“SLYTHERIN!!” the hat shouts.

McGonagall removes the hat from my head as I make my way to the Slytherin table. There were a few polite claps and some raised their eyebrows probably surprised at how long my sorting took.

I hated the hat now and would have loved burning it but it still wouldn’t change the fact that I was in Slytherin and there was nothing I could do about except adapt.

My robes changed colors and turned slytherin green with the insignia appearing on one side.

A pale,blonde young man approached me as soon as I reached the table. “Welcome to the House of Slytherin.” he said.

“Thank you.”I replied.

“I am Lucius Malfoy, fifth-year Slytherin prefect.” Now I recognized him. “If you need anything, feel free to find me. We Slytherins take care of our own.”

Of course, what he said was true as Slytherin did take care of their own but obviously not for free which he left unsaid.

There were a lot of hidden rules in Slytherin and it had a hierarchy. Lucius here was clearly not dumb like Draco and when he saw an anomaly with the long sorting, he approached me. He wanted me under his wing and since I am not sure about the situation I replied, “Of course. Thank you.” politely.

“Our Head of House is Horace Slughorn. He teaches Potions here.” Lucius continued as he gestured towards Slughhorn who was seated at the high table. He was a rather round man who sat there with a smile on his face as he chatted with the other teachers.

I tried to recall more information about him. From what I know, Slughorn was not your typical slytherin. He was not the ambitious sort but he was very cunning. He favoured gifted students and then got favoured in return when they matured.

Basically he was an investor who invested in talents and then when they bloomed, the students he taught would remember him and favour him. No doubt, it was a cunning move. I wonder how he would have fared if he had ambitions.

Even Tom Riddle wanted to be a teacher at Hogwarts, he probably understood how useful Slughorn’s methods were and wanted to use it to influence the students.

I continued listening to Malfoy who gave me more information but I also noticed how he withheld stuff too. Like he told me that I was free to ask him anything but he didn’t tell me about the price. He told me that Slytherins take care of their own but I would have to uphold its traditions and honor the house.

Hence I didn’t proactively ask him anything and replied politely to his queries. Perhaps he was testing me to see if I was cunning enough to gauge his intentions.

By the end of our conversation, Lucius seemed pleased and he left me to go sit with his peers.

I took a seat and watched as the sorting ended with some kid being sorted into Ravenclaw.

Dumbledore got up from his seat and addressed the students. He pulled his wand out and just tapped it against the air ,he said, “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!.... Let the feast begin..”

It didn’t take long before the food made by the house elves magically appeared on the table. Being hungry and a growing boy, I quickly ate my food. Of course, all this was done in good dining etiquette as wolfing down food on the slytherin table was a bad move.

The food was better than the ones made at home but was not well restaurant level. Soon after almost everyone had eaten to their fills, Dumbledore once again addressed the students.

The hall turned silent as he began, “Ahem...Now that all of us are full, I do have a few start of the term notices to announce.”

“First years should take heed not to wander or loiter into the forest on the grounds. It is a place filled with danger and all students are forbidden to go there. It is called the forbidden forest for a reason…..”

“Next, as every year, No magic shall be used in the corridors during classes. You will be given detention with Mr. Filch, the caretaker, if you are caught doing so.”

A few heads turned to look at Filch who seemed almost happy at the thought of punishing students.

Dumbledore continued, “ And finally, Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.”

Hooch was a hawk eyed woman who sat at the end of the table. I always thought she started teaching later but the timeline is already different so I suppose it shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

“And now, before everyone departs, let us sing the school song!” Dumbledore finished.

He flicked his wand as a tune started playing. “Everyone ready!!” he asked. “Off we go.”

I won’t go into details but that was horrible. I just pretended to lip sing it as did most of my housemates. It was funny watching stuck up Slytherins grit their teeth and sing the embarrassing song.

I spotted Lily on the other side singing with Pandora. I could tell that even she was not really singing and she gave me an embarrassed smile when our eyes met.

And finally Dumbledore let us go after the song but not before introducing the new DADA teacher. His eyes were twinkling and he still had that smile on his face.

The gryffindors and Hufflepuffs left first, clearly in a hurry and their prefects had a tough time handling them as they kept pushing each other. Finally after they left, the Ravenclaws and Slytherins got up calmly.

