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

AN: Ah finally, the next chapter. Sorry that it took so long, but RL demanded a lot of attention. Thank you all for reading, following, favouring and reviewing. You are the motivation to keep on writing.

This chapter is beta'ed by the wonderful vichan and Cameron Lindsey. Thanks to you two, you are the best!

Have fun reading.

On with the story.

Chapter 6: That's what friends are for

Harry earned a frown from the Head Girl as he set aside the bowl of fruit before he was even halfway through it. He got up and headed to the dorms, and he could feel her eyes on his back all the way out of the common room. He let out a slow breath as he closed the door behind him. He rested the back of his head against it, tension draining out of him. He hated the scrutiny; he felt as if his skin was itching from the feeling of being watched so closely.

Not for the first time that morning he wished he was back in Gryffindor tower. He had never experienced such close observation there that Slytherin subjected him to. He may have needed to adjust to be what was expected of him as a Gryffindor, but that had also been the kind of person he wanted to be. He had carved a place for himself and it had been taken away.

The anger returned and squeezed his insides.

Harry took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. "Get a grip, Potter," he muttered. "You can't change what happened. Get over it." He pushed himself away from the wood at his back and headed for the bathroom.

After taking a wonderfully hot shower and washing the ink down the drain, Harry decided to see if Hermione was still waiting for him in the Library. He knew Hermione well enough to be fairly sure that she would still be there, even if it was Saturday and classes hadn't even begun. He certainly couldn't walk up to Gryffindor tower, judging by some of the hostile stares he had received the day before at the feast. He hadn't dared to really look at the lion's table during breakfast.

He ignored the glances being shot his way as he walked through the common room and made his way through the castle. He really hoped the novelty of him being in Slytherin would wear off sooner rather than later.

After he left the dungeons and reached the ground level of the castle, he understood why Snape had advised them to never walk alone. The open stares were expected and the muttered insults were annoying, but some students were bumping into him without apologizing, while others made it obvious that they tried to avoid him like he was contagious by turning around or walking away at the sight of him and he could practically feel the animosity in the air. He really hoped the open hostility was only because he was… well, him, and that other Slytherins - especially the younger years - hadn't had to handle it, too. He never really had paid attention to how all of Slytherin had been treated.

He frowned and decided he needed to at least be aware of it. Regardless of what he thought of them when he had been a first year, they were only eleven years old - still children - and they didn't deserve to be mistreated and hated simply because of where they happened to be sorted.

He ignored the muttered insults and hissing – he chuckled humourlessly at how much it resembled Parseltongue – and made his way through the castle to the library. When he stepped through the doors into Madam Pince's domain, blissful silence greeted him. The suspicious glance from the librarian was unlike the stares he'd received in the halls; after all, Madam Pince gave the same look to every student when they stepped into her domain, regardless of their house. He ignored her and walked through the rows of bookshelves.

At their favourite table buried deep in the library, he found her, and for a moment Harry just stood and observed his best – and perhaps now his only – friend.

Hermione's head was bent over a thick and very old looking book, frustrated huffs escaping her every now and then. Slender fingers alternated between carefully turning the old parchment pages and pushing wayward locks of her bushy hair behind her ears, all the while her eyes never leaving the pages.

He smiled; the picture was so… Hermione.

He finally took a step towards the table and she looked up. The look of frustration and irritation dissipated as it registered with her exactly who was disturbing her, and a wide smile appeared on her face.

"Harry!" She gestured for him to take the seat across from her. "I found this very interesting book about the four houses of Hogwarts. They mention more than one resorting; it seemed it was actually not all that uncommon in the past." She pushed the book forward so he could see the text. "Here is the story of Llewelyn Wendelin, who was resorted more than once! She started out in Gryffindor…"

Hermione rambled on about what she had found in the book and Harry nodded and hummed where it was appropriate but didn't listen that closely. It was interesting to know that it hadn't been uncommon at one time, but that didn't change his situation and he knew that there was no possibility for him to be sorted again. The hat had been quite adamant. Even if he would need to be sorted for a third time the hat would almost certainly send him straight back to Slytherin.

