Disclaimer: Nothing in the Harry Potter universe is mine. I simply love to play with it.

AN: Ah a triple update, one chapter for all three stories, who would have thought… but I don't think it will be like this again.

I was overwhelmed by the positive reviews for the first chapter, thanks to all of you. And thanks to everyone who followed or favoured.

Parts of Dumbledore's and Umbridge's welcoming speech are taken from OotP.

This is now beta'ed by the brilliant vichan and Cameron Lindsey, many many thanks and hugs to them.

Have fun reading.

On with the story.

Chapter 2: The Welcoming Feast

Shaken, Harry slowly removed the hat from his head and got to his feet. His breath was rapid and shallow, and he desperately tried to control his emotions; there was far too much desperation, fear, and fury wracking his body. It wouldn't help the situation to break down

Not even facing Voldemort in the graveyard had been this frightening, but there he'd barely had time to think. But with this too many thoughts swirled around in his mind. He slowed his breath and managed to shove the dread and anxiety down. The ever-present anger was a constant pulse in the back of his mind.

He glanced at the professors through his fringe and tried to calm himself further.

Professor McGonagall, the stern teacher who always seemed as if nothing could shake her, appeared stunned. The twinkling in the Headmaster's eyes had dimmed, an uncharacteristic expression of surprise drawn across his face. Professors Flitwick and Sprout both had equally perplexed expressions. Professor Snape had a dark look on his face, as if Harry had personally offended him by being sorted into his house.

Harry gulped nervously and looked down, and he then realised that his robes had been graced with the Slytherin house crest and his tie had changed to the Slytherin house colours of green and silver.

After several seconds of somewhat awkward silence, the Headmaster finally cleared his throat.

"This is a rather unexpected outcome. Hat," he addressed the sorting hat. "Would you mind explaining for us?"

"What is there to explain?" the hat answered. "I have sorted students for generations and I've never sorted wrong. Normally, I don't let a student argue with me on where to put him. But Mr. Potter did it in his first year - successfully, as I must add. He could have belonged in every house, as he shows traits from all of them." The hat seemed to bristle a bit before it continued. "Originally, I wanted to put him in Slytherin five years ago. I never should have let him argue with me in the first place. He would have made a good snake then and he will make a good snake now. His true house is Slytherin. He belongs there." With that, the hat fell silent.

Harry's eyes were still glued to the floor, his thoughts running wild as he considered what he should do. He wanted to survive his first night, and every night thereafter, in his new house. Determination suddenly filled him. He would observe and adjust. Besides, he only had to survive three years.

Rancour squeezed his stomach at that thought. It was just like the Dursleys, where he had counted the years until he was of age to leave the house for good.

Magic had freed him, it had saved him. Magic brought him to Hogwarts, where he finally had found a home. That home had been Gryffindor tower, with its cosy common room filled with stuffed, squashy armchairs, and the dorm with the comfortable four-poster beds.

And that had also been taken from him. It wasn't like it was anything new. Everything that was good in his life had been taken away eventually.

Resentment filled him, sharp and bitter. Why always him?

How would the rest of the school react to his sorting? He feared that it would be second year all over again, when everyone thought he'd been the next dark lord.

Conviction filled him again; he was determined to make it through all three years in Slytherin.

He only had to tread carefully so as to not antagonize his new house. It would certainly make his life easier with the snakes, but if he maintained enough of his Gryffindor persona and showed that to the rest of the school, he might not necessarily be labelled an evil wizard again. It would be tricky to balance, but Harry was fairly certain he could do it.

He certainly didn't want to lose the few people who were perhaps willing to stand beside him despite the crap the Prophet was writing.

"But will it be safe for Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall voiced her concern.

"What exactly do you want to imply, Minerva?" Snape sounded irritated. Granted, Snape normally sounded irritated.

"Well, the history between Mr. Potter and your house, Severus, is rather… rough," McGonagall said. "And we should not forget that he is back, and quite a few of his followers have children in your house."

"Do not worry, Minerva," Snape replied with a hint of a sneer. "Mr. Potter will be nothing but safe in Slytherin. We protect our own. And simply because some parents are followers doesn't mean their children are."

Harry frowned. He always had the impression that children like Malfoy would love to follow in their parents' footsteps.

"Now that this is settled, I think we should take our seats in the Great Hall. The first years will arrive in a few minutes." Professor Dumbledore sounded strangely cheerful. "I will have to make a short announcement of your sorting Harry."

