I couldn't in good conscience change the Sorting Ceremony speech McGonagall gave, as things haven't changed enough to justify her speech being any different than it was in canon. Anywho, here's my attempt at introducing some new characters.

Harry Potter and the House Of The Serpent

Chapter 2: The Sorting

The door immediately swung open to reveal a rather stern looking witch. She was wearing emerald green robes and had her hair done up in a tight bun. Harry got the odd feeling that he should be sure to stay on her good side.

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here." She said, after Hagrid had said something. Harry wasn't paying attention. He was staring at the gigantic, gleaming, marble staircase, the cavernous entrance hall they had stepped into. It was so big that everyone's voices echoed and so tall he couldn't make out the ceiling. It gave off a cozy, warm atmosphere, despite it's great size, most likely because of the torches lining the walls.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts when everyone began to follow the woman across the hall and into a small, empty chamber. Just as he was entering, Harry noticed a gigantic doorway to the right, and he could hear hundreds of voices coming from behind it.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the woman. "I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress."

"The start-of-term feast will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you must first be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are at Hogwarts, your house will be something of a family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

Harry privately hoped that whatever house he ended up in, it was a better family than the one he had come from.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has it's own noble history and each has produced outstanding Witches and Wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose your house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will become a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

Harry already knew about the houses, but he hadn't heard about the whole house points system. He'd have to do his best to not get in trouble in class. Most of the time he get in trouble in class back at his old school, it was for doing (what he knew now) was magic. But that was the point of this school, doing magic. Wasn't it? As for the earning house points thing, he had no idea how he'd accomplish that.

He really needed to calm himself down, he was having pointless thoughts spawned by fear.

"The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up while you wait." She gazed around the crowd while she said that, her eyes resting on a few students in particular, notably Longbottom and a red haired boy with dirt on his nose.

But Harry was hardly paying attention. What would they have to do to be sorted? And in front of the whole school? His stomach gave a horrible jolt. Usually being picked for things in front of people didn't end well.

Like when being picked for football teams back at his old school, he was always picked last, and people made fun of him for it. He doubted it was because he wasn't any good, because he considered himself at least near average, but because nobody wanted Dudley and his gang to think that they liked Harry.

All thoughts of what traits of which house he embodied disappeared. The only house he felt he belonged to at this point was one for people who were nervous and a bit queasy.

Nearby, Seamus, the sandy haired boy, was asking the red head with the dirt on his nose how they got sorted. Harry listened in eagerly. "I don't know, but my brother Fred said it hurts a lot. Some kind of test."

Harry was even more disturbed by that. Never mind the hurting a lot part, but a test? He barely knew any magic yet! He had only managed to fix his glasses, and he highly doubted the test would consist only of fixing an everyday item.

Beside him, Hermione scoffed. "It says clearly in Hogwarts: A History that you try on the Sorting Hat. They didn't say how, but you just put on the hat and it tells you which house you're in. Honestly. Either his brother was lying or he's trying to scare everyone." That made Harry feel a bit better. Trying on a hat? that didn't sound too bad. He wondered what he'd have to do with the hat. He thought briefly of the rather foolish muggle "magicians" pulling stuffed rabbits out of hats.

Suddenly everyone in the room gasped and Harry looked up to see several pearly white figures float through the apparently solid wall. While gliding towards the group of new students, they seemed to be having a discussion about someone or something named Peeves. "Haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name, and you know, he isn't even a real ghost."

Just then one of the ghosts (as Harry now guessed they were) resembling a fat little monk noticed them. "New students!" he exclaimed, smiling. "I hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know." Somewhere nearby Draco scoffed.

"Move along now." came a sharp voice. Professor McGonagall had returned. "The Sorting ceremony is about to begin. Form a line and follow me." and with that, Professor McGonagall was leading them through the giant doors Harry had heard voices coming from behind earlier. He now knew this was the way to the Great Hall, where the rest of the school was awaiting the Sorting.

Harry was really getting nervous now, and his legs were beginning to quake. He tried to distract himself by looking up at the ceiling, and was mildly surprised to see it looked like a starry night sky. "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read that in Hogwarts: A History as well." Hermione said behind him. He smiled in spite of his nervousness, as apparently citing obscure knowledge seemed to be her coping mechanism for the anxiety they all had to be feeling right now.

