Rejection and Acceptance

Harry followed Draco to the actual dorm entrance. He was surprised when he didn't retrace his steps of the previous night to the middle of the dungeons but turned left away from Snape's classroom.

"Hey, this isn't where i went yesterday." Harry told Draco confused.

"Of course not, Snape brought you to my personal chamber." Draco answered.

"I know in the towers you share rooms, but that's because Godric believed less in personal privacy and more in group sharing, or love or whatever. Salazar believed the most in personal privacy, which is why he gave us all our own rooms. Rowena believed in personal and group studying so they have a small common room with doors to their own rooms besides having the regular common rooms. Helga believed the same as Godric more or less. They have two people per room so that they become very dependant upon each other."

"Oh... I didn't know any of that." Harry answered blushing.

"Most people don't. I bet Granger does. She probably memorized every book before it came out." Draco laughed. "My dad made me read the WHOLE of Hogwarts a History, that's why I know so much."

"Oh, well if you hadn't told me that I would have just thought you were normally smart. Now I know the truth." Harry teased his newest friend. They arrived at the door to the common room.

"Reptilius." Draco spoke the password to a gargoyle who immediately hopped aside and Draco entered the common room. "Okay, well so we don't take up too much time, right is the boys side, left is the girls. There's a little room here with seven portraits, one for each year. The snake is third year, so your room will be in there. You'd better hurry now or else they may change the password on you." Draco advised.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll be back." Harry said, as he turned and walked back to the door. Throwing one last look over his shoulder he smiled at Draco and pushed open the door. When the gargoyle jumped back into place Harry started jogging through the corridors. He only had about an hour or two until curfew and since he needed to run all the way upstairs, say bye to all his friends and assure them he was going to be hanging out with them as much as he could and pack all of his things, he REALLY didn't have the time to be slow.

Running up the stairs he quickly jumped onto the landing as the staircase he was on started moving. Otherwise he might have to wait anywhere between five minutes and an hour to get back to the the origional position. Harry didn't have the time to waste. Finally, twenty minutes after he started he was at Gryffindor tower.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Gryffindor common room

"Silver Snitch." Harry gasped and bolted into the common room and looked around. Despite the late hour, most of the students were up and discussing the fight. Despite the fact that some Gryffindors had fought against each other, for the most part there was no conflict in the common room. The loud shouting and laughter quieted quickly when people saw the door open and screamed "HARRY!"

Harry walked slowly into the common room a bit dejectedly. He didn't really WANT to leave all of his friends in this house. He had had an awesome two years in Gryffindor tower as a lion. However, since Ron's latest freakout he didn't think he could stay. He didn't want to have to watch his every step and be scared of whatever prank or possibly harmful thing Ron was going to think of doing.

"Hey everyone." Harry answered in a low tone. "I have very important news." Harry admitted.

"Shut-up"

"You lot!" Fred and George shouted at the whole room.

"Harry's got something"

"Important to say!" The two finished.

Everyone turned to pay attention to Harry. All the noise stopped and people sat down on chairs, sofas and the arms of said furniture. When there were no more people sat on cushions on the floor. Within five minutes everyone was staring raptly at Harry. It didn't often happen that people needed to say something important to the whole room, so everyone paid attention when it DID happen.

"I don't think my news is gonna be taken well by everyone." Harry admitted. "I want people to remember that I have enjoyed being your housemate these past two years." Harry started.

"You're not leaving Hogwarts?" A student shouted.

"Why are you leaving?" Another student demanded.

The room was filled with demands to know why Harry was leaving Hogwarts, how Dumbledore could have allowed it and so on for the next fifteen minutes.

Finally, with a small sigh Harry took a deep breath and shouted. "SHUT IT!"

Silence reigned since Harry had never before shouted at his housemates like that.

"Thank you. I have NOT chosen to leave Hogwarts." Harry answered. "Hush." He raised his hands for quiet when people started to ask questions.

"So you got expelled finally eh." Ron snorted happily.

"NO!" Harry glared at Ron. "You're such a prat." He snarled before turning around and ignoring him. "I don't know how else to say this, but because of certain people and recent events," people turned and looked at Ron. "I don't think I'm safe in this house."

The other students grumbled and tried to press upon Harry that he truly was safe. Some students, like Fred, George and Lee shushed them.

