Harry was missed all day. People were whispering about what had happened on the stairs, glares were cast at both of the Weasley children whenever they walked by. No one had seen which one had cast the spell, both of them had their wands out at the time, and quite frankly no one cared. They judged them for standing by each other when one of them had tried to kill someone who was practically family.

Harry heard the rumors and angry statements as he sat in a corner of the library a book of school rules propped open in front of him. He flipped the page and skimmed it. He went to flip the next page before a thought lit up his eyes and he reread a paragraph. He grinned and went to look at another book. Several books later Harry stood with a triumphant grin. Placing the books back on their shelves, Harry practically skipping down the stairs, whispers circulating once more at his excitement.

The whispers continued with a vengeance when Harry walked into the Great Hall for dinner. Looking around the table he headed towards a spot that would give him the chance to keep the distance between the two red heads and himself. People stared at him through the usual announcements but when no comment was given about the accident people turned their faces away.

Dinner came and went in an uneventful fashion. Dessert on the other hand brought the whispers back in force. All eyes turned to Harry as he stood from his seat and began the long walk towards the teachers' table with a smirk on his face. He nodded to McGonagall as he passed her to come to a stop in front of the Headmaster. The usually cheerful man looked furious and appeared to be holding a battle of wills with the small Gryffindor. Harry's grin never faded.

After a long moment Harry parted his lips and the hall went silent. People leaned closer and held their breath as the waited to hear what Harry had to say.

"I, Harry James Potter, come before Hogwarts and her headmaster bearing the request that I be permitted to partake in a resort. This request is brought forth in the hope that I might be accepted into a different house created by another of the Founding Four."

The room shivered as the magic of the words woke Hogwarts. Then the words were processed by the listening students. The whispers returned as the gossip changed. The Gryffindor Gold Boy was requesting a resort. Dumbledore raised a hand to silence the students and the staff. McGonagall's lips were pulled tight as she looked at the boy in front of her.

"Why, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore glanced over at Minerva's words but his eyes soon returned to the green-eyes of the boy in question.

Harry stood silent, recognition passed through Dumbledore's eyes. Harry was determined to follow through the ritual. He cleared his throat.

"As Headmaster of Hogwarts I ask that you provide a reason for this drastic course of action."

Harry still held the smirk as he answered, "My house has abandoned me many times over my years as a member. They have turned their backs on me and let me stand alone. Recently they have gone so far as to risk my life. Several are still dear to me, but I no longer feel safe among their numbers. I respectfully request the chance to form new alliances and start a new life in a new house among new peers."

The magic filled the room once more but Dumbledore fought against the approval that Hogwarts was sending.

"I am afraid that such reasoning does n-no-no-n-not", He struggled against Hogwarts' will, "allow for a resort. Therefore I find myself inclined to den-n-ny your request."

Harry's smile grew, "In this regrettable turn of events, I turn to Hogwarts' beloved staff. I humbly ask that you grant my wish to find safety in a house that is willing to look beyond the status, fame, and colors a person wears."

Silence fell and Harry felt his smile begin to fade as it remained. It fell away in complete shock when the first Professor stood. McGonagall shared a looked with one of her favorite students before speaking.

"I, as Mr. Potter's Head of House, support his request." Her words were spoken evenly despite the shine of her eyes and Harry felt a gracious smile curve his mouth.

"As do I." People stared as Trelawney stood as well and her voice sliced through the air.

"My voice stands as the final needed to allow for Mr. Potter's resort." Snape's voice caused many students to gasp as he supported his least favorite students, even as the Slytherin house smiled knowingly at their Head of House.

Harry thanked them all with a beaming smile and a sneer directed at the Headmaster. Harry and the others felt another pulse of magic through the room and they watched as Dumbledore fought against it before giving in with a winning smile.

There was a note of joy in his voice as he gave in, "I summon the Sorting Hat to prepare presently for the resorting of one Mr. Potter."

Harry looked up into the once again twinkling eyes and his smirk returned. Apparently Dumbledore thought that he could still win. After all why would the Hat want to place him anywhere else?

