Chapter 4

Separated in darkness they shall grow

Of each other they shall not know

Prospering apart, until their ready

Together they will keep the dark steady

Then they will defeat evil with his own way

But not before in darkness they shall lay

"Stop it, you're making me dizzy." Harry said sharply to his sister, not bothering to look up from his book. Rose ceased her pacing for a minute to glare at her brother, before deciding to plead instead.

"Please, I promise I won't interact with them, I just want to look at them."

"No." Harry seriously doubted all Rose wanted to do was look at the arriving students, what else would she need his invisibility cloak for then? Everyone would assume she was in a different house, or a first year that had gotten lost. She was short enough to be one anyway.

Rose had since resumed her pacing, though her mind was still swirling with protests. But it only took one look at her stubborn brother to force her to change her plan. Getting him to allow her to use his cloak willingly was obviously not an option. So Rose would be forced to hex him if she wanted to get out of the dungeons in time to inspect the students that were due to arrive at any moment.

Harry wanted her to wait until Dobby arrived to take them to be sorted, after the first years. He seemed to have no problems with waiting in the Slytherin common room, while he could be terrorizing the unsuspecting students instead.

Rose on the other hand couldn't stand it. It was her first chance to make a magnificent entrance that would become legendary, and Harry couldn't stop her.

Slowly Rose approached Harry, her wand ready.

Harry meanwhile knew exactly what his twin was thinking, he was actually shocked at how long she had lasted before resorting to attacking him to get into the Great Hall. He allowed her to come close to him, keeping his head down so as to appear to be reading.

Rose opened her mouth to whisper the stunning curse, when she suddenly was cut short before she could utter a sound. Rose couldn't speak for a moment because the wind had been knocked out of her as she hit the stone, stomach first.

Groaning, Rose turned over to face her twin who still sat in her chair, looking completely unfazed. "I told you to be patient, Dobby will come and get us when it's time." Then he calmly picked up his book and resumed his previous position.

Rose laid on the floor, refusing to get up. Both Potters stayed that way until Dobby arrived fifteen minutes later. Harry dismissed Dobby, and turned to his sister. When Dobby had entered Rose had finally sat up, eager to see the students. She was half way to the door when Harry's voice stopped her. "What are you doing?"

She turned to see her twin walking toward her. "I was thinking about being sorted, you?" She said sarcastically.

Harry kept going past her, and left the room. Rose followed just barely fast enough to catch what he was saying. "I'm first, pleases don't do anything while I go. I want it done as quickly as possible. You can take all the time you want when you go, just make sure we get to eat."

Rose finally caught up with him as they reached the Great Hall where Dobby was waiting patiently. With a nod from Harry, Dobby disappeared. A moment later, the Potters heard Dumbledore's not McGonagall voice. "Tonight we have a two very special people being sorted. They are brother and sister, and will be entering for their 5th year here. The boy has been to Hogwarts already, but for special circumstances in his fate, he must be resorted. And who am I to play with fate?"

"Whatever house or houses these two get into, I'm sure you'll do your best to make them feel welcome. As this is not unheard of, but is extremely rare, I have complete faith in all of you to accept them as you have the first years." Everyone had their eyes on Dumbledore, most were eager to see whom they were and what houses they would be put in. While a few, mainly the first years, were utterly confused.

"Without further a due, Professor McGonagall shall call them up."

With a look from the headmaster, McGonagall pick up the scroll and called out. "Harry Potter." Not a sound was heard except for the opening of the large wooden doors, and then the patter Harry's shoes made as he made his way to the stool. Everyone seemed too shocked to move, never mind speak.

Harry quickly sat, and jammed the hat on his head. Nobody was surprised that the hat had made its decision so quickly, but they were surprised with its decision. For when the hat yelled "SLYTHERIN!" The hall rapidly got over their shock, and began to whisper. It sounded like thousands of bees had been let loose as Harry walk to his new table.

The whispers only grew when McGonagall called out, "Rose Potter." Rose, unlike Harry, thrived on being the center of attention. She took her sweet time walking to the stool. And with a grand flourish, she placed the hat on her head.

" Hmmm, another Potter eh? I do hope you're more agreeable than your brother. I talked to him more times than any other student you know, but does he like it? No."

