AN: So after three months of barely writing a word, in the last three days I wrote no less than 20k (!). Most of that was on another (new) idea, but it felt absolutely trivial yesterday to switch to Riddle of the Ages and write the last 2500 words of this chapter. Which means you all get an update! For now I will go back to this other project, which I will likely continue on a while longer before uploading anything, but sometime the next week I intend to have a go at finishing the Harry/Cissy/Andi/Bella one-shot that is currently sitting on my pc as a WIP, and I also intend to write a scene for RotA every now and then, to hopefully have the next update within a month from now.

AN: Editing this in, because some people apparently need it: This is, as the summary states, an Alternate Universe. That means there are changes from canon - such as Arithmancy being a core subject, rather than a third year elective.

Chapter 6: The First Day

Determining the cause of the problem didn't take all that long. Albus could simply look up the guardians of the Riddles, and found that they were none other than Thorfinn and Euphemia Rowle, home address Privet Drive 10. The girls had only been entered to Hogwarts four years ago, in early July, rather than at the first sign of accidental magic as was common for prospective Hogwarts students.

But that wasn't the part that baffled Albus the most. The Rowles were a staunchly Dark family, always had been. He'd long suspected them of being Death Eaters, and them having custody of Voldemort's own children – from Bellatrix, it appeared, considering Delphini's middle name was Bellatrix – seemed to confirm that.

First of all. Why would the Lord of a Dark family move to a muggle neighborhood? The biggest common denominator of the Dark families – and specifically the particular brand that sided with Voldemort – was that they disliked muggles. And second, if they come across none other than the Boy-Who-Lived, the one who vanquished their Lord, completely unprotected, unwatched, beaten down by his family both literally and figuratively, unaware of his heritage, why would they not kill him? Why, in fact, would they go for the opposite, and teach him?

Were they hoping to get him on their side? That seemed extremely unlikely to Albus. Even if they could imprint their worldview on the boy, he would still resent Voldemort for the murder of his parents. And more importantly, Voldemort's repeated use of the horcrux ritual would have made his mind far too rigid for him to ever consider letting Harry live when given the chance to kill him.

Albus sighed. As far as he could tell, he had access to all the facts now, yet the picture they painted made no sense. He'd also have to figure out what else had happened. The Dursleys should have starved Harry enough for him to have permanent damage, yet there was none of that, so Albus could only assume he had received nutrition potions, perhaps for years.

Yet everything, absolutely everything had remained secret. The Rowles could have gained a lot of political clout by 'rescuing' the Boy-Who-Lived while damaging Albus's reputation – it was known Albus had been the one 'hiding' Harry. Why, if they were willing to go to such lengths to undo Albus's plans, had they decided to not damage Albus's reputation? Sure, Albus could deflect any accusations well enough to keep most of his power, but it would have still been a huge victory for the Rowles. What could secrecy gain them that they would lose by making it public?

He sighed. Thinking in circles wouldn't get him anywhere. For now, he had a school to run, and breakfast was about to start. It wouldn't do for the Leader of the Light to be absent at the first breakfast of the school year. And in the meanwhile, he'd start working on ways to endear himself to Harry, because if he wanted to be able to manipulate him into lethally dangerous situations, he'd need to have the boy's trust. Returning the Cloak of Death would be a good start for doing so. Not to mention the boy might have knowledge of it if he knew so much else, so keeping it would be a big risk either way. Another step he could take was try and foster a relationship between Hagrid and the boy, as he'd already been planning to. A little hint should be enough.

Harry was the first of the Slytherin boys to wake up – or at least, it seemed to be that way, considering there was no one in the showers they shared yet – but it also seemed Tomasha had bested them all, as she was sitting in the common room already when he entered, looking completely relaxed in her chair.

"Good morning," Harry said, sitting down next to her. "Do you think we should go to breakfast already?"

