As Draco escorted Hermione to the Slytherin common room, a numb sensation seemed to overcome her. The shock was setting in and she felt cold, but at the same time blisteringly hot. Draco must have noticed her discomfort, because he matched his pace to hers, and glanced sideways, his eyes cautious. Like everyone else, he never knew how to handle the girl; she was always doing the unexpected, and you could never know how she would react. Right now, Draco was looking at her like she was a grenade, who might go off at any second.

"You know, it's not that bad." he said, surprising the brunette with his kind tone, "Being a Slytherin, I mean." He was facing in front of them again, his lips pulled into an awkward grimace; he knew already that she wouldn't react well to that.

True to form, her head swung round to face him and she stopped walking, "Pardon? Not that bad?" Draco stilled too, and he turned to face her. She was small, but her incredulous stare was intimidating and even Draco Malfoy had difficulty meeting her gaze. "My friends hate me; everyone thinks I'm going to go bad, and now? To top off this absolutely brilliant day, I'm talking to my childhood nemesis about my problems!" exclaimed Hermione, throwing her hands up in the air. Draco was a bit taken aback, and defensively retorted.

"Well, I wouldn't expect a dumb Gryffindor like yourself to understand." he snapped, and Hermione caught a glimpse of the boy who had been mean to her all those years in his frustrated, irritated expression. "But Slytherin isn't as bad as you'd think."

She narrowed her eyes on him, "Oh, haven't you heard, I'm a scheming Slytherin now." said Hermione sarcastically, only half joking, "And of course you'd think that being a Slytherin is great. If you weren't a Slytherin, your life would be torture! Your parents have practically reserved a spot for you since you were born! Not that you don't deserve it," she smiled at him and Draco wore a proud look on his face, "You are a snobby brat, aren't you, like all the other Malfoys."

He grinned, as if he were amused by some great inside joke. Hermione glared at him.

"Are you really that stupid that you mistook that for a compliment?" Hermione asked, astonished. Was this idiocy what awaited her in Slytherin?

Draco surprised her though. He met her eyes and smirked, "Spoken like a true Slytherin." He complimented- or, at least, Hermione was sure he meant it as a compliment. To her, it was a vile insult.

"What? No! I didn't mean-" she tried to amend, but it was too late. Draco had turned and was walking again, down some narrow corridor. She had never been to the Slytherin quarters before, so she followed quickly after him. She didn't want to get lost in this unfamiliar part of Hogwarts.

"Well, I'm a Gryffindor." said Hermione indignantly, knowing that he could hear her and refusing to believe anything else on the topic; she was no Slytherin.

"Not anymore, you're not." he replied as he held open the portrait door to the Slytherin common room. He looked back at her, than nodded his head in the direction of the opening behind the Portrait; a gesture telling her, go on. Hermione ducked under his stretched arm and found herself in a chaotic huddle of green and silver.

She was looking around at the place as if it was some foreign planet, and- in a way- it was. She was so used to the colours red and gold, the green and silver was entirely different- and, while she hated to admit it, it was a nice change; there was only so much red and gold a girl could stand.

Draco was quick off the mark to introduce her to the idle Slytherins, standing just behind Hermione; one hand rested between her shoulder blades, the other gestured to people Hermione had seen around, but never spoken to. "This is Alison, Cassie, Rory, Elaine, Lee, Blaine, Caroline, Raphael, Jack, Sarah, Doreen, Simon, Alec, Jocelyn-" and the list went on, and on- and on. Draco, it seemed was a social butterfly, and he knew everyone here. "Everyone," Draco hollered, and the crowd turned to him, expectantly, as if he were their king, "This is the infamous Hermione Granger. She's been moved from Gryffindor to Slytherin. Show her how good Slytherin is!" he was grinning. Hermione looked at him and saw the Slytherin King for the first time; his silver blond hair bright under the white glow of the lights, his posture perfect, his eyes bright and excited and his smile broad and kind. She had never seen him like this, but the entire Slytherin house seemed to think this was perfectly normal.