“Now first years, closely follow me lest you get lost.” Another prefect from my house whose name I didn’t know addressed us first years.

We followed him as he led us out of the great Hall, we took a right and went down the marble stairs. We soon reached a door which further led downwards.

The stairs were stone now and as we descended, the dungeon aspect was becoming more apparent. The walls had a sort of damp feel to it as I found out when my hand brushed against it.

I did wonder why a dungeon was there in Hogwarts though. Did they punish students here? The more I thought of it, the more questions I had.

Hogwarts was truly a fascinating place filled with mysteries centuries old and I plan to know them all. It was filled with magic and might even be sentient for all I know.

We came across various armours and paintings on our way, the Prefect told us to remember each as a landmark so as to find our way here on our own. The portraits had talking people who whispered and pointed at us as we walked.

Magic had so much potential,wizards already had moving pictures before muggles had gifs. If only they didn’t have narrow minds, maybe they would have reached new heights.

We finally reached a bare stretch of wall in the dungeons where the Prefect stopped and addressed us.

“Now this is the place where we say the password. The entrance to our common room is through here, make sure to keep this a secret from the other houses, especially those pesky Gryffindors. If it gets out somehow, lets just say that the one who leaks it won’t be coming back to Hogwarts next year..”he flashed a smile as he did that.

“The password is changed every fortnight and will be displayed on the notice board inside. Make sure to remember it everytime we change it. If you forget it, you are stuck out here either until someone who does remember the password comes along or if someone is coming out.”

He continued giving out more information, “If you don’t make it on time before curfew, you will have to go seek our house head Slughorn, he will dock points from the house if you do so make sure not to be late…”

The ‘or else’ part was left unsaid as I knew that slytherin was not a forgiving house. They do stick together but that's only against the other houses. There are various factions within and almost each is only united due to mutual benefits.

They value traditions too so they are actually bothered about the house points therefore losing points is not….advisable. Harry and his friends lost 150 points or so in their first year and were hated by the Gryffindors. Of course, they managed to ‘redeem’ themselves by the end of the year but even if they hadn’t they would be hated but that's the extent of it.

But if the same thing happened to Harry if he was a slytherin, his life here would have been...unpleasant and difficult to say the least.

With that grim warning given, he turned his head towards the stone wall and said, “Pudicitiam”

Hmm….purity was the password but in latin it seems. I had started learning latin as most spells are in latin and it doesn’t hurt to learn it. But now I understood why the entrance to the common room was kept hidden.

With a password as obvious as that, anybody with a little intelligence and knowledge about Slytherins could get in.

The stone wall parted open to reveal a hidden door. I followed the others and entered the door.

The Slytherin common room was actually pretty impressive. It was a low room with a dungeon-esque feel to it. The room extended part way under the lake which gave it a greenish tint. It had many black cupboards and black leather sofas.

It had this medieval feel to it, not the dirty muggle kind but rather a clean fantasy world medieval feel to it. It had several tapestries featuring well known medieval Slytherins.

“As you can see….our house has the best view to offer.” A female prefect begins. “Our common room is underground and close to the lake as you can see. It is a pleasant sight and you can witness some...creatures sometimes.”

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“Right...now that all of you are gathered here, I have a couple rules to announce and they have to be followed strictly.”

“The dorms to the left are for girls and the ones on the right for boys. The girls dorm has been warded against boys and it is forbidden for boys to go there.”

The male prefect picks up now as he continues, “Each of you will be given individual rooms for privacy. They are furnished with basic furniture but you can decorate it as you see fit.”

“Thats all for now and you will be expected to be present here sharp by seven in the morning. We will give you your schedules that you must follow. So be presentable and ready by then. Make sure to honor the noble reputation of our house and have a good night.” he finishes and leaves us.

Everybody quickly entered the room and soon took up their respective rooms.

If I recall correctly, even Ravenclaw offered private rooms. The most likely reason is that both Ravenclaw and Slytherin receive the least number of students each year whereas Gryffindor and Hufflepuff get the most.

It makes sense now that I think about it as most students are idioctic pushovers or are “brave” ones with massive egos. Slytherin has snotty brats who think they belong in it because they believe themselves to be smarter than they actually are but they are not in large numbers.

