I walk to my room at Grimmauld Place to put on my robes for the train ride when suddenly I notice something odd. "'Mione! Ron!" I shout, causing the two Gryffindors to sprint to my room, where I show them the oddity. My robes are blank; the Gryffindor colors are gone. I stare at the two in horror, which makes them shuffle awkwardly; they know something. "What. Do. You. Know." I say slowly and aggressively. "Umm, well, we got a visit from McGonagall yesterday. It seems, well, that you were accidentally expelled. They fixed it, of course, but you… have to be re-housed." Hermione says softly. I immediately blow up, screaming and cursing at the both of them at "how could you hide this from me!?" and other, not so nice words. They have the decency to look ashamed, but they keep saying that it shouldn't be a problem, that of course I'll go back to Gryffindor. I roll my eyes at them and grab my stuff, shoving past and going downstairs, meeting the disapproving eyes of Molly Weasley.
"Mrs. Weasley, I'm not in the mood for this. I just need to get to school. Sorry." I say nastily, causing guilt to spark up in my veins. I quickly apologize and run out to the Knight Bus to get to the train.
"Professor, please! I can't go through that now! I'm already an over-dramatized miracle, I can't go through any more criticism of being a favorite or something!" I beg McGonagall, but she just shakes her head firmly. "Harry, we do apologize for the expulsion, but the magic of Hogwarts requires it. We believe the hat will make the right choice again, and doing so will bring you more confidence." Suddenly I'm whisked away into the hall, sitting with the first years like an imbecile. Once the first years are sorted, Dumbledore calls my name, explaining the circumstances. I sneak a glance at Ron and Hermione, but they won't look up, too busy flirting. I watch out of the corner of my eye the Slytherins laughing and pointing, making me feel awful.
"Well Mr. Potter, I'm very pleased to meet you again. Now, are we going to get into an argument like the first time, or are you going to let me do my job?" I growl at the implication but agree.
"Well then… it must be… SLYTHERIN!" Everyone shouts in indignation, while the Slytherin table goes silent. I slowly walk to my new house, suddenly scared I might be killed in my sleep or something. Snape walks up to me and grabs my arm. "I don't know what you did Potter, but I will find out, and when I do, you will be sorry." He hisses at me. I gulp audibly and sit next to Zabini, who scoots over silently and stares at me in disgust. "So, Potter, you're now a Slytherin. I promise we won't kill you… yet." Parkinsons laughs evilly, smirking when I shudder. Malfoy suddenly speaks up. "Potter, I know I've not been kind to you, and that won't change anytime soon, but you are now our family, and family takes care of each other. You will always be with me and Pansy or Blaise; the hallways aren't safe to lone Slytherins. You I guess will be rooming with me; I'll show you the way as soon as dinner is over." I shoot him a weak smile, which sends him reeling. He stares in shock as I sit with my head down, trying to block out all the shouting and slurs being thrown at us. Wow, us. That's new. Guess I have to get used to it.
As I walk behind Malfoy to the common room, he keeps looking back curiously. Finally, I have to ask. "What's up Malfoy? Something on my face?" I say weakly, which he notices. "I'm just confused as to why you look so dull, and how you haven't said a mean thing to me yet. Shouldn't you like this? I mean, the attention and all?" he asks, no venom in his voice at all, just curiosity. I shake my head vigorously. "NO! wait, I'm sorry for yelling, no I don't like this. I've never liked the attention, and now I'm in a house where everybody hates me and my best friends are too busy with each other that they forgot about me. And I'm trying to be civil if I don't want to be dead tomorrow morning." I say, which Malfoy smiles at. "We won't kill you. Don't worry about Pansy, she's just nervous around Gryffindors… and transfer Slytherins. And if you can be civil… I guess I can, too." He says smiling slightly, and a real smile, not a smirk. He holds out his hand and I take it, shaking it and smiling back. Maybe this won't be so bad. Maybe I can make new friends. "Thank you, Draco." His smile gets wider. "You're welcome, Harry." He keeps hold of my hand and practically drags me up the stairs, laughing at my discomfort.
When we reach the painting to the common room, it sneers at me. "Well I never! A Gryffindor-turned- Slytherin? Go right on in darling; this is where you belong." She laughs and swings open at the password Hippogriff. I walk inside, all of my joy gone at the idea of meeting Slytherins, like, for real, but Draco notices again. "Harry! It's fine! No one wants to hurt you, that bad anyway. I will make sure you survive the night. And WHEN you do, we will sort all this animosity out, got it?" he says matter-of-factly. I smile at him again and walk into the center of the room, ignoring the stares and hateful remarks being thrown at me, choosing instead to follow Draco upstairs to our room.
Once we're there, I'm in awe. Beautiful silver and emerald green accents, along with silver sheets and a green comforter. "Draco, this is beautiful. Why do you guys not flaunt this more?" I ask sassily. Draco takes the teasing and grins. "For one, you are part of the "guys" now, and two, we like to keep our common room and dorms secret. We are quite proud of it, and unlike most say, we aren't as stuck up as you think. We may act it, but that's just what it is- an act. We are actually quite nice if you get to know us, which you will. We won't force you to do anything you don't want, except for meeting everyone and trying not to make us lose points, please!" he says, but he's smiling, so I know there's a joke lying somewhere in it.
