Note: I liked all the AUs that are in this, so I'm combining them and dealing with all the plot holes it brings.

ඞඞඞඞඞඞඞඞඞ ඞ

Chapter 1: Destination Slytherin

Harry Potter was deep in thought as he sat in an empty compartment of the Hogwarts Express.

As it was the beginning of his first year of Hogwarts, he should have felt the exhilaration of the potential opportunity to make his first true friends, but he wasn't very optimistic about it, since his mind was taken over by jealousy of his twin brother, Charlie, the Boy-Who-Lived, as he already had an army of friends. Of course, he had to be named after his great-grandfather, of course he did.

Of course, he did, he was the Boy-Who-Lived, the Boy-Wonder, as Harry liked to call him to get a rise out of him.

But what made Harry jealous since the age of seven was how Charlie had completely stolen their parents' attention and affection. Lily and James doted over him constantly, and he was therefore spoiled rotten and big-headed, always under the illusion that he could get whatever he wants. It didn't infuriate Harry, it saddened him that his parents could be so blinded by the fame that Charlie brought wherever he so much as walked.

Wait 'till he arrives at Hogwarts and expects his classwork to be child's play, Harry thought to himself.

He could have had a godfather like Charlie has, but his godfather, Sirius Black, was sent to Azkaban after murdering fourteen muggles along with Peter Pettigrew.

His parents did not ever mention Sirius, after all he did give away the location of Godric's Hollow to the Dark Lord and killed Peter Pettigrew for trying to prevent him from doing so, murdering some muggles as a form of trophy.

Both Lily and James defended against Voldemort valiantly, before being knocked into a heavily unconscious state by rebounding curses, while Voldemort thought he had killed them both. Voldemort went and tried to kill the twin he thought was mentioned in the prophecy, but since the spy didn't hear the entire prophecy, Charlie was attacked. Sirius found them before sending a message to the order, with Harry sound asleep downstairs and Charlie lying on a pile of rubble in the room next door crying his lungs out.

This is the story that had been told over and over again. Harry almost knew it off by heart at this point, as it had been told in modern wizard history books, by parents to children all over the world, it was everywhere.

His bitter thoughts were interrupted a few times by chatter of other students passing by his compartment, with him almost wishing that someone would walk in and talk to him, but every so often he would hear a mention about his brother being somewhere on the train, with of course no mention of Harry himself, which did nothing to help his internal battle with himself to not go and attack his brother there and then.

He had barely said goodbye to his parents, with only Lily saying a low-effort goodbye back to him as they made a massive deal out of Charlie and his first trip to Hogwarts. There were reporters, onlookers and Ministry agents surrounding him the last time he cared to look back.

Of course, there were, he thought bitterly.

He sighed as he leaned back into his seat, not sure what to even think about. He could've been thinking about anything, ranging from what classes he'd be taking, what spells he could learn, what sort of people he would end up meeting.

Since he was so lonely, he had resorted to stealing from the mountain of money in Charlie's room to buy himself books on the first- and second-year curriculums. The reason Charlie never paid it any heed was simply because he had too much money sitting in his wardrobe. Without a wand it proved difficult, but he did his best to absorb as much material as possible from those books.

He couldn't do much else in his free time other than waiting for Charlie to go off to the Weasley's to steal Charlie's broom and practice his own Quidditch skills. He was an absolute flier, but as impressed as would be expected of James and Lily to be with him, he never outwardly wanted to be a show-off like his brother was. He knew that was his fatal flaw in terms of not getting his parent's affection and attention. But at this point he concluded they would have and should have noticed.

He felt the train begin its movement and knew that now there was no going back. He had a feeling that things would only get worse, but at that point he reckoned that nothing could possibly have been worse than the situation he found himself in-

Mid-thought he was snapped out of his musing when the compartment door opened and in stepped two girls, both full of chatter to each other. He had absolutely no idea what to think as they stood just inside the compartment door.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" asked the blonde-haired girl, with a slight tone of apprehension.

"Not at all, of course you can," Harry responded, grateful that at least someone was probably going to spend the otherwise lonely journey to Hogwarts with him.

The two sat down opposite him, still chatting away to each other until they were fully settled into their seats, after which they made conversation with Harry.

"What's your name? You don't seem very chatty," said the same girl again, the other brunette staring at Harry in anticipation.

"Harry Potter," was all he said, but it was enough to spark the two girls into life.

"Are you Charlie Potter's twin or something? Surely not, no one mentioned he had brothers or sisters or anything," the brunette replied.

"Probably because all of the attention is on Charlie because he's the Boy-Who-Lived and all that gossip, would make sense as to why he wasn't very chatty," the blonde girl responded.

"Yes, I am his twin brother, and your names?" Harry asked, desperate to get the topic of his brother off their minds, at least for now.

"Daphne Greengrass," the blonde answered with a touch of pride in her voice.

