Thanks to those that reviewed and to Hermoine Granger-Weasley for betaing this for me! You rock! And shout out to Lily Fierros, who is a constant support to me.

Chapter 3: Temper, temper.

September 12, 1991

"So, he just ignores you? That is just unfair…" Harry said. Smiling bitterly from his side of the mirror to Caden, he added, "I hate Potions."

Caden paused, eyes shifting from the mirror to look around him to see if anyone was there. "Well, I, err, don't hate it," he said, causing Harry to furrow his eyebrows in confusion. "I just hate Snape, and that's just because he keeps picking on Ron and Hermione. Since I made the boil cure potion perfectly, he seems to have stopped picking on me."

Harry blinked. His brother liked Potions? 'Well,' he thought, 'at least he doesn't like Snape.'

"Snape's a git, isn't he?" Harry said. "Whenever we have a Slytherin only class, he always picks on me! And he always fails me too, even when I'm pretty sure I did well. He won't take off points, but he hates me. I hate Slytherin. It's just…" Harry trailed off, unable to think of the words to describe his current situation. Whenever Snape picked on him, Draco was always there, sniggering and making all sorts of rude comments. And of course, there was always Blaise, sitting next to him, looking at him, challenging him to take the bait and get the mirror taken away.

It was annoying. Harry just wanted to curse both Blaise and Draco into oblivion. 'If only Mum had let me buy that book, Curses and Counter-Curses (Bewitch your Friends and Befuddle your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and much, much more), life would be perfect. I'm pretty sure I can manage those spells, whatever they are,' he thought.

"Well, he has no qualms taking points away from Gry—"Caden said, interrupting his brother's thoughts.

Blaise stuck his head in the doorway. "Potter, they're coming."

"Wait, who was that? Harry?"

Harry jumped up from his bed, hastily murmuring, "Bye Caden, see you in Flying later." He tapped the left edge of the mirror thrice quickly, effectively cutting off Caden's question about who exactly knew about the mirrors. Harry hadn't told anyone that Blaise had found out.

Harry put the mirror in his trunk just in time. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle all walked in the room, heading to their respective trunks.

Draco paused to smirk at Harry. "Just getting ready now, Potter? A bit slow, aren't we?"

Harry smiled dryly to himself at the realization that he hadn't even felt the urge to argue back, that time. 'Damn you, Zabini,' he thought.

"Hey, Aglovale," Harry said, petting the Barn Owl's feathers. Harry took the letter from his mother out of his claws, chuckling when it clicked its tongue at him. "Alright, here. Will a sausage do? I'm afraid I don't have any mice right now…" The owl looked at him in disapproval before flying off. Harry winced; usually Aglovale stayed until he wrote a reply. Apparently, that was related to Harry having food to give him.

Harry opened the letter, tilting it so even Blaise sitting next to him, couldn't see it.

Harry,

Yes, yes, I've been feeding Aglovale for you. Just now, I gave him a small white mouse I found running through the garden. And no, he doesn't mind me feeding him instead of you. Neither he nor Lamorak seem to, though Geoffrey seems to like pecking me when I try. Ah, well, James is still here. And Caelia…well, you know how she is. So stubborn. Yesterday I tried to feed her a mouse, and she started screeching at me.

I think she's more stubborn than your father and Sirius combined.

Anyway, how's school? Stop avoiding our questions about it! When we write to you about that, we do look for an answer, you know, Harry. Have you made any friends yet? And how are your classes? Are your teachers good to you? Answer these, Harry. I mean it.

Love,

Mum

Harry groaned. There was no way he could get out of telling them all about how Hogwarts was for him. If he avoided the questions again, Harry was afraid that his mother would come into school and force the answers out of him. Harry sighed, setting the letter aside, and began eating. He scowled as Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle came in to the Great Hall and sat across from him.

Draco grinned at Harry as he saw the letter laying next to his plate. "A letter, Potter? I thought that your parents would have disowned you already." Harry continued eating his food, ignoring his yearmate for what seemed like to him the millionth time.

"Or maybe they did, after all. " Draco reached out and grabbed the letter from beside Harry. Harry spat out his food immediately, reaching across the table in panic in an attempt to get back the letter.

"Give it back, Malfoy!" Next to Harry, Blaise was digging through his robe pockets, looking for his wand.

"Wait, Potter," Draco drawled, eyes skimming over the letter. "I'm sure Vince and Greg want to hear what this says…" Harry clenched his fists in anger, still attempting to get the letter back.

