7

Chapter VII: The Lion's Den

(Harry P.O.V)

Harry couldn't understand why, but there was flurry of quiet commotion following Astoria's sorting, and Harry felt his blood beginning to boil at every whispered remark, "Her family have all be snakes, she doesn't belong here," said a boy with a thick Irish accent and scruffy clothes, "What was the sorting hat thinking," said a tall boy with a long neck clearly of African descent.

"I don't care what the hat said," A boy who reminded Harry a lot of Percy, but slightly shorter and with more freckles that what must have been his brother, "She'll never be one of us."

Harry wanted to go over and knock some sense into the boys. Yes, he had heard from Sirius that there was some discontent among Slytherins and Gryffindors, but from the way Sirius had always told the stories, it had been painted as the snakes being a group of bullies and the Gryffindor's being the brave and noble people they were, stood up to them. Clearly, Sirius had left out the small detail of the pride of Lions had not exactly been blameless themselves in the rhetoric they were using.

He had felt his heart hurt as from his seat at the Gryffindor table he watched Astoria desperately stare at her sister, pleading with her eyes for Daphne to do something, but the princess couldn't do anything, and Harry had never felt as bad for anyone as he did as Astoria, who to her credit was trying to keep her head up as she began walking over towards the table below the Lion's banner.

The eyes that trailed on the young first year ranged from looks of anger to disapproval, to sheer simple confusion, and Harry watched as Astoria, a tiny and young girl did her best to ignore the looks and move forward towards the end of the table hoping that there she wouldn't be disturbed. As she passed the group of third-year boys who Harry had overheard whispering from, the red-head had even pretended to hiss like a snake to embarrass the poor first-year girl even more.

That's when Harry had enough. Had he joined the school while his own older sister, Tonks, was at Hogwarts, he would have wanted to be sorted into the same house as her too. He could empathize with what Astoria had been feeling, and with no more hesitation, he broke away from the brown-curly haired girl that was attempting to smother him with affection by the name of Lavender Brown and stood in front of the girl.

"Harry?" Astoria whispered in confusion.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked patiently.

"To the end of the table," Astoria said quietly, "It's not hard to tell that I'm not wanted here."

"Alright," Harry said, with a smile, "Let's go."

"What?" Astoria asked in confusion.

"Let's go find a place to sit," Harry repeated with an easy smile on his face.

"Why would you want to sit with a snake spawn like me," Astoria said disheartened, clearly she had heard some of the whisperings.

"Come off it, will you," Harry said as he placed his hand on the shorter girl's shoulder, "We're friends, right?"

There some small whisper of protest Harry had heard being tossed around the table, but Harry didn't care, his words had brought some relief to the little girl and that was all that mattered. Without minding anyone else, Harry allowed Astoria to lead the way towards an empty spot at the table, and together, far from the rest of Gryffindor house, the two sat. Together both he and Astoria watched as the remaining first-years were sorted, and both he and Astoria had made a silent groan when Romilda Vane had been sorted in Gryffindor house as well. Finally, however, the sorting had finished, and with a wave of Dumbledore's wand, the food had appeared all along the long tables, and quickly, both Harry and Astoria got to work filling their plates.

All his life, Tonks had made fun of Harry's ability to eat enough food for a man twice his size, but to Harry's defense, his metabolism had been kicked into overdrive from training, and as Sirius liked to say, he was a growing boy. What had really surprised Harry was the fact that Astoria too could eat like a monster. Harry wasn't sure what Astoria's physical activity was like, but either she had been training for the Olympics due to the fact the girl didn't seem to weigh over 42 kg, at most, or she had been gifted with an incredibly fast metabolism of her own. If it was the latter, Harry would have to admit he was a bit jealous.

Nearing the end of the meal, Astoria had burped loudly, before covering her face in embarrassment and Harry could help but crack up laughing at the small girl's monstrous burp. Harry had known that he liked Astoria from the second they had met on the boat, but his fondness for the little girl only grew over dinner as he had found Astoria quite funny as she had asked a myriad of funny questions that had caused Harry to think of equally witty responses and she had also told Harry one of two wizarding riddles, all of which the answers to had caused Harry to chuckle, at least a little bit.

Overall, the dinner had been nice, but Astoria had clearly overeaten as she looked like she was about ready to wilt, and Harry couldn't help but laugh as Astoria had leaned on him only to try and shake herself awake from the embarrassment she was feeling. Harry simply smiled as he turned to Astoria, "Ate too much short-stack?"

"Wow," Astoria said with fake indignation, "Daphne gets princess as a nickname and I get short-stack, really feeling the love Potter."

