Changing Ideals

Body



Disclaimer: Again I tell you, no I don\'t own Harry Potter or anything remotely resembling Harry Potter! He belongs to J.K. Rowling. Damn it. Oh well, I\'ll be content with borrowing her characters! Hehe. Don\'t sue me. Really, I have nothing.

Chapter 8: False Prophets and Annoying Pests

Divination was shaping up to be everything Harry knew it would. The very first thing out of the bat\'s mouth was that Harry would die a painfully, horrible death. Rolling his eyes, he tried not to listen to the snickers he received from the Hufflepuffs. It seemed as though they were still siding with the Gryffindors. They were too narrow minded. He could just picture the jeering comments rolling around in their infinitesimal brains, waiting to spew forth from their mouths when they thought that the time was right.

Turning back to his task at gazing into the murky depths of the crystal ball, Harry wondered if Trewlaney was running out of things to teach. They had already done this very same things, and again all he saw were clouds. Right after finishing these thoughts, the clouds seemed to become a swirling vortex that drew raptly drew his attention. The mists then conformed to make a vague outline of a person, but who it was could not be ascertained at the moment. Squinting into the blurry little world, Harry didn\'t realize he had gone into a trance. All he knew was that the blurry image was now crystal clear as though he had been transported to the very sight.

\"Ah, Lucius. My most valued and loyal Death Eater. What news do you bring me today? Mind you, it had better be good, or you will be in for a heavy dose of punishment. I have already had to deal with the incompetence of Wormtail and the other bumbling fools, who dare call themselves my servants. Pathetic,\" came the serpentine whisper from the most feared dark wizard of this time.

Bowing to hide his sneer at his \"master\", Lucius began his report. \"My Lord, my son has told me a very interesting fact. It seems that Harry Potter has requested a resorting, and been granted said resorting. Draco says that the Potter child is now in the Slytherin house, and he has a new attitude. Dear Harry Potter does not appear to be the nice little light wizard everyone believed him to be. If we work things to our advantage, we could turn the boy to our whims. Make him a dark wizard, under your rule of course, My Lord.\"

\"Harry Potter a dark wizard? Hmm, this idea is very intriguing and deserves a great deal of thought on. You have done well, you may leave now Lucius.\" Lucius was tempted to laugh at the look on Voldemort\'s hideous face when he told him the news. His blood colored eyes seemed ready to bulge out of his head, his mouth had fallen open, and Lucius suspected that had he not been there, he would have been scratching his bald head in confusion. Oh how he loathed that man. Honestly, did he actually think that they could bend Harry Potter to his rule? If hinghing, Harry Potter would kill Voldemort and take over where he left off. He\'d even succeed, but there was no way they could turn Harry that dark. No, Harry Potter would protect the wizarding world, never rule it.

The scene faded once again into swirling mists, and Harry came out of his trance. Starring at the crystal ball, Harry tried to process what he had just seen. Surely he couldn\'t have just had a vision? He had never had a vision while he was awake, only when he was dreaming. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. Divination had never produced any type of reaction from him before. Finally Harry noticed his classmates and teacher, who had been yelling his name for the duration of the vision. Looking up to them, Harry was assaulted by questions of what happened and was he all right from the students, while the Professor asked if it was a vision. Grabbing his bag and class supplies, Harry got up from his seat and made for the exit, ignoring the calls for him to wait and not to leave. He descended the ladder and headed to his last class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures.

\"Bit early, ain\'t ya Harry?\" came Hagrid\'s booming voice. Looking up into Hagrid\'s face, Harry smiled, rolled his eyes, anoceeoceeded to tell Hagrid what had occurred in the class he was in before. \"Bleedin\' \'ell Harry! I thin\' ya oughtta go tell Dumbledore. He\'d know what ye should do.\"

\"Oh, don\'t worry, Hagrid. I was planning on telling somebody. I\'m not so sure about taking it to Dumbledore though. What if it was my imagination? No, I think I\'ll talk to mad oad of House first.\" Harry didn\'t have the heart to tell the half-giant that he no longer trusted Dumbledore. He knew that Hagrid\'s loyalty was unwavering from Dumbledore and he didn\'t want to lose his first friend. No, that was something he\'d keep to himself and only tell Dumbledore about if they were extremely important. This seemed unimportant, due to the fact that everyone would eventually know anyway. He was sure he was bound to end up in the Daily Prophet for switching houses.