"We should have enough time to wait for Delph," Tomasha replied. "If she isn't here in ten minutes I'm going to check if she didn't fall back asleep, though. You know how it is with Delph and Monday mornings."

Harry snorted. He wasn't sure if Delphini had ever been properly awake before nine.

As it turned out, however, she was at least somewhat awake, as she sleepwalked into the common room a few minutes later.

"Good morning," Harry greeted, deciding not to act fake cheerful and annoy Delphini. Today, at least. "Shall we go and have breakfast?"

Rather than answering, Delphini simply changed directions to the common room exit instead, joined by Harry and Tomasha.

"They might have coffee," Tomasha said as they stepped into the hallway.

Delphini noticeably perked up.

Harry snorted.

Delphini glared.

Harry held up his hands in defeat.

Delphini glared some more, for good measure.

Harry decided to change the topic. "Why do they only give us the schedules this morning? I mean, we're going to breakfast not even knowing what class we have, so we'll have to go back to the dorms afterwards to get our books."

"I don't know," Tomasha replied. "Maybe they have to wait before the older years have chosen all their subjects, so that they can fit those schedules?"

"That matters for us?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Tomasha replied. "They have the same professors, at least sometimes. So when making the schedule, they also have to make sure that the professors can be everywhere they need to be. There's a reason the school can't run on ten professors."

Harry snorted as he imagined that. "You're right, that would make no sense."

Just then, they entered the Great Hall, which was slowly filling up with students on this first morning of the year. Tomasha determinedly made her way towards a place near the middle of the table, Harry and Delphini on her heels.

"There's coffee indeed," Harry noted as they sat down. Delphini immediately reached for it to pour herself a cup, while Harry instead went for the pumpkin juice. He was just putting some bacon on his plate when a voice spoke up behind them and he turned around.

"Mr Potter, Miss Riddle, Miss Riddle. Your schedules." Harry couldn't help but notice the slight sneer in Professor Snape's voice as the man spoke, in particular when mentioning Harry. Without another word, their Head of House walked away.

"Is it just me or does he not like me?" Harry remarked.

"Seems like it," Tomasha said. "Perhaps because you're the Boy-Who-Lived?"

"I guess," Harry replied. "But would Dumbledore hire someone who sympathizes with Voldemort?"

"Don't say his name," a voice hissed. Harry turned to find Malfoy.

"Why would he make a new name for himself if it wasn't for people to use it?"

"You have no right to say it!"

"Heir Malfoy. First of all, who would decide that? And second, if anyone has a right to say his name, wouldn't it be me?" Harry snorted. "You really need to play up your Slytherin side, Heir Malfoy. If you keep displaying your opinion of Voldemort like this, like a Gryffindor would, people might think you're condoning violence, too. That would be politically… unfavorable."

"You know, Harry has a point," Tomasha commented, idly playing with her fork, as Malfoy grew red at the next insinuation he should have been a Gryffindor. However, it seemed the boy realized he should back off, and he stalked off towards Crabbe and Goyle, appearing a little agitated.

"He's going to be trouble," Harry said.

"Well, you did tell me you purposefully antagonized him in Diagon Alley."

"Now, I did nothing of the sort," Harry proclaimed innocently. "I only asked him if he was muggleborn because he didn't introduce himself, as any noble would have."

"Just like you introduced yourself yesterday, you mean?" Tomasha asked, pulling off the innocent act much better than Harry could.

Harry shrugged. "Can you imagine a Weasley caring about all that?"

"I'd probably suspect possession," Tomasha replied. "So, our schedule. Double charms, arithmancy, history of magic, transfiguration. And we have a mandatory flying lesson afterwards." She scanned the parchment. "And tomorrow first thing in the morning again transfiguration. I really hope we don't get homework for that, we just wouldn't have time with the flying lesson."

"I'm looking forwards to Defense Against the Dark Arts on Wednesday," Harry said. The combat spells they'd practiced wandlessly, such as stunners and shields, were among his favorites. "Is History of Magic as boring as it sounds?"

