Chapter Text
Field after field of green rolled by, creating a beautiful mosaic laid out beneath the cloudless afternoon sky. Harry’s focus transitioned to the reflection staring back at him with haunted eyes, like a ghost on a tragic journey; the same expression he’d been met with this morning in the bathroom mirror. Eyes an unnatural shade of green, too large for his small face and filled with anxious anticipation. He’d tried to put on a smile – the fretful look Sirius kept throwing him after that was all the indication Harry needed to know how spectacularly that had failed.
No matter. He could just hide behind Draco or Ron and Hermione, like usual. Hang around at the back of the group again. Keep himself occupied with a book. Except everyone would be waiting to see just how Harry Potter responded to the integration of demons into Hogwarts. The boy who’d lost his parents to the demon king, Lord Voldemort; the only one to survive that monster’s attacks, at merely one year old.
Harry was incredibly scared. He was under no illusion that these young demons would take kindly to him having apparently ended their king’s war and he had no clue what to expect from them in retaliation. It was a rather concerning combination.
Yet he was also a little excited, if he was being honest.
Demons had always been a point of fascination for him, ever since he’d learnt of their existence after Sirius came into his life. As soon as the Demon-Wizarding Treaty (or DWT, as it was commonly referred to) had been signed and Harry was deemed ‘safe’ to re-enter the wizarding world, Sirius had immediately adopted him from his muggle relatives and introduced Harry to as much of their history as magical folk were aware of. Preparing him, as best as Sirius could, for the new life he would be exposed to. And since demons were such a secretive species, particularly because they’d been the greatest enemies of witches and wizards since time immemorial, any new information on them was like gems unearthed from the deep mines of knowledge that was the Black library.
Harry had, of course, been upset when he’d learned about his parents. Over the years, though, he’d grown into a child who couldn’t even remember them, let alone the demon that had attacked them. He was sad and angry and awfully lonely a lot of the time, yet he could recognise that it would be wrong to blame an entire race on one being’s actions. Even if he was the leader of their society.
“Harry?” Hermione’s voice was irritatingly softened by concern. Harry appreciated how much effort she put into caring, he truly did, but oftentimes it only made him want to withdraw more. As if he was some problem that people had to keep checking up on, like he would blow a fuse if she didn’t continue to fix whatever reading she thought she’d gauged.
“It’s alright, Hermione. Seriously. It’s going to be a good day.” Harry winced after that left his mouth. Unconvincing. Something to be pitied, worried over. He gave them both a half smile. “Please just… don’t worry about it.”
The rest of the journey to Hogwarts was rather pleasant, thanks to Ron distracting them all with rounds of Exploding Snap. Though Harry disagreed with his blind bias for demons, the product of an ancestral bias that Molly and Arthur held firm to, he’d never been more grateful for Ron than in that moment of blessed reprieve he had created.
Once they were off the train and into their Second Year groups, Draco immediately sought Harry out and stole him away from Ron and Hermione, Crabbe and Goyle dawdling along behind them. “Are you excited to see them? Oh, there’s no need to be nervous, Harry. Even if they hate you, I’ll see to it that you all become courteous towards each other, at the very least. I’ve been doing so much research on them, you see. Did you know they can eat human food? Well, obviously you do, that’s pretty easy to find, but did you know that they prefer to eat meat – I mean they would prefer to drink human blood but that’s against the rules-”
And on and on it went. Draco was the only one, aside from Sirius who seemed to have his suspicions, that knew of Harry’s interest in demonic lore and practice. He’d accepted it surprisingly quickly and kept Harry’s secret all this time, though things were a little different for Draco by circumstance. It was practically expected for him to have an association with demons, his pureblood lineage accounting for a rumoured history filled with demonic rituals and artefacts. Harry sometimes wished he’d been born a pureblood just for that freedom… And then he thought of all the other expectations and he was more than glad just to have someone to share his thoughts with.
The walk through to the Great Hall was filled with whispers and several people asking Harry for themselves how he was, or even what he ‘planned to do’. Neville was among them, though Harry gave his words more regard. They’d both lost their parents to demons, after all.
“You don’t have to talk to them, Harry,” he’d murmured when they reached the entrance to the Great Hall, and Harry found himself trying to work out whether Neville had meant the demons or the other students as the doors opened. Draco pulled him forwards and they were soon sitting down in their usual spot at the middle of the Slytherin table, facing the centre of the Great Hall, waiting. The First Year Sorting went by with little fanfare – everyone eagerly anticipating the next stage of the Welcoming Feast.
