Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry smiled to himself as he pushed the remainder of his eggs around his plate at breakfast. He and Ron both knew those were fighting words.

"We've been over this Ronald," Hermione said exasperatedly. She only used his given name if she was irritated with him. It was a quality Harry found endearing in both of his friends. Ron didn't know how to engage Hermione in conversation other than to goad her into correcting him, because that had always been the nature of their relationship from the start, and Hermione couldn't (or wouldn't) back down from a chance to try to correct him. Harry for his part found it more amusing to stay out of it and just watch. "We'll only be gone for two weeks, not the entire school year."

"Two weeks to start," Ron said, dipping a piece of toast into his pumpkin hot chocolate. "Then you'll be off to another house for two weeks, then another. Why you'd even want to leave Gryffindor in the first place-" He acted as if it was beyond him, but he knew full well that Hermione would just repeat her desire to learn and be a part of creating inter-house unity. She'd talked about how excited she was to participate in the inter-house exchange for forty minutes the night before after McGonagall had made the announcement in the common room.

She sighed heavily. "Just because you think Gryffindor's the greatest doesn't mean everybody does Ronald."

"You don't like it?" he asked.

"I didn't say that. But three fourths of the other students here love their own houses as much as we love ours."

"I don't want Slytherins in the common room," Ron said, wrinkling his nose up at the idea. "Or Ravenclaws... they think they're better than everyone else. I barely even know anybody in Hufflepuff."

"Well now you'll get the chance to meet people in other houses," Hermione said smugly.

They ate in silence for a few minutes and Harry wondered if the spat was over, but as soon as Hermione pulled her nose out of her Charms book Ron was waiting to pounce. His words were aimed at Harry though. "Her I can understand," Ron said, "but why'd you have to go put your name on the house exchange list Harry? It'll be so boring without you for two whole weeks! And some other guy will be in your bed and using our desk!"

"Actually," Hermione piped up, not even giving Harry a chance to answer, "I heard Dean, Seamus, and Neville are all doing the exchange too. It looks like you'll be the only one in the dorms for the next two weeks."

Ron grumbled into his cereal. "Nutters," he repeated. Harry and Hermione grinned at each other.

Harry actually thought it would be interesting to see what other houses were like. He'd always heard things about other houses, but like Ron he had few friends outside Gryffindor. He'd always wondered what the other common rooms were like, and he had a morbid curiosity about what life might have been like if he'd let the hat place him in Slytherin. Of course, he might not get to see Slytherin, but at least he'd get to see the other houses. A spot in the exchange wasn't guaranteed according to McGonagall. Students put their name on a list along with the houses they wanted to visit for two weeks, and the teachers coordinated based on gender and year. A sixth year boy couldn't visit another house if there wasn't a bed available in the sixth year boy's dormitory. Harry had put his name down for all three of the other houses and so had Hermione. Ron hadn't wanted to participate at all, though he would have to since there would be people from other houses coming in and out of Gryffindor tower all year.

"It's going to cause problems, mark my words," Ron said gravely. "Besides, I doubt Slytherins will even want to visit Gryffindor. I wouldn't want to visit Slytherin." Ron didn't say that he didn't think Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws would want to visit Gryffindor, but they all knew he was thinking it. Ron had a very ‘us vs them' mentality. He believed most of the other houses didn't like Gryffindor. Harry had to admit that he'd heard a lot of anti-Gryffindor sentiment over the years as well from students in other houses, but most of it came from Slytherin.

"Well Harry and I are going to visit Slytherin," Hermione said, and Ron's eyes bulged.

"What? You know what Snape's like Harry! And Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle!"

"Well I'm not guaranteed to get to visit anywhere am I?" Harry said, finally giving up on his eggs. School had only been back in for a few weeks but his stomach still wasn't used to normal amounts of food yet.

"Let's hope a spot doesn't come open then," Ron said, deflating a little.

Hermione looked as though she was going to say something, but Harry spoke first. "I was almost put in Slytherin you know."

Ron stilled and Hermione raised her brows. A few people around them also seemed to be listening.

"Don't prank me right now Harry," Ron said, "not when I'm in a bad mood."

"It's not a joke," Harry said. "The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, but I asked to be put in Gryffindor because I didn't want to be in the same house as Draco."

"You're not joking?" Ron asked, just to be sure.

"It's true," Harry said. Harry almost felt bad for Ron since he wanted no part in the exchange, but if he wanted to feel miserable for himself, he'd have to do it alone because Harry was looking forward to it. Hermione said the same later that day.

"The list is supposed to come out after dinner," Hermione said after Ron had gone up to the dormitory alone to sulk. "I like how they've set things up. It's good that they won't allow people below fourth year. I don't think they're mature enough."

"I heard Professor McGonagall telling some seventh years that it was because they needed time to get established in their own houses first before they went to learn about other house values and dynamics. She said if it goes well this year they might do it again."

"I heard they were thinking about every other year," Hermione said. "I wonder if they had done this earlier if there wouldn't be so much bad blood between Gryffindor and Slytherin. I suspect they waited until the twins were out of school to start though. Imagine all the pranks they would have pulled on other houses..."

After dinner Professor McGonagall came to the Gryffindor common room to post the list of the first round of exchanges, and even those not participating gathered eagerly to see who would be going where. A seventh year Prefect fought his way to the head of the crowd and told people to pipe down so he could read the list aloud.

"Hermione Granger will be going to Hufflepuff, and switching places with Megan Jones. Duncan Mcconnell will be going to Ravenclaw to switch with Garret Rivers. Katie Bell's going to Slytherin and Rylee French is coming in." A chorus of ‘ooh's' went up from the room. Katie and Rylee were both Quidditch players and the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry was focused ninety percent on Quidditch games.

"Pipe down!" Katie shouted. "Rylee's my friend! If you don't treat her right while she's here I'm going to bring a bag of bludgers in here and let them loose!"

The Prefect spoke up again and continued reading names until he got to Harry's which was last on the list. "Harry Potter is going to Ravenclaw and switching with Terry Boot."

The crowd of Gryffindors dispersed to go back to their homework or board games but the chatter didn't die down as people talked about the students from other houses that would be there for the next two weeks.

"Eight in all," Hermione said. Ron came down the stairs at that moment and Hermione listed off the people coming into Gryffindor for him. "There are two Hufflepuffs: Megan Jones in sixth and Kellen Price in 4th. Three Ravenclaws: Matilda Morgan in 5th, Terry Boot in 6th and Garret Rivers in 7th. Three Slytherins: Elise Parkinson in 4th, Sylace Reid in 5th, and Rylee French in 7th."

"At least there won't be any Slytherins in my dorm," Ron said to console himself, but then he turned around and said, "But I can't stand Terry Boot. He's a know-it-all. He likes to correct people." Harry refrained from saying that Hermione did the same thing.

Hermione ignored Ron's comment altogether. "I was hoping to see Ravenclaw first," she said, "but Hufflepuff will be interesting too. Harry, you'll have to learn to answer riddles."

"I will?" he asked.

"Ravenclaw doesn't use passwords to get into their common room. The portrait asks you to answer a riddle and you can't go in until you get it right."

"Hm." Harry didn't know if he'd be any good at answering riddles since he'd never answered one before.

"It looks like they spread the students around fairly evenly," Hermione said, going over the names of the people who would be visiting Gryffindor again. "There's only one boy and girl in each year. Three Slytherins, two Hufflepuffs and three Ravenclaws."

"Well they have to spread people around, don't they?" Ron asked. "People wouldn't be getting much of a ‘Gryffindor' experience if they were staying in a dorm room with four or five people from other houses that weren't Gryffindors."

"Yes," said Hermione.

With so many other boys in Gryffindor wanting the chance to visit other houses, Harry wondered if he'd get the chance to see Hufflepuff or Slytherin at all that year.

* * *

Saturday morning Harry was supposed to sit at Ravenclaw table. McGonagall had said things would start Saturday and that if they went to sit at their ‘new house' at breakfast than someone would show them where their new common room was and how to get in. Harry separated with his friends in the Entrance Hall and went to sit at Ravenclaw while Hermione went to sit at Hufflepuff. Ginny Weasley was already sitting at Ravenclaw table so Harry sat down next to her.

"Good morning Harry," she said brightly.

"Where's Luna?" Harry asked. He knew Ginny and Luna were friends, and even before the house exchange program Ginny was frequently to be seen sitting with Luna at Ravenclaw, or Luna with Ginny at Gryffindor.

Ginny pointed across the hall to Slytherin. "She's over there." Harry followed her gaze and found Luna sitting next to Draco, who looked about as sour as Ron did. Luna on the other hand was beaming and had piled her plate high with cinnamon rolls.

"She asked for Slytherin?" Harry asked.

"I think she asked for all of the houses. You're going to Slytherin eventually aren't you?" she asked.

"Eventually," Harry agreed. "What about you?"

"I only wanted to try Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. I heard that not many people put their name down for Slytherin."

"Well they must have. There's three in Gryffindor this week."

"There's four in Ravenclaw," Michael Corner said. He was in Harry's year. Harry thought Michael was ok. He didn't seem as stuck up as Terry Boot usually did and usually kept to himself.

"How many people are going to Ravenclaw today?" Harry asked Michael.

"Eight. One boy and girl in each year."

"The same for Gryffindor," Ginny said.

"Professor Flitwick said we're to incorporate you into the house as much as possible," a fourth year boy said next to Ginny, but then he looked Ginny and Harry over and looked as though it wouldn't be possible."

"I'm top of my year in Defense," Ginny said, "so is Harry." Harry wanted to tell Ginny she shouldn't have to explain herself or defend her intelligence but he was secretly glad she'd spoken up because it meant he didn't have to.

"It's not about grades," the boy said. "Anybody can study hard enough to get good grades."

"Then what is it about?" Harry asked, trying to sound as though it were an innocent question and not like he was irritated. They were here to learn after all about the dynamics of Ravenclaw house.

"Gryffindors lose a lot of points," he said, "and get a lot of detentions, and pick a lot of fights. We don't do that in Ravenclaw."

"We do lose a lot of points," Ginny agreed, "but we work extra hard to earn them back. Not everybody in the house picks fights, and not that many people get detention." Usually it was Harry, Ron, or the twins getting detention but Ginny didn't say so since Harry was going to have to fit in right beside her in Ravenclaw for the next two weeks.

Harry noted that a lot of the Ravenclaws around them were listening to the discussion intently, and some seemed to be taking mental notes.

"I'd actually prefer not to fight at all," Harry said. "I'd rather have a boring life than be in danger all the time."

"You did participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament," a seventh year girl said. Harry thought her name might have been Iris but wasn't sure. She used to date an older Gryffindor who had graduated at the end of the previous year.

"It wasn't my choice," Harry said.

"We know you didn't put your name in the cup," the third year boy said, "but you still chose to do the tournament."

"The ministry said I had to," Harry told them. "The cup made a magically binding contract. Anyone the cup chose had to participate."

The Ravenclaws around them soon gave their attention to other similar conversations going on with the other visitors to the house, and Harry thought integrating into a new house might be harder than he thought. He glanced at Hufflepuff and was glad that Hermione didn't seem to be having any trouble at all making friends. She was chatting amiably with the other sixth year girls, though about what he couldn't hear. Behind him at Gryffindor, Ron was sulking to himself while Dean and Seamus talked to Terry Boot and the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team (minus Harry) had seated themselves around Rylee French and were talking about Quidditch. It seemed they'd taken Katie Bell's warning seriously and had decided to surround her to protect her from any insults any of the other Gryffindors might have been thinking about throwing their way.

After breakfast was finished, Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, and Mathe MacDougal offered to show Harry up to Ravenclaw and to their dorm. Several girls in Ginny's year offered to show her around, so she and Harry split up.

"Are any of you going to do the exchange?" Harry asked on their way to Ravenclaw tower, which was on the west side of the school.

"All of us," Anthony said. "We'll have to wait our turn though. I'm going to see Gryffindor and Slytherin."

"Not Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.

"Definitely not," he replied.

"I'm going to see Hufflepuff and Gryffindor," Michael said.

"I'm only going to see Hufflepuff," said Mathe MacDougal. Harry had the impression that Mathe was a very reserved person. He'd rarely heard him speak at all, even in class.

"This is the entrance to our common room," Michael said at the top of a spiraling staircase. It was a plain door with a bronze knocker. He used the knocker to knock three times and then a mouth and eyes appeared on the knocker and the knocker began to speak.

"Oooh, a Gryffindor. Shall I give you a dangerous riddle then? Danger is what excites you isn't it?"

"Erm," Harry said. Danger didn't excite him at all, but if this was the kind of thing Ravenclaws were exposed to then he could see why people thought poorly of Gryffindors and thought they were reckless. "I'm a Ravenclaw for the next two weeks," Harry said.

"Oh, a new Ravenclaw, but still a Gryffindor at heart. Tell me young man, there is a man who is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms: the first is full of raging fires; the second has assassins who like to use deadly spells, the third has lions who haven't eaten in years. Which room is the safest?"

Harry frowned. All three seemed like poor options to him, and he couldn't think of an answer because he was wondering who this man was and why he was condemned to death.

"If you can't get it, we're also allowed to answer," Anthony said. "It's not uncommon to see ten or twelve Ravenclaws standing outside the common room working together to come up with an answer. Ravenclaws help each other."

"So do Gryffindors," Harry said. "I'd like to try, I just need a moment." He thought and then looked at the knocker who was watching him eagerly and waiting for his answer. "Why was the man condemned to death?"

"He was a murderer."

"So he doesn't have his wand or any other weapons?"

"No."

The three boys sniggered behind him. "Of course he doesn't."

"But is he a mage? Can he use wandless magic?"

"That's an interesting question young man. For the sake of the riddle, let us say he is defenseless."

Harry thought about it some more. If he was defenseless he couldn't put out a fire or make himself impervious to the flames, he couldn't fight off an assassin, and he couldn't fight hungry lions. But the lions hadn't eaten in years had they?"

"Are they regular lions or magical lions?"

"Plain, ordinary lions."

"I'll give you the answer, but first, was the man innocent? You said he was a murderer, but was that proven?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"I knew a man who went to jail for murder, but he was innocent," Harry said. It wasn't relevant at all to the answer and wouldn't get them into the common room any quicker, but Harry had a pressing need to know.

"Then let us say he was innocent."

"He should choose the room with the lions. They starved to death since they haven't eaten for years. Unless someone sustained them with magic."

The door opened and the knocker laughed as they went inside.

"People don't usually ask that many questions," Mathe said.

"It's a Gryffindor thing," Harry said with a grin, pleased with himself that he'd gotten them into the common room. He was only glad the riddle wasn't harder, and he was sure Hermione would be pleased with his win over the knocker too.

"This is our common room," Michael said. It was large and round with a tall domed ceiling painted with the night sky and full of stars and other constellations. No wonder Ravenclaws usually did well in Astronomy class, if they looked at the constellations every day. They were even labeled in loopy bronze cursive that glowed like the painted stars. There were tall windows along one half of the room with long blue curtains draped down to the floor. Five or six large blue couches and a dozen soft blue chairs were arranged around the room. There were only two doors leading off of the common room, and Michael said they lead to the bathrooms. Unlike in Gryffindor tower, there weren't doors that lead to the boys and girls dormitories. Instead two sets of light gray stone stairs curved up the walls and lead to different arches.

"This one's our staircase," Anthony said, leading Harry and the other boys up the stairs on the left. They went nearly to the top of the tall common room before they made it to the second archway from the top. Once through the archway there was a short hallway, only ten or twelve feet long, and then a door. Anthony opened the door and inside Harry found a round dormitory similar to the dorms in Gryffindor. Four poster beds with long blue silken hangings were spaced evenly around the circular room and there was a large circular blue rug in the center. There were three windows looking out on the Forbidden Forest and the Quidditch Pitch.

"This one's Terry's bed," Michael said, pointing to a bed next to one of the windows. "But it's yours until you go back to Gryffindor. There's drawers that pull out from under your bed for your clothes and your trunk goes at the foot."

"No desks?" Harry asked, looking around.

The other boys raised their brows. "We don't need them. We study in the common room."

"Oh," Harry said. "We study in the common room together too, but sometimes it gets noisy so we go to our rooms to study. We have three desks in our dorm. Ron and I share one." He looked around the room and also noted there weren't any wardrobes.

"What else?" Mathe asked.

"We have wardrobes too," Harry said. Mathe led him back to the short hallway and pointed to the wall. Harry hadn't noticed for some reason but along one wall there was one large built-in wardrobe with six doors and a cubby underneath each door at the bottom and also one at the top.

"We keep our coats, robes, shoes and brooms in here," Mathe told him. "We don't like the dorms to get dirty so we keep our shoes and anything else dirty out here. He pointed to the opposite wall where there was a small square wooden door. "Dirty laundry goes in there. When it's done it'll be in the top cubby for you."

"That's really nice," Harry thought aloud. "Our laundry shoot is in short corridor between our common room and the entrance to Gryffindor. There's just one for the whole house." Sometimes the laundry shoot got backed up if someone didn't stuff their clothes in far enough, and then other people instead of fixing the problem would just stuff theirs in too. At least once a week there ended up being a pile of dirty laundry all over the floor that you had to walk around to get in or out of the common room.

Harry went back into the dorm and found that his trunk was already at the foot of his new bed. Inside he found that his robes had changed and now had blue cuffs and collars and had the Ravenclaw crest. He thought it felt weird to see anything other than the Gryffindor logo there.

"So your common room is noisy?" Anthony asked.

"Sometimes, usually after a Quidditch match or on the weekends. A lot of times we go to the library to study or our dorms."

"We hold study groups in the common room. Different subjects are studied on different couches or at different tables. Whatever you're working on, you go to that area. If someone needs help and you know the answer, you help them."

"That's interesting," Harry said. "Do you study all the time?"

The other three boys looked at each other.

"No?" Harry asked.

"We- conduct a lot of experiments," Anthony said.

"What do you mean experiments?"

"Well, we test a lot of magic. A lot of people like to invent new things. When people are done studying they usually gather to see what new thing is being worked on."

"Like what?" Harry asked. That sounded interesting.

"Last week we found a new use for Newts Eyes. It was on accident of course, because a potion exploded when Arran Atturbury tried to see if he could transfigure it with the fifth principle of transfiguration."

"What's the new use?"

"Hair gel," Michael said. "It'll harden your hair like a helmet. A group have been working on how to replicate the effects without getting it everywhere so it'll actually be useful to sell. There's a Slytherin who sells hair products and we figure we could sell him the recipe."

"Hm." Harry had heard of the fourth year selling hair gels that turned your hair colors but he didn't realize it was a Slytherin. He could certainly use something to make his hair lie flat he mused.

"What do Gryffindors do when not studying then?" Mathe asked.

"Play games, practice Quidditch, talk, go for walks, go to the lake to swim. I like to visit my owl in the owlery and visit Hagrid out on the grounds. I like to be outside the best. I know some others go out to visit friends in other houses. Sometimes there are parties on the weekends and Professor McGonagall comes in at one in the morning to tell us to pipe down because she can't sleep. I don't usually stick around for the parties though."

"Why not?" Mathe asked.

"I like the quiet," Harry said.

They asked each other questions for the next few minutes and then they went back to the common room, which was full of people since it was a Saturday. Harry was surprised to find Professor Flitwick in the common room visiting with students. Professor McGonagall usually didn't come into Gryffindor unless it was to give them an announcement, pull someone out of the room to talk to, or tell them to quiet down because it was so late.

"Does Professor Flitwick come in often?"

"He's here most of the time," Anthony said. "Doesn't Professor McGonagall help Gryffindors?"

"Well she helps us, but we don't see her much in the common room. If we need her we go to her quarters to get her or her office."

"Ah Harry!" Professor Flitwick said when he spotted him a moment later. "How are you liking Ravenclaw?"

"Very well sir," Harry said.

"If you need help with anything let me know. Right now we're about to see if we can combine three forms of transfiguration at once. It should be very exciting." The other three sixth year boys gathered around the group to watch and Harry went to stand next to Michael.

"Transfiguration?" he asked.

"You didn't think Professor Flitwick only liked charms did you?"

The Professor held up his wand and aimed it at a feather on the center of a round table. Two other students held up their wands as well. Ginny was one of them. "On three then." He counted and when he hit three all three of them began casting at the feather. All at once the feather changed to purple, began to grow, and began to change into a bird. Just as the bird became the size of an eagle, it suddenly changed back to a feather and began to grow out of control. There were several shouts of surprise and the three stopped casting. The large purple feather kept growing however and before it stopped was filling up the majority of the common room, causing the thirty people currently there to either drop to the floor or back up to the very edges of the room.

"That was interesting," Professor Flitwick said with a squeak of delight. "What do you think happened?"

"When I was transfiguring it into a bird it was like the magic was fighting me and flowing back into my wand," one of the boys who had been participating said. "I don't think the bird liked what was happening and decided it didn't want to grow anymore."

"The feather seemed to want to be bigger though," a second year girl said.

Students began to examine the feather (they had little choice since it was pressing in all around them) and began calling out their observations. "It's still light!" a boy called. "I wonder why it's light when it's so big!"

"Look at the pores on the stem!" another boy shouted from across the room.

"Think it'll make good potions ingredients?"

"Think we could sell it to Slytherin? Maybe they'll want to make a giant quill out of it."

"Look at the way the color seeped into the fibers... it's like it's just on the surface and underneath it's still white!"

"Look at-"

"Look at-"

Harry couldn't help but be in awe by the feather. Everyone seemed to be excited, and Harry felt excited too. Transfiguration had never seemed this exciting before. Why didn't McGonagall teach class like this?

By the time someone had taken pictures of the final result of the experiment, and they had opened a window and forced the gigantic feather out to Ravenclaws waiting at the base of the tower below (they were going to show it to some Slytherins who might have an interest), Harry had a thorough grasp of the third, fifth, and sixth forms of Transfiguration and why they had interacted as they had. Several Ravenclaws had pulled out books and began taking turns reading aloud about the different forms and other people called their thoughts out about how the forms must have interacted. Lunch was nearly over by the time Harry exited the common room with Ginny and several others, a smile on his face.

"Sometimes we're late to meals," a girl told Ginny. "We just get too excited about what's going on in the common room."

"I noticed you sometimes come in late," Ginny said. Harry had noticed too and had always assumed, as others in Gryffindor had, that Ravenclaws thought they were better than everyone else and showed up late to meals so they wouldn't have to sit with the rest of the school. Now he knew they were just excited, and wondered what other kinds of crazy things went on in Ravenclaw tower.

He found out after dinner.

Professor Flitwick gave the entire house permission to go out after curfew to look at the stars. People took their blankets off of their beds and some brought pillows and they made their way up to the top of Ravenclaw tower through a trap door. The roof was flat aside from the ramparts which were there to keep them from falling off. It was chilly out but wasn't too bad and Professor Flitwick conjured several large warming stones that gave off heat but no light (another invention from an experiment gone wrong several years earlier).

Students laid around on their backs in groups of friends and stared up at the stars. Some groups whispered quietly and others were silent or had fallen asleep. Professor Flitwick and the older Prefects went around waking students up who had fallen asleep and ushered them back down the stairs to their dormitories. By eleven thirty the top of the tower was mostly empty save for ten or fifteen older students. Professor Flitwick had gone back to his own quarters at the base of Ravenclaw tower below the common room.

Harry enjoyed the quiet and the cool air. He loved being outside. The Dursleys had often locked him out at night thinking they were punishing him (and they were if it was raining or cold), but truth be told Harry liked being outside at night. If it was summer or early fall he saw it as a blessing to be away from them and out in the night where he could feel a freedom he wasn't allowed to feel inside the oppressive house in his cupboard under the stairs. He'd long since outgrown his cupboard and felt too cramped and claustrophobic inside. Outside on the grass he could stretch out and look at the stars as he was doing now. The grass was also softer than the floor of the cupboard. He'd had a cot when he was younger, but it was uncomfortable and he was two feet too tall to use it anymore so it had gone into the shed to be forgotten.

"How often does Professor Flitwick let you do this?" Harry asked quietly to anyone who was still awake and on the top of the tower. The other sixth year boys had already gone to bed.

"Not very often," a fifth year girl said next to Ginny. Ginny got up and dragged her blanket over to where Harry was lying alone. She laid in the opposite direction of him so only their heads were next to each other. "Only when it's warm out, the Ravenclaw continued. "I suspect he's let us today since we had visitors, but it'll be too cold soon to do it anymore."

"You don't do this in Gryffindor?" A boy asked, though it was too dark for Harry to see who it was.

"The roof of Gryffindor tower isn't flat," Ginny answered. "We do stay up late on weekends, but inside, and it's noisy."

"I like the quiet," Harry repeated his statement from earlier in the day.

"So do I," Ginny said, though Harry wondered at it because she was usually right in the middle of the party with the others playing exploding snap or talking to her friends.

Ginny rose and went to bed twenty minutes later and finally when Harry was the last one on the tower, he breathed a sigh of relief. He'd felt like he'd needed to put on a show all day, to prove he could fit in here and not make trouble for Ravenclaw. From the time he sat down at breakfast, to having to answer the riddle right, to answering everyone's questions. Being alone outside under the stars, he could just be himself, just like at the Dursleys. He felt he could be himself in Gryffindor, but maybe just because he'd been in Gryffindor for so long. He wondered if he'd ever be able to just be himself in Ravenclaw, but thought he'd like to try rather than to not. He rose and went back down through the trapdoor. The common room was empty and quiet and the lights were waved down. In the sixth year boy's dorm some of the boys were sleeping, but Michael was awake, reading in bed with a light conjured in a jar. He looked up as Harry entered but didn't say anything.

Harry got in bed with his soft blue blanket and pillow and pulled the covers over himself, wishing he were still back outside on the roof.

* * *

Harry found himself going from group to group in the common room to see what people were working on, and the next time Professor Flitwick came in and a student proposed an experiment, Harry volunteered to help. Professor Flitwick was delighted. Harry was confused at first by what was being asked of him, and Flitwick and the others gathered there had to explain it to Harry three times, but he finally understood and they began the experiment. The experiment failed, but Harry didn't feel like it was a failure. He'd gotten to try something new, and he felt he had a good understanding on the theory of how magic flowed from participating. It left him with a lot of questions however and he went and sat at a group studying next to the girl's stairs who were still discussing the experiment.

* * *

Monday Harry only got to see Ron and the other Gryffindors once during Charms, but Harry wanted to fully experience being a Ravenclaw so he sat with the other sixth year boys. Ron frowned at him but didn't say anything until after class was over.

"Hey I thought we could at least sit together in classes."

"Well yeah," Harry said, "but I'm only going to be with them for two weeks. I've been learning a lot. It's been a lot of fun. Ron you won't believe what we did on Saturday."

Ron raised his brows. "It can't be that much better than Gryffindor."

Harry ignored his comment. "We transfigured this huge feather that filled up the whole common room! I don't know why we don't experiment with magic more in Gryffindor. The twins would have loved Ravenclaw. All the things they come up with-"

"A feather? Why is that interesting?"

"And we stayed up really late Saturday looking at the stars on the roof."

"We stay up late all the time. What's the big deal?"

"Harry, we have Potions next, come on!" The other sixth year Ravenclaws were waving for him to follow so Harry flashed Ron a grin and followed the Ravenclaws down the hall, leaving Ron staring after them in the corridor.

"We have Potions with Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, always," Anthony said. "You know you can sit with your friends in classes. You don't have to sit with us."

"Well- we can be friends can't we?" Harry asked brightly. He really liked Mathe. Mathe was usually quiet, but seemed to be the one who asked the most questions about Gryffindor, even though he had no interest in visiting Gryffindor.