"Probably," Tomasha said.

Coffee made the unwelcome truth of having to be awake somewhat acceptable, so when Delphini followed Tomasha and Harry along to class, she considered talking a viable option. Not that she actually had a reason to put that in practice right now. Tomasha had somehow figured out the location of the Charms classroom and the route there just from the schedule and a single quick question to an older student, so they were among the first to arrive.

The Ravenclaws tended to arrive earlier than the Slytherins did, which absolutely didn't surprise Delphini, however everyone seemed to have arrived three minutes before the bell rang, as the tiny teacher – part goblin, Delphini suspected – closed the door and asked for silence.

"Welcome to your first lesson on Charms. I am Professor Filius Flitwick, it is great to see so many new students again. As it seems we are complete, I will take a roll call to start matching your faces to your names, and then we'll get into the nature of spells."

Said roll call proceeded with absolutely nothing worth noting happening, and after Blaise Zabini had been called on and identified, Flitwick moved on to the lesson.

"We have a double hour today," he said, "which means we should have enough time to both discuss just how spells work exactly, and get started on the first charm you will learn, lumos. I will use the lumos charm to help you translate the theory that we start with into actual casting.

"In the longer term, Charms class will function as the core subject on magic. You will learn a significant part of magical theory in this class, as well as spell classification, various methods of spellcasting and many spells with a wide range of applications, from telling the time to charming an object almost unbreakable.

"Can anyone perhaps tell me what the fundamental principle of all spellcasting is? In a single word?"

Next to Delphini, Harry and Tomasha raised their hands, as did Greengrass and a few of the Ravenclaws. Delphini herself didn't bother.

"Mr Potter?"

"Intent."

"Very good, two points to Slytherin. Intent is at the basis of every piece of magic you or any other wizard, witch or other magical being or creature has ever performed or will ever perform. Not just wand magic, mind you, all magic. Intent is always the first and most important requirement.

"However, here in Great Britain, and indeed almost everywhere around the world, we wizards and witches perform most if not all our magic with a wand. Perhaps someone can tell me which three extra requirements come with wand magic, to together make the four fundamental steps of casting a spell with a wand?"

Tomasha slowly raised her hand, making Delphini wonder if she was indeed unsure, or if she was trying to not show off her knowledge. Typically, it was the second, but Delphini had to admit that in this case, she really didn't know which one it was. No one else had an answer for Flitwick, at least.

"Miss Riddle?"

"Intent, incantation, wand movement and the wand."

"Very good, very good. Take three points for Slytherin, there are some minor subtleties that complicate it, but you've pretty much nailed it, and in the correct order as well. As already mentioned, the intent always comes first, and is the only step out of the four that cannot be skipped no matter what you do. And though it is the easiest to approximate – after all, if you cast a spell you probably want to cast it – it is the hardest of the four steps to master, which directly ties into why wandless magic is so much more time consuming to learn than wand magic.

"The main goal of the other three steps is to simplify the casting in various ways. You could see them as funnels that guide your raw combination of intent and magic in a specific direction. An incantation aids you in obtaining the exact right intent, a gesture, which can be made either with or without a wand, helps the intent translate the magic into the actual spell, and the wand helps you focus the actual cast of the spell.

"Now, don't be fooled, some of these may sound like minor things, but each step is very important in your spellcasting, and it won't be until sixth year that you learn to skip the incantation. Skipping the gesture is something you will through spell usage, but it is unique for every spell and it may very well take hundreds if not thousands of casts to learn to cast it without gesture. Casting without wand is not taught at all, as it is simply too complicated and time-consuming. Only about half of all wizards and witches can wandlessly cast even a single spell, and only a very small number have a significant repertoire of wandless spells.

"I would recommend that you write down the key aspects of every step of a normal spell cast as we go over them during this lecture."