Of course, Slytherin receives more students too but most are heirs or members from well to do wizarding families so they receive extra benefits here.

I have no doubt that all the rich families have better rooms than mine, they probably have expansion charms too but I am satisfied with my room for now.

My room is as they said, a modest one with a small bed tucked away in a corner.It also had a table on which I can do my work or assignments. It came with a magic lamp which activated on claps which once again reminded me of the modern world.

After getting dressed in my night wear, I plop down on the bed as I think about my next plans.

Lets see….I finally arrived at Hogwarts and ended up in Slytherin. I would have preferred Ravenclaw but things don’t go as planned so I have no choice but to bear with it. Besides, Slytherin is not a bad house per say. I can recruit minions, form better connections than I could have where I in Ravenclaw, and more power or voice.

I also noticed that I was not treated badly for being a half blood. I don’t know if its because the war has not started or blood prejudice has not escalated.The rivalry between Gryffindor is also not as intense as it was during Harry’s time.

As I am lost in my thoughts, I feel a presence crawl up my leg. It was just Nox trying to come up towards me. I began to feel sleepy so I turned the light off and closed my eyes eagerly waiting for dawn.

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It was six in the morning when I finally awoke. It had become a routine as I had gotten used to waking up early to go for an early run. After all, being fit was the first step to stay healthy.

Eager to get started with my first day, I quickly get up and go take a bath. It is a communal bathroom and I just take a shower and get dressed in my robes. The robes are clean and neatly folded.

The house elves probably cleaned it. After tying my hair in knot, I head for the common room.

While I am excited to start the classes, I also know that it is important as it will determine which field or rather fields I am going to specialize in. Trying to be the best in everything will only make me mediocre in everything else.

Of course, I will try to become adept in as many fields as I can through hard work but I have to specialize in fields where my talents lie.

After all I wouldn’t want to be a ‘Jack of all trades but master of none’, I would rather be a ‘jack of all trades but master of few’.

The common room already has a few students gathered by the time I arrive there. I also spot Narcissa amongst them. She seems to be sporting a cold expression and is ignoring everyone who is approaching her.

I promptly ignore her and make small talk with my other housemates who talk to me cordially and are friendly. I steer the conversion with me being the center of attention. I learn more about them and I try to come off as a sociable person.

I head off with them to the great hall for breakfast and once there, I have a simple breakfast and fish out more information about my housemates.

By the time the Prefects come to escort us to our classes, I have already established a rapport of sorts amongst the first years. I know about them but they know little about me.

Narcissa was also looking my way a few times as she probably realised what I was doing but she didn’t approach me.

Soon the prefects arrived and led us to our first class, Potions.

The potions classroom was one of the large dungeons. It was large enough to allow at least 20 students to work together and its walls were lined with pickled animals in glass jars. In one corner of the classroom stood a basin into which ice-cold water poured from a gargoyle’s mouth,while in another was the student’s supply cupboard.

There was a blackboard too where a jovial man stood with a smile on his face as he welcomed the first years.

“Ah..welcome to your first class at Hogwarts. My name Horace Slughorn, you may address me as Professor Slughorn. I will be taking potions for you and I am also the head of your house. Feel free to contact me or a prefect if you have any problems. I am always ready to help.”

He then proceeds to hand us our schedules and they are the same for all slytherins as we have the same subjects till 3rd year where we get to choose electives.

The classes were as expected. Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Defense against the dark arts, history of magic and finally astronomy.

After everyone had settled down,Slughorn addressed the class again.

“Now before we begin the class, each of you will be paired up with a student who you will be with you till the end of the term.”

And so he began pairing up students and surprisingly enough, I ended up with Narcissa.

“Hello there. Nice to meet you, I am Severus Prince.” I greet her when she moves to my side.

“Narcissa Black, the pleasures is mine.” She greets me back.

“Well..” Slughorn continues, “ now that all of you have partners, we shalll get on with the class.”

“As I stated earlier, I will be teaching you how to brew potions. Now many of you won’t consider potions to be magic as there is little wand waving here but potions are not to be underestimated as you will soon learn. Potions are magical mixtures brewed in cauldrons and they have varying effects.”

