Rejection and Acceptance

Over the next few days, the twins were practically intolerable towards Ron. They wanted to know everything this potion had done to him. Most people in Snape's class learnt to follow his instructions as closely as possible. Few people were such terrible potion makers that they were unable to do this. As Ron was usually a passable potion maker, the twins were curious as to why he had not paid more attention to his ingredients.

Hermione, just as curious as the twins set about finding out. She made herself a little abode in the library with towering books stopping anybody who passed from seeing her, and making even Madam Pince scared to touch the books just from the sheer number of them. However, every few days many of the books were changed and discarded. Most of Hogwarts enjoyed the twins fruitful and amusing ways of getting their answers. Despite the fact that they often acted stupid and might not understand information in the manner it was usually taught, did not make them stupid. They just needed more games in the classroom and homework to be able to pay enough attention. Given Ron's newest form of changing colours, they decided to collect information on it.

The morning after he turned purple, the twins snuck into his dorm and he was a pale pink again. They were curious as to why the effect hadn't evaporated it, but they decided that it was Snape's own form of revenge. He must have given only part of the antidote. They assumed that the pink hair of the previous day was connected to Ron's infatuation with the Zabini boy. They had made a small chart that looked like this:

Ron's feelings: Body Hair
Potion induced love Pink Pink
Love
Fear
Hate
Suspicion
Lust
Jealousy
Anxious
Rage
Humiliation Purple Red
Happiness
Hunger
Competitiveness
Pain

The next answer they chose to get was fear. And possibly pain, though the two had to be different. So they brought their wands with them as they crept into Ron's room and they wove silencing spells so they did not scare the other boys into waking as well. With those in place, Fred conjured a spider which he placed in front of Ron's face and
George sent a spell of noise to sound in Ron's ears. Ron woke slowly, stretching luxuriously, but when he slowly started opening his eyes, he caught sight of the spider. His reaction was everything the twins could have wished for and more. His eyes flipped open so fast, it looked like in the space of the same second, they were closed and opened, his whole body literally flew from the bed and he let out a shriek that would have undoubtedly woken the whole Gryffindor house and anyone within the walls of Gryffindor tower any which way. Along with this reaction, came the reaction the twins were intent to record. Ron turned white. From the tips of his toes to the tips of his hair he turned white. Not the white one normally turns when scared or losing blood, but the white of a wall, or paint or sheet. And if the twins were not mistaken, his pyjamas had taken on a lighter shade of red than they originally were.

When Ron saw them laughing at him, he grabbed his wand and banished the spider, then he turned on his brothers, but he seemed to have forgotten every spell he had ever been taught. He stood there, shaking with his rage, and then suddenly, his body became a striped mass of white and orange. The twins laughed at this new candy-cane Ron. It was cruel, they knew very well, but it was not something they could help. Never in their wildest dreams would they have thought Ron would become a striped little boy.

"ARGH!!!!!!!!!!" Ron yelled at them,

"Hey, candy cane!" Fred snickered.

"So, would you taste like an" George started.

"Orange sherbet?" The two chorused.

"ARGH!!!!" Ron yelled again before storming into the bathroom.

The twins returned to the common room with their papers and a few quills along with the ink. They sat in a private corner glaring at people who approached, filling in the blanks on their chart, and started planning on how they were going to fill the rest of their blanks.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Harry was in the Great Hall eating breakfast with Draco and the rest of the gang. Since beating Blaise who was apparently very good he had earned the boy's respect, though in some ways he wished he hadn't. Since he'd become friendlier, the other boy had decided he was a new teacher. He was now in the process of teaching Harry exactly how to act like a pure-blood. It was, Harry learned, long, tedious, annoying and suffocating.

He thought he'd get a break while they ate, but from the moment he sat down, Blaise pulled him up again.

"A pure-blood must sit with decorum." Blaise insisted.

"I'm not a pure-blood. I'm a half-blood... Besides I'm damn proud of it!" Harry retorted easily.

"Everyone should want to be a pureblood. You can't get better than that!" Blaise retorted.

