Snakeheart: A Harry Potter Fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the associated characters; all copyright goes to JK Rowling: some parts of the story are taken from the book, but if you look, you will recognise them: I do own this story as well as any spells written with OC at the end of each chapter.

Author's Note: Some readers may see a similarity between this story and my earlier fanfic: Snake Eyes! THIS IS INTENTIONAL! Enjoy!

I would like to thank Kage Mirai for the inspiration behind this story: I strongly recommend reading her fanfic, Shades of Black, to anyone who enjoys this story.

Normal Speech

(Thought)

//Parseltongue//

Chapter 1: Welcome to Hogwarts

"You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others Potter; you don't want to be making friends with the wrong sort: I can help you there!" smiled Draco Malfoy, extending his hand to Harry as he waited for a reply.

Looking to the boy who he had been seated with, Ron Weasley, Harry shook his head and asked, "How long were you planning on playing your game?"

"What game?" asked Ron, shocked at how cold Harry suddenly sounded, whereas just ten minutes before, he had been smiling and laughing with the black-haired boy.

"The 'I'm friends with Harry Potter, which makes me a somebody' game," Harry answered, before he stood up and shook Draco's hand, adding, "Pleased to meet you Draco, but to my friends, I'm just Harry."

Malfoy smiled as he looked to the compartment, Ron thunderstruck as he watched the infamous Boy-Who-Lived remove his hand from Draco's before asking, "You do understand that there are some things about our world that I don't know, right Draco?"

"Of course I do Harry," Malfoy replied, "At least, a lot more than Weasley here, I can proudly say. Come on, let's go back to my compartment and we can talk some more."

Leaving Ron, who still seemed stunned at Harry's change of heart, the Boy-Who-Lived moved about six steps before he stopped dead and asked, "Just to clear the air between us Draco, you aren't like Weasley are you? Only being my friend so you improve your own position in school?"

"Why would I even think of doing that?" asked Draco, turning to Harry, "All who have been to Hogwarts in my family are well known as it is: stick with me Potter and I guarantee that you will be introduced to the right kind of friends."

With a shrug, Harry saw the truth in the statement, before he followed Malfoy to a pretty shaded compartment, something about the darkness instantly soothing Harry as he took his seat next to Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle heaving Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage behind them.

"So?" asked Draco, obviously not waiting for any sign of concern with Harry's questions, "What do you want to know Harry?"

With a scoff and a smile, Harry asked, "Well, can you tell me the truth about Slytherin?..."

()()()()()

"So that's what they all expected of me?" asked Harry as the train finally neared Hogwarts: all the way, he had asked questions about Hogwarts, magic in particular and, above everything else, why he was so well known among the students.

"Yeah," Draco nodded, "Because your Father was Gryffindor, everyone expected you to follow suit."

"But what about my Mum...I mean Mother?" asked Harry, using the new pure-blood title as he had been told by Draco.

"Slytherin," admitted Draco, "Everyone lies and says she was a Gryff as well as James Potter, but your mother Harry was as Slytherin as my family: in fact," he lowered his voice and added, "Some are actually wondering what she saw in that Potter in the first place: between you and me, had it not been for him, I imagined her being with our Head of House."

"You mean Professor Severus Snape," Harry commented, "Potions Master and someone who hated my father but adored my mother and someone who, if you're a Slytherin, takes rule number one seriously: don't get into trouble in his class."

"Correct," joked Draco, patting Harry on the back, before he added, "Anyway, your Mother was Slytherin and she and Father were actually the sixth year prefects."

(Merlin,) thought Harry, keeping his face expressionless, before he stood up and added, "Guess we'd better get ready to depart; by the looks of things, we'll be arriving at Hogwarts pretty soon."

After another ten minutes, the train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air, but kept his discomfort hidden as he followed Draco off the train.

Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry." Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads, an expression that made Harry cringe with discomfort: Hagrid must have known about his Mother yet he had lied to his face.

"C'mon, follow me -- any more firs' years. Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." There was a loud "Oooooh!" The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take.

Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Draco were followed into their boat by a dark skinned boy with black hair as short as Draco's and, to both Harry and Malfoy's annoyance, Hermione, who seemed stunned to see Harry with the young Malfoy.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then -- FORWARD!" And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" called Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands; Harry, Draco and the dark-skinned boy sniggering slightly as they saw the forgetful-faced boy almost in tears.

Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. "Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here -- but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose.

When she left, Harry turned and whispered to Draco, "I can't believe someone like that is the Head of Gryffindor: I daresay that, if I am, through some miracle, sorted into Gryffindor, I'll get back on the train and go back home!"

Draco gave a grunt of agreement as Harry looked around: apart from his mild conversation with Malfoy, Harry noticed that no-one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need; Harry tried hard not to listen to her as he knew, without any doubt, that any House she'd be in would go mental within a month.

This cold thought made him chuckle to himself, which caused Draco to ask, "Something amusing?"

