Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own anything in reference to books and movies. In fact the only thing I do own at the moment is a few hundred Mp3s and a magenta snuggie. And if you sue me, then they shall be yours and not mine and I would be sad.
Harry and Neville eyed each other nervously as the other Slytherins began to move about the room. To their great surprise, they group simply formed a line, and was obviously waiting for the two boys to stand in front of them. "Well come on. What did you think that we were going to curse you?" Draco Malfoy asked in amusement.
Harry and Neville made their way to the front of the room and the line moved towards them. They were greeted with the names of every member of their house and occasionally a friendly smile . At the end of the line were Draco and his "Council". When the other students had once again taken their seats, Professor Snape approached his newest snakes.
"I am aware of your dislike for me, as you are aware of my dislike for you, but now that you are Slytherins we must get past that dislike. We must stick together as a house, as a family. I am willing to forget all past transgressions, and start a new relationship with you. One of a mentor, and friends, that is if you are willing to also." He eyed the two boys, as they looked at each other.
"Alright Professor Snape." Neville answered in a shaky voice. Harry and Neville shook hands with Snape, both boys amazed at the action.
"Very well, but I must warn you I will not be seen as friendly in front of others, that is between us and only us. Outside of this classroom, my chambers, and the Slytherin dorms I am the usually snarky potions master. Neither of us can afford for our relationship to be viewed differently, it would not be viewed well." Snape boys nodded their agreement, and then took their seats once more.
"As Slytherins I expect you to follow the rules more so then the other students. As Slytherins you are seen as junior Death Eaters, you are seen as evil, and followers of the Dark Lord. But as Slytherins we know this is not the case. To be a Slytherin is to be indifferent. You must not show your emotions to anyone. Do not let them see what hurts you; they will only use it against you. Do not let them see what brings you joy, anger, let them see nothing. Stick together as a house, safety in numbers; they cannot divide us if we are united as one."Professor Severus Snape said as he began to hand out their timetables. "I expect you all to be on time for class, there is no excuse for disrespecting a teacher. I will not tolerate it. If you need something, my door is always open. Breakfast is about to begin, you are dismissed, welcome to another year Slytherins."
The potions classrooms began to empty as the Slytherins headed off to breakfast. Draco approached the two newest Slytherins. "Have you given any thought to my offer?" the blonde asked examining his nails as if this was not an important decision to be made.
"Yes, we have. But before we can accept there are some things I must learn. Things that I need to know. And since I can't simply ask someone for the information I must find it myself. Give me two weeks at the most and you will have you answer." Harry said
"Very well, until then we will show you what it is like to be considered Slytherin royalty. Tonight after dinner, we will be looking into guards for you. I cannot be with you at all times during the day. And I will not have you running about unprotected. There are many Gryffindors who are unhappy with you two. But for today, you will stick close to Blaise or myself, is that understood?" Draco said in a voice that left no room for argument.
The two boys nodded. "Great now it's time for breakfast, I'm starving." Draco led the group into the great hall. When they entered the doors, the entire hall went silent, except for the Slytherins of course. Every eye was on the group as they approached the Slytherin table and sat down. Harry and Neville did their best to ignore the stares from the rest of the school. Harry sneaked a peak at the Gryffindor table and his supposed friends. Ron was as red as tomato from anger and Hermione had her nose in a book trying to ignore everything happening around her. With a sigh Harry took his seat. When the Slytherins began to fill their plates the hall erupted into gossip.
"Doesn't anyone is this school have anything besides the resorting to talk about? I'm sure someone did something to warrant a scandal." Harry mumbled under his breath, so only Neville could hear him.
"Sorry mate, but anything dealing with the-boy-who- lived is big news. Besides what could be more exciting than the golden boy gone dark? It's a reporters dream come true." Neville said piling toast on his plate.
Harry rolled his eyes, and began eating his own breakfast. The great hall began to quiet down as speculation took way to hungry students. Harry and Neville had both been silent listening to Draco, and Blaise discuss Quiditch or something like it. Suddenly without any warning Harry dropped his goblet of pumpkin juice spitting out what was in his mouth in the process.
Unfortunately Draco, who was sitting across from Harry, was drenched in Pumpkin juice and very unhappy by the outburst. "Why in the bloody hell did you do that? Have you suddenly gone mental or something. This is a new set of robes Potter, if you ruined them; you are going to pay for new ones." Draco said as Pansy attempted to clean his robes with her napkin, with no success.
"Harry are you alright mate?" Neville asked worried about his friend.
"What if the Daily profit, gets a hold of this information? Do you think they already know? Oh this is not going at all the way it should." Harry said with a sigh and dropped his head onto the table, ignoring an obviously amused Neville and Blaise.
"It won't be that bad Potter, so you get a few howlers, lose a few fans, I'm sure you could deal with that." Blaise said with a smirk.
The very next moment, the mail arrived and hundreds of owls descended upon the students and staff. Hedwig dropped down in front of Harry, dropping a copy of the Daily Profit in front of her owner. Harry ignored her delivery and offered Hedwig a few bits of bacon and the juice still in his goblet. When she had nipped him in thanks and taken off Harry looked at the paper in front of him.
Harry sighed and opened the newspaper sitting on his half eaten breakfast plate. His own smiling face greeted him.
'Boy-who-lived turns over to dark side.'
Harry James Potter, also known as the boy who lived was resorted into Slytherin at the welcoming feast at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. After the sorting of the first years, which is a customary tradition at Hogwarts, the sorting hat began to sing a different tune. When the hat was done, it began to call 6th year students names. Among those resorted were Neville Longbottom, Terry Boot and Lavender Brown.
