Harry looked around amazed. It was all red and gold and browns, and he didn't think he had ever seen something so old yet so expensive that wasn't Aunt Petunia passing some cheap thing off as that. He looked around and saw five beds, and there were five boys. He had a bed, an actual bedding, pillow covered bed. It was all his, and he had a wardrobe without a broken door and a nightstand that wasn't covered in marker from his cousin. Was this a joke?

He looked around at all his roommates and saw they were all going to a bed he assumed they saw had their trunk and that left Harry with the one by the window. He went to it and saw his trunk was already unpacked, and he worried a little before he found he had everything still and all his… well his cousin's clothes were hanging up. He just hoped the other boys wouldn't notice how threadbare they were.

The others were getting into pajamas, so Harry followed along just trying to figure out how all of this worked. He didn't feel comfortable changing in front of everyone, so he hopped on his bed and closed the curtain around him while he changed. He felt weird about that being it so he peeked out and said goodnight to everyone before closing them up and lying down on the bed, confused of how he was supposed to sleep there. He tried all limbs out on his back, on his stomach, curling up on each side, but there just wasn't the guard of all walls and no space like in his cupboard. It just felt so off.

He waited for an hour or so before everything was quiet except for the light breathes and snores of his roommates. Once he was sure to be alone, he crept out of his bed with his pillow and the blanket at the foot of his bed. He looked around the room before finding a little alcove by his bed next to a window. A nice draft would remind him of his cupboard well enough to make the lack of a fourth wall no problem.

He curled up beside the window, his head on his pillow and the blanket cocooned around him snuggly. He watched the window outside, hoping it would help him to fall asleep, when he saw a white blurry shape flying around outside. He opened the window having an inkling of who it was out there. He heard the hoots of his owl, and then she was there nipping at his hair and hooting happily. Harry wanted to giggle from the nice feelings she brought him, but he instead calmed her down so she wouldn't wake his roommates. The owl calmed, and they both ended up snuggled against the wall watching the dark world outside as they fell asleep.

The next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by a hand. He flinched away almost certain he was back on Privet Drive and the wizarding world had all been a dream. He looked up into the face of a shaken Ron Weasley, and Harry felt his embarrassment reach down into his stomach and wrench. Ron looked at him weirdly as he backed away, but the concern eased some of Harry's shame. "Whatcha doin' here Harry?"

Harry stood up, looking around for a moment for Hedwig before seeing the open window and figuring she had left already for an early morning snack. He closed the window, putting off answering for a little while longer. He turned back around with his blanket clasped tightly in his fist. "Um, couldn't sleep, you know?"

Ron's weird look faded into understanding, and he nodded his head in what had to be empathy. "Yeah, I gotcha, mate. I missed my family too, you know."

Harry felt just a tad bad for leading Ron on like he was, because he knew Ron probably did feel that way, but Harry… He couldn't miss what he'd never had, or at least, that was what he had always told himself. "Yeah, well, what time is it? We should be getting ready, right?"

Ron nodded and stepped away, already focusing on something else. "Right, right, we definitely, need breakfast."

Harry nodded as Ron took off on getting ready. He put away his things from sleeping and made his barely mussed bed before finding his own school clothes and heading for the loo to get dressed. He came out a few minutes later fully dressed and ready for whatever this new school would bring him. The other four boys were likewise ready, and they all decided to head down together.

They made it to the Great Hall without being too lost. All five sat together at the end of the table closest to the staff table and started to load their plates. Harry used caution and discretion when deciding what to eat and decided on some dry toast and some milk to drink. He was about to tuck into some food when he felt eyes on him. He looked up to the staff table and saw Professor Snape studying him. He didn't know the best response for this type of attention from a teacher, so he smiled and nodded his head to the man. The man looked taken aback and recoiled slightly, and Harry shrugged it off as it was just the same response he got back in Surrey. He tucked into his food, paying no more mind to the eyes of the teacher.

SNAPE

Severus could not understand why the Potter boy had smiled at him. He had not been in the boy's presence enough to be completely horrible to the boy, but someone had to have told him how evil he was as a teacher. He was vicious with his snipes and scowls causing multiple children to cry in a single class, and this child, a first year, dares to smile and nod at him, like his mother, the boy smiled like his mother.

He kept observing the boy throughout the morning meal. The boy ate like a wounded animal with the appetite of a sickly bird. Severus could admit, if only to himself, how worried that made him as he watched the young boy look longingly at other food but take none. The boy was too small to have eaten so little. He was shorter than the Finnigan boy, and almost the same height as the bushy-haired muggleborn girl. Thin as a rail, but he looked so cheerful, but that could be because he was here.

He would have to watch the boy closely and maybe talk to him, but if he had to do that, he could not be horrible to a boy he had never met. Severus would have to rethink his first lesson with that year. Who else needed a dressing down this year? Not his Slytherins with the reputation he had to uphold. The Gryffindors were his only other choice, and of the lot, it could be the Weasley boy, or possibly another, but honestly it could wait for later.

He rose from his seat and arched a brow when a hand grabbed at his wrist. He turned toward the old man in the eccentric robes and the twinkling eyes. "Headmaster?"

The old wizard smiled, only Severus could read through those smiles to the eyes, those cunning all-knowing eyes that seemed to spark with condescension. He had worked under his second master for over twelve years now, and it had been a fast realization that the old man with the best intentions tended to treat people more like marionettes in his big play with no regard for the lives he ruined with his decisions. "Where are you going, my boy?"
Severus clenched his hand s in warning when the man did not let go. He lost patience quickly and pulled away from the withered hand. "To prepare, Headmaster?"

The old brow wrinkled as if confused, but Severus knew the old man was faking it. "For what, Severus?"

Severus could not hold back from rolling his eyes at the intrusive old meddler. "Classes, Headmaster. I do have those today."

"Of course, Severus. I do wish you would call me Albus," the Order head said with a frown.

Severus hardly had enough time for this drivel. "I need to go, Headmaster."

Severus swept away from the old wizard before he could say more and distract him from leaving longer. He went down the center aisle past the Potter boy who thought he was getting up after only having eaten a piece of toast. Severus used wandless magic to send some light fruit on the boy's plate and push the boy back into his seat all without any indication in his work toward the boy's health. He felt the green eyes on him as he left, he just could not stop to see what they'd say about his actions.