14 Chapter 14: House Tour

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1st September 1991, Hogwarts

Curious students who would find the wards and be rejected would be the only ones to know that it was forbidden. But telling it in front of children, especially impressionable ones with no experience with magic would be like challenging them to come there, which could be very dangerous. Well, that was a good start for Harry's magical education.

Dumbledore asked people to sing the school song without a particular tune, the abomination that followed was one that Harry will do his best to scrub out of his mind. He's definitely wearing earmuffs next year to avoid whatever that was.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore wiped his eyes while remarking, "Ah, music, a magic beyond all that we do here! And now bedtime. Off you trot!"

Choosing the ignore the undeniable fact that the man was tone-deaf, Harry followed the prefects with the rest of the first years. The girl seemed to take the lead. She had a relatively forgettable face, even if that was unkind, but it was nonetheless true. She was of average height, and had brown eyes and black hair that wasn't particularly long or short.

Her companion was blond with blue eyes, and he looked like he wanted to be showing the first years around. Still, Harry was curious as to how the teenagers would handle a dozen children under their supervision.

Surprisingly, his classmates were very well behaved, at least for children. They followed the prefects while just looking around. Harry marvelled at the moving portraits, trying to figure out how they would behave without anyone seeing them.

They walked down to the dungeons and Harry did his best to memorize the path from the Great Hall. Still, they arrived at their destination after a few minutes, well they arrived in front of the wall.

The prefect girl gave them a serious look, "Like all the House common rooms in Hogwarts, the Slytherin common room is hidden, and you cannot enter it without a specific password. You are not allowed to bring visitors from other houses. While it is inevitable that its location is compromised, there are additional security measures stopping members of other houses from entering without being invited in by a member of the house. This rule is not an official one, but it is one of the unspoken ones in Slytherin and you will be severely punished if you're caught breaking it. We'll speak of this further when we get in."

The prefect boy rolled his eyes, "Stop scaring them, Gemma. Look, kids, just try not to break the rules, there aren't many and they're reasonable. Now, back to the entrance. The password for this week is 'viper'. "

The moment he said the world, the wall shifted away, revealing a large door, surrounded by the body of a gigantic snake. The boy walked in and continued to explain, "The passwords will be displayed in the middle of the common room and will glow when it has been changed."

The rest of the first year followed him into the common room and they gasped in awe. Harry felt the music in his head shift. It went from being a complex symphony into a slow but smooth one. It matched the ambience of the room, to be honest. The Slytherin common room was grand in appearance and yet the atmosphere was without a doubt cold. Best of all, it was quiet, and Harry loved quiet. It was why he dreaded the possibility of being a Gryffindor. The rumours of wild parties and events just didn't appeal to him.

As for the room, its walls were adorned with green and silver banners, and it was furnished with plush leather chairs and wooden tables. But what was most stunning was the view that came from the window. It wasn't really the night sky, but the black lake. Harry could see fish swimming around and what seemed like a giant tentacle for a moment – it was probably the infamous giant squid.

All things considered, Harry liked it.

The prefect girl led them to a large couch and started speaking, "Welcome to Slytherin. My name is Gemma Farley, and this is Rowan Padgett. We are the fifth year Slytherin prefects, which means that until your third year, we will be responsible for you, after which we would have graduated. Should you need any help, you are free to come to us with any problems, academic or otherwise. If we're unable to help you, you are free to ask Professor Snape – our head of house – directly. Beware, if he deems that the issue is mundane and finds out that you haven't asked us first, he will not be happy with you for wasting your time. With that said, let's talk about what it means to be a Slytherin student."

Rowan continued on her behalf, "Let's be absolutely clear, we are the most distrusted and dislike house in the school, and that is a fact. You are perfectly free to pursue friendships with students from other houses, but it will not easy. We have suffered greatly because of the last war, which means that speaking publicly about discrimination will not be tolerated. I don't care what you personally believe, but if someone is caught spewing around about Mudbloods and Blood traitors, they will be reprimanded by Professor Snape."

Harry caught the outraged look on Malfoy's face but just shrugged; he didn't care about any of that. As long as no one involved him, he would not enter a political debate with children.

Gemma though continued their little speech, "Slytherin stands united because if it wasn't for the threat of retaliation from the entire house, we would be constantly hexed and cursed whenever we leave the common room. That means no fighting outside the common room. I'm not saying to argue, but try not to cause large scale fights, which means no cursing each other outside of the duelling pits."