"Yes," Harry sighed, then nodded to Hermione, who seemed to be chewing the ear off of a pale faced boy, "Granger: who in Slytherin's name does she think she's kidding?"

"What do you mean?" asked Draco.

"She's talking about spells and what she'd have to do to impress the professors, a definite Muggleborn if I ever saw one."

Draco nodded, before he leaned in close to Harry and whispered, "We have another name for their kind Harry, but if anyone heard you say it, you'd have to be able to back it up."

He mumbled a word in an almost inaudible tone, but it was clear enough for Harry to shiver with excitement as he looked up, noticing Professor McGonagall returning.

"The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Despite the change in attitude, as well as the lengthy discussion with Draco, Harry still felt as though his legs had turned to lead; his heart racing as he got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and Draco behind Ron; something that made Harry feel slightly more comforted, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.

The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, what appeared to be ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

(2 points for the annoying one,) thought Harry sarcastically as he looked down again, noticing a battered looking hat before the assembled students, but, as he waited for Professor McGonagall to, as he was thinking, get on with it, the rim of the hat opened like a mouth and, as the first-years watched, the hat began to sing:

Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong to Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindor apart;

You might belong to Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your true friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

When the hat finished its song, Harry watched and waited as Professor McGonagall called out several names, before there was a range of long and short pauses before the hat would announce either, "GRYFFINDOR, RAVENCLAW, HUFFLEPUFF or SLYTHERIN!"

When Draco's name was called, Harry's attention was finally returned to the Sorting: he had zoned out for a while after realising that the names were being read in alphabetical order; looking around the room, Harry noticed that Weasley was yet to be sorted, but the boy with the toad was now with Gryffindor and, to Harry's relief, he saw that Hermione Granger was sat with the Ravenclaws, but, as Draco walked past him, a whisper of "good luck" passing between them, Harry saw his first true friend make his way to the Slytherin Table.

After Draco came another few names: Moon – Slytherin, Nott – Slytherin, Parkinson – Slytherin, followed by a pair of twins Patil – Gryffindor – and Patil – Ravenclaw, before, at long last, Harry heard his name announced to the room.

(Very subtle professor,) he thought dryly, watching as several of the students began talking amongst themselves, some of the pointing at him: he especially noticed the Gryffindor Table all looking at him expectantly, before the rim of the hat was draped over his eyes, blocking his sight.

Well, well, Mr Potter, how nice to see you at last, a soft voice whispered inside his head, Now let's see what the newest generation of Marauders has to offer.

(Newest what?) thought Harry, keeping his emotions in check as he listened to the hat's words.

This is a difficult one: difficult one indeed: there is your mother's thirst for knowledge, combined with...what's this? A need for power and a hope for respect? Well, that narrows it down at least: Hufflepuff is out of the question and your hunger for power removes Ravenclaw, which leaves either the Serpent's Nest or the Lion's Den.

(Can you hear me?) Harry echoed the thought in his head as he gripped the rim.

I can indeed Mr Potter, the voice of the hat replied.

(Then hear this: you even think of putting me with weaklings like Weasley and you will regret it: I know my mother was a Slytherin and I am asking you...no begging you to let me follow her.)

I see, the hat seemed almost amused by his request, Slytherin you say? Well, you could be great you know; you have powers the likes of which you are yet to discover, Slytherin can help you on the way to greatness, there is no doubt about that: are you sure of this Mr Potter?

(I am,) Harry's thoughts seemed to emanate in a sibilant hiss as he added, (You know I am, you can see my thoughts.)

Very well Mr Potter; I hope you enjoy your life in...

"SLYTHERIN!"

Only the Slytherin Table cheered as Harry took the hat off his head and went over to where Draco was sitting, the young Malfoy not surprised, more amused as Harry then noticed the Gryffindors looking at him with a sense of betrayal; Harry even hearing one of the Gryffindors whispering Traitor as he passed them.

Taking a seat with Draco, Harry kept his eyes before him as he listened to the last few students being sorted, his attention distracted when Draco nudged him and whispered:

"In case I didn't say it earlier Harry; welcome to Hogwarts!"

"Thanks Draco," Harry replied, his tone almost bored as he then smiled and exclaimed, "Things are going to get interesting!"

And that's Chapter 1 of my newest HP Fanfic: and before anyone asks, let me explain something: ever since my reform, I have received a few e-mails asking me about my old fics, so, after suffering from serious writer's block and thereby deleting all bar 2 of my fics, I decided to write a re-write of an old favourite.

Things are going to be different this time instead of following the events of Snake Eyes exactly, but I promise that this will live up to Snake Eyes' hype: I hope you all enjoy Snakeheart and yes, this is a SERIOUS AU of all 7 books.

Next Chapter: Severus Snape, Slytherin House and Harry discovers the first of his "Hidden Powers"...

Please Read and Review