AN: I love you guys, you are all awesome! Thank you for your reviews! I had meant to sit there and reply to each and every one of you, but then I got on Tumblr… and, well, that plan sort of died. But you all have no idea how much I appreciate it!

To answer questions- Yes, I will be going into the heads of other displaced characters so that we can get to see firsthand how they're faring, but that will come later on, so stick around!

Remember, if you have any ideas or anything you guys would like to see happen, or you see something I can improve on, don't hesitate to tell me

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter, but if I did, Dramione would be canon.

Outside the Great Hall- Pansy POV

While the Headmistress kept Granger and Draco inside, she and Blaise had decided to wait for them outside of the doors. Off hiding in a corner, she noticed that Thomas seemed to have the same idea. This, she figured, was a smart thing for him to do considering he might not last long if he walked into the Slytherin common room without Granger.

Not that she thought he wasn't a good fighter; he just didn't have the reputation of being one, like Granger did.

Looking at him now, half hidden by the shadows, he looked almost dangerous. The darkness emphasized the contours of his face and made him look more attractive than he seemed to be in the light.

Well, that was some food for thought.

Pansy's gaze was ripped from Thomas when Blaise spun her around towards him; uncertainty was plain on his smooth features.

"What were we thinking? When we said those things to Granger? What could we have possibly been thinking?" His voice went up in pitch as he squeaked out the last word, pacing.

"We were thinking that things have changed and that Granger is one of us," she sighed. Blaise had been like this since the start of the war- constantly questioning his actions. It made him a real pain to hang out with, after a while.

"What's gotten into you, Pansy? A few years ago if someone had put you in the same room as Granger it would be seconds before you were insulting everything about her…"

She cringed as she remembered. "That was fourth year, Blaise."

Pansy remembered well the Yule Ball, she had gotten Draco all to herself and she was so excited! And then stupid Granger had to walk in and ruin everything! Instead of keeping his eyes on her, like he should have been, Draco's eyes kept wandering over to Granger throughout the night. Never mind the fact that every guy in the Hall was doing the same thing, Draco was supposed to have eyes only for Pansy.

From that day on, Pansy had hated everything to do with muggle-born.

"Still, what the hell happened?" he asked.

What had happened? What had happened? Had he been under a rock for the past year or was he really that thick?

"What happened, Blaise? The WAR happened! The fighting went on forever, or have you forgotten all of the times we took care of each other while we threw up after torturing whoever it was He demanded we torture that day? A whole year filled with-with screams a-and anger and fear! Well, I'm sick of it! I'm sick of fighting! Is it really too much to ask that people get along, really?" She paused really quickly to take a breath before continuing. Blaise looked gob smacked. "Did you not see Granger's face when she was sorted? Fear. Nothing but fear. That woman shouldn't have a damn thing to be afraid of after all she went through, yet she is terrified of having to live in Slytherin. She doesn't deserve to have to be afraid, not after what she did for everyone. Neither does Thomas, for that matter. So I'm going to do whatever is in my power to do to make this easier on them, and I can only hope that someone in Gryffindor is doing the same for Daph and Theo."

Blaise was completely still for a moment, his eyes seemed to be searching Pansy's for something; what, she had no idea. Whatever it was though he seemed to find it because he nodded, only once, and said,

"Good."

Pansy was about to ask what he meant by that when they heard footsteps approaching from the Great Hall and saw Draco and Granger walking out, Granger looked utterly devastated and Pansy felt a stab of sorrow for the woman before her. But what could she do? Other than be kind and keep others from hassling her, what could she do? And what could be done for her friends in Gryffindor? Anything?

As she and Blaise went to join Draco, Pansy didn't see that the figure in the dark she had spent so much time staring at earlier, was now staring at her.

Confusion and interest was clearly written on his face as he went to put an arm around Hermione. Dean Thomas had heard everything.

Slytherin Common Room, Hermione's POV

The common room was cold.

Not just in temperature, but in its looks. It completely lacked the warmth of Gryffindor tower. It was long and walled in rough stone, and everything was tinted slightly green from the round greenish lamps hanging from the ceiling. The floor was stone, though in the middle was an emerald green rug. A fire roared in the elaborately carved mantelpiece, and all of the furniture looked classy, and hard.

And there were no windows.

There wouldn't be, of course, because it's in the dungeons. But what was she going to do without any windows? She felt like she was trapped in a prison and briefly wondered how long it would be before she withered and died without the sunlight. A shiver coursed through her veins, and then Hermione realized that she would probably freeze to death first.

No wonder Slytherin's were jerks- their common room was depressing and apparently they had to spend their lives fighting off freezer burn.

Hermione looked over to Dean, who was also shivering, and noticed that he had a similar look on his face to hers. Dean then looked down at her and said, in a slightly shaky voice,

"We can do this, right?"

Hermione forced herself to put a small smile on her face before she leaned up and whispered into his ear.

"We're Gryffindors Dean, we can do anything."

He chuckled and she saw his body relax slightly, and by seeing him relax, she did too. They could do this.