"Yes, we know how much you love saying your own name Daph," the brunette joked, eliciting a snort from Harry and a well-aimed elbow to the ribs from Daphne.

"She's Tracey Davis," Daphne finished, as Tracey was regaining her breath.

"Seems like you've both been friends since the dawn of time," said Harry, amusement evident in his voice.

"Oh yeah, since time began, all the way back in 1980," chortled Daphne.

"We all know that time started in 1979, actually," retorted Tracey, with an overdramatic emphasis on the last word.

"Alright just because you're older than me doesn't mean you need to shove it in my face every five minutes," bantered Daphne.

Harry, enjoying the banter, decided to join in. "We all know 1980 is a much better year than 1979, I mean it rolls nicer off the tongue, it's quicker to say and-" he had to cut himself off before he went into how it was one of only two years in his life that he had an equal amount of parental love with his twin.

Fortunately for him they didn't hear him cut himself off. "You see Tracey? What did I tell you?" said Daphne and she smirked at Tracey's expense.

Tracey sighed dramatically, feigning pain, but just relaxed more into her seat. "So, what house?" she asked with interest.

"I have absolutely no idea, but I feel like I don't want to be in the same house has the Boy-Who-Lived," Harry responded, adding a light amount of venom to those last few words. "What about you two?"

"My family is Slytherin through and through, so I'll probably end up in there, and I think Tracey will as well, even though she's half-blood," Daphne responded immediately, pride evident in her voice.

Initially upon hearing Slytherin as their answers, Harry became a bit intimidated. "We don't believe in all of that pure-blood supremacy rubbish though, we'd much rather stay neutral," Tracey added, sensing his discomfort.

"Then I think we can be friends after all," said Harry, joking around to diffuse any possible tension. The two girls then shook hands with Harry, and he knew from that point on that he had finally found friends.

"Which means I think I've made my mind up about what house I'd like to be in," he continued, with both girls looking at him in anticipation.

"Slytherin?" they both asked at the exact same time.

"Nah, Hufflepuff!" he replied with as much of a deadpan voice as he could muster, before bursting out laughing at their reactions, which were priceless, Daphne's mouth ajar and Tracey looking like she'd seen a ghost.

"Yes Slytherin, I mean what better way to celebrate making friends with you two and also what better way to cause a bit of mayhem in my family than to be sorted into Slytherin right?"

"What do you mean cause mayhem?" asked Tracey, which was the question on the tip of Daphne's tongue.

"Because my parents are Gryffindor, my father's parents were Gryffindor, my brother will undoubtedly be Gryffindor, and I won't lie and say it was the house I lied to my parents and said that I was keen on," replied Harry, with a small twinkle in his eye.

"I take it your family haven't treated you very well, have they?" questioned Daphne. "I saw Charlie on the platform and looking back I didn't see you anywhere near them."

"This should give you an idea," he responded bitterly. "I haven't had a birthday party with any little bit of focus on me since the age of seven. That was a painful day to have been Harry Potter. All I did for the day was sit in my room crying while trying to read some books."

"I have a new level of respect for you, honestly," Tracey said without even needing to think about it. Instantly, both of their opinions about Charlie Potter and Harry Potter changed, as they could tell by the way he spoke he wasn't lying.

"I didn't even think that someone could grow up while being ignored that much by their own parents," Daphne added, who was on her way to shedding tears with sympathy for the lad sitting in front of her.

"But still, I did what I could to keep myself entertained, like my brother has too much money to count sitting in his room unattended, so I'd just rob a bit here and there since my parents would give me one Galleon when we went out shopping, despite spoiling Charlie with whatever he wanted. So, I bought my Hogwarts books early, and now I've read most books that we'll have in first and second year," explained Harry, watching the admiration on both girls' faces. Not once did they interrupt him, so he kept speaking. "Once I got my wand, it was great, surprisingly enough, I could perform a lot of the spells in our wine cellar, since it's highly warded against the trace. And I've also tried my hand at Quidditch, but since I've had no one to watch me and talk about how I fly, I have no idea whether I'm good or horrendously bad at Quidditch."

"We both tried some of the first-year spells in Daphne's wine cellar, but neither of us could get any of them to work," Tracey replied with a sigh that drama-queens would've been proud of. "But we both love Quidditch. I don't know about Daph, but I'm trying out for the Slytherin house team."

"I mean, I was able to keep up with you somehow," Daphne responded. "I'll probably try out as well, there's no knowing if I'll make it but I'd say you will Tracey."

"Aww, thanks, I'm blushing," joked Tracey, fanning her face for effect, as Daphne slapped her on the arm for initially not taking her seriously.

Harry just laughed on at their banter. This was what he had been looking for when he walked onto this train, but what surprised him the most was that they both wanted to be sorted into Slytherin and they had absolutely no desire to speak about how pure-bloods should rule the world.

