Snape remembered the last time around, Slytherin was the most hated house in the school. He hoped by encouraging his snakes to mix with people from other houses more will help. He also decided that if he caught any of his snakes misbehaving, he wouldn't wait until they were alone to tell them their punishment but when he actually caught them.

However, his new policies had some mixed results. While visiting the school library, he saw one of his snakes attempt to sit down at a table full of Hufflepuffs. The Hufflepuffs got up and left within a matter of seconds. Apparently there was a lot more house rivalry that needed to be overcome than he anticipated. His punishing his snakes in public did get them to behave better but he could tell it was making some of the staff (including Professor Dumbledore) and older students suspicious of him. The last thing he needed at the moment was to be discovered.

He also noticed a new problem that he hadn't counted on. He over heard some students, mostly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, exchanging rumors about Harry being sorted into Slytherin. Fortunately Professors McGonagall and Sprout were able to put an end those rumors before they got out of hand by talking to members of their house.

He also noticed Professor McGonagall was a little more colder to him since the sorting ceremony. He didn't need legilimency to know why. He had stolen Harry from her. At least she didn't take her grudge against him out on Harry but he would have to explain to her Harry being in Slytherin was Ollivander's fault and not his.

Soon it was Saturday and he decided to go to Little Hangleton. After telling Professor Dumbledore he had an errand he needed to do and would be back in a couple of hours, he Apparated to the outskirts of Little Hangleton to hunt for the shack that the last of Voldemort's closest living relatives in the Wizarding World had lived in.

He found it after a half hour of searching. The property was overgrown with weeds that had stickers and thorns. None of them were of a magical variety from what Snape could tell. If anything they were charmed to make sure you were completely miserable while walking through them.

'No wonder Voldemort didn't bother to increase the security around this shack. Nobody in their right mind would walk through a yard with these weeds...' Snape thought to himself as he walk through the yard if you could call it that, occasionally muttering some obscenity when ever something poked him.

When he finally got inside of the shack, the ring was in plain sight. Voldemort hadn't bother to hide it anywhere. It was sitting on the floor, more or less in the middle of the room. Snape, remembering what happened with Dumbledore when he touched the ring, approached it with great caution. When he got close enough, suspicious it may be a decoy and the real one was hidden somewhere else, he pointed his wand at it and confirmed the ring was a horcrux by use of a diagnostic spell. He muttered Sectumsempra at the ring and the band broke open. He knew from past expired that using Sectumsempra on metal made it impossible to fix. Any attempt at fixing the damage wouldn't work. He hoped that phenomenon qualified as damaged beyond even magical repair.

He then muttered a diagnostic spell to see if it was still a horcrux. The diagnostic spell revealed that there was no longer a soul fragment inside of it but was another spell on the ring besides the curse that nearly killed Dumbledore. The spell wasn't in the ring but the stone in the ring. It wasn't registering as a curse or a jinx. It was registering as like a portkey, but not quite.

'How odd... I wonder what it is...' Snape thought to himself.

He then muttered what he believed to be the counter course to make the ring safe for him to handle. Performing the diagnostic spell again showed the curse that nearly killed Dumbledore was gone. He picked it up wondering what the stone enchanted to do. He was thinking that his mother was alive, she could probably help him figure out what the stone did. Just then, he heard a voice.

"Severus?"

Snape was shocked. Standing in front of him was his mother. She looked almost solid, but not quite. She still had a little bit of transparency to her.

"Mum? How can this be? You are dead..." Snape said in disbelieve.

"As far as I know Severus, I am. I was having a nice chat with with an old school friend that died a few years before I did." Snape's mother Eileen said.

"Then if you are dead, then how could you be here?" Snape asked.

"There's one possibility, but it isn't likely." Eileen replied.

"What is it?"

"You have the Resurrection Stone. I remember my father talking about it as well as the other two Deathly Hallows. He did say they were believed to be a myth but another one of the hallows was discovered. The Elder Wand if I recall..."