Everyone cheered, which was admittedly odd, but it bought a smile to the uneasy girl's face. Draco smiled at her, raising his eyebrows and patting her back gently. People were talking again, laughing happily with friends. Draco placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to meet his gaze, "When you're a Slytherin, you're a part of this family." The pair looked out at the laughing people, all engaged in conversation with someone. "It's not so bad to be one of us."

Hermione understood now. Being Slytherin was as much being with family as Gryffindor had been; this place seemed much louder and excited; a buzz of electric energy hung in the air, and while she didn't hate the new environment, she missed the quiet peace of the Gryffindor, she longed for her comfy armchair and a good book.

Their hospitality went against what Hermione had always thought was the Slytherin creed. Every man for themselves seemed very far off as they chatted and laughed and were generally friendly to everyone; even the new girl who had been the Gryffindor nerd an hour ago. Hermione was happy at how welcome she felt, but couldn't help wishing for a quiet corner where she could sit and read for a while. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

It was like a constant social hub in the green and silver common room, and it seemed strange to Hermione, how the students acted. She felt almost guilty for her previous judgements on them all. she could see it now, how a Slytherin would be treated if they had to move to Gryffindor; they would be ridiculed and mocked and teased by her old friends, she was sure; not welcomed in as part of a big, dysfunctional family.

"Hi." said a petite girl, "I'm Daisy. It's nice to finally meet you." Daisy grinned, holding out her left hand, "You are kind of famous, even to Slytherins."

"Hi. I guess you know I'm Hermione, then..." She replied gesturing to herself as she shook the girl's hand.

Daisy was strange looking. Not in a bad way, just different and unexpected. She was small with large blue eyes and bubble-gum pink hair, but the bottom layers were powder blue, and her fringe was cut short, hovering above her eyebrows. She wore a black t-shirt and dark denim jeans. She was very pretty, in a very odd way. Hermione, with her frizzy brown curls, felt intimidated.

"Your hair is amazing." Hermione voiced, nodding along.

"Thanks, I did it myself." She said happily, grinning and obviously proud, "I enjoy doing it the muggle way, but that's just me. I'm muggle born so I grew up around all that stuff." She waved it off.

"I'm muggle born too." Hermione replied. Hermione liked Daisy already. She was different from the people she had known back in Gryffindor, and slightly odd, she would admit- but on Daisy, it was somewhat endearing.

She wondered for a moment whether any of her old friends would ever talk to her again. Perhaps she was just another of the Slytherin lot to them now. She would be willing to bet money that Lavender had already swooped in for Ron. If she does, she thought bitterly, he'll fall for her. Ron was easily upset, despite what some people might think. If she is there as a shoulder for him to cry on, all kind and understanding, he'll want her again. Hermione guessed that Lavender would try naturalism this time, since her insanity and open infatuation didn't help her too much last time. He had wanted Hermione last time, not Lavender. But she doubted that would be the case now.

"I'm gonna go get some air." Hermione said to Daisy; thinking of her friends, or perhaps her ex-friends, was making her feel faint and dizzy, and suddenly Hermione was aware of how many people were crowding the common room, and the enormous heat that came from such a gathering.

"Okay. I'll cover for you." she smiled, "I don't think Draco would be too happy to see the guest of honour skipping out on us." Hermione smiled and turned away, wondering to herself why Daisy was a Slytherin in the first place- she seemed more like a Gryffindor.

Hermion turned and looked over her shoulder, and saw Daisy standing on the coffee table, throwing her arms up and shouting, "Let's get drunk!" everyone cheered and shouted with her, and Daisy soon fell into the crowd again, and Hermione was able to slip outside without anyone giving her a second glance.

Outside, in the cool air, leaning against the cool wall, Hermione allowed the tears to come. This whole situation was unreal, or at least it should be. She was beyond confused, what was happening? Her life had gone changed completely in the course of this day, and she didn't know how things had gotten so out of hand.

She had dried her eyes and was about to return to the Slytherin common room when she heard a hesitant voice speak from behind her, "Hermione?"

Thank you for reading! Please, please review! It makes me so-o-o happy! Sorry for the wait, hope it wasn't too big of a disappointment! Bye, kate xxx