Zabini came up to them and held his hand out to Dean, his movements stiff with uncertainty.

"Blaise Zabini, you'll be staying in a dorm with me and Smith," his head jerked in the direction of the former Hufflepuff who was standing just behind Zabini. "If you'd like, I can show you where?"

She saw Dean bite his lip before he held out a trembling hand to shake Zabini's.

"Alright, yeah, that'd be great. Goodnight Hermione." He said before following Blaise and Smith out of the common room.

Hermione stood there, feeling very uncomfortable, until Malfoy came up and tugged on her sleeve, causing her hand to reach for her wand. When she realized he was only trying to get her attention so that he could show her their rooms, she felt very foolish and put her wand back where it was. Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry," she said. She couldn't believe she was apologizing to him, but she had been rude. "Just a reflex."

He nodded at her and then looked at the same sixth year that Hermione had hexed earlier, who just happened to be glaring daggers at her. Malfoy's lip twitched for a moment before he spoke.

"Probably a good one for you to have, actually. Now," he looked at the portrait of a large group of people drinking at some celebration before adding, "'True Colors'."

The portrait opened before and Hermione stepped inside after Malfoy, her shoulders relaxed slightly as the portrait slammed shut. Something about having a room full of Slytherin's staring at her made her feel uncomfortable. Malfoy, she could deal with, he was easy. It was the rest of them that scared her.

Their common room was small, with one large couch, two squashy arm chairs and a small table between them. All of the furniture was black and the large rug that covered most all of the floor was Slytherin green. Their mantel wasn't very elaborate, and the fire roaring inside it caused shadows to dance over the plain stone walls. There was a single staircase leading up to the rooms and a door below it that she presumed took them into the kitchen.

Malfoy was nowhere to be seen.

Probably couldn't stand being in the same room as a Mudblood. Hermione thought savagely. She stomped up the stairs to find two doors, one of them was shut with Malfoy's name above it, and the other was open, with hers. Rolling her eyes, she went into her own room.

She had a large four poster bed, three bookshelves, an armchair, a writing desk with matching chair and a bedside table. Everything was decked out in black and green, and Hermione felt like an outsider to these colors.

She took a brief peek into the bathroom which contained a large bath, a shower, toilet, and two sinks. Malfoy's door was closed on the other side; she shook her head at her living situations and went to get ready for bed.

As she lay there in her bed tears streamed down her face. She had never felt so alone in her life.

How was she supposed to survive like this? How could she be in Slytherin, of all places? Hermione had always called Slytherin's cowards and other awful things, but now she was one of them. So did that mean the she was a horrible person? Or were her opinions of Slytherin's as cruel monsters just wrong?

With these thoughts and her tears, sleep finally came and the nightmares plagued her mind.

Head's Dorm, Draco's POV

He woke up in the middle of the night with the strong urge to piss. Groaning he sat up and blinked for a moment as he tried to remember where he was.

Sorting. Slytherin. His own room. Got it.

With a yawn he left his ridiculously comfortable bed and made his way to the bathroom. After he finished up and was washing his hands, he heard something that made his blood freeze in his veins.

Granger was screaming.

Draco sprinted to her door and tried to yank it open, but it refused to budge. Of course she would lock the door, what reason would she have to trust him, of all people? Grunting in frustration he was about to make for his wand when he noticed the words she was screaming.

"We didn't take anything! It's a faaaaahhhhhh! It's a fake, please! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! We never went into your vault, I swear, it's just a copy! Noo pleaaaahhhhhhhh!"

He knew those screams, because those were the screams that had haunted him for nights on end. She was only dreaming, not being attacked.

But she was dreaming about the night she had been tortured right in front of him. His heart dropped down into his stomach and he collapsed to the floor, in shock. What was he supposed to do? Storm in there and wake her up? But then he doubted that she would think she was free of the nightmare, if it was his face that woke her.

Draco thought back to the moment her eyes had widened at him in fear at dinner- was this what she had been thinking about? How he had stood by and done nothing? Did she think he had enjoyed it?

He bit his lip and stood, debating about what to do, before turning and heading back into his own room and casting a silencing charm on the door so that he wouldn't hear her.

Guiltily he thought about his claim that he would help her in order to stay in Slytherin… but he had sworn to help protect her from others… not from herself, right?

But she doesn't think she's only fighting herself… in her mind she's fighting my psychotic aunt…

Draco punched one of his pillows and rolled over, a scowl etched upon his face. Where we these thoughts coming from? Why did he suddenly care about what the filthy mudblood dreamt about? He had only said that to the sorting hate to save his own skin, no other reason.

But that wasn't right, was it? She wasn't a mudblood, not anymore. She was put into his house… and she was screaming. She had nightmares just like any other person, and Draco cursed. This little nighttime adventure had turned Granger into a real person for him, and he didn't like it.

He thought back to the Yule Ball, and how he had wondered if she was a person back then, too. And then he thought about every interaction he had ever had with her, searching for signs that she was a person, and not a mudblood.

Sleep did not come for Draco that night.