Looking across the lawn, Harry saw the rest of his class mates making their way to Hagrid\'s hut. Happily waving to the Slytherins, Harry groaned in annoyance when he saw Dean glaring at him and Ron looking down at him. He was happy though when he noticed that Hermione smiled at him and gave him a tentative wave. He signaled her over, he was ready to talk to her.

\"Hey, Hermione. How are you?\" Oh great Potter. What a glorious way of making yourself oo beo be an ignoramus.

Raising her eyebrows at the question, Hermione was sure if she wanted to hit him or hug him. That sounded like something her friend would say, but boy was she mad at the fact he had been ignoring her. \"Fine, I guess. Oh, Harry! I know that your in Slytherin now, but I don\'t want to lose my friend! Ron is being such a prat, but deep down, I know he still wants to be your friend. I\'m still your friend, right?\" Receiving a positive reply, Hermione continued, \"Well, good. I expect you to study hard and worry more about your grades than Quidditch or flying. We have owls this year, it\'s never to early to prepare.\"

\"Don\'t fret, Hermione. I\'m not even playing Quidditch anymore, so any flying I do will be recreational. I know we have owls this year, and yes, I have already began studying. I want to show up all those people who thought I was nothing more than a name. Anyway, I\'m sure you have started studying as well. I drew up a study plan for myself, but it\'s no way near as good as yours normally is. Hey, maybe you could join our study group on Sunday\'s! We are going to try to hold it in library, but I think practical study sessions should be held in the room Fluffy use to be in. We could really use someone like you, you could show the Gryffindors that just because we are Slytherins, doesn\'t mean we\'re bad.\"

\"I\'ll think about it. Although I\'ll most likely join, I want to know if you have the teachers permission for this. Also, I\'ll have to fit it into my schedule.\" After assuring Hermione that he had already wrote to the Professors necessary, class began.

\"Now, today we shall begin learnin\' \'bout Unicorns. First off, it is said tha\' unicorns only allo\' virgin, females to touch them or approach them. This is only partly righ\'. Ye have to be a virgin, it don\' matter wha\' gender ye are. Now, who can tell me about unicorns? Yes, Hermione?\" boomed Hagrid\'s big voice.

As Hermione droned on with her explanation, Harry began to back away from the paddock. His mind was wildly spinning around the fact that he would not be able to participate in this class. What if they guessed his dirty little secret? No, he couldn\'t let that happen! He\'d just keep his mouth shut and hope that no one noticed that he did not approach the unicorns. Noticing everyone approaching the paddock, Harry looked up to see Hagrid leading in unicorns for the class to see.

\"Now, these unicorns trust me, dat\'s why they let me near \'em. Come on in, they don\' bite. Just be positive that your a virgin. Ye can\'t fool a unicorn. They know whether or nor yer pure,\" Hagrid informed the class. Watching his classmates walk in awe up to the unicorns, Harry felt as though he were going to be sick. Then he noticed that he was not the only person to stay behind. Neither Lavender Brown or Seamus Finnigan walked up to see the unicorns with the rest of the Gryffindor house. Blaise Zabini also stood back with Harry, which helped to calm his nerves. If others weren\'t going up, then no one would have a reason to question him.

What\'s this? Harry\'s not a virgin? He seemed worried about people finding this out. I wonder why? I don\'t want to question him on it, but I have a few ideas of my own. Maybe I should bring them up with Sev. Coming out of his thoughts, Draco walked away from the unicorns to go stand with Blaise and Harry. They stood in companionable silence for the rest of class. When the end of class came around, they started their trek across the lawn to get back to Hogwarts.

