A/N: Again, I apologize for the ridiculously sized wait for this chapter. Just haven't been motivated in a Harry Potter sorta way. Been distracted by the massive amount of CSI watching :P
But enough of my ramblings. Please enjoy. :P

Chapter 10

Draco's eyes snapped open the following morning. Guess he needed sleep more than he thought. He jumped off the couch and checked the nearest clock, breathing out a sigh of relief. 5:30. No chance anyone could have seen him. Not unless there was a sleep walker in the Gryffindor tower. As far as he knew, the only sleep walker was Luna Lovegood. He didn't know why he knew that...he just did. He shivered suddenly. Staring around the common room for a bit, he then left and made his way for the Great Hall. Hopefully Hagrid would have got his robes for him by now.

He realised how strange it felt having dark hair dangling in front of his eyes. How recognisable would he be now? Rubbing his eye tiredly, he trundled into the Great...empty...Hall. He slowly walked to the middle of the Gryffindor table on the side he knew Hermione, Harry and Ron usually sat, his footsteps echoing off the stone walls and ricocheting through the room. He lazily slung his legs over the bench, dropping into the seat. Looking up and down at the array of food, he decided he would wait until normal breakfast time. Really, the only reason he was here now, was to find out whether Hagrid had got the robes. See if there was an owl who might just decide to take an earlier shift.

He dropped his plate onto the one next to him and folded his arms on the clear surface, resting his sleepy head on top of them. He fixed his eyes on a strand of café brown hair hanging in front of his eyes, watching how it shook with his heartbeat. Goosebumps grew on his bare forearms where his sleeves had been rolled up. The chill bit through his thin shirt. Two fireplaces would never be enough in huge hall like this one. But he had no robes as of yet. No robes that he would willingly wear anyway.

As if in reply to Draco's thoughts, a screech came from above him, signalling the arrival of an owl. Draco picked up his posture and looked around for the creature. Fast descending towards Draco, a softly speckled tawny owl carried a package twice its own size. He judged where the package would land and narrowly saved the scrambled egg. Removing the string, the brown parcel paper fell open, revealing the Gryffindor crest on the robe. The tie and jumper lay underneath. Draco took in a deep breath. Gryffindor was his new home...it felt bizarre looking at that crest. He looked around, patting the package absentmindedly. Marching out of the hall again, all traces of tiredness emptied from his head, he moved for the nearest bathroom.

--

Draco stared into the mirror. Red and black...strange. It felt all wrong...but right at the same time. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and took in his new hair, new robes, new him. He shifted his weight again. Another one of those sudden shivers shook his body. Goosebumps prickled underneath his robes. He ran a hand through his loose fringe, mussing it up on top of his head and letting it fall again. He scratched the back of his neck. He pushed both hands deep into his pockets and widened his eyes, trying to stretch the sleepy sting from them.

--

Harry rubbed his eyes with the base of his palms, massaging the sleep out unsuccessfully, and reached for his glasses. Pushing them on, he stared at the roof of his four-poster bed for a while. Eventually, he rolled out of bed. His brows knitted together as his feet met cool floorboards. The dormitory looked weird. Harry peered round, looking over all the beds. Something was definitely different...he just couldn't place it.

After a few minutes, he then noticed it. The extra, empty bed opposite his own. Harry's brow knitted together. He jumped off his bed and padded over the floor to investigate. A trunk lay pushed underneath the bed, a set of blue pinstripe pyjamas lay neatly folded on the pillow. Harry massaged the back of his head in confusion. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before kneeling beside the bed and pulling out the black leather trunk.

He looked round at the sleeping figures occupying the other beds, making sure no one was awake. Once he was sure, Harry hooked his fingers on the latches and pulled...or at least tried to pull. He gave them a massive jolt, but they refused to budge. Eventually retiring, he searched the outside of the trunk for a name, or at least some initials, but none were to be found in the matt black material. Harry scratched his head, once again casting a glance around the softly lit dormitory. He could guess this meant there was a new student joining them in the dormitory...but whom? And why weren't they here now? At half six in the morning?

Harry clenched his jaw, thinking. He pushed the trunk underneath its bed again and got back on his feet. Well, Hermione might know something about this...she knew a lot of things...