"Anyway, how's school?" he mimicked, "Stop avoiding your father and my questions about it! When we write to you about that, we do look for an answer, you know, Harry. Have you made any friends yet? And how are your classes? Are your teachers good to you? Answer these, Harry. I mean it." Draco doubled over in laughter before giving it to Pansy, who copied his laughter in her own shrieks of amusement.

Harry froze, mortified.

"Potter, you've got a wand, you idiot! Hex him!" Blaise whispered urgently in his ear. "I left mine in the dorms."

Harry blinked, before brandishing his wand. "Sag—"

"Potter, that is enough." Harry glared daggers at Snape, who had walked from his table upon seeing Harry reach for his wand. 'Stupid, slimy git, let me hex him you—' His thoughts were interrupted by Blaise prodding him with his handle of his fork harshly, as if to say: Don't make it worse.

"You will have a detention tomorrow with Mr. Filch." With that, the Head of Slytherin walked away.

Draco grinned at Harry, none too nicely. "What will Mummy think about you trying to hex another person? You should tell her in your letter back to her, along with you having no friends. We all know it's true; all your old friends hate you because you're in Slytherin. "

Harry's hand closed around his wand again, wishing will all his might that Snape wasn't watching him. "Shut up, Malfoy, you slimy git," Harry said, voice trembling in anger.

Harry stood and stormed out of the hall, his nails biting into his palms in an attempt to release his anger.

"Malfoy, you bloody idiot! Are you trying to get points taken away from Slytherin?" Blaise asked furiously after Harry left the Great Hall.

"Of course not! They wouldn't have taken points away. He's Potter's brother, after all. All of them are blinded about him, except for Snape, and he wouldn't take away points from Slytherin."

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Malfoy, piss off." Blaise reached to where the letter was lying, between Pansy and Theodore and took it. "We all know that you're just jealous that they wouldn't be friends with you, and that you want their fame."

Blaise's eyes darted to the door that Harry had disappeared through. Blaise stood, carefully tucking the letter in his robe's pocket, and walked out, intent on finding Harry before he did something stupid.

"Potter!" Harry ignored Blaise. "Harry!"

"What, Zabini? Come to rub in my face that I cracked? " Harry said, turning around. His nostrils were flared in anger and annoyance.

"Harry, you can at least call me by my first name, you know. It's not that hard, it's not even two syllables."

Harry rolled his eyes impatiently. "Why should I? Hell, I didn't even give you permission to call me by my first name."

"What permission do I need?" Blaise said exasperatedly. "You don't control me Potter, and you have no right to say that you do. I've been trying to help you, you know."

"I don't need your help! You're a Slytherin!" Harry shouted.

"And so are you, Harry!" Blaise wrung his hands. "You are a bloody Slytherin, no matter what you think! The hat obviously thought that you possess too many Slytherin qualities to fit into any other house, so just bloody accept it!"

"I am not! I may not be a Gryffindor, but I most certainly am not evil!"

Blaise froze before chuckling dryly. "Evil? Who said anything about evil? Even Malfoy's not evil, he's just annoying! My parents were even neutral in the last war; do you still think that I am evil?"

"Yes! You're a bloody Slytherin! Only Dark Wizards come from Slytherin!" Harry yelled in return.

"Oh, come off it, Harry! You are just in denial. You are a Slytherin, a bloody snake. No, that doesn't make you Slytherin himself, or You-Know-Who, or even a Dark Wizard! For Merlin's sake, I honestly doubt that you would even touch Dark Magic, judging by your stubbornness and denial about this whole thing. Hell, thank god you aren't a Parselmouth, who knows what you would do to the snakes? "

Harry paled, stuttering inarticulately. A moment later, he shook his head and the anger came back, all of it directed at Blaise instead of Draco that time. "Don't you ever even compare me to them again, Zabini." Harry grabbed Blaise's wrist, tightening his hold until Blaise nodded.

Blaise stared after Harry's retreating back, averting his gaze when Harry turned the corner. 'I probably shouldn't have gotten that mad,' he thought, 'but I couldn't help it.' Harry was the most stubborn, frustrating, and least open-minded person he knew.

And he had, of course, been sorted into Slytherin, the place where all Harry's biases came together in one clump. Wringing his hands, he said the password and walked into the Slytherin common room, slamming the door behind him.

Peering from other end of the corridor, Caden looked on with wide eyes, frozen in his spot next to the wall that Harry had just passed. His brother must have been really angry not to even notice him when he passed by.

