Silent Suffering

Spells

'Thoughts'

::Parseltongue::

::Parseltongue Spell::

Harry felt as the surface glamour faded away to show the bruising on his face and his broken nose, and then as the deeply ingrained 'Harry Potter' glamour faded from him. For the first time in a week, he felt comfortable in his own skin, excluding the dulled pain from his injuries.

He pulled his waist long hair over his right shoulder to play with it and sat down, staring down at the ground. He was afraid of the reactions the others would have towards his obviously more feminine looks, even though they could not see his identifiable pointed-ears. He couldn't deal with anyone else calling him a freak at the moment.

When the silence became too much, Harry looked up to see all three Slytherins staring at him with gobsmacked expressions. It appeared as if they had all lost control of their carefully constructed masks in preference to gawk at Harry's new appearances. He then peered out the window and decided to wait until they regained their composure.

Finally, Zabini was the first one to speak, "Bloody fucking hell, Potter! When did you get so hot?"

"Not only that, but what in Salazar's name happened to you? You look like you fought a bloody troll!" Nott exclaimed loudly, causing Harry to flinch slightly from his spot against the window.

Malfoy was the only one not to speak. He kept a blank face but you could see the cautious curiosity in his eyes. He knew that, if done right, he could figure out some important information for the Dark Lord. Plus, Potter did not actually seem that bad when not near the other Gryffindors.

Harry really didn't know how to respond to the questions asked. "I uh-  over the summer I went to Gringott's and received my... inheritance," he mumbled out at them bitterly. He didn't really know if this was information he should tell them, but figured that as long as they knew, he may be able to receive help if needed as they didn't seem that bad.

Malfoy leaned forward when he realized that Harry had avoided answering how he had gotten injured. "Potter," he sneered, "it would be in your best interest to tell us just how you got injured. Perhaps we may be able to help you. And you may also want to tell us just how injured you are as I am assuming your face isn't the only part of you that has been messed up."

Harry twirled his hair around in his fingers and stared blankly at the blond before speaking, knowing he needed to keep his calm, "Listen here Malfoy, I've been helping myself since I was a year old. And I've been in a worse condition than I am currently in. I may answer some of your questions, but don't expect me to answer all of them. And you'll have to answer some of my own."

Zabini looked surprised at Harry's words while Nott and Malfoy looked at him skeptically, as if wondering how those words had come out of his mouth. If anything, they expected him to answer outright or tell them to screw off. All of the Slytherins were curious as to what happened to the Gryffindor, but it was obvious that the boy was not going to speak about it.

Harry slowly reconstructed his base glamour to look like 'Harry Potter' once again, and then threw on the surface glamour to cover his injuries. He knew he would sleep like the dead tonight with all of the magic that had been constantly draining from his core.

Zabini decided to start off with the questions he was most curious about, "Why are you wearing a glamour to hide your new natural looks? Shouldn't you be flaunting your beauty and all that- like Draco here does? And how did your looks change so drastically?" The Italian boy chuckled as the blond's hand shot out to hit him in the back of the head.

Harry watched the countryside go by and just as he opened his mouth to explain, the compartment door slid open. Harry looked over to see Neville being dragged in by the one and only Luna Lovegood. He shot a look over to see how the Slytherins would react, but they just looked shocked that Neville and 'Loony' had willingly come in and sat in a compartment with them.

Luna started scolding Harry as soon as she closed the compartment door and added a silencing charm, "Harrison James Black-Selwyn the year has come where I have been finally allowed to let on that I know, and Oh Merlin am I mad! I have known this entire time, big brother! I know you didn't want to tell anyone but you know that you could trust me! I have had to help you from the shadows since my second year! Well, no more! I'm just always so scared and sad for you big brother!"

Luna started crying and threw herself at Harry, careful to just grab the front of his robes and huddle into his chest. Harry wrapped his arms around the blond girl that he always considered as a little sister.

