A Young Slytherin: A Barnaby Lee Story -Hogwarts Mystery

The Hogwarts Troll

Barnaby's throat tightened. "Fight?"

"Yeah, I already did these weaklings in on the train," said Michael, sticking a thumb over his shoulder at the other boys.

"Um, okay. Why?"

"Slytherin house pride. We ran into some older students on the train. When we told 'em what house we were going for, they told us we better toughen up." He leaned in and added conspiratorially, "Apparently, the Slytherins hold regular duels to keep us all in good form. So we're always prepared to take the Gryffindors down."

Barnaby nodded, pretending this made perfect sense.

"Usually, duels are fought with wands. But that Slytherin sixth year told me that they do hand-to-hand combat as well. And since none of us knows any magic yet..."

Barnaby wasn't sure he wanted to fight, but Michael didn't give him much choice. Without warning, he leaped forward, swinging Barnaby around and wrapping an arm around his neck. Barnaby ducked, just managing to slip out of Michael's grip. He spun around, only for Michael to grab him by the shoulders and knee him in the gut. He let out a small grunt, but otherwise he showed no sign of the pain.

He was dimly aware of the other boys yelling in excitement, gathering around to watch. The fight lasted for a long time; Barnaby didn't swing many punches. He just dodged as many of Michael's attacks as he could, and took the others before grabbing him and slinging the other boy away from him. Finally, Michael tired himself out. Barnaby was able to pick him up and toss him onto one of the four poster beds. Then, he jumped on top of the boy, pinning him down.

Michael struggled and squirmed with all his might, but finally was forced to admit defeat.

"Alright, alright! You win," he gasped. "Get off me."

Barnaby clambered off the bed. Michael sat up, breathing heavily.

"Nice one!" said Robert, clapping Barnaby on the back.

"He's not even winded!" said Eric, a small, excitable boy. "Remind me to stay on your good side!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Michael, stepping from the bed and wiping the sweat from his mouth. "You win this round, Lee. Next time, I won't go so easy on you." He punched Barnaby playfully on the arm.

The rest of his first night at Hogwarts passed pleasantly for Barnaby. The boys settled in and pondered what their lessons tomorrow would be like. There were also plenty more wrestling matches, which Barnaby won easily. It felt good to be good at something, for once. Finally, the boys all came at him at once. Barnaby laughed, flinging each of them away until they finally toppled him over.

After the others had all fallen asleep, Barnaby lay in the bed, unable to keep the smile off his face.

The next morning, he and the others dressed in their Slytherin robes; some magic had been done during the night to transform them from plain black to lined with green, the Slytherin house crest embroidered on the breast. He felt a certain amount of pride looking down at it.

He went with the other boys down to the great hall and found a place with them at the Slytherin table. He sat across from Merula.

"Hullo," he said brightly. She ignored him.

Professor Snape soon came around with their course schedules.

"I'll be seeing you all in potions this afternoon. Do try not to be a disappointment."

Barnaby was stopped from perusing his schedule by Jason, who nudged him. "They say Snape gives Slytherins special treatment," he said. "He was a Death Eater at one point too, like your parents. Though they say he chickened out and joined Dumbledore's side." His face screwed up in disgust. "It'll be interesting to see if you get extra-special treatment."