Chapter Three

With the older Slytherins turning over a new leaf, it was almost like a whole new Hogwarts.

Despite that it took a while for them to change their reputation.

Regardless, Harry was proud of them.

And as such praised them every chance they got.

That's not to say that is all Harry had done during that time.

The first chance he got he grabbed some of Hagrid’s roosters.

With them in tow he headed down into the Chamber Of Secrets.

There he quickly took care of the Basilisk.

With the safety of the students then taken care of he proceeded to take some of his fellow Slytherins down into the Chamber.

This as you can imagine reinforced in their mind that Harry was the true Heir of Slytherin.

After all, how else would he have been able to find and gain access to Slytherin’s chamber if he wasn’t.

From that point they were practically falling over themselves to gain his favour.

Harry, not willing to give up on such an opportunity, further ingratiates himself with them.

And proceeded to further pull them towards his cause.

Before he knew it he had quite a number of loyal followers.

And through them a number of useful contacts.

Obviously taking inspiration from Slughorn in collecting those who would be of use to him.

This afforded him the opportunity to get the Basilisk rendered down.

Thus gaining himself a large amount of Galleons.

Instead of hoarding such wealth however he spread it around his new followers.

Gaining even more prestige from them.

He invested in their various families.

Further tying them to him.

If he was Voldemort he could have used such an opportunity to slowly slip a noose around their necks without them even realising.

Harry however wasn’t Voldemort.

And endeavoured to gain true loyalty from his followers instead.

And not the kind that required copious amounts of torture andc fear to keep them inline.

All in all his plans seemed to be going off without a hitch.

The younger students followed the example of their older counterparts.

And soon almost everyone in Slytherin House was looking towards Harry as an example of what to do and what not to do.

Of course there were a few holdouts.

Draco being the most vocal.

But despite that he was in the minority and quickly found himself being ostracised because of his “outdated” rhetoric.

The more he spoke of Mudbloods and his supposed superiority the more he dug his own grave.

As such Harry was quite proud of how easily his followers stepped up to put him in his place.

“You would think the cunning thing to do would be to remain silent and lay in wait” Harry thought.

“But nobody ever suspected Draco to have even an ounce of cunning,” Harry sighed.

As such only Crabbe and Goyle still followed Malfoy.

But even that was now growing more and more tenuous.

The more popular Harry became in Slytherin House the more the pair gravitated towards him.

And after Harry’s first Quidditch match where he caught the Snitch in record time they all but severed ties with the Malfoy heir, leaving him well and truly isolated within his own house.

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The only backing he had remaining was the aid he received from Snape.

But all that managed to do was make him seem like a teacher's pet.

Something most kids despised.

Even Pansy had stopped fawning over Draco.

Something Harry thought would never happen.

As such he was pleased with the changes he had made in the timeline.

A few days after his Slytherin debut on the Quidditch pitch he was summoned to Professor McGonagall's office.

“Greetings Mr Potter” she said in her usual stern tone.

A tone that seems even stiffer this time around what with him not being in her house.

“So much for her not playing favourites” he thought to himself.

Thankfully she didn’t seem willing to drag this out and quickly got down to business.

“I summoned you here because I wanted to talk to you about your Godfather” she said.

This instantly gained Harry’s attention.

“As you have no doubt read that one Sirius Black had been found innocent of the crimes for which he was placed in Azkaban” she said before going on a long winded explanation of the Wizard Prison.

Obviously thinking that due to him being Muggle raised he wouldn’t know anything about it.

“Where was this level of detail when I actually needed to learn about the Wizarding World?” Harry thought sarcastically.

Thankfully after detailing the treaties that formed Azkaban and how the Dementors (and what they are) began acting as the guards she then moved onto the more pertinent topics.

That being his Godfather.

“So you see Mr Potter your Godfather had needed to stay in the care of St Mungos the Wizarding Hospital to rectify the health issues caused by his stay in Azkaban” she explained.

“And he’s better now?” Harry asked.

To which he received a nod.

“Not only that, he is now allowed to receive visitors” she said.

“I called you here because he has been asking about you. And as such we were wondering if you would want to go see him” She said.

Harry didn’t need convincing and quickly agreed.

With that out of the way she directed him towards her fireplace where she proceeded to explain to him the intricacies of floo travel.

From there it was a simple task of travelling to St Mungos.

Harry stepped out of the fireplace smoothly on the other side.

Doing so allowed Professor McGonagall to follow him not ten seconds later.

He then walked with her towards the Welcome Witch.

“We are here to see Sirius Black” McGongall said.

The Welcome Witch quickly gave directions which the pair followed to the letter.

They soon found themselves on the ward and more specifically the private room that housed Sirius.

They knocked politely before hearing the very recognisable voice of Sirius Black telling them to “come in”.

A lump formed in Harry’s throat just hearing his Godfather again.

It was all he could do to maintain his calm demeanour.

“Don’t lose it” he told himself over and over again.

Before he knew it he was inside the room.

There he saw Sirius sitting in the hospital bed.

He was wearing plaid pyjamas in Gryffindor colours.

“Harry” Sirius said with a gasp.

“Merlin, you look just like your Dad” Sirius said.

“Got your Mothers eyes though” he added.

His eyes then drifted to the Slytherin colours and symbol on his school robes.

Thankfully he didn’t mention it.

Instead pointing to an empty chair nearby.

“Come here come here” he said excitedly.

And who was Harry to refuse?

What followed was several hours getting to know one another.

Something Harry regretted not doing more of the first time around.

He was also much more open and honest with Sirius this time too.

Telling him exactly how his life with the Dursleys went.

The grim scowl on his Godfather's face and the gasp of shock from McGonagall when he mentioned the Cupboard Under The Stairs was as clear as the nose on his face.

“Well we will make sure you certainly won’t be returning to them any time soon” Sirius said with a look of determination.

“I quite agree” McGonagall sniffed.

Sadly before he knew it it was time to return to Hogwarts.

He said his farewells to Sirius promising to visit him again soon.

Something which he saw gave Sirius just as much something to look forward to as himself.

It was as they were heading back towards the Floo that McGonagall stopped him.

“Mr Potter……..Harry.” She said with a pause.

“I feel I need to offer my apologies” she said.

She then went on to explain how she observed the Dursley’s for a day before they left Harry with them.

“I told Dumbledore they were the worst sort of Muggles” she complained.

“I should have been more persistent. I can’t apologise enough for what you had to endure because of my failings” she said with an emotional sniff towards the end.

“It’s fine professor” he said.

He put his hand up to cut her off from further comment.

“I don’t blame you. I knew it was Dumbledore’s decision. He left me out in the middle of the street with nothing but a blanket and a letter” Harry said.

“If anyone is to blame for the upbringing I’ve had it was him. In Fact it was because of him I argued with the Sorting hat not to put me in Gryffindor” Harry said

Which was kind of true in a sense.

“Well given what you had been through I can’t really say I blame you” she said.

Neither one were comfortable talking much more.

And thus began making their way back towards the floo.

Soon they were back in the McGonagall’s office.

Harry said his quick farewells to the Professor before heading back towards the Dungeons before curfew.

Where not even the dark dank sight of the Slytherin common room could ruin the good mood Harry was in.