"Deathly Hallows?"

"According to my father the Deathly Hallows were a set of three powerful magical items, a wand, a stone, and an invisibility cloak. The person who acquired all three of them was said to be invincible though my father doubted that. The wand was referred to as the Elder Wand though its been called different names through out history. It was said it was unbeatable in a duel. The stone was called the Resurrection Stone. It could bring back the dead but they wouldn't be quite be alive but be very close to being alive if you know what I mean. The invisibility cloak, the wearer would be curse proof as well as invisible. There's a child's story about how the Deathly Hallows came into being. I would have read it to you but your drunken father threw away "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" saying the book was filled with 'morbid stories that no sane person should hear'..." Eileen replied, sounding rather bitter when mention her husband.

"I see. If it is of any help, I am holding a ring that has a stone with a spell on it that I cannot identify properly." Snape said.

"Can I see it?" Eileen asked.

Snape showed his almost alive mother the ring in his hand. The stone was facing her.

"That stone has the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on it. It most likely is the Resurrection Stone. I suggest you not tell anyone you found it. My father said there are people who would want it and the other hallows. In the wrong hands, it could be used a dreadful weapon if used in conjunction with the Elder Wand."

"That seems like good advice." Snape said as he put the ring into one of his pockets. As soon as he was no longer touching the stone, his mother disappeared.

'That was interesting. The stone might be of some use if that was indeed my mother... I need to research this more.' Snape thought to himself.

Not wanting to go through the weeds again, Snape decided to Apparate back to the Hogwarts grounds. He decided he should head to the library to look up the Deathly Hallows to see if they were real and if what he had spoken to was indeed his mother.

While he was walking down the corridor to the library, he saw nearly all the first year Slytherin boys gathered in a group. The only one that wasn't there was Zabini. The ones that were there looked very annoyed. He then noticed that Hermione was with them.

He was about to ask if their was anything wrong when Draco said angerly, "She's a nightmare! No wonder she doesn't have any friends! She's a loud, annoying, know-it-all, filthy little Mudblood that shouldn't have even been allowed in the school!"

Hermione pushed Theodore Nott and Ron aside and ran ahead, clearly upset. Ron and Harry then chased after her.

'The more things change, the more the stay the same...' Snape thought.

Snape's first instinct was to go after Hermione and calm her down. However, it appeared that Harry and Ron were going to attempt to do that so he decided it would be best to punish Draco.

"50 points Mr. Malfoy and detention!" Snape shouted catching the attention of nearly all people in ear shot.

"You can't do that! You're our head of house! Wait until father hears of this!" Draco said, clearly horrified to see Snape.

"That will be another detention for talking back to a teacher! You are not to utter that other word for Muggle-born again. And, yes, your father will hear of this and he will agree with me! Now go to the common room and stay there for the rest of the day!" Snape shouted back.

'Arrogant, spoiled brat... Just like his father.' Snape thought.

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to that tall kid who tried to run away after being sorted into Slytherin."

"Wearing the glasses?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see his scar?"

"Wonder why he's in Slytherin?"

"Think he's a dark wizard?"

Whispers and rumors fallowed Harry as soon as left the Slytherin dormitories for his first full day of school. Harry just hated it. People used to talk about him behind his back at his old school about some of the odd things that seemed to happen around him and how the Dursleys treated him. And now here at Hogwarts, people were still talking about him behind his back but for a different reason. He just wished he was more normal. At least he could now have friends with out having to worry about Dudley beating them up.

Ron fallowed Harry to the Great Hall. When they sat down at the Slytherin table, Harry was expecting a quite breakfast. However it wasn't. Malfoy sat across from him and Ron, next to Hermione.

"I'm still surprised at your sorting Weasley. No Weasley has ever been in a house other then Gryffindor. Even those who marry into your family were in Gryffindor. I can understand Potter being in Slytherin. His dad's mom was in Slytherin. But you... As for you Granger, I never heard of a Wizard family named Granger. Half Blood?" Malfoy said.