--

Draco stood at the top of the astronomy tower, gazing out over the grounds. This would be is home for the next few years. It would feel strange being at Hogwarts when he would usually be going home...but he refused to go anywhere near Malfoy Manor. His father would be there...and his mother...and probably Voldemort once he found out about what Draco had done. Draco didn't want anything to do with that power play anymore. He was going to be on the side of the war which had something worthwhile to fight for. Freedom, the good of the wizarding world.

He breathed in deep, filling his lungs with the cool morning breeze. He watched a snowy owl swoop through the skies, calling out as it rode the breeze. The fresh pinks and blues that the sunrise cast across the lake made the ripples shimmer like silver and platinum. Draco lowered his forehead against the cold metal rail beneath his elbows and shut his eyes. He couldn't help but worry that he would be found...and killed...

'Damn it, shut up and get on with it,' he muttered to himself, bringing himself up to full height again. His forehead numb from the railing, he rubbed it gently and forced himself to feel happy. He remembered Hermione, his new home, his newfound friendships, his choice to rewind and choose the right path.

A strong breeze whipped through his hair as he made his way for the Great Hall. Travelling down the many steps, his heart began racing. Not because of the amount of energy it took to get down to the ground floor, but because of the ever nearing time for breaking the secret to everyone...and the thought of scaring Ron...again. Scare tactics brought much more content than bully tactics. His black and red robes flapped behind him, skidding down the steps, the black hems becoming grey with dirt already.

After a couple of centuries, Draco found himself at the bottom, heart leaping out of his chest as he got further towards the moment of revealing all.

--

'Hermione?'

'Yes, Harry?'

'Do you know of any new students joining Gryffindor?'

'No...why?'

'The dormitory's got bigger...there's a new bed and trunk...'

'Hmm. I don't know, we haven't heard anything.'

Harry shrugged. Strange how nobody he'd asked seemed to know. He scratched behind his ear and unloaded a forkful of scrambled egg and toast into his mouth. Ron sat beside him, just as confused as Harry. In fact, every Gryffindor boy was thoroughly confused.

'So, who'd ya reckon it's gonna be?' Ron asked through a mouthful of his own scrambled egg.

'Ronald, don't talk with your mouth full,' Hermione scalded.

Ron gulped down the egg in one go, waiting for his throat to clear before repeating the previous question.

'Well I don't know, now do I?' Hermione replied.

Ron breathed in, took up another fork of scrambled egg into his mouth and breathed out again, swallowing it down. He looked up and down the table, taking a swig of pumpkin juice.

'D'ya reckon Dumbledore'll say something in a minute?'

'I hope so,' Hermione said, looking up along the Gryffindor table to where Dumbledore was sat.

Harry was temporarily distracted from Ron's fidgety questions by a dark figure seemingly lurking by the entrance to the hall.

Barely taking his eyes of the shadow that kept dipping in and out of the light, he showed Hermione.

'Could that be him?' he asked.

Hermione followed Harry's gaze to locate the boy.

'Quite possibly...I wonder what he's waiting for.'

'Where's your boyfriend Hermione?' Ron shot randomly, glancing around, 'I want to make sure I'm wearing padded clothing before he springs another attack...'

'Shush, Ron, I think the new boy's at the entrance.'

Ron turned his attention to the door as well. 'Oh yeah...what's he doing?'

Hermione didn't reply, but watched as the figure completely disappeared round the corner.

'Great...he looks like a weirdo,' Ron mumbled, noting how the boy seemed to bob in and out before walking off. He turned his attention back to his egg.

Hermione turned a glare on Ron, but couldn't be bothered to tell him that just because someone's nervous; it doesn't make them a weirdo.

--

Draco found it hard to bring himself to walk in. The fact that nobody knew, not even Hermione set his nerves off on a high. This school, the school he had attended for over five years...was making him unsettled. Or maybe it was just the Gryffindor robes hung around his shoulders. But the great thing was, that absolutely nobody had recognised him as of yet. He felt like a ghost. Pacing up and down before the statue in the entrance hall, he ruffled his hair madly in his fingers, briefly brushing it down again before marching for the door.

It seemed that Hermione, Harry and Ron had already noticed his figure darting across the doorway, as they were looking at him before...but now their attention was back on their food, he walked down the row towards them with his head down, café brown fringe obscuring his face. His hands deep in his pockets, his heart pummelled the inside of his ribcage. Reaching the space behind Harry and Ron, he summoned up his strength. Dipping into the space between the two, he nabbed the seat and swung his arms around each of their shoulders.

