“Chance makes our parents, but choice makes our friends.”
-Delille
Harry was awoken from a dream, by hands shaking him. Harry opened his eyes to find a boy named Zabini looking at him closely. “Harry, wake up! Come on! You have to go to breakfast to get your schedule,” said Zabini.
“What? Oh, yeah!” said Harry, realizing that it was morning.
“You fell asleep on the couch. No one even knew you had left the dormitory,” said Zabini, taking his hands off Harry’s shoulders.
“Yeah, I came up here to…to think,” said Harry quickly, now sitting up on the couch.
“Well, we have to get to the Great Hall. Come on,” said Zabini, walking toward the stone door. Harry got up rubbing the sand from his eyes and followed Zabini out to the Great Hall.
Once Harry entered the Great Hall, he saw that it was crowded; everyone was already there. Zabini must have come back to the Common Room to get him, after he saw that he wasn’t there. He’d have to remember to thank Zabini later. He sat down at the end of the Slytherin table and began eating breakfast.
When most of the students had finished eating, the Head of Houses began handing out the schedules. He read his schedule. For today, which was Monday, Harry had History of Magic first with the Ravenclaws, and then had Charms with the Gryffindors. After Lunch, he had double Transfiguration with the Gryffindors. Tuesday he had double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs first, Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors, and then Potions with the Gryffindors; Wednesday he has double Charms, Transfiguration, and History of Magic; Thursday Harry has Herbology, Transfiguration, and then double Defense Against the Dark Arts; and last on Friday, he has double Potions and then a free afternoon.It could be worse, I suppose.
Harry quickly ran back to the dormitory to get his bag of books and quills and other things that he had forgotten to take, and ran to find his first class, History of Magic. But Harry got lost on the way. Why do there have to be so many corridors? When he entered the classroom, everyone turned to watch him take a seat next to Draco.
“Sorry, Professor… I got lost,” said Harry, nervously.
“Alright. Just sit down and take out your books,” said Professor Binns, a ghost.
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. Harry went to Charms with Professor Flitwick, a small wizard, and then after lunch, he went to a double Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. Harry saw that Ron and Hermione were sitting together in the front of the class. They turned when he walked in. Harry waved, but they looked at him like he was off his trolley. Am I not allowed to wave to someone from another House?
Harry sat down with Draco. Crabbe and Goyle sat down behind them. Where was Professor McGonagall? I didn’t think that she would be the kind of teacher to be late for class on the first day of school. All he saw was a gray cat sitting on top of her desk. Once everyone was sitting down, waiting for Professor McGonagall, the cat jumped off the table and turned into Professor McGonagall mid-air.
“Cor!” exclaimed a boy from Gryffindor. Harry heard that his name was Seamus Finnigan. Everyone else was in awe, as well.
She was pacing slowly back and forth in front of the class as she spoke, looking at each student, “Transfiguration is a very complicated magic. It will take some of you a long time to master Transfiguration. But I’m warning all of you, I don’t want any mucking around in my class.”
What is it with the professors and warnings?
The next day, after Herbology with Professor Sprout and lunch, Harry went to his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. It was another class with Gryffindor, but when he saw Ron and Hermione, he had learned not to wave to them. He sat down towards the back of the classroom, and Draco sat next to him. Professor Quirrell came out of his little office into the classroom.
“H-hello, c-class,” said Professor Quirrell. Harry noticed he always wore a purple turban. He looked around the room while leaning against his desk. “I know t-that this is your f-first school year. This y-year I’ll be t-teaching you about c-curses and c-counter curses that might b-be useful if y-you are every in tr-trouble.” He turned around to pick up the book on his desk, but as he did a horrible pain shot into Harry’s scar.
“Ouch,” said Harry, instinctively moving his hands to his head.
“What’s up?” asked Draco.
“Nothing. I’m fine,” said Harry rubbing his scar. The pain had gone, but he could still feel it. What was that? My scar never hurt like that before.
“Everyone t-take out your b-book Defense Against t-the Dark Arts V-volume 1, and read the p-pages on the Disarming S-spell.” (“I hate reading,” said Draco.) Harry took out his book, flipped to the correct pages and began reading, but it was difficult to concentrate.