"To be fair," Harry said with a smile, "Your sister looks like she came out of a storybook, meanwhile, I just saw you tear apart an entire rack of ribs by yourself, you're not exactly princess material." Then Harry's grin widened, "Plus you're like 4'11" max, short-stack is a fitting nickname."

"I hate you," Astoria said with a mock glare.

"Sorry, the princess has got a much more frightening glare than you short-stack," Harry said as he placed his hand atop Astoria's head and ruffled her hair, which to most girls Harry imagined would annoy them, but instead Astoria chuckled.

The laughter came to a screeching halt however when the door of the Great Hall thundered open, and from the entrance way, a portly little man with rumpled grey hair that was covered by a lime green bowler hat entered the room. To his left another man with neatly parted, almost dangerously straight grey hair and a narrow toothbrush mustache wearing one of the darkest suits Harry had ever seen. Finally, to his right was a woman that Harry had recognized well from pictures and Remus' rants on the bitch. Harry sent her a hateful glare, though she didn't see it as she walked clearly enamored by the man in the lime-green hat. Her pink cardigan and skirt only seemed to bring out more of her toad-like qualities and the look on Remus' face from the High Table only confirmed Harry's suspicion, the woman was none other than Delores Umbridge.

"That's Barty Crouch and Delores Umbridge," Astoria said aloud in wonder, "And that's minister Fudge in the middle, I wonder what they're doing here?"

Following behind the three were two figures, and one brought a lot more joy to his heart than the other. The first was none other than Tonks, dressed in her newly christened Auror robes, and she was absolutely brimming with pride. But the second one Harry had feared would give him nightmares. Alastor Moody, Harry knew of Tonks' trainer by name very well, but seeing him in person was something else. His face was hard, looking like it had been roughly carved from wood, and his body was covered in scars, one of which being over his nose where a chunk of it was missing.

However, it wasn't even the clawed foot wooden leg that gave Harry the most pause about the man, it was his eyes, or rather eye. One of the man's eyes was completely normal, it was small and dark, but normal. The other, however, was a vivid electric-blue the brimmed with magic as it moved around independently of his normal one. Harry had wondered why Tonks had always referred to her trainer as mad-eye, but one look at the man and Harry wondered no more.

Harry looked up at the high-table in wonder as the Minister for Magic began to whisper in Dumbledore's ear. With his message seemingly complete, Dumbledore stood and once again spoke, "As many of you know, Sirius Black, a suspected ally of the dark in the great war had never been captured after his suspected betrayal of the Potters that fateful night. The Ministry of Magic would like to assure the entire school, and specifically Mr. Potter that the Ministry will not allow any harm to come to him or any of the other students."

Fudge nodded in pride as he stood and cleared his throat, "With Harry Potter's miraculous return to the Wizarding World, not only do we get to welcome our hero back home, but we have been gifted another chance at apprehending Sirius Black. It is the Ministry's belief that Harry Potter remains a target for Black, and for the safety of all students, the Ministry has ordered dementors to guard the grounds of the school, and Aurors will be stationed in Hogsmeade for all student's protection."

"Once again," Fudge spoke, "I want to assure all students that Hogwarts is still the safest place in all of the wizarding world, and we are only taking protective measures to ensure the safety of all our students. Thank you for your time, and I wish you the best on your upcoming term. Study hard," Fudge said with an aggravatingly fake and practiced smile, "Perhaps the next Minister for Magic rests among this crowd."

An awkward applause filled the Great Hall as the Minister for Magic departed and both Remus and Tonks had sent Harry a knowing grin, as only they were aware of the truth. Harry wasn't worried however, America was out of the Ministry's jurisdiction, and while Harry planned to work tirelessly to see his godfather exonerated, Harry knew that Sirius getting apprehended too early without building up a proper case to defend him wouldn't be productive. No first he and Remus needed to find the rat, Pettigrew would pay, no matter what.

Slowly, as soon as the Minister and his entourage had left, Harry had reached for the tower of Ice Cream, attempting to get a scoop for dessert but was stopped when he felt not just Astoria, but the entire school staring at him, "What?" Harry whispered to Astoria.

"Black betrayed your parents," Astoria said in a hushed whisper, "And now the ministry believes he'll try and come after you, how are you not afraid?"