"Now, onto a brighter topic, you are allowed to join a club starting the second semester to give you time to settle in. There are dozens of clubs in Hogwarts, each with an age restriction. An entire list will be provided to you next week, but as a rule, you are not allowed to join more than two clubs, so as to not affect the quality of your schoolwork. The two of us will also accompany you for two tours of Hogsmeade village, one every semester, as an extra perk for Slytherin winning the house cup last year. It will be a guided tour, not a normal trip, and you will be required to be under our supervision."

Gemma then cleared her throat, "Finally, Slytherin is the house of the ambitious and thus it rewards ambition. There is a hierarchy involved, but you won't have to deal with it until your fourth year, or third if you're very ambitious. That doesn't mean that you can slack off right now, the more impressive your achievements are, the higher the echelon you will rise, you could even be granted a higher position when you start playing with the big leagues. Don't worry though, you have a few years to learn the ropes before things get serious."

Well, that took a sombre tone. Harry thought that the speech was entirely reasonable up until this nonsense about politics. At least he won't have to deal with it for a while. However, at the mention of a higher position, Malfoy preened, and more people stiffened and were interested. They might as well have had stars in their eyes. Seriously, what was wrong with these kids? They shouldn't be worried about crap like mini school politics. Harry knew how to handle them but really hated to do it.

Finally, Rowan concluded their little speech, "Now, you will be staying in dormitories separated by your gender. Boys, you are not allowed to get to the girl's dormitory, you'll get a nasty surprise if you do. Your trunks have already been brought next to your assigned bed. I suggest that you get used to them, you will be staying here for a few days. Gemma and I will leave you to get to know each other. We will wait for you at seven in the common room tomorrow to help you get to breakfast. Also, don't be afraid of exploring but try to not do it alone. Hogwarts is full of mysteries, but you tend to get lost a lot until your third year. I believe it's time for us to leave. Goodnight. Don't forget, tomorrow, at seven. If you're late, we'll leave without you."

The two prefects exited the common room for their dormitories and left the first years just awkwardly looking at each other. Harry ignored their pointless conversation and chose to finally listen to the melody of the common room. It was so odd. Harry knew that it was a magical talent of some sort, but he didn't understand what it was. Because it wasn't really a song, it was mostly a mixture of heartbeats with different frequencies, amplitudes, and for the lack of a better term, flavours, that mixed together into an amazing harmony.

It was strangely beautiful and yet Harry couldn't hope to replicate it with any instrument. He understood music theory, having learnt the piano in his youth, but there would be something critically missing if he tried to interpret it using sound. It was like there would be like trying to play an emotion or a memory.

For example, the common room was slow and deep and yet caring. It was protective but also mischievous. It was like the soothing cold on hot summer days, a nice shower after a run. It was hard to put it into words, and yet everything seemed so much plainer without it.

"…and I have a Crup called Rupert, but I couldn't bring him with me because of the school rules. What about you?"

A girl was talking and looking at him expectantly. He assumed that they were introducing themselves and he tried to do the same, "My name is Harry Potter. I like books and quietness. It's nice to meet you."

Everyone looked at him awkwardly and Blaise hit him in the side and murmured, "Seriously, you have nothing else to share?"

"I wasn't even paying attention," Harry replied.

"You're supposed to say a few things about yourself."

"Isn't that what I just did?"

Blaise looked like he wanted to punch him, "But you had nothing to say other than you like books and quiet?"

Harry shrugged and spoke up, "I also play the piano, know how to speak five languages, have an owl called Hedwig, and I have never lost a chess game yet."

Well, Harry was slightly lying about the chess thing. Oh, in this life, Harry hadn't lost a game, but he had lost many in his previous one. Oh, he wasn't some kind of master or anything, but it had become a hobby of his to play online after his brother died. It was a good way to pass the time, and he did crack a few theory books to entertain his curiosity.

When he was younger, when he hadn't gained his memories yet, Harry played a few games against the teachers, and well, since complex chess engines hadn't been invented yet, the theory wasn't as developed as it was in his old life. He played mostly by instinct, and he never lost a game so far. He was kind of proud of that achievement, to be honest.

As for the rest of the kids gave him approving looks, as if they were impressed by his achievements and the others continued boasting about their families and whatnot. It got boring very quickly but by the end, he had gotten most of his housemates' names and a hint of their characters. A few minutes later, he excused himself for being too tired and decided to go to sleep.

He found his trunk next to a bed that he assumed was his, and Hedwig was waiting for him on top of it. He opened his trunk to grab a change of clothes and went to bed.

"Goodnight, Hedwig," Harry said to his faithful owl, who hooted back at him. In the end, Harry grabbed his book and kept reading until he fell asleep, excited for his magical education to truly begin.

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