Harry walked into the store to see a squat looking woman wearing mauve robes, who smiled at himwarmly, "Hogwarts, dear?" she asked brightly.

Harry feeling more than a little nervous nodded his head, silently, which caused the witch to smile gently, "Got the lot here, there's another student here right now, actually."

Harry was lead to the back of the shop, where another boy was sitting. He was a bit round in the face, he had dusty blonde hair and a very nervous demeanor. He looked at Harry and tried to smile before giving a yelp. "Hold still dear," the woman who was sizing him said.

"Sorry," the boy said only to have the woman chuckle and reply, "I'm not the one who is getting stuck with the pin, Mr. Longbottom."

Harry feeling a little awkward at the growing silence as they were being fitted said, "Hello," he muttered quietly, "You're going to Hogwarts too?"

"Oh, yes," the boy replied, looking at his feet as if trying to think of something to say, "You have a house you want to be in?" he asked suddenly, brightening up.

"Um… Sorry?" Harry asked, confused.

"Hogwarts House, which one do you want to be in?" the boy asked, as if this clarified everything.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Harry said, admitting his ignorance.

"What? How can you not know? Erm, sorry, its' just... Are you muggle-born?"

"You've still lost me," Harry replied, beginning to wonder if perhaps this boy was a bit dim.

"Muggle-born, somebody whose parents are muggles, non-magical." The boy explained, sounding a little bit more confident.

"Oh, no, my parents were a witch and a wizard." Harry replied

The boy seemed to pick up on the past tense, because he said simply, "Oh," and started to explain the Hogwarts Houses, "There's four houses. Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. Each one is supposed to have its' own trait… Like bravery or intelligence or kindness or something like that. Why can't I remember?"

Harry shrugged at that, causing him to get pinned and let out a yelp, "Um, I don't know, I don't really feel like any of those things."

"I know what you mean," the boy said, "Gran wants me to be Gryffindor, because that's the house my dad was in but I think she's just really glad that I'm going at all at this point. We were all really surprised that I got an invitation at all…"

"What, why?" Harry asked

"Well, I've only ever done a couple of magical things and nobody could ever get me to do any magic on purpose…" the boy responded.

"I've only ever done a couple of magical things and not on purpose." Harry said, feeling nervous but the boy seemed to brighten up substantially at that, "Really?" he asked and when Harry nodded he let out an enormous sigh. "That's such a relief."

Harry smiled at him and felt that he liked this boy quiet a bit when the woman who was fitting his robe announced she was finished. He stepped down off his stool and looked at Harry who immediately said, "I didn't catch your name."

"Neville Longbottom," Neville responded, "What about you?"

"Harry Potter," Harry said and Neville's eyes widened before he stammered, "Really?" to which Harry replied, "Really."

Just then, a woman in green robes and a wizard's hat with a stuffed eagle on it said, "Neville, its' time to go." Neville snapped and turned around, waving at Harry as he left and Harry felt glad to have made a new friend.

Author's Notes: This is Not a Dark!Harry story. It is definitely a Slytherin!Harry story and I hope that I can bring something new to that genre, since this is going to end up moving towards a Friendship Fic. The next three chapters are already written and longer than this one, with the fifth chapter on its way. I've avoided rewriting the earlier sections of Harry Potter where nothing really changed. There is no conversation with Hagrid about houses.