"Wait so are you pure-blood, Harry?" Daphne asked with interest, almost on cue with what he was thinking.

"Nah, I'm half-blood, my mother is muggleborn," replied Harry, almost tensing.

"Aha!" Daphne exclaimed loudly, merriment in her eyes and a joking tone in her voice as she tried to imitate the voice of Lucius Malfoy. "So, in the eyes of the Dark Lord, I, Lady Daphne Greengrass, should be better than both of you."

Tracey rolled her eyes. "Alright Malfoy calm down," she retorted with a sigh. "My grandmother on my father's side was muggleborn, but she died before the whole war against muggles started."

"If there's one thing that'll make me want to leave Slytherin it'll probably be Malfoy, but at this point he'll probably go after my brother since my brother is as egotistical as he is."

Daphne snickered. "I have many, many funny stories about him, well me and Tracey both do, since they've been around to our houses a few times to try and get us back on the side of the Dark Lord, and some of the shite he comes up with, mother of Merlin it would put you to sleep."

"I honestly don't get why in the name of Merlin they all hate muggles. I mean to be fair, if most muggles knew we existed there would've been a mass witch hunt like there was in the days of yonder, but we haven't done anything to muggles ever, I remember hearing that we were the ones who healed them all before they found their own vaccines and medicines and remedies for everything," ranted Harry avidly.

"Now you understand why our families stay neutral right?" replied Tracey.

"Yeah, definitely, because blending in with muggles is really fun because muggles get to do things that we can't have at all, like electricity," continued Harry.

"I mean your clothes reek of muggle, and I don't mean that in a bad way of course," Daphne joked.

"Oh yeah, and they're honestly much, much more comfortable than wizard clothes," gushed Harry. "You wouldn't think it, but there's a lot of things muggles do better than wizards, like music, clothes, technology, you know? I feel like muggle things are something you both want to get used to, right?" he said, seeing the interest on both of their faces.

"Even though both our parents weren't against muggle things, we couldn't really blend in with them. The few times my family went to visit the grave of my grandmother in her hometown, we looked so out of place in our wizard clothes, and I hated it," Tracey explained.

"My family was the same, but now you've got me very interested in all things muggle," said Daphne, hoping he would speak more about it.

"There's a big enough sized shopping centre near where I live, I'll bring you both out there some day," invited Harry.

"What kind of shops are in a muggle shopping centre?" asked Daphne excitedly.

"I had a feeling you'd be interested," he laughed, as Tracey chortled at Daphne's obvious bid for more information.

"The last time I was there was about a year ago I think, that's when I got these clothes," he said, indicating his ensemble. "It's not the biggest, but to me it felt huge. There are shops for girls' and women's clothes, there's shops for boys' and men's clothes, shoe shops, food and grocery stores, muggle pharmacies, shops where they sell muggle music vinyl, and television shops where they sell televisions."

"Televisions?" they both asked in sync with each other.

"It's a muggle thing where they use electricity and makes motion picture films and shows appear on the screen. It literally just looks like a box with a screen on it. The best thing is that the same shop also sells games that can be played through a little box, and if you connect it to the TV, you can play games on the TV," he explained to them, as he couldn't help but laugh at the attention, they were giving his every word.

"I'd almost love to be a muggleborn, but at the same time finding out you're a wizard with like only a few months to prepare to enter the wizarding world would be fairly overwhelming," said Tracey, with the other two nodding their heads along with her.

"So, what were your lives like before today?" Harry asked, interested to hear about life inside a Slytherin family.

"Mostly being taught how to be a 'competent member of wizarding society' as my father says it, and all that shite, y'know?" Daphne responded, rolling her eyes up after imitating her father's voice.

"I mean we did spend a lot of time together, me and Daphne, and my younger brother with her younger sister, and that's how our parents became the best of friends, like I remember the first time we went to my family's holiday home in Nice, on the southeast coast of France, mine and her parents were up most nights either in one of the bars or nightclubs downtown having drinks and chatting or whatever they were doing, that was really where they became best friends."

"And then there was us in the house, playing by the pool at age six without a care in the world while my sister Astoria and her brother Alistair were sound asleep," added Daphne, having a laugh at the memory.

It was at that point that the sweet trolley lady decided to pass their compartment, slipping her head between the slightly open doors to ask if they wanted anything, and it was as if on cue, Harry's stomach gave an almighty grumble. It was timed to perfection, as the three decided on one of each, as there were loads of sweets they had either yet to try and just outright loved already.

While they munched on whatever they could fit into their gobs, Malfoy and what looked like two trolls stopped by the compartment door. Harry could feel a confrontation on the horizon but decided in the end to just be civil.

"Ah, I expected to see you two at some point," Draco drawled, with an air of superiority about him.

