Chapter 4

"SLYTHERIN!"

With one word the whole room fell silent, every single person in the Great Hall went quiet as Harry's house choice was announced. Everyone stared at Harry as he sat up from the stool, ignoring everything that went on around him, the twinkle in Dumbledore's eye vanishing with the sound as a sudden sense of fear gripped him, a feeling as though another mountain of weight had been added to his shoulders, making him sink slightly into his seat, not that anyone noticed. It seemed insane to everyone that the boy who killed the Dark Lord Voldemort was going to be a member of the 'evil house'. Harry didn't mind at all though, it wasn't about the house that he was in, it was about what he did with his time in that house. He could be put in Hufflepuff and if he wanted to end up as a Dark Lord if he wanted, but he could also be in Slytherin and decide to be the next guardian of the light if he so chose. Not that anything was really that black and white.

He offered a slight smile as he passed by Delphini and made his way over to the table as the Sorting resumed. The Slytherin Prefect waiting for him was a smug looking boy with heavily gelled hair, his smile even more smug looking. Still, despite his appearance Harry shook his hand when he put out his hand, although he didn't want to. "Welcome to Slytherin, Potter." He smirked, glancing in the direction of the other houses, who had each started nervously clapping along with the teachers and the Slytherin table.

"Thanks." Harry forced a smile. 'Idiot.' He sat down at the table with the other first years and resumed watching the ceremony from his seat. The next person to be sorted was Delphini, who sat there as the hat was lowered onto her head and then waited for around thirty seconds before she smiled, and the hat announced.

"SLYTHERIN!"

She hopped off the stool and quickly made her way over to the table, sitting down opposite Harry and beside Daphne.

[BREAK]

Delphini couldn't help but feel relieved as she took her seat, giving Harry a quick glance as she did so before turning to her new friends, assured that at least one thing in her life was as it was supposed to be. Aside from that pretty much everything she was up in the air. For as long as she could remember she had been told what her life was supposed to be, everything she was told was an absolute. Voldemort was the true hero and Harry Potter was the evil, undeserving, child who killed him in a freak accident. He was a monster. He was the enemy. A demon. Nothing more. But from what she had experienced he was nothing like that. True he could just be lying but thinking that just wouldn't stick in her head. Every time she tried to force that thought to the forefront of her mind, to excuse what she was feeling it just wouldn't stick.

Slytherin, regardless of the reason she was put in it, was the only consistency for her. Although feeling the relief she did when Harry and she ended up in the same house took away from that somewhat. 'Why is he so confusing?!' She internally screamed.

'How much of my life is a lie?' Was the final thought she had before she was dragged into conversation by Tracey Davis, the extrovert in the newly formed trio of sorts.

[BREAK]

Not really caring about anyone else's sorting Harry only half listened to the rest while he glanced toward Draco Malfoy. He was sure that after the train he would be taking advantage of the fact they would be in the same house and probably sleeping in the same room. He wasn't big on trust. And Draco definitely wasn't in that 'I trust you' list. There were only very few people that he really trusted, that list being Newt and his wife, and Draco was not now or ever going to be on that list. Fingering the wand in his sleeve he considered for a moment spelling him with a curse, but he didn't really have a curse that he could use for this type of thing. He knew some magic of course, but Newt had only taught him the first and seconds year spells as well as some other useful ones. His time with Newt wasn't about getting ahead or learning how to fight, it was about learning to control and accept who he was and what that meant. After that moment of consideration passed, he wished that he had learned how to ward or something or could get away with murdering him somehow.

He was so in his own head that he barely noticed when the table suddenly filled with food. There were so many dishes on the table that it covered almost every inch of wood, inside each of them were various foods all perfectly cooked to everyone's standards, mountains of roast beef, pork chops, chicken, lamb, sausages, strips of bacon, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, mash potatoes, chips, burgers already in buns, cheese burgers already in buns, Yorkshire puddings, peas, carrots, small dishes of sauces: ketchup, mayonnaise and BBQ sauce. With several pots of gravy and a few mints. By each person was a plate, cutlery and a goblet that looked gold but definitely wasn't, with juice inside. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of all of it.

"Never seen food before?" A voice to his side suddenly emerged, cutting into his thoughts, bringing Harry's attention to his left. The boy that had spoke was a young dark-skinned boy with hair so short that he almost looked bald.