"Come along, then, Mr. Potter. I will guide you to your house table and warn your new housemates." Snape's voice was like ice. Harry nodded and followed his new Head of House, his body moving automatically. He was suddenly struck with the dreadful thought that Snape had now direct power over him.

Professor McGonagall stopped him at the door to the great hall.

"Mr. Potter, it has been a great pleasure to have you in my house, even with all the mischief and trouble you got yourself into," she said with a smile. "My door is still open for you. I wish you all the best in your new house. Slytherin is lucky to have you." Her smile turned reassuring.

Harry managed a small smile back and with a quiet, "Thank you, Professor," he followed Snape - 'Professor Snape,' he thought, sounding oddly like Hermione - into the Great Hall and towards the Slytherin table.

He felt the burning gazes from Hermione and Ron at his back, but he couldn't manage to look over at them. With how deeply Ron hated everything having to do with Slytherin, he knew that his friend would feel betrayed. Would Ron hate him now too?

Harry only hoped their friendship would somehow survive. Hermione would almost certainly be more rational; he knew she would understand that the hat hadn't given him a choice.

To Harry's relief, nobody aside from Harry's friends seemed to have noticed that he had come into the Great Hall behind the Professor.

As Professor Snape approached the Slytherin table it fell silent, his snakes automatically reacting to the presence of their Head of House. With a quick wave of his wand he first prevented the rest of the hall from listening in, and then amplified his voice, making it audible to all of Slytherin.

Harry stayed behind him, hiding. He felt like he was attending his own execution.

"Good evening, Slytherins. I have an announcement to make." All the students at the table looked at him attentively.

"Due to some rather unpredictable circumstances, you will have a new housemate beside the usual first years," Professor Snape said. "Mr. Potter here had to be sorted again and the Sorting Hat was insistent on placing him in Slytherin. It seems Mr. Potter successfully convinced the Sorting Hat in his first year to put him in a different house. He apparently belonged here from the beginning." He paused, fixing the students with a significant glare.

Harry didn't miss how he emphasised certain words, nor did he miss the meaning behind those emphases. The faces of his new housemates didn't give a hit as to what they were thinking; it appeared to be blank expressions and carefully neutral masks all up and down the table. Harry remained quiet, knowing that the smartest thing he could do was to observe.

"As the rivalry between his former house and our own is widely known, I want to remind you of our house rules. His former house is immaterial. He is now a Slytherin, one of our own. Therefore, you will treat him as one" Harry could have sworn that Snape's gaze lingered on Malfoy for a moment longer than the others. "I will see you all later in the common room. Mr. Potter, sit down."

Snape's hand landed on Harry's shoulder and he steered him towards the other fifth year Slytherins, where a chair had been emptied for him. Harry gritted his teeth at being manhandled. He could barely suppress a flinch as Snape loomed over him after he took his seat.

"Mr. Potter, I normally conduct individual interviews with my new first years in the first week of the school year, as well as with any upper years that have a need to talk," Snape said. "As you are also a new student, I will see you in my office tomorrow after breakfast at 9 o'clock sharp."

The black eyes of his Professor fixated on him.

Harry narrowed his eyes when he met the stare, quelling the urge to protest. What could he and Snape have to talk about?

Remembering where he was and who watched, he nodded.

"Yes, sir." He would handle Snape how he handled Uncle Vernon. Addressing Vernon politely hadn't always helped but addressing him incorrectly had always resulted in a slap.

Something akin to surprise flickered in Snape's eyes at his polite answer.

"Good." Snape let his gaze wander over the Slytherin table. "Have a nice welcoming feast."

A murmured, "Thank you, Professor," came from the Slytherins as Snape walked away and took his seat at the head table.

Steeling himself inwardly Harry looked around, identifying who sat around him. Next to him was a boy that Harry remembered from Potions class - Zabini, he thought his name was. Their eyes met and the boy sent him a smirk.

"Who would've thought that the golden boy of Gryffindor would have hidden scales underneath his fur?" Zabini said, clearly amused.

"Blaise, don't be daft. Potter is not a snake," a familiar voice sneered. "He doesn't have the brain cells to be one."

Harry glared in the direction of the speaker, and green eyes met grey. Harry's resolve to lean back and observe quickly crumbled. He had never been very good at ignoring a challenge, especially from Malfoy, and he found he was actually a bit happy to vent at least some of his frustration and anger.

He could feel the stares from the other Slytherins around him.

