Harry didn't know what he expected to happen when he stepped into Slytherin common room, but nothing at all wasn't it. He thought people would spot him right off and call him out for being in the wrong place wearing the wrong robes, or that maybe he'd get hit with some sort of curse placed on the room to keep intruders out, but there he stood, unharmed and unnoticed in the midst of his enemy.

Students sat around in the large square common room at tables and on couches studying, playing games, and talking. Harry spotted several older students he knew by sight but not by name, but so far couldn't see Draco or any of the other second years, except for Pansy, who was doing homework with a first year girl that looked an awful lot like she could be Pansy's sister. Harry wouldn't know because he and Ron had missed the sorting on account of flying the Ford to school. The hair on the back of Harry's neck stood up then thinking about that night, the night that he'd found out about... Snape.

Steeling himself, Harry watched as several boys disappeared through a door, and hoped it was the door to the boy's common rooms instead of to the bathroom. He took several quick steps in, thinking again that he'd be spotted, but nobody paid him any attention and he felt relieved as he made the door on the other side. Inside he found another long low corridor with eight doors off of it. He was surprised to see a window at the very end, but it was dark and he couldn't see what was beyond it.

Harry looked at the doors hoping to find some sign of which one his room was in, and saw numbers. All the way at the end of the corridor on the left, he found the number two, and pushed it open to find the backs of the second year Slytherin boys. They were bent over something on the floor, taking quietly and hadn't noticed him until the door closed of its own accord behind him. Harry jumped and they turned around.

"Potter!" Draco shouted angrily. Harry tried to ignore him and looked past Draco to see that the boys had all been staring at his closed trunk at the foot of one of the beds. Good, at least they hadn't opened it, even though his name was clearly labeled on the front.

"I just came for my trunk," Harry said, looking at each pair of eyes and hoping they wouldn't give him any trouble. He supposed that was asking for too much, but as he moved forward, none of them made a move to do anything.

"And what's your trunk doing here Potter?" Draco snapped as Harry reached down for the handle.

"A mix-up," Harry said, standing and lifting the end of the trunk.

"And what's he doing in our uniform?" Teddy Knott asked, taking a step forward.

"I put it on to get inside," Harry said, dragging the trunk towards the door.

"With our password?" Crabbe asked, and Harry was now uncomfortably aware that they had indeed closed in on him, blocking his escape through the door. His eyes darted around the low rectangular room and noticed there was another dark window, but no other escape route.

"Let me past," Harry said, trying to sound angry but feeling more afraid.

Someone laughed then and grabbed his arm, but the door swung open to reveal a very angry looking Severus Snape, and the second year boys all took a big step back, leaving Harry there in the center of them looking like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Potter! Out- Now!"

Harry hastened to obey, thankful that the man had appeared just then, because he had a good feeling he knew what would have happened if he had not. He dragged his trunk out behind him into the hall, but before he could get any further with it, Snape had him by the back of his Slytherin robes and was dragging him all the way back into the common room and out into the dungeon corridor, where Ron was nowhere to be seen. He didn't stop there though, and proceeded to haul Harry down two more corridors and into his large office. The same office Harry and Ron had sat in three weeks ago during the start of term feast. Dejavu struck him as he noticed Ron sitting in one of the chairs looking guilty, and McGonagall and Dumbledore standing in a corner. Hermione was also amongst them he registered as Snape let go of him and commanded him to sit in the other empty chair.

"How you manage to even feed yourself is beyond me Potter, such idiocy!" Snape snapped as he moved behind his desk and slammed his hands down on top of it. He looked fierce. Harry glanced sideways at Ron and wasn't sure what he was looking so guilty about, he hadn't done anything. It was the hat's fault.

McGonagall stepped forward then and Harry was thankful that she didn't have a stern look on her face. "Perhaps we should let Harry explain what has happened before we pass judgment Severus." He shot her a malicious look but clamped his mouth shut.

"Harry, Miss Granger has told me some of the events, but we would like to hear from you what has happened."

He looked down at his hands which couldn't seem to keep from fidgeting, and said, "I was in Professor Dumbledore's office, because of what happened in Herbology this morning," he paused, wondering if Snape knew already what he'd done, but didn't look up and continued, "and the hat started talking to me."

"The Sorting Hat?" Professor Dumbledore asked, and Harry nodded.

"Yeah, that one." He sounded disgusted with it, but he was more disappointed and angry and he could feel the upset bubbling in his stomach.

"It asked if I wanted to put it on... it- it said he put it on lots of times and it never did anything. It didn't say anything about re-sorting me. I thought it was just going to talk to me some more."

"And what happened next?" McGonagall prompted after Harry took a long pause.

"Well I took it off and went about my day, and at dinner Ron noticed the crest on my robes had changed, and we tried to go to Gryffindor tower but the portrait wouldn't let me in and my things were gone. She- she gave me the password to Slytherin and told me I didn't belong in Gryffindor anymore. So Ron and I came down here to get my things so they wouldn't get destroyed, and I was going to stay in a classroom or something after that."

"And it never occurred to you to seek the help of a teacher?" Snape sounded disgusted, but Harry only looked at him in awe. Would Snape really have done anything to help if he'd gone to him, or would he just have yelled at him like he was doing now?

"I just want to go back to Gryffindor," Harry said, looking down at his hands again. He heard a sigh from one of the teachers but he wasn't sure which one.

"Unfortunately Mr. Potter, that no longer seems to be an option," Professor McGonagall said, and Harry looked up.