“Brewing a potion requires patience and their effects are usually difficult to undo by any but another skilled potioneer. This branch of magic carries a certain mystique as the potions you can brew range from simple ones that cure boils to ones that bewitch the mind, ensnare the senses, provide immunity to all elements and even delay... death.”

Silence prevailed in the class as students were now paying attention.

“But first a few questions...now who can tell me what I would get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

I raised my hand as I clearly knew the answer. I didn’t practise potions for fun.

“Yes...err..”

“Severus.Severus Prince.”I say as I stand up. “The answer to your question Sir is that you would get a powerful sleeping potion or more precisely as it is called the draught of living death.”

A smile alights on Slughorn’s face. “Wonderful answer my boy, you are absolutely correct. I am happy that at least some of you have read the books before your term. Now Severus, I have one more question for you to answer if you don’t mind?”

I just give him a nod.

“Tell me Severus, where would I look for a bezoar?”

“Hmm...A bezoar can be found in the stomach of a goat, Sir. It is a good antidote against many poisons.”

“Very good. It seems we have a bright one this year. You can sit down Severus and 10 points to Slytherin for that wonderful display from Mr.Prince.”

I take my seat with a rather content smile on my face as I see respect in the other’s eyes. This would further cement my position in their heads.

“You did well,Prince...”Narcissa says.

“Ah..why thank you Mrs. Black, these were but simple questions.”I reply flashing her a smile.

The rest of the class is slightly boring as Slughorn didn’t let us do anything and just told us trivia and more basic facts that I had already learnt.

The next class on schedule was Transfiguration taught by McGonagall. A prefect once again led us through the corridors and soon we reached the class.

“Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will be taught here so no indiscipline will be tolerated in my class.”McGonagall began.

“Transfiguration is a branch of magic that focuses on the alteration of the form of an object. It is a very precise art that you have to get it exactly right. Transfiguration is harder to perform than charms, it is ‘very scientific’. It has its own laws that must be followed strictly.”

The class was once again all theory and McGonagall spent the entire class explaining theories and warning us about the dangers of transfiguration. She had us memorise the Transfiguration alphabet which could be roughly translated to the English alphabet.

Nothing exciting happened and once the class ended, I made my way to the Charms class.

The class was on the third floor in the south tower and it took me a while to reach it but I still made it on time.

Flitwick was a rather short man and spoke in a squeaky voice. He was pretty enthusiastic about teaching and explained common theories about Charms.

Basically charms were usually like buffs that added certain properties to objects or persons. It was closely related to transfiguration in the sense that conjuration also fell within its field but charms were much easier to perform and it provided more leeway and creativity.

Charms were also the most common branch of magic that was a large part of the wizarding community. Most daily activities involved usage of household charms and their easy usage allowed more people to adopt it into their daily lives.

Charms were not to be underestimated as charms had the closest link to “Dark magic”. Charms associated with dark magic were called dark charms and they were classified into three types with increasing severity.

First were jinxes which were minor dark charms and didn’t cause any adverse effect to the victim. These charms were mainly used for pranks.

Next were the hexes, which were slightly more harmful to the victim and these carried malicious intent.

And finally, there were the curses, most of which are banned by the Ministry and three of the most infamous spells belong to this category. The Unforgivables, Crucio, Imperio and Avada Kedavra were classified as curses.

The next few classes were all similar and none of them made me do anything...practical. My first day at Hogwarts was not going as expected.

After the morning classes, everyone gathered for lunch and I took this opportunity to head to the library.

The library was easy to find as it was on the first floor. The librarian was a stern woman named Irene Lavender. She was not the one who was the librarian during Harry's time but she was better so I had no complaints. She was stern but seemed helpful.

The library was massive and had rows upon rows of shelves filled with books. It probably housed books of all kinds and it would take me years to read even half of the books here.

I made my way towards the librarian and politely asked, “Excuse me but could you help me find a book on transfiguration theory?”

She raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask too many questions as she led me to a shelf whose location I memorised. She then handed me two books written by two different authors and then left me to my own devices.

I was interested in Transfiguration as altering yourself to make yourself better seemed like a good place to start on my goal.

I opened the first book named Laws of Transfiguration. It was as stated a book with various laws on Transfiguration. It reminded me of muggle physics textbooks but these were a lot more vague and mostly inaccurate.