Finally, the Headmaster approached the gilded podium, donned in robes of white. “As you all are undoubtedly aware, this year marks a grand turning point in Hogwarts history. A time in which we welcome not only our wonderful First Years to join our academic community, but also entirely new members of the wizarding community that wish to further our hard-earned alliance with one another.”
The Headmaster took a pause, his tone shifting to one with great weight behind it as he met students’ gazes directly.
“This transition will be a significant change for yourselves, but even moreso for our demonic students. They are entering a new world with vastly different rules and practices. Now, though they have been made aware of what these are, I must ask you all to be considerate. They are your fellow peers, and you are expected to treat them as such. I understand many of you are curious – keep in mind that you may ask them questions and they may choose not to answer. I warn all of you that any discrimination or by-standing will have serious consequences.”
He let out a sigh as if to expel the heavy turn the speech had taken, his voice suddenly light and cheerful again. “Now, our new students will be Sorted momentarily. They will be given separate dormitories but have full access to the common rooms and all other student areas. They will join you for all classes and may choose to attend meals and events. I expect you to make them feel welcome and invite their engagement.
“In addition to your regular classes, we will be introducing a new subject entitled ‘Biological and Cultural Studies’ which involves topics on demons and humans. This will enable both of you to become fully informed on one another and reduce any risk of offense or misinformation. The subject will be taught by our new Professor Crouch.”
The Headmaster initiated a round of applause as the professor stood. Upon first glance he seemed ordinary enough, but Harry had been trained to notice the tells of a demon – the slightly pointed ears, the fine features, dark, dark red eyes that Harry knew would reveal slitted pupils should he come close enough. He’d been told to expect a carefulness despite the grace in their movements, hinting at unfamiliarity with their new form, yet Professor Crouch seemed quite relaxed in his new role.
“It is time to welcome our new students to Hogwarts. Please make room should they choose to sit beside you, and introduce yourselves. I can assure you they are all just as eager to meet each of you.”
Dumbledore returned to his seat, the podium vanishing as Professor McGonagall took up her spot beside the Sorting Hat once more. All eyes turned at the sound of the Great Hall doors being drawn open for their newest group of students.
It was like watching a movie to Harry. Like he wasn’t really there, nerves forgotten in his total engagement with each new face that presented itself as the demons walked by. It was a large group – they were filling each year level, after all. Yet even so, every one of them held themselves with great poise, their unique features garnering several gasps and whispers. Though he wouldn’t dare admit it, Harry thought their dark red eyes and the unnatural pallor of their skin rather beautiful.
What he hadn’t been aware of – and he had no answers for why anyone would omit such an important biological detail – was that demons had tails. His attention was fixated on the dark appendages coiling out behind them, differing in shape, length and colour, some swishing, some stiff and kept curled up out of the way. All of them Harry found utterly fascinating.
Eventually he worked up the courage to meet some of their eyes – and it was as if they knew when someone’s attention was on them, because every time he switched to a new face, slitted pupils quickly shifted to face him before glancing away to take in another new person. Once he’d become familiar with the sudden jumps in attention, Harry was ashamed to find himself experiencing a strong desire to befriend them all and ask a thousand questions. He spent the rest of their walk reminding himself that they were already overwhelmed enough in an effort to tamp it down.
“Lestrange, Bellatrix!” McGonagall announced the moment they’d all conglomerated before the Hat. Ever the punctual, professional Professor McGonagall. Her neutral expression had barely even twitched at their approach.
The girl that had been at the front of their entourage boldly stepped up and sat on the chair. It was only a moment’s deliberation. “GRYFFINDOR!”
Harry watched her grin, smoothly stepping off the dais and taking a seat… right beside Hermione. He could only hope that Ron would mind his manners.
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
Harry wondered what it would be like for a demon in Hufflepuff. He reckoned they would enjoy it in the badger House – the students were generally kinder.
“SLYTHERIN!”
He watched the demon make his way down towards their table. He took a seat near the end, and Harry let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding. More and more students found seats amongst their new peers; after a few minutes Harry found himself sitting two seats away from a demon. It wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d made it out to be. Just like sitting near another human, sort of. Aside from the hyperawareness. Well, actually, he’d been just as anxious at the start of First Year too, so this was really rather familiar.
The whole process must’ve taken at least half an hour, but Harry found the Sorting ending all too quickly, Dumbledore up giving a final speech to welcome the students and encourage them to make new friends, and suddenly there was food in front of him and people piling their plates high. He turned to Draco only to find him engaged in conversation with the blonde demon sitting across the table from him, next to Goyle. Both of Draco’s lackeys seemed disinclined to start up any conversation and though this was a common thing for them, Harry found himself doing it too.
He'd been the one Draco was instantly talking to last year. So this time was a little different.