They all came to a stop as Professor McGonagall put down an old four-legged stool, and placed an old, patched and frayed pointed wizard's hat atop it. A seam near the brim opened up like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.

As soon as the hat concluded it's song, the whole hall burst into applause and the hat bowed to each of the four tables. Judging by the words of the song, Hermione seemed to be right about only having to put the hat on.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward, carrying a long roll of parchment, and began calling out names.

"Abbot, Hannah!" was the first one called, and a blond girl with pigtails stumbled forward, looking incredibly nervous. Harry wondered if it'd be worse for you to be called near the beginning before you had time to calm yourself, or if it would be a good thing as it'd be over sooner. Feeling too anxious to think it through, he just continued viewing the sorting.

After Hannah Abbot was sorted into Hufflepuff, Susan Bones was called up and she, too, was placed in Hufflepuff.

The first non Hufflepuff came right after, in the form of Terry Boot, who went swiftly into Ravenclaw. Next went Mandy Brocklehurst, and she joined Terry at the Ravenclaw table.

Lavender Brown stepped forward, and became the first new Gryffindor. The table on the far left exploded with cheers.

Millicent Bulstrode was called next, and became the first Slytherin.

The table on the far right began clapping. As Harry watched her walk by, he decided then and there to never cross somebody who looked like that. She looked like she could easily thump his cousin Dudley.

After a few more students were sorted, Hermione Granger was called up. She walked briskly towards the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. She took the longest to sort of all the students so far. The hat sat on her head for nearly three solid minutes before declaring her a Gryffindor.

Soon after, Neville Longbottom, the boy who lost his toad, was called up, and after a length of time almost as long as Hermione's, he, too, was declared a Gryffindor.

Harry was starting to get horrible thoughts now, as most people do when they're nervous. What if the hat took so long to sort him, that McGonagall eventually took it off and said that they'd made a mistake and he'd have to go back to the Dursleys? He tried not to think about it.

Eventually, Draco Malfoy stepped forward, and Harry was relieved to see that he looked somewhat nervous. Almost instantly after putting the hat on, it declared him a Slytherin. As he walked over to the Slytherin table, Harry noticed Crabbe and Goyle sitting there already. They must have been sorted when he wasn't paying attention.

Seeing as Harry knew the alphabet quite well, there weren't that many people left before his own name was called. Somebody with the surname of Moon, then a boy called Theodore Nott, then a girl with a face like a pug, then Sally Anne-Perks.

And right after...

"Potter, Harry" McGonagall called.

Harry stepped forward amid a storm of whispers

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

As Harry nervously sat down on the stool, the last thought he had was that he was glad that the hat slipped so far down his face that he wouldn't have to see the crowd gawking at him anymore.

"Hmmm, very interesting." A small voice inside his hear said. Harry supposed this was the hat? He hadn't heard it say anything to any of the other students, other then what house they were in.

Was the hat talking inside his head? "Yes, only you can hear me. This voice is inside your head." said the hat, confirming Harry's idle suspiscion.

"A challenge I see. Where to put you... where to put you. You don't have a bad mind I see. You're smart enough when you apply yourself to be in Ravenclaw, but intellect isn't the only thing Ravenclaw wants."

"You have plenty of courage as well, but there's also lots of talent and a thirst to prove yourself. You've got lots to live up to, eh?" the hat continued.

I guess, Harry thought. All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, treating him as some sort of savior for an event he could barley even remember, and wasn't due to any degree of skill on his part.

"Lots to live up to when you're the boy-who-lived." Crooned the hat. "You could be as great as they say you are, you know. You have plenty of courage, you could make a nice Gryffindor, no doubt about that. But if you want to be great, the best choice would be SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled the last word for the entire hall to hear.

Harry was so relieved to have been sorted that he took the hat off and marched over to the far right table in a daze, distantly noting that the Slytherin table was cheering louder for him than any table had cheered for any student, while a majority of the other three tables was dead silent.

The older students at the end of the Slytherin table were even triumphantly chanting: "We've Got Potter!" in the direction of their counterparts in the other three houses.

