The next couple weeks continued much the same with Severus being a target of a few "pranks" as the Slytherins liked to call them.

Most of Severus' year wasted no time in letting him know they thought him worse than the dirt of the bottom of his shoes, and it was rather hard not to notice. Lily did try and cheer him up though, all the good that it was doing.

This being the case he started eating almost exclusively at the Gryffindor table. During this Severus realised that not only was Lily's circle used to him being there but so were some of the other Gryffindors. The Marauders were bugging him less, although Potter and Black's faces were easy enough to read; they weren't too pleased, but grudgingly accepted it. Pettigrew was pretty quiet, and Lupin didn't seem to care whatsoever.

Severus, who had just started Alchemy, found himself quite interested in the subject. There was a lot of reading and lecturing, but Professor Oddpick was way more successful at keeping the class asleep than Binns was.

Lily found it quite interesting as well, although not as much as Severus did. He had read a bit ahead in his textbook and had decided that a lot of the concepts were very translatable to potions, and this allure was what got him interested in taking the course initially.

Severus was so absorbed in his text, that he hadn't even noticed when one night after dinner he was approached by Professor Slughorn.

"Oh, sorry, sir," Severus quickly said. "I didn't see you there."

"No harm was done, Mr Snape," said Slughorn. "Although, I do have a matter of which to discuss."

"Alright, sir," said Severus. "What is it?"

"This is best discussed elsewhere," his Head of House stated simply. "If you could come with me, please, Mr Snape."

Severus hastily put his book off to the side and got to his feet. Following the professor out of the common room.

Not much later they arrived at the Gargoyle, and headed up the spiral staircase to the Headmaster's office; Dumbledore and the other heads of house were waiting for him.

"Thank you for coming, Mr Snape," greeted Dumbledore. "I'm sure you are wondering why I asked you here."

Severus thought for a moment, noticed the sorting hat, the Heads of Houses, and remembered the conversation he had had with Dumbledore the previous school year.

"I can hazard a guess, sir," said Severus, nodding towards the hat.

"Yes, well Professor Slughorn and I have noticed that Slytherin has been very hostile towards you. It did not escape our notice that you have not eaten with the House in weeks," explained Dumbledore. "We have been considering this for some time now."

"You talked to him, after the Feast, didn't you, sir?" inquired Severus turning to Slughorn.

"I did," acknowledged Slughorn.

"We have also noticed that you spend a great deal of time with a group of Gryffindors," said Dumbledore. "Most likely thanks to one, Miss Evans."

Severus gave a curt nod.

"She invited me to eat with them if things got bad," he explained.

"Is it your wish to go through with the resorting, Mr. Snape?" asked Dumbledore. "The choice is yours."

Severus considered this for a moment.

Did he want to do this? He had been in Slytherin for what felt like ages; it was a part of him. On the other hand, the House had seen fit to throw him to the wind.

He also had to admit that he hid a lot of himself while in Slytherin. He constantly played up his mother's pureblood side, and rarely even hinted at his father. Although to be fair, he couldn't stand his father most of the time.

On the one hand, it was the only house had once belonged in. By that same token, how would things have been different if he had never been in Slytherin? Would it be worth it? He had hoped to be in the same House as Lily in first year.

Suddenly Severus made his decision.

"I'll do it," stated Severus at last.

"Are you sure?" inquired Dumbledore.

"Yes, I'm sure," said Severus.

"Very well, then it's settled," said Dumbledore, gesturing for him to take a seat.

Severus took a seat, and the old wizards' hat was placed on top of his head. Fortunately, it fit a bit better this time, and didn't fall over his eyes.

He instantly heard a small voice inside his head.

"You're back I see," said the hat.

"Yes," thought Severus. "Slytherin House –"

"Rejected you when you attempted to do right by your friend," finished the hat. "I see it all in your head. It has put quite the strain on one friendship in particular hasn't it?"

"Yes," thought Severus dejectedly. "We're a lot better now though."

"It's not very often I see someone with such a notable switch," said the hat. "I stand by what I said at the first sorting; cunning, brave, and loyal to a fault. Your brashness has gotten you in trouble with others on a regular basis."

"Do you have a point?"

"Although you're very studious and intelligent, is Ravenclaw the right House for you?" questioned the hat. "You thirst for knowledge for very different reasons."

"Just get on with it."

"You're already making connections in Gryffindor," said the hat. "It might bring out the qualities you need to really succeed, and stay on the track you've placed yourself on."

Severus' jaw dropped, and all the Heads of Houses shared a curious look.

Severus then thought about it. He would be with Lily. He actually had something of a friendship there, with Frank, or he thought he did. Potter and his mates hadn't done anything too vicious since the trousers incident, and if he went into another House he would be all alone again.

Yes, Ravenclaws valued intelligence, but the hat was right. Severus's ambition and thirst to make something of himself was what drove his thirst for knowledge. Honestly… there were a few Ravenclaws who outright annoyed him. To be fair…. a lot of people annoyed Severus Snape.

