A/N: Sorry for the huge delay, work commitments and a rotten cold have taken their toll…Thank you all for your continued support; your reviews are food for the muse. More than one person has asked if I planned any pairings – I haven't but if they develop naturally then I won't stop them. Usual warnings apply.
Harry barely slept that first night; he lay awake in his new dorm listening to Zabini, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle snore. They hadn't said anything to him when they had been getting ready for bed, although as Harry had been expecting a tirade of verbal abuse from at least one of them, the uneasy silence had been welcome.
The following morning, they dressed in silence, although Harry was sure he had interrupted a conversation when he emerged from the shower. Flint once again escorted Harry to the Great Hall with one hand on his shoulder. Under his watchful gaze, the Slytherins clustered round their newest member and fended off several over-eager Gryffindors who thought that repeating Ron's insult of "traitor" was a good idea. Bemused at this show of loyalty to one they were not sure of, Harry quietly asked Marcus about it when they sat down together at the house table.
"Why did everyone defend me? Most of them don't like me – or at least the person they think is me," he added bitterly.
"Because you are a Slytherin, Potter. We look after our own because nobody else will. We are stigmatised because of where we have been sorted," replied Marcus. "We are not all followers of You-Know-Who," he whispered in Harry's ear. "We have our pride."
With that, Flint turned his attention to his breakfast, leaving Harry to his thoughts. Harry ate a bowl of cereal on autopilot, barely registering the looks he was getting from the rest of the school. He glanced at his timetable when it appeared next to his bowl, and groaned when he realised that his first lesson of the new school year was to be Potions with Gryffindor. He had hoped that he would have more time for Ron to get used to the idea of him in Slytherin before facing him in Potions, a lesson taught by his new guardian.
"Malfoy! Come here," said Marcus, waving to the young Slytherin further down the table. When Draco had walked nonchalantly round to where Marcus and Harry were sat, Marcus made the boy next to him shuffle up to allow Draco to sit down between himself and Harry.
"Professor Snape has made me responsible for Potter's welfare during school hours. As I am not going to be in any of his classes, I am delegating my responsibility to you as you are in his year-group. If anything happens to him, I will happen to you, after the Professor happens to me. Am I understood Malfoy?"
"Yes Sir," said Malfoy, shooting a speculative look at Harry. "Come on Potter, we have to be early to Potions as it's the Professor teaching it…no, not that way, there's a shortcut open only to those of us who live in the dungeons," Malfoy smirked as he led Harry down a dark passageway leading in the opposite direction to the stairs he knew led to the Potions Lab from the Atrium. Harry wondered if Malfoy intended mischief and was about to ask when he heard voices ahead. Rounding a corner, he realised that the passageway led to the back of the statue of Libatius Borage which was next to the door leading to the potions classroom.
Malfoy and Harry were first to arrive, and Harry stood nervously while Malfoy leaned casually against a wall.
"So, Potter is now one of us. What happened Potter? Why is one third of the troublesome trio now a Snake?" drawled Malfoy. Harry could see he was curious despite the aura of indifference.
Harry looked at Malfoy, trying to judge how much he wanted to say. Before Harry could think about it, Malfoy spoke again.
"The Professor has put you in Marcus' care. I know what that means Potter. Marcus wasn't the only one to notice you flinch when he put his hand on your shoulder last night." Malfoy looked away briefly and muttered quietly, "you're not the only one who does that."
Harry stared at the other boy in shock, but anything he was going to say died on his lips when he heard the rest of the class approaching. Half a dozen Slytherins appeared from behind him, from the passageway; and he could hear the loud chatter of the Gryffindors coming down the corridor from the other direction.
Any confrontation was averted by the appearance of Professor Snape, who threw open the door to the classroom and waved the students in. Harry took his place next to Malfoy after a sad look to the other side of the classroom where he used to sit.
The noise of the approaching Gryffindors swelled as they spilled into the classroom, chattering amongst themselves. All of them nodded or smiled hello to Harry with the exception of Ron, who ignored him completely and was very careful to not even glance in his direction.
"Pay attention Potter!" hissed Malfoy in his ear. Harry jumped, realising he had been watching Ron instead of listening to Professor Snape who had started to speak.
Their potions summer homework had been on Shrinking Solution and now they would have to brew it. Harry collected the few ingredients that he didn't have in his kit, and set to work mincing his daisy roots. As he started on finely slicing his caterpillars, he was aware of a whispered argument happening on the other side of the room. He recognised Ron's "whisper" – Ron couldn't be quiet if his life depended on it; and Hermione's hissing voice telling Ron he was being stupid. As he worked on his potion, the argument was getting louder. By the time Harry was watching his potion carefully with his bottle of leech juice in his hand, trying to judge whether any more was required; the argument had attracted the attention of most of the class, including Malfoy. Harry turned the heat off under his cauldron as his potion went a brilliant green. Turning to look at the rest of the class, everybody was watching Ron and Hermione row, and as a result, nearly everybody's potion was a sticky-looking orange instead of green. Both Ron and Hermione had completely forgotten about their potions and were standing nose-to-nose arguing fiercely.