"Good morning, Draco," replied Daphne, distaste clear across her features, with hard emphasis on the use of his first name, which she was more or less forced to use as the Malfoys came under the illusion that they were reacquainting with the Greengrass household.

"And who are you then?" he asked Harry.

"Big Boy-Wonder's twin brother, Harry," he replied, preferring to be as informal as necessary to oppose Malfoy's demeanour.

Malfoy initially didn't understand what Harry said, but then realised who "Big Boy-Wonder" was after thinking on it for a few seconds.

"They never talk about you, only about your brother-" Malfoy countered but Harry cut him off immediately.

"Yes, I know I've been told this too many times for me to count," Harry responded offhandedly.

Tracey and Daphne had to repress a snicker at his antics around Malfoy.

"Where is he then? Charlie Potter? I'd like to pay him a visit," asked Malfoy, hoping to at the very least get that tidbit of information.

"Honestly, don't know, don't care," replied Harry irritably.

And with that, he grunted at his two cronies, and they closed the door and left.

Immediately after Malfoy was out of earshot, there was a mix of both laughter and shock around the compartment, as Daphne and Tracey finally had the chance to laugh at how he handled Malfoy.

"Wait so who does your brother even hang out with?"

"The Weasleys, they've been friends with my family since I was about four years old. Charlie and their youngest son Ron met each other one day at Ottery St. Catchpole and since then they've been best friends. To be fair they are both big-headed, full of prejudice and very egotistical. Not a highly intelligent combo really. Before they went to Hogwarts, the twins Fred and George also hung out with them, despite being two years older. To be fair, they were the only ones who would try and include me in anything that my brother was doing with Ron, so I still like them for it. I just wish they didn't have to go to Hogwarts so soon because my life would've been much more enjoyable for the last two years, but oh well."

"When me and Daphne walked past the compartment, he was in there was also a girl in there with them who had bushy brown hair, couldn't see her face though, any idea who that may have been?"

"Doesn't sound like anyone I know of Charlie being friends with," replied Harry, trying to think of any witches who could fit the description.

"Are the Weasleys still poor?" asked Daphne. "The last time I heard that name mentioned was when Lucius Malfoy was talking about them with my father, who was subtly trying to defend them against what Malfoy was saying."

"They're much better off than they were for sure, their father Arthur has no desire for promotion, and Bill and Charlie, their oldest brothers send over money from Egypt and Romania every so often, so they're above the poverty line now for sure, which to be fair does make me happy for them," explained Harry. "Having seven children must be a nightmare though, especially when one of those is a lick-arse of the Boy-Wonder himself."

That got a laugh from both girls, who then realised he had said seven children.

"What?!" they both exclaimed. "How?"

"I think they just wanted a girl, and I mean, lucky number seven, the seventh child is a girl."

There was shouting from the carriage next door, which they knew Charlie was sitting. They looked out briefly and saw Malfoy and his cronies arguing with Charlie and Ron and they heard Malfoy speak the word Mudblood. Gasps could be heard all around the train.

"So, she's a muggleborn," Daphne thought aloud.

Harry and Tracey glanced at her for a split second before turning their attention back to the scene in front of them.

He knew Charlie had been practicing some spells with Ron in their wine cellar since they got their wands, so there was a fight between the two groups, with Charlie, Ron and the muggleborn girl coming out on top.

Malfoy and the troll boys legged it back to their Slytherin group carriage, passing by Harry on his way through. They heard Charlie telling the girl about how Mudblood is an incredibly offensive thing to say to a muggleborn and they gathered that her name was Hermione. Then Harry heard it, the two boys explaining to her how she should never trust a Slytherin and that they were all supporters of the Dark Lord.

Having enough of the entire ordeal, Harry closed the compartment doors and the three friends relaxed back into their seats.

"I wonder will this happen every year," said Harry, clearly exasperated.

"Now back to the sweets," Tracey exclaimed. They had to agree with her, the sweets they left from before the incident were a good distraction.

They saved the chocolate frogs until last, as all three of them collected the cards. Harry was only missing three, but Daphne and Tracey were missing eight each.

They then got out a deck of cards for a few games of exploding snap. Half an hour later after multiple games and much light conversation, they were interrupted when Charlie, Ron and Hermione walked by their compartment.

He looked in, saw Harry with two girls who he knew were Slytherins and immediately tried to shoo them away from Harry.

"What are you two snakes doing to my brother?"

"Making friends, why?" Daphne immediately replied, sporting a calm visage, but secretly seething inside as she now had first-hand knowledge of Harry's struggles.

"But- but like why would you want to be friends with a Gryffindor?" He spluttered as a response.

"And who says he's gonna end up in Gryffindor?" Tracey retorted.

"Me, because he's a Potter, he has to be in Gryffindor," Charlie claimed.

Surprising everyone, Harry got up into his brother's face. Though they were twins, they weren't identical, so Harry stood taller than Charlie by a fraction.