Harry sat down, thinking only of how glad he was to be sorted, and into a house where he at least knew somebody, like Draco or Hermione.

"Well done, Potter." said a rather large and imposing boy who was seated across from him.

Soon his nerves wore off and Harry continued to observe the sorting. There weren't many students left now. After Dean Thomas and Lisa Turpin became a Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, respectively, Ronald Weasley, the boy with dirt on his nose, shuffled forward looking slightly green and was proclaimed a Gryffindor.

Harry began looking up at the high table where the teachers sat. He saw Dumbledore, recognizing him from the chocolate frog card, sipping from a goblet whilst seated upon a golden chair.

On one end of the table sat Hagrid, who caught Harry's eye and raised his goblet towards him. Harry grinned at him and resumed eyeing the high table, just as the sorting finished when Blaise Zabini became a Slytherin and came over to sit down.

Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment, took the stool and the Sorting Hat and left the hall.

Harry just remembered that this was supposed to be a feast as he looked up and down Slytherin table and spotted the numerous empty silver plates. The sweets on the train felt ages ago, and he was starving.

Just then Professor Dumbledore stood up and beamed at all the students, as though this was the happiest moment of his life, and began speaking.

"Welcome!" he began "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I have a few words to say to you all. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" and with that, Dumbledore sat down. Everyone began clapping and cheering. Harry did too, but he couldn't help but voice a question.

"Is he... a bit mad?" Harry asked uncertainly

"The short version?" Blaise Zabini, who was seated next to Harry asked. "Yes. He's quite an eccentric man. He's regarded as the greatest wizard alive, and mother says you don't get there by being conformist."

Harry nodded, only now noting Dumbledore's flowing purple robes, emblazoned with stars and moons and other celestial bodies. While all wizards seemed to dress somewhat oddly, Dumbledore was the most... colourfully dressed of the teachers.

"Could you pass the carrots?" a rabbity looking boy who Harry thought was named Nott asked.

"Huh?" Harry looked down at the previously empty plates and trays, only to see that they had been filled with all manners of food. Bacon, pork, chicken, beef, potatoes, carrots and numerous other vegetables, and far too many other things to count.

"Oh, er sure." Harry stammered. He quickly handed the boy the plate of carrots and began loading up his own silver dish with a bit of everything.

"House elves." Nott continued, nodding towards the mountains of food.

"House elves?"

"Little servant creatures, they work in the kitchens beneath the hall. They use their magic to clean and cook and look after the place. They use magic to send the food up through the tables."

Harry remembered vaugley that he had read about House Elves in one of his school books, back when he was at Privet Drive.

"So, is Draco telling the truth when he says you went off to live with muggles?" a girl across the table from him asked.

"Well, yeah." Harry said. The last thing he wanted to talk about now was the Dursleys.

"Sorry to hear that." the girl continued with a slightly wrinkled nose. She reached across the table to shake his hand "Daphne Greengrass, pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Harry shook her hand. He was trying his best to be polite. He was wondering if everyone in Slytherin were from old, rich, wizarding families like Draco.

"And I'm Theodore Nott. Pleasure." The rabbity boy next to Harry shook his hand too.

"I'm Pansy Parkinson." said a girl who began to stand up, when a voice called down the table.

"Let him eat in peace you lot! Honestly." Draco was leaning back from his seat to look down at Harry's end of the table with a disapproving face.

Harry grinned and waved at him and resumed eating his dinner now that the hand shaking storm had been averted.

A few mintues into his meal, with very few people other then a handful of older students were talking, Harry decided to strike up a conversation.

"So were all of you wizard raised?" Harry asked. Everyone around him nodded, looking anywhere between dignified and offended.

"So, what's it like growing up knowing about magic?"

"Well, it's obviously frusturating having to wait all those years to go to Hogwarts and get your own wand. I had to settle for sneaking my mother's wand away when she wasn't looking. As if I was going to wait untill I was eleven." Daphne said.

Everyone laughed a bit at that.

"You could always do Quidditch." Theodore said.

"Quidditch," Daphne huffed "is a brute sport. As if I have any interest going up on a broom and playing with a bunch of balls."