"…what do you mean, prejudiced? Have you forgotten what Malfoy said to you last year? You can't trust them!"
"Does that include Harry as well Ron? Or have you turned your back on him just because he's in a different house?"
"He's a Slytherin Hermione!"
"What's that got to do with it? He's still Harry! Someone's house doesn't change who they are Ronald, you're being ridiculous!"
"Ridiculous? You're the one being ridiculous, Slytherins are evil!"
"If you've quite finished disrupting my class Mr Weasley, I wonder if you could share your reasoning behind that statement?" purred Professor Snape from behind the quarrelling pair.
Ron went white, gulped and shook his head.
"No? I didn't think so. Detention, both of you. That makes two in two days unless I'm mistaken Mr Weasley, last night's cauldron scrubbing obviously didn't have the desired effect, hmm?" said Snape, quirking one eyebrow. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
Harry was awarded five points for his perfect potion, nobody else had managed to brew the potion correctly. As he was leaving the potions classroom, Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Can I walk to Charms with you?"
"Push off Granger," spat Malfoy taking Harry's other arm. "He's coming with me."
Not wanting to alienate the only Gryffindor still speaking to him, Harry linked arms with both Hermione and Malfoy.
"We're going together," he said.
Malfoy grumbled and removed his arm but nodded his assent. The three of them walked up the stairs and along to the Charms corridor in silence. As they reached the classroom, Hermione spoke, unable to contain herself any longer.
"Harry, I'm sorry about Ron. He doesn't understand what's happened; I think he sees it as some sort of betrayal. I know what it takes for the Sorting Hat to issue its ritual challenge; if it thinks you're better of with Slytherin who am I to argue?" She hugged Harry briefly and darted into the classroom before he could reply. Harry looked a Malfoy, shrugged his shoulders and followed her.
The next few weeks were hard on Harry. Most of the Gryffindors had more or less got used to the idea of him being in Slytherin, but the easy friendship he used to have with them had gone. Ron had stopped trying to make trouble for him, but was now ignoring both him and Hermione. Ron seemed to go through his days in a permanent sulk, only speaking when spoken to. Hermione and Malfoy seemed to have formed some sort of unspoken truce, originally because of Harry, but more recently they had discovered a common love for arithmancy and could often be seen arguing in the library over a book.
Every second Wednesday, and every Sunday night, Harry would have dinner with Severus in his quarters. They would talk about their week and Severus would read over Harry's homework, then sit in front of the fire with cocoa and talk about whatever came to mind – articles in various journals on a variety of subjects, or a point of conjecture in one of Harry's classes. Occasionally Harry would let slip something of his childhood; each time, Severus would have to fight to keep his emotions under control, anger that anybody could treat a child in the way Harry had been treated, disgust at himself for not seeing it, and sorrow at the matter-of-fact way Harry would speak. One of the most notable comments had Severus laughing out loud until Harry had continued, at which point he nearly cried. Harry had been talking about sarcasm: "Uncle Vernon always told me off for being sarcastic, even when I wasn't trying to be. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit," he would say. One day I turned to him and said, "Well I have to come down to your level sometimes otherwise you'll never understand me."" Harry paused as Severus laughed. "Obviously I was whipped to within an inch of my life; I couldn't sit for a week or lay on my back for a month, but it worth it to see the look on his face."
Severus stopped laughing and looked over at Harry, who was now gazing into the fire.
"We will catch the men that hurt you Harry. It's been over a month since I…found you, are you ready to face them, to stand up in the Wizangamot and testify against them? I will support you in every way I can, but this decision must be yours."
"Yes Sir, I think I'm ready. What do we need to do?"
"You do not have to do anything, I will. You will concentrate of your school work, and I will arrange things. The Headmaster has, in anticipation of your readiness, prepared a charm that will transcribe your Pensieved memories to parchment. I want you make sure that every bump, knock, and scar has a memory about it in that Pensieve. I want every horrible thing that monster did to you written down for the court. Will your Hufflepuff friend help as well?"
Harry looked startled. He had not considered Tristan's part in this, indeed, with everything that had been going on; Tristan had quite slipped his mind. Guilt flashed through him as he realised that he had barely spoken two words to Tristan in the last month. Harry looked up at Severus with tears in his eyes.
"I don't know. I…oh gods…I haven't spoken to him, I don't know how he is, how he's coping…oh sir…" Harry burst into tears.
Severus clasped Harry's still thin shoulders and pulled him into a hug.
"Tristan is fine Harry. He is one of a number of students that rely on my care when they return from their families each year. He has been visiting me during my office hours, and we have talked about what happened. I feel a request for his help in this matter would do better coming from you however."
There was a knock at the portrait door. Severus looked over at Harry, "You will shortly have your opportunity, I believe that will be Mr Rawn now."
A/N: I've taken a few liberties with the timetable, I know Harry's first day back in 3rd Year isn't a Friday so he wouldn't have potions first…