The main corridors were bustling, bright and early the next morning as the herds of first years bumbled around trying to locate their first lessons. Dan could hear the nervous but excited chatter from outside the Slytherin common room as he stayed put on one of the sofas, his head propped up on the arm as he flipped through a potions book he snagged from one of the Professors during his third year when he wanted to advance himself through the curriculum. He had the book practically memorized, but it was something to do besides get run over by a swarm of anxiety fueled preteens.
Dan heard a bit of giggling coming from the stairs that led to the girls' dorm. Dan's eyes flicked up momentarily to see and old acquaintance - Emma - walking away from a group of her friends. Emma had known Dan since they first arrived at Hogwarts, and when the small detail slipped that Dan was muggleborn, she didn't care all too much. She wasn't muggleborn, no, she was pureblood, but her step brother, Travis, was half-blood; he was in Ravenclaw.
But Dan knew, of course, that if Emma wanted any friends, that she'd have to keep a distance from Dan. He didn't mind, really. He thought it was better to have no friends than a friend who couldn't be seen out in public with him in fear of squandering their reputation.
When she noticed him, she grinned, "You're going to be late, Howell."
Dan rolled his eyes and looked back to his book, "As are you."
"Don't be so sour, it's only the first day," and with that, she was gone; the door hiding the dungeon closing behind her, leaving a silence to settle over Dan. He closed the potions book and set in on his chest, looking into the empty space in front of him.
Dan sometimes cursed his parents, for being muggles. He had figured, his life would probably be a lot better if they were pureblood, or at least half-blood, because then he'd fit in somehow. Although, Dan never really liked fitting in - even in the muggle world - he was always doing things against the grain; he would do things his own way.
Dan remembered one of the many times during said potions class - the one following him taking the book from the classroom and hiding it in his trousers - when they were assigned to make a Polyjuice Potion that would transfigure them into anyone of their choosing. Dan had made extra notes in his book and even snuck into the Restricted Section in the library to find the faults of what their textbook told them - as the Ministry always had something up their ass against letting third years make potions - just so he could get it perfect.
It wasn't until ingredients day when Dan went to the cupboard, only to find that there weren't enough leeches left for him to complete his potion.
"Sorry, Mr. Howell. We'll have another lot in by the weekend, but until then, you'll just have to wait," his professor had told him, but Dan didn't want to wait, he couldn't wait. If he were to wait, then his potion would be late and he'd be marked down points, and he'd have to show it to the rest of the class alone. Dan knew he'd much rather do it with everyone else, so he didn't look like a total embarrassment when he turned into his brother in front of an entire class of thirteen year old's who would all probably be choosing their favorite pop-culture icon.
That night, Dan hunted down the one Ravenclaw he knew would know how to help him.
"Why don't you just wait until the leeches come in? I don't know if anything else would work as well," the green eyed boy commented while flipping through the pages of a book titled Animalia: Classes and Subclasses.
"I don't want it to be late," Dan replied, looking over his shoulder nervously to see if any other Slytherins had spotted him yet.
Pj had stopped on a page and read quietly for a minute, and Dan peered down at the page to see it littered with pictures and diagrams of leeches and other known relatives.