'How are my two almost-favourite Gryffindors?' he greeted, surprised at how cheery he sounded. He looked from Harry to Ron and back again.

'Who the hell-' Ron's voice box gave off a faint squeak, realising who lay underneath the lashings of brown hair and Gryffindor robes, before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell back off the bench, bringing a shower of scrambled egg with him as the toe of his shoe caught the edge of his plate.

Draco looked down at Ron's unconscious form, a bemused smile lifting the corners of his mouth, before returning to Harry. He sat there, frozen like ice, eyes wide, their deep blue fixed on Draco's face.

'Hi...' Draco offered, trying to break the ice.

Harry tried to form an answer, his lips making different shapes, but sound was out of the question. He stared at Draco's hair, then robes.

Draco could just about decipher that Harry was trying to say 'What?'

Before he made his move to answer, Draco looked over at Hermione; just to check she was still breathing...it was awfully quiet over there.

'What...what are you doing Draco? In those robes?'

Briefly glancing back at Harry, he removed his arm from Harry's shoulders and folded his arms on the table, wriggling into his seat. By now, the majority of the Gryffindor table was staring, along with a helping of Slytherins.

'Well I couldn't be in Slytherin anymore...so I asked Dumbledore permission to be re-sorted.'

'Why couldn't you be in Slytherin?' Hermione asked, slightly puzzled.

'Urm...because I'm not comfortable being in a house where the founder tried to kill me?'

'But how did you do it? You know as well as I do that the only way to be sorted is the sorting hat...and we both know you were a through and through Slytherin when you were sat up in front of the school.'

Harry slowly rose from his seat and checked that Ron was still alive.

'But that's exactly the point,' Draco replied, 'That was first year.'

Hermione rested an elbow on the table and began threading her fingers through her ponytail. She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again, her brows knitting together.

'So you're telling me that you're now, actually, a Gryffindor?'

Draco nodded confirmation.

'Draco. Malfoy!' An angry voice said from behind him.

He turned round, groaning inwardly.

'You, changed house!?' Pansy growled.

Draco didn't reply. One, he couldn't be bothered, and two, he thought the robes were pretty self-explanatory.

Pansy gritted her teeth, her jaw set.

'You bastard!' she spat, 'I mean, being that...that...mudblood's friend is just foul in itself, but changing houses!?'

She gave him a best-served-hot glare.

Draco made to retaliate, but the steaming Slytherin got there first, bringing her palm flat into his cheek with as much force as possible. Draco eyes watered. He waggled his jaw, trying to regain the feeling in his cheek.

'Well that's a reasonable reaction!' he snapped.

'That's getting off lightly, Malfoy!' she barely avoided screaming.

Just about stopping himself from bringing out his wand, Draco turned back into his seat, trying to ignore the devil glare burning into the back of his skull and the stares of what now appeared to be the whole hall.

Dumbledore noticed the sudden silence and stood from his chair, moving out to the podium.

'If I may have your attention!' Dumbledore called, looking over the tables of students over his half-moon spectacles.

Every student's head turned to the front, temporarily shifting their concentration to Dumbledore.

'Now, as the majority of you may well now know, there has been a re-housing.'

Draco cringed as he awaited the final moments of his life. Pansy might stab him or something...who knows what the girl was capable of. Yes, she already knew...but Dumbledore saying it might just set her off completely. Soon enough, the whole school would know. And he would face hell from every single Slytherin.

Draco smiled at Hermione, who slowly returned the smile with one of her own.

'Draco Malfoy has been removed from Slytherin and placed in Gryffindor,' Dumbledore finished.

Pansy moved up behind Draco and began hitting every inch of head she could reach.

'Ow, ow, OW!' Draco cried, pushing her off.

Pansy stepped back and devil-glared him again before storming off.

The hall erupted in whispering, talking, muttering. All about Draco.

Draco looked around at all the staring, inquisitive and bewildered eyes, all fixed on him.

He looked at his plate momentarily, a small laugh falling from his lips. 'Too much attention for today?' He rose from his seat and made for the exit, stepping over Ron as he went.

A/N: Ok, I beg again for more than two reviews a chapter. Please. Seriously. I'm getting a depressive amount of reviews.