A Fresh Start

Anyway, despite being a Gryffindor, Granger did quite well in Potions, and more academic subjects like History of Magic and Astronomy were still her domain. She was a good writer, and her essays showed as much.

As for Defence against the Dark Arts, Harry had had a slow start due to his headaches; they had been agonizing at first, making it impossible absorb anything class. They'd lessened over time...but it was still concerning. Tom said that he might be reacting to another horcrux in the vicinity, but he didn't really know what to make of the severity of his headaches either.

Tom's theory also begged the question as to why Professor Quirrell would have a horcrux with him in the first place. Either way, it didn't really end up mattering, because with the aid of Madame Pomfrey's potions and his carefully crafted, shiny new occlumency shields, he'd pulled ahead to first in the class, an honour previously held by Granger.

So as irritating as he found Granger, he had to admit, she was a worthy rival, and he admired her audacity. Moreover, she seemed to have a kind heart, an eagerness to learn, and a desire to do her best in everything; despite her faults, he really did think quite well of her. He couldn't say the same for his housemates. They all seemed rather put off by the fact that a muggleborn witch was beating them in almost every subject, and Harry found the glances of relief he got every time he beat Granger rather amusing.

Slytherins were...funny like that. Many of his housemates were rather snobbish and thought too well of themselves, in his opinion. Most of them were purebloods, and of those many were quite wealthy...which, of course, would not have been a problem were it not for the fact that they occasionally reminded him of the Dursleys and some of his old classmates just a bit too much.

Malfoy especially seemed very used to getting what he wanted, and was quite accustomed to certain norms and patterns of behaviour, and didn't appreciate deviations from them. This created a lot of tension between them.

The boy was still sore over Harry's little fib at their first meeting (Harry knew that was going to come back to bite him), and had been trying to hex Harry on a semi-regular basis ever since. Granger and Weasley didn't seem to hold it against him (indeed, Weasley was still quite amused by his name game, and took pleasure in calling 'Harry Dursley!' and 'Tom Evans!' after him in the halls), so Harry was at quite a loss to explain the blonde boy's behaviour.

Harry had managed to evade him thus far, and even Malfoy was too honourable (or perhaps just too proud) to hex him in his sleep, so he figured he was safe for now. He really hoped he didn't have to put up with seven more years of this, though. No, that was simply not acceptable. He'd have to mend things with Malfoy eventually, but he wasn't sure how to. Any conflicts he'd had with people in the past had been solved by avoidance, which was not an option here. Moreover, Tom was completely unhelpful because his answer to everything went along the lines of

"Fear breeds respect, and dominance peace."

Harry's other dormmates were a lot more tolerable. Crabbe and Goyle were fairly quiet, which he appreciated; they weren't too bright, and were a bit too thuggish for his liking, but they seemed to be loyal sorts, and they didn't really bother him unless goaded on by Malfoy. Zabini was, like Malfoy, a bit of a spoiled brat, but was not nearly as insufferable, and was much more mature.

He was very skilled socially , Harry noticed; the boy exuded confidence and was quick to make friends (rather, friendly acquaintances) with the older students. He also made quick friends of the Slytherin girls in their year. He seemed rather sure of himself around girls, and Harry soon discovered that this was at least partially due to the fact that he lived alone with his mother.

The girls were...confusing. Harry'd never really known any girls before, and he found that he really had to be careful what he said around them. Davis was pretty practically minded, and seemed to have fairly thick skin (incidentally, she was the only half blood in the group), and Greengrass had a good head on her shoulders, seemed pretty smart, and definitely knew what she wanted. But Parkinson and Bulstrode...they were crazy.

Bulstrode was inexplicably timid at the strangest of times, and tended to make strange, squeaky, girly noises when amused or startled, and Parkinson...she was just a whole new level of...everything. Snappy, easily offended, pompous, irritable, prone to mood swings - she was everything Harry didn't know how to deal with. They were just so...volatile.

Not angry, and for the most part not ill-tempered, just volatile. He didn't understand them at all - and since Harry was perfectly sane, if he didn't understand them at all, they had have a few screws loose, right? As a whole, he'd decided that one of his goals for the year should be to learn to talk to girls without offending them or getting scoffed at. Tom hadn't been much help.