"I don't have to do shit that you tell me to," Harry growled into his face.

"But you have to be in Gryffindor! Slytherin is just full of snakes that'll bite you if you give them enough time, you must be in Gryffindor," he exclaimed, with all his force used on annunciating each syllable of the last few words.

"You never cared about me when we were growing up under the same roof together. Why do you care about me now?"

"Because they're snakes!" Charlie shouted. "Why on Merlin's green earth would you want to be associated with them?"

"Because they were the ones who sat with me on this train ride unconditionally," replied Harry with venom packed into his voice. "You know who is older out of the two of us. I can make decisions for myself. Now, leave."

Completely taken aback and now afraid of his older twin, he backed off Harry. "Do not go into Slytherin or I'll tell Mum and Dad," said Charlie, in a futile attempt at blackmail.

"Who said that I was choosing Slytherin?"

Charlie stepped outside the door and was about to leave before he asked, "What house do you plan to be in then?"

Harry laughed a deep, sinister sounding laugh before responding with, "You'll see when I step up to be sorted won't you?"

With that in mind, Charlie left with the intent of writing a letter to his parents immediately to let them know that he thinks Harry is going to choose Slytherin house. But of course, Harry didn't know this, he just assumed that his brother just didn't care enough.

He had however completely forgotten that one of Charlie's latest birthday presents was an owl.

Writing a letter is exactly what Charlie did when he got back to his compartment. He wrote the letter in record time, scribbling down only the bare minimum and sent it on its way to his parents.

There was a lull in the house.

Charlie, who usually made all the noise, was gone to Hogwarts, and even when he wasn't around there had always been Harry to make the house less empty.

Now there was just James and Lily.

Other than the record player and the television, there was no noise in the house when they returned home for the day. They wouldn't come home to the sound of their sons until the summertime again.

It was weird having them gone for so long, but it was inevitable. They had been counting down to the day they set off for Hogwarts. Ever since the trip to Diagon Alley, they had seen Charlie performing a few spells from the first-year texts with his father's help, they had seen Charlie practice his Quidditch, they'd seen Charlie excitedly sending letters to Ron almost daily with his owl, but there was something missing.

There was something that both James and Lily felt was missing that they couldn't put their finger on. Something that seemed so major, but somehow just out of their reach.

That was until they saw Charlie's owl.

"Does he miss us already?" Lily asked as she spotted the owl.

"I'd say he does, but he's with Ron and has probably made a few friends out there already," James responded trying to be as comforting as possible.

Lily grabbed the letter from the owl, gave the owl some food and showed it to a perch while it waited for a response.

They both read it at the same time.

Mum and Dad,

I saw Harry sitting with two Slytherin girls, and it looked like he has become friends with them.

I'm worried that he'll get sorted into Slytherin and go bad like all the other Slytherins.

We don't need that kind of person in our family.

I'll send another letter once sorting is over and tell you how it went.

-Charlie

Inside they both died a little bit, with the prospect of one of their sons possibly being in Slytherin haunting them. Surely, he wasn't going to be sorted into Slytherin, right? Surely, he would have a change of heart and maybe possibly even consider Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, right?

"I pray this isn't true, I hope really and truly that this isn't true," James sighed.

"I'm trying to be happy for him, but I'm just worried about what he'll end up like when Voldemort inevitably comes back," Lily pondered, worry starting to leak into her speech.

"We'll have to get Minerva to watch over him, surely," James suggested. "How did he even end up talking to them? And who are they?"

"I have absolutely no idea, but we will get to the bottom of this no matter what happens."

"I just can't imagine him being in Slytherin at all," James said to no one in particular.

It all clicked inside Lily's head. "That's what I've been forgetting, the feeling of worrying about Harry, we've almost forgotten he's existed for the past few years now."

The past few years, where all she could remember memories she had with James, and only Charlie. It hit her like a train, but she knew that if what Charlie was saying was true, the future was already set in stone, and that Harry had already made his mind up to be sorted into Slytherin. It sent chills down her spine, down to the very tips of her toes. James had also come to the same conclusion, and it hit him like a truck more so than her, as he was the one who took Charlie everywhere without ever thinking about Harry. This was going to be a horrible hour or two's wait until they found out from Charlie whether their other son became a snake or not.

This was the first time in over four years that they were truly worried about and completely focused on their eldest son.

An unsuspecting Harry was sitting with Daphne and Tracey just enjoying exploding snap as they passed through the mountain ranges of northern Scotland, talking about what they'd be learning when they arrived at Hogwarts.

"So, you mean to tell us that you've learnt off all of the stuff we need for first and second year?!" Tracey exclaimed in disbelief.