At some point Draco’s arm bumped into his and Harry glanced down to find the boy adding chicken and vegetables to Harry’s plate while he chattered away. “And this is Harry,” he inclined his head, the blonde demon fixing her gaze onto Harry as he did so. “Harry, this is Astoria. She’s in our Year! How lucky is that? Did you guys know which Years we’re all in? But how could you?”
“We had an idea,” Astoria responded vaguely, flashing them a mischievous smile. Draco let out a weird laugh, Harry frowning to himself at the sound.
“A pleasure to meet you, Harry,” Astoria continued smoothly, extending her hand. Harry stared at it for a moment, aware of the lull in conversation and the eyes. The eager eyes turned to this exchange. He swallowed and returned her friendly smile with his own rather nervous one, shaking her hand quickly. It was a little cold, but entirely harmless.
“Yeah, nice to meet you.”
He was looking back down at his plate too soon.
The rest of dinner was rather uneventful after that. Draco kept making remarks to Harry whenever Astoria told him something, occasionally trying to draw him into the conversation, but Harry’s attention was only ever half-there. He found it drifting around the hall to see how everyone else was interacting, pleasantly surprised to find quite a lot of cheerful faces. He caught Ron’s miserable expression at some point while Hermione was in some sort of heated debate with Bellatrix. Dumbledore was likewise surveying the crowd every now and then, but he mostly just spoke amongst the teachers and enjoyed dinner as usual. He did meet Harry with a look that was meant to be reassuring, he knew, but only left him feeling a little queasy when he tried to return it.
At some point Harry’s gaze wandered to his left, landing on a boy with very elegantly styled brown hair looking down at his meal. The moment his eyes shot up, Harry found himself caught off guard.
“Why are your eyes so bright?”
He immediately felt the blood rush into his face. Oh shit. Oh Merlin, why. The question had bubbled up out of him before he could pop it.
The boy didn’t seem offended though, thank goodness – he tilted his head to the side curiously, a soft, confused smile on his handsome features. “I-I mean,” Harry began again, “Your eyes are a brighter red than the other demons’. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, uh…”
His grin widened. “It’s fine. I’m Tom Riddle.”
“Harry Potter.” His temporary idiocy had made him forget his whole plan to keep from stating his full name, though he had a feeling the demons were already well aware of who he was. His scar may have been hidden beneath his fringe, but they’d likely already know their king’s historical adversary.
“Lovely to meet you. To answer your question, it’s to do with our hierarchy.” Tom seemed unlikely to speak more on that topic and after his little blunder moments ago, Harry was careful to keep his questions well at bay. Though his curiosity burned. “How do you find Hogwarts, Harry?”
“Oh, er, it’s great! The castle’s really huge and beautiful, and the professors are generally pretty nice. Except for Snape, he’s the devil’s spawn, so, ah…” Harry trailed off, his face slowly growing red again as he caught up with his own words. Devil’s spawn… Oh shit. He couldn’t imagine Tom would appreciate the phrase sometimes associated with the demon king and his minions.
But Tom only laughed lightly. “The potions master, yes? We were introduced before coming to the Great Hall. He does seem rather.. dour, doesn’t he?” Harry laughed and nodded along while his mind tried hurriedly to figure out what ‘dour’ meant. Tom gave him a smile that seemed frightfully knowing. “Who’s your favourite, then?”
He was immensely grateful that the boy moved them on so smoothly. “Um… Well, I guess I talk to Hagrid quite a bit, but he’s not exactly a ‘Professor’ – he’s the Groundskeeper. He was there when I went shopping for school stuff with Siri, so the first one I met really, and he’s very friendly. Loves magical creatures.”
“Who’s Siri?”
“Oh, that’s my godfather. I’ve been living with him since I was six.” The additional detail was automatic for Harry – he often had people asking who this random name he’d bring up in conversation belonged to. He was hesitant to share more with Tom, though, unsure of what he already knew about Harry Potter.
“Sirius Black, the wrongly accused prisoner of Azkaban?” Harry nodded. “I wouldn’t have expected them to let an ex-convict raise their famous Golden Boy, even if he had committed no crime.”
Harry was surprised by the sudden use of that awful title, but even moreso that it was said without any malice – merely a name with its own connotations. “Oh, yeah, basically Sirius came to me as soon as he could, after Peter Pettigrew was captured and the DWT was signed, demanding my muggle relatives let him take care of me. They of course had no idea about his history – Aunt Petunia just thought that my mum and dad were killed by some magical creature – and they were more than happy to be rid of me, so I was adopted. Of course, Siri had been sorting it all out the moment he was free from Azkaban, which apparently involved a lot of talking with Dumbledore and ‘primpy, preppy little ministry officials’, so I didn’t have to wait long before I was moved in!” He couldn’t help the little smile at the recollection of finally being able to relax, in a place he could think of as ‘home’.
