Chapter 28: Slytherin

The Slytherin table ushered out a light applause for me as I was sorted into their house. I chuckled to myself noting the outcome had gone as expected.

The sorting hat seemed to have some confliction with this choice as it explained one part told him to place in Slytherin whilst the other felt like I was a fit for all houses. Hearing this I instantly thought about the two 'souls' in me. The Leo that died and the Leo that was originally here. The Leo that was here was dead-set for Slytherin whereas me, the Leo who died and came here, has a more matured mindset which was explained as 'knowing the strengths and weaknesses of all houses'.

I walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down with a couple other first years that had already been sorted. I visibly sat a bit away from them though, keeping to myself. Glancing over towards Dumbledore, he seemed to be staring at me with an inquisitive look in his eye. I avoided staring directly into his gaze as I didn't want to risk anything so I kept my head down. Shortly after that look he gave me, he shifted it onto the next child being sorted instead.

I had a feeling he was trying to gauge if I was Merlin's descendant in that instant due to the course of events. Well it was either that or he saw me as another potential Tom Riddle, being a Slytherin and an Orphan. Thankfully for me though, his suspicion was momentary and wistful as he didn't attempt anything too brusque like delving into my memories or something. Avoiding his eye contact helped also there. I had my occlumency guard up anyway so I would have caught him if he did attempt something but I wouldn't have stopped him if there was an attempt...

Honestly speaking I probably should have tried to control where I was placed so suspicion didn't land on me as much however as I thought about doing this, I also noted that Merlin was a Slytherin and some things could be left behind by him in the Slytherin dungeons specifically. With me being in Slytherin, I would have easier access to them rather than having to sneak into another houses common room. I already knew it wouldn't be a secret forever that I was Merlin's descendant so it seemed silly changing the house situation just to throw a few people off the scent for maybe a year or two.

After I sat down the sorting ceremony continued with every first year eventually being sorted into their houses. As we were fully sorted, Dumbledore stood up and welcomed us all the Hogwarts with one of his speeches. Honestly, I didn't take much notice of it, just letting the words flow in one ear and out the other. After his speech was completed, he waved his hands and a feast appeared on the table in front of us.

I started to tuck into some food myself as the feast appeared. Silently eating my fill. Some of the Slytherin first years attempted to speak to me and I replied with simple words, not really taking them into account. A couple scoffed at my attitude however I really couldn't care less, I just wanted to get to my room in the dungeons so I could set up for this year.

After a long time feasting, the hall started to clamour as the prefects of each house got up and lead us to the common rooms of our houses. As a Slytherin I was directed down into the dungeons with the rest of the first years. As we delved deep into the castle, we eventually arrived at the dungeons and headed into the common room area. To the left against the wall was all our luggage's, prepared to be taken into our rooms. It seemed as though Slytherin rooms had a different system to them…

A Slytherin prefect who name I didn't know started to gather us first years to one side.

"Looks like you are all here, each of you will be given a room to stay in. Some will be rooms with two beds whilst a couple only have a single bed. If you want a room to yourself, call out now and Ill let you have one"

"I would"

I instantly raised my hand. Unlike these other first years who probably wanted to make friends I much more preferred a room where I could keep to myself. As I spoke out the prefect threw me a small key.

"Your room is far down the hall on the left, the key has the number"

I didn't know if it was because of how different Slytherin was to houses like Gryffindor but unlike Gryffindor the rooms seemed to be much more segmented. I guess Gryffindor's were in a tower so they were restricted to the amount of space they had to have beds and rooms whereas the Slytherin dungeons there wasn't really a limit as it could just be extended out if need be. Nodding towards the prefect, I grabbed my luggage, turned and went to head off towards my room. As I did so though I heard my name called out from the right.

"Oz Osbourne"

I turned my head to the location of the voice and saw that the person calling to me was actually Professor Snape.

[Canon Shift – (Severus Snape) has been asked by (?) to keep an eye on (Oz) due to mounting suspicion of (Oz) being related to the Descendant of Merlin incident]

A canon shift notification ended up in my retina immediately. Seeing this it was clear who the question mark was… It was of course Dumbledore. I expected this to happen in all honesty when I saw his gaze after I was sorted to Slytherin…

"Yes, Professor Snape?"

I responded normally to Snape who walked over to me, seeing I had my room sorted and had detached from the crowd of first years.