Flitwick waited a few seconds while several students scrambled for their parchment. Delphini already had hers at the ready.

"First up, intent. Intent, as we already discussed, is at the core of spell casting. Raw intent is something that is very hard to define, and therefore very hard to understand. For example, I can have the intent to lift this book into the air, but how am I going to do that? Am I going to make it hover? Am I going to push it up? Am I going to pull it towards the ceiling, or even the sky? And once it hovers, should it stay in place, or should it move one way or another? Do I want a predetermined way of movement, or do I want to be able to direct movement as it flies?

"All these different possibilities require minute differences in intent. And that's all assuming you have your intent clear enough in front of your mind that you can lift the book up at all. You will see that as we go through the steps of spellcasting, they help guide your magic through all these variables and more. However, it can only guide you in one way. Can someone tell me what this means for the actual spells?"

Several people raised their hands.

"Mr Goldstein?"

"There are different spells depending on what you need."

"Very good, two points to Ravenclaw. A lot of spells are organized in so-called families. The motion charm family, which deals with moving objects around, contains dozens of different charms. The most well-known ones are of course the levitation charm, the summoning charm and the banishing charm, but there are many different charms that can give better results in certain situations.

"The levitation charm, for example, simply pushes an object up into the air. That means the object will be wobbling somewhat, both because it is affected by air flow and because the magic channeled into the charm will always vary slightly from moment to moment. If you need to keep an object stable in the air, the hover charm may be superior, even if it is more intensive to cast. Again, intent is something that is very hard to pin down, as you can see from the differences between these charms, and the other aspects of spellcasting will help you out in this.

"The second step, magically, is your incantation. Note that while we discuss these 'steps' as separate, they actually occur at the same time if you are casting a spell. An incantation uses a number of underlying magical principles to help refine the intent of your spell cast. As these magical principles are NEWT-level arithmancy, we will not discuss them in this class, or indeed for several more years – for now, it is enough to know they exist.

"Thanks to this arithmancy, which makes use of the magic innate in all languages, the incantation of a spell helps refine your intent to better align with the spell. This is also why proper incantation is extremely important when learning a spell, and why incorrect incantations can have unpleasant side effects at times. Perhaps someone can tell me why dead languages like Latin are often more useful to use for incantations than modern languages such as English?"

All hands remained down. Delphini had no idea either.

"Miss Patil, perhaps? Don't worry about answering wrong, I wouldn't expect anyone to know this already."

"Uh…" the Indian girl hesitated. "Perhaps older languages have more power?"

"No, but it was a good try. Dead languages are more useful than living languages because they are more strictly defined. In a language like English, words may change their meaning over time, however in a language like Latin the meaning of words is much more constant, as it is not used in daily life. Because the meaning is more well-defined, the intent is better defined too, which in turn makes the incantation easier to get right.

"After the incantation, the next step is the gesture. Normally, the gesture is your wand movement, however if you were to cast a wandless spell, a gesture similar to the wand movement would ease the spellcasting in the same way. As for what a gesture does, it translates your magic and intent into an actual spell. It is as if you are refining raw magic into something more specific.

"Gestures are based off of various shapes and their magical significance. Again, the exact nature is NEWT-level, and is not often relevant outside of spellcrafting, which is offered at this school as optional subject during the final two years of your education. However, the interplay of the intent you already pinned down and the shape of your gesture will aid you in shaping your magic into a form that can actually achieve what you are aiming for.

"Over time, as your experience in using a specific spell increases, you will find yourself better able to shape your magic in the correct form even without the gesture. This will slowly give you more and more leeway in the gesture, and consequently you will likely find that as you keep using a spell, the gesture becomes less and less precise, and may in fact disappear from your routine completely.