Harry once watched a documentary where a pack of wolves had encircled a deer, their intense gazes fixed on the prey. The Slytherins' stares felt just like those wolves, as if they wanted to eat him alive. Harry decided he would not be the prey, and so he wouldn't show any weakness.

If he wanted to have a relatively quiet time in Slytherin, he had to make it clear that he would not lie down and take it.

"I'll have you know, Malfoy, that the hat was pretty adamant in our first year and this year that I had to go to Slytherin. Make of that what you will, but perhaps you lack the brain cells to comprehend what that means," he mocked. "Not that I expect very much from a person who thought it was a cunning plan to dress up as a Dementor to sabotage the seeker of the other team."

Malfoy's eyes blazed in anger, but the boy sitting on Harry's other side - Nott or something - sent Malfoy a glare while Blaise let out a slight chuckle.

"Draco, keep your temper. He's got you there." Now Malfoy glared, affronted, at Zabini.

"He's right, Draco. Don't behave like a Gryffindor." Harry fixed a scowl on the boy beside him, offended on behalf of his old house. Nott only smirked at him and turned back to Malfoy. "If the hat decided he belongs in Slytherin, there has to be more to him than the Gryffindor exterior we've witnessed so far."

Every Slytherin within earshot of the conversation turned to Harry, who shrugged and offered an evasive reply. "I don't know what you're talking about. I am who I've always been."

Oh, joy, now they looked intrigued. Even Malfoy appeared more interested than annoyed, and he tapped his chin thoughtfully and then grinned at him. An actual grin, not a smirk or a sneer. Harry nearly fell out of his chair.

"A very Slytherin answer. Maybe there's hope for you, after all."

Then the doors opened, and their attention was caught by the first years walking into the Great Hall.

Harry didn't remember much of the sorting hat's song or the sorting. He could still feel the occasional stare from the Slytherins around him as they observed him. He hated being stared at. At Privet Drive it never meant anything good; it was always best to be overlooked.

He sat stiffly at the Slytherin table, staring sightlessly, and thought with trepidation of the upcoming evening and next few days. There was the talk with Professor Snape in the morning, and before that the almost certain confrontation in the Slytherin common room and dorm. Unease squeezed his stomach at the possibilities of what could happen.

After the last first year was sorted into Ravenclaw, Dumbledore stood up. Harry listened half-heartedly.

"The very best of evenings to you! To our new students, welcome. And to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you. I hope your heads are empty and ready to be filled with new knowledge..." Harry stopped listening after he realized it was a variation of the same speech Dumbledore held at every welcoming feast.

When the students around him gave a polite clap, Harry knew the new professors must have been introduced, and he mirrored the quiet applause automatically.

"Tryouts for the Quidditch teams will take place - "

Harry looked to the Head table when Dumbledore suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

"Hem, hem."

Dumbledore stood aside to give the interrupter the stage, and Harry nearly fell off of his chair when he recognized her face. He hadn't paid attention when the new professors were introduced, but he didn't need an introduction for that woman. He immediately recognized the horrid shade of pink and the toad-like face.

'What is the witch from the Ministry doing here?' Harry tapped his chin as he tried to remember 'Madame Andrich? No, that isn't… something with U…' Then it struck him Umbridge.

He focused his attention on her. When she opened her mouth and spoke in her high, girlish voice, Harry couldn't prevent his disgusted shudder. At his hearing he had gotten an uneasy feeling from her, and that feeling intensified as he listened to her speech.

"Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome." She cleared her throat again. "Hem, hem. Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking back at me! I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll all be good friends."She smiled and looked around the Great Hall. Harry was sure that nobody was smiling at her, as he glanced around the Slytherin table he saw disgust and horror carefully disguised behind blank masks.

When exactly had he started to read the Slytherins and see behind the mask?

Had he already been changed by being a Slytherin? Or had he simply never had the opportunity to study the Slytherin students' masks before?

"Hem, hem. The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance…" Harry continued to listen to her babbling about changes, preservation, progress, tradition and innovation - it was utterly boring.

Harry didn't have to listen to every word to understand the gist of her speech and her presence at Hogwarts; it wasn't hard to figure out. The Ministry intended to meddle in Hogwarts.

Only a few people still listened to her. Malfoy probed a fly on the table with his wand, and Harry could hear a quiet, "Petrificus Totalus," as Malfoy paralysed the fly again and again. On either side of him, Crabbe and Goyle watched and snickered

Hesitant applause rose, signalling the end of Umbridge's speech. Harry listened to Dumbledore announce when Quidditch tryouts would take place and felt a pang of sadness at the thought of not being able to play.

