Chapter Text
“Slytherin!”
The Great Hall fell silent at the pronouncement of the Hat. Harry Potter removed the hat from his head and handed it back to Professor McGonagall, who was standing behind him looking like she had swallowed a lemon. Harry, however, was so relieved to have that over with he did not notice the look she gave him. He slid off the stool and walked over to the Slytherin table, the students had recovered quickly from the initial shock and were cheering and clapping for him. He sat down next to Draco Malfoy, who smiled and offered Harry his hand in congratulations and welcome.
Severus Snape was sitting at the end of the teacher’s table directly in front of his snakes. Fortunately, by virtue of his many years as a spy, he had an iron grip on his emotions and as such his face registered nothing but faint surprise at Harry Potter being sorted into his House.
The sorting continued in spite of the muttering which had broken out across the Hall, when the last student Zabini Blaise had also been sorted into Slytherin, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore gave a short distracted welcome speech and the feast began.
Harry was shocked at the amount of food which had appeared in front of him and it took Draco to nudge him in encouragement for him to realise he was allowed to eat it. Harry piled up his plate with more food than he could possibly eat in a whole week and smiled at Draco. If Harry was aware of the fact that every table apart from Slytherin was discussing his shock sorting it did not show in the boy's demeanour.
Professor Snape watched Harry Potter sitting at his House table, his first-year school tie was now green and silver and the Hogwarts crest on his outer robes was now the Snake emblem of Slytherin house. He looked exactly like his father except for his eyes, they were Lily's eyes, he was smaller and thinner than Severus would have expected, something he would look into during the coming week though surely it was nothing to worry about the Headmaster had been reassuring the Order for ten years that Harry was well cared for, spoiled even, by his loving family. Surprisingly perhaps, the boy seemed to fit quite well with the other new students. Young Mr Malfoy was certainly monopolising the boy’s attention but Harry managed to speak with every student sitting close to him. He looked perfectly at ease among the snakes as if he had no clue how controversial it was that he had sorted into Slytherin.
Harry was smiling and talking to a first-year girl seated across from him when he glanced up at the teacher’s table and winced, his hand going to the scar on his forehead. Severus thought for one terrible moment Harry was looking at him, but then he realised the boy’s gaze was actually on Professor Quirell who was seated beside him. He saw Potter pointing to the Dark Arts Professor while asking Draco a question. The boy looked like he was in pain, something else Snape would have to look into in the morning. He had a feeling the Headmaster was going to be difficult tonight.
Harry for his part was perfectly aware of the effect his sorting had on those around him, though he was not entirely sure why it had so great an effect he would find out though Harry did not like not knowing things. He had learned the hard way, living with the Dursleys for ten years, that what you did not know could and often would still hurt you. He did know that he had been warned against Slytherin House twice. Hagrid had told him that every witch or wizard that had gone bad had been in Slytherin. Then, Ron Weasely, one of a family of redheads he had followed onto the platform at Kings Cross and who had sought him out on the train and sat with him had echoed this warning. Harry however was taking the warning with a grain of salt, in Harry’s experience evil was usually very good at covering its tracks and was often hidden where people least expected to find it. These warnings were strange and seemingly deliberate and Harry did not completely trust them.
Harry had also met Draco on the train and Ron had reacted angrily to Harry shaking his hand. Harry, however, thought it would have been rude to refuse the offered hand, after all, Harry knew no more about this blond boy than he did about Ron or Hagrid. Draco had mentioned that some wizarding families were better than others when Ron had reacted to the handshake. Clearly, prejudice existed on both sides of whatever divide there was here and Harry was not about to make any snap judgements about the right or the wrong sort of people, he was new here and he needed more information before he made any such decisions. It seemed to him that someone wanted him to dislike or possibly distrust Slytherin House, someone who had clearly never met Harry Potter.
Harry had chosen Slytherin when he had been given the chance to choose. The Sorting Ceremony had intrigued him and he had watched closely as the students ahead of him had been sorted into their houses. The Sorting Hat as its name suggested sorted students into houses, which would be like their family, Professor McGonagall had told them. It was not precisely what he had expected but then he could not say what he had expected at a school of Magic.
While he waited to be sorted Harry looked around the Great Hall at the older students who were seated at four long tables, which Harry assumed were house tables, they seemed to be identified by the colour green, red, blue and yellow. Ron was whispering in his ear about Gryffindor being the best house and how the rest of his family were in Gryffindor and how awful it would be if he ended up in Slytherin. Harry was trying to ignore him, Ron was extremely irritating and very rude he had decided.