"Last of all, there is the fourth step, the wand. A wand allows you to focus your spell in a location. While this probably sounds like a very small thing to most of you – point and it happens – it is in fact a vitally important one, and the hardest step to drop. Why? Because if you do not use a wand, your magic has no focus. If your magic has no focus, it will be used at the location it built up – typically, if you are not using a wand, that means it will be used in your hands. I assume you are all able to see the possible consequences here. As a relatively innocent example, attempting to cast a wandless stunning spell is likely to make you yourself lose consciousness for up to a few hours."

And wasn't Delphini very well aware of that detail. She glared at her sister from the corner of her eye. And Harry, who had come up with the idea of learning wandless magic. On the other hand, it did mean she could perform several spells wandlessly already, which no one else in this room other than Professor Flitwick – and Tomasha and Harry – could likely boast of.

"As this has been quite a bit of information," Flitwick said, "it might be best if we take a break now. After the break, I will slowly take you through these four steps as you learn to cast the lumos charm."

The class almost immediately started talking to one another, discussing the lesson and – probably, knowing eleven-year-olds – a host of other things.

Arithmancy had been a rather boring class, in Harry's opinion. Today, all they had done was go over basic mathematics that he already knew from elementary school, as that was required knowledge for the actual magical aspects of arithmancy. Before that, Charms had gone well, and he'd even earned Slytherin a few points on two occasions. First when he correctly answered a question, and then again when he was the second student – after Tomasha – to correctly perform the lumos charm.

As the Slytherins walked to lunch, Malfoy shot Harry and the Riddles a dirty look before separating himself from them, clearly forming two groups. Greengrass and Davis seemed to be hesitating for a moment before deciding to join Harry's group, while Zabini, Selwyn, Bulstrode and Bella Rookwood didn't commit to either group.

"Malfoy's going to be trouble," Tomasha said, mirroring Harry's statement from breakfast.

"Probably," Greengrass replied. "You seem to be rather talented, Riddle. It might be good to prepare for the inevitable confrontation, you know. The Malfoy name holds a lot of power in Slytherin, while your name holds none at all, and I don't think it will take long until people start questioning your association with Potter."

Tomasha smiled. "We're already ready for a confrontation with Malfoy. He's just going to embarrass himself."

"And besides," Harry added, "after that confrontation it's me associating with them, not the other way around."

Greengrass raised an eyebrow. "Truly? Forgive me if I need to see it first."

They walked through the Great Hall, Tomasha again leading the way to a position in the middle of the Slytherin table.

Harry grinned. "No spoilers, Greengrass. But you two won't mind walking with us rather than on your own. Oooh, pancakes."

Davis gasped. "Where's the syrup?"

Harry laughed and handed it to her. "Here you go, Davis."

"Please, call me Tracey. All of you."

Greengrass raised an eyebrow.

"Then call me Harry, Tracey."

"And call me Tomasha."

Harry and Tomasha both looked at Delphini until she relented. "Call me Delphini, Davis."

Greengrass simply observed Delphini. She would clearly need to see a little more from them before she was willing to take the step towards more familiarity. Well, the revelation that they were Parselmouths – or at least, that Tomasha and Delph were, as Harry had no intention of playing all their cards at once – would probably do that.

After a very boring History of Magic class and a luckily rather interesting Transfiguration class, Harry and the other Slytherins made their way outside, on their way to the quidditch pitch, where they'd have their flying lesson.

They had fallen into the same groups as before lunch, and Harry's group was discussing the concepts explained in Transfiguration. To his surprise, he seemed to have already become something of an unofficial 'leader' of their group, which he thought didn't make much sense at all. Tomasha would be a far more logical choice.

They arrived at the pitch with the hawk-like teacher already waiting, and Gryffindor joined them not a minute later.

"Good afternoon, everyone," the teacher said. She had a powerful, harsh voice. "I am Madam Hooch, and I will be your flying lessons instructor. Stand next to a broom, all of you."

They did so. Malfoy seemed about to pick it up, but a glare from Madam Hooch changed his mind.