"Oh, no?" Harry scoffed. "Did you know that that freak your parents followed was a half-blood? A Slytherin half-blood yes, but still a half-blood. You did know that Tom Marvolo Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort is a half-blood voting for pure-blood rights?... Don't you?"

Silence reigned at the Slytherin table as everyone stared at Harry. Then they erupted in a Slytherin manner.

"Liar!" a Seventh year snarled at him quietly.

"I can prove it quite easily actually." Harry pushed.

"Fine, after classes we shall meet in the common room." The seventh year snapped.

"Umm, actually, it would be much easier if we met in the library." Harry rejected the idea. "And I have one little request."

"What do you need Harry?" Draco asked.

"I hope you do not mind my asking overly much but I need a picture of him at the same time. If anyone has one?" He requested.

"I have one." A sixth year admitted. "My uncle took a picture of him before he made a demand that no pictures be taken.

"Awesome, bring it to the library." Harry answered and everyone went back to breakfast, several conversations breaking out on the possibility Harry was telling the truth versus the possibility he was lying.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Sudden eruptions occurred over the Slytherin table. Some of the students had been shocked silent, but half of them were now roaring with laughter. Harry and Draco turned to see what the fuss was about and were greeted with the sight of Ronald Weasley, striped in orange and white all about his body, which was mostly unclothed. His hair was a very white sight, as the room reflected the outside and it was a pretty gloomy morning.

Harry gaped in wonder as the boy beside him burst into ecstatic giggling (though he later objected to anyone using the term.) Harry was unable to tear his eyes away from his first friend as he stomped to the Gryffindor table, most of whom tried not to laugh at his predicament.

The twins sailed through the doors of the Great Hall and straight to Harry. They pushed Draco and Blaise away from Harry so they could sit beside him, though they were surprisingly friendly about it.

"Sorry chaps."

"Not nice of you."

"To steal our."

"Oh so wondrous."

"Seats beside."

"The one and only."

"Ever more popular."

"GOLDEN BOY!!!" They chorused grinning at the two boys.

"Did you know?" Fred started in a secretive whisper that had the whole table straining to hear.

"That he used to be." Their attention turned to George.

"A third of."

"The Golden Trio." The twins laughed at the sneers on their faces.

"WE'RE wondering."

"If he's going to be in."

"A 'dark trio."

"Or duet..."

"Or quadruplet..."

"Or a beacon of light."

"In a dark house."

"In their hour of need."

"Shut up you two and tell us what this colorful Ron is about." Harry said laughingly.

"Oh simple, it seems lil Ronnikins changes colors with his moods."

"We're making a chart here to catalogue them. This is what we have."

"So far." The twins answered.

"Why is this happening do you know?" Pansy asked.

"Well it should be our secret BUT, we'll tell you."

"It all started this one day..."

"Our boy of this story, didn't listen to his professor."

"And he tasted his potion and found love." The twins sighed in mock happiness.

"But then."

"Horror of horrors"

"His true love made him." Here George paused for a broken sob as his twin kept the musical background alive in tune with their story presentation.

"Made him give up his love." Fred finished with watery eyes.

"But then he found out."

"It wasn't his true love." The twins added as the music became much more lively.

"Then two devilishly handsome"

"Amazingly artful"

"Awfully sneaky and into hiding things" Harry interjected.

"Brothers, older of course" George spared a mock glare for Harry.

"Found out he changed colors according to his mood."

"And now we, are trying to calculate the colors." The twins announced.

"So, what have you gotten so far?" Draco drawled trying not to show how interested he was.

"Is the pink because he's in love or just because of the potion?" Harry asked.

"We're not sure yet." Fred admitted.

"We do know he turns completely white when he's scared." George answered.

"And he turns purple with his normal red hair when he's humiliated." Blaise noticed.

"Yes, and he turns white and Orange when he's been terrified and then enraged." Fred expanded.

"We don't know anything else yet, or how many colors he can be at a time or anything like that." George admitted.

"But we need some help finding out what he looks like when he's"

"In love."

"Afraid."

"Hates someone."

"Suspicious of people."

"In lust."

"Jealous"

"Anxious."

"Happy."

"Hungry."

"In pain."

"Competitive."

"And any combination thereof."