"Harry, are you even listening to me?" Hermione's voice sounded slightly irritated.

Harry smiled at her. "Sorry. I think it is really interesting that it wasn't unusual in the past, but that doesn't really help me now." He sighed. "I'm in Slytherin now and I don't think that's going to change. Gryffindor thinks I'm just a slimy snake and traitor now, I'm sure, and Ron..." He shrugged and found he wasn't able to meet Hermione's gaze.

Hermione huffed. "Ron is a hot-tempered idiot. But he will come around; he just needs time to understand. And for the rest of our – hem – well, my house… I don't have the feeling that everyone thinks you are a slimy snake." She sniffed in distaste. "But some were certainly rather… vocal about it in the common room yesterday evening."

She took his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"You need to be careful Harry," she continued. "McLaggen has convinced some of them that the years of you being in Gryffindor was a plot to gather inside information, and that your resorting wasn't the result of unforeseen circumstances."

"What?!" Harry looked at her with wide eyes, and she nodded, crossing her arms in front of her in frustration.

"They are all behaving like a drooling, blithering idiots." She sounded so much like McGonagall that Harry had to stifle a laugh and Hermione slapped him on the arm.

"Oh, come on. You know what I mean," she said. "It was the same thing in second year when everyone thought you were the Heir of Slytherin, then it was fourth year with all the Champion stuff, and now this! They just can't think for themselves and have no common sense. Sycophants, the lot of them." The frustration in her voice was more than clear.

"Have you spoken with Ron?" Harry asked tentatively, but when Hermione shook her head he sighed.

"I haven't spoken to him at all today," she said. "I didn't even see him at breakfast."

Harry leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The potential of losing his first friend over his changed house made him bitter.

"I'll see if I can find him at lunch and talk with him. He will come around." Hermione tried to cheer him up, but Harry didn't even open his eyes to acknowledge it. They both knew Ron all too well.

"But what if he doesn't? I am in Slytherin now and nothing will change that. You know how he feels about Slytherin. And what if he believes what McLaggen is saying?!"

Hermione squeezed his clenched fist.

"Harry, Ron may be in an idiot, but he knows you…"

"Does he?" Harry interrupted her in frustration. "He didn't believe me last year that I didn't want to participate in the bloody tournament. Why should it be any different now?"

"Because he didn't really believe last year that you were lying, but his temper and jealousy got the better of him," she said in a placating voice. "It didn't even take him a week to come to his senses, but then he was too stubborn and prideful to apologize. Being in Slytherin doesn't change who you are, and he already knows that."

"But what if it does?" His voice sounded small.

"What?" Hermione blinked in confusion, which was not a look he was used to seeing on her face.

Harry gulped, stared down at the table and took a breath. "What if being in Slytherin changes who I am?" He didn't want to meet her eyes, afraid of what he might see in them.

Hermione's hands gently pulled his clenched fists apart and took hold of them.

"Why would you say something like that, Harry?" she asked, her voice gentle.

"You…" He sighed, steeled himself, and tried again. "You know a little how life with the Dursleys has been and I never had thought of myself as particularly brave. I always kept out of the way and always ran when Dudley was in the mood to bully someone." He took a deep breath again and all the fears and insecurities began to spill out. "I loved being a Gryffindor - still do love it. I liked how the people saw me because of my house, and I began to think that I am more than what… what I'd always been. Being in Gryffindor changed me from the boy I was growing up with the Dursleys and I like who I have become because of it. But what if I was never meant to be in Gryffindor? What if the person you got to know in the last few years wasn't the real me and I was delusional of myself or – "

"Stop, Harry." Her voice was still just as gentle, but it made him stop, nonetheless. "Harry, do you think I am brave?"

The question startled him enough to look up. The expression in her eyes was kind and warm, and he nodded. Yes, Hermione was brave, he had no doubt about that; what other eleven-year-old would set a teacher on fire in order to rescue her friend?

"Do you think I am only brave?"