"Yes, he is rather unappreciative isn't he? Simply dreadful to live with."

"Oh so you don't want to be in Slytherin do you? That won't be a problem in the least; you're perfect for Gryffindor, though you might do better in Slytherin. Hmm this is a dilemma."

" You're only loyal to your brother no matter what you tell me, so Hufflepuff's out. You have absolutely no motivation to learn, so Ravenclaw's not a possibility. Gryffindor would be great except you're not as foolish as some. I don't believe you'll get yourself killed too quickly. Slytherin would be my first choice for you, but what do you think?"

"I think you're quite clever, were you possibly Rowena's favorite?"

"Don't change the subject, you're taking too long already, but yes I do believe I was."

The whole school was leaning forward anxiously; nobody had ever taken this long. What was wrong?

Dumbledore was having similar thoughts. Perhaps he had judged Rose too hastily. Maybe she was a Gryffindor and couldn't get into Slytherin?

Harry wasn't worried in the least. He had realized by now that Rose just enjoyed making people sweat, and the longer it took her to be sorted, the longer she would be on the stool. Which everyone was staring at, hence making her the center of attention.

The long silence was finally broken when the hat yelled out, "SLYTHERIN!" But Rose sat on the stool for another two seconds afterward, most likely still talking with it.

Unlike Harry, Rose was met by a thunderous applause when her house was announced. Apparently they had no qualm about a Potter being in their house, just if that Potter was Harry. The applause had finally subsided by the time Rose sat down next to her brother, a good two spaces in every direction away from the rest of the Slytherins.

"Well I see you've busy making friends." Harry chose not to reply as he helped himself to the potatoes that had just appeared. Rose didn't press him and just followed Harry's lead and dug in.

After a minute or so of silence, which Harry was rather enjoying, the two seats opposite where filled, and the familiar face of Draco Malfoy appeared. Next to him sat Goyle, and Crabbe flopped down on Harry's right. Rose looked up briefly before resuming her dinner; Harry could only stare.

Draco seemed to have no problems, and immediately spoke up. "Hello Potter, or should I say Harry now?" Harry didn't answer. "I'm not sure how you did it, but the sorting hat's never been wrong. But why weren't you put in Slytherin in the first place then? Hmmm I wonder." Draco sneered. "Well I guess there's always a first for everything." By now he was half talking to himself, a fact which Rose found amusing.

Unfortunedly Draco did not, and when she snorted into her food his gaze immediately snapped to her. "Rose I believe? I am Draco Malfoy, prefect." He said pointing to his chest arrogantly. Then he motioned to Crabbe and Goyle. "That's Crabbe, and that's Goyle."

Rose nodded that she heard him, though she stayed uninterested in anything besides her meal. Draco must have noticed for he rapidly stopped pointing out the other fifth year Slytherins, and returned to his food.

Seeing that Draco was finally occupied with something other than his sister, Harry leaned down to whisper into her ear. "We have to start sooner or later, might as well get this over with quickly." Rose's eyes darted to Draco, then to Crabbe and Goyle, and finally back to Harry.

"You can't be serious, these are the guys we have to be friends with? I mean the blonde one's kind of cute, but the other two are hopeless. I'd rather die then have them be the ones to get me on Voldemort's good side thank you very much."

Harry glared down at her but couldn't retaliate because Draco was looking at them again. Harry decided to get onto a safe subject that he knew Draco liked, and he actually knew something about. Quidditch.

"So Draco, are you captain this year?" Marcus Flint the previous captain had graduated and Malfoy was a prime candidate being in his fifth year.

Draco looked up, obviously interested. "No, we vote on that after a first practice. Tradition." He said as he rolled his eyes. "Why, you planning on trying out?" Draco no longer seemed pleased, but suspicious.

"I was thinking about it," Harry stated cautiously as the food began to disappear and the dessert dishes replaced them. Harry nodded and watched as Crabbe and Goyle devoured a whole bowl of ice cream by themselves.

Harry and Draco didn't speak much for the remainder of the meal, which was fine with Harry. He wasn't anxious to be all buddy buddy with someone who had tried to hex him only two months ago.

A six-year prefect stood and motioned for all the first years to follow her. The rest of the house followed after them. Outside the Great Hall, Harry pulled Draco aside.

