A/N: Hey everyone. Again, thanks for the reviews and follows! Glad to know you're liking the story so far. Anyway, not much to say . . . Enjoy!

Chapter 5 - Sorting

"Snape, Tristan!" Professor McGonagall called out and Harry walked up to the stool, seeing his old Head of House giving him a strange look before he picked up the hat, sat down on the stool and pulled it down on his head. Perhaps a little too rough.

"Ah, now this is a strange one," the hat said. "Don't see people twice very often. And the wrong age at that!"

Just sort me, Harry thought. Not Gryffindor. Please, not Gryffindor.

"You don't like your house? Oh, I see. Well, we have a choice now to make, don't we. I do think the best option for you is SLYTHERIN!" Harry looked up at the head table where Snape was sitting as cheers came from the Slytherin table. Snape's face was expressionless, like usual, so he didn't know what Snape thought of that. He knew the man didn't think he would would end up in Slytherin, because he had coached him on what to do when he ran into his old friends in the common room. Now that whole, awful conversation had been pointless.

Malfoy gave him a happy nod as he sat down the table from him in the biggest empty space he could find. He felt completely lost. While the sorting continued, he heard students around him talking about the warning the sorting hat gave. Harry tuned out the rest of the ceremony, waiting for the food to show up.

He was in Slytherin. His day really couldn't get worse. He knew Ravenclaw was out, but what was wrong with Hufflepuff? Wasn't he loyal?

Harry ignored the calls for first years being shown where to go. He remembered where the Slytherin dorms were from his second year, but in any case, he just followed the rest of the Slytherins and then found the dorm with his name on it. It really wasn't that difficult.

Letting himself fall back onto his bed, he lay there, enjoying the quiet. No one else had gotten there yet; everyone was catching up in the common room, and it gave him some time to think. Its just like any other house, Harry tried telling himself. Or, at least that's what Dumbledore said. He described the houses as personality traits, some standing out more than others in certain people.

Harry heard everyone go quiet in the common room and Harry sat up, wondering if he was missing something. He guessed he wasn't missing much, since the other boys came into the dorm and stared at him like he was a three headed griffin.

"Hi," one of the boys said, holding out his hand. "I'm Jake."

"Tristan," Harry answered, taking the boy's hand and they shook. The rest introduced themselves: Lucas, William, Wyatt, and Zachary. He was relieved to know that he hadn't known any of them before. It really was a clean slate.

"So, you're related to Professor Snape?" Wyatt asked. "Why weren't you at Hogwarts before?"

"I lived with my mom," he answered. "She home schooled me."

Severus walked through the Slytherin common room to greet and quiet the students as he usually did the first day of classes. He supposed he could leave that up to the prefects and Head Boy and Girl, but he liked to make sure that everything went smoothly the first day. When he didn't, it never failed that at least one of his students ended up in the hospital wing.

Shooing the students to their dorms, Severus made a note that he had not seen Potter. He had watched the brat through dinner, and he hadn't seem to see anyone around him. Probably not happy about being sorted into Slytherin.

Which, Severus told himself, he had not expected to happen. The boy was a Gryffindor, through and through. A big headed, impossible brat. He knew that the hat took suggestions from the student it was sorting, but it would not place said student in a house that it did not belong, no matter how much they would beg and plead. He had doubted the Potter had asked for Slytherin, in any case.

Glad that his dealings with the boy would be minimal now that school had started, Severus made sure everyone was in their dorms before heading to his room.

There were two problems that morning. First, he overslept and no one had thought to try to wake him until right before they were heading to the Great Hall, and second, he was pretty sure that Wyatt's cat was trying to kill him. Three times during the night, the cat decided his feet were the best toys ever. He couldn't move without the demon attacking him. Well, that was probably why he overslept, in any case.

He managed to get dressed quickly, though, and the other boys had been nice enough to wait so he wouldn't get lost on the way to breakfast. They went on about house points but Harry was still grateful. He didn't know the dungeons that well and he realized that he actually wasn't supposed to know his way around the castle. That might end up being a problem if he suddenly knew where everything was.

Breakfast went smooth. Several of the Slytherins seemed eager to talk to him and most of them seemed nice. He inwardly groaned when Malfoy acted as if they were already friends, but he managed to hold saying anything back.

Snape handed him his schedule last, with a look that told him if he didn't behave he'd be in trouble. Obviously. His schedule for that day was a rough one. Double potions and double transfiguration. He started to groan before he realized he already had taken the classes and it would be all review.

"Watch, we're going to have potions with the Ravenclaws again," Jake said.

"We do every year," one of the nearby girls said. "Ugh. Worse than the Gryffindors, I tell you. At least all they'll do is the occasional prank."