He shook his head. How could she even ask? She was so much more.

"What would you say I am beside brave? Intelligent? Studious? Hard-working? Perfectionistic? Determined?"

Harry nodded.

"Sometimes tactless? An insufferable know-it-all?" Hermione grinned at that and Harry, still nodding, escaped a small laugh.

"And are those Gryffindor traits?"

Slowly, he shook his head again; they weren't, if he thought about it.

"They aren't, and I wouldn't really consider myself brave or courageous. And the sorting hat had wanted to put me into Ravenclaw, because I already have all the character traits for that house." Harry wasn't particularly surprised at that, and Hermione continued. "But it also considered Slytherin, because I was driven by the ambition to belong and succeed in this new magical world at such a young age. Despite all that, the hat didn't entirely rule out Hufflepuff and Gryffindor for me."

Harry looked at her, wide-eyed, and Hermione smirked at him.

"Yes, it considered all four houses for me." Her voice sounded strangely proud of the fact. "Hufflepuff, because, even if I didn't had friends at that point, I already knew I would be loyal to them, that I would cherish them, and because I was not above hard work. And Gryffindor, because I wanted to be brave and courageous. I wanted to leave the shy and socially awkward girl I'd been in my previous school behind and actually make friends. For that, I needed to be brave enough to talk to people and open up even if it meant facing rejection like I had experienced before." Her expression was intense.

"The hat decided on what I wanted to be instead of what I already was. Belonging to a house isn't just so you can be among like-minded people and make it more comfortable; it is also so you can reach your potential, the parts of that you want to reach and even the parts you didn't know you had." She smiled at him and continued.

"And I would guess that was also in your case. The small boy in our first year wasn't the bold and courageous Gryffindor I got to know over the years. You decided that you wanted to be a Gryffindor and the hat would have never put you in that house if you wouldn't have the potential to be one. And you are, Harry." Her voice was insistent. "You are brave and daring and perhaps the most courageous person I know. Not many people could have lived through what you have and come out the kind and wonderful person that you are."

She squeezed his hand again and Harry tried to keep control of all the fear and hope and… he didn't know what else, it was too much. He blinked, his eyes burned in a way that he knew if he would let go even a little bit, he would cry.

"But that is not all you are. You are also determined and cunning, resourceful and you have great leadership skills. All those are Slytherin traits and the reason the sorting hat would put you there. But I think that your ambition was the point which decided it this time. After what had happened at the end of the last school year…" She paused. "It is no wonder the experience changed you, or at least changed your priorities. I think I'm right when I say that you want to fight You-Know-Who? That you will not stand by idly, that you are determined to stop him?"

Harry simply nodded; his throat too blocked with emotions to speak. Never had he imagined that Hermione could read him so easily. If it hadn't been one of his best friends, he would have been terrified.

"That's a kind of ambition. It doesn't matter that you don't want to have money or power or fame. You want You-Know-Who to be defeated and you want to help with that. It doesn't matter that you want it in part out of revenge –" Harry shook his head vehemently, but his friend only laughed quietly. "Oh Harry, nobody would begrudge you some slightly vengeful thoughts, and after everything you are entitled to them.

"What I want to say, Harry, is that we are far more than a handful of personality traits and, and we shouldn't be reduced to a schoolhouse defining us. Different circumstances will bring out different traits. Being in the house known for determination, cunning, and ambition will not change you since you've always had those traits," she said with a small smile. "And you will always also be brave and daring and reckless, but also loyal and kind and so much more. You will always be Harry, the very first friend I ever made."

Harry still couldn't speak but he hugged Hermione as hard as he could, conveying everything he wanted to say in that hug. Judging by the way Hermione hugged back he could tell she knew and understood. They stayed like this for a while and when he settled back into his chair, he could finally clear his throat.

"When did you get that intelligent and insightful?" He teased with a grin, feeling lighter than he had in weeks - since he had found out about the sorting, really. Hermione laughed and punched him slightly on the arm.

"Thank you, Hermione." He squeezed her arm shortly.