The others looked at each other and then Mathe gave a silent nod. They entered the Potions classroom and Hermione was sitting in her normal seat where she usually sat next to Harry or Ron. Harry waved at her but went to sit with Mathe instead.

Professor Snape turned from where he was writing the day's lesson the blackboard and surveyed the room, picking out the students who were out of place in his normally well ordered Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class. There were several. His gaze lingered on Potter, sitting next to Mathe and he wondered that the Potter brat was even participating in the Headmaster's experiment in inter-house unity at all. He would have thought the brat would have preferred to stay in his own house with his adoring fans, yet there he sat in Ravenclaw robes. He'd seen the brat's name on the Slytherin inter-house exchange roster and had scoffed. If he could help it, he would never allow him into the Slytherin common room. The trouble he would cause would not be worth it, no matter what the Headmaster said. There had already been one fight over the weekend in his common room, and he was sure it would have been worse if Potter had been there.

"Today we will be discussing the flow of magic when intermixing magic and potions."

Harry sat up straighter. He'd just learned something about the flow of magic yesterday afternoon in the common room and wondered how it could apply to potion making. He took notes as he usually did but found himself raising his hand two or three times to ask questions. That wasn't normal for him in Potions. Snape ignored him so he wrote his questions down at the bottom of his notes thinking he'd ask Professor Flitwick later.

Mathe, Harry found out, was not very good at brewing potions. Harry was only fair, and was usually thankful to be paired with Hermione a couple of times a week so he could get a good grade. Mathe was only making things worse however so Harry began pouring over his notes trying to find a way to fix their potion.

"It's not the right shade," Harry said, "but he didn't discuss how to fix it, or if he did I missed it."

"I usually pair up with Terry. He's the best at Potions in Ravenclaw. He's always experimenting with them in his free time. His entire trunk is full of potions books."

"Well," Harry started, "I wonder what would happen if we added more boar hair?"

"It would explode," sneered Snape as he came up behind the pair, lip curled. "But by all means Potter, add the boar hair."

Harry looked up at him. He might have seen this as in insult before, but after seeing all the interesting results of failed experiments over the last two days in Ravenclaw, he asked, "What would happen if I did add it? What would it make?"

Severus narrowed his eyes. The boy didn't seem to be challenging him, he seemed genuinely curious. What was he playing at? He'd raised his hand several times earlier in the class. Was he trying to show off since he was spending two weeks in Ravenclaw?

"A sticky mess all over my classroom walls," Snape said. "Which you and Mr. MacDougal would be cleaning up."

"Would the potion have any interesting properties?" Harry asked.

"Only as interesting as watching two sixth years do detention through lunch."

Snape started to stalk away to the next workbench, but Harry stopped him with another question, "Since the shade is much too dark, is there anything we can add or do to fix the potion?"

Snape turned and shook his head with a sneer. "No Potter. It is ruined, like many of your failed attempts at potion making."

Severus heard whispering behind his back and strained to hear if Harry was saying nasty things about him to Mathe MacDougal, but all he heard was talk of boar hair. He was just about to turn and tell Potter he'd better not do what he thought he was about to do when the potion exploded and flew everywhere, including the ceiling and the back of Severus' hair and robes.

"POTTER! DETENTION!"

Everyone was looking at Harry and Mathe, but neither seemed sorry for the exploded potion.

"We'll clean it up sir," Mathe said. Harry hurried to the wall with an empty phial and began scraping sticky potion off the wall with a stirrer.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw for your insolence," Snape spat before using his wand to clean his hair and robes and stalking into the supply cupboard.

"We can test it later," Harry said, "after detention."

"Gryffindors," he heard the Hufflepuff next to Hermione mutter, but Harry paid her no mind, because today he was experimenting on what it was like to be completely Ravenclaw, and the Ravenclaw Harry really wanted to know what this exploded potion was good for, if anything. At least he'd get some use out of the botched potion since there would have been no way to fix it for a grade.

Harry and Mathe stayed through lunch to clean the room while Professor Snape went on a tirade (mostly to Harry) about adding extra boar hair when he'd just told them their potion would explode, and to Mathe for letting him do it.

When Harry and Mathe were finished cleaning they ran all the way to the Great Hall and managed to snag some fruit just as others were leaving to go to class.

"I'm surprised he took points," Lisa Turpin said as the group of sixth year Ravenclaws made their way to Transfiguration which they'd have with Slytherin. "You were just curious about the result."

"Doesn't he normally take points from Ravenclaw?" Harry asked.

"Not from the sixth years," Michael said.

"Well there was that one time he got mad at us for selling the pink hair dye potion to Slytherin," Anthony reminded him. "We lost twenty for that, but that's the only time."

"He always takes points from Gryffindors," Harry said.

"For what?"

"Um... last week Ron's tie wasn't tied nice enough. He was right, it was a little sloppy. And on the first day of class this year I got ten points taken because my hair was a mess. I try to get it to lay flat, but it has a mind of it's own."

"Are you making this up?" Lisa asked.

"No," Harry said. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think Gryffindors are liars, or just me?" He was genuinely curious what others thought about Gryffindor now.

"Neither," she said, "I was just wondering."

* * *

"I wonder what Hufflepuff will be like," Harry said aloud a week after he'd been in Ravenclaw. He was enjoying his time there but it was a strange feeling, because he was missing Gryffindor but also looking forward to seeing the other houses already.

"I heard they don't have beds," Anthony said.

"Do they sleep on the floor then?" Michael asked.

"I don't know."

"What about Gryffindor?" Mathe asked.

"It's a lot like these dorms, like I said before, except lots of red. We don't have a rug on the floor so the floor's always cold for bare feet. And we have desks and wardrobes which we share. There's only one window, it's above the desk I share with Ron and it looks out over the front of the grounds. We can see who comes and goes from the Entrance Hall from Gryffindor."

"Ravenclaw tower is known for it's views," Anthony said. "We can see the Quidditch Pitch, the Forest, and the Potions Greenhouse Snape and Sprout keep."

"I didn't know there was a special greenhouse," Harry said.

"They don't use it for classes. Only Professors are allowed to go in. There's supposed to be man eating plants inside."

* * *

Harry stood anxiously behind the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, Rhys Conall, on Sunday morning after breakfast as he spoke to several of his Quidditch players about practice that afternoon. When he turned and found Harry waiting behind him he gave him a cautious look.

"Potter."

"I was wondering if I could go to practice with you." Harry knew it was a request that would likely be shot down. Quidditch teams were secretive by nature because they kept their plays close to the chest. Harry didn't actually want to see any secret plays or report back on them to Gryffindor (that would be cheating and wouldn't be fun or fair), but he was interested in seeing how other teams ran their practices.

"Come on then," Rhys said.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"You're here for a reason, aren't you? You seem to have taken to Ravenclaw."

"It's interesting," Harry said, "I would have liked being sorted here."

"Really?" Rhys asked, surprised.

"Yeah. It's a lot of fun and I've been learning a lot."

"I thought Gryffindors thought their house was the best and none of the others mattered."

"I wouldn't be part of the exchange if I thought that," Harry said. "My friend Ron thinks that," he admitted, "he's not very happy that Hermione and his sister Ginny and I have gone to visit other houses, but he'll come around eventually."

"We'll have to change all our plays after you see practice."

Harry bit his lip. "I don't actually want to see your plays," he said. "I know you'll basically be wasting a practice on me attending if you don't do any real plays, but I'd just really like to see how your practices go. I'd like to be Quidditch Captain next year and it'd be nice to see the different ways practices can be managed."

"You are a surprise," he said.

"Can Ginny come too? I think she'd like to see."

"Might as well if we're going to waste a practice." He grinned at Harry though and Harry jogged to catch up to Ginny who had already made her way back to Ravenclaw tower.

There was a group of people outside the door to Ravenclaw when Harry got there. Apparently the riddle the knocker had come up with this morning was extra challenging and no one could figure out the answer.

"What's the riddle?" Harry asked.

"The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?" said a first year girl. She was sitting on the stairs and thinking as were many of the Ravenclaws gathered there. Harry had no idea. He was often left waiting outside the common room until other Ravenclaws came and were able to answer the riddle. Every so often a person would say an answer and the knocker would only laugh. Finally a second year girl asked, "Am I footsteps?" and the knocker congratulated her and opened the door. Harry had learned to take whatever he might need for the day when leaving the Ravenclaw common room so he wouldn't find later that he'd forgotten something and have to go back for it and potentially get stuck outside.

* * *

Harry and Ginny did drills with the Ravenclaw team and were surprised to find that their experimentation didn't stop with spells and transfiguration and potions. The team seemed to be constantly experimenting with new moves, such as how easy it might be to leap from one broom to another in mid flight, switching places with another player (it wasn't easy as it turned out, and though they practiced only feet above the ground, two Chasers ended up going to the Hospital Wing before practice was over. Harry and Ginny tried as well but only got scraped and bruised for their efforts, though Harry was still pleased he'd attended their practice in the end.

* * *

Harry was actually sorry to have to leave Ravenclaw at the end of the two weeks. On their last night in Ravenclaw tower Professor Flitwick allowed them all to stay up late again on the roof. It was colder so he cast a charm above and around them creating a bubble to keep the wind out of their space. Harry and Ginny stayed up talking with their new friends for most of the night. Being in Ravenclaw might not have been so bad, Harry thought as he drifted off to sleep for the last time in the sixth year Ravenclaw boy's dormitory.

"Terry's a pratt," Ron said, taking a big gulp of orange juice. "He barely talked to me."

"Well did you make an effort to talk to him?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah I did. I didn't have Harry to talk to did I? Terry just kept acting like I was an idiot. He even said it was a wonder I was passing classes at all. He spent most of his time hanging around the seventh years during free time. I feel bad for Harry having had to spend two weeks in Ravenclaw."

"The others weren't like that," Harry said. "They tried hard to include me in things. They seemed kind of stuck up at first about Ginny and I being there, but they cooled down after the first day."

"Did you see the list of who's supposed to be exchanging into Gryffindor today?" Ron asked. He'd been too tired to look at it the night before because he'd been studying late trying to show up Terry Boot in classes.

"I did-" Hermione said, but she left it there.

"We'll find out in the next few minutes," Harry pointed out. Breakfast had just started but the new people coming into the house would be there soon. He and Hermione had both looked at the list to see if their names were there (they weren't).

Ron groaned a moment later as Draco Malfoy walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the end of Gryffindor.

"Ugh," Ron said, putting his hand up over his face. Draco would be in their dorms for the next two weeks.

"Seamus wanted to visit Slytherin," Harry said, "you know he likes that seventh year girl in Slytherin." Ron only groaned again. Seamus' bed was right on the other side of Ron's. Harry had a feeling Ron would be spending as much time as possible in the library or elsewhere out of Gryffindor tower for the next two weeks.

Harry glanced down the table several times at Draco. He seemed to be the only Slytherin exchanging in this time, and he was sitting alone. He wasn't sure if he should feel bad for him or not. On the one hand, Draco had always been stuck up and a jerk to Harry and his friends, so he wanted to forget about him and not feel bad for him being alone in Gryffindor at all. On the other hand, Harry had just spent two weeks trying to fit into Ravenclaw and knew how it felt to feel like an outsider, and he at least had had Ginny with him. He supposed it would have been miserable in Ravenclaw if the other sixth year boys hadn't been nice to him.

"Oy! Where are you going?" Ron asked when Harry stood abruptly.

"To sit with Draco," Harry said.

Ron tried to reach out for Harry's sleeve across the table to keep him there but Harry was too quick and was already moving down the table. Draco was watching his approach with a glare.

Harry didn't ask Draco if he could sit with him, he just did.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked cautiously.

"Sitting to finish breakfast."

"Why are you sitting here?" Draco clarified with a sneer.

"You traded with Seamus didn't you? Someone's got to show you to the common room and how to get in. You can't spend two weeks alone."

"I can," Draco insisted, but then narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Of course Prince Potter, leader of Gryffindor would try to be my ambassador. Think I need you to show me around?"

"Well you could probably get someone else to show you," Harry said, "but why did you sign up for the exchange if you didn't want to do it?"

"Mother made me."

Harry was surprised by his answer and by how unhappy he seemed to be there. "So you don't want to do it at all?"

"I only wanted to see Ravenclaw. Mother made me sign up for Hufflepuff too."

"But you're here-"

"It's nothing to do with wanting to see Gryffindor Potter. It was out of spite because Father backed mother up and told me I had to do what she said."

"So, you're going to be miserable in Gryffindor for two weeks to make your father angry?"

"It's worth it," Draco said smugly, but then he looked down at his food as if it were something unsavory.

Harry thought quietly for a few minutes, and then said, "If you're not going to eat, we should go to Gryffindor now before it fills up with people."

"Potter, I already told you I don't want anything to do with you or with Gryffindor."

"Come on anyway."

Harry stood up as if the decision was made, and waited for Draco to follow. Was it this hard for the Ravenclaws to get along with him? He was starting to sympathize with Ron about dealing with Terry Boot all of a sudden.

Draco rolled his eyes and finally stood up. Harry led him to the entrance to Gryffindor tower and gave the password, and the portrait opened to let them in, eyeing Draco warily as she did so. Inside, Draco's eyes roamed around the circular common room and lingered on the worn red furniture, which had a lot of frayed edges and patches where the color was faded.

"You live here?"

"Yeah, this is home," Harry said. The common room was large, but it was smaller than the Ravenclaw and Slytherin common rooms. It felt more cozy to Harry this way. There were only a few tables to study at, a few couches, and some worn armchairs. There were also several footstools and poofs people sat on.

"But- there's hardly any place to sit or study."

"The younger years usually sit on the floor by the fire or over there in the corner by the bookshelf. We have desks to study in our room."

"So do we," Draco said.

Harry led him to one of the archways leading out of the common room. "This one leads to the boy's dorms," Harry said. "Boys bathrooms are here," he pointed to a door at the bottom of the stairs just inside the archway, and then led him up the stairs to the door with a 6 on it.

"You're in Seamus' bed. It's that one. This one is where Ron sleeps, and here's mine. You share a desk with Dean, it's that one, and this is the wardrobe you share with Dean. Neville has his own desk and wardrobe over there.

Draco opened the lid of his trunk which was at the foot of Seamus' bed and sneered. "Lovely," he muttered, lifting out his robes which now had the Gryffindor crest.

"You can probably come to Quidditch practice with us if you want," Harry said. "Ginny and I practiced twice with the Ravenclaws."

"You would let me come?" he asked skeptically.

"I'm not the Captain, I'll have to talk to Katie, but I heard they let Rylee French practice with them while she was here."

After almost half an hour of sitting in the dormitory quietly, (Draco had pulled out a magazine and flopped down onto Seamus' bed and Harry had pulled out his homework), the door opened and the other three sixth year boys came in. Ron looked incensed and seemed to be looking around the room to see if Draco had messed with any of his things or destroyed anything, but seemed to settle when Dean saw what Draco was reading and said, "I haven't seen that issue yet."

Draco looked up from the magazine. "It's garbage," he said, and tossed it to Dean who caught it.

"Thanks," Dean said. Most of the Gryffindor boys shared what they had, sometimes even between years. Ron was always letting Harry borrow one of his coats and warm winter hats, and sometimes one of the fourth or fifth years came up to their door to ask to borrow books or other things. Once Harry even let a seventh year borrow his broom to tryout for the Quidditch team. It seemed to go over well with the other boys then that Draco had been willing to share his Quidditch magazine.

Neville rummaged in his trunk for a moment and then came out with a different Quidditch magazine and asked Draco, "Have you seen this one yet? Gran just sent it to me. She went on a trip to France and brought it back." He handed it to Draco who looked at the cover and then began flipping through it's pages.

"I haven't," Draco said. He didn't thank Neville but at least he hadn't snapped at him.

* * *

Draco seemed to keep mostly to himself that first day, but by Sunday he'd been through every Quidditch magazine he and the other boys in the dorm owned, and seemed to be getting bored.

"We're going out onto the grounds," Harry said, "if you want to come."

"What are you going to do? Smuggle another dragon's egg into school?"

Ron grumbled something unhappy but no one could hear what, and then said, "I'm going to the library if he's coming," and left the room.

"Are you coming?" Harry asked, pulling one of Ron's coats out of their shared wardrobe.

"Fine." Draco got up and put his own coat on. "Isn't that Weasley's coat?"

"He lets me borrow it," Harry said.

Hermione was waiting in the common room for them.

"Ron said something rude and then went to the library," she said. "He's being awfully sour about this entire exchange program."

"He's not the only one," Harry joked, and then they both looked at Draco.

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah but you're not going to have any fun while you are," Harry said.

"Whatever Potter."

Out on the grounds the three sixth years wandered to the lake, Harry and Hermione talking about Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and Draco being totally silent, and then skirted the edge of the Forbidden Forest before making their way to Hagrid's. When Hagrid opened the door and saw a blond instead of a red-head, he seemed surprised.

"Come in then, a wind is whipping up out there."

Hagrid fixed tea and served burnt biscuits, which Draco declined with a look of disgust. Draco listened disinterestedly in the conversation Hagrid was having with Harry and Hermione about the time they'd spent in other houses, until Hagrid finally asked him, "What about you Draco? How are yeh liking Gryffindor?"

Draco opened his mouth and looked like he was going to say something rude, but then closed his mouth and turned to look out the window. "It's ok," he said, causing Harry and Hermione to look at each other and grin. Harry supposed it was the closest thing to a compliment they would get.

Draco did attend Quidditch practice with Harry and Ginny later that afternoon, and he and Harry had a mock race to find the Quidditch first. First Harry caught it, then he released it and Draco caught it a few minutes later, and then Harry caught it again. A fifth year Ravenclaw Chaser was also practicing with them and wanted to try catching the Snitch, so they had a race three ways for the rest of the practice.

* * *

Draco was being very quiet, and aside from Ron's grumblings, things were going fine until Potions with Slytherin Tuesday morning. Neville sat with Draco and was brewing a passing potion for once with Draco's help, (for which he was thankful), while Harry sat with Ron. Snape seemed to be keeping a closer eye than usual on Harry after the previous week's exploded potion, and circled his and Ron's workbench relentlessly. When class was over, Harry was glad to be out from under the man's fiery gaze.

Harry and the others packed their bags to leave, but Snape told Draco to stay behind for a moment. Harry stayed behind too, unsure if Draco knew what the rest of their Tuesday schedule looked like, and not wanting to leave him behind.

"How have they been treating you in Gryffindor?" he asked Draco quietly at the back of the room. Harry strained his ears. If Draco wanted to get them in trouble, now would be the time, he thought.

"Ok," Draco said.

"Just ok?"

"It's fine. Their common room is a shambles but I expected it would be. There's not a lot of studying that goes on. They take walks and play games."

Snape was quiet for a few moments in thought. "Perhaps you should enjoy the time off then."

Draco frowned. "Time off? Is that what all this is about? You said something to mother and father didn't you? It's your fault I have to do this stupid exchange," he accused. Snape didn't deny it.

"There is nothing wrong with relaxing and taking a break every now and then Draco. Not everything has to be a stress-inducing situation."

Draco grumbled.

"I didn't hear that," Snape said.

"Nothing sir."

"You are certain you are being treated well?"

"I'm fine. Potter and Granger made me go on a walk on the grounds with them and they won't let me eat by myself."

Snape turned and gave a sneer to Harry then, who was still by the door waiting for Draco, and then turned back around to the Slytherin.

"You'd best get to your next class before you're late."

Draco hurried out of the room past Snape and Harry. Harry was about to follow but Snape stopped him. "If I hear one word of you mis-treating any Slytherins coming into Gryffindor, there will be a heavy price to be paid," he warned.

Harry turned and looked at him, jaw open a little. What did the man think he was going to do? Ambush someone in their sleep? Hadn't Draco just said he was eating meals with Harry and being included in activities?

"Be gone," Snape snapped, and Harry turned and left without a word.

Harry didn't mention what he'd heard Snape and Draco talking about to anybody, because he wasn't sure what exactly it had been about. It sounded like Draco had had some sort of episode in Slytherin or something. Harry didn't know, but Snape was the last person he expected to say that it was ok to relax. Harry could never relax around the man, and Snape had frequently called him lazy in class or written it on top of his returned essays and homework assignments in bright red ink. He would never tell Harry to take a break. In fact, Harry was certain Snape wanted every encounter with him to be ‘stress-inducing'.

* * *

Draco continued to sulk for several days, but by the weekend seemed to have relaxed a little. He played chess with Ron, of all people, and Ron didn't get angry when Draco won because Ron was always complaining about Harry's abysmal chess skills and how he wanted a real opponent. Draco continued to be quiet throughout the rest of his time in Gryffindor, but he didn't complain or protest when they ignored their homework to go for walks, go to the owlery, or go back to Hagrid's cabin for tea. When he had finally gone back to Slytherin after his two weeks were over, Ron said to Harry, "It wasn't so bad."

"You acted like it was going to be traumatic."

"It was... for a little while. I thought he'd be in here calling us names and cursing our stuff and hexing us. He did stick his nose up in the air at our furniture and stuff."

"Was he as bad as Terry Boot though?" Harry asked.

Ron looked like he was struggling for the answer. "Not when he was here, but I think it's because he was scared because there were so many Gryffindors and he was the only Slytherin. You know he's worse than Terry Boot the rest of the time because we hardly ever see Terry except in classes a couple times a week."

Hermione sighed. "Ronald, I'm not sure if I should be proud of you or think you're impossible."

"What's there to be proud about?"

"Well you weren't a jerk the entire time to Draco," Harry said.

"I didn't have a choice. Everyone else was nice to him, it'd be pretty rotten if I was the only person being mean."

"Impossible," Hermione finally concluded. "It'd be horrible if anyone were being mean Ronald."

"It's never stopped Draco."

"You're not Draco," she told him.

Hermione left Ron to his thoughts and when Ron looked to Harry to see what he had to say, Harry shrugged. She was right. Just because Draco had been a jerk so much of the time at school, didn't mean they had to be. Harry had tried very hard to be nice and ignore anything rude Draco said while he was in Gryffindor, and it had worked out alright, hadn't it?

"Don't worry, you'll get to see Ravenclaw eventually," Harry reminded her. "The exchange is going all year. It's going to take time to get everybody through."

"I know, but I'm feeling impatient. I was hoping to get to go again before Christmas break and there's only a few weeks left."

"You never know," Harry said to encourage her.

Harry parted with Hermione and Ron as they went to sit at Gryffindor Saturday morning. Draco was back at Slytherin table and looked comfortable. He was whispering something to Teddy Knott and Pansy Parkinson as Harry made his way to Hufflepuff.

"Hello Potter," the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain said as Harry sat down in the middle of the Quidditch team.

"Good morning."

"We have Quidditch today," the Captain said, "and our Seeker is visiting Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw Seeker is visiting Gryffindor, and our game is against Ravenclaw."

"So-" Harry started, uncertain what they wanted since he wasn't even on their team and had never practiced with them before. He'd missed the first Gryffindor game because he was visiting Ravenclaw. He would like to play but knew he'd be scoring a win for Hufflepuff if he did.

"We want you to play," one of the Hufflepuff beaters said. "Ravenclaw has a back-up Seeker they're using."

"Am I allowed to play?"

"You're a Hufflepuff for the time being," the Captain said, as if that settled it. "And as of right now I'm putting you on the team. We don't have anyone else Potter. Our back-up Seeker is sitting at Slytherin today."

"I'll play," Harry told the table, since everyone within earshot seemed to be listening in on the conversation.

"We know you haven't practiced with us, but things should be about the same as being on Gryffindor team. We need you to make sure you don't catch the Snitch until we're up by fifty points though. Don't let Ravenclaw catch it either."

Harry nodded. "Got it."

"Game's in an hour Potter. Eat-up so we can get out onto the field. You've still got to run down to the dorms so you can grab your gear." Harry knew by now that his Quidditch robes had probably changed to yellow and black instead of red and gold. Just like his regular robes, his Quidditch uniform changed every time he moved to a new house.

Harry scarfed down two pieces of french toast and an apple and then followed one of the Beaters, Oliver Jones, down to Hufflepuff in the Kitchen corridor. There were several barrels stacked next to a round door and Oliver tapped a specific one in the rhythm of a song. The door opened and they climbed inside. It was the most cramped entrance to a common room Harry had seen yet, but he fit inside just fine. He barely had time to take in the round common room with a low ceiling and plants hanging out of planters everywhere before Oliver led him to a smaller round door, one of at least a dozen off of the common room, and pushed the door open. After climbing through this round door they found a small circular area with a small black couch and black armchair, and two more doors leading off of it.

"This door is the 5th year boys. That's my dorm. This one is the sixth year boys, that's you. Harry pushed the door open and Oliver followed him into the small round room. There weren't beds. Instead there were bed shaped holes in the walls, some higher up and some near the floor. It was like an animal's den. Harry searched for his trunk and found it on the floor next to one of the bed areas that was close to the floor.

"Looks like that's your bed," the boy said.

"This is where we sleep?" Harry asked, digging through his trunk for his Quidditch robes and all his gear. He felt rushed. He hadn't been anticipating playing in a match today.

"They don't look comfortable, but they are." Harry glanced up at his new bed. It still looked better than the floor of the cupboard under the stairs. It looked soft and warm. There were patchwork quilts in varying shades of gold, yellow, black and gray on all the beds and each quilt looked like it was hand-made and different than the last.

"The beds sort of swallow you whole, like a nest, or a burrow," Oliver said. "Come on, everyone will be waiting for us."

Harry jammed his flying goggles on, letting them sit on his forehead, wrapped his flying gloves up in his Quidditch robe, tucked the bundle under his arm and then grabbed his broom and followed Oliver out. He really wanted to try out the beds but it would have to wait until after the match.

Ravenclaw's backup Seeker was decent at flying it turned out. She kept trying to catch the Snitch and Harry kept having to block her path so he could wait until Hufflepuff was up by fifty points. It was exhausting following her around and blocking her and he could tell she was frustrated with him. Finally Harry heard the announcement that Hufflepuff was at ninety points and Ravenclaw at forty. Harry saw a glint of gold and tore off after the Snitch. The back-up Ravenclaw Seeker took her turn to finally block Harry, but Harry, having practiced with the Ravenclaws maneuvering off of his broom, leapt into the air over her head and caught the Snitch. It was only after the Snitch was in hand that he had a split second to worry over not landing on his broom again, as he never had managed in practices with Ravenclaw to find a broom to land on once he'd leapt off. His broom found him however and he landed, but only just, golden Snitch in hand. A cheer went up and Harry was glad, but also felt bad for the Ravenclaw Seeker at the same time.

"Sorry," Harry said.

"What are you sorry for?" she asked.

"You played really well. They just told me I had to wait til' they were up by fifty before anyone caught it."

"Well with a move like that, I'm just glad you didn't fall and crack your head open. We never would have tried that a hundred feet in the air."

Harry descended to the ground and met the rest of the Hufflepuff team.

"Where'd that come from Potter?"

"What?"

"Leaping into the air like that. I wasn't sure you would actually try to win for us."

"I said I'd play for you, and I am a Hufflepuff for two weeks. It wouldn't be right if I didn't keep my word."

The Captain and the rest of the team gave Harry an appraising look, but then they nodded and began to grin. "Gryffindor," one of the younger Chasers said, and Harry grinned at her. Maybe not all things people thought about Gryffindor's were negative.

After changing and showering in the locker rooms and being led back to Hufflepuff common room, Harry was surprised by how hard the Hufflepuffs were partying inside. It was like a Gryffindor party but with different people and different colors. Someone had a radio blasting wizard rock and younger students were dancing with glee around the common room at having won the match. Harry wished it were quieter. He wanted to go outside or retreat to the dorm but he couldn't remember which door lead to his dorm. Everybody was taking turns coming up to him and congratulating him in betwixt giving him their unsolicited opinion of him and saying how happy they were he'd actually decided to try to win.

