When We Were Young

C H A P T E R S I X T E E N

December 19th, 1943

Harry watched his room mates pack their trunks, not fully registering that so much time has passed so quickly.

A lot of things has happened and changed since he first started school in September.

For one, he and Tom now had what they called the Inner Circle (Harry was considered as Tom's second in command, the highest position other than the Consort). Harry also called them friends, but Tom refused to call them anything other than his minions. That was the first time that anyone other than Harry saw Tom's sense of humor.

At first, every Slytherin started at the bottom of the system. Then, some stood out among others, such as Orion Black, Abraxas Malfoy, Thaddeus Nott, Aurelius Avery, and Corvus Lestrange. Abraxas was Tom's favorite out of the bunch, and Orion was Harry's (but he was less obvious about it than Tom), much to the jealousy of the others, who scrambled to spend as much time with the two as possible.

Another thing that changed was that Harry was not only considered as Tom's right hand, but as the top recruiter.

What is a recruiter?

They were the charmers of Slytherin. They branched out to the other three houses of Hogwarts and slowly influenced them into taking on a Slytherin perspective.

Ravenclaws were the easiest to persuade and flip, as they processed and analyzed facts over emotions more often than the other houses.

Hufflepuffs were a bit harder to turn, as their reputation for their fierce loyalty was very valid, but once you earned their loyalty, it was a job well done.

Unsurprisingly, Gryffindors were the hardest to flip. They were just as loyal as Hufflepuffs, but their loyalty was blind and their pride often spoke for them. That was why Harry was in charge of flipping the house, as any other recruiter would have lost their heads trying to be polite to their polar opposites.

It was surprisingly easy for Harry to associate with the Gryffindors. He felt a large amount of nostalgia and warmth when around the exuberant crowd, but even he caught headaches when facing the Gryffindor loudness for so long.

What made it easier was that Charlus was a social guy, and he often introduced his cousin to the Gryffindors he knew, making Harry's job ten times easier.

In fact, he felt that the house dubbed him as an honorary Gryffindor, which made a few Slytherins crinkle their nose in disgust and look at him at awe at the same time. They knew that Harry could easily wrap anyone around his finger, but the whole Gryffindor house?! Was Harry some type of god?!?!

Alas, Harry was not a god (yet). He was just that good, especially when he got control over his magic.

Like Druella had recommended, he masked his magic, only letting it out to roam when he was alone with Tom. Although, a cool thing that he learned was that he could channel magic to different parts of his body, making that part function as he pleased.

He had once channeled magic to his vocal chords, making his voice sound sweeter than normal, alluring. He had used it to convince a few 4th years to stop bullying Myrtle Warren, a muggleborn with oversized glasses in his year. Immediately, their faces slackened and they repeated his instructions dully, robotically walking away from him and Myrtle.