The Hat appeared in front of the Headmaster with a swirl of red, blue, yellow, and green that looked similar to falling glitter. Dumbledore still held his triumphant smile as he motioned for Professor McGonagall to move around the table. With a determined nod, McGonagall joined Harry and reached a hand for the Hat. She held it in both hands fingers wrapped around the brim.

"Mr. Potter, before we resort you… I just want to say that it was an honor having you in my house. I will not lie to you, I sincerely hope that you are placed back in Gryffindor. However, I hope that you will be happy in your new house no matter what."

Harry smiled up at her, "Thank you for everything you have done for me over the years. In all honesty I can say that I am glad that you were my Head of House. I'm sorry that it had to come to this."

A small smile settled on her lips, barely there. "As am I, Mr. Potter."

Without further hesitation she lifted the Hat and placed it on his head. Harry remembered his first year when it had fallen over his eyes, blocking out the Great Hall and everyone in it. He smiled as he remembered the words it had spoken then and felt himself fall into the memory. Until a voice pulled him back.

"Ah. Mr. Potter. It is good to see you again, although I will admit that I am quite surprised. I see that you have requested a resort."

Yes. Please, can you help me?

"I also see that you are withholding your true reason for the resort from everyone. Especially the Headmaster."

I am. Could you please not mention any of it to him?

"Of course. I am quite willing to hide information from that old bat." Harry giggled and got many questioning looks before he blushed and focused again, "I have become quite disappointed in his actions. I must say that I had hoped he would become more than a liar."

Harry frowned. What did he lie about?

The Hat made a sound that was similar to clearing his throat, "That will be revealed in time. Now. I am hoping to take this opportunity to place into the House that you were quite suited for before. Although your time in Gryffindor has softened some of those tendencies, I still feel that it is appropriate. Does that meet with your approval?"

Harry smiled again at the Hat's seemingly hurt tone. Please, if you don't mind.

"Very well then. You will be in" The Hat called out to the hall- "SLYTHERIN!"

The gasp was wrung from literally the entire hall. The room went deadly silent and stared at their Chosen One. They waited for the infamous Potter temper. And were dumbfounded as he stood with his smile still firmly in place and handed the Hat to the frozen McGonagall. He moved to stand in front of the smirking Defense Professor.

"Professor Snape, I stand before you as a student recommended to join your House of Slytherin. I hope that you will do me the honor of allowing me to follow that recommendation."

This was the part that Harry was nervous about. Snape had never really liked him. His relationship with Malfoy was over, and although he did not seem to bar him from the common room Harry was anxious that he would take this opportunity to do so. Snape opened his mouth and the Hall filled once again with the pure magic of Hogwarts.

With a sudden smile, that had half of the school on the floor, he looked at Harry, "On behalf of Salazar Slytherin, I welcome you my House. I offer you the protection and family that comes with it, although I must warn you of the dangers that you will face of pride, vanity, and power. I wish you the best of luck."

And without further ado. Professor Snape returned to his food.

Harry walked over to the Slytherin table with a beaming smile and a spring in his step. Several of the Slytherins laughed at his antics but slid over to make room for him next to Draco. His blonde friend was looking at him with a mixture of shock and pleasure as he handed him what was left of the treacle.

Harry took the moment to look up at the head table. McGonagall was still in shock but was conversing amiably with Trelawney. Professor Snape looked smug, even as he studiously avoided talking to Slughorn. Dumbledore was the best though. He looked as though someone had torn apart his life's work and flushed it down the toilet. Which, circumstances being what they are, was a fairly accurate description.

After dessert was finished Harry walked out of the Great Hall with the Slytherins. Several of the Gryffindors were standing just outside the doors and Harry raised a hand in greeting. With the exception of Hermione and the sixth year boys (minus Ron of course), they turned up their noses with a sneer and walked up the stairs.

Hermione turned on him, and Harry was shocked to say the least, "How could you do that to us?! Ron and I have been your best friends for years and now you turn your back on us so you can go be with your boy- wait even better- your ex-boyfriend! Here I am trying to mend the bridges like I always do and you have to go and-"

Seamus stepped in between her and Harry. "Back off. Harry and Draco have the ability to look past all of each other's faults and, unlike you and Ron, Draco actually likes Harry."

