Rejection and Acceptance

Harry woke up the next morning to a rather energetic Draco Malfoy bouncing on his bed. Looking up through bleary and sleep-filled eyes he saw the blurry face and near-white hair. Only one person had hair like that.

"What do you want?" Harry groaned.

"It's time to get up silly! Since we're not going to fight and you haven't been in Slytherin since first year, I get the dubious pleasure of teaching you the Slytherin wiles." Draco teased.

"Dubious?" Harry demanded, waking up a bit and pushing the overly energetic blond off the bed and onto his arse with a loud thump.

"Ow!" The flushed blond complained glaring at his raven-haired housemate who saw nothing more than a blurry shape. "You're supposed to cringe!" He complained.

"I can't see you." Harry brushed off the complaint and reached forhis bedside table. Moving around in near blindness he searched for his glasses before he finally growled. "I can't find my bloody glasses!!!I HATE the things!"

"Why don't you fix your eyes then?" Draco asked innocetly.

Harry got suspicious and looked towards the voice. In a deceptively calm voice and with a carefully constructed blank face he asked "Do you know where my glasses are?"

"I might." Draco answered with a hidden grin.

"Really... How... interesting." Harry answered as he slowly converged on the other speaker while trying to look like he was just slowly moving without any objectives.

"I suppose." Draco answered dryly. "So are you ready to get up and get the tour and some new and better knowledge in your little head?" Draco asked teasingly.

"No, I'm ready to get down and dirty." Harry crowed as he tackled thebother boy to the ground and quickly climbed on top and stared down at the blurry figure he now straddled.

"Planning on making me bleed?" Draco smirked.

"Of course not." Harry answered.

"Well what ARE you going to do? Planning on taking advantage of me are you?" Draco asked, somewhat excited at the thought of Harry kissing him.

"Absolutely." Harry confirmed slowly leaning closer.

"Oh." Draco squeaked and licked his lips. He started breathing a bit faster as he pondered on what Harry was going to do. He watched as the other boy's face got closer and closer. His eyes widened as Harry's face closed the gap, his heart started pounding and his breathing sped up to short pants.

Harry leaned closer trying to see Draco's face. He smirked at the other boy and was amused when he felt the panting on his face. He stopped when he saw as much of a clear picture he was going to get without his glasses. "So, you going to tell me where my glasses are?" He whispered in a low voice he believed was threatening.

Draco vaguely heard the question in Harry's voice as his mind wasslowly turned to mush. "Unh." He answered brilliantly.

"I guess you need some... Incentive?" Harry asked in the same voice.

"Yes." Draco answered swallowing.

"Alright." Harry grinned as he reached out to the other boy.

Draco gasped as he saw the movement out of the corner of his eyes. He let out a shrill yelp as Harry started tickling him. He tried to buck the other boy off of him as he got tickled.

?Merlin, Merlin! I call Merlin!!" Draco called as he twisted and turned ineffectually.

"What?" Harry asked confused and momentarily ceased his onslaught.

"I call Merlin... I give up." Draco explained as he slowly calmed down.

"Oh... So where are my glasses?" Harry asked.

"They are on the chair, on top of the clothes I got out and ready for you while I waited for you to get up." Draco answered.

"Oh... um, thanks." Harry answered and stood up. "That was kinda sweet."

"I know." Draco answered smirking from the floor.

Harry turned towards the chair and tripped over Draco's foot as he did so.

"Oops." Harry spoke as he landed on his stomach.

Draco giggled and folded his hands behind his head as he watched his dorm-mate.

Harry crawled over to the chair and grabbed his glasses. Sitting back on his rump he turned back to Draco jamming his glasses on his face.

"Thanks." He muttered again, blushing.

"You're welcome. You gonna change now?" Draco asked. "Yeah." Harry answered as he grabbed his clothes.

"Where are the showers?" He asked looking around the room. "Down the hall." Draco answered still reclining on the floor.

"Alright, I'll be right back." Harry said, carefully making his way tothe door and walking down the hall.

Harry was back in fifteen minutes, thanks to drying charms. He didn't know where to find the towels, but the moment he stepped out of the shower he passed through a warm pane and was suddenly dry. He got dressed and hustled back to his room, as yet unused to the Slytherin dorms. Getting back into the room he spied Draco still on the floor.

"Are you done now?" Draco asked looping little fuzz colored circles inintricate patterns.

"Yeah." Harry blushed. "But I don't have anything Slytherin." He admitted.

"My robes fit you well enough last time, so you can borrow anotherone. I'm sure Dumbledore will allow you into Hogsmeade to change the sigil on your clothing. Or maybe we can see Flitwick. He's great at charms. Or even McGonagall, she's great at transfiguration." Draco announced. Glanciong at Harry he sprang to his feet. "You're not going out like... like that are you?" He demanded.