"You mean I have to stay in Slytherin?"

"There is only one other incidence of a re-sorting," Dumbledore said, staring at him with those sparkling blue eyes. "It happened to a first year boy in the seventeen hundreds, and he stayed in his new house for the rest of his time at school."

"That hat wouldn't put him back?" Ron asked for clarification, and Dumbledore shook his head.

"The boy did not want to be put back. He was happy with his new house."

"Great," Harry mumbled, but he jumped the next second as Snape shouted, "What was that Potter!?"

"Nothing sir," he said, face turning red.

Snape stood then and Harry was sure he was giving Harry a deep and disgusted glare, but he was determined not to look. "Up Potter." Harry stood and gave his friends a look like fate had made its decision and he was destined to follow it through, no matter how much he didn't want to, and followed Snape out of the office. He heard Hermione say, "Bye Harry," with some finality, but tried not to tell himself it was the final decision.

"Incompetent, asinine..." Snape continued to mutter obscenities all the way back to the entrance to Slytherin common room, but stopped short a few steps and glared down at Harry with such force that Harry was sure the man was willing him to die right there on the spot.

"You will NOT cause any trouble in MY house Potter. I don't want to hear ANY complaints for your foolishness. You will not come to me with any issue short of life and death and you will NOT be coddled, or you will pay, am I understood?"

"Yes sir," Harry said. The man fixed him with a look of doubt and then opened the secret wall with the password. Harry thought he was going to leave him there, but instead he followed him inside and called one of the sixth year prefects named Thomas over to them. Unlike the first time Harry had entered, all eyes were on him this time, including the second year boys who were now in the common room. Apparently they had told everyone about Harry's audacity in just marching in, and Harry was sure that's just what Draco had said.

"Inform Mr. Potter of the house rules," Snape said in a still irritated yet much calmer tone to the sixth year. "He will now be a part of our house. Be sure that he obeys every one of them."

"Yes sir," Thomas said with an uncertain look in his eyes. With that, Snape left Harry in the home of his enemies, and Harry felt put on the spot.

"Come on Potter," Thomas said, leading him back into the hall leading to the second year boy's dormitory.

"How'd you end up here?" Thomas asked as he pushed open the door and picked up Harry's trunk to carry it back inside.

"The hat," Harry said. "I got in trouble and when I was in the Headmaster's office I tried it on again."

"Never heard of that happening before," he said. He set the trunk down at the foot of the bed that now had Harry's name on it.

"Rule number 1, don't agitate the squid."

"The squid? What?"

"Don't do it Potter. Rule number two Potter, keep up because I have homework to do and I'm not going to stay with you all night explaining. For every five house points you lose, you get detention with Professor Snape. Knowing how much he dislikes you, I'd avoid it. Number three, any grade below an O or an E and you lose one house point. I wouldn't suggest doing that either because Slytherin's don't take kindly to losing house points."

Harry crossed his arms. Fine, he wouldn't lose them any points, but he sure wasn't going to gain them any either.

"Rule number four, anyone who gains at least fifty house points by Christmas, gets an extra present."

"From who?"

"Professor Snape."

Harry scrunched up his nose. Even if he did earn fifty house points, which he was determined not to, he doubted very much that Snape would give him a Christmas present, father or not.

"Don't worry about it, it doesn't happen very often," Thomas said. "It's just to encourage us to win the house cup."

"Rule five, no boys allowed in the girl's dormitory..." Harry tried to pay attention as Thomas continued on down the list, but the rest of the rules were pretty standard and about the same as Gryffindor.

"If there's an emergency or if you're sick, you can tell me. I'm in charge of the boys third year and under. Quincy Andrews is the seventh year prefect and Head Boy this year and he's in charge of the boys seventh year to fourth year. He doesn't like to be bothered but if it's an emergency and you can't find me, you can go to him. If you go to Janice or Belle, the girl prefects, they won't be able to do much since they can't come into the boy's dorms because of the barrier spell."

Thomas stood up from where he'd been sitting at one of the two desks in the room as he had explained the rules. "One more thing Potter," he said at the door, "keep your head down. Snape doesn't want you here and I doubt you'll find any friends here in Slytherin. It was a stupid thing to put the hat on, now you've got to deal with it."

He left then and Harry sat down on the edge of his new bed, alone in this foreign place. He felt in a daze. Harry stood up and opened the lid to his trunk to see that everything was still there minus his clothes and broom. He looked around and on the opposite wall from the foot of his bed was a wardrobe with his name on it. He opened it to find his broom and ratty old clothes along with his other uniform shirts and robe, which now all bore the Slytherin crest. The one exception was his Gryffindor Quidditch robes which remained untouched, but he wouldn't be getting to use those now would he, and he certainly wasn't going to play for Slytherin, even if he was allowed.

He closed the wardrobe door and trunk lid and wished that he knew some sort of protective charm to keep others out of his things. He was sure they'd trash his stuff despite that it was in the rules to leave other people's things alone. Rule number nine or something like that.

It was another ten minutes before the other boys came back into the dormitory, at which point Harry was inside his bed with his curtains closed. He listened to them whispering for a moment before he heard Draco's voice just outside of his curtain in a low, menacing tone.

"You may wear the Slytherin crest Potter, but we don't claim you as one of our own. Watch your back."

He heard them getting ready for bed and he lay awake for at least an hour afterwards, sure that they were going to try to attack him in his sleep. When he woke in the morning though, he was whole and unharmed, though he felt like throwing more of Professor Sprout's pots.