"I mean what else was I meant to do? That's basically how I spent my free time. Charlie and Ron also robbed one of the twins' first year Hogwarts letters as a revenge prank, and I found it in his room a few days later, so I thought about maybe going to Diagon Alley myself one day and buying them all to get a head-start. I won't lie and say that I didn't enjoy reading those books, since I was able to steal Dad's wand a few times and try out the spells," reminisced Harry, thinking about his childhood in a bit of a dour tone, but also being grateful for living in a household where he wasn't completely neglected.

"Over the summer after we got our books and wands, we tried some spells out ourselves. I'm shocked to say we both managed to pull off a lot of the basic spells from The Standard Book of Spells even if they weren't the most advanced," said Daphne. "It's funny because I have a feeling that when we get into Hogwarts, we may end up being ahead of others, I mean especially you Harry, I'd say you could start your second year right now and no one would question you."

"Ugh, I don't need that sort of attention, I just want a normal seven years in this place where I can have friends, make friends and have things to remember for the rest of my life," he retorted.

They just laughed at his apparent frustration. "I mean we've got to put up with you for the next seven years so how do you think we feel?" Daphne was quick to reply, barely concealing a banterful tone.

Tracey snickered and Harry sighed dramatically. "I know imagine having to put up with a stuck-up-his-own-arse-half-blood ex-Gryffindor or whatever I am for the next seven years," Harry retorted with a barely concealed smile.

"This shit's gonna be fun," exclaimed Tracey. "Our humour is gonna drag us through the next seven years, let's just cross our fingers that nothing completely out of the ordinary is going to happen because nothing strange ever happens in Hogwarts, right?"

Daphne and Harry looked at each other, then at Tracey, before the three of them said "Never," and subsequently burst into laughter.

"I won't lie and say that if we know of others who are trapped in our house because of their anti-pureblood beliefs, I'd also like to have them as friends, even if they aren't as close," said Daphne, putting a smile on Harry's face.

"Definitely, considering I'm the only lad in the compartment," Harry commented. "I mean who am I supposed to talk about women with? Unless either of you are interested in women."

They all laughed when Daphne remarked, "Nah, us purebloods were taught about being as straight as a piece of linguine."

Harry held himself from using a joke his father had used previously and fought limb for limb to keep it in his head. They hadn't noticed and he jokingly replied, "Damned purebloods."

"Oh, how thou hath stung my pride," Daphne feigned hurt.

"Yeah, those dammed purebloods, how ever shall we teach them their lesson?" Tracey caught on.

"By force, we need to carry out conversion therapy," stated Harry formally, amusement clear on his face. "We must convert these purebloods."

The two of them burst into tears of laughter while Daphne just watched them with mock disgust, when on the inside she was so awfully close to giving in and joining them in their laughter.

A comfortable silence reigned thereafter as they all decided to look out the window at the surrounding scenery. "We're nearly there aren't we?" Harry observed. Tracey then nodded.

"Probably a clever idea to change into our robes now, then," Daphne said aloud, and as if on cue, an opaque black magical barrier formed between Harry and the two girls. It also covered the windows and the door to stop anyone from peeking. Very nifty, he thought to himself.

"Don't even think about peeking around the barrier, Potter," warned Tracey.

"You really thought I was going to in the first place? Nah, I'd rather peek in on Malfoy and laugh at his tiny-" but he was cut off by Daphne squealing as she put her hands to her ears as Tracey laughed at both what Harry was insinuating and also the antics of her best friend.

"Shame you can't actually do that because he walked almost everywhere with his robes on, as if showing off that he would end up in Slytherin," Tracey responded, still in tears of laughter.

"I'll prank him if he so much as comes near me again and mark my words I will be pantsing him in the Great Hall," Harry said in a calm but jokingly tense manor.

"Please don't do it while I'm near him," begged Daphne.

"Oh, I'm sure he will never do that, right Harry?" replied Tracey sarcastically.

Picking up on the sarcastic tone, he joked more with the blonde. "Oh, I shall never do such a horrendous act," he mocked, trying to have a Malfoy-esque tone of voice.

Silence reigned as they continued changing clothes. He dreaded changing from his muggle clothes into his Hogwarts robes, but it had to be done. As soon as they were all changed, the barrier vanished and they began to take down their baggage before someone announced over the train, using a charm of some sorts, that everyone should leave their baggage on the train as it would be transported magically to their eventual quarters, however this was based on assumption, and was probably not the best way of sorting baggage.

The train then started slowing down, very slowly but it was noticeable. Harry had been to the very village they were pulling into twice before with his family, not to mention the times he had passed by it when they went to visit Minerva McGonagall after her husband Elphinstone died.

Hogsmeade.

Departing the train was strange for Harry. He didn't know what to expect, he hadn't been told by anyone, parents, friends' older siblings, adults, no one about how they would get from the train to the castle. They were just told get off and were left on the platform waiting for directions.

Then he heard a booming voice that he would recognise anywhere. Hagrid.