After class ended, Harry and the rest of the students that had been in Defense Against the Dark Arts went to Potions class. Well, this is going to be interesting. Thought Harry, as he walked into the class. Harry took a seat in the very back because he wanted to be as far away from Snape as possible. Harry saw Snape sitting at his desk and their eyes met; Harry saw hate, and he had to look away. Snape got up from his desk where there were various jars, in which there were things that Harry didn’t want to know.
“In this Potions class, if you take this class seriously, which I suggest you do because if you don’t, you will fail. And I do not have a problem failing any of you. You will learn how to create simple potions and later complex potions. There are potions that can make you only speak the truth, potions that can change your appearance, and potions that can kill.” He looked at Harry when he said this. Great it went from Snape hating me to Snape wanting to give me a potion that can kill me. Like I need another thing to worry about.
After Potions, Harry went to put his books away and decided to go for a walk around the lake before dinner. Harry had been walking for almost an hour when he decided to sit down near the water. Too many questions were crammed into his head. Why Snape hated him since he had done nothing was one. Why his scar hurt earlier this afternoon in Defense Against the Dark Arts was an especially big one? Harry buried his head in his hands.
I think too much. Maybe there’s a potion to stop thinking. Or a charm or something! Anything.
“Potter, you alright?” asked a voice from behind. Harry picked up his head and looked around to see Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger walking toward him. It had been Ron that had asked the question.
“Yeah. I’m fine. And you can call me Harry,” said Harry, slowly.
“Just checking because you looked a bit down,” said Ron.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” asked Hermione, more sincerely.
Harry exhaled loudly. “If you really want to know. No. There’s so many things that have happened since I’ve been here that I don’t understand,” said Harry.
“Like what?” asked Hermione, clearly curious. Ron and Hermione now sat down on either side of Harry.
“Wait a minute! Why would I tell you two? In Transfiguration yesterday I waved to you both to be nice, and you didn’t wave, or anything, back,” said Harry, looking at them both.
“Well, Harry,” said Ron. “Usually Slytherin’s aren’t nice to Gryffindors or any other House. We thought it was a joke.”
“I was waving to be nice. No joke. You two were nice to me on the train and I wanted to be nice back.”
Just then Hermione asked the question that Harry was dreading to hear, but knew was eventually going to be asked, “Then why did you leave with Malfoy instead of stay with us?”
Harry didn’t have an actual answer. “I… I don’t know. Really I don’t,” said Harry, now looking down at the water.
There was a long pause before Hermione decided to say something again, “Any road… what has been bothering you so much?”
Harry decided to spill what was bothering him. Ron and Hermione looked nice enough to tell, if he were to tell anyone. “Well, your Head of House is supposed to be nice to you, right?” said Harry. “Well, Snape, I can clearly see, hates me. He’s hated me since I got here, but I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve done nothing to deserve his hating me. Before a couple days ago, I didn’t even know Hogwarts existed or wizards, for that matter. And the other students keep looking at my scar when I walk by. But another thing that’s been bothering me was why no one applauded for me when I got into Slytherin. Do either of you know why that is?” Harry looked at them apprehensively.
It was Hermione that decided to speak, “Well, Harry, no thought that the ‘Boy Who Lived’ would be put in Slytherin of all Houses.”
“I was put into Slytherin. So what?” said Harry.
“Harry, I’m not implying anything, but I don’t think you realize that most people sorted into Slytherin have become dark wizards,” said Hermione.
“You Know Who was a Slytherin,” said Ron.
“Oh,” said Harry. And that’s all he had to say. Ron and Hermione clearly understood what was going on in Harry’s mind.
Was that why I was put into Slytherin and not Gryffindor? But why would You Know Who have an effect on which House I would placed in? Harry decided to ask the second question to Ron and Hermione. Harry saw on their faces that they had no idea, and Ron said so. “I’d tell you to go to Snape about this, but you said that he hates you, so maybe you should go to Dumbledore?” said Hermione. “He might be able to-”
But at that moment Draco decided to show up. “Harry! What are you doing?” asked Draco. All three of them got up when Draco walked over.
A/N: British vocab lesson: 1. “Off your trolley””mad, crazy 2. “Mucking around” “when someone “fools around.” Thanks for reading the next chapter. Please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!