"I want to make one thing absolutely clear. At all times, you listen to my instructions. You do not rush ahead, you do not interpret and assume that if I say you should do one thing, you should also take the next step. If you cannot do this, you will be banned from the use of school brooms for the rest of the school year, and you will receive a number of detentions.

"The reason for this is simple. You are riding a broom. You will be in the air, and all that is stopping you from falling down is your ability to maintain your balance and keep your grip on your broom. Chaos of any kind can lead to broken bones or worse, either for you or for someone close to you. Am I clear?"

A wave of murmurs went through the students.

"Very good. Hold your right hand above your broom, and clearly say 'UP!'. The broom should spring in your hand. If it does not, try again. I will give additional instruction to those who have trouble."

A chorus of "UP!" sounded over the pitch. Harry's broom immediately jumped into his hand rapidly, but stopping in time that it barely even touched the palm of his hand before he closed it around the handle. Contrary to a muggle broom, it was easy to hold in just one hand, as the broom seemed to weigh almost nothing at all.

Not everyone seemed to be as quick as Harry, though. Delphini's broom slapped into her palm, and while Tomasha's broom did not, it didn't blitz up like Harry's broom either, easily needing twice as long. Around the pitch, both Malfoy and Ron immediately had their broom in their hand, but some other brooms fell down to the ground before reaching the hand of their wizard or witch, or even just rolled around. Neville's broom, to Harry's surprise, hadn't moved at all. Perhaps he had never flown at home?

Madam Hooch helped out all the students that were having trouble, and a few minutes later, the full class was waiting, broom in hand.

"Everyone!" Hooch called. "Please pay careful attention to what I do." She mounted her own broom, and gave a quick run-down of how she positioned herself on it.

"Once I tell you to mount your broom, you may do so. When you have mounted, do not fly off. Do not test what you can do with it, try not to move it at all. If you're scared, point the tip down. That way, if you make a mistake and the broom does fly off, it will simply hit the ground. Okay, mount!"

Harry swung his leg over the broom, almost instinctively adopting the position Madam Hooch had shown. He felt the magic of the broom brimming beneath him, but did not allow it to escape. Madam Hooch again made her way through the students, adjusting grips where needed – to Harry's amusement, one of the people needing adjustment was Malfoy, who had apparently been doing it wrong for years.

"Next, we will start hovering. When I have finished counting down, you will pull your broom slightly up with your hands. It will float upwards, once you are a few feet in the air, say four or five feet, pull your broom slightly down again until your altitude is constant. Do not pull your broom up too fast. You cannot do it too slowly, but if you do it too fast, you might lose control. If you take it slow, you might need a little more time, but you will get there. On my count. Three, two, one –"

The last word never came, as Neville rose too early, an alarmed look on his face. In his panic, he started rising quicker, rather than stopping. Five feet, ten feet, twenty feet. Suddenly, he slipped off, and with a painful sounding crack and a collective shocked gasp from the class he landed on the ground.

Madam Hooch was next to him immediately. "Broken wrist," she muttered, inspecting the boy.

"All of you, stay where you are while I take him to the hospital wing. If you leave the ground while I'm gone, you will spend the rest of the year in detention, am I clear?"

She didn't wait for an answer, but immediately left, guiding Neville back to the castle.

As soon as she was gone, everyone – of course – started talking. One person drew Harry's attention in particular.

"He lost his stupid ball," Malfoy said, walking over and picking it up. "Maybe I should hide it for him… in a tree somewhere?" He swung his leg over his broom.

"Heir Malfoy," Harry said. The boy turned to him, clearly annoyed. "Is it wise to antagonist the heir to a Most Noble and Most Ancient House?"

Malfoy dismounted and walked over to Harry, trying to intimidate him by proximity.

"Did you not pay attention yesterday, Potter?"

"Did you, Heir Malfoy?" Harry parried.

