5 Chapter 5

At breakfast the next day, it was most amusing when Draco's face paled until it had barely more colour than a sheet of paper.

The owls that were flying in en masse did little to relieve the blond from his obvious fears. Instead, he looked ready to faint.

Ron raised a brow questioningly, looking at the Malfoy who was breaking from his usual pureblood mask.

From what he'd heard from his father before, he would never have expected the other boy to do something so… out of line. He always expected that the Malfoy he would meet would be a stuck-up prick, but the other boy hadn't actually said anything derogatory to him on the train earlier.

More than that, he was in Hufflepuff with him. He, a Malfoy, that had been taught from young about pureblood supremacy, was in Hufflepuff with him!

He knew what everyone thought about Hufflepuffs.

So many thought that they were meek and tame, and that they were useless, but after hearing Harry's words yesterday, Ron found that he could no longer think about them that way.

But he hadn't realized how much his thoughts had changed until he was sorted into Hufflepuff himself!

He even felt like he could call the other boy his friend, along with Harry.

Harry Potter wasn't what he had envisioned at all, either. He was so much smarter, calmer, and logical. He was even more mature than him, and for the first time, Ron actually felt like he looked up to someone his own age.

Ron felt all of his preconceived notions knocked out of his head, and he didn't know it, but it was exactly because of his first meeting with Harry that the boy would feel sceptical reading about anyone featured in the Daily Prophet later on.

Anyway, Ron didn't feel good seeing Draco look so terrified, and it was likely that the other boy would kick himself for acting like this when he regained his senses.

So, he helped the only way he knew how.

Ron slung his arm over the other boy, jolting him out of his thoughts. "What's got you so worried, mate?"

Draco snapped out of it, letting out a scoff. "Mate?" Draco looked so offended that it was actually funny.

Ron snorted. "Glad to see you're looking better."

"Take your arm off me, Weasley," Draco sneered.

"I think not, Malfoy," Ron sneered back.

Harry let them go on, feeling like they would take a while. It was too early in the morning for him to make nice. With the infernal racket that went around in the Hufflepuff dorm as everyone tried to make nice, he would have to look up something to silence them.

Besides, he'd let the other Houses get a good look at the two who were supposed to have a blood-feud seemingly teasing each other.

Harry rather found amusement in the way some of them even dropped their breakfast, their mouths wide.

The first year snuck a look at the teacher's table, only for him to feel his scar twinge slightly, catching his attention.

He tilted his head a bit, looking over the teachers.

They were all showing varying states of disbelief, but there was a single, dour-faced man who was trying to feign impassiveness. If what Harry was reading was right, and let's face it, he always was, the man was more surprised than anyone else.

"Who's that?" Harry questioned.

Ron and Draco stopped ribbing each other, the two finding that they really didn't hate each other like they'd been conditioned to.

"Who?"

"The professor in all black robes who looks like he'd rather not have woken up in the morning."

Draco held back a snort at that description. Truly, his Godfather did look like he'd rather not have woken up to, quote, 'teach those dunderheads' unquote.

"That's my Godfather, Severus Snape. He teaches potions."

Harry raised a brow, sorting the information away. He hadn't missed the long, searching look the other man gave him, and he didn't like not knowing what had caused that look in the first place.

"He's your Godfather?" Ron whispered, horrified.

Harry could feel the rest of the House listening in, however subtly they thought they were doing so.

By this time, a rather regal-looking owl landed in front of Draco, causing the blond's words to stop in his tracks, his face going pasty-white again.

Ron, who had never released his arm from the other boy's shoulder, squeezed his shoulder a little. "Relax. We're here for you," he said, surprisingly insightful.

Harry reassessed his judgement of the boy a little. It seemed like he had learnt some tact, after yesterday's disaster of a meeting, at least.

Surprisingly, Draco actually did relax a little, regaining a bit of colour in his face. "Of course you are," he said in place of thanks.

Ron just smirked.

Draco took the letter but didn't open it there and then, which was wise of him.

While the rest of the House didn't look like they were one to gossip, Harry really had yet to make an accurate judgement. After all, he'd only been here a day.

Their head of house, Professor Sprout, started giving out the various timetables, and Harry raised a brow when he noted that they were paired with the rest of the three Houses rather equally.

From what he'd heard, he had expected for Hufflepuff to be paired with Ravenclaw most of the time, but it looked like something had changed.

"Looks like we have herbology with Ravenclaw first, then potions with Slytherin later."

-

Harry actually felt rather upset when he realized that the lessons they would be getting in the first year really wouldn't be going outside of their books at all.

He supposed that he should have expected it, but it just left him feeling disgusted and disgruntled at the waste of his time when he could be doing so much more.

It was only his first class, but he could already tell that it was going to be a huge waste of time.

Yet, he couldn't possibly have resisted going through those books when he first got them.

Harry smiled 'genuinely' at their head of house as she praised him for his exceptional work. She was all but glowing when he went around helping the rest of the first years regardless of their House.

Done and bored, Harry walked around and made more connections with the other students instead.

That was a much better use of his time.

As patiently as he could, he helped them understand in a way that their tiny brains could comprehend, and he received their gratitude with grace.

Both Ron and Draco seemed fine for now, and he had to wonder just how much of the 'help' that his fellow first years required was because of his apparent status in the wizarding world?

Anyway, he was not pleased when he realized that many of his fellow first years around him had light cores rather than dark ones.

It made him wonder… could he change that?

Or should he just leave them to their liking so that he could use them later on?

However, Harry didn't really think he would leave them so light if he managed to find a way to do it. He didn't feel quite as amiable to those with lighter cores, and he could actually feel whatever little interest he had in them fading the more time went on, bored by their inane questions.

Draco's core was beautifully dark, much like his father's had been, and Ron's was light.

They clashed wonderfully, and it just gave Harry further thoughts about whether or not he could corrupt that white light.

He knew that they were all supposed to be innocent first years, but he was really terribly bored.

Herbology was a bit of a let-down, to be honest. He hoped that potions later would be different. From what he'd heard about Draco's Godfather, the man was usually stern and impassive, if rather cutting when he taught his students.

Apparently, he didn't suffer fools lightly.

Harry licked his lips.

He really wanted to break that façade.