Harry had barely calmed down by the time flying class came. In double Potions, he had dropped his cauldron, barely missing his foot. Snape hadn't even bothered to ignore him that time, criticizing his work and clumsiness in front of everyone, including the Gryffindors. Harry could feel his brother's worried gaze on him throughout the class, and deftly ignored the fact that his brother existed. It wasn't fair, he decided, that Caden could make the potion perfectly, and that Snape had walked passed Caden and Hermione's potion without bothering to give it a glance. He, however, had been ridiculed for stirring his potion too harshly, causing some of it to spill out of the cauldron.

Blaise had just spared Harry a dirty glance after the potion had spilled, refusing to insult him. Apparently, Blaise had settled to giving Harry the silent treatment.

In Transfiguration, Harry had started to calm down, only to hear Malfoy whisper: 'That Longbottom boy is awful at this! Shouldn't have been sent to Hogwarts, the filthy squib' when Neville had gotten up for the fourth time to get another needle.

Harry, soon after that, had had to go up to get another needle. His own had exploded.

Harry hadn't bothered to eat lunch. Going back to the Great Hall probably meant that Draco would bait him again, and Harry had no wish to get another detention. He was already lucky that Snape had seen fit to assign his detention with Filch instead of him.

By Charms, Harry had calmed down a bit. They were working on charming different items red, and Harry found he was better at it than he usually was when he was mad. His banana had turned completely red instantly, and when he had to turn it back, it turned yellow easily. The third time his, along with a few other people's bananas, exploded in an orange blast, though.

Finally, Flying class came. Harry walked outside, the cool breeze calming him somewhat. Of course, the peace was lasted but a short time.

"Potter! It's a shame; I haven't had a chance to talk to you all day. Too scared of the big, bad food to show up at lunch? Even Zabini showed up, but he wasn't very talkative. Maybe he's finally learned his place."

Harry determinedly walked towards where the others were standing, Slytherins on one side and Gryffindors on the other, both sides glaring daggers at one another. The only people who weren't were Caden, Ron, and Hermione who were seemingly having some sort of argument.

"Potter, going to ignore me again? I'm just trying to help! I even came up with a reply to write back to your Mudblood mother—"

Harry froze and turned around angrily. "Malfoy, shut the hell up. You're just a whining pain in the arse." Harry looked at the other, his face molded into a deadly calm expression. It was just a mask, of course. Harry's anger was rising again.

"And you're just the evil twin of the Boy-Who-Lived," Draco retorted.

Harry stiffened. He was not. "Well, at least I don't need to have bunch of people behind me to even talk to a person. Don't you have any self confidence?" Harry sneered, looking at Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle pointedly.

"I, at least, have friends," Draco said, nevertheless motioning for his friends to leave.

Harry laughed. "Friends? They just follow you because you're rich. They'll all leave you, in the end."

"Just like Zabini did to you," he countered. "Don't think that I didn't notice how he's not hanging around you anymore, since breakfast. Must have finally gotten sick of your presence."

"If you were half the person you pretend to be, the eloquent, talented, Malfoy heir," Harry said with a sarcastic tone, "then you would have better things to do that follow my life all the time."

"Of course I do. You're just the son of a Mudblood, after all. Tell me, what's it like living with one? Are they really filthy creatures, or did we overestimate them? After all, they may be even worse than we thought." Harry's anger rose even more, his fury reaching the heights that it had that morning.

"Why," Harry said, unable to keep his voice from shaking, "Who is this 'we' you speak of? Is it you and your father? Or is it you, the sniveling Death Eaters, and Voldemort?"

Draco's eyes widened at the casualness at which Harry said the Dark Lord's name. "What about your father?" he said after the pause. "Such a shame, the heir of the Potter family marrying a Mudblood. It's such a waste of good blood and magic." Draco shook his head dramatically.

"Oh, yes, because both Mudblood's and Halfbloods are such a shame to society." Harry stepped closer to Draco, breathing noisily. "You would do good to remember that a half-blood baby defeated your precious Lord Voldemort!"

Both boys stared at each other, fury in both their gazes. Neither was composed or calm in the slightest. Rather, they were furious, their anger seeping out of their bodies.

Draco reached into his pocket for his wand, only to find that he had left it in his dorms.

Harry didn't bother with his wand. He remembered his father's lessons in muggle-style fighting from when they had been younger.

He slammed his fist into Draco's nose. 'Take that, you bloody git,' he thought triumphantly.

"Caden, no, you're—"Ron was cut off by shrill laughter. He looked around in bewilderment to see Pansy laughing, only for her to suddenly cut off, looking to her right in worry.

Blaise, across from them, looked at Pansy in suspicion. Abruptly, he stepped out of the Slytherin line and looked over it in frantically. "Bloody hell," Caden heard him say before he ran off towards where Pansy, Vince, and Greg were looking.