According to a reliable source at Hogwarts, who was present during the feast, Harry Potter did not at all seem surprised when he was resorted. "He (Mr. Potter) didn't seem surprised at all by becoming a Slytherin; it was like he knew where he really belonged. My friends and I are all concerned that Harry Potter is going to join the dark side." Reported my source.
With this new turn of events in the middle of the war, many are concerned with the outcome. Everyone is wondering if the Golden Lion will remain faithful to the light side, while in the midst of the snake den. Our source also informed us that Harry has been seen with one Draco Malfoy since the resorting. It is uncertain what the future holds, but one thing is for sure, if Harry Potter joins the dark side all will be lost in this war. Only time will tell for sure what will happen. Could Harry Potter become the next Dark Lord?
After reading the article Harry groaned and slammed his head on to the table, much to the amusement of Draco. "It's not that bad Harry, I mean come one at least they didn't call you names or anything. They just called you the next dark lord is all. I'm sure it will all blow over eventually." Neville said trying to cheer his friend up.
"This is horrible Neville, now everyone will think I've gone dark. How am I going to live this one down?" Harry groaned again when a group of 3rd years walked past whispering to themselves and looking at Harry.
"Why don't you just go dark, if everyone already thinks you are then why not do it? Think about it Harry, are you really going to be able to kill he-who-must-not-be-named? You can't even kill spiders for Ron. " Neville replied finishing his toast.
Harry blushed, "Shut it Neville. Let's go I'm suddenly not hungry anymore, and this way we can be early for potions. Wouldn't want to disappoint our head of house now would we?"
The two boys stood up, Draco following them out of the great hall and down into the dungeons. When they arrived at the potions classroom, they found it empty. After taking seats in the middle of the room, Draco turned to them. "Have you thought more about my offer Harry? I really would like an answer as soon as possible."
"It's been an hour Draco, pressure much? Yes I've thought about it. But I cannot accept it yet. There is something that no one is telling me and I must find out what it is. Something about my parents, I'm just not sure what it is. And since I don't know where to start, I can't very well figure out what it is. I'm facing a sort of dilemma you see."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Here I thought you would make a great Slytherin. If it has something to do with your family, perhaps you could look at a family tree or something of the sort."
"But all my parents things were burned in Godric's hollow. I can't very well get my hands on a family tree now can I? I swear sometimes I think you have all gone mental." Harry said eyeing the blonde as if he had lost his mind years ago. Maybe all that hair gel had to started to leech into his brain and was causing brain damage.
Before Draco could reply, other students began to file into the classroom. Neville frowned over what Draco had told them. Harry was right wasn't he? How could he look at a family tree, if all his parents' possessions had been burned? Unless there was another way, there had to be another way. Now if only Neville could remember what his Gran had been talking about all summer.
Neville's thought swirled around family trees during the rest of the potions class. Luckily for him Draco and Harry made the required potion perfectly, they were Slytherins after all. And since Snape was no longer breathing down Harry's neck about everything, the boy was better able to understand the process of potions.
It wasn't until the after dinner that the answer about a family tree finally came to Neville. "Heritage potion!" He blurted out as he and Harry were working on their transfiguration homework.
"What are you going on about now Neville?" Harry asked looking at his friend in confusion.
"A heritage potion Harry, that's the answer. It's the easiest way to get a family tree. You put the potion on a sheet of parchment and then a few drops of your blood, after a few moments a family tree appears. And Depending on how much potion you use it can go back as far as you like, even to the beginning of you family tree. It's all very simple you see, except the potion is rather hard to come by. It's very difficult to make, not many are willing to make it."
"Why Neville you are positively brilliant. I'll send letters out tomorrow morning to see if there is a shop with the potion in stock. If they don't have any, then I suppose we will just have to make some ourselves. It can't be as hard as polyjuice was and that was difficult. I suspect that Severus and Draco know but it isn't likely that they will tell us. I think Ron and Hermione know as well. If we could just figure a way to get them to tell us, then we would know or at least have a little more to go on. I just don't know how to get them to trust me." Harry said tapping his quill against his mouth.
Neville was silent for a while before speaking. "I think I have a way Harry. My resorting, and yours still shock them, what if I were to play the scared Gryffindor trapped in the snake's den. I doubt anyone thinks I really should have been a Slytherin, look at me ever the clumsy fool. If I send them some letters telling them how scared I am and how much you frighten me I may get them to tell me something. Ron always wanted to be a hero, well here's his chance."
"This just may work Neville it just may work." Harry handed the boy a spare piece of parchment and a quill. Neville began to pen a note to the duo.
Ron and Hermione,
I'm very sorry I haven't written to you sooner, but the resorting has left me shocked. Come on me, Neville Longbottom, a Slytherin? Who would have thought? Now before you burn this letter there is something I must tell you. I'm scared for my life in Slytherin. I'm afraid every night to go to sleep, afraid that someone will murder me. I want your help in getting out of Slytherin. There must be some way to convince Dumbledore it's not safe for me here. I fear that Harry is becoming dark. If we are ever going to defeat He-who-must-not-be-named, we cannot lose Harry to the dark side. Please you have to help me; I just don't know what to do. Send a reply with Hedwig. Perhaps you can think of a way out of this for all of us.
Neville.
After signing the letter, Neville turned to Harry. "All we can do now is wait." The green eyed boy nodded.