"Anytime, Harry. that's what friends are for. Now, tell me what that meeting with Professor Snape was about," she demanded.

And Harry did, but he left out that he had never gone to the yearly health checks before, as well as the concerns they had over his health and eating habits.

Hermione started grilling him for details about the differences between Gryffindor and Slytherin after he had told her what his morning had been like. She also voiced concerns about how the Slytherins had been treating him and Harry had to tell her several times that so far, he hadn't been bullied, mistreated, or even ignored. He didn't voice his concerns that he didn't think it would stay that way.

"It is really interesting how different Professor Snape his handling his duties as the Head of House compared to Professor McGonagall. Don't you think so? Do you think it has something to do with the age difference? Professor Snape is about our parents' age, while Professor McGonagall was already the Head of House when your parents, Professor Lupin, and Sirius were here as students." Hermione mused, not in the least put out by Harry's silence. "I won't say that one way is better than the other, but Professor Snape seems definitely more invested in the lives of his students. And I am actually intrigued by these tutoring classes; it's so hard to get one of the upper years to help."

Harry frowned at her. "What would you need one of the upper years for? You don't need any help in your schoolwork."

"Oh, Harry, do you think I really love spending that much time researching?"

"Actually… yes." He looked at her in confusion.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, I do love the library, but sometimes I would like to read books for enjoyment rather than just schoolwork. And some classes are hard even for me, and it would be so much easier to ask an upper year to explain the things I didn't understand instead of searching through book after book."

A person appeared beside their table before Harry could respond. He looked up and wasn't entirely surprised to see Zabini. When Harry craned his neck to look around him, he could see Malfoy, Parkinson, and some of the others standing near the library entrance.

"Potter, we thought it would be nice to go to lunch all together. What do you think?" Zabini smiled at him.

Harry frowned. He hadn't seen them in the library earlier, so why would they come get him for lunch? He again glanced towards the people standing at the door and caught Malfoy's eyes. He stared at him in a way that Harry wasn't quite sure how to interpret, but when he leaned to the side and whispered something to Parkinson, he remembered – Malfoy and Parkinson were the 5th year Slytherin prefects, and Snape had told him that the prefects would be informed of his diet plan and the potions he had to take at breakfast.

By the looks both were directing his way, that had already happened. And it was lunchtime, which Harry had completely forgotten about, but here they were, getting him for lunch…

Great. He had Slytherin babysitters.

Zabini was still smiling at him and Harry stood up with a groan. It didn't look like he could escape them and at least nobody was being antagonistic; if he went along with it, perhaps it would remain peaceful.

He looked at Hermione, who had a puzzled yet intrigued expression on her face. He suppressed another groan. Wonderful. His brilliant best friend had obviously realized that something was going on that she wasn't privy to, and it wouldn't be like her to stop before figuring out what it was.

"Are you coming?" Harry gestured to the door. "We can at least walk to the hall together. Or would it be better if they didn't see you interacting with me?" He tried to ask the last question quietly enough so that only Hermione could hear it but judging from Zabini's frown he hadn't been quiet enough.

Hermione's expression changed instantly, and her voice sounded clipped when she spoke. "If someone has a problem with me walking with my best friend, then they will have the unfortunate experience to learn what spells and curses I picked up while helping you prepare for the tournament last year." She set her chin in a stubborn line and stood up. She nodded to Zabini, who couldn't hide a grin at her words and together they walked to the entrance.

"Let's go to lunch." Zabini opened the door and Harry and Hermione nodded to the others who followed them out of the library. The entire trip to the Great Hall felt a bit awkward as Harry could sense the assessing gazes of Malfoy and Parkinson on his back. At least it didn't seem like they had told the rest of his yearmates he thought gratefully as he said goodbye to Hermione. He wasn't getting any strange looks – or stranger looks than before, anyway - as he sat down at the Slytherin table.

Lunch was surprisingly quiet and even nice, in an odd kind of way, and nobody commented on the fact that Harry's plate had filled automatically. The Slytherins talked about their upcoming classes and about their holidays. They tried to include Harry in their conversation, asking him about his summer, which he answered, albeit vaguely.