"You can't"

"Save him"

"While he's"

"In his"

"Dorm room." The three answered the group.

"Well, I found there's somewhere else I'd feel much safer. I have my own room, and I trust these people a lot more than I used to." Harry admitted. "But no matter what I will always try and be friends with everyone here. I know not everyone will want to be my friend anymore, but as long as you want to be my friend, I will be there for you." Harry said honestly.

"Why are you being so dramatic. You take the last step on the path to you-know-who by becoming a Slytherin?" Ron sneered.

The common room held their collective breaths as they waited for Harry to snap back at him. They knew it was a ridiculous suggestion. The longer they waited the more charged the air became. Finally Seamus had to break the silence.

"You're not serious Harry? A Slytherin?"

"What do you want me to say? They ALL fought by my side today. None of them tried to hex me, and they're not such a bad lot if they would just get over their stupid parents telling them to become death eaters. They're just students like any other house." Harry answered.

Silence reigned for a whole minute before students started shouting and arguing over the fact that Harry was changing houses.

"Silence." Hermione's voice roared through the common room, though she spoke normally. She'd obviously used a spell and the noise made everyone wince as they shut up. "Harry, you can't change houses." She said in a quieter voice. "You've already been sorted and there is no re-sorting."

"It's too late. I've ALREADY been re-sorted. Me and Draco talked to Snape and Snape talked to McGonagall and Dumbledore and they agreed. So I went to Dumbledore's office and got re-sorted." Harry answered.

"It's never happened before." Hermione gasped.

"I know." Harry answered. "But I couldn't live the rest of the year worrying about what Ron was going to do next. I need to be able to live in a place where there's peace. If there is any way I could have stayed here..." Harry trailed off.

"Kick Ron out!" Neville voted. Harry grinned at him.

"I gotta go pack." He said as he ran up the stairs.

"You"

"Stop!" The twins shouted, tackling their younger brother as he tried to follow.

Five minutes later, thanking magic, Harry returned to the common room. "I gotta go before curfew. I know the password will be changed, but I hope I get to stay friends with everyone," said Harry. After hugging the twins, Neville, Dean, Parvati, Lavender, the chaser girls, a crying Oliver Wood and a few others, Harry pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and ran back down to the dungeons and found everyone in the common room.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Slytherin common room

Draco blushed and looked away when Harry sought his eye. Harry was rattled when everyone else stared at him.

"Umm, hi?" Harry stammered.

"Potter." A fifth year greeted with a smirk.

"What... What's going on?" Harry asked still trying valiantly to catch Draco's eye. Draco was determined not to look in Harry's direction however. He was very interested in his feet apparently.

"Well, you see, here in Slytherin house, we have a tradition." The fifth year drawled.

"Oh yeah? What for?" Harry gulped.

"Well, we need a way to find out where we stand in the hierarchy. Luckily for you, Blaise Zabini, second only to Malfoy in third year has challenged you. If you lose, you continue to fight until you are either last place or beat someone else. If you win, you get to fight Draco." The fifth year smiled nastily.

"Oh." Harry blanched.

The older Slytherins used their wands to drag the furniture against the walls and create shields in front of themselves, pushing Harry and Blaise into the middle.

"First bow, then the fight starts, wands are used in the first fight in a duel and then it's a fist fight." Draco hissed quickly as he passed Harry to get to his place. Harry nodded numbly.

"Bow." The fifth year demanded of the two boys. As they were bowed down the fifth year spoke again. "Given where we are, we're not doing this as a normal duel. This is only an informal duel. So when I give the word, you straighten and start dueling. You have five minutes to try and stun your opponent."

Harry nodded, glancing slyly at Blaise, though he kept his head down.

"Now!" The fifth year shouted jumping behind a shield.

"Stupefy." Harry shouted diving towards his right just as a bat bogey hex flew into the space he was previously occupying.

Blaise ducked and was thankful that Harry was aiming for his head as the stupefy flew within a milimeter of his right ear. In retaliation he shouted "Petrificious Totalus." to which Harry erected a shield.

"Tarantallegra!" Harry shot towards Blaise, hitting him square in the middle.

Despite his feet dancing a jig, Blaise managed to send a spell of his own. "Rictusempra." Harry started laughing and they both took a moment to cast "Finite Incantum."

Harry was struck by Blaise's "Immobolus" moments after he finished the first incantation.