He made Daphne and Tracey follow him towards Hagrid, and the giant greeted him with open arms. The girls were stunned at first, they'd never seen a half giant before, but then they noticed how he was with Harry and immediately were told leagues about his character.

"Hagrid, this is Daphne and Tracey, not sure if you know much about their families or not but I'm sure you will know more about them, because me and them became friends on the train," he rattled off, before lowering his voice and saying, "Yes Hagrid, my first real friends."

Hagrid couldn't have been prouder of him, as Hagrid thought of Harry as a nephew or a godson or something of the like. He knew Harry didn't have many friends at all, so it almost brought him to tears when he heard.

"I'm so happy fer yeh, there's so much ter talk abou', but I've no time at the momen', so head down ter the docks and get inter one of the boats, yeh'll see why when I get all the firs' years down ter ye," Hagrid said, his iconic Devon accent attributing to his giant stature.

"How are you Hagrid?" asked Harry.

"I'm doin' a lot better since the last time I seen yeh," Hagrid gleefully replied.

Harry was pushed on by the crowd of older students making their way to the carriages, so he had to shout a measly "See you later!" to Hagrid before he turned back to Daphne and Tracey, who were still beside him, both still making their way down to the boat.

Breaking free from the crowd, they found other first years making their way down towards the docks and followed them, where they saw the lake in all its glory. They sat into one of the boats as all the first years followed suit. Hagrid sat into the first one and the miniature armada cruised across the lake to see Hogwarts light up in front of them under a sky of stars.

"We're here now, how does it feel?" Daphne asked them, awe present on her face, clear as day.

Not caring about who was listening to him, he exclaimed quietly "Absolutely brilliant, this shite's exciting." Laughing at his clear excitement, the girls agreed with him.

The boats went excruciatingly slow, yet it was enough time for all the first years to take in the lights, the enormity, and the sheer class of Hogwarts castle. Nearly every window was lit up by lamp and candlelight providing an outline of the castle. Harry was in shock as he had never seen Hogwarts before, despite being in Hogsmeade and despite Charlie going to Hogwarts to meet with Dumbledore for Boy-Who-Lived related business. He could only theorise what Dumbledore needed Charlie so badly for, but that wasn't what his mind was set on.

"This is absolutely huge," an awe-filled Daphne stated, and the two couldn't help but agree.

"How in the name of God are we meant to find our way around this colossal maze of a place," Harry joked, feigning worry, and the girls snickered. "I'll have to rob my dad's map when I become a sneaky slimy snake." The two laughed outright, causing a couple of heads to turn, but only very briefly.

"I won't lie, since that's what everyone's been told snakes feel like, I'd love to actually get my hands on one and see if they've been telling us the truth," said Tracey, stunning Daphne as she'd previously thought that Tracey had a fear of snakes. "Yes, I know what you're about to say, but no I'm not a little girl anymore."

Admiration and agreement were the responding gestures from both Harry and Daphne, as they kept the chat going as they reached the halfway point.

Then, one of the deep lake monsters decided to give the first years a show, lighting up its body and the sky around it. There were some oohs, some ahhs, and even some AHHs. "Not so tough now are you Malfoy," Harry thought out loud, as the girls nearly wet themselves trying not to laugh at Malfoy screaming.

They went through a vine-covered archway as each of the boats neatly moored themselves at the Dock. They got out one by one, a few first years nearly falling into the water. Harry noted happily that Charlie and Ron both nearly fell into the ice-cold water, as they both slipped on but caught the mossy wooden plank of the dock with their hands before they could plunge into the freezing looking water. Tracey and Daphne also saw it as he had pointed it out and just barely stifled their laughter.

Hagrid escorted them through the castle, up a few winding staircases, some which moved around to other destinations before he stopped at a room off to the left of the great hall. Minerva McGonagall was there to greet them, giving Charlie a very, very subtle smile that was missed by most of if not all the students except for Harry and Charlie. She spoke in an incredibly stern voice, with an air of zero-tolerance. She was definitely not a professor to be messed with, and each first year took note. She explained to the first years about the houses of Hogwarts and the sorting ceremony, before being interrupted by the ghosts and poltergeists that haunted the corridors. Harry had heard stories from the older Weasleys about the ghosts and the sorting ceremony, as the twins bragged about the prank they pulled with Peeves on Professor Snape, the undisputed most hated professor in the school. Harry laughed to himself at another memory, while turning to Daphne and Tracey, who were wondering why he was laughing.

"I'm laughing because I'm remembering how the two Weasley twins managed to trick Ron and Charlie into believing that the sorting ceremony was an in incredibly long and gruelling written and mental examination," Harry explained to them, as they almost dissolved into a fit of giggles but held themselves together as they saw Draco Malfoy approach Charlie asking that maybe he reconsider his allies and offer him a friendship, telling Charlie that he shouldn't make friends with the wrong sort, looking at Ron with a complete taste of disgust.