"So Draco, what are we doing about this thing here?" Zabini says, gesturing towards me. Draco frowns for a minute, but then his face lights up. "This thing, as you so call him, has a name, so use it. Secondly, what if we go out on the pitch and fly some? Ya know, get our aggressions out and all that. I have an idea, but I need Mullins here to spell it out. Wanna go, Harry?" he asks excitedly. I nod, but question how, considering it's past curfew. He just shrugs, saying "if we get caught, we get caught." I grin and run outside with him, the rest following slowly behind.
When we get out onto the field, Draco and I call our brooms to us, mount, and fly up into the September night. We chase each other around the field a few times, taunting and jabbing at one another, though both of us are laughing hysterically. We fly to our hearts' content before heading inside to take a shower, the high of flying never leaving.
As soon as the Slytherins walk into the Great Hall, chaos blooms. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs throw things at us, Ravenclaws shout insults. I try to run out of the hall, but Draco and Pansy hold me tight and sit me down between them. I block out the noises while Snape puts up a shield around our table. As I eat, the noises fade, and I can actually have fun with my new friends. "Hey, I don't know if you noticed, but your robes changed." Draco says, smirking as always. I grin and laugh along with the rest of the table, again ignoring shouts of protest. All too soon, breakfast is over, and we have to go to our first class, which is, lucky me, double potions… with the Gryffindors.
Draco pulls me over to an empty seat beside him and starts entertaining me with jokes, which are surprisingly kind of funny. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the entire Gryffindor class glaring at Draco, as if it was his fault. I snarl at them and smirk when they jump in alarm. I also see Hermione and Ron glaring at me, as if this was my fault. I glare at them too and feel satisfaction when they look away quickly.
"50 points from Gryffindor for terrorizing a fellow student. Now pay attention, as I will only speak once. We will be brewing potio visus, meaning potion of sight." As I listen to Snape, I watch Draco writing the instructions down, and decide to follow the example. Soon enough, my cauldron is bubbling at the correct temperature, and also the right color. "Well Potter, it seems you have enough brain to brew this potion, though I did say no help. Draco, did you help him?" Snape sneers. Draco frowns and says no. "50 points to Slytherin, for being competent." I can't believe my ears, Snape giving me points? This is very unusual, and I plan to find out what exactly he is up to.
"Hey! Harry! You did really good today! How did you attempt it?" Draco calls after me after class. I tell him that I copied his instructions and he grins. "Wow! I've influenced you already, haven't I?" I laugh and we walk to our next class, Transfiguration, when suddenly Draco pushes me to the ground. I feel magic coursing around me as a curse flies over my head. I notice Draco is on top of me, shielding me, but I roll us over as another curse flies at us. I scream in pain as it hits me before everything turns to black.
As soon as I regain consciousness I groan in pain, and a hand grasps my own. "Harry? Can you hear me? I'm so sorry this happened to you; I tried to protect you, honestly I did." Draco whispers. I can't open my eyes yet, or speak for that matter, but I squeeze his hand in response. He sits with me for hours as I slowly regain use of my body, talking the whole while to keep me entertained. Eventually, my body comes back to me, and I ask the one question I've been wondering about this entire time. "What happened?" Draco looks up sharply as I speak and guilt grows on his face, which I decide is an expression I never want to see again.
"Someone was trying to curse us, with a dark curse. I felt it coming before you did, so I tackled you. Then your heroic ass tries to save me and gets shot. I carried you straight here, while Snape took care of the people who cursed us." I feel he's hiding something, but I don't pry; I'm trying to learn to trust the Slytherins, which is happening faster than expected. I smile at him gratefully and grab his hand again. He grins at me and tells me to rest, which is what I plan to do.
"OWW! What the hell was that for? I saved him you asshole." is what I wake up to. I struggle to open my eyes, but when I do, I see a fuming Ron and Hermione. "If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't be here!" Draco growls. "If it wasn't for me, he'd be dead!" Ron reels back and punches Draco in the face, again and again until Hermione dragged him off.
"GUYS! Stop! What is going on?" I ask, wincing at the pain in my head. Draco's face immediately softens and he asks if I'm okay, which I ignore, instead asking about him. He says he's okay and then turns to the other teens. "Look, I don't know what happened, but trust me, I'm trying to take care of Harry. He needs friends, real friends, who will look after his wellbeing. Speaking of which, you have something to say, don'tcha Weasley?" he says, smirking. I look at Ron, confused, watching as his face goes from angry to surprised to guilty. "Well, I'm getting expelled." I sit back in shock and ask why. "Since he won't tell you the truth, I will. He's the one that shot the curse. He is the one who tried to kill me, and inadvertently, tried to kill you." I look between my best friend and Draco, deciding once and for all that I will never talk to him or Hermione ever again. Draco has been a great friend the past two days, more than the others have since we met.
"Get. Out. I don't want to see either of you ever again. Draco has been more of a friend recently than you two have ever been. I'm not in Gryffindor, I'm in Slytherin. Therefore, you don't get to make decisions for me, or even speak to me, knowing you hate us." I say, smirking slightly as I say us, sealing my fate of being a Slytherin forever. They nod sadly and trudge out of the room, looking back to see if I'll change my mind, but I just stare hatefully until they finally disappear, finally letting me break down. "Oh Harry." Draco says softly, then proceeds to pull me into a hug as I cry.