Hermione turned to look at Harry and opened her mouth to say something, but Harry lost his temper and cut her off.

"Damn, Hermione. I had hoped that maybe you could see past your crush on Ron. I was hoping you were going to be able to look at both of us one day. I accepted your apology, I even thought that we were on our way towards fixing this." He snorted, "Apparently I'm going to suck at being a Slytherin as much as I did being a Gryffindor.

"I-I- I thought tha-at m-m-m…" He took a deep breath and forced back the tears that came from this betrayal, "I thought that maybe you would be mature about this. That maybe you really were my friend. But you wanted my fame as much as Ron, didn't you?"

Hermione said nothing and kept her eyes on his. With a sigh and repressed tears Harry thanked the other boys and said that he would see them soon. He stood up from his position leaning against Draco, unsure when that had happened, and walked on slightly unsteady legs to the Slytherin common room.

Harry heard Draco saying something to the Gryffindors but was too caught up in his own thoughts to process any of it. By the time Draco had caught up with him he was staring blankly at the entrance. Draco whispered a password that Harry did not catch and led the boy into his new room.

Guiding Harry to his newly appeared bed Draco pushed Harry to sit down. Harry sat against his now green sheets and looked around. He could not really focus on anything so he took off his glasses to clean them. Something fell on his leg. Glancing down he saw a small drop of water sliding off his leg. He reached up to touch his face and realized he was crying.

His breath caught and a sob broke free. Draco was there beside him with an arm around his shoulders, seeming very uncomfortable. That made Harry's last restraint shatter. Tears began streaming from his eyes and over his face. He leaned into Draco and buried his face in the blonde's shoulder. Draco stiffened for half a second before sighing and pulling the boy closer.

Harry cried for several long minutes. The soft sounds that Draco was whispering eventually pulled Harry back to the present. He forced himself to take deep breaths and stop the tears. After a long moment the water works stopped and Harry pulled gently from Draco's arms.

"You want to talk about it?" Draco asked softly and hand still rubbing over Harry's back.

Harry started to say no but with a sigh nodded yes. Draco waited for him to sort through his thoughts.

"It's just… Ron has been there since I boarded the train. He was always flaky and I figured that it was just his way. I hate the fact that he is jealous all of the time, especially since I would give it up in a heartbeat, but I kind of hoped that he would grow out of it. I figure we will never be that close again, but I had hoped we could still be mates."

Draco knew that Ron's betrayal had hurt Harry, especially since it meant that he lost the rest of his pseudo-family as well. Although he could not hide the hurt that filled his face at Harry's reaction to Ron's friendship. Draco felt that he had been a much better friend than those two, even when they were fighting.

Harry did not notice the look Draco gave him, "But Hermione… She became our friend because we saved her from the troll and then lied to the teachers to get us out of it. Although I still don't know why- I mean how much trouble would we have gotten in for trying to help her? All she did was make herself look bad." Harry thought about that for a long moment, "But anyway. It just seems wrong that she would pick Ron. Not because I'm 'perfect,' 'famous,' or anything like that. I thought it would be because she thought that I was a better friend. And then I find out that she was lying to me earlier…"

Draco kept his hand on Harry's back, concealing his feelings better now that he had stopped talking about Ron. Harry looked up at him.

"You know, it's kind of ironic how I'm sitting here complaining about the betrayal my friends made. I mean first of all you were my 'arch-nemesis' for five long years and now you are my best mate. Hell, we even 'dated' because you were willing to help me." Harry leaned up and kissed Draco lightly on the cheek, "Thank you."

Draco smiled, "Anytime. I think you are almost like a little brother that I never wanted."

Harry laughed and pulled away from Draco slightly to lay down on the bed. Draco laid next to him and the next few minutes passed in a comfortable silence. Each boy lost in thoughts of friendship and family. The future passing through their minds as they tried to guess what was coming.

Harry propped himself up on his elbow and looked over at Draco.

"Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"How long do you think we have until Voldemort finds out that I got re-sorted into Slytherin?"