After several minutes Harry began to feel dizzy and anxious with all the noise, motion, people, and nowhere to escape to. He was just headed back to the entrance thinking he might get an early start on lunch when Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie MacMillan came up to him.

"In here Harry," Ernie said, and led Harry to the correct circular door that led to the 5th and 6th year boys dorms.

"You we're starting to look pale," Ernie said in the quiet of the small space as he pushed the 6th year boy's dorms open.

"I don't like being around all the people in the noise," Harry said. "I wasn't sure which door came in here." He sat down on the bottom bed... or burrow, Harry wasn't sure yet, and sank into it. The bottom seemed not to be flat, but concave like he was lying in a shallow tub or a basin.

"Comfortable?" Justin asked with a laugh.

"Yeah. I've never seen beds like this."

"When they designed the place Helga Hufflepuff liked badgers so much she fashioned the entire house like a badger's den. I didn't realize any of the other houses were any different until I visited Ravenclaw last week."

"Yeah," Ernie said. We all kinda just thought all the houses were fashioned after the mascots. We were wondering if Ravenclaw was like a bird's nest and Gryffindor like a cave."

"Well, Ravenclaw is in a high tower with views over most of the grounds," Harry said, "and they go up on the tower roof to hang out sometimes. That's sort of like a bird's nest."

"I guess," Justin said.

Harry looked around. There were five beds but only three seemed to be lived in.

"Yeah, we only have three sixth year boys," Ernie said, "and Wayne's off visiting Gryffindor this week. Ours is the smallest group in Hufflepuff. The seventh year boys have nine in their dorm!"

"There's five sixth year boys in my dorm," Harry said. He wondered then if Justin, Ernie, and Wayne were close since it was just the three of them.

"You're not looking as pale now," Justin observed. "Wanna go to lunch? Then we can show you the rest of the house after."

Harry agreed and they went to lunch, but the anxiety brought on by the noise earlier crept back over him as soon as he sat down at Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall and people began chatting with him and congratulating him again. He just wanted to be left alone for a while, so he excused himself after barely two bites of lunch and went back out to the Entrance Hall.

"You want to go to the Hospital Wing?" Ernie asked. He and Justin had followed Harry out. Ernie had an armful of fruit.

"No," Harry said. "I just wanted some time away from everybody."

"Sorry," Ernie said. "We'll leave you alone."

"No-" Harry held up his hand, "a couple people is ok."

"How come you don't like parties?" Justin asked, handing Harry an apple and then giving a pear to Justin. They went out the front doors to sit on the front steps in the afternoon sun. It was chilly out and there was a breeze but the sun felt nice.

Harry shrugged. He just didn't. He was used to being all by himself at Privet Drive, and the Dursleys never spoke to him unless it was to tell him to do chores or yell at him for doing his chores wrong. At Hogwarts he usually only talked to the Weasley's and Hermione. Dean and Seamus were best friends and didn't speak all that much to Harry and Ron, and Neville kept to himself a lot.

"Come on, we'll show you the rest of the common room before everyone else comes in. The party's going to continue after lunch. We can find something else to do when everybody else comes back."

"You don't want to celebrate with everyone else?" Harry asked.

"It's just a party. We mostly stick together," Ernie said. "Like you and Ron and Hermione."

Back in the common room Harry was able to get a better look. It was sunny and the whole common room felt warm and inviting now that it was empty, despite that there was no fire going in the grate. There were less doors than Harry has initially assumed, but there were still a lot. Most of them led to dorms and a couple to bathrooms. One door led to a smaller room similar to the common room but it had study tables like the library and bookshelves lined with books.

"We do a lot of studying in here," Justin said. "It's quiet in here. You're not supposed to talk above a whisper and only to study with your group. People study in the common room too when there's not a Quidditch celebration going on."

"There're a lot of plants around," Harry observed, but it made sense considering Professor Sprout was their head of house and taught Herbology.

"We have all sorts of plants," Justin said. "That one cleans our air. We have the cleanest freshest air in the castle." Harry had to agree, it smelled like earth like they were out in the forest, and he loved it. The fresh air along with all the plants made him feel like he was outside, and he loved being outside. "Watch out for that one, it likes to reach out and grab people as they walk by, but only if it thinks you're being naughty or rude. It won't let you go until you apologize to whoever you were rude to, which can be difficult if they went into their dorms or out into the castle. And that plant's good for eating if you get hungry. It tastes like sugar."

"The kitchens are just down the hall," Harry said, "I thought you would all go to get snacks in the middle of the night since you're so close."

"No," Ernie told him. "The first years always try but the elves won't serve students for any reason. They tattle on you to Professor Sprout if you go asking for something to eat."

All of the tables in the room and in the study room were highly polished honey colored wood. They looked to Harry like brand new broom handles. There were small round windows along one wall near the ceiling that let warm light in, and outside you could see grass. Harry saw two pairs of feet walk by and was surprised. Someone must have been out on the grounds walking around after lunch. The entire room felt warm and cheery with it's dark honey tones, plants, and the light that filtered in through all the plants.

The entrance door opened and several laughing sixth year girls came in. "Hi Harry, Hannah Abbott said. Ruby Jones and Megan Jones waved at him and smiled. He held up his hand in a wave back but Ernie was urging him now to go to their dorms and he followed him.

"Are Ruby and Megan sisters?" Harry asked when they were alone.

"Cousins," Ernie said. "There's a lot of Jones' in Hufflepuff. Kind of like how a lot of Weasleys go to Gryffindor."

"So Oliver Jones-" Harry asked of the Beater who'd shown him to the common room before the game.

"Is also their cousin," Justin said.

Ernie and Justin sat down on the uneven floor of the dormitory on a large, soft, circular brown rug and motioned for Harry to come over to them. "Come on, let's play games."

Harry sat down across from them and one of the boys used a wand to call a board game to them from a rough brown wooden trunk that looked like it had seen better days.

"That's our game chest," Justin said. "Each dorm has one. Sometimes we switch games with other dorms in the house. It's tradition that each person donates new games when they graduate to replace the old ones that have fallen apart from use. When I graduate I'm going to buy a bunch of Muggle games and bring them."

"That'll be interesting," Harry said. He knew Muggle games would likely confuse Ron and others who hadn't grown up in the Muggle world.

They passed the afternoon playing games and then went to dinner, which Harry sat through because the rest of the house had finally quieted down about the Quidditch game.

"There's board and card game tournaments sometimes," Justin said during dinner. "I know you don't like to be around a lot of people, but there's one tomorrow."

"Is that what Hufflepuff's spend their free time doing?" Harry asked. "Board games?"

"Most of the time. What do Gryffindor's do?"

"We do games too, and fly, and go out on the grounds."

"Sounds like us then," Ernie said.

Aside from the way Hufflepuff looked, Harry had to agree that Hufflepuff did feel similar to Gryffindor from what he'd seen so far. He felt about as comfortable there as he did Gryffindor. No one had judged him, they'd let him play Quidditch straight away, and people seemed friendly enough. Ernie and Justin had also stuck to Harry like glue when he seemed uncomfortable around others like Ron and Hermione would have done. Harry wouldn't find out until Monday just how different Hufflepuff was from Gryffindor.

* * *

Snape was yelling at him, and his nerves were beginning to fray from the encounter. Harry would gladly take whatever detention Snape wanted him to do if only he'd stop yelling at him. He stuck his hands behind his back and held them tightly in the hope that they'd quit shaking. Snape didn't stop.

"You're just like your father!" Snape yelled. They were in the hallway leading from the bottom of the dungeon stairs to the dungeon classrooms. "Strutting through the halls with a pompous attitude, tie done up wrong, hair a mess, shirt untucked!"

Harry looked down at his tie. It was better than Ron's usually was. He supposed he should have waited to get back to Hufflepuff before un-tucking his shirt. That was his fault. The problem was he was wearing the same uniform slacks as last year because he hadn't had a chance to go to Diagonalley to get new school clothes before boarding the train and his slacks were too tight as it was without a shirt being tucked into them. He was lucky to even have school books for the year. If Flourish and Blotts didn't accept owl orders, he wouldn't. The shirt was his fault, but his hair he couldn't do a thing about. Nothing he ever did made it look better.

"Well what do you have to say for yourself Potter? I expect more from a sixth year!"

"I- er..."

"So eloquent Potter, as always," Snape snapped loudly.

Harry had had enough of the yelling. He couldn't take it anymore and finally shouted, "Just shut up already!"

Snape narrowed his eyes and said in a deadly tone, "Detention Potter. I will teach you manners if it is the last thing I ever have the chance to do."

Harry let go of his jittery hands and stuck them in his pockets.

"Excuse me, Professor Snape?" Justin came out from behind Harry. Harry'd been so caught up in the yelling and shaking he hadn't even noticed there were other students around. He looked around and found Justin, Ron, and a handful of others there who had been coming and going from Potions classes and the Slytherin common room. Apparently they'd all stopped to watch Harry get in trouble for his abysmal attire and grooming skills.

Snape sighed, pulled himself back from where he'd been leaning slightly towards Harry, and stood straight before he addressed Justin, snapping only slightly at him. His tone was so much different than it had been moments before with Harry, but those gathered could still tell he was irritated. "Yes Mr. Finch-Fletchley?"

"Harry's in Hufflepuff right now."

"Your point being?"

"Detentions go to Hufflepuff to be assigned."

Harry turned to look at Justin, confused, and then back to Snape who looked even more irritated.

"And I can trust you will relay the entirety of the events, and Mr. Potter's abysmal appearance to the court?"

"Yes sir," Justin said.

"Be gone then." Snape waved his hand, turned, and stalked off back into the dungeons, presumably to his next class, which Ron was just heading into. Harry and Ron gave each other a look of relief and then Justin grabbed Harry's sleeve and dragged him up the stairs and out of the Dungeons.

"What court?" Harry said. "Hufflepuffs don't get detentions from teachers?"

"Our house is student governed."

"What's that mean?"

"C'mon, we have to get to Herbology or we'll be late. I'll explain at dinner."

Harry was going to get more than an explanation however, he was going to see things first hand. As it turned out, when a Hufflepuff student was accused of wrongdoing by staff or another student, the house convened a court in the common room. Chairs and tables were pushed to the sides and one of the rectangular study tables was brought out of the study room and set in front of the fireplace with seven chairs behind it. Everyone's name (except who the trial was being held for and any witnesses) were put into a hat, and Professor Sprout picked names out of the hat until all seven chairs were filled at the table. There were two first years, a third year, a fourth year, a sixth year, and two seventh years. Harry didn't know any of the students sitting at the table.

Harry was told to stand in front of the table and the rest of the house gathered and sat on the couches and chairs at the back of the common room to watch. Professor Sprout stood back there as well. Just before things got started, the common room door opened and a seventh year Hufflepuff prefect came in with Ron. Harry wanted to ask what he was doing there, but had been told to be quiet until he was asked to speak, so he had to settle for finding out later.

One of the seventh years at the table said, "Court is called today to decide what punishment, if any, will be assigned to Harry Potter. Harry is accused of telling Professor Snape to shut up in the halls. Professor Snape has given a written account of his side of the story, as well as a request that Harry be assigned detention at seven pm tomorrow evening with him for disrespecting staff, and he would like ten points removed from Hufflepuff for doing so in front of a group of students." The boy looked at Harry. "I know you haven't been through a student court before. After we hear from you, read the Professor's statement, and hear from witnesses, we'll decide if there's a punishment and what it will be, and you'll have to agree to abide by it. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded. It was strange that his fate was being left up to a bunch of students, including students younger than himself, but he was hopeful that whatever they decided would be better than what Snape had planned.

"What do you have to say to the charges Harry?" the seventh year asked.

"I told Professor Snape to shut up."

"Why?" the sixth year girl at the table asked.

"He was yelling at me. I just wanted him to stop."

"Let's read the statement," the girl suggested, and the seventh year handed the parchment with Snape's writing over to her.

"Harry Potter frequently presents in class in an untidy manner." Harry paused to appreciate how nicely Snape had written his statement, and wondered if he'd chosen to write so he didn't have to be there in person. Harry was sure if he was there in person he wouldn't be able to help himself from being snarky and shouting. The girl continued reading. "His hair is frequently unbrushed, his tie is not straight, and he appears to take no care in the appearance of his school uniform and robes, allowing himself to be seen walking the corridors with his shirt untucked and hanging out from under his school vest on top of his trousers. Mr. Potter's shoes are never clean, and he appears to care little if at all of how he presents himself to the school. When approached about the subject he frequently mouths off to staff about it, and his habits of appearance never change."

Harry wanted to sigh. It didn't help that he hadn't been able to change yet and was still wearing the same too tight pants with his shirt untucked and his tie loose. The students of the court seemed to be looking him up and down and thinking the same thing and waiting for him to speak. Harry didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell a quarter of the school's population that he didn't know how to make his hair look nice, or that his relatives hated him and refused to take him for new robes or buy him new shoes or clothes.

"Is this how you looked when you met with Professor Snape today?" Professor Sprout asked from somewhere behind him. Justin had said she would be allowed to ask questions too although she wouldn't be allowed to take part in the court's final ruling.

"Yes maam," Harry said.

"Can you explain to the court please what reason you have to go to classes like this?"

Harry couldn't help but fidgeting with his fingers. "I'd like to make my hair lie flat maam, but it never cooperates. I do brush it a couple of times every morning before breakfast, but it never looks better. I wash it every night too," he said, hoping people wouldn't think he was just a disgusting slob. Sometimes they had to get onto the case of some of the younger Gryffindor boys about showering because they couldn't stand the smell of them any longer in the common room.

"And your clothes?"

"I thought my tie was ok maam, I didn't mean for it to look crooked. I untucked my shirt after Potions because my pants are too tight and the shirt being tucked in made it worse, but I should have waited until after class was over. These are the only shoes I have. They're all stained up. My friend Hermione tried to help me scrub the stains off with potions and spells but it didn't help much." The room was so quiet that in contrast to the jubilation that had previously caused Harry anxiety days ago after the Quidditch match, he actually began to feel anxious in the silence. Justin had said court would be quiet though when explaining to him what would happen.

"Witnesses to the incident in question?" One of the seventh years at the table asked. Justin and Ron stood up and came to stand behind Harry where he couldn't see them.

"Professor Snape was yelling at Harry in the halls," Justin said. "He didn't seem to care much that other students were all watching and listening. Harry did yell at him to shut up already, but to be fair Harry looked all pale and he was starting to shake. He doesn't like when people are loud."

Great, Harry thought, that's what he needed. A bunch of people thinking there was something wrong with him, shaking and not being able to handle loud noises. He would rather have taken detention with Snape instead of having it all aired out like this in a house court.

"Other witness?" someone at the table asked.

Ron cleared his throat. "Professor Snape is always on Harry about something," he said. "Harry does shower every night and brushes his hair a bunch of times in the morning. He's always complaining about how he can't get his hair to lie flat. Professor Snape is always saying nasty things to him about how he looks. Harry knows and tries to fix things when he can. He and Hermione spent three hours trying to make his shoes look better on the train ride to school."

"Witnesses dismissed," one of the students said, and Justin and Ron sat back down with the other Hufflepuffs.

"Do you have anything else to add Harry?" one of the seventh years at the table asked.

"I'm sorry I yelled at him. I was trying to just listen and not say anything at all. If I could do the day over again I wouldn't yell at him or disrespect him."

While the house waited quietly, the seven students at the table got up and went into the study room for ten minutes and then came back out with their decision.

One of the seventh years said, "Seeing as how Professor Snape was dressing down Harry in front of his peers, the demand for loss of house points for being disrespectful to a teacher in front of students is dismissed. Seeing that Harry has made an effort to make himself look presentable, and appears sorry for the disrespect shown to staff, the demand for detention is dismissed. Harry, by dinner tomorrow you have to go to Professor Snape and give him the same apology you just told to us. Since you yelled at him in public you'll have to apologize in public, so be sure to take Justin and Ernie with you. That should also prevent him from yelling after you give your apology. We'll wait until after your apology is delivered before we deliver the results of the court hearing to Professor Snape. Student court is adjourned." Everyone stood up and began talking about the case. Harry walked over to Ron and Justin and Ernie.

"I had no idea other houses did this," Ron said, looking around the common room as if he were in an alien landscape.

"You should sign up for the exchange," Harry said. "It's worth it."

"Well-" Ron said, "Maybe."

Professor Sprout told Ron he was excused back to Gryffindor tower and then beckoned for Harry to follower her out of the common room and into the corridor. Justin and Ernie followed.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"To address the issue of your clothing and hair," Professor Sprout said. "In Hufflepuff it's customary to address any and all issues right away. If the issue with your appearance isn't fixed you're sure to have another run in with Professor Snape. We generally try to avoid that here."

Harry generally tried to avoid it to, but he always failed. Just a short distance down the corridor there was another round door. She whispered a password, tapped the door in the same rhythmic beat they used to get into the common room, and the door opened to reveal a sitting room. "Come in, hurry along now." The three boys climbed inside and immediately a warm fire sprang to life in the grate.

"Over here," Sprout said, motioning to a tall standing mirror. "Now, what to do about your hair?"

"I've tried everything," Harry said. "My aunt cut it once but it all grew back overnight."

"Did it now? Did you like the haircut she gave you?"

Harry shook his head. "No maam. Definitely not."

"Likely a bout of accidental magic then. If we can give you a haircut you like hopefully it won't grow back, unless your hair has been cursed, which I doubt. How shall we cut it then?"

Harry stared at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was wavy and curly and tangly and long and in general just a mess.

"If we could just make it shorter it might lay straight," he said. He looked at Justin and Ernie. "Maybe like Ernie's but shorter than that."

"We'll see what we can do then." To Harry's horror she pulled out a pair of gardening shears, but before he could protest, she was clipping here and cutting there and hair was falling in a cascade around him. After ten minutes, his hair looked neat and tidy. It was still a bit wavy, but Professor Sprout advised him to brush his hair right away after showering and not to rest his head against anything until it was dry, and to brush it again after it was dry.

"Thanks Professor!" Harry said, "I'll try that!" Even just being shorter Harry thought it looked a million times better than it had before.

"I'm afraid I can't do anything about your shoes," she said, "but I can adjust your pants up at least half a size. You'll have to go to the village on a Hogsmead weekend and order a new pair but this should do until then. She aimed her wand and said a spell and Harry's pants lengthened half an inch and relaxed a little in the waist. They still weren't comfortable but they were better than they had been.

"Mr. MacMillan, show Mr. Potter the spell for keeping ties perfectly in place," Sprout said, and Ernie demonstrated on Harry's tie. Harry's tie instantly straightened as though it had been starched, and seemed unwilling to move out of place from the center of his shirt. "It lasts all day if you do it right," Ernie said proudly. "No one will ever criticize your tie again."

Harry thanked Professor Sprout and Ernie and Justin and they left the Professor's living room and went back down the hall to Hufflepuff. This had been a night unlike any he'd ever experienced before. Snape had been shot down, Harry hadn't gotten in trouble at all, Ron seemed to be re-evaluating the House Exchange Program, and a Professor had actually helped him look nicer!

Harry settled into his bed in the dorms and let it swallow him. He was warm and comfortable. Hermione hadn't mentioned a court or how interesting the dorms were. He wondered then if she'd had a chance to see the student court. If she had, he bet she would have been fascinated.

* * *

"Harry, there you are," Hermione said, catching up to him after lunch the next day.

"Hey."

"What did you say to Ron to get him to change his mind? He went straight to Professor McGonagall's office this morning after Transfiguration and put his name on the exchange list for Hufflepuff."

"He came to court last night."

"Ooh! Did you get to see court? They told me about it but it didn't happen while I was there."

"See it? No. I went through it. I got out of a detention with Snape. I have to apologize to him before dinner though. I have to take Ernie and Justin with me to witness it."

"Ron said you got in trouble, but he didn't tell me about court. He didn't tell me where he got off to last night after dinner either."

"He was a witness."

"Now I am jealous. Everyone's got to see it except me."

Harry grinned at her. Then he spotted Ernie and Justin and beckoned them over. "Will you go with me to apologize to Professor Snape now? I'd rather get it over with since we have a free period."

Professor Snape was not happy to receive Harry's apology. He also wasn't happy that he could no longer say anything about Harry's hair or tie. Harry knew Snape hadn't gotten the results of the court yet, but bet he could surmise that Harry wouldn't be serving detention with him if he'd gone to give him an apology.

"That was good Harry," Ernie said. "You're a real Hufflepuff now."

"Because I apologized?"

"Because you followed everything Hufflepuff stands for. You followed all the rules and did what you were told, and we can tell you've been fair with us too. You acted just like a Hufflepuff playing Quidditch. You worked hard to win and didn't try to sabotage the game or anything."

"It's no fun to cheat, and I couldn't live with myself if I did," Harry said.

"Gryffindor," Justin laughed.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"If ever there was a Gryffindor, all proud and courageous and just, it's you Harry."

Harry couldn't help but grinning.

Harry stood up after dinner and made his way towards Professor McGonagall, but Ron met him halfway there. "You're crazy Harry. You're not actually going to do it are you? If you do this you'll end up in Slytherin for three weeks!"

"Well you're going home for Christmas right, and so is Hermione. Who will I have left?"

"There's a bunch of other kids staying in Gryffindor this year."

"Well, I wanted to try Slytherin anyway. Their dorms'll probably empty out a bit, so what's an extra week in emptier than normal dorms?"

"Crazy," muttered Ron again, but he backed away as McGonagall eyed him as he and Harry got closer, and let Harry approach her alone.

"I trust you're enjoying yourself Mr. Potter if you're back to put your name on the list again?"

"Yes maam."

"You do understand this means three weeks in Slytherin?"

Harry nodded.

"Very well then." She wrote Harry's name down.

"Is Mr. Weasley coming over as well?"

"No, don't mind him. He's trying to stop me." Harry turned and looked at him. He was motioning silently trying to get Harry's attention.

Only a few people put their names down on the list. As it worked out, only Harry, Draco, one Hufflepuff, and one other Slytherin had opted for the holiday exchange. Harry wondered which house Draco would be going to for the holidays and why he wasn't going home. He thought it might actually be better to see the last house over the holidays anyway. This way he would spend the holiday doing something productive, and after the holidays were over he could look forward to spending the rest of the year with his friends in Gryffindor. He missed his own house.

The next morning, Harry said goodbye to Ernie and Justin and went to sit at Slytherin table. A lot of people at Slytherin gave him unhappy looks, but no one said anything about him being there. He supposed by now everyone was used to people coming in and out of their common room and dorms.

Rylee French and Sylace Reid came down the table to sit next to Harry. "Hi," Harry said. He'd been to two other houses and had Draco in Gryffindor, but suddenly he was feeling shy sitting at Slytherin.

"Welcome to Slytherin," Rylee said. Both Rylee and Reid had stayed in Gryffindor while Harry was away at Ravenclaw.

"Thanks," Harry said.

"Someone said you were almost sorted here," Reid said.

"Yeah, the hat was going to put me here at first."

"But?"

"I'd just met Draco and gotten into a fight with him and Draco had just been put in Slytherin, so I asked the hat to put me somewhere else. I didn't want to start off in a house with someone who already didn't like me."

"That sounds like a strategic move a Slytherin would make," Reid said in approval.

"Er, I guess." Harry was beginning to feel confused about where he belonged. Sometimes he still felt excited about learning new things like he never had before visiting Ravenclaw, and this morning he had just left Hufflepuff who had helped him a lot. Now he was being told he was like others in Slytherin.

"Draco went to Hufflepuff this morning," Rylee said.

"I'm ok with him now," Harry said, thinking they might believe he was apt to start a fight with him. "He stayed in my dorm in Gryffindor for two weeks."

"We know," she said.

"Gryffindor is strange," Reid said then. "We all know none of you like us, but when we went into Gryffindor it was like someone stepped up to protect us from other Gryffindors. We're old enough to take care of ourselves you know."

Harry frowned. He had seen the Gryffindor Quidditch team constantly surrounding Rylee. He wondered who had looked out for Reid.

"I didn't know that," Harry said. "I mean, I knew you could take care of yourself... it's not like you needed protecting or anything, I just mean, I didn't know you all looked at us that way."

"That is what happened, isn't it?" Rylee said. "The entire Quidditch team acted like if anybody even looked at me sideways they'd pounce on them. And we all know you and Draco hate each other, but you decided to include him in everything you did while he was there anyway."

"When I went to Ravenclaw they acted like I was just another boy in their house," Harry said. "I just thought if they did that for me I should do that for Draco... try to include him in stuff so he didn't feel left out. Don't you do that for people coming into Slytherin?" Harry was confused. That is why they'd come down the table to sit with him, wasn't it?

Rylee and Reid looked at each other, and then back to Harry. "We only saw Gryffindor. We haven't been to other houses yet." Maybe they had just come to sit with Harry to question him about his intentions.

Harry didn't feel like what he had done was wrong. He supposed he would have done the same if Mathe or Justin or Ernie had come to Gryffindor to visit while he was there. But then again, Katie Bell had told Gryffindor to treat Rylee nicely or she'd have something to say about it, so it hadn't surprised Harry that the team had stepped up to make sure she was treated fairly. He supposed they were protecting her. Now that he thought about it, the Ravenclaws had had their doubts about incorporating Harry and Ginny into their house but had been told by Professor Flitwick to try, and Ernie and Justin seemed to do it out of a genuine desire for friendship. Harry and Draco weren't friends, and Harry hadn't been told to make him feel at home by McGonagall, so he supposed he must have done it because he felt it was the right thing to do. He wasn't sure if it was a protection thing or not though.

"What are you thinking?" Rylee asked then. Harry looked up. That was an odd question. No one ever cared what he was thinking about.

"Probably that you're right," Harry said, and explained about not realizing it until just now.

Rylee looked smug for a moment, but then she looked relieved. "We didn't think a Gryffindor would ever admit they were wrong."

"Well I was, so why wouldn't I? It's not right to carry on like you're right when you're not." He waited for them to mutter, ‘Gryffindor' because he'd come to expect it of others now, but they didn't.

Breakfast finished and Teddy Nott came down the table. "Come on Potter." Harry knew Teddy was reserved. He always seemed reserved and calculating and sometimes even moody. He was quiet like Mathe, but also didn't have trouble speaking up if he thought there was something you should hear. Harry had seen Teddy tell other Slytherins they were being stupid on several occasions, once even when Draco was starting to call Hermione names in the corridors.

Harry followed Teddy and the other sixth year boys down to the dungeons. He didn't tell them he already knew where their common room was or that he'd been inside before.

"This is the first time in seven centuries outsiders have been allowed in Slytherin," Blaise Zabini told Harry as he said the password and the bare patch of wall opened to reveal the long, low ceilinged common room. This was easily the largest common room of the four Harry had seen, but the Ravenclaw common room felt larger because of its tall, tall walls and domed ceiling. Harry felt like he should say something though so he said, "It's very nice."

"Don't mock us."

"I wasn't," Harry said. He definitely preferred the Gryffindor and even the Hufflepuff common rooms, but Slytherin had its own appeal. Instead of plain stone, there were a lot of dark wood beams going up to the ceiling and occasionally crossing from one side of the room to the other. One wall on the far end behind the fireplace had tall windows that showed water with a gentle green tinge, and Harry could see weeds, bubbles, and the occasional fish swimming by. Upon further inspection when closer to the windows, he could see the bottom of the lake. They were at a shallow spot, and light was filtering down from above the surface to help light the common room. There were dark Slytherin green rugs all over the wood floor of the common room, and silver lanterns hanging from the ceilings. The upholstered furniture was light grey and well taken care of, and the tables were wood though not as highly polished as the tables in Hufflepuff. To Harry it felt almost like they were on a ship, but that could have just been because he could see out into the lake.

