Harry was currently stood outside of greenhouse with the other Slytherin's, waiting for the Professor Sprout to arrive so they could start Herbology class. They had arrived after the Hufflepuff's but before the Ravenclaws. The Hufflepuff's looked apologetic when they looked at Harry, the Ravenclaws the same but to a lesser extent. A few seconds later the Gryffindor's arrived, most of the Gryffindors had mixed expression's on their face, as if they were unsure how to feel about Harry, though not every Gryffindor had that problem.
"You think you're so great, don't you?!" Ronald Weasley spat as he tossed a copy of his newspaper at Harry.
"A little bit, yeah." Harry nodded with a small smile. "More than you, at least." Harry couldn't help but add.
"I can't believe you wrote all of this about me!" Ron growled.
"I didn't write anything about you." Harry pointed out. "All I wrote was my own letter, if you remember properly then you will remember that I never even mentioned your name."
"But they did!" Ron said, emphasizing his point by pointing at the other Slytherin's.
"I can't be held responsible for what other people do," Harry shrugged. "if they think that you're an arrogant jerk then that's up to them. Me, personally I didn't really bother seeing as I don't think you're really worth it."
"What?!"
"Can't you take a hint, Weasley?" Draco scoffed. "Even Potter can tell that you're not worth it."
"I..."
"Honestly Weasley," Harry cut him off. "I'm sure you have better things to do than to stay here and bother us. I know I have better things to do than to listen to you."
"Watch yourself Potter." Ron growled.
"Do you have a mirror?" Harry asked innocently.
"You think you're so special, but I bet that you probably didn't even beat you-know-who!" Ron said, causing most of the people around him to gasp, most because they couldn't believe he had said that and the Slytherin's because Harry was one of them.
"I probably didn't." Harry said before anyone else could respond.
"You...wait what?"
"I said 'I probably didn't'." Harry shrugged. "Honestly Weasley, I was a year old at the time, I don't remember what happened. People say I defeated him, I'm taking their word for it since I don't really know, but I think it's more likely my mother and father did something. Either way, I don't really think it matters if I did or didn't defeat him. I'm still a better student than you, name me one class I am not beating you in, take your time." Harry said in a bored voice, he glanced around and could see everyone thinking on his words.
"You can..."
"Is there a problem here, Mr Weasley?" Professor Sprout said as she arrived.
"No, Professor." Ron said in a quiet voice as he backed away from the other Slytherin's. He couldn't really afford to get into anymore trouble, the rest of his house was unhappy with him as it is, some for his comments and some for the amount of points he had already cost Gryffindor. He knew things would have been much, much worse if it wasn't for the fact that he had three older brothers in Gryffindor to protect him. Between Percy, who was a prefect and very likely to be head boy in the future, plus the twins who were referred to as the 'devil pranksters of Gryffindor', nobody was really willing to do much against Ron. Despite that all of Gryffindor was giving Ron a very cold and frosty treatment, as if he was a burden to the house. If that wasn't bad enough then he was also waiting for the howler that was likely to come from his mum.
"I'm sure." Professor Sprout said in a skeptical voice before she ushered the class inside.
"Why would you say that?" Draco whispered to Harry as they walked in.
"Say what?" Harry whispered back.
"Say that your biggest claim to fame was because of your parents."
"Because it probably was," Harry answered. "I don't know, I don't remember that night. Plus if I'm going to be famous then I'm going to earn it, I'm not going to be famous for something I can't even remember." Harry said before moving next to Blaise as the class started.
Albus Dumbledore was currently in his office, he was pacing back and forth, a habit of his. When in his office if he wasn't working then he would relax by looking out the window to appreciate the beautiful scenery, or perhaps he would read a book or spend time with Fawkes. But as of now he was deep in thought, his thoughts were currently focused on one Harry Potter. Dumbledore had read the article from the Daily Prophet, then he reread it, then he read it once more and then -as if it could possibly change something - he read it once more.
Harry was abused.
The Dursley's had abused him, Dumbledore knew they weren't likely to shower the boy with love, he knew it would be a hard existence, but to shove the boy under a cupboard? To treat him like a house elf and tell him that James and Lily were drunks? How could they?
