A New Snake

Chapter 18

Harry woke up at nearly three in the morning and noticed someone had pulled his blankets up over him while he slept. He laid there for a moment, wondering what had woken him up. Then something moved in his peripheral moved. He looked to the end of his bed and there stood a silhouette, wand aloft. Harry grabbed his wand from under his pillow and pointed it at the intruder. "Stupefy!" The figure fell to the ground and Harry narrowly dodged the bright green light coming from their wand, but fell off his bed in the process, waking up Malfoy and Zabini. He blindly scrambled on his bedside table for glasses he didn't remember taking off and cast a patronus. "Bring Dumbledore." With those two words, the glowing stag rushed off to accomplish its task and Harry lit a lumos over the face of his attacker. He recognized the man as Bartimus Crouch Jr. who was, supposedly, dead.

A moment later, Professor Snape and the Headmaster followed by two or three aurors rushed into the room. Harry looked up as they entered and stepped back to let them handle the situation. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and exhaustion coloured his actions and appearance once more. He opened his trunk, suddenly feeling the need for a shower now that he was slightly less tired than when he had first come into the dorm. As he was removing pajamas, pants, a towel and his toiletries, the aurors ennervated the man who, upon seeing Harry, pointed at him and shouted, "You were supposed to stay! You were supposed to help bring him back! Why couldn't you just follow the plan like a bloody Gryffindor?"

Severus cast a silencio on him and gestured for Harry to continue what he was doing. Harry nodded and kept walking to the dorm room's private bathroom.

When he came out, Harry felt clean and refreshed and found no one in his room but his new guardian, the Headmaster, and his aunt. They were all chatting while Draco and Blaise talked on their own on the blond's bed. Harry returned his things to where they were meant to go, putting his dirty clothes in their laundry bin. He sat on his bed and yawned. "Unless you have something you want to talk to me about, I'm still exhausted, and I would really appreciate being able to go back to sleep." The adults turned to him, nodded, and agreed to continue their conversation in the morning when they had all slept.

~ ~ ~ ~

Harry entered the Great Hall with Lily and saw Dumbledore, Snape, and Petunia all chatting at the Head Table. He presumed it was about last night or something equally as serious by the looks on their faces. He sat down in his usual seat and piled his plate high with toast, eggs, and bacon. With the morning mail flew in an owl Harry didn't know, carrying a small parcel. It had nothing on it besides For Harry Potter and showed no indication of who might have sent it. He looked up at the front table where Petunia, Severus, and Albus were talking. Snape had looked over when he noticed Hedwig with a package. He excused himself for the conversation for a moment and made his way towards the Slytherin table.

"Do you know who sent this?"

"No, I'm not going to open it without making sure it's safe. Someone's been trying to kill me all year, why would they stop now?" Severus nodded and decided to perform a few detection spells—advanced and not—on the parcel and deemed it safe to open. Meaning there was nothing in it that should harm him and there were no enchantments upon it—other than one to make sure it didn't get wet or messed up during delivery. Harry cautiously began peeling back the brown paper as Severus returned to the Head Table, but the man kept an eye on the boy.

A little wooden box remained when the wrappings had been removed. On the lid of the box was a crest of some kind. Harry decided to ask Hermione, she probably knew. The box was held closed with a small, unlocked latch. He gingerly popped the latch and slowly opened the box lid.

The first thing Harry saw when he opened the box was a slip of parchment with a note on it:

Harry Potter:

It has come to our attention that you have not received what you were due once you turned eleven. Your parents left the contents of this box to you for your eleventh birthday in the case of their deaths. We apologize for the delay in getting it to you. If you have any question, owl us them or you may suggest a time to meet up providing that you have a guardian that can be present. May your enemies fall by your hand.

Griphook, Goblin of Gringotts

Under the note, the inside of the box was lined with a maroon, velvet, cushion. Nestled in the cushion was a ring of garnet set in white gold with the same crest as was on the box. It must have been the Potter family ring. Potter is traditionally a pureblood name and Harry had read somewhere that pureblood families usually have a family ring passed down through heirs. He removed the ring from its bed and looked at it closely.

It was a thin band, but not so thin it would bend or break. The gemstone was not too large, but still noticeable and there were miniature Potter crests formed with tiny diamonds on either side of the garnet. It seemed a little big for him, but he tried it on and it shrunk to fit his finger. He stared at it as it glimmered in the light coming from the ceiling. He didn't think it would be practical to have a ring on his hand at all times—not to mention he'd rather not have people asking about it—so he took a teaspoon on the table nearby and—making sure it was clean—transfigured it into a thin, chain necklace and laced it through the ring. He clasped the chain around his neck and placed it carefully under his jumper. He shivered a little at how cold it was, but quickly got used to it.

Severus watched on, relieved that it was harmless. But he had a feeling someone else had a hand in why Harry only got the Heir Ring now. He looked over and saw Dumbledore watching Harry as well, with a twinkle in his eye. Severus scowled and left the great Hall, quickly followed by Petunia. Protecting Harry Potter is going to be harder with Albus Dumbledore holding the reigns.

~ ~ ~ ~

The last day of school was both happy and sad for many people. They were all glad to have time off, but a lot of the students knew they would miss their friends while they were away. As for Harry Potter and Lilith Snape, nothing could bring down their moods. Harry finally got away from the despicable Dursley men and got to live with one of his best friends. He was a little nervous about living with his Potions professor, but he figured anything would be better than being over-worked and starved over the summer. Lily was overjoyed that her idea had been taken seriously. She was glad Harry was out from under those muggles' thumbs and that he would be moving in with her, of all places. She knew they would have a ton of fun. They had a large backyard with a small Quidditch Pitch she and her mother used to play on before, well before she got pregnant with her brother, and they both... Anyway. She was glad to finally have someone to play with for the first time in six years. Her father really wasn't one for Quidditch. He would watch her play, but never joined despite them having an extra broom or two.

They'd decided to join their friends on the train so Severus said he would join them at the Platform and they would apparate home from there. So Harry, Hermione, Lily, Neville, Luna, Ginny, Ron, the Twins, and Cedric all squeezed into one compartment. Some sat on the floor; Luna decided to perch herself on Ginny's lap and the twins—for some reason—decided to sit on the luggage racks and let their feet dangle over the sides. Ron kept complaining about being kicked in the face and eventually everyone got so tired of it, the Twins decided to sit cross-legged. Harry sat between Hermione and Lily, Ron across from Hermione, Cedric across from Harry, and Ginny and Luna across from Lily. Neville sat on the floor with his Mimbulus mimbletonia. They chatted and laughed and many who passed marveled at the sight. Who would have thought that every House could be represented in one compartment, in one friend group, when all they really knew at school was House rivalry? The eleven of them had become known as the Core and were looked on with awe, confusion, jealousy, and—despite their best efforts—a bit of hatred.

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