The dark-eyed man captured Harry's gaze and after a long moment, nodded his chin toward the table where Harry had seen other new Slytherins go. So Harry obediently slid off the stool and handed the hat off to Professor McGonagall before making his way over to his new Housemates.
Once there, he stood next to the table, with the newly sorted Slytherins staring up at him like he had three heads, maybe four. He was sure he was about to told to 'bugger off' for the space of one breath, then two, before one of them, a stringy looking boy, sorted into the House just two before Harry, slid over on the bench and gestured to the space now open beside him. His name was Nott, Harry remembered. Theodore Nott. 'Sit down, Potter. And quit gawking for pity's sake.'
'Thanks,' Harry said, and slipped into the seat, ducking his head to avoid the stares.
But the rest of the Hall finally recalled what they were doing before Harry's sorting startled them, and went back to watching the hat as 'Thomas, Dean' was sorted into Gryffindor. He got the expected cheers that everyone so far – except Harry – had received, and was followed by 'Turpin, Lisa' going into Ravenclaw, and 'Weasley, Ronald' into Gryffindor. 'Zabini, Blaise,' was last, and landed in Slytherin. Harry clapped along with others at his table, and made room as Zabini came to sit down on the other side of Nott.
Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and put it away.
TBC . . .
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Next chapter: After the first feast!
A/N: This is just an idea, which if no one cares about, I'll probably write anyway. If you do like it, though, be sure and let me know. Or if you hate it, too. I can take it. :-) Gotta have something in between 5th Summer Harry and 7-year-old Harry, right?
Short chapter to begin with, my apologies, but I wanted to get the set up out of the way, and I need more time to think about where it'll go from here. Hopefully, I can keep up with this story as well as my other two, but it may be a bit more sporadic -- like once a week instead of every other day.
*Chapter 2*: Chapter 2
Better Be Slytherin! -- Chapter 2
By jharad17
Disclaimer: Not mine
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Severus Snape had dreaded this day for eleven years. He had always known that Harry Potter would one day come to Hogwarts -- the boy's name had been down since the day he was born, after all -- and he had always known he would have to deal with the daily reminder of James, in his classes, in the Great Hall at meals, and even in the hallways. He had nursed the dread, worked it in his mind like clay, molded it into the perfect shape of his hate and desire for vengeance. He had expected the child to be a copy of his father. Even after James and Lily died, he knew that blood would out. The boy wouldn't be able to help it, he was sure. He would be arrogant and vain, attention seeking and nasty as you please, with a particular fondness for rules breaking.
But even so, he had not expected the son of James and Lily to be a Slytherin.
When silence descended on the Great Hall after the announcement, Severus had, for a moment, been sure he'd heard wrong. It must be a mistake. There was no way the precious Boy Who Lived would be anything but a Gryffindor like his widely adored and completely obnoxious father. But the boy stood there, silent as well, looking around him as if all his dreams had been crushed -- as well they might! No applause; the horror! -- before his expression went carefully blank the barest moment later, and his chin went up just a fraction.
Severus could have applauded the little blighter for that -- Never let them beat you down, boy! -- but instead, when the boy finally caught his eye, he merely indicated the Slytherin table and Harry went to sit with the rest of his House. After all, it was just like Potter's son to think everyone should applaud him simply for putting on a hat. Severus' lip curled in disgust. Just like the Potter brat to look down on his new House, too.
He watched the boy sit next to Nott, and watched Zabini join them a moment later. Potter kept his head down, though Severus noted the quick glances he darted about, probably trying to figure a way to get more attention for himself. Arrogant brat.
Albus made some nonsensical speech, the same as every year, though Severus could swear he heard a tiny note of melancholy in the Headmaster's voice. Ah, well, of course the Old Coot thought the Potter brat would end up in his
At last the feast proper began, and as he did every year while he ate, Severus watched the goings on at the students' tables, and Slytherin's in particular. It often gave him insight into what peer groups would be of a given year, and he could always use that information to his advantage. At the Slytherin table, he was interested to see that, although the Bloody Baron was hovering rather close to Malfoy, putting the boy off his feed, the discomfiting ghost had his gaze fixed firmly on the Potter brat. And he looked
Severus sighed. That didn't bode well.
He watched the Brat Who Lived stare at the massive platters of food, and then turn his blank-eyed stare on the other students. He noticed the Brat didn't take any food until he was sure everyone else had piled their plates high. And then, he
Dinner proceeded apace, and Severus soon turned out the mumblings of the turban-headed DADA teacher beside him, as well as Minerva's occasional huffs of annoyance as she discussed the Sorting – clearly she'd thought the Brat would be in her House, as Albus had. For a brief moment, he considered telling her she was welcome to him! But he had never removed a student from his House before, and would not set such a standard now. Not with Potter, of all people.
When dinner was through, he watched the Slytherin prefects march his House out of the Great Hall. They strode before their peers, from First Years to Seventh, silently and in perfect formation. He nodded politely as he