"Sometimes we swim down to look at people through the windows," Pansy commented, coming into the common room behind them.

"Oh," Harry said, "I'm not a good swimmer."

"C'mon," Blaise said in a bored tone. "Our dorms are over here." He led Harry to a door that led to a long hallway with eight doors off of it. There was another window at the end of this hallway that showed the lake.

"This one is sixth years," Blaise said. There was a number 6 on one of the doors just inside the hall.

Inside the sixth year boy's dormitory there were six beds, five wardrobes, and six desks. There were also several half height bookshelves along the walls, and an old painting depicting Merlin experimenting with magic.

"Merlin was Slytherin," Crabbe gruffed, like he was extremely irritated that Harry was there.

"Yeah," Harry said, "I read that once. That's cool." He had a feeling the Slytherins were extremely proud that the most famous good wizard of all time was from their house. Harry wasn't sure how to feel about it though because he rather thought having the most evil wizard of all time from one's house canceled Merlin out.

"Your dorms are a lot bigger than all the others," Harry said. This room was easily twice the size of the dorms in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and almost three times the size of the ones in Hufflepuff. As Harry continued to look around, he also noted a couch against one of the walls in the square room, but it was covered with clothes. It looked like someone was already packing to leave for the holidays. The room was bigger, but it was also more cluttered since they had so many places to set things. There were brooms leaning up against two walls instead of being in their wardrobes, books stacked on almost every desk instead of in their trunks or on the already overflowing bookshelves, and other personal items strewn about. It wasn't as if everything was just tossed and dirty, there were just a lot of things out. One thing Harry was interested to notice were the lack of posters on the walls. Instead of Quidditch posters or posters of wizard bands, there were maps and charts, some with tacks on them depicting certain locations.

"What are you looking at?" Goyle asked, lumbering over. Apparently Harry had been standing and staring too long.

"What are the maps and charts about?" Harry asked.

"Projects," Goyle said. "Where do you put your maps and charts? The floor?" He began to laugh but Harry didn't understand.

"What kind of projects?"

Goyle frowned. "Term projects. What else?"

Harry looked around at the others. They all seemed to know what Goyle was talking about.

"You don't have projects you work on in your spare time?" Blaise finally asked.

"No-"

The other boys looked around at each other again. "Draco's the only one of us who's been out on exchange yet," Blaise said. "Teddy's scheduled to go after the holiday. You don't have anything like this in Gryffindor?"

Harry shook his head. "Maybe if you explained to me what the projects were about?"

"Each term we have to work on a project of our choosing. Professor Snape doesn't care what it is, but we're to choose something that's not taught here to study or learn about, or a business plan to implement, or things of that nature."

Harry still looked confused, so Blaise walked up to the chart and map Harry had been looking at. "Look, this is Goyle's project. He's been researching new companies for his father's quill company to trade with. The pins mark new markets he's helping his father get into in Europe. The chart on the wall shows projected costs versus projected benefits, versus projected profits, versus projected debt."

Blaise turned and walked to another wall at the end of the room by the door. "This is Draco's project. He's been learning elvish and he's been translating a book from ancient elvish to modern elvish and then to English. Once he's finished he's supposed to give a speech to the elven consulate in Edinburgh asking for permission for his family to take over their rightful land that's been held by the consulate for the last two hundred years." There were charts with elvish runes and letters taped above Draco's desk. There seemed to be three sets, over two dozen papers in all. It seemed like a lot of work. Was this why Draco was so stressed and mopy?

"You don't do anything like this?" Blaise asked again.

"No. I haven't seen anything like this in the other houses either."

"What do you do with your free time then?"

"Erm... play board games," Harry said, feeling lame. If this was what the Slytherins were working on in their free time, then Harry felt like a loser, or something, spending his time with his friends. Draco had seemed confused that they'd spent so much time walking, talking, and playing games. "We take walks, talk with friends, visit friends in other places. After we get our school work and studying done," Harry clarified. He looked around the room again and realized that a lot of the things piled on the desks and all of the stacks of papers were likely for these projects. Maybe this was why the Slytherins always seemed so grouchy. What was he going to do for three weeks if they were all busy studying and doing these projects?

"You'll be expected to do a project too," Teddy said. "All the other students who have visited have done projects."

"I'm not sure what to do," Harry admitted.

"Ten or eleven students focus on making art. A couple of people in the house run businesses and sell things around school for extra money, a lot of students help with their parent's businesses, and the rest just study things that interest them."

Harry supposed he could choose a random subject to study, but he wasn't sure what he was interested in. The only thing he'd been interested in recently was visiting all of the houses and comparing and contrasting all of the differences. Maybe he could do something with that.

The boys didn't seem to want to linger in the dorms any longer than they had to with Harry there, and looked impatient to get going. "You're in Draco's bed for the week," Teddy said. "It's that one. Don't use his desk though, use the empty desk over there so you don't disturb his project."

Harry looked at Draco's bed and saw his own trunk at the foot of it.

"Um, it looks like Draco forgot his coat. Should I just set it on his desk?"

The boys looked at each other and then Blaise said, "Draco gave instructions that you were to use his coat while you're here. It's his spare."

Harry frowned. "Use his coat? Why?"

"Don't know Potter, it's just what he said."

"Oh, ok." Maybe it was because he'd asked why Harry was using Ron's second coat and figured out Harry didn't have one, but Harry couldn't see why Draco would let him use his very nice black coat, or why he'd tell the other boys to make sure he did.

"Come on," Crabbe grunted. "And bring the coat."

Harry grabbed the coat and followed the boys out. The sixth year girls were waiting for them in the common room and were all dressed for cold weather. "Come on, hurry up already! We're going to be late!"

"What are we doing?" Harry asked as they left the common room and went back out into the rest of the Dungeons. He followed them up to the Entrance Hall and then out onto the grounds. It had finally begun snowing last night and the world was white. Harry was glad Draco had lent him the thick warm coat.

"Pansy spent the term practicing dryad magic. She's been learning to grow trees. She planted seeds behind Hagrid's cabin and has been going out there twice a day to water them and practice her magic. All the trees she grew are getting cut down today and we're going to help her bring them in to be used around the castle. The Headmaster said she gets to decide which Christmas trees go to which parts of the castle since she grew them."

Harry was surprised. That seemed interesting. He supposed they had to have new trees planted each year since Hogwarts used so many, or else the forest would be cleared after so many years of cutting two dozen trees down for Christmas.

Hagrid was happy to see Harry when they got there, and it seemed like he was waiting for them.

"Alrigh' yeh just tell me which ones yeh want Pansy an' I'll cut ‘em down. Then the rest o' you can label ‘em and begin taking ‘em up ter the castle. Remember now, don' use magic ter haul ‘em or they can't be decorated with fairy lights."

Pansy began directing Hagrid on which ones to cut. She started with the biggest three trees, and as soon as Hagrid had them sawed down Millicent Bulstrode and Daphne Greengrass labeled them with a parchment tied to the trunk and told the boys to haul them up to the Great Hall. Harry and Goyle struggled in the wet, slippery snow to haul their tree up the slope to the castle, but finally managed, the other boys not far behind them. It was another matter getting the trees up the steps and inside however. All four boys had to work together on carrying one tree at a time as they couldn't drag it or it would lose all its needles. Task finally complete they headed back to Hagrid's and passed Daphne and Millicent struggling up the hill with a smaller tree headed for Ravenclaw.

It took them all morning to get the trees to their destinations, but when they were done they enjoyed a warm meal in the Great Hall and then went down to Slytherin with the final tree, where the other students delighted in the chance to decorate it. Harry was allowed to help put fairy lights on the tree (a simple spell where one touched their wand to a branch and thought a color and a glowing fairy light appeared in that color). Several girls used their wands to put fake, never-melting snow on the tree, while others tied green and silver ribbons and silver bells to the branches. The second years hung green and silver ornaments with the Slytherin crest, and the first years hung garlands around the common room. The room felt festive when they were done. Usually Harry missed the decorating of the Gryffindor tree because he was at Quidditch practice or in detention. He'd only ever gotten to help decorate once before and had usually found himself wishing the others in the tower had waited for him. The Slytherins waited until every person in the house was present to decorate, and each year had a job to do. Rylee told Harry that all students looked forward to moving up a year so they could do a different and more desirable decorating task at Christmas.

"Is the Gryffindor tree all red and gold?" Millicent asked.

"It's got a lot of colors," Harry shrugged. "I think most of the gold ornaments are broken and were replaced with green and blue and purple." He never paid too much attention to the tree since he never got to decorate it.

"Why didn't they fix the gold ones?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "I never get to decorate the tree. I'm always out of the common room when the tree comes in."

"They don't wait for you?"

"They probably didn't realize I was gone. It gets busy in there."

"They don't realize- but they must realize someone's not there to do their job."

"People don't have jobs in Gryffindor," Harry said.

"They don't do projects either," Blaise put in.

"They don't?" Millicent sounded confused.

"No projects," Harry confirmed, which reminded him that he was supposed to come up with something to do to keep himself occupied.

* * *

"Potter."

Harry turned at Snape's silky drawl. He had come up behind him in the darkly lit dungeon as Harry was on his way back from dinner Monday night.

"Sir?" He reached up to smooth his hair down self-consciously and Snape didn't fail to notice. Harry couldn't help it, he'd done his best to do as Professor Sprout had said, and comb it right after getting out of the shower and right away again after it was dry. It had helped make it straight and not wavy, but Harry was sure it still wasn't right and Snape would say something about it. He didn't. Instead his eyes fell to Harry's black coat.

"That is Mr. Malfoy's coat."

"Yes sir," Harry said. It was a lot warmer than Ron's, and Harry felt rich walking around in it. It did wonders to ward off the chill of the castle since Harry had no long sleeve shirts or sweaters or sweat jackets to wear.

"And you are wearing it because?"

"Draco said I could," Harry said.

"Doubtful," Snape said. "It's convenient that the moment you move into the Slytherin dormitories and Draco is not there to guard his belongings, you are seen wearing his things about the castle. I believe you have detention for theft Potter. Take off the coat." Harry didn't fight with him. He didn't want him to start yelling, and he wasn't going to get out of detention now that he wasn't a Hufflepuff, though he wished he were just then.

Harry followed Snape down the corridor to his office, where Snape retrieved a key from his desk, and then followed him down the hall to the first year Potions lab. Someone had had an accident in here earlier in the day and there were now crusted gray blobs of dried potion coating a workbench, two chairs, and the floor. The mess was so hardened that the chairs were glued to the stone floor.

"Clean," Snape said, and went to sit at the teacher's desk with Draco's coat. Harry went to the supply cupboard where he knew Snape kept scraping tools to clean up messes just like this, and retrieved a large scraper, a bucket, a scrub brush, and a rag. He filled the bucket with soapy water at the large sink in the front and then set to work trying to soak the hardened potion and then chip away at it as best as he could with the scraper. It was hard work and his entire body ached by the time he was done an hour and a half later. He was also cold from the chilly dungeon air and having wet hands for such a long time.

"Do not cause trouble in my house Potter," Snape warned him as he released him. "If I catch you stealing anything again, your time in the exchange will be over, and I will make sure you have detention until Easter. Theft is not taken lightly here."

"Yes sir," Harry said, and made his way back to the common room. It was almost nine and he still had at least two hours of homework to do before bed.

* * *

The Slytherins mostly left Harry alone and kept to themselves, and before he knew it, it was Saturday and most of them were boarding the train to go home for the holidays. Harry went with them to the train platform to see all the students off, and took the opportunity to say goodbye to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Mathe also made his way over to Harry to tell him goodbye, and so did several students from Hufflepuff. Ron saw Harry without a coat in the snow and took his off and handed it to Harry, who thanked him and put it on right away, hoping to warm his numb arms and hands up.

"It's ok, I got the spare one in my bag," Ron said. "And I have another at home."

Teddy, Blaise and Tracey were staying at Hogwarts and didn't board the train. They gave Harry a strange look when he came back wearing Ron's patched red and gray plaid coat.

"Where's Draco's coat?" Tracey asked.

"I'm not allowed to wear it anymore," Harry said.

"But where's yours then? Why are you wearing Ron Weasley's coat?"

"I usually wear Ron's coat. I don't have one. Only I think Draco must have said I could use his since Ron would need his since I wasn't staying in Gryffindor."

"You don't have a coat?" Blaise asked critically, looking Harry up and down.

"No."

"Why can't you wear Draco's anymore?"

"Professor Snape told me I couldn't."

The three looked at each other and then back at Harry. "Why would he say that?"

Harry shrugged. "He said I stole it. I said Draco told me I could use it, but he thought I was lying. He gave me detention and took Draco's coat and told me not to steal anything else."

"When did this happen?" Teddy asked.

Harry thought about it. "Tuesday evening?"

"And you've been without a coat the last four days?"

Harry shrugged. "It's ok, I usually don't have one."

"How come you didn't come get one of us."

"I kind of thought you might have told me to wear his coat so I'd get in trouble," Harry admitted. "I thought it from the start but the coat was so nice and I've never had such a warm one to wear. I wanted to wear it as long as I could before I got in trouble for it."

"Draco did tell us to make sure you wore his coat," Teddy said. "We didn't lie to you. We don't do that Potter."

"Sorry," Harry said. "I didn't mean to mis-judge you."

"If you're visiting Slytherin, that means you're one of us for the time being. That's probably why Draco gave you his coat if he knew you needed it. Slytherins take care of each other."

"So do Gryffindors," Harry said.

The three had just seen Ron take off his coat to give to Harry, so he knew they must have known it. "We see that," Tracey said as they continued their walk back up to the castle.

* * *

"Is that your project?" Teddy asked Harry Sunday morning. He'd stayed up late working on it and had a couple of things taped to the wall above his desk. It was pitiful looking compared to the other boy's progress on their projects.

"Yeah," Harry said. "I just started. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do."

"We're supposed to start new projects after Christmas and then again after Easter or else expand our current projects to incorporate more elements. It always takes us some time to come up with a new project."

Harry looked over his notes and when he didn't tell Teddy what he was working on, the other boy sighed and rolled his eyes and then plopped down into his own desk chair at the desk next to Harry's. "What are you working on?"

"Every time I visit a new house I find out that everything I thought about that house is wrong. And people ask me questions about Gryffindor and seem surprised about the answers I give. It seems like everybody has misconceptions about the other houses, and something Hermione said earlier this year made me think. She said, if they'd done this exchange sooner, she wondered if there would still be a lot of fighting and rivalry between the houses. Well I'm getting a new understanding of different houses, and so are some others, but kids below fourth year aren't, and not all of the older students are signed up to do the exchange, so they're not learning much of anything except from people who come through their houses. But even when people do come to visit, not everybody interacts with them. Ron mostly tries to stay away from people coming through Gryffindor. I thought if I could interview some people who have been to other houses already, and ask them what they thought of that house before and then after they visited, I could share the results."

"Like a presentation to the school?"

"I was thinking maybe to my own house."

"What good would that be?" Teddy said critically, "It'd be better if the whole school heard it."

Harry thought about it for a few moments and then said, "You're probably right."

"You're still thinking like you're only part of one house."

"But I am."

"Are you? You've lived in other houses for five and a half weeks now, right? You said you learned about them."

"I don't know," Harry said, but he supposed Teddy was right about this too. He'd tried very hard to be part of the other houses. He had liked Ravenclaw, and he had really liked Hufflepuff. He supposed he wasn't doing so bad in Slytherin either. He still missed Gryffindor most of all though.

"What are the questions you're going to ask? What are the rules of the study going to be?"

"Rules?" Harry asked.

"There have to be rules for it to count as a project. You have to state a goal and write out the steps you're going to take on the way to the goal, and you have to write out how you'll know the goal is complete."

"I guess my goal is to stop myths about the different houses. Show the truth."

"Write it down," Teddy directed, and Harry did so.

"The steps are I'm going to ask people questions of before and after they visited houses."

"But are you going to report everything you find? It's not fair if you only report what you want to. What if you ask people questions about Gryffindor and don't like the answers? Then it's not a true study and you'd be twisting the truth, which wouldn't meet your goal."

"I'll report everything I find," Harry said and wrote it down.

"And the goal will be complete after your speech, but that's not really quantifiable. You could only really know if you saw a change in people's attitudes and behaviors, though I'm not sure how you could measure that."

"I could do a survey after I give the presentation," Harry said.

"People could lie on it."

"I'll make it anonymous."

Teddy thought on it for a few moments and then said, "Now it's starting to sound like a project."

Harry showed him the questions he had thought up the night before and then got Teddy's opinion on them, and then Blaise came in and Harry explained his project to him and got his opinion. After the three boys tweaked the questions, Blaise showed Harry how to draw up a chart and calculate percentages, and Harry was set to begin asking questions. He started with Rylee, who had stayed at the castle for the holiday. She made Harry explain his entire project to her, and the rules before she agreed to take part. Harry found several other Slytherins who had also already done the exchange who also made him explain his project, but they eventually answered his questions as well.

Harry spent almost an entire day writing letters and then coaxing school owls to agree to take them to people. He wanted to get as many people to answer his questions as possible and so many people who had done the exchange had already gone home for the holidays. Harry also spent several days asking people in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff questions after he'd obtained a list from McGonagall of who had participated in the exchange so far. When Harry talked to Draco, he got a chance to ask him about the coat.

"The others in the dorm said you wanted me to wear your coat."

"I didn't want you to do anything Potter," Draco said. "You don't have a coat and it's the middle of winter. Slytherins take care of each other."

"Even if they hate each other?"

"Yes," Draco said.

"Gryffindor is like that, but people don't really hate each other."

Draco made a disgruntled noise and then rolled his eyes. "Potter, nobody in Slytherin hates each other."

"But you just said-"

"I know what I said. Like your project, maybe I found some interesting things out about certain people too."

"Yeah?"

"Just- mind your own business Potter."

Harry marked something down on the parchment he had been writing notes on while interviewing Draco.

"What was that?"

"The rules are I have to report what I find out."

"So?"

"I'm keep track of how many people tell me to shut up and mind my own business."

Draco scoffed and then left Harry in the Great Hall to go back to the Hufflepuff common room.

* * *

Severus Snape was irritated. ‘The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-The-Bane-Of-His-Existence' had been receiving mail all day long. From breakfast until dinner, owl after owl had been dropping cards with Christmas well wishes off to him. He'd never seen such a display before. It seemed that the boy had used his time on house-exchange to garner sympathy from as many students as possible. He'd certainly made that clear in Hufflepuff. Severus had read the word-for-word recounting of the Hufflepuff student court and had felt sick to his stomach with how twisted the Potter brat had woven his tale of their encounter in the dungeon corridor. He could only imagine how he'd convinced his witnesses to lie about seeing him shaking as mean Professor Snape had shouted at him. The recounting of the court hadn't mentioned it, but Severus wondered if the brat had stuck his bottom lip out and let it tremble during proceedings. The only good that had come out of those proceedings was the brat's new haircut and that his tie was now always straight.

Another owl swooped in and dropped a letter next to Potter's plate and Severus allowed his lip to curl. The brat was so stuck up he didn't even open any of the letters or cards. He shuddered. He couldn't stand the whelp on the brat's best days, but to think that he was now in Slytherin trying to garner more sympathy and gain more fans? No, he'd stayed out of Slytherin common room for the last two weeks intentionally. Tomorrow was Christmas, and then the brat would only be there for six more days. He couldn't wait until he was out of his house and back in Gryffindor where he belonged.

* * *

Harry had three presents under the Slytherin tree. They were small, but they were his, and he was grateful for them. He was certain he knew who each of them was from. He unwrapped the squishy one first. It was a jumper from Mrs. Weasley, and Harry excitedly put it on, feeling properly warm for the first time since Snape had taken Draco's coat from him. There was a Christmas card wishing him well, and also a pack of Drooble's best blowing gum from Ron and a letter from Ginny asking how Harry's time in Slytherin was going.

The next package turned out to be from both Ron and Hermione. It was a book about running a Quidditch team and the methods to do so efficiently. Ron had picked the book out and Hermione had paid for it.

The last package was from Hagrid. It was a tin of surprisingly good unburnt cookies and a handmade Christmas card. Harry cherished all three items.

"What did you get Potter?" Rhylee asked curiously.

"Oh, Hagrid made me cookies and a nice card. Do you want one?" He held out the tin and she took one. "And Ron's mum made me a sweater and Ron gave me a pack of bubble gum and he and Hermione went in together to get me a Quidditch book."

"What else?" Rhylee asked. The fifteen Slytherins that had stayed for the holiday were all in the common room opening their presents and several were looking to see what others had received.

"That's it," Harry said, beaming.

"But what about from your family?"

"Er, I don't have a family," Harry said.

She stared at him and Harry was aware that Blaise and Teddy were listening too as they were sitting on the couch next to Rhylee.

"You live with someone, don't you? You don't live in an orphanage?"

"They're not really family. They don't like magic and since they don't like magic, they don't like me. It's ok," he said with a grin, "I'm used to it." Harry pretended he was ok with it, like he always did. If he pretended it didn't sting that they didn't give one whit about him, then he could try to believe it himself. It was best if he was just thankful for the friends he did have and the presents he had gotten and didn't dwell on the Dursleys at all. The fact was, he was better off here. If he were at Privet Drive right now he would be locked in his cupboard without a meal and listening to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon joke and laugh with Dudley and Aunt Marge and feed any portion they might have given to Harry to Marge's dog Ripper instead. No, that was no way to spend Christmas. At least here he was by a warm fire with a full stomach, sitting on a comfortable couch with company and able to look at a nice tree he'd helped to decorate. He could still see all the exact places he'd put fairy lights if he really looked at it.

Later, after the Christmas feast when Harry was back in the dorm with Teddy and Blaise, and going over more replies he'd received in the mail, writing down answers and marking things off on his charts, he thought that it hadn't been such a bad Christmas, and it occurred to him that it could have been if the Slytherins had determined to make it miserable for him.

"You've all been really nice to me," Harry said, turning to look at them. Teddy was on his bed reading a new novel he'd gotten that morning, and Blaise was just starting to doze off in his own bed.

"We've hardly been ‘nice'," Blaise said, as though Harry was accusing him of a crime.

"Well, you could have been nasty to me is all I mean. It's been a good Christmas."

"Did you expect us to be nasty?" Teddy asked. "Maybe you'd better put that on your charts as an expectation you had."

"No, I didn't," Harry said, "I didn't know what to expect. I really just wanted to come find out what it might have been like if I'd been sorted into Slytherin. I wasn't sure how you'd be. In the past Draco and Crabbe and Goyle haven't been the nicest to my friends and I though."

"What, you want to know why we're being ‘nice'?" Blaise asked.

Harry shrugged. He would like to know.

"After Draco got back from Gryffindor he said you weren't so bad and actually made an effort to be nice to him while he was there."

"Hm."

"We figured if you could do it, we could do it," Blaise said.

Harry smiled to himself as he turned back around to his desk. That was the thinking that had led him to try being nice to Draco in the first place.

* * *

"More fan mail Potter?" Snape sneered from behind him as Harry made his way across the Entrance Hall towards the Dungeons. He'd just come back from the owlery where he'd given every single owl a treat for coming and going so frequently with his project letters. There had even been a few more letters waiting for him in the owlery.

"No sir, these are for my-"

"Potter." Snape cut him off and sounded angry. "Is that Weasley's coat?"

Harry looked down at the warm red and plaid coat. He'd put it on to see the owls so he wouldn't freeze to death since it was snowing heavily outside.

"Yes sir," Harry said.

"Did I, or did I not tell you that theft is not tolerated?"

"Ron said I could wear it sir."

"Do not lie to me. You waited until he left on holiday, went back to your dormitory, and took it from his wardrobe when he wasn't there to stop you."

"No sir-"

"I believe I warned you last time that if I caught you stealing again your time in the exchange would be over."

"I didn't take it sir. He said I could wear it. I don't have a coat."

"Harry Potter without a coat?" Snape actually laughed then, and it chilled Harry. "I believe that like I believe other students are just falling all over themselves to give you their coats."

"I SWEAR!" Harry shouted, feeling panicky. His hands were shaking again and he jammed them in Ron's coat pockets.

"Give me the coat Potter. Then you are to go to Slytherin, retrieve your belongings, and go back to Gryffindor tower. I will be coordinating all of your future detentions with your head of house."

"But-"

"NOW!"

Snape was yelling and Harry could feel the blood drain from his face as his heart started pounding. Nothing good ever came from an adult yelling. Harry cursed at himself internally as his hands shook making him fumble with the large buttons as he undid them and then pulled Ron's coat off. He had goosebumps going up and down his arms from the chilly castle air as he handed the coat over.

"Twenty minutes Potter, and then I expect to see you vacating Slytherin."

Harry nodded stiffly and then hurried past the man and down the stairs to the Dungeons. He was still pale and shaking when he hurried through the Slytherin common room past Teddy, Blaise, and a few others and into the dorm. Teddy and Blaise followed him in and found him throwing things haphazardly into his open trunk.

"What are you doing?" Teddy asked.

"Snape said I'm to leave Slytherin immediately. He said I'm kicked out of the exchange."

"What'd you do?" Blaise asked.

Harry stood up and looked at them angrily, though the anger was to keep himself from feeling any more anxiety over the encounter with Snape, because he didn't think he could physically handle any more anxiety at that moment. "You just assume I did something to deserve this? Is it just because I'm a Gryffindor or because you don't like me?" He didn't really want to know, but he'd gotten so used to asking questions like that over the course of the term that he couldn't help but spit it out sarcastically. Harry answered their question in the end though as he threw the jumper from Mrs. Weasley into his trunk. "He caught me wearing Ron's coat. He said I stole it and that he warned me if I stole another thing after Draco's coat I'd be kicked out of the exchange."

Harry registered that the boys both looked surprised and then promptly turned around. His exchange visit to Slytherin was almost over anyway, so why did he care if he got kicked out five days early? He'd already had two weeks there. He thought it might be a mixture of his anxiety and the fact that he no longer had anything warm to wear. The jumper from Mrs. Weasley was nice and thick but it wasn't going to do anything for him whenever he'd have to go out in the wet snow to get to Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures. He was just tired of being cold and having things taken from him. It wasn't fair or right and that stung for some reason almost as bad as knowing the Dursleys cared nothing for him. Somehow the two were tied together but Harry had yet to figure out how.

Harry looked around when he realized the other two boys hadn't said anything and realized they were gone. He sat on the edge of his bed for a few moments to try to compose himself. He was on the verge of tears or a panic attack, whichever came first, and he didn't want to traipse out of the Slytherin common room with the shame of being kicked out of the exchange in front of everybody and be crying at the same time.

* * *

Severus tapped his fingers impatiently on his desk and watched the clock. There were five minutes left until Potter was to be out, and then he wouldn't have to worry about the brat any longer. He could be Minerva's problem again. There was a knock on his office door, and he was ready to throw the door open and scowl down at the brat and tell him to get back to Gryffindor tower. He opened the door and found Theodore Nott instead of Potter though, and stood aside so the boy could come in.

"Yes?" Severus asked, trying to remove the irritation from his voice as much as possible.

"Sir, why do you keep taking Harry's coat?"

"Excuse me?"

"You took his coat again. Now he's in the dorms pretending not to cry while he's packing his things."

Severus rolled his eyes. So Potter had gotten to the Slytherins too. He never thought he'd see the day.

"Mr. Nott, I do not know what Mr. Potter has told you, but he has a coat. I did not take his coat, nor would I. He has been caught twice now stealing another student's coat. One of the coats he stole belonged to Mr. Malfoy."

"But he didn't steal Draco's coat. Draco told him he could use it."

"That is what you believe?"

"Sir that's what Draco told me."

Severus turned his head slightly and narrowed his eyes. "What is what Draco told you?"