"Just call it," said Severus, feeling resigned. The hat wasn't going to budge, and, at this point, anything was better than the treatment he was getting from Slytherin. Besides, he actually spent most of his time with the group of Gryffindors anyways. Lily's group was at least decent to him.

"GRYFFINDOR!" exclaimed the hat.

McGonagall looked slightly shocked at this but quickly put it away.

"An interesting turn of events," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "Although not too curious at all, if I think about it."

Severus just snorted.

With a wave of Dumbledore's wand, Severus felt he whole body warm up. He looked down at his uniform and saw that the emerald of his robes had turned to scarlet and the silver to gold. Unbelievable, he was a Gryffindor. Him, Severus Snape, a Gryffindor. He looked up at Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"It's been a privilege, Mr Snape," said Slughorn shaking Severus's hand.

"Thank you," said Severus awkwardly.

"Welcome to Gryffindor, Mr Snape," said a bemused McGonagall.

"I trust you'll be a credit to the House, hmmm?" said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Yes sir," said Severus hastily.

"Run along now; I am sure Miss Evans would love to hear the good news," encouraged Dumbledore. "The password is Dilligrout, and all your belongings will be along shortly."

With a nod, Severus took his leave, and headed up to Gryffindor Tower; he couldn't believe what just happened.

It felt strange when he made the trip to the 7th floor. Once he got there, at the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of the Fat Lady in her usual pink silk dress.

"Oh, it's you," said the Fat Lady suspiciously, but then noticed his new badge. "Password?"

"Dilligrout," he deadpanned, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. On the other side he could make out Lily reading by the fireplace; he quickly scrambled through.

It was much brighter than the Slytherin dungeons, and it was filled with several squishy armchairs.

"Sev! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Lily in surprise, then all of a sudden she noticed Severus's smile and the new house colours he was sporting.

"No way!" said Lily grinning widely now as she pieced it together. "That's why he wanted to talk to you?"

"Indeed," said Severus, smirking.

"Wicked, Sev!" exclaimed Lily. "Although, I'm surprised you're not in Ravenclaw."

"Apparently, I'm too brash," he said with a snort.

The redhead fought to hold back a laugh.

"The Sorting Hat reckons that Severus Tobias Snape is a hot head?" she chuckled. "Whoever would of thought?"

"Am I that bad?"

"You do have slight anger issues, Sev," said Lily.

"I just don't have the patience for stupidity."

"Point taken," she said with a slight shrug. "And I know I can occasionally be… spiteful… when angry."

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one."

Lily just shrugged. "What else did the hat say?"

"Nothing," said Severus, not offering more. He hardly needed to tell Lily that the hat figured he'd go back to his old ways, if he didn't have the connections he had now, holding him back from it. He was never one to back down from a challenge, and he wasn't about to start now.

"Oi, Snivelly!" James cried.

"What do you think you're doing in here?" shouted Black, cutting Potter off.

"Maybe you guys should back off," whispered Lupin, nervously, as he noticed the new colours that Severus was sporting.

"For your information, Black, I'm allowed here," Severus retorted, with his signature sneer.

"He's actually a Gryffindor now, you toerag," stated Lily with a note of pride in her voice.

The two main Marauders were completely gobsmacked.

"Is this some sort of joke, Snivellus?" inquired Black. "You… in Gryffindor?"

"No, I am not kidding, Black," sneered Severus. He could hear Lily telling Black not to call him that but just continued with what he was saying. "It was made official tonight."

"Well, I think that's great," said Frank choosing now to cross the common room.

"As do I," said Alice. "Congratulations."

After that, a couple more Gryffindors came up to Severus, including Julius Abbott, and Laelia Selwyn who was closely followed by Marcus and Atticus Prewett.

"Come on," said Frank. "I'll show you to the dorm."

With a nod, Severus followed Frank up the spiral staircase; the dorm being on the left.

Severus glanced around. Seven four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains were there.

"You're over here," said Frank pointing to the bed surrounded by Severus's things. He shouldn't have been surprised, really, that it hadn't taken very long, at all, for his things to be brought up from the dungeons. "I am one dorm over."

Severus just nodded.

"I reckon you can figure out who these belong to," said Frank.

At this Frank gestured towards the four beds on the far side of the room. Two had various posters of Puddlemere United and the Falmouth Falcons hanging above them.

"I can hazard a guess," said Severus. Ten galleons said that the Puddlemere United posters belonged to Potter. The others were obviously his mates.

"No doubt," said Frank. "This one here is Matt Cartwright's and that one there's Josh Mccallum's."

Severus made a mental note about the first names. He normally just called people by their last names but figured he should make some sort of effort to make this work. At least he wasn't stuck there alone with Potter and his crew.

"I think Matt's with Amy Sullivan right now, actually," said Frank. "He's a decent bloke though, so give him a chance."

"I see," was all he said in way of reply.

Not much later Severus changed into his pyjamas and went down to the common room where he sat and talked with Lily before saying good night.

He tossed and turned a bit throughout the night, but not for long. He also had a very strange dream that night, but when he woke up he couldn't remember it for the life of him.