At one point they talked about the new Professors – or one Professor, at least, as Grubbly-Plank wasn't actually new.

"I heard Dumbledore couldn't find someone to fill the Defence position in time, so the Ministry jumped in and appointed her," Greengrass remarked, all of them briefly looking to the teacher's table and at the Professor clad from head to toe in pink again.

Davis shuddered. "It shouldn't be allowed to wear such horrid… clothes where sensitive children's eyes could see them," she said. "I am sure that after this year everyone here will have some kind of trauma linked to the colour pink."

Bulstrode snorted at that and Harry couldn't suppress the small grin that escaped him. "Yeah, she was actually really horrible at my hearing."

Instantly everyone looked at him.

"You know her?" Davis asked curiously.

Harry nodded. "A little. She was at my hearing and was rather… vocal about me being guilty," he said "Wasn't really happy that I got away. I don't think she likes me, but by the way she looked at Fudge, she definitely likes the Minister." He shrugged, while everyone around him shuddered.

"My father told me about her," Malfoy added. "She is the Undersecretary to the Minister, but it seems she is rather useless, and Fudge was quite happy to get rid of her."

"Oh, wow, it's nice to know that the Ministry takes our education that serious." Davis deadpanned and snickers filled their part of the table.

"But seriously, Fudge wanted to have an insider at Hogwarts," Malfoy continued. "He doesn't trust Dumbledore anymore. Seems to think he's power-hungry or something and wants to corrupt the minds of children."

"And they think sending… that would help him?" Bulstrode grumbled, gesturing to Umbridge. "Did you open the Defence book for this year? It seems to me the classes will be completely theoretical. Theory only, in our O.W.L. year!" she huffed. "The seventh years are also not happy about the curriculum. If they hinder our education, it will only anger the students, and with them their parents and families, and that will certainly not be positive for the Minister."

Harry looked at the tall and bulky girl in astonishment. He never had heard her speak so many words, not even in classes when she was called on by a professor.

Zabini elbowed him. "Don't look so surprised. Milli doesn't look like it and doesn't like to display it,but she has a mind sharp as a knife," he whispered with a laugh in his voice. "But she is too obsessed with runes to use it for anything else, she tends to forget all the other classes beside it and everything else, too."

Harry quickly glanced at Zabini and then at Bulstrode, who flashed a small but very amused grin at him.

"Nothing more interesting than runes," she said "You can practically do anything with them without lifting your wand even once. Sadly, most of the knowledge was lost in the medieval times." She sighed, trailed off, and got a far-away look in her eyes.

"And Millicent is out of the conversation for a while," Greengrass drawled. She shook her head and removed the plate from Millicent's place, where she had started drawing runes in the rest of her mashed potatoes with her fork absentmindedly.

The conversation turned to the other classes and what they could expect in their O.W.L. year. Harry listened, but his gaze wandered to Bulstrode more than once. Her statement about runes intrigued him and his own rather new interest in them had made him wonder what else was possible. Perhaps he could ask her once they were back in the common room? She might even be able to recommend him a book or two.

His hand stopped halfway in bringing his goblet to his lips, when he realized that he had already become more comfortable with the people around him, and he hadn't even been in Slytherin for a full day yet. He didn't know if it was deliberate, but they had included him and behaved rather like normal teenagers. It was a far cry from what the Gryffindors thought they would act like – like evil wizards, planning to take over the world, or at least the school. Instead, gossip, talk of classes and holidays surrounded him.

Was it all just their plan? Did they only behave like that to make him relax and bring his guard down?

He instantly felt bad about that thought. Whatever their parents were, they were only teenager, like he was. And yes, some of them had behaved rather unpleasantly in the past, but even the unpleasant ones were trying with Harry. When he looked around and studied their faces, he couldn't bring up the old suspicion anymore. He didn't think it was a plot; they were simply teenagers behaving like teenagers.

Teenagers with more manners and decorum than the rather loud and sometimes uncontrolled lions, but teenagers, nonetheless.