"Lord Potter, Heir Malfoy, perhaps this should be discussed at a later date?" Tomasha intervened. "And Heir Malfoy, perhaps you should give Heir Longbottom's remembrall to one of his housemates."

Malfoy glared at the both of them, but complied, then stalked over to Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson and Nott, all of them muttering angrily to one another.

"You better have something up your sleeve," Greengrass said. "I get where you're coming from, but Malfoy has a lot to fall back on. You don't."

Tomasha smirked. "Yes, I do."

"Forgive me if I remain skeptical."

It was shortly after dinner that Malfoy's raised voice sounded through the common room. And Harry was ready.

"Fellow Slytherins, I know that I am only a first year, but I would like your attention for a moment." Malfoy paused until the room was silent. "Just yesterday, we were sorted into our House, and upon arriving here in the common room, our Head of House Professor Snape impressed upon us that we should maintain an image of unity while in front of other Houses, even if we may have internal disagreements. Already, someone in our House has broken this rule. I am of course talking about Harry Potter."

Harry stood up immediately, and interrupted him, occlumency in full effect. "I object to the manner in which you display today's events, Heir Malfoy. Without any cause, you intended to antagonize the Heir to a noble House. And not just any noble House, no, the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom. Once Heir Longbottom takes up the Lordship, he will be the single most powerful person in this country based on pure voting power.

"You, Heir Malfoy, intended to antagonize him by hiding one of his possessions in a place he could not easily find. He had done nothing to warrant such an action, in fact I do not believe he has acted antagonistically against you at any point, unless it must have happened at a time I was not nearby, but with how much you like to complain that other people are inferior to you, I am certain I would have heard about it.

"Had I not interrupted you, you would not only have personally antagonized Heir Longbottom. No, as a consequence of the very rule that you referred to, that our House is to display a unified front to the other Houses, you would have antagonized him for the entire House of Slytherin. I care little if you ruin your own relationship with House Longbottom, but I do not wish to make enemies if I do not have to. Beyond that, had I not interfered, the first year Gryffindors – who like us only started their education at this school yesterday – would have immediately gotten the image that Slytherin is a House of bullies."

Malfoy was not yet cowed. "Potter, it is you first and foremost who is destroying the status of House Slytherin. Not only do you break our House unity, by openly calling my actions into question in front of Gryffindors, you do not have any respect for our values. Just yesterday, you were in the company of Longbottom, a Weasley and three muggleborn on the Hogwarts Express. Of course, that also tells us you quite simply wanted to take Longbottom's side, no matter the little speech you just held to try and bend the rules of this House to make me look bad. However, more importantly it shows that you would gladly throw our traditions to the wolves, that you would have the muggleborn overrun us, that you would rather associate with the rude and the weak than with the powerful. You go against all values of our House."

Harry turned to the girls. "Hear that, Tomasha, Delph? He still believes you're muggleborn." The both of them stood up as well.

"§Malfoy does not know what he is talking about.§" Tomasha said. A collective gasp went through the common room.

"§Some people just do not know any better,§" Delphini added. "§And I doubt he will ever learn.§"

"Muggleborn, you said, Heir Malfoy?" Harry asked, turning towards him.

"What was that?" Malfoy asked, though he had turned pale. He knew very well what that was.

"I mean no offense, Heir Malfoy, but are you sure you are mentally sound? Because I would certainly expect that a Slytherin would be able to recognize Parseltongue for what it is."

Malfoy grew red at the insult, but Harry wasn't done yet.

"I know what it means to be Slytherin, Heir Malfoy. It is to be ambitious and cunning. To not play your cards when you do not need to. Do you know what it is to be Slytherin? We have met multiple times, and pretty much every one of those times, you lost your cool. How is it cunning to have your emotions on display like that? You have insulted most people around me for their birth or perceived magical power. Is it not the opposite of ambition to claim that birth means everything, when ambition is all about what one can achieve, regardless of where one starts out?

