First Morning

The next morning Harry groggily awakens as Kali pokes him in the cheek with her wing, he wasn't usually this 'lazy' but sleeping in an unfamiliar place that looked somewhat like the interior of a larger version of his old cupboard had him wanting to go straight back to sleep. Add the fact he was a bit jetlagged and the early hour he was required to be up...

"-Nother five minutes-, Ka-ali..." he grumbles and smooshed his face against the pillow, ignoring Nanthisk slithering beside him to gather more warmth.

"H-Harry...? Who are you talking to...?" an unfamiliar voice asks, causing Harry's eyes to shoot open as he prepares for combat. He slaps the curtain concealing his bed to the side and glares at the intruder... Only to realise that it was his roommate, Nick 'Something', he hadn't bothered to get his last name.

"What did I tell you yesterday?" he grouses with a rasp, mouth still dry from his early awakening.

"D-don't talk to you... T-treat you like you don't exist?..." the boy squeaks out and pales when Nanthisk pokes his head out of the covers to survey the room. "I-I'M SORRY!" he exclaims, grabbing his stuff and running into the bathroom.

"He's like a human-sized mouse..." Kali idly remarks.

Harry shakes his head and wipes the sleep from his eyes, gulping down an energy drink he'd smuggled in through his bottomless pouch. "At least he knows his place... You should go, I'm only allowed one 'pet', remember/"

She nods, "That's fine. I've got other things I need to arrange with my new free time, all to your benefit of course, Master. Try not to get hurt without me here though."

"I know..."

"Do you? I seem to remember you nearly dying at the hands of some undead sorcerer..." she shakes her head mirthfully. "Try to socialise while I'm gone, will you? I won't be here to prod you..."

He shrugs noncommittally while preparing his uniform, "I know..."

"You're not even listening to me, are you?"

"I know...-Wait,-" he blinks awkwardly. "Look, I'll try to make the acquaintance of anyone who's not completely worthless. As for not getting hurt? I have Trorgonnos' summon statue..."

"I meant to not go looking for trouble, you're not ready to take the old man on yet." she cautions.

...

"I know, Kali. I promise to try and stay safe, okay?" he says and reciprocates the awkward hug she tries to give his neck with her wings.

"You do well and I'll come back with some gifts. Agreed?" she offers and he nods with a small smile. "Alright, I'll come check on you soon to 'deliver' some mail." she says before departing through the common room, spelling herself to be invisible so as to not be discovered.

"Well, it's just you and me now, Nanthisk." Harry murmurs as he searches for his toothbrush.

"Let me sssleeep..."

Harry titters, "Sure, just remind me to tell Kali you'd rather sleep than protect me though." he adds as he makes his way to the bathroom where Nick was hiding. The snake, of course, quickly slithers in with him after hearing his words and remembering his last failure...

---------------------------------------------

After scaring the shit out of Nick while he was showering, Harry makes his way into the Commonroom with Nanthisk on his shoulders, many eyes already attracted to him... He was pretty sure they'd been waiting for him to show judging by things.

"Remember their faces, we might need to deal with them in future." Harry audibly tells Nanthisk in Parseltongue.

"What isss there to remember? Just bagsss of flesssh." the snake replies.

The surrounding students are quite perturbed by this and don't bother him as he leaves for the Grand Hall to get breakfast and his schedule. He'd like to get some exercise in but that could wait after he familiarized himself with the castle.

The Grand Hall turned out to be quite empty since he'd gotten there just as breakfast was served, various types of food appearing atop the tables.

He sits and begins eating after preparing Nanthisk a plate, his eyes tracing around the room... The most filled table was the Ravenclaws who seemed to be studying even as they ate, and the Hufflepuffs were will more numerous than Gryffindor, which had only two students... One ginger Prefect and Hermione, who was sitting awkwardly alone spreading cream and jam on a scone.

Their eyes meet as she's mid-sigh and she brightens up, indeed, she's so excited to spot him that she stands and makes her way to the table and stops beside his seat. "Good morning! How was your night? The Slytherin dorms aren't too dreary are they?" she asks curiously.

"It was fine, so were the dungeons..."

"Dungeons? So it's true then? The Slytherin dorms are really down there? How awful..."

Harry shakes his head, "I only have to deal with a single roommate, and we have full view under the lake from the windows..." maybe it was time he tried fishing for some magical creatures? Surely the Black Lake would be full of them. He spotted some shadows through the common room window so he was hopeful.

"Really? Like an aquarium!?" she excitedly blurts out. "-Sorry, it's just. I've never been somewhere so,-magical before! Everything's new here!"

...

Harry takes a bite out of the bacon butty he'd fashioned and chews blandly for a couple seconds, still looking at the increasingly twitching Hermione stood next to him... He lets out a sigh, "How was your night?..." he grabs the seat beside him and pushes it towards her so she could sit down instead of just hovering there.

She smiles, "Magical! I share my room with four other girls but they're friendly enough, Parvati who you met already, Lavander, Jane, and Sarah... The dorm is in a tower and is really bright and a bit noisy." she goes on to spew a bunch more things that don't really register in Harry's brain, like how she was disappointed over the lack of variety of bathroom accessories or something...?