"My parents are Muggles." Hermione said.

"A Muggle-born in Slytherin? I never heard of that. Slytherin himself hated Muggle-borns and wanted them banned from the school. Excuse me while I go find Crabbe and Goyle." Malfoy said with a disapproving look.

"That wasn't surprising." Ron said five seconds after Malfoy left.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"My father says all the Malfoys hate Muggle-borns and anyone whose friendly with them. The Malfoys were Death Eaters and killed and torchored Muggles and Muggle-borns before You-Know-Who went away. They were first ones to come back to the light side claiming they were bewitched by You-Know-Who into doing all those horrible things. My dad said he's had enough dealings with the Malfoys since before You-Know-Who was around to know better. Says they didn't need a spell to make them attack Muggles."

Just then, a bunch of owls came into the Great Hall to deliver mail. Out of no where, owl carrying a red envelope crash landed into the plate of muffins in front of Ron. Ron looked scared.

"Oh no!" Ron muttered.

"Look everyone! Weasley's got himself a Howler!" Malfoy yelled from down the table.

Harry watched Ron nervously open the envelope and for a moment, thought it exploded.

"RONALD WEASLEY!" a woman's voice yelled. "HOW DARE YOU TRY TO RUN AWAY FROM SCHOOL! IF YOU WERE A TRUE WEASLEY YOU SHOULD HAVE WENT STRAIGHT TO THE SLYTHERIN TABLE AND STAYED THERE!"

Over the womans yells, Harry could barely make out a man saying, "Molly. You're embarrassing him. Stop! Ron! If you can hear me, I still love you!"

"LIFE DISHES PEOPLE BAD HANDS AND YOUR FATHER AND I HAVE TAUGHT YOU TO MAKE THE BEST OF WHAT EVER LIFE THROWS AT YOU. NOT EMBARRASH THE ENTIRE FAMILY BY RUNNING AWAY! SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE ARTHUR! IF YOU DO ANYTHING MORE TO BRING SHAME TO THE FAMILY RON, I'M SLAPPING YOU SILLY AS SOON AS I GET MY HANDS ON YOU! LET GO OF ME ARTHUR!"

With that, yelling stopped and there was a roar of laughter filling the great hall. All Ron could do was bury his head in his hands.

'How many times has my Aunt and Uncle yelled at me like that... Poor Ron,' Harry thought as he looked at Ron 'At least his dad didn't seem to care about what happened.'

"Ron, you alright?" Harry asked.

"I'll be fine. Mum gets nasty when she's upset. She normally yells like that at the twins when they blow something up or turn Percy blue... She didn't send that to scold me for what I did after being sorted. She did that for braking family tradition. My dad says its OK to be different and is probably alright with me being in Slytherin... I just wish she was more like my dad right now..."

Harry felt a little envious of Ron. How he wished that either his aunt or uncle would accepted what he was and treated him like a person and not some slave. There were times he wished that he had some other relative he could live with. A couple times, he thought of running away but he didn't have any place to go. At least now he was at Hogwarts and didn't have to worry about the Dursleys until the end of June.

After breakfast, they got their class schedules and proceed to go their classes. In every class, Harry noticed that whenever a teacher asked a question, Hermione would wave her hand in the air and give a correct answer. Most of the first year Slytherins seemed to be irritated by it. Hermione was smart but she could be annoying at times by talking as if she knew everything.

Ron, when ever they weren't in class, wouldn't leave Harry except to go to the toilet. Harry did mind this as that Ron was good company and was one of the few that wasn't treating him any differently because of who he was. The other Slytherins acted like they only wanted to be Harry's friend because he was the famous "Boy-Who-Lived".

"Harry, I feel sorry for Hermione. I mean she can be so annoying, but... With just about every Slytherin in our year coming from a family that hates Muggle-borns. It's asking for trouble. They are going to do something to her sooner or later. I just know it." Ron told Harry while they were in the library doing their homework on Saturday.