"I always do," Harry muttered looking down at himself.

"Yes, but now you are a Slytherin." Draco answered. "Youhave to do better. Come on." Grabbing the dark-haired boy by the arm he dragged him to his room, pushing him onto a stool in front of the mirror.

Hey cutie. Someone or something said.

"Who spoke?" Harry demanded as he jumped and looked around the room.

"The mirror silly. Don't you have talking mirrors?" Draco queried.

"Uh no." Harry admitted. The mirror ignored their chattering and looked Harry over.

You have got to do something with your hair dearie. It just doesn't suit you. Maybe if you spiked it like this. The mirror showed a picture of Harry with his hair gelled straight up. Some of Draco's leath...

"Hey now, I like some of my secrets as they are, thank-you very much." Draco interupted the mirror as he walked back to Harry with a pot in his hands.

Yes dear. The mirror answered with a sigh. Fine then. But you Harry darling need to gain some weight. Not to be fat or anything but you ARE rather skinny. The mirror continued.

"Well we shall do what we can for now." Draco answered coating his hands in a clear sticky concoction. As he started to reach for Harry's hair, said boy ducked out of range.

"What are you DOING?" Harry yelped, staring at the goo on Draco's hands.

It's gell darling. Draco uses it to gel back his hair. YOU need it to spike your hair. The mirror answered.

"Oh." Harry submitted to the will of both Draco and the mirror. When the fairer boy was done, Harry had to admit it looked pretty cool. Waiting a moment to let the spikes dry, Harry then donned Draco's robe and studied himself. "Not bad." He admitted.

"It was nothing." Draco stuck his tongue out.

"Oh yeah, thanks." Harry grinned at the other boy.

"Don't mention it." Draco teased.

"Hey, I have a question actually. It's a bit serious." Harry admitted.

"Sure." Draco allowed.

"Remember on the train? You said something happened to you this summer that made you realize our fights were so utterly stupid and stuff. I was just wondering, what happened?" Harry asked.

"Well, I go on a lot of trips. This summer my parents took me to Africa and we stayed in a local wizarding hotel. I got to walk around a lot but there were a lot of places I wasn't allowed to go. I realized slowly that it was a very weird place." Draco admitted. "But I couldn't figure out why. Until one day, I saw the guy who cleaned our rooms out. I forgot my tie and had to go and get it. It turned out that they didn't use houselves, but rather black slaves... or servants. And that's when I realized what was so different. In all thetime I spent there, the only people I saw were white. I asked someone about that and they told me that blacks over there weren't allowed around the territory of the white people. Everyone seemed to think that wizard or not blacks were like... dirt. They had no standing, no rights, even though there were more of them." Draco answered.

"That's stupid. Why didn't the masses revolt?" Harry asked.

"They did." Draco answered. "We had to run for it or we would have been caught in the uprising, we might have been killed." Draco admitted. "My father told me that blacks in Africa were all half-bloods or muggle born and deserved the lot they got. None of them should have revolted and they should have realized their place in society and stayed there. I found his reasoning rather flawed, obviously not ALL of them could have been muggleborns or half-bloods because there seemed to be many generations in the glimpse I got the day I snuck out of the "white section." I realized then that the waythe Africans were separating blacks and whites was the same as what wewere doing trying to seperate muggleborns and pure-bloods. If we didit, eventually the rest would revolt agaisnt us and we would obviously lose. Besides, it's not like there is really a difference between us. Black or white, pure-blood or not. The only real difference is whether we have magic or not. And I guess, muggles can get on without magic,and maybe someday we'll all have to, so this is just some whole big stupid fight."

"Alright, I suppose that explains some of it, but why did you come and see me?" Harry asked, curious.

"Well, I guess I just had an epiphany that showed me I didn't really hate you, I was upset that you had rejected me. But if I admitted everyone was equal and stuff, then I had to admit I hadn't been really fair in trying to tell you not to associate with muggle-borns and "blood traitors." That you probably hadn't rejected me because of who I was but because of how stupid I had acted. I figured if I changed, and showed you I had truly changed, then maybe you and I could be friends and we'd have peace. I learned near the end of the summer that in Africa, even though the uprising lasted only three weeks, white people had to admit in the end that the blacks were just as smart and strong as they were. Despite having no real tools, they fought and won, and now they live in relative peace. I was hoping maybe you and I could have that too. Of course, I was expecting you to stay in Gryffindor and your friends to support you, but I guess I can't always be TOTALLY right." Draco grinned despite the serious nature of their talk. Suddenly an alarm went off.

"Oh no, breakfast is about to start, we have to go!" Draco grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him through the hall. As they exited the common room Harry felt a slight chill and his clothing was pulled into its proper place. Glancing back at the door, he saw a sloppy first year pause at the entrance, then when he walked through, his clothes were suddenly magically pulled into perfect place.