"Nothing to really be afraid of," Harry said with a shrug, "I mean, we've got Dumbledore watching over us, right? Plus, I'm no slouch myself, and honestly, between you and me, I don't think Sirius did it. He was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, after all, he even fought Voldemort-,"

Suddenly, Astoria flinched, and Harry gave her a sympathetic smile, "Sorry, the Dark Lord more than once. It doesn't make sense for him to have betrayed my family. Even if he did, I suspect it must have been through the Imperius Curse of some other means, all I know is I'd like to get some answers at a trial."

"I don't know if I could be so calm about all of this if I were you," Astoria said with a shiver, "I'd be terrified if he were after me."

"Don't worry about me short-stack," Harry said with a grin, "I can take care of myself just fine."

(Dumbledore P.O.V)

There weren't that many times that Dumbledore was grateful that the current Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge was a complete oaf, but in the case of Harry Potter, he was thankful for the man's gullibility. When Voldemort had been defeated and Harry had "disappeared" a lot of questions were needed to be answered. The most important being, where was Harry Potter?

It was a question that even Dumbledore at the time hadn't known the answer to, yes, he knew he was with Sirius, but that could hardly do for a response, so instead he concocted a lie. Fearing that Voldemort or his followers would retaliate on a defenseless child, Dumbledore had told the Minister he had sent Harry Potter to America until tensions in England had cooled slightly from the first war. He had promised that he would ensure that Harry received a proper magical education and that when the time was right Harry would return to Hogwarts where he belonged.

He was happy that the Minister and the Ministry as a whole had bought the explanation without question due to Dumbledore's stature and the overwhelming relief that the war had essentially been won for the light. Not many things had gone right in Dumbledore's life, his estranged relationship with his family, the battle he had with Grindelwald, the man he was closer than brothers with, the death of his sister which he feared had been at his hands. Yes, Dumbledore's life was full of misfortune, but for once that fates had smiled upon him as Harry Potter had indeed returned to the wizarding world, and his placement in Gryffindor would hopefully mean he'd be more likely to listen to Dumbledore and follow his instructions, and if not Dumbledore himself, judging by the prideful smile Minerva currently was trying desperately to hide on her face, perhaps Harry Potter would listen to her. After all, both James and Lily had been especially important to Minerva and he had no doubt that even with the witch's insistence to be fair-minded, Potter would be one of her favorites.

Yes, Dumbledore was happy. It had been shaky at first, but everything had finally begun to go according to plan, now all Dumbledore had to do was win the boy's undying loyalty, and he had just the thing. When the time came, of course, he would use his power to exonerate Sirius Black, and on top of that, Dumbledore pondered to himself just how overjoyed Harry would be when on Christmas day, he had received one of the only surviving relics of his father, the youngest Peverell brother's deathly hallow itself, the cloak of invisibility.

(Astoria P.O.V)

Astoria was thankful that Harry hadn't left her side as the walked out of the Great Hall. She had never felt so terrified as when she had heard the hat call out, "Gryffindor!" Her whole family had been Slytherins, and while where her parents had been sorted hadn't mattered much to her given her father's treatment of Daphne and her mother's not existent resistance to her father's hostility, the fact she wouldn't be spending the next at least four years at her sister's side had hurt her inside and made her feel frightened.

Somehow, the hat had known about her Blood Curse, it was the strength and bravery she had shown in refusing to allow the impending news of her death to control her that had solidified her placement, and yet despite being sorted into the home of the brave, Astoria had felt frightened beyond belief as she stumbled towards the Lion's table. She had heard whispers of awful comments as she walked to find an empty spot away from everyone at the table, the leader of this cause being none other than a boy Astoria had recognized from Daphne's descriptions and the Daily Prophet news article as Ronald Weasley.

Daphne had written to Astoria all about the 'Heir of Slytherin' situation that had been going on at Hogwarts last year. Both she and her sister had spent most of Christmas break along with Tracey and Blaise discussing who it could be. At first, it seemed like nothing big, that was until people had begun becoming petrified, and then to the horror of the entire school, a witch, a pure-blood witch as it had been described in the Prophet, though Astoria failed to see how that really mattered, had died. That witch, was none other than Ginevra Weasley.

Astoria had listened to how the death had shifted the power of the entire school. Yes, the twins Fred and George Weasley had always been popular among the students for their spectacular pranks, but now all members of the Weasley family ran unopposed to do anything as from what Daphne had said, nobody wants to get involved with a group of hot-headed Weasleys who were currently grieving. Clearly, Ronald Weasley, the now youngest of the six Weasley children had solidified his grief into hatred of all things Slytherin, and judging by the harsh comments Astoria had heard whispered to Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, Astoria was not exempted from that group.