Harry returned his attention to the Hat, sometimes it took a while to decide, like with Granger, Hermione, it had taken several minutes before announcing “Gryffindor” but it had shouted “Slytherin,” almost before it touched Malfoy, Draco’s head.
Harry had no idea what to expect when his turn came so the voice in his head was a surprise. “Oh my, a difficult one, courage and cunning as well as a nice thirst to prove yourself now, that’s interesting. So where to put you?” Harry remained silent. “You could be great, you know, it's all here, inside your head. Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness.” Harry was reminded of the very strange Mr Ollivander, who had said he expected great things from Harry when he had sold him his wand. He expected the Hat to call out Slytherin then so he was surprised when the hat continued to speak, “Unless…perhaps you might prefer Gryiffndor?” it asked.
Harry, who had not realised he was allowed an opinion startled “why would I prefer Gryffindor?” he thought curiously.
“Gryffindor is the house of the courageous and brave. You certainly are both of those, not to mention daring and chivalrous. Some might consider that more fitting for the saviour, the boy who lived,” the hat said neutrally.
Harry snorted and replied “the boy who lived? I have no idea what that means, you said Slytherin first,” he hedged.
“You would do well in Slytherin,” the hat repeated.
“Well, if you’re asking me, I would like to go there please,” Harry said firmly.
“Excellent choice Mr Potter,” the Hat said before shouting Slytherin to the room.
The whole thing was entirely unexpected but Harry was not unhappy with his choice to go to Slytherin, in fact for some reason he felt like he had avoided some kind of pitfall. That was a thought for later for now he just wanted to enjoy the feast, he had never seen so much food in one place and he regretted he was unable to eat more than he did but his stomach was quite small as a result of not being fed well. When the meal ended the perfects stood and called for the first years to follow them, Harry went to follow his new housemates to the Slytherin dorms and common room but he was intercepted by a tall dark-haired teacher in black robes. “Mr Potter, I am Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin House and I am afraid the Headmaster wants to see us in his office.”
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Dumbledore was furious and very concerned his plan had gone awry somehow and he needed to fix it. He strode purposefully out of the Great Hall just before the end of the feast stopping only to tell Severus to bring Harry to his office and the end of the feast. Then he continued straight on to his office and floo called the Minister for Magic. He should have known something was amiss when Molly had reported not seeing Harry at Kings Cross. He had dismissed it thinking Hagrid had accidentally given the boy too much information, Hagrid was not great with secrets after all. Now, however, he wanted answers; he needed the Aurors to investigate whatever dark spell or charm had been put on Harry or the Sorting Hat or both.
“Fudge,” he yelled after throwing a handful of floo powder into the flames and giving the floo name for the Minister for Magic's home.
“What is it, Albus? Do you know what time it is?” Fudge answered, sounding annoyed. He had clearly been getting ready for bed when Albus had erupted in his floo.
“Harry Potter just sorted into Slytherin,” Dumbledore growled in explanation.
“What!” The minister spluttered “how could you let that happen,” he demanded.
“I didn’t let it happen, it just happened. I need the Aurors and an Unspeakable someone has gotten to the boy or the Sorting Hat, maybe both,” Dumbledore ordered.
“I’ll be right there,” Fudge muttered, sounding resigned.
Dumbledore sat heavily in his chair as his deputy Minerva McGonagall walked into his office with the Sorting hat in her hand. She placed the hat on the Headmaster’s desk and sat down in one of the visitor’s chairs opposite him and huffed “Well that was a shambles, what happens now?” she demanded.
“I don’t know Minerva, Severus is bringing Harry here and I have called the Minister to bring some Aurors and one of the Unspeakables, something is amiss we must figure out how this happened,” He said with a deep sigh.
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Professor Snape strode through the corridors of the castle his robes billowing threateningly behind him. He was quite an intimidating sight, Harry thought as he ran to keep up with the man. Snape did not speak as they walked; he seemed to be annoyed, though Harry judged it was not with him. Finally, they came to a halt outside an archway with a huge bird-like creature Harry had never seen before blocking the entrance. Snape glared at the bird as if it had insulted him, then said “Sherbert Lemon,” in his warm baritone voice. The bird started to turn revealing a hidden staircase, Snape turned to look at the boy beside him, “Come, Mr Potter, it won’t do to keep the Headmaster waiting. Don’t worry you are not in any trouble and I won’t let him keep you here too late, I will get you to your dorm at a reasonable hour,” he said reassuringly and he put a hand on Harry’s back to guide him to the stairs. Touch was usually something Harry avoided as much as he could, associating it mostly with pain or humiliation. However, something strange happened when Snape touched him, warmth spread through him emanating from the man's hand and spreading through his stomach and chest and Harry felt safe and protected. The teacher did not remove his hand until they stepped into the headmaster’s office.