"Why would the others do something to her?" Harry asked.

"They were probably all taught that they were smarter and better then everyone because they are pure-blood and having a Muggle-born do better then them upsets them." Ron answered.

"That's not right."

"I know..."

"Feeling sorry for Granger?" Malfoy said.

Harry and Ron, startled, looked at Malfoy and saw all the other first year Slytherin boys except for Zabini were with him.

"That's none of your concern Malfoy." Ron said.

"It is. If you really are a Slytherin, you shouldn't care about Granger and her kind." Malfoy said back.

Before Ron could reply, Hermione showed up as well.

"Its very rude to talk about people behind their back." Hermione annoyingly said.

"Its also very rude that you come to school and make yourself look better then everyone else. Think you know everything about Wizards and our ways?" Malfoy said.

"I want to. I've read all the books for our classes at least twice so I'm looking for more things to read." Hermione replied.

"Lets see how much you know then. What is a pure-blood?" Malfoy asked.

"A pure-blood, according to the statute of 1753, is a person who can do magic that has four grand parents that could do magic and is at least three quarters human." Hermione replied.

"You're wrong! A pure blood is someone who has no Muggle filth in their blood like me." Malfoy said.

Harry had a bad feeling where things were heading...

"No, you're wrong! I read that in A Muggle-Born's Guide to the Wizarding World. The Appendix of A History of Magic also says that. And Muggles aren't filthy!" Hermione scolded.

Just then, the librarian Madam Pince came up to them.

"Would you seven leave? They are people in here trying to study and your raised voices are irritating. Next time, I'll bewitch your things to chase you out." the Madam Pince said very sternly.

All seven of them left the library. As they were leaving, Harry saw Professor Snape walking down the corridor towards them when Malfoy said angerly, "She's a nightmare! No wonder she doesn't have any friends! She's a loud, annoying, know-it-all, filthy little Mudblood that shouldn't have even been allowed in the school!"

Harry saw Hermione bolt out from behind them, clearly upset. Harry decided to go after her. Ron apparently decided to do the same. The fallowed her into an old unused classroom.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Go away!" Hermione said, crying.

"We just want to tell you that what Malfoy said was just wrong. I hope Snape expels him for it." Ron said.

"Its true! Nobody likes me! And Malfoy said why!" Hermione replied.

"That's not what I'm talking about! He called you a - mudblood..." Ron said, pausing before he said mudblood.

"It doesn't matter what he called me. I don't know what it means but it sounded rude." Hermione said, who stopped crying.

"Its a foul name for someone who is Muggle-born. It means dirty blood. My dad says there's people like the Malfoys who think their better because they come from a family where everybody is a witch or wizard, in other words, one the old pure-blood Wizarding families. They feel that by letting Muggle-Born witches and wizards being part of our world, we're diluting our bloodline by bring in what they call dirty blood. My dad says that's ridiculous because if it wasn't for Muggles and Muggle-borns, wizards would have died out a long time ago. There isn't a witch or wizard who isn't part Muggle. Though tell Malfoy that..." Ron explained.

"Sounds like another form of racism." Harry said.

"I guess you can say that. Slytherin house is filled with people who believe that pure-bloods are better then everyone else..." Ron replied.

"I'm starting wish I wasn't in Slytherin. The Sorting Hat said I could have done well in any of the houses, though better in some then others. It was considering putting me in Ravenclaw before I told it put me into Slytherin. Why did I have to choose the house that would hate me the most?" Hermione asked, starting to cry again.

"We don't hate you Hermione." Harry said.

"I didn't want to be in Slytherin period. My family has always been in Gryffindor and a couple of my brothers will probably kill for being the first Weasley in Slytherin. But what is done is done. If want someone to study with, Hermione, or just hang out, well, Harry and I available." Ron said to Hermione.

"You'll both be my friends?" Hermione said surprised.

"Yes." Both Harry and Ron said together.

"Thanks." Hermione said.

Just then, Snape walked into the room.