"It is not a brute sport!" Theodore protested. "Father says it helps you hone your hand-eye co-ordination and lets you think clearer. And excercise is always good."

Daphne waved a dismissive hand, indicating the conversation was over. "So, what are muggles like?" she asked Harry.

"Well, I didn't get along with the ones I lived with, but most of them arne't like that. They mostly keep to themselves. Hagrid seemed to say alot of their inventions were weird, even though alot of them serve the same purpose as magic does." Harry said, gesturing towards the food.

"My cousin wanted a dumwaiter, it's a kind of tiny lift you put food into, and it delivers it to the upper floors of a house, kind of like the house elves."

"Then they have airplanes, which I guess are like brooms. They fly from place to place in them, and they go really fast." Everyone around him was paying rapt attention. Harry was amused they could be as fascinated with ordinary "muggle" things as he was with magic.

"Then there's an escalator, which I always found fun. They're a flight of stairs that move by themselves. You only have to go on the first step, and it'll take you to the top." Harry said, remembering the broken one in London when he was with Hagrid.

Blaise Zabini made a face. "Weird." he said. Everyone other than Harry nodded confidently. As they returned to their meal, Harry glanced up at the high table once more. Professor McGongall had returned, and she was sitting next to Professor Dumbledore. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet, and Professor Quirrel, now donning an odd purple turban, was talking to a Professor with long, greasy hair and a rather hooked nose.

As Harry looked up at him, the mysterious Professor locked eyes with Harry and gave him an odd questioning look. As he did this, a sharp, needle-like pain shot through Harry's scar. Harry clapped a hand to his forhead and supressed a gasp.

"What's the matter?" Blaise asked.

"N-nothing. Just a bit of a headache." Harry lied. It was completley bizzare. The pain left as quick as it came. Harry looked back up at the high table, and saw the Professor was once again speaking to Professor Quirrel.

"Who's that speaking to Professor Quirrel?" Harry asked in what he hoped was a casual manner.

"You know Quirrel but you don't know him?" Daphne demanded. Harry shook his head.

"He's our head of house, Professor Snape. He teaches potions. How d'you know Quirrel?"

"I met him in Diagon Alley with Hagrid when I got all my supplies." Harry explained.

"That reminds me, why were you with Hagrid? He's just a gamekeeper." Blaise asked.

"He's the one who delivered my letter and told me I was magic and that I'm famous." Harry said

"WHAT?" exclaimed Theodore, Blaise and Daphne at the same time.

"Well, they kept the whole magic thing from me untill Hagrid told me." Harry explained.

"They kept all that from you?" Daphne asked, looking disgusted.

"An atrocity." said Blaise. Daphne nodded solemly.

"You know, when you return home next summer, don't tell them that you're not allowed to do magic. That way you can keep them under your thumb." Theodore said, with a smirk.

"I'll do that, but it might not even be nessecary." Harry replied with a smile, thinking of how nervous his relatives were around him the month or so after he returned from Diagon Alley.

Just then a ghost floated by, with a gaunt face and blank staring eyes, and he seemed to be covered in what looked awfully like blood.

"Is that blood on him?" Harry whispered. The large boy who had congratulated Harry on making Slytherin earlier, responded. "That's the Bloody Baron, Slytherin House ghost. Nobody knows how he got all bloody, but whenever somebody asks him they get haunted for weeks. If you do get on his good side, occasionally he'll scare the other houses for you." he snickered.

"The name is Flint, by the way. Marcus Flint. Captain of Slytherin House Qudditch Team." he continued, puffing out his chest.

A short while later, all the plates cleared just as Harry finished his treacle tart, and Professor Dumbledore stood once more to adress the hall.

"Ahem - Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you."

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

As he said this, Dumbledore's twinkling eyes looked over at a pair of red-heads sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"I have been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the halls." Dumbledore continued.

"Quidditch Trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house team should contact Madam Hooch."

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to all those who do not wish to die a very painful death." Dumbledore finished.

"Is he joking?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"Probably not." Marcus Flint answered. "He occasionally says odd things like this, and it's usually best to just shut up and do what he says."

"And now, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore cried. Several people around Harry groaned and grimaced, but they all joined in anyway.