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, but it can't be good," Hermione replied, anxiously trying to peer around the line of Gryffindors to see what was going on.

Caden ignored both of them, trying to figure out what Blaise had been worried about. He paled as he realized that two of the Slytherins weren't there: Harry and Malfoy.

"Shit!" he cursed, running towards where Blaise had gone.

Once he saw them, Caden stumbled to a stop, shocked. Both Harry and Draco were rolling on the grass, attacking each other with gusto. Harry had never liked fighting much, and Malfoy didn't seem like the type to ever resort to muggle fighting methods.

"Harry! Stop it!" Caden called, ignoring the gasps of his yearmates behind him, all who had turned when Blaise, then Caden, had run to where Pansy was looking at. Though worried, Caden couldn't help but smile when Harry got a particularly good punch in.

"Pot-Harry! Listen to your brother, you idiot!" Blaise called after a particularly bad punch on Harry's part that opened up his nose for Draco to hit. Caden looked on in surprise. Judging by what he had seen of Harry and Blaise's argument that morning, he would have thought that Blaise would have been happy to let Harry get kicked and punched.

It appeared that there were some half-decent Slytherins, after all.

Harry vaguely heard the cries of them to stop. He didn't listen; he was too angry and too determined to hurt Draco. He was so determined; in fact, that he barely noticed each time Draco hurt him, the various kicks and punches, the broken nose, or the blood running down because of the latter.

He did notice, however, when he felt two arms grab his own and tug him off the other boy. Harry attempted to kick his captor, only to feel his legs go out beneath him because of a soft kick at the back of his knee.

"Sorry, Harry, but stop it!" Caden scolded his brother. "I know that Malfoy's a git, but you'll be in huge trouble if you go fighting him every time."

"You didn't hear what he said! Now, let me go!" Harry said, managing to loosen Caden's grip on his arms.

"Oh, Potter. Looks like your brothers got you wrapped around his finger. I will never understand you Mud-"Draco cut off because of the surprise of Harry managing to break free of Caden, rushing to attack him again. Blaise, restraining the other boy, let go when Draco pushed, shocked that Harry had been able to break free of his brother's grip. Caden was taller, after all.

"Take that back, you shitfaced tosser!" Harry growled, attacking Draco again. The other boy laughed at him and grabbed Harry's wand, a sturdy linden wood wand with a dragon heartstring core, from where it had fallen out of Harry's robes during their fight.

"Steleus!" Harry was overcome with a fit of sneezes, which wasn't pleasant at all considering the broken nose that he had. Draco laughed at him through his own, occasionally wincing in pain.

Harry growled at his opponent. Caden and Blaise backed up, both fearful of what the two would do.

Harry dived at Draco, ignoring his sneezing and the pain in his nose when Draco managed to hit it again. Harry punched the retreating Draco, who didn't want to be hit by Harry's blood filled sneezes, and tried to get a hold of his wand so he could try casting the Arrow Wand charm, the charm he had tried to cast at Draco during breakfast. He had read about the said charm in Curses and Counter-Curses while he was in Flourish and Blots.

"Sagitt—"

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, come with me this instant!" Minerva McGonagall was standing next to a sheepish looking Hermione, looking alight with fury at the fight that had happened. Both boys instantly stood, looking at their Professor with a tint of worry at what she would do. She looked over them in disgust, noting the grass stains and blood covering both of them. "Finite. Episkey." Harry looked at her with as much gratefulness he could manage, happy that he had stopped sneezing and his broken nose was fixed. Malfoy touched his nose gingerly before nodding at his professor. "No, go Madam Pomfrey then meet me in Professor Snape's office. Mr. Zabini, if you would escort them."Blaise nodded in reply, deftly picking the wand out of Harry's hand and shooting him a reprimanding look.

"You two are both idiots," Blaise announced to Harry and Draco as they walked to the Hospital Wing.

"It was his fault, Zabini!" Harry said stubbornly.

"It was not, if he hadn't been in my presen—"

"Shut up, both of you! Do you know how many points you two probably just got taken away? McGonagall was the teacher that Granger got, remember? And she hates fighting!"

Both Harry and Draco stubbornly stayed silent. Harry had crossed his arms and had a sullen glower aimed at nothing in particular, and Draco had thrust his chin upwards.

"You two are bloody idiots," Blaise repeated. "Malfoy, stop baiting Harry, and Harry stop bloody listening to him!"

"You didn't hear what he said!"