Percy Weasley, the Head Boy of Hogwarts who Astoria was happy to see seemingly annoyed Harry as much as he did her had begun to lead the students towards Gryffindor Tower. Both she and Harry had a look of pure wonder on their face as they walked through the moving staircases and trodden very carefully as Percy had told them of the 'trap step' on one of the floorboards. They had passed a cluster of pictures and another set of armor that stood differently from the ones present at the Hogwarts' entrance. However, eventually, they had arrived at the main portrait.

It was a painting of an incredibly overweight woman wearing a pink silk dress with long curly black hair and a heavy amount of painted on make-up. "Good evening my lady, the password is Flibbertigibbet" Percy had said very aristocratically, and with a nod from the painted lady, the portrait swung open and behind it, a large hole that led into the Gryffindor Common Room.

It was a cozy round room with a roaring yellow fire and was chock full of squashy armchairs, loveseats, and elongated sofas. There were many windows that looked out onto the grounds of the school, and above the roaring fire was the portrait of a large lion in mid-roar. The crowd of students was just about to disperse when Percy had called once again, "Professor McGonagall will be arriving here shortly to induct the new students and show them their dormitories. I will be off towards the Head Boy's chamber," Percy said with great importance causing Astoria to have to bite her tongue to stop her from laughing at Harry's heavy eye roll, "Do try to not get into any trouble until Professor McGonagall arrived. Are we clear… Fred and George."

"Yes of course," One of the Weasley Twins said with a forced smile.

"What do you take us for ol' brother of ours," The second twin finished.

There was no point in trying to distinguish which twin was which, Astoria upon seeing them had determined it would be a fruitless endeavor as each sported long flaming-red hair and freckles. While the twins were shorter than Percy, it didn't do much good in setting the two of them apart and Astoria had a feeling it would lead to a fair share of shenanigans.

With one last glare from Percy, the head boy left the common room and as the portrait hole closed behind him, Astoria once again felt all the eye turn onto her. The crowd slowly began to depart, finding their seats and understanding that she had to wait for Professor McGonagall, she had found an empty armchair and plopped down in it. She watched as Harry slowly walked around the common room, looking at the portraits and began staring out the window at the vast Hogwarts grounds.

For a moment, everything felt normal, until a rather tall figure loomed over her, Ronald Weasley, "Get out of my chair snake," Ron spoke in annoyance.

Astoria may have felt nervous, but she didn't get placed into Gryffindor house by being a coward. Trying to be as non-confrontational as possible, she rose from her seat as she spoke, "Sorry, I didn't know it had your name of it. You can have it back but there's no need to be so rude about it."

"And why should I be polite to someone like you?" Ron questioned angrily, "You're the Ice Queen's sister, right? Clearing being polite isn't exactly something your family is familiar with."

"Don't talk bad about my sister," Astoria said stepping towards Ron angrily, "She's a better person than you could ever hope to be."

"Fat chance," Ron said pushing her out of the way, "Nothing goods ever come out of the snake pit. Maybe that's where you belonged if you think your sister is so great. It's beyond me why the sorting hat damaged this house's great reputation by allowing a snake in."

Astoria was getting angry, she felt her bones resonating with rage, but before she could do anything, she felt a familiar hand rest atop her head, "Get out of the seat Weasley," Harry spoke.

"Why?" Ron said in confusion.

"Because Astoria was sitting there first," Harry spoke an unfamiliar coldness in his voice.

"She's a snake," Ron said, "She comes from a family of nothing but corrupt wizards no doubt, she doesn't belong here."

"First off," Harry said the chill in his voice sending shivers down Astoria's spine, "Not all Slytherin's are bad people, if they were, then there would be no point in keeping them as a house at Hogwarts. Secondly, even if all Slytherins were scum, Astoria's not one of them. I don't know if you need glasses, but it's clear to me that right over her heart on her robes is a golden lion."

"Doesn't mean she's not a snake at heart," Ron said.

"Give it a break Ron," The two twins said, but Ron seemingly ignored his elder brother's advice.

"I don't know what your problem is with Slytherin House, but I can promise you this," Harry started, the glare in his eyes sending Astoria's heartbeat into overdrive, "If you don't drop this attitude and continue having a problem with Astoria, then you're going to start some problems with me, and trust me, Weasley, you don't want that."

"Harry-," Astoria started nervously, she didn't want Harry getting in trouble because of her, she certainly didn't want him alienating other members of Gryffindor house on her behalf, she didn't feel like it was worth it.

"Don't worry about it, Astoria," Harry said calmly, "I don't care if they're from the same house or different ones, I don't like bullies."