Once the school song was finished, Dumbledore spoke up again: "Ah, Music, a magic beyond all we do here. And now, bedtime! Off you trot!"

With that, the entire school rose. Harry and the other Slytherin first years were approached by an older student who was wearing a badge with a large letter "P" on it.

"You kids first years?" he asked gruffly. They all nodded. "I'm the Slytherin Prefect, follow me and I'll show you the way to our common room. Move it!" he barked.

Harry was reminded somewhat of Uncle Vernon, but it was a decidedly different way. This Prefect reminded him more of a soldier in the army in one of those movies Uncle Vernon would watch rather than Uncle Vernon himself; Very strict and tough, but not actually malevolent.

Harry and the other first years followed the prefect to a marble staircase leading downwards from the Entrance Hall, and into what he presumed were the dungeons.

Onward they trudged for nearly ten minutes, marching through corridors and past tapestries, until finally they reached a stop at an apparently blank stretch of wall.

The Prefect spoke up "This is the entrance to the common room, memorize where it is and you won't get lost. Say the password to it and the entrance will show up. Got it?" he said, glowering at them.

The first years nodded nervously.

"Good." and with that, he turned towards the blank stretch of wall and said: "Subterfuge."

The blank wall began melting away to reveal a polished wooden frame surrounding a portrait, which instantly swung open to admit them into the Slytherin common room.

As Harry stepped through the portrait, he examined the room around him. It was awesome! On the far side of the room was a huge pane of glass with a snake engraved on it. He couldn't tell if the glass was stained green, or if it was just the color of the lake outside. They were clearly underground and underwater.

The walls were made of solid stone, panelled by rich, dark wood. There were countless portraits on the walls, and there was a roaring fireplace on one side of the room, surrounded by black leather couches and green armchairs.

There was a soft, silken green and silver rug in front of the fireplace, and further back in the room were countless stools and tables of all shapes and sizes, all some shade of black or green or silver. Past all the tables, was a single passageway leading downwards.

Before he could explore the common room any further, the portrait entrance opened once more to reveal Professor Snape gliding in, with his robes billowing. Harry couldn't help but get the impression of a bat or perhaps a vampire in one of those old muggle movies.

"I am Professor Snape, Potions Master and Head Of Slytherin House." he said, addressing the first years. Although he spoke rather quietly, his mere presence seemed to silence the entire common room.

"Even if the Sorting Hat chose you for this house, you still have a long way to go. I will not have you embarrassing this house, or by extension, myself, with your actions." he continued.

Staring piercingly at each first year in turn, his eyes lingered on Harry's for a few seconds longer then they had on any of the other students, and he gave Harry another odd... searching look. This time, not accompanied by his scar burning, thankfully.

"Slytherin is the house of the cunning and the clever, the ambitious and the determined, the resourceful and the subtle. While we aren't cowards by any stretch of the imagination, we do not blindly charge into situations beyond our comprehension like Gryffindors. We do not believe pointless facts and statistics are all you need to get through life like Ravenclaws, and we are not as naïve and trusting as Hufflepuffs."

"In short, Slytherin is the house of the winners. The hat chose you because you have the potential to be great. Do not waste it. Do not disappoint me."

After glaring sternly at them all, Snape spoke once more "This concludes my start of term address. Follow my words wisely and you shall succeed. Now, I suggest you all get some rest."

And with that, Professor Snape swept smoothly from the room, robes billowing once more.

One of the older students snickered. "I know that speech word for word by now. He says it every year to new first years. Look at their faces, it's always the same every year. Scares the daylights out of 'em."

"You can't argue with the results." and older girl spoke up. "If Professor Snape needs to scare them into being successful, so be it."

Several older students nodded in approval.

As the first years all started to wander awkwardly around the room and distanced themselves from the older students, Daphne Greengrass began hurrying around, gathering all the first years in a tight-nit group. Dragging a blond girl towards Harry, she began talking.

"Seeing as you were raised by those awful muggles, you must hardly know anybody in the wizard world. I'm here to fix that." she said pompously.

"This here is Tracey Davis. You might have a little in common with her; one of her parents was a muggle, while the other was a wizard. Or a witch. It dosen't matter." she continued.