"I hear that you came from an orphanage. Rather peculiar for you to be put into Slytherin…"

Even though I was 11-years-old Snape was still pressuring me like this. If I was a normal 11-year-old I would have started sweating or something as he tried to pry information from me however, I just looked at him blankly.

"How should I know how it works? I only learnt about this school recently"

Snape looked surprised as he saw my blank statement. I think he was expecting me to give a stuttered and nervous reply, hoping to get the information he needed straight away.

"Anyway, professor I have a question I wanted to ask you so its good you came to talk"

"Oh?"

"My guardians at the orphanage I stayed within sent me some money whilst I waited in Diagon Alley under the orphan policy. With that money supplied I bought myself an owl. This was however bought after McGonagall had left. I was wondering if I could get it registered or something so you know it's coming"

Snape's gaze seemed to still be measuring me up however as I diverted the conversation away for now, he switched to the subject matter I was talking about.

"Your owl would have been trained that The Owlery is the location to fly to after delivering any letters. That's required by Eeylop's to be trained to their owls. As for registering it, I'll just need a name and what kind of owl it is, I'll forward the details onto the right people"

He was being awfully co-operative. Was he trying to be nice to make me lower my guard?

"The owls name is Nyx and it's a screech owl. You won't miss them; they are pure black and their eyes are… unique to say the least"

"Noted"

Snape stared at me for a moment longer before leaving the Slytherin common room. Looking around I noticed that some of the students here were listening into the conversation.

"Orphan? A Slytherin that's come from an Orphanage?"

Such words were being spread and listening to them I couldn't help but laugh. I wondered if Snape realised what his words were going to cause. If any of them had a brain they would steer clear of trying anything and should note that there's a reason I was placed here. Ignoring the murmurs, I walked through the common room and headed for my room at the end of the corridor attached. Unlocking the door, I headed into the room.

Pulling my luggage in behind me I placed it in a corner of the room. I looked around the new room I was in with a satisfied expression. I had a nice bed, a good desk to study on and a nice fireplace as well. It was a nice little base for me in honesty, I was pleased with it. I started to unpack some of my things placing them around in areas more accessible. Of course, the more precious stuff stayed hidden deeply within my extension pouch.

Taking out my own wand after unpacking my things I looked to a book I had taken out on my left. It was time to start practicing that cloaking spell. Strictly speaking it wasn't referred to as a cloaking spell this one but instead a 'Disillusion Charm'. It made the caster blend into their environment almost like a chameleon, giving the illusion of disappearing.

This in my mind was only step one of the tasks though. To ensure I could sneak around with ease I needed to layer on other charms that erased smell and also sound from me. At that point I should find it easy enough to get around. If I could then compact all of that into a single incantation then it would make everything much easier.

Pointing the wand at myself, a gave the spell a first run through. The incantation for this specific charm was never specified in the books, however with my own research I found the incantation needed casting it.

"Illusio"

As the spell was cast, it hit me and from the head down my body slowly began to disappear… No, it was better to say that it was 'blending' into the surroundings. Eventually my whole body was blended with my surroundings as I sat on the bed.

"Perfect"

I let those words escape my lips as I got rid of the charm from my body. With that step done there were only two more until the full 'cloaking' was perfected. There was another spell I could use instead of the disillusion charm which was essentially an invisibility spell instead however in the books I had there wasn't much knowledge about it. If I had time, I would go to the library here in Hogwarts and look that specific spell up as it could be better in practice.

Erasing any sounds and smells from me though would be difficult, I hadn't a clue what spells were out there that could do this. Silencio was a spell that would silence a person but not the sounds coming from the persons movements so I hoped there was a derivation of this spell somewhere or something that did so.

Even though it seemed difficult right now, I still felt myself smile. Progressing step by step like this was really fulfilling, seeing the fruits of my labour as I disappeared left me with a giddy feeling. I wanted to go further and further. Looking at the clock in my room I noted how late it had gotten. Tomorrow was my first day of lessons so it would be best to get an early sleep in.

Blowing the candles out around the room I headed over to bed I tucked myself in looking at the overly fancy bedframe. As I stared at the ceiling, I wondered how Nyx was faring on its trip. Other thoughts collided in my mind also about Dumbledore trying to profile me using Snape etc however in regards to all of that I didn't have too many issues, I would deal with those two as they came at me for now.

With a calm smile, I started to drift into a deep sleep.