Draco gave a dark chuckle, "I'm sure he already knows, mate."

Harry sighed, "Then I guess we have to do it soon…"

A small frown creased Draco's face, "What do you mean? Do what?"

"Don't worry about it," Harry shook his head to cut off Draco's protest, "What's up with you and the twins?"

Draco's frown disappeared to be replaced with a shy smile, "We've been writing back and forth. They want to go to lunch with me next time we go to Hogsmeade."

"That's great! They are really great guys." Harry paused, "You know I'm in a dilemma."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I think that we can officially say that you are my best friend," Draco blushed, "But the twins are like my brothers. So who do I get to threaten?"

"Threaten?"

"You know: 'You break his heart, I break your legs.' That kind of stuff."

Draco laughed, "How about you just threaten all of us? This way you've done your job and can feel successful."

Harry laughed too, "Sounds like a plan to me!"

"Now, what is this other plan that you unsuccessfully attempted to distract me from?"

"Draco, really you don't need to-"

"And how did you like it when people kept information that you didn't need to know a secret?"

Harry flushed and Draco watched as he struggled to control his temper, "That's not the- it's just that- ugh! Fine. You and I can take this chance to talk about it, that 'it' being something that I really do not want to talk about, just to satisfy your curiosity."

Draco felt slightly guilty and tried to apologize but Harry was reaching towards his trunk and pulling out a book. He flipped through it angrily Draco reached out a hand to do something but before he could decide Harry pulled away skimmed over a page, dropped the book into Draco's lap and pointed at a passage.

Draco skimmed his eyes over the words and looked up at Harry to see the other boy looking at him with an odd expression on his face. Something in the words registered in Draco's brain and he glanced down and re-read the short paragraph.

"Creating a horcrux is a dangerous and excruciating process. Ironically, fixing the soul is practically painless although it is exceedingly complicated in comparison. The first step to mending the soul is to release it, most commonly this is achieved through the destruction of the object concealing the piece of the soul. Once the soul is free it will return to the person who owns it.

"This however does not achieve the actually mending. The soul will bounce around through the space surrounding the person in an attempt to gain access. This is a futile process. The damage that was caused through the splitting of the soul can be repaired by one of two courses of action. The first option is for the person to feel remorse for the murder(s) that they committed to create the horcrux. This is something rarely achieved as often people find it difficult to feel emotions similar to remorse without this missing piece of the soul. The second course of action lies in the recitation of a spell that forces the piece of the soul to merge with the other and bond. This is even more difficult because the person who recites the spell has to be of blood relation to the murdered person(s) used to create the horcrux. People have tried to force others to say the spell, but it has resulted in nothing. The only case in which this spell worked was one in which the young witch in question had fully forgiven the murderer for their actions."

Draco looked up at Harry again with a look of astonishment on his face. "You want to fix Voldemort's soul."

Harry shook his head, "No. I want to fix Tom Riddle's soul."

(0,0)

Harry was sitting in his new seat in the dungeon classroom. Slughorn was attempting to keep the students' attention but with the beautiful weather that was calling from the school grounds, his attempts were futile. With a sigh Slughorn motioned for them to start on their potions and he turned to sit at his desk.

Harry began his potion, a simple one that required no thought and for that reason Harry's mind began to drift. Last night Draco had looked at the book a moment longer before shutting it and moving to his own bed. Harry started to speak but his words had been cut off with the closing of curtains. Harry had given in and closed his own curtains. Draco had not said a word about it since.

This was one of the reasons why he had wanted to wait. He wanted to get a chance to be just friends with Draco before he dove into another 'adventure.' After all, that was what he had done with Hermione and Ron. Look where that had gotten him. He glanced over at the blonde sharing his table. They were working individually today, but practically every other table was filled with chatter.

Hermione and Ron in particular were taking great joy in talking gaily with each other, shooting pointed glances in Harry's direction as the opportunities presented themselves. Neville, Seamus, and Dean tossed apologetic glances his way every now and again. Blaise and Theodore were muttering amicably back and forth and Millicent was getting along splendidly with Astoria. In the end Harry sighed and turned back to his potion.