"What's wrong with Ravenclaw?" Harry asked.

"They're awful! I had to sit next to one last year, and once when my potion was looking better than his, he sabotaged it! And they know JUST how to do it, too so they make you look like you just did something wrong. Just awful!"

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. He knew the Ravenclaws in his year were nothing like that.

"Come on, lets get to Transfiguration. Don't want McGonagall taking points for being late."

Transfiguration went okay. They had it with Gryffindors and even though they weren't the friendliest towards each other it wasn't like his class with Malfoy. But from what he gathered from listening to everyone talk, everyone hated the Ravenclaws in their year. It was strange. He just assumed that for everyone, it was the Gryffindors that never got along with Slytherins.

He then had Arithmacy, History, and then double Potions after lunch. He wasn't worried about potions, though. He remembered what they did in transfiguration and was the first to finish so he figured potions shouldn't be an issue either.

They filtered into the classroom and Harry sat next to Wyatt .

"I'm rubbish at potions,"he whispered to Harry. "You're good, right?"

"Er..." he said. "Kind of? Its not like I spend my time making potions with my dad, " he said.

"Oh," he said and Harry rolled his eyes. Still, if they were going to make a potion today, he should still do alright.

They were making a potion, but first Snape decided to do a lecture, which actually ended up half being questions to the students. And most of the questions he put to Harry. Thankfully, there was only one that he didn't know, but one of the girl Ravenclaws – Jenny – smugly answered for him. He glared at her while she gave him the most I'm-out-for-your-blood smile he'd every seen. Behind her was the Ravenclaw boys that he sat with on the train and the look they gave him suggested this might be personal. He scowled at them while Snape started talking about what they were going to brew.

Harry didn't remember the potion they were brewing, but the instructions were simple enough. He didn't realize how much more complicated forth year potions were. They sat, quietly brewing while Snape wandered the room. He didn't make it over to Harry until Harry was nearly finished, but the man didn't say anything; just stood behind him which didn't do much but make him extremely nervous. The color seemed slightly off at the end, but Snape didn't say anything while he bottled it and handed it in.

He finally chanced a look at Snape, who seemed to be glaring at the entire room. He saw Harry looking at him and his face got harder. Harry sighed and sat back down and watched Wyatt finish his potion while he pretended to look over the potions text. Wyatt wasn't as bad as Neville, but he still had a ways to go with the potion and the smell was wrong, probably because he was taking so long between putting the ingredients in. Harry looked around and saw that only about half of the kids were finished with their potion. He sighed and tried to focus on the book.

After dinner, Harry sat with Wyatt in the common room, going over their arithmancy notes. Some of it was sort of like muggle math class but they had to learn these charts, and he wasn't sure if he was going to like the class. After staring at the page in silence for a few minutes, a shadow fell over the book, and he looked up to find Snape standing in front of him, looking at him coolly. Harry desperately thought back and tried to remember if he did something he wasn't supposed to. Snape walked away, then, but Harry stood, knowing the man wanted him to follow.

Harry's stomach clenched the longer the walk to Snape's office took. "Sit," Snape said when they arrived, and Harry did so quickly. Snape sat down in his chair across from Harry, who was almost distracted by jars filling the shelves-lined walls. His attention was quickly pulled back to Snape, though, when he realized the potions master was glaring at him. Automatically, he sat up straight defensively.

"What?" he asked when Snape still didn't say anything.

"You are to behave, Tristan," Snape said quietly.

"I am!" Harry answered, fists clenching.

"Quiet! You are to behave and focus on your studies. Those were the rules, were they not?"

"What did I do, sir," Harry asked.

"What was that in potions, today? With the Ravenclaws?"

It took a second for Harry to realize what Snape was asking.

"I don't know!" Harry said defensively. "I haven't done anything to them that's for sure. But they say the Ravenclaws are awful, and-"

"Its only the first day, and you're already picking fights, are you? So much like your father-"

"And what's wrong with that?" Harry yelled, standing up. Harry felt so small sitting in the chair, like Snape could stomp on him at any moment.

"Because, Potter, your father was an arrogant, attention-seeking bully-"

"NO!" Harry yelled.

"And you couldn't even manage to successfully brew a potion two years below your level. Do you even know what you did wrong?" Harry crossed his arms and glared at Snape. He hated the man. Harry knew he did something wrong with the potion, and no, he didn't know what, but it wasn't nearly as bad as some that the others had turned in.

And his father was not a bully! Everyone told him how great his dad had been. Snape was just being awful! Harry continued to just glare at Snape, whose eyes seemed to condemned him.