He sighed and reminded himself that if he didn't want to be prejudiced against based on his blood, family, or former house, he should definitely try to reign in his prejudice and suspicion.

"Potter? Hey, are you still with us?" Zabini's elbow brought him back to the conversation at the table.

Harry blinked and looked up to see everyone gazing at him curiously. He gave them a sheepish smile. "Yeah, sorry. Got a little side-tracked. What is it?"

Zabini studied him for a moment, then continued. "We decided to spend the afternoon outside. The sun is shining, and it could be our last Saturday where we can completely relax. Are you coming with us?"

Harry thought shortly about it, then nodded. "But I have to go to the dorm for a moment. With everything that was going on, I didn't have to the time to look over my summer assignments again and I really don't want to give Sn… Professor Snape another reason to be angry with me. Being resorted into Slytherin did that already." Nobody commented on his near slip of tongue.

Davis gave him a sharp look. "I don't think that he is really angry with you about being resorted - not that you could have done anything to prevent it. But it really would be better if your summer homework is up to his standard," she said.

"He tends to be stricter with us when it comes down to it. If you want, I can give it a quick look over and point out where you need to change things. Perhaps if you ask nicely, I even tell you what exactly to add, delete, or change." She grinned and Zabini at his side whistled.

"That's an offer you really should take, Potter," he said "Tracey is normally not the one to voluntarily help with homework. And she is the perfect choice to ask for help, especially in potions."

Harry blinked at them, confused. "If it's potions, wouldn't Malfoy be the perfect choice?"

Malfoy looked a little startled by Harry's comment, but shook his head. "I am only good in potions because I was tutored in it since I was child, and because I study for it to be up to Professor Snape's standard. I could explain everything that's in the schoolbooks, but Tracey… she is on a completely different level, and not only in Potions." Malfoy smiled at his friend briefly and Harry was astonished how it transformed his normally pointy and haughty face.

"You have Granger, but we have our own genius and she doesn't even have to study for it," he continued "Knowledge comes easy to her and whenever she decides to engage in something, she is brilliant in it. She could sit her O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s now if she wanted, but…" He trailed off.

"I am too lazy." Davis smiled, took a sip from her pumpkin juice and leaned against Bulstrode at her side. "Yes, apparently my mind is working on a genius level and I've never studied a day in my life. I read a book or hear something and it's all in here, drawing connections to other things, ripping it apart to understand the fundamentals." She gestured to her head.

"But it makes classes and schoolwork rather mind-numbing. I tend to get distracted and bored. I'd rather experiment with spells, charms, and potions than do what the teachers want from me. Drives them crazy." She grinned again.

"Quite similar to your talent on a broom, I think, Potter."

Harry couldn't completely wrap his mind around the different things he had learned in the last hour about people he thought he knew for the last four years, but he grinned back. If he was proud of anything, it was his flying abilities.

"Sounds right."

"Then are you going for the try-outs?" Zabini enquired.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's already enough needing to get used to being in another house, on top of O.W.L.s this year," he said "Besides, you already have a good seeker." He gestured to Malfoy who looked at him with a rather strange expression.

"But let's be blunt - you are better," Greengrass stated "You are a natural on the broom and Draco couldn't defeat you even once."

To Harry's surprise, Malfoy nodded with a pained expression.

"But if I am out of the game, there isn't anyone else that could beat Malfoy," he said "So... if I'm not playing, he'll be the best seeker of the school, and that should be enough for Slytherin to win. I really do have enough other things to do, even without Quidditch," Harry elaborated. He caught the small satisfied grin on Malfoy's face, but he wasn't sure if it was because of Slytherin's chances on winning this year, or due to the hint of a compliment.

"And you don't want to antagonize your old house by playing against them," Bulstrode remarked dryly.

"That, too," Harry acknowledged, without looking at anyone.

They were silent for a while, then Zabini stood, breaking up the slight awkwardness. "Let's get outside and enjoy our last lazy Saturday for a year."

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: 27th of May 2019