"This could turn ugly fast," commented Daphne, but as if on cue, there was a saviour. Professor McGonagall had entered the main hall while the ghosts had their introductions with the first years, but when she reappeared, she knew conflict was about to start and sternly put an end to it. She ordered the first years to go through the door and there, sitting on a stool in front of Dumbledore's lectern, was the Sorting Hat.

Professor McGonagall then started calling out names in alphabetical order, Harry tuning out most except for a few that he was for sure interested to hear, such as Tracey, who was sorted into Slytherin within about ten, maybe fifteen seconds at a push. Hermione, Charlie, and Ron's friend was sorted into Gryffindor, to the surprise of few, considering the friends she'd made on the train. Daphne strides up to the stool after this and was almost immediately sorted into Slytherin, winking at Harry as she passed by as he just chuckled silently. Draco Malfoy didn't have the hat on his head long enough for the sorting hat to even say the word Slytherin, there was absolutely no doubt where he was heading.

It was all going smoothly until Professor McGonagall snapped Harry out of his slight daze.

"Charlie Potter," she called out, as he walked with confidence up to the Sorting Hat.

He, however, was as easily sorted as Malfoy had been to Slytherin, with the Sorting Hat immediately shouting Gryffindor. The hall erupted, as Gryffindor deafened the hall, while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff also cheered for the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Harry Potter," McGonagall called out. Heads turned, faces faced the Sorting Hat's stool, as Harry walked up and put on the hat, and a voice in his head signalled the beginning of his sorting.

"This is truly extraordinary, I've never inspected someone so complex since Albus Dumbledore himself," spoke the Hat in utter disbelief. "How on earth am I meant to sort you?"

"What do you mean?" replied Harry, a little bit apprehensively.

"Your mind is incredibly diverse, you have incredible characteristics that I can see stem from your lack of parental affection, which makes sense, but you're also extensively intelligent and knowledgeable, upfront, and honest, brave, and compassionate but also clever and as I can see from your past memories, very cunning. You have the sufficient characteristics to be sorted into each house all at once."

"Where do you think I should go?"

"I have seen your wishes in your mind, and for you to even think about choosing Slytherin to be with your two new friends shows that you have incredible bravery to go against your family's Hogwarts house, which ironically is a trait of Gryffindors, but as I said, someone this complex hasn't worn me since Albus Dumbledore the hundred or so years ago he sat here."

"I'd love to be in Slytherin, since my first two proper friends that I've made have already been sorted there, and I'd prepared before I came here for anyone who tries to attack me while I'm here anyways."

"I can see that, you show a powerful thirst for knowledge, not unlike a certain Dark Lord that ripped the life you could've had away from you. But even before he was sorted, I could see his lack of any sort of desire to have relationships, be it with friends or an eventual lover. I can clearly see your desire to have friends to spend your life with despite having none initially, even if it's taken you eleven full years."

"I didn't know you could see that much into my head."

"I'm usually not permitted to, but you're special. I couldn't sort you based on characteristics alone, so I had to go deeper. I should also inform you that you've made a wise choice of friends. A quick look into their minds showed me that both Daphne and Tracey are incredibly loyal, they have been to each other all their lives. They're still a miniscule bit wary of you, since you haven't been sorted into Slytherin just yet, and they're afraid that you'll just leave them behind should I sort you into a different house."

"That's what I wanted to hear. I want to be sorted into Slytherin."

"Is that exactly what you want?"

"Yes."

"Then you've made your choice. We can expect many great things from you in Slytherin, Harry Potter."

Those words stuck with Harry. Ollivander had said almost the exact same sentence when Harry finally found a wand that chose him. It was uncanny to say the very least.

After what seems like only a few minutes, the Sorting Hat exited Harry's mind and bellowed a singular word out of its mouth. The word that was heard around the wizarding world. After spending almost twenty minutes on the head of Harry Potter, the Sorting Hat finally shouted:

"SLYTHERIN!"

ඞඞඞඞඞඞඞඞ ඞඞ

Bigger Note: Hello to all who may end up reading this. This is my first time writing a fanfic, my first time even writing a piece of literature this long. I'm not even studying any form of arts. But I said to hell with it since I seem to have a creative-ish mind, and I've had my mind on it for a while. I'm also not afraid of using swear words within this literature at all. Makes it more authentic I suppose.

Yes, I know, Harry having a twin who is the boy who lived is an overdone concept, Harry being a Slytherin is also an overdone concept, Harry being more mature than in the books and having more knowledge because he's studied some textbooks to get ahead are also probably overdone concepts, but I have plans to make this fanfic stand out from others. I'm not revealing them yet. As for couples, I have already decided on one, but as you'd expect with a story this long, it'll be a slow-burn.

08538