"And now, I have one last announcement to make," Dumbledore said, and Harry stiffened in anticipation. "Because of some unpredictable incidents that occurred over the summer, one of our older students had to be sorted again. The Head of Houses and myself did so before the first years' sorting. The sorting hat decided not to put him in his previous house again. Remember, that even if each house has unique and specific traits, human beings are seldom that simple. We are all composed of various characteristics, and we become who we are based on our experiences. Each day we experience something new, which changes our outlook of the world and shapes our personality."

Dumbledore looked around in the Great Hall, eyes briefly flickering to Harry at the Slytherin table.

"I am sure, that all of you have attributes from more than one house and act on said attributes. "Therefore, I hope you will not judge your schoolmate because the hat has decided that the traits of his new house are more prominent compared to his former house; this does not mean he's lost the attributes of his old house." Harry braced himself.

"I hope that Mr. Harry Potter is an asset to his new house and that Slytherin house welcomes their new snake. And now, tuck in!" Dumbledore finished his speech and the food appeared.

Whispers rose in the hall and Harry heard people shifting in their seats as hundreds of heads turned to look at him.

He firmly fixed his stare on the food and ignored all the eyes and whispers. He filled his goblet with water, knowing that he appeared far calmer than he appeared.

The Slytherins were the only ones who didn't stare at him and started filling their plates instead, behaving as if having a former Gryffindor re-sorted into their house was an everyday occurrence. Harry couldn't help but feel thankful for that.

Harry glanced around and waited until everyone around him started eating before he reached for some mashed potatoes, beans, and chicken. He ate slowly, chewing every bite carefully, and made no attempt to be a part of the conversation around him. He instead used the opportunity to observe the Slytherins around him.

It was quieter compared to the Gryffindor table, but they definitely still behaved like normal teenagers. They talked about their holidays, homework, and the latest gossip. They teased one another, and laughter could be heard, but the Slytherins upheld a calm demeanour through it all.

The Gryffindor table had always been loud and boisterous, and Harry was almost startled to realise that he actually liked the quieter atmosphere of the Slytherin table, even if he couldn't completely relax.

He was curious how they would behave in the private environment of their common room and dorms.

Harry finished his rather small amount of food compared to what the boys around him ate, although he didn't bother to look at Crabbe and Goyle; they were worse than Ron, but at least they had better manners and chewed with their mouths closed. He supposed it could be the pure-blood manners. But even compared to the others that weren't Crabbe and Goyle, his dinner was minuscule. He knew his stomach was awfully small, a side-effect of his childhood. Even five years of Hogwarts' feasts couldn't reverse that, especially with the summers in between.

He put his cutlery aside and some of his housemates shifted their attention back to him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Malfoy frown at him, and his eyes flickered to his plate. Harry cursed internally as it sunk in that the Slytherins seemed far more observant than the Gryffindors.

The boy beside Harry gave him a smile. "Blaise Zabini. Welcome to Slytherin house. I don't think you know all of us, even if we do have most classes together," Zabini said. "Beside you is Theodore Nott. On the other side of Theo is Millicent Bulstrode. Draco, Vince, and Greg, you already know, as well as Pansy. Next to her is Tracey Davis, and then Daphne Greengrass." Zabini gestured to the boys and girls around them.

Harry nodded politely to everyone and got amiable greetings in return, even from Malfoy and his goons.

"So…" Blaise said with barely concealed curiosity. "Exactly what happened that resulted in you needing to be sorted again? I've read about occurrences like this, but they never elaborated on why a re-sorting would be needed."

Harry looked around and saw carefully masked interest in the boys and girls listening in. He sighed inwardly as he mulled over what he should reveal and if he even should explain anything. He realized that there were probably a multitude of rumors already spreading through the castle, and he decided that the basic truth was the best route.

"I got an official warning for underage magic this summer. Since it was my second one, I had to attend a disciplinary hearing," Harry said. "Someone in the Ministry falsely registered what should have been the charge as 'convicted.' Therefore, the student book of Hogwarts automatically shifted my name to 'expelled' and later, as I was found 'not guilty,' my name was shifted back to the Hogwarts student list. But the expulsion couldn't just be reversed, so I wasn't registered as a Gryffindor and had to be sorted again."

He took a gulp of his water as he tried to gauge the students around him.

