Disclaimer : I do not own the Wizarding World.

Prologue

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.

"How exactly do they sort us into Houses?" he asked Ron.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet — what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked equally terrified. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teachers wig blue. He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom, he thought.

A few minutes later, "Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind Ron, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Harry never saw anything more amazing than the hall he had been led to. Thousands of candles floated mid-air, lighting up a huge room containing four long tables with the rest of the students and another long table with all the professors. He was led to the front of the said table where they were made to stand facing the rest of the school population.

Professor McGonagall placed a stool in front of them and put a battered looking hat on it, which began singing about all the four houses.

From the little of what he heard from Ron (and the hat) about the school's houses, Harry didn't want to end up in Slytherin, especially after having a run in with Draco Malfoy, who Ron reckons is definitely going to be sorted in.

Noticing how nervous Harry was Ron tried comforting him.

"Don't worry mate, I heard dad say no Potter ever ended up in Slytherin. A few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs sure, but most of them always got into Gryffindor, just like us Weasleys." Harry still wasn't completely convinced and weakly nodded.

"Come on mate, you defeated the darkest wizard of all time when you weren't even two! I just know it, we'll both get into Gryffindor."

Soon it was Ron's turn to be sorted. "Weasley, Ronald."

Harry watched Ron walk towards Professor McGonagall. Feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach, he realized he was next in line to be sorted.

The hat was barely placed on Ron's head for two seconds when it bellowed, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, Harry," McGonagall said and the entire hall burst into murmurs, Gryffindor table the loudest. Apparently they were quite sure the Boy-Who-Lived was going to join them soon.

Harry proceeded to the centre of the stage and the hat was placed on his head. He heard Ron say that the hat took upto five minutes to sort a person, but he started growing worried when ten minutes had passed and the hat showed no hint of being done with him, and everybody waited with baited breath to see where it places him.

Finally after fifteen minutes, the hat yelled something that literally no one expected.

"SLYTHERIN!", and for the first time in the history of Hogwarts, the Great Hall fell completely silent.

A/N

So yeah, this was the idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a while.

I've seen quite a few Slytherin Harry fics here (never got around to finishing any for some reason), and I wanted to have a go at it.

No, this isn't going to be a Dark!Harry fic. I'll try my best to keep him as close to character as possible.

I don't know when I'll post the next chapter, but here's a heads up : Aftermath of this current chapter then probably a time jump to next year's sorting when our favorite redhead is going to share Harry's fate.

Peace~