Tom was watching him keenly. “You were simply content to give the responsibility of your life over to a complete stranger?”
Harry paused at that. “You know, it does sound pretty bad, doesn’t it? I think at the time, I would’ve preferred just about anything to living with the Dursleys though. Some kindly magical man suddenly asking to take me away from that hellhole was a miracle in my eyes. And it wasn’t as if me at six had any concept of stranger danger – the Dursleys wouldn’t even waste the time telling me that!” Harry was chuckling as he said it, but Tom’s lack of amusement keyed him in to just how neglectful it actually sounded. Actually was.
And after that realisation, to just how much he’d told this absolute stranger, with a smile even lovelier than Sirius’.
“Oh, Harry! You haven’t introduced me to your new little friend, here,” Draco inserted himself into the conversation with all the grace of a condescending twelve year old being ignored. “Draco Malfoy,” he said with a smirk and an extended hand.
“Riddle,” Tom replied quite amicably, giving the hand a quick, firm shake. Harry hadn’t seen Draco wince, had he?
“So, tell me about yourself, Riddle. Quite an interesting name.” Harry could only hope that Tom continued to be so understanding in light of Draco’s ‘social skills’. He glanced over at Harry before responding, almost as if reassuring him with the tiny, amused quirk of his lips.
“We were given human names as much for integration’s sake as your own abilities. Trust me, you couldn’t pronounce my demonic name if you tried.”
Oh, dear. He should’ve paid more attention to the mischievous glint in those crimson eyes.
Draco scoffed but kept his expression friendly enough, if a little hawkish. “Of course, my own name is likely familiar in your circles, belonging to one of the oldest pureblood lines. My father is one of the Hogwarts Board governors. I’m sure he had quite a bit to do with your arrival here.”
Tom smiled all too innocently. Harry had never thought to wonder if a demon could pull off ‘angelic’ – his answer left him thoroughly surprised and just a little red-faced. “Oh, he didn’t tell you? We certainly met Lucius, a rather curious man. I didn’t want to ask if he relied on that cane he carried about, or if it was all just part of the show, but since you’ve brought him up and all…”
Harry very nearly burst out laughing. Tom caught it, of course, his cherubic smile never leaving him. He was clearly enjoying this. If only he knew just how much of a rise he was getting out of poor Draco and his daddy issues. Actually, he probably did given the painfully sour look Draco was fighting off. “Well, I think I’ll leave you to figure that one out. I’m sure you’re smart enough for that much. Come Harry, I’d like to start our first day of classes feeling well-rested.”
Truth be told, Harry really should’ve been putting more effort into being a good best friend. He nodded along and took one last sip of his pumpkin juice, beaming over at Tom as he did so. The demon returned his smile and Harry caught himself lingering just a little too long, Draco already halfway further down the table.
“Um, see you in the common room, I suppose. Or classes,” he amended quickly, giving a final wave.
“See you then, Harry.”
They were two of the first to arrive back at the dorms. Aside from a few hissed mutters of “Any manners?” and “Honestly, there’s more than one use for a cane…”, Draco hadn’t engaged any real ranting force. Harry suspected this had to do with wariness. Despite how he sometimes came across, the boy was no idiot – he wouldn’t be so blatantly making enemies with an entirely unknown opponent on the first day. Harry even considered the possibility of Draco apologising tomorrow in class, but no; it was far more likely he’d simply sweep it all under the rug and make more genial conversation instead.
In either case, he hoped the two became friendlier towards one another. Harry found that he’d rather liked Tom.
While Draco was in the shower – and Merlin knew Harry had an inordinate amount of free time when Draco took a shower – he crept back to the common room to see if the demons had arrived yet. As he approached he heard numerous voices, pausing to peek out and check who was there.
“Demon dormitories will be down the same hall as your Year level – the second door into the hall on either side.” Harry easily recognised Abraxas’ Prefect voice. “Girls on the left, boys on the right. This is the same for the bathrooms, which are at the end of the hall.”
Harry’s gaze scanned over the demons all watching Abraxas intently. His eyes fell upon Tom, who suddenly adopted an entertained smile. Wait… do they really know when we’re looking at them? Harry very quickly ducked back down the hall and into his dorm.
There’ll be time enough to find out more tomorrow, damn curiosity. With that, he grabbed his toiletries and headed towards the suspiciously melodic-sounding bathroom, repeatedly playing the day over in his head for analysis.