"Do you have some sort of charm to keep clothing in proper order?" Harry demanded.

"Yes. I believe it was Salazar who thought of it. Anyone who wore a Slytherin mark on their clothes would periodically pass through charms that allowed their clothing to be put in pristine order. A great way to look immaculate and "pure-blood" at all times apparently." Draco

answered."Oh, understandable I suppose. For his times and beliefs." Harry admitted.

"Yes." Draco admitted absentmindedly as he paused at an entryway. "Are you ready to show the school you are now a Slytherin?" Draco asked the other boy.

"Gotta do it sometime." Harry answered nervously.

"You'll be fine. We'll all be here for you Harry." Draco assured him.

Taking a deep breath, Harry led the way into the corridor to the Great Hall. He paused at the doors and caught the eye of the twins and smiled at them. They clapped and whistled at him, bringing the attention of the Hall to them, the Slytherins at the table noticed their newest house member and his Slytherin styled robes and started clapping as loudly as the twins. The rest of the houses looked upon Harry and his borrowed robe as he walked with Draco to the Slytherins in absolute and stunned silence.

Within moments of Harry sitting down, the Slytherin table quieted and smirked to each other as they realized the two most notorious boys were now at their table, both celebrities for different reasons. The rest of the Hall started whispering furiously at this new development. At the Gryffindor table despite their previous knowledge of the fact, many whispered about his traitorous actions and only a few stood up for him, though some held their tongues, not yet having made a decision on how they felt.

Snape stood up at the Head Table and demanded silence for the first time in his career as a teacher.

"Slytherin has recieved a new member. For personal reasons that do not need to be devulged to you." Snape sneered at the tables thatwere not his house. "Proffessors Dumbledore and McGonagall as well as myself were witness to the newest occurence at this school. Harry Potter has been re-sorted as a Slytherin and will finish the remainderof his days as such. Despite it being the first such occurence, it is still valid and everyone shall be expected to be as courteous to him as previously." Snape glared at the youngest Weasley male, knowing he was the reason for the start of the fight and his rejection of his friend rubbed Snape the wrong way.

McGonagall stood up when Snape seated himself. "Proffessor Snape is right. I wish Harry health and happiness in his new house. I also expect Harry to be treated as he has always been treated despite this newest of surprises. I know my house will be just as accepting oftheir friend and previous house mate as they were when he was still their house mate." McGonagall gave them a stern eye. "I also wish Harry Potter to know, he will always be part of Gryffindor and that heshall be sorely missed in Gryffindor house and Gryffindor Quidditch."

McGonagall sat down primly and Dumbledore slowly stood. Standing silently he watched the four house tables. "A very unique occurence happened here. One of many Mr. Potter has acheived in this school, and I expect many more shall come." Dumbledore spoke quietly, with the authority of an educated man. "I congratulate Mr. Potter on his newest house and give him many well-wishes."

"Unfortunately I also have to talk about a rather unfortunate event,the fight that occured yesterday morning. There are several students who as yet remain in the hospital wing, but are expected to make a full recovery. We are grateful there were no fatalities in this fight. I am however very disappointed with the students who started this fight and those that participated in this fight. I hope you have learnt your lessons. You shall all have the detentions you have been assigned."

"I wish to thank all of the students who stayed out of the fight and those who tried to stop the fights and also those that saved other students from the fight. All students who stayed out of the fights are awarded five house points. All those who tried to stop the fight before it started or while it was in progress are awarded ten points. And for every student who braved the fight to save a student who was in the wrong place, for your bravery and your good-will to your peers I award you twenty points. However, every student who participated in the fight has lost five points. and some of you have lost more. I hope never to see a repeat performance of that disaster. Now, please enjoy the rest of your meal and head to classes in a timely fashion." Dumbledore announced to the silent students as he sat down.

*AN* Almost forgot this part. I want to thank everyone who reviewed and Crazy Pedantic for beta-ing this chapter. I love how loyal you have been and I have made these chocolate cookies in the shape af Draco and Harry just for you XD

Akira_Kushrenada_Merquize: Very glad you like it and awesome that you are becoming a very loyal reviewer!!! For you i share the homemade chocolate cookies of Draco and Harry XD

Crazy Pedantic: Alright. Well I love the twins and am amused by the twincest adventures in some stories (but there will be NONE in this story... but maybe we can catch them in some... naughty positions, lol. I hope this was a great way of finding out Draco's newest reform. Ron is just being... Ron... He will not get over his hatred of Slytherins. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell neither will Hermione until a LONG time in the future. I hope Snape might get over his hatred of Gryffindors and students in particular, but I suppose he will have to tell me that himself... We are now going to learn a lot of "Slytherin things" in the next chapter and so. Draco didn't get much time unfortunately. Anyway, hope you read this since you already reviewed this chapter XD

thrnbrooke: Did you like chapter 11?