"Just this morning, you displayed open anger when I said the name Voldemort out loud. I know that many people here sympathize with at least some of his beliefs, but to the Wizarding World at large, he is nonetheless seen as a violent terrorist. Even your father, Heir Malfoy, has the cunning to dissociate himself from Voldemort and claim to the world that he wants nothing to do with him, because he knows the alternative is to be shunned or thrown in Azkaban.

"And this afternoon, the very incident for which you wish Slytherin House to shun me, you would have lowered the reputation of every person here, of our House as a whole, for what reason exactly? I am still not sure what your goal was beyond simple bullying. You, Heir Malfoy, are displaying only the opposite of ambition and cunning. You would destroy the reputation of Slytherin House for at most a minute or two of personal entertainment, and you have the gall to call me out on it when I choose the minor evil – a slight crack in House unity – over the major evil of fifteen Gryffindor students, two Heirs among them, refusing any and all association with our House over the next seven years.

"Heir Malfoy, you are brash and impulsive. You do not have the control over your emotions expected from a Slytherin, and you act without thinking, often to your own future's detriment. All this considered, I am left with one question. How, exactly, did you convince the Hat not to put you in Gryffindor?"

It was deathly silent when Harry was done talking. Malfoy was steaming red, and seemed to be itching to draw his wand, but it appeared he had the intelligence to realize that doing so would only prove Harry's point.

A voice spoke up. Harry recognized Marcus Flint, fifth year prefect and quidditch team captain. "I think it is apparent that Lord Potter has thought through his actions, as a Slytherin should, before he acted. While it is indeed important to maintain our House unity, it does not come above all else. For if you stand aside when someone harms the reputation of our House in this, then do you stand aside when someone from our House sends an uninvited hex at another student? Would you stand aside when they send an uninvited curse at another student? What if that becomes an unforgivable? Where would you draw the line?

"The reputation of Slytherin House, as Professor Snape also pointed out yesterday, has already taken a number of hits in recent times. Think before you act, and do not needlessly antagonize others. And if someone does not do so, then yes, I believe they should be called out on it.

"But I believe enough words have been said on this topic. We have heard both sides of the story, and everyone here can make their own judgement. Heir Malfoy, Lord Potter, shall we put this to rest?"

Harry nodded, and Malfoy followed a few seconds later. Harry had hoped for some more direct support rather than the very noncommittal approach Flint took, but was well aware such an expectation was not very realistic, and someone like Flint, son of the eldest son of Lord Flint, would have to be very careful not to antagonize House Malfoy, who they were on good terms with.

"Great," Flint said. "And remember, both of you, if one of us needs to be sent to the hospital wing because of internal strife, even if the strife occurred within the walls of the House, Professor Snape will not be pleased."

Malfoy stalked away to his dorm, while Harry sat down with a sigh between Tomasha and Delphini.

"That was… impressive," Tomasha said.

"I spent most of the afternoon preparing it," Harry admitted. "Malfoy is nothing if not predictable."

"Still, you captured the attention of the room brilliantly. Not everyone has that gift, Harry."

Greengrass and Tracey walked up to them and sat down in nearby chairs.

"So," Greengrass said. "Parselmouths? The both of you?"

"I told you we were prepared," Tomasha said. "Happy with your choice, Greengrass?"

"I will admit, it looks much more attractive than it did this afternoon. And please, call me Daphne."

The first name introductions went round, after which they spent a little longer discussing the confrontation. From there, they moved on to homework, which Harry quickly realized couldn't be compared at all to the little tastes of it that they got at school, and it easily took up the rest of the evening.

AN: I know it's a little slow-going so far, with a full chapter for going to Hogwarts and then full chapter for just the first day, but we'll start speeding up now. We're actually over halfway through the first book. Oh, and Malfoy's going to wisen up over time - it's just that this is the first time he encounters someone who will actually stand up to him and turn things around on him.