"I'm so sorry, little sis," he said softly into her hair, "I never knew that you were aware. I just couldn't tell you, I was trying to avoid making you worry and scared. I'm supposed to be the one who is taking care of you. I wish you had told me that you knew earlier, but I know that there is stuff you can't tell me. I'll never leave you, love. It's okay." Slowly, Luna stopped crying and walked back over to Neville who was standing next to the door awkwardly and looking concerned for Harry. Luna spoke as if nothing just happened.

"Well Harry, you're looking a little worse for wear. The nargles have decided that you'll be gifted with much knowledge this year. We'll meet a little later in the week though so don't let them cloud your mind. I do believe Neville and I shall join you, do go on to explain the hidden things you recovered. Oh! I almost forgot, here," she said to Harry with a blinding smile and gave him a small vial that contained a lilac colored potion. He didn't recognize it and looked at her confused.

Luna let out a girlish giggle and easily answered his question, "the other potions you took will be wearing off soon. This one is made specially for you and will last longer." Harry didn't bother asking how she knew any of it and drank the potion that, surprisingly, did not taste bad.

"Whatever you say, Luna. You know that I'll always trust you. Thank you for the potion, dear," Harry said and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Oh dear, I almost forgot that too!" Luna exclaimed and took out her wand. The Slytherins watched extremely confused and wary as a girl they all considered to be completely insane took out her wand and pointed it straight at the Golden Boy's glamoured face.

Harry was wary but let Luna do what she wanted.

"Episkey! " she said enthusiastically. Harry winced as he felt his nose re-brake and fix itself. He ruffled her hair in thanks and sat down.

Luna sat Neville down on the other end of the seat, and then proceeded to lay her head on Harry's lap and feet in Neville's. Harry played with Luna's hair and greeted Neville, "Hey Nev, don't mind the Slytherins. They haven't been too bad. Feel free to be yourself in here. No one to judge you and if they do, then feel free to hex them." Harry shot a smirk over to the three shocked wizards. None of them could comprehend what was going on.

Neville automatically relaxed and appeared more confident as Harry said he could be himself. "Thanks, Har, it's been a while. You do realize you chose a compartment in the Slytherin section, right? I don't think anyone except Luna could have found you."

Harry shook his head and let out a small laugh, "Just my luck. No, I was a little out of it and in a bit of a hurry."

Before Neville could respond, Draco Malfoy completely forwent the 'Malfoy Mask' and freaked out. "OKAY, what the bloody fucking hell is going on here? I am so confused I don't even know where to START! What in Merlin's name is going on with you, Potter?! First, you're not even a Potter? And you're a Selwyn? They were all killed in the first war fighting for the Dark Lord!  And why the hell do you look like... you know and like you went 5 rounds with a fucking hippogriff? And what do you mean inheritance? Shouldn't you have gotten that when you were 17? And how the hell could you sense our magic? Also, what in Merlin's name is bloody Neville Longbottom- the Witless wonder- and Loony Lovegood doing here? And how the fuck does Loony know all of this stuff that you obviously haven't told her? And bloody hell, why is Longbottom acting like he is actually competent?"

Every single person in the compartment just stared in shock at Malfoy. The boy had just completely lost it. Zabini and Nott soon started laughing until they were crying and couldn't breathe while Neville looked at the three like they should take a visit to St Mungo's. Luna was enjoying Harry's hands playing with her hair and humming a random tune. Harry was trying not to shake from the quite sudden violent outburst from the blond.

Once everyone started to calm down, Harry spoke harshly, "Okay there is no way I'm going to remember every single thing you just said Malfoy so let's just go one by one and ask questions on the way. Remember that I do not have to answer all of your questions, in fact, I don't have to answer any. But I will, only because I can tell Luna knows something I don't and I always trust her."