Professor McGonagall looked up from her seat in front of the headmaster’s desk as Snape guided Harry to the empty chair beside her and sat in the chair on Harry’s other side. He said nothing but the glare he was giving the Headmaster would have had a lesser wizard cowering in fear.
Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, tumbled out of the floo several minutes later followed by Aurors Shacklebolt and Robards and Unspeakable Croaker. The three men had been the lucky ones on duty that night and had therefore answered the Minister’s frantic call.
Albus Dumbledore’s face was like thunder as he explained the problem to Unspeakable Croaker and that he required both Harry and the Hat to be thoroughly checked for compulsions, charms, spells and potions. The man sighed and met Snape’s eye and the Slytherin Head of House gave the man an imperceptible nod. Saul Croaker had been a Slytherin at school and if he was any judge, young Harry Potter had been sorted into the Slytherin for a reason. He could see the signs of a child raised in an abusive family, a situation which tended to result in a person developing Slytherin traits such as self-preservation, cunning and resourcefulness. He did not argue however he went to work casting what felt like a hundred different spells on both Harry and the Sorting Hat but he found no spells, charms, potions or compulsions affecting either of them. He cast several more spells on the Hat then he placed it back on Harry’s head and asked the Hat to re-sort him.
The Hat asked Harry if he was still happy with his choice, when he replied that he was, the Sorting Hat huffed and said “Still Slytherin,” and he refused to speak again. So in spite of the Headmaster’s insistence that the Hat was wrong and the Minister’s spluttering about the saviour being in the House of Snakes, Harry remained in Slytherin.
When all avenues of investigation had been exhausted, Fudge left taking his employees with him but promised a full investigation if Dumbledore asked for one. Albus was at a loss; he looked across the desk at his deputy Professor McGonagall who again looked like she had swallowed a lemon.
Severus had enough, he stood up and said “I am sorry Headmaster, but I have duties to see to and first years to welcome. Not to mention that young Mr Potter ought to be in his dorm preparing for bed, I must insist we leave now. Come, Harry,” he said standing up and motioned for the boy to stand up and follow him.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief when his Head of House insisted they leave. He did not know what was happening or why people were so upset about him being in Slytherin. He had noticed however that not one person had asked him what he wanted, only the hat had given him a choice. He was perfectly happy to be in Slytherin and had been terrified when he realised he might end up in another House. He didn’t want another house, he wanted to stay in Slytherin, he liked the people he had met so far and he liked Professor Snape. He stood instantly and went to the door only relaxing when he was in the corridor headed to the dungeons with Snape.
Their walking pace back to the dungeons was much more sedate than the walk to the Headmaster’s office had been, the Professor also seemed more relaxed once they got out of the office and he was definitely less irritated. Harry looked up at the tall dark-haired, hook-nosed teacher walking beside him and was struck with a thought, Aunt Petunia had told him that his mother had a friend called Snape, Severus Snape. Could this man be his mother’s friend? Harry figured he had nothing to lose by asking “Professor Snape?”
“Yes Mr Potter,” the man replied. He had expected Harry to have questions about the visit to the Headmaster’s office, so he was caught off guard by Harry’s actual question.
“Were you friends with my mum?” Harry asked the words tumbling quickly out of his mouth before he could change his mind.
Severus Snape stopped walking and looked at the boy with an unreadable expression. He had not expected Harry to know anything about him or his connection to Lily.
“Who told you that?” He asked cautiously.
“My Aunt Petunia. She…well, it was a bit odd really. She caught me in the kitchen last night making food and I thought…well…” He trailed off Professor Snape did not need to know about his aunt's tendency to take the wooden spoon to him. “She said some things about my mum and then she told me that she couldn’t tell me anything about this school I was going to but she suggested I send an owl to Severus Snape because he was my mum’s best friend and I just wondered if that was you?” Harry explained. His heart was beating loudly now and his breath caught in his throat as the teacher looked at him with fire in his eyes.
Severus struggled to take in that information without reacting; he had many questions about those revelations both spoken and those that were not spoken. He wanted to know about Petunia and how Harry had ended up with her, she surely could not have been Lily’s choice of guardian. “You are close to your aunt?” He inquired with a raised eyebrow.
