Erased and Replaced

Part 2~Burning Lions

Slowly, as the sun rose so did Harry. The black haired boy practically refused to open his eyes. He was deep in denial. He kept whispering into his mind, 'yesterday was just a dream. A weird, way too realistic dream. You'll wake up and be back at home. Back with Sirius and Ron and Hermione will be shouting at you to get up any time soon.'

Of course, Hermoine didn't come running up the stairs screaming how the sun was up and so they should be. Nor did Ron grumble under his breath about how it was still summer and he should be allowed to sleep in. And probably most horribly, he didn't hear Sirius's barking laugh as he watched the three teens. 

When Harry finally pried open his eyes, he was staring up at the ceiling of the Gryffindor dorm room. Yesterday was real. 

Pushing himself up, he noted the early hour- at least he wouldn't be late for his 'first' day. He ran his fingers through his hair, tiredness clear in movements. Normally he didn't get much sleep, a childhood at Privet drive living in a cupboard had trained him to need little sleep and the nightmares weren't helping. 

Since he fell asleep, there were a few others who had entered the room. That shouldn't have been much of a surprise but still. Seamus was sleeping on the furthest bed, the half burnt covers thrown over his shoulders. Harry couldn't help but smile at that, at least Seamus seemed the same. Looking at the other occupied bed Harry felt that cold dred. Crabbe was sleeping with one hand thrown off the bed. Crabbe, a Gryffindor. The thought was almost impossible to Harry's brain, almost. 

Hearing someone enter the room, Harry looked up to see Goyle walking in. He had a towel wrapped around his shoulders and was removing the last drops of water from his hair. "You're 'Arry then?"

"Harry," the teen corrected with a slight scowl. 

"That's what I said." 

Harry couldn't help but scowl. Even as a Gryffindor, Goyle was annoying. Said teen walked across the space, shaking Crabbe's shoulder and waking him up. Harry couldn't help but watch the teen as he made his way to Seamus's bed and woke him. It was strange. Goyle being nice and waking the rest up so they didn't get in trouble- he always assumed Goyle was lazy and slept as long as possible. 

'Slytherins are cunning, he probably wanted you to think of him that way.' Harry hated that idea. The Slytherins were evil, death eaters, nothing more, nothing less. 'You were almost a Slytherin.'

Standing up, Harry startled the others in the room. He took a deep breath before walking to the exit. "The showers are this way, right?" May as well be civil since he was going to be stuck with them until he could get home. Plus it would be really suspicious if he knew his way around the castle grounds on the first day without a map.

"Yeah, I'll show you. I need a wash too."

Harry was relieved that it was Seamus who offered. He wasn't sure what he would do if it had been Crabbe. Seamus led him to the bathroom and swiftly striped, getting himself ready. Harry attempted to not look around him, for two very different reasons, but he couldn't stop himself recording every little change in the bathroom. The place was cleaner, that much was clear. There were a lot fewer showers than normal and the place seemed better organised.

"You alright?"

Harry jumped slightly, turning to look at Seamus who was giving him a worried look. 

"If you're used to showering alone I can leave."

"No, it's fine. I just couldn't help but notice how clean this place was," Harry said, explaining his thoughts.

Seamus seemed to find that funny. "What did you expect? Grime covering the walls with no mould on the soap?" Seamus laughed under his breath as Harry joined in. Seamus sent him a smile, nodding at his much improved mood. 

Harry let himself catch his breath before looking over Seamus, freezing when he noticed the burn marks dotting his skin. "What happened to you?"

Seamus seemed to fault as he turned off the tap and wrapped a towel around himself. "My magic tends to be temperamental. It explodes any time I try to use it. Some of the other kids thought it would be fun if they put increased the explosive ability of my stuff."

"That's awful!" Harry found himself speaking before he could think. It didn't matter that this wasn't the Seamus from his world, this was still Seamus and he would hex anyone who hurt his friend. 

"It's fine. Hurt a lot at the time but Professor Snape sorted it out quickly. Doesn't stop most of the bullying but at least I don't have to worry about doing magic anymore."

"Professor Snape?" 

"Oh, yeah you wouldn't have been properly introduced yet. He is the one who sorted you yesterday. He teaches potions and is the head of Slytherin. Those goody-two-shoes are never up for a bit of experimenting! They are real bores. You're lucky Harry, you're a Gryffindor. That means you get to do all the cool stuff. Don't worry about the rules, we can always get out of them, lots of loopholes in these school rules."

Harry watched as Seamus pulled on his uniform. It was weird to hear Seamus talk like this. He wasn't one who broke the rules- outside from no exploding things as he had little control on that. Did having everyone hating you make that much of a difference? Harry felt his mind drifting towards the second year. When everyone thought he was the heir of Slytherin and hated him. He became distant from most of the school and even started believing them. He never thought about how that must affect the actual Slytherins. 

"Come on, we should get to the hall so we can get our timetable." Seamus was fully dressed, a cheeky grin on his face that unnerved Harry who just finished dressing. 

This school was a complete opposite to where he came from, all Harry wanted to do was get back home. But in order to do that, he first had to survive this place. Play the part, keep your head down, watch everyone.

Jeez, he really was sounding like a Slytherin now.