Harry looked down and watched Luna who had her eyes closed humming and just continued to brush his fingers through her hair and play with it. "Okay, so Neville hides who he is. People tend to underestimate him if they think he sucks at everything. He is actually extremely powerful and quite adequate at potions. I don't think you can call anyone who is able to produce a fully corporeal Patronus weak. Luna isn't crazy and I would appreciate if you refrained from referring to her as if she was. Her story is hers to tell and you do not know her well enough to know it yet. I went to Gringott's two weeks before summer ended and they found that I had an extreme number of blocks on me as well as hidden inheritances, along with the fact that my birth parents were actually James Potter and Lily Evans nee Selwyn. I am the Black heir so in honor of my mother, my father and my honorary adoptive fathers, I took Black and Selwyn as my main last names."

"Okay, what blocks or any other kinds of magic did you have on you?" Zabini asked curiously.

Harry's face turned dark as he listed them out, "My creature inheritances, Parseltongue, Parselmagic, Powerful magic abilities, Magic Sensitivity, Mate, and Familiars all had blocks. Those aren't all, but it is all you need to know at the current time. I had Confundus charms, memory charms, Compulsion Charms, Loyalty spells, and Potions affecting my physical and mental state negatively. Lastly, I had 75% of my magical core bound."

The three Slytherins looked as if they might be sick thinking about all the foreign magic that was negatively affecting and invading his body. Neville looked ready to kill whoever did it, though. He continued to play with the golden locks of hair overflowing his lap while he waited for them to get their next question ready.

"Do you know who the people are that used all that magic against you? And did you get cleansed?" Malfoy said once he looked like he wasn't at risk of being sick.

Harry's facial features twisted with anger, but quickly smoothed out to a neutral look, "Neville, Luna, you can't repeat any of this okay? They are under oath so they can't say anything of what they learn about me unless I give them permission. I did get cleansed, I became emancipated, I accepted all of my lordships, and I found out who was behind all of this. I didn't find out everything because we left early. I was supposed to go back but... something came up. Anyways, it was a single person who put all of those blocks and spells and potions in me.  I won't tell you who, though. Not quite so soon."

Malfoy looked irritated that he couldn't find out who had committed such an atrocity, but they all figured the information would come out sooner or later.

Nott was the next one to ask a question, "So what creature inheritance did you receive? And what does being Magic Sensitive entail? I haven't read much about it."

"I wasn't going to tell you guys what creatures I am, but why not. This appears as if we could all get along rather well. I am a Dark Fae and Kitsune, though the Kitsune portion only comes out when I am in an animagus form. And I haven't really been able to read too much about Magic Sensitivity either. I'm going to have to do some research while at school, but it must be how I can identify your magic levels and affinities," Harry said quietly. He was getting tired from all of these questions being thrown at him.

"Okay my turn for some questions," Harry said before they could throw another at him, "Ever since I was brought into the wizarding world, I've never been allowed to hear your opinions on the war and why you or your families did or still do support Voldemort. Don't get me wrong, from what I have been told, I think the guy is insane for wanting to kill all muggles and muggleborns and being so proud of Pureblood Supremacy. Especially when he is being quite hypocritical when sneering about halfbloods."

All of the boys in the compartment looked surprised at Harry. They never realized that Harry would have only been fed information from mostly Dumbledore and his sidekicks.

"Well for starters, most of what you have been told is a lie or half-truths," Nott started in a way that resembled a teacher preparing to give a speech, "When the war first began, the Dark Lord and his followers, along with most Purebloods, wanted to be separated from muggles and their society. They didn't want to kill all of the muggles or muggleborns, they just wanted to put an end to the corruption of our world. They come in with their traditions and their religion and destroy those of our own. That is why we celebrate Halloween instead of Samhain, Christmas instead of Yule, Easter instead of Ostara, Valentine's Day instead of Imbolc. Plus we don't even do celebrations in school for Mabon. Many have stopped celebrating Litha and Lughnasadh in the summer because of the influence of muggleborns. Near the end of the war, the Dark Lord did become a bit unstable and would kill anyone he wished. But originally, we all just wanted to keep our traditions and ourselves safe from Muggles. We also wanted to fix the immense corruption and the many atrocious laws in our government. We want rights for creatures like werewolves and vampires and any other creature that the ministry condemns. And since the Dark Lord came back, I believe you will find that there has been a drastic change and there are significantly less unreasonable killings. You must remember, though, this is a war, and people die in wars. What do you mean he is being hypocritical?"