Despite being stuck, Harry threw one last spell at Blaise. "Levicorpus." Then he watched as Blaise flew into the air by his ankle, his head smacking on the floor and getting him knocked out. Five minutes after they bowed, Harry had knocked Blaise out.

"Please say I won?" Harry begged gasping for breath and cast finite incantum on himself.

"Soon... Maybe." The fifth year smirked.

"Liberacorpus." Harry sighed, letting his new housemate down gently.
"Ennervate."

"Now, part two. Fist fight. Shake hands." The Fifth year demanded. Harry and Blaise shook hands. "Back up... and... Begin." He shouted as he jumped behind the shields once more.

Blaise jumped forward in a tackle that Harry easlily sidestepped. As he sidestepped, Harry casually thwacked Blaise on the back of the head.

Blinking and shaking his head, Blaise turned to find Harry again. Seeing him he stepped a bit closer and let his fist fly. Harry, used to this from multiple opponents easily ducked and punched Blaise in the gut. He might not be the strongest of boys, but enough blows would bring his opponent down. Especially since he knew where to hit.

Once Blaise stood up he glared at Harry. "You're pretty fast." He admitted. "But it won't be enough!" Then he jumped forward, punching as he went. Harry was thankful to his cousin for once as he was capable of ducking all the punches and spun around in a circle, dragging Blaise's legs out from under him and dropping him to the ground.

Harry jumped on top and they started to wrestle. Five seconds after they started wrestling, Blaise wedged his way on top and swung a punch to Harry's face. Hastily Harry kicked his knees forward and kneed Blaise in the kidneys causing him to grunt and for the punch to have less force.

Harry grunted at the pain of the punch. He'd been dealt worse but that didn't mean it was fun. Blaise quickly regained his footing and punched Harry in his temple with force. Harry saw stars but refused to cry out. It also pissed him off. Twisting, he managed to wiggle into the oddest of positions and then jabbed upwards straight into Blaise's jaw with not uninspiring strength. For the second time in twenty minutes Harry knocked Blaise out.

"Does this mean I win?" Harry groaned.

"Well you will have to fight Draco tomorrow of course, but for tonight, you're good." The fifth year answered, rather awed at Harry's display.

"I don't WANT to fight Draco." Harry snarled.

"Me either!" Draco snapped.

"Well how do we know who's on top?" The other boy questioned.

"Why don't we shove 'em in a room and just watch." Pansy laughed. Those who understood her answer grinned or laughed as the others looked around confused.

"Why don't we just be co-top hierachy people..." Harry suggested.

"I agree!" Draco grinned enthusiastically.

The Slytherins thought it over.

"Okay, well I suppose if the other third years agree we can do that." The fifth year agreed doubtfully.

The Slytherins agreed and the shields were lowered. Draco rushed over to Harry. "Episkey." He muttered and slowly Harrys cuts and bruises dissappeared.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Draco said hanging his head. "We were sworn to secrecy."

"It's ok. At least I don't have to fight anymore. But now I'm going to bed." Harry groaned as he got up, shaking hands with Blaise one last time. He escaped to his new bedroom, collapsed on the sheets and was asleep within moments.

This was apparently going to be a very eventful new year.

He had gained a new house, a new friend in Draco and maybe new friends in the other Slytherins. But he had also lost, his long-time best friend and his second best friend Hermione. Lost his house and his spot on the Quidditch team, though if memory served him Slytherins had not yet gained a new seeker since Draco had quit the team.

Harry dreamed of his parents and Draco and how his parents might react to everything that had happened recently.

*AN* Ok, well this chapter is it, and Draco and Harry have gone on a vacation. Thank-you Crazy Pedantic for beta-ing this chap!

Akira_Kushrenada_Merquize: thanks for the offer and so glad you like the story!

Aya-chan: Nope you only did one but i'm so glad you like this story! Harry and Draco thank you for the shout out!

mithrilandtj: I thinkit's more than that, he really hates Draco. But neither Hermione or Ron will change, I wanted this story to be different from most where everyone where the three best friends stay that way forever.

Crazy Pedantic: So happy you like it and you agreed to help me XD. No matter what Harry will remember where he came from. He's quite loyal. The Sorting Hat took so long cause it enjoys talking to Harry and wanted to make extra extra sure Harry doesn't want to change his mind again later.

bluebird: here ya go