Dumbledore realized he had severely underestimated the cruelty of those muggles, Dumbledore thought at worst they'd treat him like a burden, not this. He didn't want this. Albus was able to avoid Minerva since the article had come out but knew that a conversation between himself and her - more likely her shouting at him for several minutes - was inevitable. She had tried to stop him from sending Harry to the Dursley's, she was very much against it and would remind him of that fact for years to come, whenever she got the chance she would remind him about how she objected against it, now with the article out he knew that years worth's of 'I told you so' would rain down on him.
At the time Dumbledore had ignored her concern because surely those muggles couldn't be too cruel to family, could they? He thought that even though Petunia Dursley didn't get along with her own sister, she wouldn't be cruel enough to channel her hatred at a child. He also thought that the blood wards were worth it, after the deaths of the Potter's Dumbledore had created blood wards around the Dursley's house, the wards would protect Harry from anyone meaning to harm him as long as he called the place home. Harry had to stay with his aunt for the wards to work as she was his only blood relative, they worked but unfortunately didn't seem to protect Harry from the people inside the house.
The blood wards were invaluable, when Voldemort returned - and it would be WHEN because he did not believe that Voldemort was dead - then the blood wards would protect Harry from him. If possible then Dumbledore would have liked to help the Dursley's and Harry work through their issues but he knew he couldn't. After that article it was all but guaranteed that Harry would be in a different home, Dumbledore couldn't inform people of the blood wards as he doubted it would make much difference seeing as the public wanted him removed from there, the wards where also illegal so he wasn't looking forward to explaining that to people. So as much as he would have liked for the blood wards to stay, he gave it up as a lost cause, he couldn't force the boy to stay there and make an enemy out of him and the wizarding public.
The next problem was where Harry would live when he was not at Hogwarts, ideally he could go to the Weasley's. Arthur was a kind and hard working man, Molly loved children, the pair of them could treat Harry like family and their lack of wealth would help remind Harry how lucky he is. Also, if Dumbledore remembered correctly, they had a daughter who would be starting at Hogwarts next year. Who knows, perhaps in the future there could be Potter children with green eyes and red hair? Sadly that was unlikely to happen as not only were the Weasley's a poor family, which left the argument of if they could afford more children, an argument that others would most definitely use, but the youngest Weasley son clearly did not get along with Harry, something the article made very clear.
For now, all Dumbledore could really do is stall the decision until he found a suitable family for Harry. Since Harry was a Slytherin it was very likely that many of the more darker families would try to claim him, especially as he was a parsletounge. That was the last thing Dumbledore wanted.
Dumbledore wasn't so much of a moron to think that all Slytherin's were evil, only a complete moron would think that, but he was aware that most of them were followers of Voldemort or at least the ideas that he was pushing. It was very possible that they would want to adopt him for the sole purpose of getting revenge for their former master, or if they believed in Voldemort's return then to at least have access to Harry so they could kill him and/or present him to their master.
No, Harry needed to stay with a safe family, someone who would care for him and love him. While Dumbledore didn't think Harry was evil for being a Slytherin, he still worried about him. Dumbledore knew he went wrong with Tom Riddle, if he had been better then he could have stopped the boy from growing up to become Voldemort, if Harry followed the same path then it was possible for him to be much worse or at least equally as bad as Voldemort.
"Albus!" McGonagall shouted as she came in, the Daily Prophet in her hand.
"Minerva." Albus sighed before moving behind his desk and sitting down, this was going to be a very long conversation.
Severus Snape was currently in his office, making a potion, as he usually did in his free time. The whole of Hogwarts was in an uproar thanks to the article from the Potter brat, Potter had somehow been able to convince the rest of his Slytherins to help him out. It turned out Potter was abused, Snape mentally snorted at that, 'so what?' he thought. Snape was no stranger to abuse, having received plenty of it from his own muggle father.
Snape was pretty sure that his own abuse was much worse than whatever Potter had suffered through, though he did sympathies with Potter a little, Petunia was an annoying little bitch. Still, despite that, all Snape saw was evidence of what he always knew, Potter was an attention seeking brat. Honestly, he doesn't like his life so he complains and whines and uses his fame so that somebody will fix it. Still, at least it had the benefit of embarrassing that moron Weasley.
Snape had talked with Madam Hooch recently, she told him all about how Potter saved the Davis girl from her death, she very strongly recommended letting Potter on the team. On the one hand Snape absolutely did not want to give the brat something else to brag about, but on the other hand it could benefit Slytherin house if Potter was at least half as good as his father. Snape hated James Potter with every fiber of his being but even he had to admit - very, very grudgingly - that James Potter was excellent at transfigurations and quidditch. Snape himself was decent at the first and rubbish at the latter.
