a/n: i would love to thank all of you eight lovely reviewers - you guys made my day! virtual cookies for you all. if you want to know the method behind my madness - as to why percy is in slytherin, and other such tidbits, pm me! i'd love to swap headcanons with you all!

without further ado, please enjoy the second chapter - which is a drabble.

year one: passaglia solitario

It hurts Percy more than he'd like to admit, when Ron and Harry begin to avoid him. (it was mostly Ron pulling Harry away from him, and generally ignoring him whenever he tried to talk to them.) He didn't ask to be put into Slytherin, he didn't ask for the stigma against his house.

It was just there, and so it was expected to be. Little solace was given to those who dwelled within the halls of Salazar Slytherin, and Percy quickly came to realize that since they knew that no one else was going to defend them, Slytherins stood up for their own.

They were by no means the good guys - but their loyalties to one another were greater than it seemed anyone knew.

The professor that Percy had half-heartedly dubbed "Snake," was, as a matter of fact, not named Snake. (which would have been cool - because Metal Gear seemed like a pretty cool video game)

His name was Severus Snape, and he was Percy's head of house.

Percy bunched together with the rest of the first-years, and followed the prefects, Tamara DeBrunoch and Marin Bourgeois, down to the dungeons - the common rooms of the Slytherin students. It got chillier, the deeper down they went, and Percy shrugged his robes just a fraction tighter around himself.

"Well, I'll have to admit that I didn't expect you to be in Slytherin," an annoyingly familiar drawl came from behind Percy, and the pre-teen barely managed to suppress a groan.

"Yeah, well please, bug off, Malfoy," Percy muttered, rolling down his robe sleeves. It had gotten even colder, and up ahead, he could spot pinpricks of golden-red light. "I didn't ask to be put into Slytherin. That hat just figured that I'd do best in this house."

"I know. And you're stuck with me, as terribly unfortunate that must be for you." Percy looked to his left, and there was Malfoy, staring at him - but not with derision. Sincerity seemed to gleam, somewhere, deep, deep down in his steel gray eyes.

"But, Slytherins look out for their own, Jackson. No one's going to baby you, or cut you any slack." They were making their way into the common rooms, and as far as Percy could see was green, green, and more green. Every shade he could name. (which was, quite honestly, not very many.)

"Sounds like a great system you've got going on here."

Malfoy grabbed the hastily retreating muggle-born by the shoulder, and Percy froze, lurching away from his touch, and ripping his shoulder away from underneath the pureblood's pale hand.

"What I'm saying, if you would listen, is that while you think you can't count on us, you're going to have to." Malfoy brushed past him, in a small flurry of black and green trimmed robes. "We need a united front. Or you're going to get crushed."

Percy stayed by the fireplace a little longer that night, and all he could hear was the threatening voice of his step-father, despite the fact that he was an ocean away.

a/n 2: soooo, how was it? feel free to drop a review (please feed the starving author) as well as follow/favorite. i'd love to hear from you guys!

(=3=)

- ren