"Before Draco left to go to Hufflepuff, he told all the boys in the dorm to make sure Harry wore his spare coat. He left it on his bed for him. He made us promise to tell Harry to wear it. Then he went and made the girls promise to tell him to wear it if he didn't believe us."

"Draco Malfoy?"

"Yeah."

"And why pray-tell would Draco do such a thing?"

"He didn't say, but I assume it had something to do with the time he spent in Gryffindor. He said Harry was nice to him while he was there."

"Doubtful."

"I could see why you might think he stole Draco's coat sir, but then you took Ron's coat too. Harry doesn't have a coat. He's usually walking around in the snow without one."

"He likely went back to the Gryffindor dorms and took it after Mr. Weasley went home."

"But sir," Teddy said seriously, "Blaise and Tracy and I watched Ron give it to him on the train platform. He saw Harry standing there freezing in a t-shirt, took his coat off and gave it to him before he got on the train."

Severus seemed to be rolling the information over in his mind. He supposed it was possible Weasley would do such a thing, he was a Gryffindor after all, but he still had trouble believing Draco would willingly just give Potter his coat after so many years of hatred and rivalry between the two.

"Unless-"

Severus looked up at Teddy.

"Unless you think I'm a liar too."

Severus sighed. "I do not."

"Then maybe you could go to the dorms sir? Harry's a real mess."

"Are you telling me you prefer he stay for the rest of the break?"

"He hasn't been so bad," Teddy said. "He keeps to himself mostly and works on his project."

"His project? I was not aware he was doing one." He'd believed the brat thought himself too good to follow house traditions.

"He's been sending off letters to people all week and getting them back to gather data. I think he used just about every owl in the school to do it."

"I'll take care of the issue Mr. Nott," Severus said, though he wasn't looking forward to going to the dorms to speak to Potter. He had taken two coats off the boy after all, though he still wasn't entirely sure he believed what Theodore had told him. He wouldn't put it above Potter to slip the others in the dorm a potion or curse them to do his bidding.

"Thanks sir," Teddy said. "Maybe you could give him the coats back too. He's only got one warm thing to wear."

"One?" Severus asked.

"Ron Weasley's mother sent him a jumper. He acted like it was a new racing broom. But since he only got that and a book for Christmas, I could see why he'd appreciate it so much."

"You're telling me he only got two gifts?"

"You're acting like I'm a liar again?" Teddy shot back.

Severus narrowed his eyes. Theodore Nott was one of the bolder Slytherins and generally the only one to ever challenge Severus. If he had not encouraged the trait in the boy throughout the years, he might have been more irritated with him than he was.

"Do not push your luck Mr. Nott."

"Yes sir."

Teddy left and Severus sat at his desk for two full minutes in silence trying to mull things over. No, he didn't believe a word of it. He was going to go to the dorms and find Potter and find out what potion or curse he had used on Theodore Nott, and then there would be hell to pay. That was what Severus was planning anyway. What he found when he got to the dorms challenged his plans however.

He threw open the door to the sixth year boy's dormitory and found Harry inside alone. The door had startled him and he'd turned to see what the noise was. The boy's eyes were red and he hastily wiped his sleeve across his eyes before turning away and digging behind the bed for something.

"I"m sorry sir! I'm going I swear! I just can't find my new book. I have to find it before I go! The rest of my things are packed!" His voice shook and Severus could hear the anxiety there as the boy frantically searched and stammered on about being ready to leave. When he couldn't find the book behind the bed he dropped to his stomach to search under it, before standing abruptly again and searching the green and silver curtains that hung from the fourposter, as if it somehow might have gotten lost amongst them.

"Potter."

"I can't leave it sir, I can't. It was a Christmas gift. As soon as I find it I'll go, I promise." Severus was disturbed to see how the boy's hands shook as he went to the desk and began pulling open every empty drawer. He was too busy to wipe the tears from his eyes which were pooling there now, ready to spill over the edge. In that moment, Severus felt bad for the child, and felt ashamed that he hadn't believed him or even believed his own Slytherin students.

"Potter, stop for a moment."

Harry stood up straight as though he'd been slapped and waited with wide eyes, hands still shaking and tears still pooled. He bit his lip like he was waiting for a tirade to start against him. If Harry's hands had been shaking anything near how they were now when he'd yelled at him in the corridor about his attire, then the Hufflepuffs gathered must have seen it. Severus did read that Harry had been shaking in the court recounting. He had to admit that at the time he had been too busy yelling at the boy and dressing him down to notice.

"Mr. Nott informs me that you did not steal either coat."

Harry shook his head, still biting his lip. He was too anxious to speak.

"If you did not steal the coats, then I owe you an apology for accusing you of doing so, and not believing you when you told me you did not take them. At the very least, I should have gone to Mr. Malfoy to ask him if your side of the story was true. It also occurs to me that if you did not steal Mr. Malfoy's coat then you did not deserve the detention that I made you serve, and do not deserve to be thrown out of the exchange program."

Harry didn't know what to say. He was too overwhelmed with anxiety to think about what Snape was telling him. He sat down on the edge of his bed and swiped at his eyes furiously but it didn't help. His breathing was quick and erratic and he didn't know what to do to stop it. He'd always had some anxiety over getting in trouble he supposed, or when waiting for uncle Vernon to come home to judge the work he'd done on his chores, or when getting into a confrontation with Snape, but this was as bad as it had ever been.

"Potter, you need to focus on slow, steady breathing."

Harry shook his head and then sat on his hands to keep them from shaking, or to keep his Professor from seeing, Severus wasn't sure which. The boy was clearly fighting an anxiety attack, and he wasn't helping any.

Severus let his eyes roam to Potter's desk and found a few items taped to the wall.

"Theodore said you were working on a project," he said. He walked over and pulled out Crabbe's desk chair and sat in it and looked at the untidy scrawl of Harry's charts. "This looks interesting, what is it?" If he couldn't talk the boy down it would be better to pretend nothing was wrong at all and engage him in some other mundane conversation to distract him, or so he hoped.

When Harry didn't answer, Severus didn't turn around to look back at him. Instead he said, "What are these percentages about? And the different colors?" The chart was labeled clearly with letters such as G1, G2, G3, and S1, S2, percentages next to each item, and there was a color coded bar graph with red, blue, green, and yellow. Instead of asking another question, Severus decided to wait for an answer and see what happened.

After several moments of silence, Harry finally said from behind him, "I've been comparing what people thought about houses before they went on exchange and after to see if any previous notions they had were dispelled or reinforced."

Severus raised his brows. That was interesting he thought, and if the study had been done correctly, he was sure the Headmaster would like to see the data gathered.

"Oh?" It was better to ask something vague, he'd found. It was the best way to get people to talk when he didn't want specific information.

"I sent letters to everyone on the list of people who visited other houses, and asked everybody the same questions, I'm still waiting for a few to come back."

"And the goal of this project?"

"To tell the school the findings so those who didn't participate or interact with house visitors can compare what they believe to what others who have done the exchange believe."

"And how will you know if your goal is met?" It was the same set of questions he asked all of his Slytherins when they presented their project ideas to him. The boy had done a remarkable amount of work in his short time there, and Severus was certain some of the other boys in the dorm had helped him.

"I'm going to give an anonymous survey afterwards to see if any perceptions changed after hearing the presentation."

Severus turned to face Harry who was still sitting on the bed. The boy's eyes were still red, but now tear free, and his hands had stopped shaking. Harry was refusing to look anywhere but his hands however.

"I will give you back the coats as I took them from you wrongfully. I wish to know however why you do not have a coat of your own."

Harry shrugged.

"It appears to me you have made an effort to fit in here, am I correct in assuming you have also made the same effort in the other houses you visited?"

Harry gave a single nod.

"Why?"

"I joined the exchange to know what it was like to be part of other houses."

"Even Slytherin?"

"The Sorting hat tried to put me in Slytherin before it put me in Gryffindor. I wondered what it would have been like to have been sorted here."

"If you want the full experience, you will have to answer my questions."

Harry finally looked up at him. "Why?"

"I assume by your new haircut and straight tie that Professor Sprout made an effort to help you fix those issues."

"Yes sir."

"In Slytherin, students talk to their head of house truthfully about issues they are facing, such as not having proper attire."

"I just don't have one," Harry said in an exasperated way. It was the same tone he'd used when he'd yelled at Snape to shut up already.

"From the recounting of the Hufflepuff student court, it was also mentioned that you did not get new pants or other clothing for the school year."

Harry shrugged, but when he saw the look on Snape's face he said, "No, I don't have anything ok? Do you want to take my shoes and socks too? They're crap but they're mine and they're all I have, so if you're gonna take them I wanna get it over with."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "If I must apologize to you again, I will."

"Why? Why would you bother apologizing at all? You don't mean it. You hate me."

Severus wanted to tell the boy it wasn't true, but up until twenty minutes ago, he had hated him. He didn't know if twenty minutes was enough time to stop hating someone. It was only enough time as far as he knew to feel confused as hell and feel poorly about the decisions he'd made that led him up to this point.

"I'm offering you this one time the chance to know what it is really like to be a Slytherin before you return to Gryffindor tower on Saturday. It is your choice."

Harry seemed to be thinking it over, though he still appeared irritated now that his anxiety had faded. "I just don't have clothes. I don't have anything. I was lucky to get school books because I could send for them by owl order."

"You didn't go to Diagonalley for supplies before school." It wasn't a question.

"No. They wouldn't take me and they wouldn't let me visit Ron so I could go with his family."

"They being your family?"

"I don't have a family. I keep telling people that and they don't believe me." When Severus didn't ask another question, Harry looked up and filled in the silence by himself. "They don't like me, ok? I'm like a criminal or something there. I'm lucky I get to come back here every year."

Severus listened, asking an occasional question as Harry told him everything about living in the cupboard under the stairs, sleeping on the floor, feeling lucky to sleep outside where he could stretch out when they locked him out, not getting regular meals, the yelling, not liking loud noises, not having clothes to wear, sharing coats and hats and gloves with the other Gryffindor boys, and counting down the days until he could go back to Hogwarts each summer. There was so much more to tell, but Harry supposed he would never be able to tell it all.

"Why have you not told anyone else until now?"

"I told you, I keep telling people I don't have a family. No one believes me." Snape didn't seem to be yelling at him right now, and he had listened through his story. Was this what it was like to be Slytherin? "No one offered me a chance to be a part of anything I wasn't already a part of until this year."

So that was it, Severus wondered. The boy was just waiting for a chance to tell his story. He was just waiting for someone to invite him to and be ready to listen. It wasn't the first time he'd heard things like this from students, but it was the worst he'd heard of so far and hoped he never heard anything like it again.

"I am sorry I so often disparaged your attire and never did anything to try to remedy the situation." Maybe if he had the boy would have told him earlier. He'd obviously said enough to Professor Sprout that she took action to give him a haircut, fix his pants as best as she could and show him how to make his tie stay put.

"It's ok. We share in Gryffindor," he repeated from what he'd told Snape earlier.

"There are four days until you are no longer a Slytherin. If you will allow me, I will continue to give you the full Slytherin experience."

Harry nodded. It felt kind of good to have an adult listen to him and hear him out. He'd tried to tell Dumbledore once, but he hadn't heard Harry right or didn't understand. Snape stood up and left, and Harry flopped back onto his back on his bed. He felt worn out. His anxiety had left him drained. He wasn't sure whether he should feel good, awful, or relieved. He wasn't sure what to think of Snape either. He'd never seen this side of the man before. All he could remember as far back as his first day of classes at Hogwarts was the man yelling at him or tirading about him, or putting him down. Maybe he should have let the hat put him in Slytherin. He wasn't sure if he would ever feel comfortable here, but if this was the ‘full Slytherin experience' he would have liked to have seen this before now.

* * *

Severus shouted himself hoarse at the Headmaster. It went on for almost half an hour. It was part of the Slytherin experience he had promised Harry, because he was shouting on Harry's behalf. It was too bad Harry couldn't see it, though if he didn't like shouting and loud noises (and Severus could see why after what he'd been told) then maybe it was for the best that Harry hadn't been in the Headmaster's office that night.

* * *

Snape had returned both coats as promised, though now that Harry had Ron's, he didn't feel right wearing Draco's, so he hung Draco's nice black coat over the back of the blond boy's desk chair, and donned Ron's red coat over his weasley jumper.

* * *

"When are you going to give your presentation?" Blaise asked Harry Friday night as they played games in the common room.

"I was thinking about Saturday night. Professor Snape said I could go back to Gryffindor Sunday morning instead of Saturday." Since his project was a requirement as a Slytherin, he reasoned he should still be in Slytherin when giving the presentation, and the rest of the students didn't get back until dinner on Saturday. He moved his gob stones several spaces and grinned because it put him ahead in the game.

Harry found that sometimes Slytherins did relax and have fun, but it happened differently than in other houses. In Gryffindor and Hufflepuff games and walks were part of everyday life just because they were bored. Slytherins had little time to be bored however, and games and taking walks happened when they felt like they had accomplished everything they needed to in a day or else they used excuses such as ‘collecting ingredients for my potions project' to take walks with their friends, sometimes even getting permission from Professor Snape to be out on the grounds after dark. Harry's favorite excuse was the need to test the speeds of different racing brooms. A fourth year was trying to finish up his project on the study of racing broom invention and had convinced Professor Snape to let him go out to the Quidditch Pitch at almost ten o'clock at night. Of course the fourth year would need ‘help', so several people who owned brooms, including Harry were invited to come. It ended up being a race. Harry had a feeling Snape knew full well that it was an excuse to go out and fly after dark, but let it slide, even knowing Harry would be involved. Professor McGonagall would have called it nonsense and told them to go to bed if they were in Gryffindor.

Previously Harry would have believed as he always had that Snape favored Slytherins and only broke rules for them. Now he wasn't sure Snape was even breaking the rules letting them go out after dark. For the first time in his six years at Hogwarts, he wondered if rules were different for each house. The rules were subjective. Flitwick let Ravenclaws do all sorts of crazy experiments in their common rooms and stay up well into the night to watch stars on the tower roof. Hufflepuffs played by their own rules when it came to consequences for wrongdoings. All those times Harry had thought McGonagall had broken the rules for he and his friends, such as letting Harry join the Quidditch team as a first year, or awarding points for fighting trolls in the bathroom instead of expelling them, now seemed like the Gryffindor way. When Harry thought about it, a lot of things like that happened in Gryffindor for other students, not just him. Things that would have never been allowed in Slytherin or other houses. If Harry, Ron and Hermione had had to go before the Hufflepuff student court for going after the Philosopher's Stone, fighting trolls in the dungeons, sneaking off of school grounds to go to the Shrieking shack in the middle of the night, or any of the other crazy events they'd been involved in, Harry wasn't sure he'd even still be here by now or if he and his friends would have been expelled. Snape wasn't breaking rules, he was just making up his own like Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall were, and the Headmaster didn't seem to care. And not knowing that had made Harry and his friends believe a lot of things about students in other houses that weren't true.

"Are you going to move or not?" Blaise asked. Harry came back to the game and realized that Blaise looked irritated.

"I just realized something," Harry said instead of taking his turn.

"That you've been sitting there staring at the board for five minutes and haven't moved your pieces?"

"The rules are subjective."

"No, I'm pretty sure they clearly state you have to make a move when it's your turn," Blaise said sarcastically. Harry looked up at him and smirked. He rather thought he liked Blaise and his sarcastic sense of humor, and thought he would have been his friend if they'd been in the same house before now.

"No, school rules."

"That must be why you get so many detentions," Blaise said.

"The rules are different for each house. Like if you're in Hufflepuff, a professor can't just assign you detention. It has to go through student court first. And Ravenclaw's get away with things in their house that Gryffindors would have been punished for. It's like, because the different houses value different things, they have different rules to accommodate those values. That's why we all have misconceptions about the other houses. We all think they're breaking the rules."

Blaise looked at Harry critically for a moment and then said with a smirk, "I thought we were playing a game, not practicing for your presentation."

Harry moved his Gob Stones just to make Blaise happy, but Blaise sat back and didn't take his turn.

"Well?" Harry asked, motioning to the board with his hand.

Blaise grinned. "The rules are subjective, remember?"

* * *

Saturday morning, Harry didn't go back to Gryffindor table, and ended up sitting next to Draco at breakfast when the blond came back to sit at Slytherin.

"Aren't you supposed to be over there?" he asked, nodding at Gryffindor table.

Harry shrugged. "I have to give a presentation for my project to the school and they don't get back until tonight. If I went back to Gryffindor I wouldn't have to give it since Gryffindor doesn't do projects."

Draco asked if Harry, Blaise, Teddy and Tracey wanted to go for a walk on the grounds after lunch, and didn't have the excuse of needing to do so for his project. Harry didn't mind but the others seemed confused.

"What are we doing out here Draco?" Tracey asked. "It's cold." They'd slogged down through almost two feet of snow to the treeline at the lake.

"Well why do we always have to have a reason to come out?" Draco asked.

"What have they been teaching you in Hufflepuff?"

"Well I have a reason for being out," Harry said. When the others turned to look at him lagging a little ways behind the group, Harry threw a big snowball that hit Blaise square in the face.

"Potter!"

Harry didn't give him a chance to curse at him though because he'd already scooped up another handful of snow and lobbed it at Tracey. She screamed and dove out of the way before she grabbed a handful of snow and Harry found himself with snow down the back of his shirt. That was all it took before the group was engaged in an all out icy war. Tracey and Blaise teamed up against Harry and Draco, and Teddy decided to be a rogue agent and had taken to sneaking up behind people and scooping armfuls of snow up and dumping it over their heads.

Being cold and wet was an excellent excuse to sit in the common room by the warm fire later as it turned out. They drank hot chocolate and Draco shared chocolates from a massive box of candy he'd received for Christmas with them.

Harry packed his things before dinner and pulled down all of the charts and notes he had taped above his desk. Draco came into the dorm to work on his own project for half an hour before dinner and said, "They said it wasn't so bad having you here."

"Well," Harry said, sitting on the bed to look over his presentation one last time, "it wasn't terrible having you in Gryffindor either."

"Gryffindor is weird," Draco said, though he didn't sound as though he meant it as an insult.

"So is Slytherin," Harry said with a grin.

* * *

Harry was standing in the Entrance Hall as Ron, Hermione and Ginny came in from the snow and cold of the chill night. Hermione gave Harry a hug and Ginny blushed as she hugged Harry as well.

"How was it?" Ron asked.

"Not so bad," Harry said. "I think you'd like it in Slytherin Ron," Harry teased.

"Hey, I signed up for Hufflepuff, isn't that enough?"

"I hope I get to go to Slytherin and Ravenclaw soon," Hermione said.

"I think you would have done better in Slytherin than Ravenclaw," Harry said.

"What?" Ron choked. "Did you drink any odd tasting potions lately Harry?"

Harry laughed and then told Hermione, "They do all kinds of extra studying in Slytherin. I had to do a project while I was there and I have to give a presentation about it at dinner in a few minutes."

"Is that what the questionnaire was about?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded.

His friends went into the Great Hall and sat down, but Harry stayed in the Entrance Hall to look over his notes again. He was starting to get nervous. He was used to playing Quidditch in front of the entire school, but that was different. With the roar of wind in his ears and the rush of flying, he usually blocked out the fact that there were hundreds of sets of eyes on him. Everyone would be quiet now though and he'd have to give them information. Some of it would be information they might not want to hear, and that made him more nervous not knowing how they'd receive his presentation.

"Harry?" Professor McGonagall came out of the Great Hall. He'd asked her earlier in the week for permission to present his project in front of the school and she'd cleared it with the Headmaster who apparently thought his project was ‘a wonderful way to enhance the exchange.'

"Yes Professor?"

"It looks like everybody's seated and eating. It's time to get started."

"Yes maam." He followed her in but didn't follow her up to the platform where the teacher's ate.

"Excuse me, I need your attention please," McGonagall said, voice magically enhanced to reach every corner of the massive hall. "As you know, we've had several rounds of the house exchange by now and will continue throughout the year. One of the students has something to share with you about his time in the exchange. You will give him your full attention until his presentation is over. You may continue eating, but please do so quietly." She turned to look at Harry and gave him an encouraging smile. Harry looked first to Gryffindor, but then nervously to Slytherin and caught the eyes of Teddy and Blaise who had been helping him with his project. Blaise stuck his chin up in the air as if daring Harry to actually get up and share what he'd learned. Harry climbed the three steps to the top of the platform and then went to stand in front of the center of the Head table, setting his open bag on the floor next to him. He cleared his throat and was surprised that his voice had also been enhanced. He wondered briefly if McGonagall had cast a spell on him, or if this spot had a spell on it so that anybody who stood there spoke louder.

"I've been able to exchange into all four houses now," Harry started, but then paused, wondering if he should have practiced his presentation on the Slytherins after all. What if the words he used sounded stupid? What if he messed up? His hand started to shake and he stuck it in his pocket quickly. He'd never had anxiety over something like this before. He cleared his throat and started again. "Every time I go into a new house I find myself surprised, not at how different and interesting things are, but by all the things I used to think were true about people from other houses, but find out aren't true at all." He scanned the sea of faces and found some looking interested and others confused. "I've also encountered a lot of people who believe certain things about Gryffindor, but then seem confused when they find out those things aren't true. For the last three weeks I've been in Slytherin. For those of you who don't know, Slytherins have term projects that aren't related to classes. Each term they choose a subject that interests them and put together a project. Their project has rules they have to follow, and goals they have to complete before the project is finished. Some people study new languages, or study a form of art, or help their families expand their businesses. Since I was a Slytherin, it meant I had to do a project too, which is what I'm going to share with you."

His hand had stopped shaking and he took it out of his pocket and looked down at his notes and figures. "I thought about all the things I'd learned about different houses, and then I thought about what my friend Hermione said. She had wondered: if we had had a chance to do the house exchange before now, if there would still be house rivalries. I also thought about how differently I see people from the different houses now, and how some people aren't participating in the exchange or can't yet because of their age, and how they won't really get to learn what I've learned and see what I've seen. That's what I'm going to share with you tonight. I did a study on what people thought about a house before they exchanged into that house, and what they thought after they finished the exchange. I sent out letters to everyone on the list of people who had exchanged, or interviewed them. I asked everybody the same questions. The rules of the project were, that I have to share whatever I find out, that way you know I'm not twisting the truth if it's something I don't like."

Harry noted a lot of the older students seemed interested, especially those who had answered his list of questions. "To start off, I want to say that when I was asking questions, 21 people told me to mind my own business." A little ripple of laughter went through the Great Hall, including from the staff behind him, and Harry was grateful. If people thought he was funny then it meant he could relax a little. Harry smiled. Blaise and Teddy had told him to start off with that fact before getting into the other data he had to share.

"I got a response back from every person who has already exchanged, so no one has been left out. So far 17 Ravenclaws, 21 Hufflepuffs, 16 Gryffindors, and 9 Slytherins have participated in the exchange."

Harry reached down into his bag and pulled out a Ravenclaw robe he'd borrowed from Mathe earlier today and put it on. "I'm going to start with Ravenclaw first because that's the first house I went to. When asked what people thought about students from Ravenclaw before visiting their house, 9 out of 10 people said they thought Ravenclaw's were naturally smart, or gifted intellectually. After visiting Ravenclaw, 10 out of 10 people said they believed Ravenclaw's worked hard for their grades, were curious and always wanted to learn new things, and knew things their peers in other houses didn't because they were always exchanging information with each other because they found it interesting." Harry paused to gauge the reaction of the audience and then continued. "Before visiting, 8 out of 10 people said they believed Ravenclaws thought they were better than everyone else, or above everyone else because of their intellect." A small murmur went up from Ravenclaw table at this, but Harry continued. "When the follow up question was asked about why people thought this, the 8 people who responded said because Ravenclaws often show up to meals late, correct peers from other houses during classes, or make comments about the poor grades of peers in other houses." The Ravenclaw table was quiet so Harry continued. "After visiting Ravenclaw house, 10 out of 10 people said they no longer thought Ravenclaws believed they were better than others. 9 out of 10 people said they believed Ravenclaw's were late to meals because they were too excited to notice the time because they were having too much fun conducting experiments with magic in their common room. After visiting, 7 out of 10 people said they believed Ravenclaw's corrected other people's mistakes because they themselves would want to know if they had said or done something wrong so they could fix it to get better grades or increase their knowledge."

Harry looked down at his chart again and said, "Finally, before visiting, 5 out of 10 people said they believed Ravenclaw's were unfriendly to those in other houses, but after visiting 10 out of 10 people said they believed Ravenclaw's were friendly and open to making new friendships outside of their house. 5 out of 10 people said they knew prior to visiting Ravenclaw that Ravenclaws often had friends in other houses, generally with Slytherin because they sell a lot of their new discoveries and inventions to Slytherins who run businesses as a term project."

Harry cleared his throat again. Some people had finished eating and he was aware he still had three houses to get through. His face began to heat up and he hoped people wouldn't get bored with his speech. It was all interesting to him, but that didn't mean it would be interesting to anybody else. Harry took the Ravenclaw robe off and pulled his Gryffindor robe out of his bag and put it on, willing his face to stop being embarrassingly red since his robe had enough red on it already.

"11 out of 11 people surveyed said that before they visited Gryffindor they believed Gryffindors were rash, lost a lot of house points, and earned a lot of detentions. After visiting Gryffindor 6 out of 11 people said they still believed Gryffindors made decisions without thinking them all the way through, 8 out of 11 people said they no longer thought Gryffindors lost a lot of house points, 3 out of 11 people said they believed only Harry Potter and Ron Weasley lost house points," here Harry heard Ron say loudly, ‘Oy!' and another wave of laughter made its way around the Great Hall. Harry continued, "and after visiting 5 out of 11 people said they believe Harry Potter earns the majority of house detentions." No one laughed at this but Harry didn't mind. Since the twins had left, he had earned the most detentions in the house, which were usually given by Professor Snape.

"11 out of 11 people said before they visited Gryffindor they believed Gryffindors thought they were better than everyone else. After visiting 11 out of 11 people said they no longer believed this was true. 5 out of 11 people said after visiting they believe Gryffindors think they have to save everybody else and protect them even if they don't like them. Four of the five who gave that response were Slytherin."

Removing the Gryffindor robe and pulling out a Hufflepuff robe from his bag to put on, Harry said, "Before visiting Hufflepuff, 11 out of 12 people said they believed Hufflepuffs didn't spend enough time studying. After visiting 12 out of 12 people said they believed Hufflepuffs studied as much as people in other houses. Before visiting Hufflepuff, 7 out of 12 people said they believed Hufflepuffs were pushovers. After visiting 11 out of 12 people said they believed Hufflepuffs stood up for what was right, and were simply friendly to everyone whether they liked them or not. 10 out of 12 people said after visiting they believed Hufflepuffs were likely to give anyone a chance to win their friendship, or give them a second chance to prove themselves to them."

"Before visiting Hufflepuff, 12 out of 12 people said they believed Hufflepuffs were quiet. After visiting Hufflepuff 12 out of 12 people said Hufflepuffs throw the loudest parties and board game nights they had ever seen." The entire Hufflepuff table laughed and giggled then and Harry smiled.

"There was an interesting response about Hufflepuffs," Harry noted. "6 out of 12 people who visited said they believed Hufflepuff students to be fair and honest, even though there was no preconception about the house regarding this before visiting."