"No, just never seen this much in one place. You could feed a country with this much." Harry smiled.

"Blaise," he held out his hand before he finished "Zabini."

"Harry," he took his hand as he mimicked his speaking pattern "Potter."

"No way." Blaise faked gasped before smirking. "So, what'd you do to him?" He gestured with his head over to Draco, who was glaring at Harry, although when Harry caught his gaze he sneered and then went back to eating and talking to his group of 'friends'. "I mean I don't really know Draco that well, just seen him a few times, and he sneers at a lot of people, usually for dumb reasons, but something must've happened for the if-looks-could-kill-you'd-be-dead-stare."

"Hmm," Harry paused as he lifted a goblet to his lips and drank "well I might've met him on the train before we got here." He admitted before he started to select bits of food to eat, placing them on his plate. He took a handful of chips, a cheeseburger, a few strips of bacon, a dollop of ketchup along with another of mayo and a few sausages.

As he ate his selection of food and Blaise did the same the two got to talking, getting to know one another a little better. During their conversation the two became as close to friends as they could be in the limited time they had, but despite that Harry still got the impression that Blaise was an incredibly vain person, and while he wasn't a total bigot there were elements of it in the way that he spoke. Although that was to be expected given his origin. He also got the impression that Blaise liked to stick to himself for the most part as he'd only started talking to Harry because he too looked to be the loner type, maybe to try and gain mutual protection or something else.

With his plate filled Harry and Blaise continued to make small talk as they ate. During the conversation Harry was able to get a little bit of a read on the other young wizard, casually glancing over at Delphini and her friends from time to time, somehow feeling a strange connection to her that made him extremely wary. For one despite how nice he came off he was extremely vain for his age, and while not to the extremes of others such as Draco he did hold bigoted beliefs that were just barely concealed by the young wizard. Still he was redeemable considering this was only their first year, but whether Harry would make that kind of effort would depend on the next few weeks and what he observed and anything else he discovered about him. Still, regardless of his reservations or the effort of trying to analyse Blaise it was better talking to him than eating in total silence.

After almost everyone had finished eating the dishes were cleared and replaced by puddings, a selection just as vast as the main dishes. Harry chose to eat a slice of chocolate cake in a bowl with some ice cream, a scoop of vanilla with strange looking sprinkles and a scoop of chocolate with a pink-red sauce that he thought was strawberry but turned out to be something else, although still tasted very nice.

Eventually everything vanished just like the main course had. Professor Dumbledore got to his feet, making everyone fall silent. "Ahem, just a few more words now we are all fed and watered." He began. "I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest of the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." His twinkling eyes passed over the room but lingered for a moment on the Weasley twins. "I have also asked Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

There were a few people that laughed, clearly assuming he was joking, but the number of people that did was very low. 'Crazy old fool.' Harry thought as he leaned forward onto his hands as his elbows propped him up. 'He's definitely up to something.' Harry didn't really get why he was hiding information, but if the reasons for keeping students away from the third-floor were normal he'd give a reasonable explanation for it, the only reason he wouldn't was if he was hiding something, and the only reason he would hide something was if he was planning something.

Then doing a complete one eighty from the serious mood that had been set Dumbledore then had them sing a song but left it up to each person how they wanted to sing the song, meaning that every student finished and sung the song differently. Then when that was done with, they were escorted, each house of first-years, to their new dorms by the Prefects.

[BREAK]

The first-years were all guided down to the dungeons of the castle, where the dorms were situated, where they found themselves in front of a damp stone wall. The Prefect stepped up to the wall and stated the password loud enough for them each to hear, trigger the opening of the wall to reveal the secret entrance into the Common Room. The Common Room itself screamed Slytherin as soon as it was visible. It was a large stone room with a few windows, outside each of which was water, reminding him that they were under the Black Lake in that moment.

While candles seemed to be used in every room of the castle, based on what Harry had seen thus far, the Common Room was completely different. The only flame that provided light was the flames in the fireplace on the far side of the room. It was a grand looking fireplace made almost completely from stone aside from the metal framework around the fire and the dark wooden surface above it where several different animal skulls were sitting. The fireplace was carved to have an elegant look with the Slytherin house shield in the centre above the fire, just below the skulls. Then above the whole thing, contained in an engraved arch, was a larger version of the shield with same snake design with one unique difference, that the eye of the snake contained a shining green gem that seemed to glow as it reflected the light. On either side of the fire were a sofa, on the left from Harry's perspective, and an armchair. Between the fireplace and the armchair was a small circular table. A chess board and a box, which he assumed contained the pieces for said chess set, sat atop the small table. The sofa and chair were both black leather with green cushions, and both had some elegant silver decoration.