"Bullies!" Ron shouted aghast, "Do you know what the snakes have done to me! To my family! The only bullies in this school are them!"

Astoria flinched as in Ron's rage, he had lifted his wand and pointed it at her face. What she hadn't been expecting was for Harry to be so quick on the draw as his wand was now pointed directly at Ron's neck. The entire common room seized to move as with a whisper so silent that only she and Ron could hear, Harry spoke, "Drop the wand Weasley, now."

For once, Ron seemed to understand the position he was now in. Astoria had felt powerful wizards before, her dad despite her less than favorable opinion of the man was a powerful wizard in his own right, and yet Harry's magic had frightened her. It wasn't overwhelmingly powerful like her father's was when he released his anger. Harry's was more of a small glow, a cold whisper of power that caused goosebumps to emerge on her skin.

Astoria watched as Ron's hand began to tremble before whether it be through intention or loss of control, he dropped his wand and Harry flicked his wand back into his sleeve giving Ron the time to back away. He once again placed his hand onto Astoria's head as he turned to face the room, "I understand that Gryffindor and Slytherin have a rivalry that stems back to the beginning of Hogwarts. I know that pranks and scuffles are the norm between the two houses. I know because my dad was one of the greatest pranksters to ever visit Hogwarts and I would love to have some fun pranking the snakes and beating them in the house cup and quidditch. But I want to make one thing clear, I don't care who her family members are, Astoria's one of us, she's a lion, and a pride should take care of their own."

"Very well said Mr. Potter," McGonagall said as she entered the room causing the environment in the common room to shift once more, "Truly, I too would like to see Gryffindor's brand on this year's cup, and I would be happy if for the first time in years Gryffindor had won the most house points, but to belittle another house, and worse, a member of our own house for their blood relationship to a student in another house is deeply disheartening."

Astoria was amazed as she saw the shame that had crept onto the Weasley Boy's face, and McGonagall spoke once more, "Mr. Weasley, what you and your family must have gone through last year, I can't even begin to imagine the trauma, but as Head of Gryffindor House I cannot allow the bullying of my students, even if it is by my own house. Apologize to Ms. Greengrass immediately, and be sure not to do it again or I will assign detention and remove points."

If possible the speculation of Ron being responsible for losing Gryffindor House Points had made the pale boy even whiter as he swallowed hard before muttering out, "Sorry."

"S'okay," Astoria responded. She had heard all about what happened to the Weasley family last year, had Astoria lost Daphne to the 'heir of Gryffindor' it was likely she'd have acted the same way. However, regardless of her sympathy, it still wasn't right, especially not the fact that he had pointed his wand at her.

Harry smiled down at her, and Astoria returned with a sympathetic look causing Harry to nod before Astoria had felt his hand placed once more on her head. McGonagall nodded before she clapped loudly returning the attention of the room to her, "Prefects, please show the new students to their dormitories, classes begin tomorrow bright an early, so I suggest an early lights-out call. I wish you all the very best luck this year, and between us, do try to beat Slytherin this year, Mr. Wood."

"We'll hope for the best at Try-Outs professor," said a well built and burly seventh-year boy with an overwhelmingly commanding presence.

McGonagall nodded and just before she spoke, "Oh yes, and one more thing, if I have to return to solve another problem of bullying in this common room, I'll make sure Filtch will be in charge of the detentions received." This sent a shudder down many students' spine, and though Astoria was unfamiliar with what made Filtch so terrifying, she didn't really want to find out, "Gryffindor is not just the home of brave," McGonagall continued, "It is the home of the noble as well, see to it we live up to that standard."

The entire common-room nodded, and Astoria watched as the emerald-green clad witch exited the portrait hole. Soon, a very pretty witch with dark skin, brown hair, and kind brown eyes stood up and called, "Alright Firsties, I'm Alicia Spinnet, you heard McGonagall so let's not stick around waiting, I'll show the girls to their dormitories, Kenneth, I suggest you do the same."

Astoria had noticed Fred and George Weasley roll their eyes at the fifth-year boy who puffed the P on his chest out proudly, "Very well, first years with me, you as well Potter, I'll show you to the third-year dormitories."

Astoria waved goodnight to Harry, "Thanks for sticking up for me."

"Of course short-stack," Harry said with a smirk, "We're friends after all."

Astoria looked up at the older wizard who had stood up for her when nobody else would, and with a smile, she nodded. Harry was certainly a friend, but to her, Harry acted a lot like she had imagined an older brother would. All Astoria could think off as she followed Spinnet into the dormitories was that maybe Daphne could give the Boy-Who-Lived a shot. She could certainly do much worse.