"Look I know we got off to a rough start on the train in first year, but if the sorting hat can make mistakes as you said, so can I. Can we try this again?" Harry asked as he stuck out his hand.

Draco seemed shocked at first, but quickly recovered. He glanced at Harry's face, and then at Harry's hand, and back to his face once more. Harry was starting to believe that Draco wasn't going to agree when he felt a warm palm enclose around his own larger one.

Harry grinned as Draco quickly released his arm. "Don't worry, you'll probably like Rose more, she's definitely a Slytherin." Draco only looked back at him unassured.

"I doubt any Potter could be a real Slytherin. Getting into our house is one thing, but are you willing to hate all you mudblood friends, and curse the Weasleys." Draco saw that Harry didn't even show any signs of anger when he referred to Hermione as a mudblood, and began to smirk.

"Hmmmm, maybe you have changed a bit, but as for your sister well see." By now they were at the entrance to their common room. Allowing Harry to go in first, Draco stepped back and added "I'll show you to our dormitory, watch closely because they tend to move."

Harry already knew this of course, having spent part if the summer there but at first he had been a bit shocked. Harry had known that some staircases tended to shift about to confuse people, but dormitories? No wonder the Slytherins were always so cross, they probably never got any sleep.

Trying to look as though he was concentrating on where they were going, Harry passed Millicent Bulstrode (sp?). She surprisingly wasn't glaring at him like the older Slytherins, or scuttling away in fear like the younger ones, no she was clearly assessing him.

Harry remembered thinking that giggling should be illegal, well right now he'd much rather have giggling to having girls examine him like an animal. He fought back a shudder as they reached their room.

Harry glanced around at the beds, they reminded him of prison cells. They didn't fill a circular room like in Gryffindor. They were lined up across from each other, two on each side. Harry recognized his trunk and saw that his was the bed in the right corner or the rectangular room, right beside the window.

That night Harry set his bed to wake him up at 4:30 a.m, a half an hour earlier that usual. As he was getting ready to get into to bed, he noticed that his trunk lid was ajar. Someone had been in it.

Angry with himself that he had not thought to put a more secure locking spell on it, Harry got up to inspect the damage. Nothing. Absolutely nothing was missing, and then Harry realized that invisibility cloak was gone. Normally he put it on the bottom, as a sort of blanket, he would be able to see it by taking off the revealing charm on it. It was gone.

Angrier than before, Harry charged out of his room. How could he have been so stupid? The one thing he had of his father's he loses. Just like he lost the Marauder's map from Moody the year before.

Rose looked up from her corner in the common room to see her brother enter looking like a bull. She idly wondered what had pissed him off so much, she hadn't been able to get him this mad all summer, and she had been trying! Taken back that one person could out do her in a matter of hours, Rose approached her twin.

"Why, you are just an expert at making friends aren't you?" Harry had to stop scanning the room and look down in order to face her. That was when he saw it. Rose had the invisibility cloak.

"What are you doing with that?" He asked with barely controlled anger pointing to the cloak.

Rose looked a bit surprised at first, but she then shrugged and said, "I wanted to check on how our tricks went. Care to join me?" Harry would have answered no but another voice interrupted their conversation.

"Well it seems as though the perfect Potters are having a spout." Draco said stepping in between them to talk to Rose.

Harry groaned in annoyance, bringing Rose's attention back to him. "No, I'm just trying to get Harry to go with me to inspect the other common rooms."

"Why?" Draco asked in a somewhat bored manner. "You do know you can't get into them, we don't even know where they are." He said superiorly. Harry tried to elbow him, hoping he would get the hint and leave.

Rose rolled her eyes in impatience. "I do know where and how to get into them. We-" she said indicating Harry and herself, "-spent the summer setting up a few….. surprises for the houses."

Harry gave up hoping Draco would leave on his own and was now rudely trying to shove him away from Rose and her big mouth. Draco only looked at Harry once before planting himself firmly on the other side of Rose and away from Harry.

"I doubt that you two did anything serious even if you did manage to find the other common rooms."

Rose planted her hands on her hips and looked up at Draco angrily. But when she spoke, her voice was oddly controlled. "Would you care to bet on that?"

