Storm of Truth by DearClara

Chapter 23: Fight It

Dumbledore was watching him. He'd barely been back for a week, but Harry could feel Dumbledore's eyes on him, even when he couldn't physically see the man. Ron and Hermione had said much the same thing when he mentioned it to them. It wasn't like they hadn't expected the man to be watching them, but it was almost like they were never alone.

Harry had started spending more time with the Slytherin's since his surprise pop-up in the common rooms. He had partnered with Draco in potions, Daphne Greengrass in Herbology, Parkinson in Charms and Zabini in Transfiguration. Nott had also been watching him fairly closely but hadn't gotten around to speaking to him yet. His sudden friendships and acceptance of the Slytherin's were garnering him some odd looks, but no one had commented on it yet.

Harry also knew that his new friendships were riling Dumbledore up; it was probably why the man was watching them closer than ever. Although to be fair, all the teachers, bar Snape, looked slightly confused at Harry's choice of partners. Flitwick actually did a double-take when he saw Harry next to Parkinson, and McGonagall lost her train of thought when she saw Zabini help him out with a spell.

Ron and Hermione could often be found in the company of Slytherin's as well. The Slytherin's seemed to be warier around them than they were around Harry, but oddly enough, it was Parkinson who seemed to take Hermione under her wing. The two were thick as thieves after barely a week, something that terrified Ron more than he was willing to admit.

"How are you liking Hogwarts so far, Voldie?" Harry hissed at the little snake as he got himself comfortable on a heated rock Harry had set up for him.

Voldie flicked out his tongue, "It's very big, many smells."

Harry was currently sitting in the library, working on his already astronomical amount of homework. If this was what it was like after only a week, Harry shuddered to think what the rest of the year would be like. He'd brought Voldie with him to the library as he felt terrible about leaving him in the dorms all day, but Voldie was too small to go off on his own yet. Harry was concentrating so intently on his potions essay that he missed the sound of someone walking up to his table, which wasn't like him.

"Potter, are you aware that there is a snake on your table?" Harry looked up into the very perplexed face of Theo Nott.

"Nott, meet Voldie, Voldie meet Nott," Harry replied, switching between parseltongue and English.

Nott raised an eyebrow, "You named your snake Voldie?"

"Yep," Harry replied happily.

Nott looked at him like he had some sort of mental defect, which Harry supposed was a fair assessment, before gesturing to the seat across from Harry, "Mind if I sit here?"

Harry nodded, "All yours."

The two sat in companionable silence for a while; the only sound made was the scratching of quills on parchment or Harry occasionally talking to Voldie, which seemed to fascinate Nott to no end.

Eventually, Nott put his quill down and studied Harry. "When did you join the Dark Lord?" He asked after catching Harry's eyes.