"I wish you luck. I really do."

But you're hopeless, was the unspoken conclusion. Harry knew he was mocking him.

And then there was Nott. Theodore Nott. The first few weeks following their encounter in their dorm room were tense, and had clearly left Nott unsettled. In fact, the boy was pretty scared of him for the first week. He'd made it clear that he wanted to maintain an amiable relationship with Harry (Harry still wasn't quite sure whether he liked him, or he was just impressed with him), but was easily startled by him, and even stuttered a few times when they spoke, which Harry later learnt was very uncharacteristic of him.

Eventually, though, the guilt wore on Harry just a bit too much, and one evening he took a very alarmed Theodore Nott aside for a little chat.

"So...I realize that we may have gotten off to a rough start..."

He could tell Nott wanted to scoff at that, but refrained.

"And it has occurred to me that it may seem like I've been blackmailing you..."

Another near scoff.

"But I want you to know that that wasn't...I didn't mean for it to come off like that. And I'm sorry. I went about this the wrong way, and I apologize."

Nott blinked, looking somewhat shocked.

"I'm sure you know about the...bad reputation surrounding...people like me, and I have a lot of people watching me...a lot of people who might get the wrong idea. There are lots of things that could go wrong if people found out...and I don't know if I can deal with that right now. I just want to stay out of trouble. I hope you understand."

Nott nodded slowly. "I...do."

Harry smiled brightly. "I'm glad. And I also want you to know that I won't hurt you, and you don't have to be scared of me. I don't like hurting people, especially you, because I like you."

Nott seemed very surprised by his earnest confession. "I...that...that's good. Listen, I still won't say anything, Potter. I'm not Malfoy – I'm not very keen on screwing you over. Personally, I think that the prejudice against...people like you is really poorly placed. There's nothing wrong with...what you are. I think it's rather brilliant, actually."

Harry's smile grew even brighter. "It makes me so happy to hear you say that! I'm really relieved, honestly. This is going so much better than I thought it would."

Nott looked a bit amused at that.

"So...I was hoping we could...start over. That's what people say, right? That they want to start over?"

Nott grinned at him, a bit. "Yes, Potter, that's what they say."

"Alright, then. My name's Harry Potter, but you can call me Harry. I'm very pleased to meet you."

"And I'm Theodore Nott, and you can call me Theo."

Harry had been ecstatic at his success. He did it, he actually did it! He had a friend, a friend who accepted him for who he was. He couldn't be more grateful.

For now, Nott was his only friend. He had a few friendly acquaintances, however. He often exchanged friendly greetings with Ron Weasley, who seemed to have gotten over the whole silencio-rictumsempra-flying rat incident, for which he was glad. The other boy seemed very good-natured and was clever in his own way. Moreover, he rose to the challenge of distinguishing himself among 5 older brothers very determinedly, which Harry admired. Neville Longbottom was also someone he remained on friendly terms with. The timid boy had taken some time to warm up to him, but after the incident with the rememberall, he had accepted the fact that Harry was, in fact, a nice Slytherin, and was really a pretty agreeable person, if he did say so himself. Terry Boot and Michael Corner from Ravenclaw also spoke with him from time to time, eager to pick up some of Harry's expertise in spell-casting. The two Ravenclaws were good conversationalists and intelligent company, and Harry...appreciated them.

As for the other Slytherins...they were cautious around him. Harry got the feeling that a lot of them still believed he didn't quite belong, what with the fact that he wasn't a pureblood, knew little of pureblood tradition and wizarding culture in general, and had Gryffindors as parents. It was kind of concerning for Harry, as Tom kept insisting that he needed to make allies within his own house. But that was where Quidditch came in. Harry was convinced that if he started winning his house some points, they'd come to appreciate him, and maybe even like him.

Not to mention, it was a lot of fun.

Suddenly finding himself outside, Harry smiled when he was startled from his musings by the fresh, cool, October air hitting his face, and allowed himself a moment of tranquility before he was interrupted.

"Potter! You're late!"

Harry smiled at his team captain sheepishly. "Sorry Flint, I was finishing an assignment. It won't happen again."

The older boy rolled his eyes, tossing him his broom.

....

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