster coughed into his hand. “I was hoping you could help me with something. You see, when you went missing all those years ago, I was incredibly worried. I knew your parents, you see, and I was hoping you could tell me where you’ve been staying all this time?”
Hades frowned. Despite being informed of his name change, most still insisted on calling him Harry Potter, even when he flat out told them to call him Hades as it was his name. “I’m confused as to why my home life pertains you sir?” Dumbledore obviously wasn’t expecting that as an answer, as his eyes stopped twinkling. “Well, I’m you’re magical guardian and-” Hades snorted. “No, you’re not. I know Gringotts sent you a notice, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt for now,” he inwardly smirked at the old fool’s annoyed expression. Professor Flitwick covered his mirth at the answer. It seemed his newest eagle had a bit of snake in him! Dumbledore frowned at what he saw as blatant disrespect, completely disregarding the fact he had stolen, lied, and attempted to bribe the blackette. “My boy, I’m simply worried about you-” Hades shook his head. “With all due respect Headmaster, according to the school rules, the Headmaster or Headmistress only needs to know this information pertaining to those without a magical guardian, as they act as said magical guardian while the student is at the school. However, I have a magical guardian that is not you, so there is no reason for me to tell you anything about my current place of residence.” With that, Hades turned around and left, Professor Flitwick following not a moment later.
Flashback End
Besides that, nothing particularly interesting was happening. Even the so-called brutal death area was boring. Really, Hades sure there were animal cruelty laws against keeping such a large dog in such a small room. The poor puppy! Upon telling his friends just what was behind the door, they had paled tremendously. Hades didn’t get what the problem was. It was just a cerberus! Of course, his friends had just laughed, remembering he had grown up with a demon, so of course he wouldn’t get why a cerberus-class hellhound was considered so dangerous. Though, that did beg the question of why such a dangerous (at least to anyone not Harry) beast was inside the school, with curious children everywhere.
Draco had instantly owled his father, informing him of the dog. Upon seeing Hades sad expression, he had to explain that “While it isn’t dangerous to you, what about the other first-years? Besides, wouldn’t it be better for the dog to be able to run around and maybe join a pack of its own kind?” This of course, caused Hades to (albeit reluctantly) agree that the dog, nicknamed Cerb by the twins (whom he had met in the library) and him, would be better off removed from the school’s premise.
Hades withheld a groan as the history teacher, Binns, continued to drone on and on. Who cared about the Goblin Wars? The wizards were in the wrong, and lost, so what was the point of only focusing on them and nothing more recent like, say the war that only ended a few years ago? He caught the eye of Neville, a first-year Hufflepuff, who was sitting next to him. Well, better to make friends within all the houses, yes? “Do you think Binns would notice if I left?” Hades whispered conspiracingly at the brunette. Neville seemed to start for a moment, looking around as though he was wondering if Hades was actually speaking to him. “U-um, what?” Hades repeated his question, causing Neville to blink. “I… r-really have n-no idea…” The red-ish-haired brunette grinned mischievously. “Care to find out with me? We can probably find out better information in the library,” Hades hid his nervousness. Really, he needed to get the poor boy out of his shell some time or another.
“U-um…” Neville seemed to be unsure, but Hades wasn’t going to force him to do anything; that would cause the badger* to retreat further into the pit others had dug and pushed him into. “It’s fine if you don’t want to,” Hades whispered, checking to make sure Binns hadn’t noticed. As usual, the ghost was still teaching in utter monotone. Neville shook his head, giving a shy smile. ‘Yes!’ Hades inwardly cheered. ‘Progress!’ “Well, after this we have a free period, would you like to see if there’s more information in the library?” Neville, once again, looked rather surprised, but he soon smiled and nodded. After all, there had to be something more interesting to learn about there!
In fact, Hogwarts’ library was massive, and the librarian actually liked Hades and Neville, as they never caused any trouble and were generally pretty quiet. Which caused one Ron Weasley’s attempt at a rather nasty prank backfire. (And he got in even more trouble when he tried to blame it on them) Afterwards they had potions, which they passed thanks to Hades making the potion, with Neville preparing ingredients. They had learned quickly that he’d accidentally mix ingredients in wrong no matter how closely one was watching, so Neville was forbidden from actually putting said ingredients into the cauldron. Professor Snape almost seemed relieved when nothing was blown up.
When the class ended, Snape asked Hades to stay behind. “A-are you sure you’ll b-be alright?” How cute, Neville was worried about him! “Yeah, I’ll be fine! Professor Snape was the one who showed my brother and I the wizarding world. He probably just wants to make sure I’m settling in alright.” Hades made a show of whispering, causing Neville to snort in amusement. ‘Yeah! Progress!’ He inwardly cheered. “I’ll w-wait for you on the s-steps then H-Hades!” Neville waved. “Alright! See you there!” He called back, smiling. Yeah, the old goat was annoying, but Hogwarts really was turning out to be fun!