"And why did you get an official warning? Accidental magic at your age?" Pansy Parkinson snickered.

Harry didn't rise to the attempted insult. He simply shook his head and gave her a saccharine smile, which seemed to catch her and most of the people around him off guard.

"No, some Dementors attacked my muggle cousin and me and as nobody else was there to help, I cast a Patronus." He gave a slight shrug.

The Slytherins' eyes widened, which was the only sign of their surprise.

"Are telling us you can cast a Patronus strong enough to not only hold Dementors at bay, but drive them away?" Zabini enquired in disbelief as dessert appeared on the table.

Harry nodded nonchalantly; it simply wasn't that big of a deal for him. He helped himself to some fruit, knowing full-well that ice cream, cake, and even his beloved treacle tart were still too heavy for his stomach.

"Yes. I learned the spell in third year after I was attacked by the Dementors during the Quidditch game."

Malfoy gave him a mocking look and sneered.

"Ah, yes… I remember you were affected quite badly," Malfoy said. "You were easily frightened. Delicate, aren't you?"

Harry's eyes narrowed and fixated on Malfoy, his glare cold and hard. That simmering pool of anger in the back of his mind rose again.

"I'd like to see how you handle hearing your father being killed while your mother pleads for your life," Harry said in a low, somewhat dangerous voice, trying to rein in his temper. "Then hear her being killed while her murderer just laughs. Every time one of those creatures are near, that's what you would hear. I wonder how you would react to that."

The masks of the Slytherins around him suddenly broke, shock and unease and perhaps even embarrassment visible in their faces.

Smugly satisfied that he managed to break their countenance, Harry decided that he'd had enough socializing with his new housemates for the time-being.

He gave Malfoy one last withering stare, got up from the table and approached the Gryffindor table in search of Ron and Hermione. He tried to ignore the sneers and angry scowls directed towards him from his former housemates, pushing the feeling of betrayal down as he saw more than one hateful glower thrown at him.

Suddenly, he had an armful of his best friend, bushy hair in his face and strong arms squeezing him almost painfully.

"Hermione…"

She hugged him even tighter for moment before stepping back.

"Oh, Harry, why is everything always happening to you?" She looked at him in distress, inspecting him up and down as if she was making sure the Slytherins hadn't done something to him during the feast.

"Hermione -" Harry started again, but Hermione interrupted him.

"This is the reason why you were so moody yesterday, wasn't it?" she asked, more of a statement than a question. "I understand. But acquiring the skill to survive You-Know-Who and then being cunning enough to escape and warn the world of his resurrection - that doesn't make you a different person."

Harry absently wondered if she was trying to convince him or herself, but Hermione barrelled on.

"Yes, they might be Slytherin traits, but you are also brave like a Gryffindor. Oh, Harry... the hat didn't give you a choice, did it?"

"No…"

"Maybe it will do you good to be in Slytherin. You really do need to learn some self-preservation," she said. "And perhaps you really belong in Slytherin, but you are still my best friend." Her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, I'm going to miss you up in Gryffindor tower, though."

Harry gulped but found that he couldn't speak, so he only hugged Hermione briefly to show her how much her words meant to him. He looked over her shoulder to search for Ron, but his redheaded friend was nowhere to be seen.

He looked at Hermione in question, and she shook her head.

"It was a shock for him," she explained. "You know what he thinks about Slytherins. Give him time and let him sleep it over. I'm sure it'll be fine, and we'll talk more tomorrow." She hugged him again and then left, gathering the first years around her to lead them to the dormitory. Harry watched her leave and tried to suppress the bitter feeling of betrayal which had popped up in Ron's absence.

He felt hundred of stares at his back and out of the corner of his eye he saw Dean whispering something to Seamus, while the Irish boy shot a hateful look at Harry.

"Are you coming?"

Zabini materialised beside him, crooking his head like a curious bird. Harry nodded and followed him with one last glance at his old housemates. As he caught the grins from Fred and George he nearly stumbled. Both had sparkling, mischievous eyes and as they saw him looking, they gave him the thumbs up.

He had the suspicious feeling that he would be abducted the next days by the twin menaces, who would almost certainly use him to get into the Slytherin common room or something.

Feeling lighter, Harry followed Zabini to the dungeons. At least it seemed that not all of his old house hated him.

AN: Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.

Many thanks to vichan and Cameron Lindsey for helping to improve my grammar and spelling.

First published: 12th of September 2018

Last edited: 1st of February 2019