The first law was Gamp’s law which was a pretty basic law that stated what could and what couldn’t be done by transfiguration.

Overall it stated stuff you can’t create from nothing. For example, Food was considered one of its Principal exceptions. One couldn’t conjure food from nothing but you could summon it if you knew the location accurately.

You could increase the quantity of food but it wouldn’t taste as good as the ingredients will remain the same amount, they would only be redistributed in different ways and be in lesser proportions.

It was an interesting read but I couldn’t complete the book as time was up and my next class was about to start. I asked the librarian if I could borrow it but she said I would have to wait one week before she can start issuing books.

Nevertheless I thank her and move out to head to my next class. Herbology.

Herbology was taught by Pomona Sprout, a stout happy lady who was not afraid to get her hands dirty.

We got to do something practical which was nice for a change. I already knew some things as I had helped Mother plant some magical herbs in our garden. It served as an alternative to certain potion ingredients and saved money.

We learned about Puffapods which is a magical plant which sprout pink seed pods full of shining beans. We planted them and I even got 5 points as I did particularly well. Sprout even gave me a few shining beans, one of which I gave to Narcissa.

She was surprised but accepted it. She even showed a smile on her face when the seeds bloomed when they were thrown.

Defense against the Dark Arts, a rather important class was taught by a middle aged man named Emmet Bulb. The class was cursed by Voldemort so he probably wouldn’t last the year. I wanted to know more about how he did it but I was too weak as of now to meddle in such things and I didn’t even have plot armor.

It seemed that Dumbledore had not run out of competent teachers as this guy taught okay. He didn’t let us do anything yet but he did promise that we would have practical sessions after he finished explaining the theoretical part.

History of magic was, for a lack of words, utterly boring...Almost everyone fell asleep as the ghost teacher Binns droned on about some Goblin Rebellion. It's not that history itself was boring but more so the teacher teaching it made it so.

Binns didn’t really teach as much as he just read facts in that ‘dead’ voice of his which induced sleep no matter how interested you were.

After that never ending hour with Binns, I headed to the last class of the day. Astronomy which in my opinion was useless.

It didn’t have anything ‘magical’ per say and Muggles probably did it better. It was not taught by Aurora Sinistra but rather a batty old lady called Zella Buttonwood.

She made us memorise stars and gave a few half-assed explanations before she collapsed into a fit of coughs with her spit flying everywhere. Clearly, she would be joining the stars soon.

….

The hall was once again packed at night as dinner was served. The ghosts also came out more during this time and some like Peeves the poltergeist was playing pranks of gryffindor first years.

He wouldn’t dare do the same to Slytherin courtesy of the baron who kept him in check.Dinner was relatively simple and I served myself a healthy amount and began eating.

My housemates were discussing how their first day went. Most were whining that they didn’t get to do anything. They were also not pleased with the amount of homework we received on the first day.

I was not too bothered about it as I was familiar with the topics and I wasn’t an 11 year old mentally so naturally all this was...easy. The annoying thing was that you had to write with filthy quills on parchments.

I still didn't know why I had to write with these blasted quills. I had to dip it in ink every few seconds to get it to write well. It all felt backward and downright ridiculous.

Still I managed to write more than I expected as magic was certainly a more interesting thing to write about than any tedious science essays. It being an 11 year old’s homework also helped. By the time I finished it, it was 10 in the night.

I tried heading out to explore the castle but I put it off as the common room was still filled with people. I wanted to map out the castle or atleast get a sense of it so that I can move around smoothly.

I need to get the marauder’s map or atleast make one on my own, only then will I be able to move about safely on my ventures.

I tried finding the fabled Room of requirement during the day but was met with no success. I will have to keep looking for it as it's really useful for my goals and it is something that I….well,.require.

I didn’t get to meet Lily today but it's alright. Lucius did greet me a few times and I returned it in kind.

So without anything to do, I return to my room and after quickly undressing. I lay down on my bed.

It was an uneventful first day but nonetheless was productive. There are so many options to choose and each provide a different path. I wonder how I will fare in each path.

I soon drift away as I feel sleep overtaking me. And thus ended my first day at Hogwarts.

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