If Harry Potter was a good player then that would benefit Slytherin house, it would also stick it to James Potter in a way, the man would probably be rolling in his grave at the idea of his son playing for Slytherin. Plus if the child had to be here then he could at least be useful. With that being said there was no way in hell that he was just going to give Potter the spot, no, the brat would try out like everyone else.
Harry was currently sat in the Slytherin common room, Jet was rested on his lap while Tracy sat on his right and Daphne sat on his left, the other Slytherin's were all sat nearby. Mostly they were doing their homework, apart from Daphne and Harry who had already finished and were now reading ahead.
"Potter." A voice called, everyone looked up to see fifth year Slytherin, Marcus Flint walked up to them. He was tall and relatively muscular, though he was hardly the most attractive person.
"Can I help you?" Harry asked in a calm voice, meanwhile Jet lifted his head and hissed warningly at Flint, causing Flint to pause.
"I...I talked with Professor Snape." Flint said, wisely keeping his distance. "He said that Madam Hooch recommended that he give you a try out on the team." Flint said, and just like that all conversation in the Slytherin room stopped as everyone looked in the direction of Flint and the first years.
"I feel like that was something you weren't supposed to tell everyone." Theodore Nott commented.
"Well, I couldn't get close enough to whisper, can I?" Flint said as he gestured to Jet.
"You could have asked Harry to calm him down." Tracy pointed out.
"Or use a silencing spell." Daphne added. "Or asked Harry to talk with you somewhere private." Flint gaped at the two for a second before shaking his head and turning to the common room.
"Nobody had better say anything about this to anyone outside of Slytherin, if you do then me and Professor Snape will give you hell." Flint warned before turning back to Harry. "There's a try out this Saturday at ten."
"And you want me to come? That sounds lovely but I don't have a broom." Harry shrugged.
"You'll use a school broom for the try out, after that you can buy one or borrow one." Flint shrugged in an uncaring manner.
"Wait, if Potter gets a try out then that means the rest of us can try out, right?" Malfoy asked in a hopeful voice.
"We only need a chaser at the moment, if any of you can play chaser then you can try out." Flint said before he walked off.
"Are you going to go for it?" Blaise asked Harry.
"Might as well," Harry shrugged. "I've never played chaser before but I'd like to give it a try. That's the one who catches the quaffle and throws it in a hoop, right?"
"Can't believe you have to ask." Malfoy scoffed.
"Muggle raised, remember?"
"Can't believe you had to live with muggles." Pansy said, a disgusted expression on her face.
"I wouldn't mind living with muggles, what I didn't appreciate was living with the stupid muggles I was put with." Harry replied.
"All muggles are stupid." Malfoy snorted.
"How would you know?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What?"
"I said 'how would you know?', you spend anytime with muggles?" Harry asked.
"What?! Of course not." Malfoy said, sounding offended that Harry would even suggest such a thing.
"Then you wouldn't know that they're stupid." Harry replied.
"But...look at the muggles that you were with." Malfoy argued.
"Oh they were beyond stupid," Harry nodded. "but I don't think it's a good idea to judge all muggles based off the ones I lived with."
"Why not?" Theodore asked.
"Well Theo, partly because they were more idiotic and horrible than your average muggle. Also because if we did then it would be fair for others to judge all wizards and witches based off a few. Imagine if someone came to the wizarding world for the first time and the first wizard they ever met was Weasley and then they decide that all witches and wizards are like Weasley." Harry paused and nearly chuckled at the offended looks on their faces. "Exactly, I judge people based on their skills and intelligence, it would serve you much better."
"What about their looks?" Daphne asked, teasingly fluttering her eyelashes at Harry.
"That too." Harry nodded, to his credit he only turned the slightest bit red and was able to ignore the amused looks from the others.
"Oh, so where do I fall then on the 'Harry Potter Judgment scale'?" She asked in a mock curious voice.
"Oh, just under Tracy." Harry said in a casual voice before turning back to his book, Daphne wasn't the only one who could make jokes. Though in truth it was hard to say as both girls were very beautiful.
"Huh...hey!" Daphne protested with a slap to Harry's arm, he smirked at her and she smirked back, the others looked very amused, including a blushing Tracy.