Harry was shocked, to say the least. He thought that all they wanted to do was kill anyone who was not a Pureblood, but all they wanted to do was protect their way of life. And Voldemort had even gone about it alright at the beginning! Why had the wizarding world allowed itself to be overtaken by muggle customs?

"I am finding your side makes many good points," Harry said quietly, "though no offense it is still controlled by a madman who looks like some creepy ass demon snake. I really wish he had gotten his nose back when he was reborn. And I'll give you guys that information later on, maybe."

To everyone's surprise, Malfoy snorted before responding, "You know Potter, you're not that bad. And you are not wrong at all. He looks downright terrifying and pretty gross without the nose and the snake face going on. I think he likes it like that, though. It scares the lower Death Eaters into not misbehaving."

Harry laughed and extended his right hand to the blond and spoke, "Might as well call me Harry, Malfoy, Zabini, Nott. You all know more about me then most so you get that right. Plus I do believe we could have a rare friendship here, that is if you guys are interested in being friends with Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw."

Malfoy stared at his hand and nodded before shaking it, "Call me Draco, Harry. I do believe this could work in favor for all of us."

"Blaise," Zabini said as he shook Harry's hand, "and I do believe this will be quite a lovely friendship." He let go of Harry's hand with a wink, causing Harry to blush.

Nott spoke smoothly as he shook Harry's hand gently, "Call me Theo."

Neville soon went through the same thing with all of them and they moved on to lighter topics, talking about who the best quidditch teams were, what classes were the best and Hogwarts gossip like who could possibly be the next defense professor and if they would actually be any good. The trip went by quickly and Harry felt himself relax a little as he settled into the safe environment.

They soon had all changed into their Hogwarts robes and arrived at the school. The 6 teens got out off the train when Draco turned towards them.

"As much as I would probably prefer to ride with you guys up to the castle, we need to find Vince, Greg, and Pansy and head up with them. Gotta have Slytherin look united, right!" Draco said with a wink, "We'll meet you guys outside of the Great Hall after the Feast okay?"

With that, the three Slytherins left to find their friends. Harry, Neville, and Luna were heading towards the carriages when Hermione and Ron finally showed up.

Hermione launched herself towards him and hugged him around the waist. "Harry! We couldn't find you anywhere on the train! Where were you? And are you okay? Nothing happened right?" Hermione spoke at him quickly while his face was buried in her neck. She was squeezing him too hard and it hurt quite bad, but he knew that there was no way in hell that he was telling her that right now. He was just glad that she had missed him.

Harry backed up from Hermione's grasp and spoke softly to her, "Don't worry, everything is okay. I accidentally sat in the Slytherin section. Neville and Luna found me, but we sat and chatted with Draco, Blaise Zabini, and Theo Nott. They are actually pretty cool people."

Hermione looked like she was about to burst with pride for him sitting and making friends with Slytherins and strangle him for putting himself in a compartment with people who wouldn't have minded carting him off to Voldemort.

Ron, on the other hand, looked like he swallowed a dung bomb. "What the bloody hell do you mean, mate?" he exclaimed loudly, "How could they be alright? They are filthy evil slimy snakes! A bunch of Death Eaters! How in Merlin's name could you stand being in the same compartment as them? And why wouldn't you have tried to find us? What your summer was so good that you forgot about us?"

Harry flinched at the harsh words coming from Ron's mouth. They all got into a carriage and the entire way up to the castle, they all had to listen to Ron complain about Slytherins being mini death eaters and pure evil.