As he reached for his next ingredient an idea struck him. He pushed it out of sight to the other side of his cauldron. Maybe he could get Draco to talk.

"Draco?" The blonde ignored him, "Draco? I can't find my beetles. Can I use some of yours?"

Silently Draco pushed his beetles over and moved to reach for another ingredient. He never took his eyes off his potion. Fighting to ignore the stinging behind his own eyes, Harry turned back to his potion.

(0,0)

Draco still had not said a word to him. Not that Harry had not been trying. The first week Harry had done everything from asking for homework help he did not need to jumping into conversations with people he did not like, just so long as they were talking to Draco. Despite Harry's constant attempts at minimal conversation, Draco said nothing. Not a grunt. A sigh. Nothing. After that first week of Harry ignoring, the brunette gave up. He no longer tried to talk to Draco. After class he walked into the common room or the library and worked on his homework. When he decided that he had done enough he slipped off to their room and pulled the curtain closed around him.

As Harry tried to distance himself from the loneliness that consumed him. Harry was slowly losing all contact with everyone else as well. It started out small, skipping the occasional meal and making excuses to leave conversations. It progressed. Harry went to breakfast one day and lunch the next. He went to his classes turned him flawless, if messy, homework to his professors. Stayed up most of the night locked inside the curtains with his books on horcruxes.

He memorized the spell he needed ordered all of the ingredients that he needed for the ceremony. He read the books again. Harry was ready to cast the spell. He just needed to be closer to Voldemort, the spell and ritual had a limited range. Then of course he needed to go and gather the rest of the horcruxes. He was assuming that the first two pieces of Tom's soul were with him already, desperately searching for the remorse that Voldemort would never feel in order to join with him once more.

This was the point that he had hoped to talk to Draco about. Apparently tall, dark, and snake-like was still hiding in their Manor. He had written to Lucius, but no reply came. Apparently this had become a family wide mission. He laid back on his bed as the thoughts ran around his head. Briefly he entertained the thought of dinner but gave it up as a lost cause and rolled over into darkness.

(0,0)

Harry's new habits did not go unnoticed. Much to Harry's displeasure. It was almost time for school to end and in spite of Harry's phenomenal grades, McGonagall tried to get him to go see Madame Pomfrey. Harry left the classroom at her coaxing and the stares of his house, except of course Draco, and walked past the infirmary and down into the dungeons.

The next day Harry was cornered by one furious Professor Snape.

"I had hoped that receiving the instructions to go to the infirmary by your former head of house would have encouraged you to follow directions for once. However, it appears that I was mistaken." Without further ado, Snape grabbed him by his arm and dragged him out of the dungeon down the hall and into the Hospital Wing.

Harry froze when his mind finally managed to catch up with what was happening, but it was too late. Harry stood in the room with McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape, Pomfrey, and (regretfully) Dumbledore. Madame Pomfrey sat him in one of the beds and did several diagnosis spells before shoving potion after potion down his throat. Harry's stomach fought to force them back up but a final potion eased the nausea.

Then came Madame Pomfrey's questions:

"Mr. Potter when was the last time that you ate?"

Harry shrugged.

"Please, Mr. Potter. Answer the question."

Harry sighed, "Breakfast." His voice came out toneless and unemotional.

Snape cut into the conversation, "You were not at breakfast this morning."

Harry shook his head, "Two days ago."

Several gasps filled the room.

"Why are you not eating?" Madame Pomfrey's voice remained calm.

Harry shrugged and she did not press.

"How long did you sleep last night?"

"Couple of hours."

"When did you last sleep the whole night?"

Harry shrugged again.

Madame Pomfrey frowned. "Mr. Potter, are you using a spell to hide?"

Harry sat still. With a sigh Madame Pomfrey raised her wand and cast a finite.

The room froze. Even Dumbledore looked shocked and worried. Harry was far underweight, his cheeks sunken in. He was pale and the only color on his face came from dull green eyes and black circles.

I know that is a really awful way to end a chapter, but otherwise it will go on forever. And please don't hate Draco! Thanks for reading and please leave a review!