“No, she hates me, that’s why it was odd. She told me she always knew that they would never stop me from turning into a freak like my mum. I guess I understand now that she and Uncle Vernon did everything they could to try and beat or starve the magic out of me for the ten years I’ve lived with them. She said I should never have ended up with her, that it was not what mum would have wanted. Then she told me to write to Severus Snape, ‘cause he was mum’s best friend, is it you sir?” Harry spoke in a flat matter-of-fact tone, looking at the floor.
Severus took a minute then to properly look at the boy standing in front of him. His head was down and his shoulders were hunched over like he expected to be in trouble for asking a question. As he observed him Severus finally saw past the fact that Harry looked a lot like his father, and realised that the boy who was small for his age and far too skinny, was wearing oversized rags and had the haunted look of an abused child. Severus knew that look, he had seen it too many times in his career as a teacher, not to mention in the mirror during his own childhood. “I see,” he said softly. “Well yes, I am Severus Snape and I was friends with your mother, but it is late and I need to speak to the rest of your housemates and you need to get to bed. Come and see me on Saturday morning, I will be in my office from 9 o clock, the door is opposite the common room we can talk more then,” the man told him gently.
Harry looked up at his teacher whose expression had softened and he nodded “Thank you, sir,” he whispered. Severus put his hand on Harry’s shoulder and said “We look after our own in Slytherin Harry, and you are one of us now, you are not alone,” he told the boy and then he started walking again. Harry followed his Head of House to the Slytherin common room. Harry was amazed by the common room, which was obviously below the water level of the Black Lake judging by the massive squid swimming past the huge ornate window on the back wall making it feel like the common room was in an aquarium.
Professor Snape made a short speech to welcome the students who were just beginning their education and those who were returning students. He told them that there would be House study groups available for each class and that lists would go up in the morning for people to sign up, he reminded them to look out for each other and to come to him at any time if they needed him. Then he left the common room and went straight to his private quarters, he made a note to speak to Poppy about getting Potter checked over and he would brew some nutrient potions for the boy. He tore off his robe and threw it over his sofa then he poured himself a drink and cursed Petunia Evans to hell and back.
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Albus Dumbledore remained in his study late into the night. Minerva had left to attend to her students, they had not been able to think of a solution to the problem. The Hat had refused to enter into a discussion about the sorting saying he had made his decision and that Harry was happy with his decision.
Albus was annoyed. It seemed that Harry Potter was not the boy he had been expecting and he had no idea how his plan had gone so wrong. He thought he had covered everything; he had the wills of James and Lily Potter suppressed so he could claim magical guardianship of Harry. He had gotten rid of the troublesome Godfather and placed Harry with Lily’s muggle relatives, the Dursleys, he knew they would mistreat the boy, not enough to kill him or do permanent damage (he hoped) but enough that Harry would arrive in the magical world ignorant and downtrodden.
The next step in the plan had been sending Hagrid to collect Harry instead of a teacher. He knew the giant would not know to give Harry the muggle-born information or the pamphlets which were given to the new students and their families on meeting with Hogwarts staff members. He would however tell Harry all about how great Albus was and expound the virtue of Gryffindor while warning about Slytherin House.
It seemed that things had gone wrong at the station. Molly had reported not seeing the boy, he could not fathom how Harry had managed to board the train without help from the Weasleys. He had spoken with Hagrid and he knew the Grounds Keeper had done exactly as he had instructed, he had given him his ticket but had left out the vital piece of information about the entrance to Platform 9 ¾. The Dursleys would not have known so they could not have helped him. He should have been lost, confused and scared. The Weasleys were supposed to sweep in and save him by showing him how to get onto the platform thereby earning Harry's trust and gratitude. Then Ron should have sat with Harry on the train and reinforced Hagrid’s anti-Slytherin rantings and planted suspicion in Harry’s mind around Slytherins and Severus Snape.
Harry was supposed to be in Gryffindor and become friends with Ron Weasley, a pure-blood from a light family and the muggle girl Hermione Granger both of whom he had hand-picked as Harry’s best friends and together they would be the new Marauders. Dumbledore even had a marriage contract written up for Harry and Ginerva Weasley which he planned to lodge when the time was right. How Harry had been placed in Slytherin was beyond his comprehension, had Hagrid and Ron not told him how evil the house was, how only dark wizards came from Slytherin, had he relied too much on them? He would speak to Ron in the morning and find out what had happened on the train. He would fix this, just as soon as he knew what went wrong.