A Tale of Two Brothers

Chapter 23

His life from that moment had changed, for the better and the worse.

Montague had taken him under his wing in a sense. Harry was an official member of the elite group of Slytherin, and everyone had come to their own conclusions about it.

Wild theories circulated throughout the house about why and when he learnt to use dark magic. It ranged from him being abused in his childhood to him being a psychopath. He once heard someone speculate that he was the secret child of Voldemort, which was laughable and insulting.

Of course, Montague's group was equally suspicious about it, and even his friend's words did not make them feel any better.

"I still don't understand why you chose to learn dark arts, Potter." Accrington said.

They were sitting in Montague's room in the dorms, which was honestly big enough to accommodate the first and second years together.

"And don't give us the shit about you being a learner and all. Graham might believe you, but trust me, we don't." Montague frowned at Pucey's words but kept quiet. This was a path Harry had to pave for himself.

"You try being alone with no one to talk to, Pucey. You choose whatever is in front of you without much thought. And it might sound shit to you, but I am a learner. Dark arts just happen to be something I excel in."

Pucey rolled his eyes. "Look, that sounds utter bullshit to me. But you know what? I don't care. Graham for some bizarre reason wants you in, and there's no stopping it. But the moment I get one clue of you doing anything. Trust me, Potter, you'll wish you had never set your foot in Hogwarts." The boy got up and left the room, with Accrington and Avery following him.

On his way out, Avery turned towarded around to look at him and said, "By the way, that nightmare-inducing curse was good. Keep up with it." He slammed the door shut behind him.

"Well, that was them." Montague said, looking at the closed door.

"I was not expecting hugs and parades, Montague."

Montague laughed and shook his head. "Of course not, Potter. Well, since I don't have to hide you anymore, let's go down and practice more spells. Your form is good, but it needs more polishing."

Harry nodded and walked along with Montague to the room in the dungeons.

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It was safe to say that Harry had climbed the social ladder. Though the Slytherins by no way were his friends, they stopped ignoring him.

His yearmates started to sit beside him during lectures, they asked for help and sometimes even offered it. In the Great Hall, he started mingling with his housemates, which even seemed to surprise the teachers and other houses. It was honestly sad that even when they knew that he was struggling to find company in his house, nobody, not even the staff had tried to help him. Not that he needed their pity, but their surprise angered him.

There were times when the teachers would ask him to stay back after classes and ask him about the shift in the way the Slytherins treated him, which made him want to curse them. They had no right to ask anything about his life when they ignored him for four years.

Harry just gave them polite smiles and clipped answers.

Snape was a bigger problem. He seemed to have put two and two together to realise what had happened in the common room that night. The man had cornered him after a class and tried to make him confess the truth when a first-year student had stumbled upon them which had allowed him to slip away.