Throughout the rest of the room there were several other seating options, all with the same black leather, green cushions and when metal was involved it was a clean silver. There were several tables, other chess sets, a few fruit bowls and some stray candles. Hanging above it all were the main source of light, balls of green glass with dancing light contained within, hanging from the black chains that connected them to the ceiling. The dancing light itself appeared to be a ball in the centre while a partially formed ring span around the orb, its path shifting slightly each time before returning to the first, almost like it was on a repeat cycle.

They were introduced to where they were and then shown to their dorms, where their luggage was already waiting for them. The room seemed to follow the same theme as the rest of the house. Their beds were grand, with a black wooden frame, a silver bed cover, with green pillows and duvet. In the four-posted bed frame had curtains fitted that Harry was somewhat thankful for. Beside each of the beds was a bedside table, with a lamp on them and space underneath for storage, mainly their trunks. "Looks like we'll be neighbours." Blaise nudged him as he took a seat on his own bed.

"Yeah." He walked over to his bed, checking out the uniform that was waiting for him. "Do you know when we'll get our timetables?"

"Uh, I think we get them tomorrow after breakfast."

"Leaving it a little late don't you think? I mean it would be easier to just give them to us now, leaving it with the rest of our stuff."

"Yeah, be funny if they just never thought of it." Blaise smirked.

Cautiously keeping an eye on Draco, Harry then started to get ready for bed, he didn't doubt for a moment that Draco would take advantage of it if he left himself open for even a moment. Blaise also got ready, although he was also keeping an eye on everyone it wasn't nearly as serious as Harry, he had just noticed what Harry was doing and started to wonder if something more serious was a foot that he should keep his eye out for.

[ ~ DREAM ~ ]

"Harry." Disturbing the silence of a perfectly peaceful dream, a creepily sinister voice that seemed all so familiar to him, cut into Harry's mind immediately making him wince from the pain that erupted in his scar. Whatever his dream had been before twisted and contorted until Harry found himself in the centre of the destruction of the Dursley's home from when his powers first erupted. Past the destruction thought there was nothing, just an infinite void of darkness. "Harry." The voice repeated itself, hissing in a very snake-like manner.

"…Hello?" Harry hesitantly called out as he got to his feet, barely caring that he was in the midst of the rubble of a house, a black oily substance appearing like a mist on the skin of his forearms. He surveyed every inch of the rubble, but he couldn't see anything or one that was out of the ordinary.

"Harry."

As if a hole opened beneath him Harry suddenly fell through the ground, falling into complete darkness for a moment before he hit the ground. "Ouch," he rubbed his forehead "that hurt." When his hand moved upward, he suddenly felt fabric, a rough, irritating fabric, that was wrapped around his head. He began touching the fabric to feel out what it was because he couldn't see. 'A turban?'

"Harry." The same voice but louder came again, but rather than in his head it was this time coming from the back of his head, concealed by the turban. He first tried to remove it normally, but every time he attempted to remove it, the turban instead chose to tighten. Each time he attempted to take it off he became more frantic, until eventually he was tearing at the fabric in a furiously panicked state. Draco, Snape and several figures with masks appeared around him, their forms a mix between solid and smoke, in a circle laughing at him as his struggle continued to try and get the turban off. The laughs became high and cold, then as they transformed into inhuman screech a green light flashed so brightly that it blinded him.

[BREAK]

Harry sprung awake, sweating and shaking, breathing raggedly, reflexively grabbing his wand from under his pillow and aiming it all around as he examined the whole room, the same oily, black, mist from his dream emerging from his other hand which he clenched into a fist. Everyone else was fast asleep and no one else was there, nothing out of place, but it still took him several minutes of looking around and trying to control himself before he was able to steady his breathing and slow his heartrate back to normal.

"That was… different." He had had many dreams over the years, all of which featured some strange things, but the turban was new. He couldn't help thinking that this one was different, perhaps more than a dream.