Draco clearly was willing to, for he quickly shot out his hand just as he had to Harry before. "Deal." His stormy eyes were alive with curiosity.

"Fine, twenty gallons if my pranks deem satisfactory." Draco nodded in agreement as they shook to seal the deal. "Ready? Harry seems to value his sleep over torturing Gryffindors so it'll be just us two."

"I must admit that I am quite curios to see what Harry has done then." Draco said deliberately emphasizing the Harry part. Harry turned his glare away from Rose and to Draco this time, screwing his vow to befriend Draco.

Harry opened hi smouth slowly, knowing he would probably regret what he was about to say. "I'll go." Rose looked positively delighted about Harry joining them. Draco seemed a bit more subdued, but happy nonetheless. Harry followed Rose and Draco out the common room and into the hall.

There Rose whipped out the cloak and motioned for Draco to get in with her. Having already mastered the invisibility charm, Harry had no need for the cloak, but he still didn't like the idea of Draco being in it…… with Rose!

Grudgingly Harry followed the sound of their footsteps as they made their way to the Hufflepuff corridor.

~

Forty-five minutes later Rose and Draco were still laughing over the fact that the brilliant Ravenclaws hadn't figured out a way to get their entrance bookcase to return to normal. Instead of regular Hogwarts books, there were a dozen on Salazar Slytherin and how to perform the dark arts. The Ravenclaws weren't too pleased; whether over the choice of books, or over the fact that they couldn't figure something out, Harry wasn't sure.

Now they were approaching the Gryffindor tower. Harry waited impatiently as Rose chatted with the Fat Lady, apparently Draco wasn't interested either because he threw off the cloak or leaned against the wall next to Harry.

When the portrait swung open Rose and Draco snuck back under the cloak.

Inside was total chaos. The stairs going up to the separate dorms hissed repeatedly as they were stepped on. The fire blazed with a green fire instead of the normal red. The portrait that hung above the fireplace which formerly held Godric's visage, now displayed Salazar's pale face. The couches were silver and gave anyone who sat on them medusa like hair.

The torches that had formerly lit the Gryffindor were now replaced with stone snakes that spit out fire. It was not very organized.

Though Harry could not see his twin's face at the moment, he was sure that it was nothing less than euphoric. He had no clue however what Draco's would have looked like. He had seemed too shocked to react to what they had done to the Hufflepuff's common room, and any none Ravenclaw would have been delighted that the oh so superior Ravenclaws had finally been duped.

Harry watched with amusement as the twins got yelled at by half of Gryffindor, and their friend Lee laughing over their predicament. Half the house had the two backed up into a corner, practically squishing them to death while they continued to yell, "We didn't do it!"

Their red hair reminded Harry of Ron, Ron who was not in the common room at the moment. After another moment of searching, Harry concluded that neither was Hermione.

Having no idea where the other two Slytherins were at the moment, he quickly made his way up the stairs not bothering to avoid the other people. A little more confusion in the common room wouldn't be noted, and the less time Harry spent there the better.

Harry made his way to the door that now read 5th Year Girls. Not bothering to knock, Harry turned the knob silently. Inside it was all dark except for one lone light at the end bed. There sat Hermione, with a book and a pile of used tissues surrounding her.

Harry took a small quiet step toward her. Apparently it wasn't quiet enough because Hermione immediately ceased sniffling and whipped her head to the doorway. "Who's there?"

She whispered almost desperately. Harry stood rooted to the spot.

Hermione sniffled once more before turning back to her book. Harry removed his invisible charm before taking another step forward. The floor creaked when his shoe made contact with the wooden floor, at the same instant Hermione turned once more. This time with her wand gripped tightly in her outstretched hand.

"Who are you, what do you want?" Hermione choked out in his direction. Harry then realized that even though he was no longer invisible, he was still in the shadows. Taking a big breath, he took one final big step out from the dark. "It's me, Harry."

A:N do u think that I should make rose the new seeker and move draco to chaser with harry? Being as rose has the better build? Let me know. And please remember to REVIEW!!!!!! REVIEW!!!!!REVIEW!!!!!!!REVIEW!!!!!REVIEW!!!!!!!REVIEW!!!!!REVIEW!!!!!!!