"Harry, what the hell did you do?" Ron shouted as soon as they had been let out of the hall. "WHY ARE YOU IN SLYTHERIN? This is going to ruin everything!"

"Harry, what went wrong?" Hermione asked, her eyes full of concern.

"I... I kind of didn't tell the hat not to put me in Slytherin..." Harry mumbled. The look on Hermione's face forced him into excuses. "I don't know why, I just didn't think of it! I figured if I said anything, the hat might change its mind. Keeping quiet seemed the best to me..."

"But you knew you didn't want to be in Slytherin! When the hat was going on about it, why didn't you stop it! I even told you in our first year that you didn't want to be in Slytherin!"

Hermione's expression changed from shock to realization. "Harry, I know what happened. When we were on the train, you and Ron never got to have that conversation about the different houses and everything, meaning you'd never realized that you didn't want to be in Slytherin. Since you hadn't known that, you couldn't have told the hat not to put you there!"

Harry nodded, realizing what had gone wrong. "I'm surprised we didn't figure that out on the train."

"We probably would have if Malfoy hadn't come in." Ron said, rolling his eyes.

"Don't blame him, Ron." Hermione sighed.

"Why not, it's clearly his fault. We probably would've made a plan and everything if it wasn't for him!" Ron exclaimed.

"He's kind of right, Hermione." Harry said, tentatively.

"Slytherin first years, follow me!" A deep voice called as Percy's voice yelled out, "Gryffindor first years, over here. I'm a prefect, come on!"

"We have to go, Harry. We can talk about this later-"

"When? I'm stuck with the other Slytherins!"

"Well, if you really need to, you could come see us in the common room at night. You know, when no one else is there." Ron suggested.

"That could work. This year the password is Caput Draconis, if I remember it correctly." Hermione told Harry. "But unless it's essential, you probably shouldn't come. We'll talk to you tomorrow morning."

Harry nodded as he went to follow the Slytherins towards the dungeons.

Harry sat on his new green covered bed, staring remorsefully at Draco Malfoy as he fixed his trunk on the bed next to him. Being late to follow the other Slytherins, Harry had been forced to the only bed left in the boys dormitory, which, of course, happened to be next to the one boy he despised most at the moment besides himself.

The room was silent except for the rustling of cloaks and clothes being stowed away. Across the room, Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott were arguing with Crabbe over who got which bed. Goyle sat on the bed on the other side of Malfoy, scattering his belongings across the covers.

Once everyone had finished unpacking and climbed into bed, the room became disturbingly quiet. Even though the lights had been turned off, Harry could feel everyone's eyes on him.

Malfoy finally broke the silence, "So, Potter, is it true that you've got the lightning scar on your forehead?"

Harry sat up and pushed his hair back to reveal the scar. The boys' eyes widened, and Malfoy asked, "How did you manage to beat him?"

"Well... I-" Harry was about to answer, but decided against it. He wasn't even supposed to know the answer to that yet, was he? Could just telling them affect the future? "I don't know. I was a baby. I didn't really do anything."

Malfoy smirked, as if he'd known all along that it hadn't been Harry that had destroyed Voldemort.

Draco began to talk about his father's job in the ministry and bragged of his long lasting Slytherin family, conveniently leaving Sirius out, as Harry lay back down on his new green bedding.

How he managed to sleep after what had happened, he didn't know, but the sounds of snoring and Malfoy's drawling voice put him to sleep.

"Harry, we're meeting near the Room of Requirement after breakfast." Hermione whispered as she passed the Slytherin table the next morning. Harry looked up to see her and Ron sitting with the rest of the Gryffindors.

"Does anyone know what class we have first?" Draco asked. Unfortunately for Harry, Malfoy had decided it was essential to sit next to the legendary Boy Who Lived that morning.

"Potions, I think." Goyle said from across the table. "Heard Snape's teaching it. He seems cool, doesn't he?"

Draco smirked and nodded. Harry sighed and picked at his sausage. Soon, breakfast had ended and the first years walked happily to their first classes at Hogwarts. Harry made his way up to the Room of Requirement to find Ron and Hermione. They stood in front of the blank wall, waiting for him.

"Neville, how much should we eat to move forward one year?" Hermione whispered into the watch.

"Only about the size of a fingernail, I think. Not much." Neville's voice answered.

Hermione pulled leaves from her bag and pulled Ron and Harry after her into the Room of Requirement. It had transformed into a long empty room with a sun roof sending light across the tiled floor. Holding the leaves between their fingers, the trio walked to the center of the room.

"Remember, by going forward a year, we're leaving our future up to fate." She glanced at Harry. "Because of certain mistakes made, we can't be sure what's happened to us in the next year. Hopefully, Harry's still gotten the Philosophers Stone. Oh, I hope we didn't change too much."

"Don't worry, Hermione. It'll be fine." Ron assured her. He looked at Harry. "Ready?"

Harry nodded. "On three."

Hermione started, "One... two... three."

Once again, the leaves touched their tongues and they disappeared.