Hello! This chapter is short I know, I considered putting the Slytherin/Gryffindor chapters together but it didn't make sense going back and forth so they are separate chapter, but being posted at the same time. This chapter focuses on the aftermath of the announcements, from the perspective of Gryffindor house.

Enjoy :)

Harry had just come face to face with his entire house. The amount of people in this one room, on a hot September day, was bringing it close to boiling point. They were crowded into the common room, squeezed into every spare space, leaning on walls and sitting three people on an armchair. They had been waiting for him to arrive. They didn't look very pleased with him. Seamus Finnegan was standing in the middle of them all, and he was the first to speak.

"You think you have some explaining to do, Potter." He said, with his arms crossed defensively. Several people nodded in agreement, others looked uncomfortable about the confrontation, not sure what might happen or break out.

"About what, Seamus?" Harry asked, trying to put the conversation off for even a second more if he could. He knew this was coming from the minute he agreed to Severus' plan of taking guardianship, but Merlin knows he didn't want to deal with it.

"For Merlin's sake Potter! Is Dumbledore telling the truth? Have you been adopted by Snape?!" Seamus was angry, arms suddenly uncrossed and flung up in the air.

"He hasn't adopted me. I am his ward." Harry corrected, which only served to anger Seamus further.

"Fine, you're his ward; it still paints you as a traitor to this house. He's the Head of Slytherin! Practically the enemy of everyone in here, someone who has made many of our lives living hell!"

"Hey, mate, calm down." Ron came forward, defending his friend, "Harry isn't a traitor. Stuff happened and he had to come back to Hogwarts. He had to have a guardian, and Snape was the easiest option. That's just how it went."

"Stuff like what? What happened over the summer?" Someone near to the stairs asked. They pushed forward into the middle of the common room, and Harry could see that it was Parvati Patil, "I think we have a right to know."

"I don't think you do actually." Hermione told her sternly, and Harry almost thanked her for standing by him, "This is Harry's business. He told you all because he didn't want the secret coming out a different way. Now leave him and Professor Snape alone."

Seamus scoffed, "We will, as soon as we get some answers. Parvati is right; we have the right to know. We are meant to be a united house; we need to know we can trust 'im!" His angry exclamations kept causing people to nod, and that was worrying Harry. He had known there would be a few ringleaders, people like Seamus, who would really disagreed with his choice and make it well heard, but he didn't think so many people would be bothered by it.

"Was it to do with you-know-who? Is that why you came back to Hogwarts? Did he attack you?" A small, scared-looking third year boy asked, and all eyes trained themselves back to Harry from Seamus.

When he didn't answer, Seamus walked to one of the tables, picked up a newspaper and threw it at Harry's feet. The headline was continuously changing between 'Potter' and 'Plotter', with a photo of him at the Triwizard Tournament. Harry picked it up, staring at the picture.

"My mam didn't want me to come back this year, because of you, and your stories." Seamus told him, "The Daily Prophet's being saying a lot of things about ya Harry, and about Dumbledore as well. They're saying you lied about him coming back."

"What, and your mum believes them? Do you believe them too?" Harry asked snidely. He was still staring at the photo.

"Well no one was there the night Cedric died." Seamus stated.

"Oh well I guess you should read the Prophet then like your stupid mother, it'll tell you everything you need to know." Harry replied, his anger evident in his voice. He couldn't believe what he was being accused of.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother like that –"

"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar." Harry raised his voice, fists clenched at his sides.

"You're mad!" Seamus said, pointing his finger at Harry, "All this rubbish about you-know-who coming back, and then this stuff about Snape! It's all just for the attention! No one believes you!"

"I do." Ron stepped forward, at the same time as his brothers, Ginny and Hermione; he looked around the members of Gryffindor house, "Has anyone else got a problem with Harry?"

A fourth year, Jimmy Peakes, cleared his throat, and Ron's steely eyes focused on the younger boy, "It's not a problem…" Jimmy began, his hands raised in surrender, "But how can we trust you now that you're so close to the head of Slytherin? You are meant to be a Gryffindor. Like Seamus said, this is a united house. You're meant to be part of that."

"I still am." Harry said, exasperated, "The fact that Se- Professor Snape is my guardian does not change the fact I am loyal to this house. It never, ever will. I will still collect points for Gryffindor. I will still play quidditch for Gryffindor. Nothing regards my loyalty to this house has changed."

He was keeping his eyes away from Seamus, in case he got angry again. He could hear the boy muttering. He didn't mind talking about his situation as Severus' ward, but he would not talk about Voldemort to people who believed he was a liar.

"But Professor Snape of all people…" Lavender Brown spoke up from next to Parvati, "He treats us like dirt. He opposes us just like the rest of Slytherin do. We have to fight for fair points and comments in classes with him. He never acts professional when it concerns a Gryffindor."

Harry fidgeted, "Well, maybe me being his ward will change his mind. Hopefully this new study system will change a lot of people's minds about the other houses."

There was a grumbling in the common room. Clearly positivity wasn't a popular opinion.

With a last half-hearted smile at his peers, once again avoiding Seamus, he said, "If anyone wants to ask me anything else, I don't mind, just leave it till the morning." He let Hermione kiss his cheek, then he walked through the throng of people, up the stone staircase and into the room he had lived in for the last four years. He collapsed on the bed, hands covering his face.

"You did well mate." Ron told his friend, having followed him up the stairs.

"You think?"

"Yeh. Apart from the you-know-who stuff, you really kept your cool."

"I think so too." Harry uncovered his face to see Neville standing by the door way, "I think you did great about it all, considering what you were being accused of. I don't like Professor Snape, but I know it must have been something really bad for you to end up back here."

"Thanks Nev. How was your summer?"

"Oh it was alright. I helped by Grandma around the house a lot. I read a lot of books about Herbology…"He went on for a little bit, explaining some of the things he learnt.

"Sounds great." Harry conceded, giving his friend a smile that only lasted a second.

The sound of feet on the stairs interrupted them, as Seamus and his best friend, Dean Thomas, made their way up into the room. Seamus gave Harry a rough look, and went over to his own bed. He grabbed a couple things out of his trunk, sat on the sheets and shoved the curtains closed behind him.

A familiar buzz filled the room, and a quick detection charm showed that Seamus had put up silencing charms. They couldn't hear him, and he couldn't hear them. Dean sat on his own bed, opposite Harry's.

"He's got good reason." The dark-skinned boy said, flicking his head in the direction of Seamus' bed, "It really was bad for him over the summer. He sent me letters. He really didn't think he would be coming back, his Mum even suggested he enrol at Durmstrang instead. He had to fight to get back here. That's why he is so angry."

"I don't care what the Prophet prints about me. I don't care what the people reading the Prophet think about me." Harry told Dean, who looked marginally awkward, "Voldemort's back. He's alive, and he won't stop until he has control. We should all be preparing for that."

No one said anything to that. Harry changed quickly and climbed into bed. He wrote a small note on a piece of parchment, using a muggle pen, and sent it away with the charm he had been taught the day before. He couldn't get to sleep. He was nervous about meeting Jane Harper, his new Slytherin study partner, and the possibility of being asked even more questions and receiving even more looks.

He wondered how the Slytherin's were taking the news.