Finally Harry took a breath and exchanged the borrowed Hufflepuff robe to don a Slytherin one. "Only nine people visited Slytherin. 7 out of 9 of those people said they weren't sure they should even visit Slytherin, and that their house mates considered them brave for doing so. After visiting, 9 out of 9 people said they were glad they had visited Slytherin and found it an enjoyable experience." Murmurs went around the Great Hall from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. "5 out of 9 people said before visiting they believed Slytherins didn't have any fun. 9 out of 9 people said after visiting they believed the term projects the Slytherins worked on were fun, and 9 out of 9 people who visited said that even though Slytherins don't play as many games, they have fun trying new things and working with their friends on their projects. Before visiting 4 out of 9 people said they believed Slytherins were mean, rude, or aggressive. After visiting 9 out of 9 people said they believed Slytherins were proud of their house, and often upset that people from other houses said bad things about them. After visiting 9 out of 9 people also said that during their time in Slytherin no Slytherin was mean, rude, or aggressive to them. 7 out of 9 people said that Slytherins treated them with respect while visiting and 9 out of 9 people said Slytherins went out of their way to be helpful with their schoolwork or projects. 4 out of 9 people noted that while they believed Slytherins were cautious, after getting past that and earning their friendship they believed it was worth it to have a friend who would be so loyal. Lastly, 7 out of 9 people believed Slytherins thought they were better than other houses, but after visiting those same 7 people said they believed Slytherins just wanted to be considered on the same terms as other houses or be treated with respect."

Harry was done giving his facts, and no one seemed to be bored. He took off the Slytherin robe and stood before the hall in just his regular jeans and t-shirt. "I don't want to give any details about what my time was like in different houses because I don't want to spoil what it's like if you're going to go for yourself. You should go. If you haven't already you should know that each of the four houses is more different than the others than you think, and that the people in those houses are more similar to those in other houses than you think. If you haven't been then you really can't imagine what other houses are like, and after visiting myself and doing all of this research, I don't think it's fair that any of us judge people from other houses based on rumors when you have nothing else to base that judgement on. That's what causes house rivalry. If we all knew what Slytherins were actually like, we might not say bad things about their house and they might not be so upset about it. That's true of any of the houses. 75 percent of people surveyed said they believed people from rival houses thought they were better than everybody else before they visited, and 73 percent said they no longer believed that after visiting. I don't expect you to take my word for it. There's still time to go on the exchange if you haven't already, and if you don't plan on visiting other houses, you still have the chance to visit with people who are coming through your house. I'm really glad I got to see other houses. The last question I asked people was if their experience in the exchange had been good or bad. 100 percent said their experiences had been good." His eyes swept the crowd and tried to pick out the faces of his friends in each house but he couldn't and wasn't sure if it was because his glasses never really were up to par or if it was because he was feeling nervous again.

"To finish my project, I have to conduct a survey about what what you believe about other houses now that you've heard my presentation. The survey is anonymous. If you haven't already answered a letter or been interviewed by me, please fill out one of the surveys before you go and leave them at the end of your table. Thanks for listening." Harry stepped off the platform and went to the end of each of the house tables and set down stacks of surveys and a handful of quills at each. The survey was pretty basic and asked a few specific questions with yes/no check boxes about the things he'd mentioned about each house in the presentation. Students passed the surveys down and they all seemed to be filled out in short order and left in piles at the end of the house tables for Harry to collect. After the majority of students and staff had left, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall came down to talk to Harry.

"That was very enlightening Harry, thank you for conducting this research. Your project turned out better than I could have hoped."

Harry was flipping through surveys and scanning them. "I don't know about that sir," he said. A lot of people had checked the ‘no' boxes, meaning their views about the different houses had not been changed. "A lot of people indicated their views hadn't changed after hearing my presentation."

"You may have opened a few more minds however," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"I think you've had a bigger effect on people than you realize," Professor McGonagall said. She held up a piece of parchment to show to Harry. "While you were collecting surveys, I was collecting new names for the exchange. 37 just tonight, and most of them want to see Slytherin."

Harry raised his brows. "Really?"

She pointed to the list and Harry was surprised to see a lot of Gryffindor names which had appeared there, and though Ron's wasn't on the list for Slytherin, he had added it to Ravenclaw, which would mean that at some point this year he'd see Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw both.

"I would be interested to see the data from this evenings surveys," Dumbledore said, and Harry nodded.

"Yes sir."

Dumbledore walked away to speak to Professor Sinistra about something and Professor McGonagall walked Harry out of the Great Hall. "You did good Harry," she praised him, "and I don't just mean with your project. I had confidence you'd fare well in all the houses, but others had their doubts about your going to Slytherin. In fact, if you hadn't signed up to go over the Christmas break, you might not have gotten the chance."

"Why not?"

"Some opposed your visit to Slytherin."

Harry nodded. He figured it would have been Snape.

"I'm proud of the way you conducted yourself. I didn't fail to notice how you treated Mr. Malfoy when he was in Gryffindor, and you seemed to make friends wherever you went, even in Slytherin."

"Well it wasn't easy," Harry admitted. "It was mostly others making friends with me."

"Friendship goes two ways Mr. Potter," she said. "Don't be so quick to discount yourself or your accomplishments. I think the fact that you opted to see all four houses and fared well during each visit will look good on future applications you may wish to submit for apprenticeships at the Ministry. I would advise you to save all of your research as well and write it up as a formal paper if you haven't already."

They separated in the Entrance Hall and Harry found Ron and Hermione waiting to walk up to Gryffindor with him.

"That was good Harry," Hermione said. "You were very confident."

"No I wasn't," Harry said with a little laugh, "didn't you see my hands shaking?"

"When you put your hand in your pocket?" Ron asked. "That just looked like you were really comfortable and cool with talking to the whole school."

"Huh."

"I liked how you changed robes," Ron said. "That helped remind people you'd seen each house I think."

"It was clever," Hermione said.

Harry wanted to tell her it was the idea of Blaise or Teddy, as he'd gotten so much help from them on his project, but the idea to change robes had been all his idea.

"Was it really so much better in Slytherin?" Ron asked as they climbed up through the castle.

"Well it was interesting," Harry said. "I wouldn't say better-"

Ron and Hermione glanced over at him. "What happened?" Ron asked seriously.

"The students were ok. Actually they stuck up for me. Draco told the others to make sure I wore his coat."

"You didn't have a coat when we said goodbye at the train platform," Ron pointed out.

"Actually that's the part that wasn't so great. Professor Snape took Draco's coat and said I'd stolen it and gave me detention. Then when he saw I had your coat he tried to kick me out of the exchange. He said I snuck up to the dorms after you left and stole it too."

"He didn't!" Hermione exclaimed as they made Gryffindor tower.

Harry only nodded to confirm it though. "But then he gave them back," he said. "I think Teddy said something to him, because he came into the dorms and apologized to me and later he gave both coats back. I haven't really seen much of Professor Snape since then." He didn't tell them that Snape had asked about his home life and listened without calling him a liar when Harry had told him the truth.

"Snape apologizing to a Gryffindor?" Ron laughed.

"Well I was a Slytherin at the time," Harry said.

"I'm just glad you're in Gryffindor again," Ron told him, and as they entered the common room Harry felt the same as his friend. He was glad to be back, and the prospect of spending the rest of the year in Gryffindor struck Harry's fancy. He was back on familiar ground where he knew exactly what to expect from those around him.

"I expected you would be able to tell me Mr. Potter," she said, gazing down through her glasses at him. She'd just pulled him away from Gryffindor table and told him he was to go back to Slytherin for another week or possibly two.

"I don't have any idea," Harry said. "Is someone else exchanging places with me?"

"Not that I'm aware of," she said. "For the next two weeks Mr. Thomas will be out of the dorms in Ravenclaw."

"But why am I going back?" His stomach squirmed. What could Snape possibly want with him? Was he unhappy with the way Harry had portrayed Slytherins in his presentation? Perhaps he wanted revenge and wanted Harry back under his thumb where he could give him as many detentions as he wanted, or else take the rest of Harry's things away.

"All I've been told is that Professor Snape has requested you return to Slytherin for now because he has unfinished business with you."

She turned to give her attention to a line of students who were waiting to put their names on the exchange list (still presumably a product of Harry's presentation the night before), but Harry stopped her with, "But- it's not for good, right?" She gave him a look of pity. Harry had wondered what life would have been like if he'd been placed in Slytherin, but now his curiosity was satisfied, and he was worried that somehow he was being exchanged into the house permanently.

"It's not permanent. I suggest you speak to Professor Snape. Until you get the chance to do so, you should sit at Slytherin table. I'll see to it that your things are sent back to the Slytherin dorms." She took her list and walked to the students waiting for her, and Harry let his shoulders droop. Maybe joining the exchange hadn't been such a good idea after all.

Ron and Hermione gave him an odd look as he walked back to Slytherin table. He'd had one night in Gryffindor, and now he found himself back in Slytherin. The Slytherins seemed confused too.

"What Potter?" Draco asked when he sat down between Tracey Davis and Teddy. "Can't get enough of us now? I know you can't be exchanging back in. You've done three weeks."

"I'm not sure what's going on," Harry admitted, and he didn't mind that they saw him looking confused. After all, some of the boys had already seen him crying in the dorms when he thought he was getting kicked out. "Professor McGonagall just said I was to go back to Slytherin for another week. She didn't know why, only that Professor Snape said I had to."

"It can't be your project," Teddy tried to reason. "It was good, and it's done."

"I think he wants to give me more detentions," Harry thought out loud, but then he realized the other sixth years had grown silent and looked up at them. Crap. "I said that out loud didn't I?"

"Maybe you should be back in Slytherin," Pansy said. "You think you got to know us and our house, but you don't know Professor Snape very well."

"He does give me a lot of detentions," Harry pointed out.

"How many did you deserve?" Milicient dared him to answer her truthfully.

"Well I'm not really a great judge of that am I?" Harry said, feeling snarky, on edge, and uncertain all at the same time. "I'm biased. I'm bound to think I don't deserve any detentions so you shouldn't ask me."

Millicent and Pansy both stuck their chins up in the air as if Harry must have deserved all previous detentions, but also didn't say anything else about it since Harry admitted he wouldn't be able to give a fair answer.

"If it's not my project, what other reason could it be other than he's upset with me?"

"Being in Slytherin isn't a punishment Potter," Draco drawled as he rolled his eyes. "After your glowing review of us last night I thought you would have realized that by now."

"I didn't mean it like that. I don't mind being in Slytherin, I just don't know why Professor Snape wants me here. You can't deny he doesn't like me."

They exchanged looks but no one denied it. After he took Harry's coat twice and gave him detention without allowing him to give his side of the story, they couldn't defend their head of house's actions when it came to Harry.

"Look, just don't count him out yet," Blaise said. "You came into Slytherin the first time with an open enough mind to realize you'd had some misconceptions about us, maybe this time you should come in with an open mind towards Professor Snape. You already said you realized the rules were subjective... that means based on personal feelings and tastes. We happen to think Professor Snape is a good guy and we like the way he runs Slytherin. If you thought Slytherin was ok the first time around, that had to partly be because of the way he's decided to run things."

"I'm trying to have an open mind," Harry thought out loud again. He looked at the faces around him who looked doubtful and finished, "You might just have to remind me if I forget."

After breakfast Harry walked back to Gryffindor table with Blaise and explained to Ron and Hermione what had developed so far that morning. Hermione was pensive and Ron inclined not to speak his opinion on the matter at all since there was a Slytherin with Harry. Harry made plans to meet Ron and Hermione in the library after lunch and then went with Blaise back to the Slytherin common room.

"C'mon," Blaise said. "Don't look so mopey. You're going to set a bad example for the entire school. They'll all think your project was a joke if you can't handle going back to a different house for a couple of weeks."

"I'm not moping," Harry said. Well, he might have been, and Blaise gave him a look to tell him he was. Harry wanted to tell Blaise that he didn't know what it was like, to constantly feel anxiety at the edges of your mind waiting to creep in, or to be afraid of Professor Snape, or to be worried he'd be yelled at again for no reason at all, or to always be on edge wondering what he'd done wrong now or what he'd do wrong next to get himself into trouble. No one understood though, and Harry knew he'd never be able to explain it to Blaise. From what Harry had heard, Blaise came from a well-to-do family like Draco and Pansy. Blaise's family had sent him fifteen gifts at Christmas which ranged from novels to fine candies and expensive items of clothing. Blaise also wrote letters home regularly and received letters every few days. No, a boy like Blaise wouldn't understand. He couldn't.

Harry was only in the common room for a few minutes when Professor Snape made an appearance. Harry saw him come in from where he sat with the other boys in a corner while they studied. He watched as the Potion Master's dark eyes swept the room until they found Harry, and then motioned for him to come to where he stood at the entrance. When Harry rose silently, the others looked around and found Snape. "Keep an open mind," Teddy reminded him.

When he made it to Snape, the man turned and walked back out of the common room without a word and Harry followed nervously. He was led down the hall and around the corner to Snape's office and let inside.

"Have a seat Potter. We have things to discuss."

Harry sat in one of the visitor's chairs and wiped his sweaty hands along his jeans. He wanted to babble on about being in trouble and to remind Snape that he'd already served one detention he hadn't deserved over the coats, but kept his mouth clamped firmly shut.

"Relax Potter," Snape said as he sat down behind his desk and took in the stressed appearance of the boy. "You are not in trouble."

Harry did relax at that, but only slightly. If he wasn't in trouble, then why had he been called back to Slytherin?

"Ask," Snape said with an irritated sigh.

"Sir?"

"I can see every emotion play across your face. If you have questions, ask. That is what a Slytherin would do."

"I don't know why I'm here," Harry said. "Professor McGonagall just said you had unfinished business with me."

"That is true, and also what you are here to talk about."

Harry wiped his hands on his jeans again and sat quietly, wanting to hear the rest and get it over with.

"I promised you the full Slytherin experience," Snape said, sitting back in his chair so he didn't lean over his desk and appear frightening, which he had a tendency to do, even when he wasn't upset or angry. "I hardly had time to give you that experience in the few days that remained of your time in Slytherin."

"I don't understand."

"Potter, you told me some disturbing things in the dormitory. I wouldn't be living up to my duties as head of house if I did nothing to remedy the situation you find yourself in."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. Finally he asked boldy, "What if I lied?"

Snape didn't bother to narrow his eyes and call Harry out, and it unnerved Harry to see the man looking so unperturbed at his proclamation. "Seriously," Harry said, "I lied about it all," he insisted. "I have a huge bedroom and a big bed with a lot of red and gold pillows, and I just bring rags to school to get sympathy when people see me wearing them. I look more like an orphan that way."

"An interesting twist," Severus said coolly, "but hardly worth my effort to acknowledge the lie. If you're going to spin falsehoods you should know that Slytherins practice their stories and work out every detail before trying to pull the wool over my eyes, and rarely ever succeed in doing so."

Harry let his mouth gape. A week ago Snape would have bought it hook, line and sinker. Harry didn't know why he was so panicked to know that Snape knew the truth when he hadn't cared telling him a few days ago. Maybe it was the suggestion that he was going to try to do something about it. No one had ever tried to fix things for Harry before, aside from Sprout cutting his hair and fixing his pants and tie.

"What I don't understand is why you would lie now. I do not see the purpose that would serve."

No, Harry supposed he wouldn't. He was like Blaise and everyone else. He couldn't possibly understand.

"Well?" he asked when Harry hadn't provided an appropriate answer several moments later. Harry only shrugged in response.

"Very well. I want to be sure you know the rules this time before you go back to the common room."

Harry looked up. Rules he could handle. He was good at following rules, usually.

"I am your guardian whilst you are here." He didn't continue, as if this were the only rule. Harry wasn't surprised. He supposed everyone knew that the teachers were their guardians while they were at school. In fact, Harry had been told Dumbledore had all the power of guardianship over him even when he was in the Muggle world until he was 17.

"Nothing to say to that?" Severus asked, brows raised.

"Well, sir," Harry said, "isn't that true of every house? The Headmaster said he was my guardian anyway since I don't have one in the wizarding world."

Severus narrowed his eyes, looked like he wanted to say something about it, but then didn't and adjusted himself so he was sitting back in his chair again and not leaning out over the desk towards Harry.

"As the rules stand, I am your guardian whilst you are in Slytherin house, which is why I brought you back to Slytherin for the time being."

"I don't-"

"Part of being a Slytherin is having me as an advocate. I preformed that duty poorly during your first two weeks here, but after you informed me of your situation at home, I went to the Headmaster's office and advocated on your behalf."

"What does that-"

"It means Potter, that the Headmaster has agreed that whilst you are part of Slytherin house, I am your guardian in this world and he is not."

Harry swallowed. He didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but reminded himself that he was supposed to be keeping an open mind about Snape. He hadn't been yelled at so far this morning or given detention so he supposed he should keep up his end of the bargain.

"As my ward this means you have my undivided attention regarding your needs. This includes clothing, food, shelter, and your overall well-being. As my ward, I expect you, as I expect any Slytherin to come to me if you are having issues or have needs that have gone unmet."

Harry's mind was spinning so quickly he felt it was in danger of shutting off altogether. He couldn't wrap his brain around what Snape was saying. He knew he was technically in Slytherin, but that didn't mean anything! He wasn't actually a Slytherin! As much as he'd tried to pretend he was a part of the other houses, he was still just a Gryffindor. Why would Snape go to the trouble then to become his guardian, and only while he was in Slytherin? Unless- "You mean for me not to go back to Gryffindor?" Harry looked up from where he'd been staring at the desk trying to work things out.

Severus sighed. "I need more time to advocate for your rights Potter. I can't do that unless you're here. I don't intend on keeping you here all year, and if you went to the Headmaster or Professor McGonagall and complained enough I'm certain they'd place you back in Gryffindor, but it is in your best interest to be here until things have a chance to be worked out."

Harry was surprised Snape had been honest with him. He'd even told him how to get himself back in Gryffindor, thus giving him a choice. He didn't know what it would look like for things to be ‘all worked out' and it made him nervous. "What's that even mean?"

"I'm not certain. From what you have told me I assume you do not wish to return to your family during the summer."

Harry hadn't even told him the half of it, and no, he didn't want to return. There was nothing there for him but punishment and loneliness and contempt and-

"What are you thinking?" Snape asked suddenly, stopping Harry's spiraling thoughts about the Dursleys cold.

There was that question again. Rylee had asked him that several weeks ago. Slytherins were blunt though. They spoke candidly and asked what they wanted without preamble.

"I don't know what any of this looks like," Harry said, finally finding a way to put words to his anxiety. "I don't know how to do what you're saying. I don't know how to be a Slytherin, or a ward. I don't know what's supposed to happen after I leave Slytherin. I have to go back to the Dursleys in the summer. I always have to go back. That's the way it's always been."

Severus narrowed his eyes and said suddenly, "You're going to start a new term project Potter."

Harry raised his brows.

"Your last project turned out better than one would have expected." Snape paused for a moment and Harry was sure he was trying to find any flaw in Harry's project to criticize him on, but then he continued, "Since you are here for at least the next two weeks, I expect you to start a new project like the others in the house will be doing. This time I will choose the topic however."

"The others said I get to choose."

"Many Slytherins choose with the help of their parents. Since you are my temporary ward, I am advising you to take my advice on topic choice."

"Ok..."

"I want you to think about what life would be like if you exchanged into a family that would be ideal for you. Since you have so much experience exchanging into new houses and moving in and out of new situations, I want you to come up with a hypothetical scenario in which you have a brand new family. Write about why this family is ideal for you, how they differ from the Dursleys, and how your transition into this new family goes."

"That's going to be hard," Harry thought aloud.

"You have friends who are happy with their families, do you not? I would imagine it would not be hard to think about what you know of their family life and imagine new and interesting scenarios from there."

"I don't have to present this do I?"

"As I understand it, presenting your last project was solely your idea."

"It was-"

"The rest of the details of the project are up to you. I require only a paper, but if you wish to provide more, you can. Sharing with people other than myself is optional."

Harry nodded, thinking it over. If it was just a paper, he supposed he could manage. He used to imagine new families for himself all the time when he was younger and stuck for hours on end in his cupboard. He hadn't thought about anything like that for a long time though. Hogwarts had replaced his need for an actual family, because he felt safe around his friends most of the year.

Harry stood to leave when Snape didn't say anything else, but Snape cleared his throat to stop him. Harry turned and looked at him with question in his eyes.

"We're not finished yet."

"Sir?"

"As I said, as your guardian I am charged with making sure your needs are met. Food and shelter are taken care of, but clothing is another matter."

"I just need to get to a shop," Harry protested, but Snape stood up and went for a bag of floo powder on the mantle.

"Which is where I will be taking you this afternoon."

"My money pouch is in the dorms-"

"I am charged with meeting your needs Potter. Simply transporting you to a clothing store does not fill that requirement."

Harry uncertainty took a pinch of floo powder from the drawstring pouch that was being offered to him, and moments later left the castle with Professor Snape. He returned to the common room two hours later with several brown packages wrapped in twine and full of new clothes.

"What'cha got there?" an older Slytherin asked as Harry passed by.

"Clothes," Harry said, face heating up.

"About time," Draco drawled. He followed Harry into the empty dorm to see what he had. Apparently the other boys were in the library checking out books for their new term projects.

"Let's see then," Draco said. "I thought I'd have to give you my coat if you didn't get new things soon."

Harry unwrapped the brown packages carefully and admired the new clothes that fell out. He had new slacks for school, new uniform shirts, a new robe, new jeans, new socks and underwear, a coat like Draco's and a maroon zip up hoodie that was lined with extra layers of soft, warm fabric inside.

Harry also showed off his new sneakers to Draco, which he was already wearing. They were white and dark crimson.

"Not so bad Potter," Draco concluded as he sat down at his desk to read a novel and Harry began to hang his things up in the wardrobe. Harry had now taken Crabbe's bed since Draco was back and Crabbe was in Hufflepuff this week.

"Has Professor Snape taken anyone to get new clothes before?" Harry asked.

Draco turned to look at him. "Professor Snape took you?" Harry nodded. "No," Draco said, and turned around.

"He hasn't?"

"Not that I know of. Has McGonagall taken anyone out and bought them new things?"

"No."

Harry changed into a new pair of jeans and then pulled on the new zip up hoodie and admired how soft and warm it was. Then he sat at his desk and pulled out a spiral notebook and a Muggle pen. He supposed the paper didn't need to be perfect the first time around, so he could just write down whatever he was thinking and work it into a final draft later.

‘My new family makes sure I have clothes that fit good and aren't holey. I have a coat and I'm always warm in the winter. I never have to borrow other people's things.'

Well, it was a start anyhow. Maybe the rest would come to him in his dreams. If he were honest, not all of his fantasies about a proper family had left when he'd come to Hogwarts. Sometimes he still dreamed of someone coming to spirit him away from the Dursleys. Sometimes it was the Weasley's in a flying car, and other times people he didn't recognize.

* * *

"What's your new project Harry?" Teddy asked Wednesday. They'd seen Harry sitting at his desk and scribbling notes for days.

"It's a secret," Harry said.

"Sounds interesting," Blaise challenged him, wanting details.

"Difficult," Harry corrected him, because for Harry it was. He'd been assigned to also compare and contrast how this fictional family compared to the Dursleys and it hurt to think about all the ways the Dursleys fell short. It couldn't be that hard to have him as family could it? But it must have been if the Dursleys wouldn't acknowledge him or provide him with food or clothes. Even Snape had managed that much.

* * *

‘My new family realizes I don't like loud sounds or to be yelled at. It's nice that they make an effort to talk to me nicely.' I have my own room and a soft bed to sleep in. I have a soft blanket and a pillow. I don't have to sleep on the floor in the cupboard under the stairs like I have to at the Dursleys. I prefer to be here with my new family instead of counting down the days until I go back to school.'

* * *

"How is your translation coming Draco?"

Harry looked up from his Transfiguration homework as Snape came over to stand next to Draco at one of the couches in the common room. Aside from the two times he'd come in to talk to Harry previously, Harry had yet to see Snape in the common room. Now it appeared he was making the rounds. He spoke to Draco for a few minutes, and then moved on to a group of first years, and then stopped to speak to Rylee French. After nearly twenty minutes, he made his way to Harry.

"Has your new clothing provided adequate warmth?"

Harry looked down at his chest and admired again the new clothes and new crimson zip up hoodie again. "Yes sir," Harry said. He opened his mouth to thank Snape again but the man held his hand up to stall him, perhaps aware there were others nearby in the common room that might overhear.

"And your project?" he asked.

"I've been working on it," Harry said.

"Do you need help?"

Harry frowned. How was Snape going to help him with it? Harry was supposed to be imagining a new family. He knew Snape was going to read the paper in the end, but he was still embarrassed to discuss it with him. He didn't want the man to know how he dreamed of being treated so well... like a prince. The man had called him ‘Prince Potter' often enough anyhow, and Harry preferred not to be around when he read the paper.

"I'm fine," he said, realizing Snape was watching him as he waited for an answer.

"And your other schoolwork? The most recent report said you were struggling in Transfiguration."

"Hermione's helping me in the evenings in the library," Harry told him.

"Very well," Snape said. He turned to move off, but then turned back to Harry and gave him a pointed look. "Remember what I said Potter, you are to come to me if any needs are going unmet." Then he walked across the room to see how Tracey and Millicent were doing with their projects and schoolwork.

Harry felt it had been such an odd encounter with Snape that he thought about it well after the man had left the common room forty minutes later. No one ever checked on him like that. Hermione just helped him with his homework automatically, always assuming he and Ron were struggling with it, and Ron and the other boys in the dorm automatically offered their extra items of warm clothing to Harry at the start of every term knowing he needed it. No one ever asked what he needed though or reminded him that help was available. It was weird... and sort of nice, he admitted.

‘My new family writes to me while I'm at school and checks up to see my grades are being kept up and to see if I need anything. I know I have someone to talk to.'

* * *

Snape came to the common room a lot as it turned out. He made an appearance most nights after dinner for at least twenty minutes to see if anyone needed help with school work or had questions, or sometimes to deal with issues the younger years were having such as fighting with dorm mates. It was nothing so interesting as when Professor Flitwick came to the Ravenclaw common room, or so official as when Professor Sprout made a rare appearance for student court, but Harry found it almost comforting to know that Snape would eventually show up if he did have something needing addressed. In fact, most of the Slytherins, especially the younger ones, seemed to save up questions throughout the day to ask Snape in the evenings.

Harry found it interesting to listen to the things the kids in different years asked. A lot of first and second years complained to Snape about the mean things kids in other houses had said or done that day. Kids in third through fifth year asked a lot of homework questions, especially about Potions. Sometimes fifth through seventh year boys cast a spell around themselves and Snape to ask him a question privately (Harry had tried to become a lip reader in his time in Slytherin but never managed). He figured they must have been embarrassing questions. And several seventh years sought out Snape's advice on in-depth projects and on things that might potentially make them look better on applications after Hogwarts.

Snape didn't always know the answer, but he always promised to think about things and get back to students when he didn't. Harry never approached Snape to ask him anything because it felt strange to do so, but he did enjoy watching others as they did. It reminded him of all the times Ron talked about asking his dad for advice.

‘My new family are always happy to listen to me and answer my questions. They don't lie like the Dursleys.'

* * *

"You haven't been eating," Snape observed after lunch on Sunday afternoon. He'd come down to Slytherin table after most of the students and staff had left the Great Hall. Only Harry and Draco and a handful of other students remained in the large room, some playing games and others studying.

Harry shrugged as he pushed his plate away from him. He hadn't been feeling well since last night. His body was achy, he felt tired, and he was pretty sure he was running a fever because he couldn't seem to get warm one minute, only to be stiflingly hot the next.

"He's going to get us all sick," Draco snarked irritably from across the table. Snape frowned at the blond but then looked back to Harry. "Make sure you find your way to the Hospital Wing after you leave the table." Then he turned to Draco and said in low tones, "Perhaps you'd better take a break from your studies this afternoon and take a walk."

"It's freezing outside," Draco snapped at him, but then realized he was talking to his Head of House and seemed contrite.

"Then another activity that does not involve schoolwork or your project."