"Pleased to meet you." Harry said awkwardly. Tracy nodded and retreated to the other side of the room. Everything seemed so formal in Slytherin, espescially near Daphne.

"This here is Pansy Parkinson." Daphne proclaimed, gesturing towards the girl with a pug-like face. Pansy Parkinson looked affronted and glared at Daphne.

"As if I need a Greengrass introducing me." Pansy scoffed. "My mother and father are personal friends of the minister of magic himself!"

Rolling her eyes at the escalating argument, the stout girl Harry saw sorted into Slytherin stepped forward and introduced herself as Millicent Bulstrode. Harry's instinct not to anger her increased as he noted how firm her handshake was.

"Anyway, that's Millicent Bulstrode, she was named after Minister For Magic Millicent Bagnold and-"

"OI! YOU LOT! OFF TO BED" barked the Prefect from before, thankfully cutting Daphne's awkward introductions to an end.

The tired first years now headed off to the downward leading passageway at the other end of the room. Harry didn't realize how tired he was until now, and he idly wondered if they put some sort of potion to make you drowsy, in the food.

The first years marched down the passage way, and came to a large, bare, circular room with seven passages. Over the passage nearest to the entrance, hung a sign that read "First Years"

After following this passage, they encountered a fork in the passage. One leading left, apparently to the girl's dormitories, and the one on the right leading to the boy's.

Following this one, they came upon a narrow hallway with six doors along it's length. Over each door hung a placard with a name on it.

Finding his own name hanging over the one on the far right, Harry realized the door had no handle. As he searched the door for some way to open it, he rested his hand upon a random point on the door and it slid sideways, revealing his bedroom.

Shrugging to himself, Harry entered the room where he would be spending the greater part of a year sleeping.

On the far end of the room was more glass, again showing he was somewhere underneath the lake. The walls were made of stone but most of it was panneled in some dark type of wood, and there was a solitary four poster bed with green curtains leaning against the wall, flanked by a desk and a wardrobe.

At the foot of his bed lay his trunk. Harry wondered for a second how it had gotten there when he spotted a door adjacent to his bed.

Resting his palm against it like he had inadvertantly done before, the door slid open to reveal Draco's bedroom. Draco was busy rummaging through his trunk and looked up.

"Congratulations on making Slytherin! Did you notice we each get our own rooms? Father says none of the other houses get that luxury. They all sleep in one room." he said, wrinkling his nose.

"Thanks." Harry said. Draco seemed to have a bit of a superiority complex. Harry was slightly worried. If everyone in Slytherin was as dignified and somewhat snooty as Draco and Daphne, Harry was going to have a hard time fitting in. They all came from rich families, and Harry had never had any money in his life until his 11th Birthday.

He had never learned any of the customs of what really rich people thought were acceptable. While Uncle Vernon prided himself as being respectable, he repeatedly said himself that he was "middle class" The houses on Privet Drive were nice, but they weren't mansions by any stretch of the imagination.

Harry was brought back to the present when Draco spoke up again.

"Plus we get adjoining doors so we can go visit eachother." Draco said, nodding towards the door Harry had come through and one on the other side of the room, which Theodore Nott then came through.

"Hmm, our rooms seem to be the same size. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being screwed over." Theodore said, returning to his own room and gently closing the door.

"That boy is a weird one." Draco said, going back to rummaging in his trunk. "Sorry about Daphne, she's a bit overenthsuasitc when it comes to socializing."

"I noticed." Harry said.

Although Daphne seemed friendly enough, she reminded him slightly of Aunt Petunia. He could picture Daphne gossiping about neighbours, and they both clearly cared a great deal about social gatherings and their own status in society.

"You should go off to bed, classes are awfully early and we don't want to be late for our first class. Father says that makes a bad first impression."

Harry nodded sleepily, and went back to his own bed and collapsed onto it, so tired he forgot to change his robes. Which, he now noticed, had aquired a green collar, and the tie was now stiped green and silver, and the Slytherin crest was now displayed on his chest.

As he dozed off, he had the odd feeling that he was really at home. For the first time he could remember, he felt he had a home. Not a house, but a home.

A/N

So, now that those two chapters are out of the way, things can start to get a bit more original, seeing as this is the first major divergence from canon, causing new situations to arise.