A New Snake

Chapter 5

         

When the feast was over, Harry walked with Lilith, though now he called her Lily, with the Slytherin prefects and the other new Slytherins to the Slytherin Common Room and Dorms. They were told at the entrance that the password changed every week and to get it at the beginning if the week they had to be at breakfast bright and early. If not, they had to ask another Slytherin. "Don't worry about getting picked on here. You're Snakes now. And we look after our own. The password this week is 'Cunning'. Try not to forget it, but if you do and you're too shy to come to a fellow Slytherin, just find one of the prefects and we'll be happy to help you."

With that, they entered the Slytherin Common Room which was already filled with the prior Slytherins. The fire was roaring and the throng of people made the room warmer than Harry remembered from Second Year. Not that he would tell anyone. Harry followed one prefect to the boys' dorms while Lily followed another to the girls'. They showed where they would sleep and, unlike in Gryffindor, there were only about two or three students to a room. It made sense considering they were the only house with dorms in the dungeons. Each bedroom had a large fireplace that ran non-stop to keep out the cold. The inhabitants could adjust the intensity of the flame according to their wants. Harry was to room with Malfoy and a boy named Zabini.

The other new students went into the common room after they had been shown their rooms and they got settled in; Harry just sat on the bed his trunk had been put in front of. He looked in his trunk and all of his Gryffindor related things had turned Slytherin. His scarves, his ties, his robes, even his pair of gloves. He dug deeper into his trunk, under his clothes and books, and pulled out his photo album from Hagrid. He gently placed it on his bed and took out his pajamas. By the time he had come out of the room's bathroom, Malfoy and Zabini were back and already dressed in their pajamas. Harry avoided their gaze and, taking up the album laid in bed and pulled the curtains closed. He sat there looking at the pictures of his parents until he fell asleep.

~ ~ ~ ~

Harry made his slow way to breakfast on his own, constantly looking over his shoulder. People from all houses had been shooting glares at him all morning. He knew Lily was already at breakfast because she left him a note in the common room.

When he came into the Great Hall, he mustered up all of his remaining confidence into looking at Ron at the Gryffindor table. When he was met with the angriest, most loathing stare he'd seen yet, he quickly looked away, rushing to his seat next to Lily at the end of the table and pushed the plate away she put in front of him.

"Harry, please eat. Classes start today. I have a feeling you'll need your strength in Defense." Harry sighed in resignation. He can't say that he's surprised at Ron's reaction, but he wished he could say it didn't hurt. It is, after all, only three years of friendship gone with the Sorting. He grudgingly ate a slice of toast and a strip of bacon. It wasn't long until the mail came and Harry saw Hedwig amoung them. She had no letter or any other type of mail, but it was sort of a tradition of theirs that she came to visit him on the first day. Harry couldn't always come to the Weasleys, so her safety wasn't always certain. She landed gracefully on his arm and the sight of her immediately swept any negative thoughts from his mind. She nibbled affectionately on his ear while he checked her wings and under her feathers for any problems. She flapped her wings and bounced around the table as if to tell him that she was alright. He gently stroked her feathers and gave her a slice of bacon before she flew away to join the other owls in the Owlery.

"You seem very close with your owl." Lily observed.

"Yeah, she was really my first friend and she was my first birthday present. The groundskeeper, Hagrid, took me to get my school supplies for my first year and bought her for me for my birthday." Harry smiled at the fond memory, but was soon reminded of his current predicament when a prefect came with their schedules. Lily and Harry compared schedules and found that the only classes they had different was that she had Ancient Runes as an elective and Harry had chosen Arithmancy. He knew Hermione had that class and he was sure Ron had chosen Divination, so he should be okay on that front. But all three of them had chosen Care of Magical Creatures and he didn't want to make Hermione be a median between him and Ron. But it was okay because Lily had Care of Magical Creatures with him. So Ron could spend the time with Hermione and he would stay with his new friend. As Slytherins, all of their other classes were the same and Harry's mood dropped further when he found out they had Potions first. He was glad it was only a single class, but he was sure that his moving into Snape's house wouldn't change how the man treated him.

The time for the first class of the day arrived and Harry picked up his bag and walked with his stomach in his shoes to the only class in the dungeons. Lily gripped his arm comfortingly. "Everything's going to be okay, Harry. I promise. I'll be right there with you and I'll meet you outside the Arithmancy classroom, so just wait there for me, okay?" Harry nodded and they both took their seats on the Slytherin side of the Potions classroom. Harry got out his textbook. He'd read it through at the Weasleys' so anything Snape might ask him he should be able to answer. If he can't it's in a later textbook. Harry soon found that they had Potions with the Gryffindors. Dread filled Harry's stomach as the one and only Ronald Weasley came into the room with Seamus and Dean. He caught sight of Harry and the care-free look he sported with his fellow Gryffindors disappeared at the sight of Harry. Lily rubbed Harry's back as he quickly looked down towards his table. He didn't want to have to deal with both Ronald Weasley and Professor Severus Snape.

Soon all the students were in the classroom and Snape billowed in like usual from his office. "Take out your textbooks and turn to the first chapter." He looked over at Lily and saw Harry sitting next to her. He didn't let anything show on his face, so Harry couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Mr. Potter, what are three ingredients in the Draught of Peace?"

This was in the textbook, so Harry knew this. He saw Ron snicker from his seat, "powdered moonstone, syrup of hellebore, and powdered porcupine quills, Sir." In his peripheral, Harry saw Ron's mouth drop open and he had to hold back a smirk. Since when had Harry thought it funny when he proved Ron wrong?

"Very good. Weasley, name one ingredient in Amortentia."

Ron blushed and ducked his head. But that wasn't really a fair question. That wasn't in their textbooks until Sixth Year. "I don't know, Sir."

The Slytherin side of the classroom erupted in laughter, minus Lily and Harry. Now Ron's red face was red from anger instead of embarrassment. For some reason, his glare became fixated on Harry. He hoped they wouldn't meet in the hall alone. The class went on more or less without incident, but Harry could feel Ron's eyes on him the entire.

Words: 1,329