"Well?" Snape asked.

"No," Harry said. And Snape wasn't likely to tell him, he knew. He'd rather just criticize him instead of help him.

"You chopped instead of diced the newt spleens," Snape said flatly, and Harry stared at him for a moment, stunned, his anger temporarily forgotten. A little detail like that was enough to mess up the potion? And what, really, was the difference between chopped and diced? "Perhaps we need to add remedial reading lessons to your class schedule?" Snape's voice was biting, and Harry's anger came back, full swing. "Sit back down."

Harry slammed himself back down onto the chair, hurting his bum as he did so, but he didn't care. He crossed his arms and gave Snape a hateful glare. Snape was no longer glaring at him, but there was still something in the man's eyes that fueled his anger.

"You will focus on your studies, and you will stay out of trouble," Snape repeated quietly, but his tone held a warning. "You made your decision, and you will uphold your part. I will not have you embarrassing me. Now, go and do as you were told." Harry held the man's eyes for a few seconds longer before standing up and stomping toward the door. "Calm yourself before you go. You look ridiculous." Harry just stared at the door, not knowing how he was going to calm himself reasonably in Snape's presence.

When Harry finally got back to the common room, Wyatt had finished studying and was playing chess with William, which was fine because Harry didn't think he could look at a book at all at the moment. He walked past all of them and their watching eyes and threw himself on his bed.

He embarrassed Snape. Just like he embarrassed the Dursleys. How did he ever think that living with the bat would be better than his relatives? And, now that he was his Head of House and his pretend-father, it was even worse.

And, to make matters even worse, his butt was really starting to hurt.

The next day, his dorm mates kept giving him looks and by the end of charms, he had enough.

"What?" he finally asked them after class. They just looked at each other until Wyatt spoke up.

"Well ... It was just that you seemed really upset last night after talking with Snape and you've been having trouble sitting down all day today ..." Harry felt his face get warm when he realized what the boy was suggesting. Snape did not spank him!

"No! I just ... Got angry and sat down really hard on the chair," Harry said hurriedly. "I think I hurt my tailbone or something."

The boys nodded as if it made sense, then. "Yeah, the chair in Snape's office is horrible isn't it? I think he made it so it's that much more uncomfortable for when someone gets in trouble."

"So, what'd you do?" Wyatt asked, giving him a smile.

"Er ... I didn't brew my potion right," he answered, which was partially true. Still, he felt himself get hot in the cheeks again.

"Tough luck, mate. At least when I brew my potions wrong, all I get is a bad grade." Harry forced himself to join in their laughing.

Lunch was unbearable. Not only did he have to deal with Snape, who didn't seem to have anything better to do than watch him, the hard benches were even harder to sit on than the chairs in the classroom. He was going to have to go to the infirmary.

About halfway through lunch, Harry couldn't handle any more and he dismissed himself, letting Wyatt know where he was going. He managed to make it halfway there before he found Snape standing next to him.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked smoothly and Harry groaned inwardly. He would think that Snape would be eager to leave him alone, what with not being able to stand him and all, but it seemed even that wasn't working out.

"Hospital wing," Harry mumbled with a glare and then, at Snape's look, added a quick, "sir."

"And what did you do?"

Harry just glared at Snape. "Sat down too hard in my chair yesterday, sir," he said as evenly as he could, but he was pretty sure he didn't manage. "It hurts to sit down."

"You should have to deal with the outcomes of you tantrums," Snape said flatly, and started guiding him by a hand on his shoulder toward the dungeons. Harry nearly groaned. Snape was not going to let him get healed! "Maybe then you'll learn to not have them." Every step closer to Snape's office made Harry's heart beat a little faster. What was Snape going to do? But then they walked past his office and continued on, confusing Harry. They eventually stopped at a door, which Snape opened and gently pushed Harry through when he didn't manage to go through on his own.

Harry was surprised to find himself in a small sitting area decorated in mostly neutral colors and a few comfy chairs. Harry just stood there, though, while Snape disappeared into another room. It was a few minutes before he came back with a potion in his hand. He handed it to Harry, who eyed it cautiously. He didn't recognize the potion and he wasn't sure it was a good idea to drink it when no one knew where he was.

"Drink it, Potter, it will heal you."

Harry gave the potions master one more glare before drinking it. Snape took back the bottle.

"You keep calling me Potter," he said flatly while making sure the potion wasn't doing something it shouldn't have. Gradually, the pain got a little better. Snape didn't answer him, though, so he just stood and waited for Snape to give him another order. The man just walked, opened the door and stood there, staring at him, his face blank again. Harry sighed and left, not looking behind to see if Snape was following.