Once Harry, Draco, and the twins started pulling pranks together, they became good friends fast. By Samhain, they were thick as thieves and often sat together at mealtime, plotting their next pranks.

Harry and Draco had never been caught at pranking except by the twins with the assistance of the Marauders' Map; after the twins were accepted into their friend group, all four of them avoided being caught at their pranks. The Hogwarts staff seemed to assume that Harry was a profoundly positive influence on the two older Slytherins.

Time flies when one is having fun, and before anyone knew it, it was the week of Samhain. Harry, having never been allowed to dress up or trick-or-treat, had never had reason to look forward to Halloween, and discovering that it was the anniversary of his parents' death and that it was celebrated in the magical world with feasting and revelry in honour of the Boy Who Lived didn't change that.

Harry and his three friends left the feast as quickly as they could without drawing unwarranted attention to themselves. Harry didn't much feel like celebrating his own supposed accomplishments on the anniversary of Lily and James's death.

While everyone else was at the feast, the four pranksters decided to do some wandering. As they were walking along the third floor, they heard a scream from the direction of the corridor that had been pointed out as off-limits. They rushed in that direction, only to find a massive troll clutching a terrified second-year Ravenclaw in one fist and a gargantuan club in the other. Harry's wand was in his hand in seconds, and, unable to think of any offensive spells, much less a spell that might work against a troll, he jumped up onto its back, his wand going up its nose, causing it to cry out in pain, dropping the bushy-haired girl and waving its club about in an attempt to dislodge him.

Draco, thinking quickly, cast the levitation charm on the troll's club, lifting it out of its hand, and dropped it on its disproportionately small head, knocking it out. Just as the hulking beast hit the floor, three professors arrived on the scene - Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Quirrell, the Defense instructor.

Professor Quirrell paled at the sight of the troll, and Professor Snape looked livid.

"Potter, Malfoy, Weasleys, what are you doing out of the dormitories?"

"We didn't know we were meant to be in the dorms, Sir. We had left the feast early," Harry said quietly.

"And you, Miss Granger?" Professor Flitwick asked the bushy-haired second-year, who was now sitting on the floor next to the unconscious troll and looking rather stunned.

"I had not been to the feast at all," Hermione said. "I had been bullied by a classmate and had taken some time to myself. If these four hadn't come along at that exact moment, I would have been eaten by the troll; it was lifting me to its mouth even as they rounded the corner. Potter and Malfoy saved my life."

Professor Snape looked at the four boys. "Is this true?"

Harry nodded mutely.

Professor Snape looked into Harry's eyes for another second, then nodded. "Forty points to Slytherin for quick and creative thinking in a crisis," he said. "Now get to the common room before I change my mind."

The four boys hurried along corridors and down staircases, quickly arriving at the door to the Slytherin dormitories.

A few moments later, Professor Snape swept into the room, dark robes billowing out behind him. There were only a few students in the common room, six including Harry, Draco, and the twins. Professor Snape levelled his penetrating gaze on Harry and Draco for a moment, then spoke in a low tone. "In the future, such blatant displays of courage are best left to Gryffindors," he said and swept out again.

By the next morning, the rumour mill was buzzing with how Draco and Harry would be re-sorted into Gryffindor because, of course, the other two students in the common room had been Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson, the two biggest gossips in their year. None of the four in their friend group had yet heard the rumour, though Draco was also somewhat of a gossip. At breakfast, they were approached by the Ravenclaw girl they had saved from the troll.

"Is it true?" She whispered.

"Is what true?" Harry whispered back.

"Are you and Malfoy being re-sorted because of what happened with the troll?"

Harry and Draco both choked, and the twins burst out laughing as they slapped them on the back.

"Re-sorted?" They asked together.

"Whoever said . . . " began George.

" . . . they were being re-sorted?" Fred finished.

"Well, everyone. I think Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson said they overheard Professor Snape tell you that you were too courageous for Slytherin and would be re-sorted to Gryffindor."

"That's not how it happened," Harry wheezed, shaking his head.

"He said," Draco said, before imitating Professor Snape almost perfectly, "'In the future, such blatant displays of courage are best left to Gryffindors.'"

"You knew Professor Snape before coming to Hogwarts," Harry suddenly said. "Two months is not enough time to have gotten your impression down that perfectly, especially when no one has ever seen you practice it."

"Severus is my godfather," Draco said. "Not that I see how that is at all relevant to our current conversation."

"You're right, completely irrelevant. Sorry."

Draco, Hermione, and the twins carried on talking about the rumours and the troll, but Harry was thinking about his Mark and what he had been told during the Sorting ceremony.

As he thought, his gaze was drawn once again to Professor Snape, sitting to Professor McGonagall's left at the head table and pointedly ignoring Professor Quirrel as the Defense professor tried to make conversation with him.

As Harry stared, Professor Snape lifted his eyes and met Harry's, causing a hot blush to flare across the younger's cheeks as he felt the pull he always seemed to feel during interactions with Professor Snape.

Professor Snape turned toward Professor Quirrel and the trance was broken. Harry, embarrassed at being caught staring, hurried to his dorm, leaving his friends confused and startled.

Word count: 1046

Hello, Strangers!This doesn't feel like the best place to leave off this chapter, but it has to end somewhere. I've taken far too long to post this chapter, and with NaNoWriMo 2021 just 3 days away, I'm putting this on official hiatus until the end of November. I won't be posting the first draft of this year's project as I did last year, as it still isn't finished a year later.All the love,Emmi