Draco sighed irritably. "You're not making him stop working on his project," he said, motioning to Harry.

Severus took the opportunity to look at Harry again and assess his pale face and damp forehead. Harry for his part looked like he was interested in the conversation being held, and looked like he'd rather go on a walk than go to the Hospital Wing.

"Perhaps Mr. Potter will join us for a break after he sees Madam Pomfrey."

Draco looked irked that he wasn't going to get out of anything, but Harry seemed interested.

"Go Potter. Meet us at the bottom of the Dungeon stairwell in fifteen minutes."

"Yes sir." Harry stood up and strained his ears to listen to the conversation being continued without him as he left the table. All he managed to catch was another complaint from Draco and Snape responding, "He doesn't appear to be under enough stress to rip someone's head off with his bare teeth, unlike a certain blond boy I know..."

In the Hospital Wing Madam Pomfrey determined Harry had a mild cold and gave him pepperup potion and a general healing potion and then sent him on his way. By the time Harry made the bottom of the dungeon steps he didn't feel 100 percent but he felt well enough. Snape and Draco were waiting for him, and Draco rolled his eyes as Snape led them off down the corridor. It looked like Draco had lost the argument about taking a break.

Snape didn't lead them to his office or back to the common room. Instead he led them to his private quarters. Draco didn't seem surprised. Harry looked around and thought Snape's quarters looked a lot like McGonagall's (he'd been dragged there a few times by his friends when he was sick and had refused to go to the Hospital Wing, only to have McGonagall lead him there herself). There were a couple of couches and an armchair around a coffee table in front of the fire. There was also a desk piled with paperwork, and an adjoining kitchen with a kitchen table and several chairs. There was a hall Harry assumed led to a bathroom and bedroom.

Draco plopped down on Snape's sofa and Harry waited to be invited to sit. He'd never been in any Professor's quarters for long enough to have a seat before this.

"Sit," Snape told him, and then went to the kitchen to make tea. He came back a few minutes later with tea and a tin of chocolate covered biscuits. Draco took a biscuit without being invited and stared into the fire for several moments, content not to talk to Snape until he was done being angry about being dragged away from his project. Snape for his part seemed content to ignore Draco instead of forcing him to talk, and instead turned his attention to Harry, who was feeling awkward.

"There are a few board and card games if you would like to play."

Harry frowned. Draco didn't look like he wanted to play anything.

"Ignore him until he's ready to rejoin civilized discussion," Snape told Harry.

Draco shot a look of contempt at the Potions Master at the comment, but then went back to staring at the fire, frown firmly set and arms crossed.

"Ok..." Harry said.

Snape used his wand to call a small wooden box to them. It looked like the wooden chest the Hufflepuff boys had games stashed in, but in far better shape. The box landed next to Harry on the sofa and he reached inside and pulled out a smaller cardboard box that seemed to have cards in it. "I don't know how to play any of these," Harry said after looking at the other games in the box. He'd seen a couple of these in Hufflepuff but hadn't played them. The box with cards was red and had a photo of two Goblins fighting each other with swords, and the title, ‘Goblin Fire.'

"Any of them?" Draco asked in disbelief.

Harry gave another look over what was in the box and then shook his head. They were all wizard games. Harry had learned things like Exploding Snap, Gobstones, Wizard's Chess and a few others commonly played in Gryffindor common room, but there were a lot more he'd never seen or heard of.

Draco held out his hand for the box and practically snatched it from him when he tried to hand it over.

"It's like Mermaid's Tide," Draco said, opening the box and pulling a tall stack of cards out.

"I don't know what that is either."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Both of them are like Dragon Helm," he said, shuffling the cards. "It's all the same series.

Harry shrugged.

"Seriously Potter, with all the free time you spend wasting, I thought you would know what card games are."

"I've played cards before," Harry said. "We play Exploding Snap."

Draco counted ten cards out to himself, ten to Harry, and ten to Snape, who appeared to be playing as well. These seemed different than the others in the deck and Draco began turning cards face up in the center of the coffee table until he had five. They had different illustrations of Goblins and had names like, ‘Forge Master' and ‘Blade Wielder'.

"This isn't as simple as Exploding Snap," Draco said, starting to explain the rules. "We each start with 50 life. You can only attack the person to your right. If your life goes to zero you lose. The cards in your hand are like money, you buy the face up cards with them to use to fight whoever is to your right." After one hand (in which Harry lost followed quickly by Draco), Harry thought he had the game down. It was fun and he wondered if Ron knew how to play. He thought he would like a set of his own. By the end of the second hand, Draco's competitive streak had reared its head and he didn't seem as downtrodden and stressed as he had earlier. At the end of the two hours they'd spent in Snape's quarters playing cards, Harry was pleased that he'd won at least two hands.

"You don't look well Potter," Snape commented. "You should return to the dorms and lie down."

Harry looked up. The pepperup potion had worn off and he was starting to feel sluggish again. He helped Draco sort and put the cards away and then stood to leave.

"Draco," Snape said as the two boys made the door to the corridor, "you are not to do anything educational until tomorrow at breakfast."

Draco didn't seem to mind after the game break though. "Yes sir," he said, and followed Harry out and back to the common room.

"I like that game," Harry said when they were back in the dorms.

"What game?" Crabbe asked.

"Goblin Fire," Draco said.

"I like Mermaid's Tide better," Crabbe said.

"Want to play?" Draco asked, and Crabbe got into his trunk and pulled out a blue box that looked like the Goblin Fire box in Snape's quarters. Harry wanted to play too but settled for crawling into bed and watching Draco, Crabbe and Goyle play on the floor since he wasn't feeling well. He ended up drifting off to sleep before seven and felt better for it in the morning.

‘My new family notices when something's wrong. They take me to the doctor when I'm sick. They take me fun places too and we do fun things together like play games and go flying. I'm not lonely. It's nice to have someone that wants to be around me.'

* * *

"What's your new project about?" Ron asked as he sat next to Harry and Hermione in the library. "It's not fair to make you go back to Slytherin just to do extra homework."

Harry shrugged. "That's not why they told me to go back. It's not that much work anyway," he said, skirting around the question and hoping Ron didn't notice he hadn't actually answered. "Not like the last project anyway. Actually, I spent Sunday afternoon playing Goblin Fire and eating biscuits."

"We have that at home," Ron commented. "I'd rather play Dragon Helm though. Charlie has all the expansions of that and makes us all play when he comes home on holiday."

"The guys in Slytherin seem to like Mermaid's Tide," Harry said, trying to lead the conversation further away from his project.

Ron frowned. "Then who were you playing Goblin Fire with?"

"Draco and Professor Snape," Harry said. Even Hermione looked up from her work at his statement.

"Professor Snape plays games?" Hermione asked.

"He had a box of board games."

"He came into Slytherin just to play games?" Ron asked.

"No, we played in his quarters." At the look Ron and Hermione were giving him, Harry wasn't sure he wanted to explain but knew he'd should. "Draco was stressed about his project so Snape invited me and Draco to play board games. We ate biscuits and had tea and played cards for a couple hours then went back to the common room."

"It's not- normal for students to be spending time in staff quarters," Hermione hedged.

"We've been in McGonagall's quarters before," Harry said.

"That's different, she's our head of house and we were all there together," Ron huffed, seeming upset.

"Technically he's my head of house until I go back to Gryffindor and Draco and I were both there. C'mon, nothing happened," Harry laughed. "It wasn't that weird. I went to Professor Sprout's quarters with Ernie and Justin and she cut my hair and fixed my clothes up so I wouldn't get in trouble anymore."

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances and Hermione looked content to drop it, but Ron didn't. "Don't you think you're taking this exchange thing a little too seriously mate? You're still a Gryffindor. I think they should let you come back to the tower."

"I'll be back," Harry said confidently. He still wanted to go back to Gryffindor, but he didn't miss the tower as much as he had right after he'd been pulled to be put back in Slytherin. Now his days were filled with school, working on his paper, and playing card games. He also saw Ron and Hermione after dinner each night in the library to do homework together.

"Well make it soon," Ron said. "It's not the same without you."

"I heard your name was on the list to go to Hufflepuff tomorrow," Harry said.

Ron straightened up and looked nervous for a moment. "Yeah, well, maybe I shouldn't have put my name on the list."

"It'll be fine," Harry said. "They have loud parties and play a lot of board games," Harry reminded him. "You'll like it. The beds aren't so bad either. Just try it just to have the experience and remind yourself it's only for two weeks."

"Or five," Ron grouched again about Harry's time in Slytherin.

Harry tried to concentrate on his homework again so Ron would go back to his. Before they left the library Hermione told Harry she was going to be seeing more of him since she was exchanging into Slytherin in the morning.

"Really?" Harry said brightly. His two weeks were up but he hadn't been told to go back to Gryffindor so he assumed he'd be in Slytherin for the next round of exchanges.

She smiled at him as they parted in the corridor outside the library and then went with Ron back to Gryffindor.

Harry was preoccupied with thoughts of all the fun he'd have spending two weeks with Hermione in Slytherin as he made his way back down through the castle twenty minutes before curfew. He was almost back to the entrance to Slytherin when something hard slammed up against him and took him into the wall.

"What-the-hell-Potter?!" Draco breathed uncomfortably close to Harry's face.

"What-" he was confused and not sure why he'd been tackled or why Draco was so angry all of a sudden. Harry started shaking, thinking this was new. He never shook or grew anxious when he was only facing other angry students, only adults. Draco seemed awfully strong just then though, and as angry as Uncle Vernon ever was.

"You're a real piece of garbage, but I suspect you know that already, don't you."

"I don't," damn, his voice was shaking too. "Why are you mad?"

"Because you came into Slytherin and we treated you like one of us, and you went and gossiped about me to Weasel and the Mudblood!"

"I didn't-"

"You told them all about how I'm stressed and overworked and how Professor Snape had to coddle me and drag me to play board games."

"No I didn't," Harry exclaimed.

Draco pulled him forward and shoved his back hard into the stones behind him again, and Harry cast his mind about for anything he could have said like that. "Liar," Draco sneered, not letting up. His arm was practically crushing Harry's chest and making it hard to breath. "Blaise told me. He was in the row of books behind you in the library."

"I'm not lying," Harry said. "They wanted to know why I was in Snape's quarters."

"So you just thought you'd tell them how unstable I am? Don't mess with me Potter. I'll show you unstable if that's what you want." He slammed Harry back again and Harry was sure his back and chest would be bruised. For good measure Draco punched Harry in the side of the face before letting him go. Draco looked as unsettled that he'd just hit Harry as Harry felt stunned about it.

"Don't even think about coming back to Slytherin. Go back to Gryffindor where you belong." He stalked down the corridor and out of sight, still visibly upset. Harry reached up to touch the side of his face and was dismayed to find that it was tender. Well this is just wonderful, he thought. He didn't have the current password to Gryffindor and all of his things were still in Slytherin. He was certain if he went back to the dorms in Slytherin that Draco and the others would pummel him. He also thought about Hermione spending the next to weeks in Slytherin alone and what that might be like for her if they were all angry at Harry. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

Touching his face again and flinching back at how sore it was, Harry stepped away from the wall and thought about what he should do. He supposed he could go to McGonagall, but he wasn't sure she'd want to deal with it since he wasn't living in Gryffindor right now. He knew she'd do something about it, but wasn't sure what. She'd probably insist Harry had just been mistreated, but that wasn't what had happened. The Slytherins had tried to be nice to him so far, and had done so for five weeks. It was all a big misunderstanding and that upset Harry to think about almost as much as getting kicked out of Slytherin and the exchange over Christmas did. Draco wasn't just being mean, he was genuinely upset, and it unsettled Harry that he thought Harry had been sharing his secret. Harry wasn't even sure the others in Slytherin knew how stressed Draco was since Snape had seemed to always talk to Draco about it privately after class or after meals when others had already left the area. It was only per chance (or good hearing) that had led Harry to knowing.

Harry didn't want to go to Professor McGonagall and get Draco in trouble, he just wanted to fix the mess that had been made of things. The question was how to do that when Draco didn't want to listen and he couldn't go into Slytherin without being in danger. He doubted he'd get anyone to listen to him and was stumped about what to do.

"Curfew is in three minutes Potter," came Snape's voice from down the corridor. He must have been visiting the common room and had just left. If the others always saved their questions for him, maybe he should try too, Harry thought.

"Sir?"

Snape stopped in front of him, and Harry noted the man's eyes were narrowed as he looked at the spot on the side of Harry's face near his eye where he'd been hit. Snape reached out and took Harry's chin to turn his face so he could see it better.

"Been fighting have we?"

Harry bit his lip. If Snape had just come from the common room, the others had probably told him about the fight already. Maybe Harry wouldn't get a chance to fix things after all.

"As I have already told you," Snape said, trying not to sound to irritated, "I am your guardian whilst you are here. You are to come to me if you have issues."

"You mean I'm not kicked out of Slytherin?"

"Should you be?"

"I thought the others would have told you."

"As much as I make myself available Potter, not every Slytherin shares their secrets with me."

He motioned for Harry to follow him down the hall and Harry allowed himself to be led into the man's office.

"Who have you been fighting?" Snape asked after the door was closed, though Harry couldn't detect the old malice that he was used to hearing in the man's voice. Maybe being in Slytherin had its advantages.

"I haven't been fighting so much as I've been digging myself a hole."

"Explain."

"I was talking to Ron and Hermione, and I guess Blaise overheard me and told Draco. Only, I think there's been a misunderstanding, because Draco thinks I've been spreading things around the school about him being stressed out."

"Have you?" Snape raised his brows and again Harry tried to detect any tone that suggested he was in trouble, but there wasn't one. He tried to remind himself that there was no need to start feeling anxious and to his relief didn't detect the grip of anxiety creeping in on him from the edges.

"No sir, well I might have said something, but it wasn't anything like what Blaise told Draco that I said!"

"What did you say?"

"I can't remember how we got on the topic, but I told Ron and Hermione I was playing cards with Draco in your quarters, and they thought... well..." Harry started to stumble over his words, not wanting to make mention of what they thought, "well I just wanted to set them straight, that was all, I swear. I just said it was nothing like they were thinking, that you had invited Draco and me to play games because he was stressed. I didn't even think about it at the time sir. I'd never just go telling things like that to people just to spread it around."

"And how did you become bruised?"

"Well Blaise told Draco and Draco was waiting for me in the corridor outside Slytherin. He pushed me up against the wall and he wasn't happy. It's really just a big misunderstanding. I'd never just spread rumors. I tried to talk to him but he was too upset to listen. And now I don't know how to fix it."

"Are you injured anywhere else?"

Harry frowned, that was all Snape had to say about it? No one ever cared if he was hurt, especially not Snape. "I don't know, I don't think so. My back and chest maybe, I-"

Snape held up his hand to stall Harry and then told him to lift up his shirt to see if there was any more bruising. Harry did so and turned in a circle.

"Your chest and back are bruised. Did you injure Draco?"

Harry looked down. No, that would have been a rotten thing to do. "No," he mumbled. Besides not wanting to fight since it was a misunderstanding, Harry had been too shaken to do much of anything about it. He just stood there and took it.

"Come with me. We will sort this out and then you will report to Madam Pomfrey to take care of the bruising."

"Where are we going sir?"

"The dorms."

"I can't go back there though. Draco said not to and I'm sure the others are going to be upset."

"House rules say issues must be worked out immediately." Snape looked like he wanted to say something else but didn't and Harry followed him out and through the corridors to the common room. Nobody seemed to care much that Harry was there, to his surprise, but some looked curiously at the bruise on his face. Snape led him straight to the hall leading to the boy's dorms and inside. Blaise was in the hall by himself reading a book.

"Mr. Zambini, how many others did you speak to about what you overheard in the library this evening?"

He looked up from his book. "No one sir, just Draco."

"And has Mr. Malfoy spoken to anyone about it?"

"I don't think so..." Blaise looked at the bruise on Harry's face and finished with, "he just stormed into the dorm room and locked himself inside."

Snape knocked and announced that he was coming in, and then unlocked the door with a spell. He motioned for Harry and Blaise to follow and then shut and warded the door so no one outside could hear what was going on. Draco looked angry and contrite at the same time upon seeing Harry and the bruise he'd caused.

"We are going to get to the bottom of this incident here and now," Snape said, sounding a little more testy than he had in his office minutes before. His tone left no room for complaint.

"Blaise, what did you tell Draco this evening about what you overheard?"

Blaise closed his book and sat in his desk chair. "I told him he should talk to Harry about what he says and who he says it to and said he had mentioned him being stressed and playing cards with you as a break. I figured Harry didn't know we don't share things about each other in Slytherin, but thought it should be kept between him and Draco. I didn't want to be involved in it anymore than I already was."

Snape turned to Draco and asked, "Is this accurate Draco?"

Draco mumbled and then nodded that it was. "Why then was there an incident in the corridors? I have spoken to the house about this at length, so I know you know better than to bring violence into a disagreement."

"He was spreading rumors about me uncle Sev!" Draco threw his hand out towards Harry, but seemed more upset than angry. "He pretends to be part of Slytherin but then runs off to his friends and tells them everything he knows about me!"

"And this was reason to hit him?"

"No," said Draco, but Harry thought he heard him mumble, "but he deserved it."

"How would you know what he deserved if you didn't speak to him about it first?"

Draco didn't answer so Snape turned to Harry.

"Harry, repeat what you revealed in my office."

Harry was surprised to hear the man use his first name. Generally he was always ‘Potter', and more recently, ‘Mr. Potter.' Harry noticed that Snape was always very formal when speaking to students, but suddenly when he'd warded the dorm door against eavesdropping, the formalities were dropped and he was using their first names. It was almost like they were back in his quarters playing cards again. Draco had dropped formalities too. He'd called Snape ‘uncle,' but Harry didn't have the time to think about it just at the moment.

"Well?" Draco snapped when Harry hadn't started speaking.

"Erm- does Blaise have to be here for this?" Harry asked. Maybe Blaise didn't know any more about Draco's stress than he'd overheard, but in any case Harry didn't want to talk about his conversation with Ron and Hermione since it involved the discussion about Snape's quarters.

"When resolving disputes, all involved parties participate to ensure no one engages in a ‘he said she said' discussion. If all involved parties are present, there will be no lying."

Harry decided to just forge on then even though the discussion was going to get uncomfortable. "I was telling Ron and Hermione I'd been having a nice time here and that I'd gotten to play board games and the like. Somehow, I don't remember, it came up that I was playing cards with Draco in the Professor's quarters. They seemed to get the wrong idea, and I was trying to explain to them so they'd understand that nothing bad was going on. They didn't get it so I said we'd been invited to have a break to play games since Draco was stressed out, or at least, I think that's how it went. I can't remember all of it." Harry caught Draco's eyes then and said, "I swear Draco, I wouldn't just spread things around about you. I didn't even think about what I said and I don't think they read anything into it. I'd go back and keep my big mouth shut if I could have the chance."

Draco turned away and looked like he didn't believe him. "Look," Harry said, "I know you and the others don't like me, and just tolerate me here, but I kind of like being here and I kind of like you guys. I know you don't want to be my friend, but I'd like to be yours. I wouldn't knowingly talk about you to other people, especially when I know it's something you don't want others to know. I'm sorry."

Draco let his mouth hang open at Harry's words and Harry wasn't sure if he believed them or not. Snape looked between the three boys and asked, "Is the dispute resolved?"

Harry wasn't sure if it was or not, but after a long moment Draco gave a dramatic sigh, rolled his eyes and said, "Fine. It's resolved."

"Resolved," Blaise said as soon as Draco had given his answer. Snape turned to Harry.

"Yes sir," Harry said. It had such finality to it; a finality like there had been at the conclusion of the student court in Hufflepuff, and Harry was surprised. He half thought Draco would just wait until Snape left to pummel him again, but knew how straightforward Slytherins were after being there for five weeks. When they said something, they seemed to mean it.

"Draco, since you caused Harry's injuries, you will accompany him to the Hospital Wing. I would also recommend an apology given that you accepted one from him."

"Can I go too sir?" Blaise asked.

"If the three of you do not make your way straight back to the common room from the Hospital Wing, I will know." They nodded and left, now having permission to be out after curfew.

They were quiet until they made the Entrance Hall.

"What Potter?" Draco asked, half exasperated, and Harry frowned wondering what he had done now.

"Huh?"

"You look like you're plotting something."

"Cut it out Draco," Blaise said. "Unless you want to start something again."

"I was just watching the look on his face," Draco said.

Harry looked at them both as they began to climb up through the castle. "I was just thinking about how Snape mediated in the dorms."

"And?"

Harry shrugged.

"Well how would you resolve an issue in Gryffindor?" Blaise asked.

"McGonagall doesn't go into the common room very often," Draco supplied.

"She doesn't?"

Harry shook his head. "Usually Hermione would tell me or Ron we're being presumptuous, or something like that, and insist we talk to each other instead of jumping to conclusions. Then we'd talk and Ron and I would get into a fight anyway, though not with fists," Harry said, giving Draco a sideways glance, "then Hermione would storm off and say we're both being ridiculous and she'd refuse to talk to either one of us until we worked things out."

"How long would that go on for?" Blaise asked, entranced by the explanation Harry had given.

He shrugged. "Usually a couple of days. The longest was when I was in the Triwizard Tournament... that went on until after the first task."

"What did you have to fight about then?"

"Ron thought I put my name in the cup without telling him. I didn't."

"That's a stupid thing to fight about," Blaise said.

Draco snorted, "Says the one who fought with Goyle last year in the dorms over who would get the best wardrobe."

"Is that why there's only five wardrobes instead of six in the dorms?" Harry asked. They always seemed to be one short and Goyle kept his clothing on the couch.

"They blasted it apart last year," Draco said with another snort.

Madam Pomfrey saw to Harry's bruises in short order, and the three boys made their way back to the dorms. For a group of students who was so secretive about warding rooms against eavesdroppers, Harry was surprised how fast the truth came out once back in their room. The other boys wanted to know why they'd been out after curfew, and it was only minutes before the entire story had been re-told, minus the part about Draco being stressed and overworked.

Harry lay in bed that night unable to sleep. His bruises were healing, but he paid them no attention. Long after he was certain the other boys were asleep, Harry got his project notebook and returned to bed, lighting the paper with his wand.

‘It's nice to have someone that listens to what I have to say without judging me or jumping to conclusions. It's nice to have someone to step in and help me work things out when I don't know what to do.'

Harry put his notebook away and lay back in the darkness. He wondered how Ravenclaws handled disputes between students. Hufflepuff had court, Slytherins had a mediation with their Head of House, and Gryffindors handled things themselves. He liked handling things himself, and he usually knew what to do when he and Ron were fighting, or when he saw other Gryffindors arguing. He knew exactly what to step in and say to help fix the problem because he'd learned that living in Gryffindor over the years. It was nice to have someone older there to help when he didn't know how to fix the problem though, like tonight with Draco. It was also nice to not have it all drug out in front of the entire house like it would have been in student court. Student court had its advantages too though, and Harry couldn't help but be reminded that it had led to some of his appearance issues being taken care of and given a fair place for him to state his case.

There was more than one way to skin a dragon, he thought as he fell asleep, allowing himself a few moments just before he did to be excited that Hermione was coming to Slytherin in the morning.

"It's just colors," Harry told him. He hoped Ron didn't complain too much while he was in Hufflepuff, because Harry really liked it there and wanted Ron to like it too. He hoped Ron would like the exchange enough to continue visiting other houses.

"It's not just the colors," he said. "Someone's going to be sleeping in my bed in the dorms. It's bad enough people have been in and out of the dorms all year as it is."

Harry wanted to say something else to Ron but couldn't think of anything he could say to get his friend to change his mind. Ron would have to figure it out for himself. Either he would embrace it after a few days in Hufflepuff, or he wouldn't. Instead Harry turned back around to the Slytherin table as Hufflepuffs began asking Ron questions. Harry loved Ron even for all his complaints and gruff. It was just part of who he was. Ron didn't like change, and that was becoming more obvious as the year wore on. Maybe he just didn't like to step out of his comfort zone as much as Harry and Hermione did.

"Here comes Gryffindor invasion part two of three."

"Be nice," Harry told Draco as Hermione approached the table wearing her new Slytherin colors. She looked both nervous and eager and Harry hoped there wasn't going to be a repeat of last night with Draco calling his friends names.

"Hey Hermione, you can sit here," Harry said, moving his bag from the spot he'd saved for her.

"Thank you Harry."

"Right, you two just sit there and leave me all by myself in Hufflepuff," Ron moaned from behind them, and noticing for the first time that he was just a few feet away, Hermione giggled.

Harry was looking forward to spending the day with Hermione, but it appeared the Slytherin girls had other plans and had come to lead Hermione away right after breakfast.

"No, you stay here with the boys," Pansy told Harry, holding her hand flat out in front of his chest to stop him.

"What do you mean?"

"No boys allowed. We have things to discuss that you wouldn't understand."

"Such as?" Harry dared her. There were a few groups in Gryffindor that were all made up of boys or all girls, but mostly Gryffindor's intermixed and had groups of friends that had both genders. The Slytherin girls had hung out with the boys sometimes, but from what Harry saw the groups mostly stayed separate unless there was a couple who was dating.

"We're going to show her the girl's dorms and the girl's personal supply cupboard, and then we're going to gossip about you and Ron Weasley."

Harry raised his brows and looked to Hermione who looked shocked at the honest proclamation.

"Right then," Harry said, sticking his chin up a little and trying not to look rattled. He had to keep reminding himself how direct Slytherins could be. The girls turned to leave and Harry heard Ron sniggering behind him.

"I can't believe you asked that!" he laughed.

"I can't believe she told me," Harry said quietly, causing his friend to laugh harder. Harry told Ron he'd see him after dinner and then followed Draco out of the Great Hall. Blaise, Teddy, and Crabbe, (Goyle was visiting Ravenclaw this week) were all busy working on their projects in the library and said they would be for the entire day. Harry didn't have much to write down for his paper just at the moment, and Draco seemed to be taking a break from his Elvish translations.

"What, are you going to follow me?" Draco snipped at him as Harry followed him out onto the grounds and into the chill, snowy morning air.

"Well the others are all busy and I'm not allowed to go with Hermione," Harry said.

"I didn't invite you to come with me," Draco pointed out.

Harry frowned. "You're still mad about last night," he accused.

"Not everything's about you Potter. Don't you have a project to work on or something?" He left Harry standing there on the steps and went on his way down towards the lake. Harry sighed. It looked like he'd be spending the day on his own. He went back into the castle, stamped the snow off his shoes, and made his way down to the dungeons. All his homework was done and he was bored. At the bottom of the dungeon steps, Harry had half a mind to turn around and go to the Owlery to see Hedwig, but his thoughts were cut short when a familiar voice called out his name.

"Ah Harry."

Harry turned and found the Headmaster walking up to him. It looked like he'd just come from Snape's office.

"Sir," Harry said.

"How are you enjoying your time in Slytherin?"

"Well enough sir."

"I thoroughly enjoyed your project and it gave me great insight into the exchange. It has helped with my decision about whether or not to continue the exchange in future years."

"Will it be continuing?"

"Yes. I have been talking with other staff about doing an exchange like this every two years for fourth year and above. And in the years in between about doing a 3 night exchange for years 1-3, to help with house rivalry, as you put it. I have given a copy of your report to the board of governors to aid in their approval. They do not believe the exchanges should take place with the younger years at all."

When Harry didn't respond to him, Dumbledore asked, "A penny for your thoughts dear boy."