"No, I didn't!" Blaise looked at Harry scoldingly. "It doesn't matter, actually. You still did respond to Draco's baits." He gave Harry a significant glance

Harry's eyes widened. Blaise wouldn't snitch, would he? "Zab—Blaise. Just—"

"I don't care, Potter!"he interrupted. "Just…of you get healed then go and get points taken off by McGonagall and Snape." Blaise knocked on the hospital wing doors.

"Madam Pomfrey, Malfoy and Potter here got into a fight. Mc-Professor McGonagall told me to escort them here and then bring them to Professor Snape's office." Blaise pushed the other two a bit so their toes had crossed the border into the Hospital Wing. Both stepped in, heads raised as if to prove that they did nothing wrong.

"A fight, you said?" The matron clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "Well, come on here, you two."

Blaise sat down on one of the chairs in the Hospital wing, rolling his eyes at the Matron bustling around both of them, casting 'Tergeo' to clean up the blood and grass stains.

'She clucks her tongue too much,' he thought in annoyance as he heard the noise again.

"Are they done yet, Madam Pomfrey? I'd like to go back to my dorms soon…," he hinted. Blaise didn't like the hospital wing very much.

"In a moment, Mister…"

"Zabini."

"Yes, yes, you're a nice boy, Mr. Zabini, bringing your friends up here—"Blaise didn't bother to correct her about the 'friends' part, too busy keeping himself from rolling his eyes and focusing on tuning out her voice.

After a few more minutes of fussing, Blaise sighed in relief when she finally stepped back and put her wand by her side. "Go now, you don't want to keep your professors waiting," the Matron dismissed them. Blaise sighed in relief, sniggering mentally when he saw that she hadn't bothered to heal their eyes. Blaise knew from watching a muggle show with his cousin, Talisa, that the slightly reddened area surrounding their eyes would turn a black and blue by the next day.

Blaise stood, motioning for the other two to follow him. Both did grudgingly, their bad moods still obviously present.

Harry peered into his dorm. Upon seeing only Blaise there, sitting on his bed, reading, he walked in. "Zabini?"

Harry found himself being ignored. "Zabini?" Harry gulped and took another step into the dorm. "Blaise?"

Blaise looked up, faintly surprised at hearing Harry call him by his first name. "Potter."

Harry winced. "Err...Blaise, I'm sorry that that I lost my temper with you earlier."

Blaise smiled internally. Perhaps Harry wasn't incorrigible, after all. "Are you, now," he said.

"Err…yeah, I am. I'm not sorry about the Malfoy thing both times today, though, I'd have to apologize to him to do that and I will never do that." Harry considered saying that Blaise had been the one to suggest hexing Draco during breakfast, but decided to omit it.

Blaise sighed, knowing it was the best he could get from Harry. "Fine."

Harry seemed to be a bit nervous, with his downcast eyes. "And, err, I'd like to, err, be friends with you if that's alright."

Blaise raised his eyebrows. "You want to be friends with an evil, slimy, Slytherin? Why, I never thought the day would come."

"I said I was sor—"Harry started, eyebrows furrowed.

Blaise hopped out of his bed, walking to his trunk. "Don't bother, Harry," he interrupted. "Oh, and here's the letter that Malfoy took from you earlier," Blaise said upon finding it. He handed it to Harry and smiled.

Harry grinned in return. "Thanks, Blaise."

Dear Mum,

Thanks for feeding Aglovale! I know he usually hunts by himself, but I remember him pecking me awake quite a few times so he wouldn't have to bother. Lazy owl. Hedwig is much less lazy, I think, though she pecks me unless I give her bacon in the morning. Picky, that owl.

School is…okay. Snape doesn't like me much. It's unfair; me and Caden are treated differently. Did you know that Caden is apparently good at potions? Him and Hermione never get yelled at (for their potions, anyway), they're the only other ones than Draco Malfoy.

And, err, your probably are going to get a letter from Professor Snape because we sort of got in to a fight. Me and Malfoy, I mean, if that's not clear enough. McGonagall and Snape are each taking turns with our detentions, we have them until end of term every Friday. I was told that I should to tell you that I had one with Filch on Friday already, so the first one for me starts Saturday. And we got fifty points taken away from Slytherin by McGonagall, of course. Snape would never take off points, I think he was glaring at her when she said that.

Err…Sorry?

Yeah, I made a friend, Blaise Zabini. He's…nice, in his own way, but always talks sarcastically. It's really amusing sometimes, but when I'm angry, it doesn't help my mood very much.

-Harry

So, how was this chapter? I got mad while writing it, it was a bit explosive, don't you think?

Oh, and I do reply to all of your reviews, if you didn't know. Unless they only say something like 'Update.' There really isn't anything to reply to that but an actual update, so….

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