\"POTTER! WHAT UP!\" Hearing the yelling, Harry turned to see who it was. Quickening his pace when he realized it was Dean, he realized that it was too late. Dean was already beside him. \"Harry, I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted on the first day of school. It was rude of him and uncalled for. I still want to be your friend. I have actually grown to like the way you dress and after examining your hair more closely, it\'s pretty cool. Not everyone could pull it off, but you managed.\"

\"Uh, thanks, Dean. I accept your apology. I don\'t really have time to talk right now, but maybe you could meet me on Saturday in the library before dinner. We could chat. See you later, Dean,\" Harry called over his shoulder as he started to walk away. He couldn\'t believe that the boy, who was glaring at him at the beginning of class, was apologizing to him now. He\'d keep an eye on him to see if he was genuinely sorry, and if he was, then he\'d truly accept him back into his circle of friends.

Walking into the entrance hall, Harry felt two pairs of arms slung companionably around his shoulders. Turning his head, he noticed the identical faces of the smiling pranksters of Gryffindor. \"Hello Fred, George. To what do I owe this visit?\" camrry\rry\'s mischievous reply.

\"Well, Harry, old buddy, old pal. We just wanted to officially announce that you are the co-owner and first stock holder of the Weasley Wizard Wheezes,\" George said.

\"Yes, we have opened our joke shop in Hogsmeade, and you being our generous benefactor, get a cut on the deal. Now, no complaining. It\'s the only right thing to do. Our Weasley pride won\'t let us not. We expect you to come shop at our store on Hogsmeade weekends. Imagine what it will do for our business,\" Fred said.

\"Indeed, the infamous Harry Potter shopped here and announced that it was his favorite store to go to! We\'d have hundreds, if not thousands, of people flocking to our store. They\'d want to know what you bought. We\'ll make an absolute killing!\" Rolling his eyes in exasperation, which he seemed to be doing a lot lately, Harry continued his way into the Great Hall. Sitting next to his fellow Slytherins, Harry dug into his dinner. He left along at Blaise\'s jokes and enjoyed his meal with his fellow Slytherins. He was so wrapped up in what he was doing, he didn\'t notice that Draco ProfProfessor Snape were missing.

Meanwhile, in the dungeons, a very important meeting was going on.

\"Sev, the more I get to know Harry, the more I like him. I have reason to believe that his family is abusing him, in more ways then just physically.\"

\"What brought about these ideas?\" Severus asked his young charge.

\"Well, we studied unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures today. I noticed that Harry seemed panicked after the announcement that only virgins could approach unicorns. He then hung back as from the paddock as eh could. When he noticed that others stayed back as well, he seemed to relax slightly. I think that he should have someone to talk to about this. That is the sort of thing that can eat away at a person,\" came Draco\'s worried response. \"He\'s a Slytherin now, and we look out for each other.\"

\"Yes, I understand your concerns. I will not confirm nor deny your allegations. I only ask that you do not bring them up to Harry. When he is ready to talk about his home life, he will. Not before and not after. I don\'t think he would be very appreciative if we just charged in and tried to protect him and shelter him from his past. It is something that he has learned to deal with, even if he learned to deal with it in an unhealthy manner, and we have no right to pry into it. Now, I think we should head to dinner before our absence is too noticed,\" Sev replied while ushering Draco out of his private quarters in the dungeons.

Walking side by side, Draco and Professor Snape made their way into the Great Hall. Splitting, Professor Snape headed to the head table, and Draco walked over to sit with the Slytherins. He tried to ignore the curious look he received from Harry, but he felt himself looking at the boy in a whole new light, yet again. He never even thought that the boy would have lived such a life and still came out the same way. He knew he wouldn\'t be able to.

\"Attention students! I thought I should bring it to your attention that you are all expected back in your common rooms immediately following dinner! Your Heads of House will announce your punishment once everyone is there. Everyone is expected to serve this punishment, unless told otherwise. Now, enjoy your dessert and have a good night!\" After the Headmaster\'s speech, people felt lead drop into their stomachs. They were hoping that they would be too busy to remember the punishment, but it didn\'t seem like that was so. Eating their desserts as slow as possible, they started matriculating to their commons rooms, dragging their feet. They were so not looking forward to getting to their common rooms. Entering, they all awaited their fates that would soon be falling from the Head\'s mouth. Seeing the stern, unamused looks, they knew they were in for it. Damn.

TBC

I\'m so naughty! I didn\'t wait for my beta to get the revisions back to me! Sorry for any errors! Enjoy and please review!