Harry looked up, startled that Dumbledore cared about what he thought at all. "Well sir, you don't have to do an exchange with the younger years. What about a sleepover once a month in the Great Hall? You could make a barrier or something to keep girls on one side and boys on the other. And girls and boys could still talk to each other through the barrier. It'd give them a chance once a month to interact with other houses, play games... ask questions. The same stuff we do in the exchange, just all in one place and with staff to watch. It could start with a board game night or something after dinner for 1st-3rd years, and then by eight the second and third years would have to be out and the first years could just stay up all night and play games and talk."

"An interesting suggestion," Dumbledore said, and looked like he was calculating all of the possibilities and mishaps in his mind.

"I for one do not want to supervise a sleepover every month for nine months." Harry and Dumbledore turned to see Snape coming down the hallway. He didn't look angry, just irritated.

"There's at least nine staff in school," Harry said. "One staff per month. Maybe you could offer 20 extra house points per Prefect who volunteers to stay at each sleepover to help staff."

"Do I detect the beginnings of a new project Harry?" Albus asked cheerfully.

"He has a project," Snape said, "which he should be working on instead of loitering in the halls."

"I'm done," Harry said. He wasn't, his paper was still in rough draft form, but he didn't want to spend the day working on it either. He was thinking of crashing the girl's party to break Hermione out so he could have someone to spend the day with.

"Then perhaps you should show me," Snape said.

The Headmaster smiled at Harry and then excused himself, saying he had a lot to think about, leaving Harry and Snape alone in the corridor.

"Now sir?" Harry asked.

"Why put off until tomorrow what can be done today?"

Harry sighed and left him there to retrieve his notebook. When he came back Snape was gone so Harry went down the corridor to his office and knocked. The door opened on its own and Harry went inside.

"It's not done," Harry confessed. He didn't really want Snape to see it.

"I generally check in with students several times during the term about the progress of their project so I can offer suggestions or render help." He held out his hand for the report and Harry reluctantly opened his notebook to the correct page and handed it over.

Snape's eyes scanned down the rough draft and Harry narrowed his eyes, wondering why the man was smiling.

"Really, it's not done," Harry protested.

"I think this will do just fine," he said.

"What do you mean?"

Snape ripped the rough draft out of the notebook and handed the notebook back to Harry.

"You have grasped the concept of the assignment. A final draft is not necessary."

"It- it's not?" Harry asked.

"It is not. After this week you will return to Gryffindor."

"But you said-"

"I said I needed more time to advocate for you. I have done all the advocating that can be done, and whilst you are in the Slytherin dorms, there are other students who cannot exchange in."

Harry frowned. He almost felt like this was punishment for something, but Snape didn't seem angry.

"You are not in trouble Potter," he said, and Harry nodded before leaving the office. At least he'd have a week with Hermione before he had to go back to Gryffindor. Then Hermione would have a week by herself in Slytherin to finish out her exchange.

When Harry was gone, Severus unfolded the paper he'd taken from Harry's notebook and read it again. This was just the type of thing he needed Albus to see, to convince him once and for all that Harry shouldn't return to his family during the summer. He'd been talking with Albus for weeks about letting the boy stay with the Weasleys, but the man hadn't budged on his position. He'd only given the faintest hint that he might be leaning towards letting the boy stay in the castle, but that was doubtful knowing how stubborn the aging man could be.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore read the letter again. Then he read it a third time. His chest felt uncomfortably tight reading the words of Harry's latest project as he sat alone in his office, contemplating what these words meant to Harry if he'd written them down. Harry was a thoughtful boy, and put a lot of effort into projects he cared about, such as the exchange, or Quidditch, or his defense club. He'd obviously thought a lot about what having a different family would mean to him. He knew what he wanted and had goods reason for wanting it.

‘My new family makes sure I have clothes that fit good and aren't holey. I have a coat and I'm always warm in the winter. I never have to borrow other people's things.' Those were the first words of his project. If it was important enough to be the first thing Harry put down, then Albus was certain the clothes his relatives provided him with weren't fit for him to wear or to keep him warm. Harry knew hardship.

‘My new family realizes I don't like loud sounds or to be yelled at. It's nice that they make an effort to talk to me nicely.' I have my own room and a soft bed to sleep in. I have a soft blanket and a pillow. I don't have to sleep on the floor in the cupboard under the stairs like I have to at the Dursleys. I prefer to be here with my new family instead of counting down the days until I go back to school.' Albus knew the boy was jumpy and cautious, but had assumed it was from his many regrettable encounters with Voldemort and his followers. Albus had tried to protect Harry from having traumatic experiences or from having too much to do with the war or Order, but his best laid plans hadn't worked as well as he had wanted them to. This letter wasn't about Voldemort or the war though. It was about what Harry wanted in a family. It was about what his own family had failed to provide for him. Harry wanted a loving, stable home and to be cared for. Albus didn't know how to provide that for him however. The Ministry wanted to gain a tighter hold on Harry to keep him under their thumb for political reasons. If Albus relinquished his guardianship, (which he would have to do to get the boy to a new home), he was certain the Ministry wouldn't allow guardianship to go to the Weasleys.

‘My new family writes to me while I'm at school and checks with me to see that my grades are being kept up and to see if I need anything. I know I have someone to talk to. My new family are always happy to listen to me and answer my questions. They don't lie like the Dursleys. My new family notices when something's wrong. They take me to the doctor when I'm sick. They take me fun places too and we do fun things together like play games and go flying. I'm not lonely. It's nice to have someone that wants me around. ‘It's nice to have someone that listens to what I have to say without judging me or jumping to conclusions. It's nice to have someone to step in and help me work things out when I don't know what to do.' Albus set the letter down. Harry was lonely, and Albus wanted to give Harry the home he longed for. He only wished he could find a way. If he couldn't, he would have to live with this uncomfortable lump in his throat to the end of his days, knowing that Harry would never know what it was to have a real family, or to be loved. Albus loved him. So did Minerva and Remus. Sirius had too, as well as James and Lily. Knowing that wasn't tangible for Harry though. It would never be enough for a boy who had spent all his days living in a cupboard under the stairs...

* * *

Harry had gotten to spend a lot of time with Hermione, though it was at the price of joining the girls of Slytherin in study groups and following them around instead of sticking with the Slytherin boys. The girls had seemed irritated at first, but adjusted to his presence with speed. Hermione had also thrown herself headlong into her project however, and was soon spending her time in a corner of Slytherin common room studying portkeys and the laws surrounding their creation and use. His last week in Slytherin seemed to speed by, and it was soon Saturday morning again.

No one in Slytherin told Harry goodbye, and Hermione was too busy to say much of anything about Harry not appearing at Slytherin for breakfast. Harry sat with Ginny at Gryffindor table, but found himself lonely, and thought it was strange since he was finally back in his own house. Dean, Seamus, and Neville were busy talking to Mathe  though, who was visiting from Ravenclaw in Ron's place, and Ron was still at Hufflepuff for another week.

"It's nice to have you back," Ginny told him. "It almost seems like you've been away all year."

"Well, I have been, haven't I?"

"I think it'll be nice when everything starts to settle down again. Hermione's only visiting one more house after this, and Ron told me last night he was going to be done after Hufflepuff."

"He doesn't like it?"

"He said it was interesting, but there was no place like his own dorm room."

"It has been a strange year," Harry thought out loud. They hadn't encountered Voldemort or had to deal with any especially crazy defense professors, but he felt like he'd been everywhere and done everything already and it was only January. "I guess it'll be good when everything's back to normal," Harry said.

But normal meant spending a lot of time by himself while Ron and Hermione were out of the house. Harry was starting to appreciate how Ron felt all the time Harry had been gone, even though they'd seen each other regularly in classes and in the library after dinner hour. Ginny tried to spend time with Harry, but she was also involved in her studies and had her own friends in fifth year that wanted her time.

Harry was glad when Ron and Hermione came back to Gryffindor table the next Saturday.

"Well?" Harry asked Ron. "How was it?"

"It was good," he admitted, digging into his breakfast. "Better than spending time with the Slytherins I'll wager."

"It was interesting," Hermione said. "They're very studious. More than I think the Ravenclaws are actually."

"Ravenclaws study because they want to and find it interesting. Slytherins do it because they have to, but they have fun while doing it," Harry said.

"That doesn't make any sense," Ron told him. Harry supposed it wouldn't since Ron hadn't experienced what he had.

* * *

Harry was irritated. His new crimson shoes had been destroyed during Quidditch practice. He'd tried to keep them clean but the Pitch was coated in inches deep mud, and every time he landed the mud came up over his shoes and slopped inside. He and Hermione had tried to get them clean with spells and potions again afterwards, but it had been no use. His shoes weren't caked in mud anymore, but they were filthy and wouldn't come clean. One of his shoelaces had also broken from being wet and getting frayed during the attempted cleaning, and Harry had had to resort to tying two ends of the lace together. They looked ugly. Two of his shirts had also gotten ripped, one in Defense and one in the hall when he'd tripped over his own feet and gone sprawling. He knew he wouldn't be getting new clothes any time soon, so it was frustrating. His only consolation was that Teddy Nott stopped to help him up when he'd tripped in the corridor and advised him to be more careful.

Harry wasn't sure if Teddy had told Snape or not, but the next day Snape spotted Harry in the hall outside the library and confronted him about his dirty shoes and the hole in his shirt.

"One would think that you might learn to take better care of your clothing Mr. Potter. Clearly some things never change."

Harry frowned, not in the mood to talk about his clothing just then. He hoped Snape wouldn't be mad and take points since he was the one who had purchased the clothes.

"I try to sir," he said.

Snape gave a doubtful look down to Harry's brown shoes with one broken lace.

"I didn't do that, it happened at Quidditch."

"I see. Why did you not ask someone for help in repairing them?"

"Hermione tried."

"An adult Potter."

"What adult?" Harry asked, feeling testy. "Who was I supposed to go to?" McGonagall flickered through his mind just then, but it had never crossed his mind to ask her for help before now. He'd only thought to try to remedy the situation himself and Hermione had offered her assistance.

"I told you you were to come to me with issues or unmet needs."

"While I was in Slytherin," Harry shot back at him. "You said I was your ward while in Slytherin, but I'm not now because you sent me back to Gryffindor."

When Snape didn't reply or start to yell at him, Harry turned and stalked away. Some things never change... Snape's words played through his mind. That wasn't true. Harry had changed. He had changed a lot because he'd seen a lot and been involved in a lot of new things. You couldn't help but change under those circumstances. But Snape was right and it made Harry angry. Harry had changed, but things around him had not. He still occasionally heard kids in the halls say nasty things about other houses. He still had no one to fall back on. He still had to return to the Dursleys in a few short months...

As Harry lay in his four-poster that night, staring at the dark canopy, he thought about the wasted time he'd spent on his last project in Slytherin. What good had it done to write down what he wanted from a family? It was cruel to make him wish for a new family all over again, only to have to return to the Dursleys. If Snape complained about his clothes again Harry would throw that in his face and see how he liked it.

As he drifted off into a series of strange dreams that left him feeling more empty and alone than normal, Harry had the strange notion that Snape should know better than to snatch dreams away from him. It wasn't nice when he was the one that inspired most of what Harry had written.

‘I don't want just anyone to be my family,' dream Harry told an imaginary Muggle case worker, but he couldn't explain to her why. Putting him with just anyone would be the same as putting him back with the Dursleys. It wouldn't be fair.

* * *

Harry fell back into a comfortable routine in Gryffindor, and was glad when Hermione had finally visited Ravenclaw and gotten that exchange out of the way. Hermione surprised both he and Ron when she said she preferred Slytherin to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Harry had liked Hufflepuff a lot, and Ravenclaw was nice, but he also thought he prefered Slytherin to the other two houses. Ron was fine with what his two friends had said, so long as they agreed that the one and only true place for them all was Gryffindor, and they all agreed.

Towards the end of the school year the exchange started to putter out since most of those wanting to exchange had already done so. It became rare to see students from other houses milling around the common room anymore, although Harry noted that a lot of new friendships had been forged with students in other houses, and in the Great Hall the tables weren't as segregated as they had been before. Students from every house were mixed in, wanting to have a meal now and again with friends from other houses. Harry was surprised when Teddy and Blaise had asked him to spend his lunch hour at Slytherin with them a few times, and when Mathe or Justin and Ernie came to sit with he and Ron at Gryffindor. Dumbledore, Harry thought, could not have looked more pleased if he'd received a pair of striped purple and yellow socks with bells hanging off of them.

"It's been kind of a wild year," Ron said two weeks before summer holiday. A girl from Hufflepuff had just asked him out right in front of Hermione, and Ron had turned red before stuttering something about already having a girlfriend (he didn't, but Harry knew he fancied Hermione and she liked him back).

"I'm glad we got the opportunity," Hermione said, "but I'm also glad they're not doing it next year."

"I heard they're going to do some kind of board game thing amongst the younger years next year," Ron commented.

"Really?" Harry asked. "That was my idea."

His friends smiled at him as they headed to the library to find a book Hermione wanted to read before the school year was over.

Once in the library, Ron followed Hermione to the back to help her look for a book, and Harry sat at a table by himself to study for an upcoming Charms test. He wasn't able to concentrate however so gave up entirely. In two weeks his friends would all return to their bedrooms at home and go on vacation with their families. Ron had invited Harry to come visit for part of the summer, but Harry wasn't sure if he'd be allowed. Instead of having a break from school, he'd be doing chores, sleeping on the floor, and staying busy being completely ignored by his aunt, uncle and cousin. His mind flitted to Snape and the advocation he'd promised, but Harry was no longer in Slytherin, and nothing had come of it anyway aside from new clothes, half of which already needed replaced.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ron asked when he came back to the table. Hermione was still looking through bookshelves out of earshot.

"Nothing," Harry said, looking up.

"I know you better than that."

"Just- summer," Harry mumbled.

"Yeah," Ron acknowledged in a sympathetic tone. He didn't know most of what Harry dealt with, but he and his brothers had flown the car to Harry's bedroom window and broken the bars off to help Harry escape in third year. That was the last time Harry had been allowed to sleep in the bedroom. When he'd returned the next year, it was back to the cupboard under the stairs. There were no windows there for him to escape from if he was being punished and had been locked in.

"We'll come get you on your birthday. It'll be your choice then."

"Thanks," Harry said, though it didn't make him feel any better. Birthdays never did.

* * *

"Mr. Potter."

Harry looked up from his homework in study hall. He was sitting at the end of Gryffindor table by himself reading his defense book.

"Sir?"

"I'm giving you permission to leave study hall early. I have something to discuss with you."

Harry packed up his books and followed Snape out and down to his office in the dungeons. When the door was closed, the Potions Master sat down behind his desk and Harry sat in the visitor's chair.

"The Headmaster has relinquished custody of you to the Ministry, and they have found a placement for you with a family in Stirling. Their children are a few years shy of attending Hogwarts."

Harry frowned, and didn't say anything for a few moments. What family in Stirling? Why hadn't anyone told him the Headmaster didn't have custody anymore? "What do you mean?" Harry finally asked.

"I believe their name is Webb."

"I'm not going," Harry said. His tone was so final that it made Snape stare.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not going to stay with the Webbs from Stirling. I'll go back to the Dursleys."

"What would possess you to do such a thing?"

"Because I can," Harry said. He could tell Snape looked irritated, but he didn't care. They were treating him like a thing, just passing him around to another family without even talking to him about it. He was going to be 17 in a few months... not a thing and not a child either.

"So for the sake of stubborness you would rather return to a family that abuses you?"

"Stubbornness? What is this? Nobody asked me what I wanted. Nobody told me anything like this was happening until the decision was already made. It must be so nice for you to just wash your hands of me like this."

"No one has washed their hands of you Potter. I think I have gone above and beyond what was required to advocate on your behalf and make sure your needs are being met."

"Right, you gave me clothes, like a house elf. Congratulations, Harry is free," he said sarcastically. "So you can clear your mind now, because Harry is once again somebody else's problem. Well I'm sorry I had to be your problem at all. For the record, I never asked anything of you, I only put my name on a list of names to try out Slytherin house. My only expectation was two weeks of trying something new."

Severus was going to say something but Harry was still talking and sometimes he found it more beneficial to listen to what others spouted off about when they were upset. There were usually details there that people weren't willing to share in polite company.

"It's not like I asked you to buy me clothes, or advocate for me, whatever that means. I didn't ask you to do anything. You act like I just waltzed in here one day and asked you to be my father or something! Just another burden for you. Well clear your mind sir, now that I'm free and you found a family to dump me off with, you can spend your summer feeling good about the contributions you've made to my life."

Severus was surprised by what Harry had said and he let it show, causing Harry to give him a funny look. Father? Where had that come from? He'd never thought the boy's thoughts would have strayed there, yet the words had come out of his mouth. James Potter would have a heart attack if he knew what his son had said.

"I never suggested such a thing," Severus said carefully.

"No, you just assign me to write a paper that will make me think about everything I can't have. Just get my hopes up again just for a while, then send me on my way to Gryffindor. Just like you plan on sending me on my way to Stirling or wherever."

"I did not intend to get your hopes up. I used the letter as evidence and when the Headmaster read it, he finally agreed it was time for you to part company with the Dursleys. As I said, a family has been-"

"That's not a family. I don't even know them! You expect me to just go stay with strangers for a few months til' I turn 17 and can go out on my own. Just be a burden on another set of people. Well I can do that just fine with the family I already don't have!" Harry turned and reached for the office door handle.

"You cannot return." Snape's words hung there in the air, like some solemn proclamation that Harry was just expected to abide by. He turned back to the Potions Master.

"Why should I listen to you? I'm not in Slytherin. The Headmaster's already given up custody of me. That means it's just me, on my own like I always am. There's nothing you'll do about it is there?"

Severus' mind was working frantically. He'd thought Harry would be happy to find out he'd have a safe place to stay, but that wasn't what he wanted. Or maybe that wasn't all of what he wanted.

"What are you thinking?" he suddenly asked, causing Harry to narrow his eyes at him. The boy was still angry and Severus could practically see the white hot coals in the pit of the boy's stomach.

"You don't get to ask me that anymore," Harry said. "Not a Slytherin, and not your ward, remember?"

"Tell me anyway." He was betting on the boy's rage to fuel his tirade just a little longer. Severus wanted to get to the bottom of the issue once and for all.

"You're stupid, that's what I was thinking," Harry snapped. He seemed angry, but as soon as he'd said stupid Severus could see the boy's hands start to shake and the anxiety start to creep in from the confrontation. "You think you know what's right just because you stepped in to meddle in my life. I was just thinking how ironic it all is, how stupid you actually are. Did you even read my paper?"

Severus pulled open the top drawer of his desk and pulled Harry's rough draft out. He'd made a copy to give to the Headmaster but had kept the original. Harry's eyes fell on the paper.

"I didn't even realize what I wanted until you showed me, and that's why you're an idiot. You go telling me I'm your ward and I can talk to you and you're supposed to take care of me, and that's the only time I've even glimpsed what that was supposed to look like. You don't even consider how I feel after you made me think of everything I'll never have. You just take my paper and send me away, like you're done with me. I'm not trash, even if everybody thinks of me that way. "I'm not," he insisted. And then Harry didn't give his Professor another chance to goad him into letting his thoughts and feelings tumble out of his mouth. He grasped the door handle hard, pulled the door open and was gone.

Severus was still left trying to work through everything the teen had said. 'I'm not trash. I'm not.' Severus didn't think he was, but if he were honest with himself (which he hated to be if it meant he was wrong), the boy was right. Severus had felt some relief at finding Harry a place to go for the summer. Harry had hit the nail on the head. He had seen his job as complete. He'd fulfilled his promise to give Harry the full Slytherin experience by advocating for him until his needs were met. But they weren't met. Harry didn't want someone to take him in. He wanted a family. Severus stared down at the letter and tried to work out what the boy had meant about him showing the teen what he wanted. What had he shown him?

‘My new family makes sure I have clothes that fit good and aren't holey. I have a coat and I'm always warm in the winter. I never have to borrow other people's things.' It was the first thing Severus had done for him beyond yelling at the Headmaster. He'd clothed him and made sure he was warm. ‘My new family realizes I don't like loud sounds or to be yelled at. It's nice that they make an effort to talk to me nicely.' He supposed he had stopped yelling at the boy and had started speaking to him on a level he would have with any of his other Slytherins. ‘My new family writes to me while I'm at school and checks with me to see that my grades are being kept up and to see if I need anything.' He always checked in on the students in his house. That was his job as head of house. He paused though. He had made it a point to check in on Harry more often than the other students though, just as he did Draco once Narcissa had written to him about Draco struggling under the strain of his studies. And he'd made it a point to tell Harry to come to him if he needed anything. ‘I know I have someone to talk to...' Severus let his eyes scan further down the paper. There was mention of his family knowing when something was wrong and making him see a doctor... he'd done that twice when he'd seen Harry needed to go to the Hospital Wing. There was also mention of doing fun things together, and Severus had invited Harry to play games. At the time he'd only intended to try to get Draco to take a break, but when he'd looked over at Harry and seen he was listening with interest, he'd felt it would be wrong to exclude him. He didn't read the rest of the letter. He knew Harry had taken the majority of his expectations from how he'd been treated by Severus. And then he'd gone and made the comment about having a father. Severus straightened up. He couldn't see the boy wanting him as a father though. Not after their long animosity. Yet he was refusing to go anywhere but back to the Dursleys at the conclusion of the term.

It didn't make sense. Severus just wanted to find wherever the teen had run off to and ask the new questions circling in his head. He hated it when people got upset and ran off because it meant he couldn't bring a conversation to its full resolution.

In the corridor on the way to the steps leading out of the Dungeons Severus came across Draco. "Did you happen to see Mr. Potter pass by?"

"He's in the common room," Draco said.

"Our common room?" Severus asked. He felt it was a silly question but had to be sure.

"Yeah. I let him in with the new password."

"Why pray tell would you do such a thing?"

"He spent longer in Slytherin than anybody else who exchanged in. What was he gonna do, damage our furniture and prank the house?"

"That will be all Draco."

"He's probably in the dorms," Draco said, glad his Head of House was going to investigate since Harry had seemed- off. Draco would have investigated himself but he had plans to meet with several Hufflepuffs he'd made friends with during the exchange to play cards in the Great Hall and was already late.

Severus didn't find Harry in the common room, but did find him in the dorm sitting at the empty desk. No one else was inside.

"You are no longer in Slytherin," he said as he closed the door and sat in Draco's empty desk chair. Harry didn't look up at him from where he stared at his own desk.

"Thanks for reminding me," he said quietly.

"I was merely curious why you chose to come here."

Harry shrugged.

"I want to know more about what you said a few minutes ago."

"Never mind," Harry told him quietly. "You don't have to worry about it. I'll just go back to the Dursleys, or whatever that other place was."

"When you were so angry about those options mere minutes ago?"

"You don't have to worry about me Professor," Harry said dully, "just forget about it. I was wrong to shout at you. You were right, you've done more for me than anyone ever has. That just makes me a jerk for not appreciating it."

Severus was frustrated. He usually knew exactly what to say to get the information he wanted, but couldn't come up with anything that seemed appropriate now. He wanted to know if he had completely misread him or if the teen really had had some notion of becoming his ward, as crazy as that sounded. No one in their right mind, aside from perhaps Draco, ever looked up to him enough to contemplate something like that.

He must have been quiet for some time because Harry soon asked, "What are you thinking?"

"You said-" he paused, uncertain if he should ask at all, "- it wasn't like you came in demanding for a father."

"I didn't," Harry said. "Prince Potter doesn't demand things because Prince Potter doesn't exist. He knows he's not supposed to," he snarked.

"To demand things?"

Harry turned and gave the Potions master a dark look. "To exist," he said. "Everyone knows I'm a fluke. I wasn't supposed to survive."

"I think perhaps, that instead of looking at it as a fluke, it might be better viewed as a miracle."

"Me?" Harry laughed but it didn't sound like he found humor in it. "I'm not a miracle. Nothing about me is miraculous. I'm scrawny," Harry held up a finger, "I'm always in trouble," he held up a second finger, "I mess everything up," another finger. Snape wasn't surprised that he had an entire list about himself and continued on until he was out of fingers. He'd never had anyone to tell him any different and had been left to come up with conclusions about himself. Severus had to admit that perhaps some of the harsh conclusions had been fueled by things he himself had said about the boy.

Severus held up a finger in the quiet room. "In the past you may have been given a number of undeserved detentions." Harry raised his brow as a second finger went up. "You're not scrawny, you're underfed." A third finger, "Everyone makes mistakes, and you should not think yourself above everyone else in this case."

"Why are you here?" Harry asked with a frown before Snape could try to counter more things he believed about himself.

"I want to know about what you said in my office."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know if I've misread the things you've said to me."

Harry seemed to be considering it. "Do you know what Ron's father does?"

Severus sat up straighter then. No, he could only imagine what the Weasley patron did. Albus and Minerva often held the Weasley's up as the golden standard of how a family should be run. Harry didn't wait for him to answer though.

"He acts like he's interested in whatever Ron has to say. He's not, I can tell he's bored listening to him, but he acts like he wants to hear everything. He's always there when Ron has questions to ask about girls or school or arguments he's gotten into. I'm not going to go to some family that's just going to pretend because they feel sorry for me because of who I am or where I've been. That's not what I want. I want someone who listens because they actually like me, even if they're bored with what I'm saying. Someone who's going to be there even if I mess things up. You don't know what it's like to not know what that's like. Nobody does."

"And?"

Harry frowned at him. He clearly didn't want to talk about it anymore. "And nothing. I want what Ron has ok? And Hermione, and Blaise, and Teddy and Justin and Ernie... I always wanted that, I just tried to forget about it until you made me do that stupid paper."

Severus wanted to see Harry's eyes, but Harry was busy fidgeting with his broken shoelace. He wanted what his friends had: a parent. And then he'd been made to write about what having a parent would mean, and the only person he had to look to for answers was his Potions Master. "Apparently it wasn't fair to make you think about all you didn't have, without offering you a suitable choice to gain what you want," he said quietly.

"I'm sure whatever their name is are fine," Harry grouched, looking back at his hands. "I said I'll go."

"I would not expect any Slytherin to go where they don't feel wanted."

"I'm not a Slytherin."

"Perhaps you should be for the last few days of the term."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"As I've said previously Mr. Potter, whilst you are here in Slytherin you are my ward. I would suspect that whatever house you end the year in is whatever house you would begin the next year as part of, making you a member of that house for the summer. I would also expect that the prior magically binding agreements the Headmaster had entered into before relinquishing your custody would still be in effect."

Harry shook his head and gestured with his hands like he was confused. "I don't understand what you're saying."

"I'm saying that since you returned to Slytherin instead of your common room, you are currently in Slytherin house. I am your guardian, and I will continue to be so over the summer. Therefore, as a Slytherin, you will not have to go any place you are not wanted."

"You don't want me," Harry said, staring at him like he was certain of just this one thing.

"I would not make such an offer to just anyone, and seeing as how you are once again my ward, I recommend you begin taking a more respectful tone with me."

Harry hesitated, uncertain. "I- don't know what this is supposed to look like." What would it mean to actually be the man's ward outside of school?

Snape pulled out the folded term paper and handed it to Harry. "This is what it looks like. If either of us forget that, we'll have a template to work off of, won't we?"

Harry's hands shook holding the paper, and the paper rattled to give him away. "Yes sir."

"I believe Mr. Malfoy went to the Great Hall to play games. Perhaps you should join him."

Severus opened the door and left Harry to his thoughts. He was almost back to his office, wondering how this decision would affect him and Harry both when hurried footsteps could be heard behind him. He turned to find Harry looking out of breath.

"You have something you wish to add to the paper?"

"Only-," Harry flashed him an uncertain look followed by a grin, "-can I borrow Goblin Fire to take to the Great Hall?"

Severus turned his back on the teen with a small smile. This summer he suspected would be the greater of all the exchanges the boy had experienced this year, and he suspected the same would be true for himself as well.