"As well as how MANY can be combined." The twins looked around for approval and support and the Slytherins whooped and agreed to the task.

"We knew we could count on you." Fred answered his eyes twinkling.

"We just... We don't know how to thank you." George wiped away a fake tear.

The Slytherins laughed as the twins said their good-byes and sauntered away. The house started into groups to try and think of ways to get the youngest male Weasley into the states that had been described. No one tried to really think about a plan to bring him pain, since most were absolutely without a doubt that a certain Blonde in their midst would be much less than pleased if he didn't get that chance. Murmurs filled the Great Hall, at three of the four houses as talks about a multi-colored Gryffindor abounded. Few noticed a change in the Potions Master at the Head-Table and even fewer could see the difference. For those that truly knew him well, Severus Snape was glowing with laughter and mirth. At the fourth house, the same topic of conversation infested but with a slightly different beat. That is, all this happened until the morning owls arrived and those subscribers to Ministry gossip and Flying lies, saw the front page of their morning papers.

THE BOY WHO LIVED...A SAVIOR OR A MENACE?
Harry Potter: Newest Dark-Lord-In-Training
Harry Potter The Newest Slytherin By Choice

Harry Potter was once a charming young man, sorted into Gryffindor in his first year, he spent two years in this house. The usual young boy, he faced a few trials as children are wont to do. However, this reporter found out from a very reliable source that this once Gryffindor demanded he be re-sorted and insisted he be put in the hated house of Slytherin. It is widely known that Slytherins and Gryffindors share a long-standing feud and few members of these two houses willingly speak to each other over matters of any substance. Does that not make this change odd? Added to this titbit, this reporter has found that Harry Potter has turned his back on his two best friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger in order to scamper after his rival and most hated fellow student, Draco Malfoy. Is Harry Potter in his sane mind? Perhaps he is under some sort of spell or potion? Turn to page 35 to find out why Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts has made no move to force an investigation!!

Your Most Loved Reporter
Keeping YOU Posted
Rita Skeeter

As per usual, Rita Skeeter had decided to forgo one title when two or more could do the trick. Somehow, she had also found two pictures, one where Harry Potter glared at Draco Malfoy, and the other more recent of his new friendship with the boy. Five minutes after the influx of birds everyone was reading and commenting about the article and making up their minds according to what the reporter had written. The entire Slytherin table was in an uproar. That the mindless lady was making an enemy of an ENTIRE house seemed to mean very little to her.

As far from the loud sounds of anger and protestations coming from the Slytherin as he could get, a striped male glowed in his seat. His satisfaction over the paper far outweighed any possible repercussions, he was sure of it. However his glowing smile and general happiness was not lost on the students who looked around the hall to find the 'reliable source'. Nor indeed was it lost on the teachers who glared about the Hall, knowing one of these students was the culprit. One of the professors looked straight to the boy, knowing the culprit from the first line. Since this professor had no proof, a scheme took place and slowly started to mould, as a green-eyed, black-haired boy ran from the Great Hall and disappeared, a Blonde shadow following him within seconds.

This only fuelled the screams and cries of fellow students and classmates. After all, students were in the process of deciding if Harry Potter was victim to a potion, a spell or the celebrity bug that seemed to have hit him the previous year around Gilderoy Lockhart. Was he going to become a Dark Lord for the fame and power it would bring? Students were currently deciding how their fellow student’s mind worked, regardless of how well they knew him, or even if they had actually met him in person.

*AN* THANK YOU Crazy Pedantic for being an awesome beta!!!! And I hope everyone loved this chapter!!! And that I get a lot of reviews (I WILL post no matter what, but I always want as many reviews as possible) Anyway XD

Layla: Payback continues

Akira_Kushrenada_Merquize: I must say I'm very sorry... I wanted to work a kiss into this chapter but it didn't work very well.

Thank you so much for reading and liking my story. It's SO awesome of all of you guys!!!
mrequecky
thrnbrooke
Notgonnadie
blue birdy

BleedingHearts: Well maybe they NEVER kiss... lol, joking, joking, they will.

Crazy Pedantic: Heh heh, Snape is going to truly HATE Ron, cause he is such a prat... The other teachers aren't going to be TOO much better either.