 Albus Dumbledore could not have been more pleased with the outcome of the summer of Harry Potter. As he sat at the head table with the other teachers waiting for the students to arrive, he thought about the events that had transpired. When the Potter brat had gone to Grimmauld, he was afraid that the influence of the mutt would turn the boy away from him, so he knew that he had to get him back to the Dursley's. It wasn't good for Harry to have that much freedom where he couldn't watch the boy right before school started.

He had decided that he would forget about having to work harder to retain the boys loyalties after spending time with Black and would just send him back for a week with the Dursley's. The people hated the boy and magic so much that they had absolutely no problem with abusing him.

He had been careful to add a compulsion ward over the property line that made any adult witch or wizard feel like they could not and should not go over the property line so that when the wolf and curse breaker dropped the boy off, he wouldn't have to worry about them realizing that it was impossible for them to even make it over the property line. He wasn't sure if they would try later in the week, but he was going to be cautious just in case. He needed his weapon after all.

Albus watched with obvious joy as the doors opened and the students came in and stared in shock at the unwelcome addition at the Head Table. His eyes twinkled as he saw the limp that Potter had and how he favored his right arm. Oh yes, the Dursley's had done well. The boy was broken and beaten and weak. Submissive just like he needed him.

Harry walked into the great Hall and sat down, trying to avoid the fact that he could feel Dumbledore's eyes burning holes into him. He didn't know what the old man wanted but without practice occlumency, there was no way he was looking up into the headmaster's face.

On the way up, in between Ron's constant complaining, he learned that Hermione and Ron were both prefects. He also learned that Draco had been made prefect too, that's why he had come to the compartment a little later with his friends, he had to check in and get the password for the dorm.

When he sat down, he somehow managed to get Hermione on his right, Neville on his left, Ginny across from him and Ron next to Ginny. He wasn't sure how it happened, but he was grateful as he did not want to hear the redhead complain about Slytherins any longer. By staring at the table trying to avoid Dumbledore's stare, he didn't notice that everyone else was staring up shocked at the Head Table.

"What in Merlin's name is Malfoy Senior doing here?" Neville hissed to Harry, "Draco didn't say anything about him being here right?"

Harry's head shot up to see that Lucius Malfoy was indeed sitting right in between Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey with a smirk on his face. Harry shot a look over to Draco, only to see that the blond was looking extremely confused and kept looking between his father and the Potions Master.

"I don't think Draco knew. Look how confused he is. I actually think he might stand up and demand answers right now if they don't hurry up," Harry said quietly.

Neville looked over and tried to hide his laughter. It was clear that the blond boy was furious that he was not told what was going on. At that time, the doors opened to reveal McGonagall leading in the first years. they all walked in and stopped in front of the stool that held the sorting hat.

The brim of the sorting hat opened, and it began to sing:

About a thousand years ago,

Here, I was placed to guard.

Wizard, witches, seers, creatures,

All are welcomed from long and far.

Four founders filled with magic,

Infused me with their own.

Their friendships and their secrets,

Have long been lost but will soon be shown.

Some beliefs are warped and twisted,

Others built up at a high cost.

None of them are happy,

For house unity has been lost.

Now I am here to do,

What you all fear the most.

I’ll place you where you’ll prosper,

For no longer will anyone coast.

Will you go to Ravenclaw,

Where smarts are always best?

Rowena would be angry,

If you ignored the rest.

Or will you go to Gryffindor?

Where lie the big brave lions.

Godric will not be happy,

Unless you show Him defiance.

Slytherin’s a worthy house,

Where cunning snakes are hiding.

Salazar would not be pleased,

Unless your prejudices start dying.

Is Hufflepuff the place for you,

Where loyalty is preached?

Helga will be discouraged,

If potential is never reached.

Now take this how you will,

Will you continue as you were?

Listen close Hogwarts heirs,

Just listen close to Her.

Everyone clapped, but Harry looked shocked. What in the world could that mean? He looked up to see that Dumbledore looked quite angry with the sorting hat's song this year. What a fun year this could turn out to be.